Life Detect Shaders

[Twinfire]

Hi All!

 

I have tried using a life detect shader mod that changes the shader from purple gass to red outline.

 

All seems to work well, until I enter a city -- IC, Chorrol, Bravil, etc.

 

Then the screen either immediately or after walking a short distance goes entirely black.

 

I have used LifeDetect Shader.esp by an anonymous modder who gives credit to Tyrian.

 

I have also used Kasdars Detect Life Shader.

 

Both mods give the same results.

 

The first mentioned mod changed only one thing - an EFSH record. I don't know where such records live in the CS.

 

The second mod comes with a textures folder but also changes only one thing - an EFSH record.

 

It doesn't make sense to me that the screen would go black inside a city, etc. Sometimes it will also go black on the road to a city. Always does so just after seeing an NPC of some kind.

 

Can anyone out there give me a hint as to what the real cause might be?

 

I am running Windows NT 2000. My game video resolution is 1024 x 768. My installed mods include Oscuro 1.3, Fran's 4.0.3c, and Martigen's 1.71.

 

TF

[Abramul]

That would be an Effect Shader. They're found in the Object Window, under Miscellaneous.

 

Does this mod eliminate the see-through-walls aspect of Detect Life?

 

What happens if you enter a city with NO Detect Life effect active?

If you go into a building, and then cast Detect Life?

[Twinfire]

That would be an Effect Shader. They're found in the Object Window, under Miscellaneous.

 

Does this mod eliminate the see-through-walls aspect of Detect Life?

 

What happens if you enter a city with NO Detect Life effect active?

If you go into a building, and then cast Detect Life?

 

I can still see through walls, buildings, etc. Nothing about the mod would change that as far as I know.

 

Without Detect Life enabled, I can go into a city/travel on a road without the screen going black. That's how I'm reasonably sure its the mod that causes the problem. With the mod enabled, screen consistently goes black. Without the mod enabled, screen consistently stays normal.

 

Everything else about the game, including dialog [i.e. characters talking to me], compass changes, global map, fast travel, etc. continues to work ok.

 

I don't do a cast of detect life. My detect life is an enchantment to armor/jewelry.

 

Edit 1:

 

I decided to make my own life detect shader mod. So I tweaked what came from Bethesda. The result may not be pretty, but it gets the job done -- no more purple gas, I can see an outline of what I'm shooting at, and I can visit cities, walk roads, etc. without everything going black on me.

 

The delay in time for things going black is related to the range of my life detect enchantments. If I don a detect 45 helmet and start walking toward a Chorrol town guard, screen goes black when I come in range. If I don a ring with detect 100 at the same location, screen goes black immediately. All the more reason to think the life detect mod(s) are the culprit.

 

Edit 2:

 

The saga continues.

 

My tweaks worked for a while, but when I added a new life-detect ring to my already worn life-detect gear, Ouila! instant black screen. Well, not quite instant. It seems that the NPC's in IC who walk around are not affected -- as long as they are not Imperial Guards, Troopers, etc. Once I detect an Imperial Guard, though, Ouila! black screen. Perhaps it is some kind of Oblivion black magic, I dunno.

 

The Imperial Guard(s) outside IC Talos District do not get me a black screen. But they do get me a black screen outside Chorrol.

 

I re-tweaked the mod, and so far it is back to working ok, except the effect is not what I want it to be. Things would probably go a lot easier if I actually knew what I was doing when tweaking the numbers.

 

For my next trick, I will extract the effects I may want to use, rename them, include them in an OMOD, and see if that helps.

 

As before, can anyone out there give me a hint as to what the real cause might be?

 

Edit 3:

 

Well, since I am the only one out there who seems to know or care about this stuff, let me hazzard an opinion or two based on my test results;

 

Both "lifedetect shader.esp" and "detect life shader.esp" have membrane-shader and particle-shader boxes checked.

 

Both also have "dest blend mode" set at "one" for the membrane and particle side of the forms.

 

When I change "dest blend mode" to "source inverted alpha" on a re-named copy of each .esp file, the screen no longer goes black with those particular esp's.

 

On the original Bethesda form for "life detected," the membrane-shader box is unchecked and the particle-shader box is checked. The particle-shader "dest blend mode" is set to one., but Bethesda does not use any color settings, only an image file i.e. all the "RGB" setings read "60", and the color for them is black.

 

So my first assumption is that a "dest blend mode" setting of "one" together with color settings on the particle-shader side of the form is at least part of what causes the screen to go black.

 

Beats me if that's the right answer or not.

 

Doesn't explain why it seems to work when a new game starts, but goes black after an undetermined amount of play-time. Doesn't explain why it does NOT go black when detecting "vanilla" NPC's, but does go black when detecting modded Imperial Watch NPC's.

 

For whatever it may be worth, my second assumption is that part of the problem is due to Oscuro's overhaul and Martigen being in conflict when it comes to their modded versions of Imperial Watch, Guards, etc.

 

Does this mod eliminate the see-through-walls aspect of Detect Life?

 

What happens if you enter a city with NO Detect Life effect active?

 

If you go into a building, and then cast Detect Life?

 

I don't know how to eliminate see-thru walls; none of my tests showed that result.

 

With no detect life, the screen does not go black.

 

Chances are, if I go into a building that has no Imperial Watch NPC's and cast detect-life the screen will not go black. I have not tested that scenario.

 

TF