Post Processing Comparisons (after a long night of coffee) by Nodus_Cursorius

[bpr5016]

Hey,

 

I was browsing reddit's r/skyrim page on my phone at work and came across some really great comparison screenshots that this one guy (Nordus_Cursorius) put together of 13 different Post-Process injectors. Not sure if any are applicable to the STEP guide currently in the works, and I think the v2.0.1a guide calls for "Realistic Lighting with Customization".

 

Anyway, hope this helps: https://www.reddit.com/r/skyrim/comments/rufwd/infopost_processing_comparisons_after_a_long/

[TheCompiler]

Oh my!

 

This is a HUGE work and it'll be linked in STEP!

 

You need to add another pp mod though, which i'll release soon, it's an addon for RCRN ;)

[venkman781]

This is a great source for evaluating the Post Processing effects. Nice find. I'd not stumbled across the Immersive Environment, but it's a strong contender for me. I've been using RCRN 2.1 Pure, which I found to be more authentic and challenging to adjust to at times.

[stoppingby4now]

Very interesting. The differences between RCRN and Immersive Environment are subtle in most cases. Of all the screenshots, those two win hands down for me.

[Bealdwine]

An excellent resource, but a great pity he couldn't add a performance element. Even if not relevant to your own specific PC kit the comparative results could have been useful. I have returned to using RLwC for performance reasons, although I'm wondering how Immersive Environment might match up with that.

[blacksol]

Agreed very good info and Immersive Environment looks pretty good (along with RCRN and RLWC). What is missing is a dungeon test, as while sunlight isn't relevant in there, being too dark is a pain!

[stoppingby4now]

I agree with Bealdwine, a performance aspect would be very useful. While I find RCRN and Immersive Environment to provide the best pictures, they do so with a performance cost. RLWC is still great for it's no performance hit, and I would currently rank it #3 in looks.

 

Also agree that indoor shots are needed to round out the comparison.

[bpr5016]

Awesome! Glad I could help out. You should check it out again, the OP on reddit updated the Post Processors used (and screenshot comparisons) to include "Realistic Lighting with Customization" and "Confidence-Man ENB". Looks like he's been getting some good feedback from the community there (including the author of RL Plutoman101). Keep up the good work!

[Bealdwine]

I have a holiday coming up so I'm wondering whether to contact the OP to see if he would be willing to share his test methodology/tools so I could run a set for med/low spec PC.

 

However there is that issue I had of not seeing significant FPS changes in-game during mod addition (due to CPU bottle-neck possibly?). But a reinstall with the minimal mod setup he used might allow for catching the small (but significant) variances to allow a comparrison.

[z929669]

Agreed. best test for something is 'something' + vanilla setup. Reduces noise. Cumulative testing is certainly valuable, but 'epistatic' effects are very difficult to pinpoint.

[z929669]

Looking at the latest on this (and this guy is pretty meticulous), I have to say that all around, with respect to every shot, closing my eyes and envisioning similar experiences in my own life, TV ENB is the most true to reality IMO. It really shines for interiors, daytime, twilight and night exteriors... absolutely gorgeous; however, it really suffers badly with respect to water. It just falls down in that category (so does 'A Realistic Hope, which I really like for its DOF effect and to some extent RL). Due to TV ENB dealing with water so badly in the presence of ambient light, I have to say that RCRN and Immersive Env are the best all around, but both are a bit excessive in the 'darkness' department, particularly with regard to interiors. Windows should glow a bit more at night, too (but both treat water very nicely).

 

I want to use TV ENB with a change to fix the water at dusk/dawn and I would want a good DOF filter as well. This all likely costs in performance though, which I am not worried about in terms of FPS. My guess is that I can customize RCRN to look the way I want it, no?

[stoppingby4now]

You should be able to fiddle with RCRN to get it to your liking. TC has said he's working on something for RCRN.

[jmad75]

That comparison work is really fantastic. Thank you so much!

[jmad75]

My experience gaming with RCRN is that the reflectivity of objects is too bright, even interior objects. Immersive Enviroment looks awesome from screenshots (as does RCRN) but others here say they are quite similar. So perhaps neither are for me. Right now, I'm looking to check out Stakado Realistic. I like the softer look of Stakado Cinema but some screenshots look too dark and even grainy! Was curious what feedback any had here regarding Stakado.

[frihyland]

Pretty much everything in the OP is outdated at this point, I'll look into putting together a very simple comparison of the current post processing giants.