Why do the screenshots for my saves look so much better than ingame?

[dunc001]

I'm currently trying to figure out why my lighting is looking terrible and I just happened to notice that the little screenshots which display on the saves in main menu look way better!  My issue is that everything is just way too bright in game - interiors, nights, dungeons, etc. yet in those little screenshots it looks perfect, dark and moody. I thought it must just be ENB (running Rudy) but turning it off makes little overall difference to the light levels.

 

I'm running a modded version of SRLE LOTD, with Shadows, CLARALUX and ELE (no RLS/ELFX/LOS). 

 

So what's going on in game that isn't 'layered' in those captures?

[hishutup]

I have an idea, are you using SMAA?

[Pegasus33]

Have you tried completely clearing your Skyrim folder of any enb files (rather than just disabling temporarily in-game)? Have you ever used something like sweetfx or RCRN that might not have been removed? Some ENBs also have issues with the steam overlay causing what you describe - you could try disabling it from your steam preferences.

[dunc001]

I have an idea, are you using SMAA?

No, and I'm pretty sure there is nothing set as a proxy in my enblocal

 

Speedhack is actually now set to true.  I uploaded that when I was testing with SKGE for just the water effects which needs speedhack off as far as I could tell.  I've removed SKGE for now and set it back to true.

 

Have you tried completely clearing your Skyrim folder of any enb files (rather than just disabling temporarily in-game)? Have you ever used something like sweetfx or RCRN that might not have been removed? Some ENBs also have issues with the steam overlay causing what you describe - you could try disabling it from your steam preferences.

No, haven't tried that.  I think I may have tried a sweetfx addon a few weeks back but was pretty sure I removed all the files I added.  I'll try wiping out every trace and reinstalling Rudy.  And all the Steam overlays are definitely disabled.

Edited August 15, 2016 by dunc001

[TechAngel85]

What are you using to capture shots? Some software will not capture the ENB. Try FRAPS.

[dunc001]

Sorry, maybe not explaining well.  What I mean is what I actually see on screen when I am playing looks crap compared to the little savegame screenshots displayed in main menu. 

[TechAngel85]

Oh, that's a whole different subject. That's basically because they are downsampled images. Take a large image processed at a high resolution and then display it at a smaller resolution. The smaller image will always look better. You can do the same thing in Skyrim if you're video card is beefy enough. The option to do so is in GeForce Experience.

[dunc001]

Yeah, but I mean the lighting is completely different. Like I walk into a clearing at night and I can see everything like day, big campfire, bandits, etc yet in the screenshot it looks like the middle of the night with just glow from the fire. In the Skyrim settings in NVIDIA Experience I have the option to set a large virtual resolution and then downscale it which I think I've disabled as I figured it would put more stress on already stretched resources?

Edited August 15, 2016 by dunc001