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@kryptopyr I am seeing some inconsistencies in WB regarding the masters for this one. Is the BOSS sort order correct? What about plugin changes? Sorry, I am not a TES5Edit guru yet and lack the time to troubleshoot right now. This could also be a bug in WB.

Multiple votes are allowed. @ phazer Of course we will wait for you ;) I don't mind keeping these kinds of polls open indefinitely though. No sense in not tracking the vote continuously (unless there is a change to one of the mod entries, then it needs to be reset).

Thanks for the updates alt3rn1ty. We will definitely be using this formally in the upcoming Performance option for STEP:Core.

For dds files I used 2k sizes, for normal maps 1k. Strangely before two weeks ddsopted the whole folder of Texture Pack Combiner v1.94b, using 2k for ordinary textures and 1k for normal maps/uncompressed normals settings only/ and everything looks ok. As long as you use the INI on the wiki, it should work pretty well. Let us know if you find any anomalies.

I have a slightly different perspective, especially for objects that are inorganic. For inorganic objects I think the color should be related to the real world as well as our understanding of TES lore since physics has a large role in determining color. I also agree it is good to compare shapes, colors, etc. to previous TES games as they help to establish precedent. At the same time I don't feel we should consider the digital artists from previous TES games to be necessarily "correct" when comparing with objects in Skyrim. There are even still arguments between those who far prefer many aspects of Morrowind and those liked Oblivion, including color. After the comment on dwemer metal I looked at some of the texture files in Morrowind for dwemer armor and weapons, and I found some of the vanilla textures (admittedly without looking at these in game) had a lot more intense colors than those in comparable objects in Skyrim. STEP users might not be very happy with these Morrowind objects. That being said, I agree with the comment about preferring a non-gold tint such as more red-brown. I've always considered the dwemer metal objects to have some copper in the alloys, and red-brown is a lot closer to what I'd expect for old versions of these than gold. Yep, I am a die-hard Morrowind fan. I really liked the artistic expression of those artists (I wonder how many of them remained through Skyrim?). As I recall, those Dwemer textures had a bit more of a brass/copper tone to them. As I said, this is a precedent that I could see using as an excuse for Core; however, it is probably best for STEP:Extended.

They were from this post. Feel free to update and I will deposit into the OP ;)

I updated the poll up front to ask people to take a look at these textures as a potential addition for STEP:Core. I think that we could post a second poll for STEP:Extended, but we shouldn't worry too much about that right now, since we are not focusing on that piece as yet ... let me see if two polls can be posted. EDIT: nope, only one poll at a time. No matter, these compares we do in MT will apply for Packs going forward, so admins feel free to summarize any notes you have in the OP of testing threads for later reference. Thanks to all for contributing and to CaBal for supplying his work for our shameless critique ... no offense intended if any was taken.

This thread was going way off topic. I moved the relevant distraction to a more appropriate location. Great compares Tech ... thank you! ... let's please put this one to bed and either convince us all that this mod is a significant improvement over vanilla under the premise of the new mandate ... or not. If not, then this thread will likely find its way into the Anthology anyway, sooner or later.

Yes, Vanilla = HRDLC! We all know that vanilla (console ed) needs improvement

You should make a documentary about the life of a Skyrim modding geek next :P I don't have any locations memorized. I just use my old saves (many are posted on the MT forum).

BOSS ML says this one "Requires" SkyUI, which is not explicitly true, especially if installing only for the fixes, as we recommend for STEP (@WI, would you mind adding this tweak?).

@Michaelrw Could you throw up screens for vanilla and BoS using the analogs in your post? It would be good to have those for reference, since anything that we use will need to be better than the HRDLC in terms of appearance but comparable in terms of style. TIA

I agree with you there. I personally do not think that this mod qualifies for STEP:Core; therefore, it can only qualify for a STEP:Pack. If people like it better than the other options, then we will have that data. STEP:Core has rather strict guidelines, but Packs do not. See the New Mandate. The next iteration of STEP will bring the concept of Packs, whereby anybody can author a rendition of STEP all their own (including you). Each Pack will use STEP:Core as a base and build upon that (hence, STEP:Core must remain extensible and true to vanilla). Any mod that is not problematic in terms of game corruption, etc is eligible. We will not be ready to implement this until we release v2.3.0, which is on hold pending our next server move (which should happen very soon). After that, we will need to implement the site infrastructure to allow Pack authors to create their modded recipes as an extension of STEP:Core (i.e., guides all their own). Think of this site as a proof-of-concept workshop for building comprehensive, modular mod recipes. As of now, mods are only being tested for STEP:Core and STEP:Extended as well as for Skyrim Revisited (the latter two are really our first official STEP Packs). Nothing can be tested fairly for STEP:Core or STEP:Extended without a vanilla compare for reference (Neovalen is the Skyrim Revisited author, so he will dictate procedure for that). That is why any vote we find without a vanilla compare will need to be reset to include all contenders, including vanilla (at least until we establish an infrastructure for Packs and Pack authors to work under minimal constraint).

Before creating polls, the OP needs to house the compare images ....

I prefer the more red-brown tint to dwemer metal ... the original is too much like gold. Curious to know how close these colors are to Morrowind and Oblivion Dwemer versus Skyrim. That would be sufficient-enough a precedent for me to vote to adopt for STEP.

We added the vanilla option, and voters for aMB were all showing under BoS under details; although the % results were still accurate. I think aMB will still win out in votes, but expect more vanilla votes this time around. If you have updated your mod recently, we should probably get some new screens. I actually like this mod, but I have to say that it is a bit of a stretch from vanilla. We will definitely be considering it for an official Pack though.

Strange that it only affects the aMB image set ... is it related to weather?

What is with all of the water drips in the aMB versions? Is this Wet & Cold or some other mod? It really affects the compare.

Deleted the poll, as it was not displaying results properly. I will reset once we have all vanilla images incorporated into the OP. Sorry for the inconvenience, but we all get to vote again!

I'll increase the limit to 20 for this forum if possible (otherwise the global limit). EDIT: Actually, I removed the limit for now.

The author is doing long-term maintenance on this one. We are removing from STEP indefinitely.

We need to contact the author Looks like this is available on Tes Alliance (which has a ridiculously difficult reg process, but it is doable). I have messaged the author on that forum and will get back when I have a response.

This still needs fair vanilla representation in the OP. If I had the saves, I would do it myself ...

OK, just making sure I am not missing something. Mod page updated.