Skyrim

[ajprice]

Bought this at the weekend from cdkeys, the Steam version with the DLC packs and HD textures included (this allegedly means I'll get the special edition remasterd version as a freebie? "Upgrade to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim + Add Ons now for a special price and get The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition FREE when it is available." http://store.steampowered.com/app/489830/ , I'll see what happens when the new version comes out).

All went in with no problems. So starting from the beginning, your character walks verry verry slowly, doing the first tasks and following the the other guy around, he goes off to wherever he's going in the castle or the caves, then he's standing around waiting while you're walking in slow motion. Any fix for this?

Edited by ajprice on Monday 24th October 10:01

[Squirrelofwoe]

ajprice said:

Bought this at the weekend from cdkeys, the Steam version with the DLC packs and HD textures included (this allegedly means I'll get the special edition remasterd version as a freebie? "Upgrade to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim + Add Ons now for a special price and get The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition FREE when it is available." http://store.steampowered.com/app/489830/ , I'll see what happens when the new version comes out).

All went in with no problems. So starting from the beginning, your character walks verry verry slowly, doing the first tasks and following the the other guy around, he goes off to wherever he's going in the castle or the caves, then he's standing around waiting while you're walking in slow motion. Any fix for this?

Edited by ajprice on Monday 24th October 10:01

You have walking speed, and running speed- 'always running' is normally enabled by default, but check this in the gameplay settings, it might not be set if you are walking that slow.

On top of that though you also have 'sprint', which moves significantly faster than running but consumes Stamina to do so. I can't remember what the default key is for this, but it's in the menu.

Also, if you are playing completely vanilla Skyrim on PC there are a couple of mods which are borderline essential- the main one being SKYUI http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/3863/?

This changes the horrific console-based inventory screens to a PC friendly, customisable, sortable menu system. There are probably around 20 or so mods that I would consider 'essential', but SKYUI is completely non-negotiable for PC players!

Also, as the Special Edition is released in just a few days I wouldn't get too attached to a playthrough on the completely vanilla game- without mods the vanilla game looks very dated.

I would go either vanilla + mods, or Special Edition. Or inevitably, Special Edition + mods

[RobM77]

Squirrelofwoe said:

ajprice said:

Bought this at the weekend from cdkeys, the Steam version with the DLC packs and HD textures included (this allegedly means I'll get the special edition remasterd version as a freebie? "Upgrade to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim + Add Ons now for a special price and get The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition FREE when it is available." http://store.steampowered.com/app/489830/ , I'll see what happens when the new version comes out).

All went in with no problems. So starting from the beginning, your character walks verry verry slowly, doing the first tasks and following the the other guy around, he goes off to wherever he's going in the castle or the caves, then he's standing around waiting while you're walking in slow motion. Any fix for this?

Edited by ajprice on Monday 24th October 10:01

You have walking speed, and running speed- 'always running' is normally enabled by default, but check this in the gameplay settings, it might not be set if you are walking that slow.

On top of that though you also have 'sprint', which moves significantly faster than running but consumes Stamina to do so. I can't remember what the default key is for this, but it's in the menu.

Also, if you are playing completely vanilla Skyrim on PC there are a couple of mods which are borderline essential- the main one being SKYUI http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/3863/?

This changes the horrific console-based inventory screens to a PC friendly, customisable, sortable menu system. There are probably around 20 or so mods that I would consider 'essential', but SKYUI is completely non-negotiable for PC players!

Also, as the Special Edition is released in just a few days I wouldn't get too attached to a playthrough on the completely vanilla game- without mods the vanilla game looks very dated.

I would go either vanilla + mods, or Special Edition. Or inevitably, Special Edition + mods

Thanks Squirrel. I've just downloaded that mod. Are there any others you would recommend? There are about 1500 pages of mods visible I just have the basic Skyrim installed, as purchased on release day and updated by Steam since.

[Squirrelofwoe]

RobM77 said:

Thanks Squirrel. I've just downloaded that mod. Are there any others you would recommend? There are about 1500 pages of mods visible I just have the basic Skyrim installed, as purchased on release day and updated by Steam since.

Where to start!

Make sure you use Nexus Mod Manager to download & activate your mods- DONT use Steam Workshop! Also download LOOT- it's a tiny program that you open & run once you've installed any/all mods- it automatically sorts your mods into the optimal load order ensuring stability.

Firstly get the mod SKSE - it's a script extender and is needed for a great majority of mods anyway, it simply runs in the background.

This is an extract from my current mod list, all the ones here are what I consider pretty essential! The bold ones are mainly graphics improvements.

