The OFFICIAL Anandtech Forums TeS V: Skyrim Thread

[zinfamous]

Crap.
Started a new game.
Discovered you cant get ebony mail until level 30.
Took me all last night mixing potions and enchanting clothes to get level 20.

Spoiler

If your'e interested in getting the blade, too, do that first. I think it is available at level 20--the quest talking to the Jarl's weird children. You can charge it doing several of those Daedra quests, as you'd have to kill friends, anyway.

it is an awesome piece, though. My E mail is up to 275 armor rating. Or greater, I think.

 

[HybridSquirrel]

@shorty: player.additem

 

[shortylickens]

NO!
Thats a bad squirrel! Bad!!

 

[thespyder]

I think the lack of stealth requirement isn't just part of this quest line, but throughout the game. Many quests "require" you to go in and kill a target stealthily, but it is never necessary in the end.

I have to say that the "Stealth" portion of the game is significantly less than I had hoped for. Maybe I just really enjoyed the original "Thief" game, but you actually had to be .......... Wait for it........... In shadows (or at least out of the line of site) in order to be hidden. Horrors!!!! And for the number of stealth action games out, you think that they would get that right.

personally I didn't like the fact that every dungeon and every prison and every broom closet has static candles or torches. I think it would add a whole nother level to the game if there were something the equivalent to water arrows or at least some way to turn off the lights. Something as simple as that and the fact that you actually had to have some actual reason to be unseen would add significant value to the Illusion line of magics if nothing else. And it would make the thieving actually more fullfilling as a part of the game. IMHO.

One of my pet peves about the game.

 

[HybridSquirrel]

NO!
Thats a bad squirrel! Bad!!

player.additem f 10000000000000000000 BOO YA

after I beat a game, I usually just deck out a level one char with as much cool shit as I can find on the item list....its pretty amusing.

 

[zinfamous]

NO!
Thats a bad squirrel! Bad!!

lol. I agree.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Spoiler

The assassination at the wedding is great and all, but no matter what, you can't really escape without being noticed. I have Ebony Mail, the DB boots for extra muffling, max sneak, ring and necklace each with 40% sneak, a super invisibility potion that I crafted, and those guards still notice you at some point. You can't really escape solitude without opening the front gate--unless I missed something, so you will always be running from them. Then you return, and essentially have to pay them off.

Spoiler

I escaped without being noticed. I had on some gear which fortified sneak and muffle. I went up on the balcony directly above her when she came out to speak. There's a statue up there that gives you the option to interact with it and push it because it's loose. It fell on her, killed her, I snuck off to wait a sec and that's when Vezeera showed up to say he was going to help. But by that point, I was invisible again, and I walked straight out the front door of Solitude without getting a bounty. The guards even complimented my armor as I walked out (is your armor made from... dragon scales?).

 

[zinfamous]

Spoiler

I escaped without being noticed. I had on some gear which fortified sneak and muffle. I went up on the balcony directly above her when she came out to speak. There's a statue up there that gives you the option to interact with it and push it because it's loose. It fell on her, killed her, I snuck off to wait a sec and that's when Vezeera showed up to say he was going to help. But by that point, I was invisible again, and I walked straight out the front door of Solitude without getting a bounty. The guards even complimented my armor as I walked out (is your armor made from... dragon scales?).

lol. that's funny. wish I noticed that spot but it is, a little less "badass"

Spoiler

I want to try and see if I can get on their balcony and wait for them to appear on it, then just stab her in front of everyone.
I was able to walk around unnoticed--I had my "Ultimate thievery" set on: 40/40 sneak and pick pocket on necklace and ring, my muffle boots, muffle ebony mail, muffle perk...etc. and the invis potion. but then, randomly, some guard several paces away form me suddenly saw me, still invisible. Also, opening the front door removes invisibility, so as soon as I left Solitude, I was noticed by that guard.

 

[JTsyo]

Crap.
Started a new game.
Discovered you cant get ebony mail until level 30.
Took me all last night mixing potions and enchanting clothes to get level 20.

Not worried that the monster levels will surpass your combat ability?

 

[Matthiasa]

The only ones with noticeable scaling are the forsworn.
Well and dragons but they are to weak to matter.

 

[Doublejr]

@JackSpadesSI

Spoiler

I think it forces you to complete the quest or make peace at that point before you can continue the main quest.

 

[Beev]

Is there a way to get Skyrim to use 8gb of ram or more? I know there's the 4gb executable; is it edit-able in any way?

 

[JackSpadesSI]

@JackSpadesSI

Spoiler

I think it forces you to complete the quest or make peace at that point before you can continue the main quest.

Thanks for the reply!

 

[terry107]

Creation kit and high res texture pack is out.

 

[Beev]

How do the official hi-res textures compare to the mod?

