Thanks so much for this patch and your others. Using UIL, ELFX, ELFX & UIL merge, your previs patch, and this one (and darker nights - all in the same order as in this sentence). Not only does lighting look excellent, nighttime more realistic, but performance has noticeably improved! Might step up from Luxor's 2k pack to his 4k pack now.
I am so grateful to be playing F4 for the very first time with all these truly incredible mods - my list on MO2 is at 164 and growing, will likely have to restart my playthrough but thankfully am only a ~3-4 hours into the game. Actually shocked the # of mods I've added mid playthrough hasn't broken my game, but I guess I've been judicious about only adding quality work.
I know F4 modding is no secret, but I'm a little shocked this scene isn't more universally known. I knew it was passionate but didn't know how high the quality was, and especially how active the scene still is, and with such smart and dedicated people improving on some admittedly sloppy earlier work. Planning on doing FNV next.
Oh, an actual question after all that rambling
- What about the interior fog rework add-on for ELFX, and its associated previs patch listed in this mod? (Load order and compat question)
So haven't really tested it myself, as fog never really bothered me, but keep hearing more and more about people for who it does. xD
Don't grab any of the patches from the first modpage you linked, but rather just grab the optional "ELFX - PreVis - patch" from the Fog Rework mod page itself. That one is made with my PreVis in mind.
As for load order, I'd run Fog Rework after ELFX, but before my PreVis. Then their PreVis Patch after my PreVis.
The more complicated part is running that patch before or after this patch. That will end up being a decision you'll have to take. Both will ways work without issues, but if you load this last, then a few cells will not get updated fog, and if you do it the other way around, those very same cells won't get the "brighter" treatment from this patch. So it's up to what you prefer.
Edit to add: Their main mod might actually conflict with some stuff changed in this eXoPatch as well. In that case just loading their two patches last might be what you end up preferring. As I said, haven't actually tested it myself yet :p
Didn't feel that off to me, but might have overlooked some position.
This patch though doesn't do heavy editing on that end, and more just tweaking it so that Night Vision works better, but without removing the dark feel. As well as a bunch of other stuff I suppose. xD
I liked the atmosphere of ELFX the most among numerous lighting mods but it was just too dark for me. You're a lifesaver BlackPlane was intentionally reverted to vanilla right?
Based on your screenshots, this is exactly what I need, especially since ENB darkens things even more. However, this isn't working for me and I don't know if there's something more I'm supposed to do or if the patch is incompatible with something else. I have this load after your PreVis patch, which loads after ELFX.
I took before-and-after screenshots while standing in a dark space in a warehouse in Goodneighbor. I then went into the main lobby of the Mass Fusion building and did the same, since I know that whole place is affected by ELFX. Everything is just as dark after installing the patches. Does this patch not cover all areas? In photos 2 and 3 on this page, the difference is almost undetectable too, but in 6-7 and 12-13, the difference is quite significant and I'm hoping I can replicate this.
Here's a GIF I made which showcases the struggle. The order is Vanilla, ENB, ELFX, ENB + ELFX
So the degree it affects some areas vary quite a bit. This is due to the underlying layout of the cells. For example locations that has a lot of sunlight during days will end up slightly brighter at night compared to before. However locations that was pitch dark, even during day, before would still be dark.
I also increased the base ambient slightly for all cells, but this is also very slightly. If you add too much you'll start seeing things glowing in a way they shouldn't.
The main goal with this patch was to make it so that Night Vision would work in interiors now, as that was the biggest struggled sneak inspired players had. Before NV would do nothing (as there was no base light to enhance) and thus they were forced to use flashlights to see anything, which would ruin the point of their build.
Thank you for replying. What you've done is great, but I understand the issue for me is that I need to choose between an ENB, ELFX or use both and run a flashlight constantly. As much as I love what ELFX does and as disappointing as it is to miss out on it, I think I prefer what the ENB does. I could simply disable it each time I go indoors, but it's kind of immersion-breaking to always be thinking about toggling things on and off. I tried increasing the ENB bloom and exposure settings for indoor environments, but simply cranking the brightness just makes the ENB look bad. In general, I think it dims indoor light sources too much.
