ENBoost/Skyrim INIs recommended STEP settings wrong?

[blattgeist]

Hi STEP community. This is my first post here so I hope this is the right place.

 

I noticed that the description for recommended ENBoost settings might be wrong on a certain part:

 

Quote: "Set this line to true to use the memory reduction features without the graphic modifications of ENB.

UseDefferedRendering=(false, true)" http://wiki.step-project.com/ENBoost

I believe the line above is wrong. Setting it to true would be for ENB - users and settings it to false for Non - ENB users, meaning for people that do not use any graphical modifications.

 

 

Evidence? This post:

 

from Skyliner90 in the ENBoost comments on Nexus, Quote:

 

"UseDefferedRendering=true Some sort of rendering technique, unimportant unless you use ENB graphics."

 

And also this post: https://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/1042116-ctd-and-performance-patch-enboost/page-70

 

Quote: "Most if not all ENB presets work with ENBoost. Pick an ENB you like, use v0193 or latest enb, change UsePatchSpeedhackWithoutGraphics=false and UseDefferedRendering=true in enblocal.ini for enb effects. If your enb comes with sweetfx, change EnableProxyLibrary=true, InitProxyFunctions=true and ProxyLibrary=yoursweetfx.dll in enblocal.ini as well."

 

 

So... am I right?

 

Greetings, blattgeist.

 

 

Edit: Here the link to the STEP site that I was referring to.

 

https://wiki.step-project.com/Recommended_ENB_Profiles#Global

Edited May 6, 2014 by EssArrBee

[DoubleYou]

I'm sorry, but I can't find anywhere on our ENBoost setup page where it says anything about the UseDefferedRendering value. On the ENB Guide it says the UseDefferedRendering "will disable SSAO, Image Based Lighting, Reflection and Particle Lights."

[blattgeist]

Oh I forgot to include the link to the STEP Site, here it is: https://wiki.step-project.com/Recommended_ENB_Profiles#Global

 

Also included in my main post now.

 

 

 

Edit: It looks like I might have found an old description of ENboost maybe? I simply googled "STEP ENboost" and it brought mo to that site.

Edited April 11, 2014 by blattgeist

[DoubleYou]

Ok, I found the page you're referring to: https://wiki.step-project.com/Recommended_ENB_Profiles

 

It looks like it was an oversight. /fixed

[blattgeist]

Here is one more: https://www.iparadigm.org/pages/pnenb/ENBoost.html linked from https://wiki.step-project.com/Guide:ENB#tab=Installation.

 

That site does not work anymore, I get Error 500.

 

And if I may ask a question. What's the general consensus regarding

AutodetectVideoMemorySize=true? Some people have reported instabilities with it being set to true. I've read it here and there, scattered sources.. so I'm not sure if it is safe to use.

 

Also regarding the STEP recommendation of ReservedMemorySizeMb=512 for 4GB Video Cards. It kinda conflicts with a post I read here:

 

 

 

https://forum.step-project.com/topic/4781-correct-enblocal-settings/

 

 

Quote Keithinhanoi:

 

3. General consensus as of late with ReservedMemorySizeMb is to try 128 or 256 for a 4GB vcard setup like yours.  [...] But... if you're hitting your (physical) VRAM limit often, you must be using pretty hi-res textures, so then you may actually want to try setting ReservedMemorySizeMb to 512. Maxing out on VRAM also means you should consider setting VideoMemorySizeMb higher than 4096, to extend what is used as VRAM into system RAM (in enbhost.exe, as jafin16 explained.)

Edited April 11, 2014 by blattgeist

[DoubleYou]

ENB settings are similar to ini tweaks in that there is a whole pile of information and misinformation out there, and I'm somewhat new to ENB, so I'll leave that to the ENB experts. Removed the bad link however.

[blattgeist]

Alright thanks.

[keithinhanoi]

ENB settings are indeed similar to Skyrim's .ini settings with many conflicting accounts and recommendations.

