Skyrim LE Shadow Optimization

[DoubleYou]

Most of my Z-fighting is fixed simply by changing fSplitDistanceMult=4.0000 from the preset, which had 1.1000. My shadows settings are these at the moment, until I really have a chance to study and optimize them:

 

 

fInteriorShadowDistance=4000.0000

fShadowDistance=4000.0000

fShadowLODStartFade=200.0000

fShadowBiasScale=1.0000

iBlurDeferredShadowMask=3

iShadowMapResolution=2048

iShadowFilter=3

iShadowMode=3

iShadowMaskQuarter=4

bTreesReceiveShadows=1

bDrawLandShadows=0

bShadowMaskZPrepass=0

bShadowsOnGrass=0

bDeferredShadows=1

 

 

[Spock]

I think the most important thing for users without ENB is to know about the lod switch bug (depending on shadow distance) and for ENB users what not to change (many of the settings in vanilla guides).

Edited May 31, 2014 by Spock

[hellanios]

I believe this section should be divided the way spock recommends. shadow optimization for enb and non-enb.

Edited October 11, 2014 by hellanios

[AyleidRuin]

Hellanios makes a good point.  Shadows b4 my ENB setup were fine. 

But after I installed ENB SkyRealism I had to change A lot of my variables to what it is now.

 

@DoubleYou Saw you had Land and Grass shadows turned off.  Is that because of that ugly render line I tried to explain in my previous post?  I saw you aren't done tweaking them.  jw

Edited June 1, 2014 by AyleidRuin

[DoubleYou]

I don't get the ugly render line anymore, but I doubt that has to do with turning land and grass shadows off. I turned those off to try to get better fps, and I didn't like the land shadows somewhere if I remember correctly.

[AyleidRuin]

ah, I was totally off :) I thought you could get rid of that line easy by turning off the Land Shadows.  Not that I tried :D  I still like your tweak.  Didn't read that before.  I don't have any Z-Fighting right now.
 
But I Do want to lower my fNearDistance below 19 because that clipping (seeing through walls while standing beside them/any surface close to player) Breaks Immersion.  So I'm going to try out:
fNearDistance=15(Default?)  and your tweak  fSplitDistanceMult=4.0000 and see how I make out. 
 
UPDATE: Thank you DoubleYou.  skyrim.ini [Terrain Manager] fSplitDistanceMult=4.0000 is the better tweak. 
I changed my fNear back to default.  I don't have that ground Shadow line and No Z-Fighting.  lol though who knows if it will stay that way :P

[Spock]

Most of my Z-fighting is fixed simply by changing fSplitDistanceMult=4.0000 from the preset, which had 1.1000. My shadows settings are these at the moment, until I really have a chance to study and optimize them:

fInteriorShadowDistance=4000.0000fShadowDistance=4000.0000fShadowLODStartFade=200.0000fShadowBiasScale=1.0000iBlurDeferredShadowMask=3iShadowMapResolution=2048iShadowMapResolutionPrimary=2048iShadowMapResolutionSecondary=2048iShadowSplitCount=2iShadowFilter=3iShadowMode=3iShadowMaskQuarter=4bTreesReceiveShadows=1bDrawLandShadows=0bShadowMaskZPrepass=1bShadowsOnGrass=0bDeferredShadows=1bDrawShadows=1

 

It seems like you pushed the shadow distance beyond the lod bug. Post #5 might help you optimize your settings.

[Kuldebar]

I generally keep fShadowDistance set between 3500 to 4000. Since I rely on whatever ENB I'm using to take care of things via the detailed shadows setting. If I attempt to go any lower than 4000 on this ini setting, I start to see a noticeable shadow cone move around my character when going about the game world.

 

What this is, is actually the delineation between shadow rendering and no distant shadow rendering. So, for me the trick is to have it happen far enough away so it won't be noticeable but close enough so it won't absolutely kill my FPS.

[Spock]

Yes, greater shadow distances are desirable but really require ENB to not get the lego shadows (shadow lod bug). Afaik DoubleYou doesn't run it due to hardware limitations.

[DoubleYou]

Funny. I don't get lego shadows. As for that fov lod shadow bug mentioned in the video, I haven't seen it either.

 

I've got a new box since I last tried ENB shadows, so I might give it a go. I do know my settings aren't perfect, but they've been decent.

[Kuldebar]

Curious...I didn't notice the FOV-Shadow bug either but I believe that is because I use the sun update Skyrim.ini tweak (fSunShadowUpdateTime=.25 and fSunUpdateThreshold=1.5) which keeps the shadows from continuously updating thus causing  shadows to jump horribly around.

[Spock]

Interesting, if you have the time, could you check if you don't have it with vanilla settings? If you get the same bug with vanilla settings, could you copy over your ini changes to see which one solved it?

[DoubleYou]

Just tested enb shadows and I'm impressed. I don't think I had any fps loss at all. Hopefully I actually had them enabled. ::

[Spock]

On my rig just enabling use graphics in ENB cost around 5-7 FPS (if I remember right) without any effects enabled. That was with custom fx files though, maybe something isn't disabled properly. But the shadow fixing alone would be worth it imho.

 

If you are on a low end machine you can optimize FPS because high quality ENB shadow filters+lower resolution shadows look better then higher resolution shadows without ENB (or lower ENB shadow settings).

 

I would still be interested if you can see a shadow quality difference related to the lod switching bug (maybe you found a fix for it?). If you set the shadow distance to 3000 you should be able to reproduce it by changing FOV back and forth from 75 to 80 ingame.

Edited June 9, 2014 by Spock

[Kuldebar]

On my rig just enabling use graphics in ENB cost around 5-7 FPS (if I remember right) without any effects enabled. That was with custom fx files though, maybe something isn't disabled properly. But the shadow fixing alone would be worth it imho.

 

If you are on a low end machine you can optimize FPS because high quality ENB shadow filters+lower resolution shadows look better then higher resolution shadows without ENB (or lower ENB shadow settings).

 

I would still be interested if you can see a shadow quality difference related to the lod switching bug (maybe you found a fix for it?). If you set the shadow distance to 3000 you should be able to reproduce it by changing FOV back and forth from 75 to 80 ingame.

Looks like I may have drawn the wrong conclusions that it was fShadowDistance causing that "bubble effect". After watching this video, I think it was fShadowBiasScale.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sL3EKROAaDA

 

Here's my shadow related settings:

 

[Display]

iBlurDeferredShadowMask=7

fInteriorShadowDistance=2500.0000

fShadowDistance=2500

iShadowMapResolutionSecondary=2048

iShadowMapResolutionPrimary=2048

iShadowSplitCount=2

fShadowLODStartFade=200.0000

iShadowMode=3

iShadowMapResolution=2048

fShadowBiasScale=0.16

iShadowMaskQuarter=4

 

My goal is to get rid of jumpy/Jaggy/blocky shadows while not killing my FPS.

 

I have the LOD switch set: fTreesMidLODSwitchDist=6000.0000