Z-fighting breaks physics

[T_rod]

Greetings everyone!

 

I am new here, and to modding in general, and i have come across one problem that i don't really know how to fix.

 

I installed the STEP extended + some more mods, including Frostfall, ACE, Weathers of Tamriel, as well as the Vividian ENB. After getting the game to run, i encountered Z-fighting while i was benchmarking for the last time, with the snow on mountains and rocks as well as some shadows flickering. I could live with the shadows flickering a bit, but the Z-fighting on mountains in the distance was horrible.

 

I followed this guide for Z-fighting: https://wiki.step-project.com/Guide:Z-Fighting and edited only the SkyrimPrefs.ini

 

However, when starting up the game again, the physics went haywire, with the carts and horses bouncing and tumbling untill the horses die, promptly leaving me in a soft lock. I know this is a known problem with the game, and I know Vsync usually fixes this, and indeed I had this problem earlier during the STEP guide before turning on Vsync in ENBoost, but now it returned. Restoring the edited .ini-file to a backup i made of the original file fixed the physics issue, but the horrible Z-fighting remained.

 

Soo is there a way to combat the z-fighting while at the same time keeping the game playable? 

 

I have an I7 3770K, GTX 780 with 3gb Vram, 16Gb RAM, and i have Skyrim and all of the mods installed on a Samsung EVO 840 250gb SSD. I am using Windows 10.

 

Thank you!

Edited June 4, 2016 by T_rod

[phazer11]

To be honest there isn't a surefire way from what I recall you just have to tweak till it's at an acceptable level. Haven't heard of z-fighting tweaks breaking physics though. I would point you at DoubleYou's project ini SpINI

Other than that an actual ENB ought to help cover it up some.

[DoubleYou]

Z-fighting tweaks should cause physics issues. Please provide your enblocal.ini, Skyrim.ini, and SkyrimPrefs.ini files in spoilers.

 

[spoiler]
[code]
Text
[/code]
[/spoiler]

[T_rod]

enblocal.ini:

 

 

 

[PROXY]
EnableProxyLibrary=false
InitProxyFunctions=true
//ProxyLibrary=d3d9_SFX.dll
//ProxyLibrary=d3d9_SweetFX.dll
//ProxyLibrary=RCRN_d3d9.dll
//ProxyLibrary=d3d9_smaa.dll
ProxyLibrary=
 
[GLOBAL]
UsePatchSpeedhackWithoutGraphics=true
UseDefferedRendering=false
IgnoreCreationKit=true
ForceFakeVideocard=false
 
[PERFORMANCE]
SpeedHack=true
EnableOcclusionCulling=true
EnableZPrepass=true
 
[MULTIHEAD]
ForceVideoAdapterIndex=false
VideoAdapterIndex=0
 
[MEMORY]
ExpandSystemMemoryX64=false
ReduceSystemMemoryUsage=true
DisableDriverMemoryManager=false // Set to true for AMD Videocards
DisablePreloadToVRAM=false
EnableUnsafeMemoryHacks=false
ReservedMemorySizeMb=512 // Reduce to 256 or 128 if you have less than 3GB VRAM
VideoMemorySizeMb=3714
// less than 8GB Formula: (VRAM + RAM - 2048) , max value: 10240
// more than 8GB Formula: (VRAM + RAM - 2048 / 2) , max value: 10240
EnableCompression=false //set to false or true if you experience stuttering 
AutodetectVideoMemorySize=false // set to false for "VideoMemorySizeMb" to take effect
 
[WINDOW]
ForceBorderless=true
ForceBorderlessFullscreen=true
 
[ENGINE]
ForceAnisotropicFiltering=true
MaxAnisotropy=8
ForceLodBias=false
LodBias=-0.33 // Lower Values for more detailed Textures at distance, -0,33 selected for Vividian Setup
EnableVSync=true
AddDisplaySuperSamplingResolutions=false
VSyncSkipNumFrames=0
 
 
[LIMITER]
WaitBusyRenderer=false
EnableFPSLimit=false
FPSLimit=60.0
 
[INPUT]
//back
KeyReadConfig=8
//shift
KeyCombination=16
//f12
KeyUseEffect=123
//home
KeyFPSLimit=36
//num /       106
KeyShowFPS=106
//insert
KeyScreenshot=45
//enter
KeyEditor=13
//
KeyFreeVRAM=122
KeyBruteForce=66
 
