Skyrim FPS drops at low CPU and GPU load

[jbrutwhat]

So I have been experiencing FPS drops in skyrim at specific locations. two of the worst culprits are Riverwood and Falkreath, though I'm sure there are other locations. Particularly, looking at riverwood from the Bridge is a bad spot (25 FPS or lower). This is with all my mods loaded (see below) but I experience similar FPS drops without any mods loaded at all. Surprisingly, RealVision ENB does not appear to affect my FPS at all. GPU and CPU utilization at these areas are around 10-30 percent (lower if I just stand there and look at the spot, though the FPS does not increase).

After some extensive research, I assumed that the problem may have been low CPU core utilization. This makes sense considering Fallout 4 runs at 60 FPS the whole time, despite supposedly being a more demanding game. I decided to begin overclocking my CPU and RAM, which seemed to help with loading times significantly but

Here are my computer specs:
AMD FX-8350, 4.7 GHz, liquid cooled, doesn't go above 55 C during a small FFT test
8 GB 1600 MHz RAM overclocked to 1866 MHz
GIgabyte GTX 970 G1 Gaming, 1298/1449 MHz core overclock and 7610 MHz effective memory clock, doesn't go above ~60 C under skyrim stress test (flying around).

256 GB SSD (141 GB free space).

 

Game is located in C:\SteamLibrary2\SteamApps\common\Skyrim

Skyrim stress test does eventually crash but it takes a long while (I can make it from riverwood to most cities before eventual crash). CPU load rarely goes above 30%, but occasionally increases to 60%. GPU will jump to 90% sometimes during the stress test. I rarely get crashes when I am just playing. While I do have JK's superlite, I do not have towns installed and through repeated testing, found that JK's superlite only effects my FPS in a few areas inside of cities with similar low CPU/GPU utilization as before.

I have also followed the guide here to no avail and have performed a lot of tweaks on the .ini files. I have used Tes5edit to clean the DLCs and two other mods that LOOT told me to clean (each removed only 1 record). This did not improve performance.

Mod Install order (in reverse order for some reason):

# This file was automatically generated by Mod Organizer.
+PerMa SkyProc Patch
+Frostfall Profile Data
+Wet and Cold
+Crash fixes
+PerMa Defluffed Perks
+Helgen Reborn
+PerMa Compatibility and PaMa Patches
+Skyrim -Community- Uncapper
+The Forgotten City
+Winterhold Rebuild
+New Beginnings -- Live Another Life Extension
+Moonpath to Elsweyr
+VVE - Vanilla Voice Expansion (Formerly MFVM)
+Apocalypse - Magic of Skyrim
+Imperious - Races of Skyrim
+Enhanced Blood Textures
+Wyrmstooth
+Thunderchild - Epic Shouts and Immersion
+Frostfall 3.4 Release
+SkyUI
+Dwemertech - Magic of the Dwarves
+Moon and Star
+Falskaar - Climates of Tamriel patch
+Falskaar
+Wintermyst - Enchantments of Skyrim
+Extended UI
+Sneak Tools
+Alternate Start - Live Another Life
+Perkus Maximus - Maximum Perk Overhaul
+The Paarthurnax Dilemma
+UFO - Ultimate Follower Overhaul
+Undeath
+The Dark Brotherhood Resurrection Part 1
+Cutting Room Floor
*Unmanaged: quest_andtherealmsofdaedra
*Unmanaged: quest_nomercy
*Unmanaged: quest_sorcery
*Unmanaged: quest_seaofghosts
*Unmanaged: quest_thebiggertheyare
+RealVision ENB 279b
+The Men of Winter
+Males of Skyrim
+Bijin NPCs
+Bijin Wives
+Bijin Warmaidens
+Inhabitants of Skyrim - NPC Overhaul
+Hott Interesting NPCs
+ApachiiSkyHair_male
+ApachiiSkyHair
+Mountain flower by Mari
+Better Falskaar and Wyrmstooth Map With Roads
+A Quality World Map and Solstheim Map - With Roads
+Lorkhans Vision - Night Sky V2
+Real Skyrim Snowflakes - Vivid Snow
+Vivid Clouds and Fogs
+Interesting NPCs patch
+3DNPC
+JKs Cities - SuperLite
+amidian_Bonemold Hotfix
+amidian_Staff of Magnus Hotfix
+amidian_Skyforge Hotfix
+amidianborn weapons
+amidianborn unique items
+amidianborn dragonborn
+amidianBorn creatures
+amidianBorn Armors
+Extended Patches for Climates of Tamriel
+Vivid Landscapes - All in One_ELFX patch
+Enhanced Lights and FX
+Climates Of Tamriel-V
+Verdant - A Skyrim Grass Plugin
+Enhanced Vanilla Trees
+Skyrim Flora Overhaul
+Vivid Landscapes - All in One_SMIM
+Vivid Landscapes - All in One
+Skyrim HD - 2K Textures
+Static Mesh Improvement Mod
+HD Enhanced Terrain
+Ultimate HD Fire Effects
+Ruins Clutter Improved
+Campfire - Complete Camping System
+Unofficial Skyrim Legendary Edition Patch
+Optimized Dawnguard Textures - HD
+Optimized Dragonborn Textures - HD
+Optimized HearthFires Textures - HD
+Optimized Vanilla Textures - HD
+Cleaned Official Skyrim ESMs
*Unmanaged: Dawnguard
*Unmanaged: Dragonborn
*Unmanaged: HearthFires

