CTD and Performance patch ENBoost (by Boris Vorontsov)

[Joat_Mon]

Link to thread for a better understanding of why Boris released v0.308:

 

https://enbseries.enbdev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=5126

[BUBISHI]

Thank You, Tech.

 

I'm trying to get better performance from my game and hope optimizing my inis will help a little.

 

My Skyrim.ini is still the one I modified for my first STEP-installation years ago, I changed a few settings but can't remember anymore where or why.

As I added a lot of mods to STEP maybe my Skyrim.ini is not optimal.

 

There is the Skyrim Project INI (spINI) and Optimize and stabilize skyrim - include ENB 0.30X configuration - stutter fix - performance fix powered by Crash Fixes by meh21 also offers some optimized ini settings.

I would also like just to try their ini-files but I think it it not as easy as with the enblocal.ini.

There are some settings like [Papyrus] that I know should not be altered midgame.

What if I take my current ones for the new inis? I belive I have not altered them anyway.

Could you please take a look at my Skyrim.ini and tell me what you think?

 

[spoiler=My current Skyrim.ini]
[General]
sLanguage=ENGLISH
uExterior Cell Buffer=36
sIntroSequence=
fFlickeringLightDistance=8192
bAlwaysActive=1
fEncumberedReminderTimer=3600
iNumHWThreads=4

[Display]
fShadowLODMaxStartFade=1000.0
fSpecularLODMaxStartFade=2000.0
fLightLODMaxStartFade=3500.0
iShadowMapResolutionPrimary=2048
bAllowScreenshot=0
fSunShadowUpdateTime=0.25
fSunUpdateThreshold=1.5
iPresentInterval=1
fMeshLODLevel1FadeTreeDistance=6144
fMeshLODLevel2FadeTreeDistance=4096
fTreesMidLODSwitchDist=8192
//fDefault1stPersonFOV=70.59
//fDefaultFOV=70.59
//fDefaultWorldFOV=70.59
fLightLODRange=50000

[Audio]
fMusicDuckingSeconds=6.0
fMusicUnDuckingSeconds=8.0
fMenuModeFadeOutTime=3.0
fMenuModeFadeInTime=1.0

[Grass]
bAllowCreateGrass=1
bAllowLoadGrass=0
fGrassFadeRange=10000
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

[Combat]
fMagnetismStrafeHeadingMult=0.0
fMagnetismLookingMult=0.0
f1PArrowTiltUpAngle=0.7
f3PArrowTiltUpAngle=0.7
f1PBoltTiltUpAngle=0.7

[Papyrus]
fPostLoadUpdateTimeMS=500.0
bEnableLogging=0
bEnableTrace=0
bLoadDebugInformation=0

[Water]
bReflectLODObjects=1
bReflectLODLand=1
bReflectSky=1
bReflectLODTrees=1

[Camera]
//fMouseWheelZoomSpeed=
//fOverShoulderPosZ=18.0
//fOverShoulderPosX=0.0
//fOverShoulderCombatAddY=0.0
//fOverShoulderCombatPosZ=24.0
//fOverShoulderCombatPosX=0.0
fOverShoulderHorseAddY=-72.0
fOverShoulderHorsePosZ=50.0
fOverShoulderHorsePosX=35.0

[interface]
bShowTutorials=0
fBookOpenTime=200.0
fSafeZoneX=10
fSafeZoneY=10
fSafeZoneXWide=10
fSafeZoneYWide=10

[MapMenu]
fMapWorldYawRange=400
fMapWorldMinPitch=0
fMapWorldMaxPitch=90
bWorldMapNoSkyDepthBlur=1
fWorldMapDepthBlurScale=0
fWorldMapMaximumDepthBlur=0
fWorldMapNearDepthBlurScale=0
uLockedObjectMapLOD=8

[Trees]
bEnableTreeAnimations=1
bEnableTrees=1
bRenderSkinnedTrees=1
uiMaxSkinnedTreesToRender=200

[LightingShader]
fDecalLODFadeStart=0.4
fDecalLODFadeEnd=0.4

[VATS]
bVATSMultipleCombatants=1
bVATSForceRanged=1
fVATSRangedPercentMin=100
fVATSRangedPercentSneakKill=100
fVATSRangedPercentTargetNoThreat=100

[Weather]
fSunBaseSize=850

 

Edited July 21, 2016 by BUBISHI

[MKIIV]

Thank You, Tech.

