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About this mod
Reshade focused on the realistic yet gorgeous colours and lighting of the nature. Another focus is on realistic presentation of people and their skin colour.
- Requirements
- Permissions and credits
Major Update: Version 1.4 “Harmony” is now available!
Noticeable lighting optimization, with reduction of excessive brightness, fuller shadows, and other balancing!
Also includes all the previous tweaks, such as the color correction and Blue Skies rework.
Please check out the new example pictures, and see the update notes below!
This will likely be the last and final version of Authentic Nature Reshade. Thank You to all, and happy Games! : )
As we all know, Witcher 3 is phenomenal experience through and through, especially with mods. However, though graphics of the game themselves are top quality, I was always dissatisfied with the colour scheme and lighting of the game. It felt little lackluster compared to the jaw-dropping views of games like Witcher 2 in it's days. Vanilla colour scheme is also strongly tinted to the red, which makes for nice sunsets, but overall makes environment look out of place and turns most people comically red-faced.
Hence, I sought to create this Reshade which presents the world of Witcher 3 the way I always imagined it to be:
* With vibrant, authentic greens that make the forests and meadows flourish and shine
* With realistic lighting and exposure, that is properly bright sunny and hot at noon, and dark and shadowy during nights
* With realistic slight desaturation, that makes the world seem as authentic as possible, instead of cartoony
* With people and their skin hue that look like realistically human
I've spent overall tens of hours empirically testing and adjusting the Reshade in different scenarios and lightings. It's a terrible curse to be a perfectionist like myself, but now I can say I'm 99,9 % satisfied with the results.
Please check out the example images. There are also some comparison shots with vanilla (Wiedzmin) lighting and with Authentic Nature Reshade enabled.
Note: This Reshade preset is designed to work best in following areas: Novigrad and its surroundings, Velen, White Orchard. It is not optimized for Toussaint or Skellige, since these have drastically different lighting and colour palettes. Still, it works surpirisingly well in these areas as well, and is perfectly usable.
Also on Kaer Morhen this might cause over-and-under-exposure especially regarding sun, because of difference in lighting.
That is why I recommed trying Kaer Morhen Reshade file (found in optional files) while in Kaer Morhen.
This solves most of these occasional problems. Please see also Update 3 notes (16.5.2019) for details on this!
I've also created dedicated Reshade presets for Toussaint area and another for Skellige area (which I'll share a little later). Meanwhile, my outdated but usable Skellige reshade is here, if you want to try that out.
Please also check out the video of the gameplay with this Reshade! Note that video compression of Youtube reduced the image fidelity somewhat, and it caused some slight ghosting here and there.
Update: The video below was made using the initial version 1.1., which means that it gives you an overall feeling of what my current Reshade version 1.4. does, but it is not accurate, especially regarding brightness!
Also, keep in mind that everyone has a different monitor with slightly different color calibration and brigtness/contrast settings, so only way to know how any Reshade works in your personal setup is to test it yourself. It might look exactly the same, even better, or worse.
* * *
Update 3: 16.5.2019:
1. Version 1.4. “Harmony” is released!
The simple purpose of this version was to polish the remaining rough edges, so to speak – to achieve harmony. As I’ve said before, I consider myself
a perfectionist, which is why I still couldn’t resist tinkering one last time with this Reshade, despite saying previously I probably wouldn’t anymore.
But I’m glad I did, since there were many small things that when slightlyaltered made the whole package a lot better!
Biggest change that you can likely see right away is reduction of overall amount of light and brightness by about 25 %. This amount is not some random
number I came up with, but the optimal result of many hours of testing back and forth.
Now I’m very happy with the overall lighting – it still respects myvision of bright shiny days and dark nights, without being overwhelming or burning like it was in some instances before! In fact, this new version 1.4 is even a tiny bit dimmer than my previous “Less Bright version” (which I now deleted as obsolete). Don’t worry though – during sunny days you can still feel the heat on your armor like before…
Shadows and nights are now a little bit fuller and darker. In some cases,you might even want to actually use the torch now for once…
Color balance and hues are unchanged, since I was already completely satisfied with them.
2. A lot of new pictures representing the new version of Reshade was added to the picture gallery!
I let some of the old pictures remain, if I considered them to be “close enough” of the current version, but most of the old pictures I deleted, since they don’t give an accurate description of the mod anymore.
