hi guys,

I've gotten a little megalomaniac with the ini file and raised the entry uDistantGridCount from 5 to 9, so that landscape and objects are displayed in higher quality when distant. since then, my game started crashing when I run through the desert. 1 crash per hour or so. is there some entry I've forgotten to raise along with uGrid? problem is, I can't change it back now, since the savegames won't load with a lower uGrid number.

any help greatly appreciated.

Increasing that number greatly increases the load on the computer.

Does a savegame made in an interior cell not load with the setting changed back to default?

I've made a stupid mistake. the entry is not uDistantGridCount, it's uGridsToLoad.

unfortunately the game crashes instantly regardless where I saved last. in oblivion and fallout 3 changing the same setting worked quite fine, if I recall correctly. regarding my pc power, everything runs smooth. no stuttering or long loading time. maybe the game engine is struggling too much now.

I pushed mine all the way up to 11, and had about the same problems your describing now, though i am not sure it has anything to do with the .ini since the last patch came out the game seems to studded less but ctd more. this is taken from fo3 tweaks, but i have used them with out problems in NV, they seemed to help me a little.

Memory, Loading & Multi-threading

uInterior Cell Buffer=3

uExterior Cell Buffer=36

The above values determine how many cells (for interior or exterior areas as relevant) are buffered into RAM. Altering these values may help make performance smoother. For example, for 1GB of RAM you can try doubling the values (6 and 72 respectively). For 2GB of RAM, try 16 and 102 respectively. For higher amounts of RAM, try raising them higher, however note that you should also raise the iPreloadSizeLimit value below (Fallout.ini).

iPreloadSizeLimit=26214400 - This setting appears to determine the maximum amount (in bytes) of RAM allowed for preloading game data. Raising the value may reduce stuttering. The default value equates to around 25MB (divide the value of this variable by 1024 to get KB, then by 1024 again to get MB). For those with 1GB of system RAM, try doubling the variable to 52428800. For those with 2GB, try double again at 104857600 (100MB). You can raise these values even further to experiment, however note that raising this to a large amount doesn't force all the game data to sit in RAM, and can actually cause crashes. I suggest the maximum anyone should set this to should be around 262144000 (250MB), even for 4GB of RAM or more. Also make sure to raise your Cell Buffer values accordingly (see above) (Fallout.ini).

bUseHardDriveCache=1 - Although Windows should already be using your hard drive cache by default for all drive operations, setting this variable to =1 should ensure it does. Note that some people report that enabling this setting can increase stuttering, so experiment to see if it helps or makes things worse for you. If in doubt, leave it at =0 (Fallout.ini).

bBackgroundLoadLipFiles=1

bLoadBackgroundFaceGen=1

bBackgroundCellLoads=1

bLoadHelmetsInBackground=1

iBackgroundLoadLoading=1

bBackgroundPathing=1

bBackgroundNavmeshUpdate=1

bCloneModelsInBackground=1

All of the above options relate to background loading to attempt to smooth FPS and reduce stutter. I recommend setting them all to =1 if they aren't already. At worst this will do no harm, and at best it may reduce stuttering and improve performance (Fallout.ini).

bUseThreadedBlood=1

bUseThreadedMorpher=1

bUseThreadedTempEffects=1

bUseThreadedParticleSystem=1

bUseThreadedAI=1

bUseMultiThreadedFaceGen=1

bUseMultiThreadedTrees=1

bMultiThreadAudio=0

iNumHavokThreads=5


All of the above variables relate to the use of the GameBryo engine's multithreading capabilities. Multithreading splits tasks into 'threads' where possible, and runs them in parallel across the cores of multi-core CPUs to potentially improve performance. Fallout 3 is already multi-threaded by default, however by enabling all these options you may gain additional performance if you run a multi-core CPU. In my testing I didn't see a dramatic improvement in CPU usage across both cores by enabling these options, nor an increase in FPS, but by the same token it can't hurt to enable them in case they provide marginal improvement. Note however that I found that setting bMultiThreadAudio=1 would cause a freeze upon exiting the game every time, so you may wish to keep this variable disabled for that reason. Indeed if you find you're having any other new problems after applying the above tweaks then revert them all to their original values as part of your troubleshooting (Fallout.ini).

Don't use any of these, they do not increase performance and some of them actually have a negative performance impact. I tested these extensively and did some before/after comparisons, fraps runs, checked the memory usage, etc.

First of all, do not change ANY of the background loading settings. If you do, this will INCREASE stuttering when streaming/loading assets in the world. See for yourself, make the changes and load up the game. Notice how choppy and sluggish the game is when loading the environment. Now set them back to default (change the ones that were 0 back to 0). The game will still be sluggish when loading assets, but not as much as before. This makes sense because if you followed the tweak guide and changed the settings, you're telling the game to load less stuff on the loading screen and load more stuff while playing the game. You do not want to do this. The bUseHardDriveCache setting will also increase stuttering because instead of using RAM for a cache it'll use your much slower hard drive. This option only exists because of the Xbox 360 version of the game. Do not mess with the threading settings, they do not change the number of threads the game uses. You can verify this yourself on the task manager, the game uses around 40 threads no matter what you change these settings to. Any performance gain is clearly placebo, I read on TES forum that these are even legacy items and not actually used by the game. Whether or not that is true, nobody knows because they are not documented anywhere, we don't know if they are for multi-threading or not, and clearly the devs left them off (the ones that are 0) for a reason. A couple of them are on even if using a single core CPU even. Don't mess with 'em.

I've messed with the cell buffers and preloadsizelimit settings a few times and it doesn't make a difference, at least not using a 64-bit OS. The game will always use around 1GB of RAM no matter what you have these set to. It will not use more than 1GB (unless using higher resolution texture 3rd party mods I guess, but even then these settings will not effect this). No performance loss or gain, the game likely ignores them. Leave them at default

I also tried changing uGridsToLoad in FO3 and it didn't crash but the framerate was sluggish on my system. I haven't tried it with NV but I concur that it didn't crash in FO3 but it did for me in Oblivion. This setting also effected my save games if I recall so if I saved and the changed the setting back to default the save wouldn't load.

If memory serves, you could definitely extend some of the LOD settings past what the game allows which would show you more detail in distant background objects but for the most part I really can't recommend editing anything in the .ini other than what the defaults already are

thanks for your answers. actually tweaking the aforementioned ini settings was the first thing I did before even starting the game. I'll try to restore any changes and see how this affects my game.

btw. I've opened the exe with CFF explorer and noticed that for some reason the 4 GB tweak was deactivated, although I recall activating it during my innitial tweak process. is this 4GB aware enabler thingy a placebo as well? maybe it can prolong the times between ctd's since more memory can be used by the game.

Not if you are using extensive mods. The vanilla game will not use any more than 1GB of ram, but with enough mods more ram gets consumed and eventually without it performance would start to get sluggish and ultimately CTD once it runs out of ram. In that sense it has definitely helped others and isn't placebo. Anybody using it with the normal vanilla game and no mods and claiming it increases their performance though, that would be placebo.

People have been floating those .ini "tweaks" around since Oblivion and I also blindingly applied them before running the game and played for quite some time like that. It was only after removing them when I noticed increased performance (less stuttering with the backgroundloading options at default) and then began to experiment. That's when I actually started doing some internet research and found that they can harm performance, they're placebo, the threading settings are legacy, etc. I even used a "tweak" that wasn't posted above to "force shader 3.0" which involved using an ATI shader package on my nvidia card. After I switched it back I noticed significantly higher framerates on the mothership zeta level I was on, so definitely don't do that one either! Also, I don't recommend using the .ini file to forcibly disable vsync because the reason they forced it to on is the game will speed up when there is no physics taking place. So if you get 240fps, the game runs 4x as fast! Sorry for the long post, I guess what I'm saying is we can't believe everything we read I guess, even if it sounds like it would work.

There is no magic in the INI to be found really. The only ones that have helped my game are the ones for Multicore Processors. Basically these are the xxxTreadxxx lines in one of the above posts. All these do is make the game smoother for those who have a multicore processor. Now, I have not even looked at the INI for FONV and these may very well be set to multicore optimal settings already. All the other tweaks may or may not (usually may not) help you and your game on your rig.

Also, if you are changing the INI in My Documents/My Games/Fallout New Vegas then this file gets over written each time you launch the game. I beleive the Preferences file changes stay. However to change the INI, you have to change the Default one in the root install directory. Which is bad IMO as if you hose the INI file, you have to reinstall the game. So, no matter what, back the INI file up before making any changes to the Default.

Here's a good thread when these settings were first brought up for use in FO3:

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1360204&page=2

Basically, they say don't trust the tweakguide and that the developers have the game configured for a certain reason. The game is already multi-core enabled (it uses 40+ threads) and in my testing changing the threading settings had no effect on performance nor did the number of threads in task manager increase. Even the popular "inumhardwarethreads=2" doesn't actually force the game to use two cores only (again this can be verified in the task manager, the game utilizes pretty much all my cores at times) unless you change the CPU affinity. If forcing the CPU affinity to only two cores on my i7 I get a significant drop in performance so in conclusion the default settings are the way to go

I would have to disagree with pretty much everything 'unwinding' has said.

I have seen both better performance and better stability through tweaking the INI. Going to certain locations would usually result in a crash
- fast travel to Nipton was one. Fast travel to the 188 trading post meant I appeared 3 foot above the road and dropped down. After tweaking
I now spawn properly at ground level.

Using task manager I was seeing even usage across all 4 cores but now I have 2 cores used 50/40 and the other 2 virtually NIL.

So I would say - try it for yourself and see what results you get but keep a notepad handy and write down the settings you change
in case you want to change it back.

Why would anyone in their right mind want to disable half their CPU?

FO:NV runs perfectly on a quad code CPU. If it doesn't on yours, then I'd look at your hardware, not at the software.

I am going to have to agree with and give thanks to unwinding for bringing up this point. I had been using ini tweaks since the beginning and didnt think any harm could come from it. Finally tried turning them off last night and I had been getting a nice fps drop (from 60 to about 45) when in populated areas or towns, but now am getting 60 fps everywhere. Try reverting the ini back to default and see what results you get. Thanks unwinding.

?? I'm not quite sure I follow what you're saying. So after "tweaking" your .ini file you are now using primarily two cores instead of four? That's not possible for one thing, and the other thing is that wouldn't be very good if true. Fast traveling will place you above the ground occasionally, its a known bug in the game and no amount of editing the deprecated .ini settings that the game doesn't even use will fix it (why would these even be related to on another?). I definitely do not recommend anybody try any of these if they want their game to be stable. At no point since Oblivion was released in 2006 has the developers ever explained or endorsed any of these, somebody just made a "guess" that they magically fixed things when in reality they do nothing. When I say I have done extensive testing with and without them, I really mean it. I was OCD trying to get FO3 to run as best as it could and in the end that meant the default .ini settnigs. People need to stop endorsing these placebo and performance-hurting "enhancements" because it will only cause further issues and complaints on these support forums.

As for what the task manager says, I still do not quite understand what you are saying. If you REALLY want to force the game to run on two cores then do this:

Make a shortcut to falloutnv.exe

Right-click the shortcut and select "properties"

In the "target" field, remove everything that is there and paste the following:

C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /C start /affinity 5 falloutnv.exe

