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Skyrim: Special Edition - Mods Thread: Thomas the Tank Engine Strikes Back

Didn't fix the problem. I might uninstall and reinstall it then add mods via nexus instead and see what happens.

Honestly, you really will be better off in the end using NMM rather than the in game mod organizer and marketplace. A lot of mods are actually NMM exclusive and don't even make it to the in game one. Plus NMM is much nicer once you get to know it. It does have it's quirks but it gets updated regularly and there is a new version that is going to merge the two big mod downloaders, NMM and MO, into one suite as far as I understand it anyway. That should be coming soon but getting used to using a stand alone mod organizer is going to help in the meantime.
 
Honestly, you really will be better off in the end using NMM rather than the in game mod organizer and marketplace. A lot of mods are actually NMM exclusive and don't even make it to the in game one. Plus NMM is much nicer once you get to know it. It does have it's quirks but it gets updated regularly and there is a new version that is going to merge the two big mod downloaders, NMM and MO, into one suite as far as I understand it anyway. That should be coming soon but getting used to using a stand alone mod organizer is going to help in the meantime.

Thanks a lot for your help, it's really appreciated and I will go Nexus from now on.
 
Thanks a lot for your help, it's really appreciated and I will go Nexus from now on.

No problem man, and if you (and any others that are new to the thread) want a little help with mods if it is your first time and you like things to look pretty then maybe check out my guide. :) I've added more mods since then and have some more to add to it but I was waiting on some mods to get updated and a few more to be ported over before I updated it but I may just go ahead and make another update in the meantime to reflect where I am atm. Anyway, here is so far for the meantime this should give you a solid foundation and then some for your modded Skyrim experience.

Alright, as promised here is my how to post on getting the visuals and performance that are seen in my screenshots. Now I want to preface this with a bit of honesty. I don't know what on earth causes it but there are still some places out in the wild that cause fps dips. I only encounter it in the most dense parts of forests so far and some very weird and specific spots that just don't make sense but the framerate only ever falls to 55 in those occasions. I will continue to test and figure out what causes it and will update this post when/if I do. Please share any performance tips with me if you end up using this guide!

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You can see more here.

So, I thought it might be useful to someone if I made a post with all my settings, mods, tweaks and whatnot that I used to reach a solid performance with the visual fidelity that you see in my photos if you have the same rig as me.

Now, I generally test every mod that I download immediately after downloading it unless it is something small then I might test two or three small ones at a time. But this means that I do a whole lot of testing lol. Every single time I test I look for drops in framerate and other anomalies. I always take the exact same rout which is a loop around the mountain that you are facing as soon as you exit the inn in Riverwood. I always start a new save with alternate start mod where it starts you off at that inn and take a left and make my way around. I do this no matter what, even if I just tweaked an .ini setting or deactivated/reactivated a mod. There are spots throughout this rout that are very heavy fps hitters and I make sure I visit each one every time to see if anything has improved or worsened.

Please note that this means that I haven't tested a bloated save file. I only know that from a fresh start with this set up things work fine.

My Specs
I have a 60Hz 3440x1440 21:9 monitor
GTX 1080 FTW
i5 6600k
16 gigs of ram

Here are the mods that I have installed so far. This post is meant to grow over time and I will add to it if and when I test more mods and am able to still keep performance stable.

5UHHSdT.png


I'll try to describe each mod and why I like it as best as I can so far and let you know what I think is essential.

QOL​

Alternate Start - This is a must have for mod testing for me at least. It enables me to start a fresh save very quickly and straight to the spot I needed every time.

Unread Books Glow SSE - Didn't know how much I would appreciate this mod till I saw it in action and used it. Just trust me and try it.

Ars Metallica - Smithing Enhancement - Skyrim's smithing was already good but it felt like it could use just a bit more. This is the logical direction that I would think the smithing would go in a sequel. Fills in some of the gaps that made you think, "Why can't I do this?"

Sound
True 3D Sound for Headphones - Binaural audio and imo the best overall and most immediate non visual difference I've experienced so far, what this brings to the table is astonishing especially when mixed with the other audio mods. IMO the most important sound mod of all if you are using headphones.

Immersive Sounds Compendium - Made by a Lazy gaffer and adds so much more realism by replacing much of the vanilla sounds such as walking with armor and drawing weapons etc that the title of the mod is spot on.