 

But it's even more difficult to discover the "truth" of the best ENBoost (enblocal.ini) settings because it is even more heavily dependent on every single facet of your system (32 vs 64 bit, Win 7 vs 8, CPU, GPU, RAM amount, VRAM amount, mod lineup, textures used, etc.)

 

So, that's why I stick with words like "try" or "recommend" whenever I post about it. Personally though, I try to look at the direct source of information on the settings, by searching on the ENB Forums, for example "UseDefferedRendering" as the search text, and "ENBSeries" (Boris himself) as the poster. Then I can see what Boris has said about the feature.

 

I'm in the process of putting together a comprehensive set of explanations for the enblocal.ini settings, and this is what I have for UseDefferedRendering, mostly based on posts by Boris:

 

UseDefferedRendering

; true  = Enables deferred shading rendering, which is required for most of ENB’s lighting effects.

; false = Disables deferred shading rendering, along with most of ENB’s lighting effects.

; NOTES:  1) The ENB lighting effects that require deferred shading rendering include: ambient occlusion (SSAO), image based lighting, reflections, particle lighting  and skylighting. Effects not using deferred shading rendering include: detailed shadow fixes, bloom, HDR, DoF (Depth of Field), and sunrays.

; 2) Deferred shading rendering is incompatible with hardware MSAA (multisampled anti-aliasing), and it should not be used when ENB processed graphics effects are enabled. ENB’s AA must be used instead.

; 3) Although unconfirmed, the general recommendation is to set UseDefferedRendering=false if you have disabled ENB graphics processed effects with UsePatchSpeedhackWithoutGraphics=true, because enabling deferred rendering may lower performance when only using the ENBoost features. This is also true if you only want to use ENB processed graphics effects which do not require deferred shading lighting. However, you should still set bFloatPointRenderTarget=0 in your skyrimprefs.ini file.

; 4) When UsePatchSpeedhackWithoutGraphics is set to false and UseDefferedRendering is set to false the following message will be displayed in red text in Skyrim’s main menu at start up: Deferred rendering disabled so some effects are disabled.

 

That explanation includes links to the wikipedia entry explaining deferred shading, and also an ENBForums link regarding which of ENB's graphical effect require it.

 

As for ReservedMemorySizeMb, that's just something you'll have to experiment with, though what it should be set to seems by all accounts to be related to how much of your physical VRAM you are generally using in game. Boris has said that on some systems setting it to a higher value can help reduce stuttering in texture "heavy" areas of the game, but setting it too low or high can lead to instability. The upper limit is definitely 1GB, though, as stated by Boris.

 

Then, regarding AutodetectVideoMemorySize, that is another one that you just have to try. As I've mentioned elsewhere in these forums, if I use it, the ENB GUI shows it has set Video Memory size to anywhere from 15-17GB, on my Win 7 x64 system with 32GB of system RAM and 1GB VRAM. I'm not seeing any CTDs that are directly related to that. But that's just me, on my system, and you may experience something different. What I can tell you for a fact is that if AutodetectVideoMemorySize is set to true, the VideoMemorySizeMb value will be ignored.

[blattgeist]

That's a very good project keithinhanoi. I can't wait to see the final product of that comprehensive "enboost wiki". As it is now.. information about the different commands and recommendations is way too scattered all around the modding net. Would be good to have it centered.

 

If you don't mind I'll list my system and current settings for enboost:

Processor: intel i7 3.4 / 3.9ghz (dunno why it shows me 2 values in my system settings).

GPU: Nvidia GTX 780 4GB Ram, not overclocked.

System Ram: 16GB

 

Skyrim graphic mods are mostly medium sized. I use very little high res ones, like amidianborn book of silence. All textures are optimized with SMCO. All other mods are sorted and mostly compatible.. even spend days checking these out in tes5edit.

 

My enboost settings are... I copy/pasted the [FIX]es from the current ENBloca.ini (non enboost ini). And added some other commands that were recommended here: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/50214/? Well not some, but only 1 command that is: " VSyncSkipNumFrames=0" Since it was not in the original enboost ini.

