Skyrim Revisited GPU

[Nearox]

Shame about the crashes... and I believe some of the tweaks were for Oblivion. I don't know if they carried over into Skyrim or not' date=' but I put them in anyway.[/quote']

Yeah but your ini gave me lot of new ideas so thanks again for uploading them Moragg :)

[Alskasier]

I realize this is a pretty long Topic at this point, hitting 8 pages, but I didn't want to create a new topic about the same question. So hopefully, maybe someone with better computer knowledge can help me out as well. I am planning on upgrading from my GTX 570 because it just can't keep up with SR and the texture overhauls. I want to be able to run all of the texture overhauls and ENB along with the gameplay changes in the SR guide. Right now I am stuck between purchasing a GTX 760 or a GTX 770. I have an SSD for Skyrim already but with a resolution of 1680x1080 and with no intentions of going higher Im not sure if the 770 would just be overkill.

 

Any suggestions would be great!

---

Edit: Which card I do get will be the 4GB versions.

[Nearox]

The following list should be able to help you:

 

https://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2300495

 

Not all of the models on the list have a higher VRAM version included. A lot of the newe 2gb cards also have a 4gb version. If you gonna mod Skyrim like you say I'd advice you to go for 3gb or more VRAM.

 

I personally run with a HD6950 2gb and have had to go to enormous lengths to get VRAM under the limit with SR, using all 1k textures and DDSOpting them all.

 

Post your question in the Anandtech forums: lot of geeks there will give you an answer :)

[thunderclam]

I have an AMD Radeon HD 6900 series. I don't see it on the list in that link and have been sort of struggling to find solid info about where it stands. I imagine it's close to a 6950 but I've been able to run Skyrim below limit with unoptimized, heavy-duty textures for at least limited periods of time. This was before I knew about texture optimization and the hard 3.1gb CPU limit and so on.

 

It'd be sort of nice to get some guidance about how carefully I should be watching the sizes of my textures if at all possible.

[Aiyen]

2Gb is the minimum for 2k texture packs.

 

With ENB you can now run with more 2k textures then before. If you do not have loads of system RAM then get more VRAM, if the opposite is true, then you can make due with a 2 or 3Gb model whichever fits your budget best.

For ENB there is a slight advantage for Nvidia cards... since they are in general just not as troublesome in the technical department. It is minor but worth remembering.

[thunderclam]

My card is 2gb according to SPM but I don't know why I always see stuff like "6950" but never "6900 series". Makes me feel like I'm missing something. I have 8gb of system ram.

 

It seems like I have a low or medium high end card but I don't know. Maybe it's really low end! Sets Skyrim to Ultra automatically.

[Nearox]

I have an AMD Radeon HD 6900 series.

 

You should find out your specific model. Download a program like SiSoft Sandra to identify it. Also you might wanna wait buying a new card as AMD is expected to release the 9xxx series in october. 

[thunderclam]

I'm not intending to buy a new card for a bit yet. I want to put another $500 into my computer in the next 6 months or so (SSD and new GPU) but it has to wait on a big trip I have planned unless lucky windfall.

 

It seems strange to me that I have to download programs to figure out what model of Vcard I have.

[Nearox]

Well when you bought the card you could've (and probably should've) checked the exact model :P It will always say xxxx series card in your windows system info, but you will need a seperate program to identify the specific model.

 

6900 series is the 'highest' level of cards of the 6xxxx series. As far as I'm aware there are 3 modesl: the 6950, 7970 and 6990. If it has 2gb of VRAM: I would efinitly not buy a new card now. It's simply not worth it. The new models that come out in like 2 months are gonna have 20-50% more performance for the same price.

[thunderclam]

Okay so I looked in my tower and it's a 6950. :P

[Garfink]

I have a titan with 6Gb VRAM and in my experience with even a moderately modded Skyrim... due to the graphic & script engine being interlinked, even I found the game totally unstable with HD textures + ENBoost + plus a few essential, safe and well tested mods. Obviously nothing to do with my hardware! (nothing to do with my very basic ini files either and no z-fighting tweaks), I run at 2560x1440 on an Eizo CG276, FOV 68

 

I recommend 1024x1024 for all outdoor textures & creatures, small textures like eyes, food, sacks and clutter, 1024x1024 for weapons (I don't see much of a visual difference in game with smaller weapon textures), and 2048x1024 for skin/armor/clothing textures which does make a huge difference in-game (these look really bad at 1024x1024). 2048x1024 (maybe higher) for caves and dungeon walls. I recommend laying off adding more LODs objects, I just have sparrowprince's replacement textures and the only LOD objects I run is the animated waterfall and mills.

