Best method for clearing saves?

[Jepicus]

So I'm getting very, very frequent CTDs and I figured it's time to clear some saves in hope it'll improve the game a bit. I hear the ideal save file size is around 20mb, and mine is, well, uhhhhhh, 1.54GB. I do have Fallrim's script cleaner installed, which is probably the only thing keeping my game from tearing itself apart, but how would I go about safely deleting saves? Is it better to just delete all the quicksaves and autosaves in my actual folder, or manually delete them ingame? Or is there another method I don't know about? Cheers

[Grumpy]

wtf 1,5GB ...

if you have modded your game, you may wanna consider to correct the issues there.

also how would deleting the save files would help in any way? except you make room on your disk

[MysticMalevolence]

I can't really recommend using a program like Fallrim Tools to muck around with your save; it can actually cause damage if used improperly (if used when not needed) and many regulars here are skeptical that it is ever needed.

Personally I delete them in-game from the main menu, though I imagine you could also turn off steamcloud and delete them from your "my games" directory that exists in your documents folder.

You may also want to track down what is causing that save bloat.

[jancawa55]

I pretty much agree that the reason to delete saves is for freeing up some disc space. I go in to save file every month or so and wipe out a few hundred old ones.

[smr1957]

If you have an individual save file that is 1,54 GB, then you have a serious problem with your game. As to the size of a save files - let me tell you what mine are:

On my Oldrim 1268 mod load at level 30: 23,1 MB, and the SKSE at 1372 KB
On my SSE 844 mod load at level 28: 10.2 MB, and SKSE64 at 59 KB

You should be nowhere near even 20 MB on your save.

And, as Dylan said, and has been repeated time after time in the forum, Save cleaners are NOT for fixing saves - regardless of what anyone else may say.

From what you say, you will need to completely start over.

Resetting SkyrimSE to Vanilla or A Clean Reinstall by grimus -
http://steamcommunity.com/app/489830/discussions/0/312265589446940121/

Skyrim SE: Guides and Resources by Ilja
http://steamcommunity.com/app/489830/discussions/0/340412122413706606/
VERY IMPORTANT if you wish to successfully mod your game

HELPFUL LINKS AND REFERENCES
https://steamcommunity.com/app/489830/discussions/0/2828702372997628701/

[Mringasa]

Do you mean Save File or Save Folder?

Folder, yeah, it's time to go spring cleaning and delete some of those saves. Doublecheck em and backup the ones you want to keep though. If you have SKSE though, make certain you are saving the associated SKSE file with them as well.

Your actual save file itself should never get higher than 20MB though. If it does, you've got bloat from somewhere occuring and need to do a bit of fixing and editing in your mod list.

[Divine]

wtf are you for real 1.5gb per save????

[Jepicus]

Sorry boys should have been more specific. Yes it's the save folder itself that's 1.5Gb, not the individual files. I have around 1000 saves in my folder and the highest is 12mb, with the average hard save being 6mb. Now Im thinking I just misread the "optimum save folder size" and thought it said "save FILE size". A few of you don't seem to think it's causing ingame performance/CTD issues, so I'll take your word on it because, if you couldn't already tell, I'm not the most modding-savvy person out there.

I'll delete a few old ones anyway, and then I might need to go purge some mods (I have 151 active plugins). Sorry for the confusion and the late reply, cheers

[Mringasa]

I don't think the size of the actual folder can cause problems, but this is Skyrim (and Bethesda) we are talking about. Might be clearing it out of all but the most recent few saves will improve your performance. It never hurts, and 1GB+ of saves is a bit high imo. Cut it down to 10 saves, and back up your important ones to another folder somewhere. That way if you need them due to corruption, you have access easily and can just copy/paste them right back into the folder.

EDIT - Make sure you turn off your Autosaves. They can cause CTDs on loading and other issues. Can. Not all the time, but it might help as well. Use Manual Saves, and the occasional Quicksave (F5) to keep your character rollin.

[smr1957]

The number of saves in you folder has no bearing on game performance at all - that's one of those myths that gets kicked around. It will, however eat up space on your pc for no good reason.

[bLaCkShAd0w]

Originally posted by smr1957:

The number of saves in you folder has no bearing on game performance at all - that's one of those myths that gets kicked around. It will, however eat up space on your pc for no good reason.

It does lag the save and load menu's eventually as they need to index all those saves before it populates the files in-game. Im talking like 2-3 second delay, Only in the menu's though. You can get some freezing on autosaves in game once it gets really bad.

Performance issues as in fps loss or ctd's though, Not caused from too many saves.

[Mringasa]

Originally posted by smr1957:

The number of saves in you folder has no bearing on game performance at all - that's one of those myths that gets kicked around. It will, however eat up space on your pc for no good reason.

Thanks for that smr. Another bit of info for the data banks. Wasn't sure if that was the case, but always err on the side of caution.