Cyan's *Must-Have* Skyrim Mod Recommendation Super-Gush Thread - daily updates

[BoardBonobo]

I love some of the easter eggs I've found relating to other games like fallout etc. But I've found two that are particularly interesting; there is a flag, a chest, a book, and a skeleton

Spoiler

which turns out to be a Knight of the Nine!!

. And again on an ice covered island you can find a flag with a skeleton collapsed against it holding it up. I have no idea what that it. There's a also a huge gold seam there. These are all at the extreme north of the map.

One thing I don't like is the disarm shout, not because it's annoying to suddenly have no weapons in your hand but because 9 times out 10 you loose the weapons you were holding. As in they fall through the map and aren't retrievable. I lost Dawnstar that way which was frustrating.

 

[Antan]

I'm totally in love with this game!!!! Just such an immersive experience! Probably the most I've been immersed ever! Level 16 and still scratching the surface it seems! So many beautiful parts, the northern lights being one of them. The clouds that surround mountain sides really adds so much. The snow drifts that shoot over cliff faces. Just so many. Hopefully Bethesda patch the PS3 version before I hit the problems other users are having.

 

[(((interference)))]

Does anyone know if Skyrim is using deferred lighting?

 

[Cyan]

Does anyone know if Skyrim is using deferred lighting?

not sure, but I don't think so. The game has a simple lighting, fine shadowing, but in places, when you lit the torch -I set it to the directional pad holding Right or Left in the d-pad and switch to the shield (which I also set to the D-pad, holding either Right or Left direction on it)- you can see the lighting is quite simple, unlike the lighting of games like Crysis 2 or BF3.

The best thing about the game is its openness and how solid it looks. I'd rate the graphics with an outstanding A++ score because of that. I also love the HDR in this game. It uses some kind of HDR that imitates the human iris, which I always liked, and I've seen in a few games like PGR or Oblivion back in the day. It's a very realistic effect that most games lack, I don't know why.

The Antialiasing is very good too. There are moments where you don't see a single jaggie anywhere.

Digital Foundry article says it might be MSAAx4, but they aren't totally sure. I understand them because it looks like MSAAx8 or x16 most of the time, but it also breaks.

When you read a book the AA just falls apart. Also it breaks in some other places.

The best place to check this is Anise's Cabin -an isolated place very close to Riverwood, where an old woman lives-. There you have a book to read, but also you can see how the AA falls apart when you get inside the cabin and look at the planks of the roof.

During the day they look very aliased in the edges. So I used the Select button to wait until night. At nighttime the planks look antialiased and perfect, like the rest of the graphics in the game. :smile: How weird is that...

Technically wise is a very good game. I remember nAo -a top notch developer- saying in this forum that he was amazed and couldn't explain how Bethesda managed to do some things with their engine.

I think he meant the engine was able to render everything at once, or seeing a mountain in the distance and seemingly being able to travel there. This seems to be like the super-secret formula of the Coke, that some developers will try to figure out.

 

[Cyan]

I would also like to mention the Anisotropic Filtering of this game. It goes all the way occupying the whole screen. 99% of the games I have on the 360 have either decent, average or poor AF but it's very important to discern the art and textures of the game in the distance.

I have a power called The Unrelenting Force but whenever I try to use it holding RB, it refuses to work.

Apart from that, I have Healing assigned to the left in the D-pad, and the shied to the right in the D-pad -I sometimes assign the Torch to the D-pad (left) to use it in dungeons or during nighttime. In that sense the Khajiit have an advantage -my character is Argonian- and also they are the only viable option for hand to hand combat.

I am level 10 now. I died a few times but having a blast. I have always used to be very self-conscious of being modest, so I won't tell my great deeds.

 

[BoardBonobo]

I have a power called The Unrelenting Force but whenever I try to use it holding RB, it refuses to work.

You have to finish the quest that takes you to the old fogies on the mountain where they teach you how to use it. And a few other things to.

 

[BoardBonobo]

Just playing through the final part of the forbidden legend quest and I've encountered the same niggle three time in combat. And that's when you are disarmed with a shout and your weapon vanishes. It makes me very wary of entering any high level combat with a nice quest item knowing that I could loose it forever. In this fight so far I have lost Dawnsbreaker, the sanguine rose, and a couple of nice magical dwarven swords.

So I've restarted and am fighting a number of high level bosses using nothing but appprentice magic and a rusty dagger...

This is one thing that I hope bethesda patch.

 

[RobertR1]

I finally started my game (PC version). 9hours spent and I'm screwing around in Whiterun still. God damn this is good. I can see myself not buying any games for a very long time. Even BF3 will have to sit idle until Karkand expansion.

I'm level 11 now and went with an Imperial. Mainly leveling up my casting ability for now but will be getting some one handed weapons in there at some point.

 

[BoardBonobo]

Patch downloading (2.01 - 92MB) on PS3. It seems very small somehow!!

