Reclaim precious VRAM for increased performance and less stutters with texture optimisation (diffuse, normal map & parallax height map). Automated to optimise all of your texture mods in just a few steps.
Supports AE, SE & VR. No scripts, no ESP, no need to re-run DynDOLOD & you will not need to start a new game.
Not a hard requirement as already included with VRAMr. Regardless, please go download, endorse and give AlexxEG kudos - the BSA magic in VRAMr is because of them!
Not a hard requirement as already in the VRAMr download. Nonetheless please download, endorse and give Kuzja80 kudos - VRAMr would not be possible without their work!
Not a hard requirement as already included with VRAMr
Permissions and credits
Credits and distribution permission
Other user's assetsAll the assets in this file belong to the author, or are from free-to-use modder's resources
Upload permissionYou are not allowed to upload this file to other sites under any circumstances
Modification permissionYou must get permission from me before you are allowed to modify my files to improve it
Conversion permissionYou are not allowed to convert this file to work on other games under any circumstances
Asset use permissionYou must get permission from me before you are allowed to use any of the assets in this file
Asset use permission in mods/files that are being soldYou are not allowed to use assets from this file in any mods/files that are being sold, for money, on Steam Workshop or other platforms
Asset use permission in mods/files that earn donation pointsYou are not allowed to earn Donation Points for your mods if they use my assets
Author notes
You may prepare for Collections or Wabbajacks VRAMr outputs and distribute these on Nexus without my permission.
Any other activity will require permission from both myself and Kuzja.
File credits
Rob van der Woude for OpenFolderBox at https://www.robvanderwoude.com/
Kuzja80 for TexA-DDS at https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/49809
7-Zip under GNU LGPL license at https://www.7-zip.org
AlexxEG for BSA Browser at https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/1756
Nir Sofer of NirSoft for NirCMDc at https://www.nirsoft.net/about_nirsoft_freeware.html
Donation Points system
This mod is opted-in to receive Donation Points
Changelogs
Version v8.53
BSA Extract Hotfix
Version v8.52
With thanks to the_XtR0 MO2 users now get layered BSA extract
Removed shine on rocks and mountains
BSA Parallax bugfix
More informative and checks to prevent VRAMr working with elevated privileges as it causes issues
REMOVED - false positive anti-virus causing code
Version v8.21
Fixed delayedexpansion reference errors
Updated User Guide
Version v8.2
Bug fixes and lots of improvements (ie. visual cues so you can see VRAMr has not stalled)
Added HQ preset as requested to support 4K Wabbajack conversion to 2K textures
More files now optimised - reclaiming even more VRAM in your game
New feature to quickly add/remove files to an existing VRAMrOutput - much quicker optimisation although you must still build a new VRAMrOutput.7z
Updated User Guide for v8
Implemented simpler yet more detailed log file method
Version v7.1
Performance optimisation preset added - you can now choose Quality or Performance * Quality preset - 2K diffuse, 1K normal maps and 1K parallax height maps * Performance - 1K diffuse, 512Kb normals and 512Kb parallax
Added User Guide
Version v7.0
MAJOR UPDATE - Now uses your GPU to optimise your files
Quality preset only - 2K diffuse, 1K normal maps and 1K parallax height maps A huge amount of refinements to make it quicker and slicker All in One - optimises normal maps, certain 4k diffuse textures and parallax files
Version v6.8
ParallaxR now takes advantage of BC4 compression to save you additional disk space and reduce VRAM usage further
Also, a fix to the ParallaxROutput file pathway
Version v6.7
Extends the feature to exclude files & folders into ParallaxR
Version v6.6
Please see Sticky Note on Post page - add Exclusions feature to prevent Optimisation errors, stalls and in-game CTDs
Version v6.5 - All in One
ParallaxR is now part of the main VRAMr download, giving you the option on launch to optimise either Normal Maps or Height Maps.
ParallaxR now has all the features of v6.0 :-
a) the user can now override the detected Start Directory and Game Directory
b) analyses your CPU and determines how many cores to allocate to the optimisation process
c) recognises previously optimised textures and only processes the new textures
Please take a moment to read v6.0 Changelog
For those that updated to v6.0 yesterday, feel free to update to v6.5 although nothing changes in terms of your VRAMr folder. The next time you run VRAMr, simply point it to your existing VRAMr folder and Ver6.5 will continue to work with it as expected
What's coming next? - v7.0 potentially brings an EXCITING addition to the VRAMr suite...all to make the very most of your VRAM. Lots of testing and refining to ensure it will work on everyone's different Skyrim setups....anyone with significant normal map experience, please step forward as I could really do with some help and advice. I can't find the needed guidance on the web :(
Any C#, VB.net or texture specialists that want to contribute to VRAMr, please get in touch....
