I was intrigued by this comment by SubRosa in another thread:



I tend to agree with her initial assessment. Since the announcement, the BethSoft SkyForum is awash with opinions and speculation – more than I want to even try and follow.

I thought I’d create this thread as a place to comment on the remaster and, when the time comes, share impressions among those who try it and what is involved for those wishing to transition to it. I did note over on BethSoft that one of the moderators (Pluto) said it will be several years before another TES game is announced. So perhaps it is good to freshen up the current one. Looking over the list of enhancements though, they all seem to be cosmetic. Since my game looks fine as far as I’m concerned, my initial take is to not worry about the remaster – certainly not at this point.

The significant part of SE will be the availability of mods on the consoles. Those communities will naturally expect to get everything the PC players have had for the last five years, and some are asking where the mods are even before the game is available!

Those of us who have published mods for Skyrim are going to face demands for those mods on Xbone and PS4 even if they can't port for some reason. It's not even clear if a 64-bit SKSE will be available to help do that for the PC. I have no idea which of my mods are actually dependent on SKSE functions. I just use them when I need them, and mark everything as requiring it.

I’m going to buy it for my PS4, and when I get a new PC I’ll install the Special Edition and new Creation Kit on it. I too look forward to many more years of Skyrim. I’m happy to have the new version since my enthusiasm for the game has outlasted my hardware.

The new graphics do not impress compared to my modded and barely functional laptop game, but compared to the much loved and long played saves on my aging PS3 they look amazing. I am not a fan of the dynamic depth of field effect, however, so I won’t get too excited until I know I can actually play the game without getting ill from the visual effects.

I’m staying out of the speculation threads on the official forum. I wonder things like how to check console mods for mistakes, if multiple mod profiles will be possible, and if I will need to upload my own PS4 patches to the BethNet site so that I can download and use them. All of these questions can wait until after the game is released and are not worth wading through all of the present nonsense to answer.

I’m most excited about the big mod projects that I’ve heard about being built on the foundation of an updated Skyrim.

It is definitely good news for console players, since not only do they get better graphics, but finally access to mods. But for us PC players it does not seem to do much. It is just some visual effects that are supposedly improved, but actually already exist in mods

I honestly did not see any difference in many of the examples they showed, except when the image looked worse. Like with those sunsets/sunrises where the bright orange overpowers every other color on the screen. The new water effects immediately made me think of the many water mods out there such as Pure Waters and Water. Dynamic Depth of Field is something that also exists in mods as well. It is also something I absolutely abhor. If I want my picture blurry, I'll rub vaseline all over my monitor. It hurts my eyes to look at for even a few seconds. The God Ray effect did look better in the shot of the sunlight dappling down through the trees. That is the only thing I can honestly say looks improved.

But I might be overly harsh. This is just a very quick and probably very early view. The finished product might be better. It will undoubtedly look better on my own monitor than in a YouTube video.

Thanks for the thoughts. Like SubRosa, I hate blurriness at any distance on the screen. I'm happy enough with my graphics using basically nothing but the official graphics DLC and having my game visual settings cranked up high. ENB scares me so if I wanted better graphics I'd look at Purity. I'm very pleased for console users who may finally be able to use mods, but glad that it appears like it may not be important for me to transition to SE.

As I said, I hope we can follow the bigger pieces as things develop and, ultimately, after some folks start to use the SE.

Well...

Having restarted Skyrim on the new PS3 in actual HD now, I was mightily impressed with how awesome it actually looked, as is...

Soooo, given the difference that the trailer shows between the two, I'm actually...Well, the entire family-McB are looking forward to seeing how this new one is...

But...What I'm not looking forward to is this...

If all the DLC is going to be combined into the game, we're going to get all the random Vampire attacks...Now we've deliberately never bought Dawnguard for that reason...

So unless there's going to be a mod that neuters all vampires - because, as you all well know, I detest vampires with a passion - and the game is the whole package, Dawnguard and all, I won't be bothering...

Which is a shame, because as I said, it looks very pretty and awesome!...


Here...An article on the future of the Elder Scrolls...And given that one of the things that Pete Hines said was coming was an Fallout 4 for the VR thing they're working on...My guess is that Elder Scrolls 6 will end up being VR only...*Shrug*...A shame, but that's progress *spit* for you...

One interesting speculation is that the dependence on Steam may be removed for SE. The Fallout 4 CK phones home to Bethesda.net instead.

There are mods that reduce or outright disable the random vampire attacks. As well as those that prevent the Dawnguard questline from automatically starting, and so on.

And then the question is whether those will work on consoles. If they require SKSE ...

McB, I feel the same way about Dawnguard. I didn’t buy it for my PS3 after playing with it always active on the Xbox.

Delaying Dawnguard looks like changing a handful of variables at first glance. That’s the first thing I checked in case Timing Is Everything doesn’t make it to the PS4 and I have to figure it out myself.

Another thing I’ll have to do is fix the screen blood spatter. I really hate that.

I use Dawnguard Delayed Start, Anti Vampire Attacks Dawnguard, and Shut Up About Dawnguard, none of which require SKSE. The same with No Blood.

