» Thu May 31, 2012 9:08 am
Commenting further on the shadow settings:
I use the following values for those ini settings that are influenced by launcher shadow detail presets:
- iBlurDeferredShadowMask=3 (default for "High" & "Ultra")
- fShadowDistance=5000.0000 (between defaults 4000 for "High" and 8000 for "Ultra")
- iShadowMapResolution=4096 (default for "Ultra")
- fShadowBiasScale=0.3000 (default for "Medium", haven't gotten to testing this yet)
- iShadowMaskQuarter=4 (default for "High" & "Ultra")
(Note, that since 1.5 the game engine seems to reset the last value to 4 no matter how it is set originally)
In addition to that, I have
- bTreesReceiveShadows=1
- bDrawLandShadows=1
Even though my rig for the time being (FX-60/8800GT) is gradually getting a bit outdated, I have no problems handling these settings (at least with my 1280X960 resolution), and I am fairly satisfied with the shadows that they create.
All other settings that might possibly have anything to do with shadows are where Skyrim sets them by default. This includes:
- iShadowMapResolutionSecondary=1024 (default irrespective of any quality presets)
- iShadowMapResolutionPrimary=2048 (default irrespective of any quality presets)
In fact, no matter what values between 1024 and 8192 I try for the secondary and/or primary settings above, I get absolutely no difference in my shadows, and test screenshots I make of shadows around the main tree in Whiterun at a fixed location are visually completely identical. I find that perplexing both in terms of what the Geforce guide claims and how you seem to be impacted by those settings. I guess there perhaps might be some other setting that enables sensitivity to those values, or perhaps they may be relevant to crossfire or some other specific hardware or other scenario, or the world is just full of mysteries.
So please excuse me for my curiosity, and I hope you can indulge it, but I wonder if there is any specific situation, where you can clearly see a visual difference caused by the primary/secondary settings?
Both Thoth and Mr. Eeyore:
I don't understand why you would have:
- iShadowMapResolution=2048 (default for "High", rather than 4096, the default for "Ultra")
but maybe it has something to do with having higher values for the primary and secondary settings.
And by the way, Mr. Eeyore:
I happened to notice that you had
- iBlurDeferredShadowMask=20
which seems a bit excessive to me. When I tested this, the effect seemed to max out at 7, where distant shadows were blurred to the point of vanishing. Well, maybe there is a different world at 20, that I never went to.
I also noticed that you had the following non-default settings:
- iShadowMode=4 (rather than 3)
- iShadowFilter=4 (rather than 3)
I wonder if you could point me to a source where you picked those up or that would explain what they influence, because here again I am unable to observe any visual change in shadows due to adjusting these parameters.
Note: Post edited for mishaps of all kinds. Hope I got all the numbers, details, etc. ok this time.
