Game Skyrim Forum

To start, I do have Mods installed, but at no time do I change what mods are loaded. The only change made for any of the Screenshots is the setting in Nvidia Inspector..."Texture filtering - LOD bias(DX9)" this setting is not available in the normal Nvidia CP (control Panel).

Does this setting touch pretty much everything in the game at some point? I am beginning to think so, all we need to do is look at the LOGO on the main load screen....

Main Screen Logo.
http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee72/camaro_69_327/LOD/LOD-3_load.png
http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee72/camaro_69_327/LOD/LODDefault.png
http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee72/camaro_69_327/LOD/Lod3_load.png

The difference is obvious on the +3 side but the only difference i see for the negative side here, is the Highlight on one spot changes. (Think this is what we see shimmer when the Scene moves in the game).

This next set is taken outside Whiterun looking up past a windmilll toward Dragon Reach. Notice the Wall, The Windows of Dragon reach, the Grass...List goes on and on.

http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee72/camaro_69_327/LOD/LOD-3Wind.png
http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee72/camaro_69_327/LOD/LODDefaultWind.png
http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee72/camaro_69_327/LOD/LOD3Wind.png

This 3rd set is outside ? near Rift ...The trees go right into Focus, the trees in the distance have Leaves and Branches not just Blobs...check out the window..

http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee72/camaro_69_327/LOD/LOD-3Trees.png
http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee72/camaro_69_327/LOD/LODDefaultTrees.png
http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee72/camaro_69_327/LOD/LOD3Trees.png

The setting has 25 choices either side of 0...there done in 1/8 " increments....From what I understand this has to do with Mip MAPS. Some of this shows in screenshots, but you really need to find what setting looks good to your eyes. It could be that I just need Glasses ? But the Clarity is now equal to what I see all around me. the default was blurry to me and this made it clear. The only reason I went to both extremes is to demonstrate what this setting controls.

Going all the way to a -3 for this setting makes everything Shimmer , But at a setting of -1 to -1.5 does not shimmer, and is much clearer then the Default. Another thing you will notice in the game is how everything has more depth.

With changing the above setting it is also advised to change "Texture filtering- Negative LOD bias" to clamp. (default is "Allow").

SO did we really need HD texture mods ? OR Prescription Lenses for the Game Skyrim?

Try this and let me know what you think, even though you can see some difference in the PICS, it is more evident in the game . Doesn't cost a single FPS, and looks good.

Pics are saved by MSI Afterburner as PNG.
Screen REZ= 1920 x 1080

Interesting. I have an AMD 5850, how do I adjust this with AMD?

Wish I knew....If someone points it out, I will add it to the OP in the Future...I haven't had an ATI card in 10+ years. I was fiddling with things in Nvidia inspector and stumbled over this...lol

Welcome to yesterday. Problem is pixel jitter. At all cost enable highest level AF.

Edit: any serious tweaker program can change LOD for experimenting. Rivatuner, ATI Tray Tools would be my first two choices.

Maximum anistropic filtering alone is not enough to stop the flickering on a GTX 580, I can tell you that much. Until I discovered these two settings, I routinely saw flickering on distant mountains. Now I don't see it anywhere.

yes...I should have stated that All Pics have 16x AF with 2x AA & 2x Supersampling..

These 2 settings have completely changed how Skyrim looks.

Wait, what settings? I have mountain flicker and I can't get mine away!

The 2 in the first post...

Texture filtering - LOD bias(DX9)<Texture filtering- Negative LOD bias << this when set to "clamp" holds images from jumping around as you move..

Try them.. This is Found in Nvidia Inspector. Did not find the setting in the NVcpl.

Mind if someone could upload a screenshot of their full Texture filtering settings?

I've tried the settings suggested but still getting distant flickering. I'm probably doing something wrong

Didnt help

I hate my flicker.

Thank you OP, as they say learn something everyday, no other game have I tinkered with so much, yet felt with every improvement a tingle. I'm currently using lower texture sizes on some, and HD on others, being careful with Vram and what is available and the obsession in my view with High texture size means better quality. I have found with this game such it is such a unique to set-up experience, with others experience not being the same as another. I tried your observations with other games also, and I am very pleased with the results, at no loss in performance, and with yet further tinkering what was excitable to me, is now improved and I have better performance, being on an older graphics card.

Again Thank you very much for posting, from a happy reader.

Tried adjusting this with ATI Tray Tools....game wouldn't load. Strange. Probably just me doing it wrong.

Tried again with RadeonPro...works like a charm!

After messing with it for awhile I decided that the default of 0 was just about best. Anything more just added that shimmer to the trees that annoys me. If I dialed the shimmer out the graphics lost that lifelike quality. Hard to explain. It will probably be an individual thing, but even at 0 I have some shimmer and I don't want more.

ps. I didn't see that clamp setting anywhere in RadeonPro or ATI Tray Tools.

Nice thread, I'd completely forgotten about the negative bias to force full detail out of textures in games. I just went and forced it on a few other titles and haha awesome I'm seeing stuff I've never seen before, sweet Btw with Skyrim itself I get a brutal 50% drop in FPS if I go from say -1 to -3 and I'm not really seeing a big dif but even at -0.125 a lot of detail just pops more.

TY..

Did a lot of testing with the settings and with a setting of -1 there still is no Shimmer and the detail is very nice. I can now look at other peoples screenshots and think...yep you could really use to focus your textures.

Try with a setting like .5 or .75 go look at some ICE ..you can actually see reflections under the surface..Also the Thieves Guild never looked better to me...

Don't forget to "Clamp" your textures.