Reverb and Ambiance Overhaul - Really gives the sounds depth.

Lucidity Sound FX SSE - Fills in most of the gaps that the other sound mods might have missed.

Visual Immersion
Better than Nando's - Now I just wish I could kick them. :/

Cutting Room Floor - Imagine if Skyrim had a developers cut.

Detailed 2K terrain texture with parallax effect - Adds a nice bit of Lod to distance objects and terrain.

Enhanced Blood Textures SSE - I usually don't go for gore mods but this really does ad to the realism a fair bit if you enable the smaller wounds and blood spatter while installing.

Immersive Laundry - Such a simple addition that adds more immersion and realism than you realize. So much so that this is actually one of my favorites and something that I, believe it or not, think is essential.

JK's Riverwood - Adds so much detail and extra goodies to Riverwood while respecting the setting. I would even go so far to say it enhances it quite a bit. I've taken several pictures of it if the mod page isn't enough for you.

JK's Whiterun - JK has apparently done most if not all cities in Skyrim and is working on porting them all to the SE. At the time of this post he has only ported these two so far which is a blessing and a curse because they are awesome and because I have come to the point that I don't even want to visit a new city for the first time in the SE without it being modded by JK... :/

Nordic Snow (aka HD Snow Texture) - Dude who made it lives in Norway and wanted the world to know what real snow looks like. It's awesome, way better than vanilla.

Point The Way - Almost didn't add this one but decided to give it a try since I like playing without a compass.

HD Road Signs - 2K and 4K - 4K version - Complements Point the way.

Realistic Water Two - Best water mod so far IMO. Even has foam!

RUSTIC WINDOWS - I honestly never thought that I would ever see windows that looked this good in Skyrim. Adds a really nice looking texture to the glass in windows that plays really well with light and really enhances the godrays that can break your immersion pretty easily normally if you follow their source back to the vanilla windows.

Skyrim 2017 Textures - Don't let the weird title confuse you. These textures are like magic. I have no clue how he makes them have the 3D effect that they do. The IQ is amazing, best I've seen so far. The best thing about these textures though is that they really mask the bare patches of earth extremely well. From far away they blend in with the flora and up close, like I said, they have this amazing almost 3D effect that will make it much harder to break your immersion. Absolutely essential IMO.

Skyrim Flora Overhaul SE - Adds many new varieties of trees and flora and enhances vanilla flavors as well. What I really like about this is tall pines it adds to the distant lod. Really makes the forests feel larger and more realistic. The only thing that I don't like about it is that it leaves too many patches of bare ground uncovered which normally wouldn't be a big deal if the ground/grass texture wasn't flat. Thankfully our next mod solves this issue immensely.

Verdant - A Skyrim Grass Plugin - Verdant is just plain amazing. As a permaculturalist and community garden manager who spends a lot of time working outdoors with plants this is IMO the most realistic of the two flora mods (and any other that is out for that matter) that I have installed so far. The variety and ground cover that this mod provides is spot on. I am working in a prairie at the moment and let me tell you this mod IMO does a better job at what it sets out to do (grass atm) than SFO (both trees, grass and bushes). It's just a good thing that we don't have to pick one or the other! If you have read horror stories about the fps performance of SFO combined with Verdan or are having issues yourself then skip ahead to the Tweaks section where I explain how I got a stable framerate with both.

Skyrim SE improved Puddles - I mean, just look at the pics of some of the pathetic vanilla puddles and ask yourself if you would like something, anything, that was an improvement. This is that.

SSE Texture Pack - Osmodius - This is a great texture mod that does a good job at keeping with the style and setting of Skyrim. It provides WAY better textures than vanilla with no fps hit whatsoever that I can tell.

Gecko's 4K Mountain Textures Gaffer Made and with how many rocks and mountains are in the game is really a must have. I really like the darker texture it adds to the rocks. I actually think it fits "Skyrim" much better than the vanilla textures did. Plus it fits in with the forest environments better as well IMO.

Static Mesh Improvement Mod - SMIM This is probably the most "can't live without" visual mod for me so far, the difference is massive.

Trees in Cities - Special Edition - I don't know man. I love trees.

