Screenshots

[traison]

5 minutes ago, Grey Cloud said:

Should I add it?

 

Don't know. Could be a game version difference. Try it I guess.

[Grey Cloud]

3 minutes ago, traison said:

 

Don't know. Could be a game version difference. Try it I guess.

I'm on 1.5.97.

 

What could possibly go wrong?

[Grey Cloud]

55 minutes ago, traison said:

Don't know. Could be a game version difference. Try it I guess.

Well that was my mistake. I was in the wrong folder.

 

So I tried three times with the correct file and nothing happens. T just pops up the wait option.

 

Edited March 5, 2025 by Grey Cloud

[traison]

Wait action gets overwritten in controlmap_custom.txt. Plan B:

Hotkey8				0x09    			0xff	0xff				0	0	0	0x908
Wait				0x14				0xff	0x0020				1	1	1	0x808
Screenshot			0x48				0xff	0xff				0	0	0

 

Press Numpad 8 to take screenshot.

Edited March 5, 2025 by traison

[Grey Cloud]

55 minutes ago, traison said:

Wait action gets overwritten in controlmap_custom.txt. Plan B:

Hotkey8				0x09    			0xff	0xff				0	0	0	0x908
Wait				0x14				0xff	0x0020				1	1	1	0x808
Screenshot			0x48				0xff	0xff				0	0	0

 

Press Numpad 8 to take screenshot.

That's not even producing a screenshot as far as I can tell. No on screen message and no screenshot in my default screenshot folder.

[traison]

Does PrintScreen still produce screenshots though?

[Grey Cloud]

9 hours ago, traison said:

Does PrintScreen still produce screenshots though?

Yes.

[Grey Cloud]

I disabled CS and all its add-ons and the problem went away. Renabled just CS and the problem returned.

[traison]

1 hour ago, Grey Cloud said:

Yes.

So basically that's your problem then, you have something that has:

1. Bound itself to the printscreen key.
2. Entirely disabled the vanilla screenshot function.

You're looking at a dll; one that has made bytecode edits to Skyrim. I'd rule out external applications like the Steam overlay and whatever else you might have - these utilities wouldn't be interested in modifying the Skyrim executable. They may even be crossing into a grey area of legality if they did that. In other words, you're looking for a mod with a dll.

 

28 minutes ago, Grey Cloud said:

I disabled CS and all its add-ons and the problem went away.

 

The important distinction to make here is whether or not the printscreen key stopped taking screenshots when you did that. If "the problem went away" means the screenshots are now normal then I'd assume CS is using a separate surface (or device) to render its post processing, but the utility that has hijacked the printscreen key is still present. The separate surface/device is confusing the screenshot function.

Edited March 6, 2025 by traison

[Grey Cloud]

CS and all add-ons re-enabled.

Installed ReShade (with deselect all presets). Printscreen produces a normal screenshot albeit in a different location.

 

Could Bethini have anything to do with this?

Edited March 6, 2025 by Grey Cloud

[traison]

44 minutes ago, Grey Cloud said:

Could Bethini

 

Technically yes, but I doubt it. Check:

Skyrim.ini
 

[Display]
sScreenShotBaseName

 

If its not defined, set it to:

\Path\To\Skyrim Special Edition\ScreenShot

 

Alternatively you can also query its value from within the game:

getinisetting "sScreenShotBaseName:Display"

 

 

44 minutes ago, Grey Cloud said:

Installed ReShade...

 

Keep in mind that you now have at least 3 utilities taking screenshots. One of which is disabled (the vanilla function). May want to check if ReShade is also using PrintScreen to take screenshots - its visible in the Settings tab.

Edited March 6, 2025 by traison

[anjenthedog]

Have you tried using the Steam snapshotter as a sanity check? It might be something wrong with the default WIndows "printscreen" utility... Check the output of the Steam snapshot for that same missing background layer (ie, the snapshot's opacity appears low when the image is opened in say...Paint.Net, even though its opacity is set to 1.00). If it's there, then it's "skyrim", if not, then it's printscreen...

 

Edited March 6, 2025 by anjenthedog

[Grey Cloud]

Current state of play.

 

CS and all the trimmings installed.

Reshade installed with the one mandatory preset.

Upgraded Azurite Weathers II to AW III.

Installed Azurite III HDR.

Downloaded but forgot to install DALC Fix PBR De-Fryer. 🙄

 

I now get two screenshots - one good and the one with the whiteout. A nuisance but I can live with that for now.

 

Somewhere in there my FPS took a beating. I'm now moving from "I 'm really impressed with this CS thing" to "Is this CS thing currently worth the hassle".

 

Forgot to say "thanks for all the help and suggestions".

 

Edited March 6, 2025 by Grey Cloud

[Grey Cloud]

12 minutes ago, anjenthedog said:

Have you tried using the Steam snapshotter as a sanity check? It might be something wrong with the default WIndows "printscreen" utility... Check the output of the Steam snapshot for that same missing background layer (ie, the snapshot's opacity appears low when the image is opened in say...Paint.Net, even though its opacity is set to 1.00). If it's there, then it's "skyrim", if not, then it's printscreen...

 

Only happens with Skyrim screenshots.

[traison]

11 minutes ago, Grey Cloud said:

Reshade installed with the one mandatory preset.

 

You can have presets with no shaders active.

 

11 minutes ago, Grey Cloud said:

Somewhere in there my FPS took a beating.

 

Could be ReShade, it's not free. There's lots of ini settings that have a massive impact on performance with little impact on image quality. Shadow map resolution being one of them. I dropped mine to 2048 with CS and once I sorted out most of the shadow dithering issues, it actually looks reasonable.

 

13 minutes ago, Grey Cloud said:

I now get two screenshots

 

If you want to fix it properly, we can do a RustDesk/TeamViewer session. A couple of hours and I imagine I will have found the issue.

[Grey Cloud]

56 minutes ago, traison said:

we can do a RustDesk/TeamViewer session

Kind of you to offer but Skyrim isn't worth the effort for me. I'm only playing it until the second WH40K DLC comes out or I finish the last 200 pages of the book I'm reading so I can get to a couple of books I'm looking forward to.