Mod load order:

 

# This file was automatically generated by Mod Organizer.
Skyrim.esm
Update.esm
Dawnguard.esm
HearthFires.esm
Dragonborn.esm
Unofficial Skyrim Legendary Edition Patch.esp
Falskaar.esm
Wyrmstooth.esp
Campfire.esm
ClimatesOfTamriel.esm
ApachiiHair.esm
ApachiiHairFemales.esm
ApachiiHairMales.esm
moonpath.esm
Cutting Room Floor.esp
SRG Enhanced Trees Activator.esp
EnhancedLightsandFX.esp
ELFX - Exteriors.esp
3DNPC.esp
Vividian - Weather Patch CoT.esp
CoT - Water Patch.esp
NPC_Overhaul_V_2_.esp
Helgen Reborn.esp
BetterDarkBrotherhood.esp
Thunderchild - Epic Shout Package.esp
ELFX - Weathers.esp
MoonAndStar_MAS.esp
Undeath.esp
JKs SuperLITE - Cities.esp
quest_thebiggertheyare.esp
SMIM-Merged-All.esp
UFO - Ultimate Follower Overhaul.esp
QaxeWinterholdRebuild.esp
quest_nomercy.esp
moonpath_questdata.esp
quest_seaofghosts.esp
Frostfall.esp
quest_sorcery.esp
ELFX - Moonpath.esp
ForgottenCity.esp
3DNPC Alternative Locations.esp
quest_andtherealmsofdaedra.esp
The Paarthurnax Dilemma.esp
Skyrim Flora Overhaul.esp
Verdant - A Skyrim Grass Plugin.esp
Dwemertech - Magic of the Dwarves.esp
3DNPC - Winterhold Mods Patch.esp
Vivid Snow.esp
Hott Interesting NPCs.esp
Bijin Warmaidens.esp
Bijin Wives.esp
Sneak Tools.esp
Wintermyst - Enchantments of Skyrim.esp
PerkusMaximus_Master.esp
PerkusMaximus_Thief.esp
Bijin NPCs.esp
SkyUI.esp
Extended UI.esp
Sneak Tools Vanilla Hoods.esp
dD - Enhanced Blood Main.esp
dD-Dragonborn-Dawnguard-EBT Patch.esp
WetandCold.esp
VVE.esp
Imperious - Races of Skyrim.esp
Thunderchild - Wyrmstooth Compatibility Patch.esp
PerMa Expansion 1 - Wintermyst.esp
PerkusMaximus_Mage.esp
Sneak Tools Vanilla Masks.esp
Dwemertech - PerMa Compatibility Patch.esp
MoonAndStar_Undeath_compat.esp
Apocalypse - The Spell Package.esp
Apocalypse - PerMa Compatibility Patch.esp
ClimatesOfTamriel Falskaar.esp
UFO - Dragonborn AddOn.esp
AMB Glass Variants Lore.esp
Differently Ebony.esp
aMidianborn_Skyforge_Weapons.esp
PerkusMaximus_Warrior.esp
PerMa_USLEEP master patch.esp
Wyrmstooth - PerMa Patch.esp
PerMa Mage Defluffed.esp
PerMa Apocalypse + Defluff.esp
PerMa Thief Defluffed.esp
Thunderchild - PerMa Compatibility Patch.esp
PerMa Warrior Defluffed.esp
Men of Winter.esp
Males of Skyrim.esp
Alternate Start - Live Another Life.esp
Alternate Start -- New Beginnings.esp
PatchusMaximus.esp

 

[snelss0]

How well those two games are running is probably more to do with the fact that Skyrim is a 32bit game and FO4 is a 64bit game. Your system is no doubt 64bit, so Skyrim is fighting your system. We all deal with it, which is part of why they made SSE.

