Help with strange Lens Flare and dxgi.dll error

[Sarcasm]

Hi, there I am having two problems with my Skyrim at this moment. Both appear to be ENB-related.

 

The first problem just start a few moments ago. It is also featured in another thread here, but is not the topic of that thread.

 

When I start Skyrim using Project ENB, I receive the following error message:

 

 

This only just started, and I'm a little embarrassed to say how it started. I did something foolish and I'm not sure how to undo it. After two days of tinkering with lighting on my install and failing to get it to look how I wanted it, I became impatient. Soo...I copied over my Skyrim install from another computer, pasted it into my steamapps\common after renaming my current install, and launched it to see how the lighting was and which mods I used.

 

When launching this foreign Skyrim install, I received this error for the first time. The game still worked, but some things looked odd in game. Namely, actors' skin (including the player's) looked very off, like cardboard. I renamed dxgi.dll in the Skyrim folder to dxgi.dll.bak and it launched without error, and everything seemed to look correct, but I worry that my ENB will no longer render SweetFX now. This file is created by Project ENB and is not native to the Skyrim folder.

 

Even after undoing my mistake and returning my normal installation, I still get this error unless I rename dxgi.dll. I realize I made a mess of things, but does anyone have a guess as to how I can launch my game without having to rename this file? I have the most up-to-date NVIDIA drivers. I cannot fathom that it could be driver related since the game has run fine for three days now with Project ENB, and I have not seen this error until I decided to copy over this Skyrim folder.

 

_________________________

 

 

My second issue is more minor but perhaps more annoying. Sometimes when wandering around, I get this crazy, random lens flare effect. It radiates out of certain objects and sometimes out of what seems like random areas. I managed to capture some screenshots of it at the local Forge, as forges seem to cause it all the time:

 

One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight

 

If I get very close, it messes with the lighting and makes day appear as night. Once the flare appears, it usually disappears shortly after and does not return until Skyrim restarts. The last five screenshots were all taken during the day of an un-shy flare that did not disappear when I got closer. It often radiates from forges and carriages, as well as from seemingly random locations. What is the world is this, and how do I make it go away?

 

If there is more information I can provide apart from description that would be helpful, do tell. I would be infinitely grateful for any help, thanks.

[TechAngel85]

I would say verify your file cache fir the first issue. The flare with forges is a common issue for some ENB users and the SMIM forge changes. Install those SMIM assets or hide them and that should go away.

[Sarcasm]

Thanks for your response. But of course, more strangeness. Verifying the cache downloaded 1 file and fixed the first problem. While looking for the SMIM forge meshes, I decided to be done and go to bed. Today, however, the first problem is back. Everytime I launch Skyrim, I get the dxgi.dll error. Everytime I verify the cache, 1 file fails to validate and is reacquired. Then the error still persists. Each time I verify the cache, 1 file is reacquired. I am confused.

 

As for the lens flare, will hiding just the forge meshes stop this completely? There were other things causing it besides forges, like carriages and just random rocks in the middle of nowhere.

[Nebulous112]

Regarding the one file Steam finds when verifying the cache...it will always find one file and replace it. It is the CEG (Customer Executable Generation). The .exe file changes every time to remain unique for anti-piracy purposes.

 

See this for more info. https://store.steampowered.com/news/2372/

[Sarcasm]

Ah okay, thanks. Still though, now I'm even more confused as to why it worked once without error. Any more suggestions on how to stop that error without having to rename / delete dxgi.dll from the ENB?

 

I've noticed no visual changes in-game from not having dxgi.dll working, and to be honest I'm not terribly familiar with what SweetFX is and whether or not the ENB's incarnation of it will work without that file. But I would like to be able to run the ENB in the intended fashion. I've used Project ENB for years and this is the first time I've ever seen this.

[Sarcasm]

It seems to be caused by video drivers. I completely uninstalled my current drivers with Display Driver Uninstaller, and launched Skyrim since it doesn't require drivers to see the main menu. It reached the main menu three times with no error. I reinstalled my latest NVIDIA drivers (361.43) and the error returned on launch every time. Uninstalled them again, and installed older drivers from June 2015 (353.30). No errors anymore. I see on several forums that NVIDIA released new drivers that broke dxgi.dll.

 

Now two questions remain for me. First, if it is driver related, why did I have no issues at all for 2 or 3 days? It was only when I copied over an install from another disk drive that this error began.

 

Second, is it worth it to run old drivers to avoid this problem? Is it better to use old drivers and have the ENB as intended, or is it better to have up-to-date drivers with dxgi.dll disabled? What does this dll even do, and how severely might it affect the look of the game?