This time I also sought to show you different scenarios of lighting and locations with these pics. In hindsight I can see that previously I’ve emphasized too much the “sunny bright day in Novigrad” pictures, which of course give quite a narrow image of the Reshade. So, this time there are a lot more of pictures for example from Velen, during nighttime and dusk, and so on...
3. Regarding Kaer Morhen:
This new less bright version 1.4 works quite well in Kaer Morhen – significantly better than previous versions! In fact, I think it’s not anymore absolutely necessary to use specialized “Kaer Morhen Reshade version” while there, since this new one looks most of the time even better than that. Still, version 1.4 is not “officially” optimized for Kaer Morhen, and there are some instances where you can see it, mainly when looking at the sun during some times of the day. Otherwise, it works perfectly fine.
Feel free to test both version 1.4 and version Kaer Morhen, and see whichone you like better, if you want.
4. One last Thank You to everyone that has given feedback, thank yous, endorsements – and especially Thank you for those who have given suggestions
and constructive critique!
All of it has been important, I’ve considered every feedback I’ve gotten, and I’ve acted on many if not most of them - which has made, I believe, this Reshade a lot better than the initial version 1.0., of which I was already proud.
Happy Journeys to everyone!
* * *
Update 2: 23.4.2019:
1. Version 1.3. with reimagined skies available! I call this patch "Blue Skies", since the purpose was to achieve more realistic looking, vibrant
skies, that would complement the vibrant greens of the forest and vegetation.
I realized while playing that I found my skies to be a little too desaturated and tame for my tastes. Hence, I embarked one more time to tweak and test during the long hours of the night... And now I am very happy with the results!
Despite the name "Blue Skies", this version of the Reshade of course affects not only skies and water, but also all objects that are blue or aquamarine or have significant shades of these. In practice however, there are not many such objects that would be "disturbed". This new version doesn't create overall any disturbing new blue tint, but it does highly saturate already blue objects or effects. In practice, you could see this when looking far, and the horizon might look blueish, while in version 1.2. it is more neutral. This comes to personal liking whether such a thing would be a problem for someone.
Also, the night sky will change to more blueish with 1.3. You can check out the comparison pics in the beginning of the picture reel. This too is likely a thing that would divide opinions: some will like the more neutral dark night of the 1.2., while others will prefer the touch of blue of the 1.3., found also in Witcher 1 and Witcher 2.
If you prefer the version 1.2. (maybe you liked the more bleak look of the skies), feel free to use that instead. It is practically up to date anyway, missing only the blue rework and some very minor tweaks.
2. There are also a few minor tweaks here and there. I reduced brightness slightly, increased overall desaturation just a couple of degrees in search of realism, enhanced greens a bit, and so on. You wouldn't probably see the difference if you don't know where to look, so nothing
drastic compared to the blue rework.
* * *
Update 1: 7.4.2019:
1. There has been quite a lot of interest in this Reshade! I've received more feedback, both positive and critical, than I initially really expected.
From what I gather, there are some people that love it, and some people who really hate it. That is great and means I'm on the right track, because I sought to create something new and unique into the Reshade world.
However, there have also been many people who like the fundamental premise and vision of the Reshade, but are sadly turned-off by it being slight extreme in some places, namely in brightness and exposure. I thought it would be shame if there were no option for these people, and not many people venture to modify pre-existing Reshades to their personal liking (despite this being quite easy and fun).
Hence, I decided to create Authentic Nature Reshade with about 20-30 % less overall brightness and exposure. White point is little bit higher, contrast little eased, and so on. One could say it is the original version with some edges polished here and there.
If you're interested, check out the comparison pics at the end of the screenshot reel, and consider trying it on your set up.
2. I've also updated and color-corrected slightly the original Authentic Nature, mainly when it comes to human skin (version 1.2). I noticed it tinted a little too much to yellow, especially in certain scenarios. I think the new colour hue is somewhat better looking. It's subtle difference though. Check out the comparison pics at the end of the screenshot reel.
3. Finally, I've also added a complementary Reshade to use while in Kaer Morhen. This is important, because on Kaer Morhen original mod will cause over-and-under-exposure especially regarding sun, because of difference in lighting. The lighting is too harsh there even for my standards.
That is why I strongly recommed using this optimized Kaer Morhen Reshade file (found in optional files) while in Kaer Morhen.
Thank you all, both for the compliments and for the feedback!
