Maintenance for the week of March 18:
• PC/Mac: No maintenance – March 18
• ESO Store and Account System for maintenance – March 19, 9:00AM EDT (13:00 UTC) - 1:00PM EDT (17:00 UTC)
• Xbox: NA and EU megaservers for maintenance – March 20, 6:00AM EDT (10:00 UTC) - 10:00AM EDT (14:00 UTC)
• PlayStation®: NA and EU megaservers for maintenance – March 20, 6:00AM EDT (10:00 UTC) - 10:00AM EDT (14:00 UTC)

Tomb of FPS Alteration Magic - Everything You Need to Know About FPS

Cathexis
Cathexis
✭✭✭✭✭
Tomb of FPS Alteration Magic
Volume I - The Secret Art of Turning Your Beater into a Lambo

Hi there, I recently had made a post concerning an extensive list of things to improve your framerates in this game, and decided to polish it and provide it as a guide to improve gameplay quality for any players suffering from fps drop offs. I had wrote this for Elswyr, but unfortunately I became ill and have been away for some time.

There are a few things that you need to when you read through these modifications, and attempt to employ them that are important before we begin.
-ALL TOPICS MARKED WITH A [!] SHOULD BE TREATED AS KNOWN TO HAVE VARIABLE IMPACT ON PERFORMANCE, INCLUDE A DECREASE, RATHER THAN INCREASE
-READ CAREFULLY.. DO THINGS IN ORDER WHERE SPECIFIED
-This guide is written for Windows 10 machines, not apple products, as apple products use a different hardware system
-I enjoy tinkering as a hobby, not professionally
-I have read and tested extensively on this topic
-FPS is a combination of the performance and optimization of your hardware, firmware, software, settings, network (geography, bandwidth, latency), and you should assume in this game it is particularly bottlenecked on non-client side operations
-There is much speculative attribution of lower fps to server side capacity, specifically as it relates to how your client interpolates data when it is missing from the server (specifically that it doesn't, which results in reduced fps)
--This guide DOES NOT DO REGISTRY EDITS as these may COMPROMISE THE SECURITY OF YOUR WINDOWS MACHINE.

If you have any recommendations/suggestions for alternative implementations, I am open to alternative opinions; I want to provide a resource that is accurate, and provides the best quality advice.

With that said... Let us begin.



Recommended Applications to Download:
-Speccy
-CPU-Z
-GPU-Z
-Process Lasso
-Throttlestop (Laptops Only)
-MSI Afterburner
-Nvidia Power Mizer Manager (Link Provided Below)
-Nvidia Inspector
-Haeven Benchmark
-DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller)

Applications You Should NOT Download:
-"Game Boosters," programs that purport to increase your gaming quality (when fully optimized, these actually show performance decreases)
-The automatic settings adjustment addon (I will explain this later, it is not a bash on the addon creator, their work is sound)



(1) [!] ALWAYS UPDATE YOUR STUFF - Do this FIRST!
These contain invaluable hardware optimizations that dramatically improve performance (ideally).
DO NOT NEGLECT THESE THINGS - Very often running through this checklist will fix lots of problems and headaches!
HOWEVER - recognize that new implementations can sometimes be faulty, and may result in hardware failure or inadvertent performance decreases that can be repaired by reverting to an older version.

Essential Update Checklist:
-Operating System
-Motherboard Firmware/Bios
-Graphics Card Firmware
-Graphics Card Drivers (Fresh Install from Safe Mode, Strip Down with DDU first)



(2) [!] Edit the UserSettings.txt File in [ Documents > ESO > Live ] Folder
Settings quality are a "to taste" issue, when you decrease performance, the more you reduce settings, the more performance gain you will see. My settings recommendation will emphasize optimum video quality at a reduced performance cost, but you can adjust accordingly based on the information I have provided. Please also be aware that what settings may affect your system dramatically, may have little or no effect on other systems. These are general recommendations that have proved to be useful guidelines from experience with my own hardware (all hardware is different), and others.

One thing you need to understand with this game is that in its infancy, they released patches which did 2 things. (1) They added lighting enhancements to the game that are speculated to create memory leaks and interact poorly with the base game and (2) they added security enhancements to prevent botting by verifying character positions and calculations, which dramatically increased the server and traffic load.

The BIG culprits for FPS loss.
View Distance
Shadows
Water Quality
HDR Lighting (IN USERSETTINGS.TXT)
High Resolution Shadows (IN USERSETTINGS.TXT)
GPU Smoothing Frames (IN USERSETTINGS.TXT)
Looking at any high detail scenes.
Being in cities or anywhere with lots of players.
Sprinting.

Big issues on lower end graphics.
Textures
Sub-sampling
Anti-Aliasing
Lighting
Particles
Particle view distance
Particle density (IN USERSETTINGS.TXT)

Usersettings.txt & ShaderCache.Cooked

The view distance is broken and it causes some sort problem with the way the shader cache file stores shaders. I'm *guessing* what is happening is the shader cache file is storing high quality or high distance shadows that are still being used even when the view distance is set low after they have been stored. The shader.cooked also causes a memory leak once it becomes too large so it is best to delete it every couple of months.

ALWAYS COPY YOUR CURRENT USERSETTINGS.TXT BEFORE REPLACING IT.

RECOMMENDED REPLACEMENT PROCESS
1. Delete the shadercache.cooked file under the [ Documents > ESO >Live ]
2. Delete your usersettings.txt (same directory)
3. Boot the game but do not log in and close the game (EDIT; this *should* regenerate the usersettings.txt, and this is important, I will explain why later)
4. Manually edit the usersettings.txt to 20 view distance (lower is better and 20 will get you objects appearing with that fun tessellated animation as you approach them) or just use the settings I provide below (this will be a comprehensive optimization of quality/performance balance)
5. Log in to regenerate the shadercache.cooked

The reason you want to use a fresh usersettings.txt is because if you have adjusted the view distance with the in game slider you will permanently lose any fps gains from reducing view distance until a new usersettings.txt and shadercache.cooked are created.

