SKYRIMLE Grass on Steroids

[Wolrajh]

Hello,

 

Grass on Steroid

https://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/33582

 

Pros:

- It really may help gain some fps since it's relying on "iMinGrassSize" in Skyrim.ini being greater than 75;

- Uneven distribution of grass type, height, and density, resulting in less repetitivity in the grass patterns;

- Can give a new feeling of danger when walking though the tall grass;

- Perfectly compatible with Lush Grass and SFO;

 

Cons:

- tall grass may seem out of place in Skyrim, often considered a barren region;

- Since the grass is now oversized, the textures appear scaled and blurry.

 

 

I've been going back and forth between this and SkyRealism - Grass which is quite good looking too. Hard to decide. Grass on Steroid's main strength resides in the fact that not only does it help gain some FPS, it also unevens the grass distribution, making it feel less systematic. It's nothing like simply setting iMinGrassSize to a lower value to virtually increase density.

I'd say that, maybe, a good rig could benefit better from SkyRealism, while a lesser rig could bet on Grass on Steroids. All in one, it's worth a look.

 

The author also released Beautiful Landscapes - Skyrim Grassification Project, which sadly isn't quite as interesting as it first appears. Mainly because it makes grass grow everywhere, even in places where it doesn't make sense like the frozen wastelands on the North Coast.

[eberkain]

I will absolutely be testing this.

[TechAngel85]

This would need to be tested against SkyRealism - Grass and Glorious Grass.

[mothergoose729]

The problem with the tundra in skyrim is that it doesn't reflect real world climates at all. Most of skyrim should be covered in snow, not just the mountains. The sparse grass pattern should be pretty much ubiquitous, and there really should be light snow cover in places like whiterun and the marshes near solitude. As such, any grass mod meant to make the game "more realistic" is more a matter of personal preference than anything else.

[eberkain]

I agree that it probably breaks with vanilla skyrim, those screenshots look so nice though.

[Wolrajh]

Yeah, an issue with Skyrim ( and which was already there in Oblivion ) is the scale of the world. In order for them to accomodate multiple "cold"/"northern" settings in the same, "small" world, Beth dev team had to create some regions that blends together far too quickly. It's not as rough as it could be in a MMO ( where most of the time you can litteraly tell "Here is the frontier" ), but it may still seem unrealistic : from lush and green forest to tundra to ice glaciers in a matters of minutes.

 

Anyway, yeah, it may seem like breaking a bit with Vanilla, but then again there are as many 'Skyrim' as there are players. One may first think of the frozen wasteland of the Northern Coast when told of Skyrim, one may first think of the hot springs near Riften, one may see the hard mountains around Markath, etc.

Thing is, GoS looks really good and add this wild feeling to grass where grass is meant to be. Now, I have to admit that a ground covered with short green ferns in a shaded grove, may be more appealing and believable than being neck-deep in giant ferns and tall grass there. On the other hand, a sunny hillside with glorious wheat-like grass and purple flowers, unmowed, un-evenly distributed, is also very believable.

 

Hell, it's just as if both were good for different situations :p

 

And there is still the claimed FPS gain to test. I noticed a better FPS with iMinGrassSize at 80+, I didn't think about testing my FPS ( and visual quality ) with SkyRealism - Grass and the same ini setting...

[eberkain]

step is 2.2.5

# is iMinGrassSize

step /w 40 >> step /w 20 >> GOS /w 100 >> gos /w 75

   

 

bench results between the performance step grass and the dense GOS grass show virtually no difference, probably take someone with a slower rig to really tell if there is a difference.  

 

 

 

Running around in game, it really does look cool.  Makes things look so much more overgrown than vanilla, to me it seems more realistic, and its not like the whole world is blanketed, the hotsprings still were very sparse, the grass reeds along river banks looked cool.  

[TechAngel85]

The problem with the tundra in skyrim is that it doesn't reflect real world climates at all. Most of skyrim should be covered in snow' date=' not just the mountains. The sparse grass pattern should be pretty much ubiquitous, and there really should be light snow cover in places like whiterun and the marshes near solitude. As such, any grass mod meant to make the game "more realistic" is more a matter of personal preference than anything else.[/quote']

This is the whole reason for CoT - Winter Edition.

[james4832]

You can use the goldillocks option for less tall grass apparently.

 

Source:Mod page

[Wolrajh]

Hey,

 

So I finally took some time to pseudo-benchmark Grass on Steroid against Vanilla and against SkyRealism - Grass.

I decided to leave all my effects enabled, the most relevant active mods being Skyrim Flora Overhaul and Lush Trees and Grass. Other than that, it's pretty much STEP.

FoV set to 100 in order to see more grass.

I used the Goldilock version of GoS-SFO, as the standard version definitely used a grass size which seemed too tall, as well as having a bigger hit on the framerate.

I do not own any DLC.

