Official STEP Lighting Solution

[Thc002]

I just wish the developers at Beth had not used as many torches as they did. RLO is really a bit too orange right now, for my taste. Does anyone know if there is some semi-easy workaround via reducing saturation (maybe via drivers or post-processing, or even ENB)?

I love RLO and COT, but that orange all over is hardly bearable.

[MontyMM]

It's worth having a look at the screenshots and changelog for the upcoming version of RLO (stickied in their comments section).  They've acknowledged and addressed the orange/redness issue, improved ambient lighting, and increased overall brightness.  I think it's looking much more promising.

[toshaka]

Yes it is alot better in the next version.

Also RLO in combination with CoT made it a bit worse, but that should be less with 4.0.7.

And should be ok when CoT 3 comes out.

[Aiyen]

So RLO 4.0.7 finally out, going to test it out tonight and report back my initial impressions. Have high hopes for the adaptive interior setting for vanilla weather since that was the main point of criticism in the last version.

I am not going to do screenshots, since I have to adapt my ENB settings for RLO now that I have run with relighing skyrim for the past few weeks, so want to make sure that is done first.

 

Update: Okay so spent a good part of the evening with godmode on running about the world and various dungeons etc to see what they had to offer.

And initially I am very impressed, it is so much better then the previous version almost all around! The ambient lighting from outside is splendid and nicely done in the various places I have been in. Dungeons really do deserve special mention... I only had time to try a few small ones, and then bleak fall barrows, but they where all a lot better then previously!

 

There are still a few "bugs" and areas where I think they should either add a light to make the area brighter or increase the intensity of the sources already present.

There are also areas where the opposite is the case! Then you have a tiny candle that has more brightness then a chandelier.

But overall there are many more good things then bad.. and most of the bad are mainly because they are just trying to be realistic...

 

Today I have tried it without CoT 2.1 and tomorrow I am going to try it with it just to see how bad the ambient lighting actually is! Since an ENB allows for manipulation of the day night cycle then it might not be totally bad, or perhaps there is no other choice then wait for 3.0.

[Aiyen]

Okay have played around with CoT 2.1 on as well now for a few days... and yes there are some minor problems with the adaptive interior setting when it is heavy rain etc. But in all honesty then the problem is fairly minor and limited to a few weathers where I think it is really noticeable... but most of the time after you played for a long time you do not even notice it if you are focusing on a quest etc.

All in all great job from the RLO team and warm recommendations from here... Of course Relighting Skyrim still gets dragonborn for the next few months it seems since it is the only lighting mod that touches that so far.

[Whitestar127]

@JawZ

Thanks for posting about the weather. I traced back to a WIP thread, and the clouds are truly amazing. The discussion on choosing a name was back July of last year, so hoping he's still working on it.

Kicking to life an old thread here. :)

 

HLVR started a new WIP thread in September: 

https://forums.bethsoft.com/topic/1473073-wip-thread-3-skyreal-weather-and-lighting/

It's called Skyreal and looks reeeeally good. :)

 

I'm using this mod now: 

https://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/977895-realistic-lighting-overhaul-weathers-wip/

It looks good I think, but in clear weather there is a lot of z-fighting going on, since there is no fog around distant mountains. The nights are REALLY good looking. A bit darker than vanilla, but beautiful lighting.

 

I'm also using ELFX. Like others here say it's beautiful, but there are several flickering issues. In Breezehome for example, after fully upgrading the house, depending on which way you look, the lighting effect seems to be turned completely on and off. I'll make a screenshot when I get home. Mind you, this was with the "enchanting table for Breezehome" mod installed (that's not the exact name).

[Aiyen]

if you install any mods altering player homes you should use the no homes elfx option. This is because they most likely carry over vanilla lighting placements that can result in more lights and hence flickering.

[Whitestar127]

Right, found the option in the description now. Should have read it more carefully. It's called "NoBreezehome".

Thanks :)

[JudgmentJay]

HLVR started a new WIP thread in September: 

https://forums.bethsoft.com/topic/1473073-wip-thread-3-skyreal-weather-and-lighting/

It's called Skyreal and looks reeeeally good. :)

 

Man, that does look amazing. Seems like a slooooow WIP though.

[z929669]

Actually, that mod appears to be 6 months in development.

[Whitestar127]

He's taking his time and listening to inputs/opinions from others, which is a good thing. :)

 

Btw, you may have seen this already but here is Gopher's take on RLO, ELFX and a new interesting mod called Immersive interiors:

Very nice video.

 

The modding community in general seems to be completely split down the middle. Here are the stats as of october 15, 2013:

ELFX: 10,580 endorsements - 496,197 unique downloads

RLO: 10,488 endorsements - 392,790 unique downloads

That's statistically very interesting I would say. :)

 

I'd say this shows that lighting is very much a matter of personal taste and that none of these should probably be a part of STEP Core, but listed as lighting options with install instructions included. Besides, many will probably be using two or more of them in combination. I myself use ELFX indoors and in dungeons and RLO - Weathers outside. I will probably (hopefully) switch to Skyreal outside when that is released.

[z929669]

I personally advocate Relighting Skyrim still, and impatiently await even one 'complete' overhaul to lighting.

[phazer11]

Well if you think about it ELFX has been out for a lot less time than RLO, I would have expected RLO's stats to be slightly higher.

[z929669]

Well if you think about it ELFX has been out for a lot less time than RLO' date=' I would have expected RLO's stats to be slightly higher.[/quote']

RLO came out after ELFX. Before that, it was a different mod (RLwC)

[phazer11]

Guess I must be thinking of when he released v2 because at that time he only had 900-1000 endorsements, ah well.