Guide:Skyrim Configuration Settings

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A guide to editing the Skyrim configuration settings inside the INI files for the tinkering user -- by the S.T.E.P. Team

GUIDE FORUM THREAD
INI TWEAKING REFERENCE FORUM
SUPPORT FORUM

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Suggested first reading: Skyrim Installation Guide, Skyrim Launcher Guide

Guide Scope

This guide is intended to be a general guide to the configuration settings for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim game as set through INI files, including Skyrim.ini, SkyrimPrefs.ini, Plugin INIs, and Mod Organizer (MO) INI Tweaks. Its purpose is geared toward how these will affect the game rather than being a comprehensive resource. See the advanced Skyrim INI and SkyrimPrefs INI guides for an advanced and comprehensive review of the configuration settings.

Nomenclature

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 ([ and ]).
• Setting: A soft-coded configuration property.
• Value: What comes after the equal sign for a setting.
• Comment: A remark that is entered into the INI file that has no effect other than to tell the editor what something is there for and is designated by a semicolon (;).

Below is a diagram of the INI file structure.

[Section]
setting=value
;comment

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.

Under the Hood

Skyrim.ini

Skyrim.ini is the Master INI file. It can modify all settings used by the game. However, it cannot modify the settings specific to the Skyrim Launcher (namely sD3DDevice, uLastAspectRatio, bShowAllResolutions, bEnableFileSelection) due to the fact that the Skyrim Launcher only reads these settings from SkyrimPrefs.ini.

SkyrimPrefs.ini

SkyrimPrefs.ini can only modify a few settings, primarily the ones changed in the Skyrim Launcher and the in-game settings menu. Under the hood, only certain settings flagged and hard-coded into the game executable can be changed in SkyrimPrefs.ini. These settings in their entirety are documented on the advanced SkyrimPrefs INI guide. Any values for settings in Skyrim.ini that are duplicated in SkyrimPrefs.ini will be overwritten by the values in SkyrimPrefs.ini if and only if they are in the list of settings valid in SkyrimPrefs.ini.

Plugin INIs

Plugin INIs can only modify the settings that are not in the list of settings valid in SkyrimPrefs.ini. This means it can modify all settings in Skyrim.ini minus the ones modifiable in SkyrimPrefs.ini. All values set in the in-game settings and in the Skyrim Launcher GUI are not modifiable by plugin INIs (with exception of bReflectLODLand, bReflectLODObjects, bReflectLODTrees, and bReflectSky). Any values for settings in Skyrim.ini that are duplicated in a plugin INI will be overwritten by the values in the plugin INI if and only if they are not in the list of settings valid in SkyrimPrefs.ini.

MO INI Tweaks

Mod Organizer (MO) INI Tweaks can modify all settings. It overwrites all values for all settings duplicated in any other INI file. If it does not seem to be working anywhere else, try a MO INI Tweak.

The Prefixes

Each setting has a lowercase prefix and a name. The name identifies what the setting modifies. The prefix determines what kind of value the setting can accept. Below is a list of the different prefixes and their meanings.

• b-prefix settings accept a Boolean value of 1 (true) or 0 (false).
• f-prefix settings accept a floating point numeral value (any rational number, positive or negative, with or without a decimal, such as 5, 0, or -38.0003). Some default values for these settings can only be estimated with decimal numerals (think π).
• i-prefix settings accept an integer value (any whole number, positive or negative, without a decimal point, such as 5, -38, or 0).
• r-prefix (including some s-prefix) settings accept a color value in RGB (e.g. 93,216,234) or RGBA (e.g. 93,216,234,1) format.
• s-prefix (also S and str) settings accept a string value (usually text, but may contain numbers, punctuation--anything really).
• u-prefix (also ui and uint) settings accept an unsigned integer value (any whole number, only positive or 0, without a decimal point, such as 5, 38, or 0).

Changing Settings In-Game

Many values to settings may be changed via the in-game settings menu and the console.

Settings Menu

The in-game settings menu may be accessed by pressing the Escape (Esc) key and clicking Settings.

Settings Menu

Gameplay

Gameplay Menu Top

Gameplay Menu Bottom

Display

Display Menu Top

Display Menu Bottom

Audio

Audio Menu

Console

Most settings may be changed in-game via the console, but some changes only work when the setting is in the INI file at startup. Values to settings may be changed by doing the following:

1. Press the tilde (~) key to access the console.
2. Type setini "setting:section" value.
3. Press enter.

It is also possible to refresh the values of some settings from the INI files if changed after launching Skyrim by typing the refreshini command in the console.

The saveini console command is not recommended to be used except for research purposes, as some of the values to the settings which that command prints out are only accurate to four decimal places and unequal to the proper default values. It should be noted, however, that the saveini command prints out all settings recognized by the game to the default SkyrimPref.ini file and an INI file with the name of the last plugin loaded in the data folder. Both must be removed after use for the game to function properly.

