Performance Guide Skyrim VR

This guide shows you a few tools and optimizations that will improve the performance of Skyrim VR, most of which you can use regardless of whether you use mods or not.

Before We Start

WARNING: THIS GUIDE IS NOT UP TO DATE AND WILL NOT BE UPDATED IN THE FUTURE!

I will leave it up in case anyone finds it useful but do not expect anything on here to work. If you are having issues after following this guide you should reinstall everything and start from scratch with a different guide. Any comments asking for help or saying that this guide doesn't work will be ignored.
You have been told
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You may have checked my profile and noticed that I have barely played SkyrimVR. Well the truth is, I heard that it was a buggy mess, so before I purchased it I decided to borrow it from a friend. *cough*
Anyway I realized I liked the game after I figured out how to mod the ♥♥♥♥ out of it, so that brings us to this.

Throughout my modding experience I spent a lot of time looking for ways to increase both the graphical fidelity of SkyrimVR as well as performance. This guide is meant to be a summation of the mods and methods I have found that worked.

FYI: I play SkyrimVR with OpenComposite on an Oculus Quest 2.

Because my experience is with this headset I cant promise to solve every issue or answer every questions you have concerning other headsets, although I will try.

Also I would ask that you consider this post a work in progress, a first draft if you will. I'm not sure if anyone cares about this topic, most guides are about modding, but I saw the lack of a guide about improving performance and decided to write this. I do plan on keeping it updated, so if you have any suggestion or questions feel free to ask.

Steam VR

This section contains optimizations for those of you running Skyrim through SteamVR. This will be most people. I strongly recommend that you try OpenComposite, the mod listed in the next section. It drastically improves SkyrimVR performance. If you are planning to run many graphic mods or have a less than stellar GPU, I think OpenComposite is pretty much a requirement. At least my experience has shown that to be the case.

If you are playing a more vanilla game, then SteamVR should be fine.

Anyway for those of you who still wish to run SkyrimVR through SteamVR here is a mod that improves performance.

VR Performance Toolkit [github.com]

Install instructions are at the above link

The download link to the most recent version is here [github.com].

This is by far the easiest mod you can add that will both improve the performance and quality of SkyrimVR.

This mod works by lowering the resolution of your Skyrim game then using upscaling techniques to upscale to the target resolution. This means your PC will be running SkyrimVR at a lower resolution leading to a performance increase, but then upscaling the image for better quality. The upscaling techniques are way less resource consuming than running at a higher resolution.

Note: to get the best performance and quality out of this mod you should disable all super sampling, in game and through the steam menu. Then go to your Oculus Software (or the equivalent for your headset) and turn up the resolution to max. (Seems counter-intuitive but thats the way I did it and it worked well and looked great for me)

Run the game and play for a bit. Decrease the resolution as needed till you get your preferred balance between performance and visual quality.

OpenComposite

OpenComposite allows you to run SteamVR games without SteamVR. SteamVR is quite performance heavy, it takes a lot of resources of your PC. OpenComposite makes games run much smoother.

I spent a LOT of time trying to make SkyrimVR look better with mods. And I succeeded, but this increase in graphical fidelity led to some very severe performance issues. While researching ways to improve performance I stumbled across OpenComposite and have been using it ever since.

The stuttering, lag spikes and screen tearing I experienced using SteamVR were instantly fixed. The game runs smooth. I would suggest everyone who wants to increase SkyrimVR performance to try this. It is very easy to install and also easy to remove if you decide to use SkyrimVR.

There is no doubt that the game will run better, but that being said OpenComposite does come with a few cons. Here are the cons I am aware of:

1. You can't use SteamVR apps and features. This is a nobrainer. As OpenComposite runs Skyrim without SteamVR, you can no longer use any SteamVR features.

2. Some mods and utilities rely on SteamVR and either don't work or have limited functionality. 99% of mods are compatible. Here is a list of incompatible mods and utilities :

• MageVR[www.nexusmods.com] - Absolutely will not work with OpenComposite
  
  
• Contrast Adaptive Sharpener[www.nexusmods.com] - This will not work as it replaces the openvr file. However there is a Reshade version that works called The Sharper Eye.
  
  
• VR FPS Stabilizer[www.nexusmods.com] This mod does still work but with limited functionality.

  Originally posted by VR FPS Stabilizer Mod Page:

  AutoConfig feature is NOT compatible with OpenComposite. But you can still use it for commands and the new Location system which allows changing ini settings based on current player location.

  
  
• Natural Locomotion - Needs SteamVR

If you have any intention of using any of these mods or utilities you probably don't want to use OpenComposite.

3. When using OpenComposite, the audio sometimes outputs to your default output device, usually your PC speakers rather than the headset. This is an easy fix, just select the volume icon on your taskbar and the change the output to your headset.

4. If you run SkyrimVR while your controllers are asleep, you will find that you are not able to scroll through the menu's. To fix this just make sure your controllers are turned on and awake before running the game. Wake them by pressing some buttons or just shaking them a bit.

I believe the improved performance well outweighs these cons, but you may decide otherwise.

Downloading and Installing OpenComposite

There are 2 versions of OpenComposite. The Oculus only [gitlab.com] version and this version for every Other Headset [gitlab.com]. If you try running OpenComposite and nothing happens, you probably got the wrong version.

You have two options for installing OpenComposite. You will find the download links under the Downloading and Installation section of the links above.

System-Wide Installation

• Go to your required version of OpenComposite an download the OpenComposite Launcher.
  
• Extract the folder and run OpenComposite.exe.
  
• Click "Switch to OpenComposite". Now when you run SkyrimVR it will automatically be played through OpenComposite.
  
  Note: This will affect every SteamVR game. While OpenComposite is compatible with a lot of SteamVR games, it's incompatible with a lot too. If you want to switch back to SteamVR, simply open opencomposite.exe and select "Switch to SteamVR". You can switch between them whenever you like.
  
  Uninstalling
  Simply select "Switch to SteamVR" in OpenComposite, then delete the OpenComposite folder.

Per-game Installation

• Download either the 32-bit or 64-bit versions of the dll, depending on your game (probably 64-bit). - If you try to run the game and nothing happens you downloaded the wrong version.
  
• Copy and paste it to your SkyrimVR folder (the folder containing the skyrimvr.exe file).
  
  
• Keep a copy of the openvr_api that is already in the folder in case you want to switch back to SteamVR. If you forget to save this file and want to uninstall OpenComposite, simply verify integrity of your Skyrim files and Steam will uninstall it for you.

[Hertz]

For everyone having issues. I haven't played this game in ages and have absolutely no desire to update this guide. I will leave it up in case it does help someone. If you are having issues please ignore this guide.

[Smartik1]

OpenComposite now lists Skyrim VR as broken. Trying to run it though the game specific dll or system wide installer immediately closes the game when launching it.

[Sawback]

I don't have OpenComposite but very disappointed that I don't have sound. Tried redirecting sound to headset, tv, headphones but nothing works. Giving up very soon.

[Duo-Rotam]

I am using the same headset, a meta quest 2, and the error I am running into is right at the beginning, in the customization, after I have the character I want, I go to name him and press ok. nothing happens. I try again, but I have to switch to a different customizer page, eg., face, eyes, etc. have anyone here had this issue/knows how to fix it?

[Sean (션)]

The OpenComposite site itself lists Skyrim as Broken with OC under its compatible games list

[Sbeven't]

I think turning around is not as smooth when using OpenComposite rather than Steam VR (tho prob performance boost is worth even though).

[mcdaniels5305]

cant play long damn horse dies in the first 2 min