Feel free to send suggestions, general comments, constructive criticism, etc. Report a bug if you encounter one caused by any files on this page and it isn't listed in the "Known Issues" section in the Description tab. There is a high chance I will not be able to fix any issues but I'll at least look into it when I get the time.
If you check the changelogs you may notice frequent updates and sometimes fixing the same thing. This is because the process of making this mod has been messy on my end because I didn't organise it at all and made it primarily for myself, so I apologise if you see bursts of updates at times! I'm trying to improve on that, but it's a bit slow.
Please do read the page before commenting, it'll likely save both my time and yours.
Regarding compatibility with other mods: If another mod affects the same files (primarily systemparam.parambnd.dcx), it'll be incompatible. If said mod provides .csv files, it may be possible to merge the other mod(s). I will consider providing .csv files in the future so you can do this yourself.
If it's a large scale content mod such as "The Convergence" or "ERR - ELDEN RING Reforged", etc., I cannot do this as I simply don't know how to do so without affecting other things. If you want to make <file here> compatible with something and require the .csv files, you can contact me in DM here and I'll try to provide the files.
To Do List:
Clean up the mess that is the "Files" section and try to bundle relevant options into one download (I have started this process and it is ongoing)
Update files after the upcoming Tarnished Edition update releases, if necessary
MAYBE make some changes for consoles such as PS4, XB1, etc. Smithbox displays some settings that're labelled for these consoles, so it could be worth considering if there'd be a way to get them to work
I would like to ask: can the draw distance / LoD be improved? (even if it's just for game objects and not enemies? or perhaps for both?)
Additionally, can the textures quality be further improved without having to rework the assets? Or is the in-game texture option already using the best possible choice the game can offer?
EsirnusQ is correct. The draw distance and level of detail can be improved and these changes are infact already implemented in the Beyond Maximum file you can download here with the provided regulation.bin file - give that a try. If you just want draw distance/LOD improvements and no other changes, check out the original mod here and have a look at its files: significantly better LOD restored 1.16
As for texture quality, consider this mod: Texture Improvement Some of the textures in this are meant to be higher resolution variants of the vanilla texture found in the game files, so may be what you want.
It's probably possible to make at least some stuff here compatible with other mods like ERR/Convergence, etc. but I don't know how to do that. If anyone who knows how wants to mess with these files to make them compatible with any mods, they're free to do so.
A lot of adding stuff would be as relatively easy as sharing the values used for certain things and voila, other modders can add those changes as part of an optional file for a mod - at least I think so... could be wrong!
I think I know how to share CSV files now, so if that's required, maybe that'd help. Maybe not!
This mod is an incredible boon to have, these options should have all been available officially, and I truly appreciate your work! There is an issue with RTAO where in some areas and circumstances it appears much darker than it probably should, and is otherwise just a very intense effect. Is there any chance a config could be made that reduces the darkness/intensity of RTAO or otherwise tweak specific parameters of it? Or if not a config, could you please share any knowledge you have on the subject/what I should change in Smithbox to tweak RTAO's look? Regardless of whether you are able to help, thank you so very much Lindon!
I took a quick look, messing with the RayTracing AO Offset setting value in the mapbase.gparam.dcx file seems to be a way to reduce intensity. I'm not sure if this breaks anything though. If you wanna mess around with it yourself, use WitchyBND or Smithbox's Gparam Editor. I don't use Smithbox for gparam editing personally, so I could be wrong about how to do it in Smithbox but:
Search for "mapbase" in the Gparam Editor, click on the "mapbase" result and then under the Groups tab, find and click on the RayTracing ParamEditor option and you'll see the options you can edit.
To start, try changing RayTracing AO Offset from 0 to 0.15 or so (going into negatives results in broken RTAO) and see how you feel about the intensity of the RTAO. Then slowly increment up or down until you get a look you like. As I say, I don't know if doing this actually breaks the effect at in some way or if it interacts oddly with certain environments, but it seems to be a promising start for intensity altering. Give it a try and let me know.
Thank you so very much, this is very helpful! I'll give this a try some time when I get an chance amidst working on Elden Ring Reforged, and I'll let you know my findings.
Is it possible to have all the raster shadows be a far similar resolution? im fine with the low resolution but when its all different and mishmashed i hate it like torrent having a way lower quality shadow than the tarnished drives me insane and distant shadows being cast from bridges n stuff onto a cliff look horrible
also creating a program to allow us to make out presets would be awesome
I don't think there's a setting I can change that specifically addresses that, so it's unlikely. It might be possible but I haven't seen anything that'd suggest it is.
I don't know how to create a program for this, sorry.
