Good point. True.
I'm still braining over a few minor details, but the next version will likely include options to copy game settings and save games to a new clone if you want. So your advice will be even more applicable then.



I could be wrong about GOTY. I don't have it, just something I read but I can't recall the source so I wouldn't bet my bacon on it.
I also agree that most people will probably always want to install SI, so I will probably just strike that bit from the guide.

Thanks guys, that was all so informative! :goodjob:

I actually realised a thing or two about my whole plan, I think was trying to do things the hard way any ways. But I′ll reply in order:



After reading this and the guide and Psymon′s replies, I realised I′m not even trying to manage multiple installations - I just want to be able to launch my old setup (for modding, doesn′t EVER need to change, saves and ini settings are meaningless, etc...), AND be able to install another copy, on the new drive, for playing.

So what I would be managing with this tool, includes ONLY the playing copy. That′s the one I′m adding mods for and playing, the other one needs to exist and needs to be launchable only for the purposes of launching CS and occasionally loading SOME old save to test some script.

So I′ll simply install the game on the new drive. Period. Because, I can STILL launch the old copy directly from the folder. All the ini settings and saves can just as well be "owned" by the playing version.


About SSD:s

I bought a 60Gb drive, just to play Oblivion (at least for now). So that files that are loaded in-game load faster. Also put my page file on it, cause some stuff will end up coming from there anyways.

I got to test this with my current (modding) installation, by simply copying the folder over and launching from the folder. And the difference is STAGGERING. It′s just so damn SMOOTH. :celebration:


My current installation was running from two 7200rpm raid 0 HDDs, and measuring the difference with HdTune gives 2-3 times average sustained reading speed. I can′t measure seek times or random access times with the free version, but those should be up to 10 times higher (especially with that old HDD pretty crammed).

So it′s not a miracle the difference shows, since 2006 my CPU, GPU, memory and GPU-memory have about quadrupled in power or amount, still this was the biggest individual difference I got from upgrading. It was also the cheapest upgrade (150e).




I actually considered buying one of those, then read some reviews. The only time the hybrid (7200rpm) drive got up to VelociRaptor (10000rpm) speed was when they repeated a pre-recorded set of drive actions - and eliminated the first test from the average. This way the SSD buffer was already holding the needed data. In all other testing, it got [censored] by the 10000rpm drive.

So at least for now - especially when it comes to reading thousands and thousands of different and random game files from the HDD - the hybrid drives and pretty much the same as using non-hybrid drives, the only thing that matters is the traditional speed of the drive. So actually it seems that those are the ones with no good excuse for the extra price - at least not for gaming purposes.



EDIT: The second quote was a wrong one...fixed..

Sorry for the double post, but this is different stuff, mostly just something I got to thinking:


you said that having the different setups on the different drives would be an issue because the files would have to be copied back and forth. Now this is not exactly true - it would be just a matter of pointing the program which exe to launch with the selected setup. Different installs or clones can simultaneuously exist in different paths just fine, it′s just a matter of launching the game from the actual exe in the corresponding folder.

The biggest advantage of this program is (obviously) that you can have different saves and configuration files for those different installs, and a single portal to select which setup to launch. Now if the system wouldn′t be based on the assumption that all the installs are in the same folder, but rather the user would need to point out the exe (or obse_loader.exe) that should be executed to launch the corresponding profile/clone, the user could have the clones where ever they want and then of course there would be no renaming of the Oblivion folder needed.


I understand there may be points relating to different tools you can launch or something, but I thought I would still throw this out there. If nothing else, it would be a nice alternative feature, being able to launch copies (exes) located in what ever paths, while the program would keep different save/config folders for each profile.

Putting your pagefile onto the SSD is the main thing. Sounds like you already understand what you are doing. ''nuff said

Yes, you can run the game from different locations. Aside from having to share the savegame and game settings, the other problem is when trying to use 3rd party tools.

I'm pretty sure the TESConstructionSet.exe will only detect your installation folder, for example. So you could not use the CS in both of your copies. Doesn't matter where you launch it from, it detects where Oblivion is installed.
Another one is TES4Edit. It also relies on your installation path.
[edit] I just tested using the CS in an alternate game folder and it works fine. So the only one I can think of that is a problem is TES4Edit.

Knowing that, you might not have any trouble at all if your 2nd copy is only for playing, since you won't need those tools. Tools like Wrye Bash, OBMM and OBSE will work. They don't care about the installation path.

You can still use mTES4 though to switch between your copies, so that you can have separate game settings and savegames.
What you would do is create a dummy clone.

Get back to us when you have set up your second copy of oblivion and let us know how it's working out for you.
When you do, I'll explain more about how to setup mTES4 to be able to switch between your two copies, even if they are on different drives.

Ah, yeah well I thought I must have missed something obvious like that.

About the pagefile, I actually went and disabled it altogether, to test how that plays out. There seems to be contradicting info about the page and SSDs - intuitively it makes sense to put it on the SSD, and some programs actually require it - but some point out that the extra reads and writes caused by page file action eat away much of the extra speed you would get during heavy loading games, if the page file is on the same SSD as the files you hope to load quickly.

Obviously this requires lots of RAM to work in the first place with any program, I have 4Gigs so I′ll be comparing the results.

Yes, it would be better if the pagefile had it's own SSD, but who's got the money right?

