7 replies to this topic

[TalHawkins112]

Okay, so I have an:

AMD Phenom 9550 Quad-Core Processor 2.2 Ghz
6 GB Ram
64 bit operating system
running Vista

with the basic video card: ATI Radeon HD 3500

Will dropping $200 on a new video card fix this? Do I need a new computer entirely?

I've been waiting forever for this game and really looking forward to it, incredibly distressed I can't play it.

Any help would be appreciated.

Edited by TalHawkins112, 13 November 2011 - 10:00 PM.

[TalHawkins112]

Bump for an answer.

[wolfsangeleyes]

I wish i knew the answer to your question. To me your pc doesn't seem that bad, even though i'm a bit of a noob. My videocard is ATI Radeon HD 4550 with all the latest driver updates, 4 RAM, i3 CPU 2.93 GHz. Not a high end pc, but not a bad one either and the game still doesn't function the way it should.
Myself i'm suffering from mouse lag and despite tweaking ini files ( which apparantly made a huge different for some people and no difference at all for others) i still can't play the game without getting dizzy from the slight mouse delay and the staggering.

For days i've searched the web/youtube/forums, read a lot of people having similar problems or completely different problems like crashes and black screens, but what struck me is that a lot of them have very high end rigs with awesome graphic cards and they still have difficulties.
Bottomline, i don't think that the troubleshooting always has to do with our computer specs, but more to do with the fact that Bethesday has to get rid of the bugs. (i guess there will always be bugs with new game releases )

My advice would be, wait for the update patches that Bethesta are working on. (i've read on their official forum that they are working on solving a lot of problems/issues people have with the game but i guess these things will take some time)
If their new patches are released and they still don't solve your problems, maybe then it might be wise to think about an upgrade for your pc.
It would be a shame to spend 200 bucks now, when everything could be fixed with their updates.

I'm leaving Skyrim for what it is right now and try to wait for their updates because this is driving me up the wall and giving me headaches and that's just not worth it.

Sorry i couldn't help you much

[TalHawkins112]

Thanks for the reply and the advice.

I saw your post before I posted this actually but since no one was replying I figured it couldn't hurt to post my own.

And I suppose I'll take your advice with regards to waiting, as much as I hate to. But you have a point, no sense is spending a lot of money if I might not need to.

[wolfsangeleyes]

Hi again

I came across this webpage for Skyrim system requirements:
http://www.uesp.net/...em_Requirements

My ATI Radeon came out as low/medium but i couldn't find yours.
I did find ATI Radeon HD 3450 (won't be able to play) and ATI Radeon HD 3650 (low/medium) which makes yours somewhere in between.
And i'm afraid that brings you right back where you started.
Another thing you could do is ask one of the salespeople at your local shop selling grapic cards. Then again, they are there to make a sale.
The guy who adviced me is a fanatic gamer himself and when i bought my pc 2 years ago he said it was good enough for what i was looking for. (i brought my Oblivion with me so he could check the recommended specifications himself...almost had to pull the game out of his hands to get it back LOL)
But now, 2 years later, i have the sneaky suspicion my videocard is almost outdated. It's hard to keep up with technology.

I'm going to try changing the resolution, set everything as low as i can and see if that works. If it doesn't, i'll have no choice but to go back to that store and ask his advice.
I'll let you know if it works. Or not.

[Thenson]

Okay, so I have an:

AMD Phenom 9550 Quad-Core Processor 2.2 Ghz
6 GB Ram
64 bit operating system
running Vista

with the basic video card: ATI Radeon HD 3500

Will dropping $200 on a new video card fix this? Do I need a new computer entirely?

I've been waiting forever for this game and really looking forward to it, incredibly distressed I can't play it.

Any help would be appreciated.

You probably can get away with spending a hundred dollars or less on a vid card.
My Specs are AMD Phenom 9500 Quad
Win 7 64bit
6gig DDR2
Nvidia GTS250 video with one gig ram

And I am not having any major problems running the game sofar

[TalHawkins112]

Thanks for all the replies everyone!

So is the consensus that my computer can run the game but I need to spend some money on a new video card?

if so, that doesn't sound terrible. I was getting concerned I needed to drop like $1500 on a new desktop! Comparatively, $100-$150 on a new viceo card isn't bad at all.

[wolfsangeleyes]

Ok, hold onto your hat....i got it to work!!

I tried to lower my screen resolution, but that didn't work (screen looks weird/stretched) so it is currently at
1366x768 (can't go any higher either)

I set the game settings to Low instead of medium.

I disabled the ''FXAA'' under 'options' (in the little menu when you launch the game) You will find this under the advanced tab. (not sure if this makes a difference or not but because the lag was gone, i decided to leave well enough alone)
AA is off, so is Anisotropic Filtering. ( i have them enabled through my Cathalyst Control Center)

----

I made the following tweaks in the SkyrimPrefs.ini folder located under C\Documents\Games\Skyrim:

Change the default setting of iPresentInterval to 0 (default setting is 1) You will find this under [Display]
Change the default setting of bMouseAcceleration to 0 (def. setting is 1) You will find this under [Controls]
---------Don't forget to make a back up of the original ini file in case you want to change back later------

This got rid of lag, mouse delay, whatever. I no longer feel half drunk and have much better control over my character.
However i noticed a difference in mouse sensitivity between the y and the x-axis, so i did the following:

Go to C\Documents\Games\Skyrim again, but this time open the Skyrim.ini file (NOT the SkyrimPrefs.ini)

Add the following to the bottom of the list:

[Controls]
fMouseHeadingYScale=0.0150
fMouseHeadingXScale=0.0200

There is no [Control] in that ini file, so i included it (the word control in brackets) Some websites included it, some did not even mention it so i decided to try it this way first and i can't really notice a difference between x and the y axis any more.

Despite the fact that the game suggested i play at medium settings, i found that only low works for me (which probably does mean that my videocard is a bit outdated after all and Thenson is right)
I can't really see much difference in textures now that i play on low, but that may be because i'm still half way through the tutorial. For now i am happy that i can finally play the game and hopefully we'll get a mod that upgrades textures or something like Qarl's texture pack. That improved my Oblivion a lot

I hope this helps someone out. Good luck!

Edit: forgot to mention that i tried out all my settings by playing offline. Not sure if that made a difference or not, but i was afraid that the connection to Steam may be 'slowing' things down.

Edited by wolfsangeleyes, 15 November 2011 - 12:12 AM.