Moving Game files to SSD?

"igazor;c-17751481" wrote:
Well, your processor isn't that bad (as far as TS3 goes) but you might be getting what is called classic bottlenecking if it can't keep up with the faster graphics card. Fortunately you have a solution on the way for that.

The too many write warnings on SSDs or else their lifespans will be shortened really apply to the earliest generations of them. If this is a modern SSD, there will still be a limit on the number of drive writes possible, but usually it's so high that unless you were routinely doing something much more unusual (not playing games) it would probably take longer than the your computer's lifespan to exceed it. TS3 benefits from its user game folder in Documents being on an SSD because of the caching and frequency of things having to be read from it, as well as written to it. And of course this is where saves load from and are saved to, so you would only be getting a portion of the benefits by having the program files only on the S drive.

This doesn't prove anything of course, but the desktop I am typing this to you from is a Mac with an SSD only, no HDD, and I use it for just about everything including running TS3 for Windows by way of Bootcamp. I would cart it to and from work on my back if I could, back when I actually left home to go to work (but I do have a laptop and tablet for such portability). I expect my Macs to last 8-10 years or to obsolesce before they begin to wear out mechanically and I do not anticipate this SSD being written to so many times that it will fail before its time. You could check back with me in 2028 or so to see if that's really what happened, but I'm guessing we'll both have forgotten about this conversation by then. :)

I can't really recommend a way to manually edit the Registry to shift an existing program install, the DRM for the game (that which allows only those who have purchased a license to play) is likely to get annoyed by that. If the base game and its packs are registered to you, or can now be, then you might consider a Patch 1.69 Origin controlled re-install and then you wouldn't need the discs at all, just possibly the registration codes. But if that's not an enticing or practical option, then your choices would be to wait for the new cable or obtain an external CD/DVD drive, which are pretty cheap these days and will work once the install is complete because the game doesn't really run from the discs, it just authenticates from them.

Yeah, I was thinking that's what could be causing some problems because the gfx card is pretty good and I always get around 60-100% of CPU usage when playing TS3. I play TS4 as well and their CPU requirements are higher so I figured I would upgrade. I recently started experiencing that weird freezing in TS4 as well. I am performing a clean driver install to see if that helps both of the games. I'm not sure why I'm getting this mysterious freezing in TS4 now.

That makes me feel much more comfortable about redirecting the documents folder. I have a lot of CC between both games. Are you familiar with Samsung SSD's? I heard there's a TRIM command on most SSD's to help them be more efficient but I'm not sure if it's only if you have the OS installed on the SSD.

That's a great point. I heard it takes about 600 TB and even more before some SSD's die. I guess that really is promising. I will try to check back in with you in 2028 if I don't forget lol.

Okay, yeah that sounds like a lot of work. I'd rather do a clean install. I believe my base game and packs are registered.... What is the Patch 1.69 Origin? If I can get my games to install via Origin that would be great... If not I will wait for the cable.

And are you familiar with Nvidia cards? I was doing some digging around on the internet today and some people said the Geforce Experience application shouldn't be installed because it uses up a lot of RAM. I've always had it installed for easy driver updates but I've never really liked it. Would you recommend uninstalling it? My games run fine with it, but the program itself has been unstable sometimes. I'd rather download my drivers on the Nvidia website instead of fighting with the program to cooperate just so I can update my drivers.