STEP v2.2.9 Official Bug Reports

[z929669]

STEP does not recommend ENB, so any shadow-striping issues will need to be addressed without ENB. I am installing STEP:Core for the thousandth time now, so I will see if I get striping or not and come up with a solution if Tech et al do not have a solution already.

[TechAngel85]

Not every system is going to be the same. I personally get very little stripping with the default settings. There's a reason the shadow stripping debate on proper settings has been going for so long. It's because users really need to do their own tweaking to find the best results for them. There are too many factors to account for to say, "set your values to this and it'll fix it". Shadow stripping will be much like the [MEMORY] settings in enblocal.ini. We can recommend a base value for the parameters; however, ultimately the user needs to tweak them to his/her personal system.

[Vexzarium]

So it would appear that the Striping issue is along the same lines of Z Fighting? Somewhat hardware specific and nearly impossible to create a universal fix.

 

Sadly, taking a look at my ini's in MO, I found that the suggested ini tweaks were already in place and appear to come from running on "Ultra-High". The only thing that was not was the fShadowBiasScale. And that would be because I had already adjusted it in an attempt to eliminate the striping.

 

Also, raising fShadowBiasScale like I did may be a creator of terrible "extra" shadowing upon a characters face. Which is almost as unfun as the striping. Sadly, not sure if my system can handle ENB based on what it looked like was required for "RealVision".

 

And on a side note, I'm oddly glad to hear that it's a game issue and not my hardware.

 

Edit:

I've resolved the Interior/Exterior Shadow Striping in a better way by accident. I looked into RealVison ENB to attempt running it on top of STEP:Core and, no, no way I can run ENB(15-30fps vs 50-60fps w/o ENB). In uninstalling RV I also had to repair my ENBoost, which led me to the updated guide in 2.2.9. I used the "Injector" Version with the updated enblocal.ini tweaks. I also kept CoT, CoT Patch, and ELFX. And patched all conflicting STEP:Core mods for CoT. Also kept the SkyrimPrefs.ini tweak of:

• fShadowBiasScale=0.75

Still averaging around 50-60fps with a VRAM usage of around 1900mb/2048mb. And RAM usage of around 5000mb.

 

Whomever updated the ENBoost is a godsend. With CoT and ELFX, I appear to be getting better fps with a more demanding set of mods.

 

Thank you.

Edited January 20, 2015 by Vexzarium

[TechAngel85]

For those with the shadow stripping issues and are not able to run a full on ENB I'd recommend the preset from JawZ, ELEP. It's as lightweight as presets come and has all the shadow fixes that you get with full ENB presets. It also stays true the to vanilla color scheme.

[oqhansoloqo]

Raising the "fshadowbiasscale" to "1" was the only fix that didn't kill my FPS that I could find that significantly reduced the shadow striping for me to acceptable levels (reduced it severely, but did not eliminate the issue).  I don't care so much that people's shadows do not connect to their feet as much as seeing freaking zebra stripes all over every freaking rock face and freaking wooden pillar.  :)

[Vexzarium]

So here's the verdict of my test/experiment with ELEP ENB & ELFX:

STEP:Core 2.2.9 w/ ELEP ENB & ELFX

 

STEP: Core 2.2.9 w/ Only ELFX

 

ELEP ENB looks awesome with ELFX, but as seen in the screenshots, there is a decent performance hit that comes with it. Take note of the MSi/Riva on-screen display in the top left corner.

 

But my verdict? I'm running it! It looks amazing. Take notice to tree shadows and in particular, for a good example, the purple mountain flower located at the bottom left.

Edited January 21, 2015 by Vexzarium

[TechAngel85]

I don't get that much of a hit with ELEP, barely any if I recall. But my system is a step up from yours as well. Good to see how it performs on other hardware.

[Vexzarium]

I don't get that much of a hit with ELEP, barely any if I recall. But my system is a step up from yours as well. Good to see how it performs on other hardware.

I'd definitely say your system is at least a step, if not half of the steps to High Hrothgar, above my system. I'd also say that I'm likely being held back by my dual core i3, even though it is a rare hyperthreading i3, and have an i7 for this socket in mind for upgrading. None the less, I reverted my ini's back to the step recommended and I'm allowing the ELEP ENB & ELFX take tare of the shadows and lighting issues of this great game.

 

Thank you for the suggestion, it has saved my game and is worth the FPS hit, which is not always so dramatic as seen in those screenshots. That was just a point of interest as it was one of the more dramatic spots where the possible performance hit could be seen by other STEP users.

[oqhansoloqo]

I could never justify to myself losing a whopping 17 FPS (below 60) just to get somewhat better lighting.  That's why I will never do an ENB or understand people who are willing to allow for that.  Some people say the game runs perfect at 30 FPS... Baloney.  It runs perfect at 60.  :)

[Nozzer66]

Given most motion films run at 24 FPS, 30 FPS is perfectly fine. 

[phazer11]

Given most motion films run at 24 FPS, 30 FPS is perfectly fine. 

Depends on the person what is acceptable. I myself can tell when a game is not at 60FPS or even 45. It's kinda jarring.

[Nozzer66]

I can't. Never been able to. I'm perfectly happy with 30 FPS, cause I see absolutely no issue with it.

[Vexzarium]

Kind of in the same boat. I liked the ENB but after playing for a bit the FPS got the best of me and I opted to drop it and return to Step:Core 2.2.9 + CoT & ELFX + the ini tweak for shadows striping for a 55-60fps experience and similar lighting quality minus the nice shadows from ENB.

Edited January 21, 2015 by Vexzarium

[z929669]

I can't. Never been able to. I'm perfectly happy with 30 FPS, cause I see absolutely no issue with it.

totally agree :P

[TheDane]

Is it intentional that the current STEP guide recommends forcing Anisotropic Filtering both through video driver and enblocal.ini, or is it an oversight?