Q: What other mods do you recommend using with this? A: On low or mid-end computers (or if you prefer to optimize FPS), use Azurite Weathers and this Reshade without an ENB. On high-end, the best-looking ENBs (IMO) are Rudy Obsidian and Rudy Cathedral (and their recommended prerequisite mods). For all ENBs, set EnableAmbientOcclusion=false, EnableSkylighting=false, and EnablePostPassShader=false in enbseries.ini, allowing Glamur to take over those effects. If you're using Rudy Cathedral (or just Cathedral Weathers), make sure to grab my patch from the Optional Files section. I also suggest Interior Floating Fog Remover to avoid seeing AO over fog indoors.
Q: Can this be used with Scenery ENB? A: To support it, I've uploaded a preset with more tailored settings in the Optional Files section - grab that and give it a try! (Scenery is pretty bloomy/foggy so AO is reduced a bit to avoid bugs; also I tweaked GI to improve image clarity)
Q: I see shadows on top of fog/menus, why is that? A: It's a limitation of Reshade. To mitigate things I've configured this to reduce the AO intensity in the distance (where fog is more likely to appear). This works best if the weather mod doesn't bring fog right up to your face. Azurite and Obsidian (with or without Rudy ENB) work well with this. Cathedral Weathers does bring the fog in closer but use my patch to fix that.
Q: How do I run this Reshade and ENB together? A: They don't directly conflict. Just copy this mod's files into your Skyrim directory, and copy over the ENB's files. This Reshade uses dxgi.dll to hook into the game, and ENB uses d3d11.dll
Q: How do I run this Reshade with Skyrim Upscaler VR - DLSS FSR2 XESS? (with or without ENB?) A: The dll files don't conflict at all so simply install them normally. In-game, press the End button to access the DLSS settings, and make sure to set the Upscale Depth for Reshade setting correctly. If you're using DLAA, turn Upscale Depth OFF. If you're using DLSS or one of the other upscalers, turn Upscale Depth ON. If you see a black box (or a box with a weird looking texture) in the middle of the screen - the fix is to turn Use TAA For Periphery off then on again in the DLSS settings.
Q: Can I use OpenComposite along with Reshade/ENB? A: Yes :) Make sure to install the LOCAL version of OpenComposite (i.e. replace the openvr_api.dll file).
Q: How do I tweak the Reshade's settings? A: Press the Home button while in the game. Uncheck the "Performance Mode" checkbox, then close and reopen the game, then press the Home button to open the menu again (and you should see the settings). Adjusting them should update the visuals in real time. Alternatively you can edit Glamur.ini (but that's not real-time). You can also press the Page Down button to enable/disable the Reshade.
Q: How do I adjust sharpening? A: Use the "Sharpen Strength" slider. Increase if the game is blurry or you don't mind artifacts. Decrease if it looks "grainy". SkyrimVR on default settings looks pretty "soft"/blurry but could look grainy if you disable TAA or have other sharpeners installed.
In addition to the sharpener in Glamayre, I've included a CAS shader in the zip, but kept it turned off by default (to me it looks like too much sharpening but that's subjective). You can turn it on if you want it.
Q: How do I get the game to look sharp and clear? A: Try my sharpening setup (I'm on a Quest 2, other devices may vary). In the Oculus app, set the resolution slider to the max. Install Skyrim Upscaler VR and use DLSS. I'm using the newest DLSS DLL at the time of this writing (2.5.1). Set DLSS to Balanced (or Quality if you can spare the FPS, but I didn't notice much of a difference). I have Glamur installed (with its default sharpening), and I turn off the DLSS sharpener.
