M14x Skyrim Performance/Questions/Best Driver/Settings & General Chatter - Discuss Here....

Ok so I reconfigured my game to make outside travel a lot more enjoyable and smoother and I honestly don't really see the difference...at least I haven't noticed it.

Here are my new settings:

Object Fade: 5
Actor Fade: 5
Grass Fade: 2
Specularity Fade: 6
Light Fade: 11
Item Fade: 5

Again All ultra

Let me know

I think its Specularity Fade that takes the most out of frames imo.

 

Hmm. Running at 1600x900, I clicked the Ultra preset, then selected 0 AA, 8 AF, Shadows at Medium.

I get 30-60fps all the time. I think it drops below 30 every now and then, but never for longer than a second or so. I'm happy!

 

shadows make the biggest difference to image quality and performance... and frankly EVERYTHING else makes a minimal difference to performance, you can keep everything on ultra 1080p (fxaa rather than fsaa) and get a solid 60fps with shadows on low or an unplayable 20fps with shadows on ultra. I prefer the "high" preset at 1600*900 as the high shadows are a better compromise

 

What FOV are you guys using? I find that the default field of view/vision makes me terribly nauseous, but if I set it to 90 so I feel better then I cannot really read signs and certain things are very small.

 

I'm using 3rd person POV. I got annoyed with the huge tunnel vision-like vision in the 1st person view. Even with my mouse scrolling back as far as it would go in 1st POV, I still couldn't get a good view of things. Maybe I'll mess with the settings later.

Thanks for the info on the sound, Fallout4! It really helped me hear the voices much, much better. At least now I can sit at my seat and play and hear the voices, rather than putting my ear up against my M14's speakers.

 

Here's a vid I made of some gameplay. 50fps on ultra average.

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim on the Alienware m14x - YouTube

 

Can u put fraps running in the background? I can't really tell if it running 50 fps, and I really want to know how u did Ultra and managed to get over 30 fps in whiterun????

I can't even run avg 50-60 on high Shadows, and your average is also in busy towns or in dugeons? Because my frames will spike from 100+ frames to 30s in dungeons depending on what is going on (Lighting) and how deep the dungeon is.

My GPU is overclocked @ 700 MHZ Core, 995 MHZ memory, 1400 Shader.

 

Not sure what the big deal with Whiterun is. I have consistent 30-40 FPS with default high settings, no OC.

The only dips I have are in caves with steam, and those are of the 20-25 FPS range. Not bad at all.

 

i drop fps in whiterun to around 40. but its just not smooth looking around the town when you first enter whiterun gate.
oc 700/1000/1400
your video looks really smooth in whiterun.

 

anyone else found the game crashing the nvidia driver or resetting clock speeds at specific points? GPU is overclocked at 770/1000 and has been for months, have played BF3/Crysis2 for hours at these settings without issue

dropped clocks to 760/960 and crashed again after a while, am now at 750/950 without issue so far

still, strange... GPU temps didn't go over 70degrees, did notice some purple texture issues at one point too and still getting random CTD but without the GPU clock speeds being reset

 

TES V: Skyrim on the Alienware M14x - YouTube

Theres a video I made over the weekend that FINALLY uploaded yesterday night.

Also for FOV just put "fov 70" in console without quotes and I find it perfect

 

so im curious, how many of you encounter these fantastic goodies in skyrim
The Nuttiest Skyrim Glitches - PC Feature at IGN

 

Nice video. I have been playing with FOV 90 lol, it looks odd in certain areas and 70 looks better in others. I will try 70 tonight. My main issue is that on the 14 inch screen if the FOV is too small it makes me feel nauseus/motion sickness, like reading in a moving car.

For the people reporting random game crashes, I have had a couple as well.

Last night my power brick/battery charger stopped working randomly (the blue light turned off showing that it was no longer working as well). I did not know why until I touched the power brick and it was hot enough to cook food on. Hotter than boiling water even. So I guess Skyrim is responsible?

 

skyrim makes this laptop hotter then ive ever seen, my gpu hit 81 and my cpu hit 90, and this is STOCK clocks, soon enough its gonna spontaneously combust

 

The thing is for this game to look good on this size screen, you can tweak a lot of stuff which would only make a difference on lower pixel density screens. Lowest dips I get are usually to mid 30s but most of the time even walking around town it's above 40. I average at 50fps because sometimes it's at 60 and sometimes at 40. 30's usually only occur in areas with fog.

