» Thu May 31, 2012 3:19 pm I've had it with lower frame rates.
I'VE HAD IT!
Mind you, my performance is acceptable in most places. Sometimes I visit a ruin with a lot of lights and I get some mouse lag or lose a few FPS. But mostly, I can't complain too much. I'm also running a smattering of graphics mods, some which improve frame-rate, some which improve quality, essentially cancelling each other out, but I'm happy for the most part. FPS is capped at 55 via nvidiaInspector.
Well, I tried lowering the resolution just for fun. I've tried many different resolutions, some widescreen too. I settled for 1024 x 768, and wow, what a difference it made! Upped the cap to 70, just 5 shy of my monitor's refresh rate. As I'm walking, the ground just seems to zip by in this ultra-smooth, ultra-silky, almost life-like feel. It's so hard to describe. It's like a flag snapping in the wind. It's like looking outside the car at the highway and watching it scroll by so fast. It's like a film-reel, smoother than life, almost. I've played around with capping as well and found that even at a cap of 60, it's not as smooth. Clearly the human eye can see much higher frame rates than we've been lead to believe.
I looked in a certain direction in the plains outside Whiterun and to my horror, the framerate dropped into the high 50s. I couldn't have it. Even though it was just this one spot, I couldn't tolerate it. Out of the game I went, into the setup menu, and back I was, playing Skyrim at 800 x 600! The direction I was looking must've been a really bad spot because I was getting 65-66 even at that lowest resolution, but it would have to do. I won't lower the texture quality. That's going too far.
I've become addicted to high framerates, you see. I'm sick. And the more I play at these resolutions, the more addicted to it I'm going to become. But I'm also getting headaches from playing this way. In fullscreen, the lower resolutions look stretched and horrible, especially when looking in the distance. Everything is fuzzy. Windowed, it all looks good again, of course, but the screen is so small I have to strain my eyes to see it. I went back to 1280 x 1024 and capped my fps, but having experienced those high framerates, I just couldn't stand it.
I am consciously choosing an ugly, low resolution game in favor of a prettier native resolution because I'm addicted to the speed I get from it.
Tell me your thoughts about beauty versus high framerates. Super computer people need not reply because we already know you're getting the best of both worlds.... And we hate you for it.
But seriously, is there anyone out there---anyone at all---who has given up the fight of trying to balance quality and high framerates, who has discovered the wicked framerates and ultra-smooth gameplay you can get by lowering your resolution, and has decided that's the ticket, that's the way to play? And if you're out there, have you also experienced ice-pick-in-your-temples style migraines from playing this way? Conversely, has anyone tried the lower resolutions, found that it was too painful on the eyes (either aesthetically or physically!), and gone back to higher rez, deciding to just "deal with it" when it comes to lower framerates? I know some people think 40 and 50 is plenty high. And it is. I'd been playing that way ever since the first SkyBoost was released. But honestly, if you experience Skyrim at a maxed out, native refresh rate of 75 or close to it (if your monitor supports it), you can really tell a difference. It's like...it's like untouched virgin spring water. It's enough to make me play on 800 x 600 for the first time since freaking Age of Empires. Please, Elder Scrolls community, tell me if I'm really sick in the head or if there are others who purposefully play beneath their hardware's ability because they love the performance.
