Skyrim - Perfect Shadows! (EASY FIX AT LAST!)

Channel:

Michael 'Tenshihan' Quinn

Subscribers:

566

Published on March 28, 2022 6:54:44 AM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIcHz9TSrTY

Game:

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011)

Duration: 1:34

5,467 views

125

Hi, Im Aspie user 'Valorien' over on 'The Nexus Forums', I help with solving shadow problems, but I have finally found how to really FIX this easily.

1) Go here; "C:\Users\(YOUR PC NAME)\Documents\my games\Skyrim"
2) Open "SkyrimPrefs.ini" with Notepad.

[Display]
fDefault1stPersonFOV=110
fDefaultWorldFOV=110
fDefaultFOV=110
iBlurDeferredShadowMask=1

fInteriorShadowDistance=8000.0000
(This is the main culprit for confusing people with mislabeled code, it should have been called "fInteriorLIGHTDistance", ...light used for drawing shadows indoors ONLY.
If this value is turned down to default 3000, you will be missing lights at the backs of dungeons and see them flickering on & off - so it MUST be changed to 8000. This code does NOT change the resolution of shadows at all, it is strictly an INTERIOR "light-draw distance multiplier")

fShadowDistance=3000.0000
(This is the EXTERIOR shadow distance value)

iShadowMapResolutionSecondary=4096
iShadowMapResolutionPrimary=8192
fShadowLODStartFade=200.0000
iShadowMode=3

bTreesReceiveShadows=0
bDrawLandShadows=0 (NO MORE STRIPING - EVER!)
bShadowMaskZPrepass=0

bFloatPointRenderTarget=1

iShadowMapResolution=8192
fShadowBiasScale=0.5000
iShadowMaskQuarter=4

iPresentInterval=1
(This code is not merely vsync, it mainly coordinates the game-engine with dynamic physical interactions in the game world - and if you turn it off, all objects in the game are no longer synchronized and you will experience clutter & characters flying all over the map. So leave it ON.)

iShadowFilter=3
bShadowsOnGrass=0
bDeferredShadows=1
bDrawShadows=1

------------------------------------------END OF CODES----------------------------------------
PS: Make sure that these same codes are CLONED in the "Skyrim.ini" as well.
You do NOT want conflicts between these two files, they must match in detail.

Now, load up your game, and when you enter the world, set your FOV anywhere from 90 to 106. My settings work best for 16:9 format.
Type this at console: (without the quote marks) "FOV 96"

WHY DOES THIS WORK?
Because when the engine is loading, it takes the entire amount of memory you have allocated (value of 8192 here with my mod) and the game engine uses this memory to assign coordinates to draw the shadows correctly. However, the shadow-renderer gets wrecked by personal FOV choices vs aspect ratio. To solve this, I have told the engine to FIRST look at using 8192 for a surplus FOV @110 (while the engine is loading the game world) then when IN the game world - I THEN assign it a LOWER value within game to be FOV 96, ...so now the surplus memory allocated for shadows can be used to fill the gaps in the shadow-blocks with nice smooth shadowing, ...NO extra blurring or glowing HALO's present at all.

Here's some of my other unreleased texture work; https://imgur.com/gallery/8ihW5

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