1ceTr0n

The game interface and HUD really sucks to be honest. How the hell can I favorite anything when it doesn't even work? Can't I map spells to keys on my mouse or keyboard? What the hell? I hate having to use that TAB key so much also

When you go into your inventory/magic menu select the items you want as favorites.  Back in game press "Q" as this will bring up the fav. menu.  Highlight the weapon/armor/potion/spell with the mouse and press the number key.  That item will now be bound to that hotkey.  Apparently, it works for keys 1 thru 8.  I haven't been able bind anything to 9 or 0.  I haven't tried any other keys.

So the game does support ambient occlusion - for nVidia cards only!
 
This improves depth of the image CONSIDERABLY by adding shading to corners of objects, however it's somewhat tricky to enable.  First, you need to create a profile for Skyrim in your nVidia control panel.  Just do this the usual way - point it at the tesv.exe file, if you don't already have a 'Skyrim' profile listed (I think the latest beta adds one).  You don't actually need to change anything, here, just make sure you have a profile for Skyrim.

Next, you need to download and run nVidia Inspector (it's available at Guru3d's site, among other places)...basically, a GPU-Z like app specific to nVidia cards.

Once run, click the configuration icon (the screwdriver and wrench icon) to the right of the 'driver version' field.  This brings up a new window with a lot of options.  In the top of this window is a drop-down box.  You'll note that it's set to the 'Global' stuff by default.  Click the drop-down, and find the Skyrim option.  (Depending on your driver version or how you added the profile, this may show up as 'Skyrim', 'tesv.exe', or 'Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim')  Select it.

With the Skyrim option selected, there are three fields you need to change:

• Ambient Occlusion Compatibility (in the top section) - default "0x0000000", change to "0x00000003 (Fallout 3)"
• Ambient Occlusion setting (fourth section down) - default "Off", change to "Quality" (after a lot of testing, this is probably the best balance - the higher quality mode does look better in motion.  In still screenshots, the difference between the three modes is very slight...almost unnoticeable.  Indoors, when the shadows being cast are not of 'moving things', it's REALLY identical, and the 'Performance' mode really does yield MUCH better framerate.  Outdoors, though, when leaves and branches are blowing in the wind, the lower quality modes create a mild 'shadow flicker' on the trees or bushes blowing.  I'm using "High Quality", myself, although performance is...rough.  Sure looks purdy, though.)
• Ambient Occlusion usage (same section as last) - default "Disabled", change to "Enabled"

...click 'Apply changes' in the top, and you are good to go!  (This sounds more complicated than it is - the tool has a very user-friendly GUI, all these options are drop-down menu choices, so you aren't actually typing anything in, and the visual improvement is BIG)

SSAO Off:

SSAO On: 

 
Note, specifically, the corners and 'under' or 'behind' things (for example, the weapons rack in the left-back of the room, and the beam next to it and stone projections on the wall above it...or under the various lamp posts...or in the floor seems over to the right).
 
Beautiful improvement - really adds a feeling of 'depth' to the game.   Without it enabled, it just looks...like a video game.  Objects hovering in space over each other, 'flat' walls, sharp angles and curves with no sense of lighting on them, etc.

But OH MY GOD it is a MASSIVE performance hit.

Sweet Im gonna try these with everything on ultra on my 560 lols
 
edit: got about 40fps with everything turned up, check, and config file edited. Not bad 

wow those water tweaks are sweet, made it look a whole lot better
 

 

compddd

kingofsorrow

Fxaa is actually not an improvement - it blurs the image like hell. It degradates the image quality. Dont turn this feature on in no way. As well as the object detail fade - disable it for the sake of  the crystal clear graphics.
I also noticed that bDrawLandShadows=1 makes the ground look less natural. I've set it back to 0.

I would also advise to enabling the in-game transparency AA (bTransparencyMultisampling=1) and disabling this setting in the nvidia control panel. This will make the whole image look more natural and colorful.

Another thing I'd add is water AA (iWaterMultiSamples=4, or even better 8 ). This setting will make the water look simply outstanding.

Game's nice btw. Looks like a mixture of Fallout 3, Nehrim and even Morrowind at times. 
I can't find (bTransparencyMultisampling=1) what ini file is it located in?

That's the same file - SkyrimPrefs.ini. Should be there.
I did some more testing of that option and it is simply a must. But! It works best with the transparency AA set to 8x in the Nvidia Control Panel... This option will even improve the Depth of Field on some objects. (It shows particularly well on the green cups on the shelves...)

here is one of the enemies, I'm currently working on getting my sneak skill up, its quite easy, just have to sit in a shadows area and the enemy walks back and forth. then when ya go back to hidden mode, move just a tiny bit to get the enemies attention again and repeat the process.
 

Man, using that configuration tool - everything looks amazing. Hard to believe that even with everything on DNA extreme I'm still pulling 60-130 FPS @ 2560X1600.
 
At least both GTX 580s are now at 98-99% utilization, and I've seen just under 1.9GB VRAM usage so far.
 
