Can't make ENBoost work for me. Please, give me some insight

[Candex]

Hi Everyone,

 

I need help. Please.

I believe I have a decent computer. It's not for gaming, but still decent:

 

Dell Inspiron 2350

Intel i7

12 GB RAM

AMD Radeon 8690A, with 2gb VRAM

Windows 8.1, 64bit

So some weeks ago I installed Skyrim Flora Overhaul. My game had been running up with no problems until then. Right after the installation (I was playing in Solstheim) I noticed the awesome grass, and no performance issues. True, there is not much flora on the Island anyway.

Once I tried to return to Skyrim, I got my very first ILS. I solved this by installing SafetyLoad, and my game continued alright. After a bit of research and whatnot I discovered that I actually had to edit my skse.ini manually to make the memory patch in SKSE work (now that makes SafetyLoad redundant. I still have it, for the record).

 

Now, because I was re-visiting Skyrim for the first time after SFO, I travelled to see the performance hit in different areas. I noticed lagginess in some areas, so I tried to install ENBoost. I didn't notice any improvements after ENBoost was installed. I tweaked the reservedMemorySize to several values, and tried the forceBorderless & forceBorderlessFullscreen on true and false, still no difference in performace at all. My game was still the same... or perhaps even more stuttery?

 

One thing that caught my eye was the note on the top left side of the screen when skyrim starts up. It states the ENB version (266 in my case). Then it says, ''current videoadapter: Intel HD Graphics 4600''. I am pretty sure I have an AMD radeon 8690A working. I thought ENBoost was not recognizing my GPU, and after some research I found most people say that trying the Injector version fixes this. Well, not for me- the injector still says I have IntelHD 4600!

 

I would then think it is a GPU driver issue. This is why I actually think my drivers are fine: I remember very well that when I had just installed Skyrim (vanilla, no mods) for the very first time, my drivers didn't work (the game played but it was horribly choppy!). My computer started to get into a bad habit of BSODs almost every day at startup. I went through a journey of trial-and-error of downloading AMD packages to find a driver, until some kind soul at DELL told me to use the driver versions they had, which were older than those recommended by AMD. It worked like a charm, and my game played well, and on CatalystControl I can see clearly that tesv.exe is marked as a High Performance application. Switchable graphics are on...

 

 

Here is my ranking of fps testing around Skyrim (worst at top):

 

1) Meeko's Shack area (roughly about 25 feet radius from the shack). 8-14 FPS

2) Moving out of Meeko's area, 12-16 fps
3)All the area around Volskygge extending to Clearspine Pond. 14-20 fps

 

I consider myself tolerant when it comes to fps. If I have an average of 20+, I don't complain. Here is the rest of my ranking just for the record:

 

4)Forested areas such as Windstad Manor exteriors, and The Rift in general. 20-35 fps
5)Pretty much all other exteriors, 30-45 fps
6)Interiors with candles/ flickering lights (such as Mistveil Keep) 35-45 fps
7)Cities in general, 40-50 fps

8)Small interiors, caves, etc. 50-60 fps.

 

Another thing that I found interesting was that turning the grass off with the slider in-game offered no improvement at all. After sliding Objects, Grass, Items, and Actors to a minimum all at the same time, I gain only 1 or two fps. Or perhaps its just my imagination...

My question is, am I beating a dead horse trying to get a few fps more on those first three laggy areas? I thought my computer was strong enough to run SFO. I am still to try the stripped down version of flora, though, but I will leave that as a last option.

 

Am I doing something wrong with ENBoost? I followed the STEP advice for ENBoost as far as my brains could handle it. I also have read Boris' recommendations on the Nexus ENBoost description, and I have also read the Speed and Stability guide for ENB on the Nexus as well.

Is there something wrong with my driver settings? Should I be looking for an answer elsewhere?

 

 

If you have any ideas, or if you are willing to help me check this, then I would appreciate it a LOT. My brains are going to explode...

[vlaka]

go to your documents folder, my games>skyrim and make backups of your ini files. Delete skyrim.ini, skyrimprefs.ini and renderinfo.txt then launch skyrim from the launcher (steam) just to generate new ini's.

Adjust what settings you need to and then close the launcher and try running the game as you normally do.

 

Did you just install enbhost.exe, d3d9.dll ?

Are you using skse 1.72 or ssme for the memory tweaks? Remove safety load and use one of these instead...SKSE is mandatory for most mods nowdays anyways.

Edited February 22, 2015 by vlaka

[Candex]

go to your documents folder, my games>skyrim and make backups of your ini files. Delete skyrim.ini, skyrimprefs.ini and renderinfo.txt then launch skyrim from the launcher (steam) just to generate new ini's.