True Storms Special Edition - Best weather mod so far and hardly impacts fps at all. Since vanilla weather is awesome enough already this time around it's nice to have a mod that literally just enhances the vanilla weather instead of trying to implement something totally different. Makes some snows snowier and some rains rainier and some fogs... you get the picture. The best part though is probably that this mod adds amazing storm sound effects both outside and in. It's incredible to be inside and hear the storm raging around the dwelling you are in where it would make sense that you could hear it. Definitely an essential for me.

Book Covers Skyrim SE - Adds some really cool and believable book textures. I've actually bound a quite a few books IRL and this mod does a great job conveying what I always thought in my head they would really be like in Skyrim. Books are such a huge part of Skyrim that this mod is essential IMO. Do yourself a favor GAF, pick up this mod and make reading great again!

Not so visual Immersion​

Campfire - Complete Camping System - I put this here since to me like the title states this is more a system that enhances immersion more than it is something visual. Sadly I actually haven't gotten a chance to test this mod at all. I was waiting on a couple other mods to start my play-through before I did. But, from what I read on the mod page it seems to be functioning just fine atm.

Apocalypse - Magic of Skyrim - Again, haven't tested this much but I did peruse through the skills and am quite excited to get started!

Ordinator - Perks of Skyrim - Same as above really.

Relationship Dialogue Overhaul - RDO - Another one that I haven't gotten to testing in depth yet as I have not put the time in to pick up a follower. The description sounds amazing though.

Sky TEST - Realistic Animals And Predators - Other than this mod adding Chicks, Hens, Roosters, Baby Sheeps, Baby Goats, Baby Bears (watch out for mom, super aggressive if you get close), Baby Deer and Elk, Small spiders, Babby rabbits, Pig and Pigglet, new Cows and Bulls, Ducks and Babby Mammoths, it does one of the most important things that needed to happen to gameplay. It makes it so that not all enemies gang up on you at once. They will fight each other where it would make sense that they would. It also changes the enemy behavior in a way more realistic way so that they don't just attack you at first sight. Really adds to immersion IMO.

Wet and Cold - Well, not having your breath show and water drop off of you didn't use to break my immersion when I played this game as a young teen but as someone who now polar bear swims avidly and spends a whole lot of time outside in shorts shoveling snow and playing around during winter IRL (Wim Hof Method) this mod added something that was blowing my mind wasn't there in the first place when I came back to Skyrim lol.

Here is my loot load order
kB5Vy0V.png


Note that if Loot puts something ahead or behind of something that you want to load first or last then you can edit the meta data of the mod that you want to load after by clicking on the three dots on top of each other to the right of the mod in the list and selecting "Edit Metadata." Now select "load after" and then copy paste the file name of the mod that you want to load after into the corresponding field by clicking on the plus and adding a new row for you to paste too, a drop down menu should appear with the name of the mod you want kind of like autofill, select that. You only need one of these as far as I can tell so after it is filled in just click on the floppy disc save icon next to the red X and you are done.

Now for an amateur not so in depth description on mod overwriting...

Now, here is a rule of thumb when installing a mod through NMM and it asks you if you want to overwrite a file that is already altered by another mod... Check the mod page lol. Chances are that others have already asked questions about what you are trying to do if it isn't already addressed in the installation instructions or compatibilities/incompatabilities section. I just can't remember everything that I said yes or no to but I know that I did follow the mod pages instructions every time. Generally for textures you want to let whatever texture you want from a mod that you download that is compatible with another mod overwrite the textures from another mod that may be providing that same type of texture. For example SFO provides textures for trees, bushes, general plants and grass while Verdant provides just grass. So, If you have SFO installed and want to just replace it's grass with Verdant's then, while installing Verdant, NMM will let you know that the object that you are trying to modify is already being modified by another mod, in this case SFO. It will ask if you want to let it overwrite the files and in this case you do and because you know that Verdant only contains grass textures just say "yes to all." This same principle works with sounds as well.

Time for the tweaks!
Whew, almost done!

First, since we want to use Verdant and SFO together, do not forget to turn off the SFO plugin if you didn't already. If you use NMM there should be two tabs labeled "mods" and "plugins." Go to the plugins tab and uncheck SFO. This allows you to replace the grass from SFO with Verdants instead of trying to use both.

Alright, now lets go to the .ini's and do some editing.

