I'm of two minds about increasing the darkness of nights and dungeons. On one hand it increases immersion and difficulty and I like that. On the other I miss quite a lot of some really nice looking interiors and I really enjoy the views of a lot of the dungeons. It seems a pity after someone goes to all the trouble to make a visually appealing room to barely see it. Also there is the problem of trying to fight one or more NPCs while completely unable to see them which has happened to me. Your thoughts on the issue?

Candlelight spell or a torch.

I was concerned about that and in fact felt that CoT's hazardous dungeons module made some of the most beautiful interiors, like Eldergleam sanctuary, look tepid. However, I then tried RLO's dungeons module and absolutely love it. To my eyes, it makes the dungeons look stunning. Places like Eldergleam and broken oar grotto are dark, yes, but when light shines in from outside, as it does in those places, it is hauntingly beautiful.

As for the difficulty of fighting multiple NPCs, it adds to the fun for me, since I can get surprised by draugr in the dark if I am not running a light source or night vision. Between torches, candlelight/mage light and night eye, I've never had much trouble actually fighting in the dark, but it can be challenging if your light runs out or if you try to go without a light source.

For outside areas, I have been pleased with CoT 5.0 darker nights 2 module. It makes nights feel like nighttime without making things too dark, and torches are nice and bright.

Yes.... the problem of fighting in the near dark, is that whilst you see nothing....the cpu controlled npc sees you perfectly well. Darkness does assist with sneaking.....but then the cpu knows your in "sneak mode" and plays along with the ruse!


One solution is to run two games....one with good ambient lighting...high brightness, so you can enjoy the architecture and a second game more like RP where its all atmospheric, gloomy and creepy....and kill the music score....listen to the ambient slapping of draugr feet and dripping water, the howling cave speak etc....set your light do that a flickering torch only lights effectively about ten feet and beyond that its patchy in fact exactly as a real one would be. Sneak and feel the horror in your bones.............

I like the vanilla level of darkness. As you said, it seems a shame to me to not see all the beautiful TLC that went into those dungeons and their graphics. I just pretend my elf sees well in the dark.

Personally, after playing for years with vanilla lighting and now playing with RLO (dungeons module only), I think caves like Eldergleam and broken oar grotto, and ruins, particularly the entrance room to BFB look more spectacular with RLO than the bright vanilla lighting. It's true some places are dark with RLO, but many places are lit well enough and the contrast between bright and dark creates some absolutely beautiful scenes that you don't get with vanilla lighting.

Yes, but Khajiit vision is different ...

Khajiit night vision or Vampires I think have some kind of night vsion. Just don't forget to do an entire dwarven ruin whilst forgetting you have night vision...

After playing about 3 week's and getting eye strain from the bright white glare that was any place with snow. I put the brightness setting right in the middle and then changed my TV's brightness setting's, contrast and tint so that the game looked "normal". I went to Whiterun and stood between 2 of the fire stands at night and adjusted the brightness a tiny bit and then went and found a cave, walked into semi-darkness and lit a torch...bright.

It actually made most of the movies I watched on tv look much better also... ... But I noticed a couple things. I could see much better at Noon on a cloudless day on the Ice-burgs and the detail in the barrow's and Dwemer ruin's actually stood out more, instead of being "washed out". Yes it did take time... luckily the setting's stay the same on 360 and never changed.

When I say " My characters needed a torch to see", I meant in any area with out a light source close by. Yes I do admire the work of the dev's but it IS after all a single player game.. and I play it the way it make's the most fun for me... now that's on PC with different lighting mod's...