 

I'm trying to get better performance from my game and hope optimizing my inis will help a little.

 

My Skyrim.ini is still the one I modified for my first STEP-installation years ago, I changed a few settings but can't remember anymore where or why.

As I added a lot of mods to STEP maybe my Skyrim.ini is not optimal.

 

There is the Skyrim Project INI (spINI) and Optimize and stabilize skyrim - include ENB 0.30X configuration - stutter fix - performance fix powered by Crash Fixes by meh21 also offers some optimized ini settings.

I would also like just to try their ini-files but I think it it not as easy as with the enblocal.ini.

There are some settings like [Papyrus] that I know should not be altered midgame.

What if I take my current ones for the new inis? I belive I have not altered them anyway.

Could you please take a look at my Skyrim.ini and tell me what you think?

 

[spoiler=My current Skyrim.ini]

[General]

sLanguage=ENGLISH

uExterior Cell Buffer=36

sIntroSequence=

fFlickeringLightDistance=8192

bAlwaysActive=1

fEncumberedReminderTimer=3600

iNumHWThreads=4

 

[Display]

fShadowLODMaxStartFade=1000.0

fSpecularLODMaxStartFade=2000.0

fLightLODMaxStartFade=3500.0

iShadowMapResolutionPrimary=2048

bAllowScreenshot=0

fSunShadowUpdateTime=0.25

fSunUpdateThreshold=1.5

iPresentInterval=1

fMeshLODLevel1FadeTreeDistance=6144

fMeshLODLevel2FadeTreeDistance=4096

fTreesMidLODSwitchDist=8192

//fDefault1stPersonFOV=70.59

//fDefaultFOV=70.59

//fDefaultWorldFOV=70.59

fLightLODRange=50000

 

[Audio]

fMusicDuckingSeconds=6.0

fMusicUnDuckingSeconds=8.0

fMenuModeFadeOutTime=3.0

fMenuModeFadeInTime=1.0

 

[Grass]

bAllowCreateGrass=1

bAllowLoadGrass=0

fGrassFadeRange=10000

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

 

[Combat]

fMagnetismStrafeHeadingMult=0.0

fMagnetismLookingMult=0.0

f1PArrowTiltUpAngle=0.7

f3PArrowTiltUpAngle=0.7

f1PBoltTiltUpAngle=0.7

 

[Papyrus]

fPostLoadUpdateTimeMS=500.0

bEnableLogging=0

bEnableTrace=0

bLoadDebugInformation=0

 

[Water]

bReflectLODObjects=1

bReflectLODLand=1

bReflectSky=1

bReflectLODTrees=1

 

[Camera]

//fMouseWheelZoomSpeed=

//fOverShoulderPosZ=18.0

//fOverShoulderPosX=0.0

//fOverShoulderCombatAddY=0.0

//fOverShoulderCombatPosZ=24.0

//fOverShoulderCombatPosX=0.0

fOverShoulderHorseAddY=-72.0

fOverShoulderHorsePosZ=50.0

fOverShoulderHorsePosX=35.0

 

[interface]

bShowTutorials=0

fBookOpenTime=200.0

fSafeZoneX=10

fSafeZoneY=10

fSafeZoneXWide=10

fSafeZoneYWide=10

 

[MapMenu]

fMapWorldYawRange=400

fMapWorldMinPitch=0

fMapWorldMaxPitch=90

bWorldMapNoSkyDepthBlur=1

fWorldMapDepthBlurScale=0

fWorldMapMaximumDepthBlur=0

fWorldMapNearDepthBlurScale=0

uLockedObjectMapLOD=8

 

