How do I change the graphics card my Skyrim uses? Intel to Nvidia?

[bluesky200]

How do I change which graphics card my game uses?

 

I checked my SkyrimPrefs Ini after reading another thread, and it has this line:

 

 

sD3DDevice="Intel® HD Graphics 4000"

 

 

When I try to check my System information in Steam, the program closes as it tries to gather the information

 

 

Any help would be appreciated

 

 

 

Thanks

[Desperado558]

Your game would simply use whatever graphics card your monitor and system in general is using. Do you have multiple graphics cards, or do you mean you want to check if it is using your onboard graphics instead of your graphics card?

[bluesky200]

Your game would simply use whatever graphics card your monitor and system in general is using. Do you have multiple graphics cards, or do you mean you want to check if it is using your onboard graphics instead of your graphics card?

Thanks for reply

 

I want to check if it is using my onboard game card rather than my proper graphics card

 

 

 

Thanks

[Georgiegril]

When you open the game with the steam launcher, there is an "options." Click that and see if you can manually select the correct video card.

If your card is not available in the drop down list, I would suggest that you do a complete clean install of the latest graphics drivers (NOT using the Windows or Steam driver updates, but rather following this: Good even if your card is not evga-manufactured), then log out of steam and skyrim entirely and log back in.

 

If that doesn't help, you might try forcing graphics through EVGA precision or Riva Tuner.

[bluesky200]

When you open the game with the steam launcher, there is an "options." Click that and see if you can manually select the correct video card.

If your card is not available in the drop down list, I would suggest that you do a complete clean install of the latest graphics drivers (NOT using the Windows or Steam driver updates, but rather following this: Good even if your card is not evga-manufactured), then log out of steam and skyrim entirely and log back in.

 

If that doesn't help, you might try forcing graphics through EVGA precision or Riva Tuner.

 

According to the options menu, my Nvisia Ge Force 660m is selected.... but my Skyrim Pref Ini has the HD Intel intergrated card next to where is says sD3DDevice

 

sD3DDevice="Intel® HD Graphics 4000"

[Georgiegril]

What is the graphics card listed in Steam (open Steam, click on system information.)

[bluesky200]

What is the graphics card listed in Steam (open Steam, click on system information.)

 

I am not able to retrieve this information, as Steam crashes to desktop as soon as I click the "System Information " option

 

:(

[Georgiegril]

Well, that there may be your problem.

In order to keep your games and saves, I would suggest you try this--

1. delete everything in your steam folder except steamapps and Steam.exe.

2.Run steam.exe and it should redownload and reinstall the missing steam files without causing you to loose your game files.

 

Then log out of steam entirely and log back in.

 

I would also double check to make sure your firewall is not blocking steam from accessing your system information and that you have assigned admin priviledges to steam.

[bluesky200]

Well, that there may be your problem.

In order to keep your games and saves, I would suggest you try this--

1. delete everything in your steam folder except steamapps and Steam.exe.

2.Run steam.exe and it should redownload and reinstall the missing steam files without causing you to loose your game files.

 

Then log out of steam entirely and log back in.

 

I would also double check to make sure your firewall is not blocking steam from accessing your system information and that you have assigned admin priviledges to steam.

 

Sorry for late reply

 

 

I have done al l that you said...... deleted all the stuff inside the Steam folder, APART from the SteamApps folder and the Steam.exe and then re-installed , etc and everything came back WITH OUT disrupting my game data, etc

 

And I switched off my fire wall.....

 

Steam STILL crashes to desktop WHEN I click the "System information" option

 

 

I think I am at a loss

 

 

:sad:

[Georgiegril]

Sorry, that is frustrating!

I have to think that the crash there is directly related to your game using the wrong graphics.

 

You could try forcing your graphics through your driver...not sure if this would work in your situation but it probably wont make it worse.

First, if you have not downloaded NVidia Inspector, do that. (Its free and it has much better functionality than the standard CP)

Then, in your skyrim prefs.ini, try setting

iMaxAnisotropy=0

and

iMultisample=0.

(Make sure you are changing the ones in your mygames\skyrim, not the ones in your data folder.)

That will turn off AA and AF in the game controls.

Then, open Nvidia Inspector, find the game profile pulldown and look for Elder Scrolls: Skyrim.

Choose that--it will bring up all the default values for the game.

Set AA and AF to your preferences (I suggest using MSAA or SSAA instead of regular AA--better visuals for less performance hit.).

Also make sure that the power usage is set to performance, not adaptive or power saving.

Finally, make sure the monitor choice is appropriate. (Force single monitor unless you are actually using multiple monitors.)

 

Try the game. If that helps, yay. If it makes things worse, just go back to the Inspector game profile and hit the revert to default button.

 

Of course, even if that does work, it doesn't solve the steam crashing on attempting to read your system specs.

For that the only things I can think of would be to try a complete reinstall of steam (which would cause you to lose all of your game stuff), or to contact the steam support team to see if they can help.

If the Inspector workaround doesn't help, I would suggest contacting Steam.

 

One last thought--did you happen to install steam somewhere other than your main hard drive? Or did you recently reinstall your OS or upgrade to 8.1?