Feedback required: How dark do you like your dungeons?

[Sdesser]

Heya Skyrim Modders and.. people that play them!

 

I'm currently building a real hardcore dungeon. It's gonna be tough to beat, includes traps, obstacle jumping and of course (almost) insane hard mobs.

Now the question is: Shall I make it really dark, meaning you really need a torch to see where your next step lands 90% of the time, or should I add more lighting to make it easier to see?

 

And if you can, please do post some more in depth answers along with the poll.

 

My thanks!

-Sdesser

[fms1]

Most people use a lighting mod for this, to get what they prefer.

[noweha]

Most people use a lighting mod for this, to get what they prefer.

 

This guy has it right! People will complain if they have to discard their ENB for a certain dungeon because it's already too bright/dark. Just focus on making your mod and other hocus-pocus.

[ArtMurder]

I cant find a single ENB in existence that actually delivers truly dark dungeons and doesn't completely screw things up. I downloaded one that was suppose to be 'ultra hardcore' yet despite turning in game lighting all the way down, and shadow effects up, it was still significantly brighter then vanilla skyrim, to the point that going outside during the day time in thw snow as a vampire(which makes sunlight brighter with one of my mods) was a relief to my eyes. I had installed another similar one before that made all colors HORRIDLY inverted and blue shifted in dungeons so you simply couldn't make out anything that was going on onscreen, it was like watching a monotone cartoon while tripping acid or something.

 

So yeah, in theory I like darker dungeons, but I've never actually been able to see for myself just how fun it would be to not be able to see your nose in front of your face. I've just given up on ENBs, every single one of them in existence has a horrible game breaking visual glitch at some point or another, such as moons ten times as bright as my sun, colors inverting and blue shifting if it gets slightly dark whatsoever, fog making it impossible to see more then 2 inches in front of you during the day, fogging making bright white bands across the middle of my screen at night, bright white skies at 11:30 at night that miraculously turn normal colored at midnight, bright green water that turns completely invisible randomly, every color onscreen flickering violently between normal and inverted to the point it's seizure inducing. Seriously, either my computer hates ENBs, or everyone else out there is totally flippin crazy for putting up with the glitches they cause. I've had more glitches and corrupted saves from ENBs alone then every other mod put together. But then again, I do like to tweak mine like crazy, but most of them have the 'blacks are inverted' glitch out of the box, and I can't simply ignore my character having luminescent chromatic black and white hair.

 

I've had a bad week for ENBs, forgive my rant. :rolleyes:

[Sdesser]

Interesting answers, keep them coming!

 

I might actually make two versions. "Original" that's really dark and one that's more like.. normal Skyrim dungeons I guess.

I've already spent over a week building the house and a few days building the dungeon, so what's another hour or two, eh? ^^

 

But first things first. I have to finish the dungeon.. Finished basic layout today and only scratched the surface of adding clutter and story.

AND I still have to learn how to make quests.. or I'll just tell the story through journals scattered around the dungeon. That would give more of a classic RPG feeling to it instead of having "magical" floating markers everywhere and a quest log to tell you where to go.

[noweha]

I might actually make two versions. "Original" that's really dark and one that's more like.. normal Skyrim dungeons I guess.

I've already spent over a week building the house and a few days building the dungeon, so what's another hour or two, eh? ^^

 

You sound devoted, which is magnificent.

 

http://25.media.tumblr.com/8dd34ca3741a8bc6bc78e012d2467cd1/tumblr_mhhpw0074B1s29y53o1_250.gif

 

If you really want to spend the time to cater to both ENB and non-ENB users, this is what you should do. Most people only cater to one or the other though... just expect a few people to be unhappy.

 

There is always someone who is unhappy, even if their argument is "needs moar cowbell". :facepalm:

[ArtMurder]

 

There is always someone who is unhappy, even if their argument is "needs moar cowbell". :facepalm:

I agree, and most of the time it's usually the same person either way. :tongue:

[fms1]

To somewhat clarify what I meant was there are certainly no shortage of lighting mods, many of which can be used together and are very good standalone + all the ENB's. Personally I don't use ENB's because for my PC it's too much of a performance hit for very little gain that I can get with a combination of other mods that do similar things without the performance hit, but again that's just my preference. My point was those mods are a whole game changing thing, whereas 1 or 2 dungeons are not. If someone creates a mod that does something small vs. a big overhaul mod that changes things on a much broader scale conflicts to the point to make someone choose 1 or the other, but not both, I would think the outcome to most people would be to keep the big overhaul one if there were no other issues. All you need to do to see just how popular those lighting mods are is to look at just how many endorsements each one have. Just off the top of my head there's too many to list, all with over a thousand endorsements.

 

EDIT: I'm not trying to rant, or criticize, just give some (hopefully) good feedback. And maybe save you some unneeded work.

Edited February 4, 2013 by fms1

[Sdesser]

I might actually make two versions. "Original" that's really dark and one that's more like.. normal Skyrim dungeons I guess.

I've already spent over a week building the house and a few days building the dungeon, so what's another hour or two, eh? ^^

 

You sound devoted, which is magnificent.

 

http://25.media.tumblr.com/8dd34ca3741a8bc6bc78e012d2467cd1/tumblr_mhhpw0074B1s29y53o1_250.gif

 

If you really want to spend the time to cater to both ENB and non-ENB users, this is what you should do. Most people only cater to one or the other though... just expect a few people to be unhappy.

 

There is always someone who is unhappy, even if their argument is "needs moar cowbell". :facepalm:

 

Hehe, thanks!

 

Actually I'm studying Information Processing at the local university and been hoping to become a game dev since I was a kid, so this is good practice!

And what's more satisfying than popping one of your favorite games open and improving on it? Not to mention, using actual dev tools \o/

 

Probably the reason why It's taken a whole week to finish the house, is because this is my first attempt at modding a Bethesda game so the Creation Kit was something very new to me when I started

and finding all those pieces that you need in it.. It's been a long process and still ongoing :)

Throw in a pinch of perfectionism and you've got your self quite a wide schedule :D

[jack013]

don't include light sources, love a draugr, especially when he pops into existence at the edge of your torch radius and is sucking on your face.

if it's too dark just make your monsters explode when they die.