[Herra Tohtori]

DOWNLOAD HERE


                                                                                                                 
                                       `/y/                                 |              .            *
                                    `+dMMMMNs-               .            --o--     .               .      *     .   .
                                  :yMMMMMMMMMMNho:`                         |                 *                      .       .
                  :`            +mMMMMMMMmMMMMMMMMMmho:`            .                 .               *
                `yM`        .:omMMMMMNh+::/dMMMMMMMMMMMMms/.                      *                      .
               -NMM.    .+hNMMMMMMMh/:yNMMNy++shNMMMMMMMMMMMNy/`                            *                   |  .
              /MMMMy` :mMMMMMMMMNs:sNMMh::hMMMds/:/shNMMMMMMMMMMd+.       *         .   .                 |
             oMMMMMMo`yMMMNMMmy/-sMMmo.    .+ydMMMNho/:+hNMMMMMMMMMmo.            .                            .       ----O----
            sMMMMMN:-NMMN/:+oydNMMm/    :.      -+ymMMMms::smMMMNhysyy/                       *                      |  *    .
           sMMMMMd./NMMd. oMMMdo:-   -sy:+yo-       `:sdMMNh+:so                .|   .       .                                       |
          sMMMMMh`oMMMy   -Ns`     /ho.  -mMdsys/-      .+dMMMh:`              --o--   .   .             *
         oMMMMMh oMMMN`  `yd. `/sys/`   +NMM-` `:sdho:   ..-dMMMMm-         *    |    .              .       .
        /MMMMMy +MMM/Ny :No  /m+`     ..NMMMh/ .dssNNddyhNMm+dMMMMN             .         .      .
       -NMMMMm`:MMM+ NN/M+  . /`     /MNMMMMM /MMMMMM- :dMMMm.NMMMMd.                       .
      `mMMMMM-.NMMN `MMMN.  `hNN`   .NMMMMMMMyhMMMMMMN/ -MMMMd-NMMMMN/         
      yMMMMM+`dMMMN  MMMMs  :MMM/   NMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMy`oMMMMo.dMMMMMd-       
    .yMMMMMo`dMMMMMmmMMMMy.MMMMo`-hMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMmmMMMMMd:+NMMMMMs\_     
+MMMMMm:`dMMMMMM  MMMMMds  MM/dMMMMM   MMMMMMMMM          MMMM          `\       88           88    888888888    88       88   888888888888
yMMMMN .mMMMMMMM  MMMMMMM  MMMMMMMM  M  MMMMMMMM  MMMMMMM  MMM  N//MMMM   \      88           88   88       88   88       88        88
 sMMMMs`sMMMMMMM  MMMMMMM  MMMMMMM  MMM  MMMMMMM  MMMMMMM  MMM  MMs-mMMM  s      88           88   88            88       88        88
  :NMMMh`:NMMMMM           MMMMMM  MMMMM  MMMMMM          MMMM  MMy+mMMM  s      88           88   88   888888   88888888888        88
   `sMMMN/`yMMMM  MMMMMMM  MMMMM           MMMMM  MMM  MMMMMMM  N+hMMMMM  |      88           88   88       88   88       88        88
     .dMMMd`/MMM  MMMMMMM  MMMM  MMMMMMMMM  MMMM  MMMMM  MMMMM  :yMMMMM/  /      88           88   88       88   88       88        88
      `NMMMm`sMM  MMMMMMM  MMM  MMMMMMMMMMM  MMM  MMMMMMM  MMM           /       8888888888   88    888888888    88       88        88
       +MMMMh`dMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMo mMMMMm '´´       
        yMMMMs`m        MMMMM        MMMMMM        MMMMM        mMMN. 88     88    8888888  8888888888  88   8888888   88.     88   888888
         hMMMMy.  MMMMM  MMMM  MMMMM  MMMM  MMMMMM  MMMM  MMh`y  MMN- 88     88   88     88     88      88  88     88  888.    88  88    88
          sMMMMm  MMMMM  MMMM  MMMMM  MMMM  MMMMMM  MMMM  s`hMMM  -   88     88   88            88      88  88     88  88'8.   88  88
           /sssm        MMMMM        MMMMM  MMMMMM  MMMM  `hMMMM  s   88     88   88            88      88  88     88  88 `88. 88   888888
       ..--:+s/`  hNMMMMMMMMM  MMM  MMMMMM  MMMMMM  `dMM  dMMMMN  s   88     88   88            88      88  88     88  88  `88.88        88
       .omMMMMMM  :`-ohNMMMMM  MMMM  MMMMM  MMMdsS  :yNM  `mMMM  .    88     88   88     88     88      88  88     88  88    `888  88    88
          `+dMMM  MMdo:`-+ymm  MMMMM  MMMMd        MMMss        '      8888888     8888888      88      88   8888888   88      88   888888
             `:sdMMMMMMMms+-`:ohNMMMMMMNy:+dmMMMMMMNy:  ''dMy'´´
                 `:ohNMMMMMMMds/`+NMNy/:yNMMMMNdy/.       oo                 
                      -+ymMMMMMMMs.-.omMMMMd/.            `      _  _ ___    __ __    __       _  _  _  __ _  __   ___ _  __ _____    __ _
                          `:ohNMMMNmMMMMMy-                     |_)|_) | |\|/__ | |\|/__   |V|/ \| \| \|_ |_)(_     | / \/__|_  | |_||_ |_)
                               :yMMMMMh/`                       |_)| \_|_| |\_|_|_| |\_|   | |\_/|_/|_/|__| \__)    | \_/\_||__ | | ||__| \
                                 -hs:`                                       
                                                                               



