Skyrim Special Edition

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Created by

MyGoodEye and Scythe42

Uploaded by

MGE

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About this mod

Completely REBUILT for SSE! With IN-GAME LIGHT ADJUSTERS! Adds 1000s of new light "fixtures" to WALLED CITIES, FORTS, ROADS, PATHS, and elsewhere. Increases the light output for improved visibility using dark night mods as well as allowing you to adjust the light temperature.

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Yes, we are lacking behind with a new video. If you are willing to make a nice showcase video let us know!
However, the functions are similar so you can still get the point.
    



Forget everything you think you know about CLARALUX from Oldrim. 
This is not a simple port. We took the original concept and rebuilt it from the ground up for SSE!

And we returned with the only mod that allows you to adapt all the exterior lights in Skyrim to your taste in-game.

CLARALUX is a fully user configurable external lighting overhaul. 

Main Features:
  • Adjustable light levels
  • Adjustable glow levels
  • Adjustable light temperature
  • Optional Daytime lighting
  • Lighting variance for less uniform and more organic lighting
  • Enable or disable subset of lights without any additional files
  • 2500+ lights added to Skyrim
  • 500+ vanilla vanilla lights fixed or overhauled
  • Physics enabled lanterns with adjustable weights and styles
  • Lamp post on the main roads
  • More lights added to all major cities
  • More lights added to all towns, villages and settlements
  • More lights added to all forts
  • More lights added to all shrines
  • Path torches add to well-traveled paths
  • Lights added to road signs
  • Dawnguard and Dragonborn DLCs are covered
  • Support patches for many popular mods
  • ...and much more

All features are optional and can be configured inside the CLARALUX Testing Facility, which can be found near the exit of Riverwood towards Whiterun. There you can see how CLARALUX affects all of Skyrim and customize the lighting in real time to your liking.

CLARALUX SSE Documentation for easy access can be found here.

See sticky posts for any recent development updates.


The magic behind CLARALUX lies in its scripting. CLARALUX was written to not have any performance impact on your game. All the heavy lifting is done at the time cells are loaded and prepared, then CLARALUX hands everything else over to the game, just like static objects in a plugin. And once a cell is unloaded it clears up after itself.

This was done in a way that no Papyrus ticks for other important base game functions like NPC AI or lip syncing when you talk to NPCs are effected. There might be delays in lights spawning in very busy cells, but then the game engine itself decided that other things have priority over the lights.

In addition we only use about 100 properties/variables with 10 master scripts at moment to achieve everything. Therefore CLARALUX will not put a burden on the 65535 limit of variables inside save games and break your game.


CLARALUX was profiled with 121 cell loaded at the same time on a mid-range PC without any impact on the game itself compared to the normal number of 25 loaded cells. If you can run vanilla then you can run CLARALUX.

We tried to push to boundaries as far as possible without overwhelming users with too many options for the sake of having options. Expect more elaborate tricks once we get some code injection running to push the boundaries even further. As SKSE64 is nowhere near in sight we have to do it ourselves.

Beside that our team spent countless hours placing all the lights at logical and immersive locations. You might even think that most of the lights added were in fact always there. 



FIRST TIME INSTALLATION

Install with the mod manager of your choice or install manual. CLARALUX can be installed on ongoing games.

After installing the main file install the optional support patches. They are automatically checked if a mod was detected on your system by the installer.

These support patches will resolve conflicting placements between mods, solve problems if too many lights hit a single mesh and of course allow additional lights and lanterns added by a mod to be controlled by CLARALUX. Not all patches are required. See notes in the installer for more details on each patch.


UPDATING FROM 0.xx TO 1.xx 

You need to clean your save game as the 1.xx series of released is a full rewrite. Instructions how to clean your save game can be found here. Once done, just load the cleaned save in game and save right away before you install a new version of CLARALUX.


UPDATING WITHIN THE 1.xx SERIES

Save in an interior location (e.g. a shop or an inn) prior to installing a new version. This ensures that no lights or light fixtures controlled by CLARALUX are active or else they might stay there as save games always contain the state of loaded cells. If something goes wrong on updating you can always clean your save game to fully reset CLARALUX.

