Extreme FPS drop near Whiterun

[sourcedog]

Hey there,

 

I could really use some help pinpointing the culprit. 

 

I've used the STEP guide 2.2.9 to install all required Mods including the STEP Extended Patch. I did increase the texture quality where possible to 2k and added RCRN at the end of the installation. (Hey, I got a new PC a bit ago, gotta make use of that :P).

 

Now, I've planned to use Skyrim Performance Monitor to check out the performance and slowly decrease texture quality to get the best looks with the least performance hit. So far, the setup runs pretty fine for me (30 fps at it's lowest point) although the VRAM is pretty much maxed out. As long as it stays that way, I'd be fine with it, though. I prefer good looks over an absolute perfect performance.

 

But I've got a little problem and can't really seem to find out what's causing it: When I'm near Whiterun, looking in a specific direction causes my fps to drop to around 1-5 or so. I could pinpoint the problem to the small Khajit-Hut with fur and pelts in front of the Whiterun entrance. Walking around it with my back turned to the hut, there's absolutely no problem. As soon as I turn towards it, the fps plummet.

 

I assume that I maybe configured one of the mods incorrectly or something. I just now need to know which mod that is :/ I do remember one of the mods had to do with furs and pelts and casting shadows on them, but I can't for the love of Mara find out anymore what mod that was or where I saw the info.

 

Maybe someone can help me out there and knows what might be the problem. 

 

My setup:

 

i7 4790k

16 gig RAM (dual channel)

 

GTX 960 with 2GB VRAM

 

Windows 8.1 x64

 

Skyrim and OS are on a SSD

 

Thanks in advance :)

 

 

 

// Edit:

 

So far, I tried turning off all mods in packs of 5-10 and walked past that Khajit camp but to no avail. Disabling RCRN didn't help, either. I guess it must be something that leaves traces in the game even after disabling the mod (a script, maybe?). Testing around, it seems as if the large hut itself is the culprit, dragging down performance when I look at it. When inside, it stutters when I look around, but the fps quickly go back to normal again. If I view it from outside, it just drags the fps down.

 

Fun-fact: During low fps events, the VRAM usage goes down about 200 MB and CPU/GPU both start being bored as hell (10-15%). That is quite an odd occurrence, if you ask me.

Edited June 1, 2015 by sourcedog

[sourcedog]

It runs GTA 5 on max pretty fine, so I'm happy for the moment :P I did have a need for a fast CPU, RAM and a large SSD and was on a budget, so somewhere you have to make cuts :P

 

Oh, I didn't mean it reduced the VRAM *to* 200 MB, but *by* 200 MB. Was stuck around 2000 MB most of the time, but when looking at the hut it showed 1800ish. Sorry if that caused confusion :)

 

As far as VRAM goes, even if it would overrun and (as I understand) put stuff in the slower main RAM, it shouldn't reduce things to a complete crawl. Maybe some (stronger?) stutter, but not a grinding halt. At least, that's my understanding of things (I'm not an expert, just a humble web developer ;))

 

On a, well, related note: I did finally manage to find the problem after hours of tinkering around with inis, mods and looking up every damn google search I could remotely imagine.

The VRAM was indeed a limiting factor, but not as you might think. Turns out it was a misconfiguration of the enblocal.ini.

 

I followed the STEP instructions for ENB which state:

VideoMemorySizeMb=<integer in MB, multiples of 1024>
     ;all 32-bit users and 64-bit users with less than 8GB system RAM, set to formula: [VRAM] + [System RAM] - [2048]
     ;64-bit users with >= 8GB system RAM, set to formula: [Total Available Video Memory] - [170 (for win7) or 350 (for win8/10)]
AutodetectVideoMemorySize=false

So guess I misunderstood the [Total Available Video Memory] part I guess and set 2048 for that. Resulting in me setting VideoMemorySizeMB to 1698. Yea... that happens when you try to use flu-induced sick days with clouded brains for some good Skyrim time :D

 

Thanks everyone for trying to help, though :) Definitely a cozy community here *starts setting up shop*.

[TwilightTech]

Ouch, that CPU and RAM is gonna be bottlenecked a ton by the 960.

[sourcedog]

When it comes to gaming, probably.

 

But IDEs and VMs use up a ton of RAM and CPU and not so much graphics ;)

[Spock]

When it comes to gaming, probably.

When it comes to compute, probably even more ;P

 

My first guess would have been that your issue is due to a lack of vram.

 

Are you sure you properly uninstalled all the textures related to that hut? Are you sure your tool displays the right vram usage? 200 mb seems really low even for vanilla (just intuition, didn't test it).

Edited June 1, 2015 by Spock

[TechAngel85]

It's Skyrim Distance Overhaul (I think that the name) that is causing it, if it only happens when looking in one direction.