Community Shaders - Anyone had a dabble?

[Grey Cloud]

I've been having a dabble for a few days now. Started of with just the CS then CS plus reshader (various) and now back to just the CS. On the whole the graphics are about as good as I managed to achieve with an ENB (Pi-Cho and Re-Engage) which is to say not as good as LE with Bixie ENB. The main problem as I see it is lack of options for tweaking and fine-tuning, for example I would like exterior nights to be lighter but I can't see how this is achievable. Maybe there is an ini file with changeable settings.

 

One thing I would like to know is if there is some sort of central news location for the CS add-ons. I can set Nexus to track the existing mods but I would like somewhere that I could swing by and check what's happening.

 

 

[Just Don't]

There is an official discord, invite is in one of the doodlez comment/profile?.

CS has an in game menu but it's not like ENB where you can change everything within the same menu. It currently has a few shader effects and some settings you can access through that menu. Tweaking exterior lighting and such isn't in the scope of CS currently because there aren't shaders to accomplish that yet (i think sky lighting is in the works). So you need to compliment it with Reshade or even Kreate (really good for fine tuning weathers and lighting).

[Grey Cloud]

10 hours ago, Just Don't said:

Kreate (really good for fine tuning weathers and lighting).

According to DDG it is a charity shop in Sheffield. 😁

 

The SKSE plug-in looks really interesting. It might even be the answer to my weather problems - I hate weather.

 

Thanks.

[nilead]

Those are allright. One advantage you get is you can use private profile redicrector. With that said, it was the only advantage over ENB, and try as  might i was unable to get visuals anywhere close to Rudy ENB+ Lux setup. Id say its a reasonable option if performanace is a concern, as i've seen no impact in that regard. But if you can afford ENB - its still the way to go. With that said, my trials ran half a year ago, and community shaders do seem to have active support and development in place. They werent as good back then, it might be different now, or soon enough.

[Grey Cloud]

51 minutes ago, nilead said:

and community shaders do seem to have active support and development in place.

This is part of what I'm wondering - is CS the next big thing or is it a niche alternative to ENB.

[spoonsinger]

Could be defined as niche. However with the various associated plugins it's not a bad in comparison to ENB while being more light weight and the standard image modifiers still work. I know you said you don't like weather but the associated Wetness Effects plugin is really good, (IMO). Makes the ground look especially muddy in the field and wood flooring and paving also looks suitably wet without the sprayed on plastic look. For what is out there, I just go to the community shaders mod page on the Nexus and look at the requirements  - which also lists all the mods which require it. (fairly sure you knew that anyway).

 

ps (I also use a reshade, which isn't great as is basically just a set of filters over the displayed image - a bit like a modern equivalent of the green plastic film stuck over the screen on an old arcade machine. However when paired with the CS it does look OK without the same amount of overhead of an ENB preset).

Edited July 9, 2024 by spoonsinger

[Grey Cloud]

51 minutes ago, spoonsinger said:

I just go to the community shaders mod page on the Nexus and look at the requirements 

That's about where I am. I've currently got about 20 CS add-on mods installed but I have no way of knowing what overwrites what or even if overwriting is still a thing - certainly nothing showing up in MO2 so I'm not even sure if they are doing anything.

 

15 hours ago, Just Don't said:

Kreate (really good for fine tuning weathers and lighting).

I think I've got the weather to always clear - time will tell. I couldn't see anything to alter the exterior lighting only a list of interior cells.

 

Some screens with the current state of the graphics (everything 2K).

Sleeping Giant 4:28am. Flames look really washed out compared with ENB (I'm using Embers XD). Spaghetti's Riverwood retexture. I've also got a mod or two to remove floating dust and fog etc. To be fair it does look a bit sharper/crisper in-game.



 

 

Valtheim 5:25pm. This is after I set it to 'clear weather' in KreatE. Blended Roads. Can't remember who does the stonework, maybe Rudy. Snow's a mess because I'm using Summer Skyrim but it isn't doing a great job - nowhere near as good as Aceeq's Summer Overhaul on LE. Colours looked washed out in-game and definite lack of sharpness/crispness.



 

 

Valtheim 6:11pm. The black is caused by an effect of the outfit I'm wearing. Things looked better in-game but not by much.



