I have been criticised for suggesting ENB detailed shadows should be turned off. Please see screenshot number 3 of the posted images for this guide. There it shows the problem I had with detailed shadows, and thus why I suggested they be turned off. Shadows should not appear suspended in the air between the object and the ground - but that is what ENB detailed shadows was causing. (It may have been fixed in later versions of ENB).
Also notice that none of my critics responded to the issue I had with detailed shadows, nor even acknowledged the problem when I provided them with evidence.
After applying the steps of my guide, including turning off detailed shadows, your shadows will probably look fine without detailed shadows being turned on. But if ENB's detailed shadows doesnt have that glitch for you, then sure go ahead and enable it.
I acknowledge that you will probably need to do some adjustments based upon your own PC and desired performance. Shadows are notorious performance killers. Please try my settings first. If you need to increase performance, reduce shadow resolution and draw distance incrementally.
Your guide has absolutely no indication of which section/group of the ini files the settings were meant to be added. I say added because not one of the mentioned settings were even in the ini files at all.
I always hated ENBs, they make games look kiddish, witty and whatever you wanna call it and for some reason it takes a HUGE toll on my Skyrim performance and by all means..my PC is not a low end, not by a long shot.
So..I have found a different way to get rid of the "shadow glow" and keep your vanilla AA, FXAA and have decent shadows (much more detailed, but still better than those with ENB IMHO)
For those like myself who hate and/or have performance issues with ENB just edit these lines in skyrimprefs.ini :
and as I said, you can still keep your AAs: iMultiSample=8 bFXAAEnabled=1
But be careful..if you start Skyrim launcher it will change your .ini file and you'll have to edit it again (if you haven't set it to read-only already)
EDIT: Unfortunately after more testing I realized that reducing iBlurDeferredShadowMask also adds to the "z-fighting" fugly effect.
After smoothing out the UGLY pixelated vanilla shadow borders with iBlurDeferredShadowMask=30 i got…this halo effect. Lets hope your guide can help. Anyway thanks
Hey - Just wanted to say thanks for this. I get this problem in New Vegas as well and always thought it was my monitor, which in retrospect didn't make any sense.
After applying the first stage of fixes I found that I had super blocky shadows (like minecraft level blocky - not joking). I'm not sure what I did to get the ultimate fix but I found in the Skyrim Prefs ini there are shadow resolution settings (multiple entries) and mine were all set to 1024, I increased them to 4096 instead. In addition I did a bunch of tweaking using the in-game ENB menu - for example shadow filter by default is set to low. You have to hit the save button and then apply.
Now my shadows look totally smooth and I have no stupid glow so thanks again.
Hey, I've tried this fix - though the aura is gone I still get pixelated shadows and these weird dotted shadows on NPCs. I do not think I have the latest ENB - using 262.
Helpful tip: If you are having the shadow aura glow around certain things (most notably ApachiiSkyHair), optimize your textures with SMCO and the problem should be fixed.
can you tell me what version of enb to use I haven't ever done anything like this and all the versions seem to do something different http://enbdev.com/download_mod_tesskyrim.htm and the link you posted has no option to download anywhere
The version depends entirely on the ENB Preset you're using. If you're going to be making your own personal custom preset, then I highly recommend you use the latest version of the ENB binaries from the website you referenced. There is zero advantage to using outdated binaries. You should also ask yourself why a specific ENB preset doesnt use the most current binaries as well.
The download links are at the bottom left of that page, with the same color text as the rest of the page. They are not underlined either. Use the latest version (v0.266).
The ENB software is different from the presets. The presets tweak the ENB software's settings.
For best performance don't use ENB to enhance the look, but rather use only the performance boost settings. I posted links to tutorials and guides for using ENB for performance boost in the description.
I hope that helps.
If you have any other problems please ask, but I dont check here very often sorry.
Update: I should have mentioned that UsePatchSpeedhackWithoutGraphics=false needs to be set in the enblocal.ini. ENB can be used both as a performance booster AND as a graphics tweaker/modifier. The performance boost (increased ram utilisation) is nice, and we need the graphics tweaks to improve shadow quality after applying the basic settings in Fallout 4's original ini files.
