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Vanilla (more info linked here)Complex Material (more info linked here)PBR (more info linked here)Terrain Blending Fix
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General objectsGeneral objectsGeneral objects
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Texture SlotNameRGB ChannelAlpha ChannelTexture SuffixSuggested CompressionSuggested resolutionSuggested creation methodTexture SlotNameRGB ChannelAlpha ChannelTexture SuffixSuggested CompressionSuggested resolutionSuggested creation methodTexture SlotNameRGB ChannelAlpha ChannelTexture SuffixSuggested CompressionSuggested resolutionMesh settings in NifSkopeExamples for PG/PBRNifPatcherSuggested creation method
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SLOT 1Diffuse mapDiffuse map (base color and ambient occlusion)(optional) transparency map(no suffix)BC1 (no Alpha), BC7[a] for RGBAfullBase Color and additional contrast, darkness, desaturationSLOT 1Diffuse map Base color in RGBopacity in A(no suffix)BC1 (no Alpha), BC7[a] for RGBAfullBase Color and additional contrast, darkness, desaturationSLOT 1Albedo mapBase color in RGBopacity in A(no suffix)BC1 (no Alpha), BC7[a] for RGBA sRGBfull
/ quarter if using Multilayer Parallax
Generally required for PBR rendering:
ShaderFlags2: PBR
"vertex_colors": false
disable vertex colors, useful if the mesh used vertex colors to change the colors of the old textures
Base Color only, remove AO
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SLOT 2Normal mapNormal mapGrayscale specular map_n.ddsBC7[a] fullThe RGB channel defines the directions of the surface normals, how light is being reflected by the surface:
R channel: X direction
G channel: Y direction
B channel: Z direction
alpha: specularity with white color equals full reflection and black (transparent) none. Invert a roughness map or insert a PBR specularity.
SLOT 2Normal mapNormal mapGrayscale specular map_n.ddsBC7[a] fullThe RGB channel defines the directions of the surface normals, how light is being reflected by the surface:
R channel: X direction
G channel: Y direction
B channel: Z direction
alpha: specularity with white color equals full reflection and black (transparent) none. Invert a roughness map or insert a PBR specularity.
SLOT 2Normal mapNormal mapnone_n.ddsBC7[a] linearfull"smooth_angle": 75
smooths the normals (and removes doubled vertices) where the angle is less extreme (flatter) than the given number in degrees (0.0-180.0). Useful when sharp edges look bad with high resolution textures
The RGB channel defines the directions of the surface normals, how light is being reflected by the surface:
R channel: X direction
G channel: Y direction
B channel: Z direction
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SLOT 3Glow map / Skin TintEmissive / Skin Tintnone_g.dds / _sk.ddsBC1Color map.SLOT 3nonenonenonenonenoneSLOT 3Glow map / Skin TintGlow in RGBnone_g.ddsBC1 sRGBfullEmissive Color: sets the emissive color which multiplies color from the emissive texture
Emissive Multiple: sets a multiplier for the emissive color
"emissive": true,
"emissive_scale":1
Emissive color
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SLOT 4Bump mapGrayscale height or parallaxnone_p.ddsBC4[b] quarterUsed for depth levels in parallax shader (broken in vanilla Skyrim) and Multilayer Parallax.SLOT 4nonenonenonenonenoneSLOT 4Bump mapDisplacement in R,
GBA unused
none_p.ddsBC4[b] quarterDisplacement Scale: linear multiplier for the strength of displacement (0 for no displacement, 1 is something like a default, but can be greater than 1 also)"displacement_scale" : 1.0Used for depth levels in parallax shader
Pixel with color 127 are neutral level
lower values result in holes
higher values result in bumps
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SLOT 5Cube mapCube mapnone_e.ddsBC1Ambient metallic color reflection of light.SLOT 5Cube mapCube mapnone_e.ddsBC1Ambient metallic color reflection of light.SLOT 5nonenonenonenone
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SLOT 6Environment MaskEnvironment masknone
_m.dds or _em.ddsBC4[b] Environment map mask. Black is no environment map and white is full intensity environment map (refer to SLOT 5 for environment map).
