FIX for ATI users: Stuttering/Skipping Frames in First Person

[mickey6688]

Hi all,

 

As an ATI user, I've encountered the problem of serious frame skipping when in first person view. The problem occurs when moving, and appears as staccato stuttering, or small frame loss. While this problem does not seem to be restricted to ATI users, I've discovered a simple fix that has worked for me, which does not require the use of any third party software. I cannot verify whether it will work for nVidia users, but it may be worth a shot.

 

Step 1: Open the Catalyst Control Centre, and go to 'Gaming', then '3D Application Settings'. If you have modified these settings in the past, it might be best to click 'Default' at the bottom-left corner. This will reset the settings to the Catalyst standard. (Note: Do not worry about losing ATI's profile settings for Skyrim. This will be addressed later.)

 

Step 2: Scroll down to 'Wait for vertical refresh' and move the slider all the way to the right, towards 'Quality'. It should now read 'Always On'.

 

Step 3: Scroll down to OpenGL and tick 'Triple Buffering'.

 

Step 4: Scroll down to 'AMD CrossfireX Mode for 3D Applications'. From the dropdown menu, select Use AMD Pre-defined Profile'. This will show a list of .exe specific graphics profiles AMD has optimised for use with their GPUs. From the list, select 'TESV.exe' by simply clicking one it once. (Note: You can find it easily by hitting the letter 'T' on your keyboard.) If the list is unpopulated, head to http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloads/pages/crossfirex-app-profiles.aspx and download and install the latest application profiles.

 

Step 5: Scroll back up to the top. Under 'Application Profiles', ensure '<<New Application>>' is selected in the dropdown menu. This will be your only option if you've never manually created an application profile before. Click 'Save'. A window will appear. Navigate to your Skyrim install folder, and select 'TESV.exe'. (Note: If you are running Windows 7, or an earlier version that by default omits file extensions, the file will be called 'TESV' and have 'Application' as its file description).

 

Unless you have tinkered with Steam's install directory you will find TESV.exe at 'C:\Steam\steamapps\common\skyrim'.

 

Once you have selected 'TESV.exe', click 'Open' and you're ready to go.

 

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I tried this simple fix after spending a significant amount of time attempting more effort-intensive fixes, some of which didn't work. Some ATI users have said that using a borderless window achieves the same effect, however, third-party software designed for this purpose often requires its own d3d9.dll file, which is used in several graphics enhancement mods. To avoid conflict a proxy must often be created to allow the use of multiple d3d9.dll files. As you can see above, my fix is a lot simpler, and requires a lot less time.

 

I hope this has been helpful, especially to those (like me) that do not have a strong knowledge in computers and GPU tweaking.

[DarthJenius]

trying this now, let's see how it goes. At the very least, this led me to discover that there was a pre-defined CrossFire profile already within CCC.

[Rennn]

I wasn't aware that triple-buffering had any effect on Skyrim, considering it's not an OpenGL program.

The only method I know of to get triple-buffered Vsync in Skyrim is to use an injector like D3DOverride.

[Raunien]

Can confirm that this works

 

AMD Phenom II 3GHz

6GB RAM

AMD Raden HD 7800 2GB

Windows 7 Ultimate

 

Step 4 seems to be irrelevant, as that option seems to have disappeared. Instead, simply save the profile for TESV.exe as normal. It will say that you will overwrite the existing profile. Don't worry, it will say this whether you have a profile or not. Problem apparently solved!