I cannot stress this enough:
DO NOT ADJUST THE VIEW DISTANCE SLIDER OR YOU WILL HAVE TO REPEAT THIS PROCESS!!!!!!!!!
DO NOT USE THE VIEW DISTANCE ADJUSTER ADDON (While it is a well made addon, any adjustment to the view distance will break the fps)

Usersettings.txt Premade
Here is my .txt file changes I used, you may need to tweak them.
Game Version: 5.0.11
ALWAYS COPY YOUR CURRENT USERSETTINGS.TXT BEFORE REPLACING IT.
BE ADVISED THAT .TXT VARIABLES CAN CHANGE BETWEEN PATCHES, AND YOU MAY NEED TO REVERT YOUR SETTINGS TO THE PREVIOUS FILE.
SET GamepadPreferredEnabled "0"
SET MouseRawInput "1"
SET MouseSensitivityFirstPerson "0.50000000"
SET MouseSensitivityThirdPerson "1.00000000"
SET MouseSmoothing "0"
SET InvertMouseWheel "1"
SET InvertMouseY "1"
SET InvertMouseX "1"
SET SHOW_ADDITIONAL_ALLY_EFFECTS "1"
SET HDR_BRIGHTNESS "0.00000000"
SET DistantFoliageEnabled "0"
SET PFX_SUPPRESS_DISTANCE_v2 "20.00000000"
SET PFX_GLOBAL_MAXIMUM "1001"
SET MULTI_GPU_CHECK "0"
SET CachedRLREnabled "1"
SET CachedReflectionResolution "6"
SET CachedShadowFiltering "4"
SET ScreenshotFormat.2 "JPG"
SET PregameScreenAdjustEnabled "0"
SET PregameGammaCheckEnabled "0"
SET HardwareCheckEnabled.3 "0"
SET SUB_SAMPLING "2"
SET REFLECTION_QUALITY_v3 "3"
SET PARTICLE_DENSITY "2"
SET HIGH_RESOLUTION_SHADOWS "0"
SET SHADOWS "2"
SET GAMMA_ADJUSTMENT "103"
SET VIEW_DISTANCE "0.73000002"
SET GPUSmoothingFrames "0"
SET MIP_LOAD_SKIP_LEVELS "0"
SET RAIN_WETNESS "1"
SET LENS_FLARE "1"
SET GOD_RAYS_v2 "1"
SET ANTI_ALIASING_v2 "0"
SET AMBIENT_OCCLUSION_TYPE "1"
SET COLOR_GRADING_v1 "0"
SET BLOOM "0"
SET DEPTH_OF_FIELD "1"
SET TONE_MAPPING "1"
SET COLOR_CORRECTION "1"
SET SOFT_ALPHA "0"
SET DISTORTION "1"
SET CHARACTER_LIGHTING "1"
SET DIFFUSE_2_MAPS "1"
SET DETAIL_MAPS "1"
SET NORMAL_MAPS "1"
SET SPECULAR_MAPS "1"
SET CLUTTER_2D "1"
SET SIMPLE_SHADERS "1"
SET WATER_FOAM "1"
SET VSYNC_INTERVAL "1"
SET VSYNC "0"
SET MAX_ANISOTROPY "0"
SET PreferMaximizedWindow "0"
SET PreferExclusiveFullscreen "1"
SET FULLSCREEN_v5 "2"
SET ACTIVE_DISPLAY "0"
SET FullscreenHeight "1080"
SET FullscreenWidth "2560"
SET WindowedHeight "1041"
SET WindowedWidth "2544"
SET StartLuaProfilingOnUILoad "0"
SET ForceDisablePSFreeTrial.2 "1"
SET UIErrorShowMoreInfo "0"
SET ProfileControlCreation "0"
SET SharedCacheVODepotFilename ""
SET SharedCacheGameDepotFilename ""
SET SharedCacheDepotFilename ""
SET InstallHome ""
SET SharedCache ""
SET IgnorePatcherLanguageSetting "0"
SET ScreenShakeMagnitude "1.00000000"
SET HighestChapterOpeningCinematicSeen "2"
SET ChapterUpgradeSeenVersion "-1"
SET HousingEditorSurfaceDragEnabled "1"
SET CONSOLE_ENHANCED_RENDER_QUALITY "0"
SET ShowPetsAtCharacterSelect.2 "1"
SET TrialAccountType3SeenVersion "0"
SET TrialAccountType2SeenVersion "0"
SET TrialAccountType1SeenVersion "0"
SET ScrollingCombatTextShowOverHeal "0"
SET ScrollingCombatTextIncomingPetDoTEnabled "1"
SET ScrollingCombatTextIncomingPetDamageEnabled "1"
SET ScrollingCombatTextIncomingPointGainsEnabled "1"
SET ScrollingCombatTextIncomingStatusEffectsEnabled "1"
SET ScrollingCombatTextIncomingHoTEnabled "1"
SET ScrollingCombatTextIncomingHealingEnabled "1"
SET ScrollingCombatTextIncomingDoTEnabled "1"
SET ScrollingCombatTextIncomingDamageEnabled "1"
SET ScrollingCombatTextIncomingEnabled "1"
SET ScrollingCombatTextOutgoingPetHoTEnabled "0"
SET ScrollingCombatTextOutgoingPetHealingEnabled "0"
SET ScrollingCombatTextOutgoingPetDoTEnabled "1"
SET ScrollingCombatTextOutgoingPetDamageEnabled "1"
SET ScrollingCombatTextOutgoingStatusEffectsEnabled "1"
SET ScrollingCombatTextOutgoingHoTEnabled "1"
SET ScrollingCombatTextOutgoingHealingEnabled "1"
SET ScrollingCombatTextOutgoingDoTEnabled "1"
SET ScrollingCombatTextOutgoingDamageEnabled "1"
SET ScrollingCombatTextOutgoingEnabled "1"
SET ScrollingCombatTextEnabled "1"
SET SiegeCameraChoice "0"
SET IsServerSelected "1"
SET SelectedServer "0"
SET OverscanHeightAdjustment "0"
SET OverscanWidthAdjustment "0"
SET OverscanYOffset "0"
SET OverscanXOffset "0"
SET CharacterSelectForceAllCharacterPreloads "0"
SET PlayerStandInsMaxPerFrame "8"
SET PlayerStandInsEnabled.2 "1"
SET FOVChangesAllowed "1"
SET AgreedToPEGI "1"
SET FootInverseKineticsEnabled.2 "0"
SET GamepadSensitivityFirstPerson.2 "0.72000003"
SET GamepadSensitivityThirdPerson.2 "0.85000002"
SET GamepadInvertX "0"
SET GamepadInvertY "0"
SET GamepadVibrationEnabled "1"
SET SOUND_ENABLED "1"
SET FOOTSTEPS_VOLUME "80.00000000"
SET FOOTSTEPS_ENABLED "1"
SET SPEAKER_SETUP "0"
SET VOICE_CHAT_VOLUME "65.00000000"
SET BACKGROUND_AUDIO "1"
SET VO_VOLUME "100.00000000"
SET VO_ENABLED "1"
SET UI_VOLUME "100.00000000"
SET UI_ENABLED "1"
SET AMBIENT_VOLUME "100.00000000"
SET AMBIENT_ENABLED "1"
SET SFX_VOLUME "100.00000000"
SET SFX_ENABLED "1"
SET MUSIC_VOLUME "51.00000000"
SET MUSIC_ENABLED "0"
SET AUDIO_VOLUME "100.00000000"
SET AUDIO_ENABLED "1"
SET Language.2 "en"
SET GraphicsDriver.7 "D3D11"
SET PatchDataPath "game:/GameData/"
SET CacheDataPath "machine:/Cache/"
SET ViewedAddOnEULAVersion "5"
SET AcceptedAddOnEULAVersion "5"
SET AcceptedNDAVersion "-1"
SET AcceptedCodeOfConductVersion "1"
SET AcceptedPrivacyPolicyVersion "7"
SET AcceptedTOSVersion "3"
SET AcceptedEULAVersion "3"
SET DirectionalDamageIndictorVisibleInThirdPerson "0"
SET CameraFramingTransitionEnabled "1"
SET SkipPregameVideos "1"
SET HasPlayedPregameVideo "1"
SET AssassinationKillCamera "1"
SET MinFrameTime.2 "0.00000001"
SET ParticlesEnabled "1"
SET MaxCoresToUse.4 "-1"
SET RequestedNumJobThreads "-1"
SET RequestedNumWorkerThreads "1"
SET FreeUnusedGrannyFileSections.2 "0"
SET IsTrustedMachine "1"
SET RememberAccountName "1"
SET AccountName "Shnabitybabity"
SET LastPlatform "Live"
SET LastRealm "NA Megaserver"
SET CustomUIScale "1.10000002"
SET UseCustomUIScale.2 "1"
SET RollDodgeDoubleTapEnabled "1"
SET RollDodgeDoubleTapTimeWindow.2 "185"
SET ClampGroundTargetEnabled "1"
SET MonsterTellsEnemyBrightness "1.00000000"
SET MonsterTellsEnemyColor "ffff0000"
SET MonsterTellsFriendlyBrightness "1.00000000"
SET MonsterTellsFriendlyColor "ff00ff00"
SET MonsterTellsColorSwapEnabled "0"
SET MonsterTellsEnabled "1"
SET CameraZoomDistancesSynced "1"
SET SiegeCameraZoomDistance "10.00000000"
SET WeaponsOutCameraZoomDistance "7.50000000"
SET WeaponsSheathedCameraZoomDistance "7.50000000"
SET MaxNetworkWriteBuffer "99999999"
SET MaxNetworkReadBuffer "99999999"

