DynDOLOD and assorted questions

[Skinjack]

I have avoided using DynDOLOD for... years, I guess... because my computer is a brick. However, I am updating to a new computer that includes an i9-10980XE CPU, Asus ROG STRIX X-299-E Gaming II mobo, 64 GB RAM (expandable to 256GB), NVME M.2 hard drives, and a 2080ti GPU, so I figured I would experiment on this PC before moving to my new machine after it is built. I have all the parts, I've just got to work around my nephew's schedule since he is going to help me build it. That, and I downloaded The Great City of Solitude, Solitude Skyway, Drengin's Blue Palace Terrace, and Enhanced Solitude, along with a number of compatibility patches to make everything work together. They look beautiful and I like seeing the Skyway, etc from a distance now. The nighttime lighting is really nice too, plus I like seeing the mountains in the distance (although every time I look towards them my computer has a mini heart attack and CTD's) :)

 

But it got me thinking. My old computer is ten years old, 780GTX GPU, and a bunch of outdated parts that made it impossible to just upgrade the gpu and cpu. I ran into a few issues using it, like my MCM menus take forever to generate, even using the setstage SKI_ConfigManagerInstance 1 command. And by forever I mean over a half hour. In the meantime I can't use anything that hasn't appeared in the MCM yet, which is getting pretty long now. That didn't start until DynDOLOD was loaded.

I guess what I want to ask is the following:

Is there a recommended minimum computer specs requirement for DynDOLOD? I can disable it for this computer now that I've figured out installing it, but I want to make sure my new computer will not have issues with it. I run a LOT of texture mods, etc (up to 234 regular and 298 light according to Vortex right now).

 

I also want to know if I should up the resolution to 2K or 4K on my mods with the new GPU. I've been told that resolution DOES make a difference in the visual display, even if I am only playing on 27" 1920 x 1080 screens (I tried talking the wife into new ones, but she set her foot down after I blew through 5K worth of parts). I originally thought that since the screens couldn't display it anyway why bother killing my already overtaxed system. Still not sure that advice is right.

 

I have also read there is a problem with ALLGUD and CGO and possibly others. I personally haven't run into any issues before DynDOLOD was loaded, but I use these mods and need to know if that is true and if there is a compatibility patch for them. Since I installed DynDOLOD I don't get the multiple weapons on my back, but this could just be a "you're-system-can't-handle-this" thing. I do have them hot-keyed and they do still switch to show when pressed, they just don't show together.

 

Sorry for the scattered questions and wall of text. I hope someone can give me answers on this.

[Algabar]

Okay, I'll try my best to answer your questions...

 

First of all: Your rig should well be capable of running Skyrim with all the bells an whistles (HD textures, DYNDOLOD, a larger loadorder, a nice ENB preset). This is definitely not an issue of "engine still too weak".

 

The MCM issue is strange. I never had that, even on a considerably weaker computer than my current rig. DYNDOLOD usually doesn't behave like that. I'd suspect either incorrect DYNDOLOD settings or mod conflicts or incomplete uninstallation of DYNDOLOD from previous saves. It definitely shouldn't be that way. DYNDOLOD should also have no influence whatsoever on weapons on your back. If you loose animations, XPMSE, animation mods and FNIS are the things to look at.

If you need specific advice on DYNDOLOD and its settings, I hope people here on the forums can answer them.

 

Regarding 2K vs. 4K: Different people, different opinions. 4K IS a lot more taxing on your system than 2K. And the Skyrim Engine is basically 9 years old. Skyrim isn't optimized for "everything in 4K" and can't use the advantages of modern machines the same way as current games.... So even with a high end rig, 4K CAN have some impact on performance.

 

When it comes to the visual difference, there are a lot of things to consider: Well made 2K textures can look amazing, badly made 4K ones can still look bad. IMHO it's more about the general quality of textures, not resolution alone. The base game also contains a lot of sloppy UV mapping, which results in some texture streching here and there. No 4K texture can make up for this - one would also need to redo the UV mapping (as a lot of modders do). There are also the cases of "4K" textures that are in fact 1K inflated to 4K in Photoshop. Some people advertise something like this as "HD", while in fact it is more or less simply a waste of disk space... Base line: "4K" doesn'tz necessarily mean "quality".

 

Also ENBs play a major role regarding visuals. Presets that e.g. use some sharpening can make even lower res texture look quite nice and crispy.

 

Another thing to consider is how likely it is that you examine a texture closely in game. Players are very likely to have a close look at e.g. amours, weapons, characters or maybe furniture in player homes. In these cases, I'd recommend 4K textures. For a bee hive or some farm house roof or that fence over there 2K will definitely suffice.

 

Long story short: IMHO, in most cases 2K is good enough. And there's a lot more to consider regarding visual quality than just texture resolutions.

[Skinjack]

Thank you Algabar. I really appreciate the in-depth reply. It helps me to confirm beliefs I already had and sorts out some other beliefs that may not necessarily be true. Now that I have DynDOLOD installed I can't un-see how it improves the quality of the game, so I would always know in the back of my head there was something better out there if I disabled it. You know, grass is always greener...

 

As for my rig being capable of running Skyrim with all the bells and whistles, are you talking the machine I'm currently on (780 gtx) or the new one (2080ti)? I believe the CPU on the 780 gtx machine is an Intel i7 970 @ 3.2 GHz. I don't know how to tell my wife I may not need the new computer after all the money I've spent if that is the case. :) Kidding. I needed to upgrade anyway. I can only convince my wife every decade or so of the need for a new computer, so I had to strike while she was in an agreeable mood.

 

I may just have to reinstall a few of the programs that stopped working, although with the new computer on the horizon that is a moot point. I'm not going to really waste the time getting everything to work together on this machine when I'm going to completely rebuild and upgrade Skyrim to 1.5.97 with my mods on a new computer in a month. In the end, I'll probably stick with the 2K limit on textures (unless its a really neat armor or something that begs for 4K). But DynDOLOD is here to stay.

 

As for the MCM menu issues, I'm just going to blame it on the CPU for now. My brain doesn't work as fast as it used to ten years ago, so I don't know why I would expect the computer's to be any different.

 

Again, thank you for the reply.

[Algabar]

 

As for my rig being capable of running Skyrim with all the bells and whistles, are you talking the machine I'm currently on (780 gtx) or the new one (2080ti)? I believe the CPU on the 780 gtx machine is an Intel i7 970 @ 3.2 GHz. I don't know how to tell my wife I may not need the new computer after all the money I've spent if that is the case. :smile: Kidding. I needed to upgrade anyway. I can only convince my wife every decade or so of the need for a new computer, so I had to strike while she was in an agreeable mood.

 

 

I only recently bought a new computer myself. Similar situation: 780 gtx before, now on a RTX 2080 Super and AMD Ryzen 9. It definitely makes a LARGE difference. Now I can run a heavily modded Skyrim with (partly) full model trees in DYNDOLOD an taxing ENB presets, that would have eaten up some 20 FPS before at a stable 60 FPS (I cap the frame rate at that, because anything above 60 FPS can make the game's physics enginge go haywire). So yeah, a good rig isn't wasted money - if you value good performance in games... :yes:

 

[Skinjack]

Thanks a lot for that. I have my game modded to the point adding DynDOLOD just kills it (CTD's stuttering, etc), so I guess its a good thing I can tell the wife I'm not throwing good money after bad. Although I don't think when I told her I needed a new computer to run "software" she was thinking "game". It's all in the presentation. :)