TechAngel85

I just ran across this mod via a mod review video. They've updated it since the postings here and I'd be interested in seeing how well it plays with everything now. At the very least this could be a great tool to initially set up your INI before manual editing. At the very most and best it could be used to replace most of the manual INI tweaks and launcher settings at the beginning of STEP, essentially combining everything into one tool. It's more user friend for new modders too, though a wiki guide would need to be written for it. I might look into this and see if it'll be able to replace most of the manual tweaking since I've already reset my Skyrim to vanilla... Change Log since last posting: He's fixed the read-only crash problem and is looking into the grass shadows.

The textures are excellent and I'll be trying them out when I reinstall today or tomorrow.

Exactly! It would require a complete texture overhaul for them to fit into the game. Thing is, there are already a dozen texture overhauls and these rocks still wouldn't mix with any of them.

Seems like an obvious add to STEP if it works and has no issues. I've never completed that quest so I have no idea that a fix was needed.

Downloaded. I was using the other version. I'll give this one a try.

Discussion thread: Elven Weapons for Silence by Erlioniel Wiki Link Meant to blend well with CaBal's Book of Silence. These my alter the colors of the vanilla textures but in my personal opinion they are MUCH better looking and closer to what I think of when I think "Elven". Download and will install during my next STEP installation. Along with CaBal's Book of Silence which should also be considered for STEP!

They may be great textures, but in my opinion they're ahead of their time (it may never been their time). The textures are done so good that they don't blend well with the rest of the textures in the game. They look out of place and break immersion. Great textures, wrong game.

I ran across this mod and thought it looked amazing and deserved a bump.

:facepalm: Thanks Farlo, got it. As for Enhanced Blood textures...a quote from the author's page: As for the guide, DDSopt has it's own guide on the wiki. You could probably gather all the info up and create one for OT.

Call me stupid for not finding it but a link?

I have personally either messaged or posted in the comments about texture optimizations for most texture mods in sections 2B and 2C. Currently, the following mods, either through documentation or personal message, have been found to be pre-optimized by the authors: HI-Res DLC OptimizedPond Fish Retexture (DOPR5)AOF Believable HairDeadly Spell Impacts (Isoku's mods)Golden Gods Shines (psychosteves)Skyrim Realistic Overhual(texture pack combiner(tpc)/Starac)High Quality LODs (tpc)Detailed Chests Texture Replacer (tpc)HiRes Legible Road Signs (tpc/SpartanVI's mod)Intricate Spider Webs (tpc/Isoku's mod)Realistic Smoke and Embers (tpc/Isoku's mod)Skyrim Floral Overhaul (tpc, vurt)Snow and Rocks HD (tpc)Visible Windows (tpc/Isoku's mod)Better Freckles is not optimized because the author had issues with compressed textures so this mod should not be optimized. Bellyaches Animal & Creature Pack will no longer be updated; however, the author has authorized it's editing as long as he's given credit. The same goes for HQ Skyrim Map. The author's replies (will update as the come in): Textures that will not be optimized by their authors: Realistic Hair (Ichibu)Project Parallax (all textures from tpc/ osmodius /claims they are but needs to be tested)Most these authors said they're either not currently modding, don't know anything about compression or are concerned with a loss in quality.

The link in section 2.B on page 20 for ENB Choices needs to be updated to point to the ENB Guide. We've combined that information. Once updated the ENB Choices page on the wiki will be safe to delete. Also under 3.A.4, the link to Auslogics should be updated to point to their page rather than the Cnet page. This would ensure the user is always downloading the latest version and provide some fault tolerance in the case Auslogics decides to ever stop using Cnet as their download provider.

Thanks for the update, it needs it. Â To be honest I'm not sure why they aren't part of the same page, me and Z were talking about that last night. Â If you're willing, go ahead and combine the two.Will do! It'll only take a couple minutes. We'll need to keep that page up though until the STEP PDF can be changed to point in the right place. Maybe update the proposed changes for v2.2.0b to point the link to the Guide instead of the Choices page. The link in in section 2B on page 20. I'll head over to that thread up post because there's one more link that should be updated. EDIT: In the spirit of a very good movie... "It is done." ENB Guide

I get what you're saying and here is the basic logic that runs in my head: The more modders that use STEP = the more modders STEP is sending to the authors page(s) = the more possible endorsements for those authors/mods If STEP encourages STEP users to endorse the authors on the wiki page that I suggested then that's an even greater potential for more endorsements because STEP would be provide yet another link to their page. However, if the authors don't care to clean and optimize their mods then no wiki listing = less endorsements = potential for us (with permission) to clean/optimize author's work and offer it to STEP users instead of the original which = potentially stolen endorsements. Quite frankly, I don't see why the author wouldn't do it. If I was a mod author I'd want to offer the very best product that I could and that would mean cleaning and optimizing my mods. It just seems like it should be part of mod authoring 101.

