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Improving Performance - Second Part


Psalam

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God helps those who help themselves.

- Source disputed

99% of all problems (in modded Skyrim) are user caused.

-Grey Cloud (in the Skyrim Technical Threads)

 

 

As I have already mentioned this blog speaks to my experience in following the Skyrim Technical Thread here on LoversLab. While it is unpleasant to consider, a large number of those problems could have been avoided by reading the instructions given by mod authors. This blog entry is going to focus on the basics of what you absolutely must check on the page where the mod is described when you decide to download a mod. While this is SkyrimLE and LoversLab specific, the principles involved cover other games and other web sites (can anyone spell Nexus?) as well. I intend to cover other material that should be checked in the next blog entry.

 

Before I plunge in let me deal with the objection I know is on the lips of people who are looking at this now: "the instructions are unintelligible!" I admit that I have some sympathy with this. The quality of the instructions and description varies widely across mods. There are some excellent ones out there and I intend to use one of those for my example for this blog. I know there are some that truly are incomprehensible and/or appear to contradict themselves. However, it is your choice whether or not you download and use a mod. You can go on the mod's support thread and ask specific questions (more on this in the next blog entry) if you are unsure of what you are getting. From my perspective, however, let me ask this question, "would you try to climb into an airplane and fly it if you didn't understand what it was or how to do it?" With the exception of a few people (there have always got to be some in every crowd) the answer is no. In a like manner let me encourage you to NOT download and use a mod that you really don't understand. I've seen it and it isn't pretty.

 

Additionally, before complaining too much about the poor documentation let me ask you to consider this. Mod authors are just people. As such they only have a limited amount of time and energy for doing everything that they do with their mods. Most of them (if not all of them) spend significant amounts of time doing "things" in Real Life (like eating, sleeping, spending time with families,  working for a living, etc.). So, when you look at a mod whose documentation may leave something to be desired ask yourself this, "if I got to choose, would I really rather have this mod author spend more time on the documentation or would I rather they continue to improve this mod and/or make other great mods?" And, before you answer "both", let me remind you that these men and women are volunteers. They do not have to put any of these mods up here for us to use. I am grateful for those who take the time to try to keep their descriptions up to date. I am more grateful that they continue to make improvements to those mods so that the documentation gets out-of date.

 

Finally, let me start in on the actual material. There are many mods with great documentation here on LoversLab. I am going to use "Home Sweet Home" by Musje as my example because I am very familiar with this mod. In doing so I do not mean to denigrate the work of other mod authors or imply that their work is by any means "less."

 

1. Check the requirements

 

There are two locations (on an LL mod) for checking requirements. There is a handy box on the mod page and the requirements are also placed in the text.

 

Screenshot from HSH:

Spoiler

1414434746_Screenshot(34).png.4e6634e43f01aa04ec1381c34876a758.png

 

Note that on the right side of the page there is a green "Download this file" button above a gray "Get support" button above a box entitled File Information. Everything in that box is important and I hope to get through all of it in my blog. Right now, however, I want to focus on the section that says Requires (the last part just above "Special Edition Compatible"). This is the listing of all the mods that you must also have in order to run HSH. 

 

There is another place to find the requirements as well, After going through what the mod is about and how to use it, Musje then gives this text:

Spoiler

Requirements:


Optional / recommended:

 

Please note that the Requirements are the same in both places. Unfortunately, this will not always be true. When in doubt, and when there is no additional clarification in the text, always assume the worst. That is, assume that you need the larger list. 

 

Next, Hard and Soft Requirements. Hard requirements are what I have been talking about up until now. These are mods without which THIS mod won't run (and you will likely get a CTD when you try to start your game). Soft requirements are generally mods that allow for additional functions but are not required for the mod. Musje has listed these (in the spoiler above) as Optional/recommended. Other mod authors will list these as soft requirements. In the case of HSH let me give you an example. If you have Heretical Resources (HR) loaded with HSH you are able to place individual HDT chains on your slaves (obviously through HR). If you do not have HR loaded you can still load your game and use the other functions of HSH but you will be unable to access this feature. No HDT chains for you! In short, a soft requirement is a mod that is required in order to access a feature, not one needed to actually run the mod.

 

Last, Musje has clearly designated that the DLC "Hearthfires" is a hard requirement for her mod. It is in your best interest to assume that all three DLCs are required for any mod that does not mention NOT needing them. They are, with the main game, what actually makes the Legendary Edition (LE). They have been out long enough that most mod authors are assuming that you have all that material and do not hesitate to draw from it (thereby making it a hard requirement) when they make their mods.

