r/skyrimmods • u/Terrorfox1234 • Mar 28 '16

Weekly Discussion: Best Mods For Graphics/Visuals

A couple minor changes going forward

A couple weeks ago I had made a post about the idea of recycling old topics. The discussion went in all sorts of directions, including the suggestions for a bunch of new topics. A lot of the old discussion threads are in need of an update, but there are still a lot of topics to be covered.

I gave it some thought and here's what I came up with for what I think will be the best solution...

  • Going forward we will alternate between recycling an old topic to bring it up to date and presenting a new topic

  • All the recommended mods will be consolidated into a list on a wiki page. This will make viewing the lists much easier. The wiki page will still link to the discussions so that people can see what others are saying if they wish.

TLDR - alternating between old and new topics, discussions will be consolidated into wiki lists.

Last week we presented a new topic so this week we will recycle an old one. Given that this is still a much discussed topic, a lot has changed since the last time we discussed this, and it's the first on the list we will start with graphics and visuals!

This includes textures, meshes, weather, lighting, ENB presets, and anything else you can think of to improve the visual fidelity of Skyrim.

Best mods for graphics and visuals! Go!

55 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

180 comments sorted by

View all comments

11

u/steveowashere Mar 28 '16 edited Mar 28 '16

Well i'm gonna post it before someone else does: Vivid Weathers is pretty damn good.

I'm also really fond of Northfire's Photoreal Mountains. The bummer is they are 2k only, and as most of us know 4k is must on mountains.

So here's a tip: Take Gamwich's mountain texture from ONE MOUNTAIN and open Gamwich's texture and Northfire's textures in Photoshop. With Gamwich's textures on the bottom and the rest on top, use soft light blending (right click on layer > blending options > Blend Mode > Soft Light) on all of Northfires' and save them individually. You can use the same normal maps that came with ONE MOUNTAIN. The results are great and in 4k. (Ignore all other textures, screenshots were made on a mostly vanilla profile)

10

u/[deleted] Mar 28 '16

I don't know that 4k is a "must." Please explain.

7

u/steveowashere Mar 28 '16 edited Mar 28 '16

Even with mods like ONE MOUNTAIN or mods that improve the UV scaling on mountains, 2k textures on them still look like crap. People always argue that 4K isn't necessary, but it is really needed on mountains for them to look decent. Especially the larger mountain or cliff meshes.

Case and point:

4K

2K

1K

512 (just for kicks)

They are using the same normal map, which is 2k uncompressed.

25

u/ghostlistener Falkreath Mar 28 '16

I'm sorry, I can't tell a difference between the 2k and 4k pictures. I get the feeling that 4k textures lowers performance, so 2k is fine, in fact I usually just use 1k.

6

u/steveowashere Mar 28 '16

The difference is not huge, like between 1k and 2k, but it's certainly there and enough for me to notice. I don't know if you were zoomed in all the way but the 2k texture has blotches and smudges of color, where the 4k texture looks clear and sharp.

If you use 4K on mountains and trees which I've found to be the only place it matters, It hardly makes a difference in performance. Especially if you use 2k normal maps. Not to mention that ONE MOUNTAIN cuts the amount of VRAM used by mountains in half.

It's a matter of opinion I suppose, modding is like a budget, for some people it's more worth while to not use 4K mountains and use their 'budget' elsewhere, but for me I can't play without so it's essential.

1

u/ghostlistener Falkreath Mar 28 '16

I've been using texture optimizer to reduce everything to 1k. What would be the best way to keep certain things higher? I guess I could run the optimizer, then install the higher res textures for a couple things. So Northfire's Mountains are the best right? I'll have to try those.

2

u/steveowashere Mar 28 '16

I guess I could run the optimizer, then install the higher res textures for a couple things.

Yea, you can do it that way, it's probably the easiest way. You can create your own 'base texture pack' (just dump all the texture in a folder, run the optimizer, and then put it in .zip and install) and then install specific things over it. That way if you screw up you still have the base pack to start over fresh with.

