Upgrading my PC, need modding advice!

[Doyledeth]

Hello,

 

I'm upgrading my PC to be able to play a heavily modded Skyrim with all DLCS. Here is what my specs will be....

 

 

ONE: XFX Double D R9-280X-TDFD Radeon R9 280X 3GB 384-bit GDDR5 CrossFireX Support Video Card

8 GB DDR ram

1 TB HDD and TWO 120GB SSD's (Skyrim will be on one of these)

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Processor

 

I want to be able to use REALVISION ENB on top of their recommended texture mods. Armor/weapons textures, city expansions, open cities etc etc. I would like to be able to run at least 175-200 mods. Some big, some small. Either WARZONES or IMMERSIVE PATROLS and a decent amount of housing/dungeon/new city mods; including KING OF RIVERHELM and BECOME HIGH KING OF SKYRIM, if compatible. I also want to be able to add many NPCs to each city, CROWDED CITIES for example and many many other mods.

 

Which texture sizes should I choose and which resolution should I be on? My new card has many resolution options.....

 

ANALOG: 2048 x 1536
DIGITAL: 2560 x 1600 (DVI); 4096 x 2160 (HDMI;DP)

 

Should I stick with 1980 x 1080, or can I go up a notch? Can I use ULTRA settings or even HIGH? Everyone's help is appreciated.

 

ALSO: I also want to know how I should test the game, IN GAME to see if it crashes? I remember reading up on this awhile ago and can't find it anywhere now. It had something to do with a SPEEDMULT setting and TCL.

Edited November 8, 2013 by Doyledeth

[Doyledeth]

Nobody? :(

[DigitalVixen]

If you like ATI go for that card, I suppose. I'm a hardcore nVidia fan myself hehe.

 

Anyway, that system you're building you should be able to use texture mods, RealVision etcetera.

 

About texture mods I would recommend to not use anything over 2k size. Having the odd 4k one is fine but they are real VRam munchers and in combination with other texture packs and upgrades then that is just begging for issues and stuttering game.

 

Also - stay away from Warzones. It _will_ kill your game.

 

Lastly, the limitations will be of the game and it's engine and not your hardware. Mod the game too much and it will start crashing, way before your computer gives up.

[PinkSamantha]

A suggestion: consider to get 16GB or ram.

 

Like the user above me, I'm an nVidia and Intel gamer so I don't know much about AMD. But make sure your card support whatever resolution you plan to use. I mean even if your card support 2560 doesn't mean it won't stutter at that resolution. From my experience it's better to play at your monitor's native resolution.

 

As for texture size/resolution, it all depends on your personal preference and your hardwares. Some people, including me, think that 4k textures for stuff like walls, tiles, furnitures or even jewelries is overkill, but if it's up to you. I'm using 4k for people (except for eyes or hair, which is varied in size/resolution depending on the hair mod author's choice of quality), 4k/2k for custom armor and weapons (including jewelries), 2k/1k for vanilla armors, weapons and stuff like jewelries/accesories and 1k or lower for the rest. I'm not sure if I torture my 660Ti with my current setup but I only use a few custom textures (my standard is high so I only use the best armors, weapons and even followers :laugh:). I use official HD textures for most of Skyrim.

 

And power supply. Remember to use a decent power supply. Look for Corsair or any decent/high end brand (mine is Corsair AX860i but might want to upgrade to AX1200i soon once I have enough time to go shopping and get my hands on a 770 or even 780 :laugh:).

[Doyledeth]

A suggestion: consider to get 16GB or ram.

 

Like the user above me, I'm an nVidia and Intel gamer so I don't know much about AMD. But make sure your card support whatever resolution you plan to use. I mean even if your card support 2560 doesn't mean it won't stutter at that resolution. From my experience it's better to play at your monitor's native resolution.

