I just picked up Skyrim and I was looking into some great mods to enhance the look of the game. I found these two and was wondering which is better? In the pictures, Real Vision looks better but I haven't seen a side by side comparison. If you've tried them out, which do you prefer and which looks better? Thanks!
S.T.E.P vs Real Vision
- Thread starter F4NN
- Start date
Yes, Step is a modding guide. I'm not sure about Realvision though. I'll link both of them if you want to take a look. Step http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mod...rim/ajax/moddescription/?id=11&preview=&pUp=1 . Realvision http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/30936/?
Okay. I'm looking for mods that will make the game look really good. I don't really want to venture very far from the vanilla game as I just picked it up and I want as genuine of a first experience as possible. I just want to mods that improve the graphics/textures and maybe some with quality of life changes. I have a very good computer with plenty of hard drive space left so you don't have to worry about whether or not my rig can handle it. I just saw how stunning the game looked with those mods and wanted mine to look that good. Thanks!
tx12001
I will not tolerate failure...
Hardrive space means absolutely nothing when it comes to ingame performance as these mods will kill Frames per Second which are CPU and GPU dependent.
http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/607/ - 2k Textures
Increases Detail on all textures by several times.
http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/1111/ - Pure Waters
Makes Water much better looking and more realistic.
http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/17802/ - CoT, Adds over 2000 unique days and Nights to the Game with overhauled lighting visuals and a new weather system.
http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/8655/ - SMIM - Highly Detailed Mesh Replacements of many in game Objects but Heavily Increases In game Polygons and can slow the in game Performance down by quite a bit.
http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/52322 - Windsong Character Overhaul, Chaarcter Model and Appearance mod that adds a variety of Character Models to choose from including CBBE and UNP alongside Better Males as well ans facial mods. (WARNING May Contain Nudity)
get these as well as they fix thousands of ingame bugs -
http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/19
Unofficial Skyrim Patch.
http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/23491/
Unofficial Dawnguard Patch.
http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/25127/
Unofficial Hearthfire Patch
http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/31083/
Unofficial Dragonborn Patch
Only get the patches for any DLC you may own regardless of what you have definitely get the Skyrim unofficial Patch
Now you say your just Picked it up so is this your first time ever playing Skyrim? well after a time if you want to make Skyrim More Immersive and Realistic May I recommend these mods as well
http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/11163 - Camping and Hypothermia survival mod, Forces you to act safely in Bad weather Conditions and dress warmly when in locations that would kill you for being so cold in real life.
http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/26228 - Realistic Needs and Diseases, Forces you to Eat food and Drink liquids during your adventures or else you can die, it also makes disease you can catch much worse
Now if you want recommendations for Vampire, Werewolf, Weapon, Armor, Player Home or Quest Mods just ask and I shall Provide the Links to you.
http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/607/ - 2k Textures
Increases Detail on all textures by several times.
http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/1111/ - Pure Waters
Makes Water much better looking and more realistic.
http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/17802/ - CoT, Adds over 2000 unique days and Nights to the Game with overhauled lighting visuals and a new weather system.
http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/8655/ - SMIM - Highly Detailed Mesh Replacements of many in game Objects but Heavily Increases In game Polygons and can slow the in game Performance down by quite a bit.
http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/52322 - Windsong Character Overhaul, Chaarcter Model and Appearance mod that adds a variety of Character Models to choose from including CBBE and UNP alongside Better Males as well ans facial mods. (WARNING May Contain Nudity)
get these as well as they fix thousands of ingame bugs -
http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/19
Unofficial Skyrim Patch.
http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/23491/
Unofficial Dawnguard Patch.
http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/25127/
Unofficial Hearthfire Patch
http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/31083/
Unofficial Dragonborn Patch
Only get the patches for any DLC you may own regardless of what you have definitely get the Skyrim unofficial Patch
Now you say your just Picked it up so is this your first time ever playing Skyrim? well after a time if you want to make Skyrim More Immersive and Realistic May I recommend these mods as well
http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/11163 - Camping and Hypothermia survival mod, Forces you to act safely in Bad weather Conditions and dress warmly when in locations that would kill you for being so cold in real life.
http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/26228 - Realistic Needs and Diseases, Forces you to Eat food and Drink liquids during your adventures or else you can die, it also makes disease you can catch much worse
Now if you want recommendations for Vampire, Werewolf, Weapon, Armor, Player Home or Quest Mods just ask and I shall Provide the Links to you.