The GIF should be okay now and hopefully won't expire so quickly with a different host. Both the ENB and ELFX are a great improvement over vanilla, but I can't have my cake and eat it too. If I ever switch to a more neutral ENB, I'll definitely pick up ELFX and your patch once again.
I tried, but I don't understand it enough to do it effectively. I tried increasing the exposure and bloom to get the brightness to match vanilla brightness and it just made the ENB look bad enough that it would have been better just to turn it off. I know there are a lot of people who like to make things super dark and run flashlights and nightvision, and would be glad to run this as-is with ELFX, but that's not my thing.
The ENB is Quantum Horizons, by the way, in case anyone sees these comments and is curious. But yeah, I would love to find an ENB that compliments vanilla as much as this one does, without making interiors too dark, but this is by far the best I've found.
Edit: I found a setting in the ENB which adjusts ambient light, and it effectively brightens the dark corners without messing with anything else. It seems I can use ELFX after all. The only downside is that vanilla is still the best way to truly appreciate the direct light sources provided by ELFX. Staring at a light bulb is relatively blinding in vanilla+ELFX, as it should be. The ENB drastically reduces the intensity of lights, but at least the lighting effects and overall interior brightness is there. It's still a compromise, but things are getting better.
Where did you find the setting that adjusts the Ambient Light in ENB exactly? I am having issues with too dark spots even when there's multiples light sources. This mod helped with not having blinding effect when staring at a light source, which is great, but didn't help with the dark spots sadly...
It may or may not differ depending which ENB preset you use - I use Quantum Horizons - but I found it under the ENBEFFECT.FX tab of the shaders menu, under AGIS.
Here's a screenshot:
Spoiler:
Show
I've only used whole numbers (2, 3 ,4) and I find that a setting of 3 comes very close to matching vanilla brightness. 4 is far too bright.
As far as light sources not being too blinding, I am actually hoping someone can tell me which settings affect that because I want I want the blinding ELFX lights while using ENB:
If you are using Quantum Horizons, there's actually another setting for brightness that I missed until just now, when I went back to the mod page and looked at the screenshots. This actually makes things a touch brighter than the manual adjustment I was doing. I'm not sure if it works by changing the same setting or if there's more to it than that. It's nice that there's also an option to make nights brighter. Combat at night has always been a bit annoying with ENB if enemies are out of range of my flashlight.
Thank you! it was not exactly the same setting, but I managed to find it eventually. I also found out the setting that was responsible for the light sources being too bright... or at least for me, I am using Reactor ENB preset, so it might differ for you. Anyway it was under ENABLELENS.FX, from there you can tweak the setting to your desire. Also Bloom affected it too. Adjusting the max/min bloom for Interior helped me fine the sweet spot.
Thanks I'll check it out. BTW, before I found the settings for interior brightness, I did adjust bloom a bit but found that not to be the best setting because it affected more than just brightness.
I found this response on the Reactor page from the mod author: "Open the ENB menu, go to enbeffect.fx in the shader window and increase / decrease the values of TM: Exposure Bias (Day, Night, Interior)."
Edit: I misread the first time and thought you said you adjusted bloom to make the game brighter. Nvm
Oh I see. Thank you for that. I'll try it. BTW, you should deffo try out Reactor. it's so good. I am using this combo: Reactor + NAC X (with The merged patch of NAC X and Reactor) + ELFX + UIF (and of course UIF and ELFX merged patch). it's just so dam good... however it does come with a significant performance hit... so keep that it mind. For me it was worth it to play on 45-60 FPS for the amazing visuals.
I like some colors of Reactor, especially for interiors, but found it to be too overexposed outdoors. I prefer Quantum Horizons. There's a great demonstration here. It's probably heavier than Reactor, actually. Been running it for a while and am sort of in the mood to try something different so maybe I'll try Reactor and see about tweaking the outdoor settings.