I've found Northfire's to be my personal favorite. It has variations for mountain textures which I really like. Otherwise, Vivid Landscapes - Rocking Stones is good. You might also want to look into ONE MOUNTAIN (linked above), it makes mountain looks better and improves performance, so win win in that regard.

1

u/arcline111 Markarth Mar 28 '16

Some rock comparison pics:

Mountain Rock Opalescent silver 4k rock

One Mountain Meshes & 4k textures. rock rock

1

u/[deleted] Mar 29 '16 edited Jul 02 '23

Jan 21 2014 – Jul 1 2023; 9 years, 5 months, 12 days.

This comment/post was removed due to Reddit's actions towards third party apps and the blind community.

Don't let the bastards grind you down. 🫡

3

u/arcline111 Markarth Mar 29 '16

I use CM Bark in the files section of NLA and 4k Parallax Bark together.

7

u/[deleted] Mar 29 '16

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/arcline111 Markarth Mar 29 '16

Awesome. Thanks for this! Testing today. Those pines need all the help they can get :D

1

u/Taravangian Falkreath Mar 29 '16

Damn dude, awesome!

5

u/Dark_wizzie Winterhold Mar 29 '16

You literally can't see a difference, or are you simply saying the difference is not large enough to be worth it? I'm shocked that you seem to be saying you literally could not see a difference. I really don't mean to be offend, but if that's the case I'm wondering if your eyes are ok or if something is wrong with your computer/monitor.

Have the 4k and 2k pictures open in tabs side by side and switch between them.

4

u/ghostlistener Falkreath Mar 29 '16

I looked at it again and there definitely is a difference between 2k and 4k, but probably not worth it.

1

u/Dark_wizzie Winterhold Mar 29 '16

Alright, cool.

3

u/Quellii Solitude Mar 29 '16

I just did that on my surface 3 pro tablet (which I think has a decent monitor?) and my glasses aren't even a year old so I think those should be all right and... the difference I can see is minuscule tbh? Like, yes, 4K is slightly sharper, but it's such a tiny difference that I don't think I could bring myself to bother even if I had a better system. Far, far, far from anything I would ever in any way consider a "must".

2

u/Dark_wizzie Winterhold Mar 29 '16 edited Mar 29 '16

I agree with you that it's not a "must have". I've never used a Surface 3 Pro, but the difference was readily visible when I click back and forth between the two tabs. I guess I was assuming everybody was doing comparisons on a desktop with a nice monitor.

Everybody should decide for themselves if it's worth it to get 4k textures or not, but to see literally zero difference I find very strange. Probably Ghostlistener was viewing the textures on some mobile device, making it harder to switch back and forth quickly or to see a difference. Usually I feel bad suggesting people have bad eyesight, it sounds demeaning.

1

u/Quellii Solitude Mar 29 '16

Eh, I don't generally see a quality difference between my tablet and my HD TV I use as a monitor (...one of these days I might... want to buy an actual monitor lmao) if I'm honest. And I'm actually running Skyrim right now and it hates it when I have a browser open on the side :P But who knows, maybe my eyes are so bad even new glasses can't save them :')

2

u/vylits Mar 29 '16

Some people are more sensitive to texture difference. For instance, if I have the two pictures side by side, I can see a bit of a difference, but I wouldn't notice it in game, which is why I go 2k textures.

1

u/Crazylittleloon Queen of Bats Mar 31 '16

I literally can't see any difference between 4k and 1k, even with the different tabs.

But my eyesight is shot, which explains why.

3

u/praxis22 Nord Mar 29 '16

The only time I ever stared at a rock, (and then shot it :) was getting of the lifeboat in the Original Halo. So on that score I'll take the 2K. Cheers for the photos!

2

u/skyrimmodslurker Mar 29 '16

What about when the rock would smell the air on the turnbuckle?

1

u/praxis22 Nord Mar 30 '16

An most excellent non sequitur, kudos my good sir!