First thing we will do is delete this .ini that came with SFO with those settings in it and just copy and paste these entire lines of settings to underneath the "[Grass]" section in the Skyrim.ini file for the special edition since they are absent if you don't,

iMaxGrassTypesPerTexure=15
iMinGrassSize=60

How do you find the Skyrim.ini? You can search for it in the task bar if you want, just make sure you have selected the right edition of skyrim by right clicking and selecting the file location to see if it takes you to the special editions file path.

Folks in the verdant comments section who where also using SFO and running into fps issues said that this helped. I know some here have said that it isn't necessary and using SFO's provided .ini file works just fine but this is the setting I am using while getting the performance that I have while testing so it's what I am recommending in this guide for now.

Now, I did a little research and found that the built in Vsync solution is apparently pretty trash so this is what I did,

Go to your Skyrimprefs.ini. You can search for it in the task bar if you want, again make sure you have the right edition of skyrim by right clicking and selecting the file location to see if it takes you to the special editions file path. Locate iVSyncPresentInterval=1 and set it to 0. Save that. Now open Nvidia control panel and go to "Manage 3d Settings" If you can't find the SE in the list then click on the "add" button and find it.

Now in the list of settings select Vsync and set it to on.

Now select apply at the bottom of the page.

Next, head back to your Skyrimprefs.ini and we are going to make a nice little LOD tweak. This gif provided by Gaffer Darkstorne can describe what this does more than I could with words.

You want to find uLargeRefLODGridSize=11 and set it to 21. (Thanks Kaffeemann!) NOTE: Some are saying that this can actually cause performance issues in some areas, since I enabled this early on before I had the flora stuff installed and It's something I can live without I will test with this tuned down when I get the chance and see if it helps.

EDIT: I have done some more testing and have found a solution for the fps drops that doesn't effect visuals. Read about it in my post here if you are unsatisfied with performance.

Now save and go test the game!

My goodness that took me a while to put together! I really hope it helps someone. I am sorry it came late but life happened and I had to care for my grandma.

Please let me know where I messed up because, yeah, I had to have somewhere in there lol.
 
No problem man, and if you (and any others that are new to the thread) want a little help with mods if it is your first time and you like things to look pretty then maybe check out my guide. :) I've added more mods since then and have some more to add to it but I was waiting on some mods to get updated and a few more to be ported over before I updated it but I may just go ahead and make another update in the meantime to reflect where I am atm. Anyway, here is so far for the meantime this should give you a solid foundation and then some for your modded Skyrim experience.

Awesome post, so basically install them in that order?. I'll hop on that in a bit.
 

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
still looking for ways to fix the really weird uneven sfx volume

I don't think any of the sound mods would fix that problem, it's just so annoying to hear weapon and magic noises being so loud, even when you try to lower the effects volume
 
Vlaud you quoted your whole post? A link would've been better :)

I only quoted it for those who are new. And so that when others quote the post that I quoted it in, it doesn't get quoted along with it.

still looking for ways to fix the really weird uneven sfx volume

I don't think any of the sound mods would fix that problem, it's just so annoying to hear weapon and magic noises being so loud, even when you try to lower the effects volume

I don't know what to tell you mate. Try using the same load order as me and see if that helps. I don't have that problem.
 

leng jai

Member
still looking for ways to fix the really weird uneven sfx volume

I don't think any of the sound mods would fix that problem, it's just so annoying to hear weapon and magic noises being so loud, even when you try to lower the effects volume

There should be volume sliders in the settings for basicly everything. Magic needs to be turned down because that is super loud at max volume.
 
Oh I have
i7-6700K 3.5ghz
16GB RAM
GTX970

What kind of FPS am I looking at for the heavy duty mods?

Try sticking with 2K textures and go easy on the .ini settings for the flora mods for a start. See what that gets you and then if you need more performance try turning shadows to high. Just follow the tweaks section from my guide and any suggestions from any of the mod page descriptions and you should be good to go. If you are running at 1080p you might not even have to do any of that and may be able to just follow my guide and be good. Please report back with what works though so that I can have that info to give to others. :)
 

lazygecko

Member
still looking for ways to fix the really weird uneven sfx volume

I don't think any of the sound mods would fix that problem, it's just so annoying to hear weapon and magic noises being so loud, even when you try to lower the effects volume

Each sound is assigned to a category, or sub-category linked to a parent category, with those parent categories usually being the volume sliders you see in the options. Problem is, the way these categorizations are distributed is inconsistent to say the least. A lot of magic sounds are categorized as ambient, for instance, and some stuff like waterfalls or wind gusts are categorized as effects instead of ambient.

