z929669

Ethatron basically said that this is a tradeoff for correcting certain other issues with Pre5b. We will need to note these custom textures (that incidentally don't obey the unsaid "rules" I think), and list them in the INI. Ethatron said it is all about looking at the alpha channel.There seem to be enough of these problems in the gradients directory that an alternate approach would be to suggest overwriting the contents of the effects/gradients directory in the DDSopt output with either the equivalent files from the gradients directory in the vanilla textures (similar to what is done for the .png files in the books directory as described in the DDSopt guide) or, for more adventuresome users, equivalent files from just the gradients directory in an optimization using pre5b (the latter is the approach I'm using). I don't want to lose the many DDSopt improvements that are present in DDSopt prelease update 3 (vs. v080pre5b), and this seems like a useful way to do so at least for now especially since there are code tradeoffs involved.The most efficient way to handle it would be to place the list in the INI (even for long lists). This way they all get processed, but according to the special instructions associated with the INI exceptions. Now if there are specific settings that could be selected using the GUI config that correspond to the INI categories (it seems like there are, but I don't know the exact mapping), then using the filter and parsing into separate runs would work well. INI sounds best though, as this requires no special instructions. Just the per-assembled INI.

Ethatron basically said that this is a tradeoff for correcting certain other issues with Pre5b. We will need to note these custom textures (that incidentally don't obey the unsaid "rules" I think), and list them in the INI. Ethatron said it is all about looking at the alpha channel.

Well, I dare say that all men rather enjoy nude females (of particular qualities), but so would some females in the inverse (see Slof Fe). Either way, I think such mods are fine for me if they address males, females and children in the same way and shoot for realism. Humans are animals after all, and when you remove their clothing, many will be nude (my guess is that underwear is a benefit held by the wealthy in Tamriel) IMO, it is even OK that the more crude versions exist, I just don't see the point. The OP video is pure drivel IMO ... nothing at all funny about it (no offense though) Basically, we are using the prequel to such "sexist mods" by including mods that address female face textures but not male.

Yep ... I assume that these could be dissipation maps, as they are named this way. Did you check all of the color textures of just those named *diss.dds ? Actually, what we can do is add a wiki page for the DDSopt.ini wrapped in elements and use that as a log for all of the INI additions that are needed based on our findings. This should be another sub-page of the DDSopt Guide [ wiki.step-project.com/Guide:DDSopt & Texture Overhauls/INI ]

Yes, there are a couple of other ones that need to be added to the ini ... most likely under [AlphaCustom], but not sure.

These are lighting source modifications, not shadow fixes necessarily ... although that could benefit. Vanilla gets a lot wrong, and all of these "fix" mods do some things very well, but they all make some undesirable changes too. I think that we need to wait for these to evolve to the next level before pursuing, hence the testing should apply to the next release (i.e., plenty of time)

Wow... I am not impressed by any of these. They all get the lighting direction wrong in one way or another ... For ex. A fire pit only casts light up and out ... it would NOT produce a shadow on the ground

ELFX completely messes up the Riverwood Trader ... waaay too bright, and a fire is a relatively dim light source with a lot of yellow/red light in it. Not sure what it is doing at Dragonsreach either ... is there a skylight up in the ceiling there?

ELFX is by far the best in the first scene; however, ELFX fails miserably in the second. Are you sure about the order on the second scene? ELFX on that one looks like fake source lighting and the other two do much better with depicting shadows and effects of existing ligting (first image of scene 2 looks like fake vanilla light sources).

You simply need to link directly to the image not the page (right click the image at the destination and copy/paste that link). Now, I assume that these are images relating to lighting, but could we have some labels?

