ao2thend Posted December 13, 2014 Posted December 13, 2014 Version 1.0 (Old) Hello LL Community. I have recently been ENB searching, and to find the right one, I decided to make some comparison shots. 150 shots later, I decided that the best thing to do would be to give back to the community by posting these shots for anyone who might want to see various different ENB's in action. A few things to know about these comparison shots: These shots are not all in perfect weather conditions on purpose. I wanted to see how each ENB would react in conditions like rain, or with cloudy weather. This is how the ENB's look "out of the box" (with the exception of Megatherium, which I was using prior to comparing). FPS varies from ENB to ENB and I'm not comparing the ENB's for that purpose, so don't ask. All ENB's are using the recommended lighting/weather plugins. Lastly, I only tested ENB's that I had interest in and ones that were .254 binary or higher. The ENB's used were: Aeon (fantasy) ENB: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/52541/? Air ENB: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/56020/? CR (Natural) ENB: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/55914/? Far Off ENB: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/57189/? First Seed ENB: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/41470/? Grim and Somber (Auzra) ENB: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/50501/? HRK 2 ENB: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/39821/? K Pure Light ENB: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/58338/? Lumen ENB: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/59901/? Megatherium ENB: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/46320/? Mistveil (winter) ENB: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/42957/? NLA ENB: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/50065/? Quietcool ENB: Apparently no longer on Nexus... Rudy ENB: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/41482/? Serenity ENB: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/51343/? Skylight ENB: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/48730/? SugarSweet ENB: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/55565/? Toric Law of Nature ENB: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/53878/? Vividian ENB: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/36067/? So with that out of the way, onto the pics! 8:00am, Rainy. Aeon (Fantasy) Air CR Natural Far Off First Seed ENB Grim and Somber Auzra HRK 2 K Pure Light Lumen Megatherium Mistveil (winter) NLA Quietcool Rudy Serenity Skylight SugarSweet Toric Law of Nature Vividian These shots are of a tunnel at two different points in time. One in the day, the other at night. Some ENB's have different interior lighting in day/night. That's what I was testing here. Aeon (Fantasy) Day Night Air Day Night CR Natural Day Night Far Off Day Night First Seed ENB Day Night Grim and Somber Auzra Day Night HRK 2 Day Night K Pure Light Day Night Lumen Day Night Megatherium Day Night Mistveil (winter) Day Night NLA Day Night Quietcool Day Night Rudy Day Night Serenity Day Night Skylight Day Night SugarSweet Day Night Toric Law of Nature Day Night Vividian Day Night Dawn, Cloudy Aeon (Fantasy) Air CR Natural Far Off First Seed ENB Grim and Somber Auzra HRK 2 K Pure Light Lumen Megatherium Mistveil (winter) NLA Quietcool Rudy Serenity Skylight SugarSweet Toric Law of Nature Vividian Sunset, Rain. Aeon (Fantasy) Air CR Natural Far Off First Seed ENB Grim and Somber Auzra HRK 2 K Pure Light Lumen Megatherium Mistveil (winter) NLA Quietcool Rudy Serenity Skylight SugarSweet Toric Law of Nature Vividian Midday, Clouds. Aeon (Fantasy) Air CR Natural Far Off First Seed ENB Grim and Somber Auzra HRK 2 K Pure Light Lumen Megatherium Mistveil (winter) NLA Quietcool Rudy Serenity Skylight SugarSweet Toric Law of Nature Vividian 5:00-6:00pm, mostly sunny. Aeon (Fantasy) Air CR Natural Far Off First Seed ENB Grim and Somber Auzra HRK 2 K Pure Light Lumen Megatherium Mistveil (winter) NLA Quietcool Rudy Serenity Skylight SugarSweet Toric Law of Nature Vividian Lastly, 8:00pm, character shot. This was primarily for the Subsurface scattering and nighttime sky lighting. Aeon (Fantasy) Air CR Natural Far Off First Seed ENB Grim and Somber Auzra HRK 2 K Pure Light Lumen Megatherium Mistveil (winter) NLA Quietcool Rudy Serenity Skylight SugarSweet Toric Law of Nature Vividian Looks like that's it. Hope you enjoyed the shots. Version 2.0 So, here we are. Tons of pictures later, we have my 2.0 version of my ENB comparison shots. To best describe what I've done, lets break it down. So What is version 2.0 and what's different? So first of all, the scope and complexity of 2.0 is rather different than 1.0. Version 1.0 contained about twenty ENB's and 8 screenshots each. Version 2.0 contains fifty seven ENB's and 12 screenshots each. That means 684 shots in case you didn't know. Because its so large, I can't just put all the shots up to this page, therefore, it had to be made into an archive that you can download. I also added a set (#9) that shows my FPS