wanted Skyrim Bug Guide

[torminater]

Hey guys!

 

I've got some plans sketched out for writing a Skyrim Bugs Guide.

It will cover lots of prominent Skyrim Bugs, a detailed description of them and if available any fixes or improvements that can be applied. The different bugs will be worked on here in this thread by volunteers and will be implemented in a STEP-wiki-guide as soon as they're ready. Also it will be uploaded on the Nexus as a .pdf-file if it's ready for it, so people can check in an easy manner if any breaking news on bugs are around.

I provided SkyrimNexusModder Gopher with a database on all of the bugs and fixes etc. pp. I found so far and he'll produce video/s about these in either his Skyrim Mod Sanctuary or a separate series of videos. He mentions it in his latest Skyrim Mod Sanctuary Part 25 www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5gKcjm66qM .

As soon as the guide is finished and on the nexus we'll be able to get some featurings by big Skyrim Mod Channels.

This might get some more attention for Skyrims problems (at least for PC-versions) so Bethesda might concentrate their efforts on finding solutions on skyrim-based problems!

 

I think this project is in the interest of the whole Skyrim community! I will NOT be able to do this on my own, but I hope that I'll get some support on this matter from... YOU! ;-)

 

Cheers,

torminater

 

 

EDIT:

So here's what we're going to work on so far!

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

General great guides: www.tweakguides.com

extremely detailed https://www.tweakguides.com/TGTC.html

special recommendations

https://www.geforce.com/Optimize/Guides/stable-gaming/#1

https://www.geforce.com/Optimize/Guides/how-to-get-rid-of-lag-guide/#1

 

### this part is only describing what I want to achieve with my guide

1. Function

1. name bugs

2. explain bugs

3. how 2 fix (if possible or known)

2. link (so far, might change in future – no content added so far!)

1. https://wiki.step-project.com/Skyrim_Bug_Guide

###

3. content

1. Z-fighting (far and short distance)

1. https://forum.step-project.com/showthread.php?tid=154

1. my development thread

2. https://forums.bethsoft.com/topic/1336456-mountain-flicker-z-fighting/page__hl__zfighting

1. hlvr(n)s thread on z-fighting, he gathered loads of info and feedback from frustrated gamers

3.

1. see comments section for problems with my tweaks on low cpu-power pcs

4. https://forum.step-project.com/showthread.php?tid=277

1. one problem that might not be considered directly to my tweaks but maybe only to savegame problems. Since i don't know how to prove this my general suggestion is to save in doors and not outdoors in wide open spaces and to save regularily.

5. Btw, I looked around in the world with all the Z-fighting fixes we know of enabled. It is much improved and the Whiterun flicker is gone to 80-90 %. However, the flicker from the mountains viewed southwest of Solitude, and which are near Morthal (as you can see in the last part of my Z-fighting video on youtube), is a bit worse (or as bad as it was from the start) I think. This is only visible from that spot though... from the top of that small mountain range southwest of Solitude, so it's a very minor issue compared to the almost all-visible Whiterun mountain flicker. Just thought you should know that the Z-fighting fix from the Terrainmanager settings you found out work differently on different mountains, but for the great majority of mountains it does a great job.

6. The ugrids part is mostly to push away the place where z-fighting starts on close objects I'll try to load up a video of how this looks today, but I only have 100kbit/s internet downstream here...

7. fBlockMaximumDistance=250000.0000

fBlockLevel1Distance=70000.0000

fBlockLevel0Distance=35000.0000

fSplitDistanceMult=1.5000

The variables above in SkyrimPrefs.ini control the level of detail of distant terrain, and correspond in part to the Distant Object Detail in-game setting. The maximum values possible in-game are shown above, however you can raise them even further if you wish. As the three fBlock variables are raised, this will provide subtle improvements in the details on very distant terrain, such as mountain tops. The fSplitDistanceMult variable appears to determine the rate at which the LOD transitions occur. As its value is raised, there will be greater detail in the terrain which is slightly closer to the viewer. In any case changing these variables only impacts on more distant terrain, so in many scenes the visible impact will be minimal or not visible at all.

 

 

 

2. Shadow strobing

1. If you are having problems with #1 (the strobe effect), I suggest adding:

 

fSunShadowUpdateTime=0

fSunUpdateThreshold=2.0

 

to the [Display] category of "\Documents\My Games\Skyrim\Skyrim.ini"

 

What this will do is cause the sun position to refresh instantly every minute or so. Since it is an instant, you will not notice any strobe effect. You will, however, occasionally see the shadows update position.

 

Alternatively, if you aren't seeing strobe effects, but are bothered by the sudden movement of the shadows as described in #2, you can use the following parameters instead:

 

fSunShadowUpdateTime=0

fSunUpdateThreshold=0

1. fSunShadowUpdateTime=1.000

fSunUpdateThreshold=0.500

2. fSunShadowUpdateTime=.25

fSunUpdateThreshold=1.5

3. General shadow problems

1. good mods

1. https://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=283

1. reduces view distance of shadows GREATLY

2. https://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=7638

1. reduces view distance of shadows GREATLY

3. problems of shadows he discusses very well in his mod desriptions!

