GUIDE SkyrimPrefs INI Guide

[z929669]

OK consolidating what I have learned (mostly from you ;) ):

 

• Settings in skyrim.ini can override ALL 'default' settings hard coded within the game EXE (i.e., effectively ALL game settings if no other INIs exist)
• Settings that are user configurable (i.e., skyrimprefs-specific settings) ...
  • Are NOT configurable from Plugin INIs
  • Those in skyrimprefs.ini override those in skyrim.ini if defined in both
  • Are invalid when defined from Plugin INIs, and thus have no impact and cannot be overridden
  • Can effectively be overridden via MO INI Tweaks
• ONLY settings that are NOT user configurable (i.e., are NOT skyrimprefs-specific settings) are valid in Plugin INIs.
• MO INI Tweaks override everything (we need to ask Tannin exactly how MO accomplishes this)

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my recommendations to the game configuration settings nomenclature:

• Default Game Configuration Settings: The hard-coded settings defined within TESV.exe. Used to populate Autogenerated INIs (see below)
• Default Launcher Configuration Settings: The hard-coded settings defined within SkyrimLauncher.exe. These settings are used only for the configuration of the Skyrim Launcher itself. Used to populate User Preferences autogenerated INI (see below)
• Default INIs: Don't need this one. These don't ever exist and the config is inherent to the executables (see above)
• INI Presets: The Skyrim_default.ini located under /skyrim and the SkyrimPrefs.ini located under /skyrim/skyrim
• Launcher INI presets: The low.ini (low preset), medium.ini (medium preset), high.ini (high preset), and very high.ini (ultra preset) under /skyrim which the Launcher applies against the Default INI preset.
• Base INIs: The standard game INIs generated in %UserPofile%/Documents/My Games/Skyrim after the first launch of Skyrim.
• Autogenerated INIs: Generated by the Skyrim Launcher under %UserPofile%/Documents/My Games/Skyrim if not already present
  • System Baseline INI: skyrim.ini
  • User Preferences INI: skyrimprefs.ini (tied to GUI settings)
• MO Profile INIs: Mod Organizer's profile-specific INIs created using the Base INIs.

[DoubleYou]

Your understanding is impeccable (or impeckable, as SparrowPrince would say).

 

• Launcher INI presets: The low.ini (low preset), medium.ini (medium preset), high.ini (high preset), and very high.ini (ultra preset) under /skyrim which the Launcher applies against the Default INI preset.

 

I need to test those out more, but I do believe the strikethrough is incorrect now that I think about it.

[DoubleYou]

I think the following is all we need:

 

Nomenclature

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The following nomenclature is used throughout this guide and should be understood before proceeding.

 

INI-File Specific

 

The following terms are used to describe the INI file format.

• INI file: A configuration file composed of sections, settings, and values.
• Section: The title of a set of settings enclosed in square brackets (i.e., [ and ] ).
• Setting: A soft-coded configuration property.
• Value: What comes after the equal sign for a setting.

Skyrim Specific

 

The following terms are used to describe the INI files as they relate specifically to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim game.

• Default value: The value for the setting stored inside TESV.exe. For settings used only by the SkyrimLauncher.exe (i.e., sD3DDevice, uLastAspectRatio, bShowAllResolutions, and bEnableFileSelection), the value as initially assumed by SkyrimLauncher.exe.
• Launcher INI presets: The settings applied when selecting the Low, Medium, High, or Ultra buttons in the Skyrim Launcher. These are believed to be derived from the low.ini (low preset), medium.ini (medium preset), high.ini (high preset), and very high.ini (ultra preset) inside the main Skyrim directory, which the Launcher applies to both Skyrim.ini and SkyrimPrefs.ini selectively (and incorrectly for some settings).
• Plugin INIs: INIs loaded with like-named plugins (just like BSAs). Presence should be indicated by the paperclip on the plugin within the plugins list (right pane) in Mod Organizer (MO).

Mod Organizer Specific

 

The following terms are used to describe the INI files as they relate specifically to Mod Organizer mod management tool.

• Profile INIs: Mod Organizer's profile-specific INIs located in the profile's folder.
• MO INI Tweaks: Mod-specific INIs that exist inside an INI Tweaks folder at the top level of the mod folder for use with Mod Organizer. They can be enabled or disabled.
• MO INI Tweaks Composite: The temporary combined MO INI Tweaks generated by Mod Organizer from combining the enabled MO INI Tweaks into the initweaks.ini file inside the profile's folder at runtime.

[DoubleYou]

-Prefixes information moved to Skyrim Configuration Settings Guide.

-Console information moved to Skyrim Configuration Settings Guide.

-Standardized warning colors using colors as set on The STEP Wiki Guide.

-Updated floating point default values to be accurate up to 10 decimal places.

[Spock]

Do you know if actor fade as an impact on script load with stuff like footprints and wet and cold?

[DoubleYou]

Do you know if actor fade as an impact on script load with stuff like footprints and wet and cold?

I would think not. It just affects when the actors will appear. I recommend always setting it to the highest setting.

[z929669]

Just getting back to this from hiatus ... I will take a look at the guide at some point next week, but I like where you are going!

[DoubleYou]

I have been working at my new job this week, so I haven't got too much more done, just taking a little break from it. It helps. I've spotted a few places where I do not communicate effectively using my defined vocabulary and need to change those. Once that's done, I want to break these out into the subpage format.
 
The main thing is to confirm everything on the Skyrim Configuration Settings Guide (SCS guide) above Recommended Changes as done. The Recommended Changes will need to be ironed out once we know all the good tweaks to make.

 

I also should add somewhere what exactly happens when the Skyrim Launcher creates INI files from the presets. I'm not sure whether this should be in the Launcher guide or in the SCS guide. The behavior is currently described in my definition for the Launcher INI presets: The settings applied when selecting the Low, Medium, High, or Ultra buttons in the Skyrim Launcher. These are derived from the low.ini (low preset), medium.ini (medium preset), high.ini (high preset), and very high.ini (ultra preset) inside the main Skyrim directory, which the Launcher applies [The launcher sets settings predefined within itself] to both Skyrim.ini and SkyrimPrefs.ini selectively (and incorrectly for some settings) over top of the settings in Skyrim_default.ini for Skyrim.ini and Skyrim\SkyrimPrefs.ini for SkyrimPrefs.ini. [The low.ini, medium.ini, high.ini, and VeryHigh.ini inside the main Skyrim directory are never used in this process.] It seems the Launcher is more complex than I thought. It seems it selectively applies settings from the low.ini, high.ini, etc.... It is most confusing.

Edited September 28, 2015 by DoubleYou
Fixed incorrect Launcher INI preset description

[DoubleYou]

• Sections organized alphabetically
• Changed format to use subpages for each section

[DoubleYou]

• Finished [Grass] section
• Various setting descriptions and information added

[DoubleYou]

• Added information about settings that have been added/moved/changed across official updates

[echo451]

In the [Grass] section

 

one of these should be min I think.

 

fGrassWindMagnitudeMax=0
fGrassWindMagnitudeMax=0

[DoubleYou]

In the [Grass] section

 

one of these should be min I think.

 

fGrassWindMagnitudeMax=0

fGrassWindMagnitudeMax=0

Thanks! Great catch!

[DoubleYou]

• Finished [Water] (SkyrimPrefs.ini, not yet [also] done with Skyrim.ini)

Edited September 28, 2015 by DoubleYou

[z929669]

Nice work on these. I am not aware of any existing guides anywhere on the web that are so comprehensive and detailed.