If I use Force Dynamic Shadows Reborn (FDSR) with only SFX I get massive shadow flickers when turning on Ray Tracing. With or without your mod for only AO RT.
Nice mod, i can really see game looking way better using it. Homever, i have small issue to report, going from carian study hall to the bridge leading to Liurnia divine tower, as a short cutscene of opening the door plays, the game crashes, deleting the mod files fixes it
As for the crash, I tested it out with the Beyond Maximum file and found that it's Shadow Quality when set to Maximum causing the crash. Setting the quality to High or lower/deleting the mod results in no crashing.
Yeah that's not a big deal. Let me also ask you this, is it possible to push ssr resolution even further? I honestly love how they look now but sometimes there's noticable shimmering around them even while using dlss mod set to dlaa, it is most noticable in volcano manor upstairs
I don't see a way to increase the resolution further, sadly. The issues you mention are the worst in the Volcano Manor room but that's about it - the few other instances this may show up aren't anywhere near as shimmery/noisy.
Try setting DLAA to use Preset F and it'll help a little bit with the shimmering/noise. Not sure if AMD/Intel users have an equivalent setup they could use with their upscaling options.
If you just want vanilla ELDEN RING with the experimental SSR, just download the Version 1.25 Experimental Changes file and you'll be able to have both.
If you want RTAO only with the experimental SSR, download the RTAO file you'd like as well as the Experimental Changes file and they should both work if installed at the same time, the SSR is primarily done with different files so it shouldn't conflict.
Actually, since you are so kind, could you give me some insight into what is changed in the XML files from vanilla? For the SSR mod.
I am trying to get it "merged" with "Darker Nights" and if its just the SSR values that change, maybe I can. But to be honest, I'm flying blind here. No idea what's actually going on under the hood. Just trying to change values and somehow get an hybrid mod working...
If you've already converted the .dcx files to .xml with something like WitchyBND, open up the .xml files in Notepad, CTRL+F "SSR" and you'll see all the settings there. Not all of these files have SSR parameters, only the ones with the names you see in this mod pack, from what I found anyway.
I believe "mapbase.gparam.dcx.xml" would be the one you'd want to edit first, as I believe that's the one that does most of the work regarding the SSR changes - the other files included in this mod just happened to have the SSR parameters in them too, so I made the changes.
The main SSR parameter that changes the look to the "experimental" one in this mod is "SSR Display Mip Scale", just change the <value id="0" timeOfDay="0">1</value> text below it to <value id="0" timeOfDay="0">0</value> and ignore the "Mip Offset" stuff (it's not useful for this and if configured wrongly it'll break SSR altogether)
I did also change the "SSR Ray Trace Step Scale Min" and "SSR Ray Trace Step Scale Min" values to "0.5" and maybe the "SSR Tex Blur Sigma" parameter value to "0" for every file I believe, but I'm not sure if any of that does anything and is just part of the experimentation for the time being.
I "merged" them by doing the changes you suggested on the matching Drawparam files between mods and just pasted yours for all the other files. I am seeing definite changes.
Would you like for me to do some development work and test some value changes? I don't have a great eye for subtle graphical changes but I can try.
Oh! And its also working with your Ray traced Ambient Occlusion mod. Its very good! I'm also using the LOD draw distance mod so it its like the game is half a gaming generation upgraded.
Now, if I can somehow merge the "Force Dynamic Shadows [Reborn?]" too, I can get the bestest, most GPU destroying graphical overhaul before getting into 4k textures!!
You're free to do what you like! I was a monkey with a typewriter with gparam editing and more or less just changed values until something happened. Maybe you'll find something I missed. I've personally been trying to increase the render distance for shadows by changing some values in the .xml files but I've not had any luck and the one time I got close to a good result, it broke other shadows. I'm still trying though.
As for Force Dynamic Shadows Reborn, while not a merge, you can get the majority of the benefits by just using the files from the sfx folder in that mod and ignoring the other files. I'd even recommend it more because it's more stable and visually consistent.
I'll see what I can come up with editing the xmls. I am currently using the dll to circumvent the merging the files as I am also running the Darker Nights mod simultaneously. Too many mods tampering with the same files and me not knowing enough about it.
I apologize profusely for this, but I'm getting in the weed with this modding stuff and I just have a basic question about your mod: - In game options > RTX off, or Min, Med, Max?
I'm not sure I understand the question? That said, everything should be on the mod page description tab so hopefully the info you need is there. I would like to note that the mod was mostly done via Smithbox and editing the graphics parameters in there - not via manual xml file edits. I've not tried much with the RT settings in the xml files yet but I'll look into it, I wanna see if I can extend the render distance of RT as well, lol.
