DROPPED The Skyrim Distance Overhaul (by Grieche)

[TechAngel85]

These are mainly just textures so it sounds like you're hitting a ceiling on what you can load.

[TechAngel85]

These ceilings should have be eliminated with SKSE memory patch and ENBoost though... Is your SKSE set up properly with the SKSE.ini file added containing the memory parameters?

[Memory]DefaultHeapInitialAllocMB=768ScrapHeapSizeMB=256

INI should be in Data>SKSE>SKSE.ini.

 

In MO file tree it'll be SKSE>SKSE.ini

[NewYears1978]

Actually, It did it again even with SkyrimHD off... so not sure what is going on.

 

 

Edit://

 

I did reinstall SKSE awhile back and I notice I missed the ini step.  Added, testing.

 

Adding the ini allowed it to load again, let me put SkyimHD back and I will know for sure!

 

Edit 2://

 

That did it, loads with SkyrimHD and SDO installed..no issues now..so the whole problem was about 50% through my initial STEP install I started over because I wanted to organize some stuff and had messed up..when I redid SKSE I had forgotten to remake the ini.  SMH.

 

Thanks for helping me troubleshoot !!!

 

Now too bad I don't have 30-40 FPS drops at Whiterun and Markarth etc..haha.  My problem is on my rig, or my eyes, when I have 50 fps or lower..it feels really choppy to me instead of just a playable lower FPS.

Edited July 25, 2014 by NewYears1978

[bern43]

Any issues with removing the swamp options after I've been playing for a few hours?  I removed it because of some frame drops I was getting, but I'm getting that "save relies on information that is no longer there" message.  Maybe I'm just too paranoid about my saves.  Worst case I guess I could just reinstall the mod and add back the swamp option.  Better than risking my save.

Edited July 25, 2014 by bern43

[EssArrBee]

You will be fine. The plugin does not run any scripts, it just changes some flags on items in LODs, so it cant mess up a save game. Start game, ignore message, load game, make save with new load order, keep playing.

[lxsapper]

Skyfalls and Skymills was updated yesterday, it now has an option for compatibility with SDO, so I'm gessing I should install Skyfalls and Skymills with that option and ignore the patch for it in the optionals for SDO. Is that correct?

Edited July 26, 2014 by lxsapper

[DoubleYou]

I noticed that, but I haven't updated until I can take a look. Going to need to update the instructions.

[Ewarre]

Great work you guys are doing !
You were asking for  some feedback on the performance hit of SRO on "lower end' rigs.
This my HW....

-->> Duo E8400 @3Ghz, 8G ram, GeForce GTX 550Ti(1G), display=1024x768@75Hz (its a 14 yo 17" !!)

I tested with the 3 top SRO option selections in (fires,falls,creeks) but no swamp, and a second time
but with no extra selections (all 4 out), the impact as to be expected is highly variable,
I tested in 2 open areas one near WesternWatchTower with long views all sides
and the second near Riverwood Bridge with mixed views , for a total of 9 readings.

With "fires,falls,creeks" in ,   I lost a total of 60 frames over the 9 views, for an average  6.7 fps drop, and
 with no special selections at all the hit was a total of 37 frames over the 9 views, for an average  4 fps.
For what I gain the 4 fps hit is well worth it and this mod is now a must have,  but I decided to not use any
special selections since I already have most of what I want, its just the missing grass now, that is left

to "pop in".
 
The fps numbers were (FORMAT = pre-SRO  , SRO with no selections, SRO+fires+falls+creeks ) .....
56,53,48  
48,45,44
63,57,55
47,43,38
48,45,41
58,53,50
58,52,52
65,58,57
75,75,73

Mod-Mix Backround... I'm running well over a hundred mods, but nothing script heavy, as my CPU is at full load
always, GPU gets it easy sitting generally around 60% give or take.
Using many texture packs , mostly 1k outdoors (some 2k) and all 2k indoors/caves/mines/dungeons.  

Performance (prior to loading this mod)......
My fps indoors never drops below 60 and usually sits at 75, outdoors in open areas its pretty constantly in the
50 to 60 range except for tree areas (lots tree mods) where its more like 40s, and towns (lots mods here)
where its likely  40s.  Stutters in busy outside areas are rare and very brief, fps may drop to 30s then recover.

