Win 7 or Win 10

[iXenite]

 

 

It could only be some cards in some setups buts I'll give you the heads up on my own experience.

 

FYI I have a Dell XPS 15 i7 with Nvidia 640m card and Optimus... well if it is properly enabled.

 

The laptop came with Windows 8 and I went through 8.1 and then Windows 10. There were other issues at first in that not all directx features worked properly in all games and to be honest I also only load Skyrim (which is the game that made me notice the issue) for a short while to test certain things and don't always stress the system too much.

 

Anyway basically I noticed a little while ago (after some stress testing) that after a few minutes there appeared to be a memory issue although there really shouldn't be one as far I could remember. Turned everything off and down and tried, had to run around for ages but same thing. I think I remember something similar years ago at the birth of 8 but I dunno.

 

So I went on an Internet hunt and eventually came across other posts on Optimus being broken for Win 10, but then apparently fixed. Not for me it seemed. Finally found a person claiming something was broken after 350.12 and not yet fixed (by either MS or Nvidia). So tried it it and Boom! Fixed. Except many directx features disabled.

 

I remembered this issue form Windows 8 and there was a work-around to use a d3d9.dll that tricks the game into thinking you have an older full Nvidia card and bingo, full Optimus and directx on a Windows 10 laptop. Runs much better but I had to disable auto driver updates in the real control panel, and so far so good!

 

 

EDIT: For consistency I tried the same out on the i5 desktop with a 450GTS (I know it is old...) and it worked and also seemed to improve performance there too so am doing some longer term testing.

 

As a point of note it is important to backup profiles and use clean installations of drivers to avoid conflicts and problems.

 

 

Okay. I have a GT 940MX in the laptop I have, which is fairly new (nearly a year old) - so Windows 10 was always installed. I just Googled it and my GPU seems to suppoer Nvidia Optimus. I'm on driver version 385.28 (which should be the latest driver). I don't have very much reference when it comes to being affected or not affected when playing Skyrim to be honest, so is there are way to roll back? If so - should I roll back, or just stick with the drivers I have? I'll be honest - I know very little about laptop components in comparison to desktop components, so I'm generally unfamiliar with stuff like this. My apologies for being a bit of a noob.

[sunshinenbrick]

 

 

 

It could only be some cards in some setups buts I'll give you the heads up on my own experience.

 

FYI I have a Dell XPS 15 i7 with Nvidia 640m card and Optimus... well if it is properly enabled.

 

The laptop came with Windows 8 and I went through 8.1 and then Windows 10. There were other issues at first in that not all directx features worked properly in all games and to be honest I also only load Skyrim (which is the game that made me notice the issue) for a short while to test certain things and don't always stress the system too much.

 

Anyway basically I noticed a little while ago (after some stress testing) that after a few minutes there appeared to be a memory issue although there really shouldn't be one as far I could remember. Turned everything off and down and tried, had to run around for ages but same thing. I think I remember something similar years ago at the birth of 8 but I dunno.

 

So I went on an Internet hunt and eventually came across other posts on Optimus being broken for Win 10, but then apparently fixed. Not for me it seemed. Finally found a person claiming something was broken after 350.12 and not yet fixed (by either MS or Nvidia). So tried it it and Boom! Fixed. Except many directx features disabled.

 

I remembered this issue form Windows 8 and there was a work-around to use a d3d9.dll that tricks the game into thinking you have an older full Nvidia card and bingo, full Optimus and directx on a Windows 10 laptop. Runs much better but I had to disable auto driver updates in the real control panel, and so far so good!

 

 

EDIT: For consistency I tried the same out on the i5 desktop with a 450GTS (I know it is old...) and it worked and also seemed to improve performance there too so am doing some longer term testing.

 

As a point of note it is important to backup profiles and use clean installations of drivers to avoid conflicts and problems.