In my last update I did a large scale pass on properly recategorizing lots of sounds, and also made more of the sub-categories visible as sliders in the options so users have way more fine control over the mix.

Also worth noting that the entire audio infrastructure of Skyrim is unoptimized as hell and will behave very unpredictably across different sound cards or sound drivers, which might explain why the volume is weird for you but not for others. I know that can be real and not placebo because I have experienced it first hand when switching between integrated realtek sound and an external sound card.
 

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
I only quoted it for those who are new. And so that when others quote the post that I quoted it in, it doesn't get quoted along with it.

I don't know what to tell you mate. Try using the same load order as me and see if that helps. I don't have that problem.

same load order there, seems to be more like a system problem than the mods

There should be volume sliders in the settings for basicly everything. Magic needs to be turned down because that is super loud at max volume.

magic and effects volume are low but they still come out really loud

Each sound is assigned to a category, or sub-category linked to a parent category, with those parent categories usually being the volume sliders you see in the options. Problem is, the way these categorizations are distributed is inconsistent to say the least. A lot of magic sounds are categorized as ambient, for instance, and some stuff like waterfalls or wind gusts are categorized as effects instead of ambient.

In my last update I did a large scale pass on properly recategorizing lots of sounds, and also made more of the sub-categories visible as sliders in the options so users have way more fine control over the mix.

ah that explains it, was wondering why the hell some magic effects weren't softened

also thanks for the reminder, I need to look at the mods I have for updates lol
 

lazygecko

Member
I think more people still need to check out True 3D Sound as well. It's one of those mods that has a very high user engagement with a large endorsement/vote to download ratio but just doesn't have that momentum in raw popularity. Just got pushed out of the mod of the month list due to the concentrated influx of the old well known mods which I think is a shame, seeing as this is something genuinely new and a monumental change to the game experience.

I've even started prototyping a new ambient sound mod specifically to leverage its improvements to positional audio
 

Easy_D

never left the stone age
I think more people still need to check out True 3D Sound as well. It's one of those mods that has a very high user engagement with a large endorsement/vote to download ratio but just doesn't have that momentum in raw popularity. Just got pushed out of the mod of the month list due to the concentrated influx of the old well known mods which I think is a shame, seeing as this is something genuinely new and a monumental change to the game experience.

I've even started prototyping a new ambient sound mod specifically to leverage its improvements to positional audio
Dude thanks for posting, love stuff like this, more games need to do it, crazy how well it works when done well
 

Kaz42

Member
Are there any mods on ps4 that reset the shout cooldown to their base? I've got a glitch where all of my shout cooldowns are negative numbers and would like to know if that can be fixed using mods.
 

Ashodin

Member
I think more people still need to check out True 3D Sound as well. It's one of those mods that has a very high user engagement with a large endorsement/vote to download ratio but just doesn't have that momentum in raw popularity. Just got pushed out of the mod of the month list due to the concentrated influx of the old well known mods which I think is a shame, seeing as this is something genuinely new and a monumental change to the game experience.

I've even started prototyping a new ambient sound mod specifically to leverage its improvements to positional audio

Can confirm, True 3D Sound is amazing.
 

Ollie Pooch

In a perfect world, we'd all be homersexual
I think more people still need to check out True 3D Sound as well. It's one of those mods that has a very high user engagement with a large endorsement/vote to download ratio but just doesn't have that momentum in raw popularity. Just got pushed out of the mod of the month list due to the concentrated influx of the old well known mods which I think is a shame, seeing as this is something genuinely new and a monumental change to the game experience.

I've even started prototyping a new ambient sound mod specifically to leverage its improvements to positional audio
I use this and it's amazing. It has a vague ASMR effect to it, I find it super relaxing to play now.
 
I think more people still need to check out True 3D Sound as well. It's one of those mods that has a very high user engagement with a large endorsement/vote to download ratio but just doesn't have that momentum in raw popularity. Just got pushed out of the mod of the month list due to the concentrated influx of the old well known mods which I think is a shame, seeing as this is something genuinely new and a monumental change to the game experience.

I've even started prototyping a new ambient sound mod specifically to leverage its improvements to positional audio

Yup, it's in my guide. I have it described as an essential mod. It's amazing.

Can't wait till you finish your mod! Be sure to post it here when you do so that I can test it out and add it to the guide!
 