If I'm understanding correctly though, for Beyond Maximum it's like so:
"Maximum" -> improved quality over vanilla's Maximum setting "High" -> Same as unmodded Maximum quality "Medium" -> Same as unmodded "High" quality "Low" -> same as unmodded "Medium" settings "Off" -> RT is disabled, as expected
The vanilla Low setting values are removed entirely. I'd recommend High/Medium for normal gameplay with the mod installed (there isn't much of a visual difference between the two)
Thanks! Actually you answered another question I had. But what I guess I wanted to ask is: - with Ray Traced Ambient Occlusion, which menu Raytracing option should I use?
No problem - this project still keeps me occupied at times so answering some stuff or trying to at least isn't a big deal.
Yeah, just use the Ray Tracing option in game. Keep the SSAO option enabled though, if you disable that setting, it'll stop RTAO from working even if RT is enabled. Just how it is, even in vanilla.
So the Ray Tracing level is not important? Or is it the same logic as with the Beyond Maximum mod?
I am actually trying to figure out why suddenly the "Darker Nights" mod stopped working, when the XML files still have the changes for the time of day... I really need to wrap my head around the changes being made. Just changing values around isn't cutting it for me.
If I have any insights, I'll share them with you, with everyone.
RT level is important and I think the best thing you can do is just test it yourself to get a feeling for how things work.
Using that setting in-game will still change the quality of the feature and change framerates per the setting you select, modded or not. All I mean with the SSAO thing is that, if you disable it - it'll also stop RTAO from working too, so ensure SSAO is still enabled in the regular graphics settings (if it was set to anything besides "Off" when you enable RT, then you shouldn't have to worry about it, it'll be on).
Want non-RT ambient occlusion? Disable RT and set your quality level for SSAO. Want RTAO? Enable RT and also make sure SSAO is still enabled, don't turn it off or no ambient occlusion will be on at all.
39 comments
If you check the changelogs you may notice frequent updates and sometimes fixing the same thing. This is because the process of making this mod has been messy on my end because I didn't organise it at all and made it primarily for myself, so I apologise if you see bursts of updates at times! I'm trying to improve on that, but it's a bit slow.
Please do read the page before commenting, it'll likely save both my time and yours.
Additional Visual Options for ELDEN RING NIGHTREIGN:
https://www.nexusmods.com/eldenringnightreign/mods/61
Regarding compatibility with other mods:
If another mod affects the same files (primarily systemparam.parambnd.dcx), it'll be incompatible. If said mod provides .csv files, it may be possible to merge the other mod(s). I will consider providing .csv files in the future so you can do this yourself.
If it's a large scale content mod such as "The Convergence" or "ERR - ELDEN RING Reforged", etc., I cannot do this as I simply don't know how to do so without affecting other things. If you want to make <file here> compatible with something and require the .csv files, you can contact me in DM here and I'll try to provide the files.
To Do List:
I would like to ask: can the draw distance / LoD be improved? (even if it's just for game objects and not enemies? or perhaps for both?)
Additionally, can the textures quality be further improved without having to rework the assets? Or is the in-game texture option already using the best possible choice the game can offer?
Thank you very much.
As for texture quality, consider this mod: Texture Improvement
Some of the textures in this are meant to be higher resolution variants of the vanilla texture found in the game files, so may be what you want.
Elden Ring Ultrawide Fix at Elden Ring Nexus - Mods and Community
Elden Ring Automatic FPS Unlocker at Elden Ring Nexus - Mods and Community
I am unfortunately not quite sure how to combine these with your mod.
I think I know how to share CSV files now, so if that's required, maybe that'd help. Maybe not!
There is an issue with RTAO where in some areas and circumstances it appears much darker than it probably should, and is otherwise just a very intense effect. Is there any chance a config could be made that reduces the darkness/intensity of RTAO or otherwise tweak specific parameters of it?
Or if not a config, could you please share any knowledge you have on the subject/what I should change in Smithbox to tweak RTAO's look?
Regardless of whether you are able to help, thank you so very much Lindon!
I took a quick look, messing with the RayTracing AO Offset setting value in the mapbase.gparam.dcx file seems to be a way to reduce intensity. I'm not sure if this breaks anything though. If you wanna mess around with it yourself, use WitchyBND or Smithbox's Gparam Editor. I don't use Smithbox for gparam editing personally, so I could be wrong about how to do it in Smithbox but:
Search for "mapbase" in the Gparam Editor, click on the "mapbase" result and then under the Groups tab, find and click on the RayTracing ParamEditor option and you'll see the options you can edit.
