Elder Scrolls V in the works - direct sequel to Oblivion

[Krauter]

True. Generally as a rule of thumb, when I'm sneaking and attacking, unless I can't 1HKO the person, I won't attack, but will move past or put myself in a position so that when I do attack I am in an advantage.

[Ducimus]

I started a stealth oriented archer a couple of times. I'd say both times, i got as far as lvl 10 or so before I got bored. You just go around one shotting everything in a dungeon. Except for any boss's. Those can suck unless you find some place to perch and rain arrows down upon them, or run away fast enough so you can hide and shoot them from stealth. (Upon which the game promptly bugs and your unable to loot their corpse).

Anywho, while stealth kills from afar make me giddy, it's also boring in its repetition, and lacks some of the cooler more rewarding aspect of the game like the finishing moves. Id say about the only real challenge of archery, is being a marksman.

And yet, despite all that, i still like to do it every now and then. So, ill dabble in archery as a minor thing from time to time, just to satisfy my craving for cheesy kills, though because i didn't speclaize in it, there not one shot kills, but the snickering from the above linked video still holds true.

[frau kaleun]

I am having a problem now with the game crashing to desktop, either when I try to do a manual save or when I move from one cell into another and the game has to load the new cell (i.e. going from a city street into a shop or inn or home, or vice versa).

After messing around this evening it seems like the crashes are only happening *after* I have done something to advance time - first noticed it after sleeping overnight in an inn, after which the game would crash when I tried to go out of the inn. Reloaded a previous save and went back in the inn but did not sleep or wait, just went right back out the door and it was fine. Then I did a Wait in the street to get to the time when the shop next door would open, and the game crashed when it tried to load the interior of the shop.

I could use console commands to move myself back and forth from the village street to the inside of the shop, but I couldn't go through the door normally without a CTD.

Have also tried similar stuff with trying to move into a new cell after fast traveling or even using one of the carriages to get from one city to another. Pretty much the same deal - once I do that, at some point I have to move from one cell to another and *boom* I'm back at the desktop. This also happens if I've done a wait/sleep/fasttravel/carriage and then try to do a manual save.

I looked online and found suggestions about playing only in offline mode, deleting old unwanted saves, disabling all the Autosave functions, and I will try those but if anybody has any other suggestions please let me know.

I also found something about using a utility of some kind to identify corrupted save data and delete it? But that may have been for one of the consoles and not the PC version. I've looked in all the Skyrim folders and I can't find anything like what I read about.

[frau kaleun]

Okay this is definitely a wait/sleep/fast-travel thing. I tried deleting old saves and turning off autosave and I can go in and run in and out of places and do fine UNTIL I sleep, wait, or otherwise do something that advances the time in-game. After that, if I try to save, it CTDs.

Also when I was poking around looking at files I found a "warning" message in the Skyrim.ini file about one or more files that some plugin needs to work properly not being found. The last time I changed any mods the game worked fine afterwards until now... and I don't think I changed or added or removed anything that required a plugin. Altho I did upgrade to the latest version of SKSE, however according to the readmes all the mods I use that need should be fine with that.

The warning message says to check some file called warnings.txt for details but I can't find any such file.

[Skybird]

I'm still alive. Barely. Since over 2 days no posting from me - guess why.

Game installed and updated in two minutes, without that several hours-long torture I had before with Shogun, offline mode thankfully works this time as intended. Very nice game, can't remember when the last time was that I played anything so exessively. Occasional quest bugs that so far Google helped me to handle. Have specialised in experimenting with fellow fighters accompanying me, somehow this really catches me. My favourites are that female darkelve archer from the tavern in Whiterun, for she avoids traps by herself and uses her bow preferrably (playingh the sneaky archer-type of guy myself). Lydia is a nice balance between distant and close fighting, but seems to run into any trap there is. I have just unlocked Mjoll (and almost got killed during that quest) and gave her best armour I can find. And then Marcero or what the guy is called, the magican in Rifton. Definetly has seen too many Star Wars movies, one moment I see the enemy, the next moment he already has zapped it. He even zaps stuff I never have seen. It'S a constant zapping noise behind me. The big zapper of Rifton county, that's what they called him, but they did not live long enough to tell anybody. But I do not use him anymore, he is not really fun - got grilled myself too oftenb, too, and he leaves me too little bloody fun for myself to do.

