How to make mountain and rock nifs cast & receive shadows?

[Mookeylama]

after watching some videos i see that many of my mountains, cliffs, and assorted rock structures do not cast (or possibly receive) shadows. many of my nifs are from old mods or collections like Tamriel Reloaded and others. search some newer mods i see their nifs have setting mine don't such as mine will have ...skyrim shader type -heightmap, and theirs will be "default". also flags like cast shadows, parrallax ect. i also saw this in the USLEEP logs...

 

 

 

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https://www.afkmods.com/Unofficial%20Skyrim%20Legendary%20Edition%20Patch%20Version%20History.html

None of the landscape parts for mountains cast shadows even though all of them are large enough to need it. (meshes\landscape\mountains\mountaincliff01.nif, meshes\landscape\mountains\mountaincliff02.nif, meshes\landscape\mountains\mountaincliff03.nif, meshes\landscape\mountains\mountaincliff04.nif, meshes\landscape\mountains\mountaincliffsm01.nif, meshes\landscape\mountains\mountainpeak01.nif, meshes\landscape\mountains\mountainpeak02.nif, meshes\landscape\mountains\mountainridge01.nif, meshes\landscape\mountains\mountainridge02.nif, meshes\landscape\mountains\mountainridge03.nif, meshes\landscape\mountains\mountaintrim01.nif, meshes\landscape\mountains\mountaintrim01wet.nif, meshes\landscape\mountains\mountaintrim02.nif, meshes\landscape\mountains\mountaintrim02wet.nif, meshes\landscape\mountains\mountaintrim03.nif, meshes\landscape\mountains\mountaintrim03wet.nif, meshes\landscape\mountains\mountaintrimslab.nif) (Bug #14424)"
 

 

 

 

so before i change all my nifs and screw up performance or something, what are the rules for getting nifs to show shadows? thanks

 

edit; thanks Rohzima for your reply!

[RohZima]

9 hours ago, Mookeylama said:

after watching some videos i see that many of my mountains, cliffs, and assorted rock structures do not cast (or possibly receive) shadows. many of my nifs are from old mods or collections like Tamriel Reloaded and others. search some newer mods i see their nifs have setting mine don't such as mine will have ...skyrim shader type -heightmap, and theirs will be "default". also flags like cast shadows, parrallax ect. i also saw this in the USLEEP logs...

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

"

 

https://www.afkmods.com/Unofficial%20Skyrim%20Legendary%20Edition%20Patch%20Version%20History.html

None of the landscape parts for mountains cast shadows even though all of them are large enough to need it. (meshes\landscape\mountains\mountaincliff01.nif, meshes\landscape\mountains\mountaincliff02.nif, meshes\landscape\mountains\mountaincliff03.nif, meshes\landscape\mountains\mountaincliff04.nif, meshes\landscape\mountains\mountaincliffsm01.nif, meshes\landscape\mountains\mountainpeak01.nif, meshes\landscape\mountains\mountainpeak02.nif, meshes\landscape\mountains\mountainridge01.nif, meshes\landscape\mountains\mountainridge02.nif, meshes\landscape\mountains\mountainridge03.nif, meshes\landscape\mountains\mountaintrim01.nif, meshes\landscape\mountains\mountaintrim01wet.nif, meshes\landscape\mountains\mountaintrim02.nif, meshes\landscape\mountains\mountaintrim02wet.nif, meshes\landscape\mountains\mountaintrim03.nif, meshes\landscape\mountains\mountaintrim03wet.nif, meshes\landscape\mountains\mountaintrimslab.nif) (Bug #14424)"
 

 

 

 

so before i change all my nifs and screw up performance or something, what are the rules for getting nifs to show shadows? thanks

Well the default is to cast and receive shadows so any performance issues you receive will be fixed with global shadow settings rather than individual shader settings for things like cliffs. Think about it, the objects aren't that complex, and the big shadow will only be visible when you are close up. it's the level of detail of the shadows and when they are computed that will slow you down not the fact that the object casts shadows.

 

It's weird that people made mods like that and disabled the shadows...

 

You will be fine anyway.