Display cases are useless if you can't see what's inside

SilverBride

I recently bought some display cases for a trophy room at one of my houses, but you can't see what is inside unless it is something that lights up. I tried to put a candle or other light behind the object but that doesn't help much.

Clean the glass so these are actually useful.

Araneae6537

Was it the Craglorn one? I find that you can see items just find in the cases that have four+ transparent sides. I have a dwemer bot helmet in one of the stand displays. The Craglorn one looks more worn to me and while I’ve not tried using it myself yet, could well imagine many objects being difficult to see inside.

SilverBride

No, it was the Display Case, Standing Arched. It's a shame too, because it looks so good in the space

SilverBride

My Augur of the Obscure works in it quite fine, because it glows. But when I tried to display the Fan of the False Face, even though it does have a bit of a glow, you could only barely see it.

Alinhbo_Tyaka

This has been a beef of mine as well. Unless the lighting is perfect all you get is a dull reflection from the glass.

SilverBride

The lighting in general leaves a lot to be desired.

Araneae6537

SilverBride wrote: »

No, it was the Display Case, Standing Arched. It's a shame too, because it looks so good in the space

I’m surprised... maybe the combination of house and object or the general lighting... Mine is in Alinor so that undoubtedly helps the helm I have displayed show up against the light background (I’ve used the Display Case, Standing). I guess they don’t have the glass completely transparent as else it would probably look like there was no glass there at all, but doing a Google search to remind myself, yeah, that glass does look rather dirty, unfortunately.

I hope that you can find another option that works! Do you want to post a screenshot and we can brainstorm? Alas, I don’t think ZOS will make the case more transparent (I am aware of only one instance where textures were changed on an in-game object, some of the Elsweyr tents in 2019), but maybe we can find another solution? Sometimes I become quite stumped when my original vision/idea doesn’t work... actually too often and I have too many WIPs sitting around waiting for this or that furnishing or for me to figure something out!

SilverBride

Mine is also in the Alinor Crest Townhouse, but the upper floor that has a dark wooden wainscoting.

It seems to depend on the time of day to some extent, too. Now that light is shining in through the window I can somewhat see it, but not as well as I'd like. Before I could barely tell anything was in there.

If I put a light source directly in front of the case you can then see the object inside quite well. But I'm not going to hover a light in the room in front of the case.

Araneae6537

Ah yes, I see what you mean. 🤔 Would adding generally brighter light to the room be an option? The vampiric azure chandelier is a really bright light but perhaps the wrong color. Perhaps the amber vampire chandelier would be equally bright? I think they were made to better light large rooms; I’ve used various older chandeliers in my Alinor Townhouse but they never add quite as much light as I would wish. Otherwise, would one of the Alinor candle stands nearby be sufficient? Apologies if these are all things you’ve considered but which do not work for one reason or another!

SilverBride

Well I already have some ambient lighting over by the door to the courtyard that I don't want to mess up. You can see the blue glow on the wall to the right.

If I look at it from the side I can see it better, so the angle also has something to do with it.

I was going to put more display cases because this is my trophy / museum type room, but I don't know now.

Araneae6537

The ambient lighting is pretty, but perhaps dim for a trophy / display room. 🤔 Alternatively, you could try a different means of displaying the items, such as the Alinor white stone or marble display stands or decorative tables. Those should stand out more from the background and the display items would be more visible without glass around them, although attention being drawn to the stands themselves might not be desirable.

I do think the wall candles do not help much and you will want some sort of lighting more focused on the objects themselves to really make them pop, or brighter light overall if you don’t want anything to stand out but just increase visibility.

Finally, if you’re on PC, you could use EHT to add small small dim points of light, too subtle to bother the eye that there is no clear source, but just enough to make the objects on display stand out better.

spartaxoxo

See if you can sink one of the clockwork lights into the flower window box? Would look like an overhead lamp

SilverBride

Araneae6537 wrote: »

The ambient lighting is pretty, but perhaps dim for a trophy / display room...

🤔 Alternatively, you could try a different means of displaying the items, such as the Alinor white stone or marble display...

Finally, if you’re on PC, you could use EHT to add small small dim points of light, too subtle to bother the eye that there is no clear source, but just enough to make the objects on display stand out better.

It's not a dark room and I have other lighting in the room. You'd have to see it in game. Also, I wanted the more formal looking display cases. I am using the small white stands for smaller statuettes on the main floor.

And I won't use EHT. I don't like restricting how it looks to only those who use that addon. But maybe I could add some kind of lighting where the wall meets the floor, like at movie theaters.

spartaxoxo wrote: »

See if you can sink one of the clockwork lights into the flower window box? Would look like an overhead lamp

That's a great idea. I'm going to test that out.