Battle of Whiterun FPS drop

[EtraKurdaj]

Hey gang. I've done a search of these forums and on google, and haven't found a solution to my problem.

 

The issue is, I'll walk to Galmer's camp outside of Whiterun to begin the battle, and from afar I can see the catapults slinging their loads and the fires streak across the sky, and it's all very impressive.

 

But as soon as I enter the area where the camp is in, within ten steps of the catapults, it's like my character walked into a wall of jello. The framerate drops to ONE, literally, one frame per second.

 

And it stays like that through Galmer's entire speech and for the charge towards the Whiterun barricades. I say it only goes that far, because while I'm moving in slow motion, Whiterun's defenders aren't, and they kill me with arrows. I don't live long enough in slo-mo to break the barriers and continue on, so I don't know if this is just a temporary framerate issue and if it gets better once I'm inside the city - because I can't survive that far.

 

Interestingly, the sound doesn't lag, and if I hit ESC or TAB, the game immediately speeds back up. I can scroll through the menus and change the settings like a boss. Galmer gives his speech with perfect clarity, the sound doesn't skip or anything, and the music is as inspiring and heroic as ever.

 

What I have tried:

• Disabling mods
  
• Lowering texture quality
  
• Lowering screen resolution
  

 

And it's all no help.

 

I have played Skyrim before and never experienced this sort of issue. My mods have remained consistent through the life of this character and this sort of lag did not occur during the Jagged Crown quest. I don't know what it is, but I am eager to solve it.

 

My game is fully updated. I use SKSE, NMM, BOSS, and Ordenador texture optimizer.

 

My computer is an i2500k NVidia 560 Ti (driver version 304.79), and 16 gigs.

 

My mods are attached.

 

Skyrim.esm

Update.esm

Dawnguard.esm

Populated Cities NPCListMaster.esm

SkyMoMod.esm

ClimatesOfTamriel.esm

HighResTexturePack01.esp

HighResTexturePack02.esp

Chesko_MatchingSetPerkFix.esp

Unofficial Skyrim Patch.esp

Unofficial Dawnguard Patch.esp

Improved Combat Sounds v2.1.esp

LIAT - Sounds.esp

Realistic Lighting.esp

ClimatesOfTamriel-Dungeons&Interiors.esp

Weapons and Armor fixes.esp

Weapons and Armor fixes - Hacks.esp

arrowsstick.esp

Chesko_WearableLantern.esp

dD - Enhanced Blood Main.esp

guard dialogue overhaul.esp

Improved Container Names.esp

Immersive Patrols.esp

Immersive Brigands.esp

Ish's Souls to Perks.esp

Lanterns Of Skyrim - Around Cities_bright.esp

Lanterns Of Skyrim - Bridges x2 - OnOff_bright.esp

Lanterns Of Skyrim - Villages.esp

LIAT - NPCs.esp

UnlimitedBookshelves.esp

People Have Torches.esp

Skyrim Flora Overhaul.esp

AdventurersAndTravelers.esp

Auto Unequip Ammo.esp

CraftableTemplar.esp

SkyforgeWeapons.esp

Dr_Bandolier.esp

Smithing Perks Overhaul - Balanced.esp

Complete Crafting Overhaul - BS version.esp

HarvestOverhaul.esp

DeadlyDragons.esp

The Paarthurnax Dilemma.esp

UniqueWeapons.esp

Better Dynamic Snow.esp

Headbomb's Better Sorting - Ammo.esp

Headbomb's Better Sorting - Spells.esp

Headbomb's Better Sorting - Soul Gems (Ranked).esp

Headbomb's Better Sorting - Potions (Normal Weight).esp

Headbomb's Better Sorting - Miscellaneous.esp

Headbomb's Better Sorting - Ingredients.esp

Headbomb's Better Sorting - Books.esp

Headbomb's Better Sorting - Food (Normal Weight).esp

DescaledUniques.esp

Dr_ItemBones.esp

OpenFaceGuardHelmets.esp

slowercompanions.esp

Speed Revised.esp

VariousGuardReplacer.esp

UnreadBooksGlow.esp

Populated Cities.esp

dD - Realistic Ragdoll Force - Reduced.esp

ToL_Core_by_Brevi.esp

DeadlySpellImpacts.esp

Eld-combinePotions.esp

EnchantmentCleanser.esp

UFO - Ultimate Follower Overhaul.esp

UFO - Dawnguard AddOn.esp

moveitLWT.esp

Animated Weapon Enchants.esp

Cartographers Map Markers.esp

dD-Dawnguard-MonsterMod EBT Patch.esp

dD-SkyrimMonsterMod EBT Patch.esp

Bashed Patch, 0.esp

ASIS-Dependency.esp

Names - NPCs - 1_1.esp

[gsmanners]