while taking the shot so that you can see the relative performance hit each ENB has. I didn't edit the enblocal.ini so its really a ball park estimate and you may get more FPS by editing the enblocal.ini to fit your system, or might not have as many high intensity mods that I have. It would also be helpful to note my Graphics card, which is an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti. So if you have a better graphics card, less intense mods, and a edited enblocal.ini, you will probably get more FPS. So I have to download the pictures in order to see them? Well...yes, but lets make a deal. If the people who do download my archive get back to me and tell me which set of pictures is best, I will put said set of pictures in a spoiler for anyone to view. So essentially if the community tells me what set of pictures best shows off the ENB's, I will then put that set up on this post so you can see if the archive is worth downloading or you can still get a healthy comparison of the ENB's without having to download the whole thing. Does that sound like a good deal? So is that all there is to know? NO! There's more. Some of the ENB's covered have been updated since I took these shots. I did my best to keep up with the updates, but the beginning of the year seems to be a time where everyone updates their ENB's. So put simply, the pictures taken may not fully represent the current look of the ENB. For obvious reasons, I didn't cover every single ENB, but that doesn't mean I'm not willing to cover more. I set up the 2.0 archive so that I can cover more ENB's at a later date. I have the saves required and the Mod Organizer profile ready. All I need is requests from people telling me which ENB's they would like me to add/update. I only ask that the ENB fits the following criteria: 1. It must be a .236 binary or higher. 2. It has to be one that is still in use. Don't tell me to review an ENB that no one uses anymore. And that's it! Onto the Archive! here are the Links to some of the ENB's covered. Insomnia ENB: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/54346/? M ENB: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/54684/? Serenity ENB _ Tranquility ENB: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/51343/? PureVision ENB: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/55829/? unkoENB: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/56812/? Somber Dreams ENB presets: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/54362/? BLEAK ENB - UNBLEAK ENB: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/24828/? Seasons of Skyrim ENB True HDR: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/23812/? True Vision ENB: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/15983/? K ENB Pure Light: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/58338/? Kountervibe ENB Northern Light: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/58534/? Saraan Suum ENB: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/43765/? RealVision ENB: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/30936/? Jasmin ENB real Graphic Mod: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/12549/? The Grim and Somber ENBS: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/50501/? Photoreal ENB - Performance: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/50483/? Tamriel Reloaded ENB: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/49834/? Far Off ENB - Nirn - CGI: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/57189/? Ruvaak Dahmaan ENB Redone: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/40088/? Organic ENB: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/38917/? Far Off ENB - Nirn: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/56548/? Minimal ENB Final Edition: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/59726/? Straylight ENB: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/61377/? Noir ENB -- Fogbound: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/60935/? CR Enb: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/55914/? NOTE: I'm too lazy to get all the URL's for each ENB Covered so If you can't find the ENB I compared, then ask where I got it from. Most of the ENB's covered were from the Nexus so they can't be that hard to find. http://www.mediafire.com/download/5by6t91wx0xb02x/AO2's_ENB_Comparison_Shots.7z
NNS10 Posted December 13, 2014 Posted December 13, 2014 This is a great comparison of reference shots. Awesome job
ao2thend Posted December 13, 2014 Author Posted December 13, 2014 Thanks for the feedback. Hopefully folks find these shots helpful.
wulfgear09 Posted December 13, 2014 Posted December 13, 2014 can you tell us what types have the biggest hits to fps?
fizzybutt Posted December 13, 2014 Posted December 13, 2014 These are extremely helpful. There always was lacking an honest, no frills, out of the box showcase of some of these enb's. I discovered that trying to help pick out an enb for my bf to use. The ones he thought were nice always looked different than what some showcasing screenshots had because they were tweaked. Thank you very much for sharing your findings!
