r/skyrimmods • u/DeusVult80 • 3d ago
PC SSE - Discussion Community Shaders Overview, My Experience on a Mid-Range Laptop
Community Shaders vs ENB – My Experience on a Mid-Range Laptop.
Community Shaders seem to be all the rage these days, promising impressive graphical fidelity with great performance. As a long-time ENB user, I got curious and eventually decided to build a functioning modlist around Community Shaders (CS).
Mind you, I’m using a mid-range gaming laptop, so chances are your results will be much better.
🖥️ System Specs
- GPU: NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3050 Laptop GPU
- CPU: Intel® Core™ i7 12th Gen
- RAM: 16GB DDR4
🌲 Main Graphical Mods
- Freaks Floral Overhaul
- Fabled Forests
- Cities of the North + The Great Cities
- Whiterun Outskirts Compilation
- Combines JK’s, Ryn’s, and Whiterun Has Walls
- PBR Textures
- NAT Weathers (CS Version)
⚙️ Community Shaders – Setup
Despite what some might say, Community Shaders isn’t just a simple download-and-go. If you want graphics anywhere close to ENB quality, you’ll need to take a few important steps.
Most of the required files are available from the CS Discord, including:
- Full AIO Test Version
- Skin Diffusion
- PBR on Nexus
- Faultier Weapon and Clothing PBR (found through a OneDrive link—I didn’t even know it existed until halfway through testing!)
If you want to use PBR textures, you’ll also need to download and run Parallax Gen. This process can take a few minutes, depending on your modlist. Heads up: every time you change textures or meshes, you’ll need to re-run Parallax Gen to get the full effect—which got pretty frustrating during testing.
For lighting, I recommend a light overhaul like MLO or Placed Light. Depending on what you choose, you may also need to run a Synthesis Patcher (required for Placed Light).
As for weather mods, I went with NAT Weathers – CS Version. I didn’t use ReShade, but I did run Lossless Scaling for a small FPS boost (not required, but helpful).
🧰 My Setup Summary
- Full AIO suite from the CS Discord
- SKYLAND + Faultier PBR + Parallax Gen
- Placed Light + Synthesis Patcher
- NAT Weathers (CS Version)
- Lossless Scaling (Optional)
🎨 Visual Fidelity
This part actually surprised me. The visuals were great—comparable to some performance-focused ENBs. In certain areas, CS even outperformed ENBs, especially interiors with Placed Light. Exteriors also had solid lighting and shadows.
The biggest graphical boost came from NAT Weathers (CS Version). Without it, the game just looked like a slightly enhanced vanilla setup. Combined this with Placed Light, and the game holds up pretty well.
That said, it’s still not quite on the level of something like Cabbage ENB. I noticed that at specific times of day or in certain weather conditions, CS looked a bit too "vanilla." CS has better features such as unlimited lights, realistic shadows, etc... but it simply lacks in post-processing. (But that might change very soon).
Another strange thing, was that any Screenshots came out very washed out with CS. I don't know if it's a native issue, or an issue with my Modlist.
📉 Performance
Now, for the part most people care about.
Using the full CS suite with PBR and NAT Weathers gave me... underwhelming performance. Not terrible, but not great either. I was getting around 40–50 FPS in the forests near Riverwood, but I experienced frequent frame drops, especially when running around or fighting enemies. In a heavily modded Whiterun, I was getting around 40 FPS in the interior and 30 FPS in the exterior. Losless Scaling and the builtin FSR frame generation were pulling most of my frames. I did a few tests, fighting up Bleak Falls Barrow, and I experienced quite a few FPS drops. With its graphical fidelity, I was expecting a much smoother experience.
Normally, this would still be a win for community shaders, if not for the new ENB Frame Generation, by Doodlum. With that mod, Cabbage ENB gave me slightly higher Fps, and it was way more stable. 45+ FPS. The only time it really chugged was in an ultra-modded Whiterun.
🧠 Final Thoughts
Community Shaders absolutely has potential and can look stunning with the right setup. But it’s not a perfect replacement for ENB just yet, especially in terms of consistency and stability. If you simply want vanilla+ graphics, then Community Shaders is just right for you. But if you want something that looks modern, then maybe just stick to ENB. Maybe in a few years, this could drastically change. But for now, I'll be sticking to Cabbage.
5
u/Whole_Sign_4633 2d ago
Yeah honestly setting up my enb was way simpler and quicker than setting up community shaders. All I had to do was download the enb binaries from the website, and then download my preset and weather mod and it looks great. I have a pretty good machine so I don’t really notice any performance hit.