 

 

Okay. I have a GT 940MX in the laptop I have, which is fairly new (nearly a year old) - so Windows 10 was always installed. I just Googled it and my GPU seems to suppoer Nvidia Optimus. I'm on driver version 385.28 (which should be the latest driver). I don't have very much reference when it comes to being affected or not affected when playing Skyrim to be honest, so is there are way to roll back? If so - should I roll back, or just stick with the drivers I have? I'll be honest - I know very little about laptop components in comparison to desktop components, so I'm generally unfamiliar with stuff like this. My apologies for being a bit of a noob.

 

 

Well first I would advise to test you definitely actually have the same issue before doing anything as your hardware and software setup is different (and more up to date) than mine.

 

Rolling back and forth is thankfully relatively easy with Nvidia to be fair to them. Windows 10 is pretty robust too... like really robust! But always make a decent (preferably remote) backup of everything before doing any experimenting and modifying of your system. This should go without saying and should always be the default position.

 

First would be to try replicate what I noticed.

 

a) Do you have or use ENB w/ enbhost (ENBoost)? If not then it is possible you will not encounter the issue at all or maybe only with a heavily modded game and when under stress.

 

b) Then you need to spot the same thing I did to see if affects your system. Probably the hardest part. To do this you need to be in an area that pushes your system to full. So suggest outside and with lots of trees.

 

Please note that if you use ENB then it can be a challenge to optimise everything to get the best balance between looks and performance. If you already use an ENB with its effects and things seem to run fine and you don't seem to have any problems then just assume everything works and just carry on about things because this issue likely doesn't affect you.

 

c) Once outside you need to be moving around and best going from once cell to another and back again. If the issue is there then after a while (depending on your hardware) there should be a somewhat slower response and some fps issues. It is not always immediately noticeable depending on your initial fps count, but I think it is not an uncommon issue in cross card setups, which effectively what Optimus is. I believe the Intel chip is the 'primary' and the Nvidia kicks in when needed... or at least should do... and stay on - which is the problem I believe I had which might suggest it is a power saving issue in Windows or Nvidia/Intel driver)

 

d) If and ONLY IF you discover the issue should you think about maybe trying the fix I found.

 

e) Backup your system and download the Nvidia drivers, with 350.12 luckily, and very importantly, forces a clean restart update. Fortunately in Windows and 10 especially it is good at backing up drivers so you should be able to roll-back from device manager easily enough if need be. ALWAYS back up your Nvidia game profiles before doing anything with the drivers as it can be a nightmare to fix if you have made any customisations.

 

f) If you have updated your Intel HD drivers at all other than by the automatic windows updates then you may need to try going back to the windows default as I have noticed this also made a difference.

 

g) Reapply Nvidia profiles (if used) adjust the ENB proxy dll to incorporate the 'false header' as described in my other post. NB! This makes the driver able to use the cards directx features enough to run games like Skyrim (dirextx9) properly. Using this with newer cards then this could possibly cause a drop in performance but then it may also improve it.

 

It is important to note that if one plays some of the newest games and if they have had a specific game issue that required an updated driver then of course this kind of fix is going to 'break' that other game. NB! Don't worry about ENB and the proxy dlls though as if kept in the game folder then they will only affect that game.

 

I think that is about it in terms of how I got it to work. Basically when I run the game for a while with ENB and mods on it now runs faster and more steady.

 

Phew! :laugh:

 

P.S. It is perhaps also useful to know that Windows will automatically replace the video driver silently and this can be an issue as such 'fixes' will suddenly stop working. You can change this behaviour by right-clicking your PC in the Desktop & Printers control panel and go to 'Device installation settings' menu item. This will affect all drivers and so you will need to periodically check manually for other devices you may have.

[iXenite]

 

 

 

Well first I would advise to test you definitely actually have the same issue before doing anything as your hardware and software setup is different (and more up to date) than mine.

 

Rolling back and forth is thankfully relatively easy with Nvidia to be fair to them. Windows 10 is pretty robust too... like really robust! But always make a decent (preferably remote) backup of everything before doing any experimenting and modifying of your system. This should go without saying and should always be the default position.

