Skyrim Shadow Fix

[MorwynKelm]

Really had it with the ridiculous shadows in Skyrim. I've read every forum, looked up every variable, still can't find a workable solution to this blocky, jittery mess. The 5s jumps can be fixed with these additions in Skyrim.ini under [Display]:

 

fSunShadowUpdateTime=0

fSunUpdateThreshold-0

 

In the SkyrimPrefs.ini, there appear to be plenty of options, none of which seem to make much difference. Here's what I've tried:

 

iShadowMapResolution=4096

iShadowMapResolutionInt=4096

iShadowMaskQuarter=4

iShadowSplitCount=4

iBlurDeferredShadowMask=10

fShadowDistance=2048.0000

iShadowMapResolutionSecondary=4096

iShadowMapResolutionPrimary=4096

fShadowBiasScale=0.1500

iEquippedTorchesCastShadows=1

fInteriorShadowDistance=2500.0000

iShadowFilter=4

fShadowLODStartFade=1500.0000

iShadowMode=3

bTreesReceiveShadows=1

bDrawLandShadows=1

bDrawShadows=1

bActorSelfShadowing=1

 

Can anyone shed some light on this? The most significant option seems to be the fShadowDistance but that's such a huge trade-off between visibility range and close resolution. It sucks. Help, anyone?

[GrindedStone]

What you see are the highest performance world shadows ever created. Yeah at times it looks "blocky". However this is overshadowed by the fact that the privious games had zero world shadows. (heh heh I said overshadow in a shadow topic) Now you factor in that if they were to enable or allow shadow filtering on these world shadows it would double the performance requirements. Only about 7% of gamers have DX11 support, an only 25% of them have more than 2Gb of ram. Add to this the Xbox an PS3 limitations as well as the global domination of the video game market by consoles using less than 50% of 1Gb for total system ram. And you have your answer why the shadows are performanced based. If you can run Skyrim you can run it with shadows, that is an outstanding goal to have reached.

 

The shadows bothered me too when I first saw it, but after I realized what it was I quickly ignored it. It's really easy to get stuck on something an miss out on the big picture in these games. For example you would never walk around the real world looking at shadows instead of what is actually there in front of you. It's hard not to notice it, but easy to ignore given your eyes are on the big picture here. Still determined then look to texture filtering an multisampling transparency, though I would guess these are created via shaders because you notice the same thing in the sky at times. To that end you could look into forcing a different shader model or using a different shader package. It would also be more easy for you to use a configurator instead of the .ini. I would ignore it an use default because it's less work.

[MorwynKelm]

Well thanks. That's the most well-written non-answer I've ever heard. You must be in technical support.

 

Frankly, I don't give a s*** that it runs on a console. I'm of the mind that developers who pawn off console games to PC users are scumbags. No, douchebags. The "dumbing-down" of PC games has gone on long enough and catering to the lowest denominator is what infuriates me. Even if, from a financial standpoint, it makes sense to put out crippled console titles and port them to PCs, at least give us POWER USERS the ability to take advantage of our exceedingly powerful systems. And your passionate decree of the existing shadow implementation in Skyrim does not impress me. In fact, it's an insult to everyone that ANY game with the PC requirements that Skyrim has, should have bloody shadows that don't look like a Minecraft overlay. And in the broader sense, Skyrim is an embaressment on many fronts. Bugs are to be expected with any new release but consider the blatant f-ups that have occured with Skyrim, the un-ending trail of bugs, the lack of ANY optimizations on the binaries, the highly hypled 'DLC Hi Res Pack' is a disaster by all accounts. The list goes on.

 

But really, the console markets are driving the cart here and that's the problem PC users have. The bar is at ground level and even though our systems excel in every way, we're stuck at the starting line with consoles that are 10 years old. I've been saying it for years, I'll say it again here.

 

Bethesda is run by morons who don't have vision, who only see what the shareholders want. Screw them, I won't $upport any more of their products until they can stop using technology that is 30 years old. I ran 32bits on my Amiga 30 years ago, let's get with the times, yes?

 

Skyrim should have been a FULLY 64bit application. Period.

 

Now if anyone else can shed some light on how to improve the emberassingly bad shading system in Skyrim, please pipe in. I don't run a beefy system to I can watch PONG imitate a shading system.