 

I have found that I can run ALL Hi-res optimized textures only if I don't mod the game much otherwise (I am NO where near the RAM/VRAM limits with the new ENBoost, but the instability are clearly NOT just maxing out RAM/VRAM related, which if you read online, seems to be what everyone is concentrating on!). In which case I can even run the game with uGrid=7 or even 9 quite stable. I can run and fight from Markath to Riften with no problems and it looks amazing..... but who wants to play Skyrim with out all them lovely gameplay mods!

 

P.S. I am a Skyrim Unleashed, Duel, Forgotten Magic, Apocalyse, Mighty Magick, Skyre (just perks & races, no need for reproccer as I am using the weapon values from Skyrim Unleashed, which only supports immersive armor & weapons), Classic Classes or Race Overhaul, Convenient Horses, Frostfall, Realistic Needs, Wet & Cold (but not the footprint mod), 3DNPC, Inconsequential NPCs, Weapon degrade, ASIS, Falskaar & Wyrmtooth user with a very cut down version of S.T.E.P./S.R/S.R. Legendary. (I am listing the bigger scripted mods here, just so you have an idea what I am running) I've gotten rid of the mods I can live without (for example: Bring out your dead) and not including mesh/texture only mods, I only have around 80 esps or so in my load-order, whereas I had 255 before when I was in CTD hell. Now I don't get crashes at all (for 25+ hours) and no more infinite load screens either!!!! Worth the sacrifice I say!!

 

I use to live with the crashes which occurs randomly between 10-45 minutes and with frequent saves, it can be done. But it was so annoying and frustrating!!!

 

I will install mods like Better Vampires or Become a Bard for Roleplaying purposes and only if I intend to actually be a Vampire or a Bard in that particular playthrough. Don't just install everything in S.R.!! Especially the mods you are not likely going to use!

 

(I am being verbose, because this is the sort of information I was looking for when I was having issues and couldn't find any straight forward and uptodate advice. Hope this helps someone!!)

[Nearox]

Garfink, thank you very much for sharing your experience here!. After crashing rather frequently with full SR + ASIS + Skyre + Immersive Patrols, I am also considering cutting down on script mods.

 

Good to know that it is not so much GPU power/vram related as it has to do with the game engine itself. What wasn't clear to me from your post is if you are still using ENBoost or not. I personally run a 6950 2gb and i5 2500k. vram usage is at 70-80% most of the time while ram doesnt go higher than 2.5gb would you still advice me to use ENBoost or not?

 

Since you seem to be so stable I kinda got a little request, if I may be so free to do so, which would take 30seconds of your time. I know you did all the effort in trimming down the mods, but would you be willing to give me your install order list? It would be a huge help me for and for the community. You can right-click on your installed mod list and then choose export to CSV. Copy/paste the contents to https://pastebin.com/ and then post the link here. If you could do that twice, once for 'everything' and once for 'active mods' I would be eternally grateful and I am sure many others with me could learn a great deal from it too.

[Garfink]

Yes, I use an ENB, the one I am using and sticking to is Ruvaak Dahmaan ENB Redone, its a performance ENB and looks great, just search "Ruvaak Dahmaan" on you tube and you will see his video, its freaky.  And by definition I am using the ENBoost functions.  

 

I am using ENB version 2.09 (the most stable for me) with these settings:

 

ExpandSystemMemoryX64=true

ReduceSystemMemoryUsage=true

DisableDriverMemoryManager=true

DisablePreloadToVRAM=false

EnableUnsafeMemoryHacks=false

ReservedMemorySizeMb=256

VideoMemorySizeMb=6144

 

Don't get caught up about this ram/vram stuff, I recommend you use ENBoost/ENBs, it will help with stability regardless of how much RAM/VRAM you use.  Remember:  Your game crashes because of the mods you installed, both graphics mods & scripted AND non-scripted mods.  I've had issues with non-scripted mods too.

 

I will be happy to post my load-order, I am not sure the best way to do this, I just copied my BOSS read out:

 

https://pastebin.com/dWv0vsH5

 

(ignore the enb_reference.esp error, I usually have that deactivated as I use COT + Supreme Storms)

 

Add to this most of the mesh/texture replacements from SR:LE all optimized and lowered res as I recommended in my previous post.

 

This load-order is a lot of fun and adds a lot of functionality and changes to the game.  Highly recommended. (Change your carrying weight to 200 to make it a little more realistic and away you go!)

 

Feel free to ask any questions, I am happy to help.

[Nearox]

Alright I will keep using ENBoost for now then :)

 

But what I meant was, assuming you are using Mod Organizer, in the left pane where your installed mods are listed --> right click select export to csv :)

 

The boss list is not so useful because it is the same for everyone (unless you manually changed a lot of stuff in BUM). The installed mod order list is because it also shows where you placed your scripted mods.

[Garfink]

Here is my Active Mod List:

 

https://pastebin.com/5P6x80Lg

 

Here is my Everything Mod List (Lots of junk on this list that I am not using & mods I've tried!)

 

https://pastebin.com/grmp2AF5

 

(You can read that?!?)