Dread's Skyrim Build (a STEP build)

[Wanderer]

I'm playing on a i5 @4GHz and a 1070 (8 GB), 16 GB ram. But your hardware should be sufficient, not sure why it drops so much. If you are using ENB, try without it. If it is just forest areas, it might be something with the 3d forest. Try disabling the DynDOLOD folder to see if that helps.

So DynDOLOD is supposed to be the most performance-heavy mod in the setup? Are there any other candidates for performance drops? I have followed the setup, so most of the mods are 2k tex, some are even less.

 

I have tried it again just now, and surprisingly, i have pretty much stable 40 fps all the way down to Riverwood following Ralof, with some drops to 30 fps during encounters and at some other spots, usually close to water. Is it possible that the huge drop i had before was caused by initial setup of script-heavy mods?

 

I have used SPM to measure performance, here goes the graph...

 

from what i see, GPU is pretty much utilised, i am close to VRAM limit but still okay. CPU is okay as well. So it looks good, i am curious how will it look like in populated areas

 

Thx for tips

W.

[dreadflopp]

So DynDOLOD is supposed to be the most performance-heavy mod in the setup? Are there any other candidates for performance drops? I have followed the setup, so most of the mods are 2k tex, some are even less.

 

I have tried it again just now, and surprisingly, i have pretty much stable 40 fps all the way down to Riverwood following Ralof, with some drops to 30 fps during encounters and at some other spots, usually close to water. Is it possible that the huge drop i had before was caused by initial setup of script-heavy mods?

 

I have used SPM to measure performance, here goes the graph...

 

from what i see, GPU is pretty much utilised, i am close to VRAM limit but still okay. CPU is okay as well. So it looks good, i am curious how will it look like in populated areas

 

Thx for tips

W.

Sorry for the late answer, I am visiting family.

 

 

You have enough vram to even use 4k mods. Since you use 2k mods, you should definitely be good. You shouldn't need to worry about vram either.

 

Script heavy mods can definitely make the game stutter and lag, especially in combat. For that reason, I have tried to minimize the use of scripted mods that run during combat. That is the reason for using Enhanced Blood Textures Lite instead of the ordinary version, as an example.

 

Your fps drop was when you entered the forest area. Since DynDYNDOLOD replaces the 2d low-res tree lods with 3d trees it can definitely maker your fps suffer. But since it makes the game look so much better, I would try to reduce quality somewhere else:

 

Larger or more trees casts more shadows. Try reducing the shadow quality in the ini files or skip using the larger tree option.

 

Use a lower quality anti aliasing option.

 

Do not use an ENB.

 

Try lowering the resolution to 1k if you play in higher resolutions.

 

Use DynDOLOD medium option.

Edited August 10, 2020 by dreadflopp

[Wanderer]

thanks for answer dread :) i went further with my "testing", and i brought an enterprise workstation from work just to see how it performs. dual RTX 6000 with 24GB VRAM, dual XEON 3+ GHz, 192 GB RAM, N2 SSD, so something that can be hardly beaten performance wise unless you are overclocking. i went over 20k points in default 3Dmark test with this workstation. and i was very much surprised that even with this workstation i can keep stable 60fps (using vsync, there is no point going higher although it would be easy). it happened in big cities like Whiterun, Solitude, Riften, Dawnstar, and i little bit expected that, but it laso happened in smaller cities that do not have extra world cell like Morthal - that was interesting, Morthal during night and snowing dropped fps to 20! in some specific areas, especially around blacksmith. and it happens randomly in the wild as well. Morthal was the only place to drop it so low so far, having 40fps in big cities and in wilderness is totally playable, but i am really curious what can cause that. tbh i think all skyrim modders with such a huge mod list are going far behind skyrim old havoc engine expectations, but you can do everything for such a beauty right? :)

 

i really think those drops are not GPU related (GPU is not being pushed up in utilization during the drops) but script (and thus CPU) related. for example, any body physics causes huge performance impact, and especially cloth phycisc is a massacre. with the workstation mentioned above, some armors with cloth HDT physics enabled can cause 10points lower fps compared to same armor without HDT just with one character (tested on followers). can't say that was not expected though, so i am not using any cloth HDT physics anymore, but the drops are still happening.

 

so i am just curious, what is causing that :)

[runsbuns]

Great mod list dreadflopp:) Just wanted to ask if not including the optional lodgen textures for Cathedral Landscapes is an oversight or on purpose?

