moho25

@techangel -- Right now I'm really digging SoS. I've tried Skyrealism, Wilds, TrueVision, and Project ENB. I've looked at comparison screenshots of lots of others. They all seem to run about the same on my system, and right now SoS is by far my favorite. I'm still running on vanilla inis (with the exception of the 3 modifications you need for the ENB to work), so right now my shadows are toned down. I also have them set to medium in the launcher, as well. I've been PMing Bronze316 and JudgementJay, as well, both who have been giving me advice on settings as well to try to get as many improvements as I can in framerate. I'm still pretty disappointed I can't run the AO, but the ENB is still gorgeous even without it. So, I'll likely be using fewer mods than I was originally hoping to; I'll run into a GPU wall much faster than I was planning with using SoS. I was already anticipating avoiding mods that were too intense, also, as I would rather use a wider array of mods to improve a larger amount of game aspects, than using a couple of super intense mods to change only 1 or 2 things (Warzones jump to mind). Thinking about how Skyrim handles different types of mods, anything that doesn't involve rendering a texture (skill changes, gameplay changes, UI improvements, follower mods, things of that sort) is going to be handled by the CPU, I would think? I can maximize my use of texture replacers, etc, by using ones that are 1024 or 2048 pixels. I'll definitely use the optimized pack for the DLC. So, as long as I'm a bit judicious, I should still be able to use a fair amount of mods and still keep things playable and stable. One thing I'm wondering is how CoT, and some of the other mods that affect lighting and weather will play along with SoS to affect my framerates. I should be starting to actually test drive mods this weekend, so I'll be finding out soon.

Yes, the video card is ancient in computer years -- at a whopping year and a half old, lol. The GPU drivers are quite new though; 306 series, as I stated -- I updated a couple of months ago. nVidia's drivers have been so buggy recently that I don't update the second new ones come out; they seem to need time to work out the kinks. I like to keep my computer as stable as possible, so I prefer not to update and then rollback repeatedly. As for your confusion, not sure what to tell you. I stated vanilla Skyrim -- not Step -- which maybe it was my assuption that folks would certainly have their GPU settings on. At any rate I did describe in detail what my set up was in my first post regarding launcher & GPU settings, etc. As for the AO, I am still surprised that my system takes that much of a hit. I can't seem to use SSAO or DOF in ENB's either -- I drop down to 10-15 fps, when I try & GPU-Z shows my 1.5 GB of vRAM at 99% in those situations. I can run SoS fairly well on extreme performance mode -- 30-40 fps there, with an unmodded game. So, if I want to keep it, I might need to make some sacrifices as I start adding mods. ENB just makes the game so darn gorgeous. Sigh.

I second this. Trolls come here often to visit? Yikes.

Ha. I tried something this morning that I forgot to try yesterday. Amibent Occlusion (which I had on performance and not quality, btw). Turned it off. I wasn't using it previously because I haven't played the game in almost a year and my previous video driver didn't have the setting. I get framerates of 60 in vanilla Skyrim running around Whiterun with it off. Turn it on and I get 40, dipping down to 35 if I go up to Dragonsreach. Well, well. Found the culprit. Mighty intense setting that is apparently -- 10-20 fps drop. Of course with it on the game looks ridiculously better.

To really affect frame rates (rather than VRAM), you need to lower your shadows or back down certain other INI settings. The piece in the current guide RE 50 FPS is basically saying that ... "If you are not at near or above 50 FPS at this point, begin backing down some of the INI settings we just recommended" This would have come just before mod installation, and is a very important time to reflect upon and record before going ahead and modding the hell out of the game. Otherwise, you will have no clear idea of your performance change, given no reference point. ;) And that is the kicker. As I stated in my original post, the second batch of framerates I cited is: without mods, with vanilla inis, and with game and GPU settings lowered substantially from what even the game wants to automatically set them to. This is my reference point, though, yes, I went in reverse a bit. It doesn't change the results, however, which is that with vanilla inis, lowered GPU & game settings, and no mods or HighRez tex pack, I can't achieve a sustained 40 fps (nevermind 50) when moving in or around Whiterun. This is despite using a machine that is more than capable, and has run a fully modded Skyrim accompanied by ENB smoothly with 30ish frame rates in the past. It just doesn't make much sense that I don't see a drastic frame rate increase when running a vanilla game. Â

Ok, well, vanilla frame rates aside, does anyone have any additional insights why the ample adjustments I made seemed to make relatively little difference? Vsync is enabled in the vanilla inis by default, so my framerate would have capped out at 60 anyway. However, to me it's very surprising that I saw a *consistent* increase of only about 5-8 fps from the 1st scenario to the 2nd scenario I gave. It would jump up higher, but only when standing still, looking at a wall, the sky, etc. I have no doubt that my system can "handle" a STEP installation and then some...because I was running more intense setup (with ENB, no less) previously. I was just attempting to work more off of the STEP installation this time, and was pretty shocked when I couldn't get my computer to hit this basic parameter.

