skyrim SE /vortex on external hardrive

[EternalHostility]

im rather new to modding skyrim SE and alot of the modding videos i watch for skyrim seem to download skyrim SE on an external hard drive. I currently am using a seagate portable 2 tb external when downloading mods through vortex it shows on my external hard drive but when i go to the game to check to see if my mods are working in the load order there is no check beside them letting me know that if the mods are active or not for example Realistic water 2 will run just fine but Majestic mountains or Fluffy snow will not activate could this be something to do with my external hard drive? those two mods worked just fine on my C drive but as soon as i put them on my D drive they do not work along with alot of other mods besides USSEP and Realistic waters 2 could this be a pathway problem with vortex? could something be setup wrong on my external hard drive? or is something wrong with the mods?

[whatamidoing]

Can you post some examples? Installing any Steam game to an external hard drive is a bad idea.

[tulle040657]

You have to have a mod directory set in vortex that is on the same physical drive as the game, as Vortex uses hard links

[Vlad 254]

I'm pretty sure those Videos are referring to a different drive than C: but not an external drive.

[sparky_bandit]

Originally posted by tulle040657:

You have to have a mod directory set in vortex that is on the same physical drive as the game, as Vortex uses hard links

No you dont. My steam game folders are on c: (ssd) and Vortex mods are in d: (Sata).

[whatamidoing]

Originally posted by Oldbobdude:

Originally posted by tulle040657:

You have to have a mod directory set in vortex that is on the same physical drive as the game, as Vortex uses hard links

No you dont. My steam game folders are on c: (ssd) and Vortex mods are in d: (Sata).

I get your point, but ssd and sata are basically unrelated. SATA SSDs exist. SSD and HDD, or SSD1 and SSD2, for example, would be better.

[tulle040657]

Originally posted by Oldbobdude:

Originally posted by tulle040657:

You have to have a mod directory set in vortex that is on the same physical drive as the game, as Vortex uses hard links

No you dont. My steam game folders are on c: (ssd) and Vortex mods are in d: (Sata).

yes you do, but anyway

1) C: and D: can be the same physical dive.
2) go to Vortex, select settings and the MODS tab, what does it say for the Mod Staging Folder?
3) even C can be two different physical drives

My C: is two physical drives as I have a drive mounted on c:\Games where all my game stuff is so I would not be able to set the Mod deployment directory to C:\documents as it is a different physical drive.

Vortex itself can be on a different drive but the mod deployment for a Bethesda Gaming Studio games can only be Hardlink Deployment; it by definition has to be on the same physical drive.

I will bet money on this being true

BTW for anyone interested, I have used the Move Deployment(experimental) and worked fine

[smr1957]

Actually tulle, the game and the mods can be on two totally separate drives and use virtual links - they do not have to be on the same physical drive.

[tulle040657]

Originally posted by smr1957:

Actually tulle, the game and the mods can be on two totally separate drives and use virtual links - they do not have to be on the same physical drive.

sigh, virtual links are an option in NMM but not on Vortex. Hey prove me wrong, and try to put your Mod Deployment folder on a different drive. I know what a hard link is, and a hard link has to be on the same drive, but hey keep telling people bad info because you think you know

Have fun


edit: things like this was my job for 35 years. When it comes to low level software like embedded systems and device drivers and directory structure I am a expert

edit2: I cannot speak on how MO and MO2 do mod deployment as I have no knowledge of how it is done in those programs

[tulle040657]

Also in Windows Symbolic links (which NMM uses) have to be on the same drive letter, it is a stupid limitation of Windows and I guess someone could make a device driver to get around it.

