Dazed And Confused - ENB Questions

[Shadriss]

Greetings, all.

 

First, by way of intro, I've been following and using STEP Core and Extended (with many addiotns... surprise!) since at least 2.2.3, possibly earlier. This is, without question, the most comprehensive set of fixes, additions, and upgrades to be found for the game, and the dedication many of you show is... well, simply amazing.

 

So, on the the questions. As I mentioned, I've been running STEP for some time now. I run the entirety of the list, using 1K resolutions, as recommended. My system is a 64-Bit WIN7 w/ 16GB RAM and a GtX 770 with 4GB VRAM, i7 Chipset running at 3.4 GB, no overclocking of any kind. On multiple occasions, I have attempted to step (no pun intended) beyond the normal graphics with an ENB. I've tried probably six to ten of them over the course of the last year, and while some of them have been downright gorgous, they all have one huge setback - FPS drops into the dirt.

 

Now, I understand that some FPS hit is gonna happen - I expect that. This is far from the first game I've modded. However, the amount of drop I'm seeing (usually into the high 20's to low 30's, even in some indoor areas) floors me. Given the nature of the game and the power I have at my disposal, I would expect it to run at least a BIT better than that, but to this point I have no luck figuring out how. I continually see other players who happily play thier games with ENB presets and systems that are at or below my level with heavily modded setups, yet this somehow eludes me.

 

So that, in essence, is my question: what piece of magical Skyrim voodoo am I missing here? It's patently possible, from what I've read, but the exact how seems to be hiding in plain sight, sticking it's tongue out at me.

[Nozzer66]

Have you tried Skylight ENB? Other than me having a 780Yi I run a similar rig to you with that ENB and I can pull up to 60 FPS outside, even more inside...

Edited July 8, 2014 by Nozzer66

[Aiyen]

Yeah that sounds a bit odd with that system. Unless you play at like 1600p resolution. 

 

Even though I kinda dislike doing it then I am just going to suggest that you try out my ENB preset (Skylight ENB). It might not be the most pretty around, but it does have the highest performance/quality ratio of just about all presets out there. Using that I get around the FPS you report at 1440p with a GTX 660 2Gb... so you should be in the 30-50 range with your card. As for the other specs then our systems are also similar. 

 

 

If you still get a lower FPS then me using it then something is most likely wrong at the hardware level... perhaps your graphics card is not getting all the power it requires etc. We can look at that if the time comes. 

 

If you end up having a decent performance using skylight, but not some other preset, then we can look at what can be done about that as well down the road. 

[Shadriss]

Yeah that sounds a bit odd with that system. Unless you play at like 1600p resolution.

I run at 1080p... though it is on a 60" screen. Yeah, your replies only confirmed what I thought. I will take a look at Skylight tonight. The only one I can for certain remember using was RealVision, mostly based on COT compatibility and endorsements on Nexus. Even had it worked, it was not what I was looking for. At this point, however, I will settle for working first, then finding the pretties I seek.

[phazer11]

What kind of i7 are you running? Socket 1366, 1155, 1150? I.E. what is your model number. It should tell you in device manager (if you don't know), if not download HWInfo.

[Shadriss]

Intel Core i7-3370. I'm aware that not all i7's are created equally, and honestly I'm not really entirely certain where mine stands in that.

 

I haven't worked on installing the ENB for testing yet, as I've been updating to the official 2.2.9 (with additions! YAY!),  but in that process I did run across another question that I have, and that being the changes I need to make to ENBLocal.ini. I am ASSUMING (brace for impact) that I simply set the first setting in the Memory section (whose name escapes me at the moment) back to 'true', but should anything else be shifted? Availiable memory is still as listed in the OP (shockingly).

 

EDIT: ANd this is why I shouldn't do things from memory. :) I meant the first two options under GLOBAL, not the first under Memory. 'Cause that would have been ignorant and dumb and stuffs. Yeah... uh huh...

Edited July 9, 2014 by Shadriss

[Shadriss]

So...

 

Using the Helgen Run I'm seeing FPS anywhere between 29 to 55. Most of the time, it seems to stick in the mid-40s, and that's playable. Looks real nice as well. However, this test has also brought to light a whole new set of issues I have to work through (which aren't related to this question... so far as I know). I'll stick with this for now, as even in that short play time, I noticed things I hadn't before (It's DAWN in Helgen when the start hacking off heads? Wouldn't have known from the vanilla lighting...)

[Aiyen]

Guess we can conclude that it is just because the other presets you have tried then have too many effects on at some quality levels which are not satisfactory for you, and there are no real hardware issues etc. 

 

As for setting up the enblocal.ini file then you can play with the default one if you only use STEP core... However with your system you should easily be able to use the following. 

 

[MEMORY]

ExpandSystemMemoryX64=true

ReduceSystemMemoryUsage=true

DisableDriverMemoryManager=false

DisablePreloadToVRAM=false

EnableUnsafeMemoryHacks=false

ReservedMemorySizeMb=512

VideoMemorySizeMb=8192

EnableCompression=true

AutodetectVideoMemorySize=false

 

Also the global setting ofc. needs to be set to false or you disable the graphics part of ENB. 

 

Hope that helps, otherwise just post more questions! 

[Shadriss]

....

VideoMemorySizeMb=8192

EnableCompression=true

AutodetectVideoMemorySize=false....

 

So I should disregard the ENBoost STEP Core recommendations about setting the autodetect on at the Video size blank?

[redirishlord]

Yes, ENBoost is referring to a stripped down version of ENB for memory management. You've got the full version and Aiyen's direction, that supersedes the basic STEP instructions.

[Shadriss]

Always good to verify. Thanks for the input Irish.

 

Aiyen, since I've got you in here anyhow, a quick question - I've been attempting to lighten up the ambience in the game. The way I have the house set up, unless it's full night in RL, I can barely play the game due to ambiant light. If I understand your readme on Nexus correctly, it's the MIN/MAX Night Day settings that need to get adjusted. What I'm curious about is if you have any recommended settings. At night, the ones you have are great, but I don't want to only be able to play after about 9 pm (as it currently stands...)