[Trees]

bEnableTreeAnimations=1

bEnableTrees=1

bRenderSkinnedTrees=1

uiMaxSkinnedTreesToRender=200

 

[LightingShader]

fDecalLODFadeStart=0.4

fDecalLODFadeEnd=0.4

 

[VATS]

bVATSMultipleCombatants=1

bVATSForceRanged=1

fVATSRangedPercentMin=100

fVATSRangedPercentSneakKill=100

fVATSRangedPercentTargetNoThreat=100

 

[Weather]

fSunBaseSize=850

 

 

Your ini is pretty generic, but the worst thing i see is max trees to render being 200. It should be 20 not 200. I doubt anyone is running 200 skinned trees or if even the engine will render them anyway, but that would most likely destroy any performance gains you would get form any other settings, lol. But yeah 20 is fine and you should not notice any difference.

 

 

Which brings me to my question. ANYONE. Do I Have To Have ENB Injector running to gain the benefit of Enb Boost? So many "guides" ect on the net about ENB and it seems to be a lot of conflicting info. I expect to trust STEP, but really i know nothing about STEP nor do i use it exactly, i came for information and have used some of the guides.

 

The ENB "boost" guide suggests i need the injector running for it to work. However when i run the injector V sync doesn't seem to work, whether i use my video card vsync and turn it off in all inis, or if i turn off my V card vsync and use Enb setting, or f i turn that off and use the Skyrim prefs setting, i seem to get tearing. Which i do not get just running the game with Sweetfx and vsync in my Skyrim.ini.

 

I see no real performance benefit with the injector running and in fact cannot show my frame rate with Afterburner as the OSD doesn't work. Nor does the fps setting hotkey for ENB. So other than seeing tearing and pretty much feeling the lag i can't really quantify the difference. I do however have a stable running game just using SweetFx and having vsync in Skyrim Prefs ini with all the memory patches crash fix dll, all my ini are solid. But introducing the injector before startup seemingly makes at least tearing occur but the game feels the same.

The main reason i am annoyed is i can not achieve a solid 60 fps in this game unless it's totally Vanilla. My Video card has 8 GB ram my pc has 16GB, my video card laughs at this game at 30% GPU usage if that, Sometimes 14-24% GPU usage, GTX 1070 and it sits at 900Mhz in this game. I overcloked it to 2.5Ghz and it literally made zero difference, actually crashed So i just started running it as whatever it decided to clock itself at and it doesn't even boost in this game to it's retail 3D clocks speed, it thinks it's pac man and yawns at it. My CPU sits at about 50% usage and i have about 16 GB of free ram doing nothing between my video card and pc. My Memory usage on my video card is about 1.2-2.4Gb depending on the location, yet I can't run 60 fps on a 5 year old game? I can play some newer games at 120-180 fps.

 

Yeah i'm modded - but really only with 2k textures, the usual stuff, and only about 80 mods which are half UI simple stuff not script heavy ect. My logs are pretty clean. Essentially my game almost is Vanilla with performance hacks and the usual better textures SMIM Elfx COT, grasses/trees/water ect. But turning off grass and tress makes about Zero difference so they apparently aren't even a factor.

 

I am running the injector version of ENB as i use Sweetfx for it's Smaa and a little bloom, and i couldn't see a logical way to run them both at the same time otherwise.. I don't use Enbs themselves, but i just want the memory hack and occlusion culling or to know occlusion culling is working cause if it is i don't really understand how this game has such shitty performance after about 2 weeks of setting it up thus far. Actually about three weeks night after night reading and making sure everything get's installed ithe right order testing testing. I want to know if anyoen gets 60fps SOLID never drops below 60fps in this game modded on a similar pc as mine.

