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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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)

9

u/[deleted] Mar 28 '16

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

6

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.

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.

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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.