thats what I did, didnt work, whenever iShadowMapResolution is set to 4096, the game just set the shadow to ultra even if I don't go through the launcher. I even set the file to read only so it won't get override. The screen shot N_B post show shadows at much higher res and than the one in your screen, like perfectly straight edge. I also tested his method and it worked, but the draw distance is horrible.
TES V: Skyrim
- Thread starter Frank
- Start date
thats what I did, didnt work, whenever iShadowMapResolution is set to 4096, the game just set the shadow to ultra even if I don't go through the launcher. I even set the file to read only so it won't get override. The screen shot N_B post show shadows at much higher res and than the one in your screen, like perfectly straight edge. I also tested his method and it worked, but the draw distance is horrible.
Dunno what the difference is for you, but I raped that solution from another site where dozens of people had zero issues with it. It appears others in this thread have had similar luck. I'm sorry, but I can't help you 
tongue_of_colicab
Veteran
Try chaning the settings in the config file in your program files folder. For some reason I had those settings spread over 2 config files (my games and program files).
Didn't work for me. Maybe because I've been playing with other ini settings alot.
This is my ini and these are the shadows I get. I think I'm satisfied with the quality now.
Code:
[General]
fBrightLightColorB=1.0000
fBrightLightColorG=1.0000
fBrightLightColorR=1.0000
iStoryManagerLoggingEvent=-1
bEnableStoryManagerLogging=0
[Imagespace]
bDoDepthOfField=1
iRadialBlurLevel=2
[Display]
iBlurDeferredShadowMask=3
fInteriorShadowDistance=1000.0000
fShadowDistance=2500.0000
iShadowMapResolutionSecondary=8192
iShadowMapResolutionPrimary=8192
iShadowSplitCount=0
iMaxAnisotropy=16
fLeafAnimDampenDistEnd=4600.0000
fLeafAnimDampenDistStart=3600.0000
fTreesMidLODSwitchDist=10000000.0000
fGamma=0.9600
fDecalLOD2=1500.0000
fDecalLOD1=1000.0000
fSpecularLODStartFade=2000.0000
fShadowLODStartFade=200.0000
fLightLODStartFade=3500.0000
iTexMipMapMinimum=0
iTexMipMapSkip=0
iWaterMultiSamples=0
iMultiSample=8
iShadowMode=3
bTreesReceiveShadows=1
bDrawLandShadows=1
bFull Screen=1
iSize H=900
iSize W=1600
fMeshLODFadePercentDefault=1.2000
fMeshLODFadeBoundDefault=256.0000
fMeshLODLevel2FadeTreeDistance=2048.0000
fMeshLODLevel1FadeTreeDistance=2844.0000
fMeshLODLevel2FadeDist=10000000.0000
fMeshLODLevel1FadeDist=10000000.0000
iScreenShotIndex=2
bShadowMaskZPrepass=0
bMainZPrepass=0
iMaxSkinDecalsPerFrame=25
iMaxDecalsPerFrame=100
bFloatPointRenderTarget=0
sD3DDevice="NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570"
bFXAAEnabled=0
iShadowMapResolution=8192
fShadowBiasScale=0.1500
iShadowMaskQuarter=8
iAdapter=0
iPresentInterval=1
iShadowFilter=2
bTransparencyMultisampling=0
bDrawShadows=1
[Grass]
b30GrassVS=1
fGrassStartFadeDistance=7000.0000
fGrassMaxStartFadeDistance=7000.0000
fGrassMinStartFadeDistance=0.0000
[MAIN]
bGamepadEnable=1
bCrosshairEnabled=1
fHUDOpacity=1.0000
bSaveOnPause=1
bSaveOnTravel=1
bSaveOnWait=1
bSaveOnRest=1
fSkyCellRefFadeDistance=150000.0000
[GamePlay]
bShowFloatingQuestMarkers=1
bShowQuestMarkers=1
iDifficulty=2
[Interface]
bDialogueSubtitles=1
bGeneralSubtitles=1
bShowCompass=1
[Controls]
fGamepadHeadingSensitivity=1.2400
fMouseHeadingSensitivity=0.0125
bAlwaysRunByDefault=1
bInvertYValues=0
bGamePadRumble=1
bMouseAcceleration=1
[Particles]
iMaxDesired=750
[SaveGame]
fAutosaveEveryXMins=15.0000
[AudioMenu]
fAudioMasterVolume=1.0000
fVal7=1.0000
uID7=0
fVal6=1.0000
uID6=0
fVal5=1.0000
uID5=0
fVal4=1.0000
uID4=0
fVal3=0.3000
uID3=94881
fVal2=0.8000
uID2=466532
fVal1=1.0000
uID1=554685
fVal0=0.8000
uID0=1007612
[Clouds]
fCloudLevel2Distance=262144.0000
fCloudLevel1Distance=32768.0000
fCloudLevel0Distance=16384.0000
fCloudNearFadeDistance=9000.0000
[TerrainManager]
fTreeLoadDistance=75000.0000
fBlockMaximumDistance=250000.0000
fBlockLevel1Distance=70000.0000
fBlockLevel0Distance=35000.0000
fSplitDistanceMult=1.5000
bShowLODInEditor=0
[NavMesh]
fObstacleAlpha=0.5000
fCoverSideHighAlpha=0.8000
fCoverSideLowAlpha=0.6500
fEdgeFullAlpha=1.0000
fEdgeHighAlpha=0.7500
fEdgeLowAlpha=0.5000
fTriangleFullAlpha=0.7000
fTriangleHighAlpha=0.3500
fTriangleLowAlpha=0.2000
fLedgeBoxHalfHeight=25.0000
fEdgeDistFromVert=10.0000
fEdgeThickness=10.0000
fPointSize=2.5000
[Trees]
bRenderSkinnedTrees=1
uiMaxSkinnedTreesToRender=20
[Decals]
uMaxDecals=1000
bDecals=1
bSkinnedDecals=1
uMaxSkinDecals=100
uMaxSkinDecalsPerActor=60
[LOD]
fLODFadeOutMultObjects=15.0000
fLODFadeOutMultItems=15.0000
fLODFadeOutMultActors=15.0000
fLODFadeOutMultSkyCell=1.0000
[Launcher]
bEnableFileSelection=1
bShowAllResolutions=1
uLastAspectRatio=3
[BlurShaderHDR]
bDoHighDynamicRange=1
[BlurShader]
bUseBlurShader=0
[Water]
iWaterReflectHeight=512
iWaterReflectWidth=512
bUseWaterDisplacements=1
bUseWaterRefractions=1
bUseWaterReflections=1
bUseWaterDepth=1
Last edited by a moderator:
My research about shadows:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=32667876&postcount=2187
Basically only some of commands affect quality, those ones:
fShadowDistance=4000.0000
iShadowMapResolution=4096
fShadowBiasScale=0.15000
iShadowMaskQuarter=4
iShadowFilter=3
iBlurDeferredShadowMask=3
fShadowLODStartFade=1500.0000
In Skyrim.ini:
fShadowLODMaxStartFade=1500.0
For quality and performance [most of performance] responsible are:
fShadowDistance
iShadowMapResolution
Rest define quality and in some way lod transition [not direct unfortunately].
