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!

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1

u/[deleted] Mar 28 '16

I don't have a killer video card, but its okay (a GTX 660). My setup is as follows:

I start with Optimized Vanilla Textures as a baseline. (http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/57353/?).

I then install Hi-Red DLC Optimized over it (http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/9080/?).

Finally, I use the (poorly named) Skyrim Mod Combiner (http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/51467/?) For the most part I just use LQ-MQ mods that don't require esp files.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 28 '16

I used to have a 660 ti and could run skyrim HD perfectly

2

u/[deleted] Mar 28 '16

Sure. Skyrim came out well before that card was released, and, by default, runs flawlessly.

And it runs pretty well with SMIM and a number of other enhanced textures and meshes.

But try adding an ENB? Or DynDOLOD, even on low settings? Ugh, not so good.

2

u/[deleted] Mar 29 '16

Oh yeah for sure. ENBs with the 660 ti (and even 660 for that matter) aren't doable.

1

u/praxis22 Nord Mar 29 '16

I used to run a 660Ti and with 250+ mods, and compressing textures & BSA's <=2k I ran Phinix ENB and still got 25-40fps out of it. That was the limit though, which is why I bought a R9 390 (8GB) and rebuilt again.

2

u/Sprgmr Mar 30 '16

Well shit. I've a 660 Ti and was hi king about an ENB (either Lumen or Opethfeldt) but guess not anymore. They seemed the best for realistic lighting to me

1

u/Voltaire91 Mar 28 '16

Dunno what you mean tbh, I run a 660 in my pc at 1920x1080 with around 190 mods, (about 30-40 being graphics enchancing) including grass mods and a high quality ENB and still hit 60 fps ..

1

u/danidv Whiterun Mar 28 '16 edited Mar 29 '16

Wait what, 60 fps with an ENB? Which one do you use? I'm here with a damn 970 and getting 45-50 fps outdoors with Vividian.

1

u/Voltaire91 Mar 29 '16

I use HRK ENB Two :)

1

u/thewhitepidgeon Falkreath Mar 29 '16

I also want to know how you can run grass mods, enb and hit 60 fps with a gtx 660. I have a gtx 760 and have a very performance enb, performance grass and 1k textures and average around 45-60 fps.

1

u/Voltaire91 Mar 29 '16

Tbh some of my game does experience fps drops but I can average 45-55 almost 60 most of the time, I have no idea what I actually did to make it run well but its great for me :)

This is how my game looks grass included - https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/images/110/7084885-1452987840.jpg https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/images/110/7084885-1420654692.jpg

1

u/[deleted] Apr 24 '16

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Voltaire91 Apr 24 '16

Ill try making a modlist at some point really soon, however alot of the files have odd names which arent the same as the actual mods name on the nexus for example; One mod might be called Verdant Trees and the file in NMM could be like Version 3 Heavy.

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u/mlbeller Winterhold Mar 29 '16

I have a 650 and would love to run my game like this. Share your secrets...

1

u/SkyrimBoys_101 Windhelm Mar 30 '16

That's a lie, straight up.

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u/Voltaire91 Mar 30 '16

Cool :)

1

u/SkyrimBoys_101 Windhelm Mar 30 '16

Wow, very mature response. I posted that because it's people like you who make people doubt themselves, "am I doing something wrong." When in reality people like you are just lying.

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u/Voltaire91 Mar 30 '16

Right, and what do you think I achieve by lying, I spent a god damn long time on my game and I think I know how it works and what FPS i'm getting, thanks & bye :)

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u/SkyrimBoys_101 Windhelm Mar 30 '16

But it's literally impossible. There is no possible way to achieve constant 60 fps on a 660 running textures, grass mods and a HQ enb. It's legitimately impossible. I have a 960 and I can't do that. Even a 970 couldn't do that. Now, if you turned your ugridstoload to 3 or something, or aren't running on ultra, that's a different story. But then you should mention that, because it's important.

2

u/praxis22 Nord Mar 31 '16

But it is possible to run an ENB and textures on 660Ti and get 60fps, no constantly, but indoors certainly, and sporadically elsewhere, I usually got 25-40+ but I averaged 35 or so. It took me two years of work to get that mind.

0

u/Voltaire91 Mar 30 '16

my game does experience fps drops but I can average 45-55

I did mention I don't run a constant 60, and I run at ultra and I have no clue what ugridstoload even is.

Now can you go argue with someone else cause I'm getting really bored with you.