Low-end PC - how to get most of it?

[ddarko]

Greetings!

 

After a long break I'm back in Tamriel. This time I'd like to make my game looking the best my old machine can handle. I know that there are many useful tweaks in ini files, an ENB mods that change colours and lightning etc but I really don’t have any experience with messing with such things so I’d rather take advice from someone who cut his teeth on this! I realize that high-res textures are out of my reach, that’s ok, ultra high detailed draw distance with high quality shadows isn’t that important for me also. I want to get the best looking Skyrim on medium draw distance with great looking interiors.

 

My PC specs:

2GB RAM

GF 9800 GT 512MB

Windows 7

 

thanks for all help!

[korun]

your specs are not going to handle a skyrim modded even really light, the last patch makes the game more optimised and perf friendly but:

 

W7 is using a huge amount of your 2 gb ram

 

my advise is to start Skyrim without anything, medium setting and see how it run, if it's good for you go ahead, if not decrease

 

for intériors try Skyrim project optimisation, an overhaul which can give you back or not (depend on systems) few fps, it take place over everything then you add lighting

add Realistic lighting overhaul with it, or URWL they are light weigthed.

 

play without anything running back, IP apps etc..,try to use a booster or buy (if you can) 2 more gb.

 

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[gsmanners]

With a system like that, the most important thing is the screen resolution. I suggest using what I use: 1024x640. Everything will be much smoother right from the start, and then you can get it smoother with ini tweaks.

[ddarko]

thanks for replies

 

@korun – I will look at these addons you posted, thanks!

 

@gsmanners – well, 1024x640 can be too low for my 24” screen but I will try lower it from 1920x1080 (my current Skyrim res) to lower one

[korun]

well, 1024x640 can be too low for my 24” screen but I will try lower it from 1920x1080 (my current Skyrim res) to lower one

 

it's way too big for your rig.1920*1080 on 24", your GC will suffer a lot to render, lower the res to 1600*900 or 1440*810 instead

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[bben46]

Get rid of all background processes when playing - especially PM and VOIP programs that constantly poll the internet for new messages.

Turn off any auto defrag program

If you can, turn off the feature in the antivirus that checks every hard disk read and write (not available on all AV programs)

Forget about using any ENB type mods

Don't use the higher resolution patches

Turn all shadows off

Play around with the settings for things like grass distance and when distant things pop into view.

 

If you can, increase the RAM to 3Gig - more than that won't make nearly as much difference as going from 2 to 3. A 32 bit system, which I believe is what you have, can only use a maximim of 4 Gig of ram. And the game was designed to play in just 2 Gig. That extra 1 Gig will allow the system to move all of the other stuff that must be running into it - freeing up a full 2Gig for the game.

[MightyZ0G]

get Advanced System Care from IObit.com as that has an easily configurable turbo boost games mode that turns off background tasks that aren't needed to get the most out of your hardware.

[Georgiegril]

I have your graphics card, although I have 6GB RAM.

Also, you don't list your processor.

 

If you have a quad core processor, then I think, like me, you should be able to put together a really pretty and smooth running game, with some restraint and care--but you would probably benefit from upgrading your RAM to at least 4GB--Memory sticks are cheap, and you would probably find it well worth the investment.

 

I can give you a bunch of detail on all the things I have done to maximize the game, but they probably require you to have a similar computer rig as well. Shoot me a PM if you would like. Like BBen says, ENBs are not going to be worth the trouble, and minimizing any unessential processes is also going to be critical.

[FiftyTifty]

Disable shadows.

 

To do that, go into SkyrimPrefs.ini, and change the following settings to the following values:

 

[Display]

fInteriorShadowDistance=0.0000
fShadowDistance=0.0000

iShadowFilter=0
bShadowsOnGrass=0

fShadowLODStartFade=0.0000

bDeferredShadows=0
iShadowMode=0
bTreesReceiveShadows=0
bDrawLandShadows=0
bDrawShadows=0

iPresentInterval=0

 

And in Skyrim.ini:

 

[Display]
fShadowLODMaxStartFade=0000.0
iShadowMapResolutionPrimary=1

 

Once that's been done, get this mod.

[gsmanners]

It isn't really necessary to completely disable interior shadows, though. Even on my seven-year-old dual core system, I can get by with interior shadow distance set to 500. That works out nicely for me.