Maybe not everybody knows it, but there are bugs with the companions (the followers I mean, to be precise), it is sometimes hard to make them wear the stuff you give them, and they never use any other bow than their default (except Imperial bows which they accept if they are stroinger than their hunting bows). Solution I found via Google: take everything from them you still want them to carry, later. Then open console, click on the character, and type removeallitems. This frees them of all deafault cloathing and default weapons, especially those weapons that usually do not get listed in their inventory, including their bows. Then give them a body armour first, and then anything you want them to use. They now will use just these weapons, and not the default bow anymore. Also nice is that they keep the stuff you gave them when you leave themn and later rejoin them - it still is there.

Shields obviously are wasted on companions preferring to fight with two-handed weapons (Mjoll). Give them the best two-hander you can get instead, but also a good bow. Give them best armour.

I also had the luck - I assume it is randomised - to find dwarf boots very early, a very strong item for that early stage of the game, the boots are giviong 100% silence. I give them to the companion I travel with, and take it back when I leave him/her. The companion will no longer give our presence away when I carefully make a sneaky approach onto a dungeon. It is details like this, or the fantastic landscape, water, sky colour-light-show that impresses me most.

In tight tunnels, I order companions to an elevated position from where they can rain arrows, or I leave them in a hall with much room if the tunnels are too tight. I then lurk overwhelming hordes of enemies into that hall where the companion can join me in massacring them - else I constantly feel my companion'S weapons stinging in my back. Its just that followers ordered to halt nevertheless start moving all by themselves once a fight begun, and they close in, and too early. In giving orders to followers, there is space for improvements. Basioc orders like "Stay here, do not close in", "Close in to infight", "Prefer distanced weapon, avoid infight", "stay concealed".

It seems companions have different combat styles indeed. The elve archer avoids close fighting if possible and sticks to her arrows, if possible. Lydia and Mjoll fire just from the distance, but seek the closer infight early on.

So far it all runs wiothout the troubles Shogun gave me, I hope it stays like that. It'S really the great game people are saying. Already a classic. I know I will play this exessively over the next months. It simply looks marvellous. I loved Oblivion, I now love Skyrim. And the soundtrack, with the occasional repetition of the old Oblivion-theme- that's those little tricks by which to make Oblivion-players feel at home immediately. Or the Nirnwurz.

Funniest thing that made me laugh out loud. Bad guy mumbling to himself: "Diebstahl, ja, das ist noch echte Kunst. Man schleicht sich rein, nimmt sich was man will, und geht wieder. Ganz ohne Gewalt. - Hm. - Klingt eigentlich eher langweilig."

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by Skybird

I'm still alive. Barely.

And then Marcero or what the guy is called, the magican in Rifton. Definetly has seen too many Star Wars movies,

I knew I loved him for a reason. And be nice, that's my Magigolo you're talking about.

one moment I see the enemy, the next moment he already has zapped it. He even zaps stuff I never have seen. It'S a constant zapping noise behind me.

That's another reason why I love traveling with him, especially on long treks through the wilds. I don't really have to worry about wild animals or other hostiles taking me by surprise from behind or the side. I just run and let him watch my back and he does it very well, so many times I hear the *zap* and turn around with my weapons drawn and he's standing there bathed in the glow of some protective spell, hands all a-glimmer with destruction, and the lifeless form of a would-be attacker at his feet. And he just looks at me like: "What?"

My biggest complaint with him as a follower is that sometimes his spells blast the enemy so far away from where I last saw them that I have to spend several minutes trying to find them before I can loot them properly.

And of all the followers I've had so far I found his conversation the most appealing.

Maybe not everybody knows it, but there are bugs with the companions (the followers I mean, to be precise), it is sometimes hard to make them wear the stuff you give them, and they never use any other bow than their default (except Imperial bows which they accept if they are stroinger than their hunting bows). Solution I found via Google: take everything from them you still want them to carry, later. Then open console, click on the character, and type removeallitems.

There also appears to be an issue with followers and carry weight, i.e. how much stuff they can carry for you. It happens IME when you have a follower who is dismissed (either deliberately by you, or by the start of some quest that requires you to play alone or only with another designated follower) and picked up again repeatedly. What seems to happen is that every time you reacquire the follower, the game gives them another set of their default clothes, weapons, etc. I'm not sure if this is with every follower, but I really noticed it with Marcurio after I married him and did a number of quests where I was given other temporary followers and so he was constantly being dismissed and then I'd have to go back and tell him to follow me again. It got to the point where I'd give him an extra dagger to carry and suddenly he couldn't carry anything else.

If that happens you can use removeallitems as noted above and also there's a command to reset inventory, which will give them back one and only one set of their original stuff so they still have apparel and weapons if you need to take back everything you give them afterwards.

