I haven't found any indications of this anywhere on the internet, but I am not the best Googler, so this could be a well known problem. I am sorry that I don't have a copy of every setting I changed as I have spent a few days on this using the STEP and other guides and I have exhausted my patience at changing values etc.

In addition, changing fFirstSliceDistance (Skyrim.ini) and fShadowBiasScale (SkyrimPrefs.ini) didn't solve this problem. I have explored the limits (min, max) of all the INI variables that are related to shadows according to the guide. I verified in-game values at the console using getini that the values were read in correctly. I tried various surface normal installation options where I could find them (CBBE) and all have this problem. CBBE textures have the same distracting black shadows.

focus on shadows under arms and on spine). Similar results occur using the vanilla bodies as well, albeit they are less distracting (see the cropped vanilla 2160p image. At 1080p the shadows are not distracting. In the attached cropped screen shots you can see the darker regions in the PC. I have tried all these (and may other settings) based on the STEP wiki that says this would eliminate shadows in SkyrimPrefs.ini: The third is tempered skin for males (which I toggle on/off to see if graphic settings change the results). Using MO2 and only a couple mods for testing purposes (two of which have NO impact on graphics: USSEP and Alternate Start). I have moved to a 4096 x 2160p display and I cannot find the settings/conditions to eliminate black / unrealistic shadows on player character (PC) or NPCs.

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