tegan

Screenshots. Shots of your screen.

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Child of Light is stunning, I doubt I'll ever tap the Share button more regularly during a game:

 

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You really need to see it in motion but Strider has some nice stuff going on too:

 

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Some Destiny including obligatory wizard referencing:

 

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So Season 2 of Guild Wars 2 has started - essentially, it's an expansion, but it's free only for current players and they aren't telling people what's in it until each bit comes out.

 

GW2's art style really loves sweeping vistas and ridiculous draw distances, and it's helped by an art style that tries to make a virtue out of having visible brushstrokes:

 

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The first new area that's opened up is called Dry Top, and it's a desert area that has frequent sandstorms blow in. I love this little town, optimistically called Prosperity, but as of the most recent release, it looks a little less, uh, not-covered-in-evil-vines.

 

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B5uR8R7.jpg

 

Snowy mist

 

I only played Skyrim for a few minutes after getting it in a steam sale...when I get back into it, I will have to do this. 

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Let me know if you need any assistance getting it all up and running. It's a simple affair (mostly just copying files directly to your main Skyrim folder or using a mod-managing program to automate the process), but a lot of that information isn't particularly well conveyed to the end user (especially installation of the ENB Series app and the various ENB presets). I'm actually using a blend of ENB preset assets to achieve that look (primarily The Wilds ENB with some choice lighting effects grabbed from SugarSweet ENB).

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I'm going to re-post a guide I wrote for a different forum. I apologize for its length, but it's meant to cover everything you need to get started with modding Skyrim.
 
---
 
Archie's Guide to Modding Skyrim
 
---
 
Preface
 
Howdy!
 
This post is intended to help other players enhance the overall visual experience of playing Skyrim on the PC. I'm going to try and write this as plainly as possible so that a person with a modicum of computer literacy and a measure of patience can yield similar results.
 
If you are starting from a Vanilla build of Skyrim (free of mods entirely), I'd suggest you read everything in this post. If you know your way around The Nexus already, feel skip to Section 2 for a list of mods I'm running. Section 3 covers the basics of installing both the ENB applicaption and various presets.
 
Feel free to post any questions you might have regarding any of this and I'll do my best to assist you. Happy travels!
 
BIG OLD AUTHOR'S NOTE
 
As with all user-created mods, please know your game can break. I don't claim to be an authority on this subject, but I can vouch that every mod in this post is compatible with one another. I'd suggest installing one mod at a time and loading the game in-between each installation; this helps vet each new mod's stability and also lets you gauge system performance.
 
Each additional mod will cause extra strain on both your CPU and GPU, so you might have to make a few concessions here and there depending on your preferences and hardward constraints--for instance, I'm not running SSAO because the frame-rate decrease outweighs the meager bump in visual fidelity. The ENB app alone accounts for a 5-15 frame-per-second decrease in dense outdoor areas on my rig, so your mileage will vary entirely based on the amount of horsepower you've got. You can enable and disable ENB settings on the fly, however, which means you can easily crank up the effects while capturing screenshots and then dial them back down when you're finished. (I sometimes enable depth of field for screenshots, but play the game with it disabled.)
 
Here are my PC's specs, for reference:
 
-Core i5 4670k @ 4.4GHz
-Asus Z-97A Motherboard
-Gigabyte GTX 760 2GB
-8GB DDR3 RAM @ 1866MHz
 
1. Getting Started with Nexus Mods
 
First off, go ahead and double-check that Skyrim's up-to-date. Then download all the unofficial bug-fix patches (Steam should prompt you to do all of this anyway). Game's working? Good, let's continue.
 
All of the files required, excepting the ENB application itself, can be found at the Skyrim Nexus. You'll want to create an account and make sure to download their Mod Manager. The Nexus Mod Manager (NMM) is an application which streamlines the process of adding and subtracting new content. The first time you run the NMM, have it scan the drive where you keep Skyrim installed (it should auto-detect the game).
 
Next, you'll want to install your chosen mods, either by downloading them via the NMM client, or queueing them up in your browser window. The download links are available via a mod's individual Nexus page by clicking the "FILES" tab on the navigation bar just beneath the page header. The "FILES" page will prompt you to either download via the NMM or download manually. Mods downloaded via the NMM should automatically add themselves to your mods list on the "Mods" tab. The puzzle piece icon with the green plus symbol in NMM will let you load a mod file from an external download (the icon is on the left side of the NMM window). 
 
To activate an inactive mod (signified with a red X next to its name), simply double-click its name on the list. A dialog box should confirm its activation and the red X should become a green check mark. Some mods will prompt to you to confirm certain preferences (water color, for instance) during activation. To deactivate a mod, simply double-click it again. Another dialog box should confirm its inactive status.
 
2. List of Installed Mods
 
This is a list of my installed mods currently managed by the NMM. Please view each mod's readme.txt for help with load order-sequencing. I've listed them in descending order of personal preference.
 
-Fan-made textures for basically the entire game. If you can only get one mod up and running, I suggest you make it this one. Does a good job of preserving the original art.
 