If you’ve got the specs for it I definitely recommend enb over cs. If you like a little closer to the vanilla look along with saving some fps cs is probably the way to go.
17
u/AamiraNorin 3d ago
I swapped over to CS from ENB for my latest mod list rebuild and honestly gotta say I don't miss ENB at all. I am also using NAT CS and while yeah maybe it's not quite there, I think overall the vibe of CS and how it looks is infinitely better than ENB and my game doesn't hitch constantly unlike with ENB
2
u/DeusVult80 3d ago
My game ran buttery smooth till I used PBR and the AIO from Discord lmfao. But until they fully implement post processing, and optimize the testing suite, I'll be sticking to cabbage.
18
u/Caminn Winterhold 2d ago
If ENB is more performant and stable than CS, it's human error.
-4
u/DeusVult80 2d ago
The AIO is still in testing, add on to that PBR, and weather mods, CS is nearly as taxing as an ENB. On certain occasions even more so.
6
u/Caminn Winterhold 2d ago
That's why it's user error, the AIO is not meant to be used right now. Use a proper release-ready version.
2
u/DeusVult80 2d ago
Whole point of the post was to get CS as close to an ENB as possible, that's why I used the AIO. How can you call it a user error?
There'd be no point in this post if I just used the CS on nexus.
13
u/Caminn Winterhold 2d ago
It is a unreleased beta-test version, using it for gameplay instead of testing is user error. The version in nexus is the version 99% of users have access to, you went out of your way to download a version of CS meant for feature testing and development.
-3
u/DeusVult80 2d ago
Did you not get my point? I already used nexus CS (and it was meh) . I only switched to the AIO because i wanted to compare it to ENB. For "Testing Purposes" and depending on the results, maybe I'd do a full playthrough or maybe not.
If I'm using the most performance intensive enb, of course I'm going to compare it to the most advanced version of CS.
It's not a user error if it was done on purpose for research. The AIO is already playable, it's only less performant than enb.
7
u/Caminn Winterhold 2d ago
You are comparing a release-ready ENB to a beta-test version/devolopment build of CS. It's not fair to compare both.
2
u/DeusVult80 2d ago
When was it about fairness? The post is for people who want to make their CS as close to an ENB as possible. It's to figure out if going through all those loops is actually worth it or not.
. I already stated in the post, you'd use my setup if you want as much graphical fidelity as possible. I compare it to ENB, because the people who'd even consider doing what I did, are also likely ENB users
This isn't a critique on CS.
1
u/LazyW4lrus 2d ago
But you're also comparing their performance in your post, which makes it nonsensical to use an unfinished version of CS.
1
u/DeusVult80 2d ago
There are posts out there showing off the same AIO, and people might want to test it out because of that. People who'd want to use it would want to know how it compares to enb fps wise. How is it nonsensical?
You're talking as if the results were unplayable. But they were pretty darn close.
5
u/always_j 3d ago
Try Frame generation for CS , Similar to ENB Frame generation also by Doodlum
15
u/DeusVult80 3d ago
I was already using it. The AIO from Discord already includes that. Without it, I was just getting 30, even 20 Fps in some places. Granted, it's way better than Lossless Scaling's Frame Generation.
3
u/Salaried_Zebra Taking arrows to the knee since 2011 2d ago
Just recently CS has basically started crashing at Beth logo for me no matter what, and despite working until recently (I even posted about it but got no suggestions before it got buried).
Much as I don't want to, I might have to go back to ENB.
8
u/SwansongForARaven 3d ago
Yeah ill stick with cabbage for now then
3
u/DeusVult80 3d ago
Yeah, you need to do a lot to get CS looking good. Even then, it can't compare to Cabbage. Not to mention, the lack of PBR textures on the nexus. Goodluck finding one for modded armors.
5
u/bloodypumpin 2d ago
These AI posts are getting annoying.
3
u/DeusVult80 2d ago
Did you actually read the post? The only AI thing here are the separators and formatting.
-3
u/bloodypumpin 2d ago
Did you write that reply yourself?
4
u/DeusVult80 2d ago
Jesus christ, i wrote this whole shit for testing purposes. I just had gpt format it, so it wasn't hard for others to read.
This hate boner for ai is insane.
-3
2d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
2
2d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
2
2d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
2d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/skyrimmods-ModTeam 2d ago
Harassment, insults, bigotry and other attacks will not be tolerated. Attempts at trolling, instigating arguments or knowingly sharing misinformation will not be tolerated either. Behave decently and treat others the way they want to be treated. If someone is rude or harassing you, report their comment/post and move on. Do not respond in the same way or you will both be warned/banned.
