Skyrim - Acceleration Layer Mod

[Dhruin]

I held off posting about this because early reports indicated this mod affected scripting for some players but it seems that was fixed early and all indications are this is the real deal. Arisu's TESV Acceleration Layer mod reportedly provides up to 40% framerate increases in CPU-bound situations (note: this doesn't mean everywhere!). Word across a number of forums is positive, such as Rock, Paper, Shotgun (excluding the early scripting issues). Here's the description:

It works mostly by rewriting some x87 FPU code and inlining a whole ton of useless getter functions along the critical paths because the developers at Bethesda, for some reason, compiled the game without using any of the optimization flags for release builds.This patch will improve your frame rate by up to 40% in all CPU-dependent situations, i.e. especially in cities.

Thanks to yllaettaevaet on our forums.
More information.

 

[joxer]

Lemme check the calendar... No it is not 1st of april...

Seriously now I didn't have a case of framerate drop anywhere at all so I'm unsure if I should get this mod.

 

[DArtagnan]

I can't wait until the people claiming Bethesda doesn't set aside the PC platform as a lower priority, rationalise how a 40% increase in CPU bound situations is possible through some tweaks by modders - mere weeks after release.

They sure must have their best people optimising the PC version....

 

[Dhruin]

If you have no framerate issues, I don't see the point. I lot of other people seem to have some trouble in Markath, for example.

 

[guenthar]

I have an average of 7 fps increase with the newest version of this which is a big improvement with my heavily modded game with over 5 GB of hd textures, 46 plugins, and Enbseries 101 w/ SSAO, and Ultra settings.

 

[DeepO]

This is pretty interesting.

 

[KnightPT]

Works pretty well for me, not 40% like claimed here, but somewhere between 10 and 20% gain in some CPU heavy zones like cities or places with extra NPCs going round.

I always got constant 60FPS in outdoor areas 90% of the time, but near cities or towers with NPCs i would get as low as 45 FPS, in cities i would go from 45-60 FPS depending on the situation.

Now i never get below 50FPS, and even in cities i stay much more in the 60FPS ceiling.

All in all i'm not realy surprised about this mod, it was clear from the 1st week that skyrim was poorly optimized for PC, especialy the shadows and NPC/AI processing, and poor multithreaded support for quad-cores.

Very good work on the modders though, i salute them.

 

[Couchpotato]

I'm not surprised as most pc ports nowadays of just pc games in general are all poorly optimized. It takes time and money and we all know the pc is not the targeted audience.

 

[KnightPT]

I'm not surprised as most pc ports nowadays of just pc games in general are all poorly optimized. It takes time and money and we all know the pc is not the targeted audience.

In this particular case, it wouldnt take a lot of time and money to do it…


Quoting the people who did it :
“They’d just have to add the string “/O2 /GL” to their Makefile”. That easy, huh?


If a modder can think of this, a senior bethesda programmer could certainly do it in no time. Same with the LAA situation… done easily and fast by modders, that had previous experience with Fallout, a game that ironicaly was also made by the same devs that made skyrim, so they had complete knowledge of the situation…

Its a case of pure and simple neglect for the PC platform from bethesda. Its not a question of time and money, its a situation that they didnt think about the PC version "at all".

 

[CrazyIrish]

Noticeable improvement here.

 

[Couchpotato]

In this particular case, it wouldnt take a lot of time and money to do it…


Quoting the people who did it :
“They’d just have to add the string “/O2 /GL” to their Makefile”. That easy, huh?


If a modder can think of this, a senior bethesda programmer could certainly do it in no time. Same with the LAA situation… done easily and fast by modders, that had previous experience with Fallout, a game that ironicaly was also made by the same devs that made skyrim, so they had complete knowledge of the situation…

Its a case of pure and simple neglect for the PC platform from bethesda. Its not a question of time and money, its a situation that they didnt think about the PC version "at all".

You just proved my point. Time and effort that's all. Money is a factor but lets face it they just don't care. I love the game but its just Gamebryo updated with the same problems as the last three games made with the engine.

That includes the things Bethesda never fixed after we kept asking for them.

 

[Paul]

I would not be surprised if the PC version of Skyrim was the most profitable one for them, what with steam records and much larger profit margin on each sold copy on PC compared to console. Maybe that will convince them to finally start optimizing for PC more, making PC interface etc.

 

[Zloth]

1. Some of you folks are starting to sould pretty pathetic. No, the PC version is NOT the highest priority. That's because sales on consoles are many TIMES higher than on the PC.

2. This doesn't sound like a priority thing at all. This sounds like either they don't know how to code or they've got something got really screwed up in their build process. If it was the former then the whole game would be junk so I'm better on the latter.

