Could we please, please get an Official FPS limiter? Preset interval, or forcing Vsync simply do not cut it when compared to an FPS limiter.

I have used an FPS limiter for quite some time now, because it makes the game perform silky smooth at all times.
It does however cause some strangeness on occasion, such as weird animation issues, long load times and sound issues.

I have also noticed since turning the limiter off that I get death animations much more frequently.

I don't know why it makes performance so good, but I haven't found any game breaking issues while using it.

An official built in limiter would really make the game so much better, hopefully without the weirdness. I need to use one to limit GPU stress.


Perhaps someone knows a better way to get silky smooth gameplay at lower FPS? I have it set on 31 which to me plays silky.

EDIT: I know that the current nvidia beta drivers have one (I dont want beta drivers), but I expect it will cause the same issues that user made ones do.

I use the one in the beta nvidia drivers (which has been absolutely stable for me, so I'd recommend trying it, at least!) and have yet to suffer any side effects at all.

Does NVidia limiter produce longer loading times? Or it can be dynamically toggled in game?

No longer loading times, and no, it can't be toggled in game. You need the beta drivers, and using the latest Inspector, go into the Skyrim profile and set a new "Frame Rate Limit" from "off" to your desired cap.

Yes and no, respectively.

FPS limiters saves my PC from Bethesda game's crazy FPS ranges.

I have found that the fps limiter that is built into ENB to be the most precise and reliable (able to enter decimal places with it...sometimes necessary if you really want to attack those stutters). One benefit it that it has an in-game toggle. I'll explain why this helps.

I have come to believe that there are 2 types of microstutter, and that in the discussions here we are often talking about both of them, though the root causes of each may be different. First, there is the 64hz bug. There is a very fast first person microstutter in situations of high framerate in indoor areas, where in the absence of screen refresh limit or a fps limiter your fps would be racing very high. This has a 'rapid fire' microstutter.

The other kind of microstutter is a slower "chug chug" variety, and will often happen at fps lower than 60 in areas of great gpu load (like running in an open field with lush grass and Vurts flora maxed out and massive draw distances etc etc). It appears frequently but not limited to SLI and cross-fire gpus (bundled in one card or separate). I believe this 'chug chug' microstutter mayhave to do with timing issues between your cpu and your multi-gpu when the gpus are being pushed to their maximum...but I am speculating.

So, for my machine at least, setting an fps limit of 64ish and pushing my monitor to a 64ish hz refresh rate helps with the first kind of stutter. I say ish because nailing it exactly sometimes requires fiddling, and the sweet spot is found somewhere between 64 and 65 hz for my Samsung monitor, and I have to fine-tune the limiter accordingly. For this, I use NVIDIA Inspector's limiter as it is static.

Then, again for my machine (others will find very different I'm sure), I apply a limit with ENB (60ish fps). Since it toggles, I only activate it when type 2 (chug chug) microstutter hits...for me always outdoors when my gpu is applying AA and AO to large amounts of thick grass and landscape textures. This does not eliminate it completely but reduces its effect by quite a bit. The reason WHY the limiter helps in these situations eludes me, because the stutter is occuring in fps situations below 60...as others have explained, this is likely due to the effects of vsync, but at that point I'm way out of my depth of understanding anything.

So, this is why, for my rig at least, having 2 limiters in place with one being toggled only when needed is helping...and since I'm using ENB anyways and it has a toggle its convenient and I don't have to run any software that I wasn't using before anyways.

Your results may (and will) vary.

Ironically, the only reason ENB needs a fractional value is because of its inferiority compared to other limiters.

Your monitor and your CPU both measure time seperately and, inevitably, differently. What your monitor claims to be 60Hz may actually 59.7Hz (or 60.4Hz or anything like that) according to your CPU.

ENB does not measure time by the frequency of your monitor, so fractional values (different for every person) are needed to get the limit as close as possible to the timing of the monitor (and even then it will never match up perfectly). The nVidia driver tweak, on the other hand, syncs with the monitor and provides a perfectly timed framerate cap.

If you lock the frame-rate limiter to your screen refresh you will get no lag when using V-Sync, combine that with triple buffer and you are on to a winner.

Thanks for the replies. It gives me hope that the new nvidia driver will be issue free.
The ENB one I wont use because I simply don't like ENB until it has been optimised.

@Half64. I have to set 31 to limit GPU stress. At 30 I notice a few stutters and tearing and a 31 none whatsoever, EVER. I dont know why the 1 FPS makes the difference but it does.