I have been using Argis lately, the housecarl you are given if you become Thane of Markarth, and I don't know if it's because I'd leveled up more before I met him and his stats were set or what, but he is a total badass. Found/made him a set of Orcish armor and preferred weapons and enchanted them all and he's turning out to be a lot like the Magigolo only without the magic. So far he has been almost unstoppable even against some strong magical opponents, I'm sure the resistance enchantments help, but even before that he was a powerhouse. Also I have not taken any of his original equipment away from him but he is definitely using the Orcish bow and arrows I gave him instead of his default stuff, I can tell because the bow is enchanted so it's easy to see he's pulling out that one instead of the default and I usually find and retrieve Orcish arrows when I loot the bodies of baddies that he's hit with it.

Shields obviously are wasted on companions preferring to fight with two-handed weapons (Mjoll). Give them the best two-hander you can get instead, but also a good bow. Give them best armour.

From what I've seen, followers will generally equip themselves with the apparel that provides the most protection and the weapons that (potentially) do the most damage, regardless of whether or not the gear is appropriate for their preferred fighting style and skill levels in various areas. I found this out the hard way with my first character when I traveled almost exclusively with Vilkas, who is pure warrior/combat with an emphasis on two-handed weapons and zero magic. I kept finding all these staves and eventually I had to give him a couple to carry and then in the middle of a pitched battle I would hear some zapping and popping and turn around and he would be trying to use one of them instead of whatever axe or greatsword he had.

I mean it was just sad, he actually got killed once by trying to shock a bear to death with a staff when he could've taken it down easily in one or two swings of his blade. Lesson learned - do not, I repeat DO NOT, give Vilkas any magical weapons to carry because he *will* use them. Badly.

I also had the luck - I assume it is randomised - to find dwarf boots very early, a very strong item for that early stage of the game, the boots are giviong 100% silence.

The Muffle enchantment is great. Use it on my own gear and anything I give to a follower. Especially nice since we all tend to wear heavy armor. Definitely helps with the sneaking, even at a higher level of Sneak skill it still seems to make a difference.

[Ducimus]

@ frau kaleun,

Reguarding CTD's, im not sure how to fix that, except to maybe back those saved games up, and wait for the patch. It should be out soon. (Supposedly at the end of January). I say wait for the patch because I've seen messageboard posts from some users who claim the beta patched fixed similiar problems to what your having, and even optimized the save game files from "bloat".

Speaking of save game files, how large are yours? I have this theory i developed while playing Fallout New Vegas which uses an earlier (more like previous ) version of the game engine Skyrim uses. My theory is that the longer you play, the bigger your save game files become. Watch them, and you'll see. Why do they become bigger? Tracking more data obviously. FInished this quest, started that quest, inventory items, stuff stored in houses, etc etc. However, also part of that data tracking is stuff you leave laying around. Ever load up on a bunch of loot, and suddenly find your out in the middle of nowhere, encumbered, and can't move very well? What happends? Drop.. drop. drop drop drop drop.

All that stuff you drop, it stays there, game tracks it. Even items you manipulate in the game world. Ever just pick up a book, then toss it aside? Game tracks that too. In sum, my theory is to help reduce save game file bloat, try not to trash the game world, as the game tracks it all. In other words, keep a lite footprint, so you don't give the game more to track.

At first, this isn't an issue, but the longer you play, the more data is being tracked. You'll notice it become an issue when you notice quick save and quick load take longer and longer. Perhaps even the game freezing up from time to time when loading a save file or new area. At least thats my theory. I think one hits a trouble area when your saved game file hits around 12-14 megabytes or so.

Again, this is all just my personal theory developed from playing another (similar, but not the same) game.


Aside from that, id recommend going lite on mods, and avoding any massive overhauls. (hypocritcal of me to say so i know.) But, my advice again, is to keep a lite footprint on mods as well. Using as few as possible, and only ones that directly address an issue (and ONLY the issue) that is bothering you, whatever that issue may be. The Elder scroll serieis has a ton of modders, and i think most of them don't know what their doing; changing things because they can, so you end up with mods that spiderweb into areas they probably shouldn't. At least that my personal opinion, and I am no modding guru in the elder scrolls game, so take it for what its worth.

[frau kaleun]

Thanks Duci, I have seen stuff about savegame sizes being an issue, but I don't think that's the problem here as I can save with no problem (and load those saves and play from them) and enter any location I've tried with no problem but *only* if I have not waited, slept, fast-traveled or used one of the carriages for quick travel from one city to another during a given playing session.

