Topic: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

[W7RE]

I was reading something about a 2GB patch that came out previously, which fixed some issues. Apparently this new patch disabled that one, and those issues are back for some people? Not sure.


I didn't download the patch. I'm running it from the executable without Steam, and haven't had any big issues. (I could run my friend's Steam account in offline mode to play if I patch, but it's easier to just run the .exe)

[MysterD]

HardOCP -> Skyrim PC - Performance and Image Quality Review.
TechSpot -> Skyrim PC - Performance Test.

[sirean_syan]

The 2gb/LAA (Large Address Awareness?) fix was helping me. Before, I would get a no warning and seemingly harmless crash to desktop along with the random purple/missing texture problem. Both were easily fixed by quick restarts (thankfully the game boots up super quick). The LAA program seemed to stop all those things. Not anymore now that I can't use it. Kinda sucks that they had to do that.

[gpw11]

What does it accomplish, really? I mean you could avoid the DRM by just not patching.

[MysterD]

BluesNews is already picking up on the new Skyrim PC patch causing LAA problems, DRM addition, and whatnot.
I wonder how many other news sites are gonna pick up on this...

[Xessive]

A similar thing happened with Fallout 3 (non-Steam). If you ran it from the launcher it asks for the CD but if you just ran the fo3.exe the game launched and all was well. Apparently Beth released a "patch" that added CD check and the forums ran with blood and ash, prompting Beth to retract the damned thing.

[sirean_syan]

So I just ended up downloading the old exe and turning off auto-update. After an hour of play last night I had three random crashes. After an hour of going back and using LAA again, no crashes.

I hope that once a real patch gets instituted the crashes go down a little or BethSoft allows for something like LAA again. Why don't games use that to begin with? Is this still catering to potential non-64 bit systems?

[Xessive]

I tested it out earlier and thankfully I'm not running into any major issues.

It is kinda weird how they tried to sneak this in right after announcing a major patch. Couldn't they have just incorporated it into the upcoming patch? It just feels sneaky.

[MysterD]

Skyrim PC - LAA PC Mod has been updated for the newly released DRM-addition patch.

OMG, OMG, OMG...
Someone was no-clipping and found the land-masses for both Morrowind and Cyrodiil there in TES V.

[Quemaqua]

That's awesome! Wish I could check that out. Goddamn lack of PC.

[MysterD]

That's awesome! Wish I could check that out. Goddamn lack of PC.

If BethSoft has the DLC's take place in those areas and they then add all kinds of new characters and new quests...
[starts drooling]

[Quemaqua]

There's no way that's feasible. I'm sure it was just something they did for reference or for fun.

[MysterD]

There's no way that's feasible. I'm sure it was just something they did for reference or for fun.

I can imagine how giddy the modding community might react to this...especially if BethSoft ever releases the SDK for this game.

[W7RE]

I enchanted a couple daggers, but now the charges on them are used up. Is there a way to re-enchant them or refill the charges?

[Cobra951]

If it works like Oblivion, you need to find someone to recharge them, or use soul stones once you have the ability to fill the stones and use them.

[sirean_syan]

Yeah. Reapply charged soul stones to them in your item menu. On PC, just select the item and press T.

Enchanting has really paid off for my character. After putting a couple perks points into the setup, I'm regularly adding 20 damage to weapons and 30% effects to armor. Add that to a pretty high black smithing ability and now I'm making items often better than named items I find because they are more specifically suited to my playstyle. I've also got sets of necklaces and rings I can switch out depending on the situation (different resist types, more damage, better haggling ability).

[beo]

got a week off work at the moment - most of it has been spent in skyrim. it has not necessarily been the best use of my time, but at least my guy now looks like a badass.

[W7RE]

Yeah. Reapply charged soul stones to them in your item menu. On PC, just select the item and press T.

That's it. It's RB on an Xbox controller. I was looking all over the menus while at the enchanting table, didn't think to do it from my inventory. I had read that you could do it with the Soul Gems, but couldn't figure out exactly how.

