Has Skyrim lost the capability for negative lights ("lights" that make their surroundings darker) that was present in Oblivion and FO3? I don't see a checkbox anywhere, but maybe there's some kind of shader trickery that can accomplish it?

I don't believe any Bethesda game has ever had "darkening lights" capabilities.

It's a simple check box on the light dialogues in Oblivion, FO3, and NV.

Never heard of 'negative lights' in a BGS game... Never seen that checkbox.

Could you just make a light that cast black (0,0,0) light?

That checkbox has never worked that well, and Bethesda have never used negative lights in their games, so it makes sense that it would be gone for Skyrim.

Yeah, it did exist before but you should just be setting the ambient color lower for the area you want to be "darkened" and lighting areas that need to be lit with regular lights. Unless you want to do it dynamically, then I don't know, find a way to turn off the nearby existing lights instead of using a negative one?

Use a trigger area with an Imod script attached, and make an Image space modifier that darkens the room.

I couldn't find a vanilla script when I did this very thing, so I tweaked this existing one:

ImageSpaceModifier property myimod AutoObjectReference property PlayerRef AutoEvent OnTriggerEnter(objectreference actronaught)   if actronaught == PlayerRef    myimod.applycrossfade(2.0)   endifEndEventEvent OnTriggerLeave(objectReference actronaught)   if actronaught == PlayerRef	ImageSpaceModifier.Removecrossfade()   endifendevent

Make sure your Image Space Modifier is really dark, it can make for some interesting screen events.

Thanks, Pants. (This is something I'll want to happen dynamically)

edit posted in wrong place

Don't forget Room Markers can have their own Lighting Template and ImageSpace Modifier.
With those you can easily make a really dark section in a well-lit dungeon