Custom "STEP" setup performance: Most demanding mods, tweaking?

[bur]

I have a mod setup loosely based on the STEP:Guide, REGS, and Modular Morrowloot Overhaul.

 

 

Solved! Character Creation Overhaul was conflicting with Lore-Friendly Starting Stats and Encumbrance.

[it seems to be working quite well, except for one problem: my carry weight is 0 when I start a new game. When I change the "Reduced carry weight" option in the iNeed MCM, my carry weight becomes, for example, -50.

 

Obviously there's some conflict going on here, but I'm not sure what. Luckily I can manually set my carry weight with Nausicaa-s Tweaker, but of course it would be much better if it just works properly :P]

 

 

Aside from that, performance could be better. At the moment I get about 30FPS, but it drops when I enter a town or city, and during combat.

Could anyone help me identify the most performance-intensive mods I have installed?

Maybe there's some more INI tweaks I can do? My Windows environment is pretty well-maintained, there's nothing running in the background during normal play (except maybe µTorrent).

 

You can find all the information needed on my custom STEP:Guide

Please also identify any additional problems in this setup if you can :D

 

Thanks!

Edited July 29, 2014 by bur

[AddictedxGamer]

I believe the problem with your carry weight stems from the Character Creation Overhaul.  I use that mod too, and I've noticed that it changes carry weights a lot, and often times I end up with a very low, or even negative carry weight.  Surely it's a conflict between that mod and another, but I've never been able to narrow it down.  I always just adjust my carry weight permanently via the Console.  The command is: player.setav carryweight #### (input your custom value where the #s are).  Hope that helps!  

[bur]

Seems you were right! I also had "Lore-Friendly Starting Stats and Encumbrance" installed, but the CCO already does the same thing.

Removing that mod did the trick :D Thanks!

 

Performance could definitely be a bit better though. Drops down to ~20fps in combat, or lower :(

[Breems]

Don't have time to look through all of your mods, but traditionally the most effective performance tweaks for me have been:

 

- I use the Ultra preset, but I check Object Detail Fade and lower the Distant Object Detail to 'High'. I believe those tweaks grant up to 5 additional FPS for me compared to the 'Ultra' settings.

 

- Raise the iMinGrassSize setting in Skyrim.ini. I'm not sure what the game's default is (I'm guessing 20 or 40), but I set mine anywhere from 80-120. It reduces the amount of grass quite a bit but grants a significant performance boost.

 

- Shadows, shadows, shadows! Shadows are very tricky to set up correctly, and the negative correlation of quality vs. performance is drastic. Set them as low as you can accept. I often find that setting iBlurDeferredShadowMask in anywhere SkyrimPrefs.ini from 7 - 10 softens the shadows enough to compromise for using a lower shadow resolution. 

 

- Skyrim Performance Plus, Bethesda Performance Textures - Animals/Creatures, and Bethesda Performance Textures - Armors/Clothes/Weapons are great performance-enhancing mods.

[bur]

Thanks for your answer!

 

I've set everything to the lowest setting, but with most of the object detail sliders increased a bit to avoid things "popping in" (and Reflect Sky ticked), so I'm afraid I can't wring out much more that way. The computer I'm using at the moment isn't really meant for gaming :P

 

Those INI tweaks sound like exactly what I was looking for, I'm trying them out. Shadows are set to low, so that should be nice.

Definitely installing those mods too, thanks a lot!

Edited July 29, 2014 by bur

[AddictedxGamer]

Thanks for your answer!

 

I've set everything to the lowest setting, but with most of the object detail sliders increased a bit to avoid things "popping in" (and Reflect Sky ticked), so I'm afraid I can't wring out much more that way. The computer I'm using at the moment isn't really meant for gaming :P

 

This is definitely the case.  Your system specs are rather low-end, which is fine; just not for running a detailed Skyrim, LOL.  Even with everything set to low in the Skyrim Launcher, you're going to start getting drops in performance once you start adding mods into the mix.  Anything that adds new textures at a resolution higher than that of the vanilla game will cause a hit, as will any mods that add scripts, new NPCs, etc.

 

Those INI tweaks sound like exactly what I was looking for, I'm trying them out. Shadows are set to low, so that should be nice.

Definitely installing those mods too, thanks a lot!

Edit: under what headers should I put those ini settings?

 

When editing your INI files, always searhc within the file for the values you'd like to change.  Most guides will tell you under what section each value can be found.

 

iMinGrassSize goes under the [Grass] section in the skyrim.ini file.  iBlurDeferredShadowMask goes under the [Display] section in the skyrimprefs.ini file.

My replies are in orange.

Edited July 29, 2014 by ADD1CTED_GAM3R

[bur]

Yeah, I have quite a few scripts and generally new stuff added, so I'm actually quite satisfied with how it's performing, all in all.

This computer should be temporary though, so I'm expecting at least +10FPS when I fix my (5 year old) gaming PC :P

 

I'm using MO's Configurator, so that's nice and easy :D Thanks for pointing me to the right sections.

[AddictedxGamer]

No problem!  Good luck.