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About this mod
Aims to be the ultimate performance friendly visual overhaul for Skyrim SE
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Skyrim can now look amazing without the massive performance hit of an ENB!
*I have halted progress on mod for time being as I have medical expenses that need to be taken care of; ie. have to spend my time trying to make money instead of modding. This mod will still work and always should work unless stated otherwise, so it's still perfectly fine to use. Hopefully I'll be able to work on it further soon....
Very performance friendly way to give Skyrim a major visual facelift and just as easy, if not easier to set up than an ENB.
To be used with vanilla, or any combination of mods. Save compatible, remove or install any number of times at any point. Can even be used with an ENB. Either simultaneously (for the shading effects of this combined with ENB) or you could use both for different settings. Outside where the ENBs really struggle performance wise you could use this (just set the hotkey as described below) and you could hotkey the ENB (Shift-F12) for inside where you don't need as much performance (either leaving this enabled or disabled). Although I have come to prefer this all by itself for interiors as well! (And others I shared it with have said this too, which is quite encouraging)
Hopefully it gets rid of your stuttering as well, it certainly did mine.
Guaranteed satisfaction (more than without it or without an ENB) or your money back....oh wait, it's free!
Summary:
I was tired of losing so much performance to ENBs, even the lightest of them. So I started getting heavy into different shaders. Most of what I found was either too bright, too dark or I just didn't like the colors/effects. So I took it upon myself to create something I would want to play. This started for personal use, but I put so much time into making/fine tuning it I figured it would be nice to share and even improve upon as I know there are many looking for a performance friendly alternative to ENBs.
It aims to be semi-realistic with a touch of fantasy.
(I wanted to portray Skyrim realistically, as a cold and hard northern province of Tamriel)
Whereas I would get 40FPS or so before(and terrible dips/stutters) with an ENB I now get a stable 60FPS with this, and find that it does about 90% or more of what I enjoy from ENBs. I can never go back to vanilla without an ENB or this....
Instructions:
First, I highly recommend using mods like ELFX and a weather mod (I am using Cathedrals). Also, I made a torch mod that was designed for use with this
Torches Revamped:
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/46801
*Though none are necessary for this to still be a BIG improvement.
MAKE CERTAIN YOU HAVE NO PREVIOUS RESHADE FILES/FOLDERS IN YOUR GAME FOLDER
If you haven't used any kind of reshade before, or downloaded some modlist, you won't so don't worry
The reshade setup .exe will also check to see and give the option to uninstall if you do
I. Download reshade from https://reshade.me/
II. Place the file anywhere you'd like (in your main Skyrim folder is fine) then run the "ReShade_Setup_4.9.1.exe
III. Find Skyrim in the list or click browse and Select SkyrimSE folder (Not the launcher/SKSE64)
IV. Select the option for Direct 10,11,12 (clicking it will do)
-An option box will come up; tick (as a filled in box, not a check) sweetfx, color effects by prod80, qUINT by Marty McFly and Legacy standard effects and ok. -For sweetfx, color effects and qUINT make sure all options are selected and click ok.
-For legacy effects ONLY tick Adaptive Sharpen, Ambient Light, Clarity, Colorfulness, Curves, FakeHDR, Vibrance, and Vignette as well as FXAA, LUT, SMAA.
(The bold ones are most important)
VI. Move ENB_alternative.ini (downloaded from here) into the main game folder (Skyrim Special Edition)
VII. Start the game and press the Home key, and click skip tutorial (Use whatever launcher you normally use whether that's steam or skse64_launcher, or in MO2)
VIII. Click the drop down menu at top (where it says Reshade Preset) and select ENB_alternative.ini and hit select.
- In the dx11 tab you may have to click the correct depth buffer for mxao to work, it should look like this and it should be your games resolution. You will know when you have the right one ticked (it won't have all the crazy issues)
Now you should be good to go.
IX. *OPTIONAL* (Too Bright of Skies for your taste?) In game press the Home key and in the panel disable (un-tick) the FakeHDR.fx if you don't want the brighter skies and slightly darker environment. This is sort of a trade off, I think it makes the environment (landscape etc..) look better however when sunny can make the clouds/sky a bit too bright. This is preference, it will still look MUCH better with it on or off.
Alternatively (instead of the above after IX.) To have less brightness in the sky, You can disable pd80_02_Bonus_LUT_pack.fx in the left panel instead of FakeHDR.fx. (May have to scroll down to find) This will not decrease the brightness in the sky quite as much as the above, however it will a fair amount. The trade off here is that the color scheme at others times of day will make it so that land that is far away may not blend in quite as well as the land you can see that is somewhat closer. I also really like the lighting that this adds so I play with it, and spent quite a bit of time tweaking this to hit a relative sweet spot.
If you still have poor performance, which would amaze me, try this:
*Optional* In the Settings tab switch the Usage Mode from Configuration Mode to Performance Mode. May help a bit, but not guaranteed.
Cool Feature:
Press Home key and go to settings. You'll see on the top a section about enabling effect. Click that and set a key of your choosing (I use - on numpad) and now when you press that key it will toggle on/off. This way you can really see the difference it makes. (A good way to see if you want the FakeHDR.fx as well, you'll see what I mean by the trade off between brighter skies, or better landscapes)
Updating:
Just download the new file and replace the previously downloaded one in your main game folder (Skyrim se). No need to delete the other files/folders from ReShade setup (UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE!!!)
Addendum:
I will likely be tweaking/reworking this for a while and will also be releasing different versions, so check back in sometime.
Open to suggestions/thoughts/questions so feel free to do so.
*If you like it, please do endorse it. Or help a broke semi-homeless nomad out and donate if you feel so inclined. Help me help you? Most importantly, just enjoy.