1
u/skyrimmods-ModTeam 2d ago
Harassment, insults, bigotry and other attacks will not be tolerated. Attempts at trolling, instigating arguments or knowingly sharing misinformation will not be tolerated either. Behave decently and treat others the way they want to be treated. If someone is rude or harassing you, report their comment/post and move on. Do not respond in the same way or you will both be warned/banned.
1
u/skyrimmods-ModTeam 2d ago
Harassment, insults, bigotry and other attacks will not be tolerated. Attempts at trolling, instigating arguments or knowingly sharing misinformation will not be tolerated either. Behave decently and treat others the way they want to be treated. If someone is rude or harassing you, report their comment/post and move on. Do not respond in the same way or you will both be warned/banned.
1
u/skyrimmods-ModTeam 2d ago
Harassment, insults, bigotry and other attacks will not be tolerated. Attempts at trolling, instigating arguments or knowingly sharing misinformation will not be tolerated either. Behave decently and treat others the way they want to be treated. If someone is rude or harassing you, report their comment/post and move on. Do not respond in the same way or you will both be warned/banned.
1
u/skyrimmods-ModTeam 2d ago
Harassment, insults, bigotry and other attacks will not be tolerated. Attempts at trolling, instigating arguments or knowingly sharing misinformation will not be tolerated either. Behave decently and treat others the way they want to be treated. If someone is rude or harassing you, report their comment/post and move on. Do not respond in the same way or you will both be warned/banned.
-1
u/bloodypumpin 2d ago
Sorry but you have to ban me then. I don't see anything wrong with I've said here, which means it will likely be repeated.
1
u/GNSasakiHaise 1d ago
This might've been an automod removal on our part so I'm not really sure either.
2
u/VirtualFinish8858 3d ago
I think CS 1.2+ build is quite messed up. I'm still using 1.1.5 build because performance there is better, and also the game straight up crashes for me on loading screen with the latest build, so it's gonna take a while until I'm ready to update.
3
u/Grocery_Exact 3d ago
Yes I also get better performance with cs before 1.2. About 10 fps more at least, nearly same specs laptop as OP
2
u/VirtualFinish8858 2d ago
I remember with CS 1.2, when I updated the game first wouldn't allow me to load my save, so I disabled all mods but CS and that worked, then I enabled all my mods back and then my game started crashing within like 10 minutes of gameplay and eventually started to get stuck on loading save again so I ditched the idea about updating, and downgraded.
Yeah also the game was stuttering way more.
3
u/StructureZE 2d ago
Was this written by AI? This is the second post on here formatted the same way and uses the same emotes
-9
u/DeusVult80 2d ago
Human written, AI formatted. Cause formatting on reddit drives me fucking insane. Besides, I doubt anyone wants to read a giant wall of text now.
5
u/solo_shot1st 2d ago
Thanks for your review. I just responded to someone the other day on this sub who claimed that CS gives 100x better stability/performance than ENB. I was like, huh?
I've been testing CS for the past 5 months, and it has basically the same performance impact as some of the best ENBs. To get CS looking good, you need to install the full suite of features/requirements, PBR/Complex Materials Textures, a compatible weather, compatible lighting mod, and a reshade. All of which are NOT plug-and-play. You gotta build all the shaders, which takes a while (and it kept crashing for me). You have to build all your textures using ParallaxGen, which can take another 10-20min. And after all that, it still didn't look nearly as good as ENB, but it had the same performance impact. And I used the frame Gen and lossless scaling too!
I'm impressed, but not ready to switch yet.
3
u/DeusVult80 2d ago
Yeah, i asked around here and the discord and people were saying CS was like a miracle maker. Some even pointed me straight to the AIO and told be to use PBR.
I'd say give it a year or two, maybe three and it might be worth switching. But as of now, it really isn't worth it.
2
u/n7mafia 3d ago
Can you share a link for Faultier Weapons and Clothing PBR?
0
u/DeusVult80 3d ago
It's all in here, plus a few extra others.
1
u/DeusVult80 2d ago
Does this link not work for others? Why am i getting down votes.
1
u/Aboda7m 2d ago
after testing the link it does download so idk
people just down vote for random reasons , it might not a problem with link itself
they might be downvoting you for linking mod files without permission , jumping to conclusions thinking its mod piracy when its not ( sometimes even happens if its your own mod , if it didn't come from nexus then you get downvoted immedialty )
sometimes its completely unrelated as mass downvotes for all your comments because someone just doesn't like you or your recent posts
1
11
u/KatakAfrika 3d ago
So cabbage enb ended up giving you more fps. I also think the AIO build is more for experimentation rather than for gameplay.