How do I make Skyrim look prettier?

In Oblivion and Morrowind, you could further increase the graphics, even beyond the standard maximum configurations of their config tool, by tinkering around with various settings in the games *.ini files.

I assume that this is the case for Skyrim as well. What are some values that I should take a look at to get the maximum out of Skyrim?


Solution 1:

First off, in the UI, make sure to click the 'Advanced' button and enable the more advanced features(FXAA...).

In .ini there are some settings, that even on 'Ultra High' quality aren't enabled by default:

Change

  • bTreesReceiveShadows=0 (change to 1)
  • bDrawLandShadows=0 (change to 1)
  • iBlurDeferredShadowMask=3 (change to 1)
  • iWaterReflectHeight=512 (change to 1024)
  • iWaterReflectWidth=512 (change to 1024)

Add

  • bUseWaterReflectionBlur=1
  • bReflectExplosions=1
  • iWaterBlurAmount=4
  • bAutoWaterSilhouetteReflections=0
  • bForceHighDetailReflections=1

-If you know what you are doing use this to generate your .ini file.

-here you can download few minor mods that can make it look somewhat better,after they release the mod-kit you can expect much better mods that drastically improve graphics(more detailed textures,shadows,better lights,animations...some include even their optimized .ini files).