And I got enchanting skillups for doing it too.

[Cobra951]

Azura's Star FTW in Oblivion.  I hope there's some reusable soul stone/gem in Skyrim too.

[W7RE]

Reading about how unique armor/weapons scale to the level you are when you get them makes me want to wait until higher levels to finish off Thieves Guild/Dark Brotherhood stuff. But then I feel like I'm min/maxing the fun out of the game. Apparently the Thieves Guild armor is the best light armor in the game (or close) if you get it at a high enough level. (and also is probably the best looking)

[sirean_syan]

I guess that explains why a lot of the unique items I've received have generally had slightly higher stats than my current gear.

I got the final armor for the Thieves Guild this week and it's really cool looking, but it's not what I would consider the best unless you have a very specific build in mind. There are enhancement slots wasted on things like lockpicking, which is strange to have on main armor to me when you generally have time to switch to a temporary piece of jewelery if you're going to pick a lock. Armor should be your catch all buffs that will save your butt when something surprises you. Also, there's things like illusion buffs which are just wasted on me.

Maybe I'm just spoiled because I managed to get to 100 enchanting as well.

[Quemaqua]

Nothing's ever a perfect fit unless you're playing the perfect build for whatever you happen to find. The game simply allows for too much variety. I can see why enchanting would definitely pay off, because you can tailor everything to your decisions.

[shock]

Omg - Beo's character looks so bad ass.  That Daedric armor looks fantastic.  The Morrowind daedric helms looked ridiculous...  awesome improvement here.

[Quemaqua]

Almost everything in Morrowind looked ridiculous, despite it being one of my all-time favorite games. That game was way more ambitious than its development team was really prepared to do properly. Oblivion was a nice step up in terms of modeling, but I think Skyrim is the first thing that hasn't been actively offensive animation-wise (even if it's not exactly stellar at times). But it's a joy to see the designs now... they've done an awesome job. The art just gets better and better.

[MysterD]

NVidia -> Their tweaks for Skyrim PC.
PC Gamer -> Their Top 20 Skyrim PC mods.
RockPaperShotgun -> Their list of Mods and Ends for Skyrim PC.

EDIT:
That QD Inventory mentioned in RPS and PC Gamer articles on mods looks like a pretty good Inventory Overhaul Mod for Skyrim PC.

[Xessive]

Awesome layout, terrible choice of font. I like the default font, it's easy to read and it's very monolithic.

[gpw11]

Uninstalled. Just sucks me in too much.  But being a werewolf was bad ass.

[MysterD]

Unrelenting Force on a House Filled With Weapons.

[Quemaqua]

Haha, that was amazing.

[Xessive]

Unrelenting Force on a House Filled With Weapons.

Holy processing power! You could feel the weight of those weapons the way that framerate was chugging! Still awesome

[sirean_syan]

So I think I might have hit the easy button with my enchanting and blacksmithing last week. Alone, my bows do something like 200 damage. Combine that with +60 or so magic damage and some basic sneak attacks and I feel like my game looks something like this:

It really hit home when I two shotted a named dragon. That was pretty awesome.

Things can still kill me though if I managed to get myself swamped or let a big guy though. It doesn't happen often though.

[Xessive]

Funny article from Game Informer: How To Play Skyrim Like A Professional

[MysterD]

BethSoft announces info on Skyrim Patch 1.2.
Skyrim PS3 patched to version 1.2
Skyrim PC and 360 patch 1.2 coming this Wednesday [Nov. 30].

The latest update for Skyrim is rolling out on PlayStation 3. Our ETA for PC and 360 is Wednesday

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)


After releasing the 1.2 update, we will continue to monitor forums, blogs, etc. for issues you are reporting, and we will keep you updated on further updates to improve your gameplay experience.

[MysterD]

Skyrim Serial Killer's House.
 

