Better performance without 4GB Enabler

[Snarkyfork]

I was reading somewhere on the nexus ENB page or the page for the 4GB enabler (I forget which) that if you use a ENB with the 4GB enabler it destroys performance. I have tested the game both with and without the 4GB Enabler (moved the .dll out of exe folder and into the NV directory then started the game with NVSE) and the evidence seems to point toward the game running much better without the 4GB enabler...

 

When I started the game with the 4GB Enabler while using an ENB my framerate was fluctuating between 40-60 FPS with pretty strong stuttering at times. It would drop to 30 FPS during intense combat. Without the 4GB Enabler while using an ENB and starting the game with just NVSE I was sitting at a strong 60 FPS with noticeably less stuttering.

 

I have set my game up almost exactly following the F&LNV guide and went middle of the road on most textures (2k, no 4k textures) to limit stuttering. My machine has fairly high specs (Intel 6th Gen @ 4.1ghz, nvidia 980m w/8GB VRAM, etc). Most of my other bethesda games are completely decked out with full ENB and 4k textures and I hardly ever drop below 45 FPS so I just expected NV to run in a similar fashion, you know.

 

Does anyone have any intel on this? Is there a reason to play with the 4GB Enabler (is the game more stable)?

[Audley]

I would guess it has something to do with ENBoost as it already is managing memory. However, as ENB and ENBoost is mostly broken for Fallout 3 and New Vegas I don't use ENB anyway. In the ReadMe of Enhanced Shaders Tapioks does recommend removing the 4GB Enabler and only using ENBoost. In my testing I have noticed no difference either way; though it might make much more of a difference on a laptop. As Tapioks is also using a laptop. Yes the game will be more stable with the 4GB Enabler since the game can only natively use 2GB of RAM. Personally I would rather not use an ENB and just use the 4GB Enabler. ENBoost causes massive stuttering on my system and for many others. 

[Snarkyfork]

I'm using the Enhanced Shaders ENB. It got good reviews and people say good things about it but the difference is actually pretty mild, I may talk myself into disabling it if the stuttering gets on my nerves. The F&LNV guide recommended installing ENBoost, thats why I did it. I figured since I was installing ENBoost I might as well go ahead and install Enhanced Shaders, you know? Why is ENBoost recommended if it causes stuttering?

 

I just have a couple of questions, if you don't mind.

 

From what you are saying ENBoost itself will cause stuttering even when the ENB is set to false in the enbseries file? And if I turn off the ENB and just keep ENBoost on can I safely turn on Antialiasing and Anisotropic Filtering in the fallout.ini?

[Audley]

Well, the ENB itself does not really cause stuttering (unless you have a low-end rig) but ENBoost does. By setting ReduceMemoryUsage=true in your ENBLocal.ini many people including myself have reported severe stuttering, hitching, and lag. However, I don't think this happens on all machines. ENBoost is a recommended mod because it will greatly increase stability at the cost of performance. Also, you cannot use any part of ENB (including ENBoost) and use AA at the same time. I think this is due to the way injecting the D3D9.dll works. You can however Use ENB by itself without ENBoost and get the benefit of the shaders without the lag and stuttering of the ENBoost feature. Personally I use only an ENB without ENBoost or I just don't use ENB altogether. 

[Snarkyfork]

Hmm, I'll give that a try (turning off ENBoost and keeping the ENB). Now if I can just find where to turn off ENBoost again, heh...

 

Edit: How do I turn off ENBoost again? o.O

 

Change these two settings like this, right?

ReservedMemorySizeMb=VideoMemorySizeMb= 

Edit (again): Nevermind, I decided to turn off the ENB and ENBoost. I'm happy with the way the game looks the way it is.

Edited February 18, 2016 by Snarkyfork