Guide:ENBSeries

Template:Notice A comprehensive guide for properly setting up ENB for n00bs to gurus -- by Staind716 & S.T.E.P. Team

Updated: 4:31:43 1 September 2012 (UTC)

This guide is designed to answer the most common questions related to the use of ENBSeries mods for Skyrim. Please note this is intended as a general overview of ENBSeries mod use. While this guide does contain many helpful tips, it is not meant to answer questions about any specific ENBSeries mod configuration. If seeking answers related to a particular ENB mod please contact that mod's author. Thank you.

What is ENB?

ENBSeries is a powerful post processing modification available for Skyrim. This tool enables users to create custom configurations designed to their own specifications by modifying rendering functions and the application of additional effects.

Much more detailed explanation to come.

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NOTE: ENB MUST be installed manually; it is NOT compatibile with any mod manager.

While slightly more involved than experienced ENB users may be accustomed to, this installation procedure ensures you will not encounter any possible issues related to the installation process.

Prior to Installation

Calibrate your monitor
Make sure your graphic drivers are up to date. If not, please download and install new drivers via a clean installation.
Download the recommended ENB d3d9.dll for your chosen ENB mod here.
Save the folder you just downloaded on your desktop.
Please, if this is your first time using an ENB, read the TESV documentation here.
Back up your game INIs. These are the "Skyrim.ini" and "SkyimPrefs.ini", located in your "My Documents\My Games\Skyrim" folder.
Back up your game saves.
If you're currently using an ENB or FXAA, do the following as well:

Back up your current ENB or FXAA post-process injector to another folder.
Delete ALL ENB and post-processing injector files in your root Skyrim folder.

Then, follow this process:

Make sure you've backed up your game INIs.
Delete "RendererInfo.txt" in "My Documents\My Games\Skyrim".
Launch "TESV.exe". Skyrim will recognize your renderer. The launcher will then regenerate two default game INIs.
Don't launch the game, quit.
Delete the two default INIs.
Put your saved INIs back in "My Documents\My Games\Skyrim" and keep a copy on your desktop.
Quit.

Game INIs

For ENB to work as intended, you will have to make some modifications in your game INIs.

In your "SkyrimPrefs.ini", set the following in the [Display] section:

bFloatPointRenderTarget=1

If using ENBSeries v0.117 or later also set the following:

bTreesReceiveShadows=1
bDrawLandShadows=1
bShadowsOnGrass=1

Files

Make sure to read the documentation provided on the mod's description page and in any available Readme's.

Copy ONLY the "d3d9.dll" from the package you just downloaded from enbdev.com to your root Skyrim folder. The root Skyrim folder is where the TESV executable is located. You do NOT need any of the other files, ONLY the "d3d9.dll".
Copy the files provided in your chosen ENB mod to the correct destination folders, as indicated in the mod's documentation.

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SMAA (Highly Recommended)

Note: This section is entirely optional and SMAA is NOT required to run ENB.

SubPixel Morphological Anti-Aliasing is a fantastic post-processing anti-aliasing method. Unlike MSAA, SMAA is processed after ENB, sparing a lot of headroom performance wise, and ensuring full compatibility. For users with low to mid-range computers SMAA is a great replacement for forced driver or the game engine's AA; you get a major quality improvement for a fraction of the performance hit. For users with a high-end machine we recommend you use a forced driver SGSSAA in addition to SMAA.

If you wish to use SMAA, set the following in the [Display] section of your "SkyrimPrefs.ini":

iMultiSample=0 
bTransparencyMultisampling=0

Then, copy the following files provided in the ENB mod download files to your root Skyrim folder :

d3d9_smaa.dll
injector.ini
SMAA.h
SMAA.fx

Note

Even though some ENB mods may not include SMAA in their download files it is still possible to use SMAA for anti-aliasing as long as you do not have an additional d3d9.dll already enabled in "enbseries.ini".

You can download SMAA here.

Copy the following files into your Skyrim main folder :

d3d9_smaa.dll
injector.ini
SMAA.h
SMAA.fx

To enable SMAA set the following in the [PROXY] section of your "enbseries.ini":

EnableProxyLibrary=TRUE
InitProxyFunctions=true
ProxyLibrary=d3d9_smaa.dll

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Editing the Enbseries INI

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Strange things happening?