 

2. Make sure you have the right version

 

This blog is dedicated to fixing problems with Legendary Edition. A fairly common error is to load a mod designed for Special Edition (SE) in your load order. As a general rule of thumb this will give you a problem frequently including CTDs. In the box I showed in the first spoiler you may remember (or you can look back at it now). As is common with this box on LL you will see that it is blank. In an ideal world this box would have either a "Yes" or a "No" in it. When the box is left blank it is safe to assume that it is an LE only mod unless the title of the mod or the text specifically tell you otherwise. So, if the mod says "ABC - SE" and that box is blank it likely means that the mod is for SE.

 

3. Read the text

 

I know that many mods have an extraordinary amount of description on the modpage. I also know that I like to PLAY modded Skyrim and not read books about it. However, if you want to save yourself a lot of pain (and potentially CTDs and infinite loading screens) take the time to read the text.

 

On the Technical thread I have seen multiple examples of people complaining about a "bug" they had with a particular mod. When I went back and read the text, lo and behold, their "problem" was not a "bug" but a feature that the mod author designed for that mod. In one case the OP (original presenter on that thread) could not be convinced until the mod's author actually posted that their problem was a feature that the author was proud to have added. Try not to just read those parts that catch your attention, read ALL of the text.

 

Similarly, most mod authors try to post any mod that is known to be incompatible with their mod or even cause some issues. If you check these out before you load both mods you will not be surprised when you enter the Bannered Mare and your game consistently CTDs. You will have been able to prevent it.

 

4. Watch what you mix together

 

Here is a quote from the comments section from Ernest Lemmingway. While I may have phrased it a bit differently his warning is valid as is.

 

 

"If you make another entry on improving performance, there's a step I'd recommend: avoiding too many resource-heavy mods. Not just script-heavy but mesh- and texture-heavy as well. For years I used SMIM (Static Mesh Improvement Mod) and I still love it. But it consumes system resources to the point of dropping FPS and more CTDs even if you have a high-end computer and use ENBoost. I've recently removed it and, despite some cringe-worthy vanilla meshes returning, it's more stable than it's been for years.

 

Since a great deal of the major mods on LL tend to be script-heavy, users should prioritize what they want most."

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The Gods helps those who help themselves.

- Source disputed

fixed that, too

It's nine to be precise. Except for those Thalmor heretics. :classic_tongue:

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If you make another entry on improving performance, there's a step I'd recommend: avoiding too many resource-heavy mods. Not just script-heavy but mesh- and texture-heavy as well. For years I used SMIM (Static Mesh Improvement Mod) and I still love it. But it consumes system resources to the point of dropping FPS and more CTDs even if you have a high-end computer and use ENBoost. I've recently removed it and, despite some cringe-worthy vanilla meshes returning, it's more stable than it's been for years.

 

Since a great deal of the major mods on LL tend to be script-heavy, users should prioritize what they want most.

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Spoiler
20 minutes ago, Ernest Lemmingway said:

If you make another entry on improving performance, there's a step I'd recommend: avoiding too many resource-heavy mods. Not just script-heavy but mesh- and texture-heavy as well. For years I used SMIM (Static Mesh Improvement Mod) and I still love it. But it consumes system resources to the point of dropping FPS and more CTDs even if you have a high-end computer and use ENBoost. I've recently removed it and, despite some cringe-worthy vanilla meshes returning, it's more stable than it's been for years.

 

Since a great deal of the major mods on LL tend to be script-heavy, users should prioritize what they want most.

 

 

An excellent suggestion. I will put it in one of the improving performance posts when I next update them - assuming you don't object I will probably quote you too. As you may have noticed I have tried to reference what I've done when possible.

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40 minutes ago, Ernest Lemmingway said:

Not just script-heavy but mesh- and texture-heavy as well.

18 minutes ago, Psalam said:

I will put it in one of the improving performance posts when I next update them

Some ini settings will have an effect, too.

skyrim, skyrimprefs and skse.ini as well.

 

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18 minutes ago, Psalam said:
  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

An excellent suggestion. I will put it in one of the improving performance posts when I next update them - assuming you don't object I will probably quote you too. As you may have noticed I have tried to reference what I've done when possible.

I have no objections to that.

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15 minutes ago, worik said:

Some ini settings will have an effect, too.

skyrim, skyrimprefs and skse.ini as well.

 

 

 

Noted, and thanks.

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