Alienware M17x - Skyrim discussion thread

Installed different mods from nexus... i'm wondering why bethesda didn't make the game so good looking in the first place...
now.. if they only can release a mod in order to have on screen a cast bar with at least 5 to 10 button where to assign abilities/magic (as per WoW for example) that would be simply genial

 

That will ruin it I think because TES Games aren't known for having intrusive GUI. It is about minimalistic GUI for the maximum experience of your character. They should improve how hotkeys work though...

 

Just copying this from a post I put on the ES forums, this is a really odd problem:

Apologies if this has already been covered but my issue seems different to the others I've read here.

Start a game, very good framerates. I can be in an area getting solid 60 fps then after about a minute the frame rates will start rising and falling rapidly. From 60 to high 20's then back in a couple of seconds, over and over.
There is no catalyst to this, it will happen even if I just stand still with nothing going on. If I'm in a spot where I'm getting say, 45 fps then it will fall to low teens and then rise again, constantly.
Alt tabbing out does fix it but it just returns after a minute or so again.

I have tried setting the priority of TESV.exe to high which appears to fix it but it hasn't really, it's just the tabbing out that has sorted things for a minute or so until it starts again.
Tried playing in very low resolutions and minimal settings but it still does it.

I have an Alienware laptop with SLI 280M's. I'm using the latest 290.53 drivers. I don't have many games but the ones I do have are not doing this.

I've defragged, re-installed drivers, disabled everything I can to check for interference from something else and I run very few processes or background stuff.

Driving me mad this one. Makes the game unplayable because it constantly lags then speeds up again, can't adjust to it.

Any help appreciated.

 

Are you playing with single card or sli enabled?

 

No, Skyrim's been running great on my R1 (280M SLI).

 

Does this happen only with Skyrim?

 

Yes, SLI is enabled, might be an idea to try it with only one card?

And yes Katalin, only Skyrim, I don't play many games but I haven't had anything like this on anything else.
Couldn't be a temperature issue could it? They would just slow down if they were too hot wouldn't they? Not this speeding up and down thing.

I am going to try just one card firdt and then run it with two cards and the SLI indicator thingy on the screen, perhaps the second card is dipping in and out .

 

Tried one card only (I had to set it from the Skyrim specific 3d settings page in the Nvidia settings, cant disable SLI from the SLI settings page, is that normal?)

And with one card only it's exactly the same, lower frame rates obviously but after a couple of minutes it started racing up and down again.

Just to be sure I ran Left4Dead 2 on max settings for every option and highest res. It ran at 60fps even during massive fire fights (it would occasionally drop to low 50s). Completely stable.

It's defo just Skyrim.

 

Hi bradF430,

If it is just Skyrim, all I can suggest is to upadate the game, clean out the drivers, and then start looking into performance mods that are mentioned on page 10 of this thread. That may help to sort out your problem. What you may also want to try is to see if parking cores helps or not (there is a thread on core parking here somewhere) and if hard setting the core speed helps or not (i.e. always run 100% speed, or variable speed between 50 and 100). I say this because sometimes the game runs good in High performance mode, and sometimes it runs best in Balanced or even Power saving mode. I'm still experimenting, so I will post here when I have more info.

Now, I also have problems with AMD Crossfire still. These open issues remain:
1. If I do a clean install of 12.1 drivers, with or without CAPs, the default configuration will generate flickering in the landscape (even if alt-tabbing).
2. If I use the profile manager in the 12.1 drivers, and force it to AFR Friendly, the landscape is fine and both cards are fully utilized. However, the yellow/green flicker in menus comes back and the z-buffer seems to never clean itself out since the flicker flashes between my current screen and what I saw 5 min ago, the last time I opened the menu, or will show miss textured lighting effects.

I know some people said they found work arounds for these problems, but I'm still stuck. I want to play the game without getting a seizure!

Thanks everone!

 

Guys if you didn't tryied yet, i highly sugest to get Skyboost R4.

forget about TESVAL etc... Skyboost actually does give a huge boost in performance.

I run the game on a single (CF disabled) 6970m, my fps goes from 60 and 45 FPS and the game is set to Ultra settings, with a lot of visual enhancing mods.

give it a try, you wont regret it.

 

Yep, I can confirm Skyboost helps. However, there are still things that only a real driver can fix

But i really do hope someone can tell me how they solved all their flickering problems.