STEP continues to assist Skyrim enthusiasts in enhancing the vanilla experience. However, STEP has not consistently addressed a lighting/weather solution to top off all of its existing visual enhancements. The reason being that lighting and post processing both can have dramatic impacts on each other, and there are many solutions for each with a near infinite array of possibilities. Couple this with the subjectivity of lighting and PP, and it gets pretty difficult to decide upon a single Baseline STEP solution. We have an admin discussion about an official STEP lighting solution and if we should break down and support a default lighting solution to round out the STEP experience. My answer is "yes", and I think most others feel the same way. The trick is to decide on which is the best Baseline solution. To make the task of deciding more efficient, we are bringing the conversation here, in the public forum, to help arrive at a solution. The task is greatly simplified by the STEP Mandate (enhance the aesthetics of vanilla Skyrim). Thus, all of the more "creative" lighting solutions are non-starters. The goal then is to use the simplest and most efficient solution that does not change the sort of fantastical vanilla lighting style, but rather enhances this experience and corrects any of the more obvious issues with vanilla lighting and shadows. Here are the rules: No ENB shall be part of the Baseline lighting solution for STEPVanilla light levels should be fairly well approximated (i.e., no darker dungeons/nights)Vanilla style should be preserved as much as possibleVanilla lighting inaccuracies and inconsistencies should be 'fixed'Performance impact should be minimalThe main contenders are ... No lighting adjustments (the present state)RLOEL&FXRelighting SkyrimClimates of Tamriel... awaiting community feedback .... General discussion around this one topic for next release. See the stickied threads at top of Mod Suggestions Forum for details

We are already using Nexus' smilies (just a subset).

Among the lighting "Fix" mods that we want to evaluate for STEP. Please let us know about what it covers and how it works! Mod Page

Discussion thread: Relighting Skyrim by NovakDalton and --JawZ-- Wiki Link Among the lighting "Fix" mods that we want to evaluate for STEP. Please let us know about what it covers and how it works! Mod Page

Among the lighting "Fix" mods that we want to evaluate for STEP. Please let us know about what it covers and how it works! Mod Page

Among the lighting "Fix" mods that we want to evaluate for STEP. Please let us know about what it covers and how it works! Mod Page

You should see all the Admin-only threads we have piled up in the back room :DSo it was retribution! You moved the 2.2.1 thread to somewhere I couldn't get in to! It's a conspiracy!!!! :@All fixed now ... my bad ... again

You should see all the Admin-only threads we have piled up in the back room :D That's pretty interesting, we're currently using TSOHost if I'm not mistaken. I assume falling outside of "normal" would be if you were using the site as a file server or something like that. Those prices aren't bad and the 100% wind energy thing is a nice bonus I can think about while driving to work :P Z's the one paying the bills and Stopping would have a lot more knowledge on all that, so I defer to them.Our hosting is fine for the time being. We will eventually release information about this and if/when it changes. Just have not gotten there yet.

Truly humbled, thanks to you for getting me started in Skyrim modding with the original STEP! I have literally learned the CK, TES5Edit, and virtually every tool stemming from that one act of reading and this site. One day soon! v2.2.1 will be fairly bare-bones but with all the awesome work Neovalen's done we just need to implement some Semantic stuff to catalog all the beautiful customization and then we can merge them.:D Again, humbled. To all: Guide has been sufficiently stylized I believe with CSS. Let me know what you think! The guide looks fantastic. We will definitely be using this info in smart ways to be sure.

Looks fantastic. I am grabbing it now for testing in the latest STEP release. EDIT: Posted the latest images on the wiki of SFO (175) with Diverse Trees 11a accompanied by a full STEP install (as it now stands). This excludes Lush Grass, Lush Trees and Glorious Grasses so that we keep whatever Vurt changes. Previous screens do not use these grass enhancements either, so it looks like the 175 grass settings in the plugin have been altered? Any way we can get more grass in there?\\But also notice that the new tree meshes fro DT really add a nice contrast, and Lush Trees is obsolete with this add-on, I think.

I think that all three with Dice Games in Taverns are a nice add to the game. Particularly if there is temporal variation, such that certain nights are busy, but days are less so. The community tavern would certainly be a place of gathering (besides churches) and could attract many from within the region on some nights, even in small villages.

BUM is only necessary if customizing BOSS or handling a plugin that BOSS does not recognize. You will need neither if you avoid installing any mods containing anything other than textures and meshes.

.... and that patches and other things are not compatible with his older version of Skyrim. An updated Skyrim is going to be key, and thus updated mods as well. This is true ... so one simply keeps the texture-only mods (and perhaps a few others). This would constitute more than half of the mods and most all of the textures. In fact, this is the best advice for anyone using a defunct version of the Guide.

The new version takes care of a lot of other worse things at the expense of some of the misbehaving textures. We simp0ly need to report them to Ethatron to be added to the INI exclusions. Looks like Wet & Cold may well be OK, but it sounds like a clean save may be required if upgrading that one.