http://static.skyrim.nexusmods.com/images/1215280-1336186446.jpg
Have any of you ever used ENB for any of your games?

I got a new video card a week or so ago and I've been experimenting with ENB mods. First off, I have no idea what ENB stands for. From what I can tell, nobody really does. Essentially, it accomplishes some graphical quality increases using an extra rendering layer. This obviously comes with a hit to performance, so you may not like the results on older hardware.

The main development goes on at http://www.enbdev.com/ and consists mostly of a modified DirectX 9 dll that you copy into the game's directory. Then, presets and configurations specific to whichever game you're using are available, whether from the creator of the ENB series or from users. Nexus has a few different ENB configurations for Skyrim and Oblivion. Skyrim is shown in the picture above.

At its most basic, it seems to give everything on-screen more depth and realism, though I haven't been able to really nail down *why*.

It can get quite a bit more detailed though. Icenhancer for GTA4 for instance: http://i.ytimg.com/vi/KwTQQXx-OvU/0.jpg

Icenhancer uses the same ENB dll at its core but has various other additions built-in.

Generally the installation is a snap, it's just a matter of extracting some files into the C:\Program Files\...\Game folder, and they generally don't overwrite anything.

So what do you think? Anyone tried this out?

jdodson   Admin wrote on 10/07/2012 at 09:04pm

Thanks for this, I haven't heard of ENB. Ill give this a shot.

What new video card did you get? Did you have to get a new power supply too? In the next year or so I am going to upgrade my video card, but don't want to get one such that I have to upgrade the power supply in my desktop as well.

Travis   Admin   Post Author wrote on 10/07/2012 at 09:09pm

I got an nvidia Geforce GTX 550 Ti. Not the newest thing out, but new enough to play most things at Ultra High quality. Skyrim is so beautiful.

And yes, my PC came with a 300W power supply, and any decent video card needs at least 400, so I just bumped it up to 650. Nice but cheap Thermaltake. It's running cool without any additional fans or obsessive cable management, so I'm thrilled.

jdodson   Admin wrote on 10/07/2012 at 09:14pm

I think Ill need a new power supply. Ugh. Oh well, it happens :)

Jacob_Richardson wrote on 10/08/2012 at 09:43am

Instead of ENB i use RCRN customizer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFFOyfcAxh8.

ENB stands for Enhanced Natural Bloom. It adds in sort of a layer of extra bloom to make things glow more. The reason i prefer RCRN is because it is not an artificial overlay like most graphical adjustments are. It changes the actual graphics for more realistic effect. The trade off is it is a lot harder performance hit.

Jacob_Richardson wrote on 10/08/2012 at 09:50am

Sorry I want to be more clear with what I meant. ENB does NOT adjust actual game mechanics. The bloom adjustment or saturation included in any particular ENB will not effect your stealth and such. RCRN is a REAL in game change not a filter that you see the picture through. At night it is near pitch black making abilities like night vision much more useful. It also effects sneaking making you harder to see when in dark areas.

Tungsten wrote on 10/08/2012 at 10:47am
Travis   Admin   Post Author wrote on 10/08/2012 at 04:14pm

Jacob, I read someone suggest enhanced natural bloom, but there was nothing to back that up. I'll assume it's true though :)

Jacob_Richardson wrote on 10/08/2012 at 10:15pm

Ya there is a lot of people who use ENB panicked. Nothing wrong with it. Most people don't really understand the differences or what ENB really is as you said. Which is why most stick with the similar ENB rather then an actual new shader and lighting revamp. In comparison to think about. The awesome water mods you see use new shaders. However with your ENB on, look at the water and you'll see it really isn't much different. The mods of course do more like changing the physics and such but that is besides the point.

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