Uploading a video now to show fps.

Edit: New video here!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84-Z70x_8Tk

 

Yeah but those settins are a lot different than what you stated on your previous post, thats why I was like WOW Ultra settings and 50 fps.

But thanks for the video I have to have anisotropic maxed all the time in games, I'd rather have low shadows in some games rather than bringing down any other settings, but in this game, shadows do make a pretty big difference. Without shadows it starts looking like Assassin's Creed 1

 

Skyrim has been running great for me so far, but last night I encountered my first noticeable bug! Yay!

I was about to enter Shimmermist Cave, West of Winterhold (I think). There was a dragon circling over me but it didn't attack. Fine.

I noticed huge chunks of mountains in the distance that were all blue, the effect looked like a force field but since this isn't a Star Wars game, I think it was missing textures. Also, once I entered Shimmermist I turned into werewolf form and the model had a lot of missing hair textures. I looked like a friggin' light blue poodle.

I read this could be an AA issue, that it should be turned off in game and forced on through the Nvidia Control Panel, but I didn't try this yet.

Any idea on how to solve this?

 

I see many of you here already got the game, so I'd like to ask if any of you get the DVD version? and if so is it like a standalone installer that does not require Steam to complete the installation or what I mean is is it a separated version, not the steam version on a DVD. I ask because of in the recent experience I had, notably Fallout New Vegas, I bought the Disc version in thinking of I might be able to avoid steam but still that DVD version is a steam game. So I just doesnt want to make the same mistake again, I just wondering if the DVD version is a steam version on a DVD or not?

 

I bought the DVD version because of some reports of extremely loooong download times with Steam.

You need to activate the game with Steam, at which point it installs.
You can play it through Steam or, what I did, play directly from the TESV.exe (I made a shortcut on the desktop). If you play using the launcher.exe, Steam is launched.

Note that the achievements will not register unless you play through Steam.
Also, as soon as I try playing through Steam (for the achievements), I got the instant-close-to-desktop bug, which hasn't happened when playing stand alone.

Activating the game with Steam will allow you to play without the disk in the drive.

I recommend buying the DVD, it seems more stable for some reason.

 

So basically you mean, the DVD version is like a Steam-on-the-Disc kind of thing? I reason I ask this was, usually the Disc version is always more expansive than the digital version, however because of in NZ we have a internet cap which I have the 60GB monthly plan so I just dont want to waste those precious GBs.

As for the downloading on Steam, I dont mind that download time, in fact the internet I had is the fastest in my country, a 10GB file for example would took me only around 1-2hrs if it constant capped it max speed which is normally do. For the achievement I do not actually care about it when it come to RPG type gameplay, since most of my time playing the game will be Offline, lol.

Yeah, I want to get the Disc version however because of the problem I state above that I dont want to waste those precious GBs, Oh and one more thing is that, for DVD version I tend to sell it out to clear the desk. And yeah, I do also know that the Disc version tend to be more stable than the digital version, notably the GTA4, one of our fellow NBR user, he got the Steam version and he got a really hard time trying to get GTA4 run with good framerate as me (I got the DVD version).

But just to confirm before I pull the trigger, you saying that Steam only needed for game activation only? And it will not download the whole game file off the internet, instead it will install straight from the DVD once the Steam Validation is completed? And I can run the game without the needed to start steam? Is it just like to start Steam in the Offline Mode? Thanks for the answer.

 

The installer will ask you to validate/create a Steam account in order to activate the game, yes.
You will not need to download anything to install and play the game, and you do not need to play the game through Steam, IF you launch Skyrim using the TESV.exe file, which will be located in the Steam/Steamapps/Common/Skyrim folder. Note that if you launch the game with the tesvlauncher.exe file, Steam is launched first, then the Skyrim launcher, and the game will run through Steam.

I think that for the updates, you need to either run the game through Steam, or download and install them manually, but I am not sure about this as I am relatively new to Steam.

Hope this helps.

 

Cool, thanks for the confirmation, rep+ , For Steam, all updates and stuff must be update through Steam, this is one of the excuse EA refuse to have BF3 available on Steam.

