TES V: Skyrim

[Hana]

So I just went through the College of Winterhold questline. Am I the only one left with a "That's IT?!" feeling?Terribly anti-climatic and disappointing.

[Thomas Kaira]

So I just went through the College of Winterhold questline. Am I the only one left with a "That's IT?!" feeling?

Terribly anti-climatic and disappointing.

Definitely not. I haven't done that questline yet, but word on the street is Beth really blew it with the College's questline. You're also in for a similar experience with the questline for the Companions. And all the Guilds, really. That's what happens when you get questlines thrown together at the last minute.Part of me hopes there will be DLC to expand on all of the Guilds, because what we got in the base game is just unacceptable.

[Thomas Kaira]

If these work out, and are offered independent, I might finally have a reason to install ENB for Skyrim.

[prettyfly]

The College of Winterhold is terrible. Absolutely terrible. Stupidly short, paper card characters, and, above all, no plot. It really struck me as just 'a bunch of shit happening'. They did manage to lump in some really good cliches though.

[Thomas Kaira]

Okay, I gotta see this one.*starts Mage character*At this point, I stand firm that the Thieves Guild questline takes the prize for "worst story in Skyrim, period" due to it having more holes than swiss cheese and some of the dumbest characters alive.

Can someone PLEASE explain to me how Mercer Frey managed to steal the ENTIRE vault's worth of treasure while everyone and their dog was watching him?! I don't mean the lock, we already know the excuse for that (Skeleton Key), but how he actually managed to get several tons of Gold and treasures out of a well-lit vault, through the Common chamber where everyone trains, eats, and sleeps, and up a ladder without ANYBODY noticing.

[Dwip]

Does he not have that super fake secret passage to his house?

And mages is the next (last) thing I need to do. Maybe after I get done with my second Mass Effect character.

[Hana]

He does have that tunnel, but it's not connected directly to the vault. But yeah, it would take him a long ass time to stuff his pockets and casually walk out with all that shit. Maybe we're supposed to believe he's a real master of stealth.

Back to the magerant - Tolfdir is the biggest dumbass ever in a TES game. EVER. And he's a teacher in the college.

[Thomas Kaira]

He does have that tunnel' date=' but it's not connected directly to the vault. But yeah, it would take him a long ass time to stuff his pockets and casually walk out with all that shit. Maybe we're supposed to believe he's a real master of stealth.[/spoiler']

Back to the magerant - Tolfdir is the biggest dumbass ever in a TES game. EVER. And he's a teacher in the college.

After Snow Veil Sanctum, where his preferred combat strategy was "BANZAI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" and he was setting off every other trap we came across? Yeah...

[Arthmoor]

So has anyone ever seen two sets of city guards appear and fight each other to the death? I just did in Morthal. Arrived there to check something for the USKP. All was well. Waited 12 hours to run the clock down. After the wait was over, suddenly the stormcloak soldiers who belonged there were fighting Morthal city guards who were supposed to have been long gone. WTF. Never happened before.

[Arthmoor]

Interesting - found while setting up a fix for a quest in Morthal:

I know many things. I have studied things beyond the reach of most humans' date=' traveled the Oblivion planes, seen things one should not see. I have met Daedra and Dwemer and everything in between and I know enough to see a vampire where others would see a man.[/quote']Falion, a Redguard, claiming to have met Dwemer. Either he's been to Morrowind and seen Yagram or this was one of those out of the way hints of things to come in future games, indicating the Dwemer are simply on a plane of Oblivion somewhere.

[Thomas Kaira]

Or that he's just a rambling loony. :tongue:

[Arthmoor]

Well, except for how he's not considering he's the goto guy for

curing vampirism

[prettyfly]

It wouldn't surprise me. Bethesda seems to be able to hide little details that turn out to be quite significant in later games, ala the whole blades waiting for the Dragonborn thing in Oblivion, even if their quest lines can be fairly lackluster.

[Sigurð Stormhand]

It wouldn't surprise me. Bethesda seems to be able to hide little details that turn out to be quite significant in later games' date=' ala the whole blades waiting for the Dragonborn thing in Oblivion, even if their quest lines can be fairly lackluster.[/quote']A much better example would be the whole opening plot of Oblivion being in a book found in Morrowind.

