J_R Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 Hey ya'll. So I'm sure most of you have seen the graphics tweeks floating around to implement in your SkyrimPrefs.ini. Now all of the guides/posts i've seen have advised people to edit their SkyrimPrefs.ini in their Skyrim folder in their Steam folders. So I did those changes and noticed that they weren't really doing anything. I then noticed in the steam ini that 1. It had different resolution settings than I use listed for full screen mode and 2. It didn't have certain settings that should have been there (like the iwaterreflect settings and the entire [water] section for example) I then noticed that these settings and the proper res, etc. was listed in the SkyrimPrefs.ini that's in My Documents, and that after implementing the changes in there, the changes worked! WTF mate? This could be common knowledge to most people, but after seeing every single guide online say that the ini file to change is in the steam folder, when for me it's the .ini in my documents that works, it made me a bit perplexed. I've also seen people posting that making changes to the steam .ini doesn't work for them either, and I can't help but think that they have the same thing going on for them - the 'Active' .ini file being used by the game is in fact in My Documents, and NOT in the Steam folder. What's the word? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyjackal Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 (edited) The ini you should edit is the one in Documents. This is the one the game 'should' be using. The game makes this ini file after you've started the launcher, gone into options and it has detected your settings and set it to something. Once it's done this, you should be able to find the ini file in your Documents and you should be editing this one. EDIT: The ini you are editing should have this line:sD3DDevice="[YOUR GRAPHICS CARD NAME]" You can always make both identical to clear any confusion, it won't cause an issue - just edit the one with the detected GPU and copy that over. Edited November 15, 2011 by crazyjackal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smosh Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 First I've heard about the ini file in the Steam folder. Every ini tweak I've personally seen has said to change the SkyrimPrefs.ini in the MyGames/Skyrim folder. That's where it has worked for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J_R Posted November 15, 2011 Author Share Posted November 15, 2011 I was running off that article by PC Gamer which took some stuff from SA forums, reddit, and here. They advise you to use the steam one (perhaps this only works before running the game?). I've also seen this recommended elsewhere as well, with no mention of the one in my documents. I just wanted to make sure the right information is getting out there. Thanks guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bri7man Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 I have applied the tree and land shader tweaks + many others; first in my Skyrim install dir SkyrimPrefs.ini and then the one in MyGames, none made any effect after loading the game up, I even took screenshots of the exact same frame and there is no change. I am absolutely stumped as I find no one with this issue. Begging for help on this!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MotoSxorpio Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 <p>DO NOT EDIT THE INI IN THE STEAM\~~\SKYRIM FOLDER!!! </p><p>Those are for the game when you need to regenerate a new INI. Any edits to skyrim ini files are done in the My Documents\My Games folder. If you did this, plz delete the ini in the Steam\~~\Skyrim folder and verify the integrity of the files to get the originals.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bri7man Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 I deleted that one and Skyrim made another upon startup and kept the tweaks inside the myGames prefs.ini and still nothing is taking effect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rabidNode Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 the ini in the main skyrim folder is simply a default ini. it should not be removed or edited. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bri7man Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 I deleted that one and Skyrim made another upon startup and kept the tweaks inside the myGames prefs.ini and still nothing is taking effect. Not that I recommend it at all, but it seems my Skyrim runs fine without it, anyways I restored it, because I was wrong, my Skyrim did NOT create another, I was looking at the my games .ini Anyways, problem still lies as it was. I still can't get any of the changes to take effect in game that I applied in my mygames skyrimprefs.ini Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smosh Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 I deleted that one and Skyrim made another upon startup and kept the tweaks inside the myGames prefs.ini and still nothing is taking effect. Not that I recommend it at all, but it seems my Skyrim runs fine without it, anyways I restored it, because I was wrong, my Skyrim did NOT create another, I was looking at the my games .ini Anyways, problem still lies as it was. I still can't get any of the changes to take effect in game that I applied in my mygames skyrimprefs.ini I can only suggest that once you have made your changes that you then make the ini readable only just in case it is somehow reverting to default. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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