[whatamidoing]

Originally posted by smr1957:

Originally posted by tulle040657:

sigh, virtual links are an option in NMM but not on Vortex. Hey prove me wrong, and try to put your Mod Deployment folder on a different drive. I know what a hard link is, and a hard link has to be on the same drive, but hey keep telling people bad info because you think you know

Have fun


edit: things like this was my job for 35 years. When it comes to low level software like embedded systems and device drivers and directory structure I am a expert

Why so nasty tuttle? I was referring to NMM, which is what I use, and just responding to whether or not the mods can be on a separate drive from the game - which they can. As to Vortex or MO2 I do not use them - and would not.

And people wonder why I am so fed up with the forums

If you had read the conversation, you'd see it's about Vortex, not NMM, not anything else.

[tulle040657]

Originally posted by smr1957:

Originally posted by tulle040657:

sigh, virtual links are an option in NMM but not on Vortex. Hey prove me wrong, and try to put your Mod Deployment folder on a different drive. I know what a hard link is, and a hard link has to be on the same drive, but hey keep telling people bad info because you think you know

Have fun


edit: things like this was my job for 35 years. When it comes to low level software like embedded systems and device drivers and directory structure I am a expert

Why so nasty tuttle? I was referring to NMM, which is what I use, and just responding to whether or not the mods can be on a separate drive from the game - which they can. As to Vortex or MO2 I do not use them - and would not.

And people wonder why I am so fed up with the forums

I am nasty because just had a dental implant and am not in a good mood because it hurts, sorry

edit: and I have to eat only soft foods for three months, no pizza for me :(

[alexander_dougherty]

Originally posted by tulle040657:

Originally posted by smr1957:

Why so nasty tuttle? I was referring to NMM, which is what I use, and just responding to whether or not the mods can be on a separate drive from the game - which they can. As to Vortex or MO2 I do not use them - and would not.

And people wonder why I am so fed up with the forums

I am nasty because just had a dental implant and am not in a good mood because it hurts, sorry

edit: and I have to eat only soft foods for three months, no pizza for me :(

Damn, my sympathies.

[smr1957]

Originally posted by alexander_dougherty:

Originally posted by tulle040657:

I am nasty because just had a dental implant and am not in a good mood because it hurts, sorry

edit: and I have to eat only soft foods for three months, no pizza for me :(

Damn, my sympathies.

Deleted my post and edited my original.
That really does suck. Hope it improves quickly and the the time to eating solid (and pizza!) flies by fast. Feel better soon!

[EternalHostility]

Originally posted by tulle040657:

Originally posted by Oldbobdude:

No you dont. My steam game folders are on c: (ssd) and Vortex mods are in d: (Sata).

yes you do, but anyway

1) C: and D: can be the same physical dive.
2) go to Vortex, select settings and the MODS tab, what does it say for the Mod Staging Folder?
3) even C can be two different physical drives

My C: is two physical drives as I have a drive mounted on c:\Games where all my game stuff is so I would not be able to set the Mod deployment directory to C:\documents as it is a different physical drive.

Vortex itself can be on a different drive but the mod deployment for a Bethesda Gaming Studio games can only be Hardlink Deployment; it by definition has to be on the same physical drive.

I will bet money on this being true

BTW for anyone interested, I have used the Move Deployment(experimental) and worked fine

my mod staging folder is what vortex sets my external as typically i would install mods and all my steam games on the C drive but everyone i watch like ESO or Gopher put theirs on an external hard drive im not sure why maybe something to do with stability or eaiser to organize but at any rate my mod staging folder says and again what vortex sets it as is d:/Votex Mods/{game} and it says its for Skyrim Special Edition now again even with this set mods still work like the problem im at currently is all my mods are loading into the game which isn't many at the moment maybe 10 but Noble Skyrim 2k textures will not load no matter if i install the patches since i have SMIM or if i change the staging or downloads folder ive tried reinstalling the game and vortex still will not load in i have pretty good specs and these mods were working together on my C: drive until i installed ENBs of which then i was gettiing crashes so i took the advice and bought an external hard drive now im having problems i would be fine putting them on my C: drive but then ENBs do not work for some reason just give me an extremely long load time which before it finishes loading it crashes