PERFORMANCE TIPS

While ENB does greatly enhance your game, these additional effects also take a toll on performance. How much of an fps decrease you will experience depends on your system specs, inis, texture mods, and a host of other variables. This is why it is virtually impossible to estimate how much any ENB will affect you personally. That being said, there are some things you can do to improve your performance.

First and foremost it is important to keep your pc in top gaming condition. Like anything else, if you take care of it then it will take care of you. Some simple ways to do this:

Make sure that you defragment your hard drive, unless it's an SSD (These should NEVER be defragmented). Not only will this help improve performance with gaming but also with anything else that you do with your pc.

Disable all unnecessary programs running in the background while gaming in order to free up more resources. Anti-virus programs are especially resource intensive and aren't needed while playing. (If you disable your anti-virus program while gaming remember to enable it again when you finish.)

Keep Steam in offline mode. This is just one more thing depleting your resources that really isn't needed.

There are also a few fairly good "booster" programs that help some people. I'm not going to recommend any in particular. If you do choose to use one of these do some research first. This is a good policy for anything including mods.

Your GPU settings play a tremendous role in determining quality and performance. Striking the right balance in these settings is essential in achieving a beautiful game with smooth playable frame rates. Nvidia users are welcome to try our recommended GPU settings as shown in the screenshot located in our Countervibe ENB downloads. (I will try to add AMD settings after consulting with experienced AMD users).

Be realistic with your ini settings. Overtweaked inis can and will cause performance issues if your system is not capable of handling the additional strain.

High resolution texture mods also affect your performance. Careful consideration and experimentation should be used when adding these with ENB in order to find the right balance of quality and performance that best fits your system.

Some of the more fps intensive effects can also be disabled in the enbseries.ini in order to improve performance at the cost of some quality. Instructions on how to disable these effects can be found in the Configuration section of this guide.

If after following these performance tips and disabling the fps intensive effects in the enbseries.ini as shown in the Configuration section you are still unable to achieve playable frame rates your system may not be capable of running ENB. At this point you may wish to consider upgrading your pc.

SUGGESTED ADJUSTMENTS FOR ATI USERS

Please make the following changes accordingly in enbseries.ini :

In [FIX] section : ForceFakeVideocard=false (Change this to TRUE)

In [SHADOW] section : UseBilateralShadowFilter=true (Change this to FALSE)

Save and Quit.

POSSIBLE CROSSFIRE FIX FOR ATI USERS

Please, apply the following process to ensure Crossfire compatiblity :

Right click on your desktop and open the Catalyst Control Center
Enter 3D applications profiles
Choose in the list at the bottom :
Use AMD Pre-defined profile
Select the Assassins Creed Brotherhood profile (acp?b.exe)
Go back to the top, select new application and press the Save button
Choose the TESV.exe application (in the Skyrim folder) when the browse window pops up
Answer "Yes" when CCC asks if you want to override the default TESV profile

ADDITIONAL ATI TIPS

SSAA is not recommended for use with ENB, unless you have an AMD 7870 or above. If using a less powerful GPU, SMAA is the better option.

When updating drivers be sure to uninstall your current drivers before installing your new drivers. It is also not recommended to use Beta drivers. The current stable and recommended drivers is 12.6 for people with 5xxx or 6xxx cards (12.8 for 7xxx cards).

If you must use anisotropic filtering (AF), then either ENB enabled or Catalyst Control Center enabled is fine, but this depends entirely on the capability of your CPU since Skyrim is CPU intensive and less so on the GPU. ENB enabled is better, but up to 8x is recommended unless you have at least a 2 GB high end card (69xx, 78xx, 79xx).

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Before you Play

After following the above steps, run through this process once again:

Backup your INIs to your desktop from "My Documents\My Games\Skyrim".
Delete "RendererInfo.txt".
Launch "TESV.exe" and Skyrim will recognize your renderer. If you wish to use SMAA, set AA to 0 in the launcher. The launcher will then regenerate two default game INIs.
Don't launch the game; quit.
Delete the two default INIs.
Return the INIs you just backed up to "My Documents\My Games\Skyrim".
Save and quit.
Finally, Launch the game and enjoy!