Another ENB/alternative thread

[SmedleyDButler]

Having recently upgraded my GPU, I've been thinking of finally trying an ENB.

 

Unfortunately, I'm stuck with a very old CPU due to my old MoBo not accepting anything later (as far as I know... I can afford a new CPU or more RAM, but not a whole new computer, so feel free to make hardware suggestions too). I understand that DX9 still loads the CPU if using ENBs, and I already have issues with CPU lagging for script-heavy mods, so I'm not sure if this is practical, and if not what alternatives I might use.

 

On previous playthroughs I used Imaginator, but the crude increase in contrast resulted in too MUCH contrast (especially making shadows too uniform and hard to see), even at low settings. And just increasing the base saturation doesn't fix Skyrim's dull colour palette completely, nor does it resolve the overdark shadow on faces and bodies. For the second problem, I could use a spotfix like Facelight, but I find that makes faces look unnatural compared to the overall lighting. Just in case it matters (probably not?), my current lighting mod is Realistic Lighting Overhaul and I'm also thinking of trying Darker Nights.

 

In a recent thread, one suggestion for a lower-overhead ENB was unkoENB. That's a good example of the colour and lighting I'd like to get.

 

Computer specs are:

 

CPU - AMD Phenom II X6 1055T 2.8 GHz

GPU - Radeon RX 460 2GB (Factory overclocked version)

8 Gb RAM

 

Any ideas would be great, thanks. 

 

 

 

 

[D.I.Z]

well with 2gb, take a enb without dependencies, try bleak or unko

[SmedleyDButler]

How much demand would unko place on the CPU?

 

I mean, I don't mind testing it and uninstalling if it doesn't work. But I'm worried I might not notice lag until I get well into a game, with a large gang of followers and mounts and such (last game, Convenient Horses kept breaking on me, with followers constantly lagging and glitching out - probably going to try Immersive Horses this time).

 

I guess uninstalling ENB's midgame isn't generally a problem? Or is there something I'm overlooking?

[Pauduan]

You could try Reshade instead.

 

I do have the same card (4GB tho) which I'm not using atm, with older presets I've seen lots of fps but poor consistency. With newer presets there's less topline fps but the experience is smoother.

 

I don't use any ENB off the Nexus, somehow I just cannot live with one or the other choice the author makes, so I roll my own. I ran at 2560x1600 with just the vanilla assets (except skin textures which are all 4khead/2k for others) and get about 40fps outdoors and 50 indoors. It does get a little taxing during Whiterun Civil war, but one can turn off the ENB during the quest and my FPS pegs up at 60 or so. For weak videocards like these you will almost always be GPU limited, unless you're running very low resolutions. And ENB really taxes them much more - the FPS loss is much higher with weak cards. And remember Boris doesn't officially support AMD, so you'd be on your own.

 

I also had a 7750 and for that I used Reshade. It has 0 FPS loss when turned off (ENB halves the framerate with no effects selected) and you can tweak it to your liking. It is very friendly to weak systems, as you can tweak effects on the fly and see the fps loss immediately. You can also delete unused shaders to speed up the load time (It adds ~2 minutes to the main menu load time).

[SmedleyDButler]

Hmmmm... ReShade looks like an interesting possibility, but it seems like it's only for SSE. Which, unfortunately, is not my cup of tea.

 

Thanks for the suggestion though.

[Pauduan]

Nope, used on any game - Witcher, Need for Speed, and Oldrim as well as new. I can say this because SSE is not my cup of tea either.

 

What is different is that nobody made any presets for Reshade and Oldrim. So it is a bit of a slog to find the settings you like after fiddling with them.

 

Like ENB and SweetFX, Reshade is also a shader program but the big difference is that it is fairly universal unlike ENB which runs different DLLs depending on the game. It does not have all the bling of ENB - the notable omission being detailed shadow and SSS. The 460 can handle 1080p with those two and basic colour and shading effects. Mine works on 2560x1600 whihc is pushing it, but it still doesn't dip below 30fps.

 

[SmedleyDButler]

Hm. Well, my resolution isn't huge anyway. Just 1920 x 1200, so that saves some overhead.

 

So, I guess the SSE page for ReShade is just a preset? Or can I just download that version?

 

 

[Pauduan]

Reshade is here:

 

https://reshade.me/

 

It will ask to download the shaders, allow it to do so. Point it to the game exe and use the D3D8 renderer. When you launch the game it will notify you but it will start with a blank preset (no effects). You can load the game and tune the shaders on the fly. Some are very expensive and some cost nothing, there's a live fps readout so you can work out your lower comfort limits. You still have to live with hokey shadows and the terrible skin handling of vanilla, though.

[SmedleyDButler]

Well, bad skin handling would be a major issue, but I'll still give it a try. Thanks!