4. A good thread on performance!

1. Another little gem that I recently 'rediscovered' is Improved New Skyrim Shadows for Medium Range PC. Don't let the name fool you though, he has a pretty updated guide on shadow settings from low end to high end systems. By reducing my shadows from Ultra to High and following his setting recommendations, I regained some of my framerate back, but also improved the look of my shadows in the game. I was pretty pleased with this.

 

Lastly, I went through and restarted my Graphic settings with nVidia Inspector and have actually figured out a lot of things I did wrong with my previous settings, thus improving the look of the game while also increasing framerate. Most of these errors were within the .ini files themselves. I am just about finished with those settings and they have fixed many issues that I have seen, such as grainy reflective surfaces and the Ambient Occlusion anomalies (most notably in shadows and distant textures in dungeons) I was having with straight SMAA. I do believe the Sparse Grid was the best way to go for my system and I am very pleased with the new settings. The trick to using SGSSAA is to ensure your [Display] iBlurDeferredShadowMask=1 is set in SkyrimPrefs.ini. Then you can set your AA in game to either 4 or 2 (for lower systems). The AA is necessary to smooth out the edges.

 

So for Graphic performance with good quality:

choose SGSSAA over SMAA in nVidia Inspector

Use High Shadows over Ultra Shadows (biggest FPS improvement ever)

set iBlurDeferredShadowMask=1 or 0 to reduce shadow blur (side effect of SGSSAA) in SkyrimPrefs.ini

 

That is the best advice I can offer for trying to increase your FPS. Shadows are the key though. The biggest increase you will see is by decreasing your Shadow settings.

4. SLI-Water-Bug

1. https://wiki.step-project.com/Guide:Troubleshooting

2. I might load up a video on that, too. If you can find one, take it! :-)

5. Water glitch

1. https://forum.step-project.com/showthread.php?tid=223

6. Crossfire-Bugs

1. https://www.overclock.net/t/1164844/skyrim-crossfire-issues-complete-list-of-known-fixs-here-12-1a-and-11-12-cap2-links-inside

7. Savegame-problems

1. https://wiki.step-project.com/Guide:Troubleshooting

2.

8. gound self-shadowing bug

1. https://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=7638

2. https://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=283

3. https://international.download.nvidia.com/geforce-com/international/comparisons/the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim-tweak-guide/Skyrim-Tweak-Guide-DrawLandShadows-Comparison.html

4. https://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/577827436795823516/3FC27D8D6B115E6DA11926D9B9D3B184A46E0BE0/

5. it's not ony on grass but also on rocks, afaik since 1.5.26 patch

6. there could be a relation to grass shadows

9. grass shadows

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrnxpTcUvPQ

2. https://forums.bethsoft.com/topic/1370538-grass-shadows-are-buggy-hurt-performance-and-cant-be-disabled/

3. Unfortunately there is... no fix at all for that (that I know of). We have to push Bethesda to do it, which would be the reason for Gopher to bring it up, if he wants to. Keep in mind though that it does seem as if the bugginess apparently don't happen to all users (or they just don't notice it), according to the latest comments in that very thread. But it seems the grass is dark for the majority of users.

4. Apparently ENB removes grass shadows... but not everybody can live with the performance drop

10. navmesh

1.

2.

11. low-sound-bug

1. Hmm interesting

 

sAudioAPI=XAudio2

 

^ wonder if this is the reason some people are having issues with low volume, wonder if you can use DirectSound api instead....

2. https://forums.bethsoft.com/topic/1351097-so-when-will-bethesda-fix-the-low-sound-issue/

3. Also, one more major, widespread Skyrim issue that I really think should be brought up by Gopher:

https://forums.bethso...ow-sound-issue/

This low sound issue is annoying, because it means that you have to max your speaker volume every single time you start and quit Skyrim, or else you'd go deaf when listening to other sounds from your computer. This is very tedious. Not acceptable in the long run, and it has been a long run so far (since 11/11/11).

What I should mention here is that, from the poll results, the low sound issue seems to happen mostly to 2.1 speaker users, as if Skyrim doesn't probably support the most commonly used speaker setup, which is terrible. When discussing this problem on the forum, I was contacted by Gstaff to tell my audio hardware & settings, details on speakers and/or headphones, as well as DxDiag info. So that means Bethesda is aware of the problem, but has done nothing to solve it and has been silent about it as well.

 

From the poll results in my thread we can also see that a lot of people have the problem. Almost 75 %. But then again, it's on a forum for people with PC issues, so that probably increases the real number a lot.

 

Something that also should be brought up when it comes to the low sound issue is that there are some things you can do increase the volume, other than maxing your speakers:

- Change to 5.1 speaker setup in accordance with this thread. https://forums.bethso...w-sound-volume/

- OR enable loudness equalization in accordance with this picture: https://static.review...qualization.jpg

 

NOW, these increase the volume to a better level, but for me there are some downsides with both of these options.