 

i5 3570k stock,

Gtx 1070

16Bg ddr3 ram

WD Raptor HD

Win 7 64 bit services stripped to the bone install

[Greg]

I'm not sure we're using the term "injector" in quite the same way so I'll step back a bit and start with the basics...

 

When you download ENB Series, the zip file contains both an injector version and a wrapper version. It is generally recommended to use the wrapper version with games like Skyrim and to use the injector version only in situations in which the wrapper version doesn't work for whatever reason. I don't really know much about the injector version since I've always used the wrapper version.

 

With the wrapper version of ENB Series installed, you'll need to set iPresentInterval=1 in skyrim.ini, EnableVSync=true in enblocal.ini, and VSync to be application controlled in the video driver. With all three set properly, you should get vertical sync at your monitor's refresh rate (usually but not always 60Hz).

 

To use SweetFX, you'll need to edit the Proxy section in enblocal.ini to something like this:

 

 

[PROXY]
EnableProxyLibrary=true
InitProxyFunctions=true
ProxyLibrary=ReShade32.dll

 

You may find these instructions helpful to get SweetFX up and running with ENB Series.

[MKIIV]

I'm not sure we're using the term "injector" in quite the same way so I'll step back a bit and start with the basics...

 

When you download ENB Series, the zip file contains both an injector version and a wrapper version. It is generally recommended to use the wrapper version with games like Skyrim and to use the injector version only in situations in which the wrapper version doesn't work for whatever reason. I don't really know much about the injector version since I've always used the wrapper version.

 

With the wrapper version of ENB Series installed, you'll need to set iPresentInterval=1 in skyrim.ini, EnableVSync=true in enblocal.ini, and VSync to be application controlled in the video driver. With all three set properly, you should get vertical sync at your monitor's refresh rate (usually but not always 60Hz).

 

To use SweetFX, you'll need to edit the Proxy section in enblocal.ini to something like this:

[PROXY]
EnableProxyLibrary=true
InitProxyFunctions=true
ProxyLibrary=ReShade32.dll

You may find these instructions helpful to get SweetFX up and running with ENB Series.

Thanks. Yeah i had read that just before posting. I had actually just tried what you said about vsync after posting, i think it worked as far as enabling vsync. It doesn't seem as smooth though or at least not any better - maybe i'm expecting too much. I'm not using the compression - but i'll keep tweaking and try to enable the proxy. That guide seemed to be more aimed at using an ENB and Sweet Fx. I'm not using enbs nor do i want to i just want to memory part and the occlusion culling if possible. The reason i didn't use the wrapper version is i always understood that it conflicts with programs like Afterburner, and i run that 100% of the time for my fan profiles and monitoring ect. But yeah the Riva Tuner OSD doesn't work anyway once i enable the enb injector, even with compatibility mode for thrd party d3d dlls enabled.

 

So it's just injecting enbseries.dll. No d3d.dll. And then Sweet Fx is using it's d3d.dll. That's how i figured i could use them both together. I actually though of it before i even read that reddit post, but again, i'm not trying to run enb. Just the boost feature and culling.

Edited August 1, 2016 by MKIIV

[Greg]

You might consider going the first part of the STEP 2.2.9.2 Guide that discusses optimizing the Sykrim ini  files and configuring the video driver settings. After this go through the ENBoost settings page.

[Yougurt]

Your ini is pretty generic, but the worst thing i see is max trees to render being 200. It should be 20 not 200. I doubt anyone is running 200 skinned trees or if even the engine will render them anyway, but that would most likely destroy any performance gains you would get form any other settings, lol. But yeah 20 is fine and you should not notice any difference.

Im sorry to continue the off topic, but this got me worried... Ive got a full extended setup with a few other mods ( tks btw to all you that worked for this amazing moding guide).

 

Doesnt the step guide refer specificaly to set this value to 200 in the ini settings guide? Should i reduce mine?

Ive got a recent i5k at 4.4 speed with a r9 290 and 8gb ram and was trying to reduce some visual settings to get some more fps because sometimes i get around 20fps in outdoor areas or cities.

