#2
20th Feb 2017 at 11:43 AM
1) Those are good specs for TS2, yep. Check some benchmarks for the graphics card, since x40s are fairly low in the series - but given how old TS2 is I think you'll be fine. You may want some more RAM to speed up loading.
2) Yes, that will work fine. You can also contact EA customer support, and they will give you a free copy of Ultimate Collection if you prove that you have the CDs/DVDs (you'll have to do this if you have the old 4-disc basegame, as it doesn't work on Windows 10)
3) The game will work fine split between two drives like that. Buuut...
I would definitely get an SSD: it makes a huge difference to loading times. I have 6GB of CC and my game used to load in about 25 minutes on an HDD; on my SSD it takes about 3 minutes. The caveat is that in order to take full advantage of the improved loading times, you'll need to have your CC on the SSD.
I've got a 256GB SSD (C drive), so my setup is to have Windows 10 and TS2 installed on the C drive, and my default Documents location also on C; that just contains my TS2 folder and a few other game folders that I can't move. I've then added another Documents location on my E drive (HDD) to my Documents library, which contains all of my other Documents junk. I'd really recommend this, since it avoids cluttering up the SSD but also massively boost's TS2's loading times - including loading lots and neighbourhoods.
If you want to do this, though, you might want a bigger SSD. You wouldn't expect to need more than 128GB: after a year of use, my Windows 10 installation takes up 20GB (Windows tends to bloat over time), and TS2's install files are another 12.5GB; I've then got 23GB of stuff in my TS2 Documents locations, including a couple of testing environments and an old set of game files, plus backups. 55GB isn't much, right??
Problem is, there are still a disconcerting number of applications that can only be installed on the C drive - including anything from the Windows app store. I don't use the app store, but I still have 19GB of programs that could only be installed on the C drive (total 74GB), plus things like my fan controller, which I always install on the OS disk, because if the HDD they're on failed I'd be stuffed.
I've got 6GB of system volume info, including system restore points (total 80GB). There's 8GB of AppData, which you can move off the C drive but it's risky, again, because if the HDD you move it to fails or becomes unavailable, a lot of things will stop working (total 88GB) - and remember I mentioned that some other games put stuff in the default Documents location, whether you want them to or not? That accounts for another 7GB of stuff (total 95GB). I've got a Gig of driver installs on C, and then the paging file etc. take up another 9GB, but that should be a lot higher if I was following recommendations, which I'm not
(this can also be moved off C, but that would impact performance). So now I'm up to 105GB - which would be cutting it pretty fine on a 128GB SSD.
You might be fine with a smaller SSD - some people are very very good at keeping their file storage trim (I'm pretty good at that, but not fantastic). But it's worth considering going up in capacity, because these things do tend to creep up on you; and even more so given that you're buying a laptop, which makes upgrading down the line more difficult.
What I lack in decorum, I make up for with an absence of tact.