Wiki page of 2.2.1 is still Work In Progress and contains more recent updates, however bear in mind it is WIP. Current official release is 2.2.0a - i.e. the PDF version you have.Ok, so despite the strength of the wording in the PDF, am I taking this too literally? Is a vanilla fps of 50 no longer considered necessary, as long as the game is stable and running at a "reasonable" frame rate prior to modding?

@rootsrat -- So is the website more recently updated or the PDF?

@ciddative -- Well, jeez. Considering it was prefaced by ALL CAPS, and it said "minimum of 50", I figured the author was pretty serious about what they meant. I had "smooth" and "stable" about 8 hours ago. Grrr.

It's in the PDF. Quote: "1.B.2. Establish Baseline Vanilla Performance Fine-tune and test settings; remember to create save games in populated areas such as Riverwood and Whiterun to use as staging areas for screenshots and FPS comparison. Save this data for later comparison after each stage of tuning later in this guide. This is an important step, as THIS IS THE BASELINE VANILLA SETUP! If there is not a minimum of 50 FPS in all areas, then reduce Launcher settings accordingly, as forthcoming adjustments and mods will tax performance substantially, depending on choices made. For more comprehensive instructions, visit the Mod Testing Guide."

Just joined these forums today. Wonderful resource you have here :) I'm remodding my game (finally updating from a 1.4series patch!) and am attempting to use a bit of a modified STEP installation. I am having difficulties reaching the required framerate of 50 on a very capable system. Previously, I had Skyrim somewhat heavily modded (maybe 50 .esps, plus another 25-50 texture mods). In addition I had a moderately tweaked ini, including setting uGrids to 7. My game was extremely stable and while my frame rates weren't out of this world, I had them capped at 45. Generally they were usually between 20 and 35. No issues with stuttering, tearing, etc. FYI, my system: Win764, 8GB RAM, i7 2690QM, GTX 560M (1.5GB DDR5; 306.97 drivers), 1920x1080 screen res; this is a laptop which is always plugged in (no Optimus) Keeping the above in mind I have been trying to achieve the magic 50 fps recommended in STEP, which I can't seem to do. Strangely, my framerates in the game are ridiculously stable. I've spent the day adjusting settings and I sill can't reach a "solid 50" anywhere -- Riverwood, Whiterun, or on the tundra right outside of Whiterun. I started with a clean Skyrim install (BOSS + skse are present in the folders) + no mods + DLC High Rez Tex Pack. To that I did the following: added -- tweaked inis (was trying to avoid having to do these over again, so this included uGrids=7)GPU settings -- 16x AF, TexFilter=HQ, AO=performance, AA=4x, with 2xSS, vsync=use 3D (set to off in the .ini)launcher set up -- AF=disable (running through GPU), AA=4x, detail=ultra, View Distance=all max, Water reflections= all, FXAA=disabled, Object Detail Fade = unchecked, all textures but shadows on ultra (shadow=high)RESULT -- very stable, GPU temps about 60, CPU temps about 60, RAM=1350MB, FPS=30ish everywhere. So, this was nowhere near 50. I kept decreasing settings and testing until I finally gave up. Here is the final batch of settings I tested: removed -- DLC High rez Tex pack (so, only clean Skyrim + BOSS/skse; no mods, no DLC pack)replaced -- tweaked inis with vanilla inis (so, standard uGrids + everything else)GPU settings -- 8x AF, TexFilter=HQ, AO=performance, AA=2x only (no SS), vsync=use3Dapp (vanilla Skyrim settings)launcher set up -- AF=disable (running through GPU), AA=2x, detail=medium, View Distance=all at half, Water reflections= all, FXAA=disabled, Object Detail Fade = unchecked, all textures on medium (blur on low)RESULT -- very stable, GPU temps about 50-56, CPU temps about 50-60, RAM=700-800. FPS=40-53 in Whiterun when standing still, 35-40 when moving; 40-50 outside of Whiterun when still, 35-42 when moving. So, this I just don't get. By the last settings I tried I had sacrificed a substantial amount of quality, and I'm still not at 50. Not even close. Whiterun just LOVES to be 34-36 for me. I can get 40-50 in certain parts, but generally, it's about 36. Outside when I run around, it's similar. Riverwood is also similar. The biggest difference I see is in RAM usage. But my frame rates change relatively little. Basically reverting to a vanilla ini and turning down my graphics substantially netted me 10 fps or less. I even tried the HighAlgo Boost. No difference. So, what do you guys recommend? Should I keep decreasing quality (though I'm not sure I even would want to go any lower than this)? Is there something else I could be missing that is keeping the frame rates in this range? My computer was handling my previous settings just fine, as I stated, so I guess the real question is: how important is this "50" number if I plan on modding Skyrim more heavily than before -- especially considering I can't get my more than capable computer to reach 50 fps?