[Nebulous112]

Yes, STEP does recommend 200 for this value.

 

If you want to try further ini tweaks to boost your performance, try BethINI. It is made by DoubleYou, STEP ini guide curator, so it is quite safe. Use the spINI High preset if you currently use Skyrim Ultra. Make sure you point it to your MO profile, press the preset, then in the last tab turn grass types back to 7. Do NOT click ENB mode unless you have a graphical ENB.

 

This should gain you some FPS while keeping visuals looking great.

 

Edit: Actually in the new version you shouldn't need to tweak the grass type, it should auto-detect SFO and tweak accordingly. :-)

[Yougurt]

nebulous, tks for the fast reply!

I will definitly give bethini a try folowing your instructions!

[Yougurt]

WOW, im just amazed!

Dont want to continue to clutter this topic and I will post in the Bethini topic ( to say thank you to the author) , but i never thought a few clicks could get me such an improvement in fps while maintaining the same visual quality! Some stuff, like shadows even got better and softer.

 

Neboulous, very good advice you gave me! Tks

Edited August 3, 2016 by Yougurt

[MKIIV]

You might consider going the first part of the STEP 2.2.9.2 Guide that discusses optimizing the Sykrim ini  files and configuring the video driver settings. After this go through the ENBoost settings page.

Thanks. Yeah did that long ago. And re-looked it over many times before ever posting. Most of my ini's setting are even annotated exactly from STEP guide. They are really the same exact basic ini settings and video settings as i had on my gtx660. I normally wouldn't even post, i've read everything under the sun about it. But i was just frustrated as i know i am running a pretty lean setup compared to most as far as mods and just bought about a 2000x better video card than my last one and figured it should run better with all these patches and fixes. I don't have ctds or shadow issues or any of that. Just lower than expected framerate with a new video card.

My shadows are actually pretty much flawless however they might be cranked a bit high ( 4096 resolution) with tree and land shadows enabled. My memory usage here is only because i have CK running in the background a bunch of folders with dds thumbnails loaded and probably photoshop and youtube, but not when playing.

 

My skinned trees are only at 20 though, there doesn't seem to be any noticeable visual difference to have them at 200 unless for some reason it actually improves performance.

 

 

I turned of all of my puny 80 mods and put all of my sliders on 0 and while some things cannot be "turned off" like smim meshes or some textures ect for the most part it's vanilla at that point, and yeah i get 60 fps, but still not constantly in every single spot. With all my setting how i prefer them or less like not even all sliders maxed ( just using sliders for in game testing ) like items or actors at 50% and Object lighting at 100% and mods on i can  get 40ish fps on the road to Whiterun. With everything maxed it's like 20 fps, even 18 or 19.

 

With just COT and Lanterns of Skyrim it seems it drops 4-6 fps straight away, then enabling grass and trees takes about another 3fps, it's more just the grass though. Trees is really about 0 fps hit. Textures don't really make any difference, i have no 4k textures and i'm not anywhere close to 3Gb video memory usage in normal play.

I did get the Enb Boost injector and Sweet Fx working together. Smaa from SweetFx is 0 frame hit. With Enb boost injector int he task bar loading times are longer and there is really no difference in performance, perhaps worse - more stutter when loading a cell. Thinking i don't even need it as i'm not even close to hitting the 3gb v memory, anyway, i just wanted to test how the occlusion worked in the outside cells or if it was indeed working. Doesn't seem to make a difference - if it is in fact working right. Inside dungeons of course i get 60 fps solid. But outside and in towns it's anywhere from 30-60fps.

