The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

[wakka]

I don't own a PC other than my 7 year old MacBook Pro

I don't mind the scrappy framerate and bugs in TES games, it's just so much fun to play. I've put in around 200 hours so far. If I did have a PC I would probably spend 200 hours researching, installing and testing mods then never actually play it properly (I know myself!).

[H-Man]

I followed a massive texture pack bundle/guide on Nexus and ended up spending an obscene amount of time modding how Skyrim looked. It listed a combination of every HD texture overhaul and tweak and how to get them all working together. Around a 100 in total. It took a while to download everything but eventually the game ran flawlessly and, at points, looked stunning. The issue is there was no consistency in detail and style. I'd be in a wood that admittedly looked jizz worthy, would turn a corner and see a rock texture that just didn't fit, or the ground would become less detailed than all the plants, or the new sky would look out of place. I'm using too much I thought - so started reducing the number of mods, sticking with the most popular, 'essential', texture packs, but the problem was always the same. Consistency is king and overall nothing looked as good as Skyrim running the default HD packs. It was the same with Oblivion and the Fallout games. Gameplay overhauls are one thing, but I've yet to see a modded Skyrim that looks better as a whole than the vanilla game with the official HD texture packs. Of course, it's easy to take isolated screenshots that look amazing, but in motion, when playing for hours and moving from location to location, modded Skyrim just looks worse.

[Wools]

And that's why I've never enjoyed the modding scene.

The work that people do in their spare time is wondrous but as someone who just wants to sit down and play a game, it's a shambles. But that's why some people buy a PC, you can tinker to your hearts content and more power to them.

I'll just grab a controller and play as the developer intended, warts and all.

[wakka]

Well, it's over. Finally hit the Platinum after such a long time. In total it took ball park 120 hours to hit it. Despite being renowned as a hero I leave my character on the island of Solstheim looking out at the coastline. Out there in the lands of Skyrim she leaves a kingdom free of world threat but also a husband she doesn't love, two young children she adopted but abandoned in an empty blood stained house without food, nine cities with a price on her head and several citizens in desperate need that she stole from and will never aid. This is her legend, both a tyrant and a saviour.

So, she stands on the shore looking out. She wears no pants, she needs no pants, she is Dragonborn.

Reading back through this thread and this cracked me up!

To do it all in 120 hours you must have skanked the fast travel hard. I'm at ~200 and I'm midway through Dragonborn, I've completed most other questlines but haven't touched Civil War or Companions.

For me the main questline was by far the weakest. I just found it dull and the trip to Sovngarde at the end was an anticlimax to say the least.

I have spent an awful lot of time cruising around investigating various barrows and things, and invested wayyyy too much time in pimping out my Hearthfire crib. Lakeview Manor is the place to be. I got my main bitch Lydia doing the gardening and sometimes I transform into a Vampire Lord while she's doing it just to **** with her.

[dataDave]

I followed a massive texture pack bundle/guide on Nexus and ended up spending an obscene amount of time modding how Skyrim looked. It listed a combination of every HD texture overhaul and tweak and how to get them all working together. Around a 100 in total. It took a while to download everything but eventually the game ran flawlessly and, at points, looked stunning. The issue is there was no consistency in detail and style. I'd be in a wood that admittedly looked jizz worthy, would turn a corner and see a rock texture that just didn't fit, or the ground would become less detailed than all the plants, or the new sky would look out of place. I'm using too much I thought - so started reducing the number of mods, sticking with the most popular, 'essential', texture packs, but the problem was always the same. Consistency is king and overall nothing looked as good as Skyrim running the default HD packs. It was the same with Oblivion and the Fallout games. Gameplay overhauls are one thing, but I've yet to see a modded Skyrim that looks better as a whole than the vanilla game with the official HD texture packs. Of course, it's easy to take isolated screenshots that look amazing, but in motion, when playing for hours and moving from location to location, modded Skyrim just looks worse.

That all depends on which packs you choose. I've personally only replaced the truly terrible textures (snow, ice, mountains, roads, sky, water, grass, dirt...). You really think Bethesda's textures are consistent? They aren't even optimised properly! 4k res bush, oh cheers...

And that's why I've never enjoyed the modding scene.

The work that people do in their spare time is wondrous but as someone who just wants to sit down and play a game, it's a shambles.

What's really a shambles is the product Bethesda put out. A completely broken pile of cack which they totally left the end-user to sort out.

I think it's marvelous that the people that paid for the game are the ones actually making it into a better product. Look at that guy that overhauled the entire memory and asset handling system after about three days of the game being out, the other dude who implemented occlusion-culling when indoors... Simple stuff, stuff that takes the community days to patch over. It's really stupid that things like this were left out.

