TechAngel85

Yeah, I would agree. I was the main contributor to this guide; however, since I've stopped using ENB I have lost track of it and Boris's progress. I've asked Aiyen here if he would be interested in its completion and upkeep...he hasn't taken the bait yet.

Talk about reviving old threads!

I would say...not a good idea. There are usually only around 20-30 max. You've gone way way beyond the norm. :P

I'm sorry you feel/see it that way, but multiple people have also explained multiple times that what you stated above is not what anyone is doing here. There was a perfectly legitimate reason why the poll was reset. If you're not understanding the reason, I'm sorry. PM Z and he'll explain in detail again the reason for the poll reset and the reason how this thread was handled. Basically, it boils down to the poll being prematurely posted before all relevant compares and information was collected and posted. I fully expect you to have just as many votes as the previous poll. Remember, the polls only represent approximately 1.25% of our total members (20 of 1600 members).

I actually just active Immersive HUD on all the profiles for compares. It's nothing that will skew results (unless a mod is being tested against it). This saves myself one step of having to toggle the menu off and on again. As for the messages...I get those too. Just have to wait til they're done. It speeds it up it you disable Unknown Enchants for the compare shots.

From my own testing, Snow & Rocks HD is better than vanilla and Beauty of Skyrim on top of that is even better. S&R is definitely Core candidate while BoS is riding the edge, IMO. aMidianborn is too far from vanilla to be considered for Core, IMO. With the issues I've seen in S&R and aMidianborn (blurry walls and ground textures), my overall choice has to be Beauty of Skyrim overwriting S&R since BoS doesn't really cover the ice caves. All-in-all, if the ground texture issues were corrected in aMidianborn it probably would have won my vote for STEP:Extended. STEP:Core - S&R overwritten by BoS STEP:Extended - Same.

Hold it chief. We appreciate the hard work, but that is far too many compares. You're making your job much harder than it has to be. lol I think we're opening this one back to get it finalized with what we have. If you wish to continue, by all means go ahead tho.

You're most welcome. I think it's safe to say that aMidianborn is not for Core. At this point, it just needs to be decided if it's preferred over current STEP (Snow & Rocks HD) and Beauty of Skyrim for STEP:Extended or not.

Vanilla >> Snow & Rocks HD >> Beauty of Skyrim >> aMidianborn Caves Vanilla >> Snow & Rocks HD >> aMidianborn Caves Ice Caves Review Snow and Rocks HD Ground textures are similar to vanilla; however, smoother in some places. Wall textues are smoother in S&R and less reflective. In some cases looking closer to a white colored rock than ice. The rock in the ice caves is nearly identical to vanilla, but somewhat less reflective. Overall, extremely close to vanilla just smoothed out a little. Core canidate. Beauty of Skyrim This mods doesn't cover the ice caves. In fact it's identical in every aspect to S&R (I had this activated for this test), except for the ground texture at the enterance (first shot); which is more snowy, and the rock textures which are very close to vanilla like S&R. Nothing else to report since that's all this mod covers here. If accepted, it should overwrite S&R, IMO, due to the other cave textures. aMidianborn Caves Ground textures are "bumbier" than vanilla and more snow covered. Walls are darker overall, yet are much more reflective than vanilla. Overall shape of the walls are still vanilla, but they are "bumbier" as well. The rock in the ice caves are a complete divation from vanilla. They still look impressive though. They have some roughness to them; however, the "definition" is completely different from vanilla. Not for Core, but a canidate for Extended. The last three shots is for reflectivity examples. Vanilla is...well, vanilla. S&R is similar to Vanilla; however, less reflective and more "rock like". aMidianborn is the opposite of S&R. It's more reflective than vanilla by at least 2x. The best for Core here is S&R, IMO. The best overall is a toss-up between S&R and aMidianborn for me. I would like the vanilla level of reflectivity from both mods (one decreases it, one increases it...lol) so it's really neck and neck for me personally between the two. Images added to OP.

