To the mods! could give links to the nexus or steam, if it ever comes up again!

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=711
water and land, and

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=7654
IIRC this is the lighting mod I use, Also use the 2k HD texture pack, to name afiew.
*Using FXAA in those pics. For settings, depends on your Pc.

Thanks! Does the lighting mod do anything except - I assume - make the nights darker?

Ah... so it's not something you can simply adjust in the Options for the game itself?

What PC specs are relevant? I have Win7 64 bit, 16 gigs RAM, AMD Phenom II x 4 965 CPU, two Radeon HD 5770 1 GB cards w/ Crossfire. Running the GPU drivers from... December, I think, since upgrading to the newest version gave me problems with Skyrim that disappeared when I rolled back.

Have the GPU software set to default to game specs where possible. The game's Options are at the recommended High levels altho I manually put the two bottom things on the first window there (AA and Anisotrophic Filter?) from 8 back to 4 because it felt too laggy otherwise.

There is a option in the advanced options screen for FXAA just click the box, should work.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfile...48&searchtext=
steam link to the lighting mod, as I said im not sure thats the proper link, but i think it was.

Right, but does that automatically "turn off" any other AA stuff that's not needed or shouldn't be functioning at the same time? I really have no idea about any of that stuff, I usually just let a game set its own defaults unless I have problems and need to tinker. Which I don't much, but I know when I had something running that showed my FPS I rarely got above 25-30, and that was usually when I was standing still or paused with a menu up.

I got rid of the little app that showed that because it annoyed me to see the FPS drop so low (into the teens sometimes) when I didn't really *feel* like the game was lagging... altho it does a bit when I first enter certain locations which is really irritating sometimes. :stare:

It should, who know, works fine for me. Though it appears at times the game can be really random, and my Fps go down badly, usually in dungeons, but it think it may have to do with lighting and shadows.

and now to figure out how to get grass to render farther away, as It likes to just pop up at times.

From googling it looks like you can use one or the other or both it's just a matter of what gives you the most appealing combo of performance and quality. :yep:

Question: How long-lived are people in Skyrim, in Tamriel, or on Nirn (whichever applies if there's a difference)?

Now I know that some of the Elven characters have apparently been around a while, so I don't know if they are like Tolkien's elves which are apparently immortal unless killed by some "unnatural" cause.

But I'm talking about the Nords, and I guess the other races that we would recognize as "human" as opposed to humanoid.

Cuz Ulfric looks to me like he could be around 40 years old at most to my eyes (which, granted, are slightly biased, but still).

But the game starts in 4E 201, so it's been 25 years since he (apparently) led the Nord militia when they retook Markarth from the Forsworn. Before that, he was already in the Imperial Legion fighting in the Great War and had to have joined early enough to be captured and interrogated by the Thalmor prior to the fall of the Imperial City in 4E 174, because the Thalmor led him to believe that info they obtained in breaking him led to their success there even though it did not.

Before THAT, he was at High Hrothgar with the Greybeards long enough, it seems, to have mastered at least one shout, because he used it to great effect against the Forsworn in 4E 176.

Since he is not Dragonborn, he presumably spent many years with the Greybeards in order to master just that one shout. Say it was only five, that puts us at least as far back as 4E 169, and that's assuming he didn't leave HH to fight in the Great War until 4E 174 which I find doubtful.

So we'd have a guy who now appears by his looks to be around 40 years of age (but is still sometimes portrayed as a young hot-head in comparison to other leaders) and yet was old enough over 30 years ago to be sent off to HH and presumably join a quasi-monastic order despite being the only heir (that I know of) to the Jarl of Windhelm. Unless he's way older than he looks to me in actual years.

