The OFFICIAL Anandtech Forums TeS V: Skyrim Thread

[The J]

I think this has already been posted, but SKyUI still is not complete, correct? the only interface change I get is in the item menu--powers, merchants, everything else is stuck on default.

A new version of SkyUI was released very recently that has new magic and merchant menus.

I recommend you get SkyUI right now, before you get used to the default crappy interface.
Please note you will need the script extender and mod manager to use it properly.

Also check out the Categorized Favorites Menu if you haven't yet done so.

Sent from my HTC Glacier using Tapatalk

 

[zinfamous]

A new version of SkyUI was released very recently that has new magic and merchant menus.



Also check out the Categorized Favorites Menu if you haven't yet done so.

I think I missed the updated version because it didn't have the same download button as the older versions, heh.

updated. Oh man, this makes me happy.

Also: need to mention Better Merchants, or any mod that increases merchant cash. ~500g on each merchant is quite useless, especially late when dauger and chests are dropping ebony sets all the time.

I increased merchants to ~2k each.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

I think I missed the updated version because it didn't have the same download button as the older versions, heh.

updated. Oh man, this makes me happy.

Also: need to mention Better Merchants, or any mod that increases merchant cash. ~500g on each merchant is quite useless, especially late when dauger and chests are dropping ebony sets all the time.

I increased merchants to ~2k each.

I may need to look into this one. I had been storing up ingredients for quite a while without doing any alchemy, so I sat down and blazed through a few hundred pounds of ingredients in one sitting. Left me with about 80k worth of potions and it absolutely sucks having to fast travel all over the map to sell them off. That and some of them are high enough value that merchants can't afford them even if I buy out their stock of whatever. It's absurd.

 

[zinfamous]

I may need to look into this one. I had been storing up ingredients for quite a while without doing any alchemy, so I sat down and blazed through a few hundred pounds of ingredients in one sitting. Left me with about 80k worth of potions and it absolutely sucks having to fast travel all over the map to sell them off. That and some of them are high enough value that merchants can't afford them even if I buy out their stock of whatever. It's absurd.

yep, potions are a particular bitch. I've been stocking ingredients up until level 53something and alchemy still at level 20. I'm suddenly level 56 at 86 alchemy...

 

[s1njin]

I recommend you get SkyUI right now, before you get used to the default crappy interface.
Please note you will need the script extender and mod manager to use it properly.

I've been using the SkyUI mod for awhile now (at least my screen looks like the screen shots in the mod). I don't have the script extender installed - so I wonder what I'm missing since my UI seems to work ....

Also, how do I install said extender?

 

[shortylickens]

Thats weird. When you go to the page for SkyUI they have links to the script extender and tell you to use it.

 

[s1njin]

Thats weird. When you go to the page for SkyUI they have links to the script extender and tell you to use it.

I see that now that you mention it - however I just downloaded skyui through modmanager and installed it.

 

[thespyder]

yep, potions are a particular bitch. I've been stocking ingredients up until level 53something and alchemy still at level 20. I'm suddenly level 56 at 86 alchemy...

Alchemy is a real loadstone IMHO. Most of my characters have it, and most of them have needless increase in level without any tangable improvement in survivability because of it. Which sucks.

Honestly, once you get "Fast Healing", what do you need alchemy for anyway?

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Alchemy is a real loadstone IMHO. Most of my characters have it, and most of them have needless increase in level without any tangable improvement in survivability because of it. Which sucks.

Honestly, once you get "Fast Healing", what do you need alchemy for anyway?

Game breaking exploits?

Yeah, crafting skills can level your character up way too quick and leave you unprepared for anything. I was Level 10 almost exclusively from Smithing and Enchanting and I hadn't done any quests; the first dragon I met made me look like a punk-ass bitch and that was with the guards from Whiterun at my side. It definitely hurts you to power-level the crafting skills early on. Later... not so much.

 

[zinfamous]

Game breaking exploits?

Yeah, crafting skills can level your character up way too quick and leave you unprepared for anything. I was Level 10 almost exclusively from Smithing and Enchanting and I hadn't done any quests; the first dragon I met made me look like a punk-ass bitch and that was with the guards from Whiterun at my side. It definitely hurts you to power-level the crafting skills early on. Later... not so much.

I focused on one-hand/block/heavy armor and destruction, actually, early on. (not that I really use destruction any more. sigh...) Now, I'm a bit too strong and find no real challenges. I did focus on smithing at the same time, but was decently perked in the combat trees to notice any significant weakness. While I sometimes think that I should have focused on enchanting early, it only would have allowed me to create really nice dual-enchant sets. neat...but I've done fairly well using the random unique drops and surviving with combat skills. It's not like anything kills me anyway, so why bother with the dual enchanting?

The other annoyance is that helmets/headpieces only allow for garbage enchants if you are a warrior. Great for casters--but why should heavy armor helmets only have casting enchants and archery? ridiculous.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

I focused on one-hand/block/heavy armor and destruction, actually, early on. (not that I really use destruction any more. sigh...) Now, I'm a bit too strong and find no real challenges. I did focus on smithing at the same time, but was decently perked in the combat trees to notice any significant weakness. While I sometimes think that I should have focused on enchanting early, it only would have allowed me to create really nice dual-enchant sets. neat...but I've done fairly well using the random unique drops and surviving with combat skills. It's not like anything kills me anyway, so why bother with the dual enchanting?

The other annoyance is that helmets/headpieces only allow for garbage enchants if you are a warrior. Great for casters--but why should heavy armor helmets only have casting enchants and archery? ridiculous.