What I have been able to accomplish is to change the TESV profile to use "Optimise 1x1". That does seem to get rid of most of the flicker, at least for a while. Still testing....

 

I don't know if this mod has been mentioned yet, but I highly recommend trying out Realistic Lighting without Post-Processing: Realistic Lighting Without Post-Processing at Skyrim Nexus - Skyrim Mods and community
and it actually gave me a slight performance boost because it disables bloom lighting. The lighting are vastly improved with this mod. Makes dungeons really frightening.

 

I tried Skyboost today. It certainly does improve frame rates dramatically but had no effect on my issue.

I was sitting at a farm outside Whiterun and my phone rang, while talking I was watching the screen, fraps was showing a steady 53. Then it plummeted to 17 or so, climbed back up to 53, dropped again, climbed again etc etc etc. when I came off the phone I went back to the game but it was completely unplayable while the fps leaped up and down. It does this all the time. Possessed I reckon.

 

Using skyboost as well... I am on a GTX 580m but i only get 35 FPS or so.. Vanilla 20 plus..just wondering a 580m can only yield so little fps? am on a few HD texture mods on skyrim though.. wonder if its normal.

But still the game is very playable still.

 

mmm seems too low.

Since crossfire is not properly supported i run the game with just 1 6970 and outdor i get from 60 to 45 FPS on ultra settings + a lot of graphic enhancement mods. In duengeon is fixed @60fps and doesn't move at all.

I believe you should get higher fps

 

People on other threads say they solved their performance problems when they had everything on ultra, but the shadows on medium. AA also takes allot of processing power.

 

i wonder what is wrong with my 580m then..

I do have AA set at 4x..maybe i should disable it.

 

Maybe it is just a driver issue, i would wait some R3 owner to chime in about since i have no idea what's the best Nvidia driver to run skyrim

 

i am on the latest nvidia drivers. I own an R3 with 580m no overclock or anything.

Wonder how i can fully utilise the 580m since single amd cards can get 40-60fps.. while mine only 35 fps..

anyway to test or benchmark it to see if its working as normal?

 

This sounds like either the CPU or gpu is overheating and throttling to bring the temps down

Have you monitored your temps whilst playing?

 

I'll try this, the R1's had throttling issues before but I could swear they were ironed out by a BIOS update.

What software do you recommend to monitor the temps?

Thanks

 

hwinfo64, or you could try hwmonitor

Just run them in the background whilst playing and when the fps start dropping simply alt tab out and see what the max temps are.

 

Hey guys, new M17x R3 owner here. Took the laptop out of the box and fired up Skyrim on ultra settings. Stock everything.

I got about 30 - 45 fps outdoors, solid 60 indoors. Framerate dropped to 27 twice, but it wasn't noticeable at all. Is this normal? I was impressed but I feel like the M17x can do better.

 

If you have not installed HWInfo64, find it and install it. Also whilst your at it down load and install furmark

HwInfo64 -> HWiNFO64 Download
FurMark -> FurMark 1.9.2 Released (GPU Stress Test Utility, OpenGL Benchmark) - 3D Tech News and Pixel Hacking - Geeks3D.com

You can DL from other locations, the are just the first I found.

Once installed, Run furmark and you will probably see that your temps hit 67c ish and your GPU clock rate will drop (from 620 down to a lot lower IIRC). This is a power throttle and its removal is described in these very forums and it is easy but nerve racking to do. The other throttle mark is way up at 78c ish and that one is pretty much a wall but my guess is your hitting the power throttle.

If your not using a laptop cooler, get a very cheap one.. When I'm working away from home and dont want to hump the Coolmaster around, I use 2 rubber door stops - yes I said 2 round rubber door stops, place these under the back corners of your laptop and it will get plenty of air. It cools as well as my coolmaster (almost) and costs less than a dollar (70p).

 

Go and check the site skyrimnexus.com their are lots of mods that can make the game even beautifull and prevent from throtling issues (you should flash the vbios ; since I've done this no more throtling)

 

Do you really think it's throttling? My framerate is very stable on ultra, and the few times it dips to 27 I don't even notice. I know the fans kick on a lot....

I dunno, maybe it is throttling and I don't know it. Doesn't seem to impact my gameplay though.

 

That sounds pretty close to what I would expect all stock. I will be getting mine today so we can compare.

