When playing (like, actually playing the game recreationally/not messing around with stuff) I have the parts mentioned in comments "disabled for testing" enabled, but this is what it was for testing the specular part. Everything I could find disabled to ensure that no other effects were causing the issue (remove extra variables

)
Code:
// purpose of setup is to get better shadows, ao, sunrays, skylighting.
// darker nights may need to be taken care of via mod, as day night detection can get a little wonky, plus i don't want dungeons as dark as outdoor nights...
[PROXY]
EnableProxyLibrary=true
InitProxyFunctions=true
ProxyLibrary=smaa.dll // edit settings in smaa.h, gives more control
[GLOBAL]
AdditionalConfigFile=userconfig.ini
UseEffect=true
[FIX]
ForceFakeVideocard=false
FixGameBugs=true
FixParallaxBugs=true
ForceSingleCoreCPU=false
IgnoreThreadManagement=true
IgnoreThreadPriority=true
AntiBSOD=true
[GAME]
SpeedHack=true
[MULTIHEAD]
ForceVideoAdapterIndex=false
VideoAdapterIndex=0
[LIMITER]
WaitBusyRenderer=false
EnableFPSLimit=false
FPSLimit=30.0
[INPUT]
KeyReadConfig=8 // back
KeyCombination=16 // shift
KeyUseEffect=123 // f12
KeyFPSLimit=36 // home
KeyShowFPS=106 // num
KeyScreenshot=45 // insert
[ENGINE]
ForceAnisotropicFiltering=false
MaxAnisotropy=16 // see if this uses skyrim's aniso or what - something about the HQ nVidia aniso v. the built in stuff
SkipShaderOptimization=false
[EFFECT]
UseOriginalPostProcessing=false // per forum post from mod author, bad idea to set this as true - apply original/set enb post processing to 0. not sure of difference.
UseOriginalObjectsProcessing=true // seems to bring back distance fog (fixing horizon issue) and make fog effects look better. disables a lot of other stuff below though. document at some point
EnableBloom=false // may want to bring this back, need to balance with brightness in the enb effect file
EnableAdaptation=false // can't seem to get this to behave, figure it out, if there's any additional overhead it causes, if the achievable effect is worth it, etc
EnableAmbientOcclusion=false // do more serious comparison of this vs the nvidia AO // disabled for testing, normally enabled
EnableDepthOfField=false // figure out how to tweak this beyond adjusting time. may be worth enabling if effect can be lessened. not sure if this is easily tweakable or if i'll need to know more about how the shader works
EnableDetailedShadow=false // disabled for testing, normally enabled
EnableSunRays=false // balance out vs sun settings below, will want this enabled but maybe need to increase sun vs corona decrease if enabled?
EnableSkyLighting=false // disabled for testing, normally enabled
[BLOOM]
Quality=2
AmountDay=2.25
AmountNight=0.0
BlueShiftAmountDay=0.0
BlueShiftAmountNight=0.0
ContrastDay=1.0
ContrastNight=1.0
[CAMERAFX]
LenzReflectionIntensityDay=1.0
LenzReflectionIntensityNight=1.0
LenzReflectionPowerDay=1.0
LenzReflectionPowerNight=1.0
[SSAO_SSIL]
UseIndirectLighting=false
UseComplexIndirectLighting=false
SamplingQuality=0
SamplingRange=0.025
FadeFogRangeDay=7.0
FadeFogRangeNight=7.0
SizeScale=0.35
SourceTexturesScale=0.35
FilterQuality=0
AOAmount=0.50
ILAmount=5.0
[NIGHTDAY] // there was a forum post that explained this, document it here? seems to be okay as is
DetectorDefaultDay=false
DetectorLevelDay=0.65
DetectorLevelNight=0.25
DetectorLevelCurve=2.0
[ADAPTATION]
ForceMinMaxValues=false
AdaptationSensitivity=0.12
AdaptationTime=0.4
AdaptationMin=0.1
AdaptationMax=100.0
[ENVIRONMENT] // set to match stock but i think this stuff was disabled by original objects processing - if more control is needed, try editing and if no change, re-enable enb obj processing
DirectLightingIntensityDay=1.0
DirectLightingIntensityNight=1.0
DirectLightingCurveDay=1.0
DirectLightingCurveNight=1.0
DirectLightingDesaturationDay=0.0
DirectLightingDesaturationNight=0.0
SpecularAmountMultiplierDay=1.0
SpecularAmountMultiplierNight=1.0
SpecularPowerMultiplierDay=1.0
SpecularPowerMultiplierNight=1.0
SpecularFromLightDay=0.0
SpecularFromLightNight=0.0
AmbientLightingIntensityDay=1.0
AmbientLightingIntensityNight=1.0
AmbientLightingCurveDay=1.0
AmbientLightingCurveNight=1.0
AmbientLightingDesaturationDay=0.0
AmbientLightingDesaturationNight=0.0
PointLightingIntensityDay=1.0
PointLightingIntensityNight=1.0
PointLightingCurveDay=1.0
PointLightingCurveNight=1.0
PointLightingDesaturationDay=0.0
PointLightingDesaturationNight=0.0
FogColorMultiplierDay=1.0
FogColorMultiplierNight=1.0
FogColorCurveDay=1.0
FogColorCurveNight=1.0
ColorPowDay=1.0 // this definitely still works - maybe use to darken a bit in response to reenabling bloom?