My game settings are mostly ultra except for shadows=med, and AA=2 , But my video card is running AAx8,
and lots other stuff not done by game engine, did much reading & testing on this and I get a better quality
image and a measurable performance improvement.

My ini settings are vanilla  with following exceptions ...
fLODFadeOutMultObjects=20.0000    was 15
fSkyCellRefFadeDistance=250000.0000    was 150k
fGrassStartFadeDistance=10000.0000      was 7k
fGrassMaxStartFadeDistance=10000.0000     was 7k
fTreeLoadDistance=100000.0000    was 75k
bTreesReceiveShadows=1      was 0 =off
bDrawLandShadows=1        was 0 =off
bShadowsOnGrass=0          was 1 =on
fShadowBiasScale=1.5000      was 0.3

More ......... not meant to be read....
In case you are wondering why im still using and old VDU.... I'm broke !!
or why I'm still using 1024x768, cus thats what I started out with, and when I get thru building my mod list I will
go back and review it. But to be honest I did not expect my frame rates to hold up as well as they have given
the mod mix I now run, and what I read about Skyrim being such a demanding game.  I have owned the game
for over a year but only started to play and mod about 2 months ago, and it takes a lot of time to individually
load, trial & bench each mod before I lock it in, and though my mod list is well over 100 I have discarded at least
that many in the process . But I now have a game that plays smooth as, no CTDs and looks stunning....starting to
think its going to be my all time #1.  Oh, and I'm also running on a new install Win7, its very lean & fast.

PS. I'm still learning, but if any of you more knowledeable guys out there want give feedback on the above
feel free to do so, I can take it !
 

[TechAngel85]

Thanks for this! It sort of confirms our recommendations.

[DoubleYou]

This mod has been moved in priority above SkyFalls and SkyMills in the STEP Guide to accommodate the update of aforementioned mod that provides the SDO patch file.

[TechAngel85]

DY just kinda left it hanging so here what a lot of users will need to do:

 

For users that have had SkyFalls and SkyMills and SDO installed for a long while and merged the patch from SDO. You will have to reinstall SkyFalls and SkyMills and SDO to get the proper setup again. Make sure you have the latest versions of each mod before doing so and don't forget to move SDO up in the load order.

[DoubleYou]

It actually will not matter, Tech, if they merged the patch, as the file will simply be provided by SkyFalls. Indeed, it's the exact same file, so no change necessary. It just is simpler to install the SkyFalls patch version.

[TechAngel85]

It actually will not matter, Tech, if they merged the patch, as the file will simply be provided by SkyFalls. Indeed, it's the exact same file, so no change necessary. It just is simpler to install the SkyFalls patch version.

I was thinking the change really didn't make any sense because I figured the result was the same either way. Eh ...semantics...SkyFalls is only easier because it's one less file to download is all.

[DoubleYou]

AND you don't have to manually create the file structure for the SDO patch version, which only contains the file.

[Eagleman]

I tested this and there is a drop. My lowest point was 35FPS with Bleakfalls in view...60 when it was not. I don't think there is a way around this one. The campfires we can just not use that ESP for now. This one is in one of the main files I think. Minor if it's the only place. Will most definitely be marking this as a performance heavy mod and those with systems that can't handle it. If it's too much of an issue with just Bleakfalls, then we might be able to find that mesh and disable it for the install instructions. That'll probably be an "after-release" change so more people can test.

 

Any update about the Bleakfalls issue?

 

I to have this issue, I've got a Core I5 2500K, 8GB RAM and a brand new GTX 970. There was not bottleneck at all when looking at Bleakfalls but there was a 30 FPS drop.

 

EDIT:

 

Figured it out (aigan... stupid me):

 

Disabled this mod:

S.D.O. Full-Lod - Morthal Swamp Trees Complete

• This option will load all trees in the swamp and comes with an ~20FPS drop (more or less depending on your graphics card).

 

 

Just seems weird that it gives a 30 FPS penalty. When my videocard is basically just sitting idle.

Edited November 13, 2014 by Eagleman