Making Things Dark?

[dootdoot]

I just can't seem to figure out how to make Skyrim dark... like actually dark lighting. I've tried installing RLO and ELFX and RCRN (not necessarily at the same time) and some ENBs... and everything is always still NOT DARK... in fact, everything is always still quite illuminated at night, indoors, dungeons... I see comments about people saying that even the base game is too dark, and that they can't see anything with ENBs, and asking modders of the afformentioned mods to make brighter versions... but I don't get it... I've never even seen one single frame of "real darkness" in my attempts so far... torches are about as useless with the modifications as they ever were in vanilla, as everything is WAY too bright even with these mods.

 

This isn't a mod creation request, or a complaint about these mods! I know people are working on various mods like RLO and I'm just anxiously awaiting great mods like anyone else. I do see some screenshots of people with darkness out there, but how? I'm just a Let There Be Darkness and Real Lights junkie from Oblivion in need of some pointers for Skyrim. Any help would be appreciated.

Edited April 2, 2013 by dootdoot

[GrimyBunyip]

you need to define what you mean by actually dark.

you use the word dark lighting and it sounds like you even want lights to be dark.

 

and honestly if you want everything to be dark, even the lights, just turn down your brightness

 

or maybe you want sunlight to be the only truly bright light.

Anyways my point is you should probably clarify.

[LargeStyle]

Have you tried this ENB..... http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/27952

 

Plus you can relatively quickly and easily change lighting yourself via this mod......http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/13049

[dootdoot]

you need to define what you mean by actually dark.

you use the word dark lighting and it sounds like you even want lights to be dark.

 

and honestly if you want everything to be dark, even the lights, just turn down your brightness

 

or maybe you want sunlight to be the only truly bright light.

Anyways my point is you should probably clarify.

 

I did mention that I am a Let There Be Darkness and Real Lights from Oblivion fanatic. Turning down the brightness is the last thing on earth to do. I don't have it all the way up anyway, its calibrated pretty nicely. The issue is that there is literally NO darkness in Skyrim, none, zero places that are actually dark enough to not be able to see without light. I have literally never seen a place that needed any illumination to allow me to see the objects. Dim yes, but DARK no, never. What I'm looking for is the kind of darkness from those Oblivion mods, where if there isn't a "real" light source in the vicinity, it can get to where it is pitch PITCH black dark.

 

Have you tried this ENB..... http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/27952

 

Plus you can relatively quickly and easily change lighting yourself via this mod......http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/13049

 

I will give those a shot. Thanks for the recommendations!

 

[dootdoot]

So, basically I'm making my own mod to eliminate most of the ambient light indoors. That is proving easy. It may also not be realistic, but when combined with ELFX, its closer to realistic than having ambient light, in my opinion. I also reduced ambient light outdoors at night. However, I cannot seem to figure out how to reduce the global light source value at night (or day, though I'm not wanting to reduce daylight). Does anyone know how to reduce the "moonlight" illumination intensity in the CK?

 

Edit: nm, I found it. I didn't realize the weather setting dropdown contained a "sunlight" value.

 

So, instead, I'll ask the next question on my mind: does anyone know, at least at a high level, what steps would be involed in making water, both surfaces and meshes for "fast-flowing" water and splashes, not "glow in the dark" but require lighting to be visible?

Edited April 2, 2013 by dootdoot

[Hyacathusarullistad]

Have you tried the darker versions of Climates of Tamriel? I've used it in the past and had the opposite problem - even the lightest settings were impossible to see anything with (one reason I'm so excited for the extra light settings of v3). Even with torches. If even CoT is too light for you, then the issue is definitely with your monitor and.or display settings. Because that s#*! is dark.

Edited April 2, 2013 by Hyacathusarullistad

[myztikrice]

Climates of Tamriel will make outside nights darker. RLO or ELnFX should make interiors darker. Also make sure you're using an ENB with an enbpalette.bmp file, which will make blacks blacker.

[dootdoot]

It is not my monitor. It is a $700 3D ready display and has been properly calibrated. My defninition of "dark" seems to differ from other peoples'. I know its not the monitor, regardless of the specs (as in if it has gone bad despite its original specs) because when I run Oblivion with the darkness mods, things are quite dark, I assure you. It is this game, and these mods. Maybe other people's monitors are too dark, rather than mine being too bright? Sure, a torch would HELP see, but it isn't REQUIRED to see at all with those mods... in vanilla, a torch is a joke beyond all jokes.

 

I don't have paypal set up, so I can't share screenshots, but trust me, it isn't my settings, its that there doesn't seem to be a true darkness mod out there. I am working on one now. I don't know if/when I'd release it to others, because I won't do so unless I think it is truly good enough to... no crappy betas to share just for the sake of sharing. If I do, you'll see the stark difference. I've tested in game my initial changes against these other mods, and there is a stark contrast in darkness levels. The only thing that sucks is that doing all this just for vanilla is one thing, but supporting a patch for something like CoT (if I'd even have permission) would be a bit tough.

 

Anyway, Darkness is a WIP. I would still appreciate any insight anyone has into how to make rapids, waterfalls, and low clouds/mountain fog require light to illuminate them instead of glowing pale in the dark.