I'm a huge fan of the "The Elder Scrolls" series, I really am! Even in the lowest setting possible, the games never cease to amaze me, although I tell you, Skyrim, the latest singleplayer-only installment of this saga, is an really computer burner for low end pc.
Most games we come across today are more about GPU (Graphics) than CPU and RAM (Mathematic and Rendering Calculations). That is why low end pc exist, they reduce graphics so the game gets lighter. But Skyrim is not your usual game, and to prove that I tweeked my version of the game with all sorts of mods. Performance mods, reducing texture quality, removing effects, fogs, smoke, everything I could do and all I could achieve was a almost perfect 45-55 fps only inside (houses, caverns, ruins, etc), while keeping up at 25-31 fps outside, which is not what I wanted, but renders the game much more playable. Either way, let's start with this guide!
For starters, let's take a swifter turn by downloading this tool first. This way you don't need to tweak the 2 ini files and it gets much simplier to explain. My sincere thanks topfannkuchen_gesicht, for this essential tool!
- Run the game once, I believe you need to launch a new game for it to create the 2 ini files we will be needing.
- First, click here, then, under mains files, click download manually.
- Extract the contents with a compressor (Winrar, 7zip, Winzip, etc) into a folder into your desktop.
- Run Skyrim_Config
If it fails to open any of the ini files, go to Documents > My Games > Skyrim and uncheck the read only marker for Skyrim and SkyrimPrefs ini files (Do so by acessing Properties under the right click menu and unchek "read only"), then reopen the Skyrim_Config
Let's start!
Screen: Custom Resolution, then input 640 x 480 in the respective textboxes
Uncheck V-Sync for a greater gaming experience slide Field-Of-View to 100 (you'll like it)
Uncheck any kind of MSAA, Tranparency, Blur and Depth field.
Jump to Textures tab:
Reduce to the minimum the Anisotropic Filtering and the texture quality to very low (if you're desesperate for frames per second) and check threaded
Reducing Max. Particles is a great boost but it renders your spells in game invisible at lowest numbers, I recommend 180/190 with threaded. Also uncheck any kind of decals and reduce draw distance
Tweak draw distance as you like, although I would recommend ticking Actor Fade to the maximum if you're a archer or a long range spellcaster. Grids only causes problems if you raise it (from 3 to 5 or 5 to 7 for example), reducing doesn't cause problems and it's a good boost. 3 gets the game a little instable I heard, but much more playable. Check all the boxes to the right
World tab helps wth exterior. I don't like to reduce that too much because it makes my game "unnatural" (I have a good pc to support this, so I don't want to be that drastic), but you can tweak this as you want.
Trees are a huge graphic comsuption in any game, especially if they are animated, reduce that and check "threaded". Draw is the graphical world for the minimum distance you need to be for it to render and load distance the same but for a higher texture quality and the animation process
Grass, your main antogonist since TES IV! Reduce it, completly remove it! Uncheck Grass Shading
Shadows... Reduce everything, same as water, it still looks fine with everything off and low
Go to Controls upper tab, disable Mouse Acceleration
In the Game/Launcher, tick "Enable File Selection"
Savegames Tab is optional.
Now pressed Apply in the bottom and go to Documents > My Games > Skyrim and apply Read Only Attribute to the both ini files (it's the inverse process of the described above). This will keep the game from changing your ini in the options menu in game.
Open Skyrim.ini in the mentioned path and add these after the last line:
[Papyrus]
fUpdateBudgetMS=800
fExtraTaskletBudgetMS=800
fPostLoadUpdateTimeMS=500.0
iMinMemoryPageSize=150000
iMaxMemoryPageSize=5500000
iMaxAllocatedMemoryBytes=1800000000
bEnableLogging=1
bEnableTrace=1
bLoadDebugInformation=1
This will optimize your papyrys (Skyrim's Script Engine) for a slightly greater Cache Memory usage, reducing lag
Now, MODS! :D
Create an account on Nexusmods, seriously, you'll need it and you'll like it.
Download Nexus Mod Manager and login inside it.
Open, choose Skyrim and add these mods:
Some are here: http://www.reddit.com/r/skyrimmods/comments/1xrxle/mods_to_increase_performance/
Also, download HiAlgo's Booster, and as I mentioned in the TOCA Race Driver GRID guide, install Razer Game Booster, which is now called Razer Cortex.
Razer Cortex
HiAlgoBoost Skyrim Edition (Yes, there are other mods like this one)
Be aware to install the HiAlgoBoost in the root folder, not in the Data Folder, so don't use NMM (Nexus Mod Manager) with this one. Backup any file that you're asked to overwrite as it may crash your game due to compatibility problems with any mod you may have installed.
Also install SKSE and SkyIU which can make the menu experience less jerkier and provide support for 80% of today's Skyrim mods.
Why Razer Cortex? It shuts down everything that's not needed while playing, giving close to 100% focus of the computer in the game you're playing.
Why HiAlgoBooster? In GPU stress situations it increases the size of pixels, slightly reducing quality for a few seconds, just the enought to counter-balance frame rate drops.
Take in mind most of these tweaks are area focused. Some will not provide a general frame rate increase, but reduce lag in certain areas. For example, water based performance tweaks will increase/reduce lag when you're near water, get it?
And that's it. If you still can't play skyrim, I have the solution for you, but it makes the game ugly as hell.
ULG - Ultra Low Graphics Mod for low-end PCs