You could always toss waterbreathing on there and explore the inky depths without fear of drowning... But yeah, the lack of availble enchantments for Helmets is a little baffling.

 

[Locut0s]

You could always toss waterbreathing on there and explore the inky depths without fear of drowning... But yeah, the lack of availble enchantments for Helmets is a little baffling.

This is why I chose to be an Argonian, natural water breathing.

 

[cytoSiN]

You could always toss waterbreathing on there and explore the inky depths without fear of drowning... But yeah, the lack of availble enchantments for Helmets is a little baffling.

I just threw water breathing on a ring and swap using favorites menu when I'm diving. Pain in the ass, but even if you forget you have a LONG time to throw the ring on before you die.

 

[Red Storm]

Skyrim's underwater exploration is virtually non-existent compared to the likes of Morrowind (as far as I remember).

 

[zinfamous]

Skyrim's underwater exploration is virtually non-existent compared to the likes of Morrowind (as far as I remember).

yeah, I've found very little worth exploring. There is that one lake in the southwest near Falkreath that has a few things, and north of Whiterun/Dawnstar, there is at least one shipwreck under the ocean.

Doesn't seem to be much to them, though. The one submerged castle that I have found requires no water breathing to explore everything that needs to be explored.

 

[Locut0s]

Was there much in Oblivion in the way of underwater exploration? I remember there was a secret entrance to the capital city but that's all I remember.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

I avoided the water like the plague for the longest time cause I thought there were going to be huge monsters in it... and, no, just murky boringness and some salmon. Sure, the slaughterfish are annoying, mainly because I can't fast travel when they're around even though they can't actually flop up on land and attack me, but the water is definitely pretty dull and lifeless. And stupidly murky, though I may fiddle with the RWT settings and make it a bit clearer.

Is the Skyrim Script Extender backwards-compatible with 1.3? I haven't installed the Beta 1.4 patch because I don't want to break the mods I have installed, but it occurs to me that I never installed SKSE, and even though SkyUI works without it, it doesn't offer as many sorting options. I went to the SKSE site but I couldn't tell if the current version is compatible with pre-1.4 installs.

 

[shortylickens]

Was there much in Oblivion in the way of underwater exploration? I remember there was a secret entrance to the capital city but that's all I remember.

Both games have the occasional hidden chest and wrecked ship, and some entrances to caves/ruins. But those entrances are normally part of a quest so you shouldnt kill yourself looking for them.

There are plenty of ingredients too, but unless you are a hardcore alchemist I wouldnt sweat it.

 

[thespyder]

I avoided the water like the plague for the longest time cause I thought there were going to be huge monsters in it... and, no, just murky boringness and some salmon. Sure, the slaughterfish are annoying, mainly because I can't fast travel when they're around even though they can't actually flop up on land and attack me, but the water is definitely pretty dull and lifeless. And stupidly murky, though I may fiddle with the RWT settings and make it a bit clearer.

good to know. I had visions of vast underwater dungeons but have seen little of that. I remember in Oblivion there were sunken dungeons that you had to swim through. haven't seen very much of that either in Skyrim, but I figured I just wan't in the right places.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

good to know. I had visions of vast underwater dungeons but have seen little of that. I remember in Oblivion there were sunken dungeons that you had to swim through. haven't seen very much of that either in Skyrim, but I figured I just wan't in the right places.

I just finished one quest where

Spoiler

the dungeon ended up flooding in the final chamber and I had to find an exit. But the exit just ended up being the roof collapsing, so I could keep my head above water the entire time regardless

. I never played Oblivion, but this game definitely doesn't seem too big on underwater exploration.

 

[thespyder]

Let me modify my statement. I remember in Oblivion that there were "Sections" of individual dungeons that were under water. And that you could use waterbreathing to get through them. And it more or less made it a reason to play Argons. They can breath underwater.

but if there isn't that much Underwater stuff, not sure why that was considered a benefit. Not to mention the fact that you can't cast spells or use a bow under water (which you probably shouldn't be able to, but that is beside the point).

 

[SMOGZINN]

Let me modify my statement. I remember in Oblivion that there were "Sections" of individual dungeons that were under water. And that you could use waterbreathing to get through them. And it more or less made it a reason to play Argons. They can breath underwater.

but if there isn't that much Underwater stuff, not sure why that was considered a benefit. Not to mention the fact that you can't cast spells or use a bow under water (which you probably shouldn't be able to, but that is beside the point).

You can't attack at all underwater, which pretty much removes any ability to have an underwater adventure. As far as I can tell all there is is short underwater dives to grab a chest or move to a door you can see the moment your head is under the water.

 

[magomago]

Is there a way to incrementally update our packs? Do I have to redownload Skyrim HD each time a new version is released?

 

[Markbnj]

I killed a dragon last night over near Ivarstead, and didn't get a soul from it. Has anyone else had this happen? I have 11 souls stored up, so not like it was a big deal.

 

[CPA]

Has anyone else seen the rocketing woolly mammoth?

That's right, I was over by some cemetary, cleared out the skeletons, turned to leave and saw the wooly mammoth close to Whiterun literally blast up about 75 feet into the air then float back down. lol

To add to what others are saying, I'm only level 7 and seem to get very little resistance in my fighting. I'm also concentrating on single-hand, heavy armor, adding archery.

The first dragon I killed with relative ease, using a fireball that practically took 50% of the dragon's health.

Will increasing the difficulty level help at all?