Okay, I appreciate you taking the time to find these for me. Will these mods make my game look really good? I don't think I'll need any weapon mods or anything like that as I just want to play the vanilla game with graphics/texture mods for my first character. As for my PC, I have a AMD FX 8350, ASUS R9 270x, 8 gb ram, and a 970A-G46 mobo. I just built this rig a few months ago so I doubt it'll have a problem handling any mods.
norsewarlord
Member
I would try ELFX, Project ENB, COT, and Realistic Water 2. I used to use WATER and it was very good but I am using Realistic Water 2 for my next playthrough even though I have not yet tried the mod. Also there are many texture mods so you have to know what you want. You can combine them together as one mod with Skyrim Mod Combiner if you want.
norsewarlord
Member
I actually use the AMD 8350 FX, ASUS 990FX, ASUS 270X Direct Cu 2, ASUS Xonar DX, 128 GB SSD for the game, 2 TB hard drive for storing the downloaded mods and other files, and 8 GB of RAM.
Your computer is very good but certainly not amazing or bulletproof. Only because of the video card actually. You have to be careful how many texture mods you run while using ENB and ELFX.
Lewsean
Member
If you're looking for an ENB but don't want to lose 20+FPS, then I suggest using Cinemascope. It preserves Skyrim's natural look, doesn't go over the top with color/saturation etc etc, and doesn't lose any FPS at all. I'm at a constant 60fps with these mods
HD2k
Unique Grass & Groundcovers
Skyrealism Grass
Pure Weather/Water
SMIMM
Dynamic Snow
HD Enchaned Terrain
Tree's HD
Real Ice
HD Plants/Herbs
ELFX
HD Clutter
HD Dungeon Items
Basically all of skyrim is now 2k-4k textures, with an ENB on top of that it makes it really beautiful with little FPS loss at all.
HD2k
Unique Grass & Groundcovers
Skyrealism Grass
Pure Weather/Water
SMIMM
Dynamic Snow
HD Enchaned Terrain
Tree's HD
Real Ice
HD Plants/Herbs
ELFX
HD Clutter
HD Dungeon Items
Basically all of skyrim is now 2k-4k textures, with an ENB on top of that it makes it really beautiful with little FPS loss at all.
TheNatural
Active Member
I've done both numerous times.
Be mindful that there are multiple versions of STEP with different mods sets and different recommended ENBs.
Right now I am playing through Skyrim with the Recommended Realvision Mods+some of my personal favorites, and I don't think I'll go back.
For your PC specs, I think you should download the recommended mods on the realvision page, but use the LITE version of the texture mods, and the performance version of Realvision. If you still have FPS issues, substitute Skyrim Flora Overhaul with Unique Grasses and Groundcovers and use Grass on Steroids. That being said, the ENB is going to be what inevitably kills your framerate.
I would also recommend using ELFX and Performance version B or C of realvision. I use a tweaked version of full C, but I wouldn't recommend a Full version of an ENB for your rig. To be frank, it would be tough to tell the difference unless you are a complete ENB snob. I have contended for years that some of the post-processing features that are incredibly performance heavy are pretty much useless, such as ambient occlusion. AO is only useful in specific lighting situations, and only then if you are trying to take screeenshots.
Realvision is also a great place to start, because you literally cannot go wrong if you follow the steps, and it is a good introduction to the world of modding. STEP is a great resource as well, but I personally don't like the way they "anime" everything up. I am not playing this game to look at characters that are straight out of something Hentai.
Be mindful that there are multiple versions of STEP with different mods sets and different recommended ENBs.
Right now I am playing through Skyrim with the Recommended Realvision Mods+some of my personal favorites, and I don't think I'll go back.
For your PC specs, I think you should download the recommended mods on the realvision page, but use the LITE version of the texture mods, and the performance version of Realvision. If you still have FPS issues, substitute Skyrim Flora Overhaul with Unique Grasses and Groundcovers and use Grass on Steroids. That being said, the ENB is going to be what inevitably kills your framerate.
I would also recommend using ELFX and Performance version B or C of realvision. I use a tweaked version of full C, but I wouldn't recommend a Full version of an ENB for your rig. To be frank, it would be tough to tell the difference unless you are a complete ENB snob. I have contended for years that some of the post-processing features that are incredibly performance heavy are pretty much useless, such as ambient occlusion. AO is only useful in specific lighting situations, and only then if you are trying to take screeenshots.
Realvision is also a great place to start, because you literally cannot go wrong if you follow the steps, and it is a good introduction to the world of modding. STEP is a great resource as well, but I personally don't like the way they "anime" everything up. I am not playing this game to look at characters that are straight out of something Hentai.
Finite Matter
Member
I use realvision, it is very performance friendly if you know how to tune it. Start by installing the lite version if you dont have a monster machine, then while in game, press plops + enter and go to effects on the right window and lower the saturation for day night and interiors to get rid of the massive amount of oversaturation. Also, on the left window click use original post processing so that you dont have issues with the nightvision type mods, and it looks incredible. Id upload pictures if I wasnt at work.