* * *
Installation:
NOTE: There are 2 Mod options: First is the full Authentic Nature Reshade with all the effects therein enabled.
The second one is meant for the people who can't stand Lens Effects (I know there are many of you!) - these effects and only these have been disabled.
1. Download the latest Reshade version.
2. Run the Reshade setup exe, select "witcher 3.exe" (bin/x64), click Direct3D10+ and download all the shaders.
3. Download my files from the files section (reshade-shaders folder and AuthenticNatureReshade.ini file).
4. Paste my files into x64 folder, where witcher3.exe is located, and overwrite if asked.
5. In game, press Shift+F2 to open reshade window, and choose Authentic Nature Reshade from the drag down-menu, or if you don't see it there,
click in the"+" symbol and write "Authentic Nature Reshade" and press enter - thatshould choose my preset.
6. Important: Once you start playing, under the Settings tab switch "Configuration mode" into "Performance mode" to
improve performance.
Enjoy the world of Witcher in gorgeous and natural colors!
* * *
If you want to tinker with the Reshade settings yourself, feel completely free, but do realize that all of these filters have some purpose, and you might lose the intended vision.
Filters I have used to achieve the effects:
- LightRoom (most important one, modifies significantly color balance, deepens shadows and contrast, etc.)
- LiftGammaGain (further lighting and color balance adjustment)
- Colormatrix (important color balancing)
- AmbientLight (added realistic ambient light, important)
- Clarity2 (clarifies image)
- Grim (small effect) (Credits and thanks to the author Adysss !)
- Colourfulness (realistic desaturation, quite important)
- Technicolor2 (small effect)
- SurfaceSharpen (moderate effect, easy to adjust to your personal liking if you want)
- Bloom (small-to-moderate bloom increase, this is easy to deactivate if you don't like it. Also includes LensDirt-effect (if you don't like this, there is a file version option without LensEffects)
- LightDoF (subtle depth of field effect, that effects only very far away objects)
* * *
Some other mods I use myself and heartily recommend:
* Friendly Hud
* Preparations
* Friendly Meditation
* KNG's Ultra Bloom
* Wiedzmin Lighting Mod
* E3 Ultra Grass 420
* Improved Particle Systems
* The Witcher 3 HD Reworked Project
* Lamp on player's boat
* E3 Candle Flares
* New fires
* HDMR - HD Monsters Reworked Mod
* * *
Noticeable lighting optimization, with reduction of excessive brightness, fuller shadows, and other balancing!
Also includes all the previous tweaks, such as the color correction and Blue Skies rework.
Please check out the new example pictures, and see the update notes below!
This will likely be the last and final version of Authentic Nature Reshade. Thank You to all, and happy Games! : )
As we all know, Witcher 3 is phenomenal experience through and through, especially with mods. However, though graphics of the game themselves are top quality, I was always dissatisfied with the colour scheme and lighting of the game. It felt little lackluster compared to the jaw-dropping views of games like Witcher 2 in it's days. Vanilla colour scheme is also strongly tinted to the red, which makes for nice sunsets, but overall makes environment look out of place and turns most people comically red-faced.
Hence, I sought to create this Reshade which presents the world of Witcher 3 the way I always imagined it to be:
* With vibrant, authentic greens that make the forests and meadows flourish and shine
* With realistic lighting and exposure, that is properly bright sunny and hot at noon, and dark and shadowy during nights
* With realistic slight desaturation, that makes the world seem as authentic as possible, instead of cartoony
* With people and their skin hue that look like realistically human
I've spent overall tens of hours empirically testing and adjusting the Reshade in different scenarios and lightings. It's a terrible curse to be a perfectionist like myself, but now I can say I'm 99,9 % satisfied with the results.
Please check out the example images. There are also some comparison shots with vanilla (Wiedzmin) lighting and with Authentic Nature Reshade enabled.
Note: This Reshade preset is designed to work best in following areas: Novigrad and its surroundings, Velen, White Orchard. It is not optimized for Toussaint or Skellige, since these have drastically different lighting and colour palettes. Still, it works surpirisingly well in these areas as well, and is perfectly usable.
Also on Kaer Morhen this might cause over-and-under-exposure especially regarding sun, because of difference in lighting.
That is why I recommed trying Kaer Morhen Reshade file (found in optional files) while in Kaer Morhen.
This solves most of these occasional problems. Please see also Update 3 notes (16.5.2019) for details on this!