2011-11-19                                        http://www.hard-light.net/
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HLP Night Sky v.2.0 HIGH/MED/LOW          A modification for Bethesda Softworks Game       The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim


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1. CONTENTS


-starfield replacement         /data/textures/sky/skystars.dds            2048 x 2048

-constellation texture replacements   /data/textures/sky/skyrimconstellations01.dds      1024 x 1024
               /data/textures/sky/skyrimconstellations02.dds      1024 x 1024
   
-galactic plane texture replacement   /data/textures/sky/skyrimgalaxy.dds

               either    HIGH                  8192 x 4096
               or    MED                  4096 x 2048
               or    LOW                  2048 x 1024

-readme.txt


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2. INSTALLATION



-Pick the version with desired detail level:

 * We recommend the Medium version for most users.

 * Low version is recommended for people with low amount of graphics memory

 * High version is recommended for people who are running Skyrim at very high resolution, such as with Eyefinity multi-monitor setup.

 * High is also recommended for adventurous people who just want to see if it actually improves the appearance of the galaxy at all.


- Extract "data" directory from the archive into your Skyrim installation directory.


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3. Issues


Texture shimmering

   Symptoms:    High level of twinkling (or scintillation) present on the starfield, especially when panning the view.
   
   Cause:      FXAA (Fast Approximate Anti-Aliasing) is disabled, the starfield texture is optimized for use with FXAA

   Solution:
         a) Enable FXAA from Skyrim Launcher's Advanced display settings
         b) Enable Supersampling Anti-Aliasing (SSAA) in GPU driver options

         c) Download and install HLP Night Sky SHIMMER FIX (contains a modified starfield that looks better with FXAA off)



Blurry starfield texture

   Symptoms:   Starfield is blurry and dim.

   Cause:      You are likely using FXAA with the starfield optimized for use without FXAA.

   Solution:   Disable FXAA, or revert to the big default HLP Night Sky starfield texture.




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4. PURPOSE OF MODIFICATION


To increase the visual quality of night sky starfields. Original resolution for starfield and constellation textures is 512 x 512, and the
original galaxy texture is only 512 x 256 texture. It is probable that the original game assets have been optimized to look good with
console displays, ie. televisions.

Televisions typically don't have quite as high resolution or pixel density as computer monitors, and therefore require quite large stars
to remain visible. It is quite understandable that Bethesda has chosen to optimize the textures for the lowest common denominator, as the
night sky textures don't exactly look bad on PC displays per se.

It's just that it can look so much better when taking advantage of the high resolution PC displays and using high resolution textures.
Stars become crisp and more akin to point light sources they appear as on the night sky. There is also significantly more detail now on
the galactic plane texture.


