Where is the best location on the hard drive to create an alternative installation path for Steam games?

[Theguybehindyou]

Context: Around a year and a half ago, I attempted to install the Nexus Mod Manager and get it to work with the Steam games I had installed on my computer. As the Manager decided it was best to install any mods by default in an entirely separate folder from where my Steam games were installed, I was worried that this would cause any of the mods that I would install using the service to not work properly, and so I asked a question about this on their forums [forums.nexusmods.com]. The answers I got, while phenomenally unhelpful (in fact, the only related suggestion I got lead to the exact thing I did not want to happen {i.e. the mod functionality of NMM for the game I was testing not working} happening), they did alert me to the fact that it is currently not recommended to install Steam and its games in C:\Program Files (or presumably C:\Program Files (x86), by extension) and that I should move Steam outside of this folder to some other location, even providing this link that explains precisely how to do this .

While this was largely impracticable at the time due to the fact that I had already installed Steam and did not have the disk space or confidence to attempt the procedure mentioned in the latter part of the link, I have since purchased a new computer and am thus finally able to install Steam and my game library in an alternative location from the get-go. The question is, where exactly should I install it? Should I create a folder at the highest level of the Local Disk and install it there? Should I just throw it somewhere without a folder? What should I do? I already had a bad experience with the botched setup of NMM and do not wish to have a similar problem with this installation.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[Iceira]

Same drev as OS will always be a issue, most people today have learn then drev or OS goes down then most things can be lost on same OS drev.

so C-drev is OS and most get a slave drev D-drev to games

there are some old cd-rom rules, i have learn , because they are 16/32 bit they should be installed in 8,3 format ( always show as C:\Progra¨ i install them in d:\games )
something about lesser restriction folder made by MS ( so program should have better chance to run there )

so yeah i install all games related things at game drev including clients and in client option if needed. only office and other app is at system.
not saying this is perfect
but then or if system goes down , i dont have to reinstall alot of games, most can be executed where they are at d-drev and startup. after new os drev is up again.

this seem to be the most best solution most gamers have learn the hard way all the way back to old DOS , and it still seem to work.


and maybe that why you wont get any advice, do notice we have seen alot of blue screen of death , and back then at win3,11 and newer system, things goes bad alot and not always MS faulth , even many though so, fact was programers did not follow the laws and took shortcuts and was cause to alot of greef., so we learn this the hardway, split OS and games

and now you get it, next gen people have no clue, because system got more stable, but fact remains, drevs can still go down , and that little pice of good intel is almost lost. untill you get a drev that goes down then you will learn this.. gl with it.

[Jack Schitt]

Being a computer tech and programmer since the 80s I got in to the habit of not cluttering up the primary (C:) drive where the operating system is installed and runs from. It has been recommended for that long to do this and install all other programs and data/content we'd want to store on a separate (slave) drive, a completely separate hard drive being best not just a separate virtual drive (letter) on the same physical drive. This practice is beneficial in a lot of ways for a lot of reasons I won't get in to other than saying one of those very good reasons to do this is that all of your stuff will be preserved if you ever change or have to re-install a fresh copy of the operating system that requires formatting (deleting absolutely everything) off of the primary drive.

Another maybe viewed as bias practice I got in to and kept is not to use 3rd party utilities and programs that do a process there's already something that does that process in the original program. It really makes no sense to use some other program to do something the default system already does. When you consider it rationally all doing that does is add more programs to your computer = takes up more space on the hard drives, adds more things for the computer to do and process = less resources to run programs with, and all of those things combined can result in undesired experiences, problems, errors, and things not working properly among other possibilities that aren't any fun to go through or deal with.

You can install a second (we're only allowed 2 library folders by the Steam Client) library folder anywhere but it's best to put it on a completely separate physical drive on a dedicated virtual (letter) drive.