I've also created dedicated Reshade presets for Toussaint area and another for Skellige area (which I'll share a little later). Meanwhile, my outdated but usable Skellige reshade is here, if you want to try that out.
Please also check out the video of the gameplay with this Reshade! Note that video compression of Youtube reduced the image fidelity somewhat, and it caused some slight ghosting here and there.
Update: The video below was made using the initial version 1.1., which means that it gives you an overall feeling of what my current Reshade version 1.4. does, but it is not accurate, especially regarding brightness!
Also, keep in mind that everyone has a different monitor with slightly different color calibration and brigtness/contrast settings, so only way to know how any Reshade works in your personal setup is to test it yourself. It might look exactly the same, even better, or worse.
* * *
Update 3: 16.5.2019:
1. Version 1.4. “Harmony” is released!
The simple purpose of this version was to polish the remaining rough edges, so to speak – to achieve harmony. As I’ve said before, I consider myself
a perfectionist, which is why I still couldn’t resist tinkering one last time with this Reshade, despite saying previously I probably wouldn’t anymore.
But I’m glad I did, since there were many small things that when slightlyaltered made the whole package a lot better!
Biggest change that you can likely see right away is reduction of overall amount of light and brightness by about 25 %. This amount is not some random
number I came up with, but the optimal result of many hours of testing back and forth.
Now I’m very happy with the overall lighting – it still respects myvision of bright shiny days and dark nights, without being overwhelming or burning like it was in some instances before! In fact, this new version 1.4 is even a tiny bit dimmer than my previous “Less Bright version” (which I now deleted as obsolete). Don’t worry though – during sunny days you can still feel the heat on your armor like before…
Shadows and nights are now a little bit fuller and darker. In some cases,you might even want to actually use the torch now for once…
Color balance and hues are unchanged, since I was already completely satisfied with them.
2. A lot of new pictures representing the new version of Reshade was added to the picture gallery!
I let some of the old pictures remain, if I considered them to be “close enough” of the current version, but most of the old pictures I deleted, since they don’t give an accurate description of the mod anymore.
This time I also sought to show you different scenarios of lighting and locations with these pics. In hindsight I can see that previously I’ve emphasized too much the “sunny bright day in Novigrad” pictures, which of course give quite a narrow image of the Reshade. So, this time there are a lot more of pictures for example from Velen, during nighttime and dusk, and so on...
3. Regarding Kaer Morhen:
This new less bright version 1.4 works quite well in Kaer Morhen – significantly better than previous versions! In fact, I think it’s not anymore absolutely necessary to use specialized “Kaer Morhen Reshade version” while there, since this new one looks most of the time even better than that. Still, version 1.4 is not “officially” optimized for Kaer Morhen, and there are some instances where you can see it, mainly when looking at the sun during some times of the day. Otherwise, it works perfectly fine.
Feel free to test both version 1.4 and version Kaer Morhen, and see whichone you like better, if you want.
4. One last Thank You to everyone that has given feedback, thank yous, endorsements – and especially Thank you for those who have given suggestions
and constructive critique!
All of it has been important, I’ve considered every feedback I’ve gotten, and I’ve acted on many if not most of them - which has made, I believe, this Reshade a lot better than the initial version 1.0., of which I was already proud.
Happy Journeys to everyone!
* * *
Update 2: 23.4.2019:
1. Version 1.3. with reimagined skies available! I call this patch "Blue Skies", since the purpose was to achieve more realistic looking, vibrant
skies, that would complement the vibrant greens of the forest and vegetation.
I realized while playing that I found my skies to be a little too desaturated and tame for my tastes. Hence, I embarked one more time to tweak and test during the long hours of the night... And now I am very happy with the results!
Despite the name "Blue Skies", this version of the Reshade of course affects not only skies and water, but also all objects that are blue or aquamarine or have significant shades of these. In practice however, there are not many such objects that would be "disturbed". This new version doesn't create overall any disturbing new blue tint, but it does highly saturate already blue objects or effects. In practice, you could see this when looking far, and the horizon might look blueish, while in version 1.2. it is more neutral. This comes to personal liking whether such a thing would be a problem for someone.
Also, the night sky will change to more blueish with 1.3. You can check out the comparison pics in the beginning of the picture reel. This too is likely a thing that would divide opinions: some will like the more neutral dark night of the 1.2., while others will prefer the touch of blue of the 1.3., found also in Witcher 1 and Witcher 2.