EDIT - Had to make the .cfg file read only so Skyrim wouldn't change it. Now I'm seeing 2.6GB to 3014MB. Thankfully these cards have 3072! Ha! FPS is consistantly over 60 outdoors, but indoors for some reason, especially when dust is coming down in caves, FPS can drop down to 20-30 even with only 2.6GB in use. Must be a TON of shadows to render. I'm looking forward to getting my 3rd card back from RMA so I don't notice those dips anymore!

spyderrico

Game is downloaded at home, gotta wait till i'm off work Sunday morning to play.  I am going to try all of the mentioned teaks but am curious if my system will handle this ok?  I'm not going to be too concerned if its not hitting 60fps but need to stay within 40 for somewhat smooth gameplay.  Can anyone give me a heads up if I can anticipate performance issues with the aforementioned tweaks?

SYSTEM RIG
CPU- Q9550 OC'd at 3.6
GPU- GTX 480 SC @ 825/2000
PSU- Antec 1000 watt
Mem- 4gb patriot viper 1600
OS- Vista 32 bit
Hanns G 28 monitor @ 1920x1200

 
the game is dropping to 20 - 30fps in certain areas no matter the setup, SLI, single card, overclocked, doesn't matter, some areas just aren't optimized very well. and needs either a patch or driver update to fix it.
 
You will stay above 40 in most areas just not all.

arestavo

Man, using that configuration tool - everything looks amazing. Hard to believe that even with everything on DNA extreme I'm still pulling 60-130 FPS @ 2560X1600.

At least both GTX 580s are now at 98-99% utilization, and I've seen just under 1.9GB VRAM usage so far.

EDIT - Had to make the .cfg file read only so Skyrim wouldn't change it. Now I'm seeing 2.6GB to 3014MB. Thankfully these cards have 3072! Ha! FPS is consistantly over 60 outdoors, but indoors for some reason, especially when dust is coming down in caves, FPS can drop down to 20-30 even with only 2.6GB in use. Must be a TON of shadows to render. I'm looking forward to getting my 3rd card back from RMA so I don't notice those dips anymore!

thx for these infos;
 
can you tell me how vram do you use at 1920*1200?
 
thx in adv

I'm having a really hard time getting my system to fluidly run the game AFTER I made most of these suggested tweaks. Do you think this is because my system couldn't handle it? If so, what settings would you experts recommend for:
 
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti 2GB
AMD Phenom II X6 1100T Black Edition Thuban 3.7GHz (OC to 4.0)
8GB DDR3 @ 2000
Corsair Force 3 SSD
 
I can't seem to find any good, stable overclocking timings that would help, either.

I don't own this game but I have something else to add to the OP.
 
As some of you know, I receive the Windows7Themes.net eNewsletters.  In the most recent issue, there was an article on improving performance in Skyrim.  Some of the tips most are aware of but I still thought it'd be useful for some.
 
10 Tips How To Make Skyrim Run Faster And More Stable: Prevent Lags, Freezes, Crashes

Tweaked

Could be.  I'm barely holding 50 fps after tweaks.  You can see my specs.  Probably need to make a few compromises to improve fps.

That definately does not give me the warm and fuzzies, looking at your specs.  Oh well, I'll make all the adjustments and go from there.  If FPS are too low then start tweaking the settings to have a playable performance.  I am pumped to play this game!
 
SYSTEM RIG
CPU- Q9550 OC'd at 3.6
GPU- GTX 480 SC @ 825/2000
PSU- Antec 1000 watt
Mem- 4gb patriot viper 1600
OS- Vista 32 bit
Hanns G 28 monitor @ 1920x1200

kalyyy

arestavo

Man, using that configuration tool - everything looks amazing. Hard to believe that even with everything on DNA extreme I'm still pulling 60-130 FPS @ 2560X1600.

At least both GTX 580s are now at 98-99% utilization, and I've seen just under 1.9GB VRAM usage so far.

EDIT - Had to make the .cfg file read only so Skyrim wouldn't change it. Now I'm seeing 2.6GB to 3014MB. Thankfully these cards have 3072! Ha! FPS is consistantly over 60 outdoors, but indoors for some reason, especially when dust is coming down in caves, FPS can drop down to 20-30 even with only 2.6GB in use. Must be a TON of shadows to render. I'm looking forward to getting my 3rd card back from RMA so I don't notice those dips anymore!

thx for these infos;

can you tell me how vram do you use at 1920*1200?

thx in adv

 
at 1920x1080, 8X AA, 16X AF, Ultra detail, the highest I've seen on my card so far is 1.2GB of VRAM.

TES forums are filled with pissed off people and their issues with the PC version of the game. Betheseda knows for sure that they have some serious fixing/clean up work to do
 
http://forums.bethsoft.co.index.php?/forum/180-pc/

1ceTr0n

TES forums are filled with pissed off people and their issues with the PC version of the game. Betheseda knows for sure that they have some serious fixing/clean up work to do

http://forums.bethsoft.co.index.php?/forum/180-pc/

 
based on thier previous games I expected it, but still have to give them credit for making such a great game, its difficult to keep track of issues on a game this large since thier is so many different combinations of ways to do stuff and excellent replay value.