- Changing to 5.1 speaker setup despite you have 2.1 speakers makes the sound not that great. To me, it increases the sound, but not enough, so I still have to increase my speaker sound every time I start and quit Skyrim. PLUS, the sound quality is far from as good as it should be. I know that because when I listen to some youtube videos I can hear a much, much better sound quality from some videos. In addition, some sounds like spell sounds are madly high compared to all other sounds.

- Loudness equalization works well in general, but far from always. Loudness equalization forces all sounds to be at the same level. This means that sounds that are supposed to be low becomes medium-high, and sounds that are supposed to be really high becomes medium-high. This is awful, because it means for instance these beautiful, high-pitched Jeremy Soule tones get forced down to lower sound levels, thus utterly destroying the musical experience.

 

In short, there is no good fix for the low sound issue. There are a few "fixes" that help on the way, but aren't at all acceptable "fixes" to me due to their downsides.

The best solution for 2.1 speaker users is to buy new 5.1 speakers. But one can ask themselves if we customers really should spend that much money (hundreds of dollars, if you want good 5.1 speakers) just because Bethesda can't do their job properly and support the most commonly used speaker setup?

12. shadow striping

1. iBlurDeferredShadowMask=3 → iBlurDeferredShadowMask=16

1. is supposed to do the same as the shadow striping fix and improve visual quality of shadows in general.

2. shadow striping fix FEEDBACK

1. „Ever since I updated Skyrim to the 1.5 version the shadows are all glitched. The position of the shadows changes greatly when I move the camera with the cursor or by walking. It's annoying and it didn't help setting shadow graphics to ultra. How do I proceed to fix this? Mods are also welcome in case nothing else helps.“

1. https://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/61679/glitched-shadows-after-update-1-5-skyrim

2. an alternative fix for skyrim shadows: https://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=8262 WARNING: deletes a lot of files that other mods need to work with!!!

13. Artifacts

1. https://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/578955190038024233/85E4A9938ACAF049927DBD99B1656F9308E1E44B/

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_artifact

3. https://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/340296-15-artifacts-troubleshooting

4. https://ask.metafilter.com/122095/Freeing-my-games-of-artifacts

5. https://forum.step-project.com/showthread.php?tid=115

6. if you got some better sources implement them here, i didn't find the article which explains it perfectly easy

14. Nirnroot glows stack

1. https://forums.bethsoft.com/topic/1360604-will-bethesda-ever-fix-atomic-nirnroot-glows/

2. https://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=4528

3. https://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=8216

4. https://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=19

15. Using SSD for Skyrim only

1. https://www.chip.de/downloads/Steam-Mover_53946829.html

2. use tool to move skyrim to ssd tried it myself no problems so far

16. Vsync stuff

1. https://www.tweakguides.com/Graphics_9.html

2. disable Vsync in skyrim

1. https://www.geforce.co.uk/optimise/guides/the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim-tweak-guide/#14

3. alternative to Vsync https://www.tweakguides.com/Graphics_10.html

1. https://www.tweakguides.com/NVFORCE_10.html

1. apply triple buffering instead of vsync

4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_tearing

5. easy description of vsync

1. https://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=928593

 

[z929669]

Good ideas. whatever bugs we can document may be useful for the entire community, and we should definitely be transparent about it and rais awareness to any effort towards that on this site ;)

[Bealdwine]

I saw/heard the reference in the Sanctuary vid. If i can find the time I'll help as best I can. Not promising tho' as I'm pretty tied up between RL & STEP ;)

[torminater]

so I added the tiny little To-Do-List to the OP...

anybody need some work?

[z929669]

Interested, but way too busy with other priorities right now. I will maybe contribute piecemeal or verify other's findings at random opportunities.

[MontyMM]

I think most of the team here is already committed to a ton of other tasks. You could maybe see if the larger audience on the Nexus would like to help?

[torminater]

I'm initiating everything and anything possible in my time given ;-)

Hopefully the audience watching Skyrim Mod Sanctuary will be motivated to join in!

[Vond]

  Quote

2. an alternative fix for skyrim shadows: https://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=8262

This mod is a CtD waiting to happen. It has over 1000 UDRs, and tons of other mods try to edit the records that it deletes, so for a ton of people the game will just instantly crash with it running. I don't think it should be recommended at all.

[torminater]

I had it marked as red, but it wouldn't convert the colors to this editor. red is for untested. well, I appreciate the input! :-)

[stoppingby4now]

Thanks for taking the initiative on this torminater, you've been doing some great digging around looking for fixes. I'm a bit busy with other projects, but if I get some more free time I'll let you know and lend a hand.

[blacksol]

isnt 14 nirnroot glow issue fixed by USKP?

[torminater]

According to their Changelog it is. I actually just mentioned it in a message to Gopher, so he could cover it. I told him several possibilities how to solve it. I did forget about USKP though. Thanks for the reminder! :)