.ini commands

[Psalam]

Every time I look I find a new "helper" on the Internet who wants to tweak my .ini files. So far, so good. Most of them agree on most everything. However, with each one I am introduced to more possible commands that I could use. Despite my best efforts with Google I am unaware on an encyclopedic list of usable .ini commands. Is anyone aware of such a list (preferably with explanations of what each command is supposed to do)?

[Nazzzgul666]

I made a few edits myself, it's been a while but i remember most parts. There are a lot of very bad advices out there, for more details the skyrim wiki has some... maybe S.T.E.P. too.

 

fUpdateBudgetMS=1.6  <<time given to scripts. Default is 1.2, don't go above 2.0. The time is given to every script every time regardless if needed, increasing this will decrease performance for a possibly better stability.

fExtraTaskletBudgetMS=2.0 << time given to scripts which didn't get executed the first time, only for their second try so not every script gets it but still, 2.0 is the recommended max

fPostLoadUpdateTimeMS=2500.0 << time added to loading screens to preload scripts. Defaul is 500, 2k for console version. Afaik no downsides by increasing them

iMaxMemoryPageSize=768

iMaxAllocatedMemoryBytes=76800

 

I can't really remember about the last two, those might even be default values. I do remember though that increasing them too much will cause stack dumps, i.e kill your saves. Those values worked for me quite a while but in case of doubt, don't touch them.

[GenioMaestro]

The step guide is good, but you sure know it. If you want more detail, with some mathematic formulas and interrelated parameters, you can see the section by cathegory.

 

Almost all the entries in the ini files can be managed with BethIni and I strongly recommend that you use it to modify your ini files.

Some entries are critical for the stability of the game and others are closely related.

 

For example, if you want to modify UGridsToLoad you have to modify uExteriorCellBuffer and uInteriorCellBuffer. If you do not change these three parameters at the same time you can have CTD, instability, lag, stutering.

The same happens in many other parameters of the ini files. Sometimes, if you touch a parameter in skyrim.ini you have to change another parameter in skyrimpref.ini

 

My best advice ... Use BethIni ...

 

For optimize papyrus, I have almost the same as Nazzzgul666, with some differences:

fExtraTaskletBudgetMS=1.6
fUpdateBudgetMS=1.6

fPostLoadUpdateTimeMS=2000
iMinMemoryPageSize=256
iMaxMemoryPageSize=8192

iMaxAllocatedMemoryBytes=153600

[Psalam]

Spoiler

41 minutes ago, Nazzzgul666 said:

I made a few edits myself, it's been a while but i remember most parts. There are a lot of very bad advices out there, for more details the skyrim wiki has some... maybe S.T.E.P. too.

 

fUpdateBudgetMS=1.6  <<time given to scripts. Default is 1.2, don't go above 2.0. The time is given to every script every time regardless if needed, increasing this will decrease performance for a possibly better stability.

fExtraTaskletBudgetMS=2.0 << time given to scripts which didn't get executed the first time, only for their second try so not every script gets it but still, 2.0 is the recommended max

fPostLoadUpdateTimeMS=2500.0 << time added to loading screens to preload scripts. Defaul is 500, 2k for console version. Afaik no downsides by increasing them

iMaxMemoryPageSize=768

iMaxAllocatedMemoryBytes=76800

 

I can't really remember about the last two, those might even be default values. I do remember though that increasing them too much will cause stack dumps, i.e kill your saves. Those values worked for me quite a while but in case of doubt, don't touch them.

 

6 minutes ago, GenioMaestro said:

The step guide is good, but you sure know it.

 

For optimize papyrus, I have almost the same as Nazzzgul666, with some differences:

fExtraTaskletBudgetMS=1.6
fUpdateBudgetMS=1.6

fPostLoadUpdateTimeMS=2000
iMinMemoryPageSize=256
iMaxMemoryPageSize=8192

iMaxAllocatedMemoryBytes=153600

 

Listen, thanks guys. As I said, I've looked at the videos (and the STEP guide). I am fascinated that every time I look at a new one they have a command line (and the last one I looked at had 8 command lines) that weren't in any of my .ini files. This made me wonder what other commands are available out there and what else could be accomplished if only I knew the command.

For instance, I have become convinced that the "Dark Face Bug" results from the way the Bugthesda engine handles shadows. First, when a character in the vanilla game is cast in shadow only their face changes colors. In the vanilla game this is hidden by the clothing. When you begin to mod Skyrim making skin above and below the neckline visible at the same time you can come to appreciate it. So, and I'll post the screenshots if you want to see them for yourselves, if you take a look at Counselor Morvayn the colors on his hands and face don't match (because he is indoors and subject to shadow effects). In a similar setting with Cindiri Arano in a modded game where skin is visible you can see that only the face "is in shadow." Second, this effect becomes more pronounced (as a whole) when you use replacement hair. While it is not an across the board horrible effect some hairs seem to make the Bugthesda engine give a face "more shadow." When this occurs prominently (in either case) you get the "dark face bug."

