SkyrimSE:Display Settings

A guide to configuring the best display settings for Skyrim Special Edition

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WIP

This guide is a work in progress.

Guide scope

It is the intent of this guide to direct users to the optimal settings to be used for Skyrim Special edition for their hardware. This includes setting up unofficially supported display methods and workarounds for different use cases.

Resolution

Your resolution can be set by modifying the following lines in SkyrimPrefs.ini:

[Display]
iSize H=1080
iSize W=1920

Alternatively these can be set in an INI editor such as BethINI, or, if you are using the SSE Display Tweaks mod, by changing the following line in the SKSE\Plugins\SSEDisplayTweaks.ini file:

[Render]
Resolution=1920x1080

SSE Display Tweaks also allows you to set a resolution lower than your screen resolution and upscale it to your screen while in borderless windowed mode. In order for this feature to work, you must change BorderlessUpscale to true.

[Render]
BorderlessUpscale=true

A quick and easy way to change the resolution scale is also provided with the ResolutionScale tweak. This tweak is a multiplier for your resolution to modify it lower or higher while maintaining the aspect ratio as used in the Resolution tweak. This can be uncommented and lowered to improve performance at the cost of resolution.

[Render]
ResolutionScale=0.75

Ultra Widescreen

While the game does not natively support ultra widescreen aspect ratios, the Complete Widescreen Fix mod is able to fix the user interface issues that would otherwise inhibit their use. Simply install the appropriate files for your modded setup and ensure its files overwrite any of the original mods you may have installed.

Screen modes

The game supports both windowed and fullscreen modes, with the option to run in borderless windowed mode, via the following INI settings in the SkyrimPrefs.ini file:

[Display]
bBorderless=0
bFull Screen=1

Fullscreen mode

Without mods, fullscreen mode will provide the best performance. Without SSE Display Tweaks, this is the only method that G-SYNC (and FreeSync?) will be able to be successfully used. Setting bFull Screen=1 will enforce this method unless overwritten by a mod that overwrites this setting. SSE Display Tweaks users can use the following setting in the SKSE\Plugins\SSEDisplayTweaks.ini file to set this:

[Render]
Fullscreen=true

Borderless windowed mode

Borderless windowed mode is often preferred because of the ease of alt-tabbing to other applications. Without SSE Display Tweaks, G-SYNC (and FreeSync?) will NOT be able to be successfully used. Setting bFull Screen=0 and bBorderless=1 will enforce this method unless overwritten by a mod that overwrites this setting. SSE Display Tweaks users can use the following settings in the SKSE\Plugins\SSEDisplayTweaks.ini file to set this:

[Render]
Fullscreen=false
Borderless=true

Framerate handling

VSync

Best method is VSync + FPS Limit that is 0.01 FPS less than your monitor's maximum refresh rate (e.g., typical 60HZ is actually 59.940HZ - 0.01 = 59.93).

G-SYNC

Best method is G-SYNC + VSync + FPS Limit that is 3 FPS less than your monitor's maximum refresh rate.

FreeSync

Presumed best method is FreeSync + VSync + FPS Limit that is 3 FPS less than your monitor's maximum refresh rate.