Adjust what settings you need to and then close the launcher and try running the game as you normally do.

 

Did you just install enbhost.exe, d3d9.dll ?

Are you using skse 1.72 or ssme for the memory tweaks? Remove safety load and use one of these instead...SKSE is mandatory for most mods nowdays anyways.

Thanks! I appreciate your help! I will try regenerating the .inis right after posting this reply.

 

As for skse, yes I have the latest version. I have the memory patch working, as well as safety load. I will now uninstall safety load for good, and keep only the patch.

 

enbhost.exe is in my Skyrim folder. Do I have to run it manually?

d3d9.dll was DELETED, as I was following the instructions to install the Injector (currently running). It used to exist in my Skyrim folder before I switched to the injector version.

[vlaka]

For the injector version I believe you run ENBinjector.exe prior to launching Skyrim. I'm not entirely sure how it works with the injector version as I use the wrapper version.

 

After generating new ini's and deleting renderinfo.txt just copy over d3d9.dll, enbhost.exe from the wrapper version into your skyrim DIR and see how you go.

[Candex]

For the injector version I believe you run ENBinjector.exe prior to launching Skyrim. I'm not entirely sure how it works with the injector version as I use the wrapper version.

 

After generating new ini's and deleting renderinfo.txt just copy over d3d9.dll, enbhost.exe from the wrapper version into your skyrim DIR and see how you go.

The injector instructions here http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/50214/?tab=1&navtag=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nexusmods.com%2Fskyrim%2Fajax%2Fmoddescription%2F%3Fid%3D50214%26preview%3D&pUp=1 say to delete the d3d9.dll file. I am scared of reinserting it and running the injector at the same time. If I reinsert the d3d9.dll file, would that automatically restore the Wrapper version? Of course I would not run the injector if thats the case.

 

 

 

About recreating the inis, well... my game appears to be worse... I did gain a few fps on Meeko's shack (16-20), but I don't like the sound my computer is making. The quality is horrible, I suppose because the launcher resetted the quality to low. I am also noticing a LOT of stuttering- even in areas I have high fps. This didn't happen before like this...

 

Any clues?

[vlaka]

I can't really see why your pc is struggling to run Skyrim, well apart from only having 2gb VRAM but still.

Make sure you've removed Safetyload and just using ssme/skse 1.7.2 and the enb.

 

try running the wrapper version (enbhost.exe, d3d9.dll) and get rid of everything else related to the wrapper. You can't run both at the same time.

[Candex]

I am back, after some testing around Meeko's shack.

 

Before restoring the .dll, I thought, maybe it was a good point to make a test without any enboost, and try these new .ini files that my game generated.

So I launched the game without ENBoost. I got no notice during the launch about ENB series, so I guess I did things right. My results: Although I can't see my fps, I feel it had better performance. Quality was low, but, oh well. Stuttering was reduced too.Closed game.

 

I did some searching and apparently one can have both wrapper and injector files, as long as it is the wrapper running and not the injector. So I restored the .dll to my folder and launched the game, as you said. (I repeat just to make myself clear: I am now running the wrapper, not the injector. I still keep all files.). I got the notice saying enbseries was working, followed by the usual red notice saying this was the enboost only. Tested the game. I get slightly better results with the wrapper than with the injector, but, the stuttering is horrible and it is still below the 20 fps average. I get about 15fps. Now, quality is horrible, I even get stripes in my shadows.

Because with these 'clean' ini files I got better results without any ENBoost so far, I believe there is either something I am doing really wrong with the ENBoost settings, OR, for some reason ENBoost and my computer just don't get along at all (similar to the Optimus issue perhaps, only I have a Radeon). I would be 90% certain the problem is I am setting the values in the enb's .ini wrong, but since I keep getting the current videoadapter Intel HD 4600, I don't know what to think.

 

[vlaka]

I know it's unlikely but perhaps verifying your Skyrim game files via steam might help. Maybe some funky textures or something.

 

You could aslo ask around on the actual ENBdev forums. Boris or someone helpful is always around to give a hand :smile:

Edited February 22, 2015 by vlaka

[Candex]

How do I verify my game files via Steam? Do you mean I may have a corrupted download from Steam?

I'll check out the ENB forums, I didn't think of that. Thanks for your help so far anyway, at least I know my problem is with ENBoost and not FloraOverhaul. I restored the old ini files, ran the game without ENBoost and it is still choppy and stuttery around the shack, but I feel it performs better this way (so I guess I'll just deal with it).

[Novem99]

 

Because with these 'clean' ini files I got better results without any ENBoost so far, I believe there is either something I am doing really wrong with the ENBoost settings,

 

 

That's also my suggestion. Go to your Skyrim main folder and post your enblocal.ini here.