[fishbowlhead]

Why does it take individuals, sometimes mear days, to fix quite gaping problems with games like this but he devs who profit don't bother. The console versions could have loads more optimisation to them. I really enjoyed Skyrim, however technically it was pretty shambolic, especially the loading screens between houses, outside and the cities.

[H-Man]

That all depends on which packs you choose. I've personally only replaced the truly terrible textures (snow, ice, mountains, roads, sky, water, grass, dirt...). You really think Bethesda's textures are consistent? They aren't even optimised properly! 4k res bush, oh cheers...

I'm not saying it's perfect, but the vanilla game is less jarring to my eyes than what we get with most popular texture packs. I've been through them all - from heavily modded to bare bones. The result has always been a less professional, less consistent and less believable game world. But hey, each to their own.

[dataDave]

10 hours in and I'm level 5. Chopping wood for Hod in Riverwood whilst trying to get the materials together for a set of cold gear. Going to put my level 6 point in Alchemy so I can start making potions with all the plants I've been sweeping up. I think I can kill the bandits half-way towards Bleak Falls Barrow, it's getting there and back without freezing to death which is the problem. When you start noticing snow-fall it's proper ****tening.

[dataDave]

May as well post these here too, drag to a new tab for full size.



The back-pack, water skin, woodman's axe, cloak, and hood... All that stuff isn't just aesthetic, I need that **** or else I die. There's also a walking stick out of view.



Statues texture overhaul.



Relevant book covers! The candle-light flicker mod is also beautiful here.



Dressed for fighting wolves and crabs. A quick screengrab before barely getting the **** out of that weather.


Pretty chuffed I've got this all running at 60fps on 1600x900, even during heavy combat with a dozen or so dudes, or when I stress-test by pumping Superman style overrides into the console. Does my trusty old G74sx count as next gen?

Currently rocking the Braveheart OST over the top of all this as well. ^^ Any other celtic suggestions?

[wakka]

So how long do you think it will take you to actually progress through the game with all these mods? Do you need to eat, drink and sleep too?

Good idea putting the Braveheart OST. I love Skyrim, but the soundtrack is god awful. I hated almost all the music. The main menu music is OK, as are some of the background tunes on Dragonborn. The rest of it is just so bloody epic the whole time, booming in your ears as you noodle around picking up mushrooms and one-shotting mudcrabs.

[dataDave]

So how long do you think it will take you to actually progress through the game with all these mods? Do you need to eat, drink and sleep too?

Good idea putting the Braveheart OST. I love Skyrim, but the soundtrack is god awful. I hated almost all the music. The main menu music is OK, as are some of the background tunes on Dragonborn. The rest of it is just so bloody epic the whole time, booming in your ears as you noodle around picking up mushrooms and one-shotting mudcrabs.

I'm not sure how long it's going to take - I believe the beginning of Requiem (the system overhaul mod) is the hardest part, as absolutely everything is at a much higher level than you are. I still haven't killed any humanoids yet, I just get one-shot down like a bitch.

On top of this I need to hunt for food, collect water (and boil it!), keep warm and dry, and get enough rest or else EXP stagnates. There is also no regenerating health, the only way to get health back is through either restoration magic or potions - both of which are out of my financial capacity at the minute. Only stamina regenerates, magic too - although it's helluva slow at doing so.

I believe 200 to 250 hours is the standard.

I love the Skyrim soundtrack, generally. There are a ton of epic pieces but as you say - they're not exactly keyed in all that well. This custom soundtrack mod gives you a huge range of folders to designate your music to, which will play alongside the original score.

I have this set for towns:


And this set for the college:



As well as a ton more... Any other celtic suggestions? Trying to avoid Game of Thrones or LotR... Too cliched. I want to create a mega-pack of Skyrim plus mods that eventually I want to share once I've done a test run.

[QualityChimp]

How about:

Holst's The Planets Suite
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The Gladiator OST by Hans Zimmer
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The Sword - "Age of Winters"
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Mozart Requiem, K. 626
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[Hartley Hare]

Took away so many hours of my life, fantastic game.

[dataDave]

I still can't get past Bleak Falls Barrow. Over 20 hours in, too.

The general method of approach is to get all of your battle gear into your backpack, hike to where you need to be, camp up and keep warm, eat/sleep (I've almost got enough decent skins to make a tent), and then gear up the next morning before heading straight into the dungeon or cave.

I managed to clear Embershard mine which was intense, but it didn't seem to give me much exp. The first time I had to do a runner all the way back whilst tea-leafing as much stuff lying around on the way back out - the boss(ish) bandit chased me all the way back too, and went right into his own trap (all traps are fatal now). When I went back to clear up I had one of these moments with my crossbow:



I tried to join The Companions in the hope that I could tag along on some group quest and nab some exp, unfortunately for me their entry quest is both a solo romp and nails at the same time.

[nakamura]

Did they ever get this running reasonable on PS2?