RAID Weathers (by OlivierDoorenbos)

[DoubleYou]

The Dragonborn compares are definitely very good. Most likely the author tweaked those last, and by then had the most experience. I think there is great potential here. One thing that it looks like is he used more varied imagespaces than Cathedral. Cathedral tends to use the same imagespace for most weathers. Probably why it can be changed via MCM. Best would be customized to each weather. I really was happy to see the use of DOF in RAID. 

[Eliian]

On 2/8/2022 at 7:59 PM, Mousetick said:

Very nice comparison shots, thanks.

As an alternative to Luminosity and to provide darker interiors, I've been using Ambiance - A Vanilla(plus) Ambient Lighting Overhaul (by TheMilesO). It only modifies ambient lighting templates to make interiors a bit darker or much darker depending on the environment (e.g. cave vs. farmhouse vs. palace). It also tweaks interior fogs to make them less opaque and less bright. Everything else remains untouched and vanilla. There is an optional plugin which I'm using too, to make lights a little warmer than vanilla, but not as orange as Luminosity. This mod is rated well for stealth balance by RAID's MA (bottom of chart).

It works well in combination with Relighting Skyrim since they do different things, except when they don't. For instance, RLS removes some ambient lighting in the Thalmor HQ in Solitude, which makes it as dark as a cave with Ambiance.

There are some caveats though: the MA seems to be MIA and the mod is not maintained. So if updates are needed for AE CC content for example they won't be coming anytime soon. Also its user base is tiny, compared to more popular lighting mods (probably because it's not flashy enough). So there are no compatibility patches for new interiors added by CRF for instance or by other mods. It's easy enough to replicate the template changes in a custom patch by oneself if desired.

I have been using Ambiance as well. I am also using it due to the rating in RAID's chart for a DB/TG playthrough. It is much more subtle than Luminosity. I have always enjoyed Special Edition's interior lighting. Yes, even on its own. Ambiance gives great finishing touches that I am very happy with. 

In terms of weather mods Cathedral Weathers is very beautiful. The sacrifice is definitely there in terms of stealth, fog, less dark nights and often going beyond a vanilla + enhancement. Some weathers end up bluer than I would like for my idea of Skyrim. I agree that it looks more realistic. The main thing I miss the most with Cathedral are the less distant fogs that can creep up. 

 

  I often play characters that are very roleplay centric so something like RAID Weathers would not benefit me much for non-stealth characters. I often make my load orders based on my roleplaying ideas but that is too much for STEP for sure lol. 

[OlivierDoorenbos]

Just a heads up that the massive v2.0 update should hopefully be up within a week or so. 400+ hours went into it, it upgrades quite a lot.

I will also update the low saturation patch Z provided.

Thanks to Z for feedback/suggestions, and thanks to TechAngel for the comparison screenshots which were useful for checking how it looked on other setups than my own.

Edited July 20, 2022 by OlivierDoorenbos

[z929669]

2 hours ago, OlivierDoorenbos said:

Just a heads up that the massive v2.0 update should hopefully be up within a week or so. 400+ hours went into it, it upgrades quite a lot.

I will also update the low saturation patch Z provided.

Thanks to Z for feedback/suggestions, and thanks to TechAngel for the comparison screenshots which were useful for checking how it looked on other setups than my own.

I'll be sure to check it out. Thanks back!

[TechAngel85]

2 hours ago, OlivierDoorenbos said:

Just a heads up that the massive v2.0 update should hopefully be up within a week or so. 400+ hours went into it, it upgrades quite a lot.

I will also update the low saturation patch Z provided.

Thanks to Z for feedback/suggestions, and thanks to TechAngel for the comparison screenshots which were useful for checking how it looked on other setups than my own.

If I can find the time, I will update the shots once it's released. I'm still getting up my mod development environment set back up, atm.

[OlivierDoorenbos]

v2.0 is now live! I will also have  a new video on the mod page soon to demo the new heavy storms.

Many FormIDs have changed for the extra non-vanilla weathers, so any 3rd-party patches may need to be rebuilt.

[DoubleYou]

In case anyone doesn't know, OlivierDoorenbos has passed away. This update was one of the final things he did prior to his passing.

[z929669]

2 hours ago, DoubleYou said:

In case anyone doesn't know, OlivierDoorenbos has passed away. This update was one of the final things he did prior to his passing.

OMG ... that's horrific.

He was a meticulous and dedicated SSE MA.

[phpones]

With the passing of our beloved Olivier, will there still be an attempt to replace CW with RAID Weathers? Permissions are open in case STEP wants to take over it.

[z929669]

30 minutes ago, phpones said:

With the passing of our beloved Olivier, will there still be an attempt to replace CW with RAID Weathers? Permissions are open in case STEP wants to take over it.

We tested thoroughly and determined that the changes were not a good aesthetic fit for vanilla (and for Step because of that).

Weather is a beast, and I don't want to take that mod over anytime soon, but we'll definitely pick it up under our umbrella if anyone gets the urge.

I was recently interested in checking out this weather mod:

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/32364

[Mousetick]

10 hours ago, z929669 said:

We tested thoroughly and determined that the changes were not a good aesthetic fit for vanilla (and for Step because of that).

Did you have a chance to look at version 2.0 and what was your verdict? This topic went dead (no pun intended) after it was released.

I think it addresses many of the faults that were brought up about version 1.0, and it's pretty good with the desaturated variant.

[DoubleYou]

This is true. We never tested the new version. 

[TechAngel85]

13 hours ago, Mousetick said:

Did you have a chance to look at version 2.0 and what was your verdict? This topic went dead (no pun intended) after it was released.

I think it addresses many of the faults that were brought up about version 1.0, and it's pretty good with the desaturated variant.

I agree it needs another look since the update, which specifically addressed many of the things we found from the weather compares we provided on the wiki. I may take some time to post new shots with the updated RAID...depends how I'm feeling on my days off.

[TechAngel85]

Just confirming that my compares are from April 3rd and the update was uploaded on July 25th; therefore, what's on the wiki is the older version of the mod.

[Mousetick]

I've been using version 2.0 desaturated since it was released. I think it's much improved and better balanced overall in terms of brightness/contrast/saturation/tinting.

I tweaked its image spaces a little by removing all bloom and eye adaptation because I can't stand any of it. They were already set very low to begin with and the MA said they were necessary to achieve the desired results. I took them out nevertheless

There is only one thing that still bothers me. During heavy overcast/rainy/stormy weathers, the ambient lighting is lowered too much so that it becomes pretty dark to the point where NPCs take out their torches. It feels very strange and not realistic at all. When it happens in the middle of the day it's completely immersion-breaking.