NNS10 Posted December 13, 2014 Posted December 13, 2014 Wonder if we can get this pinned? Would be shame if this thread was lost after a few days.
ao2thend Posted December 13, 2014 Author Posted December 13, 2014 can you tell us what types have the biggest hits to fps? Like I said in the description, that wasn't really the focus. I CAN tell you that Aeon, K Pure Lights, and Serenity were the most taxing.
Taskmaster Posted December 14, 2014 Posted December 14, 2014 Hey thanks! The first three sets were doing that thumbnail thing, where it won't produce the enlarged image. In any case, from your comparison shots, overall Serenity I think had the most appeal. I think I might give that one a try later on.
ao2thend Posted December 14, 2014 Author Posted December 14, 2014 Hmm, won't produce the enlarged image? That's odd. It is 152 screenshots so it could just be that some didn't load on entering the page, but who knows? In any case I will add a file with all the pictures available for download just in case someone would rather see the shots that way. EDIT: Well, never mind... Apparently the file size is too big to upload directly. I might have to upload the pictures to Mediafire or something... I guess unless there's enough people having trouble viewing the pictures, i won't bother.
ao2thend Posted December 14, 2014 Author Posted December 14, 2014 I think I'm sold on Skylight. I guess its also worth mentioning that it was one of the best ENB's in terms of performance.
Rayblue Posted December 14, 2014 Posted December 14, 2014 Just a suggestion: preset authors usually forget to factor in as to whether their end-users have LED or LCD monitors.
NNS10 Posted December 14, 2014 Posted December 14, 2014 This is useful even for those of us who've settled into an ENB. The screenshots here convinced me to try another one I thought I'd like better. And it looks like I'll be sticking with it.
ao2thend Posted December 14, 2014 Author Posted December 14, 2014 Just a suggestion: preset authors usually forget to factor in as to whether their end-users have LED or LCD monitors. How much does that effect the visual quality? There should only be a minor difference right? This is useful even for those of us who've settled into an ENB. The screenshots here convinced me to try another one I thought I'd like better. And it looks like I'll be sticking with it. Cool. That's why I posted these shots. Glad they helped.
NNS10 Posted December 14, 2014 Posted December 14, 2014 Just a suggestion: preset authors usually forget to factor in as to whether their end-users have LED or LCD monitors. How much does that effect the visual quality? There should only be a minor difference right? I think there's some terminology confusion here. Rayblue probably is thinking of color gamuts. Some LED monitors have a wide gamut, or even an extended gamut. But most don't--most are standard gamut, like CCFL backlit monitors. So the issue here is the color gamut. Anyway, a larger color gamut causes a monitor to display a wider range of colors. But in non-color managed applications, the wider gamut will cause colors to look significantly more saturated than intended. This is a user issue though--the user has to ensure their monitor is calibrated correctly, or to switch gamut modes if their monitor supports the feature. In cases where neither is possible... well... all I can say is more isn't always better. Wide and extended gamut monitors do more harm than good for most people. Only last thing to note is all this color gamut discussion shouldn't affect the screenshot file itself. It just affects how the screenshot will appear on a person's monitor. If Skyrim and the web browser are not color managed for a user, the ENB screenshot should be a pretty good representation of what it'll look like in their game.
ao2thend Posted December 15, 2014 Author Posted December 15, 2014 Hmm, Interesting. Never heard of that before. Thanks for the info.
NNS10 Posted January 3, 2015 Posted January 3, 2015 Bumping for others. It'd be a shame for this reference resource to be buried.
DurtyNelly Posted January 4, 2015 Posted January 4, 2015 Oh, very nice! Cheers, for all your hard work.
