TES V: Skyrim

[RenegadeRocks]

And then a question, first of the next 2 is with ENB, second without - does anyone know which settings I should adjust to get the shadows darkness closer to what it is without ENB (or even darker) without sacrificing the brightness?

Bring down the value of ambientlightindoors to make your shadows dark in dungeons.
In those two shots, the ambient liht seems to be exactly same, btw. SHadows seem to be the same level.

 

[RenegadeRocks]

Also, try setting proper colours for Light from top, bottom, centre for different TODs, works wonders in creating a perfect look. In fact has the biggest affect. ALso, adjust curves for sunlight, moonlight, etc. There's just too much in EnB to lose ur life over ! THey are all different for indoors and outdoors.

 

[Kaotik]

You actually want shadows so dark that you can't see any details? That's going to strain your eyes like crazy.

There's not any dungeon in skyrim that is so dark that you can't see without bringing a lightsource of your own (or well, HARDLY any, except for maybe some falmer dungeons here and there), so I don't think you can say it's 'supposed' to be like that...

If you mean it's not realistic that there's light in caves underground, well, it's not realistic to carry 50000 arrows on your person or fling fireballs and lightning bolts from your hands and so on, but you can do these things. (Shout and physically sending people and objects flying, etc...) So there goes that argument. If you must have artificial light with you to navigate a dungeon, sneaking becomes impossible (since you're immediately visible to anyone if you carry a torch or use magic to light up your surroundings).

Should have been more specific, it's supposed to be that way in my mind, realism has nothing to do with it
It's just more, atmospheric I suppose, or something, gives better feeling

 

[pcchen]

Personally I like dungeons to be dark too. However, it's very hard to perfect gameplay wise. If you make everyone able to see in the dark, then it's meaningless. On the other hand, for a game where dungeons are a important part of the game, it'd be very unbalanced if only some classes/races able to see in the dark. It's also very difficult to simulate the effect how people actually see in the dark (i.e. when the rods kick in).

 

[Kaotik]

The population adding mods really bring in the feeling of actual cities, inns and whatnot.

The more people there is, the more likely it is that someone is just a jerk to others and won't play by the rules

 

[Grall]

Does anyone have links to what exactly to tweak in which config to simply up/push back the highest LoD, so that distant outdoors areas look better? I don't want to mod the game beyond that, replace textures and models and whatnot (the original artists' vision is good enough), but the terrible gamebryo LoD system really drives me nuts sometimes...

 

[Kaotik]

Does anyone have links to what exactly to tweak in which config to simply up/push back the highest LoD, so that distant outdoors areas look better? I don't want to mod the game beyond that, replace textures and models and whatnot (the original artists' vision is good enough), but the terrible gamebryo LoD system really drives me nuts sometimes...

Try this:
http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/4834/?

 

[Grall]

That one replaces terrain textures (AND meshes it says, actually), which I do not want. Thanks anyway though.

 

[RenegadeRocks]

I would like to know that too. My Skyrim looks very pretty without them texture and mesh replacements, thanx to my EnB tuning, but I want to get rid of the LOD or atleast lessen it a bit. THere's practically nothing beyond a few meters.

 

[Kaotik]

Changing the uGridsToLoad to bigger value helps a lot on that, with ENBBoost and the quite new memorypatchthingy 7 should be rock solid for pretty much anyone, 9 should work too.
The bad part is that once you save a game with, say, uGridsToLoad=9, you can't go back down to 7 or 5 (Default) on that game anymore (unless you load a game before that save, obviously)

 

[homerdog]

The bad part is that once you save a game with, say, uGridsToLoad=9, you can't go back down to 7 or 5 (Default) on that game anymore (unless you load a game before that save, obviously)

There is actually a utility that lets you do it. Can't remember where I got it or what it's called, but it definitely works.

 

[Skinner]

here we go, based on RealVision's ENB and Natural Lighting and Atmospherics' ENB, customized by me


And then a question, first of the next 2 is with ENB, second without - does anyone know which settings I should adjust to get the shadows darkness closer to what it is without ENB (or even darker) without sacrificing the brightness?

You could try upping the gamma curve;

[COLORCORRECTION]
GammaCurve=1.4

or messing with interior ambient light

[ENVIRONMENT]
AmbientLightingIntensityInterior=0.8

This is a copy and past from my Oblivion with a different pallette, so don't take these settings literally.

 

[Skinner]

There is actually a utility that lets you do it. Can't remember where I got it or what it's called, but it definitely works.

You can alt tab out of the game, change Skyrim prefs ie ugrids to load or xxcells, alt tab into the game, type inirefresh or refreshini and save

 

[Kaotik]

You could try upping the gamma curve;

[COLORCORRECTION]
GammaCurve=1.4

or messing with interior ambient light

[ENVIRONMENT]
AmbientLightingIntensityInterior=0.8

This is a copy and past from my Oblivion with a different pallette, so don't take these settings literally.

I think I got it pretty nice already, currently 0.95 for ambient intensity inside for day and 0.85 for night.
The only problem is that in some specific cases the "eye adaptation" or whatever seems to get it way too bright no matter how I tweak it's settings, and it's only some specific caves it happens in

 

[Skinner]

I think I got it pretty nice already, currently 0.95 for ambient intensity inside for day and 0.85 for night.
The only problem is that in some specific cases the "eye adaptation" or whatever seems to get it way too bright no matter how I tweak it's settings, and it's only some specific caves it happens in

You did try adjusting the following already?:

[ADAPTATION]
ForceMinMaxValues=true
AdaptationSensitivity=0.2
AdaptationTime=0.4
AdaptationMin=0.1
AdaptationMax=100.0

The latter one should be important?

 

[Kaotik]

Yeah, been playing around with those, including the very settings you posted with no luck. Might be just dungeon specific bugs , though

Edit : foggy weather down in the valley

 

[Daozang]

The problem with ugridstoload, is that beyond 7 it's very unstable, especially with many mods enabled.
I prefer using the default 5, and be certain I can save anywhere in the game, than using 7 and up and having to save inside small spaces (like an inn) as to be sure my save will load again.

 

[poopypoo]

this has been mentioned already, and so i will also chirp in to say i played with ugrids at 7 for the entirety of my play time without troubles. it makes a huge, huge difference, too esp if you use archery. it does limit some of my other aggressive shadowing etc settings, but i think it's well worth the tradeoff

 

[Kaotik]

The problem with ugridstoload, is that beyond 7 it's very unstable, especially with many mods enabled.
I prefer using the default 5, and be certain I can save anywhere in the game, than using 7 and up and having to save inside small spaces (like an inn) as to be sure my save will load again.

The new memory patch makes it more stable than before

 

[Kaotik]

I don't know what Steam does to screenshots (other than horrible packing), but the quality just sucks compared to what I see on my screen or when using built-in screenshot function (which of ENB does it's own version, too)

Steam shots anyway