Skyrim Scandal - Updates - News - Thoughts

 Skyrim Scandal

- Updates - News - Thoughts -

Hi,

Today, an important article with several news (including a big one ) and thoughts. For this time, I wrote all my ideas on a note pad though these last months, so I hope I don't forget anything 😋
Subjects are varied. Of course, writting a blog is not only posting images. I always think about my visitors and how you feel in this place. Yes, I'm thinking about you :)
This must be comfortable, easy and with a unique touch.
As usual, I thank everybody who come on the blog. I readed that a lot of people come here frequently (almost everyday). Apparently, the morning coffee is a great moment to watch the blog.....That's great. You can come here for new articles and you can search for deeper (older) articles too.
In all cases, my goal is that you have a good time.

Go, go!!!!


1) A new Author

These last months, I was thinking about a second person to showcase UUNP conversions.
Why?
There are a lot of UUNP releases and despite the fact that I try to upload a daily article, sometime I feel a bit late with some news or updates. But without reducing the quality of the visual. So, a second person could be welcome.

The huge amount of UUNP conversions don't allow me to work correctly on my other themes (Retex, Lust, ENB Test, tips&tricks). And these other themes are as much "popular" as all my UUNP articles.
So, they just make sense according to your interest.....and I like to create them. Again, a second author would help me to focus on theses articles too.

A new bodyshape can be very welcome to showcase UUNP conversions too. A less "skinny" body can have an interest. How the bodyslide reacts with another body shape? Another opinion can be welcome too.

For all these reasons, I decided to find someone to upload UUNP articles on the blog......with me.
So, I searched someone who can fit to the blog, to the spirit.
I searched someone with a special touch. Someone with a character with a lot of face expression.
Another style compared to me to provide a different content. Another ENB too.

This choice was very difficult because there are a lot of talented peoples....however, I had someone in mind for his knowledge, his humility, his attitude and his global work.
I asked this person to come on the blog.

So, let me introduce you Idle. This person is also know as Cantregisterlol on Nexus.

Nice attitude, great Skyrim character and a global positive attitude.

I'm very glad to welcome Idle. He has a total liberty to showcase UUNP conversions and his own acces to the blog. As you can see, a different ENB, another Subsurface scattering, another vision of the game.
For now, Idle will post 1 or 2 articles per week. Idle has the liberty to upload articles on other theme. Well, you know that if this is constructive, it's always welcome.
Shots will be 1440p.

So, welcome Idle and thanks to join the blog!!!


2) Majestic Mountains

Some of you already know that I had problems to run "Majestic Mountains". I spoke about that in my last Updates/news/thoughts article.
Well, I can install the mod of course and I clearly see what it does and what it contains. 
The mod still increases my CTD percentage.....very very highy......enormously.
To make it simple, without the mod my game is 99.8% stable during several hours. With the mod installed, I almost CTD every 15 minutes.....fully randomly.
So, this precise mod is still imcompatible with my own game.
I did not find the reason of the CTD.
I checked everything, every commun files,etc...
Water mods, lods, smim, meshes, USLEEP...I don't know.
So, unfortunatly, I abandon the mod for my Oldrim. Of course, if your instalation works good, continue to use this mod. This is just my own experience.

However, to use this experience as an opportunity, I will create a "Retex article" about mountains and I have of course a pretty cool alternate solution (textures, meshes, lods) for textures and to generate every lods mountains (Dyndolod or TESGen5).


3) Focus about the blog

On some forums, I readed wrong informations about the blog.....specialy about the 4K.

4K is the resolution of all images (3840*2160). I just run the game with this resolution to have a maximum of details.
This doesn't mean that armors or outfits have 4K textures😁
That's doesn't mean that I retex myself all armors with new 4K textures.

I showcase outfits/armors which are available for everybody.
The 4K resolution just allows me to have a precise result.
This resolution is of course very welcome when I showcase a cloth with very HD textures and with close-up.
If the outfit have poor textures, then you'll see clearly poor textures👀

4) Microprocessor and Hard drive

Since the release of Skyrim (2011), I'm still using my old microprocessor and an Hard drive.

My processor is an Intel I7 3930K. A bit old 😆 . it has been released in november 2011....like Skyrim. It's still working good even If I feel some weaknesses sometimes for Skyrim (tiny localized fps drop).

So, I have a question for you.

• If I change my microprocessor, do I need to re-install Windows and all my content?

Of course I need to check compatibility with my actual mothercard too.

About the storage, I'm still using several classic hard drives. I see more and more peoples using SSD. 
If I understand correctly, A SSD is like a flash memory.....so really fast. Maybe one day, I'll do the change but this means a new Skyrim instalation.

Despite these 2 old parts, Skyrim runs good and I can still have a decent result.