 

First would be to try replicate what I noticed.

 

a) Do you have or use ENB w/ enbhost (ENBoost)? If not then it is possible you will not encounter the issue at all or maybe only with a heavily modded game and when under stress.

 

b) Then you need to spot the same thing I did to see if affects your system. Probably the hardest part. To do this you need to be in an area that pushes your system to full. So suggest outside and with lots of trees.

 

Please note that if you use ENB then it can be a challenge to optimise everything to get the best balance between looks and performance. If you already use an ENB with its effects and things seem to run fine and you don't seem to have any problems then just assume everything works and just carry on about things because this issue likely doesn't affect you.

 

c) Once outside you need to be moving around and best going from once cell to another and back again. If the issue is there then after a while (depending on your hardware) there should be a somewhat slower response and some fps issues. It is not always immediately noticeable depending on your initial fps count, but I think it is not an uncommon issue in cross card setups, which effectively what Optimus is. I believe the Intel chip is the 'primary' and the Nvidia kicks in when needed... or at least should do... and stay on - which is the problem I believe I had which might suggest it is a power saving issue in Windows or Nvidia/Intel driver)

 

d) If and ONLY IF you discover the issue should you think about maybe trying the fix I found.

 

e) Backup your system and download the Nvidia drivers, with 350.12 luckily, and very importantly, forces a clean restart update. Fortunately in Windows and 10 especially it is good at backing up drivers so you should be able to roll-back from device manager easily enough if need be. ALWAYS back up your Nvidia game profiles before doing anything with the drivers as it can be a nightmare to fix if you have made any customisations.

 

f) If you have updated your Intel HD drivers at all other than by the automatic windows updates then you may need to try going back to the windows default as I have noticed this also made a difference.

 

g) Reapply Nvidia profiles (if used) adjust the ENB proxy dll to incorporate the 'false header' as described in my other post. NB! This makes the driver able to use the cards directx features enough to run games like Skyrim (dirextx9) properly. Using this with newer cards then this could possibly cause a drop in performance but then it may also improve it.

 

It is important to note that if one plays some of the newest games and if they have had a specific game issue that required an updated driver then of course this kind of fix is going to 'break' that other game. NB! Don't worry about ENB and the proxy dlls though as if kept in the game folder then they will only affect that game.

 

I think that is about it in terms of how I got it to work. Basically when I run the game for a while with ENB and mods on it now runs faster and more steady.

 

Phew! :laugh:

 

P.S. It is perhaps also useful to know that Windows will automatically replace the video driver silently and this can be an issue as such 'fixes' will suddenly stop working. You can change this behaviour by right-clicking your PC in the Desktop & Printers control panel and go to 'Device installation settings' menu item. This will affect all drivers and so you will need to periodically check manually for other devices you may have.

 

 

Well I do crash pretty often due to lack of memory according to Crash Fixes, and they do suggest ENB Boost. Sadly I have yet to find any ENB that looks nice and will run on my system with a good framerate that uses new binaries (the ones that support ENB Boost). The ENB I use currently supports .112 I think - which is quite a bit too old for ENB Boost. The newer binaries also seem to make my game slow down as well - but I may investigate further and see if that can solved the crashing over all. Thanks for the info! You've really given me a lot to think about, and to test. :)

[sunshinenbrick]

 

 

 

 

Well first I would advise to test you definitely actually have the same issue before doing anything as your hardware and software setup is different (and more up to date) than mine.

 

Rolling back and forth is thankfully relatively easy with Nvidia to be fair to them. Windows 10 is pretty robust too... like really robust! But always make a decent (preferably remote) backup of everything before doing any experimenting and modifying of your system. This should go without saying and should always be the default position.

 

First would be to try replicate what I noticed.

 

a) Do you have or use ENB w/ enbhost (ENBoost)? If not then it is possible you will not encounter the issue at all or maybe only with a heavily modded game and when under stress.

