Guest corespore Posted February 16, 2014 Posted February 16, 2014 I bought a new SSD drive today and got it to work for Skyrim, surprisingly, with little to no issues. I've been told that what decides the lifespan of a SSD isn't determined so much by the access of files but the constant overwriting of the drive. This isn't going to be much of an issue concerning my Skyrim game since i have finally come to a list of mods that is consistent for the most part. What concerns me now is screenshots. I use the "print screen" method of taking screenshots and i like it, the quality is good enough and it doesn't require anything fancy to work. The issue is that using that method is that the screenshot is saved directly into the Skyrim data folder. So my inquiry is two-fold, can i somehow redirect the screenshots so be stored on my HDD drive, and does it even matter if they get sent to my SSD in the first place. And by that i mean will it even have any impact on my SSD if ever so often i save a screenshot on the SSD and then pull the pic from that directory and store it on my other drive? Also, is there any other people using SSD's for their Skyrim games and can you recommend any programs and/or tricks to optimize my drive to perform at it's best. I'm very aware that a SSD should never be defragged, i made double sure to set my windows tools options to never defrag that drive so i should be good there.
RitualClarity Posted February 16, 2014 Posted February 16, 2014 can i somehow redirect the screenshots so be stored on my HDD drive, Screenshot folder start Steam open settings click on "In-game" you will see screenshot shortcut key below is a button to select Screenshot folder. click on it change folder click OK done.
Rayblue Posted February 16, 2014 Posted February 16, 2014 Alternatively there are screencap utilities that also allow you to specify a custom folder and file formats, such as Fraps.
Guest corespore Posted February 16, 2014 Posted February 16, 2014 can i somehow redirect the screenshots so be stored on my HDD drive, Screenshot folder start Steam open settings click on "In-game" you will see screenshot shortcut key below is a button to select Screenshot folder. click on it change folder click OK done. Steam Screenshot Folder.PNG The default Steam screenshot ( f12) were set to a folder on my desktop for sometime but for whatever reason i could never get it to work which is why i used the printscreen button instead. I think it might have to do with the fact i use a PS3 controller driver to play the game and it locks out half of the keyboard functions. I double checked that the file path was still set to the screenshots folder on my desktop and when i made an ingame screenshot it still automatically routed the file to my Skyrim data folder.
RitualClarity Posted February 16, 2014 Posted February 16, 2014 If you are moving it simply because of worry about SSD use just make sure you have good backups and you should be fine. I have been using SSDs for some time now quite aggressively. I normally kill a hard drive in 2 years times and still haven't killed my first SSD. Prices are dropping rapidly. Chances are when it dies you will be ready to get a new one and a nice upgrade at about what you paid this time. You might have to do what Rayblue stated above if you are determined to change the folder. Something that would work with your controller. Are you having this issue without the controller used and only using the Keyboard / mouse? It should work correctly. If so perhaps try dropping the folder into and *actual* folder somewhere in your computer. Perhaps in Pictures folder. There might be some strange effects with it being placed on the desktop. I have had some programs that didn't like the desktop folder. For the most part I use Fraps and have it drop the captures right into my pictures folder and done. I have a separate folder setup with video being dropped into the video folder..and bench marks into the documents folder. I mention this because I have Fraps set up to use the Screen Capture Key and I don't use the steam screen capture feature myself. I like having the data folders nice and neat where ever possible. That and I don't want the accidental uploading of some of the photos to steam.
Guest corespore Posted February 16, 2014 Posted February 16, 2014 Alright i'm going to look into this fraps. Truth is i should have taken the time to find a more solid method of taking screenshots but in the end i was a tad lazy and just stuck with what worked at the time. It's bed time for me right now but I'll definitely take a good look at fraps tomorrow and see if i can't do something productive on my weekend (as long as i don't have to put any pants on).
RitualClarity Posted February 16, 2014 Posted February 16, 2014 Alright i'm going to look into this fraps. Truth is i should have taken the time to find a more solid method of taking screenshots but in the end i was a tad lazy and just stuck with what worked at the time. It's bed time for me right now but I'll definitely take a good look at fraps tomorrow and see if i can't do something productive on my weekend (as long as i don't have to put any pants on). If it ain't broke don't fix it... Now it is broke.. so now you have to fix it... lol. Fraps does cost a few dollars. I have used the paid version for a number of years/ versions. I find it a reasonable cost for what I get. Gets rid of the watermarks and allows for long video captures. (entire movies if you have a large enough drive) Stable and even has benchmarking which I haven't tried so I can't comment on it. On a seperate note. Thanks corespore. I had been meaning to turn off that dam Steam capture feature for the longest time and finally did thanks to your post...
...0... Posted February 18, 2014 Posted February 18, 2014 Fraps can also crash your game remember that.
Guest Mogie56 Posted February 18, 2014 Posted February 18, 2014 Also keep in mind that if you use an ENB it will also capture screenshots, I've completely disabled skyrim from capturing screenshots through the INI and the ENB I was using at the time kept turning it back on. I no longer use ENB's of any kind. Skyrim only captures BMP's which are to large in file size when you have limited space. Fraps has always worked for me, captures in JPG and reduces file sizes. and if you have photoshop the jpg can be edited in Camera RAW. I always had to delete all the TESVScreenshots and then the ENBScreenshots which tripled the amount of space used on the hdd because FRAPS was also capturing. But I have never had an instance where FRAPS crashed my game even capturing video.
gvman3670 Posted February 18, 2014 Posted February 18, 2014 I just use Skyrim's screenshot feature. The .bmp images are huge and piggish, but I use http://www.pcfreetime.com/download.html (Format Factory) to convert the file types into something not big. Works for video and audio files, too. Plus it's free.
RitualClarity Posted February 18, 2014 Posted February 18, 2014 Fraps can also crash your game remember that. Also keep in mind that if you use an ENB it will also capture screenshots, I've completely disabled skyrim from capturing screenshots through the INI and the ENB I was using at the time kept turning it back on. I no longer use ENB's of any kind. Skyrim only captures BMP's which are to large in file size when you have limited space. Fraps has always worked for me, captures in JPG and reduces file sizes. and if you have photoshop the jpg can be edited in Camera RAW. I always had to delete all the TESVScreenshots and then the ENBScreenshots which tripled the amount of space used on the hdd because FRAPS was also capturing. But I have never had an instance where FRAPS crashed my game even capturing video. I also never had FRAPS crash my game. The only way I know of that it can happen is if you have your Settings / Fraps too high. Fraps would shudder the screens if set to high or have a weak computer but Screen captures worked just fine.
Spartan 363 Posted February 24, 2014 Posted February 24, 2014 I use Fraps for screenshots and Nvidia Shadow for videos since my games are legit Steam purchased games
Guest corespore Posted February 24, 2014 Posted February 24, 2014 I still haven't looked into fraps yet because i was putting my efforts into upgrading my PC. I went with a thermaltake TR2 500w power supply, a kingston hyper-x 3k 120gig SSd, 8 more gigs of dual channel PNY RAM, and a Corsair H100i cooler. Right now i have to mount the cooler outside the PC box because it's stock (new case next year). But now that my hardware upgrade project is finally done i can get back to modding.
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.