Subtle ENB

Subtle ENB

Subtle ENB Preset

This ENB is for those who like the Vanilla experience (color palette) and simply want to remove that washed-out look, while adding some darker nights and a touch of DOF. This preset is not meant to be used with any mods that alter Vanilla color, gamma, contrast, brightness, filters–not even darker nights mods. However, I also released a DOF-Only version for those who just want to add a subtle DOF to their preferred lighting/color correction configuration.

After trying a variety of ENBs, I thought many of them looked great in certain locations but were too noticeably distorted in more extreme lighting conditions such as Railroad HQ or inside the Institute. I even found that mods/presets designed to retain the vanilla look made some extreme changes to hue/saturation/contrast (perhaps unintentionally) that were too much for me.

So I started comparing my preferred ENBs to Vanilla and realized that Vanilla is quite good and balanced across all lighting conditions, certainly better than the current ENBs. The only thing that annoyed me was the washed-out look and lack of DOF outside of dialogue. So I meticulously went about tweaking my own ENB preset from scratch making sure to keep things as balanced as possible.

I created with this ENB preset with the following goals in mind:
Maintain the overall Vanilla feel but…
Remove the washed-out look, also making nights darker
But avoid overly-dark shadows which make faces look too stark
And make sure nights aren’t so dark that you can’t see somebody’s face, striking a balance between realism and playability
Noticeable but subtle DOF with smooth transitions (I like DOF and believe if done right makes FO4 more immersive)
Accomplish all of this by modifying as little as possible as to preserve color balance and minimize fps loss

Video Showcase by FlakyHD
Video Showcase by petermsi

That’s all this preset does as of now until Boris adds/fixes ENB features that would enhance the Vanilla experience subtly. I am still a bit new to ENB/Reshades/SweetFX so if you have any recommendations please let me know!

Notes:
– Again, the main version of Subtle ENB is not meant to be used with any mods that alter Vanilla color, gamma, contrast, brightness, filters–not even darker nights mods. Use the DOF-Only version if you just want to add a subtle DOF effect to your preferred lighting/color correction configuration.
– I disabled Vanilla DOF (including Bokeh) to keep the DOF effect consistent with just the ENB’s. Not required but recommended.
– The DOF effect isn’t perfectly centered (leans to the left) and seems to be this way for all ENB Presets with DOF. I haven’t figured out a way to fix this, but this is the #1 thing I want to fix.

Installation Instructions

1. Download latest Fallout4 ENBSeries
2. Inside the ENB archive is a folder called “Wrapper Version.” Unzip everything inside that folder (not the folder itself) to your base Fallout 4 folder (where Fallout4.exe is located)
3. Download the latest version of Subtle ENB Preset (Manual only)
4. Unzip everything in the Subtle ENB archive to your base Fallout 4 folder, overwriting everything.

Quick and Dirty ENB Uninstall
Delete d3d11.dll from your base Fallout 4 folder

Other Mods used in my screenshots
Commonwealth HQ Landscape Overhaul
Optimized Vanilla Textures
Radiant Clouds and Fogs
FTO Stars
The Eyes Of Beauty Fallout Edition
Eye Normal Map Fix Fallout 4 Edition
Pleasant UI

Changelog
————
v0.5a
Public release