*I have halted progress on mod for time being as I have medical expenses that need to be taken care of; ie. have to spend my time trying to make money instead of modding. This mod will still work and always should work unless stated otherwise, so it's still perfectly fine to use. Hopefully I'll be able to work on it further soon....
Very performance friendly way to give Skyrim a major visual facelift and just as easy, if not easier to set up than an ENB.
To be used with vanilla, or any combination of mods. Save compatible, remove or install any number of times at any point. Can even be used with an ENB. Either simultaneously (for the shading effects of this combined with ENB) or you could use both for different settings. Outside where the ENBs really struggle performance wise you could use this (just set the hotkey as described below) and you could hotkey the ENB (Shift-F12) for inside where you don't need as much performance (either leaving this enabled or disabled). Although I have come to prefer this all by itself for interiors as well! (And others I shared it with have said this too, which is quite encouraging)
Hopefully it gets rid of your stuttering as well, it certainly did mine.
Guaranteed satisfaction (more than without it or without an ENB) or your money back....oh wait, it's free!
Summary:
I was tired of losing so much performance to ENBs, even the lightest of them. So I started getting heavy into different shaders. Most of what I found was either too bright, too dark or I just didn't like the colors/effects. So I took it upon myself to create something I would want to play. This started for personal use, but I put so much time into making/fine tuning it I figured it would be nice to share and even improve upon as I know there are many looking for a performance friendly alternative to ENBs.
It aims to be semi-realistic with a touch of fantasy.
(I wanted to portray Skyrim realistically, as a cold and hard northern province of Tamriel)
Whereas I would get 40FPS or so before(and terrible dips/stutters) with an ENB I now get a stable 60FPS with this, and find that it does about 90% or more of what I enjoy from ENBs. I can never go back to vanilla without an ENB or this....
Instructions:
First, I highly recommend using mods like ELFX and a weather mod (I am using Cathedrals). Also, I made a torch mod that was designed for use with this
Torches Revamped:
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/46801
*Though none are necessary for this to still be a BIG improvement.
If you haven't used any kind of reshade before, or downloaded some modlist, you won't so don't worry
The reshade setup .exe will also check to see and give the option to uninstall if you do
It's also probably a good idea to get rid of any ENB files you have as they can still affect your game performance without being enabled. Unless of course you want to use both (read the top of this page as to why you might possibly want to.
I. Download reshade from https://reshade.me/
II. Place the file anywhere you'd like (in your main Skyrim folder is fine) then run the "ReShade_Setup_4.9.1.exe
III. Find Skyrim in the list or click browse and Select SkyrimSE folder (Not the launcher/SKSE64)
IV. Select the option for Direct 10,11,12 (clicking it will do)
-An option box will come up; tick (as a filled in box, not a check) sweetfx, color effects by prod80, qUINT by Marty McFly and Legacy standard effects and ok. -For sweetfx, color effects and qUINT make sure all options are selected and click ok.
-For legacy effects ONLY tick Adaptive Sharpen, Ambient Light, Clarity, Colorfulness, Curves, FakeHDR, Vibrance, and Vignette as well as FXAA, LUT, SMAA.
(The bold ones are most important)
VI. Move ENB_alternative.ini (downloaded from here) into the main game folder (Skyrim Special Edition)
VII. Start the game and press the Home key, and click skip tutorial (Use whatever launcher you normally use whether that's steam or skse64_launcher, or in MO2)
VIII. Click the drop down menu at top (where it says Reshade Preset) and select ENB_alternative.ini and hit select.
- In the dx11 tab you may have to click the correct depth buffer for mxao to work, it should look like this and it should be your games resolution. You will know when you have the right one ticked (it won't have all the crazy issues)
Now you should be good to go.
IX. *OPTIONAL* (Too Bright of Skies for your taste?) In game press the Home key and in the panel disable (un-tick) the FakeHDR.fx if you don't want the brighter skies and slightly darker environment. This is sort of a trade off, I think it makes the environment (landscape etc..) look better however when sunny can make the clouds/sky a bit too bright. This is preference, it will still look MUCH better with it on or off.
Alternatively (instead of the above after IX.) To have less brightness in the sky, You can disable pd80_02_Bonus_LUT_pack.fx in the left panel instead of FakeHDR.fx. (May have to scroll down to find) This will not decrease the brightness in the sky quite as much as the above, however it will a fair amount. The trade off here is that the color scheme at others times of day will make it so that land that is far away may not blend in quite as well as the land you can see that is somewhat closer. I also really like the lighting that this adds so I play with it, and spent quite a bit of time tweaking this to hit a relative sweet spot.
If you still have poor performance, which would amaze me, try this:
*Optional* In the Settings tab switch the Usage Mode from Configuration Mode to Performance Mode. May help a bit, but not guaranteed.
Cool Feature:
Press Home key and go to settings. You'll see on the top a section about enabling effect. Click that and set a key of your choosing (I use - on numpad) and now when you press that key it will toggle on/off. This way you can really see the difference it makes. (A good way to see if you want the FakeHDR.fx as well, you'll see what I mean by the trade off between brighter skies, or better landscapes)
Updating:
Just download the new file and replace the previously downloaded one in your main game folder (Skyrim se). No need to delete the other files/folders from ReShade setup (UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE!!!)
Addendum:
I will likely be tweaking/reworking this for a while and will also be releasing different versions, so check back in sometime.
Open to suggestions/thoughts/questions so feel free to do so.
*If you like it, please do endorse it. Or help a broke semi-homeless nomad out and donate if you feel so inclined. Help me help you? Most importantly, just enjoy.