uGridsToLoad Talk and Testing

[hanslanda007]

I find myself struggling to find information on uGridsToLoad with regards to Skyrim SE, has there been much testing\Experimenting?

 

Using the excellent information from Sheson and brought to our attection by Darkstorne in the forum -

 

Detailed LOD View

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/images/690/?page=1&sort=DESC&pid=0&thread_id=5010700&pUp=1

 

I made the following change

Skyrimprefs.ini
uLargeRefLODGridSize=11 <--- change this value to 21.

 

Yes this makes a vast improvement but STILL not giving me the results I seek, I want something similar to OG Skyrim with regards to uGridsToLoad tweaks as I played at uGrids 7 (Anything higher just caused things to become strange for me).

 

I'm about to start tweaking my uGridsToLoad using the settings from a classic thread which has tons of information on uGrids http://forums.bethsoft.com/topic/1274926-ugridstoload-skyrimini-comparisons-and-explanation-default-57911/

 

Anyway I figured it would be handy to have somewhere to share findings as after googling I cannot find much information about SE and uGrids.

[hanslanda007]

Just had a play for 20 mins and all seems stable with uGrids 7 BUT performance seems to have tanked, I input the following edits in my Skyrim.ini

[General]
uExterior Cell Buffer=64
uGridsToLoad=7
iPreloadSizeLimit=51380224

 

I've gone from a solid 60 FPS to all over the place (Low of 35FPS), I'm running 90 Mods including some heavy texture mods and a ReShade so yes performance hit can be expected with uGrids increase. Oh and the resolution is 3440x1440 21:9, anyway I have a test video for uGrids 7 uploading to youtube now and i'll link when complete.

 

System Specs Below:

Intel i7-4770K CPU @ 4.20GHz

16GB DDR Corsair 1600 Mhz

Acer X34 (3440x1440, 34.2")

MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti Gaming 6G

2x Crucial_CT512MX100SSD (512GB)

EVGA Z97 Stinger Core 3d

Windows 10

[iXenite]

My recommendation would be to avoid messing with uGrids altogether. The long term damage it can cause has been well documented for the original Skyrim, and I am certain the same applies to this newer version.

[Lisselli]

People sure love messing with uGridsToLoad.. As if 5 cells being loaded around the player isn't already enough.

Edited November 16, 2016 by Lisselli

[hanslanda007]

Yeah I enjoy playing around with it as I wait for the other mods, greater numbers of cells used to make a huge difference and with the right tweaks relatively stable on Oldrim.

 

The below link is for a uGridsToLoad 7, I tried to get it a lossless as I could.

 

Edited November 17, 2016 by hanslanda007

[phantompally76]

The biggest issue with raising it from 5 to 7 (or higher) is that it causes scripted events to sometimes happen before you're close enough to see or hear them occur, or otherwise miss most of the dialogue/action.

[iXenite]

Also, using uGrids has a permanent effect on your save game. It's not just playing with something, it's there to stay. Plus, without you realizing it, the save can become slowly eaten away by all of the scripts going on. Arthmoor has done a lot of research into this, as well as many other big figures in the modding community - it isn't worth it. Although, if you're only in it for the screen archery like Hodilton then I guess it doesn't really matter.

[Guest deleted2347999]

So what is to be done about the rampant pop-in in the SE, then? Trees, grass and landscape detail are ultra conspicuous. I've been using the uLargeRefLODGridSize at 21, but that really only seems to make the mountains noticeably better. Also, while usually performance neutral, i've seen some really strange dips down to the low 40s while using it at 21. My baseline is always above 60.

[iXenite]

It's because the amount of stress the uGrids place on your system, that is why your frames are dropping. The only thing you can do about the horrible LOD's in Skyrim is ignore them. uGrids are dangerous if you actually care about keeping your save game for any serious length of time. If you want to risk it though, then that's on you. Though the method you're probably talking about is different than uGrids to load this thread is talking about. I don't know anything specific about the "new method" and how safe it may or may not be, but I would still be cautious anyway.

[jones177]

Hi

 

3440 X 1440 is really stressful with a reshade & lots of mods even with a single 980 ti. On the old Skyrim(350+ mods, ENB) I had to replace my GTX 980 ti with a GTX 1080 to maintain 60fps when I went form 2560 X 1440 to 3440 X 1440. It is just a lot more pixels.

 

With the old Skyrim I used uGridsToLoad 7 for about a year. It is not a good idea to use it if you plan on doing the main quests. There is no going back to 5 with any save you make at 7. You may get away with a few load/save cycles but they will corrupt & the results can scare you.

 

Uping the ugrid is a CPU/ram hit. On the old game I added too many NPCs & was running out of ram. I went back to 5 to stop the out of ram CTDs. To maintain frame rate I also keeped terrain meshes vanilla. I like to keep my i7s at about 18 to 23% usage to maintain high frame rate.

 

Later