Help

[PCNinja]

Hi, all. First post, but never really needed to before. I'm kinda at the end of my rope. I stopped playing Skyrim for a while, but started up again recently. Everything was fine till I added a few mods I found interesting. So after going nuts with crashes and all I decided that STEP should be much better than it was when I did it before. After deleting everything to start a fresh install and following the guide closely I've still got issues. No crashes, but I've got a lot of lag (I had some before, but this is much worse). I've tried several different things, changing the setting in skrim.ini and skyrimpref.ini, with and without ENB, different setting in enblocal.ini, with and without SLI enabled, with and without VSync, different combinations of stuff. I even dialed down my graphics distance so low I'm getting attacked by bandits I can't even see. I'm really hoping someone takes pity on me...lol. My computer is several years old, but it was pretty hot when I got it. Not sure what info you might need from me, but I'll list a couple of the obvious:

 

CPU: Intel I7 920 2.7GHz

RAM: 6GHz

Video: 2x nVidia GTS 250

 

I could post my ini files, but bear in mind the settings have changed many times while trying to figure this out (and it doesn't seem to make a huge impact).

Edited February 20, 2016 by PCNinja

[Nebulous112]

Hi PCNinja, welcome to STEP.

 

I think the main problem is the videocard. I didn't recognize the name, but a quick Google search told me that it is 7 years old (from March 2009), and came with 512MB or 1GB VRAM options. Unfortunately, modding may be out of the question for that system...

 

You can try installing all the lowest quality texture options, etc., but I don't think it will be enough. Honestly, you may be better off uninstalling almost every mod, and just running Skyrim vanilla with USLEEP.

 

Either that, or upgrading the video card.

 

Maybe someone with more experience playing on a lower end system might have some ideas...?

[PCNinja]

I have everything set for the lowest level, and it ran STEP fine before (in fact, I was running at High). Right now I'm wishing I hadn't decided to update STEP.

 

Also, according to STEP minimum system requirements I should be good. My core is better than I3 (I7), I have more than 4 GHz RAM (6), and I've got 2 GHz VRAM (1 GHz on each card).

 

I'm still hoping someone may have some ideas...

Edited February 20, 2016 by PCNinja

[Greg]

VRAM on multiple video cards is somewhat like a RAID array so even though you have two 1GB video cards, you still have 1GB VRAM total.

[PCNinja]

VRAM on multiple video cards is somewhat like a RAID array so even though you have two 1GB video cards, you still have 1GB VRAM total.

I guess that would explain my current problem, although I'm at a loss as to how I was able to run the graphics at high with a previous version of STEP (and only got a bit of lag occasionally).

[Nebulous112]

How many years ago did you install STEP? Do you remember what version of the guide it was?

 

I think I understand you are meaning the "High" graphics settings in the Skyrim menu (or from the Skyrim Launcher). I only started with STEP a little over 6 months ago, but the assumption is that graphics would be set to "Ultra" from the Skyrim Launcher, and all the texture mods which STEP adds brings it way past the vanilla Ultra settings. STEP includes an absolute ton of texture mods.

 

You may be OK with just a handful of gameplay mods. However, I wouldn't install any texture mods if I were you.

 

Try a lower resolution, as that makes a huge difference. Try borderless fullscreen, from the ENB settings. Also, you will absolutely need to make the Reserved Memory Size in the ENB settings as small as possible, try 64MB. The 512MB that STEP recommends to try first is literally half of your VRAM (although the purpose of ENBoost is to also use RAM in place of VRAM).

[PCNinja]

How many years ago did you install STEP? Do you remember what version of the guide it was?

 

I think I understand you are meaning the "High" graphics settings in the Skyrim menu (or from the Skyrim Launcher). I only started with STEP a little over 6 months ago, but the assumption is that graphics would be set to "Ultra" from the Skyrim Launcher, and all the texture mods which STEP adds brings it way past the vanilla Ultra settings. STEP includes an absolute ton of texture mods.

 

You may be OK with just a handful of gameplay mods. However, I wouldn't install any texture mods if I were you.

 

Try a lower resolution, as that makes a huge difference. Try borderless fullscreen, from the ENB settings. Also, you will absolutely need to make the Reserved Memory Size in the ENB settings as small as possible, try 64MB. The 512MB that STEP recommends to try first is literally half of your VRAM (although the purpose of ENBoost is to also use RAM in place of VRAM).

I will give your suggestions a try. I thought the textures were supposed to be "optimized" to reduce all that load. Ah well... my previous STEP install was something like 2 years ago, I honestly don't remember the version number.

[TechAngel85]

Leaving out DynDOLOD might help. A note on the 2gb VRAM requirement. We'll be changing that to be more specific next release. You really need a card in the 500 (maybe 600) series or newer to run STEP smoothly.

[PCNinja]

I did a little online "shopping" to see how much it would set me back, so it might not be an issue soon. I had no idea how cheap RAM was now, though the card will still set me back a bit. I'm planning a card in the 900 series and a RAM upgrade while I'm at it. Still cheaper than a new computer. Out of curiosity, you think I'd be able to run at Ultra if I replaced my 2 cards with a single 4GHz GTX 960?

Edited February 21, 2016 by PCNinja

[Nebulous112]

Nice! A 900-series would be perfect. The more VRAM on the videocard, the better. 2GB on the card is OK, 3 is good, 4 is great.

 

Good luck with your build!

[PCNinja]

:-)  Thanks. The extra RAM will have to come later, but this is the best I can do since I won't be able to afford another top-end system anytime in the near future. I appreciate the responses.

[DoubleYou]

If you have 6GB RAM, you don't need any more RAM. Just the video card would do.

[PCNinja]

Well, I did it. I got the card, it's got 4GB of VRAM. I also upgraded my RAM to 12GB. I can run everything at max settings, but I still get some lag outdoors or when I turn fast. Any suggestions on how to alleviate that? I've tried dialing down the distance, but it didn't really help.

 

Here's my setup:

 

Operating System:

        Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit SP1

CPU

        Intel Core i7 920 @ 2.67GHz 46 °C

        Bloomfield 45nm Technology

RAM

        12.0GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 532MHz (7-7-7-19)

Graphics

        S27B350 (1920x1080@59Hz)

        4095MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 (MSI) 31 °C

Storage

        746GB Western Digital WDC WD30EZRX-00AZ6B0 (SATA) 25 °C

        931GB Western Digital WDC WD1000DHTZ-04N21V0 (SATA) 26 °C

 

Hmmm...just noticed my RAM says dual-channel when it should say triple... I'm looking into this now, but any other suggestions would be welcome. Let me know if I should post my ini files.

[Nebulous112]

Congrats on the new equipment!

 

Try increasing the reserved memory size in enblocal.ini. That may do it. You'll want to keep it as low as possible without experiencing stuttering when turning 360-degrees.

[PCNinja]

Congrats on the new equipment!

 

Try increasing the reserved memory size in enblocal.ini. That may do it. You'll want to keep it as low as possible without experiencing stuttering when turning 360-degrees.

I can try it. Right now I'm set at 512, so I guess I'll up it to 1024.

[TechAngel85]

Actually...lower it. 256.