[AngeGardien]

i think if it's only the shadows you want to correct and all the lightning system, i have peharp something for you, sorry this not a command to put in the ini, because i don't know big on this, but if it's can help, here is a link for a mod, but in short you can control in game all the light the vision and the shadows, i have not tested it for now so i don't make any comment on it but if you go to this link, go to the description and look for the two video they have put here, you will peharp understand bettewr a video than my English Ha Ha Ha!, ok here is the link :

 

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=13049

 

i hope it's something they will help you...

[GrindedStone]

There's no need to be a bad sport about things. We are in the same boat you are as PC gamers.

[GrindedStone]

http://i895.photobucket.com/albums/ac156/grindedstone/Best%20Quality/TESV2012-03-3023-46-51-37.jpg

 

This is 1280x1024 on a 20 inch 1600x1200 LCD. A low powered 6 year old computer. I used the skyrim configurator. The only thing out of the ordinary was it was more difficult to enable multisampling which prolly should be enabled by default. But like I said I use a really low powered computer. It's a single core Pentium 4 550 HT, Nvidia 9800 GT power saver, 2Gb of DDR2 800 on a 800 FSB :O lulz It's also running on the slow end of a raptor drive but it runs fine. What we are looking to do here is compare screenshots in order to find out if this is a config issue or perhaps an issue with your grapics card an it's control panel. Find a spot where the issue is the worst an we can check it. Use Fraps to take a .BMP screenshot, then convert that to 100% quality jpeg, then host it on 100% quality up to 1 Mb unless you sub to a 100% host.

[GrindedStone]

Okay got it. Use Skyrim Configurator You wana go to shadows advanced an set the filtering to high or whatever. Since you already manually edited the .ini it would be better to move those .ini out an launch the game to auto detect the default settings. Then you know you can set all the other stuff you wanted as well as create profiles. I would look into your grapics card control panel as well which it seems this game is a little more dependant on those settings than before.

[GrindedStone]

Skyrim Configurator actually has a lot of config for shadows I just never looked because I was just happy the dang game worked at all. Directional light based world shadows that move as the day passes. Pfft that's impossible, well not anymore. I reckon if you messed with it enough you could get it in high quality as well.

 

http://i895.photobucket.com/albums/ac156/grindedstone/Currentz/5122blur.jpg

 

512 ultra filter 2 blur I think it's default, I've got other things on my mind.

 

http://i895.photobucket.com/albums/ac156/grindedstone/Currentz/10242blur.jpg

 

1024 ultra filter 2 blur

 

http://i895.photobucket.com/albums/ac156/grindedstone/Currentz/8blur.jpg

 

1024 ultra filter 8 blur

 

http://i895.photobucket.com/albums/ac156/grindedstone/Currentz/bluroff.jpg

 

1024 ultra filter 0 blur

[Rennn]

In like ten years we'll probably get SKGE. Until then, I don't think there's a performance effective way to fix the shadows without losing distance. Bumping the resolution up to 8192 doesn't seem to work for me...

 

This is definitely one of the most expansive dynamic lighting systems I've ever seen in a DX9 game though, if not the most expansive. It beats most DX11 game shadows in everything aside from some really crazy SSAO. Not in quality, but in quantity.

Edited March 31, 2012 by Rennn

[GrindedStone]

I agree it's totally insane. It's actually fun to play with using the Skyrim Configurator I'll end up using one of the below. Although the draw distance will be adjusted. aprox 1250 = 25 feet or 2500=50

 

http://i895.photobucket.com/albums/ac156/grindedstone/Currentz/512highfilter10blur1fade.jpg

 

This is 512 high filtered with 10 blur. Also the fade is set to 1 in order to render all shadows as dark.

 

http://i895.photobucket.com/albums/ac156/grindedstone/Currentz/1024highfilter10blur1fade.jpg

 

This is the same as the first only using a 1024 map.

 

 

 

*update* 512 won, an also 1 fade won. The last 2-3 inches of the shadow is kind of max detail as far as shape. This went pixelated anytime the shadow moved. So the 1 fade gets rid of that an kind of makes it look darker or blobby. 2500 distance or 5000 distance didn't make a big difference in performance. 512 just looked better, that could very well be your problem. 512 to me is like 256 to you power mungos, so I reckon you high powered folks would use 1024 or 2048, depending on your screen resolution though 512 will prolly win on your system too.

Edited March 31, 2012 by GrindedStone