Skyrim

About this mod

Grim Gem ENB is a \"noir\" graphic overhaul for Sykrim based on Boris Vorontsov\'s ENB Series. It places you in a grim and frosty, yet at times blindingly brilliant world, with laid back, cold and subtle colours, dark nights and broody dungeons.

Permissions and credits

___

Update history:
17.07.12 to 18.07.12: Release preparation of this page
19.07.12: Release of Grim Gem ENB 1.0
21.07.12: Update to Grim Gem ENB 1.a (now based on ENB 0.114)
22.07.12: Update to Grim Gem ENB 1.b (based on ENB 0.114, small finishing touches)
23.07.12: Added two optional downloads based on 1.b with brighter nights
___



[size=+2]
Grim Gem ENB[/size] by youngneil1

is a "[size=+1]noir[/size]" graphic overhaul for Sykrim based on Boris Vorontsov's [size=+1]ENB[/size] Series.
It places you in a [size=+1]grim and frosty[/size],
yet at times [size=+1]blindingly brilliant[/size] world,
with [size=+1]laid back, cold and subtle colours, dark nights and broody dungeons.[/size]
At the same time the highly sophisticated play of [size=+1]shining light[/size]
and [size=+1]deep shadow[/size] pronounces details not visible in vanilla and adds a whole new level of immersion.
Faces seem [size=+1]irritatingly real[/size]
and your enemies and surroundings appear more [size=+1]scary,[/size]
but also [size=+1]more fascinating[/size] than ever before.
Immerse yourself in this [size=+1]grim[/size],
yet [size=+1]brilliant as a gem[/size] ENB and try it out.



Technically this is achieved by many highly advanced graphic techniques created by Boris Vorontsov in his ENB series and tweaked by my foolish self during more than 300 hours (partially while doing the precursors to this mod: Radiant Heart ENB and Winterfell ENB), including:
  • Boris's own approach to HDR and SSAO that makes you feel the air inbetween objects,
  • colourful indirect lighting (SSIL) that blends the world together in a very cohesive way,
  • very detailed shadows which pronounce the delicate details of everything,
  • Bokeh Depth of Field that simulates the focusing of your eyes in a highly sophisticated and convinicing way (thanks to Matso),
  • lens flare effects of bright light sources and
  • glorious and dynamically created sunrays stretching like the fingers of a curious child god.




Installation


1) Please do the installation manually and place all the files from the unzipped Grim Gem ENB directory, including its subdirectories, into your Skyrim install folder, where the SkyrimLauncher.exe is located. In the end you should e.g. find enbseries.ini in the same directory as SkyrimLauncher.exe.

2) Additionally please download the ENB series, version 0.114 by Boris Vorontsov, from this page:
http://www.enbdev.com/mod_tesskyrim_v0114.htm.
After unzipping this archive, go into its WrapperVersion subdirectory and just copy the file named d3d9.dll. Place that d3d9.dll into your Skyrim directory, too.

3) When starting Skyrim don't fortget to activate the already included FurtherDarkDungeons.esp (all credits to Mindflux/artem1s, see also below)

4) I strongly advise downloading and activating the following three mods (without them you will have very different looks than intended):

RevampedExteriorFog by Greg Manthey (Gargorias)
http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=9930
Remove Ambient Interior Fog by Greg Manthey (Gargorias)
http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=9571
Mike Foxs Darker Dungeons by Mike Fox (without it, dungeons and interiors will be brighter and less atmospheric than intended)
http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/11353

Please make sure that the .esp file coming with Mike Foxs Darker Dungeons (Dark Light Templates.esp) is activated as last (or at least at a very late stage) in your load order. Otherwise, it tends to get overwritten by other files dealing with lihgting that are at least in this setup up not supposed to take precedence over Mike Foxs Darker Dungeons. BOSS is placing the Dark Light Templates.esp not low enough in load order.

5)Sykrimprefs.ini
Please make sure that in your Skyrimprefs.ini (found e.g. on a Vista64 system under users/"username"/mydocuments/mygames/skyrim/) you have the following set:
bTreesReceiveShadows=1
bDrawLandShadows=1
bFloatPointRenderTarget=1
(the first two are optional while the last one is a must)

6) Driver Settings
I use the lastest Nvidia driver (on a GTX 580). I have set antialiasing to application controlled (the included smaa by Andrej Dudenhefner (alias mrhaadni) handles this) . Anisotrophic filtering is activated on driver level at 16x quality. Texture Quality is set to high quality and Tripple Buffering is on (while allowing to use the V-Synch setting of the application).

7) Ingame graphic settings (launcher and options menu)
I have brightness all the way down (this may vary for you depending on your monitor calibration, but it's very likely you will also want a very low ingame brightness setting).
Anti Aliasing and Anisotrpoic filtering are turned off within the launcher options (the driver & the injected SMAA do that for us). No FXAA either. All other settings to the highest possible options (ultra), including shadows. Of couse, it depends on your system if you want to make some cmpromises here.
If this is too performance hungry, please try to set Anti Aliasing to a lower level with the included injector.ini file.

8) Monitor settings
Hard to give advice here. My monitor is rather bright, but in the end it's just important to keep in mind that the monitor of course plays a role that has to be compensated for if need be by some fine tuning.

9) Other graphic mods and left overs from ENB installations
Please make sure you remove other graphic files from other ENB or similar graphic modifications (like e.g. from Realistic Lighting, effect. ini files from other ENB that did e.g. sharpening as such techniques are not used here, etc.).



Additional graphical mods I use and like


(HQ Textures by Bethesda)
Better Dynamic Snow
Warmer Magic Lights
Crimson Tide
CLARALUX
Enhanced Distant Terrain
Finer Dust
Intricate Spider Webs
Real Glaciers
Lush Trees
Lush Grass
The Eyes of Beauty
Wearable Lanterns
Torches for Real Lighting (infite life)
Paper Pack (to darken book pages)
Sunglare Disabler



Credits to:


Boris Vorrontsov for his great ENB Series
Andrej Dudenhefner (alias mrhaadni) for the brilliant smaa soultion I have just included here - all credits to him for this
Matso for his absolutely amazing Depth of Field effect that I use with his permission here
MikeFox for the superb Darker Dungeons Mod that simply is a must to use for me
TheRadikal for his twists on the enbeffect.fx and the enbpalette.bmp file that I further modified with his consent and include here
Mindflux/artem1s for the essential FurtherDarkDungoens Mod that he kindly allowed me to integrate into the Grim Gem ENB package
Sharpshooter8 for inspring me to start this with his amazing ENB's
Confidence Man for his water foam retexture that helps water fom brightness udner controll at night time
Puuloo for his great More Dynamic Shadows Mod that I suggest to keep a very close eye on - he's just giving it the last refinements to make it really perfect and then I will gladly and thankfully use it

If I should have forgotten anybody here, please take my sincere apologies and give me a heads up and I will add you immeditaley or remove any kind of your work you felt offending for me to use. No ill intended.



Enjoy and please give feedback and - if you should like it - please endorse it.

All the best
youngneil1

P.S.: If you should need some Sykrim distraction, I wholeheartedly recommend trying Kingdoms of Amalur:Reckoning with my YSA Mod or Two Worlds 2 with my Worldmerge Mod. Both are great game experiences that complement Sykrim very nicely due to their different focus.