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About this mod
Some INI tweaks I've been experimenting with to help my aging Dell. Intended for 4 threaded CPUs.
- Permissions and credits
- Changelogs
Disclaimer: This is not magic. This is not a substitute for upgrading your PC's hardware. This is not as effective as reducing draw calls. This is only a band-aid for deeper problems that are typically a sign of needing an upgrade, failing hardware, or overly modding the game past what your PC can handle. YMMV.
Description
This page contains various INI tweaks I've been experimenting with to bump up performance on my CPU bottlenecked system. Intended for 4 threaded CPUs.
Also, unlike many guides, these tweaks were done by referencing the all valid INI settings thread. There's neither redundant nor non-existent INI lines.
Your milage may vary. I'm aware some (maybe even most) of these tweaks are placebo or unused by the engine. I don't mind as these placebo INI edits relatively are harmless, and they give me some vague sense of peace of mind. It is also "Works On My Machine"™️ certified, as far as not inducing crashing or worsening performance goes, so you shouldn't have CTDs in theory.
For your convenience, the tweaks are in the spoiler. My annotations are commented out so they're harmless to include in your INI.
Here's a "lite" version of my tweaks, omitting lines that are unused according to STEP. Placebos are harmless but some may prefer as few tweaks as possible.
Install & Uninstall
For ease of installation and uninstallation, there's also an ESP flagged ESL included that'll load the tweaks in the files tab, if you prefer. It doubles as an offline copy of the above tweaks. It applies the tweaks in-memory at runtime. Your existing INIs will be unaltered.
If you're 100% sure you know what you're doing, you can do it the old fashioned way. I'd suggest pasting them into your SkyrimCustom.ini in the "Documents\My Games\Skyrim Special Edition" folder. If it's not there already, simply make a TXT file and change it to use an .INI extension, and name it SkyrimCustom.INI.
Description
This page contains various INI tweaks I've been experimenting with to bump up performance on my CPU bottlenecked system. Intended for 4 threaded CPUs.
Also, unlike many guides, these tweaks were done by referencing the all valid INI settings thread. There's neither redundant nor non-existent INI lines.
Your milage may vary. I'm aware some (maybe even most) of these tweaks are placebo or unused by the engine. I don't mind as these placebo INI edits relatively are harmless, and they give me some vague sense of peace of mind. It is also "Works On My Machine"™️ certified, as far as not inducing crashing or worsening performance goes, so you shouldn't have CTDs in theory.
For your convenience, the tweaks are in the spoiler. My annotations are commented out so they're harmless to include in your INI.
Spoiler:
; Various INI tweaks I've been experimenting with to bump up performance on my CPU bottlenecked system. Intended for 4 threads. Your milage may vary.
; I'm aware some (maybe even most) of these tweaks are placebo or unused by the engine. I don't mind as these placebo INI edits relatively are harmless.
; "Works on my machine" as far as not inducing crashing or worsening performance goes. So you shouldn't have CTDs
[General]
; Multithreading that was off by default.
bUseThreadedAI=1
bUseThreadedMorpher=1
bUseThreadedParticleSystem=1
; In theory, stores some cache on disk instead of only RAM. Leave at 0 if you're on a hard drive/spinning disk.
bUseHardDriveCache=0
; In theory, assigns various tasks the game needs to do to different threads. This was set up with quad threaded CPUs in mind, trying to ease strain for the first core (thread 1) as much as reasonable.
iHWThread1=2
iHWThread2=3
iHWThread3=4
iHWThread4=2
iHWThread5=3
iHWThread6=4
[Display]
; God rays. Large visual difference. Large FPS impact.
bVolumetricLightingEnable=0
bVolumetricLightingDisableInterior=1
; Shadow quality. Little noticable difference, since Skyrim SE has a good shadow softening technique. Medium to large FPS impact.
iShadowMapResolution=1024
; Screen space reflections, i.e. lights reflecting on tile flooring. Medium visual difference. Large FPS impact.
bScreenSpaceReflectionEnabled=0
; Snow shader that adds a bit of sparkle. Medium visual difference. Mild FPS impact.
bEnableImprovedSnow=0
[HAVOK]
; Generally other older Bethesda games like 3 threads max or things get crashy, going by what I heard through the grape vine.
iNumThreads=3
[Decals]
; Multithreading that was off by default.
bDecalMultithreaded=1
[Audio]
; In theory, moves audio processing to the 4th thread. This was set up with quad threaded CPUs in mind, trying to ease strain for the first core (thread 1) as much as reasonable.
uiAudioHWThread=4
[Animation]
; Reduces stutter on slopes, in exchange for foot placement on stairs being less accurate.
bFootIKFeedback=0
Show
; Various INI tweaks I've been experimenting with to bump up performance on my CPU bottlenecked system. Intended for 4 threads. Your milage may vary.