[Quemaqua]

Haha, wow. That's... something. That's one thing that's amazing about these games, how you can sort of make your own little things out of it. Give yourself some random challenge, or decide for no in-game reason that you want to undertake some endeavor or accomplish something.

So I took a look at the strategy guide for the game today, and it's fucking huge. As big as Oblivion's GOTY guide, I'd say, somewhere around the size of the Fallout 3 guide, maybe a little bigger. As per the usual for these games, it amazes me to see just how much I haven't seen. Having spent as much time with the game as I have, I basically haven't started any of the main quest lines. I'm within the first two missions of the four main side questlines, and I've only gone as far in the main quest as visiting High Hrothgar. And I've been playing for... I don't know, 50 hours now? I have to look up my stats at some point.

I think this is one game I'll actually play to completion, though. I'm kinda' digging the main story so far, and I like all the new systems a lot... the simplicity seems to help with motivation. Instead of spending a lot of time thinking about the numbers, you can just sit down and play.

[Xessive]

Skyrim Patch May Have Broken Things

Gamers rejoicing over Bethesda's recent patch release for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim may want to hold off downloading it for now.

Numerous users have reported that some of the problems that plagued the game pre-patch still haven't been fixed, such as the frame rate issues for the PlayStation 3 version. A running thread on the official Bethesda forums is keeping a tally on all the bugs that are either new or still haven't been fixed.

One interesting, if not humorous, bug that popped up due to the patch are dragons with erratic flight patterns (see below). Another widespread bug being reported is the game no longer recognizing magic resistances.

Keep in mind these issues aren't affecting everyone, so expect varying results. Patch v1.2 was released yesterday for PlayStation 3 and should arrive on Xbox 360 and PC sometime today. We reached out to Bethesda for comment and will update this story if we hear back.

I've updated and I'm not experiencing any of the mentioned issues, though i haven't tested the Magical Resistances issue.

[Quemaqua]

My magic resistance is fine, though I'm annoyed that the magic absorption bug hasn't been fixed. I'm a Breton and my build uses the Atronach stone, but at this point I can barely conjure anything because 90% of the time I absorb the conjuration before it gets out. Pretty giant bug, though I don't think it's been 100% confirmed that this is the issue.

[MysterD]

UGO -> UGO's list of Skyrim PC Mods.
IGN -> Complaints on Skyrim PS3 being "broken"
IGN -> Joshua E. Sawyer of Obsidian talks about Skyrim PS3 issues...since he was involved w/ FO: New Vegas on a BethSoft Engine on PS3.

[W7RE]

How exactly do magic spells and leveling work in this game?

I've been playing a stealth character, using light armor and dual daggers, but I've also been casting Muffle a lot (Illusion school of magic). So my Illusion is 56 now, but I haven't put any perks into that tree. I've only been casting the one spell. I see there are perks in the Illusion tree that make them work on higher level animals and people, and work on undead, daedra and automatons. Do those perks even matter if I'm just using a self buff spell? Or will grabbing those perks make my Muffle spell work better around those enemies?

[MysterD]

BethSoft updates that Patch 1.3 is in final testing stage, which will not include Skyrim PS3 issue fixes.
Expect Skyrim PS3 fixes likely in patches probably after Patch 1.3.

Updated 12/6: While the 1.2 update fixed the long-term play issues for most PS3 users, we are aware that is not the case for some. We’ve been reaching out to a number of those users to collect save games, so we can take a look at their specific issues. Right now we know it’s not one thing, but a combination of smaller ones that some folks are seeing, but others are not. Some seem to be the PS3 autosaving in the background (you can turn that off), some may be SPU AI updates, and some may relate to dynamic system memory allocation. These fixes are not in the current 1.3 update that is in final testing, but will be in future ones. We understand how frustrating it can be when your game is having issues, and we thank all of you for your continued feedback and patience. Rest assured we take your gameplay experience seriously and will continue working on this until it’s resolved.