RealVision ENB Review

Mod: RealVision ENB by SkyrimTuner
Link: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/30936/
Game: TES V: Skyrim
Note: The score for this game has been revalued based on my new scoring system. 4/2/15.


So I'm finally back to reviewing some Mods and my mod of the moment is definitely the RealVision ENB by SkyrimTuner. I'm doing a complete playthough of Skyrim again, and I decided to experiment with different ENB's before starting. The RealVision ENB was by far, the best one that I found.

First things first, what is an ENB? The ENB series is a set of graphical modifications for games; using an array of post-processing effects, rather than amendments to the game engines, to get the improved graphics. You can read more about the ENB series, as well as get ENBs for this and other games by following the link in the description. The ENB is a fixed program, but what you download are configuration files made by different users to get different artistic effects. Some focus on trying to be photo-realistic while others make the game seem more fantasy, and so on. As you might imagine, the RealVision ENB focuses on a realistic appearance.

So, what did I think about the RealVision ENB? Everyone who's played Skyrim will have that one vista that made them just stop, look out at the view and just go "wow". But as the game wears on, the scenery can wear a bit thin. Well, the RealVision ENB makes you have "wow" moments at most of the views in the game. I know people will say that Skyrim's scenery looked fine before, and they're right, it does. BUT. The RealVision ENB makes it look absolutely stunning. I did think the notion of the better graphics would wear off, just as the originals did, but after a dozen hours or so of gameplay, I'm still finding these big vistas, different times and weathers, and even little places that just stop me in my tracks. It is that good.

Other than the graphics, what else did I like about it? Well, some ENB's I've seen before have been largely as-is, with little or no documentation. While RealVision ENB does not ship with any documentation, the guide on it's Nexus page is very thorough and I was able to get everything working with ease. Follow the guide properly, and you should have no problems. I also liked how the various options for ENB settings are nicely packaged into little drag and drop folders making them really easy to install, quickly giving you the package you want.

As much as I love this mod, I do have one slight concern: I have a reasonably good gaming rig, but this mod takes my GPU up to 100%. I can run the game and all my mods for it, including the ENB, at over 40 FPS. My worry is that many people will not have gaming setups as I do, and as a result, the frame rate they get might be too low to be enjoyable. That's not to say they can't use the RealVision ENB, but it does mean they will have to change the settings of the ENBs using the various text files that are part of the program. It's not impossible, but I've taken a look through the settings files and I couldn't really make heads or tails of it, although I do admit I've never really looked into what they all do. The summary here is that the mod will be usable by all, but for some people, the installation might not be quite as "drag and drop" as it was for me.

So that little issue aside, I really loved this mod. Starting a new playthough of Skyrim, this ENB was enough to make me completely fall in love with the game all over again! All the videos and pictures in this video are footage taken from my game. I seriously recommend giving it a look and if you are interested, you can follow the link in the descriptions. Hope you enjoyed this review!

Not a rookie anymore!!!

To reaffirm what the title says: I'm not a rookie anymore! After doing my second race at the Jefferson course in the Mazda's, I finally got my D-class licence, opening up a whole load more racing opportunities on the roads!

Getting a 2nd place at Jefferson, this race was also my first ever laps led in iRacing. Still learning and still seeking that first win, hopefully a change of scenery will help! Onwards and upwards.....

My second race at Jefferson is below:

Back to iRacing!

Back to iRacing for the first time in a good few weeks. Did a quick race at the Jefferson Course at Summit Point Raceway. No qualifying, 10 minutes of practice and starting last on the grid: I wasn't expecting much! Much to my surprise then when, after a wonderfully manic first lap, I come out in 3rd place! The video at the top is a commentary of the first lap as well as replays of a funny incident involving a flying Mazda!

The video below is the full race video from my perspective! The first lap is well worth the watch!

New Channel Video

Hello Everyone!

I'm currently revamping my Youtube channel to make it easier for new and old viewers alike, to find their way about the different series I do. I've already posted the details of the new look, and now I've made a channel video to tell new viewers about what I do. Take a look below:


I've got several reviews in the works for the coming months so stay tuned! And don't forget to like and comment on the videos: views are all fine and good, but it's also good to know what the viewers want too!

