Skyrim is Luminous

[ButchDiavolo]

Discussion topic:
Skyrim is Luminous by DrJacopo
Wiki Link

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"Skyrim is Luminous is a comprehensive lighting mod that preserves the developers' vision while illuminating many of the fires and candles that previously didn’t emit light."

An update and upgrade of Luminosity.

[ButchDiavolo]

I have been test-playing with this for a few days now and I must say it is quite amazing. I was never a fan of Ambience or Lux "1000 patches needed". So I stuck with Luminosity.

So far SiL is patch-less for me (apart from the two mentioned below). And I was able to remove a few mods and still get amazing results.

The mods I removed:

• Luminosity
• Enhanced Lighting and Effects
• ELFX Fixes
• ELFX Exteriors
• Embers XD

The mods I added:

• Skyrim is Luminous (sombre version)
• Windows RT + Windows RT updated
• SiL + Windows Shadows Combo Patch
• Enhanced Dynamic Lighting

The ELFX series is incompatible with SiL, since they both add light sources.

I have experienced no FPS hits, no flickering, no hyper lights, no pitch-black shadows. And the overall ambience is soft and warm, as lighting with files and candles would do.

[z929669]

I think it's a bulb alternative that seems similar to what Relighting Skyrim is doing. Ambiance and Luminosity should not conflict. I'd want to know what the MA is using for lighting colors.

If you aren't' already, you may want to experiment with Azurite Weathers and Seasons, since I presume the MA uses that.

[ButchDiavolo]

2 hours ago, z929669 said:

I think it's a bulb alternative that seems similar to what Relighting Skyrim is doing. Ambiance and Luminosity should not conflict. I'd want to know what the MA is using for lighting colors.

If you aren't' already, you may want to experiment with Azurite Weathers and Seasons, since I presume the MA uses that.

Oh right, I forgot about Relighting Skyrim. I removed that as well.

Ambience and SiL indeed don't conflict, but as I said I was never a fan of Ambience. Enhanced Dynamic Lighting is made specifically with SiL in mind and does basically the same job.

As far as lighting colours go, they are marginally warmer than vanilla Skyrim and a bit more tempered than Luminosity. In my personal opinion (aka high biased on personal preference), so far it is an almost perfect blend between lighting and shadowing. It also comes in 4 flavours: default, sombre, menacing and nightmare, each version being having a sharper/ darker blend between light and shadows.

For ENB I tried Azurite, but that was WAY too bright for my liking. I am now trying a slightly modified NAT. ENB III. It is still quite bright, but more balanced than Azurite.

I will try to take some images in game to show the lighting with SiL and the other lighting mods. I ain't no artist though.

[ButchDiavolo]

Well, here are some images. I hope I uploaded them correctly.

They are not art works (obviously), but they show the effect of the new mods. They were taken on a clear sunny day and a night with 2 full moons, so rather bright. When I get other weather conditions, I will take more pics if needed.

[z929669]

It might be worth a look at some point for sure.

Regarding Azurite, do you find it too bright without ENB? I ask because ENB must be tailored to the weathers specifically, so it may be that your ENB just isn't right for Azurite. Does Dr J recommend an ENB for it?

I'd be interested in checking out his lighting, color, and weather mods together to see where it goes ... but not for a while!

[Greg]

You have piqued my interest as well and I certainly see why you are so fond of this one. If I can ever find the time to get back into Skyrim, I want to experiment with this one as well.

[ButchDiavolo]

6 hours ago, z929669 said:

It might be worth a look at some point for sure.

Regarding Azurite, do you find it too bright without ENB? I ask because ENB must be tailored to the weathers specifically, so it may be that your ENB just isn't right for Azurite. Does Dr J recommend an ENB for it?

I'd be interested in checking out his lighting, color, and weather mods together to see where it goes ... but not for a while!

I thought Azurite was and ENB/ Weather mod combined... silly me. I guess, since it isn't, that I was using Step Heavy ENB. And  it was just way too bright for my liking, as I said. I am much happier with NAT.ENBIII after I made some adjustments to skin specular (there are enough plastic people in RL to have them in Skyrim as well).

DrJacopo recommends Azurite Horizons ENB with Azurite. From the images, it still looks to bright for me. Besides that requires a lot of other mods, which require other mods. So nah. I am happy with what I have now.

[TechAngel85]

This mod would directly conflict with RS, as it's doing some of the same things. Using our current setup, this is basically if RS and Ambient were merged. This one has it's own design direction in regards to light placement and colors/temperatures used for the overall lighting design. Our current one is more vanilla-like, thus, cooler colors. This mod seems to be a bit on the warmer scale vs vanilla, but that will be from the Luminosity integration.

From the changelog from when we dropped Luminosity:

Quote

 

Luminosity was replaced with Ambiance to return Step to a more vanilla-compliant lighting overhaul that no longer breaks sneaking to the extent that was evident under Luminosity. This will be most evident in interiors but will also help to lesser effect in exteriors. The result of this change is a look/feel that more closely resembles vanilla, making it a better fit our Mandates. Combined with the rest of the lighting mods this achieves corrected lighting placements, more evident (and accurate) shadows, and a return to a more vanilla-like experience.

Step alters Ambience with custom tweaks that slightly desaturate and warm the default lighting color, which will hopefully be appealing to those who like Luminosity. This may be a controversial change, since some people love Luminosity. We apologize for using that mod in the first place, but it was the best solution available until Ambiance came along ... 2 years ago ... oops, we missed that one!

 

 

Regarding Azurite, which is a bit off topic, I remember when Johnny was developing it. It was meant to balance the lighting further from what he did for Cathedral Weathers. There are some interconnections with the weather settings that are very odd that CW tries to balance; however, Azurite was built with this knowledge at the forefront. The overall design leans towards fantasy vs realism. The name "azurite", is not a coincidence. The color tone of Azurite matches that of the mineral and sometimes leans into purple at times. Much of it's development was completed with input from the Catherdal discord community. I would argue that our current setup is more vanilla-accurate, even though Azurite is a beautiful setup.