Question About Certain Graphic Mods

[RedGalaxy00]

I'm sorry if this is the wrong forum for this kind of thing, but seems to be the best one I could find...

 

So, I was installing STEP 2.2.9. Core, and a few questions came up that started bugging me, and I don't know if I can continue until I get an answer...

 

1. Why, when it comes to certain graphic mods like Enhanced Night Sky or Enhanced Distant Terrain, did you decide to use those specific choices provided? (The Low Stars for Enchanced Night Sky, and 1024 Earth Option for Enchanced Distant Terrain or the choices you made for the aMidianBorn Armor Textures)

 

2. If I decided to go with a different texture, for example, the Color Galaxy for Enchanced Night Sky or the Dark Elven Armor in the aMidianBorn Book of Silence, would it mess up anything in STEP? Would it stop any major mods from doing what they are suppose to do?

 

and 3. I noticed you chose to use older versions of some mods, like the Skyrim Flora Overhaul. You say go with the 1.87 version, but the 1.91 version has been out since Dec of 2013, and there is now a version 2 (that is in Alpha, so I can understand waiting on that). Why was a choice like that decided?

[CJ2311]

1/ STEP aims to keep the vanilla feel of the game, so the recommended choices will always be whatever is closest to the vanilla look. (Unless the vanilla option is ugly, as is the case for the water)

 

2/ You won't break anything by using alternate textures.

 

3/ Skyrim Flora Overhaul has different editions : Regular (v1.9.1) is better suited for some ENBs, Basic (v 1.8.7) is better for vanilla, and v2 is as you said still in alpha.

[RedGalaxy00]

So, if I wanted to pick a different texture I could? It wouldn't hurt anything? Cool. Because I always felt the sky should look more colorful, and fantastic. (I mean, it is a fanasty world after all.)

[TechAngel85]

CJ2311 is completely correct on all points.

 

1) We stay as close to vanilla as possible. Indoor texture resolutions on main textures is 2048 and 1024 on small things like clutter (pots, pans, etc). Outdoor baseline texture resolution for STEP is 1024 besides some exceptions like TreesHD. This is to maintain compatibility with the majority of users. If you have a higher VRAM card (say 4GB) feel free to use higher resolutions on some objects.

 

2) Pick any textures you like. They won't hurt anything. The only things that are set in stone are the mods that are included in the STEP Patches, if you use said Patches. You'll find those mods listed on the Patches ReadMe.

 

3) This is again, to stay closes to vanilla. The basic version is vanilla-friendly. It doesn't add in a ton of extra flora but rather retextures what is already in the game.

 

I personally use EWI's Galaxy for Skyrim in my STEP installs because it's more beautiful, imo.

[RedGalaxy00]

I saw EWI's Galaxy texture, but it was to blue for me. I like the multicolor galaxy from the enhanced nigh sky just a li-lot more. To be honest, I like it a lot more.

 

Also, good to know about the flexiblity of STEP texture mods. (It's not all that clear just how flexible it is... honestly.)

 

As for VRAM, I have 3GB GDDR5 Ram in my 780Ti, so I can probably go to 2k if I wanted to, but as I'm using a 1920x1080 monitor, and thus, I'm not really going to see anything beyond 1k that well, I'm going to stay with 1k textures.

[Shamaniacal]

@ redgalaxy

 

Using a 1080p monitor resolution does not mean 2k textures are useless. Screen resolution and texture resolution are two completely different things. 2k textures give more detail, whereas the screen res just means more pixels rendered.