So, is there a listing of all .ini commands that would include something like fFaceShaow=64.0000 that could be adjusted that would allow testing my hypothesis and, if it is correct, that would allow me to minimize or eliminate the bug from my game?

[GenioMaestro]

38 minutes ago, Psalam said:

  Hide contents

 

 

...

So, is there a listing of all .ini commands that would include something like fFaceShaow=64.0000 that could be adjusted that would allow testing my hypothesis and, if it is correct, that would allow me to minimize or eliminate the bug from my game?

Re-Read my post... sorry, im edited it and as you know, im very bad in english, sometimes need help from google traductor.

 

If you can't find the parameter in my second link is because the parameter not exits. 

When the parameter are not used the step guide say it in this way:

bAllowPartialPrecision is believed to be unused by the game.

 

Where you find the "like fFaceShaow=64.0000" that i presume is fFaceShaDow

 

I really doubt that the very well know "Dark Face Bug" can be caused by an ini entry that none found in 7 years.

[Grey Cloud]

I'm not 100% absoposalutely with this but . . .

Generally if a line is not in your .ini it means the command is using the default value/setting.

[Psalam]

Spoiler

1 minute ago, Grey Cloud said:

I'm not 100% absoposalutely with this but . . .

Generally if a line is not in your .ini it means the command is using the default value/setting.

 

Yeah, from everything I've gotten so far that appears to be the case. It still doesn't tell me what other things are out there to fool around with though.

Spoiler

5 minutes ago, GenioMaestro said:

Re-Read my post... sorry, im edited it and as you know, im very bad in english, sometimes need help from google traductor.

 

If you can't find the parameter in my second link is because the parameter not exits. 

When the parameter are not used the step guide say it in this way:

bAllowPartialPrecision is believed to be unused by the game.

 

Where you find the "like fFaceShaow=64.0000" that i presume is fFaceShaDow

 

I really doubt that the very well know "Dark Face Bug" can be caused by an ini entry that none found in 8 years.

 

Eh, your English is fine. My experience is that many American English speakers can't wrap their minds around anything that doesn't sound just like them. People from Boston who can't understand people from Birmingham and so on.

Yeah I actually have Bethini and it helps in managing what I've done. I got it when you made the suggestion to someone else. However, it is not applicable to the question at hand. Where (if anywhere) is the complete list of these commands? Is there some way to eliminate facial shadows (without eliminating all shadows) so that I can test the theory. I agree that it would be unlikely that no one ever thought about it before but that is the beauty of all elegant solutions. When someone finds one everyone else says, "duh, that was obvious. I should have though of that."

[GenioMaestro]

2 hours ago, Psalam said:

...

Where (if anywhere) is the complete list of these commands? 

The step guide is good, but you sure know it. If you want more detail, with some mathematic formulas and interrelated parameters, you can see the section by cathegory.

2 hours ago, Psalam said:

Is there some way to eliminate facial shadows (without eliminating all shadows) so that I can test the theory. 

Give the way of the engine make the shadows i really dude that option can exist.

[Psalam]

Spoiler

2 minutes ago, GenioMaestro said:

The step guide is good, but you sure know it. If you want more detail, with some mathematic formulas and interrelated parameters, you can see the section by cathegory.

Give the way of the engine make the shadows i really dude that option can exist.

 

First part is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you very much. I don't know how I missed it but I obviously did.

As I said, you're probably right but, as my father would have said, "nothing ventured, nothing gained."

[Psalam]

Of course this is going to be a slow process I see. Only about 1/3 of the entries have explanations and another 1/3 are not thought to be used by the game. Oh well, that's what trial and error is about.

[Nazzzgul666]

In general it's better to stay away from editing anything if you don't know exactly what you're doing, unfortunatly this includes most of those "download tweaks here" stuff. Most of them are made by people who think more=better untouched by any real knowledge. From my own experience with those, at least half of them don't cause CTDs on start rather because the engine falls back to default if the value is ridicously out of range than because of reasonable edits.

The author of crash fixes said a bit about editing stuff here on LL, i can't remember the thread right now. But with very few exceptions it was "just don't touch". So, feel free to try but keep backups and don't expect too much.^^

[Psalam]

Spoiler

2 minutes ago, Nazzzgul666 said:

In general it's better to stay away from editing anything if you don't know exactly what you're doing, unfortunatly this includes most of those "download tweaks here" stuff. Most of them are made by people who think more=better untouched by any real knowledge. From my own experience with those, at least half of them don't cause CTDs on start rather because the engine falls back to default if the value is ridicously out of range than because of reasonable edits.

