I'm after a mod that takes out the artificial lights from the caves and interiors where there should be no light.

Is there any way to mod this without the CK?

There are some mods that make nights darker already.
I haven't seen one for interiors.

Himmelsrands Custom Shader Suite is a great mod that I use for making the lighting in Skyrim more realistic. Or 'more European' as the mods creator might put it. Check it out at the Nexus.

It's ridiculous how bright things are in the game world. I dare say that it almost ruins the atmosphere at night for me. There should be a reason to use torches, magelights, and nightvision. I've played over 100 hours and have not needed to use any of those things.

I miss the good old dark caves from oblivion. I got so scared when went around in the cave and suddenly my torch went out and i heard a zombie. I liked how I had to go back to a city once in a while, just to shake off the feeling i had from going around in those dark caves.

Same. While dungeons are certainly designed better and the better lighting helps you appreciate it, it just seems really out of place in many sections. While I don't mind some dungeons being well lit(one was full of bioluminescent mushrooms and looked great) others would be much better off dark for atmosphere. I wouldn't want a mod that makes EVERY dungeon darker though, since some look good the way they are.

Hopefully the creators of All Natural will make a return in skyrim. That would fix a lot of the "fake" lighting.

I don't think either game has anywhere near dark enough dungeons.

This Post-Process Injector mod provides HDR which can seriously darken nights without making them totally pitch black. I find myself needing torches, light spells, Detect Life, Night Eye, etc. -- http://skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=1875 (Realistic Colors and Real Nights v12 with HDR)

Additionally here's yet another mod which provides HDR, without much saturation changes like all the Post-Process Injector mods, and has a much lower FPS hit for most people (other one does around 1-2 for me, but people claim more) -- http://skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=822 (Skyrim Enhanced Shaders)

Note in both mods you can toggle the effect in-game in case you find it TOO dark, or just want to compare.

Of course NPCs won't react to this change, and sneaking won't be any easier, but AFAIK that's how it was in Oblivion when people tweaked the light settings. For Sneakers we just need ways to extinguish light sources.

http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=648 claims to have real darker nights and interiors (not post processed) so NPCs should react accordingly.

This, but to actually solve the darkness issue - a combination of Let There Be Darkness or the very good Cava Obscura would be great.

but yeah Arthmoor and crew need to get working on All Natural!

Thanks for the replies. I'm going to start with Himmelsrand Custom Shader Suite. The general appearance is improved a lot with shader mods.

It's nice to have one of those. I was really after that "Cava Obscura" feel to the caves and interiors. So, yeah, I think we have to wait an All Natural to arrive in Skyrim

Actually I think the first one I linked, Realistic Colors and Real Nights v12 with HDR, has imagespace / ambient light changes as well that NPCs can react to. It contains two ESPs. But I contacted the author to make sure. If not, might be good to mix it with either "Darker Nights" and/or "Darker Interiors" from http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=648

I wonder if the game is patched the .esm files work with the new versions. It was made with Fallout toolkit, no?

That would be a dream come true, sofar I have only been able to find 2 or 3 places where i needed lighting aid... and i've put over 60 hours into the game.

From Realistic Colors and Real Nights description: "This mod use the power behind FXAA Post Process Injector to generate a new and realistic color palette and an enhanced night-time gameplay experience" so i thought it was all post process. Can you confirm it's not? It looks good and i wanted to try it but for what i thought was "fake" darkness

The mod linked, I don't know if the author intended .esm files or not. He's got open permissions, so I'll cross-check it with my own work in that area and see what it was that I missed. I may, if possible, put out a much, much darker version if I can find the right parts. No guarantees, though.

All those FXAA injectors are only going to be a visual effect that affects the player (you) - none of then really make it darker and make it easier for you character to sneak (because it has no effect on the character).

Another result is that while you the player cannot see an enemy that well in the dark - the enemy has no problem seeing you.

I'm waiting for a real darkness mod - cava obscura for Oblivion being the best I've seen so far.

The FXAA injectors are only good to make some slight adjustments to the overall image. When you use them to make caves and nights darker bad things start to happen like not being able to make out the features of a redgaurds face in the middle of the day.

Thanks for the explanation, Psymon. Been playing with "Skyrim Enhanced Shaders" mod. Even though shader injector mods can be used to make slight adjustments, like alehm said, I think I'm also going to wait.

The end result is not what I was expecting. I had Let There Be Darkness in Oblivion and it completely removed almost all fake lights. Then, All Natural fixed the night color, removing the blue tint and making night darker.

I guess that can only be done with the CK

I have an FXAA injector ... done by Mr.Cooper I think. It is not overly dark and dose make the nights slightly darker. Removes some saturation and makes colors pop more, but it doesn't blind you.

You can turn it off by pressing the pause key in game, so it is always optional.

My hoped for a cava obscura mod and then a real lights too.

Even better if all lights are extinguishable.

Working on this this evening. No promises, but I'll hope to have something to work with this evening.

What the problem is for me though, is not only does it need to be dark and realistic, ENEMIES must also be aware that it is dark. Some may perhaps have night vision abilities, but other will not. Your stealth would be greatly increased if you was sneaking around without any lightsource. Also, if you come running with a torch, they would spot you easier as well.

This mod is great: http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=822 Use the HDR version, this is probably my favorite mod.

That's what I'm trying for.. Unsuccessfully, so far. I actually ended up reversing it. I made nights brighter, days so bright you can hardly see. How? I've no idea. <_> I'm attempting to see what made them brighter, and reverse the effect.

Heh. I'll see what happens.

Edit: Ugh. I give up for now. This is frustrating. I'll tackle it either later or with the CK, should be easy with that. None of it's making sense, I'll use console codes to set HDR codes, then reset them to default, and then all of a sudden the default looks different than it did. So confused. o.o It should NOT be this hard, it was easy in oblivion, and easy in fallout..