 

I think I miss out on 1 or 2 of the [Fix]es compared to the STEP guide that can be seen here: https://wiki.step-project.com/Guide:ENB#tab=Editing_Enblocal_INI

 

I am also not too sure about my compression setting there.. that other site I listed earlier recommends to set it to true.. and STEP's recommendation is rather difficult.. I can not determine if I am close to my VRam limit. I think I am not, since I see no stutters.. but not sure.

 

 

 

 

[PROXY]
EnableProxyLibrary=false
InitProxyFunctions=true
ProxyLibrary=other_d3d9.dll

[GLOBAL]
UsePatchSpeedhackWithoutGraphics=true
UseDefferedRendering=false
ForceFakeVideocard=false

[PERFORMANCE]
SpeedHack=true

[MULTIHEAD]
ForceVideoAdapterIndex=false
VideoAdapterIndex=0

[MEMORY]
ExpandSystemMemoryX64=true
ReduceSystemMemoryUsage=true
DisableDriverMemoryManager=false
DisablePreloadToVRAM=false
EnableUnsafeMemoryHacks=false
ReservedMemorySizeMb=256
VideoMemorySizeMb=3968
EnableCompression=false
AutodetectVideoMemorySize=true

[WINDOW]
ForceBorderless=false
ForceBorderlessFullscreen=false

[ENGINE]
ForceAnisotropicFiltering=true
MaxAnisotropy=16
EnableVSync=true
AddDisplaySuperSamplingResolutions=false
VSyncSkipNumFrames=0

[LIMITER]
WaitBusyRenderer=false
EnableFPSLimit=true
FPSLimit=50.0

[iNPUT]
//shift
KeyCombination=16
//f12
KeyUseEffect=123
//home
KeyFPSLimit=36
//num / 106
KeyShowFPS=106
//print screen
KeyScreenshot=44
//enter
KeyEditor=13
//f4
KeyFreeVRAM=115

[ADAPTIVEQUALITY]
Enable=false
Quality=1
DesiredFPS=20.0

[ANTIALIASING]
EnableEdgeAA=false
EnableTemporalAA=false
EnableSubPixelAA=false
EnableTransparencyAA=false

[FIX]
FixGameBugs=true
FixParallaxBugs=true
FixAliasedTextures=true
IgnoreInventory=true
FixSsaoHairTransparency=true
FixTintGamma=true
RemoveBlur=false
FixSubSurfaceScattering=true
FixSkyReflection=true
FixCursorVisibility=true

 

 

 

I've digged out some info about the "AutodetectVideoMemorySize" setting. See here: https://enbseries.enbdev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2666&start=10

 

Quote Boris: "Folks, i forgot to write that new parameter added to enblocal.ini which turn on automatic detection of shared video memory, if memory manager enabled. May be this will solve stuttering issues when moving outside from interiors as seems this happen because of wrong setting made to memory manager."

 

And with "memory manager" he means Quote: "Memory manager means mine, from ENBoost (ReduceSystemMemoryUsage=true)." Source: https://enbseries.enbdev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2666&start=70

 

So you guys might want to consider recommending setting "AutodetectVideoMemorySize" to true for people who use enboost.

Edited April 12, 2014 by blattgeist

[DoubleYou]

We actually do recommend AutodetectVideoMemorySize=true on our ENBoost page.

[blattgeist]

Ah true, and also the VSyncSkipNumFrames=0. Should I add

FixSsaoWaterTransparency=true and IgnoreLoadingScreen=true ?

These settings are not included in the current enblocal.ini. So maybe it does not work anymore?

 

New commands are:

 

FixSkyReflection=trueFixCursorVisibility=true

Edited April 12, 2014 by blattgeist

[keithinhanoi]

FixSsaoWaterTransparency was removed a while ago, and IgnoreLoadingScreen was removed (and set to always enabled) in release version 0.250 or 0.251 (would have to search ENB Forums to be sure), and the FixSkyReflection and FixCursorVisibility fixes have been around for quite some time. So if you've downloaded the latest binary (0.252 as of writing this, ) then that explains the discrepancies.

