Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Crashes Freezes Keys Errors frames per second FPS Lag Sound Textures Fixes Hints and Tips

How To Take a Screenshot
Press PrintScreen saves a screenshot in the installation directory of Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

Why can’t you see FX Effects sometimes?
FX Effects in Skyrim like Fire Trail or Cobweb you are supposed to slash through don’t display properly or at times don’t display at all. If you are experiencing this issue, tweak your in-game graphics settings and see if it helps after you have updated your video card drivers.

First make sure your PC can meet The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim requirements:

Minimum System Requirements

OS: 7/Vista/XP PC (32 or 64 bit)
CPU: Dual Core 2.0GHz or equivalent processor
RAM: 2 GB
HDD: 6 GB
Graphics: 512 MB card
Sound Card: DirectX 9 Compatible DirectX: Version 9.0c Internet for Steam activation 

Recommended System Requirements 

OS: Windows 7/Vista/XP (32 or 64 bit)
CPU: Quad-core Intel or AMD CPU
RAM: 4 GB HDD: 6 GB free disk space
Graphics: 1 GB Graphics Memory
Sound Card: DirectX 9 Compatible DirectX: Version 9.0c Internet for Steam activation Supported Graphics Cards: Recommended: Nvidia GeForce GTX 260 or higher; ATI Radeon 4890 or higher

 

How can I Bind Keyboard Keys? Skyrim does not support keybindings by default, so it’s best to leave it to the modders to fix this. 

  Can't Start New Game? Bought the game off Steam? Then verify the integrity of the files and re-try or log-out of the Steam and start Steam and Skyrim executable as administrator. 

 Can’t Get Past The Intro Fix this issue by following the sound issue fix proposed earlier. These crashes are caused by the sound bugs explained above, which can be fixed easily be tweaking the sound settings. 

 Skyrim Crashes at Logo Try verifying your game cache and uninstall FFDshow if you have it installed in your OS. If it still doesn’t fix, run the game in compatibility with Vista SP2. You can run it in compatibility mode by right clicking the Skyrim executable > Click Compatibility Tab > and choose Vista SP2 from drop down menu and Apply. 

 Crash At Launch Missing X3DAudio1_7.dl Install DirectX 9 from Microsoft. 

 Skyrim Crashes During Load Screen Run the game in compatibility mode – Vista SP2. Full instructions above. 

Game Freezes After I Press New Game Uninstall your Nvidia drivers and Restart. Download and install latest Nvidia Drivers and try again. 

 Nothing Happens After Launcher – Game Doesn’t Start Install DirectX 9 from Microsoft Site. Some tweaks include how to Disable Mouse Smooth Acceleration, Disable Vsync, Tweak FOV, Set Ultra Settings, as well as Max Antialiasing, and much more. 

 Steam – The Game is Currently Unavailable Usual Steam issue – log out of the Steam and log back-in to resolve it. 

Skyrim – No Sound Fix If you can’t hear any sound, update your audio drivers and restart your PC. If it doesn’t resolve after that, try running the game in Stereo sound settings. You can set this sound setting in your sound control panel. If you still can’t resolve it, set the audio quality to 41K – you can do that by going into Playback Devices > Speakers (Or Any Sound Device) > Properties > Advanced and choose Studio Quality 41K 16bit. 

Skyrim Random Freezes Again, try the sound fix and you shouldn’t encounter any random freezes in the Skyrim World. If you have any USB plugged-in, un-plug it and try again. It may also fix the issue. 

Crash Immediately After Loading Skyrim This crash is caused by the sound issue – the same we have talked about above in the article. You can fix it by setting the audio quality to 16 bit, 41K Hz.

Can’t Hear NPC Characters Talk? Follow the above workarounds but if they don’t fix this issue, try setting the audio to 2.1 or 5.1 in the Windows Audio Settings. 

Game Freezes In The First Dungeon If you stand next to the tunnel in the first dungeon, it will freeze the game. It’s a bug in the game so if you want to avoid that freeze, run further away.

Skyrim Doesn’t Detect Nvidia Card Go to Manage 3D Settings in Nvidia Graphics Option and click the drop down box where it says – Preferred Graphics Processor. Select High Performance Nvidia Processor and save the setting. Skyrim should detect your video card now and if it still doesn’t, – from Global Settings, go to Program Settings tab. Click on the drop down box and find Steam in the list. Click where it says ‘Preferred Graphics Processor’ and choose Nvidia Processor.

Skyrim Flickering Textures Nvidia Fix Most of the gamers with Nvidia graphics card are facing this issue and they can fix it simply by updating the graphics card drivers. 