I think the thing most have agreed upon is that for exterior textures mainly 1K is used and for interior 2K is used. This seemed to be given the "okay" by the major players here that know a lot about the RAM/VRAM limits. As a rule of thumb, no mods should be ran through DDSopt before a comparison. The majority of users aren't going to be DDSopting their mod textures. The majority that do DDSopt only do so on the Vanilla textures. Unless there is absolutely no loss in quality by running DDSopt on the mod texture. Best not do it for testing so the results won't be skewed.

Not sure if you missed this Michaelrw. If you still have the saves from your shots in the OP, could you provide Vanilla and BoS from those saves and post this in the OP? Thanks! If you don't have those saves anymore let us know and we'll take them down. I noticed we were missing ice cave compares so I'll be grabbing a set of those today. Actually, I'm already in the process of doing just that. :)

Was playing around with TT4 again and finally figured it out. Only way to access the login is a swipe motion. Got it working and logged into the forums. :D

Geez man you act like we're some wet behind the ears snot nosed brats or something. @Tech and Cabal can you both please play nice? @Cabal no one is dissing your textures in fact most of us like them. Tech is bringing up some suggestions for the ground textures that he has noticed aren't quite up to your usual standards and is only wishing to give you constructive critisism. I admit he has seemed to make quite a few back-handed compliments or at times seemed to be trashing it but I don't think anyone here thinks you or your work is bad/trashy and only want to see you improve. In fact if you look at sheer volume you have many more mods/textures as part of STEP:Core than a great majority of mod makers and this I would take as a compliment. There is no need to resort to angry posts. @Tech since I and others have likely had it with the tone of your comments could you please I don't know... wait before posting something or maybe have someone else read through it for tone as I really don't think you mean for some of your comments to be so nit picky and mean but to some of us it comes across that way and these "discussions" that you and Cabal are having aren't constructive. I admit your last two or three posts have been like night vs day in comparison to your earlier posts in a good way Anyways I'll be giving this and the other cave mods the royal treatment here soon as none of the other compares are up to my anal standards. There will be Vanilla, HRDLC, Hectrols, S&R, BoS (am I missing any?) @Zed thanks for removing the image limit that thing was a pain in my ass when I did the Pondfish Retexture compares. >V We're playing nice. There is nothing wrong with debate and discussion and I don't think either of us it taking it as an insult to the other. I know I'm not and nothing in CaBal's replies leads me to think he is either. In fact, I gather he's an easy going guy from his replies. Exactly, constructive criticism. Nothing trashy about CaBal's textures at all. I love the majority of them! (I did not sense any anger from CaBal's post btw) I understand what you are saying here. I'll be the first to admit that I'm blunt and honest and some people simply aren't used to dealing with such personalities in this day and age. If I'm "nit picking" any mod, then it's only for the construction of the review. I don't hold back when posting my reviews; however, I never use harsh language to indicate that I am being "mean" because being "mean" or "offensive" is never my intent. Holding back in a review of any mod doesn't do any good in any way. If I find any issues, I'll call them out as I see them. I would expect this from all Mod Testers as well because being completely open and honest will lead to better judgement in mods being tested for STEP; whether they're accepted or not. I will say, I never have any "tone" or mean any offense when I post anything. If I think it'll spark any argument that isn't constructive debate then I simply don't post. With all this said, I can't really change my personality and it comes through in the way I type and explain things. I try my best to be careful in the wording, but something there is no other way to say something than to just say it. I often read WilliamImm and other's posts as harsh as well, but rarely point it out because I know my own personality shines through in my posts just as everyone else does on this forum. I'm in management in RL and am quite loved by all my employees (or so they tell me) so I can understand that's it might be difficult to read my intent in any post without knowing me in person. My intent is never ill-willed. Hectrol, S&R, and BoS has already gone through the testing train and BoS came out on top. ( https://forum.step-project.com/showthread.php?tid=1351 ) Unless Z chimes in and wants the other included here, I think it's safe to just do Vanilla (HRDLCs can be included in Vanilla), STEP (S&R), BoS, and aMbianborn Caves.