[AndalayBay]

It wouldn't surprise me. Bethesda seems to be able to hide little details that turn out to be quite significant in later games' date=' ala the whole blades waiting for the Dragonborn thing in Oblivion' date=' even if their quest lines can be fairly lackluster.[/quote'']

A much better example would be the whole opening plot of Oblivion being in a book found in Morrowind.

Which one? I think I read it, but can't quite remember.

[Sigurð Stormhand]

I believe it is called "Dragon Break" - it's a book from the future, presumably the Mede Empire, which pops up in Morrowind and later Oblivion. It makes no sense until after the start of Oblivion.

[Arthmoor]

The Dragon Break Re-ExaminedWouldn't it be a kick in the ass if this, as a book from the future, was written by Dwemer?

[Sigurð Stormhand]

The Dragon Break Re-Examined

Wouldn't it be a kick in the ass if this' date=' as a book from the future, was written by Dwemer?[/quote']I was talking about the different Mer races to some friends, and I listed them, Dwemer, Dunmer, Falmer, Altmer... etc.One of my friends looked at me, and then she said...."When you list them like that it sounds really stupid."

[prettyfly]

Crazy :tongue:

[Thomas Kaira]

Quick repost here: if you want to use the shadow fix from ENB and nothing else, here's the INI setup for that:

[PROXY]EnableProxyLibrary=falseInitProxyFunctions=trueProxyLibrary=other_d3d9.dll[GLOBAL]AdditionalConfigFile=userconfig.iniUseEffect=true[FIX]ForceFakeVideocard=falseFixGameBugs=trueFixParallaxBugs=trueForceSingleCoreCPU=falseIgnoreThreadManagement=falseIgnoreThreadPriority=falseAntiBSOD=true[GAME]SpeedHack=true[MULTIHEAD]ForceVideoAdapterIndex=falseVideoAdapterIndex=0[LIMITER]WaitBusyRenderer=falseEnableFPSLimit=trueFPSLimit=60.0[INPUT]//backKeyReadConfig=8//shiftKeyCombination=16//f12KeyUseEffect=123//homeKeyFPSLimit=36//num /       106KeyShowFPS=106//insertKeyScreenshot=45[ENGINE]ForceAnisotropicFiltering=trueMaxAnisotropy=16SkipShaderOptimization=false[EFFECT]UseOriginalPostProcessing=trueEnableBloom=falseEnableAdaptation=falseEnableAmbientOcclusion=falseEnableDepthOfField=falseEnableDetailedShadow=true[BLOOM]Quality=1AmountDay=0.25AmountNight=0.25BlueShiftAmountDay=0.3BlueShiftAmountNight=1.0ContrastDay=1.0ContrastNight=1.0[CAMERAFX]LenzReflectionIntensityDay=1.0LenzReflectionIntensityNight=1.0LenzReflectionPowerDay=1.0LenzReflectionPowerNight=1.0[SSAO_SSIL]UseIndirectLighting=falseUseComplexIndirectLighting=falseSamplingQuality=1SamplingRange=0.6FadeFogRangeDay=7.0FadeFogRangeNight=7.0SizeScale=0.35SourceTexturesScale=0.35FilterQuality=1AOAmount=1.5ILAmount=4.0[NIGHTDAY]DetectorDefaultDay=falseDetectorLevelDay=0.65DetectorLevelNight=0.25DetectorLevelCurve=2.0[ADAPTATION]ForceMinMaxValues=falseAdaptationSensitivity=0.2AdaptationTime=0.4AdaptationMin=0.1AdaptationMax=100.0[ENVIRONMENT]DirectLightingIntensityDay=1.0DirectLightingIntensityNight=1.0DirectLightingCurveDay=1.0DirectLightingCurveNight=1.0DirectLightingDesaturationDay=0.0DirectLightingDesaturationNight=0.0SpecularAmountMultiplierDay=1.0SpecularAmountMultiplierNight=1.0SpecularPowerMultiplierDay=1.0SpecularPowerMultiplierNight=1.0SpecularFromLightDay=0.0SpecularFromLightNight=0.0AmbientLightingIntensityDay=1.0AmbientLightingIntensityNight=1.0AmbientLightingCurveDay=1.0AmbientLightingCurveNight=1.0AmbientLightingDesaturationDay=0.0AmbientLightingDesaturationNight=0.0PointLightingIntensityDay=1.0PointLightingIntensityNight=1.0PointLightingCurveDay=1.0PointLightingCurveNight=1.0PointLightingDesaturationDay=0.0PointLightingDesaturationNight=0.0FogColorMultiplierDay=1.0FogColorMultiplierNight=1.0FogColorCurveDay=1.0FogColorCurveNight=1.0ColorPowDay=1.0ColorPowNight=1.0[SKY]Enable=falseStarsIntensity=1.0StarsCurve=1.0AuroraBorealisIntensity=1.0AuroraBorealisCurve=1.5CloudsIntensityDay=2.0CloudsIntensityNight=0.1CloudsCurveDay=2.0CloudsCurveNight=1.5CloudsDesaturationDay=0.0CloudsDesaturationNight=0.0GradientIntensity=1.0GradientDesaturation=0.0GradientTopIntensityDay=2.0GradientTopIntensityNight=0.03GradientTopCurveDay=1.0GradientTopCurveNight=1.0GradientMiddleIntensityDay=3.0GradientMiddleIntensityNight=0.05GradientMiddleCurveDay=1.0GradientMiddleCurveNight=1.0GradientHorizonIntensityDay=4.0GradientHorizonIntensityNight=0.08GradientHorizonCurveDay=1.0GradientHorizonCurveNight=1.0SunIntensity=5.0SunDesaturation=0.0SunCoronaIntensity=15.0SunCoronaCurve=1.0SunCoronaDesaturation=0.0MoonIntensity=1.0MoonCurve=2.0MoonDesaturation=0.0[OBJECT]SubSurfaceScatteringMultiplierDay=1.0SubSurfaceScatteringMultiplierNight=1.0SubSurfaceScatteringPowerDay=1.0SubSurfaceScatteringPowerNight=1.0[LIGHTSPRITE]IntensityDay=1.0IntensityNight=1.0CurveDay=1.5CurveNight=1.5[WINDOWLIGHT]Intensity=2.0Curve=1.0[VOLUMETRICFOG]IntensityDay=1.0IntensityNight=1.0CurveDay=1.0CurveNight=2.0[FIRE]IntensityDay=2.0IntensityNight=2.0CurveDay=1.0CurveNight=1.0[COLORCORRECTION]UsePaletteTexture=false[SHADOW]ShadowCastersFix=falseShadowQualityFix=trueDetailedShadowQuality=0UseBilateralShadowFilter=true[DEPTHOFFIELD]FadeTime=0.1

