how do i improve my skyrim script speed?

[gfraire1309]

okay so i know that there are many mods out there that use and modify scripts in skyrim, mods such as frostfall, realistic needs and diseases, dual wield parry, and so on. i have downloaded such mods but the problem is that once i get to a high level my game scripts begin to slow down...alot. for example all the animations now take longer to react, picking up items takes longer for some reason and basically any action now takes longer.

 

Now some info on my pc, i recently bought a new pc just for skyrim, it runs the game on high settings no problem, it has a good graphics card, 6 core processor, and 8 gigs of ram, so i know its not my pc cuz on highest settings i get absolutely no lag on frame rate. i tried setting the graphics to low settings but it did not make a difference so im guessing that scripts are different from graphics performance. i think that perhaps my problem is more related to the game mechanics and engine then my cpu and i read online that SKSE can help with slow scripts. so yes i have frost fall and RND and Dual wield parry mod and i also downloaded SKSE and SKYUI and it helped alot but i know there is another thing i can do that related to the word "papyrus."

 

i have done some research and have discovered that there is a way to give skyrim more Ram usage or cpu usage towards script running then the game is currently using. all i have discovered so far is "tweaking the skyrim.ini files" which gives a list titled under papyrus of the game memory and cpu usage and this can be modified. however this is as far as my research has taken me, i have found the skyrim preferences file on my pc but that does not contain the skyrim.ini file. i still have not been able to find that file anywhere and search function on the start menu does not find it either.

 

So my question is...how do i modify my skyrim papyrus file to enhance scripts and if you please could explain a step by step process and by this i mean to someone who knows nothing about it, like someone who has never heard of a computer...i am very limited to computer knowledge and i need very specific description. i would appreciate any input.

[Antrix]

Try this:

 

(source: Skyrim Tweak Guide 2.2)

Decreasing Script Lag - The scripting language used in Skyrim, Papyrus, is not the speediest of languages. Script queues can become lagged, and even halted, in a game using script-heavy mods. Using this tweak in my game even seemed to fix the lip synch problem that reared its ugly head again in the 1.9 update for Skyrim.

In Skyrim.ini add/edit:

[Papyrus]
fUpdateBudgetMS=800
fExtraTaskletBudgetMS=800
fPostLoadUpdateTimeMS=2000
iMinMemoryPageSize=256
iMaxMemoryPageSize=512
iMaxAllocatedMemoryBytes=2457600

[gfraire1309]

thank you

[skinxheadx]

I'm having the same issue. What is the ini file?

[cdcooley]

The best thing you can do for Papyrus performance is ensure you get the highest framerate possible (60 maximum) on your system. If adding that extra HD texture pack lowers your framerate from 60 to 50 you may want to reconsider.

 

(source: Skyrim Tweak Guide 2.2)

That guide was making a horrible mistake and the new version 2.3 has removed that Papyrus advice because it has been proven to be wrong.

Using those settings is at best a placebo and at worst simply sweeping small problems under the rug so they can become a rotting mass that destroys the floor later.

Papyrus performance is directly tied to game framerate. The only one of those settings that is likely having a positive effect is

fPostLoadUpdateTimeMS=2000

which also adds an extra 2 second delay to every load screen. The default for the PC is 500 and you should start with 1000 and then try 1500 before jumping all the way to 2000 if you're going to try making changes. The purpose of that setting is to give scripts a chance to get everything initialized correctly when you load a new area. It can help with the wandering mannequins and other problems people see when changing locations. It also gives Papyrus a little extra slice of time to catch up if it has fallen behind.

The two BudgetMS settings might also have a positive effect, but not with values of 800. The defaults for these two are 1.2 and raising them will lower your FPS if the scripting system is overloaded which will in turn make the scripting system run slower not faster. If you really are experiencing script lag because Papyrus isn't getting enough time, then you could try

fUpdateBudgetMS=1.4
fExtraTaskletBudgetMS=1.4

If after switching from 1.2 to 1.4 you can't see a difference then raising the values more is not going to help either. If you see a difference but the problem hasn't gone away completely then try values of 1.6 or 1.8. But if you do change these values you want to use the absolute smallest ones you can because the higher these numbers the less time you allow for the engine to handle NPC AI, lighting, magic effects, and all of the other non-script things that need to be done.

iMinMemoryPageSize=
iMaxMemoryPageSize=
iMaxAllocatedMemoryBytes=

These three memory settings should never be changed and if you find lines like this in your INI files simply delete them. Raising the values above the defaults is more likely to result in stuttering and game crashes than any performance increase.

[NiteBeast]

I'm having the same issue. What is the ini file?

 

There are a number of them. The only two you should edit though (do that sparingly and always back it up) are Skyrim.ini and SkyrimPrefs.ini, both of which will be in your user folder, usually My Games\Skyrim. The Papyrus section is in Skyrim.ini. Once you get into ENBs and the creation kit there tend to be a lot more ini's to edit to get desired functionality.

 

It should be pointed out too that over editing your ini's can cause as much grief as it can fix. I can't stress the backups enough in case you need to revert changes.

Edited April 29, 2015 by NiteBeast

[Moksha8088]

Cdcooley knows what he is talking about.

[JamesonBarringtonpenny]

If what Cdcooley says is true, this would be an exponential help to me with my potato laptop. By around Level 30 and countless hours into the game, Hunterborn and Frostfall start lagging for me by almost 40 seconds, even with a high framerate - but I spend a LOT of my time outdoors, without even using loading screens a lot of the time. If I could trade script speed for longer load times between cells, count me in. That sounds brilliant to me.

[cdcooley]

Changing the post-load update time won't fix everything but it certainly helps. On my old computer I also used the console command "pcb" periodically and had to be very careful about what mods I used. PCB forces the game to clear unused cell buffers from memory which among other things can trigger cleanup code in some scripts generally reduce CPU load. Again it's not a magic fix, but if your machine is pathetic like mine was every little bit helps. (Mine was so slow that Frostfall was out of the question for me.)

[ironbender800]

Try this:

 

(source: Skyrim Tweak Guide 2.2)

 

Decreasing Script Lag - The scripting language used in Skyrim, Papyrus, is not the speediest of languages. Script queues can become lagged, and even halted, in a game using script-heavy mods. Using this tweak in my game even seemed to fix the lip synch problem that reared its ugly head again in the 1.9 update for Skyrim.

 

In Skyrim.ini add/edit:

 

[Papyrus]

fUpdateBudgetMS=800

fExtraTaskletBudgetMS=800

fPostLoadUpdateTimeMS=2000

iMinMemoryPageSize=256

iMaxMemoryPageSize=512

iMaxAllocatedMemoryBytes=2457600

 

As has already been said. DO NOT do this.

 

Leave your papyrus settings alone.