Make sure that if you're using windows 10 that you've optimized your game for it: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=500687692

As for your load order:
1. I would not suggest using NPC overhauls with JK's Skyrim as he says on his page.
2. Disable your ELFX Weathers.esp. It doesn't work nice with CoT I've heard from respectable modders.
3. I would move your utility mods up higher in your load order (skyUI, extended UI, papyrus util, stuff like that...)
4. You are using Bijin npcs, warmaidens, wives, but as a suggestion you can disable all of plugins while leaving the mods on and just use Bijin all in one. It will save you mods toward your maximum. Not a required change, but just something to keep in mind.
5. If you aren't, use the crash fixes mod to make your game more stable with the suggestions he has there.

[jbrutwhat]

How well those two games are running is probably more to do with the fact that Skyrim is a 32bit game and FO4 is a 64bit game. Your system is no doubt 64bit, so Skyrim is fighting your system. We all deal with it, which is part of why they made SSE.

 

Make sure that if you're using windows 10 that you've optimized your game for it: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=500687692

 

As for your load order:

1. I would not suggest using NPC overhauls with JK's Skyrim as he says on his page.

2. Disable your ELFX Weathers.esp. It doesn't work nice with CoT I've heard from respectable modders.

3. I would move your utility mods up higher in your load order (skyUI, extended UI, papyrus util, stuff like that...)

4. You are using Bijin npcs, warmaidens, wives, but as a suggestion you can disable all of plugins while leaving the mods on and just use Bijin all in one. It will save you mods toward your maximum. Not a required change, but just something to keep in mind.

5. If you aren't, use the crash fixes mod to make your game more stable with the suggestions he has there.

Thanks for the reply. I didn't know there was skyrim optimization for windows 10. However, I did just upgrade to windows 10 a few days ago and it hasn't affected my performance at all.

 

I'll move some mods around a revolving your suggestions. I didn't originally have elfx weathers but RealVision (which I just installed) recommended it. I guess I did not do my due diligence researching that.

 

I don't see on JK's page anything about NPC overhauls affecting performance. Indeed, he recommends to install Interesting NPCs.

 

Also, I am using crash fixes (see the install order). Of course, I don't really get any crashes so that hasn't helped me in a while.

 

I figured the issue was the 64 bit problem. It's too bad SSE doesn't have all these mods yet or I would just switch to that!

 

I was hoping that maybe someone had a similar problem and figured out how to unlock more cores for 32 bit programs but I suppose that is impossible without upgrading the program to 64 bit.

[snelss0]

Yeah, even Realvision's mod author suggests in his video to make sure the Weathers.esp is not selected.

 

Hmm, that's strange about JK's Skyrim. When I used it in the past I believe he said not to use NPC Overhauls. Good to know. Perhaps something changed in that regard. If he is recommending to use those files, I'd say they are A-okay then.

 

We all feel your SSE pain. It should be a few more months and SKSE will be out. I think they said May, but I can't recall 100%.

[jbrutwhat]

Yeah, even Realvision's mod author suggests in his video to make sure the Weathers.esp is not selected.

Â

Hmm, that's strange about JK's Skyrim. When I used it in the past I believe he said not to use NPC Overhauls. Good to know. Perhaps something changed in that regard. If he is recommending to use those files, I'd say they are A-okay then.

Â

We all feel your SSE pain. It should be a few more months and SKSE will be out. I think they said May, but I can't recall 100%.

Gotcha. Well I removed ELFX Exteriors and Weathers addon for ENB which did not improve performance but it definitely improved some weird weather issues I was having as well as it not being so ridiculously dark out during night time.

 

I'm going to try out some of the suggestions in guide below tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes. Hopefully I can increase my CPU usage a bit.

 

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/50244/?