Two Skyrim.... One pc

[LadyCherow]

Hello to all the community !! I would like to thank in advance anyone willing to answer my questions and clear some of my doubts….Now heading back to the topic, my problem is the following:As the title of the topic itself suggests, I would like to have to skyrim’s in my laptopI have already skyrim installed , it works perfectly, no issues, no problems! Etc….I love too much the game, I’ve completed the main quest “defeating Alduin†, and somehow, I feel now that it has become a bit more boring, I know there’s so much to explore and a lot of side quests to do…. And I still enjoy it ….. besides, I’ve been looking around and I’ve found a lot of beautiful and exciting mods that I would like to try….Now, I ‘m aware that modding may bring some glitches, problems and screw the game, I wouldn’t like to be forced to reinstall it, since it has never given me any problem and works perfectly! + I want to continue my current roleplaying, but I would like to have another copy of skyrim, to aply to it some mods, make other decisions, experience new things, without having to worry about screwing the installation (in the worst of cases I would always have my other normal copy of the game intact)So I know all this may seem a bit confusing and maybe it is an impossible thing to do but that’s why I’m asking for suggestions, also I would like for the second copy to be installed on steam since the current one I have is directly installed on my laptop!So, I apologize for the long thread! And ask simply: Is there a way for having two copies of skyrim on a same laptop, one non-steamed one (the current one I have) and another one steamed?Thanx again for any answers!

[David]

I'd just see if Steam lets you install Skyrim through its platform. It might, it might not. Otherwise, if you're still persistent about wanting to do this, you can do a normal install and just change the main directory (such as changing it from Skyrim to Skyrimv2 or something). What you're asking can be done but probably isn't worth it anyways. Nexus and Steam both come with the ability to disable Mods, if I'm not mistaken. What you will want to do instead is make a back-up of all of your saves prior to using any Mods, just in case something does go wrong. Worst case and you do have to reinstall for some reason (doubtful at best), just download the back-up saves and then upload them after the clean copy is installed.tl;dr - Don't bother with two installs, instead just back-up what you have prior to using Mods.

[Snuggles]

I'd just see if Steam lets you install Skyrim through its platform. It might, it might not. Otherwise, if you're still persistent about wanting to do this, you can do a normal install and just change the main directory (such as changing it from Skyrim to Skyrimv2 or something). What you're asking can be done but probably isn't worth it anyways. Nexus and Steam both come with the ability to disable Mods, if I'm not mistaken. What you will want to do instead is make a back-up of all of your saves prior to using any Mods, just in case something does go wrong. Worst case and you do have to reinstall for some reason (doubtful at best), just download the back-up saves and then upload them after the clean copy is installed.tl;dr - Don't bother with two installs, instead just back-up what you have prior to using Mods.

Quoted for emphasis. I really have nothing to add. Lol.

[LadyCherow]

Thanx for answering, i understand your point which i find reasonable but, sometimes when i read the comments of people who have installed mods, it seems that uninstalling the mods isn't enough to play the game normally again, they have been forced to reinstall it and i wouldn't like to do that!!What seems interesting is what you said about back-ups!! How do i do that? Sorry if i ask such a strange question but i've never done it before!!Also why wouldn't steam let me install the game in its platform??and, concerning the fact of installing the game with another name i don't think it's possible, if i put the installation cd i think it will give only the option of uninstalling since the game is already installed!Anyway, thanx to both for answering!

[Brad]

also you can add games to steam that you havent downloaded through steam. Just click Add Games at the bottom of your library list ;)sorry if you knew this I kind of browse posts haha

[David]

Thanx for answering, i understand your point which i find reasonable but, sometimes when i read the comments of people who have installed mods, it seems that uninstalling the mods isn't enough to play the game normally again, they have been forced to reinstall it and i wouldn't like to do that!!What seems interesting is what you said about back-ups!! How do i do that? Sorry if i ask such a strange question but i've never done it before!!Also why wouldn't steam let me install the game in its platform??and, concerning the fact of installing the game with another name i don't think it's possible, if i put the installation cd i think it will give only the option of uninstalling since the game is already installed!Anyway, thanx to both for answering!

Just copy your game save files to an external drive or a different folder in your PC.Your solution (installing another game) to the potential problem ( having to reinstall) is exactly the same as what you're trying to avoid. So why do it? There's really no point as long as you have back-ups, which are much easier and more practical.

[LadyCherow]

Yeah, actually i think you're right!! i won't be installing twice the game in my laptop, i'll try to do this back-up thing!! i thank you for the suggestion, it's the most reasonable thing to do!!Ahaha xD Brad, i kenw that; but thanx anyway for trying to help :)See you....

[LadyCherow]

Ok, sorry for bothering again, i was convinced of not installing skyrim again, in another folder, but as i'm too stubborn, i finally did it! Until here everything fine, it was installed in another folder called "skyrim2" , now i ran to check if the first original one was still fine, and it loaded good, entered to my last save etc....Now i go to check my new "skyrim2" and guess what?????????? it also loades fine but.... It gives me the option to continue from last save! i say what? i enter and i'm in the last save of the other one!i'm completly confused! it's like the pc considered both as same! with saves and all , however it's newly installed from my cd!!!:ci can't understand! Actually it's not a big problem since both work fine and i still have my game (well now two "same" games) intact and i can play!But it takes the double of space on the disk! instead of 5G , it takes 10! Even though i can bear that! i deserve it for my stubborness!I just wanted to clear some doubts! i don't dare trying to modd the second new game , because as the pc seems to consider them "the same" i fear that if i start a new game with the second one or try to modd iy it will aply to the original game too! any ideas how this is possible?Any suggestions! feel free to give me advices what should i do? if i uninstall the second will the first be gone too?

[David]

That's why it's pointless to have two installs. The only thing that could even be screwed up with Mods that matters are your game saves, and you're still using the same ones anyway.

[*]Copy and paste your game save files to somewhere safe like your desktop.

[*]Uninstall the 2nd Skyrim game.

Even if the first is lost (shouldn't be) or your saves are deleted (again, won't happen), you will still have the game save files backed up on your desktop. That's all you need to do.