SKSE (script extender - as above, you will NEED this to run a lot of the others)
5 Unofficial Skyrim Legendary Edition Patch
6 Skyrim Project Optimization
8 Travellers Of Skyrim
9 2k High-Res textures
12 Cutting Room Floor (restores stuff that was in the game files but not implemented in the final version)
13 SkyUI
14 iHUD
15 Unbelievable Grass Two
16 Enhanced Lights and FX
17 The People of Skyrim (One of the single best mods I have - adds a TON of new people/locations to the world, makes it feel more 'lived in')
18 JKs Skyrim
19 RealisticWaterTwo
22 Sounds of Skyrim
24 ELFX - Weathers
26 FNIS (Animation mod- improves the default animations)
31 Warmonger Armory (extra armour / weapons)
34 RealisticWaterTwo
36 Static Mesh Improvement Mod
37 Amazing Follower Tweaks
38 Guard Dialogue Overhaul (Essential!)
39 Immersive Weapons (more weapons - all lore friendly)
42 Vendor Sale Delay Gone
45 VioLens or Dance of Death (Either mod lets you customise the cinematic kill move settings- awesome!)
46 Lightweight Potions and Poisons (potions etc take up almost no weight)
50 Diverse Guards Skyrim (adds more guard variety)
51 Immersive Patrols II (more stuff happening on the roads)
53 Immersive NPC in the dark
54 Enhanced Blood
60 Realistic Ragdoll Force
61 Vivid Landscapes
62 WetandCold
64 DeadlySpellImpacts
65 A Better World Map (Essential! adds roads etc to the map, makes it more useful)

Ignore the numbers, that's where I extracted them from my list.

There are tons of other mods that other people consider essential, but the above the ones I couldn't start a playthrough without now. There are also loads of ones to improve the look of the NPCs, but that comes down to personal taste so have a look and see what takes your fancy.

I also use a 'live another life' mod, that lets you start the game in entirely different ways, but if you've not played the vanilla storyline it's not worth it for your first play through.

[RobM77]

Wow - thank you My wife's out on Friday, so I'll get started then!

[Squirrelofwoe]

RobM77 said:

Wow - thank you My wife's out on Friday, so I'll get started then!

In all honesty, with the Special Edition available by Friday, I would probably start that instead, whilst keeping an eye on the mod developments for that version- I suspect it will be rapid.

The reason I say that is because quite a few of graphics mods I've listed will simply just be bringing the vanilla game up to the standard of the Special Edition version. Not to mention that we've not yet mentioned the use of ENBs which really get the game looking fantastic- again, the Special Edition has many of the effects added by an ENB already included as standard (God rays / depth of field effects etc).

Whilst at this moment in time a seriously modded version of the vanilla game will still look better than un-modded Special Edition, the amount of time / experimenting it often takes to get this right and running with good FPS (see the last few pages of this thread detailing my experiences of doing exactly this!) is likely going to be greater than the time it will take to see large-scale Special Edition support for most of the major game-play mods anyway.

Also, the greater the number of mods you run, the greater the risk of stability/compatibility issues. So it seems more sensible to me to start with the version of the game that has many of these features now built in, rather than have to use 10-15 mods on the vanilla game just to get it up to Special Edition standard.

Not to mention, Special Edition is 64bit as opposed to the vanilla game's 32bit. My understanding is that this means the Special Edition will be able to handle more complex mods and with great stability (hence needing the script extender etc for the 32bit version), and should also be able to utilise more of your GPU's v-ram making it a far more capable/stable platform for future modding.

Put simply, I would hold fire modding the vanilla game given that Special Edition is out on Friday anyway and is free! Mods will quickly get ported/made compatible with that version and it should be a far better/more capable platform for modding than the vanilla game due to it being 64bit rather than 32.

Edited by Squirrelofwoe on Tuesday 25th October 09:57

[RobM77]

Thanks, I'll get that. I presume it's a single download as well, which suits me better as I'm on satellite broadband and have to do most of my downloading overnight, so I prefer something I can click on once and then leave.

[Squirrelofwoe]

RobM77 said:

Thanks, I'll get that. I presume it's a single download as well, which suits me better as I'm on satellite broadband and have to do most of my downloading overnight, so I prefer something I can click on once and then leave.

I suspect it will be a single download as I imagine the 'dlc' will be pre-packaged with it like the 'Game of the year' edition of Fallout 3 I bought a few years back.

[FourWheelDrift]

Trying out a new water shader for ENB & Real Water Two - http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/79679/?

Makes shallower water clearer and less of a solid colour.

[Squirrelofwoe]

I'm really tempted to try this out- a mod of the Rudy ENB which gives the effect of realtime snow cover... http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/79335/?

[FourWheelDrift]

Had a look at that, I've downloaded Vivid Weather and Natural Lighting Vivid Atmospherics to go with it but haven't had time to read through fully and understand what's needed and what isn't and what I have already if any that might conflict.

[FourWheelDrift]

Brian the Dragonborn - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVSqW-hie5Q

[Squirrelofwoe]

FourWheelDrift said:

Brian the Dragonborn - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVSqW-hie5Q

Are you going to be playing/modding the new Special Edition?

