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************************************REALISTIC LIGHTING OVERHAUL**************************************
**********************************************4.0.0**************************************************
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****************************************Included Features********************************************
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Realistic Lighting Overhaul is much more than a lighting mod, it is a complete overhaul of the games
lighting system and it does it's changes without scripts or post processing. Some lighting mods take
shortcuts and use an ENB mod to deliver global changes to lighting, but it does not fix numerous issues
with the engine that is directly involved with the shader package and light settings/placements that
originally come with the game.


While this mod does not use post processing or scripts, it is actually ENB friendly and it is suggested
to use an ENB profile with this mod to improve shadow quality - something that is a dire pitfal of the
Creation Engine.

Here is a list of all the features included in the mod - which are currently released.


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Complete Lighting Overhaul

Realistic Lighting Overhaul does just that - it literally overhauls Skyrims lighting, and it aims to do it well.
RLO comes with dozens of mods, all rolled into one.

This mod attempts to completely overhaul the lighting system but do everything within the limitations of
the game engine, while not trying to go overboard and create annoyances for the user. We do not want to
totally revamp interiors with new meshes, we do not want to write pages of code via post processing or cause your game to lag.

The aim of this mod is to basically feel as though the Skyrim was ALWAYS released in this manner, and
deliver lore friendly lighting which seamlessly integrates with the game, while fixing bugs for the
end user - not creating them. Over 10,000 lights have been edited, lighting templates, fog settings,
light placements, weather templates, bug fixes, imagespaces, saturation levels, eye adaptation, and a
whole host more. Our biggest aim is to give this mod balanced lighting, with a strong focus on
ambient lighting - while removing the high fantasy feeling of the game graphics and giving it more
of a realistic focus - without hindering game play.

Please find below our major features!


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Illuminated Spells

Quite simply, spells now cast light when equipped. It adds an added element of immersion.
Please use this esp at your own risk, because it may cause flickering or not always function correctly due to engine limitations.

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Unofficial Lighting Patch


There are dozens of mods released that fix all sorts of issues with dimming lights, mesh connection
problems, shadow striping, lighting template fog issues, flickering and a whole host more.
Every single esp in RLO is basically an Unofficial Lighting Patch. We fix issues that affect the
lighting and also include the wonderful Particle Patch by Mindflux. This means you will
no longer need shadow striping fixes mod, removed interior fog mods, mods that fix lighting placements,
missing lights and so forth.

More stability less bugs, more immersion, less hassles and less esp's to worry about.

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Realistic Eye Adapatation

There are a few mods out there that try to fix the very intrusive eye adaptation in vanilla Skyrim.
These mods tend to speed up the eye adaptation so fast that you literally never see its effects.
However this is not realistic at all. In real life it can take anywhere from 5 minutes to 1 hour for a
human to adapt to drastic lighting conditions and in some instances even hours.

So instead of speeding this process up, we actually made it so the process is so slow and gradual
that you may not notice it in game at all - but will notice via screen shots. We have included
two screenshots to show the gradual change in light intensity through eye adaptation. This means
that when you first walk into an interior from an exterior, your eyes may need to adjust to the darker
interiors. Things may seem over contrasted and dim at first but after a few minutes of gaming, your
character will naturally adjust to the new lighting without you even noticing. It is literally amazing
that you are now better at seeing in the dark, yet it happened on what now seems a subconscious level - like real life.

This is currently implemented in only LIVE releases : Major Cities Interiors.esp. This feature will
only work with our interiors and exteriors weathers. Other weather mods will work through a patch.
No patches confirmed at this stage.

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Shadow Striping Fix

As explained in the Unofficial Lighting Patch section, all the striping in the game has been fixed
and we have also nearly tripled the amount of shadow casting lights in the game and set the shadow
bias so this issue does not happen. If you do find any, please do report it - it is something very
easy to miss, considering there are over 10,000 edited lights in the mod.


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Adaptive Interiors

This is an ambitious and time consuming feature that changes the emittance settings of all lights,
windows and god rays of every interior/dungeon in the game. This allows for interiors to all have
the region day/night cycle and weather effects, including thunder and lightning.

However we have gone a step further and introduced realistic lights where ambient lighting matches
the exterior lighting. This means at approximately 9pm, god rays and ambient lights will virtually
vanish and return at sunrise. This is done by editing the games weather FX system and will require
a patch with any weather mod to be fully functional. At this stage a patch is in the works for
this to be 100% implemented with Climates of Tamriel, Vanilla weathers and our own 3.5 Weathers onwards.

At this stage we can safely say that Adaptive interiors is approximately 80% implemented across our
mod with only the weather patch component to be completed.

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Revamped Interior Fog

The CPU/GPU throttling fog which is in the game can be a very bad eyesore and frustrating for people using Ambient Occlusion.
It also adds a fake layer of grey to most interiors that takes away the natural beauty of the lighting.
We have now removed this from every interior in the game and will be present in every single esp we release.


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Leading Light design by Sydney666


One feature implemented in RLO is Leading Light. This means that every interior has a very specific
balance between ambient lighting (ie from the sun) and flame lighting (from flames!). This helps
lead the eye into transitions of lighting and does so in a soft and balanced manner. There will be no
jarring changes in brightness levels, saturation or overly dominant types of light.

Another feature of Leading Light is dungeon lighting which will "lead" the player into the right
direction if he or she were silly enough to venture into a dungeon without a torch. If you ever feel
disoriented, you will always have a friendly light to lead the way, but do not always trust it.

The leading light might walk you right into a trap!


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Lore Lighting


Currently a work in progress, Lore lighting will add more dead npc's, hundreds of texts to collect,
named torches, weaponized torches, offerings at graveyards, candles at graveyards, statues with new
lighting and much more.

This adds more immersion to the game, especially at night and gives a reason to all those torches you
find in dungeons or gives a story to those graves you see.

A small snippet of Lore Lighting has been included in our Major Cities Exteriors esp, so look out at graveyard
sites to see if you like it!


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Less Obvious light symmetry.

More spent candles, decreased symmerty in lighting - why should there always be two braziers ALWAYS lit on either side of a wall?
Candles will be different sizes, different sizes in horn lights and more! It is a subtle change that adds more realism to the game.


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Highly Modular Installation

Realistic Lighting Overhaul is basically compatible with nearly every mod out there because it is so modular in nature.
You can virtually pick whatever module you want and use it with other mods as long as they are modular in nature also.
This means this mod is compatible with the great CLimates of Tamriel weather mod, Frostfall, Minty's Lightning mod, all ENB's
and much much more. You are not forced into using anything if you do not want to.

The mod is even compatible with Dynavision, Imaginator and other weather mods. In fact, our interiors will adapt to other weather mods
if you should have the need to install our interiors with another weather mod. You will instantly see changes in brightness, saturation levels
hue, all according to the weather mod installed!

Be careful however to not blame RLO for any short comings another weather mod might have with FX settings and colours. Read our FAQ for more info.

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Unparalleled Support.


RLO will be supported long term and by people who have been professional support people. Feel free to
send the author questions or post on the RLO forums, people will respond and DO CARE. We want you to
have the best gaming experience possible. Also visit our FAQ and Troubleshooting sections before
asking questions! Thanks!!

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