CTD and [Papyrus] tweaks

[Lumaan]

As so many I play around with tweaks to my .ini files and as other sometimes getting CTD.

 

Then in my quest of getting the best tweak I came across this forum post https://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/633229-less-ctds-maybe-none/ about [Papyrus] tweaks.

Started to read and change my [Papyrus] in Skyrim.ini and now I only gets CTD if some mods don't play well together.

 

Before I used the most used [Papyrus] tweak on the net:

[Papyrus]
iMinMemoryPageSize=10000
iMaxMemoryPageSize=500000
iMaxAllocatedMemoryBytes=1800000000

A lot of CTD and instability.

 

 

I now use:

[Papyrus]
fUpdateBudgetMS=1.6
fExtraTaskletBudgetMS=1.6
fPostLoadUpdateTimeMS=1000.0
bEnableLogging=0
bEnableTrace=0
bLoadDebugInformation=0
iMaxMemoryPageSize=8192
iMinMemoryPageSize=256
iMaxAllocatedMemoryBytes=8388608

And runs way better.

 

More info on [Papyrus] here https://ck.uesp.net/wiki/INI_Settings_(Papyrus)

[frihyland]

Nice, I haven't gotten to that yet in my read through of the CK wiki. This will be really helpful.

[MadWizard25]

Thanks for this, good for inclusion in the troubleshooting wiki guide imo.

[majin662]

was meaning to post this info when I ran across this thread.

 

fUpdateBudgetMS is how much time Papyrus update loop gets. If you have alot of function calls or scripts running increasing the value may help performance at cost of framerate.

 

fExtraTaskletBudgetMD is how much time from one thread is redirected for running scripts. be careful with this one because if you allow one thread to rob another you may run into issues.

 

fPostLoadUpdateTimeMS is how much additional load screen time you are willing to deal with for additional pre script processing. Basically if you have a lot of scripts that need running increasing this will increase load time but more script processing will be done before hand

 

iMinMemoryPageSize

Smallest amount of memory VM will allocate for a stack in BYTES. smaller # wastes less memory. Larger # reduces amount of allocations for stacks with a lot of small frames

 

iMax MemoryPageSize largest amount used by VM for single stack page. smaller # will force VM to allocate more pages for big frames, larger # may change how allocator allocates and actually decrease performance

 

iMaxAllocatedMemoryByteslargest amount of memory VM can use for same as min. If you set this so high it pushes over memory limit the game will just wait for memory to be freed. If you have a ton of scripts, upping it may help but will use more memory.

 

Any of the logging tools are double edged swords.

All of them will increase disk activity and loading debug info increases memory useage to boot.

 

These were summaries from the Creation Kit Wiki. I wish more people read that thing because it does a pretty decent job of debunking some of the "tweaks" out there. Messing with these beyond reason is only asking for trouble

[DoYouEvenModBro]

Post has been deleted

[Deathwing514]

I have seen these tweaks in almost every performance guide in nexus.

 

Has it been confirmed that these tweaks actually improve performance?

[MontyMM]

No. What majin662 said is true - most people don't understand what these tweaks do, and have probably only been recommended because they sound vaguely like they might be useful, and then caught on like urban legends. A lot of tweak sites just unquestioningly collect and repeat every suggestion they see posted, and so it goes on.

 

I would leave these settings alone.

[Aiyen]

We really should post up in big golden letters!

 

Golden Rule of ini tweaking: LESS IS BETTER!

 

then add in text... if you do not see any visual, or performance wise impact of the change then it most likely does not do anything constructive for your game anyways!

I know some people claim that certain tweaks increase stability... but again this is in most cases just a "lucky" placebo effect.

If people want better memory management then use ENBoost, since it is proven to be working, and every ini tweak for that has a noticeable impact on the game.

[EssArrBee]

Well, a couple of those Papyrus tweaks need to be tested with scripted mods. I think giving Update Budget might be a good one to look into and do some proper testing.

 

I do subscribe to the "Less is more" rule, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't test some of those Papyrus tweaks since that is what causes people to freeze and crash now that ENBoost helps with the memory problems.

[MontyMM]

Yes - I'm all for experimenting. But as an answer to Deathwing's question - these tweaks have definitely not yet been shown to help with anything, and could easily be detrimental with arbitrary settings. Experimental testing for script-related stability - go for it. It will be quite hard to prove their efficacy beyond the anecdotal though, unless we can identify some specific script-related crash situations that are repeatable for a number of people.

[Deathwing514]

I agree with EssArrBee that we need to do some testing for these papyrus tweaks.

 

If these tweaks are proven to be true to improve stability for heavy scripted game.

 

Than this and enb boost could solve almost 75% of reported CTD/freezes.

[Garfink]

In my experience, papyrus ini tweaks do nothing significant to aid stability.

 

 

Garfink Skyrim Junkie Anonymous.

[EssArrBee]

I think the best way would be to agree on a set of combat mods that we know can cause havok with the game, especially with lots of NPCs in battle. Try them playing in the same area with the same NPCs over and over until the game crashes. This type of testing would require many, many trials for each setting to determine what helps and what doesn't. It would be quite a large undertaking, even for a group of testers.

[Aiyen]

Even if you did that and it showed something, then it is not certain that it would in other scenarios. Could be that quests interferes etc. Add in that every system is different and would most likely require its own specific values.

Also without some sort of debugger then it would be a project of silly proportions.

[torminater]

I'ld say use Dukes Heavy Combat, ASIS, EBT, DSI, BFS, Immersive armors&weapons (scripts randomly picking gear for bandits), magic duel, DCO, Immersive Patrols, and/or perhaps some others I couldn't think of at the moment.