Guide:Skyrim Configuration Settings

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Suggest first reading: Skyrim Installation Guide

Optional INI Tweaks

As mentioned in the STEP guide, the Skyrim INI files are located in "Documents/My Games/Skyrim" or "My Documents/My Games/Skyrim," depending on Operating System. At this point, the default INI files should have been established due to actions completed in step 1.B, and the following tweaks assume that the Skyrim INI files are not already customized in any way. If using Mod Organizer, editing INI files is done by clicking [Edit Ini]. Wrye Bash users can edit and manage all INI files via the INI Tweaks tab. The INI Tweaks tab also contains sets of individual tweaks which can be added to Skyrim by clicking on the tweak. This is simpler than editing the INI files whenever the desired tweak is available in this tab.

Some of the tweaks are only relevant to higher end systems. For tweaks that affect game performance the potential performance impact is indicated.

Skyrim.ini Tweaks

Most of the following tweaks are recommended updates to existing INI entries. New entries will be explicitly indicated ... do not create duplicate entries.

This tweak places the camera just above your character's head in third-person view , and corrects the camera angle in third-person view while on horseback. (From "Third Person Horse Camera"). Note that many FPS game players like the camera location in this view which is close to and behind the player, but RPG players don't always like this particular camera setting. The tweak also provides instant camera-angle switching when switching view types or when mounting/dismounting your horse. (from "Instant Camera POV Switching").

[Camera] ;this is a new section
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
f1st3rdSwitchDelay=0.95
iHorseTransitionMillis=001

This tweak speeds up the book opening animation:

[Interface] ;this is a new section
fBookOpenTime=200.0

This tweak moves the HUD elements closer to the borders of the screen:

[Interface] ;these are all new entries
fSafeZoneX=10
fSafeZoneY=10 
fSafeZoneXWide=10 
fSafeZoneYWide=10

One of the major problems in Skyrim is called the infinite-loading screen (ILS). The game starts to load but never completes loading. There is a lot of discussion of this in the STEP Support & Troubleshooting forum. Unfortunately there is no single value for this parameter that works in all situations. The compromise value below works most of the time for most users.

This tweak can prevents crashes when loading into a large interior area in some situations; in other cases this value needs to be increased to accommodate entering interior spaces with many objects while for other situations such as entering a cave or dungeon the smaller default value is often needed.

[General]
iLargeIntRefCount=131072 ;this is a new entry

Field of View (FOV) Tweak - This tweak increases the amount you can see on the screen. Many users with large displays find 85 degrees is best, but the value below can be changed if desired. Skyrim default is 75 degrees." Note that increase this value from it's default may also increase texture flickering (known as Z-fighting).:

[Display]
fDefault1stPersonFOV=85.0 ;this is a new entry
fDefaultWorldFOV=85.0 ;this is a new entry

Grass Per Texture Tweak for high end systems. This tweak allows more grasses to load per texture tile and has a noticeable effect on performance. Yes, even though texture is misspelled Texure is the correct term for this tweak.:

[Grass]
iMaxGrassTypesPerTexure=7 ;this is a new entry

Papyrus Loading Tweak - This tweak allows the engine a little extra time on the load screen to make sure any complex scripts running are allowed to execute before exiting the load screen.:

[Papyrus]
fPostLoadUpdateTimeMS=2000.0

Ranged/Magic Killcam Tweak - This tweak increases the frequency of ranged or magic killcams to 100% as long as it is a killshot. You still may not get killcams 100% of the time, due to Bethesda coding errors post 1.6/1.7 patch but it works fine for many users.:

[VATS] ;this is a new section
fVATSCastingAfterKillDelay=1.2000
uVATSRangedPercentSneak=100
uVATSRangedPercentGlobal=100
bVATSIgnoreProjectileTest=0
bVATSAllowNoKill=0
bVATSMultipleCombatants=1
bVATSForceRanged=1

Alternatively, if you do not like slow motion melee kill cams or ranged kill cams disable them by using the following tweak.:

 [VATS] ;this is a new section
bVATSDisable=1

SkyrimPrefs.ini Tweaks

All of the following tweaks are recommended updates to existing INI entries, so do not create duplicate entries.

If 'Ultra' setting is used for shadow shadow quality in 1.B.1, this tweak will further improve shadow resolution at a performance cost. Consider also raising 'iShadowMapResolutionSecondary' to 4096 on high-end machines. For less capable systems, do not change the default values for either of these settings.

[Display]
iShadowMapResolutionPrimary=4096
iShadowMapResolutionSecondary=2048

Increases the number of blood decals per scene (from “Enhanced Blood Textures”).

[Decals]
iMaxDecalsPerFrame=256 ;this is a new entry

Fade Distance Tweak - This tweak pushes back the distance for grass and shadows to fade. Minor performance hit.:

[Display]
fShadowLODStartFade=400.0000

[Grass]
fGrassStartFadeDistance=18000

Additional shadow tweaks - further improves shadows at a performance cost.:

 [Display]
bShadowsOnGrass=1 ;this is a new entry
iShadowMaskQuarter=4 ;this is a new entry
bTreesReceiveShadows=1
bDrawLandShadows=1