I guess the big thing as far as mod support goes is getting SKSE reworked for the 64b version.

[FourWheelDrift]

I'll probable leave it for a bit to let things catch up.

[FourWheelDrift]

I think I'm addicted to light rays.

[FourWheelDrift]

FourWheelDrift said:

Trying out a new water shader for ENB & Real Water Two - http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/79679/?

Makes shallower water clearer and less of a solid colour.

As above.



With Watercolour for ENB and RW2 - http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/48938/?



Using these different settings in enbseries.ini

[WATER]
EnableDispersion=true
EnableCaustics=true
EnableParallax=true
ReflectionAmount=1.0
FrennelMultiplier=1.0
FrennelMin=0.35
FrennelMax=1.0
DispersionAmount=0.5
CausticsAmount=3.0
EnableShadow=true
EnableLighting=true
EnableSelfReflection=true
EnableDisplacement=true
DisplacementQuality=0
SunSpecularMultiplier=1.5
SunScatteringMultiplier=5.0
WavesAmplitudeSunrise=1.0
WavesAmplitudeDay=1.0
WavesAmplitudeSunset=1.0
WavesAmplitudeNight=1.0
WavesAmplitudeInteriorDay=1.0
WavesAmplitudeInteriorNight=1.0
ShadowQuality=2
EnableShadowNoise=false
SunLightingMultiplier=0.20
WetMultiplier=0.7
Muddiness=0.2
EnablePreCache=true
EnableVolumetricShadow=false
DisplacementFilterQuality=2
WavesAmplitudeDawn=0.5
WavesAmplitudeDusk=0.5
IgnoreWeatherSystem=false

[Squirrelofwoe]

They are some ridiculously photogenic screenshots!

I am loving the mod that added all the extra NPCs- 'People of Skyrim' I assume? I realised that it also added a load of new NPCs that are recruitable as followers.

I bumped into a wandering Redguard when I was around level 8 or so and he agreed to follow me- proved an extremely useful ally and seemed able to one-shot a lot of low level enemies with his bow. Anyway, at level 16 I was doing one of the Dark Brotherhood quests that led me to clear out an ancient ruin- towards the end of which my loyal Redgaurd buddy got beheaded by a Draugr Deathlord!

I'd assumed as a follower they would be flagged as essential- but clearly not. It's awesome though, as where they are rather generic, you don't really get that attached to them so it's no biggie if they end up for the chop. Not to mention a lot more realistic too.

Anyways, I thought it was only fair to loot the guy's corpse before moving on (it's what he would have wanted)- turns out he had a bloody paralyze-enchanted Deadric bow! Which kind of explained his whole one-shot kill archery thing. So there is obviously a weapon balance thing missing with these generic followers- not that I'm complaining

[FourWheelDrift]

Yep about 240 new NPCs.

There is a mod "Almost everyone is an adventurer" - http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/41629/? where you can recruit anyone.

Recruit Nazeem, take him with you up to the Throat of the World and Fus ro dah him off the top

[Squirrelofwoe]

FourWheelDrift said:

Yep about 240 new NPCs.

There is a mod "Almost everyone is an adventurer" - http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/41629/? where you can recruit anyone.

Recruit Nazeem, take him with you up to the Throat of the World and Fus ro dah him off the top

That does sound appealing

It was quite satisfying watching him get cut down in a vampire attack the other day- unfortunately that was just before I realised the Dark Brotherhood quest I was on was bugged so I had to reload an earlier save- meaning I am now back to "Do you get to the cloud district much? Oh what am I talking about, of course you don't"...

I did manage to sort out that bugged quest last night though- after sneaking into Dragonbridge to get the conversation to start (albeit a bugged one-sided conversation as Gaius himself wasn't actually there!), I used the wait function to skip several hours so he eventually started his 'tour'.

Once he was in Whiterun I checked in the console that he was tagged as non-essential- however the 'kill' command still wouldn't work (he just went down to his knees), so I spoke to him and provoked him into attacking me- he chased me outside the Bannered Mare and promptly got attacked by ANOTHER vampire and killed (they ignored me & the guards until he was dead)! The sheer randomness of this game never ceases to amaze me.

I've also noticed that if Serana uses her re-animate spell on a dead vampire, the reanimated vampire can itself still summon a Gargoyle- meaning she ends up with two extra bodies fighting for her.

[FunkyNige]

I bought this game years ago and only played the first 10 minutes before a friend said it was about to be remastered so wait until then to play it.
Has the PC version had the graphics made pretty yet? I see there are lots of mods about, which ones would you recommend to make the game experience better for a first time player?
Not sure how high a spec PC you need to run it, but my spec is here
http://www.3dmark.com/fs/6484181
(3.3MHz i5, 4GB GTX970)