Question for the experts; Elite Dangerous installed on external SSD possible?

[Xanix]

Hi. Since the Alpha/Beta times, I've the ED default installation, on an HD.

I've located these folders for ED:
C:\Programas (x86)\Frontier
C:\Users\Filipe\AppData\Local\Frontier Developments
C:\Users\Filipe\AppData\Local\Frontier_Developments

If I install ED's steam version; all the game files stay located, on one single folder (I think).

My question is; is it possible to make an installation of ED (nosteam), on an external SSD and have all the needed files, on a single folder eg: Elite?
That way, I could move it between my tower or the notebook, without having to have it installed on both. Only activating the security keys, when launching the game.

Also; is it possible to have two Commanders, on only one game installation?
I've my «old» Commander and I wanted to add a new one, for a fresh start (Odyssey) without losing, the «backer something» user. I think I could try simlinks, but that could end, on corrupting the game installation.


Thank you in advance and best regards to all

 

[Crank Larson]

It is possible to have two commanders (and more) on one game installation. You just need to log out of the launcher and back in with the relevant account. I've done this for a long time with the standard (no Steam) install.

No idea how easy it would be to run from external SSD. I just have E: D installed on both machines I use it on (which both have SSDs anyway).

EDIT: I should add... You do need to buy the extra commander. I bought an extra Horizons copy in one of the sales.

 

[Xanix]

Thank you. I already have the physical version of ED's OST; Elite Dangerous's dvd already ordered.

 

[Zed]

As far as I know the app data folders are used by all installs of ED you have.
I have 3 installs so I can run 3 commanders at the same time, they share things like key bindings and travel history in the galaxy map

 

[stereoBear]

Well, your settings (graphics/controls) will always be saved under C:\Users\Filipe\AppData\Local\...

The journal and list of visited system is stored in C:\Users\Filipe\SavedGames\Frontier Developments\Elite Dangerous\

Where you install the actual game files does not matter at all (even under steam yo can choose different drives/partitions).

Your CMDR is stored server side.

You can of course try to use symlinks to redirect some of those default folders to your external drive but I cannot remember if this works with removable drives.

 

[Daemonjax]

I would use symlinks. You can use symlinks to removable drives. They just need to be formated as NTFS.

 

[Caydran]

Although possible to install ED on an external device, Thumdrive, SSD, HDD, the journal files are usually written to a "Saved Games" directory outside of the Elite installation, usually under the Windows Users Profile. As well, there are the Bindings files which are also stored under the users Windows profile directory which can lead to a loss of controller bindings if the game cannot find them when gameplay starts. So when moving the install device from computer to computer, you would need a copy of the Windows User Profile on each machine, under the Windows User profile. There are ways to do this, but it gets complicated.

As well, the install process writes values to the Windows registry and these values and paths would need to be on both machines. Which means installing the game files twice, once while the install device is connected to the first machine, and then again to the second machine. Again, this gets complicated.