-New sky boxes. More weather patterns. amazing lightning storms. enhanced weather audio effects. Lots of new volumetric effects, like mists over lakes and inside caverns. Really adds a sense of presence to the game, highly recommended. Note that it will ask if you want dark nights--if you plan to use the ENB application, I would suggest installing the "Vanilla nights" options instead, as the ENB presets will make your screen unplayably dark.
 
-Vastly improved meshes and textures for every water source in the game. Adds a fine mist hovering over waterfalls, which looks gorgeous. Even goes so far as to animate the various water troughs of Skyrim. Has a few different settings, including options on how much chop water produces.
 

That fire spell looks incredible. Holy shit.

Kind of says it all, really. Vastly improved fire textures for every fire source in the game. Especially noticeable with destruction spells and torches. Tweaked specifically to blow your mind with Boris's ENB.
 
-Adds lights to sources that should have them anyway (candles, torches, fires, etc.) and removes lights lacking a source. This mod will darken your game, but goes a long way to fixing some immersion issues I personally had with Skyrim's interiors.
 
-Adds more foliage to your game. I currently only have the grass mod installed.
 
-Helps increase the utility of torches as well as the spells candlelight & magelight. Will not impact the game without the ENB application installed and running. I definitely recommend this, as most ENB presets are liable to shroud your monitor in darkness.
 
3. Installing the ENB Application and an ENB Preset
 
The Wilds ENB - Collection/All-In-One/Version 3.0 - 121212 binary/The Wilds ENB 3.0 LIGHT INTERIORS/Climates of Tamriel
SugarSweet ENB - REVAMPED - 4.1/00 -- Core -- Install this first
enblens.fx
enblensmask.png
enbsunsprite.fx
enbsunsprite.tga
iBlurDeferredShadowMask=6
bFloatPointRenderTarget=1
bShadowsOnGrass=1

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Ah, Vanillaware and their standard fanservice. I always found those hot spring conversations in that game to be pretty hilarious and that game really has some of the most gorgeous 2D imagery of its time. It's a shame that it's arguably outdone by UbiArt games now, never mind how the game reuses so many areas and art assets that I'd sometimes wonder if I accidentally went the wrong way.

 

Anyhow, I dug up a bunch of old screenshots from Steam that I felt were worth sharing. First, Dear Esther. Everyone knows how gorgeous this game can look but I think it's worth sharing a few pics from the latter part of the game that still blow my mind, as well as one from Final Fantasy XIV ARR back when I started playing it. Square really knows how to do aesthetics well.

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It's been mentioned a handful of times around the place, but not on this thread, so I thought I'd link Dead End Thrills, for shots of someone else's screen, once they've fiddled with FOV etc and got rid of GUI.

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I'm going to re-post a guide I wrote for a different forum. I apologize for its length, but it's meant to cover everything you need to get started with modding Skyrim.

 

Haha thanks! I was too bashful to ask you to write a guide but you already made one.

 

EDIT: after setting it all up I have to say it really is a much nicer looking game-- what a weird benefit of being a late adopter. The depth of field is killer for performance though, maybe have to further drop the resolution.

 

Also in your guide, towards the end when you are giving directions for the ENB setup, you link twice to the same file ('The Wilds' doesn't get the right link), otherwise your guide was very very helpful thanks.

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I've been replaying Dead Space on PC, and goddamn, that game still looks pretty. It's use of lighting, shadow, steam, and fog still hold remarkably, as will as amazing staging by way of environmental storytelling and architecture.

 

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Yes, Dead Space was amazing. (Now if only they didn't have that awful turret section...) I was pleasantly surprised to see how nice it looked the first time I started it up a few months ago. It has really held up nicely.

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Facebook kinda ruined this abit, but here is "An island of safety amid a sea of anarchy", shot through the roof of my spaceship in the newly released Elite Dangerous beta

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I laughed way too hard at that. Man I'm such a kid.

 

Did you miss the second punchline?

 

She's carrying 'Burn Heal'.

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I was playing around with the Generic Downsampling Tool released by the same guy who made the Dark Souls PC fix (you can find it here).

 

As a result, here is a screenshot of Skyrim running at 10240 x 5760 - I am linking to it instead of posting directly, as even as a jpg it is 9mb

 

It's a fairly boring shot, and I ran it through a tone mapping filter just to spruce it up, but it's just fun for being kind of crazy. The game runs at about 5 fps at that resolution.

 

Hopefully this weekend I can take some more interesting shots of Skyrim and other games, Elite Dangerous is on my list...

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Hopefully this weekend I can take some more interesting shots of Skyrim and other games

Skyrim could easily be rebranded 'Screenshot Simulator', i mean this is vanilla and, wow;

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BTW did anyone make the spider scrolls things hidden away in the DragonBorn DLC?

They're pretty amazing and i hardly ever see them talked about.

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Mind Control Spider!

Theres quite a few including one who follows you looking after your excess items, and its proper content too, not a mod.

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This is a part of my ongoing "Shitty Hitman" series of screenshots. 

 

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Valiant Hearts is pretty, even if I didn't like it that much.

 

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A hoedown, because, TF2.

 

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My Kerbal's goals may be modest, but at least he attained them.

 

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