Game crashes upon hitting "Play" button in launcher. Game runs from external SSD

[Athael_Elluvien]

Hello folks

I got me yesterday an external SSD from Seagate (One Touch, 1TB). The SSD is new and has no problems in running stuff. However, I had to re-download FF14 to the ext. SSD to get it installed there.

I am using the Steam version and had no crashes or problems before when playing on the Internal SSD from my laptop.

Now, every time I try to start the game I get a startup screen (black), maybe even the mouse cursor changes to the FF14 one, then the game crashes and I am back on Desktop. I am unable to even reach the main menu or see the "Square Enix" logo.

This is not that cool because I still want to play the game.

The Seagate One Touch has a maximum reading speed of 1030MB/s and is using my USB-C to USB-C cable/port.

I hope someone knows more to help me with that. I also contacted support but getting a response can take a while.

Changes on the topic: The start problem got fixed. Some random remaining files on the OS SSD prevented a correct start. However, I do encounter now sometimes crashes while in big cities such as New Gridania.

My PC specs are the following:

Prozessor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-9300H CPU @ 2.40GHz 2.40 GHz
Installed RAM 8,00 GB (7,84 GB use-able)
System type 64-Bit-OS, x64-based Processor
Graphic Card GTX 1650 4GB (using GeForce Experience)
Internal SSD (OS drive) 240 GB
Internal HDD (Data drive) 1 TB

Edition Windows 10 Home
Version 21H1
Installed at ‎14.‎06.‎2020
System Build 19043.1288
Performance Windows Feature Experience Pack 120.2212.3920.0


External SSD:

Name Seagate One Touch
Reading speed 1030MB/s
Total Space 1TB
Connect types USB-C to USB-A, USB-C to USB-C

[Kirika-]

While it is possible to run games from an external drive via USB, FF14 doesn't even like being installed on the non-OS drive in a fair amount of cases....
I would suggest installing the game on the laptop onto the OS drive. If you don't have enough room, I suggest upgrading your OS drive.
You didn't give the make/model/year of your laptop, but if the OS drive is an NVMe SSD, then you defiantly want the game loaded on that as your load/zone times will be greatly reduced.

You might also consider shucking the SSD out of the Seagate One Touch and use it in place of the secondary HD in your laptop as an upgrade, just search online on How To disassemble your One Touch to remove and re-purpose it's SSD.

[Athael_Elluvien]

While it is possible to run games from an external drive via USB, FF14 doesn't even like being installed on the non-OS drive in a fair amount of cases....
I would suggest installing the game on the laptop onto the OS drive. If you don't have enough room, I suggest upgrading your OS drive.
You didn't give the make/model/year of your laptop, but if the OS drive is an NVMe SSD, then you defiantly want the game loaded on that as your load/zone times will be greatly reduced.

You might also consider shucking the SSD out of the Seagate One Touch and use it in place of the secondary HD in your laptop as an upgrade, just search online on How To disassemble your One Touch to remove and re-purpose it's SSD.

The Acer Nitro 5 Gaming Laptops exist in several variations of their specs, so a model number and a device name won't help much.

I moved the game from the OS SSD because I need the free space there. That's why I got me an external SSD in the first place. Also, according to googled comments from other players on different forum platforms FF14 does run on an external SSD and HDD without problems.

And I will for sure not crack open my new SSD to build it into my laptop for having less safe space at the end. Why would I trade 3 drives in exchange for 2 overall?

[Kirika-]

The Acer Nitro 5 Gaming Laptops exist in several variations of their specs, so a model number and a device name won't help much.

I moved the game from the OS SSD because I need the free space there. That's why I got me an external SSD in the first place. Also, according to googled comments from other players on different forum platforms FF14 does run on an external SSD and HDD without problems.

And I will for sure not crack open my new SSD to build it into my laptop for having less safe space at the end. Why would I trade 3 drives in exchange for 2 overall?

AN515-54-5812 right?
So, it has a NVMe for the OS drive, I suggest upgrading that to 500gb or better (whatever in your price range, average price is just under $50US for good ones, I use CT500P2SSD8 in a lot of the systems I build)

And, as I said, yes, you can in theory run F14 from an external drive, but as you are experiencing, it is not always a sure thing and FF14 is known to have issues when not ran on the OS drive in some cases.
If you want to continue trying, I suggest going through the laptops power management for the USB port and make sure nothing is set to throttle them down or turn them off to save battery power. Also, make sure you are on AC power (the charge brick) when using the laptop to game and with the external drive. Double check the specific port you are using it one rated with enough power to run the external drive, check with the manufacturer documents for your exact model on both the laptop and drive (the model number is on the bottom of the laptop).

As for upgrading the secondary drive with the SSD out of the external drive, that was just a suggestion to allow you to use the better SSD in place of the secondary hard drive (HDD), as the increase of speed due to not having to wait for the HD to spin up makes a huge difference in read/write speeds.... it would basically be a zero net cost upgrade, as you have already purchased the external drive.
It's not a matter of just "trade 3 drives in exchange for 2 overall" as the end result would be a "faster" laptop.... plus nothing is stopping you from putting the old HDD into the external drive shell afterwards.

[Athael_Elluvien]

AN515-54-5812 right?
So, it has a NVMe for the OS drive, I suggest upgrading that to 500gb or better (whatever in your price range, average price is just under $50US for good ones, I use CT500P2SSD8 in a lot of the systems I build)

And, as I said, yes, you can in theory run F14 from an external drive, but as you are experiencing, it is not always a sure thing and FF14 is known to have issues when not ran on the OS drive in some cases.
If you want to continue trying, I suggest going through the laptops power management for the USB port and make sure nothing is set to throttle them down or turn them off to save battery power. Also, make sure you are on AC power (the charge brick) when using the laptop to game and with the external drive. Double check the specific port you are using it one rated with enough power to run the external drive, check with the manufacturer documents for your exact model on both the laptop and drive (the model number is on the bottom of the laptop).

As for upgrading the secondary drive with the SSD out of the external drive, that was just a suggestion to allow you to use the better SSD in place of the secondary hard drive (HDD), as the increase of speed due to not having to wait for the HD to spin up makes a huge difference in read/write speeds.... it would basically be a zero net cost upgrade, as you have already purchased the external drive.
It's not a matter of just "trade 3 drives in exchange for 2 overall" as the end result would be a "faster" laptop.... plus nothing is stopping you from putting the old HDD into the external drive shell afterwards.

Every other game on the SSD, especially WoW, runs without any problems. It is just Final Fantasy 14. Also, just to mention, I always play on "highest" settings for the power management. I always have the power cable plugged in.

Regarding the "upgrading" of the laptops internal SSD/HDDs, you should know that I am not swimming in money to do such a thing. Also not the interest to do that anyways.