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Skyrim Special Edition Default Values for All Valid INI Settings

DoubleYou

By DoubleYou
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DoubleYou Akatosh

DoubleYou

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Skyrim Special Edition Default Values for All Valid INI Settings

If it's not here, the tweak is most likely bogus, if it follows the same pattern as in previous games. To verify a setting exists, use the getini console command. If it returns "NOT FOUND," it is bogus. (Side note: settings with a u-prefix always returns an "UNKNOWN TYPE" value. This is normal and the setting is still valid.) Also note that there is a SkyrimCustom.ini that functions the same way it has done in previous games (overwrite Skyrim.ini, but not SkyrimPrefs.ini). Plugin INIs have not been tested. I have settled for the same definition of "Default" as I used for the original Skyrim, i.e., the value used when the setting is not explicitly stated in the INI files.

Do NOT use these as your INI files. This is for reference only at this point.

Update: It appears that the saveini method of retrieving valid INI settings fails for SkyrimPrefs.ini, therefore some bogus settings have been included below until I can remove all the bogus ones! With this development, it is possible that there are SkyrimPrefs.ini settings that exist that simply are not listed here!

Update2: I have removed the very few bogus settings I could verify through the console, which happened to only be the NavMesh section, which was also erroneously in the original Skyrim. I believe that this INI file IS complete, but I have no way to verify that for SkyrimPrefs.ini. Skyrim.ini, however, is provided here in its entirety.

Skyrim.ini

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SkyrimPrefs.ini

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jonwd7
jonwd7

It stands for "Compute Shader" meaning the calculations are done using compute shaders (a DX11 feature).   ---   Just wanted to share a few things here... bIndEnable is indeed like ENB's SSIL but it's

Kesta General

Kesta

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Wait, the trick of deleting Skyrimprefs.ini before starting the game to have it restored fresh with only valid setting isn't actually valid ? I was pretty sure that's how you proceeded in previous versions of the game. Ths gave me the very same content as the SkyrimPrefs.ini posted in OP.

 

 

If not, you can know which settings are read by the game (not necessarily used) by just searching the executable (open SkyrimSE.exe in notepad++ and use Ctrl+F), INIs are in there, as plain ANSI string, using the syntax parameter:Category 

Edited by Kesta
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DoubleYou Akatosh

DoubleYou

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Some random settings related to lighting and shadows:

 

Skyrim.ini

[Display]
fFirstSliceDistance=2000
This sets the distance from the player from which highly detailed shadows are cast. If set to 0, your shadows will look like crap. Some people recommend increasing this beyond the typical 2000 (and I may join them once I test a bit) to help decrease the visible line between the detailed shadows and the faraway shadows. Since it stretches the shadow map across this distance, it has no performance impact, but causes the resolution of the shadows to decrease.

 

SkyrimPrefs.ini

[Display]
bIBLFEnable=1
This toggles image-based lens flare, most commonly seen on candles. It has little performance impact (around 1% decrease in fps, probably dependent on how many lights are around). There are related settings in Skyrim.ini under display that can tweak this effect.
[Display]
bIndEnable=0
From my testing, I believe this enables "Indirect Lighting." This lights up some places that would otherwise be unlit without it. It heavily impacts performance (decreased fps by 15% for me), which is probably why it is disabled even in the ultra preset. I did not observe any bugs with it, but it really doesn't improve the game appearance IMHO, and is a real performance hog.
[Display]
bSAO_CS_Enable=0
This setting enables a special kind of ambient occlusion effect calculated in real time that is rather buggy. Lighting will change in a room dependent upon where you are looking. It require ambient occlusion (bSAOEnable) to be enabled. It's performance impact is about 4% decrease of fps.
[Display]
bSAOEnable=1
Toggles ambient occlusion. You want this on. Performance impact is virtually nonexistent, and it vastly improves appearance.
[Display]
bVolumetricLightingEnable=1
Toggles volumetric lighting (i.e., Godrays). Most people will want this on, but you can turn it off if you like for a performance boost. It decreases fps by about 7% with iVolumetricLightingQuality set to 2, about 5% when set to 1, and about 4% when set to 0.
[Display]
iVolumetricLightingQuality=2
This sets the quality of volumetric lighting (i.e., Godrays). 0 is Low (~4% performance impact), 1 is Medium (~5% performance impact), 2 is High (~7% performance impact). Setting it to other values other than 0, 1, or 2 will cause Godrays to be disabled.
[Display]
iNumSplits=2
This is a shadow setting that probably has something to do with splitting the shadow map to cause the shadows to have better appearance or something. Not really sure. What I do know is that only values 2 and 3 seem to work, as other values either cause glitchy shadows or no shadows at all. 2 is the most performance friendly. 3 comes at a whopping 10% decrease in framerate. Shadows really didn't look much improved afterward, so I would recommend leaving this setting alone.
Guest

Guest

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Image-based lens flare.