[ADAPTIVEQUALITY]
Enable=false
Quality=0
DesiredFPS=20.0
 
[ANTIALIASING]
EnableEdgeAA=true // set to true for Rudimentary Anti Aliasing
EnableTemporalAA=false
EnableSubPixelAA=false // set to true for Subpixel Antialiasing
EnableTransparencyAA=false
 
[FIX]
FixGameBugs=true
FixParallaxBugs=true
FixAliasedTextures=true
IgnoreInventory=true
FixSsaoWaterTransparency=true
FixTintGamma=true
RemoveBlur=false
FixSubSurfaceScattering=true
FixSkyReflection=true
FixCursorVisibility=true
FixParallaxTerrain=false //enable for parralax effects on ground textures, makes only sense with texturepacks
FixLag=false //enable if you experience mouselag
[THREADS]
DataSyncMode=0
PriorityMode=0
EnableUnsafeFixes=false
[LONGEXPOSURE]
EnableLongExposureMode=false
Time=1.0
BlendMax=0.0

 

skyrim.ini:

 

[General]
sLanguage = ENGLISH
uExterior Cell Buffer = 36
sIntroSequence =
fFlickeringLightDistance = 8192.0
 
[Display]
fShadowLODMaxStartFade = 1000.0
fSpecularLODMaxStartFade = 2000.0
fLightLODMaxStartFade = 3500.0
iShadowMapResolutionPrimary = 2048
bAllowScreenshot = 0
fSunShadowUpdateTime = 0.25
fSunUpdateThreshold = 1.5
fNearDistance=15.0000
 
[Audio]
fMusicDuckingSeconds = 6.0
fMusicUnDuckingSeconds = 8.0
fMenuModeFadeOutTime = 3.0
fMenuModeFadeInTime = 1.0
 
[Grass]
bAllowCreateGrass = 1
bAllowLoadGrass = 0
fGrassFadeRange = 18000.0
iMaxGrassTypesPerTexure = 7
iMinGrassSize = 40
 
[GeneralWarnings]
SGeneralMasterMismatchWarning = One or more plugins could not find the correct versions of the master files they depend on. Errors may occur during load or game play. Check the "Warnings.txt" file for more information.
 
[Archive]
sResourceArchiveList = Skyrim - Misc.bsa, Skyrim - Shaders.bsa, Skyrim - Textures.bsa, Skyrim - Interface.bsa, Skyrim - Animations.bsa, Skyrim - Meshes.bsa, Skyrim - Sounds.bsa
sResourceArchiveList2 = Skyrim - Voices.bsa, Skyrim - VoicesExtra.bsa
bInvalidateOlderFiles =0
SInvalidationFile =ArchiveInvalidation.txt
sArchiveList = Skyrim - Misc.bsa, Skyrim - Shaders.bsa, Skyrim - Textures.bsa, Skyrim - Interface.bsa, Skyrim - Animations.bsa, Skyrim - Meshes.bsa, Skyrim - Sounds.bsa
 
[Combat]
fMagnetismStrafeHeadingMult = 0.0
fMagnetismLookingMult = 0.0
f1PArrowTiltUpAngle = 0.7
f1PBoltTiltUpAngle = 0.7
f3PArrowTiltUpAngle = 0.7
 
[Papyrus]
fPostLoadUpdateTimeMS = 500.0
bEnableLogging = 0
bEnableTrace = 0
bLoadDebugInformation = 0
 
[Water]
bReflectLODObjects = 1
bReflectLODLand = 1
bReflectSky = 1
bReflectLODTrees = 1
 
[Camera]
fMouseWheelZoomSpeed = 10.0
 
[MapMenu]
fMapWorldYawRange = 400.0
fMapWorldMinPitch = 0.0
fMapWorldMaxPitch = 90.0

 

 

 

skyrimprefs.ini:

 

 

 

[General]
fBrightLightColorB = 1.0000
fBrightLightColorG = 1.0000
fBrightLightColorR = 1.0000
iStoryManagerLoggingEvent =-1
bEnableStoryManagerLogging =0
 
