Some screenshots of a heavily modified Skyrim

TheScavenger · November 2012

Some Skyrim screenshots I took. Heavily modded and it looks great. A friend over on Facebook posted a 9gag link of some amazing looking screenshots someone else took. Decided I would post my own.

Here is the 9gag link: http://9gag.com/gag/5934909?ref=fb.s

He has more modifications than I do and looks a bit better. Mainly because of his personal grass mod. His grass mod ups their resolution, render distance and density...however, even with his top of the top PC (and overclocked), he said he gets 5 fps with the grass mod active...30-35 without it. While my PC may not be the latest in hardware, I think my Skyrim game looks great.

http://i.imgur.com/iqk9r.jpg - On the bridge looking over Riverwood

http://i.imgur.com/IsHFP.jpg - My Vampire Dark Elf

http://i.imgur.com/KHlBi.jpg - Some Riverwood scenery

http://i.imgur.com/9yiq9.jpg - Sunset at the Guardian Stones

http://i.imgur.com/brO6x.jpg - Camp at Riverwood, side view of my companion

http://i.imgur.com/DMX0I.jpg - Riverwood's Blacksmith

http://i.imgur.com/PgDS8.jpg - On a ledge, overlooking Riverwood

Nitth · November 2012

Alot of these mods i see around just make skyrim more cartoony..

on that, its just basicly lots of bloom and color saturation though enb right?

KhinRunite · November 2012

Originally posted by Nitth
Alot of these mods i see around just make skyrim more cartoony..

on that, its just basicly lots of bloom and color saturation though enb right?

Actually the settings for ENB are more than bloom and saturation. When compared side-by-side with vanilla shots the modded one looks more photorealistic, or at the least looks more like pre-rendered CGI films.

Here's my screenshot with custom ENB, with grainy film effect like in Mass Effect:

TheScavenger · November 2012

Originally posted by OG_Zorvan
You should see this: http://kotaku.com/5961994/what-skyrim-looks-like-when-youre-running-100-mods-at-once

*pictures used to be here*

*but now can't leave the quote box, so my text in red*

Thanks for the link. Same screenshots as the 9gag link I posted...still...Kotaku is always a good site (well I like it)

As for cartoony. Well...really, it just depends on your preference and how you see things. From looking at many mods and comments. Some people like a...colorless...look, maybe darker and more gritty. For them that is realistic and the best look. Others like a bright and very oversaturated look...maybe a more fantastical approach one could call it. Lots of different settings (or some people just stay with the original look), for whatever ones preference is.

Personally, I like to add color, and a darker lighting tone...but I try to aim for what I "personally" see as a realistic look. I think my screenshots don't look cartoony. They don't look (to me) to add too much saturation. I think the 9gag/kotaku screenshots posted, actually have too much saturation now that I compared them to mine. His are very colorful. Nothing wrong with that, since it still looks good...just again, depends on how you see things. Some of his shots are amazing though and look great, but some seem like they could do with a bit less saturation.

The problem with my settings is day time is kind of on the bright side if there aren't any trees/shadows around. There is also a blur around objects. I kind of solved both of those problems by just turning down in-game brightness though.

TheScavenger · December 2012

Here are some more screenshots of my modded Skyrim.

http://i.imgur.com/KFq30.jpg - The Mammoth and Whiterun

http://i.imgur.com/JzRCA.jpg - The Frozen Plains of Skyrim

http://i.imgur.com/dF8Lg.jpg - An Elk (they look really cool in Skyrim)

http://i.imgur.com/sU5wE.jpg - The Beauty of Night

stealthbr · December 2012

Some ENB's w/ motion blur really do make the game amazingly pretty.

Teala · December 2012

Skyrim is a gorgeous game. I am running perhaps a dozen graphic mods and the game looks and plays more amazing than almost every other game I have ever played. I only wish Mount and Blade used this engine. One thing I think I like the most about Skyrim is the depth of atmosphere. When it is dark and rainy...it is truly dark and rainy. Walking through the woods, then seeing a flash of lightning, having it light up the area for a brief second can make you think you see things. Or how about the mist of a dark dungeon - walking into it - you can almost feel it pressing in on your characters body. Skyrim is just an amazing game.

Exavus · December 2012

Can we get a list of some of the mods used to make these beautiful screenshots? I would play some skyrim all night if I could get some similar results.

azzamasin · December 2012

Originally posted by Exavus
Can we get a list of some of the mods used to make these beautiful screenshots? I would play some skyrim all night if I could get some similar results.

Dont even bother if you run an AMD system. I have an amazing rig and have to throttle my FPS to no more then 30 fps because I get the swimming on land bug without it.

Bakkoda24 · December 2012

I use the :

Town and Villages Enhanced pack http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/17406

Improved Interior Lighting (For Realistic Lighting Mods)

Pure Waters

RCRN 3.6 - Realistic Colors and Real Nights (Classic preset)

Enhanced Blood Textures 2.5

Also, the Sounds of Skyrim series.

Will edit with links later.

TheScavenger · December 2012

Wish I could use the Enhanced mod series. They look awesome. Tried the Whiterun version...and literally went to 1-3 fps lol. I wasn't even anywhere inside Whiterun. Though, never did just the village version...but since I have a stable game, haven't really wanted to find out heh.

Mawnee · December 2012

Time to go download some mods......

-Edit 1 hour later....still downloading mods. Installing them is going to be epic! :P

Nitth · December 2012

No matter what i do i cant get the definition of those screenshots lol..

I also read the above "guides" extensively.

