Optimal 4k Settings

[hellfire28]

Hey gang,

 

So, I'm now trying to play in 4k and the game looks great (I have a ton of texture mods, too. Mainly all the 2017 versions). The only issue is that I want to get my FPS up to a decent level. Currently indoor environments are running at around 45fps and outdoor at 30-35. All settings are currently on Ultra but I have anti-aliasing off because I guess I don't really need it.

 

What, in your experience, is the optimal graphics setting to run 4k Skyrim SE at so that I max out fps without sacrificing meaningful graphics quality? I'm kind of picky.

 

I have an AMD R9 390 8GB so I understand there is a limit of what can be done. I hope to upgrade soon.

 

Thanks for your help!

[jones177]

Hi

 

It takes a lot of power to play this game at 4k.

 

With a GTX 980 ti I got high 40s, low 50s with light Reshade.

 

I now use a GTX 1080 ti & I am in the 50s with medium Reshade.

 

You my want to drop your resolution to 1440. The game takes a big leap in quality going from 1080 to 1440. Not so much going from 1440 to 4k. My 3440 X 1440 rig looked much better with medium Reshade than the 4k rig with light Reshade.

It is only with the GTX 1080 ti that I can really enjoy playing this game at 4k.

 

It was the same thing with the old game. At 1440 the game looked better with ENB than 4k without ENB.

 

I have had a 4k monitor since early 2015. At that time the only GPU I could afford was a GTX 980. Only older games like Fallout 3 & NV were playable at 4k. Skyrim was playable but it does not look good without ENB.

 

I recommend that you go 1440 to play & 4k for screenshots. I did it for years.

 

To give you an idea what the game looks like with vanilla textures at 1440 with Reshade here is a pic.

 

 

Later

[hellfire28]

Thanks. I may need to go to 2k. It's crazy that with a 1080ti you can't get a solid 60 fps. I'm going to get a RX Vega 64 (i have a freesynch monitor so I'm made my bed with AMD) so that means I'll get even less fps than you. Damn.

 

What Reshader do you recommend? I used Clearview and thought it was just OK. I got rid of it with the switch to a higher resolution but I guess I'll go back to some kind reshade.

 

I actually get around 60 fps with vanilla oldrim textures @4k but as you say it's not the prettiest although I was surprised how good water and some plant textures look in 4K. Oldrim is a unstable box of bricks on Windows 10 though that it's not really worth it. ENBs looked nice though.

[jones177]

I use Nyclix's ENB-Reshade. It was one of the first ones out. I may try another soon.

 

A RX Vega 64 lies between a GTX 1070 & 1080 so 4k is very doable.

 

Back in 2016 I gave up on 4k & bought a 3440 X1440 wide screen VA monitor. An older version of the one that is bundled with the Vega 64. I run 2 desktop computers & my old 2007 vintage one was about to die so I built a new one based on the i7 6700k chip. I had already updated my wide screen rig to a GTX 1080 so I had a GTX 980ti to put in it by the time Skyrim SE came out. The game without Reshade ran 59, 60fps at 4k. A few weeks after the build I bought a second GTX 980ti on sale but failed to get Skyrim SE to use it. The GTX 1080ti was for Skyrim SE. It dose not run faster than 980ti SLI on games that support SLI.

 

Playing games 4k or 1440 WS has been a tossup. Next year I am abandoning 4k again to go 3840 X 1600.

 

Later

[sopmac45]

Before I installed Skyrim Re-engage ENB, my game was running permanently at 60 fps; since I installed that mod, still I am getting 60 fps 95% of the time, sometimes it goes down to 54,55 or so for a few seconds and then goes up to 60 again.

 

My rig : Nvidia Geforce 1070 8gb, 16 gb RAM, i7-6700, mobo MSI Z170 and 1tb SSD ..... I only have 98 mods installed and my video setup in the game menu is : 2560x1440, AA = off, God rays = off and lens flare = off .... everything else is on ultra settings.