Skyrim Lags and Stutters in Bright Areas – FPS Fix Set your shadows to Low and turn your Anti Aliasing Off and your frame rates should improve. Also, update your graphics card drivers and DirectX, they seem to help. 

NPC Voice Fix If you experiencing crackling voices of NPC character, which don’t make any sense, it’s a sound issue. You can fix it by setting your sound format to 16 bit, 44100hz. 

Can’t Continue Past The Character Creation Make sure you meet the minimum system requirements and have updated graphics card with updated drivers and DirectX installed. 

Crash to Desktop Fix Go to Start > Control Panel > Sound. In the Playback tab, right-click on Speakers (or whatever has a green tick next to it), then click Properties. In the advanced tab on this new window, select 24 bit, 44100Hz (Studio Quality) in the drop down menu. 

Mouse Acceleration Fix Disable Smooth Mouse Setting Go to your Steam Directory > steamapps > common > skyrim > Skyrim. Create a backup of the SkyrimPrefs.ini file. Open the file, then scroll down to where it says [Controls] and find bMouseAcceleration=1 Change to bMouseAcceleration=0 Save, exit, and play. 

How To Disable Vsync Go to your Steam Directory > steamapps > common > skyrim > Skyrim. Create a backup of the SkyrimPrefs.ini file Open the file, then scroll down to where it says [Display] Add to the bottom of the section iPresentInterval=0 Save, exit, and play. 

How To Tweak Skyrim FOV Go to your My Documents > My Games > Skyrim > skyrim. Create a backup of the skyrim.ini file. Open the file, then scroll down to where it says [General]. At the bottom of this section, add fdefaultfov=XX (where XX is the FOV value you want to change to). Save, exit, and play.

Low FPS on Good Rig If you are experiencing very low frame rates on a high-end PC machine, make sure you haven’t set any option in Nvidia or Catalyst Control Panel to override application, because it will result in low performance. Set all the options to application defaults to resolve this issue. 

Low FPS – Tweak To Improve FPS Set shadows to low with everything else maxed and you will see a huge change in frame rates and they will remain stable. Shadows seem to be the biggest culprit for eating the system resources so better set it to low and enjoy other eye candies to max. 

Crashing When I Hit Play Install updated DirectX. Installing DirectX 9 should fix this issue.

How To Install Skyrim From Disk Log in to Steam and click on Library. Right-click on the game, select Delete local content, and confirm. Insert the first disc into your computer. Close Steam (Steam > Exit). Press Windows Key + R to open Run In the Run window type: C:\Program Files\Steam\Steam.exe” -install E Replace E: with the CD/DVD drive you are installing from if is not correct. Replace C:\Program Files\Steam if your Steam installation is not in the default location. Press OK. Steam will launch and ask you to sign in if you do not have your password saved. Your installation should continue from the disc. 

FPS Fix – Lag Fix Disable V-sync. Instructions to disable vertical synchronization are above in the article. 

Low PC Textures If you find Skyrim PC textures not satisfactory – wait for the modders to do their magic. They have historically made textures better than Bethesda. 

Skyrim Resolution Fix You can tweak the following variables to fix any resolution issue you encounter. You just have to edit .ini file in: No:\Users\[User]\Documents\My Games\Skyrim. iSize W=(desired resolution No) iSize H=(desired resolution No) 35No TESV.exe Stopped Working Try the sound fix to resolve this issue. 

Skyrim Random Freezes If you are running any antivirus program, it may cause random freezes when you play Skyrim. If it has a game mode, run it in-game mode or you can disable it for the time you play the game. 

Terrain Textures Tearing – Fix Update your video card drivers to Skyrim Optimized drivers release. Nvidia beta drivers download link can be found above. 

Texture / Decal Pop-in Fix If your game has set invalid LOD bias values resulting in bad textures and decal pop-in. Find the variables below in SkyrimPrefs.ini and set the specified values to fix the issue. fMeshLODLevel2FadeDist=3072.0000 fMeshLODLevel1FadeDist=4096.0000 

Can’t Find Cursor? Disable Xbox 360 Controller in Game Options If you can’t see mouse cursor, disable Xbox 360 controller in-game options, and it should pop-up. Thanks to the SegmentNext website 

Terrain Textures Tearing Fix To stop the terrain textures from tearing, there are special Skyrim optimized Nvidia beta drivers which can be found at the following link: http://www.geforce.com/Drivers/Beta 

How do I change the FOV? Go to your My Documents -> My Games -> Skyrim -> skyrim Create a backup of the skyrim.ini file Open the file, then scroll down to where it says [General] At the bottom of this section, add fdefaultfov=XX (where XX is the FOV value you want to change to) Save, exit, and play