If you prefer the version 1.2. (maybe you liked the more bleak look of the skies), feel free to use that instead. It is practically up to date anyway, missing only the blue rework and some very minor tweaks.
2. There are also a few minor tweaks here and there. I reduced brightness slightly, increased overall desaturation just a couple of degrees in search of realism, enhanced greens a bit, and so on. You wouldn't probably see the difference if you don't know where to look, so nothing
drastic compared to the blue rework.
* * *
Update 1: 7.4.2019:
1. There has been quite a lot of interest in this Reshade! I've received more feedback, both positive and critical, than I initially really expected.
From what I gather, there are some people that love it, and some people who really hate it. That is great and means I'm on the right track, because I sought to create something new and unique into the Reshade world.
However, there have also been many people who like the fundamental premise and vision of the Reshade, but are sadly turned-off by it being slight extreme in some places, namely in brightness and exposure. I thought it would be shame if there were no option for these people, and not many people venture to modify pre-existing Reshades to their personal liking (despite this being quite easy and fun).
Hence, I decided to create Authentic Nature Reshade with about 20-30 % less overall brightness and exposure. White point is little bit higher, contrast little eased, and so on. One could say it is the original version with some edges polished here and there.
If you're interested, check out the comparison pics at the end of the screenshot reel, and consider trying it on your set up.
2. I've also updated and color-corrected slightly the original Authentic Nature, mainly when it comes to human skin (version 1.2). I noticed it tinted a little too much to yellow, especially in certain scenarios. I think the new colour hue is somewhat better looking. It's subtle difference though. Check out the comparison pics at the end of the screenshot reel.
3. Finally, I've also added a complementary Reshade to use while in Kaer Morhen. This is important, because on Kaer Morhen original mod will cause over-and-under-exposure especially regarding sun, because of difference in lighting. The lighting is too harsh there even for my standards.
That is why I strongly recommed using this optimized Kaer Morhen Reshade file (found in optional files) while in Kaer Morhen.
Thank you all, both for the compliments and for the feedback!
* * *
Installation:
NOTE: There are 2 Mod options: First is the full Authentic Nature Reshade with all the effects therein enabled.
The second one is meant for the people who can't stand Lens Effects (I know there are many of you!) - these effects and only these have been disabled.
1. Download the latest Reshade version.
2. Run the Reshade setup exe, select "witcher 3.exe" (bin/x64), click Direct3D10+ and download all the shaders.
3. Download my files from the files section (reshade-shaders folder and AuthenticNatureReshade.ini file).
4. Paste my files into x64 folder, where witcher3.exe is located, and overwrite if asked.
5. In game, press Shift+F2 to open reshade window, and choose Authentic Nature Reshade from the drag down-menu, or if you don't see it there,
click in the"+" symbol and write "Authentic Nature Reshade" and press enter - thatshould choose my preset.
6. Important: Once you start playing, under the Settings tab switch "Configuration mode" into "Performance mode" to
improve performance.
Enjoy the world of Witcher in gorgeous and natural colors!
* * *
If you want to tinker with the Reshade settings yourself, feel completely free, but do realize that all of these filters have some purpose, and you might lose the intended vision.
Filters I have used to achieve the effects:
- LightRoom (most important one, modifies significantly color balance, deepens shadows and contrast, etc.)
- LiftGammaGain (further lighting and color balance adjustment)
- Colormatrix (important color balancing)
- AmbientLight (added realistic ambient light, important)
- Clarity2 (clarifies image)
- Grim (small effect) (Credits and thanks to the author Adysss !)
- Colourfulness (realistic desaturation, quite important)
- Technicolor2 (small effect)
- SurfaceSharpen (moderate effect, easy to adjust to your personal liking if you want)
- Bloom (small-to-moderate bloom increase, this is easy to deactivate if you don't like it. Also includes LensDirt-effect (if you don't like this, there is a file version option without LensEffects)
- LightDoF (subtle depth of field effect, that effects only very far away objects)
* * *
Some other mods I use myself and heartily recommend:
* Friendly Hud
* Preparations
* Friendly Meditation
* KNG's Ultra Bloom
* Wiedzmin Lighting Mod
* E3 Ultra Grass 420
* Improved Particle Systems
* The Witcher 3 HD Reworked Project
* Lamp on player's boat
* E3 Candle Flares
* New fires
* HDMR - HD Monsters Reworked Mod
* * *