If you experience problems after updating (e.g. you forgot to save in an interior cell) it is often just enough to walk out of the currently loaded cells and then return to them afterwards. In most cases CLARALUX will be able to recover. 



In general CLARALUX should be placed after your interior lighting overhaul and can be installed in an ongoing game, though as with every plugin a change in your load order on an ongoing game can create issues. Sorting with LOOT should be fine.

But as every load order is different there might be exceptions. If you run into any specific compatibility or load order problems that cause visual glitches, leave a comment with a detailed description and screenshots as well as your load order in spoiler tags and we will try to help you.

As always with more complex mods try to avoid changing your load order during an ongoing game because save games track a mod's slot in the load order. Depending on the changes sooner or later you might run into problems that are totally unrelated to the actual mod effected by it.



The entrance to the CLARALUX Testing Facility can be found near the exit of Riverwood towards Whiterun (there is a new bridge). Inside you can see how CLARALUX effects all of Skyrim and customize the lighting to your personal preference.



All configuration blocks come with a help button explaining you what they do. The main configuration blocks on top are for global adjustments, whereas the blocks near the light fixtures allow you to toggle them on or off individually. In the future options specific to certain light subsets will be added to these blocks. 

Check the CLARALUX SSE Documentation for more details. New features not covered there yet. Will be updated soon.



CLARALUX comes with an INI file that pushes the visible light distance as much as possible already. If you are fine with this then there is no need to adjust any settings.

If you want to custom tailor that setting or use some of the more advanced settings to fine tune how light source are faded in delete that file and use your own personal settings. For easy INI settings management we recommend to use 
BethINI.

The BethINI equivalent of the 'CLARALUX SSE.ini' settings is as follows:



In some case the lights will be visible without their light fixtures when far away, because each cell contains occlusion data that was designed for vanilla. That field has not been decoded and the Creation Kit provides no way too update it.

We recommend installing this mod to remove the occlusion data from all cells. With it installed objects added by mods - not only by CLARALUX - are not occluded in a loaded cell and are shown even if you are further away from them. In addition further away objects are also not occluded anymore. See the mod page for more details.



The following mods were tested and are fully compatible with CLARALUX:

  • Reshades/ENBs: compatible with all

  • Weather Mods: compatible with all - we do not touch any weathers or image space modifiers

  • Mods for Darker Nights: compatible with all - we do not touch any image space modifiers

  • Embers HD: compatible and a highly recommended companion mod


  • ELFX: compatible with all modules except 'ELFX Exterior'. Yes, compatible with 'ELFX Enhancer'.

  • RLO: all modules except 'RLO - Exteriors'


  • ELE: compatible

  • Blowing in the Wind: CLARALUX has full inbuilt support for the lanterns of this mod, therefore no patches from BitW are needed if CLARALUX offers one. The BitW SMIM patch is also not needed and neither is the BitW Main ESP unless you use a patch for which CLARALUX does not offer one yet. In that case put BitW above CLARALUX in your load order.

  • Beyond Skyrim - Bruma: Compatible. But of course lights in Bruma are not CLUXified. A support patch that also adds more lights will be provided in the future.

  • Any mod for which a patch is provided for (see further down) is also fully compatible.

Remember to put any interior lighting overhauls before CLARALUX in your load order unless instructed otherwise.



The following mods have limited compatibility with CLARALUX:

  • Lanterns of Skyrim: Does a subset of what CLARALUX does. If you still insist on using it, you can turn off the Road Light Posts inside the Testing Facility. CLARALUX will not control any lights added by this mod though. In addition there will be minor visual glitches because of similar placements in smaller towns, villages and farms.

  • Unique Locations - Riverwood Forest: Entrance to the Testing Facility is blocked by a small hill and some trees. Just a visual annoyance, will not break anything. We might create a patch in the future and send it to the mod author.

  • Skyrim Better Roads: If you install the additional Whiterun bridges, turn off the bridge lights in the Testing Facility. You will loose lighting on all bridges in the game then and not only the handful this mod alters or adds. No patch will be provided for this mod.