Shaders & Water Reflections
Use medium shaders for best quality to performance. As I understand it, medium shaders only render in a cone originating in your visual field. Higher settings render shaders outside of your visual field (things you aren't looking at) and so place a redundant stress load on your videocard.

For Water Reflections, it's either all or nothing. There is a substantial difference in quality between the highest settings and a step down. If you want better performance turn them off. If you want nice visuals and can accept that it will have an FPS impact, turn them up to maximum. Don't bother with anything in between.

For Cyrodiil pvp or low end hardware pvp I recommend disabling shaders and water reflections.

View Distance and Particles
With view distance being completely borked, there is no need to animate excessive particles for objects outside of your view distance anyway. It may provide some small strategic benefit, but will create an unpleasant aesthetic experience of particles rendering with no visible origin. Edit this in the usersettings.txt and reduce it to just slightly above or equal to your preferred view distance. Changes to the .txt file will go down lower than the minimum GUI range.

MaxNetworkRead/WriteBuffer
I went with the idea that, if the network buffer is maximum, that would mean that it has the maximum amount of space to store traffic, which means no lost packets. So I cranked it up to 9999999, but if you find that returning this to the default 10mb value is better for performance, then adjust to your taste. Theres a vague discussion about it here, that suggests a lower value than the default set at 10000000 is actually optimum, but I have not experienced any differences either way myself.:

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/241568/eso-support-confirmed-the-best-optimization-for-pvp-with-evidence

Cores and Thread Optimization
Also the jobthread and workerthread settings MUST be optimized according to your cpu specifications. Because of the nature of the evolution of the game's cpu usage, it is heavily optimized for max single core CPU usage, with only minor thread/multicore benefits.

So the settings
SET MaxCoresToUse.4 "X"
SET RequestedNumJobThreads "X"
SET RequestedNumWorkerThreads "X"

Should be set to
"[Max Physical Core #, NOT HYPERTHREADED #, NOT -1]"
"[Max Physical Core #, NOT HYPERTHREADED #, NOT -1 (again)]"
"1"

These replacement values above are not literal, they will be unique numbers to your system.

Why?

