Fixing the awful green tint

[nandchan]

Uploaded version 0.2b for FXAA injector, simply download and replace the existing shader.fx. Do note: This will make you lose all of the other effects from FXAA, since I do not yet have permission to merge the two together.

 

http://www.mediafire.com/?qusy0191tfsdjnd

 

See the first post for more details.

Edited December 4, 2011 by nandchan

[rpawn]

If you don't like the increased saturation and blackened out shadows, then don't use this effect with the Skyrim Enhanced Shaders mod. That's what causes the crushed blacks...

 

I'm not sure we understand each other; i'm not using any kind of additional post processing (no FXAA, no Enhanced Shaders ENBSeries).

Skyrim has these blacked out shadows by default, a result of Skyrim's internal post processing.

 

Maybe i don't understand; Does Enhanced Shaders ENBSeries allow adjustment of a game's internal post processing? I didn't think it would, but if it does it could solve my problem. I'll give it a try.

[nandchan]

@rpawn: No, it only does post processing as far as I'm aware.

 

If you think blacks are too dark in vanilla, then I don't know how to affect that. But double check your ingame settings, since blacks should be very, very visible in vanilla - you can run through a dungeon without ever needing a torch since the ambient is so high.

 

@thread:

 

Released a small update, http://www.mediafire.com/?jdh79zc0gbesdet

 

This update includes the common.h and technique.h which I've now ported to be cross-plugin and which will work with both FXAA and SES. The shader I used, shader.fx, can be used with either SES or FXAA simply by setting #define FXAA to #define SES and so on (and renaming it from shader.fx to effect.txt).

 

This update adds no processing changes so if you already have 0.2e or 0.2f you do not need this update.

 

I will probably release more such inter-compatible shaders, eg. Boris' ultra high quality sharpen filter, in due time.

Edited December 4, 2011 by nandchan

[rpawn]

If you think blacks are too dark in vanilla, then I don't know how to affect that.

 

Additional post processing can not affect it, but Skyrim's build-in post processing can.

 

But double check your ingame settings, since blacks should be very, very visible in vanilla - you can run through a dungeon without ever needing a torch since the ambient is so high.

 

Thanks but it's not the ingame settings, nor driver or monitor. The cause and the solution i found is in Skyrim's own post-processing.

 

The game is generally to bright both in dungeons and outside, but also often in the same scene there are these blacked-out shadows.

It's most obvious at night time in the countryside. It generally looks quite bright given the time of day, with or without moons. And at the same time there are blacked-out shadows.

 

Both are the result of (arguably excessive) high contrast. At night cinematic contrast is typically around 1.4. It brightens everything that's remotely bright to begin with, blows out highlights and crushes all dark tints down to black.

 

One factor here is Skyrim's build-in HDR iris adjustment (console commands: php, shp), but also the game generally uses high cinematic contrast in its own post processing.

A possibly useful variable to adjust in Skyrim's HDR processing (shp) is sky brightness. Making a out-in-the-coutryside night sky appropriately dark, is trivial.

 

Cinematic processing can be adjusted to bring out some detail in those black shadows so that they're still deep shadows but no longer solid black -AND- reduce brightness to make it more night-like. (console commands: php, scp)

 

 

I've uploaded some images to my nexus account for illustration.

 

 

All this may seem rather off topic except for the fact that Skyrim's own post processing also allows for adjustment of tinting (console commands: php, stp).

 

An advantage of using Skyrim's post processing might be that you get to work with the source data rather than with a processed version that probably lacks some information about bright areas and/or deep shadows. I'm not claiming it would be better, i'm just throwing in something possibly useful that might not yet have been considered.

[nandchan]

stp 1 1 1 0

 

Try it

 

Now we know why the tint is always so f***ed :P That's what the source looks like.

 

And the game just desaturates everything in one direction, eg. stp 1 1 1 0.7 for neutral, or stp 1 0 0 0.7 for an (extreme) red tint.

[haints]

I support your goals and efforts 100 percent and will keep a fixed eye on this thread. Let me know if you need any testers/feedback!

[Arkune]

I've just installed your mod.

Very nice but how do I change the color temperature?

I would like to test your 7000K setting and maybe even 7200K.

[Arkune]

Uhm what happened to this mod? I can't find it on nexus anymore and the link on page 1 is dead.

 

It is pretty hard to get a clean white I have to say.

I'm atm using

 

#define WHITEPOINT 7637

 

Not perfect but it quickly changes from rather red to blue.

[xorchan]

Uhm what happened to this mod? I can't find it on nexus anymore and the link on page 1 is dead.

 

It is pretty hard to get a clean white I have to say.

I'm atm using

 

#define WHITEPOINT 7637

 

Not perfect but it quickly changes from rather red to blue.

 

That problem is inherent to a post processing mod, in that it has no information about the source scene (oh, the things I could do with a scanner that allowed me to analyze the scene average), there will always be some scenes that are too red or too blue. The “whitepoint” setting is a compromise in that it allows you to adjust the target white point along the Planckian locus:

 

 

It's not perfect though, and a fine hue specification would require two components.

 

Also, the choice of the source white point (the “Skyrim constant”) is a bit biased towards the blue scenes, with the reasoning being that a slightly red scene will feel more natural than a slightly blue scene, it's also a compromise in this regard.

 

Ideally, the source white point would have to be varied with the scene, or it could be possible to manually vary the source white point along a similar hue distribution curve, but adding a second parameter like this would probably create such a multitude of different compromise solutions that it would be impossible to find a result one is happy with.

 

Finally, every monitor is different, which also affects the results greatly, in addition to the brain perceiving hues differently according to the ambient white point. It is reasoned that a D65 on an assumed sRGB monitor will create a hue the user is, at the very least, familiar with (as it's equal to the 255/255/255 hue on the same monitor), even if the monitor is in fact not sRGB at all - so while the actual hue may be more red than real life, the user will be used to his “more red” monitor.

 

Ps. The mod was deleted by the Nexus staff because the user “nandchan” who had uploaded it was banned. You may still find a copy on his github page.

[Arkune]

Oh I did not notice the „Banned“.

Well...