 

As far as I understand it from reading through many posts on the ENB Forums, setting EnableCompression to true will reduce system RAM usage - use Skyrim Performance Monitor or something like Process Hacker in the background to log RAM, etc. usage - but on some systems using compression will slow things down enough that you could get (micro-)stuttering, lag, or loss of smooth movement. Find out your general system RAM usage first, and if you're not getting close to maxing out (which is probably the case since you've got 16GB,) then it is likely safe to leave compression disabled. Nonetheless it's also a good idea to do some tests with the setting enabled and disabled, because some users have reported less stuttering with EnableCompression=true.

 

Regarding your findings on AutodetectVideoMemorySize - that's a good example of exactly the kind of research that I've done and I recommend others doing. That said - be careful, because Boris has said a lot more about AutodetectVideoMemorySize since that post. In fact he has since made at least one change to the way it detects how much memory is available to allocate. But what you found there is a very important point about the setting - that it detects shared video memory (which is VRAM plus some amount of system RAM that can be used as "extended" VRAM by ENBoost.)

 

DirectX in Windows by default will use some system RAM if available as shared video memory. This is something you can check by viewing a saved dxdiag report on your system (on Win 7 at least - not sure about Win 8). However, Boris' routine used by AutodetectVideoMemorySize definitely does not look at that shared video memory system value to make it's determination. He has explained it as something along the lines of attempting to pre-allocate some memory to see how much VRAM + RAM is available.

 

My own experiences backs this up, as my dxdiag report shows a total of 4095MB of shared video memory while AutodetectVideoMemorySize results in ENBoost allocating 15-17GB as mentioned above. Note that this is just an upper limit, and whether all of that memory actually gets used depends on a lot of factors while playing the game. In my experience I've never seen my total TESV.exe + enbhost.exe ram usage + VRAM go over 4GB, but then, I've only got a 1GB videocard and use 1024 or 512 res textures.

 

EDITED (16 April 2014) to fix my erroneous explanation of the EnableCompression setting. Sorry about that!

Edited April 16, 2014 by keithinhanoi

[blattgeist]

Hm.. my idle Ram usage is ~4GB, but I have a lot of tabs in chrome and firefox open all the time. That might explain it. I wish there was a way to set an upper limit despite having the autoallocate feature on. Like 10GB or so. But wishful thinking doesn't get us anywhere ^^

 

So it might not be super safe to have autoallocation on in every situation you say. I've read about that shared memory vram+RAM part before. But I thought skyrim would never ever allocate THAT much memory.. I mean 4GB are already a lot for a video card in my opinion. I used an nvidia gtx 670 before with 2gb. I mostly reached 1.8 GB without enboost (because that tool didn't exist at that time).

 

But we will see, or rather I will see when it crashes lol. For such reasons there are nifty tools like MemoryBlocks Log and SKSE's log feature (if enabled in the ini).

 

That dxdiag memory usage is interesthing tho. How much memory are we talking about? Maybe the 256mb is enough. Will skyrim crash if dxdiag runs out of memory?

 

Gotta go to bed now though... was a nice chat with you two. Good night :)

 

I'll check back tomorrow.

Edited April 12, 2014 by blattgeist

[crime_syndicate]

Are you sure you didn't make a typo at "GTX780 4gb" ? For all I know, these cards only exist in 3GB for now.

[blattgeist]

Uhm.. you're right. It's a 770 lol. EVGA GeForce GTX 770 4GB Dual Classified w/ EVGA A

I did not remember that too well.

 

My old 670 broke (Darksiders fault :P) and I thought the new one was a 780. They couldn't repair it so.. I got this one.

Edited April 12, 2014 by blattgeist

[crime_syndicate]

oh alright, slight upgrade as well :p