 

I think my biggest "settings" hit outside is probably Ugrids at 7 - which i think is pretty common? I've had it set to 7 for years, and 4096 shadow resolution along with land shadows and tree shadows, the later two of which i did not have on when playing on my 660. But i ran the rest basically exact same settings on my gtx 660 , ah except i was also just running FXAA then from my video card, and yeah fps was a little worse but i guess the difference before is i was on an fw900 crt and it's much smoother and much more clear in motion where anything under 60fps on lcd is seizure inducing eye torture to me. And therein might be my real problem. Lcds are crap. I just started using them for the first time in 20 years a few months ago and i've always hated them. If i think about it it seems to be the source of all my various woes lately not only in this game but in pretty much just using my pc.

 

Will try that Benthini just to see what it suggests and how much it differs from my settings though. Sorry for my ramblings. Thanks Again.

Edited August 3, 2016 by MKIIV

[MKIIV]

So, the difference between the Bethini Ultra ini with recommended tweaks vs my ini settings in my "worst case scenario" locations.

The difference is between 3 - 6 fps give or take, but the visual difference is massive. Again it trades what are imo not worth it settings for settings that make a huge impact in overall image quality. IE: Skinned trees @ 200 while reducing overall lod and tree distance is a waste and not necessary compared to Skinned trees 20 with higher quality and distance. It also trades down grass density and grass distance but raises max particles to 6000 from 750 which is not a worthy trade (imo). Shadows no contest. Distant view quality no contest. It also turned off Sky reflections on water which in my testing was not much impact vs visual quality. Mostly a lot of the rest of the settings were similar to mine, but some are just plain bad for a few fps which if you are already in the 30ish range make little to no difference in play ability but looks wise is quite clearly degraded. Especially if you trade that for the areas in the game even outside that actually do get 60fps with the better image quality.

 

In both cases though i disabled AA and AF in game and use Sweet Fx for Smaa and video card driver for AF.

Edit: Added full res links as it's much more apparent.

 

Bethini Ultra with recommended Tweaks.

Full res https://imgur.com/rMRC265

 

My ini's - 6fps at best difference but fluctuates - i tried to get the highest of both.

Full res https://imgur.com/o6jbiY0

 

Bethini

Full res https://imgur.com/sNhlndQ

 

My inis 3fps difference at best

Full res https://imgur.com/SKyByDQ

Edited August 3, 2016 by MKIIV

[Nebulous112]

You should not be using uGrids 7. Use DynDOLOD instead.

[TechAngel85]

Yes, it is generally not recommended to change uGrids anymore.

[MKIIV]

You should not be using uGrids 7. Use DynDOLOD instead.

Oh really. Ok, didn't know that. Most the recent talk on it people were still running ugrids 7 with Dyndolod. Well i planned on getting Dyndoload installed but basically the last thing as far as graphical tweaks after i decide exactly on what graphical mods i will for sure be sticking with.

 

I also figured out for sure that if using the Injector version of Enb Boost, you do need to have the Injector running in your task bar for it's features to work. Which makes sense, but really all the stuff i read and videos i watched this was never mentioned. Or i missed it in the many hours reading and watching them. But it was simple really to figure out, and it actually came to me remembering alt tabbing years ago when i was using an actual enb and seeing the enb stuff in Task Manager *derp. So yeah, If you do not have the Injector loaded then Enbhost.exe will not be running in task manager, and using one of the various fps/memory OSDs that work with Enb running you can see if or not that it is managing the memory. Whereas without it i am using 2.2 ish Gb in game, and with it, it is showing 700ishMb in game and enbhost.exe is holding 1.5Gb in task manager.

 

A lot of the guides and recent very through videos don't mention this, or again else i somehow missed it. A lot of them will say all you need to do is add the lines in the ini and you are set, but most are probably using the wrapper version so it makes sense they would say that.

 

The whole thing arose as i decided on using Sweetfx for Smaa ( 0 fps hit literally for me ) and features of Enb Boost. But i also wanted to get the Riva statistics OSD working, which it will not do with enb injector or dll version running regardless anyway, but i found a mod for that last night which works great and it started to make sense what was going on.

 

Thanks Again for all your comments and help.

Edited August 5, 2016 by MKIIV