 

As for texture size/resolution, it all depends on your personal preference and your hardwares. Some people, including me, think that 4k textures for stuff like walls, tiles, furnitures or even jewelries is overkill, but if it's up to you. I'm using 4k for people (except for eyes or hair, which is varied in size/resolution depending on the hair mod author's choice of quality), 4k/2k for custom armor and weapons (including jewelries), 2k/1k for vanilla armors, weapons and stuff like jewelries/accesories and 1k or lower for the rest. I'm not sure if I torture my 660Ti with my current setup but I only use a few custom textures (my standard is high so I only use the best armors, weapons and even followers :laugh:). I use official HD textures for most of Skyrim.

 

And power supply. Remember to use a decent power supply. Look for Corsair or any decent/high end brand (mine is Corsair AX860i but might want to upgrade to AX1200i soon once I have enough time to go shopping and get my hands on a 770 or even 780 :laugh:).

16GB? Doesn't Skyrim only use up to 4 GB? As for the power supply, I have a Corsair 850 watt, so I should be good. So, every world texture at 2048 and most people Armor and weapons at 4024? Also, how many mods plus the T packs is considered overkill? I've seen people on youtube use well over 200 with steady gameplay and no crashes.

[Doyledeth]

Also, I can still be on ULTRA settings, correct?

[Miguelr23]

well i know the r9 280x is meant to be played at 2560 x 1600 and you will get very good fps in skyrim even without crossfire so you will be able to play easily at that res(make sure skyrim supports crossfire because i have no idea :) )

yes you can run 200 mods stable as long they dont do the same thing/things(also warzones brakes saves from what people say so i wouldnt use that)

[Doyledeth]

Thanks a lot everyone!

 

Do any of you know a good way to test if my game is crash free without having to wander around Skyrim forever to see if I freeze or crash? I don't want to have to do that every time I play test it.

 

So, what If I add Immersive Patrols and one more similar mod that makes the outside world a little busier with battles(beside Monster mods) ADDING MORE FACTION FIGHTS ETC..

[PinkSamantha]

16GB? Doesn't Skyrim only use up to 4 GB? As for the power supply, I have a Corsair 850 watt, so I should be good. So, every world texture at 2048 and most people Armor and weapons at 4024? Also, how many mods plus the T packs is considered overkill? I've seen people on youtube use well over 200 with steady gameplay and no crashes.

 

First, it's future proof, at least for a year or two. Besides it never hurts to have decent amount of free memory, just to be safe. You can also use at least 4GB of your free memory as ramdisk.

 

I personally think 16GB is okay, anything higher than that is overkill (for most games, unless you're planning to do some productivity works with your rig).

 

I don't know if your power supply will provide enough power for your rig but I think it should be enough so long you don't overclock anything too high. I use stock clock for all my hardwares and 860i is sufficient and safe for me, although I'm still thinking about getting that AX1200i just so I won't upgrade my power supply for a very long time and I can put my mind to rest knowing I have more than enough clean power to run my rig.

 

As for textures, I think world texture should be at 1k for better performance unless you're using paralax or do some screenshot archery. It's not like you're going to stare at the ground or the tree for a very long time. :laugh: But it's up to you if you decide to use 2k. I only have 660Ti (for now) to run Skyrim so I don't think I should push my luck too much. That's just my setup anyway. You can always use higher than that with hardwares faster and more powerful than mine.

 

As for the mods, that depends on what mods they were using. Running Skyrim with 200+ light mods (like ones that change the arrow speed or your chance to find more loot) is easy, but if those 200 consists of custom body mesh with 4k textures, Vurt's Flora Overhaul, Skyrim HD, SMIM, customised weather/lighting and audio, custom 4k armors and weapons and big abodes with lots of stuff inside then don't expect miracles. Creation Engine is Gamebryo with fancy name, it can only run so much stuff at the same time before CTD. Not even massive amount of RAM or powerful graphics card could save you from freeze and crashes.

 

My tip? Use only the best mods, and the ones you really, really need. Before installing an armor or a weapon mod, take your time and think: will I be using this for the rest of my playthrough or I'm just gonna put it in my mansion as a decoration? If you're not going to use it or if you don't need it then don't install it, even if it looks great in somebody else's playthrough or video.

[Deleted5094879User]

In terms of the mods themselves I suggest watching Gopher's Modding Skyrim playlist and take it from there.