Version v6.0
Ease of Use - the user can now override the detected Start Directory and Game Directory. This should make using VRAMr-Prepare especially a lot simpler.
Stability - VRAMr analyses your CPU and determines how many cores to allocate to the optimisation process. This helps prevents Windows becoming unresponsive, and/or corrupt files and wasted time.
Speed - VRAMr now recognises previously optimised textures and only processes new textures. This greatly reduces the time for follow on optimisations although comes with a few new understandings:
a) The VRAMr folder should no longer be deleted
b) Secondary and subsequent optimisation passes must always be pointed to the previously used VRAMr folder
c) The VRAMrOutput 7zip file can be deleted once installed into your Mod manager, if you wish to recover some capacity
The VRAMr folder can be moved between drives/devices if space is required, just be sure to point VRAMr to this folder on your next run
NOTE: If you delete your VRAMr folder, nothing will break...just all files start again and will take hours, not minutes
++Lots of tweaks, improvements and log file updates.
ParallaxR update will follow....
Version v5.0
AIO - supports both MO2 and Vortex - see sticky ref how to start VRAMr
Default directory no longer Windows Desktop, instead C:\VRAMr and can be changed - this reduces UAC and spaced username errors
Write cache buffers are regularly flushed since such large amounts of data are transported. Better USB support.
BSA extraction is now optional. Also, some files were problematic so better error handling and files skipped if uncertain. This can create some log file errors eg. 'an error occurred opening archive: The handle is invalid' although better for this than to have in-game issues from corrupt texture files
Considerably more verbose log files. Found inside \VRAMr\logs
Optimised workflow and refinements
Texture optimisation improvement to prevent auto-correct of intentionally mismatched DDS resolutions
** ParallaxR update with same amends will follow soon **
Version v4.0
* Major Update!
* All of your BSA normal files are now fully included and optimised as part of the process - go give AlexxEG kudos for the CLI version of BSA Browser
* The Resource Pack is no longer required making the process faster and more efficient
* There is now only 1 download - works on both MO2 and Vortex
* Vortex users - note the process has changed from previous version, please read the on-screen prompts
* More verbose feedback when creating your custom VRAMrOutput Zip file - thanks to 7Zip Portable
* Added 2048k/2k optimisation option - several use cases apply yet great for 4k texture pack users who only want 2k normals to reclaim some VRAM
* Extreme 256k optimisation option - yes textures close up do start to look blocky yet the VRAM reclaim here is phenomenal - a stutter free haven
* Optional - choose to exclude Dungeons, Caves, Mines, Interiors and associated Clutter from the optimisation workflow. Great for if only your Exteriors stutter!
* Last but not least - by default, always, NO Actors, Mountains, Clothes were harmed in the making of your highly optimised VRAMrOutput :)
Version v3.0
User now has the option whether to optimise interiors and clutter.This will save ~1.8Gb of data processing and time. Performance in interiors is typically much better anyhow so you may have no need to optimise for caves, castles, mines, dungeons, Apocrypha etc. Also some ZIP related tweaks and a few bugs fixed.
Version v2.0
Resource Pack no longer mandatory. Large objects such as Dragons, Giants and Mountains not processed as requested - this saves about 2.5Gb of copying/optimisation processing so VRAMr is now quicker and more efficient too
ParallaxR v2.0 - see VRAMr v5.0 change notes for details
Version v1.0 ParallaxR
Initial Release
Version v1.0
Initial Release
The process of resizing texture files to reclaim GPU VRAM is well documented on Reddit and other forums. Whilst you don't need to be a computer wizard to do the process yourself, it is not completely straightforward and if you use MO2 then there can be some pitfalls with the virtual file system.
So since there is no end-to-end tool to optimise your texture files based on your personal and unique load order, VRAMr has been designed to automate the process
You are an ideal candidate for VRAMr if :-
Skyrim splutters, stutters, spits and coughs a lot
You are on the cusp of your available VRAM and occasionally a location or texture pack kicks in and your game becomes somewhat unplayable
You have added more and more parallax mods and all those new height map files have tipped your VRAM too far
Installation
With your Mod Manager, install the VRAMr Engine mod. This can go anywhere in your load order as the files are unique
Mod Organizer 2
1) Open the Tools\Executables window from the pull down menu in MO2 like we do for DynDOLOD, Nemesis, xEDIT and click the + icon to add a new file. Then locate the VRAMr.BAT file in the MO2\mods directory and add it (see image)
2) Whenever you run VRAMr, ensure any previous VRAMr Outputs are disabled/deleted. You will be prompted if one is detected. Vortex
100% of any donation points earned with VRAMr go to Nexus Mod's charitable donation programme
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE
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