That all said if you choose to still use some 3rd party program to do what the original program does anyway that is completely your choice. The thing with Steam, though, is that most "mods" for games are in the workshop and it's not possible to use something like NMM to install the mods. Another program to install and run mods for Steam games is not needed, and not even possible, for almost all of the game titles on steam that have mods except for a few.
But if you choose to continue using NMM you can change NMM's settings to direct the mods to install to the directory the game needs them to be in. Where a game needs it's mods to be is going to be different for every game though so that might be a pain in the _ _ _ to constantly change NMM settings because you made the choice of wanting to continue using an additional program for mods instead of the workshop subscribe button that works perfectly and automatically puts them where they need to be.

So yeah. It's your choice, but a pretty silly one to choose to continue using NMM. That decision to continue using NMM is the source of your frustrating experiences. I suggest not using it and uninstalling it.

[Iceira]

@Jack Schitt, nice to see old values is still not lost.
as i try to explan morrowind disk version a old game can be modder and then you need to respect 16/32 bit laws and dont install it in long name, because of modder and system was made with it you can run into path and install issue, and should stay under 8,3 laws

[Jack Schitt]

Thanks! Even with the advancements, convenience, and speed improvements technology provides for us some things are still best done the old school way. Some of the things I mentioned newer generations will completely agree with. Some of them they will have extreme objections to and disagree with.
I'm an old dog that learned from mentors who were the original 'best' at what they did. I'll continue doing things the way they taught me to. Those lessons haven't ever failed.

[Iceira]

Originally posted by Jack Schitt:

Thanks! Even with the advancements, convenience, and speed improvements technology provides for us some things are still best done the old school way. Some of the things I mentioned newer generations will completely agree with. Some of them they will have extreme objections and disagree with.
I'm an old dog that learned from mentors who were the original 'best' at what they did. I'll continue doing things the way they taught me to. Those lessons haven't ever failed.

sure, but they forgot that most people that did not know what they was doing, had BSOD every weeek/month, and then we dont laugh anymore. sure programs was also unstable, it was a new thing pc back then, and let not talk about hardware also could have issue back then. but now OP is gettings this. we was forces to move things away from system as much as we could get away with.

[Jack Schitt]

Originally posted by Iceira:

@Jack Schitt, nice to see old values is still not lost.
as i try to explan morrowind disk version a old game can be modder and then you need to respect 16/32 bit laws and dont install it in long name, because of modder and system was made with it you can run into path and install issue, and should stay under 8,3 laws

Have you gotten it to run at all? I have pc games from 1995 I still manage to get running and you're right; you have to install them using the system practices they were written with. You can't have spaces in the folder names (lol!), for most of them you have to run it in compatibility mode as well as and/or as administrator. Some of them won't run at all on windows without a rom or emulator utility. In those cases we have no choice but to use a 3rd party utility if we want to play 20+ year old games that were written on 16 or 8 bit systems.

I was learning coding (Qbasic, Linux when it was actually a control LANGUAGE not a command driven O/S, etc) before Windows 3.1 and all of that is pretty much dust we swat at to get rid of and throw away now.

[Jack Schitt]

Originally posted by Iceira:

Originally posted by Jack Schitt:

Thanks! Even with the advancements, convenience, and speed improvements technology provides for us some things are still best done the old school way. Some of the things I mentioned newer generations will completely agree with. Some of them they will have extreme objections and disagree with.
I'm an old dog that learned from mentors who were the original 'best' at what they did. I'll continue doing things the way they taught me to. Those lessons haven't ever failed.

sure, but they forgot that most people that did not know what they was doing, had BSOD every weeek/month, and then we dont laugh anymore. sure programs was also unstable, it was a new thing pc back then, and let not talk about hardware also could have issue back then. but now OP is gettings this. we was forces to move things away from system as much as we could get away with.

It's still a very good thing to do today because if you don't you risk losing and having to install everything from scratch again if you have to or choose to replace the operating system.

[Iceira]

i use winaue for amiga ( Deuteros , man still love that game )
found a c64 emu also still love ( mission impossible )

but you are right, you need old emu to those things

some games work with dosbox

i cant go back later then 80386/486 that was my pc age , and you already guess previous from above