You know what I was really wondering why so many people say that vanilla Skyrim has better graphics than Oblivion.

The thing that was really improved was the aesthetic,because they hired a new concept artist.

On the technical side,aside from the visual effects of magic, Skyrim's graphics are either on the same level as Oblivion's or worse.

Skyrim's textures have less bitrate meaning less definition,even on ultra setting on PC for some reason shadows in Skyrim always are pixelized while in Oblivion they weren't,NPCs have visible blocks on their faces,draw distance for some stuff is less in vanilla Skyrim too,the grass in Skyrim is also uglier and in less quantity,and Skyrim also has an ugly bluish tint and is de-saturated to a point of looking like a black and white movie at some cases.

Why do people still say it has better graphics than Oblivion ? It makes no sense.

Just compare the shadows in the vanilla games :

http://www.mtbs3d.com/gallery/albums/Oblivion/Oblivion_%230027.jpg

http://nerdybookahs.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/skyrim_shadows.jpg

Because it has

I can only speak for myself, but when I say Skyrim improved in the graphic department compared to Oblivion, I really mean the art direction and the graphic consistency. I wasn't impressed by any of the changes in the technical side of graphics.

haven't you read the OP ?

It is a proven fact that it doesn't.

Anyone who can mod the game knows that.

When a texture file in skyrim has a bitrate of 6bit and in Oblivion it has a bitrate of 8bit,that means the Oblivion texture has more accurate information on its detail.

When in Oblivion the Sun dynamically creates shadows and colors the land and in Skyrim the sun itself is just a texture and light is done by global value,Oblivion's method is far more accurate.

When in Oblivion shadows look like shadows without a performance hit,and in Skyrim even on Ultra setting the shadows look blocky and for an unknown reason still drop the performance,Skyrim's shadows are both uglier and worse optimized than Oblivion's at the same time.

If you think it does,you should visit a doctor to examine your eyes.

http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/6642/oblivion201004032014172.jpg

http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu116/furnishn/e443638c.jpg

I agree with you! I was in shock going from Oblivion to Skyrim. It was very depressing I thought, until I got rid of xbox and found Nexus & Steam mods for PC to make it look like Oblivion game..haha. Thank GOD and Bless the Modders!!

I accept that.

Skyrim's art style is greatly improved for Skyrim. I like it too.

But on the technical side of things,it isn't always. :/

Shadows and far/LOD details in Oblivion for example were much better than Skyrim's.

Yet in Skyrim the effects from spells like flames,healing etc are much better than Oblivion's.

I'm not sure those Skyrim shadows are turned up. Aside from that, Skyrim's shadows are cast by almost all objects and they properly blend together when two objects are casting shadows from the same light source. In Oblivion, building overhangs and exterior caves and such wouldn't prevent sunlight from shining in on objects. Skyrim's also do self-shadowing... an object can cast shadows on itself, unlike in Oblivion (without ini tweaks, and even then it looks far more ugly).

Yeah, the shadows were particularly jarring the first time I saw them. Why are they so blocky? I usually played with shadows off in the previous games and seeing Skyrim's shadows really made me feel like I should continue the tradition.

Hu, I thought I was just seeing things in the shadows, but it seems that I was not!

yup with mods the game can look amazing and fabulous.

but it's almost unplayable without any.

What makes me wonder the most is why Bethesda keeps adding a monochrome tint on their games since Fallout 3.

Everything on Fallout 3 is green and in Skyrim cyan.

And at the same time the mods that remove the tints,(Fellout,ENB) are of the top5 most popular of these games.

I don't know anything about textures and graphical whatevers, but Skyrim looks better than Oblivion. More detailed and more natural looking in terms of colors and layout. Oblivion looked too cartoony for my tastes. When I played it I actually still liked Morrowind's graphics in terms of creating a good atmosphere.

In case you have both Skyrim and Oblivion installed,do this: Remove all mods,and bring back the backup inis of the games.

Turn all vanilla options to max,and start a game,preferably in the open wilderness. Then after a while close one,and start the other,with everything maxed.

I recently re-installed both games because of a new hard drive I got,and tried both on a short time and while playing Oblivion I felt an amount of surprise as I noticed that some aspects looked better at it.

I also checked online with Google to cross my info to see if what I was seeing was correct and noticed by other people,before making this thread here.

You haven't proved anything. You've pointed out that shadows were better defined in Oblivion, that's it. The rest of your OP doesn't make much since.

I do not see how you can say that Oblivion has better graphics.

Admittedly, the difference is not big between the two. Skyrim to TES6 should be a larger graphical leap, just like Morrowind to Oblivion was a larger leap then Oblivion to skyrim.

Skyrim has a better art style and feels less like cream cheese.

This reflects graphically.

Higher resolutions also helps Skyrim graphics.

And my shadows look much smoother than yours

OK then,I just launched the games without any graphics mods but with all vanilla settings on ultra,and took some screenshots.Here,let's check this comparison:

#1 Draw Distance

http://oi58.tinypic.com/2pod1s6.jpg

http://oi59.tinypic.com/2u43ps8.jpg

#2 Grass

http://oi61.tinypic.com/262nqk6.jpg

http://oi62.tinypic.com/2wc19qb.jpg

#3 Shadows

http://oi57.tinypic.com/23kbsau.jpg

http://oi58.tinypic.com/v83ms.jpg

#4 Sun

http://oi57.tinypic.com/t6xfye.jpg

http://oi62.tinypic.com/mj4c2h.jpg

#5 Clouds

http://oi58.tinypic.com/bhf8yh.jpg

http://oi59.tinypic.com/2wfl4ir.jpg

#6 Water

http://oi58.tinypic.com/2hyup1k.jpg

http://oi62.tinypic.com/289alg8.jpg

I don't say it has overall better graphics.

But that in some aspects only it looks better.

I admitted that in Skyrim effects from magic look way better,also that Skyrim has a way better art style. I agree and admit that.

But there are some aspects were Oblivion was kinda better at. Shadows seem to be the most obvious,but there are also other things like color depth and detail at distant objects,and especially the grass and flowers.

Then you probably use some mod that enhances shadows.

With mods the shadows in Skyrim look better for me too,but I'm not talking about modded games.

I'm talking about vanilla.

Modded Skyrim blows modded Oblivion and surpasses it by a huge margin. But compare how they look on vanilla between the two games.