Modding Skyrim, and failing, A detailed request.

[cassec]

Let me get started by saying, I think it worked alright for a while there. Somewhere along the line I broke it.

 

The general purpose of this post is hopefully to get some assistance on running skyrim with mainly graphics mods, with a few game additions.

I figured installing the top 25 mods on the site was the best way to go, figuring nothing would conflict or that apparently I am magic.

This is not true, I am not magic. Humility checked.

 

So my lists of wants for mods is relatively simple : Book of silence, midasmagic,skse,immersive armor, skyre (I understand this causes a lot of issues?), Immersive weapons, basically the standard affair.

My list of video mods were similar, but I am highly unsure what I can even handle running with my rig.

 

So I'd like to ask for some help, possibly a hug to make me feel better about my lack of knowledge in this department.

I'll go ahead and list my computer specs.

 

AMD-FX8350 4.0GHZ 8 Core CPU

HD 7850 Sapphire card (OC'd to 950/1300)

Antec 750W PSU

16GB 1600MHZ Corsair Vegeance ram ddr3

OCZ Vertex 4 SSD 128GB

All skyrim gaming will be done from the SSD, my computer usually auto sets skyrim to ultra high. Though the skyrim configurator mod/attk / boss were confusing even after reading wikis.

 

Any help, and or general lols would be nice.

Thanks.

[scrivener07]

Your rig will eat skyrim for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. idk what the problem was because you didnt say in the op. So my advice is install these tools and READ the readme or mod description page for everything you download.

 

(NMM) Nexus Mod Manager [! This is not a mod]

Download - http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/modmanager/

Tutorial - http://wiki.tesnexus.com/index.php/NMM_Video_Tutorials

 

(SKSE) Skyrim Script Extender [! This is not a mod]

Download - http://skse.silverlock.org/

Tutorial -

 

SkyUI / (MCM) Mod Configuration Menu / Hud widget framework

Lots of mods are starting to use the config panels in this mod and its a very nice UI for skyrim

Download - http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/3863

Tutorial -

[cassec]

Your rig will eat skyrim for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. idk what the problem was because you didnt say in the op. So my advice is install these tools and READ the readme or mod description page for everything you download.

 

(NMM) Nexus Mod Manager [! This is not a mod]

Download - http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/modmanager/

Tutorial - http://wiki.tesnexus.com/index.php/NMM_Video_Tutorials

 

(SKSE) Skyrim Script Extender [! This is not a mod]

Download - http://skse.silverlock.org/

Tutorial -

 

SkyUI / (MCM) Mod Configuration Menu / Hud widget framework

Lots of mods are starting to use the config panels in this mod and its a very nice UI for skyrim

Download - http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/3863

Tutorial -

 

Yeah, the problem seems to be stuttering with max settings and the array of mods I put in.

Is there a general set of graphical mods I should be using together as a base?

I had pretty much the standards I suppose, caliente female body, enhanced blood textures, enhanced lights and fx, ennhanced night skyrim, project reality, 2k hd textures full, flora overhaul.

[scrivener07]

I dont run any graphic mods but I hear people say this is a good guide to getting a good base installed http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/11

[ripple]

I have a 3 year old PC with a 512MB GPU, and I get about 40-60 FPS outdoors on high textures and medium everything else (I don't use any HD texture mods though), so I am going to guess that your performance issue is probably something else other than your rig :)

 

Suggestions:

 

1) You may need to optimize your skyrim.ini and skyrimpref.ini to let the game know you have a super rig. I can't offer much advice on this. I generally follow some sort of tweak guide and scour the forums for discussions and advice. I hate this aspect of optimizing the game (as a result) but it does work.

 

2) If you haven't yet installed your mods (although it sounds like you have already), use the the Mod Organizer instead of the poopy NMM to install your mods.

 

3) Use BOSS to sort your load order.

 

4) If you have esp's that are not recognized by BOSS (and the BOSS log will tell you that, in addition to many things you may need to do to optimize your load order), you wil need to use TES5Edit to check for record conflicts and determine where the unrecognized esp's need to go in your load order. This simple guide should help you get started.