[Imagespace]
bDoDepthOfField =1
iRadialBlurLevel = 2
 
[Display]
iBlurDeferredShadowMask =3
fInteriorShadowDistance =3000.0000
fShadowDistance =8000.0000
iShadowMapResolutionSecondary = 1024
iShadowMapResolutionPrimary = 2048
iShadowSplitCount = 2
iMaxAnisotropy =0
fLeafAnimDampenDistEnd =4600.0000
fLeafAnimDampenDistStart =3600.0000
fTreesMidLODSwitchDist =8192.0000
fGamma =1.0000
fDecalLOD2 =1500.0000
fDecalLOD1 =1000.0000
fSpecularLODStartFade =1100.0000
fShadowLODStartFade =200.0000
fLightLODStartFade =1800.0000
iTexMipMapMinimum =0
iTexMipMapSkip =0
iWaterMultiSamples =0
iMultiSample =4
iShadowMode =3
bTreesReceiveShadows =1
bDrawLandShadows =1
bFull Screen =1
iSize H =1080
iSize W =1920
fMeshLODFadePercentDefault =1.2000
fMeshLODFadeBoundDefault =256.0000
fMeshLODLevel2FadeTreeDistance =4096.0000
fMeshLODLevel1FadeTreeDistance =6144.0000
fMeshLODLevel2FadeDist =10000000.0000
fMeshLODLevel1FadeDist =10000000.0000
iScreenShotIndex =2
bShadowMaskZPrepass =0
bMainZPrepass =0
iMaxSkinDecalsPerFrame =100
iMaxDecalsPerFrame =250
bFloatPointRenderTarget =0
sD3DDevice ="NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780"
bFXAAEnabled =0
iShadowMapResolution =4096
fShadowBiasScale =0.1500
iShadowMaskQuarter =4
iAdapter = 0
iPresentInterval = 1
iShadowFilter=3
bShadowsOnGrass=1
bTransparencyMultisampling=0
bDeferredShadows=1
bDrawShadows=1
 
[Grass]
b30GrassVS =0
fGrassStartFadeDistance =7000.0000
fGrassMaxStartFadeDistance =7000.0000
fGrassMinStartFadeDistance =0.0000
 
[MAIN]
bGamepadEnable =1
bCrosshairEnabled =1
fHUDOpacity =1.0000
bSaveOnPause =1
bSaveOnTravel =1
bSaveOnWait =1
bSaveOnRest =1
fSkyCellRefFadeDistance=150000.0000
 
[GamePlay]
bShowFloatingQuestMarkers =1
bShowQuestMarkers =1
iDifficulty =2
 
[Interface]
bDialogueSubtitles =1
bGeneralSubtitles =1
fMouseCursorSpeed=1.0000
bShowCompass=1
 
[Controls]
fGamepadHeadingSensitivity =1.0000
fMouseHeadingSensitivity =0.0160
bAlwaysRunByDefault =1
bInvertYValues =0
bGamePadRumble =1
bMouseAcceleration = 1
bUseKinect=0
 
[Particles]
iMaxDesired =750
 
[SaveGame]
fAutosaveEveryXMins =15.0000
 
[AudioMenu]
fAudioMasterVolume =1.0000
fVal7 =1.0000
uID7 =1845698742
fVal6 =1.0000
uID6 =3954
fVal5 =1.0000
uID5 =1862686833
fVal4 =1.0000
uID4 =1862273117
fVal3 =1.0000
uID3 =94881
fVal2 =0.4000
uID2 =466532
fVal1 =1.0000
uID1 =554685
fVal0 =0.8000
uID0 =1007612
 
[Clouds]
fCloudLevel2Distance =262144.0000
fCloudLevel1Distance =32768.0000
fCloudLevel0Distance =16384.0000
fCloudNearFadeDistance =9000.0000
 
[TerrainManager]
fTreeLoadDistance =75000.0000
fBlockMaximumDistance =250000.0000
fBlockLevel1Distance =70000.0000
fBlockLevel0Distance =25000.0000
fSplitDistanceMult =1.5000
bShowLODInEditor =0
 
[NavMesh]
fObstacleAlpha = 0.5000
fCoverSideHighAlpha = 0.8000
fCoverSideLowAlpha = 0.6500
fEdgeFullAlpha = 1.0000
fEdgeHighAlpha = 0.7500
fEdgeLowAlpha = 0.5000
fTriangleFullAlpha = 0.7000
fTriangleHighAlpha = 0.3500
fTriangleLowAlpha = 0.2000
fLedgeBoxHalfHeight = 25.0000
fEdgeDistFromVert = 10.0000
fEdgeThickness = 10.0000
fPointSize = 2.5000
 
[Trees]
bRenderSkinnedTrees =1
uiMaxSkinnedTreesToRender =200
 
[Decals]
uMaxDecals =1000
bDecals = 1
bSkinnedDecals = 1
uMaxSkinDecals = 100
uMaxSkinDecalsPerActor = 60
 
[LOD]
fLODFadeOutMultObjects =8.0000
fLODFadeOutMultItems =7.4000
fLODFadeOutMultActors =8.0000
fLODFadeOutMultSkyCell=1.0000
 
[Launcher]
bEnableFileSelection = 1
bShowAllResolutions = 1
uLastAspectRatio = 3
 
[BlurShaderHDR]
bDoHighDynamicRange = 1
 
[BlurShader]
bUseBlurShader = 0
 
[Water]
iWaterReflectHeight =2048
iWaterReflectWidth =2048
 
bUseWaterDisplacements=1
bUseWaterRefractions=1
bUseWaterReflections=1
bUseWaterDepth=1

 

 

 

It's quite the dilemma, is it not? Have the game look loke crap OR not being able to play at all.