3. Who says the console versions aren't similarly screwed up?

 

[Couchpotato]

1. Some of you folks are starting to sould pretty pathetic. No, the PC version is NOT the highest priority. That's because sales on consoles are many TIMES higher than on the PC.

2. This doesn't sound like a priority thing at all. This sounds like either they don't know how to code or they've got something got really screwed up in their build process. If it was the former then the whole game would be junk so I'm better on the latter.

3. Who says the console versions aren't similarly screwed up?

Hm pathetic when all there games have the same technical problems because of the game engine. Whatever makes you feel better but its the truth. Fact is they never fixed the same problems.

Forgive me but I got to say this blindly supporting a company but not recognizing its faults is the reason why developers get a away with so much crap.

 

[KnightPT]

1. Some of you folks are starting to sould pretty pathetic. No, the PC version is NOT the highest priority. That's because sales on consoles are many TIMES higher than on the PC.

2. This doesn't sound like a priority thing at all. This sounds like either they don't know how to code or they've got something got really screwed up in their build process. If it was the former then the whole game would be junk so I'm better on the latter.

3. Who says the console versions aren't similarly screwed up?

1. I'm a 35 year old guy. I dont forget stuff easily. I don't forget it was guys like me on the PC MARKET that made bethesda what they are today.

2. Please get your facts straight before commenting. The "neglect" they made on the PC version are stuff any junior programmer on the PC platform should be aware.

a) X86 optimizations
b) LAA > 4gb RAM
c) Sound quality > 44khz
d) mouse aceleration unplayable in most PC rigs
e) V-sync poorly implemented in most cases

This is not high-tech precision stuff. This is basic-concept. We're not asking for super-awesome PC optimizations like little kids wanting candy, we're asking for the basic stuff.


I personaly don't care much because i have quite OK modding abilities and experience with gamebryo engine, so most of the stuff that was quite poor on the 1st day i was already changing in .ini settings and using mods a few days later, but what realy anoys me is friends of mine that spent €50 on the PC version because i CONVINCED THEM it would be way cooler than on their x360 and now most of them can't play the game unless i go to their place and teach them how to mod and tweak it properly.

 

[Thaurin]

I can't wait until the people claiming Bethesda doesn't set aside the PC platform as a lower priority, rationalise how a 40% increase in CPU bound situations is possible through some tweaks by modders - mere weeks after release.

They sure must have their best people optimising the PC version….

You really think Bethesda didn't include a few compiler flags because they have the PC build on a lower priority? Oh god, this forum is lost…

I'm not surprised as most pc ports nowadays of just pc games in general are all poorly optimized. It takes time and money and we all know the pc is not the targeted audience.

Please don't include me in this. It is arrogant and presumptuous (referring to "we all know").

Quoting the people who did it :
“They’d just have to add the string “/O2 /GL” to their Makefile”. That easy, huh?

Maybe it's about stability over performance? Depending on the compiler they used, this might have been a conscious choice.

Its a case of pure and simple neglect for the PC platform from bethesda. Its not a question of time and money, its a situation that they didnt think about the PC version "at all".

Stop it, stop it now! You're not thinking straight! We have sales of, what was it, over a million? Can you as an adult really think that this would be an "oversight" or just, hey, fuck the PC version! Who's gonna notice! Ha ha ha ha! I can't believe some people here. This is big business, you know.

 

[KapitanUnterhosen]

I'd like to see some actual benchmark comparisons and reports of people being able to play through a considerable portion of the game with this.

 

[Couchpotato]

Ah and here comes the its just us and the company couldn't have done anything wrong suggestion again. Thank you Thaurin you have proved my other point.

If you cant see the focus of games is geared towards consoles I don't know were you been these last couple of years. I guess just because it sold a few million nothing is wrong with it right? Love that logic.

I enjoyed playing it so far but please don't be blind to the same faults in every release with the same engine.

 

[Black Rune]

The new update and this mod helped me a lot. I gained at least 10fps overall. Now it runs around 56fps. Can play it on high settings (only shadows on medium). No more lags from time to time in game. No more frame drops in towns. No more frame drops in caves. I might be tripping, but the sound is better a little bit.
So,it runs much smoother than before.

 

[Thaurin]

Ah and here comes the its just us and the company couldn't have done anything wrong suggestion again. Thank you Thaurin you have proved my other point.

I haven't said that and you've just proved my point: you're not thinking straight. You're putting words in my mouth again and I'd like you to stop doing that.

If you cant see the focus of games is geared towards consoles I don't know were you been these last couple of years. I guess just because it sold a few million nothing is wrong with it right? Love that logic.

Never said focus isn't geared towards consoles.

don't be blind to the same faults in every release with the same engine.

I'm not.