 

One thing I would like to point out, Nvidia recommend to have the AA in the on position but the AA always soften your graphics. This is the same principle that apply to photographic camera sensors. For example, the Nikon D810 do not have an AA filter in the sensor so the pictures are very sharp and this is something that you cannot get in other Nikon cameras that have the AA filter on the sensor.

 

By turning AA to the OFF position, your game will look very sharp and if you add some texture/graphic mods, it will look awesome. I decided to add the ENB mod ( mentioned above ) because this is the very first time I manually add a mod to my game; I wanted to learn that and try the ENB and be able to make some changes to my colors and graphics. I could perfectly play my game without the ENB since it is not really absolutely necessary IMO since I can use Vivid Weathers and Enhanced Graphics mods to make my game looks much better than Vanilla but for the heck of it, I decided to have the ENB.

 

Again, the ENB is making my game to drop some fps in certain areas but not always and if it happens, it is just for a few seconds. I can say that my game is running smooth most of the time at 60 fps.

 

( NOTE : I would never add an ENB to my Fallout 4 game though ... Fallout 4 engine is a mess in compare to Skyrim engine and ENB have the tendency to make you drop a lot of fps. I can afford them in Skyrim but not in Fallout 4 which btw, is running also at 60 fps except in the city and certain areas. )

 

Now, I do not know if the type of mods that I have are helping or not but also, I do not have for example, War mods, more patrols, or others mods that are heavy ... but, I do have Bruma SE, forgotten dungeons, more bandits camps, high level enemies, better vampires and flower girls among many others like Vivid Weathers, Realistic Water Two, RDO, Vivid Landscapes, Real Mountains Rebuilt, Realistic Aspen Trees, Skyrim 2017 textures in 4k, Ethereal Clouds, OBIS, 5 player homes, Enhanced Blood, Enhanced Saturation and textures and smoking torches.

 

Would like to add that my video card is not overclocked.

 

cheers

[hellfire28]

Thanks for the info and for sharing your setup. I took off lens flare and Godrays now, too.

 

It's nice to see you are getting solid performance with an ENB at 2K. To be honest, I'm getting better outdoor frame rates at 4K (or at least the same) as I did with Oldrim and a heavy ENB. It's crazy. And I have a freesynch monitor which seems to like the 40-45 fps threshold and is most certainly helping out.

 

I tried around with a 2k setting and I was getting a solid 60 or high 50s in most areas (with no Reshade or ENB) but I was also getting tearing. I don't seem to have that issue with 4k at all.

 

Another thing to just mention - in all the time I played Oldrim I would crash every 30 mins or so. That means I probably had 500+ crashes over the years. I've now played SE for 77 hours so Steam tells me. The number of crashes (with 170 mods)? 2. Only two crashes ever. That's a wild improvement. I do miss Sky UI and MCM menus though.

[hellfire28]

Ok, so I went and upgraded to a 1080ti (despite my FreeSynch monitor) to play @4k, which is awesome, but as Jones77 says, you can't get a solid 60 fps in all environments (some areas, like Riften, always suck with the mods I have installed). I have no ENB or reshade at this point. I have all graphics settings maxed. I may drop some as we move along.

 

Which reshade should I choose? Are ENBs with SSE worth it? I've used Clearview before but I'm not sure about it.

 

Thanks!

[jones177]

Hi

 

Congratulations on getting a 1080 ti. As far as I am concerned they are worth every penny.

 

I have played with my Reshade settings & get 60fps everywhere now without losing the 'look" of my game.

 

The Drops in Riften are CPU not GPU. I can feel them a bit with my i7 2600k & not at all with my i7 6700k.

It is still a CPU game like the old one.

 

I am hoping that with the new competition from AMD, Intel will up their game and produce CPUs with stronger cores. If they don't maybe Ryzen 2 will be the answer.

 

Later