 

Edit: Spelling.

Edited by Guest
Guest

Guest

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I should also point out that SSAO is a real-time AO method regardless. It was invented by a programmer at Crytek, so I am going to assume the 'CS' part is possibly named after that. I think it involves some sort of sphere calculation, so perhaps 'Crytek Sphere'? I'm bettting the non-CS version uses a more optimized derivative of this method and the outcome was more desirable.

 

Probably totally useless to you, but those are my thoughts. It's merely that I have been reading up on various pointless nonsense for the past few months. Heh!

remlnx Noble

remlnx

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While i understand this is only for reference, i start to think something wrong with my Skyrim.ini, i have like 1/100 of the info in the one of the opening topic LOL, i suppose i am missing some juicy settings then? (i usually just add/modify the lines suggested by Neo in the SRLE guide)

DoubleYou Akatosh

DoubleYou

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  On 11/17/2016 at 10:09 AM, remlnx said:

While i understand this is only for reference, i start to think something wrong with my Skyrim.ini, i have like 1/100 of the info in the one of the opening topic LOL, i suppose i am missing some juicy settings then? (i usually just add/modify the lines suggested by Neo in the SRLE guide)

Not all settings need to be present to be used by the game. The default values shown in the OP will be used if no value is specified. Generally speaking, you should only need a setting if you wish to modify its value from the default.

jonwd7 Watcher

jonwd7

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  On 11/17/2016 at 9:54 AM, SparrowPrince said:

I should also point out that SSAO is a real-time AO method regardless. It was invented by a programmer at Crytek, so I am going to assume the 'CS' part is possibly named after that.

It stands for "Compute Shader" meaning the calculations are done using compute shaders (a DX11 feature).

 

---

 

Just wanted to share a few things here... bIndEnable is indeed like ENB's SSIL but it's terribly buggy, and the noise looks really bad up close.

 

Here's a (very) small album I made:  https://imgur.com/a/k8RjZ

 

At first glance it does look preferable, especially on skin. But the noise is really bad when you get close, and it is constantly moving.  Some of the options for it may mitigate these artifacts, but the snow artifacts I point out are probably unmitigable.  (Edit:  And`bDeactivateAOOnSnow` is already on by default, which means that SSIL is not considered a part of AO for that option)

 

---

 

Also, I noticed bEnableParallaxOcclusion and got excited, but after doing everything I possibly could with my test NIFs and textures, I've determined it's unimplemented.  In Oldrim, setting the parallax occlusion shader type/flags would just make the mesh go invisible, iirc.  In SSE, it does nothing noticeable, until you turn on that INI option at which point you get this:  https://i.imgur.com/qbbV31v.jpg

 

I tried both Heightmap and Parallax Occ Material shader types.  When using the latter I tried values for Max Passes/Scale of 8.0/1.0, 4.0/1.0, 8.0/2.0.  I tried all of these combinations with SLSF1_Parallax, SLSF1_Parallax_Occlusion, and both SLSF1_Parallax + SLSF1_Parallax_Occlusion together.  I used the 4th texture slot, which is where a heightmap should go, but I filled in all the texture slots with the _p texture just in case.

 

So, yet again it's another feature that Bethesda teases via unimplemented INI options.  Which is sad considering POM existed in Oblivion and then both PM/POM were either completely broken or disabled by the time Skyrim came out.  (And yes, normal Parallax Mapping is still just as broken in SSE)

 

----

 

Edit:  Also before I found you'd already dumped all the values, I was looking into it myself, organizing the [Display] settings I wanted to look into.  I'll keep updating this as I look into more of the values:  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vTMxne67vKkF4JXkhubv8wdCNd9frb2lIy2cgJMLS-H496M6nSzUE23ZkdzSPR7JDIf9g2rENGA_X5W/pubhtml

Edited by jonwd7
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Guest

Guest

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Oh yeah UU sure... :P Lol, mine was more imaginative I guess. ;) Thanks jon, I'll leave with 1/2 and a A+ in tinfoil hattery.

 

I was going to ask you if POM was working, so it's great to see you are already onto that. Does it actually even work in FO4? I never bothered to check. It would have been great on terrain.

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