Oh and my gif that shows how bugged shadows are:
http://k.minus.com/iN90lbebZAxn.gif
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=32667876&postcount=2187
Basically only some of commands affect quality, those ones:
fShadowDistance=4000.0000
iShadowMapResolution=4096
fShadowBiasScale=0.15000
iShadowMaskQuarter=4
iShadowFilter=3
iBlurDeferredShadowMask=3
fShadowLODStartFade=1500.0000
In Skyrim.ini:
fShadowLODMaxStartFade=1500.0
For quality and performance [most of performance] responsible are:
fShadowDistance
iShadowMapResolution
Rest define quality and in some way lod transition [not direct unfortunately].
Oh and my gif that shows how bugged shadows are:
http://k.minus.com/iN90lbebZAxn.gif
Thanks guys for the links for the SSAO!
But man, Albuquerque, you are my hero!!!!
Also, although I agree about the graphics vs performance thing, I'm having so much fun playing the game, I really don't care if I should be getting a lot more frames per second than I do now.
Now, we only need for Beth to release the construction kit!!!
But man, Albuquerque, you are my hero!!!!
Also, although I agree about the graphics vs performance thing, I'm having so much fun playing the game, I really don't care if I should be getting a lot more frames per second than I do now.
Now, we only need for Beth to release the construction kit!!!
That's the distance tweak, and it's wrong. Hence why adjusting that value sucks and you shouldn't use it.
Yeah, looks pretty good. How's the game itself? I'll have to watch for a deal on Steam and check it out, thanks for the mention
Yeah, looks pretty good. How's the game itself? I'll have to watch for a deal on Steam and check it out, thanks for the mention
The game is good. It's not quite as open as an Elder Scrolls game but I enjoyed it nonetheless. My suggestion is to wait for a good sale and pick it up.
Skyrim looks much, much better with NVIDIA SSAO forced. A shame that they couldn't add this too the engine since I'm sure it would look and perform even better.
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How does the driver know enough to do a proper implementation of SSAO? I mean, you need information on the geometry of the room to do this right, is it some generic form of blur or psuedo-tonemapping or something?
Nice find Albuquerque.
Shadow maps work like a z-buffer texture projector from the light source, think of what happens w/ a real projector in real life which has a fixed lcd resolution. Moving the projector closer to a wall by shrinking that variable makes the image projected (in this case a shadow) sharper, but it's clear that the size of the image will be smaller, in this case, the radius around the player where the shadow is projected; pulling the distance out makes a larger radius around me take shadows but the resolution per unit of game radius suffers and you see fat pixels on self shadowing which can have sharp gradients. Moving to 8192 works but kills my performance. It seems a 4096 resolution shadow map and a shadow distance of about 2500 is a good compromise.
Shadow maps work like a z-buffer texture projector from the light source, think of what happens w/ a real projector in real life which has a fixed lcd resolution. Moving the projector closer to a wall by shrinking that variable makes the image projected (in this case a shadow) sharper, but it's clear that the size of the image will be smaller, in this case, the radius around the player where the shadow is projected; pulling the distance out makes a larger radius around me take shadows but the resolution per unit of game radius suffers and you see fat pixels on self shadowing which can have sharp gradients. Moving to 8192 works but kills my performance. It seems a 4096 resolution shadow map and a shadow distance of about 2500 is a good compromise.
Last edited by a moderator:
There is a variable in SkyrimPrefs called bTransparencyMultisampling=0. Haven't tried it.
Will do but not tonight. Too busy playing!
I dont think you get Steam achievements that way. Anyway the distance value works for me, so I'm happy. Stopped using 8192 res shadows though because I ran out of vram on a 570.
About SSAO, I dont think the game needs it. There's already some very obvious baked AO and I prefer the cleaner look around foliaage.
Im using it now, I can say its worth it as long as its playable. If you are using bTreesReceiveShadows, turn it off since SSAO kind of does the same thing but to entire game and it will also give you a nice performance boost with it off. Just hope nvidia won't change mess it up in the new driver like Fallout 3 SSAO which doesn't work anymore.
