So I've been vigoursly reading the .ini files, looking for ways to tweak my game for the better, and had a few questions about some of them.

For example, what exactly are these: (found in the skyrim.ini file located in my documents / my games / skyrim)

iHWThread6=5
iHWThread5=5
iHWThread4=5
iHWThread3=4
iHWThread2=4
iHWThread1=4
bWarnOnMaterialCollisions=0
iRenderingThread2HWThread=1
iRenderingThread1HWThread=0

These are the default settings.
What are the HWThreads? What are the RenderingThreads? I assume the warnonmaterial one will warn if materials are colliding in the engine, similar to the hammer editer for steam.

Would enabling RenderingThread1HWThread do anything?

Some other things:

sMainMenuMusic=\Data\Music\Special\MUS_MainTheme.xwm

Would this mean we can change the opening music? Maybe the Benny Hill theme would be more suited right now...

fLoadGameFadeSecs=1.0000
fFastTravelFadeSecs=0.5000

You can change the fade time for loading and fast traveling here.

bRunMiddleLowLevelProcess=1
bTaskletActorSceneGraphUpdates=1
bParallelAnimUpdate=0

What on EARTH are these?

fProcessListsUpdateHighFrameRate=30.0000
fProcessListsUpdateLowFrameRate=10.0000
fProcessListsUpdateTimeMin=0.5000
fProcessListsUpdateTimeMax=5.0000
iLowProcessingMilliseconds=2

What about these?

bShowGunTarget=0

Da fux?

fEncumberedReminderTimer=30.0000

Change how often you are reminded about being overencumbered. I figured running slow as balls was good enough, but apparently you need a reminder too...

bBorderRegionsEnabled=1

I believe disabling this allows you to travel to Red Mountain and Gold Tower.

bTrackAllDeaths=0

What exactly would you need to track deaths for?

iNumBitsForFullySeen=248

Would editing this value possibly fix the 'sneak bug' people are having?

bShowCheckMemoryOutput=0
bUseHardDriveCache=0

These both seem really useful if enabled. Not sure if enabling hdd cache would prevent it from using other resources though.

bBackgroundLoadVMData=http://forums.bethsoft.com/topic/1295874-questions-about-the-ini-files/0

Could this preload crap in the virtual memory? interesting...

fMasterFilePreLoadMB=40.0000

This might also help something.

iNumHWThreads=4
uInterior Cell Buffer=3
bPreemptivelyUnloadCells=0

Could changing these also increase performance and stability?

Now we get in to the Display area.

bUseFakeFullScreenMotionBlur=0

Fake? Really?

bShadowsOnGrass=0
bActorSelfShadowing=0
bEquippedTorchesCastShadows=0

More shadows!

bForcePow2Textures=0
bForce1XShaders=0
bAllow30Shaders=0
bAllow20HairShader=1

Would this help with shader issues?

fDefault1stPersonFOV=65.0000
fDefaultWorldFOV=65.0000
fDefaultFOV=65.0000
fNear1stPersonDistance=5.0000
fNearDistance=15.0000

Editing these could increase FOV in general.

sScreenShotBaseName=ScreenShot

To change the name of screenshots (to like SKYRIM or something else)

bUseSunbeams=0

Interesting...

bAllowCreateGrass=1
bAllowLoadGrass=0

What exactly does loadgrass do?

bDisableNPCAttacks=0

...lol.

iShowHitVector=0
bDismemberOneLimb=0

Dismemberment eh? Also, hit vector, could this show the radius to hit the creature?

iMaxAllocatedMemoryBytes=76800
iMaxMemoryPageSize=512
iMinMemoryPageSize=128

Very interesting, completely optimized for XBox.

bForceLowDetailReflections=0
bForceHighDetailReflections=0
bAutoWaterSilhouetteReflections=0
bReflectExplosions=0

Allows for reflections on water perhaps?

bUseWaterHiRes=0

Odd...

Under HAVOK I found these:

iNumThreads=1

Could you increase this to 2 or 4 to increase performance?

fInAirFallingCharGravityMult=1.3500

Slowfall anyone?

fDefaultWaterfallCurrentVelocity=6.0000

Change behavior of waterfalls.

sWorldMapOverlayNormalSnowTexture=Data\Textures\Terrain\WorldMapOverlaySnow_n.dds
sWorldMapOverlayNormalTexture=Data\Textures\Terrain\WorldMapOverlay_n.dds

Location of the snow textures.

bShowTutorials=1

Disable those pesky tutorials!

bShowSubtitleSpeakerName=1

Disable if you want to see subtitles, but not who's speaking.

Under MAIN:

iLastHDRSetting=-1

Could enabling this enable HDR?

sKeyboardDefinitionFile=Interface/Controls/PC/Keyboard_

This could be the problem with remapping the keyboard. I believe it should say .txt, navigate to the folder to find out.

iMaxQuestObjectives=3000

Lowering this should prevent you from having 3000 quests at once. If you don't like to be easily sidetracked, this is for you.

fSprintAccelerationMult=10.0000

Faster sprinting.

bSelectivePurgeUnusedOnFastTravel=0
bUseMultiThreadedTrees=1

These could also improve stability.

sTrackProgressPath=\\vault2\Fallout\LevelData\

Proof they copied Fallout?

bAllowHavokGrabTheLiving=0

Could be fun...

bDisableHeadTracking=0

This should disable that pesky head looking when youre in sneak (and hidden)

Under TREES

bForceFullDetail=0

Better looking trees maybe?

And at the very bottom:

sFailureMessage=Something is broken

That's amusing.


I know this isn't the best organized, so if someone wanted to organize it better feel free. PLEASE NOTE THESE ARE ALL THE DEFAULT SETTINGS.

I'd also like to add this:

1 gigabyte = 1,073,741,824 bytes

in reference to this:

iMaxAllocatedMemoryBytes=76800

I'm going to bump this up to 200k for a laugh, see if it does anything.

Although... 76800 bytes is 0.586 megabits, so this can't possibly be correct. It is, however, an even 75 kilobytes.

le shameless selfbump. any info on the bits i dont know here?

I have a noob Q. Where do i find this in my .ini as i dont have half of what you have posted in this thread. I have played with .ini's before so i know what i am doing, i just dont seem to have all these bits, is there a way to open it wth more info or something?
cheers Metal

in the very second line i say:

(found in the skyrim.ini file located in my documents / my games / skyrim)

There are a few other threads about ini stuff, at least one contains info on the first few lines you have posted.
They are somehow related to multi-threading, but in my experience you won't see much, if any, effect from playing with them.