No noticeable graphic improvement

[NAMDORG]

Hi all,

 

I'm pretty new to modding in general and very new to Mod Organizer in particular, so maybe I'm just doing something wrong.

I've followed every step in Step v2.2.9.1 to the letter, but I'm not getting any noticeable graphical difference while playing.  I know the mods are active, as sounds are fixed and road signs are better.

 

In the past I've tried using RealVision ENB, but I get serious bugs (screen flickering in particular) that nothing has been able to solve, so I was hoping that following the STEP guide would improve my game experience without using an ENB Preset.

 

Any help or tips?

[DoubleYou]

Could you give your modwatch? (See my signature)

[NAMDORG]

I'm getting a 404 error code whenever I try to upload to Modwatch.

[Quinnbeast]

Are you running Core or Extended? Have you digested all the setup information regarding the essential utilities (LOOT / Tes5edit / Wrye Bash) and ini configuration? 

 

STEP (Core especially) is intended to be entirely in keeping with vanilla Skyrim, so there shouldn't be anything too in-your-face regarding graphical fidelity, but you can't really fail to notice certain key additions, such as the massive improvement in LOD that DynDOLOD offers, the additional foliage of Flora Overhaul or the shiny SkyUI interface (to give a few examples).

 

As a generalisation, ENB presets are a recommended addition to any STEP installation, and there's a huge range of them that largely boils down to personal preference and system specs. ENB isn't mandatory of course, but it is very widely used. There are a whole host of graphical additions and improvements that it can make, which are nigh-on impossible to replicate through other means. ENB presets are also now a fairly mature addition, so any flickering or bugs will likely boil down to driver or ini settings that still needed to be tweaked. My own experiences of different presets is that I would sometimes forget about past adjustments to certain values, which would then screw up further installations. Sometimes the only option is to return to default ini files (skyrim.ini, skyrimprefs.ini, enblocal, enbseries) and start from the beginning. It may be worth installing one of the other recommended ENBs to see if you get the same result when starting from default settings. The two skyrim ini's should always be adjusted within MO.

 

I've been modding on and off since Oblivion was new on the scene, and I still screw up big-style sometimes. It's the only way I learn ;) 

 

https://wiki.step-project.com/Guide:ENB

Edited September 9, 2015 by Quinnbeast

[NAMDORG]

Thanks for the reply, Quinnbeast.  I've played a bit now and I can see a tiny bit of graphical improvement in objects and some leaves and such.  Mainly, I was hoping for ENB preset-level graphic improvement, which I now understand was unrealistic.

Since I already have a thread, I might as well ask: RealVision ENB causes what I can only assume is Z-fighting.  I've watched videos of what Z-fighting is and it's similar, but over the whole screen rather than just in distant terrain or mountains. The graphics otherwise are great, and would love to use this ENB if I can fix this problem.

I just tried Vividian, following instructions exactly, and got serious graphical issues.  Unlike Realvision, uninstalling it was not easy at all, so I'm not too interested in trying again.

[TechAngel85]

Vividian? Really? It's one folder and one file that you move to the skyrim root folder. Kinda impossible to mess that up unless you don't have your INI set up correctly, in which case, all ENB Presets will have some problems.

 

You can skip all the Real Snow part if you're not comfortable with xEdit yet.

[NAMDORG]

It was probably the Real Snow installation then.

 

Edit: Tried Vividian again. Nope, still getting graphical problems.  Blur at short distances, z-fighting at medium distances.

Edited September 9, 2015 by NAMDORG

[Quinnbeast]

The core of Vividian as an ENB is just the contents of the Install Files folder you drag from MO to the Skyrim folder: enbseries (folder), two ini's and the d3d9.dll and enbhost.exe from the current ENB wrapper. That's basically it (plus any SMAA related extras). Don't bother with real snow for now (I don't use it), and load the patches after the other weather/lighting plugins (ELE / CoT etc).

 

To deactivate, untick the mod and remove the above files. If that's not working then there's other problems afoot...

Edited September 9, 2015 by Quinnbeast

[Quinnbeast]

Z-fighting specifically refers to the far distance flicker on the LOD mountains. Any closer, and it's usually 'something else', perhaps lighting or texture related.

 

Is the blur something other than the DoF at play? In enbseries.ini set EnableDepthOfField=false to make sure it's not that.

[NAMDORG]

Wow, that was a simple fix for that.  So now I seem to just be getting some flickering on the surface of water.  Also some low FPS, but that's something I can deal with on my own.

[Quinnbeast]

Hmm, I recall the water issue too from a while back. Try setting EnableVSync=false under [ENGINE] and instead set EnableFPSLimit=true FPSLimit=60 (or slightly less). You'll get some tearing, but may improve the water glitch.

 

You could always try the performance version of Vividian for an FPS boots, but it's better to get your head around manually editing these files so that you can fine tune it as you go.

[NAMDORG]

I think that pretty much fixed everything! Thank you so much.

[Quinnbeast]

Most welcome!