New Channel Look!

Hi Everyone!

I've not had time to do all that many videos lately, but I have just finished a new look for my Youtube channel! There's a preview below check it out for yourself here! It should hopefully make it easier to navigate the several different series that I do! 

Hope you enjoy!

Day 2 at the Commonwalth Games

A bit belated now, but on Tuesday I went to the shooting events at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, at Barry Buddon, near Carnoustie. It was a great day out and, as a competition shooter myself, it was a great chance to watch the professionals at work, as well was getting to see other events.

After delays caused us to miss the rapid fire pistols, the first event we got to see was the finals of the Men's Trap (clay pigeon shooting). We had a competition among ourselves to try to get a picture of a clay being hit. We all managed to get one! Here's mines below (you can see the puff of pink smoke) :

The first part of the finals were over and it was time for the medals matches, with Australia pitted against England for the gold medal. Australia went on to take the gold medal, and so began a rather windy medal ceremony, with the armed forces marching the flags to be hoisted.

A renown clay pigeon shooter himself, the medals were presented by Sir Jackie Stewart OBE in his famous tartan trousers!

The flags of the medallists: Australia taking the gold, with England taking the silver and India won the bronze medal match to take the bronze medal.

After the trap event, we hurried back to the 50m range for the men's 3 position final. Despite turning up 5 minutes before the event started, there were no seats in the grandstand and then some: the organisers had grossly underestimated the attendance of the finals events. We left the range and watched the event from the TV screen outside. It was a close event, with England's Daniel Rivers taking a phenomenal win. Having been second most of the match, Hammond from Scotland slipped down to 6th during the standing shooting. He was eliminated and Scotland's other entry quickly followed in 5th. Unfortunate!

While we were outside, the fullbore event finished and so began a fullbore tradition! The winner is carried through the crowds high on his chair! I didn't see any of the fullbore, but I saw his scoring card afterwards. It was a great win and another gold medal for England!

Sadly, we were not able to stay for the women's 3P finals, but I was avidly following it in the car journey home and was delighted to hear Jen Macintosh of Team Scotland getting a well deserved silver medal! Another friend of mine was shooting the day before in the men's prone shooting: Ben Kelly, shooting for Isle of Man, finished an impressive 26th out of 40 in his first games, including leading the field at one point in the event!

My final picture from the day is a badge I got from the police at the event. Aside from the competitions, the police were the one memory I take away from the day. All the police officers at the Barry Buddon Shooting Centre were fantastic: smiling, saying "hi" and "thanks for coming",  as well as dishing out some banter around the venues! They really were a shining example of customer service, making everyone feel welcome and involved - more so than the volunteers, I'm afraid to say, whose job it was to do that!

So hats off to all the officers from Police Scotland at Barry Buddon and other Commonwealth venues for really bringing the games together! Hats off too to all of the athletes, who put on some spectacular performances! Both me and my cousin were really taken by immersion of speculating at these events, it's our first time at any major sporting tournament. Just ashame the next games are so far away!

It's not all video games and dash cam clips!

No it certainly is not! Tonight I had the wonderful opportunity to be a spectator for the quarter finals of the team badminton event at the 2014 Commonwealth Games at Glasgow. We unwittingly wandered to what would turn out to be one of the best seats for watching the Scotland-Malaysia games on court one.

 

The first games were the mixed doubles, and holy hell, the Scottish pair of Blair and Baniker pulled out an absolutely performance to win their match, two games to one. It was an absolutely electric act, with some of the most insane rallies I've ever seen, including several spectacular series of smashes by Blair!

 The games were close, going point to point in a painstaking battle, but eventually Scotland came through to win the mixed pairs match. I didn't realise the zoom on my camera messed with the focus when on video mode, but I managed to catch the final of point of the match!


Sadly, Scotland would not go on to win the rest of the matches and lost the quarter finals, but it was great to be there in the stands to watch the great games played by all the athletes from all the countries across the 4 courts. Sadly I'll be at work, so I won't be able to follow the semi-finals and finals in the coming days but I wish everyone good luck!

On the way back, there was even enough time to stop off for a great meal at the Dakota hotel at the outskirts of the city!.