Hi, does anybody know if there's a way to add the generic sunlight/shadows from exteriors to interior cells..
Or perhaps someone at Bethesda could ad a toggle for this in the CK

Interiors are just an easier way to do small scenes (I use it for canyons and such) but it's strange if you have an interior cell, which has no roof but can't use skylighting. At the moment you lose the sun shadows in interiors if you do this.

I'd probably be quite an easy switch to add ( i hope) or perhaps someone knows if there's an effect in the CK for a continuous shadow caster around the playercam.

currently in the moonpath mod, I don't even use skies, as they move according to daytime.. but i have to use static lights to create some decent shadows. so that sorta works but isn't as nice as a full interior daycycle..

anybody any suggestions.

There most definitely is. There are lights that drop shadows, look under World Object -> light for anything with 'sun' in the name.

Also, for more of a sunbeam effect (awesome effect), try World Object -> Moveable Statics. Some of the best are the ones with 'beam' in the name. Add a shadow light to that and it will also drop shadows.

Go to a place like either the abandoned shack, or broken oar grotto for some awesome examples of skylight effects in buildings and caves respectively.

Hi i didn't mean shadowed lights.. i mean specifaclly the sun that follows the player in the outdoor regions.. this shadow is global and moves with the player and cooresponds to the suns location in the sky.. if you use static lights with shadows,, you have the problem with open spaces.. you have to cover it with lights, or make huge lights with blurry shadows..

outdoor this is solved ,

I don't know if there is a way to actually use the sun, but you could place a Shadow Omni light in the cell and attach a script that checks game time and translates (moves) the light source accordingly. That would be the quick and easy solution.

I asked a veteran modder/scripter about this and he told me its'not possible to translate objects in papyrus. Is that incorrect?
also the shadow bias would be horrendous, as it would have to be pretty high up

but valid suggestion, one that i thought off too, but the not moving objects in scripts putt me off.

Yes that's incorrect: http://www.creationkit.com/TranslateTo_-_ObjectReference

the no moving objects is very very not correct.... they probably meant something different.

I remember in the morrowind days people used to be all over having the light in windows and whatnot directly affected by the time of day outside. I haven't heard a peep of that for skyrim. The light moving based on time of day sounds very interesting. You say interior, so I'm imagining a building, though maybe you mean an exterior lookalike. In a building, you could also dabble a little in the math involved, and have a beam of light tracing along the floor based on the time of day. A shadowed spotlight following it would make some shadow.

If this is just a building, I have to ask, is this worth paying that much attention to? Do ask that. How many people will notice this versus a static beam of light or glow or something. As long as your mod's not being held up for it though that's a non issue I'm worried about the guy that's all over asking about the water wheel direction though... even in the game a few of them are turning against the current and nobody cares.. but he wants a reversed new animation and is asking on several sites >.<

Why not just make your area a smallish exterior cell?

Otherwise spotlights are probably what you want? They kill performance though.

well valid points really. my main reason is because these are small canyon scenes, so its basically a big building.. and spotlights do suffice for now. but the advantages of using interior cells are many,

for me they're quicker and easier to do, no maps or other requirements , easy navmeshes etc etc. plus they're very managable within a quest..
but the disadvantages are also there no shadows , weather landscape etc.

but you'r right if an interior doesn't suffice move to exteriors

but still it seems somewhat silly to put in the skylighting feature for interior cells and not have an appropriate sunlight enabled as well ;(

play it and have some other people play it. don't tell them of your concerns with sunlight. if it's nice enough, and lit roughly like an exterior, my money's on it never entering their mind