Skyrim Textures, Shaders, etc.

[epsi889]

Hey guys, I've been looking around the forums for the past few days and haven't yet used any game graphic/visual changing type mods yet. But there are a few things kind of confusing me currently. Pardon me for the lack of knowledge with these mods xD

 

1) For example, do mods such as SMIM and Skyrim HD (2K Textures) conflict with each other? Since ik Skyrim HD changes up the textures, but for SMIM it changes up the models to look much detailed. Do they belong in the same category as Model's & Textures?

 

2) For graphical type mods, such as: Skyrim HD, SMIM, ENB's, Enhanced Lights & FX, and even character makeover mods, which of these mod types would reduce game performance? Like decreasing FPS, etc. I've been trying to figure out a good mix of visual mods that have none to a minimal effect on my performance later when I start skyrim (SE) again since I have a somewhat lower tier gaming laptop. It can handle Ultra High quality fine on SKSE, but with graphical mods, I feel it may have an effect.

 

3) Finally last question (for now xD) would be for mods such as Open Cities of Skyrim, would it decrease performance greatly or make it better? And would such a mod be compatible with a mod such as JK's cities mods?

 

Thanks again! :smile:

Edited November 8, 2016 by epsi889

[SkyTaylor21]

ENBs eat the most performance, however, there are performance ENBs, I just don't know if they are avalible for SSE yet. If you were just playing the original skyrim, then I would be able to give you a mod list that doesn't affect performance too greatly, buy you may not be able to find the mods for SSE. I feel like open cities would decrease your performance, but I've never used it so I can't really say and I don't believe that it is compatible with JK's cities. Hope this helps. :)

[epsi889]

ENBs eat the most performance, however, there are performance ENBs, I just don't know if they are avalible for SSE yet. If you were just playing the original skyrim, then I would be able to give you a mod list that doesn't affect performance too greatly, buy you may not be able to find the mods for SSE. I feel like open cities would decrease your performance, but I've never used it so I can't really say and I don't believe that it is compatible with JK's cities. Hope this helps. :smile:

Got it thanks skytaylor! Wish JK's cities would work with open cities XD but I've been thinking probably it wouldnt either :\ and if it did, i think it would hurt performance alot since JK's known for decreasing performance (Though I LOVE the mod)

[SkyTaylor21]

I can barely run skyrim on the lowest settings, so mods like those kill me. :tongue:

[epsi889]

I can barely run skyrim on the lowest settings, so mods like those kill me. :tongue:

Aww :( yeah I think those open city and adding more objects (jk's) would destroy mine too xD

[panurgy]

Hey guys, I've been looking around the forums for the past few days and haven't yet used any game graphic/visual changing type mods yet. But there are a few things kind of confusing me currently. Pardon me for the lack of knowledge with these mods xD

 

1) For example, do mods such as SMIM and Skyrim HD (2K Textures) conflict with each other? Since ik Skyrim HD changes up the textures, but for SMIM it changes up the models to look much detailed. Do they belong in the same category as Model's & Textures?

 

2) For graphical type mods, such as: Skyrim HD, SMIM, ENB's, Enhanced Lights & FX, and even character makeover mods, which of these mod types would reduce game performance? Like decreasing FPS, etc. I've been trying to figure out a good mix of visual mods that have none to a minimal effect on my performance later when I start skyrim (SE) again since I have a somewhat lower tier gaming laptop. It can handle Ultra High quality fine on SKSE, but with graphical mods, I feel it may have an effect.

 

3) Finally last question (for now xD) would be for mods such as Open Cities of Skyrim, would it decrease performance greatly or make it better? And would such a mod be compatible with a mod such as JK's cities mods?

 

Thanks again! :smile:

1: They sometimes conflict, but there are usually options to make them work together. If you follow the STEP guide it tells you what you need to know. So do the mod page descriptions.

 

The STEP guide will need an update for SSE. It will probably mostly apply, but there will need to be some changes. If you can use it for general guidelines, or to understand how things work, then it's still very helpful, just don't follow it blindly.

 

2. Texture mods shouldn't make much difference for performance as long as you don't exceed your GPU's VRAM. If you have 4GB or more, you don't have much to worry about, though there may occasionally be a slight pause as the game loads a ton of textures.

 

Most lighting mods (ELFX, RCRN, NLA, etc.) should make little or no difference, but it depends on what they do. Anything that adds new objects to the game world can effect performance. That's why city enhancement mods like ETaC or JK's mods make a big hit on FPS. Most of the lighting mods just change imagespace and shouldn't effect performance, but at least one actually adds new light sources.

 

SMIM could theoretically effect performance, because it makes higher poly meshes and in some cases replaces fake textures with real 3D objects. I think you'd have to be running Skyrim on a calculator to actually notice the performance hit from this mod, though.