 

Bannered Mare around 1am. Boreal Whiterun.

[Grey Cloud]

4 hours ago, Grey Cloud said:

I think I've got the weather to always clear

Well think again. Rained between Roadside Ruins and Falkreath. I think I can hear an ENB calling me.

9:09am.

 

 

[Grey Cloud]

I'm slowly getting there. I tried a couple of ENBs but now I'm back with CS and a reshader called Orchidshade II with Azurite Weathers II and Eternal Sunshine.

Seems a lot of snow for the Rift to me - this is just off the road from Ivarstead to Riften. Actually looked better in-game than in the screenie.

According to SPM I'm using 3GB of RAM, about 3.5GB of VRAM and, a bit worryingly, 100% GPU. FPS is 60 (capped).

 

If I could get rid of the snow or at least most of it I would be happy.

 

And in other news - I've been modding Skyrim since 2016 but only today discovered that there are mods to remove friendly-fire. ☹️

Edited July 12, 2024 by Grey Cloud

[ezrken]

i was just strolling through skyrim when it started raining and i looked at the bridge and the reflections were some of the best I've seen in any game to this day it was really awesome I don't remember why i went back to enb but it was like watching a a youtube video in 4k and then dropping the quality to 1080 on an 1080p monitor, you don't see much of a difference but you just feel like what you watched previous was better.  

then when i tried installing cs again, i just couldn't replicate the same visuals

 

So imo,

In some areas it looks better than enb ( i used test versions) that being said I still prefer enb because of the ease of installation process and performance wise i didn't notice any difference between those two I'm using low end machine

[Grey Cloud]

29 minutes ago, ezrken said:

i was just strolling through skyrim when it started raining and i looked at the bridge and the reflections were some of the best I've seen in any game to this day it was really awesome

Lighting and weather mods would play a big part there whether with ENB or CS.

 

I'm using CS with a reshade preset and I'm still happy enough with the visuals. I don't see CS as being any more difficult or simpler than ENB to install.

 

I would like a bit more tweakability from CS though.

[belegost]

Community Shaders are amazing. I could not use ENB ever, because my PC is ancient and would just melt. I installed the whole package, with all the bells and whistles, 2 days ago and, for the first time since I started playing Skyrim, I have a game that looks fucking awesome, still runs at 40-45 fps on average and does not cause my GPU to act as a bloody space heater.

 

These things are great.

 

Just for referrence I have a 2012 i5 CPU and GTX 960 with only one fan still working. And it's the middle of the summer.

Edited July 28, 2024 by belegost

[belegost]

On 7/27/2024 at 1:32 AM, ezrken said:

i was just strolling through skyrim when it started raining and i looked at the bridge and the reflections were some of the best I've seen

I encountered that yesterday. For the first time since I owned any version of Skyrim (so, since 2011). I stopped and stared and just admired it for good 3 minutes. Yet the fps were stable. I have never before just looked at a wet dirt and felt like I was watching a piece of art.

 

Then a bear pounced from behind, sent my character to bleedout and a post-Defeat scene happened. In that same wet dirt. It was totally worth it.

Edited July 28, 2024 by belegost

[Grey Cloud]

2 hours ago, belegost said:

Then a bear pounced from behind, sent my character to bleedout and a post-Defeat scene happened. In that same wet dirt. It was totally worth it.

😂 Skyrim bit you in the arse again.

[Grey Cloud]

Skyrim is no place for tourists. 😂

[belegost]

2 hours ago, Grey Cloud said:

Skyrim is no place for tourists. 😂

I never said it was an unwelcome outcome.

Edited July 28, 2024 by belegost

[Roggvir]

Community Shaders are great.
Performance is very good, and it can look fabulous (i am not entirely there yet, but that is no fault of CS).
And it has some unique amazing features like rain puddles and no light limit as far as i saw.
Using CS should be a no brainer (unless you are used to your ENB and are fine with how that works for you).

 

I am getting a new setup ready, and i use almost everything:

- Dynamic Cubemaps

- Grass Lighting
- Light Limit Fix (with candle glow)
- Screen-Space Shadows
- Sky Reflection Fix
- Subsurface Scattering
- Tree LOD Lighting
- Water Blending
- Water Caustics
- Water Parallax
- Wetness Effects (it makes puddles when raining! holy crap, count me in!)

