The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

[Sagath]

Honestly I found it difficult going back to an elder scrolls game after Fallout 3/NV. For me, Fallout was like Oblivion, but with guns. And that made things better.

Now Skyrim is like Fallout, but without guns. And I'm not sure how to feel.

What this really means to me is that it is time tor a new Engine out of this studio. They have made millions off both of these titles, and as good as skyrim is, its long in the tooth both graphically and gameplay wise. I really hope they are already working on a new engine for their sake. They can't run this cash-cow forever

 

[Jebusman]

What this really means to me is that it is time tor a new Engine out of this studio. They have made millions off both of these titles, and as good as skyrim is, its long in the tooth both graphically and gameplay wise. I really hope they are already working on a new engine for their sake. They can't run this cash-cow forever

I thought the Skyrim engine was a new engine? The "Creation Engine" they called it.

Edit: Source: Confirmed: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim will use an entirely new engine | PC Gamer

 

[Arinoth]

Gotta remember everything will look old/reused when you developer for the consoles and port it to the computer, rather then using a pc developed engine.

 

[LarkStarr]

The creation engine *is* a new engine.

 

[Squeetard]

New engine hah. Devs love to toss that out and it is complete BS. This is an improved version of the oblivion/fallout engine. I don't care what they say.

 

[somecanadianguy]

you mean makes it look amazing and clean? instead of blocky strips of shadowing.

Setting iShadowMaskQuarter to 0 messes up interior lighting/shadows. I have pretty nice and clean shadows now with that set to 4. I'm experimenting with other values, but 4 looks pretty good to me. Seems like using the launcher to start the game resets that value to 4 anyway (as well as some other values... use tesv.exe instead).

iShadowMaskQuarter=0

iShadowMaskQuarter=4

Here's my shadow settings atm (SkyrimPrefs.ini):

iBlurDeferredShadowMask=4 (blurs edges of shadows)
fInteriorShadowDistance=3000.0000
fShadowDistance=3000.0000 (lower number = less blocky shadows, but also = less draw distance)
iShadowMapResolution=4096
iShadowMapResolutionSecondary=4096
iShadowMapResolutionPrimary=4096 (also in Skyrim.ini)
iShadowSplitCount=2
fShadowBiasScale=0.1500
iShadowMaskQuarter=4 (still experimenting with other values)
iShadowMode=4
iShadowFilter=4
bTreesReceiveShadows=1
bDrawLandShadows=1
bShadowMaskZPrepass=0


The settings below (put in Skyrim.ini) have helped the game run a lot smoother, and also increase distant detail. Anyone familiar with tweaking other Bethesda games will recognise them...

[General]
uInterior Cell Buffer=32
uExterior Cell Buffer=128
uGridsToLoad=7
iPreloadSizeLimit=209715200 (careful messing with this one)

Note about uGridsToLoad... it seems that once you set it to a number changing it to a lower number after saving can cause stability issues. I've had crashes, and so have many other people. I'm not totally sure if it's this setting causing it, but it could very well be. Right now I have it set to 7 and have not had any problems. If you find 7 causes too much lag (which it doesn't for me) and you've already saved your game you may have to either live with it or set it lower and restart your game.

 

[Shadowmeph]

What is iPreloadSizeLimit I mean what dose it do?

Also does anyone know how I can reset my Keys to default I had set the R key when I first started to my mouse 5 key and I think this is the reason why the R key doesn't work for some of the things like unlocking Shouts and a few other things.

 

[somecanadianguy]

What is iPreloadSizeLimit I mean what dose it do?

Also does anyone know how I can reset my Keys to default I had set the R key when I first started to my mouse 5 key and I think this is the reason why the R key doesn't work for some of the things like unlocking Shouts and a few other things.

iPreloadSizeLimit seems to control the amount of RAM used for preloading data. Higher values can help reduce lag. Divide the entered iPreloadSizeLimit value by 1024 and then by 1024 again to get the actual value in MB. In Oblivion setting this too high caused lots of problems (wasn't recommended to go over 250MB no matter how much RAM you had). Not sure how high is too high for Skyrim.

As for your keys... if resetting to default in-game doesn't work then reinstalling should.

 

[Shadowmeph]

Aww ok well I guess I will try this out ty

I figured out how to get rid of my custom key mapped mouse, I went directly into where the game is installed and spotted thisControlMap_Custom.txt so I renamed it by adding bu to the .txt part and now everything is back to normal.

 

[Sagath]

They say its new, but its just a modified Gamebryo engine. Which I think is pritty clear from a gameplay/mechanics POV. Saying its 'new' or calling it the 'Creation' Engine is just (as Squeetard said) a sales tactic.

This is the best writeup Ive seen about the 'new' engine:

Bethesda details TESV: Skyrim’s new Creation Engine and its awesome power | Wouldyoukindly.com