Edited January 20, 2013 by ripple

[cassec]

I have a 3 year old PC with a 512MB GPU, and I get about 40-60 FPS outdoors on high textures and medium everything else (I don't use any HD texture mods though), so I am going to guess that your performance issue is probably something else other than your rig :)

 

Suggestions:

 

1) You may need to optimize your skyrim.ini and skyrimpref.ini to let the game know you have a super rig. I can't offer much advice on this. I generally follow some sort of tweak guide and scour the forums for discussions and advice. I hate this aspect of optimizing the game (as a result) but it does work.

 

2) If you haven't yet installed your mods (although it sounds like you have already), use the the Mod Organizer instead of the poopy NMM to install your mods.

 

3) Use BOSS to sort your load order.

 

4) If you have esp's that are not recognized by BOSS (and the BOSS log will tell you that, in addition to many things you may need to do to optimize your load order), you wil need to use TES5Edit to check for record conflicts and determine where the unrecognized esp's need to go in your load order. This simple guide should help you get started.

 

I'm unsure now, I did a fresh install boss seems to come up clean besides the general SkyRe warning.

 

I'm getting around 35-40 fps, with drops to as low as 25-30 when in well lit areas.

 

This is using ENB, 2k hd full, and a few other pretty base graphical mods..

 

This isn't completely unplayable, but I'm sure it could be better, I suppose I'll have to look into tweaking my prefs.

 

Perhaps skyrim is refusing to use all 8 cpu cores?

[Zephyr2011]

Skyrim is definitely not using all 8 cores. It barely does anything beyond the first 2 cores, same goes for pretty much any other game out there, the most they use is 4 and minimally at that. Your rig is definitely not the problem as I have a slightly less beefy rig that slices through ultra like a hot knife through butter that's been sitting out for a month. I also have ambient occlusion, WATER, some HD texture packs (not 2k, haven't had the time to d/l it) and some niche-specific things. Not knowing exactly what is in your load order, I can't tell you what the precise problem is. In general with graphics mods, if they conflict they do so relatively subtly in game and obviously in file structure, if they aren't compatible it's because they overwrite the exact same stuff (excepting ENBs and such that I haven't messed with, haven't felt the need honestly) and that's about it so you might get a few textures from the one you installed last rather than the one you installed first.

 

Now, on .esp files and the lot that expand content or do actual game tweaks, that gets trickier. I suggest taking a heavy look through every readme for every mod you download that you don't know exactly what it does. A lot of people will tell you to load stuff in the right orders with boss etc. etc. I am of the school that if you want a stable, fast game you have to make some sacrifices. I install all my mods one at a time and do a quick little run through skyrim (except quest mods that don't have massive repercussions for the rest of the game because that's a pain and also unlikely to alter much else) to make sure everything is kosher and then decide whether to keep it or not for stability's sake alone. Load orders and cleaning and all of that jazz are a bunch of bandaid solutions if you ask me. If two mods sound like they change the same things in different ways, pick the one that is closer to your ideal flavor and leave the other one be, you are much safer that way and much more likely to have a stable game. A lot of people have no issues with using boss and wyrebash and all the other nifty widgets but it can still lead to problems. But I think it's better safe than sorry. If stuff is slamming you with fps hits then test each mod individually to see what's what. and when you're looking at fps, keep in mind that movies are filmed in 24f ps and the eye can barely percieve more than 32 fps (although according to Eddison anything less than 45 strains the eye to one degree or another but I notice that with 60 fps...). So don't panic too much on that score.

[ripple]

Perhaps skyrim is refusing to use all 8 cpu cores?

 

Skyrim's will not use 8 CPU cores, or more than 4 GB ram....even though the game was released just last year, it's actually based on an old game engine that is aging poorly.

 

ini settings will help 'optimize' the game for your hardware but it won't exceed the limits of the game engine.

 

Post your BOSS log, maybe we'll spot some stuff there.

Edited January 20, 2013 by ripple

[cassec]

I'll post the boss report tomorrow, I'm fiddling through and I believe that he right about the hd mods overwriting things.

I think that's a bit of a problem, I remember some compiler that was made a few months back.

The ENB seems to provide a lot of stress, but the graphical enhancement is rather pleasing.

 

I'm going to reload again. I'll post the boss log tomorrow morning.

[cureyfreri]

READ the readme or mod description page for everything you download.http://www.sdra.info/a16.jpghttp://www.sdra.info/k3.jpg