Better Candles - Better Interior Lighting (Remastered)

Description

Remastered update: Now works with the Remastered version of the game. Tuned for PT/RT. Further additions will be made.

A mod that reworks the game's decorative candle lights, transforming interior lighting without affecting other light sources.

Have you ever been unsatisfied with how the interior lighting of this game looks? This mod is for you. 

Two versions of this mod exist: Better Candles Lite and Better Candles. The Lite and "Full" versions of this mod both contain edited values for 233 decorative lights in the game (essentially all the candles and candelabras etc.). The edits do primarily two things: increase the radius of the light being cast by candles and other decorative lights while also lowering their peak brightness to more reasonable levels. This base adjustment is done without increasing their shadow casting range, avoiding CPU bottlenecks in heavier areas. The goal was to create a far more "natural" look for the interiors of the game while preserving as close to the intended coloring and feel of those areas as possible.

What is not included in the edit at all: Braziers, Torches and Fireplaces.

Certain campfires have had slightly adjusted radius/attenuation values in order to distinguish them from other light sources while also improving their look. 

The "Lite" edits do not cover every light during gameplay, however, since some lights have specified world layer values that override the baked asset values. This is why the script is needed: it detects and applies the mods preferred lighting values at runtime while also allowing use of the mod menu's features. 

The full version including the script and mod menu extends the modded values to nearly every local candle light in the game at runtime. It also has the added benefit of further adjusting the brightness and minimum shadow radius to your liking in-game - explained further below. 

The mod was designed around improving the look of the game when playing with Ray Tracing on and without Artificial Player Light, but it should work with pretty much any lighting setup/env mod.

Installation instructions

For the Lite version:

- Drop the unzipped "modBetterCandlesLite" file into the "mods" folder of your game or use the mod manager of your choice.

For the Full version:

- Copy "modBetterCandles" into "mods" folder of your game. 

- Copy modBetterCandles.xml into your Witcher 3's \bin\config\r4game\user_config_matrix\pc\

- Add "modBetterCandles.xml"; to your dx11/dx12filelist.txt file.

- Run script merger

(only install one mod version)

Uninstall

delete the "modBetterCandles" folder and remove "modBetterCandles.xml" along with its filelist lines. Remerge scripts if necessary.

Game will revert to Vanilla values on relaunch.

Mod Menu Features

The mod menu currently has these options, this is what they do:

• []Enable runtime pass - turns the script portion of the mod on or off. (baked mod values will remain, "off" is essentially the "Lite" version.)[/]

  []Maximum brightness - 1-18, the brightness ceiling for every modded light. 18 is default. [/]

  []Minimum shadow radius - 0-6, this raises the minimum distance of shadow casting light components. default is off, anything above ~2 will come at a performance cost in the most crowded taverns of big cities. Recommended value for a "vanilla+" look = 1. 8. [/]

  []Thin out 3+ light fixtures - neutralizes the redundant light casting components that cause certain areas to look overly lit. On by default.[/]

Recommended .ini tweaks (for if you increase shadow casting and end up with glitchy looking shadows):

EnableCubemapOptimization=false

NumDynamicSlices=2

Requirements

Community Patch - Shared Imports

Your preferred  Script Merger - if any other mod you have uses playerWitcher.ws or commonIngameMenu.ws

Compatibility

Will conflict with any other mods that replace the same entity templates. Better FX[/