What Do I Do If The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Has Performance Or ...

If you are experiencing performance issues when trying to play The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition such as poor framerate, long load times, or stuttering, you should first check to ensure that your machine meets the game’s minimum requirements here and that you are not running any other programs in the background. If you meet the game’s requirements and are not running any additional programs, you can try the following troubleshooting steps:

• Update Your Graphics Card Drivers
• Change In-Game Settings
• Force the System To Recognize Primary GPU
• Disable Xbox DVR

Update Your Graphics Card Drivers

To ensure you are getting the best performance out of your graphics card, you can download and install latest drivers (based on manufacturer) here:

• NVIDIA
• AMD

Change In-Game Settings

You can improve performance by making changes to the game's in-game settings.

First, try resetting the auto-detected video options:

1. Open Steam and navigate to your Library.
2. Select The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
3. Click Play to open the Skyrim Launcher.
4. From the launcher, select Options and then click the Reset button in the Detail section.
5. Launch Skyrim SE and see if there is an improvement.

If the issues persist, open the Skyrim SE Launcher again and lower the quality of the following options under the Advanced section:

• Godrays
• Shadows
• Decals
• Screen Space Reflections
• SSAO
• Snow Shader
• Lens Flare

You can also try reducing the View Distance, the Distant object detail, and Fade settings, and you should try switching to a lower resolution. Finally, changing the Antialiasing settings from TSAA to either FXAA or Off may also help.

Force the System to Recognize Primary GPU

You can force your system to recognize your video card by following the instructions below:

NVIDIA Graphics Cards

1. Right-click on your desktop and select NVIDIA Control Panel.
2. In the Control Panel, select Manage 3D settings, then click on the Program Settings tab.
3. Next to the "Select a program to customize" option, click the Add button.
4. From the pop-up window, navigate to the folder where the game is installed.
5. Select the executable file for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
6. In the "Select the preferred graphics processor for this program" option, open the drop-down menu and select High-performance NVIDIA processor and confirm.
7. To improve performance, go to the "Specify the settings for this program:" section, click Power management mode, and select Prefer maximum performance and confirm.
8. To further improve performance, you can go to the Manage 3D Settings section, click on the Global Settings tab, and change the settings below:
   1. Vertical sync to off
   2. Threaded optimization to off
   3. Triple buffering to off

Note: The above instructions may change depending on version and unique graphics card. If you require further assistance, you should contact NVIDIA Support here.

AMD Graphics Cards

1. Open AMD Radeon Settings.
2. Select Preference on the bottom tab.
3. Select Radeon Additional Settings.
4. In the Radeon Additional Settings window, select Switchable Graphics Application Settings under the Power.
5. Select All Applications, locate Skyrim Special Edition, click the "Graphic Settings" box to the right of the game .exe, and select High performance.
6. Click the Apply button at the bottom right.

Note: there is also an option to use both cards together to improve performance. To do this:

1. In the Radeon Additional Settings window select AMD Radeon Dual Graphics under Gaming.
2. Click the radial button for Enable AMD Radeon Dual Graphics.
3. Click the Apply button at the bottom right.

Note: The above instructions may change depending on version and unique graphics card. If you require further assistance, you should contact AMD Support here.

If you are playing on a laptop and the above instructions did not force the game to run off your dedicated GPU, then you may have to configure some of your power saving features. Power saving features will sometimes override high-performance profiles to save battery life. When the computer attempts to save battery life, it will switch to the integrated card because it does not require as many resources to run. You can resolve this by following the process below:

1. Press the Battery icon in the notification area of your taskbar.
2. Select More power options... and then expand the Show additional plans section.
   1. 
3. Select High performance and then close the window.
4. Plug in your power cable to ensure that your battery does not run low while playing.

Disable Xbox DVR in Windows 10

If playing The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim on Windows 10, the Xbox DVR might have an impact on game performance. To disable the Xbox DVR, follow the instructions below:

• With the game running, press the Windows key + G to open the Gamebar
• Click the cog icon to open the Settings menu
• Look for the "Game DVR" section on the General tab and make sure "Record game in the background" is unchecked.

You can find additional troubleshooting steps for game crashes here.

If you continue to experience performance issues, you can contact Bethesda Customer Support with your DxDiag file for further troubleshooting. Information on creating a DxDiag file and contacting customer support can be found here.