I'm just wondering, is there some 'standard' thing in TES games where we know all peeps live long and age slower, or am I just getting obsessed with things that don't really matter and no one else cares about and I should just go back and play the game and stop worrying about how old Ulfric is in order to flesh out my little personal fantasies oh hey did I type that out loud? :oops: :O:

Hmm.. I'm fairly sure that the human races (bretons, nords, imperials etc.) have
somewhat "normal" lifespan. :hmmm:

Wouldn't think the elves would live much longer, some may be shorted id think.

Then again, Divayth Fyr in Morrowind was some 4000 years old. :88)

They don't live that long when I'm around! and now back to my elven genocide.

I'm pretty sure the Arch Mage at Winterhold mentions that he was an apprentice there at the time of Artaeum's most recent disappearance - it comes up if you ask him about the Psijic monks after one appears to you. And Artaeum last disappeared about 100 years prior to the events at the start of the game. So he is already 100+ years old and doesn't look like he's anywhere near the end of his normal lifespan.

I liked him, I wish he wasn't a character that was scripted to die. I was just thinking last night about some of the NPCs that I really have grown fond of... Calcemo is one, best "taking your leave" dialogue of anybody IMO. His "What? Oh. Goodbye!" never fails to crack me up. He may be the only person in Markarth I actually *do* like at this point. I also like Tolfdir a lot, he seems really sweet. And I guess I'll find out what scoundrels some of the Khajiit traders are if I ever join the Thieves Guild but they are among my favorite NPCs to deal with as my current character. There are a couple of old ladies in alchemy shops who are also very sweet altho one of them never seems to be open when I get there, even in the middle of the day... she must like a 3 or maybe 4 mead-tini lunch. :haha:

And of course M'aiq is awesome, goes without saying.

Edit: from the UESP Wiki Lore page on the Altmer:

Emphasis mine. Can't find anything yet that refers to lifespans of other races.

Yes, It appears to be a very unhealthy thing to be the head of any of the guild/organizations in Skyrim...

As was mentioned, Divayth Fyr was over 4000. Mages can be very long lived.

Brand Shei was born in 4E 6 and he still looks pretty good considering that the game takes place in 4E 201. Barenziah was born in 2E893 and was still alive in Tribunal which took place in 3E 427 - 431 years later. Dunmer live a long time, pbviously.

Tiber Septim was 108 when he died according to The Arcturian Heresy, so Nords can get to be pretty old too.

He's the general goods merchant in the marketplace in Riften, correct? I didn't even think of him and, yeah, once you know his backstory it's pretty easy to see he's no spring chicken. :haha:

And he reigned for 38 years which means he was still presumably fighting to establish and unite his empire when he was in his 60s.

Skyrim Audiobook Mod Project Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yJEObaowi0

Forum thread with few recordings:
http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.ph...im-audiobooks/

Very nice. :yep:

I'm on the opposite side. This is a world without indoor plumming, water heaters and one where most people live an, essentially, 10th century lifestyle. They also spend their time crawling through dungeons, working forges and toiling in fields. Why in the hell would they be so clean? What logic is this?

One of my favorite things about Skyrim was that they finally brought a little Fallout to The Elder Scrolls.

Two words: Magic Wetnaps.

Its probably best to keep mages out of the conversation all together when it comes to age.. I mean they are magic.. Vanus Galerion and Mannimarco may well have lived forever if they didn' t kill eachother, which didn't even really stop Mannimarco from coming back.

So for the sake of finding an answer I'd focus on non mages.

As for that I assume Elves, live for thousands of years on average. Atleast the High Elves. Dark Elves and Wood Elves may differ slightly but I wouldn't think by too much.

Id say from the sounds of most stories too that most of the (human) characters that aren't killed in great battles in their prime live for about 100 years. roughly.

They may not have modern healthcare, but they have Magic, and Powerful Alchemists.

I agree, the game needed to be gritty. One of the things i disliked about Oblivion, was how everything was so neat and tidy. In my opinion, a game world where swordplay is used needs to be gritty to be believable.

edit: As gritty goes, every fight in skyrim should be as gritty as the first 10 minutes of Gladiator.