ACCEPTED RUSTIC WINDOWS by Gamwich

[DoubleYou]

Marked for Testing.

Seeing as we've already tested this mod, it makes sense to mark this for testing. I've looked at these in-game, and I like it. If we use it, I'd say we should use the whole mod, in order to keep continuity of style. I think it probably would be for Extended, however, as it deviates from the vanilla style.

[phryxolydian]

The only ones I'm not sure I'm okay with are the Riften ones and the farmhouse ones. I'll have to look at these in game.

Well, it might be that I was using VW's mid resolution but tbh, I don't see a huge improvement over Vanilla's Riften windows.. 

[Kuldebar]

Also, looking at your screenies, I see a noticeable difference, but the Riften windows are the least detailed windows in the game maybe with the possible exception of the Farmhouse windows.. RW has more ripples/wavy surface compared to VW. in general, Riften windows are rather subdued to begin with, not sure how you could change that without going over the top.

 

Edited May 30, 2014 by Kuldebar

[phryxolydian]

Ah, there they are. I was trying to find the circular windows in Riften when doing the screens... No dice.

[EssArrBee]

I'm pretty much a fan of these over VW. I think maybe one or two from VW were better, but the majority from RW are just nicer.

 

Maybe a few more pictures at night to see the glow with the different versions up against VW would do some good. If they are better than VW at night too, then we can get these in for 2.2.9.

[Nearox]

For me, RW looks a LOT better than VW. The difference becomes even more apparent wwith ENB switched on. 

[TechAngel85]

I'm actually not a fan. The glass is terrible and they seem too bright to the point they don't fit in with the rest of the texture in the game at some points. VW is Core and these would not be because they are far too different from vanilla. I don't think we need two different window mods in STEP (one for Core and one for Extended). I will have to try them out in-game before I can cast my final verdict.

[Kuldebar]

1.2 Latest version:

 

Quote

UPDATE 5/30/14: Revised the glow maps to retain more of the original window color from backlighting. The original glow maps just controlled the backlighting intensity, the new ones add color from the diffuse texture as well. For some windows, the difference is quite subtle, since the glass didn't have much color to begin with, but in Riften and Solitude, the difference should be apparent. The main Windhelm windows were completely reworked, to brighten them overall, and to lessen the "Halloween orange" appearance. The glow at night should now better match the color of the fire pits.

 

Gamwich is fine-tuning his creation.

[statmonster]

I like them.

[DoYouEvenModBro]

I basically like RW better except for Riften. 

[DoubleYou]

2 for, 1 against.

[phazer11]

Oh did I not vote? I like these better, by the same number and unit of measure Captain Nemo steered his mighty Nautilus underneath the...

Yeah, while technically the Nords are technologically and if it were Earth culturally advanced enough to create smooth stained glass windows, I don't think they care. Even with Visible Windows they look kind of plastic like in places, especially if you had post-processing.

[Octopuss]

These win over anything hands down for me.

[Kuldebar]

There's no contest, but I'll grudgingly concede they might not be for the Skyrim purist, whatever that may mean.

 

If you look at vanilla windows...they are ambiguous, you don't really know what they are supposed to be, they certainly aren't clear glass, nor do they appear to be leather or skin or parchment. They are more akin to enameled plates fitted into frames; which of course makes no sense.

 

Isoku improved things a bit but from day one I always thought, "Is there some unwritten rule that states the windows can't be improved even more?" Or, "Is there some arcane engine limitation that means all windows need to be low-res blurry suggestions of something that might be a window but clearly isn't?"

 

Gamwich has now released a reduced glow version, I'm actually using it since I switched up my ENB Preset recently and the windows for that particular ENB were far too bright. The reduced glow made it perfect.

 

Yeah, definitely liking the Gamwich windows, but now when I see a mod that adds its own vanilla windows into my game, I cringe.

[keithinhanoi]

As far as I am concerned, I'm never switching back, so you can pry these replacement windows from my cold dead fingers.

 

But then I'm no STEP purist - so what do I know?