Interiors Enhanced – Darker Ambient Light and Fog
Though not required, it is highly suggested to use this along with Darker Nights.
DESCRIPTION
This mod edits all cell lighting data and templates to make ambient light and fog brightness inside all interiors 60% darker, without touching any directional light sources, keeping lighting 100% true-to-vanilla, except those dark corners and unlit areas. Subways are actually dark and scary! This is something I made for myself and have been using, but thought I’d share.
This is NOT a post-process filter, a contrast adjustment, or other workaround that effects the overall screen brightness levels like you may have experienced. Every single interior cell in the game (282 total) has been altered directly to reduce the ambient lighting by 60%, but all placed lights such as candles, lanterns, bulbs, etc are 100% untouched. A number of common interiors will actually even seem like they’re the same, because they are lit really well with direct light sources. That’s the goal, this is just for those unlit areas and dark corners.
If you are familiar with Enhanced Lights and FX Enhancer option for Skyrim, this is the same approach.
The end result is that light feels a lot more realistic, and by cutting out some of the ambient light that Bethesda likes to wash interiors with, the direct lighting has a chance to shine on its own (no pun), and everything has a bit more color, and looks a lot richer. Opinions may differ, and I’ll survive 🙂
As for the fog, this mod does not remove fog, or “push it away” like some mods, it simply reduces the amount by which light effects the fog. That is to say, the fog is still there, it’s just 60% darker to match the drop in ambient lighting.
This may not be for everyone — and that’s fine! — I play on a very bright HDTV and made this for myself, and it adds so much that I wish I would have made this before starting my first play through.
BUT DOESN’T EDITING CELLS CAUSE WEIRD BUGS LIKE POWER ARMOR RESETTING ETC?
Not with interior cells (so far!) External worldspace cells have issues with resetting Power Armor and other things when edited but this mod only touches interior cells, which are completely different record types. I’ve done fairly extensive testing and have not encountered anything strange, no resetting of containers, enemies, etc. on high level saves with lots of changes, or brand new games.
HOWEVER, AS WITH ANY EARLY MOD, IT’S BEST PRACTICE TO MAKE A BACKUP OF YOUR SAVE SO YOU CAN EASILY REVERT. There is some seriously weird stuff with this engine so you never know. This is the first mod I’m aware of making extensive changes to cells, so please post about anything strange if you experience it (but please, try and make sure it’s this mod.)
HOW DOES THIS COMPARE TO OTHER MODS i.e. FR4NSSON’S LIGHT TWEAKS?
(only mentioning this mod by name because it has been asked a lot already!)
Other mods don’t edit actual light data, and instead edit what are called “image spaces”, which are the game’s post-processing filters that apply to the whole image/screen. They’re simpler, are essentially brightness/contrast adjustments, and as a result make everything darker because it’s a filter applying to the entire screen. If you notice before/after in the other mods, even the light bulbs are darker since the whole screen is affected.
That’s all fine, it’s a simpler method, and it’s all down to preference, but this mod edits the actual ambient light output data, and as such, nothing else in the scene is effected. I personally wanted to edit the source of the lights, rather than filter them, so the normal lights in the game (and ENBs/ReShades/etc) looked the same.
Use what you like best! Light Tweaks doesn’t touch any cells, so if you’re not comfortable with what this mod does, that’s a good option.
INSTALL
Just drop the ESP into the data folder manually, or via NMM, and activate it.
UNINSTALL
Should be safe to remove at any time, as it’s simply color alterations.
COMPATIBILITY
Incompatible with other mods that do the same exact thing, of course. Mods that make changes to cells will conflict, though there aren’t really any out there that do this yet, that I know of.
You could use it along with Fr4nsson’s Light Tweaks, but interiors will become absurdly dark, since they will effectively stack on top of each other. (i.e. I darken the source, he darkens the whole picture further, so it’s omg mega dark.)
This was designed as a companion to Darker Nights, and is fully compatible (in fact, Darker Nights is highly recommended.)
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