I am trying MGE XE for the first time today, I installed it as part of the Morrowind Graphics and Sound Overhaul package, and let the MGSO installer configure it for a high-end PC as it looked as though my PC matched the requirements for that option.

However I am also running a bunch of stuff that hits fps as they add lots of NPCs/creatures to exterior cells, such as MCA, Abot's Water Life and Where do all the birds go?, and Piratelord's Creatures XI as well as texture replacers, and in some areas am achieving a dismal 6-10 fps!

What I want advice on, is which options in MGE XE should I turn down in order to achieve the best performance increase, whilst still maintaining as much breathtakingly gorgeous graphics as possible - I imagine that shadows and water effects such as ripples are fairly heavy wrt performance, but I don't know what all the shaders do, and will adjusting the distant land settings help and which settings should I try?

I don't need a massive fps gain because I am not one of those people who can tell much difference over a certain fps (and that's not a dig at anyone who can, people perceive these things in different ways and I am usually fine with a lowish fps that might give another gamer migraines or motion sickness!) I just need it to be a bit less of a slideshow in certain exterior areas - an extra 10-15 fps would make me extremely happy.

So if any MGE XE users could give me some tips on what settings I could reduce to give the best performance gain with the least impact on the (extremely pretty) visual aspect, I would be most grateful. And many thanks to the creators for a fantastic utility, I seriously cannot believe how beautiful a 10 year old game can look, it's stunning!

AMD/ATI 5850
4GB RAM
AMD Phenom II 3.40GHz

If you are using SSAO in your shaders list, I would suggest editing its flags to not run in exteriors, that alone can gain you quite a bit of FPS.