must have mods for taking screenshots?

[Thacrudd]

Hello all, I've been sifting the forums here for a while and had a question you might be able to help me with.

 

I would like to take better screen shots and was wondering about some things that would help.

 

1. I've noticed there are some really great lighting effects used in some of the screenshots, and I would guess some of the places are made in TESCS escpecially for the shot, but for outdoors and landscape shots I see these sun glares and really colorful sunsets and skies. Are there any certain mods to make the skies and sun look so nice?

 

2. As for models in my screenshots, and I mean actual PC/NPCs, some of the skin textures I've seen are so smooth! One of the ones that brought on this question was 2 pictures from the TOP ADULT IMAGES on the main page is one called "bar" and another called "sadness" The facial textures and the skin is smooth and vibrant. My charector's facial skin is splotchy and discolored. I have sifted though the various beautifaction mods (trial and error) and here are my current mods:

Beautiful people

improve facial textures

improved facial textures by enayla

 

is there one I'm missing or should be using instead? most of my faces turn out decent but they have larger eyes or larger mouths and don't look as realistic as I'd perfer.

 

3. How should the settings in the video section of the options menu be configured? Should I use HDR or Bloom lighting, or how should I set the shadows and resolution?

 

Any help would be very nice on one or all the topics. I guess the one that's most important to me is the female models part, I just can't get them to look, for lack of a better word, hot :biggrin: I've been using mods for Oblivion for a while, sifting out ther crap mods that don't look too good the best I can so I was wondering what you screenie pros use. You guys really do turn out some top-notch screenshots, allot of which look better than most photographs I've seen! so how about it, care to reccommend some mods to a screenie noob? :thumbsup:

[arnoldvsthegooch]

Hello all, I've been sifting the forums here for a while and had a question you might be able to help me with.

 

I would like to take better screen shots and was wondering about some things that would help.

 

1. I've noticed there are some really great lighting effects used in some of the screenshots, and I would guess some of the places are made in TESCS escpecially for the shot, but for outdoors and landscape shots I see these sun glares and really colorful sunsets and skies. Are there any certain mods to make the skies and sun look so nice?

 

2. As for models in my screenshots, and I mean actual PC/NPCs, some of the skin textures I've seen are so smooth! One of the ones that brought on this question was 2 pictures from the TOP ADULT IMAGES on the main page is one called "bar" and another called "sadness" The facial textures and the skin is smooth and vibrant. My charector's facial skin is splotchy and discolored. I have sifted though the various beautifaction mods (trial and error) and here are my current mods:

Beautiful people

improve facial textures

improved facial textures by enayla

 

is there one I'm missing or should be using instead? most of my faces turn out decent but they have larger eyes or larger mouths and don't look as realistic as I'd perfer.

 

3. How should the settings in the video section of the options menu be configured? Should I use HDR or Bloom lighting, or how should I set the shadows and resolution?

 

Any help would be very nice on one or all the topics. I guess the one that's most important to me is the female models part, I just can't get them to look, for lack of a better word, hot :biggrin: I've been using mods for Oblivion for a while, sifting out ther crap mods that don't look too good the best I can so I was wondering what you screenie pros use. You guys really do turn out some top-notch screenshots, allot of which look better than most photographs I've seen! so how about it, care to reccommend some mods to a screenie noob? :thumbsup:

 

Start by reading this:

 

http://www.shsforums.net/index.php?showtopic=28507

 

As for lighting and skies:

 

There is a mod out there for Sun Glares; not exactly sure what's it called. Search TESNEXUS for Sun. However alot of people edit their screenshots in a photo editor program like PhotoShop to get different colors and lighting effects. I use Corel Paint Shop Pro. It's easy to add little subtle colors and effects to screenshots. If you see a large orange sun glare it's most likely Photoshopped.

 

As for Skin textures:

 

I don't know about male textures, but if you use the Exnem / HGEC body for females there are excellent texture replacers called:

 

High Rez Texture for Exnem

High Rez Textures for HGEC

 

these come equipped with the option of Oiled 1 & Oiled 2 textures if you like.

 

Some of the Race MODS come with the textures within the MOD package and have really nice looking default faces that need very little tweaking:

 

Chocolate Elves

Corean Race

Cute Elf Race

 

As for video settings:

 

If you just want to do screenshots and not worry about stuttering gameplay set your video settings to the highest resolution your monitor can use (I use 1920x1200 :biggrin: ) HDR lighting is better if your CPU and GPU can handle it.

 

Some other tips:

 

use the console (~) if your not familiar:

 

fw 00038eee This is for clear skies nice for good night skies. (I use a mod called Skycandy that has a bunch of cool looking sky textures.

 

tfc This is for the flying camera (make sure you are in 3rd person before activating)

 

tai This toggles the AI. They can't hurt you when tai is turned on so you can get really good action shots.

 

tcl This toggles collision. Now you can walk to the top of of one of the cathedrals for a cool shot. (make sure you are in 3rd person before activating)

 

tm Turns off the HUD.

 

For good lighting just chuck a few torches on the ground.

 

I also use a mod called 13 cheaters rings. It has a ring called The Greatest Cheater Ring that has a crazy high light effect that I sometimes use for scenic shots at night.

 

Another good mod for scenic is Almost everything viewable when distant (AEVWD). And also Better Tiling Textures. Make your environment look good with these mods:

 

http://devnull.devakm.googlepages.com/obli...textureoverhaul

 

Here's some of my screenshots:

 

http://jlspain1.googlepages.com/screenshots

 

and MODS:

 

http://jlspain1.googlepages.com/thegooch%27soblivionmods

 

Have fun screenshooting!

[Thacrudd]

Thank you very much for your timely relpy! You really hit the nail on the head. From what I can tell Exnems body replacer and the HGEC mod do basically the same thing but still have their differences. I've used exnem's for a while but which do you think is a better choice, Exnems or HGEC? Thanks a million.

[herosinger]

Thank you very much for your timely relpy! You really hit the nail on the head. From what I can tell Exnems body replacer and the HGEC mod do basically the same thing but still have their differences. I've used exnem's for a while but which do you think is a better choice, Exnems or HGEC? Thanks a million.

HGEC is something of a "revamped" Exnem's Eyecandy. It offers several improvements over the original model, and it is now the body that will be supported by Eyecandy modders.

[Thacrudd]

I can only use one at a time though, correct?

[herosinger]

Yes, though they are in most ways compatible. The only problems you might see is when mixing HGEC and original EyeCandy clothing.

[Thacrudd]

Ahh so that's why I see allot of the clothing remade for HGEC. I guess it's a bit of trial and error for finding out which clothes will work from the original Eye Candy to HGEC. Anyone have any info on that for clothing from the Apachii Goddess Store?