 

b) Then you need to spot the same thing I did to see if affects your system. Probably the hardest part. To do this you need to be in an area that pushes your system to full. So suggest outside and with lots of trees.

 

Please note that if you use ENB then it can be a challenge to optimise everything to get the best balance between looks and performance. If you already use an ENB with its effects and things seem to run fine and you don't seem to have any problems then just assume everything works and just carry on about things because this issue likely doesn't affect you.

 

c) Once outside you need to be moving around and best going from once cell to another and back again. If the issue is there then after a while (depending on your hardware) there should be a somewhat slower response and some fps issues. It is not always immediately noticeable depending on your initial fps count, but I think it is not an uncommon issue in cross card setups, which effectively what Optimus is. I believe the Intel chip is the 'primary' and the Nvidia kicks in when needed... or at least should do... and stay on - which is the problem I believe I had which might suggest it is a power saving issue in Windows or Nvidia/Intel driver)

 

d) If and ONLY IF you discover the issue should you think about maybe trying the fix I found.

 

e) Backup your system and download the Nvidia drivers, with 350.12 luckily, and very importantly, forces a clean restart update. Fortunately in Windows and 10 especially it is good at backing up drivers so you should be able to roll-back from device manager easily enough if need be. ALWAYS back up your Nvidia game profiles before doing anything with the drivers as it can be a nightmare to fix if you have made any customisations.

 

f) If you have updated your Intel HD drivers at all other than by the automatic windows updates then you may need to try going back to the windows default as I have noticed this also made a difference.

 

g) Reapply Nvidia profiles (if used) adjust the ENB proxy dll to incorporate the 'false header' as described in my other post. NB! This makes the driver able to use the cards directx features enough to run games like Skyrim (dirextx9) properly. Using this with newer cards then this could possibly cause a drop in performance but then it may also improve it.

 

It is important to note that if one plays some of the newest games and if they have had a specific game issue that required an updated driver then of course this kind of fix is going to 'break' that other game. NB! Don't worry about ENB and the proxy dlls though as if kept in the game folder then they will only affect that game.

 

I think that is about it in terms of how I got it to work. Basically when I run the game for a while with ENB and mods on it now runs faster and more steady.

 

Phew! :laugh:

 

P.S. It is perhaps also useful to know that Windows will automatically replace the video driver silently and this can be an issue as such 'fixes' will suddenly stop working. You can change this behaviour by right-clicking your PC in the Desktop & Printers control panel and go to 'Device installation settings' menu item. This will affect all drivers and so you will need to periodically check manually for other devices you may have.

 

 

Well I do crash pretty often due to lack of memory according to Crash Fixes, and they do suggest ENB Boost. Sadly I have yet to find any ENB that looks nice and will run on my system with a good framerate that uses new binaries (the ones that support ENB Boost). The ENB I use currently supports .112 I think - which is quite a bit too old for ENB Boost. The newer binaries also seem to make my game slow down as well - but I may investigate further and see if that can solved the crashing over all. Thanks for the info! You've really given me a lot to think about, and to test. :smile:

 

 

Well I am cooking something myself that is getting close to release. A lot of improvements. But you can still check out the current version if you want. The ENB is not the newest but is at least 292, but I have tested 303 I think it was, and things worked fine with a bit of tweaking.

 

The old version does have shadows and SkyLighting but the one I am trying to release manages a little more and is much better and optimised in every area really. Anyway maybe check it out and let me know how you get on.

 

Cheers :smile:

[iXenite]

 

 

Well I am cooking something myself that is getting close to release. A lot of improvements. But you can still check out the current version if you want. The ENB is not the newest but is at least 292, but I have tested 303 I think it was, and things worked fine with a bit of tweaking.

 

The old version does have shadows and SkyLighting but the one I am trying to release manages a little more and is much better and optimised in every area really. Anyway maybe check it out and let me know how you get on.

 

Cheers :smile:

 

 

I'll be sure to check it out soon and let you know how it all works out. :)