I prefer a lighter sharpener, but you can sharpen more if you want (see the above Q&A)
Q: Can I update the Reshade DLL to the latest version? A: For compatibility reasons (specifically with OpenComposite), I use the unofficial fork of Reshade by fholger. If you don't need OpenComposite, it should be fine to download the latest official Reshade and use that version of dxgi.dll. (it does give you access to the config menu while in VR)
I no longer recommend using VRPerfKit - DLSS is a better solution. Here's some instructions I wrote in the past for VRPerfKit in case you need it: Q: How do I run this Reshade and VRPerfKit together? A: That's where it starts to get interesting. Both Reshade and VRPerfKit use dxgi.dll by default. However you can rename the dxgi.dll file from this mod to d3d11.dll before copying it into your Skyrim folder - that will avoid the conflict.
Q: That's clever, but then how do I use Reshade, ENB, and VRPerfKit together? A: A bit of time to setup, but trust me, it's worth it! ENB supports loading Reshade as a "proxy library". Instructions here. If you do this, pressing the Home button in the game will no longer open the Reshade menu (that's the one thing you lose). However the shader should still be applied to your game.
I tested it in Fallout 4 VR, and while the depth buffer in ReShade is working fine, the AO itself is placed wrong. When moving my head around, the AO looks as if i'm cross-eyed. What could be the issue? Is this fixable on my end, or does the shader need to be modified?
I tried to make a screenshot of the debug-preview, but with OpenXR in SteamVR, screenshots don't seem to work.
A few things for people who are confused with Reshade Effect Toggler use.
For ReShade Effect Toggler, you have to install ReShade with full add-on support version, not the regular version. It is completely a different DLL than the DLL you can get from the most of ReShade presets. You have to download the full add-on support version from the official website.
With the default settings of Reshade Effect Toggler, it still won't turn off the ReShade effects automatically in most cases. For example, you opening the inventory UI or the quest UI wouldn't turn of the shader effects because they were not configured to trigger the toggler by default. There are dozens or more of the menu items you have to set the conditions in order to make the feature actually functional.
It is still doable but I personally wouldn't bother to use ReShade Effect Toggler just to avoid AO effect in the menu.
Unfortunately this causes a lot of visual problems for me - not just with menus, but everywhere I look I see a "ghost tree" effect over my entire viewport, and it moves in a different worldspace to the actual trees which induces horrible nausea.
Cleaned my install with the ENB/Reshade manager. Tested on vanilla SVR with ENB VR .495 and Re-Engaged for Obsidian. Adding in Glamur causes the issue unless ENB is turned off. None of the internal ENB settings (in game menu) fix it. Removing Glamur fixes the issues and ENB works as expected.
An update to say I tried the Sharper Eye VR Reshade under the same conditions, and it didn't have the problem. Obviously not a commonly reported issue so it may just be a me issue - but odd that I'm getting it without having any mods besides ENB and Glamur Reshade loaded.
Did you have Dynamic Resolution turned on by any chance? That causes visual issues with this Reshade. If you switch between the low/medium/high presets in the VR Performance settings, then Dynamic Resolution will turn itself back on, that often trips up people.
Also if yoiu're using the Skyrim Upscaler, make sure to set the Upscale Depth for Reshade setting to the right value (more details in the pinned post). This might not be you given you didn't mention that mod, but it's another common problem that causes these glitches.
Thanks! This update was mainly to fix compatibility and prepare for the next update. You should now be able to install Reshade Toggler with this and no longer have AO in menus.
I’m playing around with Reshade Toggler whenever I have spare time and I think it will lead to v3.0 of the mod someday (finally eliminate AO over fog). It would also be interesting to try out bloom shaders (they’re pretty FPS-friendly).
And yes, GI shaders can definitely fake ray tracing. The way I think about it is: light bounces around a space. Ray Tracing physically models that phenomenon. However there are also many ways to approximate it (for performance reasons) and that’s where a GI shader comes in. A soft bloom shader like what ENB has also does this to some extent.
Yeah, there's definitely potential to make a Reshade preset tailored to Community Shaders. If Vanilla HDR gets a VR port that would also be useful. Not sure when I'll have time yet, but I do want to give it a try.
I isolated issues with FPS at certain locations, to name two - around the Abandoned Shack and looking out towards the windmill from the Solitude Blacksmith area...
It took a long while to determine it was RESHADE. No idea what's the cause.