Do you have the newest version of the game? Did you update to the newest Verde drives? Both of those will give some significant improvements.

 

To darkdomino
Throttling, you would notice. Your fps would drop to like 1-2 playing skyrim on ultra. But seeing as it's only 25-30, it seems fine, and that's normal.
But for now, those fps seems fine for Skyrim.

 

I'm getting stable gameplay and performance using the following settings on my 460m:

1680x1050
AA off
AF 16x
Medium Quality (no FXAA)

Framerates outside the cities are 60+ utilizing only 80-95% of the GPU.
Inside cities like Riften, framerate range is 30-45 with 60-70% GPU utilization (CPU bottleneck...).

Overall, good quality and performance with decent headroom available.

 

Hey guys, I have been playing skyrim on high (the default one) and sometimes my FPS dips noticably (stuttering) for a split second. It also dips when I'm in first person. I'm running it on the 6870m with updated drivers. Could anyone help me out with a fix? Maybe a .ini tweak that might work for me? Otherwise the game looks pretty good, even on high. Just started the Hi-Res textures download too...

 

Hi Godot. You may want to look around for sites that give instructions for how to manage the Skyrim.ini and prefs.ini files (some can be downloaded too.) As a tip, bring shadows down a bit and try toggling FSAA on/off to see if that helps. Also try turing off normal AA. Good luck.

 

*All people with low framerates should turn off AA, still it looks great without AA

*PPl with cfx and flicker can download radeonpro, make a profile for skyrim and force bioshock cfx profile in radeonpro, I did this and have no flicker/stutter or corupted quest selection screen

 

Well, I personally would like to move past driver 11.10 and not have flickering. Using another game's profile always causes my game to crash.

So I am asking this request to anyone on driver 12.2 - could you please PM me your Skyrim.ini and SyrimPrefs.ini so i can see if that is the reason for my flickering? Also, to that same person, can you send/post a screenshot of your Skyrim root directory? I want to make sure I dont have a rogue .dll still sitting there by acident. Many thanks!

Otherwise, I'll have to force Crossfire to be disabled. It is just so sad and frustrating that this problem exists after 4 months , with every driver I try.

 

Started a heavily modded Skyrim Let's Play on my Alienware hardware (in sig). Heavily modded means 60+ mods (currently) and counting plus full ENBseries. Pants will be jizzed!

Playlist: Let's Play Heavily Modded Skyrim - YouTube

One must watch in 720p, there is just no point otherwise. Had some audio issues, but part 3 onwards should be sorted. Just need the support, thanks folks!

 

Hey guys,
Before going ahead and reading 14 pages, can someone confirm if an m17x with 6990m + 2760QM + 8GB RAM should be enough to play Skyrim on Ultra + AA? Will the FPS be over 30?
Based on AMD Radeon HD 6990M - Notebookcheck.net Tech, it should run at 34.3 fps on a 2630qm so a 2760qm should have no issues right?

I already read that I shouldnt be on Catalyst 12.2 preview? I'm receiving my m17x tomorrow or Friday so I need to make sure before I get it!

 

12.2 will give the game a pixle bug. If you turn off AA form game setting and foce it on from CCC you will be fine. It will run the game easy. I had it on max with a 6970m and a 2760QM (also 8gb ram) + i added the HD pack to the game.

 

1)At what did you set AA in CCC? 8X?
1)What about morph filtering...whats this?
1)And Filter? Standard? Edge-detec?
2) Anti aliasing mode, Performace(mutl-sample AA) or Quality(super sample AA)?
3)Anisotropic Filtering, should I also force it in CCC vs app? If so, 2,4,8 or 12x?

Thanks!

 

Hi there guys,

I'm only getting 30fps on high with occasional stuttering, and 20fps which is unplayable to me on ultra.
Is it normal with these specs:

I7-2760
8gb ram, AMD 6870M

Can't change much settings with the AMD Catalyst too, I think Dell may have locked some features.

 

Hi Goflykite,

You are going to need to do some tweaking to get Skyrim to run well. Google Skyrim and STEP together and there will be a guide to explain most of the settings you can/should change.

What you are seeing is probably the hardware mousepointer problem. That is an INI setting that the STEP guide will help you find. That slows everything to a crawl if not disabled.

Also check that the AMD drivers are up to date. You will see lots of posts in this forum on AMD drivers, where to download them and how well they run.

Good luck!