STEP Extended Performance Question

[kechlion]

I finally got STEP Extended installed and up and running and I gotta say, it looks gorgeous. I'd love to play for a few hundred hours... except the stuttering and dropping to 20-30 frames is killing me. What kind of performance should I be expecting out of this system - https://wiki.step-project.com/User:Kechlion/SystemSpecs. I came into this assuming I'd be able to hold it at 60 the whole time, but that doesn't seem to be the case. I followed the STEP guide to the letter for extended, did the ini tweaks, used the recommended textures, and have the mods folder for Mod Organizer on my SSD raid along with Skyrim. Are there any extra tweaks that can be made to get me up to 60 or is 60FPS just not something that's achievable?

 

Thanks for any and all help that can be given.

[politemaster]

Hi Kechlion,

 

I am a newcomer to STEP and finished installing STEP:Extended yesterday (phew). I was very thorough in following instructions, taking notes if I used a different quality version of a mod. My computer is less powerful than your own: Intel-i7 3770K, 2x NVIDIA Geforce 670 SLI, 2 GB VRAM, 16 GB System RAM, 1920x1080 resolution, Skyrim/mods installed off SSD RAID (on WD Black), no overclocks (I recently reset). I was ambitious with my STEP install; I chose 2K resolutions where possible (STEP often recommends 1K), but avoided 4K. I am having a similar experience. I have persistent marcrostutter issues (seeing my VRAM usage, I was presuming this was the culprit). My FPS indoors and certain parts of Whiterun reaches the VSync cap of 60, but varies around 38 when running away from Dragonsreach. Outside of Whiterun, I get 35-45 FPS. FPS will drop as low as 21 when rapidly moving the camera outside of Whiterun (and game exhibits the most pronounced macrostutter).

 

I know there are a few things I can do to increase performance. A few of these include using STEP baseline resolutions, re-overclocking, and learning/using DDSopt. However, first I am interested in hearing more details about your performance experience--especially how more VRAM has contributed--and welcome anyone else's. Of course, I'd be happy to share more about my own experience. I'd like to know what to expect in the first place.

 

 

 

Thanks in advance for reading and posting! :)

 

- PoliteMaster

Edited February 13, 2015 by politemaster

[TechAngel85]

Ensure that you've tested and experimented to find the best memory settings for ENBoost fit your system. This is essential before much troubleshooting can be done. Also install the STEP optimized textures from our Nexus page. This will ensure all vanilla textures are optimized without you having to mess around with DDSopt.

[politemaster]

Ensure that you've tested and experimented to find the best memory settings for ENBoost fit your system. This is essential before much troubleshooting can be done. Also install the STEP optimized textures from our Nexus page. This will ensure all vanilla textures are optimized without you having to mess around with DDSopt.

Thanks TechAngel85 :) ! I did not install the Optimization for the HDDLC Vanilla textures, because STEP recommended not to if you had 2 GB of VRAM or greater. However, I bet they can only help, and it would be nice to save time if I later use DDSopt for the other STEP textures. I will go back and install the optimized version soon.

 

On ENBoost, I am not sure which memory settings you refer to, but I imagine ones in the enblocal.ini. Please let me know if there is anything specific I would consider changing from the STEP guide. I will try recording benchmarks in different areas of Skyrim soon.

 

 

 

Much appreciated advice!

 

- PoliteMaster

Edited February 14, 2015 by politemaster

[TechAngel85]

I was actually referring to the STEP Optimized Textures and yes, I was talking about the memory settings within enblocal.ini. You might be able to set them lower, change compression to on or off, etc that would smooth out your system a bit. This can be a bit system specific and what we recommend is just a general consensus of the average settings for more users. Mine are actually set a bit lower without any issue.

[politemaster]

I was actually referring to the STEP Optimized Textures and yes, I was talking about the memory settings within enblocal.ini. You might be able to set them lower, change compression to on or off, etc that would smooth out your system a bit. This can be a bit system specific and what we recommend is just a general consensus of the average settings for more users. Mine are actually set a bit lower without any issue.

Great! I installed the (actual) STEP Optimized Textures. I'd be happy to send my observations to the OP/modder after I troubleshoot my performance.

 

I began reading the STEP literature on ENBoost settings. I've done some initial tests changing individual [Memory] settings--including Compression--but no big gains yet. After thoroughly testing the remaining settings, I'll post my results on which were best.

 

Should I need to, my next plan is to try the baseline versions of all the STEP mods. I intuit that my system can't handle STEP with 2K textures. However, I am welcome to evidence from others experience. If there are any links to benchmarks threads, I'd like to investigate and compare there too.

 

 

 

Thanks again TechAngel85! Further thoughts from everyone are welcomed :)

 

- PoliteMaster

Edited February 15, 2015 by politemaster

[TechAngel85]

You can use Skyrim Performance Monitor to monitor your system during game time to help you determine your issues, if hardware related.

[politemaster]

Will do!

 

To edit my last post, I found the STEP benchmarking forum. I read a post from you about achieving 60 FPS on a 4 GB NVIDIA 760, and I was encouraged to continue looking.

Edited February 15, 2015 by politemaster

[TechAngel85]

Yeah, without ENB I get mainly 60FPS.

[Xaviien]

I have a similar setup, you can see my specs in my sig, but the only time I've noticed any drop in fps is when spawning 50 guards and HD Alduin to test out my script reliability. It tends to happen when there is a big special effect, like his massive slab of fire right in my face, or the shockwave effect.

I installed most of the higher quality options, except like you, tended to avoid 4k textures in most places as it seemed unnecessary.

 

I tend to sit on 60 fps in normal circumstances, but I'll try to reproduce some of the things you mentioned in and around whiterun to see how it goes.

I would definitely expect your system to be able to run with that mod setup.

 

Edit: Sorry Politemaster, I was looking at OPs system specs when writing this, so it's a mixed up response.

My FPS drops to about 45-50 when leaving Dragonsreach. So the results you're getting seem about right compared to mine. I had GPU-Z running while I was playing just now, and my VRAM usage was topping out at just above 3.5GB at some points, so I'm not sure you'll be able to get your system to run STEP Extended well, at least with all the higher quality options.

 

I just had a very random CTD while riding to Ivarstead, which seemed to come out of nowhere, so I don't think I can even run Extended with all the trimmings reliably.

Edited February 15, 2015 by Xaviien

[MosAnted]

I've been having the same issues, I've installed STEP Extended with conservative settings, using the Baseline version of the mods (1k Textures). I have what I think is a decent mid-high end rig:

 

-Core i7-3770

-8gb RAM 

-Radeon R9 270 2gb GDDR5

 

I've set my ini settings to the "recommended/conservative" ones in the STEP guide, and I'm using the Optimized base game and HRDLC textures. I haven't changed my uGridsToLoad setting (still at default 5). Searching around the web I found this thread that claims the issue could be caused by Intel Speedstep. Thoughts?