Your glow looks quite blurry, and the edges of shadows are dithered (cross-hatched look to them). Its been a while since i even played skyrim so i cant recall what to do to correct that. but i think youve tried to follow my guide, but keep your own settings in other ways. If you want to experiment with some different settings its cool with me, and if you get better results id be glad to hear them... but where your personal settings deviate from mine seems to be whats causing the issue.
For a start, the iBlurDeferredShadowMask=0 needs to be iBlurDeferredShadowMask=1
Everything else in your skyrimprefs.ini seems okay, and tweaking the shadow settings is a matter of personal preference and your computer's level of hardware.
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Also notice that none of my critics responded to the issue I had with detailed shadows, nor even acknowledged the problem when I provided them with evidence.
After applying the steps of my guide, including turning off detailed shadows, your shadows will probably look fine without detailed shadows being turned on. But if ENB's detailed shadows doesnt have that glitch for you, then sure go ahead and enable it.
I acknowledge that you will probably need to do some adjustments based upon your own PC and desired performance. Shadows are notorious performance killers. Please try my settings first. If you need to increase performance, reduce shadow resolution and draw distance incrementally.
So..I have found a different way to get rid of the "shadow glow" and keep your vanilla AA, FXAA and have decent shadows (much more detailed, but still better than those with ENB IMHO)
For those like myself who hate and/or have performance issues with ENB just edit these lines in skyrimprefs.ini :
iBlurDeferredShadowMask=0
iShadowMapResolutionSecondary=8192
iShadowMapResolutionPrimary=8192
iShadowMapResolution=8192
and as I said, you can still keep your AAs:
iMultiSample=8
bFXAAEnabled=1
But be careful..if you start Skyrim launcher it will change your .ini file and you'll have to edit it again (if you haven't set it to read-only already)
EDIT: Unfortunately after more testing I realized that reducing iBlurDeferredShadowMask also adds to the "z-fighting" fugly effect.
iBlurDeferredShadowMask=30
i got…this halo effect.
Lets hope your guide can help. Anyway thanks
After applying the first stage of fixes I found that I had super blocky shadows (like minecraft level blocky - not joking). I'm not sure what I did to get the ultimate fix but I found in the Skyrim Prefs ini there are shadow resolution settings (multiple entries) and mine were all set to 1024, I increased them to 4096 instead. In addition I did a bunch of tweaking using the in-game ENB menu - for example shadow filter by default is set to low. You have to hit the save button and then apply.
Now my shadows look totally smooth and I have no stupid glow so thanks again.
(Don't optimize meshes though, that's unsafe.)
I haven't ever done anything like this and all the versions seem to do something different
http://enbdev.com/download_mod_tesskyrim.htm
and the link you posted has no option to download anywhere
The ENB software is different from the presets. The presets tweak the ENB software's settings.
For best performance don't use ENB to enhance the look, but rather use only the performance boost settings. I posted links to tutorials and guides for using ENB for performance boost in the description.
I hope that helps.
If you have any other problems please ask, but I dont check here very often sorry.
Update: I should have mentioned that UsePatchSpeedhackWithoutGraphics=false needs to be set in the enblocal.ini. ENB can be used both as a performance booster AND as a graphics tweaker/modifier. The performance boost (increased ram utilisation) is nice, and we need the graphics tweaks to improve shadow quality after applying the basic settings in Fallout 4's original ini files.
Here's my prefs.ini: http://pastebin.com/G1YAHGXu
Here's an image: http://i.imgur.com/nPcFVHF.jpg
I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I would really appreciate it if you could help me fix this.
For a start, the iBlurDeferredShadowMask=0 needs to be iBlurDeferredShadowMask=1
Everything else in your skyrimprefs.ini seems okay, and tweaking the shadow settings is a matter of personal preference and your computer's level of hardware.
Second, are you using ENB?