Massive performance drops in at least one location:

[EvilbunnyELITE]

I have recently noticed that I have a strange performance drop in one location on the map. It is just outside Whiterun. When it happens my GPU % and FPS seem to drop to zero, and the game becomes a slideshow for a few seconds. Then it recovers and everything is back to normal.

• Screenshot of location
• Coordinates, reported from DYNDoLOD: X:10334 Y:-4842 Z:-4359 (note, this is not the exact location the issue occurs, but is within the area that triggers the performance drop)

Anyone seen/had an issue like this before? In a lot of my searching before coming here, I find people complaining of performance issues, often their issues are more like dips, but this seems to be just flat out hitting the floor. I get 0FPS and 0% GPU usage for a few seconds, but otherwise the game runs fine. It always recovers from the drop as well. I have been slowly curating this mod list since original release in 2011, and I have never noticed this issue before. I can't say if it happens/didn't happen after a specific mod was added.

I need to try a few more things on my end, (going to disable all of JK mods and retest)*, but other than that and figuring out if Skyrim SE can actually use more than 4gb VRAM, I am stumped right now. Any suggestions?

In game, performance and general info below.

* see #8 in in game notes

In-game notes:

1. It always occurs at this location
2. If I walk away (and the cell unloads) then I return, it will happen again. If I stay in the area and just walk around, it will not reoccur. It seems the area/cell needs to be just recently loaded for it to occur, and it will not reoccur until its been unloaded and reloaded.
3. It occurs when facing any direction or traveling through the cell in any direction
4. There are seemingly no side effects other than ~5 seconds of bad performance
5. I tried with and without DYNDoLOD enabled, same performance issue found.
6. I do not have the issue on a clean install with no mods.
7. No other locations some affected (that I know of, the area the issue happens in is small, so it could just not be found)
8. Disabling all of the JK mods seems to fix the drop. Also when monitoring performance with JK mods disabled, VRAM usage stays below 4000mb line. I suspect the issue is hitting some VRAM cap in software, and Skyrim wont use the ful 8gb of the 2080s.

Performance Notes:

I did a little research into my systems performance. There is a tool that records performance metrics, so I ran a few tests with it in the trouble area. You can clearly see that between 120-130 seconds the FPS and GPU % drop to zero. I can confirm that this seems to be whats happening when the stuttering is occurring.

Link to performance graph

The only thing I note from the graph is the performance drop seems to coincide with the VRAM usage going over 4000mb. I tried to find out if Skyrim SE has a VRAM limit of 4gb, but most forum/reddit posts are just fragmented thoughts or wild speculation.

General info:

• Mod List: https://pastebin.com/q7hMVwZh (this is also my load order)
• Game Settings: 1080p, 60fps. I only use in game/launcher graphic settings, all set to their maximum values. I do not do any further INI tweaks, or use any ENBs.
• System Specs: 5800x3d, RTX 2080 Super , 32gb DDR4, Samsung SATA SSD
• Skyrim Anniversary GOG edition 1.6.659
• SKSE 2.2.3 rel 6
• I updated all mods to the newest version
• Mods are installed/managed manually. I do not use a mod organizer. I do use LOOT for load order, and checking for errors. I have no current errors and am using LOOT's suggested order.

 

[7531Leonidas]

How big is your Windows swapfile? There were a couple of posts recently that pointed to the swapfile being too small, causing CTDs, even if physical memory was more than sufficient. A possible connection, but I don't know why it might happen.

[EvilbunnyELITE]

How big is your Windows swapfile? There were a couple of posts recently that pointed to the swapfile being too small, causing CTDs, even if physical memory was more than sufficient. A possible connection, but I don't know why it might happen.

Windows show it as 2048 MB, interestingly the recommended is 4978 MB according to the the windows info prompt on the settings page. I will increase it and see if anything happens.

[7531Leonidas]

I hope that it helps, just a shot in the dark. Another thought - you are using the Populated Cities and towns in conjunction with the JKs mods for that area, and AI Overhaul. May just be some kind of scripting lag, and you might consider increasing the allowances for the process. There are settings in the Skyrim.ini - it's been too long ago for me to tell you exactly, but just widenet search for SkyrimSE ini adjustments, and look around. Don't go crazy with any adjustments, maybe even try disabling Populated Cities and the others in turn, to see if there is any effect. I think I remember only adjusting the papyrus settings a bit. Look around, and make sure that such adjustments are still valid at all.

 

Also, you could d/l and install Skyrim Performance Monitor ( https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/3826 ) to see what is happening to your memory load while in that area.

 

Good hunting!

[EvilbunnyELITE]

I hope that it helps, just a shot in the dark. Another thought - you are using the Populated Cities and towns in conjunction with the JKs mods for that area, and AI Overhaul. May just be some kind of scripting lag, and you might consider increasing the allowances for the process. There are settings in the Skyrim.ini - it's been too long ago for me to tell you exactly, but just widenet search for SkyrimSE ini adjustments, and look around. Don't go crazy with any adjustments, maybe even try disabling Populated Cities and the others in turn, to see if there is any effect. I think I remember only adjusting the papyrus settings a bit. Look around, and make sure that such adjustments are still valid at all.

 

Also, you could d/l and install Skyrim Performance Monitor ( https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/3826 ) to see what is happening to your memory load while in that area.

 

Good hunting!

https://imgbox.com/sBpxrL97

 

My results always show that the slowdown occurs when VRAM goes over 4gb. You can see it in the graph between 120-130 seconds. I dunno, it doesn't make the game unplayable, might just throw together a small mod for myself that flashing an "area loading" text up when FPS are below 10 fps or something.

 

I will try looking for those INI tweaks! thank you!

[7531Leonidas]

Sorry, I missed the SPM link the first time. Is it also common that your CPU activity peaks just prior to the frame rate drop?

 

Searching for "Skyrim SE skyrim.ini papyrus tweaks" gave me several results, but this Reddit thread may help you understand what is being changed.

 

( https://www.reddit.com/r/skyrimmods/comments/2gwvwl/guide_papyrus_ini_settings_and_why_you_shouldnt/?rdt=61578 )

 

BUT: this is for Skyrim LE, and some things may have changed a bit since the SE/AE reworks. IOW, look around a bit more.

[EvilbunnyELITE]

Sorry, I missed the SPM link the first time. Is it also common that your CPU activity peaks just prior to the frame rate drop?

 

Searching for "Skyrim SE skyrim.ini papyrus tweaks" gave me several results, but this Reddit thread may help you understand what is being changed.

 

( https://www.reddit.com/r/skyrimmods/comments/2gwvwl/guide_papyrus_ini_settings_and_why_you_shouldnt/?rdt=61578 )

 

BUT: this is for Skyrim LE, and some things may have changed a bit since the SE/AE reworks. IOW, look around a bit more.

not that I have noticed. I might just give up. Trying to recreate it over and over sometimes it happens others it does not. I thin you are onto something with the scripting.

[7531Leonidas]

FWIW, there are a couple (or more) mods that introduce 'fixed' or 'optimized' scripts that might help your machine run better, as well as get rid of scripts that run when they don't have to. Papyrus Tweaks ( https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/77779 ) is one, and Dynamic HDT - Papyrus Script Extension ( https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/63017 ) may help with some problems. Watch out for SKSE dependencies, and make sure that you have the required ones, if you go this route.

 

I have several other script mods, but they are requirements for other mods I have installed. These are located in the 'Modders Resources' section.