Simply a lighting control texture sometimes referred to as a specular map with the purpose to soften or diminish the level of light affecting the mesh reflection. Brightness of individual pixels determines the effect: white will reflect all light and black will reflect no light.
An environment/cube map is required (Slot 5)
SLOT 6Environment MaskR: environment texture
G: glossiness map
B: metallic map
parallax on the alpha layer_m.dds or _em.ddsBC1 (no Alpha), BC3[a] for RGBAR: Environment map mask. Black is no environment map and white is full intensity environment map
G: Your roughness map needs to be inverted so dark values are now bright and vice versa, which will result in a glossiness map.
B: Values of 255 are being full metal shaded, meaning your specular color and environment reflection color are influenced by the color of your diffuse map. Values towards 0 reduce this colouring effect and suits to all non metal surfaces, like wood, dirt, plastic fabric and so on.
If you want to have complex material, without parallax, your green channel(glossy) must be of a value higher than 4 and your alpha(parallax) channel value needs to be 0 (black).
If you only want parallax without other complex material properties, the green channel(glossy) value needs to be 0 (black) and your alpha channel(parallax) must not be white (255)
SLOT 6RMAOSR: Roughness
G: metallic
B: AO
specular_rmaos.ddsBC1 (if alpha is all white)
BC7 (w. alpha gradient)
linear
halfSpecular Level: linear multiplier for nonmetal reflectance. Should be 0.04 for meshes which do not have specular map (and have 1 in alpha of RMAOS map) or 0.08 for meshes which have specular map created for Unreal
Roughness Scale: Linear multiplier for roughness. The smaller the value the smoother and more reflective the texture.
"specular_level" : 0.04,
"roughness_scale" : 1,
Roughness map: White-coloured areas (like concrete or matte surfaces) are rough and not reflective, black-coloured areas (like glass or polished metal) are smooth and highly reflective. You can use inverted specular map as a base.
Metallic map: Light-coloured areas (white) represent metallic surfaces. The lighter the area, the more metallic the material is perceived to be. Dark areas (black) represent non-metallic (dielectric) surfaces. The darker the area, the less metallic the material is. Natural materials are naturally non-metallic and should be completely black (non-metallic).
AO map: Simulates soft shadows that occur in crevices, cracks, and where objects are close to each other. They don't cast real-time shadows but darken areas that are less exposed to ambient light. Dark Areas (Black) represent parts of the surface that receive less ambient light, typically in crevices and tight spaces. These areas appear shadowed or occluded. Bright Areas (White) represent parts of the surface that receive more ambient light, usually exposed or protruding areas.
Specularity in your alpha channel invert a roughness map or insert a PBR specularity. Black is zero reflection, White full. Default: All black and specular value of 0.04 via json file. For specular values of different material, please see https://physicallybased.info
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SLOT 7Subsurface Tint / Specular / Backlight mapR (Red): Subsurface Scattering Intensity – Controls how deeply light penetrates and scatters within the material. Higher values make the material look softer, like skin, giving it a more realistic appearance.

G (Green): Fresnel/Edge Strength – Influences the strength of the Fresnel effect around the object's edges. This helps make skin or translucent materials look more realistic by intensifying the light reflection at the edges.

B (Blue): Subsurface Color – Defines the color of the light that shines through the material, giving it a specific tint when light passes through. This is useful for effects like reddish or bluish skin tones.