Rayblue Posted January 4, 2015 Posted January 4, 2015 Just a suggestion: preset authors usually forget to factor in as to whether their end-users have LED or LCD monitors. How much does that effect the visual quality? There should only be a minor difference right? I think there's some terminology confusion here. Rayblue probably is thinking of color gamuts. Some LED monitors have a wide gamut, or even an extended gamut. But most don't--most are standard gamut, like CCFL backlit monitors. So the issue here is the color gamut. Anyway, a larger color gamut causes a monitor to display a wider range of colors. But in non-color managed applications, the wider gamut will cause colors to look significantly more saturated than intended. This is a user issue though--the user has to ensure their monitor is calibrated correctly, or to switch gamut modes if their monitor supports the feature. In cases where neither is possible... well... all I can say is more isn't always better. Wide and extended gamut monitors do more harm than good for most people. Only last thing to note is all this color gamut discussion shouldn't affect the screenshot file itself. It just affects how the screenshot will appear on a person's monitor. If Skyrim and the web browser are not color managed for a user, the ENB screenshot should be a pretty good representation of what it'll look like in their game. I mentioned about it because I notice that LED monitors seem to be a bit brighter than LCDs with CCFLs. That's why I didn't like using presets that were too dark for my LCD monitor (and it's already been calibrated) and don't like tweaking the brightness too often.
Guest Vendayn Posted January 4, 2015 Posted January 4, 2015 That is my main problem with a lot of ENBs. Its like Mc Donalds photoshopping their hamburgers to look delicious and huge and perfectly made. When you get it, they are tiny with little meat, taste disgusting and made really lazily. Likewise, take Serenity/Tranquility ENB. He goes in and personally edits his own ENB and takes screenshots. But when you download them, they look nothing like his screenshots because essentially (I doubt he did, but same thing really) he photoshops his screenshots to look better to get more views and downloads. A lot of ENB creators do that, release lackluster settings and personally greatly enhance them for screenshots...so what the downloader get and what is in the screenshots by the author are two totally different things.
ao2thend Posted January 4, 2015 Author Posted January 4, 2015 A prime example of ENB creators changing their settings to make the perfect shot is Unreal. Unreal has some of the best Skyrim shots ever, like EVER. To achieve this, Unreal changes the ENB settings for every...single...shot...THAT'S CRAZY, but it works. (Unreal's work: https://www.flickr.com/photos/javiercc/archives/date-posted/?view=lg/ ) Its also about the mods people use. Textures, meshes, .ini tweaks, magic rituals, all kinds of things go into someone's Skyrim setup, and its hard to get the same quality as the person who made the ENB. My "screens" Mod Organizer profile has around 122 mods that are Textures, meshes, or in some way directly connected to visuals. And even with all that, I still can't compare to Prod with screenshots, even when using Prod's ENB. So tweaking for the shots does come into mind. Also, its the way someone makes the shot. The FOV and framing of a shot can change the look drastically. Honestly, I think ENB presets can never be seen as the "finished product ready to be packaged, shipped and sent directly to your front door, all for one low flat rate" because ENB's change so many things and its never going to look quite as the creator intended. The best way for people to use ENB's is for them to learn how to manage the settings and work with them to suit their own needs. I have never had an ENB that I didn't change settings to. And if I couldn't fix the problem, I moved on.
ao2thend Posted January 4, 2015 Author Posted January 4, 2015 And while i'm here, would anyone be interested in a 2.0 archive of Skyrim shots? There are new ENB's out there as well as ones I didn't cover the first time around.
NNS10 Posted January 4, 2015 Posted January 4, 2015 And while i'm here, would anyone be interested in a 2.0 archive of Skyrim shots? There are new ENB's out there as well as ones I didn't cover the first time around. Absolutely. Maybe add a link to the first post and list out the new ENBs so people know what's changed?
ao2thend Posted January 4, 2015 Author Posted January 4, 2015 Absolutely. Maybe add a link to the first post and list out the new ENBs so people know what's changed? Yep that could work. I might get more in depth with it. Look at more aspects and settings then I did before. It wasn't too hard to make all this (posting it here was the most agonizing part, because it took so long to put the screens up). We will see. Another thing that would be helpful would be to know what ENB's should be looked at. So here's what i'm thinking. If you have an ENB that you want to see, then post and tell me. The only requirement that I'm going to give is that it has to be 0.236 Binary or higher. If this sounds like something that people are interested in, then I will do it.
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