Reinstalling Skyrim, could use a status update

[miketheratguy]

Hey guys, I'm about to reinstall Skyrim for the first time in... man, it would have to be at least 6-10 months I think. Even then, my last install was kind of a work in progress regarding the testing of stability mods and so forth.

 

So basically what I'm wondering is whether any of you could give bring me up to speed on whether there's a more or less universally agreed-upon way to get the game running as smoothly as possible. I never could tell whether the 4GB limit was in fact included with skse, and whether I still had to do an ini tweak to trigger it. I've also had people tell me that I need ENB (which I don't prefer for graphic settings but which I've heard is good for overall stability). Then there are patchers and so forth, and I don't know which ones are still good, which ones are outdated, etc.

 

Essentially I'm not asking anyone to list all the different tweaks that could be used to get my game running better, I was just wondering if anyone could update me on the status of the 4GB patch and whether there's any one (or two, or what have you) mods or procedures that, over the last year, have been generally accepted as a major benefit to Skyrim stability. Thanks for any help!

[Oubliette]

Skyrim's last update included a 4gb patch, it's not included in SKSE and no tweaks required to use it. ENB is a choice, not one I'm terribly fond of, using it for stability is kind of like painting a racehorse gold and expecting an increase in running speed. There are tweaks that despite their title including the letters ENB don't actually require it that some people swear by but I've never used them so I can't speak on their value. USKP (Unofficial Skyrim Patches, for the game and all the DLC) are always good never outdated, despite current myths it's not necessary for a mod to be updated every few days for it to still be good - the exact opposite is true, mods that update constantly are likely to introduce more problems than they solve.

[miketheratguy]

Hey Oubliette, thanks for stopping to explain.

 

Okay I do remember hearing that Skyrim's last update removed the 4GB limit, but then I also recall a lot of people saying that one needed the latest version of skse (which I always used anyway) and that THAT contained the 4GB remover. But then I heard still MORE people say that no, that's not enough, one has to add a specific ini tweak (change the values of some numbers, I think) in order for the 4GB limit removal to actually take effect. Just to be perfectly clear you're saying that no, no one needs ANY of that crap for the game to utilize all 4GB of VRAM, one only needs to have the latest version of Skyrim?

 

As for ENB I don't necessarily mind using it but generally prefer not to, I don't have any real love of most of the visual effects and I believe installing it would mean overwriing a .dll file that I already need for something else. I only tried using it when I found a mod a while back (don't remember the name, just that it had a few thousand endorsements) that specifically recommended ENBoost, with the visual effects turned off, to boost the game's framerate. I gave it a shot, had no real way of telling whether it made a difference.

 

It sounds like you yourself don't use any mods or tweaks of any kind for performance. Is that because your game already runs quite smoothly or is it because you've had poor experiences trying performance-boosting mods?

[saurusmaximus]

The memory thing is an ongoing debate; some swear by the latest SKSE, some insist Sheeson's memory patch works better. I started with Sheeson's, then added SKSE later because I needed it, then recently got rid of Sheeson's patch when it was stated on the STEP forums that having both actually caused problems. TBH, I haven't noticed any change in stability/performance with any of it, but then my game has changed a lot since I started modding so, I guess my results are kind of inconclusive.

 

I can say that using ENBoost (adding the ENB binaries w/o using a preset) did make my game run smoother, and I eventually added a preset to go along with it once I upgraded my video card. As always, YMMV depending on your rig. You can use ENB with other programs that require the d3d9.dll, it's just a matter of renaming a file and adding a couple lines to the ENB.ini file.

[miketheratguy]

Thanks saurus, you're highlighting exactly what confused me in the past. First I head that you needed the latest Skyrim update. Then I heard that you needed the latest skse. Then I heard that you needed an ini tweak. Then I heard that you didn't need any of it. If there's still this much debate about whether any of it makes any difference then that kind of suggests to me exactly what you said, which is that noticeable performance is apparently going to depend more on the rig than anything else.

 

The .dll situation is kind of odd. First, my laptop uses both integrated graphics and a Nvidia card ("Optimus" technology) so there's a .dll file that I have to use to make my laptop understand that when Skyrim is running it needs to switch to the Nvidia card (forcing it in the Nvidia menu doesn't stick). Then there's an old mod I use called "Antialias and sharpen" which essentially does the same as ENB but much more subtly - it balances out the cool blue hue that a lot of ENB settings default to while also sharpening the graphics noticeably. I already have to rename the .dll that comes with that (using a hex editor) so that it won't interfere with the Optimus issue, but I've never tried running yet another third .dll in addition to those. If you've had good results with ENB I may give it another shot, if only for the performance (as opposed to the visuals).

[saurusmaximus]

In your situation, you will need to use the Injector version of ENB. It's similar to the the wrapper version, except you have to run ENBInjector.exe (it's included in the d/l) before you run the game.

[Shivala]

Took me ages to get ENB to run on my laptop reliably and smoothly, but it is worth the hassle. You need the injector for sure on a laptop with dual graphics. I use Performance XP presets with ENB 1.13.