VideoMemorySizeMb

[richardo111]

Some thing i don't get here, in the configuration of the enblocal.ini in the section - VideoMemorySizeMb

 I believe the maximun is something like 10000 (more or less) but the settings i believe is VRAM + RAM - 2048

 

I have 16G ram and 4G Vram.. what should i set in that settings?

 

Many thanks for help

[Nozzer66]

The Max used to be 10240, but that has since changed. So just set as per that formula. 

 

4096 + 16384 -2048 is 18432.

 

However, I usually drop that down a little and only use the bare minimum number to get acceptable performance. That will very per machine essentially.

[Aiyen]

Anything above 8192 is mostly pointless. At that point your game most likely have so much stuff it in that other parts of the hardware becomes the bottleneck anyways. 

Feel free to experiment ofc. but I highly doubt you would feel any difference above that. 

[richardo111]

but if i put that high vram number, i must set to true that line about x64 (don't remember exactly the line, but surely you know what i am talking about)

 

Seems that this bussines of the ENBoost is a matter of techy guys, you can find all kind of "tested" and "i know what i am saying" all about the internet, like that one for example about x32/64 some say is much better set to true and set that other memory bolck thing to even 768, other say just the opposite...other as here ie, that that was "then" but now,,,,

 

I feel like hunting flies with a gunshot :)

[Aiyen]

The reason it is like that is because those settings vary from system to system. Even with the same chip name. You are going to be demanding so much from your components that differences in chip quality can become a factor. 

 

The good thing is that you only really need to experiment once and then you have the file and never need to overwrite it again. At least not those settings. Also it is fairly easy to create a scenario where memory overload is a cause for CTD... in which case you simply alter the values until you get a stable load, and acceptable load stuttering. 

[richardo111]

OK Thank you

 

Now i wonder if you could be so kind to recommend some of the more important settings to play with, and if it possible some orientative values, though i understand that these values will be that, orientative due of what is expalined above here (or a good link to it)

 

thanks in any case

[Aiyen]

There is a somewhat nice section about it on the wiki here on the site, when you go to the ENB subsections. 

 

For starters I would just recommend 8192 for memory reserved, and 512 for the other one, and take it from there. As for testing then make sure you create a profile that more or less only have texture mods inside of it and then try to fill up the world with pretty stuff until it comes crashing down. 

 

That way you more or less know you only deal with memory issues and not script issues or the like. 

[idl1287]

I am so lost. It says: VideoMemorySizeMb=<integer in KB, multiples of 1024> ;64-bit users with >= 8GB system RAM, set to formula: [Total Available Video Memory] - [170 (for win7)]

So I have no idea if I have to convert it to KB. I am running windows 7 64 bit. Thanks in advanced.

[DoubleYou]

Sorry, instructions said KB when it should have said MB. Fixed. 7906 - 170 = 7736.

[Greg]

VideoMemorySizeMb is in megabytes so according to this users with >= 8MB system RAM and 4GB VRAM will use 4096-170 or VideoMemorySizeMb=3926 (assuming my math is correct).

[DoubleYou]

VideoMemorySizeMb is in megabytes so according to this users with >= 8MB system RAM and 4GB VRAM will use 4096-170 or VideoMemorySizeMb=3926 (assuming my math is correct).

For that equation you're supposed to use the Total Available Graphics Memory value, not the Dedicated Video Memory value. This is assuming that the user has more than 8GB of system RAM.

[idl1287]

Thanks DoubleYou. I just didn't know if I was reading it odd or not. Thanks for your help.

[Pretendeavor]

For anyone wondering, for Nvidia cards the Total Available Graphics Memory is found at the nvidia configuration window -> 'system information' in the bottom left corner. Not sure if I translated it correctly, my OS isn't in English. I also have a 4gb VRAM card, but according to this formula I should set it at 7878-170=7708. I feel I get better performance if I set it around 3500-4000 though. I highly recommend experimenting with both ReservedMemorySizeMb and VideoMemorySizeMb if you experience stuttering, that formula isn't set in stone. In some areas (with a lot of 2k+ texture replacers) it's tough to avoid stutters regardless of the settings though :(
 

[TechAngel85]

For anyone wondering, for Nvidia cards the Total Available Graphics Memory is found at the nvidia configuration window -> 'system information' in the bottom left corner. Not sure if I translated it correctly, my OS isn't in English. I also have a 4gb VRAM card, but according to this formula I should set it at 7878-170=7708. I feel I get better performance if I set it around 3500-4000 though. I highly recommend experimenting with both ReservedMemorySizeMb and VideoMemorySizeMb if you experience stuttering, that formula isn't set in stone. In some areas (with a lot of 2k+ texture replacers) it's tough to avoid stutters regardless of the settings though :(

 

This would be a complete placebo. VideoMemorySizeMb only tells the enbhost.exe process how much memory it can use. That doesn't mean the process will use that much memory. It most likely is not. Take for example my system. My VideoMemorySizeMb is set to 7735; however, enbhost.exe rarely uses more than 2GB. This means I could set it closer to 3072 is be just fine. However there would be absolutely no performance difference between 7735 and 3072 because enbhost.exe is only ever using 2048 of that value. So anyone thinking they get better performance, it is most likely a placebo.

[Pretendeavor]

I don't know the algorithms and have no un-biased data to back this up either, but in some areas (at 7708) my enbhost.exe processes will use up to 3,6GB according to the task manager, after which it will spawn another enbhost.exe process. If I set it at 3400 it obviously uses less and will not spawn another enbhost.exe. For some reason I feel this reduces my stuttering when walking through a highly cluttered area for a bit, turn around the camera 360 degrees once or twice, and walk back again. This might indeed be completely biased and I'm aware of it.

 

I actually tried testing this by picking a certain route at the Whiterun Outskirts (VRAM heavy area because of ETaC, Verdant, DyndoLOD and texture replacers) and turning my camera 360 degrees in a couple of spots. I tried doing the exact same thing with different settings for the VideoMemorySizeMb. The results were very inconsistent however, with the only time I could fully turn my camera a full 360 degrees without stuttering (after the initial loading of textures) was with a VideoMemorySizeMb of 3400. However, this happened only once and I haven't been able to reproduce it (yet) :/ I don't know if it is indeed a placebo effect or not, but no one seems to be 100% sure as to what every setting does exactly.. The explanations given on the wiki pages, what's discussed in these forums, the enbseries forums and other places on the internet don't often fully agree on these subjects, and the difference is mostly explained by "it depends on your system". I find it all so arbitrary that even while your explanation sounds perfectly rational I still can't write it off as placebo until I see the same performance happen with a setting of 7708.

 

What I'm trying to say here I guess is that I feel those rules for setting your VideoMemorySizeMb aren't set in stone, but provide a good base from where to start tweaking. Take ReservedMemorySizeMb for that matter, for example with the stutter-free run this and VideoMemorySizeMb were set at 1024 and 3400 respectively. With the general consensus being to set ReservedMemorySizeMb as low as possible without getting too much stuttering enblocal.ini-magic continues to confuse me.

[TechAngel85]

Theoretically, spawning two enbhost processes could cause a slowdown, but if that slowdown is noticeable is the debatable part. The reason you might be seeing a bit better performance is because your limiting the enbhost process by only allowing it to spawn one instance. The formula for VideoMemorySizeMb came from Boris himself, so if you say it's not right or not set in stone, then you're saying that Boris (the ENBSeries author) is wrong.

 

As for the explanations of the other settings on the wiki, most came from either Boris himself or from a lot of testing by one of our forum members whom there is, most likely, no one besides Boris himself that knows more about the settings.