 

I'm astounded I found this. I was playing this at lowest settings, everything off and resolution at the lowest possible. I am shocked. Its incredible. I have not touched my Nvidia Control Panel before. As I have never needed to run any games of that capacity. I am so thankful I found this. I run it on high without any problem now thanks to the first post. By the way
Intel core I7 2630qm
8 Gig's DDr3 RAM
Nvidia GT555m 3gig
The upgradable wi-fi option
1600x900 LED display.

 

http://forum.techinferno.com/attachments/pc-gaming/2806d1321576979-skyrim-jagged-shadows-fix.jpg

Jagged shadows fix. (Not my fix or picture)

Tried it, runs the same but looks cleaner now

 

I can't read that post, Gears. Care to repost the actual fix?

 

cant view it mate

 

Also, the Skills screen is bright purple instead of the usual constellations/space image.

 

Here, just go into the SkyrimPrefs.ini file and change these lines with these

fShadowDistance=3500.0000
iShadowMapResolutionSecondary=4096
iShadowMapResolutionPrimary=4096
fShadowLODStartFade=250.0000
iShadowMapResolution=4096

 

I wondered if anyone could help me, when playing Skyrim I can't get my FPS above 30 for any length of time. Even on Low settings, 40 is the max I experienced. While on Gearguy's settings the value is about 15 while out in Skyrim. I have check BIOS and turbo is enabled. Skyrim has been whitelisted twice now just to check and I set the prefered graphics processor to the card. The graphics card has been overclocked following all the guides to 700/1080 and 765/1080. Even disabled VSync.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

The Spec is M14x | i7 2630QM @ 2ghz | 6gb of DDR3 RAM 1600mhz | 3gb GT555M | 750 gb HDD | 1600x900 HD+

 

My first thought is to advise you to check your performance settings in AlienFusion. Make sure everything is on High Performance, and make sure you're plugged in.
Basic stuff, I know. But since you seem to have everything else covered...

 

Hey guys, i was playing skyrim on ultra and got 30-50 fps no problem, i was climbing a mountain and it suddenly drops to like 10 fps and was unplayable any idea what happened ?

 

Did it remain at 10 FPS, or was it just a quick dip and then back to normal??

 

Ok this is really starting to bug me, The steam version of Skyrim continuously shuts down the game. This bug/glitch is starting to me off like crazy. Is there news on any fix to bug?

 

My shadows in the launcher were medium so i changed my skyrimprefs into what u said and all it did was change the launcher shadow detail to ultra and it made the game run around 20-30 fps and was kinda unplayable.. Any idea how to fix this without alot of performance impact ?

 

to be honest no amount of tweaking will make the game any better. its really up to bethesda to release a patch. ive tweaked and looked for custom ini's. on the bethesda forums everyone is in the same boat apart from a few.
low fps in cities. drop in fps.
one of the guys has sent the ps3 and 360 patch for certification its meant to be released in next week pc shortly after to follow.

 

Well, I bought this game on the 360 on launch day and had played it for a week and managed to complete quite a few quests and advance to level 17.

Having followed this thread I decided yesterday to buy the PC version and see how it runs on my M14x. Well, all I can say is that the graphics are far superior to the 360 version (which I knew they would but seeing is believing and all that) and the added bonus is that I don't have to sweet talk the missus to get on the 360 as I can just sit on the chair with my earphones plugged in and use the M14x any time I want.

I'm interested in the modding community and have come across this site: Skyrim Nexus - Skyrim Mods and community. I've had a quick look around and also had a look on their forums but cannot see any link on how you go about installing these mods.

Has anybody actually used any of the mods for Skyrim and, if so, which ones and how do they affect performance? I'm not interested in any mods that allow you to 'cheat' I'm just interested in extra textures, etc.

Many thanks.

 

After further tests, I have found that when I start up Skyrim for the first time per restart I get about 45 seconds at high FPS (about 50) then it drops to about 15 FPS could this be due to the overclocking failing? This has happened about 3 times now.
Thanks for you previous suggestions, I check them again and everything seemed to be alright.

 

This mod has helped prevent frequent crashes, and I also don't experience the purple textures that would appear after playing for a while. It allows Skyrim to use more than 2Gb of memory. Other thann improved stability, I didn't notice any increase in FPS.

Large Address Aware at Skyrim Nexus - Skyrim Mods and community

I wish I could find something to improve the jagged shadows without taking a performance hit...

 

Thanks for the link!