First of all... awesome work! Only after trying this preset, I actually noticed what was missing visually in VR. And the sharpening works really well too.
However, the AO effect seems to be "layered" (I hope that makes sense) above everything else, leading to some funky visuals in menus, on the worldmap and in dark or foggy (as mentioned on the description page) areas for me:
I have similar issues as well. Being able to see dark outlines of objects through the menus I can ignore since I think this AO implementation was made for the default Sky UI rather than Dear Diary, but the seeing the outlines through fog is really distracting. Overall the implementation really enhances the experience otherwise. I wonder if anyone has been able to tune the settings in a way to where this is less noticeable.
I'm experiencing the same thing (using the FUS list)! I first noticed it in Bleak Falls Barrow, when dust would fall from the ceiling and the outlines of objects under the dust would still be visible. Loving Glamur Reshade otherwise, hoping that there's a way to fix this!
(Speaking of dust, is there a way to make dust look less bright through Glamur as well?)
tl;dr it's a limitation of Reshade. If a game has Ambient Occlusion directly integrated in the engine, it'll draw the AO shadows first then draw fog on top of it so it blends properly. Reshade can only process the final image after the fog is already there, so it ends up drawing shadows over fog. (for menus or dust it's basically the same story)
There's some code in the shader that tries to detect menus and avoid rendering the shadows over it. I did some testing with it. Unfortunately it doesn't work in VR =/ (In this game the menu floats a short distance in front of you. Whereas in non-VR games it's at depth coordinate 0, in front of everything else, and that's how the shader detects it)
The shadows are less noticeable if the menu has a dark background (I was indeed testing with the default Sky UI when I originally made the shader). You could also try the dark mode version of Dear Diary (https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/60837)
As for fog/dust, there's a parameter to fade out the AO shadows in the distance (based on the guess that fog will be some distance away from the player). Nerfing that parameter too much will result in losing too much AO though, I tried to find a balance. The parameter name is ao_fog_fix in the ini if you want to play around with it.
There's also a mod to remove dust (https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/38196) as well as retextures that might make it darker.
Thanks so much for looking into it @rhellct! This is super helpful context.
Just to confirm, does the ao_fog_fix actually factor in fog/dust elements, or is it effectively setting a distance threshold beyond which AO should stop rendering?
Thanks again for all your amazing work, I've so enjoyed playing with Glamur so far!
All the AO fog fix does is set a distance, yeah. The idea would be to pair it with a weathers mod that doesn't draw fog closer than that max distance. (dust in interiors doesn't have a great solution though)
Thank you for the reply and explanation - I'll try if it's possible to find a sweet spot for the AO distance for my settings!
Oh and - as far as I can see, there's no VR version of the Dear Diary Dark Mode (I'd LOVE that) but tbh, it was a mere observation, it's not like the menu is not usable anymore with AO enabled :)
Hm seems I have to educate myself regarding ReShade then because right now, I have no idea whatsoever what all of that means XD Unless this gets incorporated into this preset of course... ;)
158 comments
Q: What other mods do you recommend using with this?
A: On low or mid-end computers (or if you prefer to optimize FPS), use Azurite Weathers and this Reshade without an ENB. On high-end, the best-looking ENBs (IMO) are Rudy Obsidian and Rudy Cathedral (and their recommended prerequisite mods). For all ENBs, set EnableAmbientOcclusion=false, EnableSkylighting=false, and EnablePostPassShader=false in enbseries.ini, allowing Glamur to take over those effects. If you're using Rudy Cathedral (or just Cathedral Weathers), make sure to grab my patch from the Optional Files section. I also suggest Interior Floating Fog Remover to avoid seeing AO over fog indoors.
Q: Can this be used with Scenery ENB?
A: To support it, I've uploaded a preset with more tailored settings in the Optional Files section - grab that and give it a try! (Scenery is pretty bloomy/foggy so AO is reduced a bit to avoid bugs; also I tweaked GI to improve image clarity)
Q: I see shadows on top of fog/menus, why is that?