I see. Maybe bc I used bunch of other mods along side with Reactor that made it look so great for me. And yeah, you deffo need to tweak some setting till you find the sweet spot. For me Lens, Lens Distortion and Noise was a big no no. Had to also disable Godrays and DoF. Maybe I'll try out QHorzion for my next playthrough.
Haven't personally tested things, but had others report back that the ELFX/UIL Merged Patch was working for them for the PreVis Mod, and if that's the case it should work with this one too.
ELFX + Reactor ENB is the best combination for a lightning mod I've ever seen for Fallout 4, need a decent rig for it to run though or else I'm toasting my bread with it.
45 comments
I'm confused with all the patches
I tried to understand the logic. Does this load order seem ok to you?
01. PRP
02. ENBLightsHDRPatch.esp
03. UltraExteriorLighting.esp
04. UltraInteriorLighting.esp
05. UltraInteriorLighting_DarkerAmbience.esp
06. EnhancedLightsandFX.esp
07. ELFX_ENBLight_Patch.esp
08. ELFX-IFR.esp
09. PRP - patch.esp
10. UltraExteriorLighting_Previs_Patch.esp
11. UltraInteriorLighting_Previs_Patch.esp
12. ELFX-PreVis.esp
13. ELFX-PreVis - patch.esp
14. ELFX-eXoPatch.esp
15. DiamondCityExpension-eXoPatch.esp
16. DiamondCityExpension-PreVis.esp
17. LAT - PRP Update Patch.esp
Not sure what the LAT-PRP is, but would probably load that after PRP, but before elfx patches.
Okay, great. Thanks for the feedback.
So if I understand correctly, it should look like this:
01. PRP
02. LAT - PRP Update Patch.esp
03. ENBLightsHDRPatch.esp
04. UltraExteriorLighting.esp
05. UltraInteriorLighting.esp
06. UltraInteriorLighting_DarkerAmbience.esp
07. EnhancedLightsandFX.esp
08. ELFX_ENBLight_Patch.esp
09. ELFX-IFR.esp
10. PRP - patch.esp
11. UltraExteriorLighting_Previs_Patch.esp
12. UltraInteriorLighting_Previs_Patch.esp
13. DiamondCityExpension-eXoPatch.esp
14. DiamondCityExpension-PreVis.esp
15. ELFX-PreVis.esp
16. ELFX-PreVis - patch.esp
17. ELFX-eXoPatch.esp
I am so grateful to be playing F4 for the very first time with all these truly incredible mods - my list on MO2 is at 164 and growing, will likely have to restart my playthrough but thankfully am only a ~3-4 hours into the game. Actually shocked the # of mods I've added mid playthrough hasn't broken my game, but I guess I've been judicious about only adding quality work.
I know F4 modding is no secret, but I'm a little shocked this scene isn't more universally known. I knew it was passionate but didn't know how high the quality was, and especially how active the scene still is, and with such smart and dedicated people improving on some admittedly sloppy earlier work. Planning on doing FNV next.
Oh, an actual question after all that rambling
- What about the interior fog rework add-on for ELFX, and its associated previs patch listed in this mod? (Load order and compat question)
Thanks for this mod tho!!!
So haven't really tested it myself, as fog never really bothered me, but keep hearing more and more about people for who it does. xD
Don't grab any of the patches from the first modpage you linked, but rather just grab the optional "ELFX - PreVis - patch" from the Fog Rework mod page itself. That one is made with my PreVis in mind.
As for load order, I'd run Fog Rework after ELFX, but before my PreVis. Then their PreVis Patch after my PreVis.
The more complicated part is running that patch before or after this patch. That will end up being a decision you'll have to take. Both will ways work without issues, but if you load this last, then a few cells will not get updated fog, and if you do it the other way around, those very same cells won't get the "brighter" treatment from this patch. So it's up to what you prefer.