  • Open Cities Skyrim: As OCS moves the walled cities into the Tamriel world space it is compatible, but no cluxified lights will be inside the cities. Also turn off the the additional lights CLARALUX adds to the walled cities inside the Testing Facility to prevent a few visual glitches. A support patch might be created at some point in the future.


If you come across other mods with limited compatibility please let us know and we add them to the list with potential workaround instructions.



As CLARALUX is a full exterior lighting overhaul it is obviously incompatible with the following mods:

  • ELFX Exterior: Not compatible. All other modules of ELFX are compatible though.

  • RLO Exterior: Not compatible. All other modules of RLO are compatible though.



CLARALUX provides a large number of support patches to resolve potential visual glitches as well as allowing CLARALUX to control the lights and lanterns other mods add. Not all patches are required. See notes in the FOMOD installer for details about each patch.

If you are missing a patch for a mod leave a comment in the comment section and we'll see if we can address it. We will not provide patches for mods that have several unfixed bugs like broken water flow records, a lot of dirty/wild edits, not forwarding USSEP fixes or broken NavMeshes. We will gladly assist mod authors to solve theses issue if they contact us.

The reason is that providing a support patch is kind of an endorsement. And we cannot do that for mods that are not up to our standards from a pure technical point of view. I hope you understand this.

For mod authors and users interested to create their own CLARALUX support patches we will provide a guide in the future.

The following mods (in alphabetical order) are currently supported. That means addressing potential placement conflicts, cluxifying lights added by these mods as well as physics enable any new lanterns.

Note: we only provide patches for the modular version of JK's Skyrim at the moment because Riverwood and Whiterun have already been released for SSE. Once a full release for SSE is available support patches for the merged versions will be made available as well.



Merging plugins is an advanced modding technique. This procedure is optional for those who do not have enough slots in their load order left. If you are already comfy with merging plugins there is nothing new to see here.

The CLARALUX support patches can be merged into a single plugin, into CLARALUX itself or into the mod for which the patch was written for. We recommend merging with
xEdit or the Merge Plugins Standalone tool. 

Do not merge CLARALUX itself with another mod as potential form renumbering will cause issues with future updates.

Never merge plugins in an ongoing game as your load order will change and not match what is stored inside a save game. This can have serious side effects. But as always you can clean your save game to rescue yourself.

Below is the procedure when using xEdit, which is fine for merging the support patches into an All-In-One plugin.

  • Download the Merge Plugins script and put the script into the 'Edit Scripts' folder of your xEdit installation.
  • Run xEdit.
  • Wait until xEdit has finished building the reference information.
  • In the 'Master/Plugin' selection dialog right click anywhere and select 'Select None'.
  • Now tick all all the CLARALUX support patches you want to merge together and click on OK.
  • Right click anywhere in the left pane and select 'Apply Script'.
  • From the script drop down menu select 'Merge Plugins 1.9' and click on OK.
  • Now select the plugins you want to merge - you do not need to select any masters - and click on OK.
  • In the 'Select File' dialog keep 'Create New File' selected and click on OK.
  • Enter a name for the merged patch plugin e.g. 'CLARALUX SSE - Merged Patches'. Then wait.
  • Once the process is finished click + on the newly created plugin in the left pane, select 'File Header' and change the 'SNAM - Description' field in the right pane. Merge Plugins puts a too long string is there as we merged many plugins that will cause an error message in CK. Fix this by putting in your own short description (e.g. 'CLARALUX SSE - Merged Patches').
  • Close xEdit and let it save changes to your new ESP. In case FormIDs were renumbered on masters you also need to save the changed master ESP. If that happens you see them bold in the left xEdit pane.
  • Now you can disable all individual patches in your mod manager and check if the merged patch works.
  • If everything works out you can uninstall the CLARALUX support patches as you now have your own merged patch.

Wasn't that hard, was it? If you ran into problems leave a comment and we'll try to help you.

If updates are released you simply repeat the process from scratch and create a new merged plugin. 

I recommend packing the merged CLARALUX Patch plus any changed master ESPs into a new archive and add it to your mod manager.