I did this over and over again last night after trying out some of the suggestions I found online, and it was always the same. I had no problems until I did one of those things. I could move around from place to place and make saves (either auto or manual) with no CTDs but as soon as I used one of the options that caused a "quick advance" of the in-game time, the next time it tried to save (or load a new cell, which usually autosaves so I think it's saving that's the issue) the game would crash.

If I reloaded a save I could play fine and make saves while playing and reload those saves and it was fine - until I waited/slept/etc. and after that point, it was impossible to save without a CTD. A manual save would cause it as well as anything that caused the game to autosave.

I don't have many mods but I read something after I posted about some of the mods for Proudspire Manor causing trouble with saving, but intermittently and sometimes only after hours of gameplay does the problem pop up. I am using one of the mods in question and I hate to give it up since the house is pretty much useless to me without it, but I am going to try removing it and see what happens. I will have to travel all the way back to Solitude from Breezehome and pick up everything I've stored there and then carry it somewhere else, fortunately I think it's only some weapons and the light armor/apparel I looted from the Dark Brotherhood and a few books. I think between the two of us my follower and I can lug it all somewhere else, sadly this will all have to be done in "real time" in order to get a decent save once it's stashed away elsewhere. Probably just store it all back in Whiterun since the only mods I have for that location are an enchanting table and some extra bookshelves and I've had them in place since (almost) Day One for this character with no problems at all. Stash everything in one of the original storage containers just to be safe and then get a good save and get out, remove the Proudspire mod, and see what happens.

If that doesn't work then I can just repeat the process as needed with other homes and keep removing the associated mods, and then anything else I'm using, until I see if something can be identified as the culprit.

I will really hate for it to be one of the mods for the player homes, since they are a big part of what makes owning the properties worthwhile.

[Skybird]

I am not aware of any loggage problems with followers when giving them the removeallitems-treatement, I read about it, but after that treatement did noit see it. In fact this night I have sent Lydia home, loaded with tons of loot earned between Whiterun and Rifton until she could bear anymore, then had Mjoll packed with more loot after I continued to Rifton. We went to whiterun, and I sold my stuff, got Mjoll'S load, and sold that, sent her home, and rejoined Lydia, got her parcels, and then sold these. It all worked well.

But after just two days and nights of play, I have not seen much, mostly Whiterun and Rifton, and some of the icy North when doing the quest for Mjoll'S sword. Solitude I saw from a distance, Windhelm I bypassed during that quest, and Markath I have not even discovered so far. But many dungeons I stumbled over.

Bethesda is a master in distracting players from the main quest'S path.

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by Skybird

I am not aware of any loggage problems with followers when giving them the removeallitems-treatement, I read about it, but after that treatement did noit see it. In fact this night I have sent Lydia home, loaded with tons of loot earned between Whiterun and Rifton until she could bear anymore, then had Mjoll packed with more loot after I continued to Rifton. We went to whiterun, and I sold my stuff, got Mjoll'S load, and sold that, sent her home, and rejoined Lydia, got her parcels, and then sold these. It all worked well.

But after just two days and nights of play, I have not seen much, mostly Whiterun and Rifton, and some of the icy North when doing the quest for Mjoll'S sword. Solitude I saw from a distance, Windhelm I bypassed during that quest, and Markath I have not even discovered so far. But many dungeons I stumbled over.

Bethesda is a master in distracting players from the main quest'S path.

Tell me about it. I have been playing almost every day since before Christmas, sometimes for 24-36 hour stretches when not working. On my second character and I *still* have not completed the main quest. I know it's probably not true but I'm a little afraid that after it's done everything else will seem almost anticlimactic.

I think the thing with the followers and the encumbrance issue starts to be a problem if you acquire and dismiss them repeatedly and never remove/reset their inventory using the console, and the game resets their default inventory on acquisition enough times that they end up carrying a lot of weight you can't see. If you are using removeallitems on them as a matter of course in order to insure that they use only the weapons and armor you give them, it should never be a problem.

Actually I think the removeallitems console command probably works on any NPC, I may have to try it the next time I'm in Windhelm paying Ulfric a visit. Just as an experiment to see if it, you know, really works on everybody.

I'll give him his clothes back when I'm done, I promise. Altho I've heard that he pretty much just ignores you once the Civil War quest is over, so maybe making him walk around in his undies is the only joy I'll get from him from now on.

