¶ Overview
This Community Shaders addon enables rough terrain shadows with infinite distance, in game and on world maps.
¶ Features
Image Credit: KRZ
¶ Height Maps
This feature will only take effect if the corresponding height map of a worldspace is found. Vanilla height maps, including Skyrim itself, Solstheim and the Forgotten Vale are provided.
For other worldspaces, you need to create height maps by yourself, and place them in:
(Game Folder)/data/textures/HeightMaps/
and name them:
[worldspace editorID].HeightMap.[West cell].[South cell].[East cell].[North cell].[z black].[z white].[z min].[z max].dds
A more detailed instruction is located within CS at:
(Game Folder)/Data/textures/HeightMaps/readme.txt.
Terrain Shadows will directly use any height map found in xLODGen outputs, which means you can simply generate height maps in xLODGen and it will work without any additional work. However, height maps in Data/textures/HeightMaps/ will override xLODGen ones.
You don't need to generate height maps every time you update your LODs. Height data usually remains unchanged except for worldspace mods, which means:
- The vanilla files can be used directly with most modlist, and
- If you need to generate height maps, you can do it once and use the texture basically forever.
¶ Frequently Asked Questions
How do I know if a height map is found for the worldspace I am in?
- Look for the debug menu in the CS config GUI, under Terrain Shadows.
Where can I see the effects?
- High mountains at dawn/dusk, on world map or at a distance (shadows around the camera are covered by vanilla shadow maps).
- Note that vanilla sun angles are quite high even at daybreak. You can optionally pair the feature with EVLaS or weather mods like NAT3 that dramatically lowers the sun angle at sunrise/sunset.
Is it compatible with [Insert World Map Mod]?
- Yes.
Are terrain underside meshes still needed?
- Not necessary for the mod to work. Though recommended for Sky Sync
Why allow height maps in the HeightMaps directory to override xLODGen output?
- Height maps should be independent from xLODGen. The maps are for different purposes and should be treated as such. People might want to use a higher precision map than what xLODGen can offer, or use a cropped version for better performance.
¶ Contributors
- ProfJack: Coding
- doodlum: Community Shader framework and refactors
- alandtse, FlayaN: Community Shader framework and refactors
- sheson: xLODGen
¶ Additional Media
