Mountains and shadows nearer the player are darker than the ones in the LOD

[guitarjoe 0]

Hello Step users!

 

I recently installed Skyrim SE on a new PC for the first time and decided to use the STEP guide to get a good mod base.  I *think* I followed the guide pretty much correctly but I'm am getting an issue where the near environment (particular mountains and snow) seem really dark/grayish compared to the LODs.  It is really jarring when moving through the world and seeing the mountains transition from LOD to full detail. 

 

Screen shots are here near Bleak falls barrow: https://postimg.cc/gallery/JjVkky5

 

I suspect something related to Majestic mountains, better dynamic snow, or cathedral landscapes is the problem, but I'm not sure :(

 

Any help or suggestions?

[z929669 0]

Yes, the issue is probably with CL and DynDOLOD ... did you run DynDOLOD? If so, be sure that you have the proper mods enabled in MO when running that and then disabled when finished. Revisit detailed instructions for those mods and the DynDOLOD instructions. You are only worried about terrain LOD regen, I believe. You should not need to re-run object LOD or occlusion ... but be sure that you note each of the details in your review. It's almost certainly a very small error. If you are lucky, you just need to enable/disable one of these mods in MO.

 

This is assuming that you don't have anything custom at this point. That could throw a wrench into everything I must mentioned.

 

If nothing above fixes, you could have a driver settings issue or a Skyrim(Prefs).ini setting wrong, in which case, you should get that all sorted in vanilla first and then check those portions of the guide. MO should make it simple to do this without any extra work.

[DoubleYou 10]

Humor me and ensure that the following is set in SkyrimPrefs.ini. Remember that if you use Mod Organizer, you have to use it's INI files.

[Display]
bEnableProjecteUVDiffuseNormals=1

[guitarjoe 0]

Thanks for the help!!  Hoping I can get this working nicely :)

 

Yes, the issue is probably with CL and DynDOLOD ... did you run DynDOLOD? If so, be sure that you have the proper mods enabled in MO when running that and then disabled when finished. Revisit detailed instructions for those mods and the DynDOLOD instructions. You are only worried about terrain LOD regen, I believe. You should not need to re-run object LOD or occlusion ... but be sure that you note each of the details in your review. It's almost certainly a very small error. If you are lucky, you just need to enable/disable one of these mods in MO.

 

This is assuming that you don't have anything custom at this point. That could throw a wrench into everything I must mentioned.

 

If nothing above fixes, you could have a driver settings issue or a Skyrim(Prefs).ini setting wrong, in which case, you should get that all sorted in vanilla first and then check those portions of the guide. MO should make it simple to do this without any extra work.

Nothing custom yet.  I used DynDOLOD, but I'll go through back through that section of the guide and re-run things to see what happens.

 

I actually think the brightness on the LODs is correct, because everything appears normal and at similar brightness levels to what I was seeing on the LODs if I launch the game under a "vanilla Skyrim SE" profile in Mod organizer.  I think it is the parts of the environment that is actually loaded-in that is way too dark.  The snow looks more like ash and is way darker than the snow effect being applied to the nord ruins at bleak falls barrow(in 3rd image).  Maybe the weather/lighting mods are the problem?

 

 

Humor me and ensure that the following is set in SkyrimPrefs.ini. Remember that if you use Mod Organizer, you have to use it's INI files.

[Display]
bEnableProjecteUVDiffuseNormals=1

Yep that is set to 1 in the skyrim prefs.

[guitarjoe 0]

Just for reference:  You can see just how dramatic the difference is on snow between some objects and others really well in these images.  Some of the rocks/structures have super bright white snow, others very gray and dark. Atleast some of them are bright whether in distant LOD or not. https://postimg.cc/gallery/2ykLbrD

[z929669 0]

Like I mentioned, be sure to disable resource mods that should only be enabled during LOD gen. The really bright stuff looks like ice/glaciers, which uses that material shader I think. This could also be an option you used when installing Cathedral Landscapes or Majestic Mountains. I would revisit those ... agree that your LOD looks ok.

[guitarjoe 0]

I think I have found the culprit!  I was using the latest version of better dynamic snow.  Overwrote it with BDSv2.11 and things seem to be behaving much better, at least for now.  I'll test a little more and see if that did the trick.

 

Thanks for all the help and suggestions so far!!!

[z929669 0]

I didn't even think of that ... did you use the suggested settings for 3.x in the guide? If so, can you try that version with alternate settings to let us know what works?

[TechAngel85 14]

For v3 of BDS, use the "Brighter Material" option and don't install BDS's projected diffuse. Allow MM's plugin to load after BDS (LOOT should do this automatically).