Low FPS on a high spec laptop.

[Gavriel]

Ello all.

 

I recently went through the S.T.E.P. guide for Skyrim and then added a few mods of my own choosing. Unfortunately when I went to go play the game I found my self experiencing input lag, which I eventually realized was the result of an extremely low FPS (~10-20). Figuring this was due to a mod I disabled all of the mods except TV enb (which I'm using to get the FPS), SKSE and Dragon Script, but that doesn't seem to have changed much. Even with V-sync off I'm only getting 20 FPS, which is odd because I'm reasonable certain my computer has fairly good specs, as listed below:

 

Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1 (7601.win7sp1_gdr.120330-1504)
System Manufacturer: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
System Model: G74Sx
BIOS: BIOS Date: 04/27/11 14:06:47 Ver: 04.06.03
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2630QM CPU @ 2.00GHz (8 CPUs), ~2.0GHz
Memory: 8192MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 8170MB RAM
Page File: 4417MB used, 11919MB available
DirectX Version: DirectX 11DX Setup Parameters: Not found

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Display Devices
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Card name: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M
Display Memory: 4047 MB
Dedicated Memory: 1999 MB
Shared Memory: 2048 MB
Driver Version: 8.17.13.142

 

Does anyone have any ideas about what might be wrong or how I can fix it? If there's any other information you need please feel free to ask me.

Edited May 29, 2012 by Gavriel

[RitualBlack]

Have you tried updating drivers? A major problem with Nvidia cards and skyrim were the memory leaks. Skyrim is almost working properly for both AMD and Nvidia users if your drivers are up to date :tongue: . It may or may not help your framerate but it is worth trying.

 

Also, what settings are you running it at?

[Gavriel]

Unless they've come out with new drivers in the last week my drivers should be the latest set. as for the settings:

aspect ratio: 16:9
Resolution: 1600x900
antialiasing: 4 Samples
Anisotropic Filters: Off
Full Screen
Texture Quality: High
Radial Blur Quality: High
Shadow Detail: Ultra
Decal Quantity: Ultra
FXAA off
All water options on.
All View Distance settings maxed Object Detail Fade off
-----
ini tweak
-----
Stuff from S.T.E.P. (I can list it if you'd like, but it's a lot)
DoF (should be) Disabled, but I can't find the actual command for some reason.
iPresentInterval=0

 

[RitualBlack]

Everything should be fine :confused:.

 

What was your fps before installing all the mods and are your using any of the high resolution texture packs?

[Gavriel]

I don't know what it was before hand (I never had a reason to check), but I'm assuming it was better.

 

I do have Bethesda's HighRes Textures, but weather or not they're on doesn't seem to affect much.

 

At least I'm not the only on who find this odd .

[RitualBlack]

I also use Bethesda's textures on my laptop and it runs fine so it is unlikely that it would be the problem. My computer also has the same CPU as yours so that isn't the problem (only thing that is really different is the screen res and video cards). The 560m should plenty powerful enough to run Skyrim on high settings no problem so I think the low performance would have to be mod related.

 

Try running it without the ENB mod and you can use Elys MemInfo to check your fps. I believe scroll lock turns it on and off. Sometimes a enb series can have a strange effect on performance. Even though it is a different game, with GTA4 I could use icenhancer 1.2 and the less optimized 1.0.4 patch without problems without problems but version 2.0+1.0.7 (current patch) caused my game to stutter every 10-15 seconds. I can't really talk from experience with Skyrim enb mods because I get horrible flickering with crossfire enabled.

 

It may also be worthwhile to try sorting your load order. If you haven't already there is a utility called 'BOSS' which will do it for you. It can be found here.

 

If you deactivate all of the mods and are still experiencing low fps the best thing to do would be a full clean install and only install the mods 2-3 at a time. This way if something has a dramatic hit on your performance you can easily find out which one it is. Don't forget to delete your Skyrim folder from steam to clear out all the old mods before you re-install the game. I know it is always a pain to do but if the game isn't playable in its current state it would probably be the best thing to do. Hopefully this will help you out.

[Gavriel]

Right, with out enb it jumps to 40 fps. That's certainly playable, but it still seems low, especially with v-sync off. Two questions about uninstalling: Will I have to redownload or somehow backup the mods I have in NMM? And is there a preferred method for uninstalling or is telling steam to remove local content sufficient?

[RitualBlack]

40fps isn't bad. Anything over about 35 is considered to be fluid gameplay and the reason you would be at 40 is most likely the high res texture pack. Skyrim is also a very demanding game. You can still do a clean install if you wish though it shouldn't be necessary. You would just go to steam and right click Skyrim than select delete local content. After you would go to [Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\] and delete your [skyrim] folder to remove your mods. All mods would have to be re-downloaded if you choose to reinstall the game.

 

Glad the problem could be sorted out though :happy: .

[Gavriel]

Yeah, seeing as the only mods I have on are SKSE, Dragon Script, Bethesda's Hi-res pack and Elys I'll re-install it.

Thank you for your help.

[Brucealso]

Try turning this off antialiasing, you have it on 4 just turn it to off and see if it helps.