I updated the Choices page with new suggestions and instructions for ENBSeries, overhauled the formatting a bit to provide easier editing and increased uniformity across the wiki, and included the ENBSeries the author recommends on the baselines for the suggested ENBs. While editing the page I had a question come across my mind. Why isn't this page part of the ENB Guide? It would easily fit in as the second tab on the guide and would be putting all the information together.

I remember reading about it and if I recall the "not right now" was mainly because once given out the "stamp" would be hard to revoke because the author controls it from there on. The wiki page would be a solution to that. STEP would control which authors are on the list and would be able to revoke them from the list at any time. Asking the authors is the best solution for now I guess. *walking over to nexus to pester some authors*

Just remember that the author of SRO doesn't recommend any type of optimization on his textures. Why? ....that's a good question. As far as I know the optimization doesn't reduce quality. Maybe PM him if you're going to do an update for OP, Mothergoose, and ask.

Quick question: On the ENB Choices page, STEP is still recommending Enbseries 0.113. Most ENB's suggest using 0.119 and have versions out for it. Enbseries is up to 0.123 now. (TC's RCRN Plus is the only place I've seen thus far saying to use 0.123). Also, in my testing I notice a small FPS drop using 0.119 over 0.113; however, it was only 1-5 FPS. In all of my current ENB testing I used both 0.119 and 0.123 and noticed no issues using one over the other. My question, to those that know more about this than I, should we be recommending at least Enbseries 0.119 now? (both the ENBs on the page have 0.119 versions as their main files)

I agree that texture optimization is a huge plus simply for the performance boost in VRAM. Getting the texture sizes down is a great thing. In my opinion, though this may not be realistic, the best option is to contact the authors of the mods and have them optimize their own textures. Thus, the downloaded mods come pre-optimized. This eliminates the modder having to use any optimization tool and makes it easier for STEP. Handing out a banner (which would be had to revoke) or giving an honorable mention as a "Trusted Author" wiki page (obviously that wiki page wouldn't be editable by the public) would provide an incentive for the authors to take STEP suggestions for their mods such as cleaning and optimizing them. For those select authors that just don't care, STEP could get permission to provide an already cleaned and optimized mod as an alternative just like Farlo did with Dragon Glyphs HD -Fixed. That in my opinion, though maybe unfeasible, would be the best option. It doesn't hurt to ask the authors that are featured to pitch in.

out of the box, I much prefer SkyRealism in the first shot, but true Vision wins the rest (esp #2 and #4). Both need some very small tweaks to arrive to the same result (essentially). I have been extensively developing my own version of SkyRealism starting from the vanilla baseline and have a much better version now than all of the presets offered. I'll post my settings once I finalize. If you turn up [Environment] cloud intensity (or maybe it is under [sky], in which case, you will need to turn that on) in SkyRealism, then you will get better clouds for #2. Also, the sunrays need to go way down to 1.5x to fix #4. Increase very slightly your ambient, fog, volumetric and gradient "curve" values at night (and ambient for day) to get a bit more darkness in the background (works for interiors too). Yeah, these are out of the box without any tweaks (which you picked up on). I was planning on going with SkyRealism myself and will have to try your suggested tweaks. I haven't dived into tweaking ENBs yet but that will be my next journey. I really like the slightly more vibrant colors of True Vision, but I'm going for the most natural lighting so it's going to be SkyRealism for my personal use. Both these combinations will be added to the ENB Guide when I get around to editing it. Also included with be: Project ENB with CoTSkyRealism - Vanilla with RCRN - ClassicTrue Vision - Cinematic with RLwC - VisionSeasons of Skyrim was in the testing group but out of all of them it placed last because the out-of-the-box lighting during the day was unnaturally dark in all combinations so I'm omitting it.

*hides* What? Nothing, nothing Hey, when you've played through the game a couple of times lockpicking just becomes one of those things you don't want to spend time on! lol! Lockpicking makes me feel like this:  Lockpick Pro makes me feel like this: :pirate:

I can't decide which is better. One is more natural and one is more vibrant but still amazing. They are tied up in my comparisons so you guys help me break this tie up! SkyRealism - Cinematic with RCRN - Classic True Vision - Natural with RLwC - Vision To view all the images to compare go to my album here. The top set it SkyRealism and the bottom set is True Vision.

:P