That sounds about right for a civil war quest. The whole thing is a giant clusterfark wrapped in a shell of epic fail.

[EtraKurdaj]

Well wait a second - that can't be the final word on the matter.

 

Surely other people are able to complete the quest without problems. What's so different about my experience?

[gsmanners]

...

 

LOL

 

Sorry, but you picked a bad quest to play.

[EtraKurdaj]

No bulls***, there's no way to complete this questline?

 

When this game came out last year, I was able to play through it with no issues. But now it's unplayable? What happened, what's changed?

[Brandy1123]

I looked at your mod list and see a lot of NPC changes. more (noc) people, changes in guards, torches, lanterns, populated cities, animated weapons, other environmental changes, multiple followers and others that change the number of objects in your cell. Then when you throw all the residual enhancements for the quest, you are destined for a huge FPS drop. There is not much you can do other then remove some HD mods, drop out some of the things you really don't want and try again or run it vanilla style then re-mod.

 

If you are running an ENB-ish graphic enhancer. Some of those are really particular on INI settings. I know this is nothing definitive, but you asked for more of a real reason why it could be happening. I wish I had more to offer. Good luck EtraKurdaj

 

 

edit

Remember just disabling mods does not always remove its active changes and components. It certainly will not undo any ini type changes.

[Moraevik]

I've only done the Civil War quest once and experienced no issues with the battle for Whiterun, other than a moderate drop in FPS. Because of all the extra NPCs and special effects going on, this is bound to make your game take a performance hit. As Brandy said, you're already stressing the game with your mods. Throw in the extra stress on your computer with what Bethesda added, here, and you're asking for trouble. They never intended the battle to take place under those conditions.

 

If I were you I'd disable all your eye-candy mods for the sake of this battle, and keep in mind you'll have to do it again later on in the Civil War quest, because Whiterun isn't the only city you'll be putting under seige.

[silverwolf1964]

I got the same issues, I disabled all my whiterun mods, I do have dawnguard and hearthfire installed but that should not affect it. I can travel to the farm next to the storm cloaks, but as soon as I get too close I drop down my frame rates until the game is not even playable. I set my video settings to low, I have 2 460 is SLI in a fairly current Alienware m18. This laptop is a beast and this is the first time I have ever even seen a lag.

 

 

 

 

 

Hey gang. I've done a search of these forums and on google, and haven't found a solution to my problem.

The issue is, I'll walk to Galmer's camp outside of Whiterun to begin the battle, and from afar I can see the catapults slinging their loads and the fires streak across the sky, and it's all very impressive.

 

But as soon as I enter the area where the camp is in, within ten steps of the catapults, it's like my character walked into a wall of jello. The framerate drops to ONE, literally, one frame per second.

 

And it stays like that through Galmer's entire speech and for the charge towards the Whiterun barricades. I say it only goes that far, because while I'm moving in slow motion, Whiterun's defenders aren't, and they kill me with arrows. I don't live long enough in slo-mo to break the barriers and continue on, so I don't know if this is just a temporary framerate issue and if it gets better once I'm inside the city - because I can't survive that far.

 

Interestingly, the sound doesn't lag, and if I hit ESC or TAB, the game immediately speeds back up. I can scroll through the menus and change the settings like a boss. Galmer gives his speech with perfect clarity, the sound doesn't skip or anything, and the music is as inspiring and heroic as ever.

 

What I have tried:

• Disabling mods
  
• Lowering texture quality
  
• Lowering screen resolution
  

 

And it's all no help.

 

I have played Skyrim before and never experienced this sort of issue. My mods have remained consistent through the life of this character and this sort of lag did not occur during the Jagged Crown quest. I don't know what it is, but I am eager to solve it.