Recommended Changes

This guide assumes that the user has either followed the current STEP Guide or has jumped over to this guide whilst following the main guide. Note that this guide includes all INI tweaks recommended by STEP, including those in the STEP Guide.

The following instructions expect the unedited default INIs! If the INI files have already been edited, please delete them from %USERPROFILE%\(My )Documents\my games\skyrim and .\Mod Organizer\profiles\. After deleting them, the default versions can be regenerated by running the Skyrim Launcher again (run via MO if using MO). Template:Warning Small

Some of the tweaks are only relevant to the STEP "Recommended System". For tweaks that affect game performance the potential performance impact is indicated. Create the following at the end of each of the indicated INI sections. Sections are marked by names within square brackets '[ ]', and some of these sections may already exist, but for those that do not, create the section. Carefully check that ...

1. no duplicate entries are created,
2. that all entries are placed into the correct section, and
3. that all sections are properly defined:

Skyrim INI

→ Skyrim INI Guide
Template:Notice Small Each of the following entries can be pasted directly into the INI (if editing manually). The entry descriptions are commented, so they will not be interpreted by the game at startup. Alternatively, these descriptions can be omitted.

[General]
sIntroSequence=    ;Disables the intro sequence for a faster startup
fFlickeringLightDistance=8192    ;Helps prevent lighting pop-in

[Display]
;Improves shadow changes as the sun moves through the sky
fSunShadowUpdateTime=0.25    ;Transition time of sun-shadow movement
fSunUpdateThreshold=1.5    ;Time between sun-shadow movement
iPresentInterval=1 ;This line needs to be manually added, as it is misplaced into SkyrimPrefs.ini by the Skyrim Launcher - REQUIRED by ENBoost

[Grass]
iMaxGrassTypesPerTexure=3       ;increase grass diversity with a small cost to performance (yes, texure and not texture). Consider set to 7 if using SFO.

[Combat]
;Shifst the point of aim to the center of the aiming reticule for arrows and crossbows.
f1PArrowTiltUpAngle=0.7 
f3PArrowTiltUpAngle=0.7 
f1PBoltTiltUpAngle=0.7 

[Camera]
;Places the camera just above the character head in third-person view, and corrects the camera angle in third-person view while on horseback (from Third Person Horse Camera)
fOverShoulderAddY=0.0
fOverShoulderPosZ=18.0
fOverShoulderPosX=0.0
fOverShoulderCombatAddY=0.0
fOverShoulderCombatPosZ=24.0
fOverShoulderCombatPosX=0.0
fOverShoulderHorseAddY=-72.0
fOverShoulderHorsePosZ=50.0
fOverShoulderHorsePosX=35.0
fActorFadeOutLimit=-100
fMouseWheelZoomSpeed=60.0
;instant camera-angle switching when switching view types or when mounting or dismounting horse  (from Instant Camera POV Switching)
f1st3rdSwitchDelay=0.95
iHorseTransitionMillis=001

[Interface]
fBookOpenTime=200.0       ;speeds up the book-opening animation
;move the HUD elements closer to the borders of the screen
fSafeZoneX=10
fSafeZoneY=10 
fSafeZoneXWide=10 
fSafeZoneYWide=10

[VATS] 
;Increase ranged killcam frequency (or disable killcams)
fVATSCastingAfterKillDelay=1.2000
uVATSRangedPercentSneak=100
uVATSRangedPercentGlobal=100
bVATSMultipleCombatants=1
bVATSForceRanged=1
bVATSDisable=1       ;enable(0) or disable (1) killcams

SkyrimPrefs INI

→ SkyrimPrefs INI Guide

YOU CAN HELP!

[Display]
iMaxAnisotropy=0    ;Anisotropic Filtering - set this to zero, as it should be controlled via the graphics driver.
iMultiSample=4    ;Antialiasing - keep the value set by the Skyrim Launcher for now
iPresentInterval=1    ;this setting has no impact and should be DELETED and placed inside Skyrim.ini instead.
bTreesReceiveShadows=1    ;Enables shadow rendering on trees (insignificant performance impact)
bDrawLandShadows=1    ;Enables shadow rendering on land (insignificant performance impact)
bFloatPointRenderTarget=0    ;Set to 1 if using deferred shader rendering ENB lighting (NOT supported by STEP). 

[Display]
iMaxDecalsPerFrame=256    ;increases the number of blood decals per scene (from Enhanced Blood Textures)

[Grass]
fGrassStartFadeDistance=18000    ;push back the distance for grasses to fade (minor performance hit)

External Resources

• HardOCP shadow tweaks (and performance impact)
• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Tweak Guide