I think you tapped into Z's brain waves. lol

I actually pointed out, on a later post, issues will all the textures: https://forum.step-project.com/showthread.php?tid=3057&pid=46272#pid46272 STEP:Core and STEP:Extended are still new to most member as we've not made any official announcement on it. Think of STEP:Core as an "Extended Vanilla". To make it into Core a mod has to basically be Vanilla or very close to Vanilla without significant changes. Core will rarely change and it's being designed like that because it will be the base for all Packs. STEP:Extended is the official STEP Pack and will have the reminder of the mods that didn't make it into Core. STEP uses your armor and weapons texture pack; Book of Silence. I can't think of any others that are included as of right now.

I used several 3rd party guides combined with my own experiences when I overhauled the guide. I have a gaming laptop and setting it to 8 causes no issue for me; however, for regular PCs it would seem this number should be lower. I'm not sure what the difference is. Possibly it's something to do with the CPU/Video Card combination. I feel this setting will be different for everyone. I'll fix the guide to say to leave it at the default setting. This will cover the majority of users.

This is still up in the air due to another mod being introduced. I'll moved it back into testing tho it's between this mod and aMidianborn Caves now I think.

Poll will be reset. Author released an additional option during mod testing. I will probably take care of this tomorrow.

The poll was deleted because an additional option (vanilla) was added to it after members had already voted. Therefore, not all options were available to all members at the time of their vote and; thus, the poll has been reset so the results will not be screwed. Basic statistics really. As I've already stated, the poll is not "the final word" on whether a mod is accepted or not. There are a lot more to testing than voting on a poll.

@CaBal, There have been a couple issues with your textures stated by myself and other members. I haven't seen you respond to them. What are your thoughts on these possible issues? Rocks on ground texture look embossed (concave) rather than convex as rocks should appear to stand higher than the ground; not lower.Too much "specular" (probably not the right term) on the walls making them reflect too much and appear "noisy" while moving.Too much "noisy" on the ground texture; most noticeable around lighted areas from a fire or sun shining into cave.Some stretching of the rocks on the ground texture.

I'd like to expand on what Z has said about a little misconception on the polls. Polls are used as a tool to get a general idea of where the mod is leaning towards. Keep in mind that we have nearly 1600 registered members and only a hand full (5-20 members) are actually voting. Therefore, polls on these threads are by no means an extensive or accurate result of what the majority of STEP users want or would choose. If we had a couple hundred of those members voting, the story would be different. As for now the polls do not "guarantee" any mod/option inclusion in STEP. It's just to get an idea of what a few members think of the compares. At any time the winner of a poll may or may not be chosen as the "official choice" for either STEP:Core or STEP:Extended. The official Mod Testers and Admin will make up the majority of this decision as they have gone through the proper testing procedures while reviews any mod; however, that doesn't mean we don't take the other member's reviews into consideration. At the end of the day, what is chosen is what is best for STEP and not what is the "popular vote" or "personal choice". Polls should not be looked at as the final deciding factor in any mod testing.

Sweet! I added the vanilla images that I could. I'll try to get that first one working without any textures activated so it'll still be a vanilla texture compare. Thanks for resetting the poll. I was planning on doing that anyone. Note to all, If you're going to vote on these textures, I highly recommend and prefer you try them out in-game before you vote! This is a requirement for all Mod Testers and should be for Admin as well so a proper analysis is done by the STEP Team. For all other members, this is optional but, again, highly recommend.

Nevermind. I downloaded Tapatalk Community Reader and it works just fine. 4.0 is mainly for tablets; however, android is android and it should work on a phone the same as a tablet. Guess I'll use the Reader until I can figure out 4.0.

Damn...I think our forum only supports 3.6. I have Tapatalk 4.0.... https://tapatalk.com/activate_tapatalk.php?plugin=mybb ...or maybe I'm completely wrong. That page isn't very informative...