Almost a decade after it was released like a bit of a mess on PS3, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim on PS5 can now be played at 60 FPS thanks to the work of one of the game’s console modders.
Created by a modder going by Wrighton, “Skyrim @ 60fps” is exactly what it says on the box, unlocking the game’s frame rate on PS5 to boost it from the default 30 FPS. I downloaded and installed the mod yesterday, immediately noticed that Skyrim ran extra smoothly, and found myself again trekking through snow-covered hills in search of weird NPCs and moral repercussions.
“It was made with Bethesda’s own Creation Kit for mod making, but with a little trick in the software (which I did a video on my YouTube channel about), which allows initialization / config / .ini files to be uploaded to the PS4 platform, much the same as with Xbox or PC, ”said Wrighton Kotaku in an email. “It works by changing a single value to Skyrim‘s configuration file, which the game reads at startup. For example, the game can run at 60 fps instead of 30. “
Skyrim got similar treatment on Xbox Series X last month, with mods increasing the frame rate on that console to 60 FPS as well. Unlimited framerate mods seem to have been around on Xbox for a while, but it wasn’t until the next-gen consoles arrived that players were able to take advantage of the benefits without throwing the hardware into a frenzy. (Interestingly that Digital Foundry reported Which Skyrim actually ran at a more consistent boosted frame rate on Xbox Series S than X.)
An added bonus with Wrighton’s mod is that it can be turned off and still works, allowing players to still earn trophies while playing with the higher framerate. Choosing dozens of locks to get the Thief trophy has never looked more responsive.