Se_7_eN

Member
Which is why, like I said, you set each RLO plugin to load after the suggested order from the mod page. For instance,

(A*) Realistic Lighting Overhaul - Minor Cities and Town Interiors.esp

Should have it's meta data edited to be loaded AFTER,

(B*) Realistic Lighting Overhaul - Major City Interiors.esp

and so on and so forth.

After you are done putting them one after the other, have LOOT sort your mod order automatically and it will put them where they work best as far as I can tell. This doesn't mean that they will all be put together immediately one after another, it just means that the plugin B* will ALWAYS load somewhere in the list AFTER plugin A* etc. If you want a small tutorial on how to edit the meta data of your plugins like this and many more things then check out my guide here. It's near the bottom.

EDIT: Crap, just re read this and thought that it might have come off as a little hostile at the beginning. Totally didn't mean to do that! I love helping out. :D

Definitely helped man, thanks!

I have been using Enhanced Lights and FX with it and it looks AMAZING!
Unfortunately, there are some missing walls in Whiterun, but the creator said the SSE version and wall fix is coming soon.
 
Definitely helped man, thanks!

I have been using Enhanced Lights and FX with it and it looks AMAZING!
Unfortunately, there are some missing walls in Whiterun, but the creator said the SSE version and wall fix is coming soon.

Yeah, I used it once before with RLO, but there seem to be an issue with the current version. Good to know that they're going to properly port it to SSE. It'll really add more immersion to my Skyrim.
 

Neverfade

Member
Anyone have any success with Super Simple Lock Bash? (XBO)

Been beating the everloving shit out of every chest I see and have yet to crack one open.
 

Se_7_eN

Member
Yeah, I used it once before with RLO, but there seem to be an issue with the current version. Good to know that they're going to properly port it to SSE. It'll really add more immersion to my Skyrim.

Combining RLO with Enhanced Lights and FX looks so good, I had to disable it though because of the missing ceiling pieces being so distracting.... Going to just RLO looks bland now :( Soon though!


This might sound crazy, but am I the only one who thinks the "Weightless" or increasing carry weight to xxx really takes away from the game?
 

daxy

Member
Combining RLO with Enhanced Lights and FX looks so good, I had to disable it though because of the missing ceiling pieces being so distracting.... Going to just RLO looks bland now :( Soon though!

This might sound crazy, but am I the only one who thinks the "Weightless" or increasing carry weight to xxx really takes away from the game?

Yeah, I'm with you here. I can see why people would do it, but I do feel like maximizing the value of the trash I pick up relative to my inventory space is part of the experience.
 

spk

Member
Anyone know if Relighting Skyrim will get a port? Or if it's plainly compatible? ELE+RL+ENB is what I use and prefer for Old Skyrim

ah nevermind found this

User: Skyrim Special Edition seems to accept this mod, where you can enable it and change its load order correctly, but I haven't got the chance to confirm it's actually working and correcting light sources in the game.
JawZ: Yes.
It will take some time though. And it will be an entire new version.
Relighting Skyrim - Remastered, the name was changed long before SSE was announced.
This will also be the new version for Original Skyrim as well.

RSR have been in development since the start of 2016, but I took a modding break between february through august this year.
That's why there haven't been any news about it. It's still very early in it's development in terms of content covered.
 

Ashodin

Member
Yeah, I'm with you here. I can see why people would do it, but I do feel like maximizing the value of the trash I pick up relative to my inventory space is part of the experience.

I use the leather bags mod. It allows you to "craft" extra bag space so it's very lore friendly.
 

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
Weird, I downloaded the updated Immersive Sounds Compendium, but it came out as its own separate thing in NMM than actually updating the mod lol
 

Unai

Member
I think it needs that virtual install like Mod Manager has before the option of updating a mod automatically. Just think about it:
- I install Mod A and Mod B;
- Mod B needs to overwrite some textures or whatnot from Mod A;
- Mod A updates automatically;

Now I would have to reinstall mod B so it could overwrite Mod A again. But how would I even know that if Mod A was updated automatically? Things could go very wrong.
 

Newboi

Member
Ok, so I've been hearing everyone talk about the wonders of the Verdant Grass mod and how it's better than Skyrim Flora Overhaul. Anyway, I finally decide to download and install Verdant Grass and...WOW...this mod is awesome! I can't believe it took me this long to install it. It provides a massive improvement to the flora and overall look of Skyrim.
 