; I'm aware some (maybe even most) of these tweaks are placebo or unused by the engine. I don't mind as these placebo INI edits relatively are harmless.
; "Works on my machine" as far as not inducing crashing or worsening performance goes. So you shouldn't have CTDs
[General]
; Multithreading that was off by default.
bUseThreadedAI=1
bUseThreadedMorpher=1
bUseThreadedParticleSystem=1
; In theory, stores some cache on disk instead of only RAM. Leave at 0 if you're on a hard drive/spinning disk.
bUseHardDriveCache=0
; In theory, assigns various tasks the game needs to do to different threads. This was set up with quad threaded CPUs in mind, trying to ease strain for the first core (thread 1) as much as reasonable.
iHWThread1=2
iHWThread2=3
iHWThread3=4
iHWThread4=2
iHWThread5=3
iHWThread6=4
[Display]
; God rays. Large visual difference. Large FPS impact.
bVolumetricLightingEnable=0
bVolumetricLightingDisableInterior=1
; Shadow quality. Little noticable difference, since Skyrim SE has a good shadow softening technique. Medium to large FPS impact.
iShadowMapResolution=1024
; Screen space reflections, i.e. lights reflecting on tile flooring. Medium visual difference. Large FPS impact.
bScreenSpaceReflectionEnabled=0
; Snow shader that adds a bit of sparkle. Medium visual difference. Mild FPS impact.
bEnableImprovedSnow=0
[HAVOK]
; Generally other older Bethesda games like 3 threads max or things get crashy, going by what I heard through the grape vine.
iNumThreads=3
[Decals]
; Multithreading that was off by default.
bDecalMultithreaded=1
[Audio]
; In theory, moves audio processing to the 4th thread. This was set up with quad threaded CPUs in mind, trying to ease strain for the first core (thread 1) as much as reasonable.
uiAudioHWThread=4
[Animation]
; Reduces stutter on slopes, in exchange for foot placement on stairs being less accurate.
bFootIKFeedback=0
Here's a "lite" version of my tweaks, omitting lines that are unused according to STEP. Placebos are harmless but some may prefer as few tweaks as possible.
Spoiler:
; Various INI tweaks I've been experimenting with to bump up performance on my CPU bottlenecked system. Intended for 4 threads. Your milage may vary.
; I don't mind as these placebo INI edits relatively are harmless. This version of the INI, however, has any placebos removed.
; "Works on my machine" as far as not inducing crashing or worsening performance goes. So you shouldn't have CTDs
[Display]
; God rays. Large visual difference. Large FPS impact.
bVolumetricLightingEnable=0
bVolumetricLightingDisableInterior=1
; Shadow quality. Little noticable difference, since Skyrim SE has a good shadow softening technique. Medium to large FPS impact.
iShadowMapResolution=1024
; Screen space reflections, i.e. lights reflecting on tile flooring. Medium visual difference. Large FPS impact.
bScreenSpaceReflectionEnabled=0
; Snow shader that adds a bit of sparkle. Medium visual difference. Mild FPS impact.
bEnableImprovedSnow=0
[Animation]
; Reduces stutter on slopes, in exchange for foot placement on stairs being less accurate.
bFootIKFeedback=0
Show
; Various INI tweaks I've been experimenting with to bump up performance on my CPU bottlenecked system. Intended for 4 threads. Your milage may vary.
; I don't mind as these placebo INI edits relatively are harmless. This version of the INI, however, has any placebos removed.
; "Works on my machine" as far as not inducing crashing or worsening performance goes. So you shouldn't have CTDs
[Display]
; God rays. Large visual difference. Large FPS impact.
bVolumetricLightingEnable=0
bVolumetricLightingDisableInterior=1
; Shadow quality. Little noticable difference, since Skyrim SE has a good shadow softening technique. Medium to large FPS impact.
iShadowMapResolution=1024
; Screen space reflections, i.e. lights reflecting on tile flooring. Medium visual difference. Large FPS impact.
bScreenSpaceReflectionEnabled=0
; Snow shader that adds a bit of sparkle. Medium visual difference. Mild FPS impact.
bEnableImprovedSnow=0
[Animation]
; Reduces stutter on slopes, in exchange for foot placement on stairs being less accurate.
bFootIKFeedback=0
Install & Uninstall
For ease of installation and uninstallation, there's also an ESP flagged ESL included that'll load the tweaks in the files tab, if you prefer. It doubles as an offline copy of the above tweaks. It applies the tweaks in-memory at runtime. Your existing INIs will be unaltered.
If you're 100% sure you know what you're doing, you can do it the old fashioned way. I'd suggest pasting them into your SkyrimCustom.ini in the "Documents\My Games\Skyrim Special Edition" folder. If it's not there already, simply make a TXT file and change it to use an .INI extension, and name it SkyrimCustom.INI.