 

[RenegadeRocks]

Tried the PC version at a friend's place and Man, the game is so damn good !!!!!!!
I was a Wood Elf, basically cos it said they are the best archers, but then I found out I sucked at archery and was doing best with my two handed War Axe or Demolition on left hand and Imeprial Sword in the other.
Should I re-start and choose some other class?

As for the game,I am loving it ! Its so wonderful, the sense of exploring an awesome world was top notch,at least in the beginning. and it feels so tempting to just start walking, and well thats what I did for the time I spent in Skyrim. I jjust walked and am now in the quest for the Golden Claw ! I think this needs to be bought for the PS3, though it might dissappoint having played it on Ultra on PC. The world is so beautiful, as a whole !

 

[Cyan]

You have to finish the quest that takes you to the old fogies on the mountain where they teach you how to use it. And a few other things to.

I talked to the jarl in Whiterun already, but thanks anyways. I am level 11 already.

I really liked Whiterun. So evocative. It made me imagine what it was like to live in the Middle Ages, in a city completely surrounded by walls.

Eurogamer published another timelapse video. This time it's 100% Xbox 360 footage that they had previously recorded

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-xbox-360-skyrim-timelapse-bonus

 

[dobwal]

Just playing through the final part of the forbidden legend quest and I've encountered the same niggle three time in combat. And that's when you are disarmed with a shout and your weapon vanishes. It makes me very wary of entering any high level combat with a nice quest item knowing that I could loose it forever. In this fight so far I have lost Dawnsbreaker, the sanguine rose, and a couple of nice magical dwarven swords.

So I've restarted and am fighting a number of high level bosses using nothing but appprentice magic and a rusty dagger...

This is one thing that I hope bethesda patch.

Have you tried look around on the ground. Those shout can actually throw your weapon pretty far. I look ten minutes for my ebony sword after being disarmed that way. I found it about 20 feet away.

 

[Scott_Arm]

Yesterday I decapitated some magic lady on a steep hillside, and I watched her head roll a couple hundred yards, bouncing over rocks and finally rounding a bend on a pathway until it settled in a small pit in the ground.

 

[Cyan]

Patch downloading (2.01 - 92MB) on PS3. It seems very small somehow!!

Bethesda wrote a list of issues this patch fixes. The release date of the patch for the PC and Xbox 360 versions is Wednesday this week..

http://www.bethblog.com/index.php/2011/11/28/skyrim-1-2-update/

Today we’ve begun rolling out Skyrim’s 1.2 update for PlayStation 3. The update is already available for users in Europe and we will let you know as soon as it’s up in North America. Our current ETA for Xbox 360 and PC players is this Wednesday, November 30th.

So what does the new update cover? Details below…

UPDATE 1.2 NOTES (all platforms unless specified)

Improved occasional performance issues resulting from long term play (PlayStation 3)
Fixed issue where textures would not properly upgrade when installed to drive (Xbox 360)
Fixed crash on startup when audio is set to sample rate other than 44100Hz (PC)
Fixed issue where projectiles did not properly fade away
Fixed occasional issue where a guest would arrive to the player’s wedding dead
Dragon corpses now clean up properly
Fixed rare issue where dragons would not attack
Fixed rare NPC sleeping animation bug
Fixed rare issue with dead corpses being cleared up prematurely
Skeleton Key will now work properly if player has no lockpicks in their inventory
Fixed rare issue with renaming enchanted weapons and armor
Fixed rare issue with dragons not properly giving souls after death
ESC button can now be used to exit menus (PC)
Fixed occasional mouse sensitivity issues (PC)
General functionality fixes related to remapping buttons and controls (PC)

When the patch is out I am going to transfer the save files from the USB -which worked flawlessly and I haven't experienced the texture bug nor I had to deal with the DVD drive spinning all the time- :smile2: to the HDD.

 

[kagemaru]

Reading around, it looks like the patch doesn't really fix the frame rate issue in the PS3 version. Looks like it's improved but after a few hours the frame rate takes a dive again.

Full patch notes:

Improved occasional performance issues resulting from long term play (PlayStation 3)
Fixed issue where textures would not properly upgrade when installed to drive (Xbox 360)
Fixed crash on startup when audio is set to sample rate other than 44100Hz (PC)
Fixed issue where projectiles did not properly fade away
Fixed occasional issue where a guest would arrive to the player’s wedding dead
Dragon corpses now clean up properly
Fixed rare issue where dragons would not attack
Fixed rare NPC sleeping animation bug
Fixed rare issue with dead corpses being cleared up prematurely
Skeleton Key will now work properly if player has no lockpicks in their inventory
Fixed rare issue with renaming enchanted weapons and armor
Fixed rare issue with dragons not properly giving souls after death
ESC button can now be used to exit menus (PC)
Fixed occasional mouse sensitivity issues (PC)
General functionality fixes related to remapping buttons and controls (PC)

lol at the bolded line.