I want to also try the Vanilla HDR, but out of the box it makes my interiors way too bright, so it will require some fiddling and i leave that for much later.

Here are some pictures, which do not fully showcase what CS can do, just kinda what i want it to do while keeping the game running on my potato.
(apart from some lightweight texture mods, i use True Storms weathers, Realistic Water 2 with Better Water, and custom tweaks to the weather/interior fog, and thats about it)

 

 

 

Edited July 29, 2024 by Roggvir

[Roggvir]

Oh and regarding those rain puddles...

I intentionally didn't want to post a screenshot, because static picture does not do it justice at all, but see for yourself (trust me, it looks 100x better in game).

I recommend you to fiddle with the wetness settings:

- consider increasing "puddle wetness".

- definitely lower "Puddle Max Angle" (it will make thicker puddles even over quite uneven surfaces, but with a thick rain storm it looks amazing)

And if you need to squeeze out a few more FPS, consider lowering "Effect Range" a bit, and switching off "Splashes" and "Chaotic Ripples".

 

Edited July 29, 2024 by Roggvir

[krzp]

I really like CS, been using it for almost a year.

 

It has a couple of areas where it isn't on par with ENB yet (and a few where it's better), imo - but considering the performance gains vs the old ENB I had, i'd say it's a trade-off that is worth it for me.

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 29, 2024 by krzp

[Grey Cloud]

Just for the record - I have no objection to this thread becoming an 'all things CS' thread, i.e somewhere to share tips, tricks and news.

[Roggvir]

In case anybody would find it useful...

Here is a list of Community Shader and lighting-related mods i use, my settings, and sample screenshots.
My goal is to achieve sort of raw, cold but vibrant enough environments, with semi-realistic dark interiors, and close to vanilla look (for visual consistency sake).
Do let me know, if you think there are better equivalents of some of these mods, or some i missed completely.
 

Community Shaders 0.8.7

Spoiler

Auto Parallax 1.0.27
Complex Parallax Materials 1.0.3
Dynamic Cubemaps 1.0.4
Grass Lighting 1.4.1
Light Limit Fix 1.3.0
Screen-Space Shadows 1.2.0
Sky Reflection Fix 1.0.1
Subsurface Scattering 1.0.1
Tree LOD Lighting 1.2.1
Water Blending 1.1.0
Water Caustics 1.0.0
Water Parallax 1.0.0
Wetness Effects 1.0.2

 

Grass Sampler Fix 1.0.1
TAA Sharpen 1.0.1
Rudy fix for Smoke 1.0

 

Particle Lights

Spoiler

NOTE: I am still figuring out what to get, and what to overwrite with what, to get best visuals.
List is ordered how i install and overwrite these mods with each other (and i don't think i overwrite anything from CS itself installed before).
So if the visuals seem lacking, it is very likely my fault due to overwriting the wrong things.
(one thing that comes to mind is i still have candle glows, which i don't want, so i probably overwrote something i shouldn't or vice versa)

Particle Patch 1.3.1
LLF Particle Lights instead of Fake Glow 0.1
Remove Glows 2.0
Particle Lights For ENB SE - Bugs in a Jar 1.1
Particle Lights for ENB - Falmer Drips 1.1
Particle Lights for ENB - Light Orbs - Motes 1.1
Particle Lights for ENB - Luminous Ground Cover 1.0
Particle Lights For ENB SE - Paragon Gems 1.2
Particle Lights for ENB - Wisps - Witchlight 1.2
Rudy HQ - More Lights for ENB SE - Bthardamz 1.0a
Rudy HQ - More Lights for ENB SE - Chaurus Eggs and Sacs 1.0a
Rudy HQ - More Lights for ENB SE - Deathbells and Nirnroots 1.0b
Rudy HQ - More Lights for ENB SE - Glowing Mushrooms 1.0a (i use the 1K version for potatos)
Rudy HQ - More Lights for ENB SE - Soul Gems 1.0a
Rudy HQ - More Lights for ENB SE - Torchbugs and Moths 1.0b

 

