I want it just a bit darker...

[Charlemagne]

In vanilla torches, night eye, and magic light are useless because you can already see everything. So if you want some immersion a dark mod is a must. I've been playing with Cava Obscura for a long time, however I have grown a bit unsatisfied.

I know, I know, in real life, if you're in a cave and the torch goes out you can't see your own hand in front of your nose. But this is a game and suddenly being in pitch darkness is very frustrating. As long as I was a mage all was fine although the need to constantly cast a light spell can be a bit annoying. However now I want to play a fighter using shield and sword and immediately (actually in the imperial prison already) the problem surfaced, if I want to use my shield the torch goes out and I can't see the enemies! Same problem if I would like to use a two-handed weapon (as in fact I plan to). The only option seems to be one-handed sword in the right hand, torch in the left. Let alone bows and arrows- those are also out in dark dungeons.

So before dropping CO entirely and happily gaining absolute night vision back in vanilla, I have been searching for a mod that will make dungeons a bit darker, but not entirely. Nice ambiance and some visual difficulty, especially in corners and stuff but you still can see the enemies at least their outlines, and you can still at least walk out of the dungeon if you run out of torches! I have had no luck so far, all the mods I found only offer dark as ink. Is there a mod that lets you choose a darkness level, or that only makes the dungeon a *bit* darker?

[gr1nie]

Check out All Natural, I think it has a module which specifically affects the lighting of interiors, though I don't remember if it actually includes dungeons.

[mad_le_zisell]

Are you joking? I have vanilla version and all interiors (caves especially) are dark as my ass.

[m0k]

Originally posted by mad_le_zisell:

Are you joking? I have vanilla version and all interiors (caves especially) are dark as my ass.

Your ass may not be as dark as you think it is.

[Charlemagne]

The level of darkness that would suit me is like when you slide the brightness all the way to the left, which is still a little lighter than the dark mods I have tried, the problem is that if I do that it will also darken exteriors and buildings as well.

[m0k]

Let There Be Darkness: https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/22819
or
Dark Dungeons: https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/8802
in combination with (at least, that's what was recommended by a user)
All Natural: https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/18305

[Charlemagne]

LTBD and DD are actually darker than Cava Obscura. I wonder if All Natural fixes that. Problem is All Natural uses Wrye Bash and I try to avoid that.

[m0k]

All Natural actually makes it a bit darker too. Out of these, the standard DD is the lightest.
But.. do you want torches and Night Eye to be viable or do you just want a slight modification in light levels? Your opening paragraph suggests the former, but towards the end of your OP, you say something else. Just give them a try (without AN if you don't want to install that) on a new save and see whichever you like.
Maybe using an ENB is another option to consider.

[Charlemagne]

What I would like is the "feel" of a darker cave or dungeon, kind of spooky, perhaps needing a light source if you want to see everything clear or not miss a chest, etc, but OTOH not the paradigm of all the available mods where, "unless you bring a torch you won't see zit". Something in between that extreme and vanilla's "I can see everything". But there doesn't seem to be anything. There are some quite good dark mods for Skyrim and Fallout 4 that either avoid pitch black conditions, or actually let you choose during installation your level of dark, but apparently there's no such mod for Oblivion. :-(

[Spikem59]

Rather than dropping a mod you've already been using and must have liked to keep all this time, you could seek other remedies to your problem.

https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/37863/

This mod makes it so you can use torches and whenever you draw a weapon that will make you unequip the torch rather than it just going away you drop it to the floor, with some cool fading effects added for realism. Personally I think it's more reasonable that a warrior who needs a torch to see in the dark would drop his where it can still give him light instead of putting it away but still being able to see to fight, in that case why use the torch at all? I'll be adding this one to my next playthrough.

This made me think of an alternative remedy for stealth characters, I searched to see if there's any mods that add in some sort of a partial nighteye effect but couldn't find anything, but I did see talk of there being nighteye reshaders out there. Perhaps one of them has a more realistic "eyes are adjusted to the darkness" type look you could use as a reason for your character to have it on say a ring. Not sure, didn't do too much delving on that front.

[Charlemagne]

Thanks, I have started using the dropped torch mod and it helps. However there is still the problem for using bows and arrows. I think the solution is for the fighter or stealthy character to bother in learning some illusion and use Night Eye or Starlight spells. Not the purist fighter build, but if it works...

[Spikem59]

In a world as magic-filled as Tamriel I honestly see no reason that an outright fighter can't use at least a little bit of magic when necessary. Think of it like this, you're an adventurer who goes dungeon delving a lot. Wouldn't an adventurer be pragmatic enough to use something as simple as Nighteye, so he can see when trying to snipe faraway enemies with his bow in the dark? It's nothing more than another tool for a dungeon raider.

And again you could plop it into a ring and say rather than using magic it's just that the character's eyes are adjusted to the darkness.