 

ENB is an entirely different type of mod. It's pretty much a whole new rendering engine for the game. It hits much harder than SweetFx/ReShade or similar mods because they are mostly just post-process effects. ENB actually sees the whole scene, knows that clouds are clouds, that the sun is a sun, knows the distance between the camera and buildings and mountains, etc. This is why it can draw shadows, and do all the other things it does. SweetFx just sees pixels, so it's faster. ReShade is in-between SweetFx and ENB.

 

Anyway, most ENB presets (but not ENBoost) will have a noticeable impact on performance. You can configure the quality settings to make a preset more performant, or you can turn settings entirely off. If you have a somewhat modern, average GPU, you should be able to run an ENB preset. In order to run a preset with all effects on and extreme quality settings, you need a high-end GPU, probably two of them.

 

3 - It depends. Usually you need compatibility patches to make Open Cities work with other city mods. If you have two mods that work on the same thing, they're either incompatible or they require patches.

 

4 - Since you're asking about performance, keep in mind that AI hits your CPU hard. When you have mods that add new spawns, that can hit your FPS. Scripts can do this too. In certain areas when Immersive Patrols spawns a lot of Storm Cloaks and Imperials for a fight, I get a temporary hit, just for a few seconds. Again, this depends on your hardware and your mod setup.

[epsi889]

 

Hey guys, I've been looking around the forums for the past few days and haven't yet used any game graphic/visual changing type mods yet. But there are a few things kind of confusing me currently. Pardon me for the lack of knowledge with these mods xD

 

1) For example, do mods such as SMIM and Skyrim HD (2K Textures) conflict with each other? Since ik Skyrim HD changes up the textures, but for SMIM it changes up the models to look much detailed. Do they belong in the same category as Model's & Textures?

 

2) For graphical type mods, such as: Skyrim HD, SMIM, ENB's, Enhanced Lights & FX, and even character makeover mods, which of these mod types would reduce game performance? Like decreasing FPS, etc. I've been trying to figure out a good mix of visual mods that have none to a minimal effect on my performance later when I start skyrim (SE) again since I have a somewhat lower tier gaming laptop. It can handle Ultra High quality fine on SKSE, but with graphical mods, I feel it may have an effect.

 

3) Finally last question (for now xD) would be for mods such as Open Cities of Skyrim, would it decrease performance greatly or make it better? And would such a mod be compatible with a mod such as JK's cities mods?

 

Thanks again! :smile:

1: They sometimes conflict, but there are usually options to make them work together. If you follow the STEP guide it tells you what you need to know. So do the mod page descriptions.

 

The STEP guide will need an update for SSE. It will probably mostly apply, but there will need to be some changes. If you can use it for general guidelines, or to understand how things work, then it's still very helpful, just don't follow it blindly.

 

2. Texture mods shouldn't make much difference for performance as long as you don't exceed your GPU's VRAM. If you have 4GB or more, you don't have much to worry about, though there may occasionally be a slight pause as the game loads a ton of textures.

 

Most lighting mods (ELFX, RCRN, NLA, etc.) should make little or no difference, but it depends on what they do. Anything that adds new objects to the game world can effect performance. That's why city enhancement mods like ETaC or JK's mods make a big hit on FPS. Most of the lighting mods just change imagespace and shouldn't effect performance, but at least one actually adds new light sources.

 

SMIM could theoretically effect performance, because it makes higher poly meshes and in some cases replaces fake textures with real 3D objects. I think you'd have to be running Skyrim on a calculator to actually notice the performance hit from this mod, though.

 

ENB is an entirely different type of mod. It's pretty much a whole new rendering engine for the game. It hits much harder than SweetFx/ReShade or similar mods because they are mostly just post-process effects. ENB actually sees the whole scene, knows that clouds are clouds, that the sun is a sun, knows the distance between the camera and buildings and mountains, etc. This is why it can draw shadows, and do all the other things it does. SweetFx just sees pixels, so it's faster. ReShade is in-between SweetFx and ENB.

 

Anyway, most ENB presets (but not ENBoost) will have a noticeable impact on performance. You can configure the quality settings to make a preset more performant, or you can turn settings entirely off. If you have a somewhat modern, average GPU, you should be able to run an ENB preset. In order to run a preset with all effects on and extreme quality settings, you need a high-end GPU, probably two of them.

 

3 - It depends. Usually you need compatibility patches to make Open Cities work with other city mods. If you have two mods that work on the same thing, they're either incompatible or they require patches.

 

4 - Since you're asking about performance, keep in mind that AI hits your CPU hard. When you have mods that add new spawns, that can hit your FPS. Scripts can do this too. In certain areas when Immersive Patrols spawns a lot of Storm Cloaks and Imperials for a fight, I get a temporary hit, just for a few seconds. Again, this depends on your hardware and your mod setup.

 

Wow thanks for the info panurgy! Was very helpful ^.^ Yes I do get a few seconds of that little pause/laggishness with immersive patrols too xD I tend to like mods that add more people to towns/villages just to make skyrim not so empty xD