Edit:

Beaten by Cyan, guess I sat at the reply screen for too long. Damn work =p

 

[dobwal]

Does individual pieces of armor gain in rating the more you use them. I've spent 95% of my playing time using this one particular piece of studded armor. I took it very early in the game and upgraded it to superior. I used it mostly because of it looks and figured i would find a better set of whatever later down the line. But now at level 25, I found no light armor rated higher. So I run around with eleven gauntlets, boots and helmet all upgraded to superior with this studded armor piece that rated at 76 with an overall armor rating at 178. All other identical armor pieces are rated 46, so there is a 30 point difference which I can't explain through the smithing upgrade because initially there was only a 5 point difference between non-superior studded and my armor piece.

 

[Scott_Arm]

Does individual pieces of armor gain in rating the more you use them. I've spent 95% of my playing time using this one particular piece of studded armor. I took it very early in the game and upgraded it to superior. I used it mostly because of it looks and figured i would find a better set of whatever later down the line. But now at level 25, I found no light armor rated higher. So I run around with eleven gauntlets, boots and helmet all upgraded to superior with this studded armor piece that rated at 76 with an overall armor rating at 178. All other identical armor pieces are rated 46, so there is a 30 point difference which I can't explain through the smithing upgrade because initially there was only a 5 point difference between non-superior studded and my armor piece.

Are you comparing it to other upgraded armour? Upgrading makes a HUGE difference.

 

[dlm]

I played far, far too much Skyrim over the long weekend.

On Saturday I got down to brass tacks and levelled smithing and enchanting to 100 as well as alchemy to 80, and wow does it break the game as a melee class.


There's a fairly simple loop, though it consumes a lot of grand souls to do (although the returns doing it more than once are low, so that may not matter).
1. Use Alchemy to make a +Enchant potion
2. Use Enchanting to make +Alchemy gloves, hat, ring and neck
3. Repeat

My current +enchant pots provide +30% enchanting power.

All told, I have +28% to blacksmithing on hands, chest, ring and neck, and my +smithing pots provide 138% increase to smithing skill.


The result is utterly game-breaking. 1100+ armor rating on dragonscale. 350 base damage on daedric bows and maces (including 48% to all 4 relevant gear pieces with One-Hand and Archery enchants). 22% magic resist on 3 different pieces + 25% from the Lord Stone for a total of 91% baseline resistance.


Being so powerful actually leads to a few interesting bugs. One of the towers has a dragon at the top that you can sneak up on and hit from stealth, which is a one-shot. When I did this, the dragon didn't just die. Instead, it took off, flew in half a circle, landed, teleported 100 feet away then immediately skidded across the ground in a pile, stood up, then died. After all this, it failed to disintegrate properly and I didn't get the soul (not that it mattered).



I'm also now up to three broken questlines.
- The Thieves Guild special assignment questline is bugged because I can't actually enter dialog with Devin. This is a known bug. I believe it occurs when you pick up one of the small jobs (shill or whatever) before picking up a special assignment.
- If I try to do the initiation ceremony for the bards, the NPC bugs out trying to light the effigy and the entire event hangs. The ceremony never ends and half the NPC's in Solitude become broken. I reloaded to an earlier save and have just abandoned the questline.
- I have a quest for the companions that I can never turn in which appears to be preventing me from taking the . Thankfully I didn't hit the game breaking bug that occurs if you do the Helm of Winterhold quest before the Companions.


It's funny because some quests actually have special dialog if you complete the objectives before picking it up... other quests break completely. Across the board, quests that are supposed to lock out other quests when you pick them up are extremely buggy.

 

[Cyan]

I am confronting my first dragon

Spoiler

in Whiterun

, so majestic, wonderful thing, and so statuesque. But he kills me in a couple of seconds, I am level 11 still, trying to complete the quest. It seems impossible -equipped with a War Axe of Binding in right hand and Healing in the left hand-.

It's 3AM in the game, so battling him at night, gotta love the fireworks. This is a magical game.

 

[Sigfried1977]

The patch also seemed to fix the level scaling of your followers (Wife, Shieldmaiden, Husband etc.), so it's a perfectly viable strategy to actually have them tag along with you now. Before the patch Lydia was a liability who could barely take a hit from a Troll or Bear. She was pretty much stuck at Level 1 while I was in my mid-forties. Now she quite happily slaughters Draugir Death Lords and Dwarven Centurions.

Performance on the PS3 was definitely improved too and the odd controller lag that kicked in every once in a while is thankfully gone as well.

I really liked the ending of the main quest by the way. A lot better than I anticipated given how Elder Scrolls games, Skyrim included, aren't exactly known for their memorable "cut-scene" moments.

I have yet to encounter any non performance-related bugs by the way. I guess I was lucky.