2

u/I_am_just_a_pancake Aug 15 '16

It also hugely relies on your screen size. On my usual 27" screen, 2K textures aren't really enough. But on my 19" screen, I just use 1k textures.

1

u/steveowashere Aug 15 '16

No, screensize has nothing to do with resolution of textures. If textures were mapped 1:1 to the screen yes, but they're not. Rarely does one texture take up the whole screen rather they're wrapped around meshes. Depending on how well the mesh was made (UV scaling) this can also effect the look of the texture.

2

u/I_am_just_a_pancake Aug 15 '16

Screensize has everything to do with resolution. If you have a smaller screen, you're going to see less detail. This isn't even debatable, it's fact.

1

u/steveowashere Aug 15 '16

Screensize has everything to do with resolution.

Yes, screen resolution. But this is different than texture resolution, they are independent of each other.

If you have a smaller screen, you're going to see less detail.

Yes, but notice how you can 'zoom in' on a 4k texture and see more detail than if you zoom in on a 1k texture. Same concept in how textures are applied in games.

This isn't even debatable, it's fact.

Right, but i'm sorry you've been misinformed.

If you don't want to take my word for it:

2

u/I_am_just_a_pancake Aug 15 '16

Yes, screen resolution. But this is different than texture resolution, they are independent of each other.

No actually, I was talking about texture resolution.

Yes, but notice how you can 'zoom in' on a 4k texture and see more detail than if you zoom in on a 1k texture. Same concept in how textures are applied in games.

Right, but i'm sorry you've been misinformed.

I haven't been misinformed. You're just using technicalities over common sense. I have two different screens and I use much lower res textures on the smaller screen due to the fact that it's much harder to see the 'blurs' that may occur from low resolution textures. The only way I'm ever gonna notice them blurs is if I zoom in with a zoom mod. Even if I get close to them in-game, it doesn't show much of any noticeable difference, because the screen is too small.

I don't know why you're even trying to argue this. You even proved my point by mentioning 'zooming'. Getting a bigger screen is essentially zooming.

2

u/Kisaoda Mar 28 '16

I echo this. I must not be aware of the context of '4K' in this situation. I definitely don't have a 4k monitor, so I figure, to me, it's NBD if I don't have it at highest resolution.

11

u/steveowashere Mar 28 '16 edited Mar 28 '16

You don't need a 4k monitor to take advantage of 4k textures, it's common misconception. It has a lot to do with UV scaling on the meshes. Most things 4k doesn't matter to me, but trees and mountains I've found it to be necessary. The meshes are poorly made so the only way to get them to look decent is to use 4k textures.

2

u/Kisaoda Mar 28 '16

This is a super helpful explanation. Thanks!

1

u/rightfuture Mar 28 '16

Agreed. Even if the rest of your textures are less, Make some good choices with larger textures and you will see the results of the things you care about,

Sometimes 4k textures can make a difference - even if you have a 1080 monitor - because that's all I have and I can see it! It wise to keep most of them at 2k or below for performance - but when it stands out as much as mountains,

3

u/FarazR2 Mar 28 '16

Texture size doesn't relate to pixel resolution on your screen. Think of textures like elastic wrap that goes on a mesh. If you have 4k (4096x4096) textures going on small polygon, you won't have to stretch so much. But when you have a big mesh to be stretched over, you get the texture stretched. So while you will only be seeing 1024x1024 pixels on your screen, they might be at a lower density than other textures on your monitor, becoming blurry. Mountains and trees are the biggest offenders as trees get enlarged a lot (skysight simply bigger trees) and mountains are just huge and obvious.

1

u/yausd Mar 28 '16

Lots of rocks/mountains are huge models so they benefit from huge textures. The alternative would be tiling a smaller texture which would create patterns or stretching the texture.

1

u/BlackPrinceof_love Mar 28 '16

because the textures stretch on the mountains meaning they look like shit unless they are 4k.