Try sticking with 2K textures and go easy on the .ini settings for the flora mods for a start. See what that gets you and then if you need more performance try turning shadows to high. Just follow the tweaks section from my guide and any suggestions from any of the mod page descriptions and you should be good to go. If you are running at 1080p you might not even have to do any of that and may be able to just follow my guide and be good. Please report back with what works though so that I can have that info to give to others. :)

It works great and runs smoothly, I don't have a FPS counter yet so will see what is going on there.
 
It works great and runs smoothly, I don't have a FPS counter yet so will see what is going on there.

If you got the game through steam then you should be able to use steams fps overlay.

If you don't know where to find it, go to the steam app, click on steam at the top left, click on settings on the drop down menu, in the settings window click on "in-game" and then somewhere in the options on the left you should be able to find an drop down menu option for "in-game fps counter."

This will only work for steam linked games though. I generally use afterburner plus riva tuner. They both work together. This provides the ability to give you a whole lot more info along with fps if you want, like gpu and cpu temp which I think is a must have for PC users.
 

Newboi

Member
Is Skyrim's standard ingame Vsync double buffered? Before I modified my SkyrimPrefs.ini to turn off Vsync, I would be mostly well over 60fps, but then my framerate would cut in half at the oddest times or locations for almost not obvious visual reason. Once I turned off the games Vsync, my framerate's been completely smooth ever sense. My only explanation is that the games implementation must be double buffered, which would dive the framerate to 30fps if it ever fell even slightly below 60fps.

Anyway, Thanks VlaudTheImpaler for all of your tips!
 
If you got the game through steam then you should be able to use steams fps overlay.

If you don't know where to find it, go to the steam app, click on steam at the top left, click on settings on the drop down menu, in the settings window click on "in-game" and then somewhere in the options on the left you should be able to find an drop down menu option for "in-game fps counter."

This will only work for steam linked games though. I generally use afterburner plus riva tuner. They both work together. This provides the ability to give you a whole lot more info along with fps if you want, like gpu and cpu temp which I think is a must have for PC users.

Thanks, so 60 indoors and a big drop to 45 when outside most likely due to that grass mod.
 
Thanks, so 60 indoors and a big drop to 45 when outside most likely due to that grass mod.

Yeah, like I said, go easy on the grass .ini settings. Go point by point and test each time until you get performance you like. Also, follow the instructions on the Verdant page on turning off grass shadows and see if that helps. Make sure you follow all of my tips/tweaks at the bottom of my guide as well. Like the post above yours says, turning off in game Vsync is pretty much essential. I go over that in my guide.
 
Big Mod List and Explanation

Finished my mod load out the other day and came here lookin for some more goodstuff and saw mine wasnt too far off from yours! Copying what I didnt have gave mine just the push it needed to get that real beautiful oomph. Thanks a lot I really appreciate the amount of time and effort it must've taken to organize that explanation!
 

kiunchbb

www.dictionary.com
I think more people still need to check out True 3D Sound as well. It's one of those mods that has a very high user engagement with a large endorsement/vote to download ratio but just doesn't have that momentum in raw popularity. Just got pushed out of the mod of the month list due to the concentrated influx of the old well known mods which I think is a shame, seeing as this is something genuinely new and a monumental change to the game experience.

I've even started prototyping a new ambient sound mod specifically to leverage its improvements to positional audio

Well this benefit 5.1 speakers also? Or just headphones?
 

Lorcain

Member
I'm so impressed with how good Skyrim looks with mods. There are times when I just stop playing to admire how great the game looks. The modding community has done an amazing job.

These are the visual mods I'm using (thanks to Vlaud for his list):
SSE Texture Pack - Osmodius
SMIM
SFO
Verdant Grass
Realistic Water 2
Nordic Snow

SFO and Verdant Grass were framerate killers for me until I deleted the .ini file that SFO adds, and changed the Skyrim.ini grass setting from 20 to 60. It took less than a minute to do that.
 

Ashodin

Member
Que? What's the backstory here?

Basically a huge expansion like mod's creator decided to just up and delete everything from every mod website officially and removed his social presence. They basically went dark for some strange reason.

The mod itself was stellar too. Possibly the fame got to them and they didn't want to have to deal with it any more? Likely.
 
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