  • Q: What does 'CLARALUX" mean?
  • A: It is Latin and roughly translates to 'bright light'.

  • Q: Is this compatible with Mod X?
  • A: See compatibility sections above. If you need a support patch for another mod leave a comment and we will look into it. 

  • Q: Some textures are dark/flickering between dark and lit up!
  • A: There is a limit how many lights can light a mesh at the same time (same deal as on Oldrim). If that limit is exceeded a mesh is not lighted at all. You usually see that if NPCs walk past with torches, especially on the Windhelm Bridge. You can use Guard Torch Remover to remove torches from guards that usually cause the problem.

  • Q: Does this mod affect game performance?
  • A: No. The way CLARALUX was written there will be no impact on your game performance. But of course anything can break the camel's back. If your setup can handle the Testing Facility without any problems then it can handle CLARALUX everywhere else.

  • Q: Is it safe to install during an ongoing game?
  • A: Yes. Though as always a fresh save is preferred when making any changes to a load order.

  • Q: Is it safe to remove during an ongoing game?
  • A: Yes. But as with every mod, we recommend save game cleaning afterwards.

  • Q: Does this mod use any scripts?
  • A: Oh yeah it does. If you are a Scriptophobe this mod is not for you.

  • Q: How do I configure my lights? There is no book or spell and SSE doesn't have MCM!
  • A: The CLARALUX Testing Facility can be found near the exit of Riverwood towards Whiterun.

  • Q: There are too many support patches for my load order!
  • A: These patches can be merged. See "Merging" above for detailed instructions.

  • Q: I do not care for the physics enabled signs from Blowing in the Wind. Do I still have to install it?
  • A: No, CLARALUX comes with the physics enabled lantern meshes thanks to permissions from the BitW author.

  • Q: I was eaten by a grue!
  • A: Well, it was pitch black to begin with, so... 

  • Q: How is this different from "Lanterns of Skyrim"
  • A: What LoS does is just a subset of what CLARALUX offers. In addition most aspects are configurable.

  • Q: Will there be a CLARALUX for interior lighting?
  • A: No, not really interested in that. You already have top choices there.

  • Q: Will there be a CALARALUX weather mod?
  • A: We thought about that in the past. Unlikely to happen...

  • Q: I do not like light type X!
  • A: Turn it off in the Testing Facility.

  • Q: Can you remove the Testing Facility Bridge for us 'purists'?
  • A: We will look into alternative access methods to the Facility in a future update.

  • Q: Can you bring this to XB1/PS4?
  • A: An XB1 version is already available and will be updated always some time after the PC version. A PS4 port is not possible as Sony limited what mods can do on their platform (no new assets allowed).

  • Q: Can I increase my uGridsToLoad?
  • A: Yes, CLARALUX was extensively tested with up to uGridsToLoad = 11. Change that setting on your own risk though. You have been warned. 

  • Q: Location X is not lit up! But Mod A does this! You suck!
  • A: Let us know where you think lights are missing and we will add some if it fits our overall vision for this mod. Skyrim is a big place and development of this mod is still ongoing. For that active help from users is needed.

  • Q: CLARALUX screwed up my game! 
  • A: No, it did not. The problem sits in front of the keyboard. Let me guess, you changed your load order multiple times in an ongoing game in the past, right?

  • Q: Does CLARLAUX break the strCount and corrupt my save?
  • A: No. We only use about 100 slots out of 65535. Given what we do this is an extremely low number.




If you find any bugs, incompatibilities with other mods like conflicting placements or general issues or if you have a feature request please leave a comment in the comment section. We will regularly check them.

If you like this mod, please leave an endorsement. This is how mod authors measure the quality of their work. And leaving endorsements and comments is a good way to motivate mod authors to keep updating and maintaining a mod.

Also screenshots and showcase videos of your installation are highly welcome.

Otherwise, we hope you enjoy! 

- David (MyGoodEye) and Scythe42 (aka TwentyWasHere)



Check out some other mods by CLARALUX team members:

   


    




Consider endorsing the following mods from which CLARLUX uses assets with permissions from the authors: