So, this thread is where we post stuff about the ini. Just trying this now.

Ok, so far the most relevant settings are:

ishadowmapresolution(anything): Changing this to 4096 (assuming you've got the pc to handle it) nets you shadows that almost look good.
Now anything with LOD and StartToFade in it's name, well turning that up (higher numbers) should extend the distance at which you can see whatever that is (shadows, lights, etc.)
I(whatever)multisample is anti aliasing of (whatever). If it's just multisample, it's standard anti aliasing. If it's of water, it's water anti aliasing. But frankly high water settings seem fine, so whatever.
bMainZPrepass: For now, just causes shimmering artifacts (glitches) on characters. May be useful for certain graphics mods later, but for right now it's useless.

bShowFloatingQuestMarkers=1
bShowQuestMarkers=1

Set to zero for the above 2 and floating quest markers and compass quest markers will be off!

As per Tweakguides
"To disable VSync in Skyrim, add iPresentInterval=0 to the bottom of the [Display] section of the Skyrim.ini file in the \Users\[Username]\My Documents\My Games\Skyrim directory."


Unfortunately, if this game is like Oblivion, messing with the .ini could cause more harm than good.

Would you mind posting the default ini from the skyrim folder in a code block so those of us that don't have the game yet can eyeball it?

Ok, increasing the shadow map resolution definitely helps. Still shimmers and looks like crap, but less like crap. Good shadows will have to wait for mods.

Floating point render target does: ?
Shadowmask Z prepass does: ?

I don't have the default one anymore, but here is mine. Very High Quality, without AA. AA makes everything way to blurry when combined with FXAA...

[General]fBrightLightColorB=1.0000fBrightLightColorG=1.0000fBrightLightColorR=1.0000iStoryManagerLoggingEvent=-1bEnableStoryManagerLogging=0[Imagespace]bDoDepthOfField=1iRadialBlurLevel=2[Display]iBlurDeferredShadowMask=3fInteriorShadowDistance=3000.0000fShadowDistance=8000.0000iShadowMapResolutionSecondary=1024iShadowMapResolutionPrimary=2048iShadowSplitCount=2iMaxAnisotropy=16fLeafAnimDampenDistEnd=4600.0000fLeafAnimDampenDistStart=3600.0000fTreesMidLODSwitchDist=10000000.0000fGamma=1.0000fDecalLOD2=1500.0000fDecalLOD1=1000.0000fSpecularLODStartFade=2000.0000fShadowLODStartFade=200.0000fLightLODStartFade=3500.0000iTexMipMapMinimum=0iTexMipMapSkip=0iWaterMultiSamples=0iMultiSample=1iShadowMode=3bTreesReceiveShadows=1bDrawLandShadows=1bFull Screen=1iSize H=1200iSize W=1920fMeshLODFadePercentDefault=1.2000fMeshLODFadeBoundDefault=256.0000fMeshLODLevel2FadeTreeDistance=2048.0000fMeshLODLevel1FadeTreeDistance=2844.0000fMeshLODLevel2FadeDist=10000000.0000fMeshLODLevel1FadeDist=10000000.0000iScreenShotIndex=2bShadowMaskZPrepass=0bMainZPrepass=0iMaxSkinDecalsPerFrame=25iMaxDecalsPerFrame=100bFloatPointRenderTarget=0sD3DDevice="AMD Radeon HD 6900 Series"bFXAAEnabled=1iShadowMapResolution=4096fShadowBiasScale=0.1500iShadowMaskQuarter=4iAdapter=0iPresentInterval=1iShadowFilter=3bTransparencyMultisampling=0bDrawShadows=1[Grass]b30GrassVS=1fGrassStartFadeDistance=7000.0000fGrassMaxStartFadeDistance=7000.0000fGrassMinStartFadeDistance=0.0000[MAIN]bGamepadEnable=0bCrosshairEnabled=1fHUDOpacity=1.0000bSaveOnPause=1bSaveOnTravel=1bSaveOnWait=1bSaveOnRest=1fSkyCellRefFadeDistance=150000.0000[GamePlay]bShowFloatingQuestMarkers=1bShowQuestMarkers=1iDifficulty=2[Interface]bDialogueSubtitles=0bGeneralSubtitles=0bShowCompass=1[Controls]fGamepadHeadingSensitivity=1.0000fMouseHeadingSensitivity=0.0180bAlwaysRunByDefault=1bInvertYValues=0bGamePadRumble=0bMouseAcceleration=0fForegroundMouseAccelBase=0fForegroundMouseAccelTop=0fForegroundMouseBase=0fForegroundMouseMult=0 [Particles]iMaxDesired=750[SaveGame]fAutosaveEveryXMins=15.0000[AudioMenu]fAudioMasterVolume=1.0000fVal7=1.0000uID7=0fVal6=1.0000uID6=0fVal5=1.0000uID5=0fVal4=1.0000uID4=0fVal3=0.8000uID3=94881fVal2=0.5000uID2=466532fVal1=1.0000uID1=554685fVal0=0.5000uID0=1007612[Clouds]fCloudLevel2Distance=262144.0000fCloudLevel1Distance=32768.0000fCloudLevel0Distance=16384.0000fCloudNearFadeDistance=9000.0000[TerrainManager]fTreeLoadDistance=75000.0000fBlockMaximumDistance=250000.0000fBlockLevel1Distance=70000.0000fBlockLevel0Distance=35000.0000fSplitDistanceMult=1.5000bShowLODInEditor=0[NavMesh]fObstacleAlpha=0.5000fCoverSideHighAlpha=0.8000fCoverSideLowAlpha=0.6500fEdgeFullAlpha=1.0000fEdgeHighAlpha=0.7500fEdgeLowAlpha=0.5000fTriangleFullAlpha=0.7000fTriangleHighAlpha=0.3500fTriangleLowAlpha=0.2000fLedgeBoxHalfHeight=25.0000fEdgeDistFromVert=10.0000fEdgeThickness=10.0000fPointSize=2.5000[Trees]bRenderSkinnedTrees=1uiMaxSkinnedTreesToRender=20[Decals]uMaxDecals=1000bDecals=1bSkinnedDecals=1uMaxSkinDecals=100uMaxSkinDecalsPerActor=60[LOD]fLODFadeOutMultObjects=15.0000fLODFadeOutMultItems=15.0000fLODFadeOutMultActors=15.0000fLODFadeOutMultSkyCell=1.0000[Launcher]bEnableFileSelection=1bShowAllResolutions=0uLastAspectRatio=4[BlurShaderHDR]bDoHighDynamicRange=1[BlurShader]bUseBlurShader=0[Water]bUseWaterRefractions=1bUseWaterReflections=1bUseWaterReflectionBlur=1bUseWaterDisplacements=1bUseWaterDepth=1iWaterReflectWidth=1024iWaterReflectHeight=1024bReflectExplosions=1iWaterBlurAmount=4bAutoWaterSilhouetteReflections=0bForceHighDetailReflections=1

Default Low Quality;

[Display]iMultiSample=1iWaterMultisamples=1iMaxAnisotropy=1iTexMipMapSkip=1iTexMipMapMinimum=4fDecalLOD1=500.0000fDecalLOD2=1000.0000iActorShadowCountInt=2iActorShadowCountExt=2fSpecularLODStartFade=200.0000fLightLODStartFade=200.0000iShadowMapResolution=512fShadowBiasScale=0.5iShadowMaskQuarter=3iBlurDeferredShadowMask=0bFXAAEnabled=0fMeshLODLevel2FadeDist=3072.0000fMeshLODLevel1FadeDist=4096.0000fTreesMidLODSwitchDist=3600.0000fShadowDistance=2000iMaxDecalsPerFrame=0iMaxSkinDecalsPerFrame=0[LOD]fLODFadeOutMultActors=2.5fLODFadeOutMultObjects=2.5fLODFadeOutMultItems=1[TerrainManager]fTreeLoadDistance=12500.0000fBlockMaximumDistance=75000.0000fBlockLevel1Distance=25000.0000fBlockLevel0Distance=15000.0000fSplitDistanceMult=0.4000[Grass]b30GrassVS=0fGrassStartFadeDistance=0.0000[Imagespace]iRadialBlurLevel=0[Water]bReflectLODLand=0bReflectLODObjects=0bReflectLODTrees=0bReflectSky=1[BlurShaderHDR]bDoHighDynamicRange=0[Decals]bDecals=0bSkinnedDecals=0uMaxDecals=0uMaxSkinDecals=0uMaxSkinDecalPerActor=0