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4. Information about assets


Constellation starfields have been re-built at higher resolution based on the retail constellation maps from retail Skyrim.

Starfield texture is entirely new, procedurally built starfield calibrated to blend well with the constellation textures.

Non-FXAA compatibility starfield is a smaller (cropped, not resized) version of the original starfield (and sans some of the brightest stars). It is also slightly different considering alpha channel management.

Galactic plane texture is based on Gigagalaxy Zoom / Astronomy Picture of the Day 2009 September 26th. Local stars as seen from Earth have
been removed from it, along with certain other conspicuous bright objects, and the original texture was used as a mask and colour layer for
an RGB noise layer, to construct a generic galactic plane texture that shares certain characteristics with Milky Way as seen from Earth,
but then most spiral galaxies share those characteristics, and it seems Nirn is located in one such galaxy.



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5. Changelog (integers denote releases, decimals denote test versions)




v.2.0   Fixed the streaks caused by the galaxy texture mapping

   Changed alpha channel management for starfield texture

   Changed alpha channel management for constellation textures   

   Reduced constellation textures to 1024 for improved constellation visibility and better VRAM usage

   Added optional starfield texture (separate download) for reducing the shimmering while not using FXAA




v.1.0   Initial release

   v.1.01   Scintillation reduction test with mip mapping

   v.1.02   Scintillation reduction test with a smaller starfield texture

   
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6. CREDITS


Constellation texture re-makes         Herra Tohtori

General starfield            Herra Tohtori

Galactic plane texture            Herra Tohtori

Upload and QA               Turambar




Source imagery for the galactic plane      European Southern Observatory / Serge Brunier, Frederic Tapissier

                  Available at:
                           http://www.eso.org/public/images/eso0932a/
                           http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090926.html




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EDIT: The forum ate most of the original post. I restored the README file, but I have no idea what I originally wrote on the original post aside from that...

[JCDNWarrior]

Alright, nice! I'm glad to see you working on it, also good to see you considering Nirn in such a way. Will definitely watch this space and try it out when you're done with it. =)

[pecenipicek]

* pecenipicek approves

[Colonol Dekker]

Now chuck a GTVA battlegroup up in there too

[esarai]

Holy crap HT, that's magnificent.  And I don't even play the game.  And what Dekker said.  Maybe the silhouette of an orion or hattie, just chillin, kinda small and out of the way but noticeable if one looks closely.

[LordPomposity]

Beautiful, thanks a lot. It wouldn't be a real Bethesda game if it didn't improve rapidly after release.

[watsisname]

My eyes!  They have been melted by the sheer energy density of awesome! DX

Also <3 that ASCII HLP logo. :3

[Scourge of Ages]

Awesome. Now I just need to get the game!

[Fineus]

Very very nice work, thank you

[newman]

Very, very nice, actually intend to use this. BTW Herra, the last lvlshot-ed link is broken (missing [/lvlshot] so the image doesn't display). Which is a shame since the pic has Lydia in it, one of the few relatively decent looking companions in the game

[Herra Tohtori]

Very, very nice, actually intend to use this. BTW Herra, the last lvlshot-ed link is broken (missing [/lvlshot] so the image doesn't display). Which is a shame since the pic has Lydia in it, one of the few relatively decent looking companions in the game

Thanks, fixed the bbcode.

[Herra Tohtori]

v.2.0 is in Mediafire for final testing before it's uploaded to Skyrimnexus. I'll change first post to reflect the changes after it's uploaded there, but in the meanwhile...

Get it here first!

[Herra Tohtori]

Bump for great justice.


Added a comparison screenshot on the first post for how the version 2.0 looks, and here is how the v.2.01 looks (the same as on the youtube video):

[NGTM-1R]

There's a Sathanas in the unmodded night sky...

[JCDNWarrior]

Heh and so a FS2-Skyrim crossover can be indeed created

[Herra Tohtori]

Dragon hunting at night gets quite interesting... and produces really impressive screenshots.



I seem to have gotten his attention...



aaaaaa go away D:




DRAGON RAEP