The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is the fifth title in the epic The Elder Scrolls role
playing game series. Skyrim presents a vast, detailed fantasy world that you can
explore at your leisure. As with the other games in the series, Skyrim allows you to
choose how you approach the game. Be a warrior, a mage, a thief – or a mix of all
three; be good, evil, or something in between; ignore the main quest and just head
off in a random direction looking for treasure. All of these possibilities and many
more are available to you, because Skyrim is about as open-ended as a PC game can be.
When the game’s developer, Bethesda Game Studios, says that there are literally
hundreds of hours of content, it’s no exaggeration. The length of gameplay all
depends on just how inquisitive and adventurous you’re feeling. In terms of graphics,
the world and its citizens look more alive and more realistic than ever before. The
whole package is capped off with a beautiful soundtrack, by the same composer of the
music in Morrowind and Oblivion, which only adds to the richness of an outstanding
game.
The aim of this guide is to allow you to better understand and utilize all of the
configuration options available in Skyrim, as well as a selection of advanced tweaks
to enhance the game.
Before proceeding further, make sure you meet the game’s minimum requirements as
provided below, with the recommended requirements in brackets:
Processor: 2 GHz dual core CPU (Quad Core CPU)
Memory: 2GB (4GB) RAM
Hard Drive: At least 6GB of free space
Video Card: DirectX 9 compatible (GeForce GTX 550 Ti or GeForce GTX 260, or above)
Sound Card: DirectX compatible
Internet Access required for Steam
OS: Windows XP, Vista or 7
What follows are full descriptions for all of the settings available in Skyrim’s
options menus. Screenshot comparisons are provided where relevant to highlight the
impact on image quality of each setting. Performance information is also provided for
every setting, although bear in mind that the precise impact on your particular
system depends on your specific hardware combination and and your other game and
system-wide settings. The aim here is to give you enough information so that you can
make an informed choice as to the settings you enable or disable to obtain a balance
of visual quality and performance acceptable to you.