Fastest way to load Skyrim on the PC? Cut down on loading times? SSD? RAMDisk?

[luzhun]

Hello. I would like to be able to lower the waiting time for Skyrim on the PC. I do have both DLC's installed, HD texture packs, and lots of other mods too.

I was wondering instead of building a much better computer, could I cut down the times significantly by buying a newer 120gb SSD or if I try creating a RAMDisk for the game?

I am not sure if I could create a RAMDisk big enough since my Skyrim Game folder is over 30gb's! Sigh.

I am actually already using an SSD but may go for a new one since this one is a few years old. I think with RAMDisk's, you can have it permanently store the data so that it does not lose it upon the next reboot correct? or there is a way to make that happen?

It takes like 20 seconds or more to load Skyrim how it is now. Now that I think about it, I may not even have Skyrim installed to the SSD since I installed Steam on the big external drive. The Operating System and other programs are on the SSD. Steam is still kind of strange to me. Hmm..


Thank you for the help or suggestions.

 

[USAFRet]

Unless you change things, the default locale for Steam games is where the Steam client is installed.

To install 30GB worth of SkyRim on a RamDisk, you need 48 or 64GB of RAM. Doubtful you do.

In the Steam client, you can designate multiple locations. Create a location on the SSD, and install it there. See what happens.

 

[luzhun]

Hi USAFRet. Thank you for the fast response.

I will have to forget about RamDisk then unless a lot of that space has to do with screenshots, lol. I could just delete those or move all of those out, maybe can make the game folder a lot smaller?

I have the Steam client up, went to properties under Skyrim, selected Browse Local Files, and it does seem to be in the external drive. I was trying to find an option to create a location from one of those tabs, but do not see it. I may be over looking it unless you do this from some other option in steam?

I was hoping Skyrim would not have been so big, so that I could use RamDisk if I bought enough memory but I think the motherboard only supports up to 30gbs anyways, sigh.

 

[USAFRet]

Yes...if you're running this off an external drive, it will be dirt slow.

In the Steam client:

Steam
Settings
Steam Library Folders
Add Library Folder

add some location on your SSD. You may need to reinstall the game again to that location. Or possibly copy the data from your current SteamApps folder.

 

[luzhun]

Cool. I am looking at that now. Umm.. I just checked my screenshots. The size of each one is 5.93mb and I have 2,825 from what I can see so far which = 16,752.25 - uhh how much space is this? Lol.

 

[USAFRet]

Cool. I am looking at that now. Umm.. I just checked my screenshots. The size of each one is 5.93mb and I have 2,825 from what I can see so far which = 16,752.25 - uhh how much space is this? Lol.

16+GB

 

[luzhun]

Wow! I was thinking it was 16gb but that sounds like a lot! I just put all of those screenshots in one folder and it does say it is over 16gb's! That cuts the game folder size down in half if I get rid of them before I create that path to the SSD. Perhaps I could use RamDisk after all? How much memory would I need to buy?

I will see how it does on the SSD first here in a few minutes. Thank you for your help.

 

[USAFRet]

If you've been running it from an external drive, you will see a HUGE difference moving to the SSD.

 

[luzhun]

If you've been running it from an external drive, you will see a HUGE difference moving to the SSD.

Awesome! Got it copied over to the new location just fine with barely enough space left over. I really need to uninstall other programs on the SSD or something. It has been loading at exactly 8 seconds now instead of 20+ like before! Yay! 😀

I should have done this a long time ago or made sure it was installed to the SSD. If I am able to keep Skyrim under 20GB's, how much memory would I need to buy if I wanted to try RamDisk in the future?

 

[USAFRet]

If you've been running it from an external drive, you will see a HUGE difference moving to the SSD.

Awesome! Got it copied over to the new location just fine with barely enough space left over. I really need to uninstall other programs on the SSD or something. It has been loading at exactly 8 seconds now instead of 20+ like before! Yay! 😀

I should have done this a long time ago or made sure it was installed to the SSD. If I am able to keep Skyrim under 20GB's, how much memory would I need to buy if I wanted to try RamDisk in the future?

If you want to install the entire 20GB game on a RAMDrive, you'll need 20+GB. Probably 32GB, in current configurations.
Probably not worth the cost and hassle.