Max cores is obvious, you want to use all your physical (keyword) cores. You do not want to use hyperthreading, since as I understand it, hyperthreaded cores cut your cpu's maximum in half to create two virtual cores; this means your overall cpu per core performance will suffer whenever a cpu is cut in half. By using these settings, your job or worker thread will basically occupy full physical cores. I don't own a hyperthreaded cpu but if you are going to follow my suggestion to see if it helps, I suggest disabling hyperthreading altogether.

Job threads refers to tasks that are independently processed, so you want every core to take on processes independently, and you want any physical core available to take on a task as they come up. So you set this to the same number as your physical cores.

Worker threads refers to tasks that are assigned by job threads, not independently taken on by the CPU. Since the game is largely optimized for single core performance, you want to optimize for single core performance by keeping your core loads as low as possible to maximize the availability of a core with full capacity for job threads. Since workers are slave to job threads, and multicore usage is minimal, you only want 1 worker thread to avoid bogging down more cores than are necessary with worker threads that would compound stress on job threads by being on the same core.

If I am wrong by all means correct me, but this optimization has substantially improved my performance.



(3)[!] Optimize Your Software/Firmware

Windows Performance Settings
Black Colour Schemes
So I can't speak to if this actually improves performance or not, but the dark mode concept on mobile devices saves battery and I assume GPU resources because when display pixels are instructed to show black, they are simply not illuminated. This suggests, at least to me, that black themes or darker shadows would provide some margin of reduced system load.

-Windows Settings: Performance Slider (Formal write up to come, but this is easy to find)

-Power Saving Settings (Set to maximum performance)

Disable Windows Search Profiler
Cortana is a huge resource hog. Windows Search Profiler sucks up a lot of unnecessary resources, and while you will lose search functions, it will improve performance.

To keep it active but disable it circumstantially, block search profiler with Process lasso.

To disable it completely for maximum performance benefit, search "Services," and open the Services App. Scroll down to "Windows Search." Right Click > Properties. Hit Stop. Select Statup Type > Disabled. Hit Apply, Hit Ok. Restart Your Computer. Verify that it is disabled in the Services app.

A guide can be found here: https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/93666-enable-disable-search-indexing-windows.html

THIS WILL DISABLE YOUR SEARCH FUNCTION, BUT THIS PROCESS IS REVERSABLE.

AMD GPU Settings
I do not have an AMD GPU, I will have to defer to the expertise of other players to provide a comprehensive look at AMD GPU settings.

NVidia GPU Settings
One thing that I did with NVIDIA settings was I optimized the game heavily for NVIDIA control over settings. While it didn't really produce substantial performance benefits, I think it is prudent to disable any game settings which can be governed by NVIDIA, since it is more likely NVIDIA will apply them correctly, and allocate more GPU usage independent of the game itself. I am still in the process of determining the impact this has on the GPU usage and if this is correct.

In the Nvidia GeForce control panel, adjust video settings to taste (lower for better fps), but ensure that power settings are in performance mode, and prerendered frames is set to 1.

Nvidia PowerMizer Utility
This utility is not easily publically found. I found a legit version here: https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?22751-NVIDIA-Powermizer-Manager-to-control-your-g75-rapid-heat-variation
AS ALWAYS: BE WARRY OF PUBLIC DOWNLOADS FROM UNOFFICIAL CHANNELS!

PowerMizer is a utility which allows you to manipulate variables of your GPU to prevent performance changes due to power state changes and overheating. What this is important for is forcing a power state (p-state). Forcing a p-state can adversely affect your card, it can wear it down faster or cause it to malfunction, or break it. With that in mind, forcing a p-state will improve the performance and fluidity of the game. When using PowerMizer ALWAYS BACK UP YOUR EXISTING SETTINGS WITH IT'S EXPORT FUNCTIONS FIRST. THIS IS NON-NEGOTIABLE. CREATING A FORCED P-STATE WILL BREAK YOUR GPU MONITORING IN MSI AFTERBURNER AND RESTORING YOUR BACKUP IS THE ONLY WAY TO RESTORE THEM. What PowerMizer will do is force your GPU to remain in a p-state of 0, which is it's highest performance state. It will also circumvent thermal regulators on the gpu, which downscale your clocks as temperatures rise.

Process Lasso
Download process lasso and set ESOs priorities to realtime and max io, memory that will retain your settings. Exempt ESO from memory trim and probalance restraint, and enable a high threshold for memory trim like 60%. Download their core parking utility, unpark your cores and set their capacity to 100%, and mirror these settings in the control panel power profile settings.
https://bitsum.com/
https://bitsum.com/parkcontrol/

Do NOT Use CPU Affinity
One thing I tried was shunting all other non ESO processes while playing to 1-3 dedicated cores with cpu affinity, and ensuring that eso job threads always have (for me) 5 fully available cores, and worker threads can be offloaded to the system cores if they have enough working space available.

After doing some tests I determined that this was not a viable method of distributing the load, ESO naturally piles its processes onto the most occupied core, so to optimize the processes you have to physically separate them from other system processes, which doesn't work out too badly but ends up being about the same or worse in terms of fps as just naturally letting process lasso sort the processes (which is normal).

It is also inadvisable to use CPU Affinity as both windows and process lasso manage active processes automatically to provide you with a more fluid performance experience. Using CPU affinity will unevenly wear out your CPU cores, and can create performance problems over the long term.

HPET for Low End Systems
Enabling HPET can give you a huge increase on a lower end system, but a negligible difference or deficit on a higher end system. This is a highly variable impact setting, and it is recommended you test it with Haeven Benchmark and also in-game to determine if it right for you. To do this, you must first enable HPET settings in your bios, and then you must ALSO enable HPET settings in windows. HPET can be enabled by command line in cmd prompt with the following command:
bcdedit /set useplatformclock true

After you cmd, reboot your computer.
This process is reversable and can be reset with the command:
bcdedit /deletevalue useplatformclock

Followed by another reboot.



(4)[!] Optimize Your Hardware

Ram (Physical Memory) and Page File (Virtual Memory)
Ideally I would suggest a minimum of 16gb of ram, to ensure extra unused space. You will want at least 8gb of ram for smooth play. 4gb will work in a pinch. If you have less than 4gb of ram and you desperately want to play, get a 2gb, usb stick and set it up for Readyboost. I wouldn't even try under 2gb of physical ram, and ready boost effectiveness is deminished after 4gb total ram+Readyboost. Ready boost can be accessed in the devices right click > properties from your Windows file manager. In the BIOS, ensure that your ram speed is not being automatically set, and that it is set at the maximum overclock speed available to your ram.

For virtual memory, your page file should be at least 1.5x to 4x your ram size in megabytes. I prefer bigger, but it depends on your output performance. To set your pagefile open your file explorer, right click on the computer in the left side bar and select properties, select advanced settings in the popup and you should find the pagefile settings in there. Set a static page file size (so the same minimum and maximum values).

Storage (Hard Drives)
Use solid state drives, even discount solid state drives from a reliable brand will improve load times significantly. Make sure at least your operating system and game are on SSDs. Make sure your drives are configured for AHCI, as it is a more advanced technology that operates more effectively. Drives that do not contain your operating system will convert by simply changing your bios settings to AHCI, but your operating system will get a BSOD error if you convert to AHCI incorrectly. In Windows 10, you can convert to AHCI settings by rebooting into safe mode, and changing the settings in the bios before you boot into safe mode. After you boot into safe mode, you can disable safe mode, and reboot normally. AHCI will now be activated (no registry edit is required). This process is reversable.

You may also want to consider investing in a PCI-E NVMe SSD, as these are significantly faster.

Overclocking Your CPU
Manually overclocking settings is *always* *ALWAYS* better.
Read about overclocks, google "[Processor Series/Spec] Overclock Guide" and interpolate your suggested clock data from others. Only use automatic when you are missing data regarding your clock, always use a manually set cpu voltage at bare minimum, and don't sweat it if the voltage doesn't exactly match. Overclock as high as you can without losing stability, and start at lower increments. You want like 4.5ghz minimum for good performance, but every processor is different, and so will have different clock settings.

I use an AMD Vishera which I have stable clocked to 4.5ghz, using guides like this which are readily available if you look for them.
https://rog.asus.com/articles/crosshair-motherboards/guide-overclocking-fx-8350-to-4-8ghz-on-crosshair-v-formula-z/
Since the Vishera series clocks are fairly cross compatable, I was able to get what I needed from this guide, even though it was not the *exact* same.

If your bios is locked and does not allow you to modify clock and cpu settings, you can try checking https://www.bios-mods.com/ for your motherboard and flashing an unlocked bios (BE ADVISED THIS IS AT YOUR OWN RISK AND MAY BREAK YOUR MOBO). Flashing the BIOS is VERY RISKY, ESPECIALLY WITH NON-OFFICIAL FIRMWARE. The procedures vary for doing this but typically it is as simple as running the update file in windows. I WILL NOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE IF YOU BREAK YOUR MOBO, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

For notebook users I recommend also using ThrottleStop, which is a great utility for modifying bios locked notebooks.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/the-throttlestop-guide.531329/

GPU Hardware Configuration Settings
Check your GPU usage with GPU-Z. If your usage is low, check the GPU-Z information panel to determine if your pci-e is running in x16 (and not lower), check windows performance settings and make sure they are set to maximum performance under the power settings in the new windows 10 settings panel, in the old control panel > power settings, check to make sure your pci-e link state is not in powersave. Check your bios to make sure your HT transfer rates are at maximum (16 or 32 bit as available). Make sure your North Bridge overclock and HT speeds are optimized in the BIOS.

Overclocking Your GPU
Here is a great guide for overclocking nvidia cards using MSI afterburner:
https://forums.evga.com/Guide-How-to-force-max-voltage-amp-curve-overclock-with-msi-afterburner-m2820280.aspx



Network Settings
Network problems typically have to do with:
- Your geographic region
- Your bandwidth
- Network traffic
- Wifi

The farther you are from the server, the poorer the connection (information travels). Your bandwidth can also be too low or have too much traffic and this will compress your game's traffic. Some report varying degrees of success by using a VPN service that will bypass the public network load by making your computer more directly connect to the server. Most importantly, I cannot stress this enough, USE A HARD LINE NOT WIFI from PC > Router (ALWAYS for any game where possible). Flushing the DNS will only have an impact where the DNS being called and the DNS is not responding (so if the DNS isn't responding then flushing it might have a net benefit impact). If flushing the DNS is showing marked improvements for you, I recommend resetting your router to its default DNS settings, looking at DNS related settings, or a full factory reset (if it's not a lot of trouble), as a faulty configuration may be causing the DNS to fail.



Future Editions
Windows Performance Settings/Other Bios Settings/Network Settings/Addons/VPNs/1.1.1.1
In brief, you should always be setting clockspeed related bios features/powersave features/temperature features to DISABLED unless otherwise specified.
Addons will always cause performance loss, with the exception of the addon profiler addon https://www.esoui.com/downloads/info1161-CirconiansAddonSelector.html which allows you to easily swap between profiles of active addons, thus reducing the negative impact on game performance.
Addons with archives (typically trade addons) will slow things down the most
Detailed network settings are complicated and will take time.
Some players have reported that using a VPN improves their performance, because it reduces the number of relay points between the client and the server. I have not tested this, but nordvpn I hear is good and cheap.
Just use 1.1.1.1 and don't make me explain. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1.1.1.1
Windows Performance Settings to come as well

In future editions I will elaborate on this but I am tired AF.
That's it for Edition 1. if you found this helpful, stay tuned for any future updates. Have a wonderful play experience!
Edited by Cathexis on April 24, 2020 3:26AM
The Tomb of FPS Alteration Magic - Everything You Need to Know About FPS
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/520903/tomb-of-fps-alteration-magic-everything-you-need-to-know-about-fps
Praise Malacath.
  • Idinuse
    Idinuse
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    Absolutely fantastic post! Kudos to you for having the stamina and patiens to do this still.
    Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium dolorem que laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo. Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem quia voluptas sit aspernatur aut odit aut fugit, sed quia consequuntur magni dolores eos qui ratione voluptatem sequi nesciunt. Neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit, sed quia non numquam eius modi tempora incidunt ut labore et dolore magnam aliquam quaerat voluptatem. Ut enim ad minima veniam, quis nostrum exercitationem ullam corporis suscipit laboriosam, nisi ut aliquid ex ea commodi consequatur? Quis autem vel eum iure reprehenderit qui in ea voluptate velit esse quam nihil molestiae consequatur, vel illum qui dolorem eum fugiat quo voluptas nulla pariatur?
  • Cathexis
    Cathexis
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    Idinuse wrote: »
    Absolutely fantastic post! Kudos to you for having the stamina and patiens to do this still.

    Thank you :) I'm happy to be of help. I came to the realization that the amount of system efficient customizations was becoming so extensive that it was best to just do a write up I could share, and not have to remember it all.

    Ive been doing small ongoing updates as well to iron out any unclear points or mistakes as well. This game is great when it isn't chop, and before I did hardware upgrades I was able to push very old hardware to run at 50-60fps. Players don't have to live with the fps dropping out, but it requires serious configuration and that is a notoriously frustrating piece. With these configurations on a widesceen, in single monitor mode, on a GTX 1060 6gb I'm getting 200fps+.
    The Tomb of FPS Alteration Magic - Everything You Need to Know About FPS
    https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/520903/tomb-of-fps-alteration-magic-everything-you-need-to-know-about-fps
    Praise Malacath.
  • Idinuse
    Idinuse
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    Cathexis wrote: »
    Idinuse wrote: »
    Absolutely fantastic post! Kudos to you for having the stamina and patiens to do this still.

    Thank you :) I'm happy to be of help. I came to the realization that the amount of system efficient customizations was becoming so extensive that it was best to just do a write up I could share, and not have to remember it all.

    Ive been doing small ongoing updates as well to iron out any unclear points or mistakes as well. This game is great when it isn't chop, and before I did hardware upgrades I was able to push very old hardware to run at 50-60fps. Players don't have to live with the fps dropping out, but it requires serious configuration and that is a notoriously frustrating piece. With these configurations on a widesceen, in single monitor mode, on a GTX 1060 6gb I'm getting 200fps+.

    Brilliant! I'm running on a 1660 Super atm, so if you have any recommendations... =D

    Edit: I'd just add that you can check if your GPU is sharing Irq with the utility "MSI Mode.exe", don't have a DL link, but google. If it is, you can set your GPU to "MSI" (check) and High (in the Interrupt priority).
    Edited by Idinuse on April 21, 2020 9:50AM
    Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium dolorem que laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo. Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem quia voluptas sit aspernatur aut odit aut fugit, sed quia consequuntur magni dolores eos qui ratione voluptatem sequi nesciunt. Neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit, sed quia non numquam eius modi tempora incidunt ut labore et dolore magnam aliquam quaerat voluptatem. Ut enim ad minima veniam, quis nostrum exercitationem ullam corporis suscipit laboriosam, nisi ut aliquid ex ea commodi consequatur? Quis autem vel eum iure reprehenderit qui in ea voluptate velit esse quam nihil molestiae consequatur, vel illum qui dolorem eum fugiat quo voluptas nulla pariatur?
  • Cathexis
    Cathexis
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    Idinuse wrote: »
    Cathexis wrote: »
    Idinuse wrote: »
    Absolutely fantastic post! Kudos to you for having the stamina and patiens to do this still.

    Thank you :) I'm happy to be of help. I came to the realization that the amount of system efficient customizations was becoming so extensive that it was best to just do a write up I could share, and not have to remember it all.

    Ive been doing small ongoing updates as well to iron out any unclear points or mistakes as well. This game is great when it isn't chop, and before I did hardware upgrades I was able to push very old hardware to run at 50-60fps. Players don't have to live with the fps dropping out, but it requires serious configuration and that is a notoriously frustrating piece. With these configurations on a widesceen, in single monitor mode, on a GTX 1060 6gb I'm getting 200fps+.

    Brilliant! I'm running on a 1660 Super atm, so if you have any recommendations... =D

    Edit: I'd just add that you can check if your GPU is sharing Irq with the utility "MSI Mode.exe", don't have a DL link, but google. If it is, you can set your GPU to "MSI" (check) and High (in the Interrupt priority).

    Awesome when I sit down I will have a look and see about it when I have some down time, seems fairly straight forward though as you say.

    Edit; as for your GPU specifically, all of my prior advice is fairly universal. GPU specific enhancements typically require soldering your GPU (very advanced do not attempt if you are not confident in your soldering skills and a risk taker). Basically you would locate the voltage regulator and then create a bypass by soldering over key regulator components, removing them, or soldering in new connections. There is a guy who teaches how to do this, I will try to find his stuff.

    https://youtu.be/s2OLQntchWA this guy did a really good video on modding the 1060, it specifically has a low voltage regulator so it needs it to surpass the serious voltage bottleneck. I don't know what your voltage range is on a 1660, but he may have guides if you like to get dirty with it. I seriously don't recommend doing it to your best graphics card though without any sort of experience. Every card is different, and requires different mods.

    Also I should add that Nvidia powermizer I believe if I'm not mistaken can also allow for some very intensive graphical configurations and allows for game profiles similar to the Nvidia panel, but 1000x more nuanced. In it, there are some very obvious performance settings that offer a boost.

    I should reiterate my fps, it flexes from about 70-200+, probably averaging around 100, maybe more.

    Also I should include a performance chart just for easy reference. Passmark offers a quality chart comparison of how different GPUs stack up.

    https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html
    Edited by Cathexis on April 22, 2020 4:54AM
    The Tomb of FPS Alteration Magic - Everything You Need to Know About FPS
    https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/520903/tomb-of-fps-alteration-magic-everything-you-need-to-know-about-fps
    Praise Malacath.
  • Idinuse
    Idinuse
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    Cathexis wrote: »
    Idinuse wrote: »
    Cathexis wrote: »
    Idinuse wrote: »
    Absolutely fantastic post! Kudos to you for having the stamina and patiens to do this still.

    Thank you :) I'm happy to be of help. I came to the realization that the amount of system efficient customizations was becoming so extensive that it was best to just do a write up I could share, and not have to remember it all.

    Ive been doing small ongoing updates as well to iron out any unclear points or mistakes as well. This game is great when it isn't chop, and before I did hardware upgrades I was able to push very old hardware to run at 50-60fps. Players don't have to live with the fps dropping out, but it requires serious configuration and that is a notoriously frustrating piece. With these configurations on a widesceen, in single monitor mode, on a GTX 1060 6gb I'm getting 200fps+.

    Brilliant! I'm running on a 1660 Super atm, so if you have any recommendations... =D

    Edit: I'd just add that you can check if your GPU is sharing Irq with the utility "MSI Mode.exe", don't have a DL link, but google. If it is, you can set your GPU to "MSI" (check) and High (in the Interrupt priority).

    Awesome when I sit down I will have a look and see about it when I have some down time, seems fairly straight forward though as you say.

    Edit; as for your GPU specifically, all of my prior advice is fairly universal. GPU specific enhancements typically require soldering your GPU (very advanced do not attempt if you are not confident in your soldering skills and a risk taker). Basically you would locate the voltage regulator and then create a bypass by soldering over key regulator components, removing them, or soldering in new connections. There is a guy who teaches how to do this, I will try to find his stuff.

    https://youtu.be/s2OLQntchWA this guy did a really good video on modding the 1060, it specifically has a low voltage regulator so it needs it to surpass the serious voltage bottleneck. I don't know what your voltage range is on a 1660, but he may have guides if you like to get dirty with it. I seriously don't recommend doing it to your best graphics card though without any sort of experience. Every card is different, and requires different mods.

    Also I should add that Nvidia powermizer I believe if I'm not mistaken can also allow for some very intensive graphical configurations and allows for game profiles similar to the Nvidia panel, but 1000x more nuanced. In it, there are some very obvious performance settings that offer a boost.

    I should reiterate my fps, it flexes from about 70-200+, probably averaging around 100, maybe more.

    Also I should include a performance chart just for easy reference. Passmark offers a quality chart comparison of how different GPUs stack up.

    https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html

    Thank you! I will check into your suggestions! ^^b
    Edited by Idinuse on April 22, 2020 11:34AM
    Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium dolorem que laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo. Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem quia voluptas sit aspernatur aut odit aut fugit, sed quia consequuntur magni dolores eos qui ratione voluptatem sequi nesciunt. Neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit, sed quia non numquam eius modi tempora incidunt ut labore et dolore magnam aliquam quaerat voluptatem. Ut enim ad minima veniam, quis nostrum exercitationem ullam corporis suscipit laboriosam, nisi ut aliquid ex ea commodi consequatur? Quis autem vel eum iure reprehenderit qui in ea voluptate velit esse quam nihil molestiae consequatur, vel illum qui dolorem eum fugiat quo voluptas nulla pariatur?
  • Cathexis
    Cathexis
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    Idinuse wrote: »
    Cathexis wrote: »
    Idinuse wrote: »
    Cathexis wrote: »
    Idinuse wrote: »
    Absolutely fantastic post! Kudos to you for having the stamina and patiens to do this still.

    Thank you :) I'm happy to be of help. I came to the realization that the amount of system efficient customizations was becoming so extensive that it was best to just do a write up I could share, and not have to remember it all.

    Ive been doing small ongoing updates as well to iron out any unclear points or mistakes as well. This game is great when it isn't chop, and before I did hardware upgrades I was able to push very old hardware to run at 50-60fps. Players don't have to live with the fps dropping out, but it requires serious configuration and that is a notoriously frustrating piece. With these configurations on a widesceen, in single monitor mode, on a GTX 1060 6gb I'm getting 200fps+.

    Brilliant! I'm running on a 1660 Super atm, so if you have any recommendations... =D

    Edit: I'd just add that you can check if your GPU is sharing Irq with the utility "MSI Mode.exe", don't have a DL link, but google. If it is, you can set your GPU to "MSI" (check) and High (in the Interrupt priority).

    Awesome when I sit down I will have a look and see about it when I have some down time, seems fairly straight forward though as you say.

    Edit; as for your GPU specifically, all of my prior advice is fairly universal. GPU specific enhancements typically require soldering your GPU (very advanced do not attempt if you are not confident in your soldering skills and a risk taker). Basically you would locate the voltage regulator and then create a bypass by soldering over key regulator components, removing them, or soldering in new connections. There is a guy who teaches how to do this, I will try to find his stuff.

    https://youtu.be/s2OLQntchWA this guy did a really good video on modding the 1060, it specifically has a low voltage regulator so it needs it to surpass the serious voltage bottleneck. I don't know what your voltage range is on a 1660, but he may have guides if you like to get dirty with it. I seriously don't recommend doing it to your best graphics card though without any sort of experience. Every card is different, and requires different mods.

    Also I should add that Nvidia powermizer I believe if I'm not mistaken can also allow for some very intensive graphical configurations and allows for game profiles similar to the Nvidia panel, but 1000x more nuanced. In it, there are some very obvious performance settings that offer a boost.

    I should reiterate my fps, it flexes from about 70-200+, probably averaging around 100, maybe more.