 

Also there's a mod called "Honed Metal Voiced" description:

"Love the idea of ordering armor/weapons from smiths, but dislike subtitle-only dialogue or mismatched lines? This is an addon to Honed Metal SE, which switches out its lines with linked vanilla dialogue".

 

Update: The silver Arrows page is missing

Edited August 24, 2020 by runsbuns

[dreadflopp]

thanks for answer dread :) i went further with my "testing", and i brought an enterprise workstation from work just to see how it performs. dual RTX 6000 with 24GB VRAM, dual XEON 3+ GHz, 192 GB RAM, N2 SSD, so something that can be hardly beaten performance wise unless you are overclocking. i went over 20k points in default 3Dmark test with this workstation. and i was very much surprised that even with this workstation i can keep stable 60fps (using vsync, there is no point going higher although it would be easy). it happened in big cities like Whiterun, Solitude, Riften, Dawnstar, and i little bit expected that, but it laso happened in smaller cities that do not have extra world cell like Morthal - that was interesting, Morthal during night and snowing dropped fps to 20! in some specific areas, especially around blacksmith. and it happens randomly in the wild as well. Morthal was the only place to drop it so low so far, having 40fps in big cities and in wilderness is totally playable, but i am really curious what can cause that. tbh i think all skyrim modders with such a huge mod list are going far behind skyrim old havoc engine expectations, but you can do everything for such a beauty right? :)

 

i really think those drops are not GPU related (GPU is not being pushed up in utilization during the drops) but script (and thus CPU) related. for example, any body physics causes huge performance impact, and especially cloth phycisc is a massacre. with the workstation mentioned above, some armors with cloth HDT physics enabled can cause 10points lower fps compared to same armor without HDT just with one character (tested on followers). can't say that was not expected though, so i am not using any cloth HDT physics anymore, but the drops are still happening.

 

so i am just curious, what is causing that :)

I don't use hdt, I don't think it looks good enough to be worth it.

 

Skyrim's physics engine is for some insane reason tied to frame rates. Fps over 60 causes physics bugs, like objects flying around. That is why we use Havok Fix. However, playing a heavily modded Skyrim usually results in something like 40 fps for me, with some drops. I am pleased with everything over 30 fps, this is an old game with a poor game engine. Drops into 20 is a little much and the cause could be a combination of a number of things. Realistic Water Two animates the water of blacksmith troughs. Try disabling RW2 to see if that helps. If RW2 is part of the reason for the drops in frame rates you are experiencing, it could be a combination of that and JK's Skyrim. If you are having drops while it is snowing, try reducing the number of rendered particles to see if that helps: https://wiki.step-project.com/Guide:SkyrimPrefs_INI/Particles

[dreadflopp]

Great mod list dreadflopp:) Just wanted to ask if not including the optional lodgen textures for Cathedral Landscapes is an oversight or on purpose?

 

Also there's a mod called "Honed Metal Voiced" description:

"Love the idea of ordering armor/weapons from smiths, but dislike subtitle-only dialogue or mismatched lines? This is an addon to Honed Metal SE, which switches out its lines with linked vanilla dialogue".

 

Update: The silver Arrows page is missing

Thanks!

 

Honed Metal Voiced - Excellent, I'll add it if it works as advertised.

Silver Arrows - If it don't reappears in about a week I'll remove it from the mod list.

 

[MetalVez]

Hello guys! How are you? As I had indicated I am sharing my comments and suggestions for the guide, following my (short) playtesting so far. I'm still investigating the issue with the voiceless quartermasters, I'll get back to you soon about that.

 

1- Installation Corrections/Questions:

1.1 Engine fixes: For the part 1 installation, the settings should now be done in the EngineFixes.toml file rather than in the EngineFixes.ini file. The toml file is now replacing the ini file (Sorry, I do not remember in which specific version of the mod this was modified).
1.2 Smooth Sky meshes: This file is already included in Cathedral weathers.
1.3 Barenziah Glory: Those textures might be redundant as they are already included in Forgotten Retex project.
1.4 White phial: Same comment as Barenziah glory.
1.5 Dread's modlist patches: In the section patches for Locations, do we need to activate the patch for JK's Skyrim Cutting room floor patch if the one for JK's Skyrim have been auto-selected? (I just want to be sure)

2- Mods that where Updated (Maybe they need to be checked for potential conflict resolution):

2.1 Adamant/Mysticism/Mundus/Aetherius: Mostly all of SimonMagus616 mods were updated a few times now but the one for Mysticism seems to most important one.
2.2 Skyrem - Cori; This one have been updated a few times, but the update for the version 5.2 seems to be the most important one as the ability progressions was reworked completely.
2.3 Lanterns of Skyrim II; There is some new patches for Cutting room floor, Kynesgrove. I do not know if this can be usefull for the guide or if thoses changes are already included in the patches you've made.
2.4 Tournament of the Ten Blood: A new hotfix was added and it is necessary as it is fixing a sound issue.
2.5 AI Overhaul v1.6: This one was updated today. Companions Training Packages and more idles to College of Winterhold were added, only to name a few. This surely requires adjustments and I also saw that the STEP guide had redone its conflict resolution file especially for this purpose.