Edit to add: Their main mod might actually conflict with some stuff changed in this eXoPatch as well. In that case just loading their two patches last might be what you end up preferring. As I said, haven't actually tested it myself yet :p
This patch though doesn't do heavy editing on that end, and more just tweaking it so that Night Vision works better, but without removing the dark feel. As well as a bunch of other stuff I suppose. xD
BlackPlane was intentionally reverted to vanilla right?
However, this isn't working for me and I don't know if there's something more I'm supposed to do or if the patch is incompatible with something else. I have this load after your PreVis patch, which loads after ELFX.
I took before-and-after screenshots while standing in a dark space in a warehouse in Goodneighbor. I then went into the main lobby of the Mass Fusion building and did the same, since I know that whole place is affected by ELFX. Everything is just as dark after installing the patches.
Does this patch not cover all areas?
In photos 2 and 3 on this page, the difference is almost undetectable too, but in 6-7 and 12-13, the difference is quite significant and I'm hoping I can replicate this.
Here's a GIF I made which showcases the struggle. The order is Vanilla, ENB, ELFX, ENB + ELFX
For example locations that has a lot of sunlight during days will end up slightly brighter at night compared to before.
However locations that was pitch dark, even during day, before would still be dark.
I also increased the base ambient slightly for all cells, but this is also very slightly. If you add too much you'll start seeing things glowing in a way they shouldn't.
The main goal with this patch was to make it so that Night Vision would work in interiors now, as that was the biggest struggled sneak inspired players had. Before NV would do nothing (as there was no base light to enhance) and thus they were forced to use flashlights to see anything, which would ruin the point of their build.
Your screenshot/gif seems to be broken btw.
I tried increasing the ENB bloom and exposure settings for indoor environments, but simply cranking the brightness just makes the ENB look bad. In general, I think it dims indoor light sources too much.
The GIF should be okay now and hopefully won't expire so quickly with a different host.
Both the ENB and ELFX are a great improvement over vanilla, but I can't have my cake and eat it too.
If I ever switch to a more neutral ENB, I'll definitely pick up ELFX and your patch once again.
The ENB is Quantum Horizons, by the way, in case anyone sees these comments and is curious.
But yeah, I would love to find an ENB that compliments vanilla as much as this one does, without making interiors too dark, but this is by far the best I've found.
Edit: I found a setting in the ENB which adjusts ambient light, and it effectively brightens the dark corners without messing with anything else. It seems I can use ELFX after all. The only downside is that vanilla is still the best way to truly appreciate the direct light sources provided by ELFX. Staring at a light bulb is relatively blinding in vanilla+ELFX, as it should be. The ENB drastically reduces the intensity of lights, but at least the lighting effects and overall interior brightness is there. It's still a compromise, but things are getting better.
Here's a screenshot:
I've only used whole numbers (2, 3 ,4) and I find that a setting of 3 comes very close to matching vanilla brightness. 4 is far too bright.
As far as light sources not being too blinding, I am actually hoping someone can tell me which settings affect that because I want I want the blinding ELFX lights while using ENB:
I also found out the setting that was responsible for the light sources being too bright... or at least for me, I am using Reactor ENB preset, so it might differ for you. Anyway it was under ENABLELENS.FX, from there you can tweak the setting to your desire. Also Bloom affected it too. Adjusting the max/min bloom for Interior helped me fine the sweet spot.
I found this response on the Reactor page from the mod author: "Open the ENB menu, go to enbeffect.fx in the shader window and increase / decrease the values of TM: Exposure Bias (Day, Night, Interior)."
Edit: I misread the first time and thought you said you adjusted bloom to make the game brighter. Nvm
BTW, you should deffo try out Reactor. it's so good. I am using this combo:
Reactor + NAC X (with The merged patch of NAC X and Reactor) + ELFX + UIF (and of course UIF and ELFX merged patch).
it's just so dam good... however it does come with a significant performance hit... so keep that it mind. For me it was worth it to play on 45-60 FPS for the amazing visuals.
Maybe I'll try out QHorzion for my next playthrough.
But if you meant the ENB together with ELFX then you'd see a small difference I'd imagine.