@Richardb70. Did you try setting the fps limit very low, to like 10 and seeing your load times? Also, if you want to try it have a look at tree's animation in the wind, these things really show if there is an issue, and if you will find strangeness.

I haven't tried a cap that low, but I use quick save/quick load a lot (I'm not the world's best gamer) and load times are fine. If there's a difference then it's very slight! My trees look good too. I'm also using Triple Buffering if that helps?

I have a question: I remember there being talk about patch 1.4 messing something up with framerate limiters before in the 1.4 beta forums. Does anybody know any more of this, or do I remember wrong?

The question I'm truly getting at which matters now is: can I use NVIDIA Inspector to limit FPS to 60 to remove the infamous stutter, without any other negative side-effects or etc?

Errr, yes.

Thanks, I guess I remembered wrong then. I thought 1.4 patch messed something up with framerate limiters.

Wait... this is what I remember reading: http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1338930-refresh-rate-vsync-framerate-limiter-issues-please-read/page__p__20167708__hl__framerate%20limiter__fromsearch__1#entry20167708

It says there framerate limiters cause problems. Is this true for all framerate limiters, even NVIDIA Inspector capped at 60 FPS?

I'd give it a shot, see what happens if I were you. I've never seen the bow & arrow issue, and I don't think my loading times are odd. Shops are closed at night too!

Bear in mind, I've only ever used the nVidia cap.

Ok I went ahead and downloaded the beta drivers.

How do I use this limiter in the inspector? I want to cap to 31 fps but there are just hex numbers.

I'm using Inspector 1.9.5.9 and drivers 290.53. Bring up the profiles, navigate to Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, and in "Common" you'll see the Frame Rate Limiter. Click on the middle column rather than the third, it should be defaulted to "Off". You can then set your FPS from the drop-down or by typing a value in. Don't forget to Apply your Changes afterwards!

I downloaded the newer ones, 295.51, in my inspector (1.9.5.9) Frame limiter is under 'other' and the drop down list just shows hex values

The frame-rate limiter in the NVIDIA Inspector is under "common". it could be that the inspector doesn't support the new betas or something.

*sigh*
Well I've been trying the different hex values and the game seems to want to cap to 50-60 no matter what I do. And vsync is forced off, presetinterval=0.

EDIT: Nope it doesnt work at all I just hit 2560 fps, nice. Guess i'll install 290.53, thanks all.

I agree with Nanny on the points of different kinds of stutters...What I notice and see.

The so called 64 HZ bug is cured (for me) with setting 59 FPS in Nvidia Inspector on Driver 290.53.

The Other "Chug Chug " stutter I see, and can cause at will, is from Overfilling my GPU Ram. I was getting this last night..ALT/TAB out of game and I see that I am using 250 MB of system RAM by the GPU. Tabing back to the Game and it is gone..Play for a few so the graph fills more..TAB back out and can see the GPU MEM was lowered and is no longer using System RAM. This I can show every single time it happens. This is also when I can get the ...1-2 FPS for 10 seconds or so,. Then it returns to normal (59FPS). ( unless I alt/tab then its instantly gone).

IF i were to add one more HD texture mod, I would suffer these FPS nightmares on a constant basis. Heck all i really have to do, is swap out the HD Lite pack I am using, for the Full Blown HD texture pack.

I can also give myself "Jitter" as i call it by just turning on AO in Inspector...Love the look but makes me seasick.

64 Hz = Skipping along like a school girl. - - - - - - (light and fast).
AO (jitter) = is like running up and down the profile of a gear. _/\_/\_ (Twitchy)
GPU overfill = Getting the side of your head hit with sledge hammer ---- ----- ---- ---- (Heavy and hard)

My take on this....

Are you fullscreen?
Have you ever tried capping to 31? When using the mod I never had a single stutter or anything, and I have a good eye for it (Why i'm here eh). Maybe you should try that.
31 is smooth no matter what people say, massive fps only matters for example if your playing an online shooter and perfect reaction is needed, where about 130 fps is perfect.

This could also give your gpu a bit of extra resources to get that AO on.

caution with that....you can blow a CAP. if you hear a HIGH pitched wine.......followed by a POP. that was a Capacitor....I think this is why the Game came with a forced FPS limit.

My monitor is set to 60 hz and as far as I know the game never goes above 60 fps would downloading a limiiter and setting it 59 have any effect? on anything? currently running with no micro stuttering or crashing or locks however the timescale tends to slip out of sync very very very slowly....would probably be level 50something before it was noticeable as far as AI. Anyway not trying to thread jack just curious.