If your hard drive is something other than c:\, make sure you change it

Now apply the settings and make sure that steam is CLOSED otherwise it won't work. Go ahead and add the iNumHWThreads=2 to the general section of the default.ini in the game's folder just in case it actually does anything. Now run the shortcut, it will open steam and the NV launcher. If you go to task manager and right click on steam32 and falloutnvlauncher then select affinity you will see that they are only using cpu 0 and cpu 2 which are two physical cores just in case you have hyperthreading (this way it won't be using hyperthreading at all, ex. cpu 0 and cpu 1 would be the same physical core with cpu 1 being fake so you don't want that checked)

Now run the game from the launcher and it will run with the same affinity 2 cpu. You can verify this by bringing up task manager and checking the affinity of falloutnv.exe

Congratulations, enjoy your slow performance. You've just forced the game to run on two cores. Fire up FRAPs and notice how your framerate will be nearly cut in half at times. You definitely don't want this so please delete the shortcut and remove that stupid inumhwthreads line from your default.ini. Like I said, the game uses 40 threads and you can verify this by going to task manager>performance>resource monitor and looking at the column that says THREADS and then find falloutnv.exe. No amount of editing the .ini fill increase or decrease the number of threads. Adding the inumhwthreads=2 does absolutely nothing as the game still uses all your cores anyway which as I have proven you WANT it to do anyways. These .ini "tweaks" are not tweaks at all and people need to stop posting them. Period

PSeriously, if people want to use them that's fine but I just wanted to clear the air and let anybody that actually cares know they don't do a thing. It's like that episode of the simpsons where lisa talks about a rock that keeps tigers away (no it doesn't work but do you see any tigers around?). If somebody instructed us to place a file called "FalloutFix.ini" in the game's folder and edit in notepad to include the line "Performance=AWESOME" there would be a dozen users that claimed it fixed their FPS and CTD

(PS, don't actually seriously play the game with the CPU affinity forced to two cores... really it will hurt performance. I only posted the instructions to prove a point and everybody is welcome to try playing the game that way but seriously it cuts your FPS in half at times. The game will use all your cores so if you have a quad or better you'll get better performance so you might as well take advantage of those cores rather than blindingly assume the game works better on two cores)

Exactly, and if anybody REALLY wants to disable half their quad core CPU (and the fake hyperthreading cores if they have 'em) I posted instructions above on creating a shortcut which alters the CPU affinity to two physical cores only. I posted it to prove a point, that the game's framerate will drop in half. That all these posts that say the game isn't really multi-threaded or runs best on dual-core setups are bogus. They're basing these assumptions on the fact that Fallout 3 freezes occasionally if you have more than two cores but this was fixed in NV. Sure NV will randomly CTD but that's not because of a quad core.

I've seen an awful lot of people recommending "have you tried the quad core fix? set threadedai=1 and inumhwthreads=2 since the game runs best on two cores" without any proof whatsoever to backup this addresses any issues (it doesn't). Even if you tell the game in the .ini to run on half it's cores it still uses 40 threads and Windows still distributes these 40 threads to all available cores. And the treadedai does nothing.

As stated, most of the INI tweaks do not do anything for folks. However for some people on some rigs, they can help to an extent. As you say, try it, make note of what changes you make, and be prepared to undo whatever you do if it does not help or hurts the game.





It does make the game run better for some folks on Quad Cores to force the game to use two of them. Not all need this, and it maybe that with New Vegas, the need is even less. However as a troubleshooting tool to try when the game is unstable, it is certainly valid.

I'm not sure it does anything at all with NV. On my system if I add that line to the general section (in the default.ini in steam's folder but also in the other two in my documents just to be sure it's in all of them) task manager clearly shows that the falloutnv.exe is using all of my cores. The renderinfo.txt will say HW Thread Count: 2 but the operating system is still assigning threads to all my cores. Maybe it changes some sort of behavior internally regarding how the game decides to run but it still uses all my cores. The only way to truly force the game to run on two cores with a quad core setup is to change the affinity (see my post above with the shortcut instructions). This has a clear negative impact on FPS though. If you guys insist on using it as a troubleshooting tool, that's fine by me. But I would feel a lot better if somebody could point to an actual dev stating what this line actually does