Pixelated Shadows?

[bandmonkey]

My shadows are pixelated with enb, 8196 shadow map resolution, RLO, etc. Even though it's modded, I tried it in vanilla. Still Pixelated shadows. If i need to link my Ini file I can.

[Trehek]

screenshot, please.

[bandmonkey]

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1176356046
this is without the mods, and it's the same with enb, RLO, and ELFX

[Trehek]

Ok, please open up your skyrimprefs.ini and copy-paste everything under the [Display] heading here.

[bandmonkey]

[Display]
iShadowMaskQuarter=4
iShadowFilter=3
fShadowBiasScale=0.4
iBlurDeferredShadowMask=5
fInteriorShadowDistance=1200.0000
fShadowDistance=1200.0000
iShadowMapResolution=4096
iShadowMapResolutionSecondary=8196
iShadowMapResolutionPrimary=8196
iShadowSplitCount=2
iMaxAnisotropy=8
fLeafAnimDampenDistEnd=4600.0000
fLeafAnimDampenDistStart=3600.0000
fTreesMidLODSwitchDist=3600.0000
fGamma=1.0000
fDecalLOD2=1500.0000
fDecalLOD1=1000.0000
fSpecularLODStartFade=500.0000
fShadowLODStartFade=500.0000
fLightLODStartFade=1000.0000
iTexMipMapMinimum=0
iTexMipMapSkip=0
iWaterMultiSamples=0
iMultiSample=0
iShadowMode=4
bTreesReceiveShadows=1
bDrawLandShadows=1
bFull Screen=0
iSize H=900
iSize W=1600
fMeshLODFadePercentDefault=1.2000
fMeshLODFadeBoundDefault=256.0000
fMeshLODLevel2FadeTreeDistance=2048.0000
fMeshLODLevel1FadeTreeDistance=2844.0000
fMeshLODLevel2FadeDist=3072.0000
fMeshLODLevel1FadeDist=4096.0000
iScreenShotIndex=2
bShadowMaskZPrepass=0
bMainZPrepass=0
iMaxSkinDecalsPerFrame=3
iMaxDecalsPerFrame=10
bFloatPointRenderTarget=1

[bandmonkey]

added some to the file from sites to see if they would fix

[Trehek]

I can definitely spot a few weird values there. Let me double-check a couple of things and I'll give you a recommendation.

[Trehek]

There's always a certain amount of blockiness to Skyrim shadows, but you can try making the following changes:

iBlurDeferredShadowMask=1
fInteriorShadowDistance=3000.0000
fShadowDistance=3000.0000

Remove these lines:
iShadowMapResolutionSecondary=8196
iShadowMapResolutionPrimary=8196
iShadowSplitCount=2
iShadowMode=4

Recommend setting anisotropic filtering off, then turn it on in ENB or in your GPU control panel:
iMaxAnisotropy=0

Also, if using ENB and you want sharper shadows, make these changes in enbseries.ini:
ShadowQualityFix=false
ShadowBlurRange=0.1
ShadowBlurRangeInterior=0.1

Results with ENB:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1176424140

[bandmonkey]

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1176488462
did everything you told me, same thing happening. I use RealVision and RLO in this one with 8196 on my shadow resolution.

[bandmonkey]

I also use climates of tamriel.

[Trehek]

Yeah, that looks like no change at all. If you're using iShadowMapResolution=8196 and the values I recommended, it shouldn't look like that. Do you even notice a fps loss after changing to 8k? You're editing the skyrimprefs under documents\my games\skyrim, right? Does your skyrim.ini have duplicates of any of those variables?

[bandmonkey]

Originally posted by Trehek:

Yeah, that looks like no change at all. If you're using iShadowMapResolution=8196 and the values I recommended, it shouldn't look like that. Do you even notice a fps loss after changing to 8k? You're editing the skyrimprefs under documents\my games\skyrim, right? Does your skyrim.ini have duplicates of any of those variables?

I always get 60 fps, never really get hits. I just edited the one in my documents. I also play skyrim on a seperate drive because I have small hardrive space, and I dont have any duplicates.

[Trehek]

Also, in case you've been playing around with the value, please note that fShadowDistance also affects the sharpness of shadows in addition to affecting how far shadows are drawn. The shadow map is overlaid on the ground up to the shadow draw distance, like a decal. If shadow draw distance is too long, the shadow map becomes stretched and pixelation occurs. Below a certain point you won't get any noticeable increase in sharpness anymore and simply make the shadow pop-in at the draw distance limit more noticeable.

A value of 3000 - 4000 in shadow distance is usually a good balance.

[Trehek]

Originally posted by Skeet:

I always get 60 fps, never really get hits. I just edited the one in my documents. I also play skyrim on a seperate drive because I have small hardrive space, and I dont have any duplicates.

Hmm, you mentioned using mods. Are you using Mod Organizer? Your game might be using ini files from your virtual install.

[bandmonkey]

Originally posted by Trehek:

Originally posted by Skeet:

I always get 60 fps, never really get hits. I just edited the one in my documents. I also play skyrim on a seperate drive because I have small hardrive space, and I dont have any duplicates.

Hmm, you mentioned using mods. Are you using Mod Organizer? Your game might be using ini files from your virtual install.

Not using mod organizer, let me check in game one last time and we'll see if it's fixed or not

[bandmonkey]

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1176539431
So it was the skyrim prefs in the documents! Thank you so much for the help. :)
Took a drop from 135 to 50 but it's worth it