Nachtfrost

I think this one wasn't mentioned before (it's also minor): In the guide, where you, TC, suggest to install SRO the second time, the comparison links in the COMPILER'S ADVICE section are broken (I think that not the full url was included because of the ... in between).

I'm also very interested about the VRAM bottleneck. I know that some texture overhauls give a brief recommendation for VRAM requirement (like at least 1,2 gb VRAM for full 2k). For me though, I don't really know how much additional texture overhauls add up to the VRAM requirements. I just figured out that 2 overhauls (e.g. one for general landscape and one for flora) requiring 1,2 gb VRAM each won't likely need 2,4 gb VRAM in total, right? So it's not that simple a solution.

I have V-sync enabled too, and I tried different settings for AA, AO, Shadows... Also showed up in the vanilla game.

Hey guys, I don't know if anyone noticed that one already but... It came to my attention that the trees and grass sometimes move way too fast this and that way. It looks pretty unrealistic, even if you imagine there is a storm in Skyrim. The change from left direction back to right (wind coming from the right side) is too fast.

I'm not using FXAA or RL or somethig like that either. @torminater: Well guessed. German indeed. ;) I just forgot to mention I am using the HD-DLC-fix. I don't remember having this issue with the 1.1 patch, I think.

Well, I also have a similar problem. Sometimes there's a strange flickering on distant mountains. (I don't know if this problem equals the one you were describing) I have only the official HD texture pack (so far, the issue also appeared without it) installed with settings on Ultra, 4xAA + 2xSSAA and Quality AO. Only ini-changes I made were taken from the last STEP release. Newest drivers (non-beta version) are also installed. I have a GTX580, too, combined with i7 2600k, 16gb RAM, 500gb HDD...

Ok, I did all this and I assume you're right with this statement: For me though, the tweaked high shadows are worthless then (considering performance).

@blacksol: I know about that, but I didn't actually change anything in the launcher.

Quick update and new question: Something went wrong the last time. Changing AO and SSAA affects my performance indeed. Changing both of them 1 step down to Performance/2xSSAA gets me a +18 fps increase, changing only one of them +6/7 fps. Guess I had to restart everytime. This time I also used ini-tweaks from the last STEP-release. Somehow I could not make out a performance difference between the tweaked high shadows vs. normal ultra shadows (tested only outdoor). Also, is it normal that the Skyrim launcher detects the tweaked high shadows as ultra because of the changed resolution? I discovered that Whiterun isn't a good place to test performance for me. Fps rarely dropped under the 58 fps-mark. My rig has more struggles with areas like Riverwood.

Well, first of all thank you! I will update Skyrim and see where it gets me. I want to install STEP anyway, so I can kiss ultra shadows away anyway, I guess. @MadWizard: I'm not quite sure now. I didn't use nVidia inspector but the nVidia control panel. I also often pressed ALT + TAB to change these settings while the game was still running. Does the panel really apply AO then? It may be that there was a minor fps hit of 1 or 2 fps but it happened that just looking around (even in an interior area) made the fps waver +/- 3, so I can't tell the cause. Hope that I wasn't fooled by the control panel.

Hi guys! First of all (cause this is my first post on this forum) I wanna say that I've been following the development of STEP with great interest over the last few weeks. Therefore I want to thank The Compiler and all the supporting members of the project/forum for their effort to share the discovered enhancements for Skyrim. I've posted the following problem already on the Nexus forum but so far I didn't get a proper solution. [Copied from Nexus] I have a similar problem. Yesterday I tried out Skyrim for the first time and wanted to test out the optimal graphic settings before really beginning to play. I only used the old 1.1 version of Skyrim with latest graphic drivers installed. So I set everything to ultra except 4x AA (because I don't notice a difference in-game) with 4x SSAA and Quality Ambient Occlusion through the nVidia Control Panel. I hadn't done any ini-tweaks or mods installed so far. I just started a new game and ran straight to Whiterun (because I had heard that it's a good place to test out performance). So my average FPS (with FRAPS) was 50 and never dropping under 30. Changing single graphic settings, I quickly noticed that changing AA, SSAA, AF or Ambient Occlusion barely affected my FPS at all (either way). The game ran fluidly so far. Unfortunately, when I got out of Whiterun at sunset, and when the rays of the sun broke through the branches of a nearby tree my fps dropped to 20-22!!! I made a quicksave and changed the shadow settings from ultra to high and gained 40 fps!!! running around the area of whiterun with up to 80 fps. I wanna know if it's possible that this setting can cripple my gpu so much? (I know that shadows are a big fps killer, but 40 fps???) Besides I think my rig should be able to deal with ultra shadows. I saw youtube-videos of ppl who had the exact rig as mine and could run everything on ultra + many graphic mods. So here's my rig: Windows 7 64bit ASUS P8Z68 V-Pro i7-2600k @3,4ghz 16 gb ram Geforce GTX 580 1,5 gb VRAM Corsair GS600 WD Caviar Black 500 GB Also, I played with the native 1920x1080 resolution on a single monitor, real time virus scan was disabled, there weren't any other programs running in backgound (except FRAPS), energy option was set for high performance and my gpu wasn't overheating. My overall time in-game was estimated 30-45 minutes. I had to leave Vsync enabled to avoid too many fps fluctuations. [/copied from Nexus) Added: Also the official HD Texture Pack was not installed. The game runs fine as long as the fps stay above 30 minimum. Going further down I notice a change of game pace. I'm not much of a pc expert so I hope that there is an easy explanation for the problem. (Maybe the new patches will be enough to change the problem, you think?) I admit that I'm a little bit sad right now cause I bought this rig just 6 month ago (so shortly after Skyrim was released) for a huge amount of money. I was thinking that this would be more than enough to run Skyrim on ultra at least without mods/hd texture packs/ultra ini tweaks. Unfortunately, I get the feeling that a single graphic card can do **** these days, even if you spend money like hell for it. Thanks already! Your work is very much appreciated!