    Also I should include a performance chart just for easy reference. Passmark offers a quality chart comparison of how different GPUs stack up.

    https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html

    Thank you! I will check into your suggestions! ^^b

    There is in fact more to GPU overclocking suggestions as well:
    If you are having problems with a previously stable overclock, the game interacts weird with the card, often between patches there will be a variable change in clock stability. If this happens, its best to step down the card about 10 at a time on the core clock. Typically the memory clock will remain consistent, as long as you have found the sweet spot. Alternatively, instability from clock rates can also be a result of a dirty card creating too much heat, or wear over time (which is compounded by dust and dirt in the heatsink)

    A memory clock problem typically causes visual display chopping/weird blocks/colours. It's very noticeable.
    Voltage is usually pretty fixed in terms of what the card can safely accommodate, so it likely wont be to do with your voltage if you haven't modified the voltage regulator (which again, really don't do unless you are certain and experienced.)
    Edited by Cathexis on April 23, 2020 5:51PM
    The Tomb of FPS Alteration Magic - Everything You Need to Know About FPS
    https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/520903/tomb-of-fps-alteration-magic-everything-you-need-to-know-about-fps
    Praise Malacath.
  • Hemaka
    Hemaka
    ✭✭
    These are some nice ideas, especially the one with view range control.
    For some reason I have the most stable fps with SET RequestedNumWorkerThreads set to 0. Any other value gives me horrendous fps drops every ~20seconds in cities (from 70+ to 9-12...) and group combat is kinda unplayable (constant ~12 fps lol). GTX 1060, 16gb ram, intel i7 8750h here so quite good spec. This game is just getting worse and worse with every "patch" they release.
    Also - from what I've read and heard - cpu unparking isn't recommended anymore on cpus released in the last few years so you might think on that a bit more.
    As my cpu is hyperthreaded I can confirm that I've experienced no difference in eso stability & performance by disabling it in bios. Nothing at all.
    Thanks for your extensive work and let's hope that greymoor fixes some of the current issues - though I honestly doubt it.
  • Cathexis
    Cathexis
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    Hemaka wrote: »
    These are some nice ideas, especially the one with view range control.
    For some reason I have the most stable fps with SET RequestedNumWorkerThreads set to 0. Any other value gives me horrendous fps drops every ~20seconds in cities (from 70+ to 9-12...) and group combat is kinda unplayable (constant ~12 fps lol). GTX 1060, 16gb ram, intel i7 8750h here so quite good spec. This game is just getting worse and worse with every "patch" they release.
    Also - from what I've read and heard - cpu unparking isn't recommended anymore on cpus released in the last few years so you might think on that a bit more.
    As my cpu is hyperthreaded I can confirm that I've experienced no difference in eso stability & performance by disabling it in bios. Nothing at all.
    Thanks for your extensive work and let's hope that greymoor fixes some of the current issues - though I honestly doubt it.


    @Hemaka
    I see, in that case, I will make accommodations in following updates. I always always want to make it clear that these recommendations I make are NOT absolute truths. Systems are different and the differences you see can be a result of variability in hardware configurations, which can be extensively complex.

    The information you passed on is very useful because it gives me insight into the functions of intel CPUs and suggests to me there are differences in how the hardware balances processes. Can you tell me what is your maximum clock speed? It's weird to me that setting worker threads to 1 instead of 0 is slower, but this might just be because hyperthreading is a variant of worker thread handling (guessing). In which case, 0 and hyperthreading set to on would be more optimum. I've also read that this game tends to run better on AMD, but there is no supporting evidence of this and is loose conjecture.

    If CPU unparking is no longer recommended my first guess would be that the designs have become more heat sensitive and that the usage scaling has become more fluid as a byproduct of manufacturing architecture becoming more refined. Unparking is probably still an effective means of increasing performance but would require more extensive modifications.

    Edit; Also with regard to amd/Intel and the hyperthreading dilemma at a glance it makes sense to me because hyperthreading would over handle worker threads at the expense of max clock which would result in the performance drop offs you see in the pattern you see them. Setting worker threads to 1 on an Intel in this regard may be instructing it to do something it shouldn't do. That's my guess. Probably splitting the hyperthread.
    Edited by Cathexis on April 28, 2020 6:59PM
    The Tomb of FPS Alteration Magic - Everything You Need to Know About FPS
    https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/520903/tomb-of-fps-alteration-magic-everything-you-need-to-know-about-fps
    Praise Malacath.
  • Cathexis
    Cathexis
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    Just in continuing adding information to the compendium, there has been ongoing discussion that a component of whatever the problem is is happening at akamai, which has a severe latency problem in whatever is going on in the hardware configuration.

    https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/6781116#Comment_6781116
    The Tomb of FPS Alteration Magic - Everything You Need to Know About FPS
    https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/520903/tomb-of-fps-alteration-magic-everything-you-need-to-know-about-fps
    Praise Malacath.
  • Serpentes
    Serpentes
    Soul Shriven
    Hi,

    Now with the latest performance update do you think we should change the values for:
    SET MaxCoresToUse.4 "X"
    SET RequestedNumJobThreads "X"
    SET RequestedNumWorkerThreads "X"

    Since the game is supposed to be working better multi threaded?
    Long live the emperor!
  • Cathexis
    Cathexis
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    Serpentes wrote: »
    Hi,

    Now with the latest performance update do you think we should change the values for:
    SET MaxCoresToUse.4 "X"
    SET RequestedNumJobThreads "X"
    SET RequestedNumWorkerThreads "X"

    Since the game is supposed to be working better multi threaded?

    I haven't tested the configuration but at a glance I would say the recommended specifics discussed for AMD and Intel CPUs would remain the same.

    You might consider raising the number of worker threads from one to between two to four or higher if you want to experiment (again depending on your cores). But regardless of multicore efficiency, optimizing for 1 worker thread ensures the maximum number of available cores with no processes.


    Also an update on GPUs as well:
    Another viable mod to improve performance is to substitute a larger CPU heatsink. There are available modification guides available on YouTube.
    The Tomb of FPS Alteration Magic - Everything You Need to Know About FPS
    https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/520903/tomb-of-fps-alteration-magic-everything-you-need-to-know-about-fps
    Praise Malacath.
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