 

My game is fully updated. I use SKSE, NMM, BOSS, and Ordenador texture optimizer.

 

My computer is an i2500k NVidia 560 Ti (driver version 304.79), and 16 gigs.

 

My mods are attached.

 

Skyrim.esm

Update.esm

Dawnguard.esm

Populated Cities NPCListMaster.esm

SkyMoMod.esm

ClimatesOfTamriel.esm

HighResTexturePack01.esp

HighResTexturePack02.esp

Chesko_MatchingSetPerkFix.esp

Unofficial Skyrim Patch.esp

Unofficial Dawnguard Patch.esp

Improved Combat Sounds v2.1.esp

LIAT - Sounds.esp

Realistic Lighting.esp

ClimatesOfTamriel-Dungeons&Interiors.esp

Weapons and Armor fixes.esp

Weapons and Armor fixes - Hacks.esp

arrowsstick.esp

Chesko_WearableLantern.esp

dD - Enhanced Blood Main.esp

guard dialogue overhaul.esp

Improved Container Names.esp

Immersive Patrols.esp

Immersive Brigands.esp

Ish's Souls to Perks.esp

Lanterns Of Skyrim - Around Cities_bright.esp

Lanterns Of Skyrim - Bridges x2 - OnOff_bright.esp

Lanterns Of Skyrim - Villages.esp

LIAT - NPCs.esp

UnlimitedBookshelves.esp

People Have Torches.esp

Skyrim Flora Overhaul.esp

AdventurersAndTravelers.esp

Auto Unequip Ammo.esp

CraftableTemplar.esp

SkyforgeWeapons.esp

Dr_Bandolier.esp

Smithing Perks Overhaul - Balanced.esp

Complete Crafting Overhaul - BS version.esp

HarvestOverhaul.esp

DeadlyDragons.esp

The Paarthurnax Dilemma.esp

UniqueWeapons.esp

Better Dynamic Snow.esp

Headbomb's Better Sorting - Ammo.esp

Headbomb's Better Sorting - Spells.esp

Headbomb's Better Sorting - Soul Gems (Ranked).esp

Headbomb's Better Sorting - Potions (Normal Weight).esp

Headbomb's Better Sorting - Miscellaneous.esp

Headbomb's Better Sorting - Ingredients.esp

Headbomb's Better Sorting - Books.esp

Headbomb's Better Sorting - Food (Normal Weight).esp

DescaledUniques.esp

Dr_ItemBones.esp

OpenFaceGuardHelmets.esp

slowercompanions.esp

Speed Revised.esp

VariousGuardReplacer.esp

UnreadBooksGlow.esp

Populated Cities.esp

dD - Realistic Ragdoll Force - Reduced.esp

ToL_Core_by_Brevi.esp

DeadlySpellImpacts.esp

Eld-combinePotions.esp

EnchantmentCleanser.esp

UFO - Ultimate Follower Overhaul.esp

UFO - Dawnguard AddOn.esp

moveitLWT.esp

Animated Weapon Enchants.esp

Cartographers Map Markers.esp

dD-Dawnguard-MonsterMod EBT Patch.esp

dD-SkyrimMonsterMod EBT Patch.esp

Bashed Patch, 0.esp

ASIS-Dependency.esp

Names - NPCs - 1_1.esp

[kevkiev]

I had the exact same thing happen quite a while ago (pre-Dawnguard). I tried disabling mods (not that I had any that would seem to cause such a problem), including uninstalling all my high rez textures and changed my graphics quality to low. I wasn't running any ENB. Still, the battle for whiterun was a complete slideshow and it prevented me from completing the CW as a stormcloak. I ended up going back to a save where I could join the Imperials (again) instead. It's the only real "show-stopping" bug (i.e. incurable or one I couldn't just live with) in Skyrim I've experienced. I posted about it but never did find a fix.

 

I know this doesn't help, and wish I could offer a solution. :( Will be tracking this thread in case one comes up.

[FiftyTifty]

Try changing the imaxdesired in SkyrimPrefs.ini to something lower. Could be the huge increase of particles present in the game, as they are drawn by the CPU, and are rendered even when off screen.