You should definitely still see some improvement by
1. having your pagefile on a separate harddisk than your system drive, regardless if it's SSD or not.
2. having your pagefile on a faster drive.

You replied before I got to edit my post, so I'll repeat it here..
I just tested with the CS in an alternate game folder and it works fine, so the only tool that I can think of that is an issue is TES4Edit.
So you should be fine.

I discovered a serious bug I introduced in v0.5a that entirely breaks the Import, Copy and Rename functionality. :S
So here is the fixed version.

link: http://gaticus.iwireweb.com/download/mTES4%20v0.5.1b%20r76.zip

Thanks for Update

Was thinking over Skycaptain's posts and Gaitus' suggestion to set up a dummy clone (which I'm guess you mean leave the game directory empty and have this only swap out profile and app data folders) - that would work great it seems. So then other installs on other hard drives would work as well you would just have to launch from the folders where they are or set up shortcuts that direct to those folders. It just wouldn't be an all at once kind of thing that this does but very close.

I guess you could even clone (and move) but not import (from another drive) - is that right?

Yes, that's right.
With the new mTES4 Launch Tools dialog and the customizable tool shortcuts, you can have the tools point to the actual game folder too.
It's just a bit more effort.

Yes you could make a clone, move the game folder to another location and then create a dummy for it.
No you could not import a clone from another drive (or even another folder), though that would be a good idea I think.
mTES4 could take care of automatically creating the dummy and customizing the links for that clone.

The latest version still says v0.5.0b along the top when you open it.

Could be small mistake or maybe a miss-package. Thought I should mention it.

Thanks. I forgot to increment the version number. It is actually v0.5.1b.

I have re-uploaded with the correct version number though anyway.
It's exactly the same, except it will show the proper version.

hi Psyman another of topic question, you mentioned RPG-Blackdragon's ATI3.0 Shader somewhere a little further back in this forum. Is it still relevant for ATI cards now?

Not sure - I thought I had it figured out but a recent test gave me black skies - haven't tested further with just renaming the 19th shader. I'd not do that for now or unless you can figure it out. Let me know.

Has anybody taken the plunge yet?
How is mTES4 working out for you?

Has anyone tried to customize the launcher tools?

trivia:
I have never mentioned it although you have probably already guessed.
The 'm' in mTES4 stands for multiple.

Well it seems to be working at least the HDR has a whole lit less glare.
Iv'e just installed a modified set of the OBGE shaders & they are rather gorgeous CWEEFM - Cold War Eastern European Fantasy Movie Version: 0.3 http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=33085

Did I read somewhere where you said this needed to be run from?

Edit:

I just thought of some reasons for using ths

http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1105973-relz-wipz-mesogea-fantasy-ancient-earth-total-conversion/page__hl__Mesogea

http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1082859-merp-middleearth-roleplaying-project-thread-xxi/

You can run mTES4 from any folder.
It's not restricted anymore.

Yes, mTES4 is great for running a TC

Just updated Nehrim and the Nehrim launcher (now located inside an Oblivion clone) connected to a server and downloaded the Nehrim patch without issue and even saved the patch in the folder it was supposed to.

The Nehrim patch is an exe that you can then guide to whatever directory you want to install/patch to.

So no real issues with using Nehrim or launcher with this. Operator error always a factor though.

Good news

I expected as much. It's a common practice for software authors to put their products into a general folder under their company name. Just like Bethesda Softworks.
It rarely has any bearing though except for organization, especially if they provide the option for you to install in an alternate location.

Sorry to be a child... but I (and probably others) could use some hand-holding on using mTES4 to assist in setting-up Nehrim.

Right now, I have a brand-new fresh Oblivion install, now cloned through mTES4. I'd love to be able to have a clean backup, play my modded Oblivion, or play Nehrim, depending on my mood.

Anyone up for a step-by-step? Thanks so much!

Did you follow the http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1119357-wipz-mtes4-manager/page__view__findpost__p__16482200?
If you have cloned your fresh install, you should have two clones listed in mTES4. One is your Original, the other is your Clean clone.

Only thing left is to import your copy of Nehrim.
You should have Nehrim installed in a folder next to your Oblivion folder.
For example.
If Oblivion is installed to C:\Program Files\Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion
Then Nehrim is (probably) installed to C:\Program Files\Bethesda Softworks\SureAI\Nehrim

mTES4 will only allow clones to be in folders that are directly next to the Oblivion folder, so Nehrim must be moved.
To C:\Program Files\Bethesda Softworks\Nehrim

Having done that, from mTES4, import your Nehrim game.
That's all

Then you can use mTES4 to switch between your 2 clones (plus your clean copy).

Brilliant. Thanks much!

You are welcome, let us know how it works for you.

This looks awesome.

You two have done a great job of getting things documented.

Well I was all psyched up until I tried to import a Dummy folder from another drive. I have had my games on a separate partition since 1988? Anyway, I was hoping to use your utility to move my OB install from my D drive (separate partition) to my N drive (separate HDD). I think can use you utility to protect my current install while I install the clean copy, then move the clean copy to the new drive. Then reconfigure your utility to use the new drive. In the end, I wanted to have the 3 copies installed on the new drive.
To start with, I'm going to import the Dummy folder from the same drive and look at how you are managing the configuration. Then maybe it will be more clear to me.