TES Skyrim

[Tywele]

I like the cold style of you ENB Unreal Warfare.

Here are some screenshots of actual gameplay from me. Doing the Companions and some other quests:

[DogStar]

@DogStar, thanks -I've been trying to nail realistic lighting. Still not perfect, though. Regarding your snow struggles, sounds definitely like an adaptation issue. Which post-process method are you using? HD6?

Yes, HD6... I tried reducing the max adaption limits, but I still seem to get some vast differences depending on the light... out on the ice flows things become a little too dark, plus the darkening makes the blues of the ice very saturated. Pity as this is the only area that is really off with this config, I like it in almost all other aspects, so I don't want to make changes that will throw other things out... it like the bloody holy grail, finding a perfect balance

Gorgeous shots in here. Can I ask what temps you guys see on your GPUs? I'm worried that mine get too high.

I have an i7 @4.4ghz, so the CPU isn't an issue for me. My GPUs are twin 2GB 560 Ti's in SLI though. I went with two budget cards instead of one powerful card when I built my computer last year, but am regretting that decision now. They don't seem to handle advanced shaders too well. If I use an ENB in Skyrim but still want 60fps and temps capped at the low 70's, then I can't use ANY of the advanced shaders - that means no SSAO, no advanced shadows, no godrays, and no depth of field. As soon as I add even one of those effects, I start dipping below 60fps and my temps hit 75+. As soon as my temps hit 75, my fans ramp up a heck of a lot, and my machine sounds like a damn lawnmower.

So all you legends posting these gorgeous shots - do you still retain decent temps and framerates? Temps are a bigger concern to me than framerate, since I hate noise. I'm wondering if it would be worth upgrading to a single GTX670 in order to play with these advanced shaders...

As I said on the last page I see the fps go down to 30 or so, but I'm running everything in ENB and have some heavy texture mods... maybe if you steer clear of mod like 'Glorious Grasses' and such like, just using defaults you may still get around 60fps with a single GTX670. If you get a 670 then get the Gigabyte Windforce which is cool and quiet... mine is a reference board and hitting 80deg is not uncommon, fortunately it not too noisy.

@theradikal11 - two great sets

@Unreal & Tywele - superb sets!

[mindflux]

@DogStar: Tell me about it. I'm struggling with the snowy areas too, and I'm beginning to doubt whether it's even possible to make them workable in specific configurations. Adaptation sure does help with brightness, but like you said, then everything easily becomes too dark and looks yuck. It's indeed a great balancing act.

You did already fiddle with HD6's own controls, right? This part, in enbeffect.fx:

Code: Select all

float toobright = max(0,tex2D(_s2, _v0).xyz - 0.4); // 0.5
	color.xyz *= 1-(1.0 * toobright); // 1.3

@Darkstone: Sounds like your problem is rather the noise than the lack of performance. Have you checked your GPU usage, what kind of figures do you see? I'm very sensitive to noise as well, and the truth is that the stock coolers in the low-end cards are useless. I used to have a GTX560 myself and even in DirectCU configuration the stock cooler was worthless. After upgrading to a proper Arctic cooler I could hit temperatures of 80-90C without even hearing the cooler under all the other noise from the system. Even so, it's hard to say if it's worth upgrading the coolers at this point, as they're not exactly cheap either and you could always save the money towards a better GPU unit altogether - just remember not to get the cheapest one, otherwise you will have the same problem with the noise.

[Darkstorne]

@DogStar and Mindflux: Thanks for the replies! Yep, it's definitely the noise that bothers me the most. I just tried an experiment: I have a side intake (a Noctua too) blasting air straight on to my GPUs. It has always been using a low noise adapter though (slower spin and less air intake, but almost completely silent). I removed the low noise adapter to make the fan suck in as much air as possible, and also took the low noise adapter off my Noctua top exhaust too so that the air pressure remained even. But even with a much more powerful air supply being blasted on to my cards, there wasn't any change to temps. Nothing noticeable anyway. I ran across the tundra from Rorikstead to Whiterun, and my GPU temps peaked at 73 degrees with and without the low noise adapters. The only noticeable difference is the drastic increase in noise from my case fans!

Is there any known way to cap fps at 30 or 40 fps though? The only reason I like framerates to be at 60 is so that it's consistent. I played Oblivion just fine using the stutter remover mod that capped the game at 30fps. Because it was a constant framerate, I didn't mind. It's when framerates jump about all the over place that I get annoyed. I tried using Nvidia inspector to cap my Skyrim framerate at 30, but that led to some insane stuttering and graphical glitches...

I think if I could keep the framerate to 30fps, then presumably I'm freeing up a lot of performance room to use these advanced ENB settings without pushing my temps into the mid 70s. Do GPUs work that way?

[eldyraen]

Evok99: Thanks, and I'm about happy with the current settings (lighting is rather 'bright' for me--sort of darkened/colorful vanilla) but it also lets alot of detail show so I don't mind too much. Have like 3 things left to really work on and they're not too difficult and then I'll probably try uploading somewhere if you want to give it a shot. Can't guarantee performance/quality/etc as no one else has used it before and I run in to a few glitches now and again and not sure if its my enb settings or a mod conflict as its rather random. Plus I don't know how to really tweak performance as no clue what some of the settings 'do' so not as clean as it probably could be

Dogstar: Thanks, and I simply increased snow brightness using subssurfacecattermultiplayer (whatever it is exactly)--it can cause some issues with certain things but I like the effect on the majority of them (frost trolls just look cooler as it also effects them--same with snow bears/cats/etc but have to find happy medium or will shine too much...most of which I ignore as 'snow blindnesss' caused from reflection of 'snow' on their fur). It can affect a lot of different things though.

Fantastic sets all. Photobucket still having issues for some reason for me... changed to something else for time being.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/9/ ... 92501.jpg/

[mindflux]

@eldyraen: Damn, love the pop in your set. No idea how you pulled that off...

@Darkstorne: Yes, if you're not hell-bent on having 60FPS it's a good idea to cap the framerate. I have myself set the limiter at 40 - I know it's pretty pathetic by most people's standards but I don't mind as long as I get a more or less constant framerate. Have you tried the built-in limiter in ENB? Some people seem to have issues with it, but I don't; works perfectly without any stuttering (which I do get without limiter).

[Darkstorne]

@Mindflux: I have not tried this ENB limiter. I was not aware it existed! Would you mind quickly explaining how I activate it? Hopefully it will lead to lower temps if the cards are only throwing out 40fps instead of 60. I really hope it works that way

[Confidence-Man]

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[Darkstorne]

For some reason I can't send PMs because I'm still new here, so just dropping a big thank you to Mindflux for his PM that explained how to use the ENB limiter function. It worked perfectly! Thanks!

I promise I'll stop pestering this thread now, sorry!

[mindflux]

@Darkstorne: Damn - Sorry, I forgot about that. But no worries, glad I could help.



Glad to see you back, Confidence-Man!