The author of crash fixes said a bit about editing stuff here on LL, i can't remember the thread right now. But with very few exceptions it was "just don't touch". So, feel free to try but keep backups and don't expect too much.^^

 

I appreciate the feedback. I THINK I know where I want to start to test my hypothesis (it's actually in SkyrimPrefs.ini). However, I want to start a new game. I have some experience in how to mod Skyrim to (seemingly at least) maximize the dark face bug. With a few really ugly NPCs it will be easier to test what kind of effect each "tweak" I make has on the bug. I may try taking screenshots to be able to truly have comparisons.

[Nazzzgul666]

2 hours ago, Psalam said:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

I appreciate the feedback. I THINK I know where I want to start to test my hypothesis (it's actually in SkyrimPrefs.ini). However, I want to start a new game. I have some experience in how to mod Skyrim to (seemingly at least) maximize the dark face bug. With a few really ugly NPCs it will be easier to test what kind of effect each "tweak" I make has on the bug. I may try taking screenshots to be able to truly have comparisons.

Oh, i forgot to mention what i know about the gray face bug. Well, i can't say for sure that there aren't mutliple reasons for ugly faces but "the" gray face bug is because the facegendata isn't loaded in game. This again might be caused by several reasons, for me it was most often simply because mod authors forgot to include them in their upload. Another reason is if you change the NPC weight via NPCsetweight, this reloads the NPC but "forgets" the faces or something like that.

I don't think there is a way to fix that by any settings, unfortunatly, which makes the weight change command quite useless. ;(

[Psalam]

Spoiler

2 minutes ago, Nazzzgul666 said:

Oh, i forgot to mention what i know about the gray face bug. Well, i can't say for sure that there aren't mutliple reasons for ugly faces but "the" gray face bug is because the facegendata isn't loaded in game. This again might be caused by several reasons, for me it was most often simply because mod authors forgot to include them in their upload. Another reason is if you change the NPC weight via NPCsetweight, this reloads the NPC but "forgets" the faces or something like that.

I don't think there is a way to fix that by any settings, unfortunatly, which makes the weight change command quite useless. ;(

 

Alright, you've piqued my interest. Why would the facegendata be loaded for certain NPCs and not for others? The most common cause of the dark face bug I've found (and this is what I'm waiting to load into a new game) is anything that replaces NPC hair. Looking past the ugly color the face itself looks identical (to me at least although I've never taken screenshots to prove it). So, are you saying that something like KS hair for NPCs also replaces their facegendata? It isn't impossible and I've not taken the time to look at in each case but I am pretty sure that I have seen NPCs with the same hairstyle but one with and one without the bug. 

[Nazzzgul666]

5 minutes ago, Psalam said:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Alright, you've piqued my interest. Why would the facegendata be loaded for certain NPCs and not for others? The most common cause of the dark face bug I've found (and this is what I'm waiting to load into a new game) is anything that replaces NPC hair. Looking past the ugly color the face itself looks identical (to me at least although I've never taken screenshots to prove it). So, are you saying that something like KS hair for NPCs also replaces their facegendata? It isn't impossible and I've not taken the time to look at in each case but I am pretty sure that I have seen NPCs with the same hairstyle but one with and one without the bug. 

I don't have too much experience with it honestly. The few times i had that bug were with NPCs which were entirely added by other mods, not modfied vanilla NPCs, but that might be because i hardly use any mods that do that.

And as far as i know it's totally possible to forget facegendata for only some NPCs instead of all of them which might explain why some have it and others don't, especially if the buggy NPCs were part of an update.

But for further information i think you should ask somebody with more knowledge and probably a with different topic, all i can tell you for sure is that the bug and .ini settings aren't necessarily connected. Or maybe ask in the support thread for the mod that adds or edits your NPCs. That's what i did and usually the answer was "oh yes, i forgot the facegendata, wait for next update." and then it was fixed.

[Psalam]

Spoiler

1 minute ago, Nazzzgul666 said:

I don't have too much experience with it honestly. The few times i had that bug were with NPCs which were entirely added by other mods, not modfied vanilla NPCs, but that might be because i hardly use any mods that do that.

And as far as i know it's totally possible to forget facegendata for only some NPCs instead of all of them which might explain why some have it and others don't, especially if the buggy NPCs were part of an update.

But for further information i think you should ask somebody with more knowledge and probably a with different topic, all i can tell you for sure is that the bug and .ini settings aren't necessarily connected. Or maybe ask in the support thread for the mod that adds or edits your NPCs. That's what i did and usually the answer was "oh yes, i forgot the facegendata, wait for next update." and then it was fixed.

 

Thanks again. It's a lot to consider.