Default Very High Quality;

[Display]iMultiSample=16iWaterMultisamples=4iMaxAnisotropy=16iTexMipMapSkip=0iTexMipMapMinimum=4fDecalLOD1=500.0000fDecalLOD2=1000.0000iActorShadowCountInt=6iActorShadowCountExt=6fSpecularLODStartFade=2000.0000fLightLODStartFade=3500.0000iShadowMapResolution=4096fShadowBiasScale=0.15iShadowMaskQuarter=4iBlurDeferredShadowMask=3bFXAAEnabled=0fMeshLODLevel2FadeDist=9999999.0000fMeshLODLevel1FadeDist=9999999.0000fTreesMidLODSwitchDist=9999999.0000fShadowDistance=8000.0000iMaxDecalsPerFrame=100iMaxSkinDecalsPerFrame=25[LOD]fLODFadeOutMultActors=15.0000fLODFadeOutMultObjects=15.0000fLODFadeOutMultItems=15.0000[TerrainManager]fTreeLoadDistance=75000.0000fBlockMaximumDistance=250000.0000fBlockLevel1Distance=70000.0000fBlockLevel0Distance=35000.0000fSplitDistanceMult=1.5000[Grass]b30GrassVS=1fGrassStartFadeDistance=7000.0000[Imagespace]iRadialBlurLevel=2[Water]bReflectLODLand=1bReflectLODObjects=1bReflectLODTrees=1bReflectSky=1[BlurShaderHDR]bDoHighDynamicRange=1[Decals]bDecals=1bSkinnedDecals=1uMaxDecals=1000uMaxSkinDecals=100uMaxSkinDecalPerActor=60

Are there any possible adjustment to the gore level of the game?

There is a way to show the compass without the location icons? I like to know where I'm heading (N, S, E, W) but don't want to know where the places are (specially the not-visited ones).

I did open my own thread on this topic. I didn't realise there was already one. My bad. Haha.

Here's a few more things that help mainly with immersion.

Changing the variables below to '0' will remove the floating quest marker and the compass quest marker.
bShowFloatingQuestMarkers=1
bShowQuestMarkers=1

This reduces the opacity of the HUD.
fHUDOpacity=0.5000

This removes the annoying auto run
bAlwaysRunByDefault=0

Changing this to '30.0000' makes the game save every thirty minutes instead. Obviously. ^.^
fAutosaveEveryXMins=15.0000

Removing the quest marker, great job!
On a side note: Did anyone find a way to disable the Intro-Logo? After seeing it a couple of times it becomes quite annoying.

Go to your Skyrim game folder > data > video and just remove the one file in there. done

EDIT: easiest thing is to create a new folder in the video folder and just move the video in there, serves as a backup in case anything goes amiss. which it shouldn't.

Thanks. I'd never thought of just moving the video somewhere else...

You mean you can't just skip it with ESC like in Oblivion?

nope, but in all fairness, it's extremely short, maybe 4 seconds long.

The problem with disabling quest markers completely is that many of the miscellaneous quests lack specific information in the quest menu, so if you don't remember where you're supposed to go there's no way to find out without the quest marker.

But the floating quest marker can be disabled from the options menu in game.

Awesome thread.

I posted a goodbye thread in the general forums yesterday but didn't realize i would be back here so soon

Yeah the shadows are worse than any prior ES game that had them so I will definitely tweak the ini to help make them better.

Ok, figured out how to max a lot of things how. Screenshots coming soon.