5) A good reason to retex your game

A retexture of the game is not only to make it more detailled.
This increases the quality of your ENB. Old or low textures have a bad result with ENBS and sometimes these textures can display strange reaction of your favorite ENB.

As you probably know, ENBS modify the reflection, shadows, colors, bloom, etc etc etc....
All these shaders react to textures and specially msn.dds. Main dds to.

I did some tests with the mod "Summerset isle" https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/68406 
This mod has some unique terrain textures. Beaches and sand. It's an example.
These original textures create oversatured colors and bad shadows with an ENB (Rudy in my case).
I replace them with other beaches textures and the ENB reacted instantly. Better vision and a clearer global result.

I have already noticed that in Skyrim.
So, better textures are linked to the global result of your ENB.
That's maybe the reason why some players use the same ENB and have a important different result.

6) Rudy ENB

You probably know that I'm a faithful user of Rudy ENB. It's a good global ENB, performant, very good interiors, unique features. It's adapted to the gameplay and to images. It is not an eye candy ENB.....it is very natural.
Its strongness: It is well balanced and multipurpose.
I like it very much and Rudy answers to all questions. Well, he just supports his own mod/ ENB.

However, I'm not satisfied with his new 319 version. It's a beta version of course. Exteriors are nice and the new adaptation too. Interiors are unfortunatly not to my taste unfortunatly. And that's a problem to me.

So, that's possible that I may change my main ENB. I did some tests recently. I found a very interesting ENB.
True HD ENB https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/85711
Stunning results on textures and a chirugical precision. Very good for showcases. It's very fps friendly too.
Unfortunatly, the mod has big weaknesses. Nights are too clear (looks like day), interiors are not tasty, shadows are a bit...flat and the biggest problem........the modder don't answer questions.
i uploaded user images for this ENB (july 22). The modder hasn't validate my images yet (cute images of Diana...rare on Nexus😋)
or maybe he doesn't want my images at all 😱...I don't know.

Well, If I manage to edit the ENB to obtain a global good result (nights , interiors). I may use it in the future...more frequently. Or maybe the modder will decide to support his/her own mod.
The future will tell...

For the blog, I can't use a cinematic ENB. It modify colors.....way much. For example, I like a lot  Grim & Somber ENBS but it changes too much all colors. Well, you don't see the reality. Too much filters.

7) About paid UUNP mods / The unspoken rules

( for this text, I used some sentences/words from @neuralnetwork @steamcommunity. Just to be sure that you can have the full sense of my thoughts)

I'm a user of mods since a long time.....since Oblivion.
During this period, money wasn't important. Oblivion brought a lot of ideas and content.

Modding culture has this inherent idea that it is and is supposed to be fan-made stuff out of love and passion for the game. That's why people are typically so up in arms whenever someone talks about paid mods. It goes against the core concept of modding. Against the unspoken rules.

But the paid mod route is here. And we can find Patreon accounts.

There's always the question about getting worthwhile value for your purchase. Mods are typically made by amateurs, students and such like and thus the quality varies dramatically from mod to mod.

Mayhaps the author is good at what he does and deserves to get paid for his time and effort. Mayhaps he's a fraud and incompetent and makes products that are buggy and half finished. You really can't tell beforehand and if no information about the author's credibility can be established.
Free modding increases the popularity and longevity of games and indirectly brings more money to the company behind the vanilla game.
I have a hard time imagining Skyrim being this popular after all this time should majority of the mod content be accessible only via extra purchases.

Currently, patreon accounts are making a mistake:
A free gift received in exchange for money is not a free gift, that's an oxymoron.
That's the actual habit. Get paid, then upload a free gift.
It's free because some peoples paid for it.
It's not free.
This should be called simply "a public mod".

A second mistake is that blogs like mine don't have access to some UUNP conversions. I'm not a Patron.
it's a reality. No money to spend for mods = no mods.
I feel a bit......excluded 😕
That simply means......no showcases.
So, the mod can become "free 😵" after a long time, but the interest is lower after a period.

Still, going to paid mod route is dangerous as I see it. If money becomes the underlying principle, it will kill creativity fast. Modders won't be so helpful towards each other anymore as people begin to compete in order to create better and better mods while seeing other content creators as rivals, instead of supportive community.

Moreover, pushing mods towards the paywall end will ultimately diminish the interest in mods in general. Patreon accounts are equal to paid mods, there's nothing to debate there.

So, what's the positioning of the blog?

Priority to real free mods. We'll highlight those who share freely and generously. 
Not a real problem because real free content is currently higher quality compared to paid mods.
Skyrim Scandal focuses on quality and not quantity.

We may showcase free public mods from Patreon but we are waiting exceptional content, ultra high quality assets. And links will not neccesarily lead to the main Patreon account if we have alternate links.

I hope you appreciate my positioning and my honesty.
Of course, I'm waiting your reaction and your opinion. We are all mod users from the same community.

Thank you

MARMOTTE