Glossiness/Reflection Strength – Controls the strength of reflection or glossiness of the material, affecting how wet or shiny the skin appears.(no convention) / _s.dds / _b.ddsBC7[a] Subsurface tint adds a tint to the outer layer (an effect similar to rim lighting). This slot is also used for the specular map for meshes that use model space normals (NPCs). It can also be used for an RGB backlight map.SLOT 7nonenonenonenonenoneSLOT 7a) Multilayer
b) Fuzz
a) Coat normal
b) fuzz color
a) coat roughness
b) fuzz mask (0 for usual specular, 1 for fuzz specular)
a) _cnr.dds
b) _f.dds
BC7[a] sRGBb) 512² or 256 (depending on level of detail)a) ShaderType: MultiLayer Parallax/Two Layer PBR/Fuzzy PBR/Glint PBR
ShaderFlags2:Multi_Layer_Parallax
For coat configs see CS Wiki
b) ShaderType: MultiLayer Parallax/Two Layer PBR/Fuzzy PBR/Glint PBR
ShaderFlags2: Soft_Lighting/Inter_Layer_Parallax/Fuzz
For fuzz configs see CS Wiki
a) "multilayer": true,
"coat_strength": 1.0,
"coat_roughness": 1.0,
"coat_specular_level": 0.04,
"coat_diffuse": true,
"coat_parallax": true,
"coat_normal": true,
b) "fuzz": {
"texture": true,
"color": [1.25,1.25,1.25],
"weight": 0.2
}
a) only used for multilayer parallax - not used for landscape
b) incompatible with coat or glint, but compatible with subsurface
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SLOT 8BacklightingThis uses a color image to light up the surface opposite The direction of the light. Useful for showing areas that would block the light coming in and scattering around like bones, veins, or impurities in ice. It uses the color and pixel brightness to determine strength and is also effected by the intensity of the environment mask map and the cubemap used.none
_b or _blBC1This slot is also used for the specular map for meshes that use model space normals (NPCs)
It can also be used for an RGB backlight map.
SLOT 8nonenonenonenonenoneSLOT 8a) coat color
b) Subsurface Tint
a) multilayer coat color
b) Subsurface color
a) multilayer opacity/strength
b) subsurface opacity (assumed to be in SRGB format)
a+b) _s.ddsBC7[a] sRGBa) half
b) quarter
a) ShaderType: MultiLayer Parallax/Two Layer PBR/Fuzzy PBR/Glint PBR
ShaderFlags2:Multi_Layer_Parallax
For configs see CS Wiki
b) ShaderFlags2: Rim_Lighting/Subsurface
Subsurface Color: used in Two-Sided Foliage and Subsurface models. If subsurface map is provided it's used as linear multiplier for its RGB.
Subsurface Opacity: If subsurface map is provided it's used as linear multiplier for its alpha. Higher opacity makes the effect weaker - lower opacity allows more light through the surface.
a) see SLOT 7
b) "subsurface": true,
"subsurface_color": [1,1,1],
"roughness_scale" : 1,
"subsurface_opacity" : 1
a) Use Albedo as base and color it as desired
b) Subsurface tint adds a tint to the outer layer (an effect similar to rim lighting). Edit diffuse texture with blur and make areas transparent where light may shine through/be scattered. Only used if the mesh has flag set "subsurface": true. Otherwise the texture is not needed.
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Terrain/Landscape*Terrain/Landscape*Terrain/Landscape*Terrain/Landscape*
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Texture SlotNameRGB ChannelAlpha ChannelTexture SuffixSuggested CompressionSuggested quality levelSuggested creation methodTexture SlotNameRGB ChannelAlpha ChannelTexture SuffixSuggested CompressionSuggested quality levelSuggested creation methodTexture SlotNameRGB ChannelAlpha ChannelTexture SuffixSuggested CompressionSuggested quality levelSuggested creation methodTexture SlotNameRGB ChannelAlpha ChannelTexture SuffixSuggested CompressionSuggested quality levelSuggested creation method
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SLOT 1Diffuse mapBase color in RGB (assumed to be in SRGB format)transparency(no suffix)BC1 (no Alpha), BC7[a] for RGBAfullBase Color and additional contrast, darkness, desaturationSLOT 1Diffuse mapBase color in RGB (assumed to be in SRGB format)displacement(no suffix)BC1 (no Alpha), BC3[a] for RGBAfullFor displacement/parallax: Pixels with brightness (value) of 127 are flat, meaning parallax shift doesn't occur there (no up or down), but is still computed (127 value is not an off switch).SLOT 1Same slots used as for 'General objects' above

Additional configurations need to be provided to allow patching of texture sets and projected material:
- Data\PBRMaterialObjects - here are the jsons that control PBR projected snow, ash, and similar stuff (used by CS at runtime).