 

Edit; Okay that's four questions

Edited January 17, 2016 by Sarcasm

[DoubleYou]

Man I wish I knew how you are getting DirectX 11 messages from a DirectX 9 game!

 

Please provide a list of the filenames of all files within the main Skyrim directory. Or a screen shot.

[GrantSP]

The last user that asked about DXGI error messages found it had something to do with SweetFX in an ENB.

[Sarcasm]

My Skyrim folder. The ENB added many files.

 

 

From what I read, dxgi.dll is some sort of injector for rendering SweetFX. I don't know what most of that means so I will not pretend to be an expert. I'm not even sure what SweetFX is, because I don't see a difference with dxgi.dll renamed or not.

 

The only "working" solution I have seen mentioned anywhere is to use old video drivers. Obviously, this is not ideal so I'd very much like to find an actual solution to stopping this error on the latest video drivers.

 

Edit: I should add an explanation for ENB FXAA SweetFX manager. It simply stores ENB presets to be removed and added easily. I've completely re-installed the ENB so it doesn't seem to have anything to do with this.

Edited January 18, 2016 by Sarcasm

[DoubleYou]

Thanks. Please post the contents of your enblocal.ini

[Sarcasm]

Here is enblocal.ini.

 

Some notes:

 

1. STEP wiki says UsePatchSpeedhackWithoutGraphics=true , UseDefferedRendering=false for ENBoost, but ENB presets do not work with either of these options set so.
2. Now I'm typing in green.
3. The tool linked for VideoMemorySizeMb= returned 4064. That is 3714 following the STEP ENBoost instructions. I consulted numerous graphics guides to try and fix my error. Every such Guide I read said to use 6016 for 6GB of VRAM, so I changed it to try it. I saw no difference between the two. Setting it to extremely high, DX11-level values gives C++ runtime errors in game.
4. Curious as to why ExpandSystemMemoryX64=false is recommended, but I trust in the wisdom of others to set it so.

 

On an unrelated note, as of a few moments ago my Mod Organizer no longer logs in to the Nexus...

Edited January 18, 2016 by Sarcasm

[DoubleYou]

In ENBLocal.ini, change EnableProxyLibrary=true to EnableProxyLibrary=false and see if that fixes the issue.

[TechAngel85]

Here is enblocal.ini.

 

Some notes:

 

1. STEP wiki says UsePatchSpeedhackWithoutGraphics=true , UseDefferedRendering=false for ENBoost, but ENB presets do not work with either of these options set so.
2. Now I'm typing in green.
3. The tool linked for VideoMemorySizeMb= returned 4064. That is 3714 following the STEP ENBoost instructions. I consulted numerous graphics guides to try and fix my error. Every such Guide I read said to use 6016 for 6GB of VRAM, so I changed it to try it. I saw no difference between the two. Setting it to extremely high, DX11-level values gives C++ runtime errors in game.
4. Curious as to why ExpandSystemMemoryX64=false is recommended, but I trust in the wisdom of others to set it so.

 

On an unrelated note, as of a few moments ago my Mod Organizer no longer logs in to the Nexus...

You should probably read this: https://wiki.step-project.com/Guide:ENBlocal_INI/Memory

 

We recommend those being turned off because STEP doesn't use presets. User have to change those two settings if they're wanting to use an ENB Preset.

 

4064 would be the correct value if you are running Windows 10.

In ENBLocal.ini, change EnableProxyLibrary=true to EnableProxyLibrary=false and see if that fixes the issue.

This is basically just turning off the SweetFX injection. I don't recommend using SweetFX, but some presets do include it for various reasons. If it's just used for AA, then use SMAA instead. But SweetFX could be used for further color corrections, sharpening effects, AA, etc so I don't recommend leaving it off if this isn't the issue. If it is, changing ENB Presets is going to be your easiest fix.

[Sarcasm]

Unfortunately turning off the proxy library did not stop the error from appearing. The ENB preset is using d3d9injFX.dll as the proxy library, but the problem is caused by dxgi.dll. 

 

I'd rather not turn off the SweetFX injection, since as TechAngel85 said it could be applying important aesthetics. I'm not sure what it is applying exactly or whether it is possible to find out. I've always used Project ENB, probably for 3 or 4 years now. It seems strange that upgrading to a better video card would stop me from using it as intended. I would much rather figure out how to stop this error because to me, changing presets is not an option.

[LordOfLA]

The DXGI error is fixed by deleting the DXGI files. They are not needed for Skyrim and should not have been bundled.

 

See comment here from SweetFX developer CeeJayDK for confirmation:

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/skyrimmods/comments/42b6vz/problem_with_the_sweetfx_dxgidll_file/czjn4a9?context=3