There is so many other mods were updated in the past weeks, here's the list: Bodyslide and outfit studios, Caliente's Beautiful Bodies Enhancer, Deadly Dragons, Embers HD, JK interiors patches collection, JS Dragons Claw - Amethyst patch, Nether's follower Framework, Racemenu, Realistic Water two, Rustic clothing, Skyrim Landscapes and Water fixes, SSE Engine Fixes, The Tools of Kagrenac.

3- Mod suggestions:

3.1 Misc Retexture Project: A huge retexture projet that upgrade numerous items in the game. I'm using it with the optionnal Retextured SMIM Ingredients. A really good improvement, in my opinion.

3.2 EasierRider Dungeon pack: Adds 8 new, lore-friendly dungeons around Skyrim. Easy to incorporate, does not go over the top. Might need some patching with the other mods in the guide.
3.3 Inn room costs: The room cost quickly become pointless as the price is the same for every inns across Skyrim. Changing the price for the various inn is more immersive and can also have an impact on your gameplay if you are using a survival mod like the Frozen north. I discovered this mod when I was playing the Lexy LoTD mod list and we could use it as a reference for the suggested prices of the rooms for example.

3.4 Glorious doors: A great retexture for the doors of many locations. At the moment, I use all of them except for Whiterun, Dragonreach and the ones for the ruins. It will add two esp if you select the rotation fix (one otherwise). Both are ESL flagged.
3.5 Wizkids signs: Great retexture for the signage. Goes well with Lanterns of Skyrim. This mod will add an ESL plugin if it is used with 3DNPCs.

 

See ya :)

Edited August 31, 2020 by MetalheadVez

[Eliian]

Some of those issues revolve around STEP being used as a base. Other mods are added around it that are not included in STEP. This includes the barenziah/white phial issues since forgotten retex is not part of it. It seems like they just were not checked against each other or that the desired options from those two mods differed from what is in the retex. I don't know for sure. I noticed this when going through the install on a separate profile that was copied over from STEP.

Edited September 1, 2020 by Eliian

[dreadflopp]

Hello guys! How are you? As I had indicated I am sharing my comments and suggestions for the guide, following my (short) playtesting so far. I'm still investigating the issue with the voiceless quartermasters, I'll get back to you soon about that.

 

...

 

See ya :)

I'm planning to address everything in the coming week or two and will post again when I'm done and have checked textures and mod updates. I'll do a mod update sweep and update patches if needed first. Secondly I'll check that my guide is up to date with the latest STEP changes. When this is done and the guide is up-to-date (in about a week) I'll take a look at the conflicting or redundant textures you mentioned and at the mod suggestions, which all seems really interesting.

 

1.5 Dread's modlist patches: In the section patches for Locations, do we need to activate the patch for JK's Skyrim Cutting room floor patch if the one for JK's Skyrim have been auto-selected? (I just want to be sure)

Both should be auto-selected. If the patch for JK's Skyrim Cutting room floor patch isn't auto selected, reinstall and activate JK's Skyrim - Arthmoor's Patch Pack from JK's Skyrim nexus page.

 

Thanks!

[dreadflopp]

 

1- Installation Corrections/Questions:

 

1.1 Engine fixes: For the part 1 installation, the settings should now be done in the EngineFixes.toml file rather than in the EngineFixes.ini file. The toml file is now replacing the ini file (Sorry, I do not remember in which specific version of the mod this was modified).

1.2 Smooth Sky meshes: This file is already included in Cathedral weathers.

1.3 Barenziah Glory: Those textures might be redundant as they are already included in Forgotten Retex project.

1.4 White phial: Same comment as Barenziah glory.

1.5 Dread's modlist patches: In the section patches for Locations, do we need to activate the patch for JK's Skyrim Cutting room floor patch if the one for JK's Skyrim have been auto-selected? (I just want to be sure)

 

2- Mods that where Updated (Maybe they need to be checked for potential conflict resolution):

 

2.1 Adamant/Mysticism/Mundus/Aetherius: Mostly all of SimonMagus616 mods were updated a few times now but the one for Mysticism seems to most important one.