TheScavenger · December 2012

Originally posted by Nitth
No matter what i do i cant get the definition of those screenshots lol..

I also read the above "guides" extensively.

Get The Wilds (I use darker nights), Climates of Tamriel (default). These two are the main ones, and they work together. The Wilds has a version made with CoT, but I'm just using the default and darker nights...I didn't really like the CoT version. These are the main ones.

For The Wilds, it will drop FPS by a lot...like ENB normally does. If that is a problem, you can turn/leave off Depth of Field and SSAO. Both individually drop FPS by 10-15 on my system. It takes a top end PC to use both. I just use DoF, since I really like ENB's version of DoF, high quality and works really well.

If you want darker dungeons. I use Dark Dungeons for ENB (further dark dungeons). But, I have yet to take screenshots of it.

For textures themselves...

You can either go with Skyrim HD - 2k textures (the default resolution or low res, I'm using default) or...get Texture Pack Combiner that combines a whole bunch of various texture mods into one folder (folder, not file)...and makes them all compatible. However, it took me a good hour (or maybe it was two hours) to download all the mods, and another hour or so to set it up. And it isn't the easiest to install. So, be sure to read the description. TPC uses Skyrim HD as well. Don't get the parralex mod though, that mod causes massive CTDs and it is widely reported to do so.

TheScavenger · December 2012

This is by far my favorite Skyrim screenshot I've taken. Just one uploaded, but it is amazing. Great atmosphere.

http://i.imgur.com/Vo8fA.jpg

TheScavenger · December 2012

Here are some more screenshots of Skyrim, two of the scenery and one of my character. I'm linking the Nexus ones this time, instead of using Imgur.

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/images/174084 - Whiterun at night (vampire power turned on, and it actually came out really good. A lot better than I intended. :P)

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/images/174083 - Another of Riverwood

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/images/174085 - My Dark Elf with his glowing eyes...very vampire/werewolf like.

I have a mod (not Dawnguard compatible) that lets you be both a Vampire and a Werewolf. It doesn't come with glowing eyes though, it is just how the lighting came out.

TheScavenger · December 2012

Here is a screenshot of what dungeons look like with ENB + Sweetfx + Blackout

Blackout - Simply Darker Dungeons: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/27960

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/images/174532

mindw0rk · December 2012

Screenshots here didnt impress me. Maybe since I dont like heavy blur ENBs and use more sharp options. Check this video if you want to see how forest looks in Skyrim with right mods on extreme graphic settings.

http://images.pub.goha.ru/files2/Skyrim/Skyrim_Woods.avi

TheScavenger · December 2012

That .avi turns out to be 0 bytes. Not sure if my browser (Chrome) automatically stops the download, or what. It showed up on my downloads folder at 0 bytes...could be on my end, but be weary of it.

mindw0rk · December 2012

Its 650 Mb, downloads fine with Chrome just checked.

iceman00 · December 2012

Originally posted by Teala
Skyrim is a gorgeous game. I am running perhaps a dozen graphic mods and the game looks and plays more amazing than almost every other game I have ever played. I only wish Mount and Blade used this engine. One thing I think I like the most about Skyrim is the depth of atmosphere. When it is dark and rainy...it is truly dark and rainy. Walking through the woods, then seeing a flash of lightning, having it light up the area for a brief second can make you think you see things. Or how about the mist of a dark dungeon - walking into it - you can almost feel it pressing in on your characters body. Skyrim is just an amazing game.

As with all ES games, they give us an engine that is incredibly customizable, and the playerbase makes the game a thousand times better.

I am going to go back and visit Skyrim in a bit, and I actually can't think of just playing vanilla Skyrim anymore. A lot of mods are just far too helpful and make things look far too smooth. The better cities mod is just an example of that.

TheScavenger · February 2013

Here is an older screenshot, but this is my favorite character I've made for any game. She looks so amazing. It took a little over 3 hours, not including previous character attempts (which add up to a lot)

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/images/117835

What do you guys think of her? I haven't played on her in a while, but I'll probably re-create her on my next playthrough...probably leave all the settings the same, maybe a few tweaks, dunno. She is kinda perfected in my eyes. It took a long time to get the character I made in that screenshot.

mindw0rk · February 2013

Originally posted by TheScavenger

What do you guys think of her? I haven't played on her

She looks sad

azzamasin · February 2013

Pretty nice screens but unfortunetly I have to run a mod that throttles my framerates at 30 fps because my PC is so good it gives me the swimming on land effect.

TheScavenger · February 2013

Originally posted by azzamasin
Pretty nice screens but unfortunetly I have to run a mod that throttles my framerates at 30 fps because my PC is so good it gives me the swimming on land effect.

I imagine you tried turning on Vsync and see if it still happens? In vanilla skyrim I had to turn it on, because the FPS was far too high for the game. My PC can't really handle a modded skyrim though :P

and @mindw0rk yeah she does look a bit sad, but Skyrim is a harsh, cold place.

But thats just how she turned out I guess. I still think she looks really nice.

But I may do some tweaks and see if I can get a even better looking character. It takes quite a bit of time though and a lot of work, And I'm not home to do any modding for a while, so I can't do anything with Skyrim.

Terranah · February 2013

Thanks for the screenshots guys. I agree, Skryim is breathtakingly beautiful at times. This game is easily in my top 5 solo games. I would bump it up to top three but with some of my console games, my wife and I sit on the couch together and pass the controller back and forth, so the experience of playing together is a lot more fun.

But strictly speaking for pc, this is the best.

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Some screenshots of a heavily modified Skyrim

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Some screenshots of a heavily modified Skyrim

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