A: It's a limitation of Reshade. To mitigate things I've configured this to reduce the AO intensity in the distance (where fog is more likely to appear). This works best if the weather mod doesn't bring fog right up to your face. Azurite and Obsidian (with or without Rudy ENB) work well with this. Cathedral Weathers does bring the fog in closer but use my patch to fix that.
Q: How do I run this Reshade and ENB together?
A: They don't directly conflict. Just copy this mod's files into your Skyrim directory, and copy over the ENB's files. This Reshade uses dxgi.dll to hook into the game, and ENB uses d3d11.dll
Q: How do I run this Reshade with Skyrim Upscaler VR - DLSS FSR2 XESS? (with or without ENB?)
A: The dll files don't conflict at all so simply install them normally. In-game, press the End button to access the DLSS settings, and make sure to set the Upscale Depth for Reshade setting correctly. If you're using DLAA, turn Upscale Depth OFF. If you're using DLSS or one of the other upscalers, turn Upscale Depth ON. If you see a black box (or a box with a weird looking texture) in the middle of the screen - the fix is to turn Use TAA For Periphery off then on again in the DLSS settings.
Q: Can I use OpenComposite along with Reshade/ENB?
A: Yes :) Make sure to install the LOCAL version of OpenComposite (i.e. replace the openvr_api.dll file).
Q: How do I tweak the Reshade's settings?
A: Press the Home button while in the game. Uncheck the "Performance Mode" checkbox, then close and reopen the game, then press the Home button to open the menu again (and you should see the settings). Adjusting them should update the visuals in real time. Alternatively you can edit Glamur.ini (but that's not real-time). You can also press the Page Down button to enable/disable the Reshade.
Q: How do I adjust sharpening?
A: Use the "Sharpen Strength" slider. Increase if the game is blurry or you don't mind artifacts. Decrease if it looks "grainy". SkyrimVR on default settings looks pretty "soft"/blurry but could look grainy if you disable TAA or have other sharpeners installed.
In addition to the sharpener in Glamayre, I've included a CAS shader in the zip, but kept it turned off by default (to me it looks like too much sharpening but that's subjective). You can turn it on if you want it.
Q: How do I get the game to look sharp and clear?
A: Try my sharpening setup (I'm on a Quest 2, other devices may vary). In the Oculus app, set the resolution slider to the max. Install Skyrim Upscaler VR and use DLSS. I'm using the newest DLSS DLL at the time of this writing (2.5.1). Set DLSS to Balanced (or Quality if you can spare the FPS, but I didn't notice much of a difference). I have Glamur installed (with its default sharpening), and I turn off the DLSS sharpener.
I prefer a lighter sharpener, but you can sharpen more if you want (see the above Q&A)
Q: Can I update the Reshade DLL to the latest version?
A: For compatibility reasons (specifically with OpenComposite), I use the unofficial fork of Reshade by fholger. If you don't need OpenComposite, it should be fine to download the latest official Reshade and use that version of dxgi.dll. (it does give you access to the config menu while in VR)
I no longer recommend using VRPerfKit - DLSS is a better solution. Here's some instructions I wrote in the past for VRPerfKit in case you need it:
Q: How do I run this Reshade and VRPerfKit together?
A: That's where it starts to get interesting. Both Reshade and VRPerfKit use dxgi.dll by default. However you can rename the dxgi.dll file from this mod to d3d11.dll before copying it into your Skyrim folder - that will avoid the conflict.
Q: That's clever, but then how do I use Reshade, ENB, and VRPerfKit together?
A: A bit of time to setup, but trust me, it's worth it! ENB supports loading Reshade as a "proxy library". Instructions here. If you do this, pressing the Home button in the game will no longer open the Reshade menu (that's the one thing you lose). However the shader should still be applied to your game.
I tried to make a screenshot of the debug-preview, but with OpenXR in SteamVR, screenshots don't seem to work.
It is still doable but I personally wouldn't bother to use ReShade Effect Toggler just to avoid AO effect in the menu.
