Skyrim is a game with very beautiful graphics. The landscapes encountered during the study of the world can be admired endlessly, and from the battle scenes it is completely breathtaking. But there is a downside to all this. On insufficiently powerful computers, the game begins to slow down or even completely refuses to start.
It would seem that owners of weak PCs can fix this problem only by buying new hardware. But still there is another way out - to make the game work better. In Skyrim, optimization can be achieved in several ways, and how to do this is discussed below.
Default settings
The developers have provided a number of settings to reduce the graphics in the game, thereby increasing productivity. You will find them directly in the launcher by going to the "Settings" menu. The most important are the parameters:
- Resolution. The lower the value of this setting, the better the game will work. However, it is not recommended to select a resolution that is not supported by your monitor.
- Smoothing. It greatly affects performance, therefore, when brakes occur, this parameter must be disabled first.
- Filtration. In general, it does not load the computer much, but by disabling this option, you will achieve an increase of several FPS.
- Detailing. Select "Low" if you want to increase productivity several times.
With all the settings at a minimum, try starting Skyrim. Optimization of the game does not end there, of course, but if the method described above helped, you can start playing quietly and not fool yourself.
Additional settings
Another way to improve performance is to configure advanced options. This can be done by launching the launcher and clicking "Settings", and then "Advanced". A window opens with two tabs, in each of which you need to perform several actions:
- In the “Details” tab, you need to set all parameters to a minimum, as well as uncheck the reflections (there are four types of them) and anti-aliasing. The most demanding ones are Texture Quality and Shadow Quality, so you should pay attention to them first.
- In the Visibility Distance tab, just drag all the sliders to the minimum. In addition, reduce the quality of the deleted objects and turn on “Disappear objects”.
The settings mentioned above will greatly reduce the graphics, nevertheless this is the best Skyrim optimization for weak PCs. You can also try different combinations of parameters, achieving this average picture quality and tolerant performance.
Ini file editing
If your Skyrim still slows down, optimization can be done by editing the SkyrimPrefs.ini file. You will find it along the path “ My Documents / My Games / Skyrim ”, and you should open it using a notepad. Now you need to edit the following parameters:
- iShadowFilter - change to 0.
- iWaterReflectHeight and iWaterReflectWidth - set 256.
- iWaterMultiSamples - should be zero.
- bTreesReceiveShadows and bDrawLandShadows - set to zero.
After you edit all the parameters, close the file and confirm the changes. Now launch The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, whose optimization should increase markedly. If no noticeable changes have occurred, then you most likely did something wrong, so try again.
Please note that errors in the ini-file can lead to the fact that the game will stop working at all. Therefore, in order to avoid such situations, make a backup copy of SkyrimPrefs.ini before you start editing it.
Patches
Developers periodically release patches with corrections for their games, and Skyrim was no exception to this rule. Such updates, in addition to eliminating all kinds of bugs, often increase productivity, and in Skyrim the optimization improved after update 1.4.21.
In the event that you have not yet managed to update the game to the latest version, you urgently need to do this. Thus, you can achieve a significant increase in productivity (up to 40%). You have two options for this:
- If you have a licensed version of Skyrim, you can simply run the automatic update. After that, wait for the download and installation of all the necessary files, and then run the game.
- If you have a pirated version, you will either have to install all the patches manually, or download the repack, which includes all the updates.
In any case, the optimization of the game after installing all the updates will improve significantly, so do not neglect this method.
Special Edition Version
In 2016, the re-release of Skyrim: Special Edition was released, the optimization of which, according to the assurances of the developers themselves, was significantly improved. At the same time, the picture in the game has become prettier, but, despite this, it works much more stable even on weak computers.
This was made possible thanks to the redesigned graphics engine, which learned how to more efficiently use the power of multi-core processors and became less demanding on hardware. Also, the developers fixed bugs in the system code that led to the fall of FPS.
Therefore, you can try installing the Special Edition, and it is possible that the performance in it will be higher. Judging by the feedback from gamers, most of them in the new version of FPS are noticeably more than in the original.
In addition, all the optimization methods mentioned in this article are also valid for republishing, so you can safely apply them.
Mods
Third-party developers have released a number of modifications for Skyrim. Some of them can improve productivity, while not significantly lowering the schedule. To use any of these mods, you need to download it, and then place it in the game folder.
For Skyrim, the optimization mod (one of the most famous) is called the ENB Series. It contains an antifreeze program that corrects freezes, increases contrast (the game world becomes brighter) and makes textures less resource intensive.
After installing the ENB Series, you will need to activate it. To do this, launch the launcher, go to "Settings" and select ENB instead of your video card. After that, you must restart the operating system for the changes to take effect.
Keep in mind that you can only download mods from trusted sources. Enemies often mask malware under them, so don't be lazy to check everything you install with antivirus.
RAM optimization
In the case of Skyrim, optimizing the game for low-end computers may consist in cleaning up the RAM. The game is very demanding on it, therefore, freeing up a few megabytes, you can increase productivity. There are several ways to clear RAM:
- Close all unnecessary programs. These include: antivirus (you can disable it during the game), OneDrive, Skype and other applications running in the background.
- Quite a lot of RAM is occupied by the visual design of Windows. Just turn off all kinds of decorations in the settings and see how much faster the game will start to work.
- You can use special programs to clean RAM. One such application is Ram Booster, which automatically closes all unnecessary and improves productivity.
Please note that all the methods described above should be used simultaneously. Only in this way you will achieve the most noticeable effect.
Driver update
For Skyrim, optimization can be enhanced by updating drivers. It is quite simple to do this, but then you can achieve an increase in FPS in this way. Productivity is most affected by:
- Graphics card driver. It should be noted first. The speed of image processing depends on this driver, so go to the official website of the manufacturer of your video card and make sure that you are using the latest version of the software.
- Motherboard drivers. The speed of all devices of your computer depends on them. So again, make sure you have the latest drivers installed.
- Sound card driver. It does not affect performance so much, but it can still lead to freezes and microfreezes. Just update the driver to the latest version to eliminate the possibility of such problems.
Keep in mind that in the case of some
video card models,
installing earlier versions of the driver can have a positive effect on performance. On this issue should be consulted in forums dedicated to Skyrim.
OS optimization
And finally, Skyrim optimization for weak computers can be achieved by improving the operating system. This may help:
- Defragmentation. It increases the speed of the hard drive and, as a result, allows the game to load textures faster.
- Registry Cleanup. This can be done either manually or using a special program (for example, CCleaner). Both the OS and the game will work faster after this procedure.
- Install updates. They fix Windows errors and allow the operating system to work more stable. As a result, Skyrim also improves productivity.
- Check disk for errors. If you do not periodically correct errors, they can lead to freezes of programs, including games.
- Search and removal of viruses. Malicious programs can load the computer, so try to find them in time and render them harmless.
By following these simple steps, you can achieve improved performance in the game, so do not neglect them.