 

Other options including :

 

1600x900,

no v-sync no AA,

SkyRealism ENB 1.53 ( using ENBseries 1.59 ) with tweaked settings ( mostly color correction stuff and a few parameters like SSAO quality reduced )

 

in Skyrimprefs.ini :

iBlurDeferredShadowMask=4

fShadowDistance=7500.0000

iShadowMapResolutionSecondary=1024

iShadowMapResolutionPrimary=2048

bTreesReceiveShadows=1

bDrawLandShadows=1

 

 

I tested with iMinGrassSize set to 40 -> 75 -> 100.

 

screenshots :

 

Grass on Steroids :

 

 

 

 

 

 

SkyRealism - Grass :

 

 

 

 

 

Vanilla :

 

 

 

 

 

[to be continued in another reply for more pictures and conclusion]

[Wolrajh]

continued from #10

 

Grass on Steroids :

 

 

 

 

 

SkyRealism - Grass :

 

 

 

 

 

Vanilla :

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see, GoS and SR-G do not really renders the same feeling. GoS is more wild / uneven / almost lush. SR-G is trying to stay a bit more vanilla-like with short grass, but it may look a bit "systematic".

Also, GoS still looks ok the higher iMinGrassSize goes, while SR-G benefits from lower ( and heavier ) values. Actually, GoS looks "bad" with low values.

Oh, and since GoS essentially "cheats" its way through success by actually boosting the various grass meshes sizes, the textures may look pixellated as they are scaled and stretched along with the meshes. On the other hand, SR-G looks sharper, crisper.

 

 

As for the average recorded framerate :

 

Behind character ( first batch of screenshots, more distance to see ) :

 

             |   GoS - SFO   |   Sr-G   |   Vanilla

--------------------------------------------

     40     |       11.4       |   14.8   |    23.3

--------------------------------------------

     75     |       21.3       |   25.2   |    26.6

--------------------------------------------

    100    |       22.3       |   28.5   |      32

 

In front of character ( second batch, horizon quickly occluded by mountains and trees ) :

 

             |   GoS - SFO   |   Sr-G   |   Vanilla

--------------------------------------------

     40     |       15.7       |   19.8   |    27.8

--------------------------------------------

     75     |       26.2       |   26.6   |    27.8

--------------------------------------------

    100    |       30.1       |   33.5   |    36.4

 

 

As we can see, Vanilla is always giving better performances away, which is quite normal. SkyRealism fares quite well, with Grass on Steroid falling behind.

However, one should take into consideration that GoS will make grass quite dense even at higher iMinGrassSize values, so it would be inaccurate to compare GoS and SR-G scores for the same entry.

One should compare the SR-G / vanilla fps scores for iMinGrassSize=40 to the GoS scores for iMinGrassSize=75, or even 100 ! This way, we can see that GoS actually beat SR-G and almost reach Vanilla scores.

 

The mod author claims that setting iMinGrassSize to a value above 100 ( like 128 ) will actually boost performances, but I didn't see any differences beyond 100. Same grass pattern, same fps. I believe this parameter is capped to 100. I asked the author about that issue, still awaiting an answer.

 

 

In the end it's still hard to call a winner. Grass On Steroid gives very good, vanilla-rank performances, even with shadows enabled, and the wild and unevenly distributed grass in which wild beasts may hide and pounce on their prey ( the player! ) will probably win over a lot of people. On the other hand, SkyRealism - Grass may seduce people with a better rig that are looking for an improvement over Vanilla, more grass density but still the same overall height and sharp textures. That said, GoS is not really going against Skyrim lore either... It's just a slightly different take.

 

Thanks for reading !

[statmonster]

(GoS) Looks nice but perhaps more late spring through early fall than late fall or winter.

 

I wonder if the tall grass would hinder play much - if you are looking for something in all that grass (ores, flowers, creatures) would it be hard to see? Probably not to difficult at iMinGrassSize=100 but tough at iMinGrassSize=40.

 

The iMinGrassSize=100 setting seems to give a nice grassy look without too much a FPS cost, especially considering how sparse vanilla looks at 100.

 

From your pictures the blurriness did not seem to be all that different among the different mods. Looking quickly over it (which I think is how players will actually look at grass in game rather than examining it in detail) they all had areas out of focus and areas in sharper focus - or at least that was my casual impression.

[AyleidRuin]

Hey guys. Been reading your posts and thought I would chime in if you don't mind.

 

there are 6 versions of Grass on Steroids (with 3 versions for SFO compatibility)

 

The Tall version (to tall for me, i'm gunna get lost)

The Goldilocks Version (double height than vanilla)

The Natural Version with a NO HEIGHT increase.

all have a Skyrim Flora Overhaul compatibility patch.

 

Wanted to drop in bcuz I'm thinking of adding Grass on Steroids (version=no height increase). And the claim it boosts FPS.

 

 

Nexus=Grass On Steroids:

https://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/33582/?tab=1&navtag=%2Fajax%2Fmoddescription%2F%3Fid%3D33582%26preview%3D&pUp=1

[DoYouEvenModBro]

What is the recommended iMinGrassSize setting for this mod? 75? It's in Skyrim Revisted but there's no iMinGrassSize setting recommended.

[Aiyen]

The higher you go the less grass you get.. there is no recommended because its system dependent.