ColorPowNight=1.0
[SKY]
Enable=false // re-enable since ditching project reality, prefer bluer sky/bright clouds
StarsIntensity=1.0
StarsCurve=1.0
AuroraBorealisIntensity=1.0
AuroraBorealisCurve=1.5
CloudsIntensityDay=2.0
CloudsIntensityNight=0.1
CloudsCurveDay=2.0
CloudsCurveNight=1.5
CloudsDesaturationDay=0.0
CloudsDesaturationNight=0.0
GradientIntensity=1.0
GradientDesaturation=0.0
GradientTopIntensityDay=2.0
GradientTopIntensityNight=0.03
GradientTopCurveDay=1.0
GradientTopCurveNight=1.0
GradientMiddleIntensityDay=3.0
GradientMiddleIntensityNight=0.05
GradientMiddleCurveDay=1.0
GradientMiddleCurveNight=1.0
GradientHorizonIntensityDay=4.0
GradientHorizonIntensityNight=0.08
GradientHorizonCurveDay=1.0
GradientHorizonCurveNight=1.0
SunIntensity=5.0
SunDesaturation=0.0
SunCoronaIntensity=15.0
SunCoronaCurve=1.0
SunCoronaDesaturation=0.0
MoonIntensity=1.0
MoonCurve=2.0
MoonDesaturation=0.0
[OBJECT]
SubSurfaceScatteringMultiplierDay=1.0
SubSurfaceScatteringMultiplierNight=1.0
SubSurfaceScatteringPowerDay=1.0
SubSurfaceScatteringPowerNight=1.0
[LIGHTSPRITE]
IntensityDay=1.0
IntensityNight=1.0
CurveDay=1.5
CurveNight=1.5
[WINDOWLIGHT]
Intensity=1.0
Curve=1.0
[VOLUMETRICFOG] // figure out if this affects anything other than fog around mountains, maybe put it at some goofy high/low values and play for a bit
IntensityDay=1.0
IntensityNight=1.0
CurveDay=1.0
CurveNight=2.0
[FIRE] // really surprised how close this is to stock at these values
IntensityDay=3.0
IntensityNight=7.0
CurveDay=2.0
CurveNight=2.0
[COLORCORRECTION]
UsePaletteTexture=false
[SHADOW]
ShadowCastersFix=false //disabled for testing
ShadowQualityFix=false //disabled for testing
DetailedShadowQuality=0
UseBilateralShadowFilter=false // seems to cause some sort of pattern, leave disabled
UseShadowFilter=false //disabled for testing
[DEPTHOFFIELD]
FadeTime=0.1
[RAYS]
SunRaysMultiplier=0.4
[SKYLIGHTING]
Quality=1
FilterQuality=2
AmbientMinLevel=0.4 // lower for darker shadows - note this tends to mean npc's faces are half black in daylight due to self shadowing depending how they are facing
Pardon random comments, much easier to keep track of thoughts in a file. Since it's just meant for me I didn't think much of it.
For testing AO thing, only difference was AO was enabled.