 

[Markbnj]

This is awesome, but I'd like to hear some feedback on performance before I click the install button on the texture pack. The game runs smoothly now on ultra settings on my 560 ti w/1GB. I would hate to install this and find it lagging (it already does in some notorious spots).

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Is there a way to get Skyrim to use 8gb of ram or more? I know there's the 4gb executable; is it edit-able in any way?

The game was made large address aware with the 1.2 patch; it shouldn't have any issues using any or all the RAM you have. Don't use the LAA mod any more, it's redundant and can cause other issues.

 

[Majic 7]

Downloading hi-res pack now. It's 3000 MB so it should make a significant difference. Kind of explains why the original install was suprisingly small. Compressed my butt.

 

[Locut0s]

The game was made large address aware with the 1.2 patch; it shouldn't have any issues using any or all the RAM you have. Don't use the LAA mod any more, it's redundant and can cause other issues.

Making the game LAA only gives it access to up to 4GB from what I understand. If you want it to be able to naively use ALL your ram it has be coded as a 64bit app from the beginning.

 

[Beev]

The game was made large address aware with the 1.2 patch; it shouldn't have any issues using any or all the RAM you have. Don't use the LAA mod any more, it's redundant and can cause other issues.

Thanks, I wasn't aware.

 

[zinfamous]

neato. I just installed the HD2k pack the other day. very anxious to try this official texture pack, which is 3x as large.

though, I actually finished the main quest last night

Spoiler

mainly because I had just begun the taking sides Civil War quest, but needed to broker peace and finish before I could begin Civil War. ...but the end sure does come fast once you finish those peace talks. All seems so, sudden

...though Maybe it was because I had finished just about every quest line in the game.

One thing that is hilarious--I'm the leader of every major faction, I'm known all over Skyrim as super badass Dragon killer that saved the world from Dragons, have brokered peace and have all of the Jarls on my side.

yes, as soon as I begin the quests for the legion, they make me a dinky scrub with this piss-ass scout party to go helmet-searching. I should be the fucking General of the entire army! Or, at the very least, as soon as I choose to fight for the Imperials, Ulfric should just piss in his pants and surrender.

Spoiler

It's not like he can do anything when I call my pet Dragon or my Ancient Hero buddies to come lay waste to his armies.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

How do the official hi-res textures compare to the mod?

I'm curious about this as well. I won't get a chance to try them out for a couple days yet, so someone should post thoughts/screenshots. That said, I would be utterly shocked if they weren't better than Skyrim HD 2k (or whatever that HD Skyrim pack was called). All of the shots I've seen of that look pretty bad. People need to learn that "high resolution" doesn't just mean "put scratch lines and noise EVERYWHERE!" I like the high res packs that have come out which preserve the original look of the game while making textures a bit crisper; I would have to imagine that's exactly what Bethesda will do, so it should look pretty good. But will it be better than some of the super-high-resolution textures that are already out there? And will it completely destroy my system? 3 GB of textures... golly.

 

[Markbnj]

How do you get to the construction kit? Supposedly it's out but I haven't seen an update, and I don't see any new menu choices or files with dates later than 2/1.

 

[zinfamous]

I'm curious about this as well. I won't get a chance to try them out for a couple days yet, so someone should post thoughts/screenshots. That said, I would be utterly shocked if they weren't better than Skyrim HD 2k (or whatever that HD Skyrim pack was called). All of the shots I've seen of that look pretty bad. People need to learn that "high resolution" doesn't just mean "put scratch lines and noise EVERYWHERE!" I like the high res packs that have come out which preserve the original look of the game while making textures a bit crisper; I would have to imagine that's exactly what Bethesda will do, so it should look pretty good. But will it be better than some of the super-high-resolution textures that are already out there? And will it completely destroy my system? 3 GB of textures... golly.

I don't think HD is bad...at least not while playing. I've now used it and one of the other very large 2k-4k packs, and I think HD is better.

it is only updated for Whiterun, Windhelm, Solitude...and I think Riften, and of course general textures everywhere. It's not so much that it adds "scrathes," but for much of the stone work it adds grit and grime, which give the walls and cobbled walkways much more depth, and a bti more personality. Windhelm becomes a bit darker, but I think it looks more like it is supposed to look--the oldest hold in Skyrim, ancient stones, grimy and forbidding.

The water looks better than Vanilla, but only slightly. Not the best I've seen.

Anyway, I can only imagine that this official patch is tits. 3Gb...Steam is going to crash simply for releasing a texture patch.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Making the game LAA only gives it access to up to 4GB from what I understand. If you want it to be able to naively use ALL your ram it has be coded as a 64bit app from the beginning.

I was under the impression that it allowed more than 4 GB to be used, but it looks like you may be right. That does seem like a pretty bad oversight in an era where many gamers run 64 bit operating systems and often have 12 or more MB of RAM.