Cleaned my install with the ENB/Reshade manager.
Tested on vanilla SVR with ENB VR .495 and Re-Engaged for Obsidian.
Adding in Glamur causes the issue unless ENB is turned off. None of the internal ENB settings (in game menu) fix it.
Removing Glamur fixes the issues and ENB works as expected.
https://pasteboard.co/zgTKj7wvYOlu.png
Obviously not a commonly reported issue so it may just be a me issue - but odd that I'm getting it without having any mods besides ENB and Glamur Reshade loaded.
Also if yoiu're using the Skyrim Upscaler, make sure to set the Upscale Depth for Reshade setting to the right value (more details in the pinned post). This might not be you given you didn't mention that mod, but it's another common problem that causes these glitches.
Same issue as you. It's this mod specifically, even with DR turned off and no other mods.
Before Reshade Toggler it probably made UI unusable. Now there is no limit.
I’m playing around with Reshade Toggler whenever I have spare time and I think it will lead to v3.0 of the mod someday (finally eliminate AO over fog). It would also be interesting to try out bloom shaders (they’re pretty FPS-friendly).
And yes, GI shaders can definitely fake ray tracing. The way I think about it is: light bounces around a space. Ray Tracing physically models that phenomenon. However there are also many ways to approximate it (for performance reasons) and that’s where a GI shader comes in. A soft bloom shader like what ENB has also does this to some extent.
Would love to see a heavier reshade from you:
https://reddit.com/r/skyrimvr_unrestricted/s/hi83MmkQKA
Yeah, there's definitely potential to make a Reshade preset tailored to Community Shaders. If Vanilla HDR gets a VR port that would also be useful. Not sure when I'll have time yet, but I do want to give it a try.
It took a long while to determine it was RESHADE. No idea what's the cause.
Deactivation of RESHADE and it goes.
However, the AO effect seems to be "layered" (I hope that makes sense) above everything else, leading to some funky visuals in menus, on the worldmap and in dark or foggy (as mentioned on the description page) areas for me:
https://imgur.com/a/sYYsvWl
I am absolutely clueless in terms of ReShade INI settings, so if there's anything I'm missing, any pointers on where to start would be appreciated.
(Speaking of dust, is there a way to make dust look less bright through Glamur as well?)
Example image
tl;dr it's a limitation of Reshade. If a game has Ambient Occlusion directly integrated in the engine, it'll draw the AO shadows first then draw fog on top of it so it blends properly. Reshade can only process the final image after the fog is already there, so it ends up drawing shadows over fog. (for menus or dust it's basically the same story)
There's some code in the shader that tries to detect menus and avoid rendering the shadows over it. I did some testing with it. Unfortunately it doesn't work in VR =/ (In this game the menu floats a short distance in front of you. Whereas in non-VR games it's at depth coordinate 0, in front of everything else, and that's how the shader detects it)
The shadows are less noticeable if the menu has a dark background (I was indeed testing with the default Sky UI when I originally made the shader). You could also try the dark mode version of Dear Diary (https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/60837)
As for fog/dust, there's a parameter to fade out the AO shadows in the distance (based on the guess that fog will be some distance away from the player). Nerfing that parameter too much will result in losing too much AO though, I tried to find a balance. The parameter name is ao_fog_fix in the ini if you want to play around with it.
There's also a mod to remove dust (https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/38196) as well as retextures that might make it darker.
Just to confirm, does the ao_fog_fix actually factor in fog/dust elements, or is it effectively setting a distance threshold beyond which AO should stop rendering?
Thanks again for all your amazing work, I've so enjoyed playing with Glamur so far!
Oh and - as far as I can see, there's no VR version of the Dear Diary Dark Mode (I'd LOVE that) but tbh, it was a mere observation, it's not like the menu is not usable anymore with AO enabled :)
*Shader from GitHub : https://github.com/LordOfLunacy/Insane-Shaders
Put the shaders(ReVeil_Top, ReVeil_Bottom) like this order.
Unless this gets incorporated into this preset of course... ;)