I don't use mods until a couple of patches are released. This helps avoid future conflicts and other instabilities.
Also, Skyrim hasn't given me much trouble so far. I'm a level 12 Khajiit Rogue/fighter and I've been immensely enjoying pretty much every single aspect of the game.
I've encountered two crashes with Steam, the blue/purple textures bug and the falling Mammoths too (they didn't die), but these are few and far between, and I must say that for a newly released game on the PC, in this day and age when even console games NEED patching, Skyrim is relatively very stable.

I'm quite impressed.

 

Yeh, I'm impressed with the PC version. I've sunk about 10hrs into the game since I bought it yesterday. I'm playing as a Dark Elf/sneaker/thief type character. Unfortunately, today, I contracted vampirism (my character, not me). I've had to modify the way I play the game to deal with the affects of having this disease. I think sooner or later I'll have to seek out a cure.

Anyway, about an hour ago, I came across the purple texture bug on the northern shores. The game also crashed (did so a couple of times yesterday too). Having said that, I had the game crash on me on the 360 too so I'm not sure if it's a M14x problem or a general game problem.

 

Have you tried a cure diseases? As I contracted Brain Rot with my High Elf Mage/Assassin and that seemed to do the trick, also you can see the Healer in Whitehaven and she's pretty good

 

I recently started using the increased memory use tweak (listed several posts ago) and I have not seen any crashes since. It's been about 3 hours of play. Yay!

And I can't use those shadow tweaks either. They make the game chug like a frat boy on a Friday.

 

Yes, it didn't work. I think i'd left it too long. I've now drank the blood from a few unsuspecting victims and have now got the taste for it

 

Anybody else used the increase memory tweak? If so, how's it affected performance?

 

The mods for Morrowind, Oblivion, Fallout 3, and Fallout: New Vegas improved both the graphics and sometimes the gameplay. The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series also has some excellent mods and someone is even converting S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat to the CryEngine (the Crysis graphics engine) which sounds AWESOME.

The first thing to do is find out of there is a Mod Manager. For Fallout, there was Fallout Mod Manager (FOMM). Download and install that before any actual mods.

The Nexus site often provides the installation/extraction directions (type CTRL+F and then search for the word "install" and you should find it on the page). If not, extract the files and see what folder they are in. The idea is that you want to replace your current game files with the files in the mod. So if you extract the files and the folder they are in is called "Data" then you want to merge that Data folder with the Data folder in your original game files, normally located in the Steam\Steamapps\Common folder (inside the Skyrim folder). You should get the option to keep both files, or merge and replace. Select replaced for everything.

It is a good idea to backup the files before doing this but I never do as I can just reinstall the original program.

After doing this, open the mod manager and check the boxes related to the name of the mod you installed. Then you should be able to launch the game with the new mods.

If you have any question about a specific mod then ask me and I will install it on my computer and let you know how to do it. I will probably play the regular Skyrim (vanilla/original version) first and install some mods later. Except there will probably be a mod to fix the worst User Interface in the history of games so I will install that to Skyrim when I see it.

 

Thanks for the info and the offer to trial.

 

I'm not 100% certain this is on-topic, but it is Skyrim-related. General chatter?

I just read on PC Mag that a mod has recently been released, allowing Skyrim gamers the possibility of killing children in the game, just like any other NPC/animal/creature.

Now, I'm open to a lot of things in movies, TV and games, and I'm all for realism and risk-taking, especially with video games. But if there is a limit to be set, and I really think there should be, this would be it: No kid-killing.

We're not talking about a demon that has taken a child form or possessing a child, like in Dragon Age. We're talking about "innocent" children, simply walking around in a game world, and the possibility of murdering them just because we can.

I've heard the arguments "It's only a game/fiction/virtual world", "If we can kill any adult in the game, why not children", "It's art!", etc.

I would like to know what the M14x Skyrim gaming community thinks about this.

 

god knows why some want to its just plain strange. i agree its only a game world but its not really the first thing i would think of doing if i had just brought skyrim

 

If you had just picked up Skyrim and listened to the damn little tikes,(Why do they ALL have dodgy Californian accents?) you would understand wanting to murder them as well

 

Perhaps you should send them a stern fax or email detailing your concerns.

Or write to your local Congressman about this gross misuse of the internet where some random person has posted an OPTIONAL file for download on the INTERNET of all places.