Also, remove the three FX files ENB provides. That will put you back to vanilla coloring and post-processing while leaving you the ENB shadows. It's also set up to accept ENB's new parallax feature, as well. You won't see it on a vanilla game, but texture mods dedicated to adding parallax mapping to Skyrim's textures are coming along now. Whiterun is currently covered. Unfortunately, ENB is also needed for that mod to work since Beth's "rewrite" of the render included busting their original parallax shaders (which is probably why Skyrim has almost no parallax).

[Arthmoor]

Parallax doesn't concern me much, because honestly I never did see the difference it supposedly offered in Oblivion. The shadows are the only thing making me seriously consider installing ENB.I just don't like how the guy presumptuously assumes what he's doing is bugfixing when it's all very clearly changes as a matter of visual taste.

[Arthmoor]

Watch the skys travelers, Steam just dropped an unannounced update when I launched the CK.

[Ysne58]

I thought that was a Steam update rather than a Skyrim update.

[Arthmoor]

Apparently so, but they don't make that obvious by any stretch. All I saw was an update notice that refused to say what it was for.

[Dwip]

Probably a Steam update. There was one recently. My CK, as of a couple minutes ago, remains un-updated.Did you get a big grey progress bar in a popup when you first launched Steam, or did you get the "X Items downloaded" in white text at the bottom of the main window? The first is for updates to Steam itself, the second is for individual program updates like the CK.