- Data\PBRTextureSets - here are the jsons for texture set swaps & landscape (used by CS at runtime)
- Data\PBRNifPatcher - This is the same as for general objects. Here are the jsons that parallaxgen uses for patching meshes using landscape textures
SLOT 1Diffuse mapBase color in RGB (assumed to be in SRGB format)opacity for blending(no suffix)BC7[a] fullThe diffuse is used for continuous parts of the terrain, while the opacity is used to blend the textures at the edges
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SLOT 2Normal mapNormal mapnone_n.ddsBC7[a] fullSLOT 2Normal mapNormal mapnone_n.ddsBC7[a] fullSLOT 2SLOT 2Normal mapNormal mapSpecular_n.ddsBC7[a] fullSpecular map is black for most landscape textures.
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SLOT 3Glow map / Skin TintEmissive / Skin Tintnone_g.dds / _sk.ddsBC1Color map.SLOT 3Glow map / Skin TintEmissive / Skin Tintnone_g.dds / _sk.ddsBC1Color map.SLOT 3SLOT 3nonenonenonenonenone
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SLOT 4Bump mapGrayscale height or parallaxnone_p.ddsBC4[b] quarterUsed for depth levels in parallax shader (broken in vanilla Skyrim) and Multilayer Parallax.SLOT 4nonenonenonenonenoneSLOT 4SLOT 4Bump mapdisplacementnone (white)_p.ddsBC4[b] quarter
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SLOT 5Cube mapCube mapnone_e.ddsBC1Ambient metallic color reflection of light.SLOT 5Cube mapCube mapnone_e.ddsBC1Ambient metallic color reflection of light.SLOT 5SLOT 5Cube mapCube mapnone_e.ddsBC1
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SLOT 6Environment MaskEnvironment masknone_m.dds or _em.ddsBC4[b] Environment map mask. Black is no environment map and white is full intensity environment map.SLOT 6Environment MaskR: Environment mask
G: Glossiness map
B: Metal map
height map_m.dds or _em.ddsBC7[a] Environment map mask: Black is no environment map and white is full intensity environment map.
Glossiness map: Your roughness map needs to be inverted so dark values are now bright and vice versa, which will result in a glossiness map which goes into the green channel of the environment mask map.
Metal map: Values of 255 are being full metal shaded, meaning your specular color and environment reflection color are influenced by the color of your diffuse map. Values towards 0 reduce this colouring effect and suits to all non metal surfaces, like wood, dirt, plastic fabric and so on.
SLOT 6SLOT 6Environment Masknonedisplacement_m.ddsBC7[a] If certain textures are floating above others, edit env mask and parallax texture. Edit the alpha channel and decrease brightness / make it less visible
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SLOT 7Inner layer mapInner layer diffuseInner layer depth / none_i.ddsBC7[a] For inner layer depth, black is minimum depth, white is maximum depth.SLOT 7Inner layer mapInner layer diffuseInner layer depth / none_i.ddsBC7[a] For inner layer depth, black is minimum depth, white is maximum depth.SLOT 7textures/landscape/X/parallaxDiffusedisplacement(no suffix)BC3
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SLOT 8Subsurface Tint / Specular / Backlight mapSubsurface tint outer color / Specular map / Backlight mapnone(no convention) / _s.dds / _b.ddsBC1Subsurface tint adds a tint to the outer layer (an effect similar to rim lighting). This slot is also used for the specular map for meshes that use model space normals (NPCs). It can also be used for an RGB backlight map.SLOT 8Subsurface Tint / Specular / Backlight mapSubsurface tint outer color / Specular map / Backlight mapnone(no convention) / _s.dds / _b.ddsBC1Subsurface tint adds a tint to the outer layer (an effect similar to rim lighting). This slot is also used for the specular map for meshes that use model space normals (NPCs). It can also be used for an RGB backlight map.SLOT 8textures/landscape/X/blendDiffusenone(no suffix)BC1
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* Landscape is also used on objects, like cliffs. Majestic landscapes uses complex material to get parallax to work on them, and to make it blend into connected terrain.
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