To start, try changing RayTracing AO Offset from 0 to 0.15 or so (going into negatives results in broken RTAO) and see how you feel about the intensity of the RTAO. Then slowly increment up or down until you get a look you like. As I say, I don't know if doing this actually breaks the effect at in some way or if it interacts oddly with certain environments, but it seems to be a promising start for intensity altering. Give it a try and let me know.
also creating a program to allow us to make out presets would be awesome
I don't know how to create a program for this, sorry.
As for the crash, I tested it out with the Beyond Maximum file and found that it's Shadow Quality when set to Maximum causing the crash. Setting the quality to High or lower/deleting the mod results in no crashing.
Edit: fixed in more recent versions of the mod
Try setting DLAA to use Preset F and it'll help a little bit with the shimmering/noise. Not sure if AMD/Intel users have an equivalent setup they could use with their upscaling options.
If you want RTAO only with the experimental SSR, download the RTAO file you'd like as well as the Experimental Changes file and they should both work if installed at the same time, the SSR is primarily done with different files so it shouldn't conflict.
I am trying to get it "merged" with "Darker Nights" and if its just the SSR values that change, maybe I can. But to be honest, I'm flying blind here. No idea what's actually going on under the hood. Just trying to change values and somehow get an hybrid mod working...
Thanks in advance!
I believe "mapbase.gparam.dcx.xml" would be the one you'd want to edit first, as I believe that's the one that does most of the work regarding the SSR changes - the other files included in this mod just happened to have the SSR parameters in them too, so I made the changes.
The main SSR parameter that changes the look to the "experimental" one in this mod is "SSR Display Mip Scale", just change the <value id="0" timeOfDay="0">1</value> text below it to <value id="0" timeOfDay="0">0</value> and ignore the "Mip Offset" stuff (it's not useful for this and if configured wrongly it'll break SSR altogether)
I did also change the "SSR Ray Trace Step Scale Min" and "SSR Ray Trace Step Scale Min" values to "0.5" and maybe the "SSR Tex Blur Sigma" parameter value to "0" for every file I believe, but I'm not sure if any of that does anything and is just part of the experimentation for the time being.
I "merged" them by doing the changes you suggested on the matching Drawparam files between mods and just pasted yours for all the other files. I am seeing definite changes.
Would you like for me to do some development work and test some value changes? I don't have a great eye for subtle graphical changes but I can try.
Oh! And its also working with your Ray traced Ambient Occlusion mod. Its very good! I'm also using the LOD draw distance mod so it its like the game is half a gaming generation upgraded.
Now, if I can somehow merge the "Force Dynamic Shadows [Reborn?]" too, I can get the bestest, most GPU destroying graphical overhaul before getting into 4k textures!!
As for Force Dynamic Shadows Reborn, while not a merge, you can get the majority of the benefits by just using the files from the sfx folder in that mod and ignoring the other files. I'd even recommend it more because it's more stable and visually consistent.
Thank you LindonKlayz. You've been a great help!
I apologize profusely for this, but I'm getting in the weed with this modding stuff and I just have a basic question about your mod:
- In game options > RTX off, or Min, Med, Max?
If I'm understanding correctly though, for Beyond Maximum it's like so:
"Maximum" -> improved quality over vanilla's Maximum setting
"High" -> Same as unmodded Maximum quality
"Medium" -> Same as unmodded "High" quality
"Low" -> same as unmodded "Medium" settings
"Off" -> RT is disabled, as expected
The vanilla Low setting values are removed entirely. I'd recommend High/Medium for normal gameplay with the mod installed (there isn't much of a visual difference between the two)
- with Ray Traced Ambient Occlusion, which menu Raytracing option should I use?
Thanks again, you are the best!
Yeah, just use the Ray Tracing option in game. Keep the SSAO option enabled though, if you disable that setting, it'll stop RTAO from working even if RT is enabled. Just how it is, even in vanilla.
I am actually trying to figure out why suddenly the "Darker Nights" mod stopped working, when the XML files still have the changes for the time of day... I really need to wrap my head around the changes being made. Just changing values around isn't cutting it for me.
If I have any insights, I'll share them with you, with everyone.
Using that setting in-game will still change the quality of the feature and change framerates per the setting you select, modded or not. All I mean with the SSAO thing is that, if you disable it - it'll also stop RTAO from working too, so ensure SSAO is still enabled in the regular graphics settings (if it was set to anything besides "Off" when you enable RT, then you shouldn't have to worry about it, it'll be on).
Want non-RT ambient occlusion? Disable RT and set your quality level for SSAO. Want RTAO? Enable RT and also make sure SSAO is still enabled, don't turn it off or no ambient occlusion will be on at all.