One thing that has really bugged me throughout the series (granted, Oblivion improved it, but nowhere near enough) is the light levels. They have always been far too bright. I've never once needed to carry a torch. Not once. Ever. I would like to suggest that we have certain caves with a 100% darkness, and no light sources. I think this would make rather interesting gameplay. In http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Mods.Detail&id=8367 mod, I created an ancestral tomb with 0% light, and running around with the faint light of my torch was great, if I do say so myself.

And for the caves/ruins that do have light sources, I would like to see them stand out more. Create "patches" of dark, with well placed torches. Let enemies hide in the shadows. Let ME hide in the shadows. Let me remove torches with telekenises or a Thief inspired arrow, to move along the path undetected (other than a few NPC's made suspicious).

Create shady taverns and prisons with low lighting. This could also be introduced in castles. Have well lit throne rooms, but have corridors sneak in-able.

I also enjoyed the light effects that came from Morrowind's plantlife. And I believe the wilderness should be significantly darker. When I'm not in a town/fort/camp, I should struggle to see without a torch. I would like to be ambushed by bandits preying on the roads. Forget the chameleon effects of sneaking we've saw suggested, this, I believe, could vastly improve the abilities of NPC's sneaking.

I once installed "The Light Mod" for Morrowind. It has never left my mod list. Global lighting is reduced, light sources give off more light, I was given a Night Eye effect and greatly reduced sneak for carrying a light source and it improved my gameplay a lot.

I have always believed that lighting is the most important thing for visual quality. Without it, the game seems rather bland and uninteresting. Of course, players that dislike challenge always have the option to turn the brightness up and see everything always.

Did you play Oblivion with All Natural (50% darker nights) and Let there be Darkness? If not, you don't know what darkness is. :whistling:

i agree, but i did use torches sometimes since i turned the darkness down

For some reason my game always seemed pretty dark; I suppose you' have a point though, because this is a common complaint.

I just think BGS needs to implement the contrast slider at the beginning of the game

did you try the xbox360 version it's allot darker than PC... in fact it's so dark it's annoying (unless you have night-eye)

I'm sure you just need to increase the brightness slider.

On another note: I want more grabbable light sources.

Sometimes its not pitch black but you really dont need a torch its a choice i see what you mean some places need to be dark.

Have to agree with the new guy here. I played OB on 360, and it was incredibly dark. It was actually frustrating, because you could never navigate a dungeon WITHOUT a torch or nighteye. It made sense, practically, I suppose, as they were all underground in enclosed spaces, but the lighting could have been done so much better. It needed more contrast between what the light sources illuminated and where the darkness existed. I'm not really concerned with it anymore, though, since I know Skyrim will have proper lighting in dungeons. I really hope I don't have to fiddle with my brightness and contrast settings to make it right.

Basically, I guess I'd chalk this one up to the game being drastically different on PC than on the 360 in that department.

EDIT: @Hircine above - No player on console or on PC should HAVE to adjust the default brightness slider on any game. If the game lighting is designed properly, and your TV/monitor is set up right, then the defaults should be the best. I don't have to adjust the brightness on about 96% of all games I play, both on the 360 and on the PC.

1. Really bad for your eyes.
2. Really really annoying after a while. So annoying that I think you'll hate the darkness more than you love its "atmosphere".

I tried darkness mods in Oblivion. It's not good for above reasons. It's not fun after a while to force to wield a torch all the time and only see 5 feet in front of you. It's okay in dungeons, but not okay in the wilderness.

I'd say: When the brightness slider is in the middle, make it a bit darker in vanilla Skyrim than it was in vanilla Oblivion. A bit darker only. Not so dark that you have to wield a torch all the time; that's very bad, for above reasons.

Some, and only some, dungeons should be darker, don't see why a haunted toms should have lit torches every 20'. But any ruin or cave inhabited by intelligent enemies should be better lit. Degrees of darkness should be situational, not uniform.

Have you tried going outside during the day? Is it just me that thinks night shouldn't be the time to wander around outside?


Of course, I'm not asking for constant darkness everywhere we go. I just don't want the WHOLE room completely lit all the time. Even in cities, there should be dark areas. Not the whole thing, but alleys and run down areas need darkness. I should feel on edge during the night. A few thugs now and then would help, too.

realistic darkness > crappy invisible light sources coming from no where

Agree 100%, but only in dungeons and maybe cellars. I want some dungeons, or at least some areas in dungeons, to be pitch black. I want to be able to hear bad things somewhere in the dark and be scared.

I`m always turning the brightness of my monitor up - which makes torches and the light spells redundant.

I made a thread about this a week ago... Anyway, I obviously agree. In return, torches and other light sources should illuminate much more in darker areas. And don't forget Todd has mentioned a feature that simulates adjusting your vision to the dark like in real life.

I have to agree, for dungeons, if you are not near the entrance or any other place that might allow light to shine in from the surface, and there are not any light sources nearby, whether environmental or carried by the player, and you do not have any light spells or anything of the sort active, it should be pitch black, as in, you shouldn't be able to see anything, at all. Handheld light sources or spells for lighting dark places or helping you see in the dark should be a necessity, not decoration, which is what they were in unmodded Morrowind and Oblivion, the level of darkness in dungeons was pretty much equivalent to the cloudy day. As for exteriors, I'd say that the kind of environment your in and the weather conditions and time of day should have a greater impact on lighting. Nights should be darker, though not to the point of being impossible to see in if the moons and stars are clearly visible, with forests potentially creating darker lighting while cities and towns could be brighter due to the lights in them, and cloudy weather should have a noticable impact on lighting, seeing as it blocks the main source of lighting in exteriors.



And yet I never play without them, though mostly it's only mods for dungeons that are essential for me. I LIKE needing to use a torch or other form of lighting to see under certain situations, since that's, you know, what those things are there for, what's the point of even HAVING torches and light spells and nighteye if they're at best mildly helpful in finding hard to see items? It's like having swords in the game and then not including combat.

I want NightEye and torches to have a use.
The thing that bugged me was the amount of natural light in caves and the torches/fires burning in abandoned locations.

Yes but there was a good mod for OB that improves it I still want that beth will do better thou

No. As has been mentioned, this would put an unnecessary strain on your eyes.

Couldn't agree more. we need better lighting for better times of day. I hate walking through a forest in Oblivion at 12:00AM and being able to actually see clearly.

Errm, Why do you not want to be able to see what you're doing?
Its not fun to be attacked by things you can't see.

Unfortunately it isn't real life, so you can't react to things normally. Its all reliant on your hand eye co-ordination to spot things and react to them, there is no perfiferal vision. So while the concept is great, it doesn't work in the game. Its just not fun.

You guys need to take a page from this guys book:

Seriously, if you don't like the fact that the game is set darker, merely turn up the brightness setting. I see no issue. And turning down the brightness from the games as they are now doesn't help. I see no great looking shadows, no eerie dungeons, and everything is dark, even with torches.


I severely beg to differ. As I pointed out, I've actually played in a similar situation. It worked great.

there is A moon that lights up the night sky it makes sense for you to be able to see when it's out. personally I play with the brightness turned all the way down because it gives the the grass in oblivion so much more vividity and it's so beautiful to look at when I'm walking through oblivion but torches and light it self don't illuminate enough to balance the darkness.

The entire game either seems too dark or too bright. (depending on my brightness setting herp derp) A big difference in lighting would be a vast improvement. I'd rather not rely on bloom effects.

If you can see clearly in caves, forts, ruins, etc. it is quite possible that you monitor/television is improperly calibrated.