The quest for Mjoll - I've got it in my journal but haven't gone any farther than that. I don't know if the location is randomized or not but in my current game I think it's in some Dwarven ruin and I really hate those. OTOH, I've got the Muffle enchanted boots now and I've gotten pretty good at stealth attacks... it even makes fighting the Falmer less repugnant altho they still give me the creeps. But I cleared out the excavation and ruins under Markarth again, which was my *least* favorite place with my previous character, and it really wasn't too bad. About 90% of the Falmer we encountered never knew what hit them. (Hint: it was an arrow.)

[Ducimus]

Originally Posted by Skybird

Bethesda is a master in distracting players from the main quest'S path.

Oh yes!

Originally Posted by frau kaleun

Tell me about it. I have been playing almost every day since before Christmas, sometimes for 24-36 hour stretches when not working.

Yeah same here, sans the 24 hour + stretchs. More like 4 or stretchs in the wee hours of the morning while the Mrs is still asleep.


Yes, I fear that anyone waiting for me to go back to modding SH4 is going to have a bit of a wait on their hands.

Oh, and I can't wait to get my grubby mitts on the construction kit!

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by frau kaleun

I think the thing with the followers and the encumbrance issue starts to be a problem if you acquire and dismiss them repeatedly and never remove/reset their inventory using the console, and the game resets their default inventory on acquisition enough times that they end up carrying a lot of weight you can't see. If you are using removeallitems on them as a matter of course in order to insure that they use only the weapons and armor you give them, it should never be a problem.

I'm not sure. NPC have a default bow, a hunting bow (NOT the often quoted Imperial bow). As long as the have default bows, they will never use any other bows. They will use better swords, but never better bows, it seems. Googled boards say that, too.

If they would default their original equipment once you removed it, they would not use any better bow you have given them and which they continued to own even when you had sent them away. But they seem to do, they stay with their given weapons and bows, and I also have not seen their loadingh capacity decreasing - I tested it just this afternoon after reading your last answer above.

So it seems to me that once the removeallitems command has been given at least once, the problem you descriobed becomes non-existent?!

Something else, the game does autopatch when I switch Steam online every couple of weeks, and a newer version is available, yes? I mean I do not need to additionally choose "update" anywhere, yes?

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by Skybird

I'm not sure. NPC have a default bow, a hunting bow (NOT the often quoted Imperial bow). As long as the have default bows, they will never use any other bows. They will use better swords, but never better bows, it seems. Googled boards say that, too.

I'm not sure this is true of all follower NPCs, I have not taken any equipment away from Argis (my current follower) but have given him an enchanted Orcish bow and a good number of Orcish arrows to go with the armor I gave him. Prior to that in ranged attacks he would use whatever (hidden) bow he came with. Now he equips himself with the Orcish bow and uses the matching arrows.

The Orcish bow is enchanted so it has the telltale glow/aura and I have checked many times when we readied our weapons while creeping through dungeons or up towards a dragon lair. He is definitely bringing out the Orcish bow, unless he is switching it up for the hidden default one when he actually starts shooting and I just don't see it. But I'm almost positive I have watched him shoot and it *is* the better bow he's using. He is definitely using the Orcish arrows, because I will often loot one or two of them off the bodies of someone he's just killed. Many of those individuals carried no bow and arrow themselves or were unarmed (except for magic) and I don't use Orcish gear, so they have to be coming from Argis.

So it seems to me that once the removeallitems command has been given at least once, the problem you descriobed becomes non-existent?!

Regarding encumbrance, I don't know. It's possible that if you do removeallitems once and *never* reset the followers inventory back to its default, the game never does it automatically either. This would result in them never having anything other than what you gave them. I have only used removeallitems once when it was obvious Marcurio was carrying a lot of hidden items after having been dismissed and reacquired numerous times. The only explanation I can find is that the game was continually adding a new set of default items every time I reacquired him as a follower; I don't think it was his "merchant" inventory as that only seems to be active when he is out of follower mode and had he been carrying all of that around for as long as we've been together the problem would've become obvious a lot sooner.

Something else, the game does autopatch when I switch Steam online every couple of weeks, and a newer version is available, yes? I mean I do not need to additionally choose "update" anywhere, yes?

It should, when I went back to online mode when the last patch came out it downloaded and installed it automatically as soon as I opened the program.

[Ducimus]

I do beleive patch 1.4 has gone live, im downloading a 192 MB update now.

[Dowly]

Originally Posted by Ducimus

I do beleive patch 1.4 has gone live, im downloading a 192 MB update now.

Change log:
http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/news/article.php?id=57