SkyrimCustom.ini file -- Does it work?

[IsharaMeradin]

Posting here in the general section for a hopeful wider audience response....

 

According to http://www.creationkit.com/INI_files we can create a custom ini file called SkyrimCustom.ini to override the default values in the Skyrim.ini file.

 

I just tried this and none of the changed values in the SkyrimCustom.ini file were used. Has anyone been able to get a SkyrimCustom.ini file to work? Could this have been a working feature that is now broken?

 

I had flushed all my mods, re-verified both game and Creation Kit, deleted and re-initilized the ini files for the game. Then created the SkyrimCustom.ini file based on added or changed values from the previous skryim.ini file. One of which was the enabling of papyrus logging. After a quick test, there were no new papyrus logs created. In game none of the settings that make a visual impact were being used either.

 

Can anyone confirm or deny the functionality of SkyrimCustom.ini? Is it limited to only certain settings?

 

FYI - If it matters, I also deleted all saves and started fresh with a new game.

[Pevey]

I don't know about SkyrimCustom.ini, but I know you can put custom ini settings in a file called, for instance, MyMod.ini (assuming your mod is named MyMod.esp), and those ini settings will be loaded so long as the related esp is set to load. You possibly already knew this, but just thought I'd add in case this approach would do what you need to accomplish. When I learned about this, I thought it was pretty awesome. I don;t see it used very often. i've used it to avoid having to recommend users manually edit their ini, which for some users is bound to lead to trouble. if you pack an archive manually, you can even stuff the ini in the bsa file.

[IsharaMeradin]

I'll have to test it with a dummy esp then, but I'd hate to take up a plugin slot just to avoid editing the default skryim.ini. I still have to make adjustments to the skyrimprefs.ini anyway tho. No idea why they didn't put an option to toggle always run in the in-game settings.

[Pevey]

You could try just naming the ini file to match the name of an esp you already load anyway.

[IsharaMeradin]

Tying it to an esp allows the custom settings to be used.

 

Wonder if the reason the SkyrimCustom.ini doesn't work is because I'm using Windows 7 64bit and I do not have a "My Documents" directory but rather a "Documents" directory. It uses the saves and default ini files just fine regardlesss, but perhaps the part that reads and uses the SkyrimCustom.ini is fixed to the "My Documents" directory name rather than what is assigned by the system... Scratch that just noticed that the library is called "Documents" but drilling down thru the actual directory structure it is called "My Documents". So that theory is kaput...

Edited April 11, 2013 by IsharaMeradin

[mellophonist]

To return to the op if all your looking is to overwrite the values of your skyrim ini file all you have to do is change said values in the file. Nvidia did a great article on subtle ini changes that make a huge improvement on the graphics of your game.

[IsharaMeradin]

To return to the op if all your looking is to overwrite the values of your skyrim ini file all you have to do is change said values in the file. Nvidia did a great article on subtle ini changes that make a huge improvement on the graphics of your game.

Yes I know, but I wanted to avoid having to redo those changes whenever re-verifying the game. I know, I know, backup files and all that crap... Point is this feature is supposed to work. Hhence I tried it and when it failed, I asked if anyone had gotten it to work or not.

 

The custom file for SkyrimEditor.ini does work and will save lots of re-adjustments as the CK gets verified more often than the game.

[mellophonist]

Ah my apologies you are correct in that matter having to readjust every update would be rather annoying.

[IsharaMeradin]

Oh. If anyone reading wishes to know, I worked around the failure of the SkyrimCustom.ini by using Dawnguard.ini instead. The game wouldn't use an Update.ini, but it would use an ini file for any other dlc or plugin. Which is in essence what LP1 suggested. I choose to use a dlc because it is my intent to establish a few saves for mod testing purposes without the baggage of user made mods.

[sevencardz]

Yeah, I am a little perturbed that the Creation Kit documentation is incorrect in that respect. I decided to test the bajeezus out of this and here's what I found, along with test criteria, what didn't work and what did. First off, just in case other settings don't override for some strange reason, here's the one and only setting I used for testing:

[MapMenu]
;Enable 360 degree map view rotation (A Quality World Map).
fMapWorldYawRange=3600

In the regular Skyrim.ini file, the setting is typically omitted, but the default is something like 1200, so it's very easy to tell whether the tweak works or not by just opening the map.

Placing the file here: My Documents\My Games\Skyrim\SkyrimCustom.ini
DID NOT WORK

Placing the file here: Skyrim\Data\SkyrimCustom.ini
DID NOT WORK

Renaming the file to: Skyrim\Data\Skyrim.ini
DID NOT WORK

Renaming the file to: Skyrim\Data\Dawnguard.ini
INDEED WORKS!!! (provided you have the DLC, thanks for the suggestions!)

Renaming the file to: Skyrim\Data\Update.ini
ALSO WORKS!!! (I am not sure why it didn't work for Ishara?)

I haven't tested, but I assume this file would stay unaltered even after a steam update of the game (1.9.32 currently) because the 'Update.ini' file does not exist unless you create it yourself.

Also, I tried all the above combinations for the SkyrimPrefs.ini file, but to no avail, it seems that the only option is to edit that file directly in My Documents\My Games\Skyrim\SkyrimPrefs.ini