 

[DoubleYou]

Hmm. First off, you say you have Vividian ENB installed, but you have the ENB graphics portion turned off in enblocal.ini, so you will not get the graphics mods changes. You may realize this, however, I thought I would point it out to you. Second, I don't see the Z-fighting tweaks in the guide shown in these INIs, so that is confusing to me.

 

I think what I would mostly recommend in your case would actually be to run my spINI mod, since it appears you have some rather unoptimized INI settings IMHO. Also, with my changes, you should get hardly any Z-fighting at all. I would think that even with your system, you would get quite a bit of directional-turn lag with your settings, although I could be wrong. I have found that lag is the number 1 source of physics bugs when I was playing on a crappy laptop, which was exaggerated with vsync off.

 

If you think you don't really have a laggy game, and would prefer to simply modify your current settings to reduce the Z-fighting, I would recommend you change the following:

 

SkyrimPrefs.ini

[MAIN]
fSkyCellRefFadeDistance=600000

[TerrainManager]
fBlockLevel0Distance=50000
fBlockLevel1Distance=72500
fBlockMaximumDistance=94000

[T_rod]

I actually didn't know that the enb was turned off. As said, i am new to modding - both skyrim and in general - but i thought i followed the installation guide on the vividan nexusmods page. How do i turn it on then?

 

I reverted the z-fighting changes so that's why it's not in the .ini i submitted.

 

I played through the start until i reached Whiterun, just to see how bad the z-fighting was. It was kinda bad. I didn't notice any real lag, and i had around 75fps on average. I did notice some microstuttering but that seemed to be specific to some areas, while looking at z-fighting mountains in the distance. I did notice some problems though, such as objects inside buildngs freaking out - tankards especially - causing a really anoying clanking. I also noticed some wierd poping issues, namley that the LOD on some objects didn't change as i got closer to them. In the whiterun area, the trees were sprites, some rocks were just plain gray without textures and some rocks were hovering above the ground. I could clip through theese objects, but in doing so, the game would play several swimming sounds stacked on eachother while flashing the screen black. I jumped into the game just now to see if i could replicate the issues, but this time the LOD did change as i got closer to objects, but it wasn't until i was about 20 meters away from them, so it was really noticable and annoying. It only seemed to affect trees this time. Could this also be an issue with the .ini-files?

 

I will install your spINI-mod. As said i am new to modding, and i dont know anything about ini optimization :P 

[Nozzer66]

That clanking and objects 'spazzing' often happens if/when you get FPS >100. I have a 120Hz monitor so I always use Nvidia Inspector to set Vsync to half refresh rate. Should sort that one out for you. 

[T_rod]

So i installed the spINI, and it made my game run smoother - like 10fps smoother - when using the ultra-settings, so that's good. It didn't reduce the Z-fighting though.

 

I am still getting the LOD-poping on trees, they are sprites untill like 50 meters away, when they become real trees. There also seems to be some wierd issues when looting, where the game thinks i am under water. It plays the stacked swimming sound and flashes underwater graphics. I dont know if this is physics related or related to .ini-stuff or if it is related to mod conflicts. In any case, the z-fighting is unchanged, but the intro cart scene is fine physics-wise.

[DoubleYou]

Well, that sounds like mod problems to me. You might turn on ENB, however, and see if that helps

[T_rod]

So the problem with Z-fighting is still present, and changing the ini-files didn't help. Increasing the uGridsToLoad to 7 did help out a little bit, but it is still quite noticable. I re-built the bashed patch, the Dual sheath redux, and i redid the DynDOLOD but that didn't help either. I will have to live with this i guess. At least i have no physics issues any more. I forced a 60fps cap through the drivers as well. My other problems are still presisting as well, but this is not the right thread for that.

[Pickysaurus]

I just eliminated almost all the Z-fighting in my game by running spINI (which made it barely noticable) and then updating my video card driver and accepting the recommended settings for it.