Other lighting/weather related mods

Spoiler

True Storms SE 1.0.2
Relighting Skyrim 2.2.0 (i use the Full version for interiors & exteriors)
Standard Lighting Templates 2.3 (makes the interiors darker - very important)
Embers HD 1.4.2 (i use 1K version)
Illuminated Atronachs 1.0

Apart from the above, i also use my own xEdit script to build an all-in-one patch which includes some tweaks to exterior and interior fogs.
So you may want to use something to that effect, or try my Mors Patch - All In One and maybe even experiment with the rules and settings for the fog changes.
(the script does MANY other things, most of which you may want to disable by commenting out the corresponding procedure calls in the script, or alter to fit your needs - that includes the fog  settings, rules, and conditions, which you may want to adjust or change completely).

 

 

Here are some sample screenshots (more in spoilers below):

 

Familiar Interiors

Spoiler

 

 

Burning Watchtower (different times of day, mostly clear weather)

Spoiler

                                      

 

And here are my current settings - Skyrim.ini, SkyrimPrefs.ini, and CommunityShadersUSER.json
(CommunityShadersUSER.json goes under "Data\SKSE\Plugins", in case you are confused by me packing it next to the INIs)
Roggvir's Skyrim and CS settings 2024-07-29.zip

[belegost]

I use all the addons. Might as well, since I made the jump.

I'm using DawnShade preset with Obsidian Weather's "Bleak" setting. I never used "bleak" in Obsidian before, because I didn't like it, but the two go really well together. For landscape I'm using Dark Forests of Skyrim over Shattered Skyrim overhaul plus a bunch of other mods for atmosphere. Desolation, ruins and Draugr everywhere, yet all hauntingly beautiful.

Legendary difficulty of course with full MNC install and Defeat. Because that wouldn't be an LL-worthy load order otherwise.

 

The Town Formerly Known As Ivarstead:

 

The Rift:

 

Dungeons:

 

Riverwood:

 

I will also say this was the first time I generated my own LODs. I had no idea how much this changes the landscape, it's on completely different level. Yet I still maintain stable 40-45 fps on my potato while playing a character with SMP hair. That's amazingly good performance for how old this PC is.

 

@Roggvir how did you make your pictures into miniatures?

Edited July 29, 2024 by belegost

[Roggvir]

2 hours ago, Roggvir said:

LLF Particle Lights instead of Fake Glow

IMPORTANT thing i forgot to mention there:
Do not let that mod overwrite Data\ParticleLights\fxglowenb.ini which came with Community Shaders (or make sure you know why and you are overwriting it on purpose).
If you do overwrite the file from CS, you may loose glow on torchbugs and luna moths and other things - or rather, you will not loose the glow, it will just become very subtle and depending on circumstances hardly noticeable if at all.

This is because the file from LLF Particle Lights contains settings that decrease the emited light radius (x 0.25) and its brightness (x 0.5).

You may want to keep the file from CS, or use your own values that are toned down only slightly.

I am using:

[Light]
Cull = true
RadiusMult = 0.75
ColorMultRed = 0.5
ColorMultGreen = 0.5
ColorMultBlue = 0.5

...that is still a bit too much - for example, look at that purple glow from the Soulgem in the holder on the screenshot from Arcadia's Cauldron, how it makes a lot of the nearby wall purple, on the other hand the file from LLF PL makes the glow almost completely gone.
I haven't found a good balance yet, but i'd rather have a bit too much than basically none at all.

[Roggvir]

32 minutes ago, belegost said:

how did you make your pictures into miniatures?

1. drag the pictures from my file manager into the area for attachments below the reply.
2. use the "insert into post" in the image preview, to insert it wherever the text input caret is in the reply.
3. double click that big inserted image and change the "width" (keep the "keep original aspect ratio" checkbox on).

[Roggvir]

41 minutes ago, belegost said:

I'm using Dark Forests of Skyrim over Shattered Skyrim overhaul plus a bunch of other mods for atmosphere. Desolation, ruins and Draugr everywhere, yet all hauntingly beautiful.

That sounds very interesting. I will definitely try that.

I always wanted to make a setup with no NPC, with the world populated only by monsters like after some apocalypse, but i never found the time to do it so its great t osee a mod like that already exists.

Edited July 29, 2024 by Roggvir