"Object Fade" Setting & Random Stuttering (on powerful PC)

[Kaspar482]

A little update:

 

It looks like the another thing that does make a difference is adding "iFPSClamp=60" under the [General] section in the Skyrim.ini. This seems to virtually eliminate stutter entirely. The pretty significant downside to this approach is that if the FPS ever drops below 60 the game engine "slows down" making everything seem to go into slow motion. From what I've read, it seems that this setting 'locks' the game engine to the number you place after it. Go below it and you go into slow motion, go above (which isn't possible with Vsync and a 60hz monitor) and you go into fast motion.

 

Because this setting had such a strong impact, it seems likely Skyrim's stuttering is a problem inherent to the engine.

 

Still, if there is anyone else out there with fixes that I could apply, I'd be grateful.

Oh my god. I have the exact same problem and iFPSClamp=60 completely eliminates the stutter. Thank you!

[njkilleen]

Glad I could help :)

 

A little update: It looks like, when I thought I was playing on "Vanilla" skyrim, I was actually playing on Vanilla Skyrim + Bethesda HD Texture Pack. (I'm assuming when I put the Texture setting on "LOW" it just disabled that addon.)

I went back and played truly Vanilla Ultra Skyrim and the stutter is toned down quite a lot (to the point where I'm pretty sure the stuff I'm noticing is just placebo).

Introducing the Bethesda HD Texture pack exasperates the stutters. Putting in the Skyrim HD Texture really spices things up. Adding more visual mods like Skyrim Flora Overhaul, SIMM, and Pure Waters or W.A.T.E.R... and then the stutter is definitely rearing its ugly head again.

It looks like the stutter is just hardcore asset load stutter (though being on an SSD you'd think that wouldn't be as bad).

My question now is... is this normal? Is it common to encounter little bouts of hitching while traveling (especially with higher texture stuffs installed)? I've seen videos with people with much more demanding mods installed and older cards that don't have any noticeable hitching / stutter.

 

I've updated to the newest Nvidia Drivers too.

Either way, if anyone knows a way to tone it down, that'd be great.

[Swamianand]

I had the same issue. My Microstutter ( I call it like that) only appear outside and never in interior cells. My FPS was jumping between 32 and 70 frames outdoors ( 60 with vsync on)

My Specs are different ( i2500K @ 3,7 GHZ, 8GB RAM, HD 7870 2GB VRAM, No SSD )

 

What has resolve the issue completely for me was overclocking my CPU to 4,3 GHZ, turning vsync off and capped my FPS at 40 FPS via framelimiter.

 

Maybe that might help you too. Good luck !

Edited February 6, 2015 by Swamianand

[BlackRoseOfThorns]

A little update:

 

It looks like the another thing that does make a difference is adding "iFPSClamp=60" under the [General] section in the Skyrim.ini. This seems to virtually eliminate stutter entirely. The pretty significant downside to this approach is that if the FPS ever drops below 60 the game engine "slows down" making everything seem to go into slow motion. From what I've read, it seems that this setting 'locks' the game engine to the number you place after it. Go below it and you go into slow motion, go above (which isn't possible with Vsync and a 60hz monitor) and you go into fast motion.

 

Because this setting had such a strong impact, it seems likely Skyrim's stuttering is a problem inherent to the engine.

 

Still, if there is anyone else out there with fixes that I could apply, I'd be grateful.

 

I'm using iFPSClamp=30 and enb fps limiter = 30 (if you cap it below 35fps with anything else (enb does not work on ui/loading screens by default), skyrim engine will slow down loading screens by roughly 500% > Skyrim logic :confused: ). 30 fps is the minimum fps I'm getting with K enb an looks almost as smooth as vsync 60.

 

The hicups you are experiencing are most likely caused by loading new ugrids. Skyrim active area (not modded) is 5ugrids. Anything from ugrid6 and up is a non active area, just LOD with no npc's or scripts working there. As you move the surrounding 5 grids will follow you and will load/activate everything. The more lods have to be replaced / loaded and more items withing active area the more taxing it becomes. You can lower lod max tree count / detail distance / etc in skyrim .ini's. Also lowering grass density helps a bit.

[Kaspar482]

It definitely has to do with loading something. It always happens at the same locations. For example at the entrance to Riverwood. About in front of the old lady. If you run past her, back and forth, the stutter always happens, no matter how many times you run up and down the street.

[Kaspar482]

Try this, if you have an nvidia card: Setting "Texture Filtering Quality" to: High Quality (instead of Quality)

On 'Quality', I get those loading hitches, on 'High Quality' everything is butter-smooth.

Edit: Ignore the other settings, this image is from nvidias skyrim tweak guide

http://international.download.nvidia.com/webassets/en_US/shared/images/articles/the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim-five-fast-tweaks/Skyrim-NVCPL-AF-2.png

Edited February 7, 2015 by koiwe

[BlackRoseOfThorns]

Try this, if you have an nvidia card: Setting "Texture Filtering Quality" to: High Quality (instead of Quality)

On 'Quality', I get those loading hitches, on 'High Quality' everything is butter-smooth.

 

Maybe that's because Texture Filtering - Trilinear Optimization is ignored when you set Filtering to high quality.

[njkilleen]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

It would appear that changing Texture Filtering to "High Quality" doesn't effect the performance / stuttering in any noticeable positive or negative way (neither does individually messing with Trilinear Optimization).

Seeing as this problem exists pretty exclusively when I have more quality-enhancing mods activated, I've been trying to nail down a potential one or two mods that might be causing it. It seems to be tied pretty exclusively to any texture-related enhancements. Skyrim HD, Amidionborn armors, HD DLC (that's pretty much it).

I tried some of the various texture-optimizing programs. Didn't seem to make a difference.

Any other ideas?

[BlackRoseOfThorns]

Back when I was testing Skyrim HD, I have noticed my performance to drop lower than when I overwrote most of it with other quality mods like Vivid Landscapes, amidianborn, trees hd, some hd/parallax overhauls for towns/villages/locations, ruins clutter improved, 2k clothes, 2k furniture, etc.

 

If you're looking for performance texture overhaul Tamriel Reloaded - Textures and Parallax is a good place to start. And if you're gonna use Vivid Landscapes Cliffs and Creeks, don't install high poly mesh. Same with SMIM cliffs and rocks meshes. In case you installed meshes for landscape parallax, you should know that with new enb binary 0.265 you can run Parallax 2015 and Tamu75 ground textures without those meshes. However there might be still couple of textures missing, you would have to check on their work progress.

[Kaspar482]

Well, all I can say is, I now play with iFPSclamp=60 and these ultra shadow settings INSS Improved New Skyrim Shadows for Ultra Settings . Framerate never goes below 60 now. Hope this helps!