2.2 Skyrem - Cori; This one have been updated a few times, but the update for the version 5.2 seems to be the most important one as the ability progressions was reworked completely.

2.3 Lanterns of Skyrim II; There is some new patches for Cutting room floor, Kynesgrove. I do not know if this can be usefull for the guide or if thoses changes are already included in the patches you've made.

2.4 Tournament of the Ten Blood: A new hotfix was added and it is necessary as it is fixing a sound issue.

2.5 AI Overhaul v1.6: This one was updated today. Companions Training Packages and more idles to College of Winterhold were added, only to name a few. This surely requires adjustments and I also saw that the STEP guide had redone its conflict resolution file especially for this purpose.

 

There is so many other mods were updated in the past weeks, here's the list: Bodyslide and outfit studios, Caliente's Beautiful Bodies Enhancer, Deadly Dragons, Embers HD, JK interiors patches collection, JS Dragons Claw - Amethyst patch, Nether's follower Framework, Racemenu, Realistic Water two, Rustic clothing, Skyrim Landscapes and Water fixes, SSE Engine Fixes, The Tools of Kagrenac.

1.1 Fixed

1.2 Fixed, removed Smooth Sky Meshes

1.3 Leaving Barenzian Glory in the guide to get the exact option that is used in STEP rather than the forgotten retex option. Might revisit this.

1.4 Forgotten retex uses 1.0x version, this guide uses the 0.5x version.

1.5 Already answered.

 

2.1 Fixed

2.2 No fix needed

2.3 Pending, might even revert to the old Lanterns of Skyrim after seeing the discussion in the forums, or maybe skip this mod. Thoughts?

2.4 Pending Fixed

2.5 Fixed

 

 

Bodyslide and outfit studios, Caliente's Beautiful Bodies Enhancer,  Embers HD, JK interiors patches collection, Nether's follower Framework, Racemenu, Realistic Water two, Rustic clothing, Skyrim Landscapes and Water fixes, SSE Engine Fixes, The Tools of Kagrenac - All checked!

Deadly Dragons, JS Dragons Claw - Amethyst patch - Pending

 

Edited September 10, 2020 by dreadflopp

[runsbuns]

Nice modular and very stable modlist Dreadflopp:)

Have some of suggestions:

 

1. Scarcity SE - basically reduces the vanilla loot fest. 

2. Travellers of Skyrim - "adds 50 new NPCs that travel between over 30 locations in Skyrim"

3. SkyTest - Better animal behavior, there's a light optional file I have used without problems in the past.

4. Maevan2's Mature skin texture for cbbe - still the best skin texture in my opinion, with it's perfect imperfection options:)

5. NARC Remade - No Animals Report Crimes - self explanatory:)

6. Racial Body Morphs or FK's Diverse Racial Skeletons - "Gives all races and genders unique height and body morphs based on lore and abilities"

7. Interesting NPCs Visual Overhaul - Good looking overhaul without "dollyfying" the npc's.

Edited September 11, 2020 by runsbuns

[Simondererste]

...

5. NARC Remade - No Animals Report Crimes - self explanatory:)

...

I'm thinking of modifying my newly made STEP with some of the mods and instructions made here.

Which mod is better, the mentioned NARC or Critters Ain't Snitches?

[runsbuns]

I'm thinking of modifying my newly made STEP with some of the mods and instructions made here.

Which mod is better, the mentioned NARC or Critters Ain't Snitches?

Looking in Sseedit it seems ssedit Critters adds "Do Not Report Crimes Against Members" flag + the "Ignore Crime" flag,  NARC only adds the "Ignore Crime" flag.

So I would use narc if using skytest and critters if not.

Edited September 11, 2020 by runsbuns

[dreadflopp]

@runsbuns I will take a look at your suggestions

 

I have created a Github pages version of the guide: https://dreadflopp.github.io/dreads_modlist_patches/

It is automatically built from the readme version each time it is updated. The big difference is that if features a Table of Contents, which can be convenient.

[runsbuns]

@runsbuns I will take a look at your suggestions

 

I have created a Github pages version of the guide: https://dreadflopp.github.io/dreads_modlist_patches/

It is automatically built from the readme version each time it is updated. The big difference is that if features a Table of Contents, which can be convenient.

Nice, will check it out:)