I have been lurking Fallout 4 forums for months now, rarely posting. I just like being aware of what's going on. It is interesting for sure.


From what I understand, anything requiring SKSE or any other third-party stuff like this won't work on consoles.

Oh...Fair dues...Ta...At least there's some hope then... ...



You bought Skyrim for both systems?!...Fair dues... ...

I know the questline is supposed to be good, and if it wasn't for the blasted randoms I'd be happy enough, I suppose...Well, I'd find a way to justify my character doing it, like I did for the Thieves' Guild...

But as it was...

Having a Dragon attack that you can see a mile off and you have to go chase down it is one thing...But having to go to each town, every time you pass nearby just in case you come back to a ghost town...Nah...Muppetry programming, that...

There are so many threads on the subject over at BethSoft that I can't be bothered trying to follow them. I am, however, following one thread based on the premise of 'I don't care about the special edition'. What I have learned is that the special edition will support 64 bit stuff whereas apparently the current game only supports 32 bit stuff. I'm woefully out of my league at trying to understand that but they tell me that this change is a big deal for those with 64 bit puters (like me) in terms of improving performance and enhancing stability. If this is true, then it might be worthwhile - depending on how easy it is to set it up with mods. There does seem to be some concerns about how existing mods will fare as well as specific concerns about SKSE, SkyUI, unofficial patches and other 'core/utility' type mods that are prerequisites for many others.

That all said, I won't go near it until it is out, tested and I hear all about what it takes to use mods for it.

64 bit is definitely a big improvement. A 32 bit OS cannot use more than 4 gig of memory total. So no game made with 32bit code can use more than that. While a 64 bit OS can use far more memory, and thus so could its games (assuming the games were coded in 64 bit). I have 16 gig of ram. Windows uses a bit over 2 gig. So I could conceivably play a game that used 14 gig of ram. That would mean incredibly high detailed graphics, physics, particle effects, no load times, a far greater rendering distance, fewer memory-related crashes, and so on. If anyone ever made a game that would use all that extra memory laying around. And I don't even have a lot of memory. When I built my current PC a few years back I could have gone with 32 gig of Ram for just $100 more. But I didn't see the point when every game around then was in 32 bit, and so would never use anything close to that.

This is something that makes following the Remastered Skyrim worth following for me. If it is truly 64 bit. Bethesda has a habit of lying after all. For example, Todd Howard claimed that Skyrim had a brand new game engine. When in fact it uses the very same engine that they used in Morrowind, just updated with more stuff slapped onto it zillion times over. So I would not take Bethesda's word that it is truly 64 bit. After it is released and people have a chance to really look at the code we will know.

And still no Morrowind remaster smh

They are still working on it

It is very doubtful that I will buy it.

I am one of the users that will gain most from the upgrade (as I play most games on Xbox 1) yet felt very disappointed with the trailer. In some strange and bizarre way my old Skyrim (on Xbox360) looks better and is still one of the most amazing looking games I have ever played. What Beth was offering left me feeling flat.

My old Skyrim already stands head and shoulders above Fallout 4 when it comes to draw distance clarity, surface rendering, particle and water effects etc. This new version reminds me of the very ordinary graphics on Fallout 4. It seems a step backwards to me.

Fallout 4 is not even in the same ballpark as Skyrim. But what Fallout does better is- FUN. The combat systems and now the mods make it absolutely amazing. Skyrim mods do not interest me as I greatly dislike the core game itself. The boring dungeons, lame combat and magic, repetitive enemies, the perk system and the shallow guild quests are a river too deep for me to cross.

And it does not help that I started a new Skyrim character just before Beth released the trailer.

So, no, back to the old lady for me and I will eagerly await the next ES game (with mods this time ).

Anyone that owns Skyrim on the PC and owns all the DLC will get the remaster for free (as a patch? upgrade?).

I'm looking forward to it because Fallout 4 runs noticeably better on my system than Skyrim does. My hope is that the Skyrim becomes more stable.

Fallout 4 is a 64 bit game, or at least it is advertised as one. At least my Googling did not come up with people saying it still has some 32 bit code in there. So of course it is more stable and runs better. If Skyrim Remastered is 64 bit as well, it will definitely be more stable.

Yeah? That's enough then for me to be happy about this then.

So has anyone tried the Special Edition yet? I am wondering how it works? Mainly if it is a separate install from your old Skyrim game, or if it copies over your existing game?

Yes, I've installed it, as the new CK is expected soon, and I've already had a request for Orc Hearthfires SE!

As yet, there's no Flawless Widescreen support, so it runs only on my left-hand monitor. I'm undecided if the new look is an improvement overall. I like the higher-res textures, but not the enforced DoF (adjustable, but I can't find "off"). Performance is merely OK, but since it's running effectively in a borderless window, instead of genuine full-screen, Windows is probably messing up the video optimisation.

The hard thing to get used to is no SkyUI. SKSE has to be updated first, and no guarantees that it will be done then. And the cloudy map, blood-spatter, and some other mod-fixed annoyances.

You can run both games. Nothing is overwritten. Saves are in a separate folder.

Body mods (since they have no esp) can be copied over and will work, but things that need new animations/skeletons etc. (jiggly bits, animated hair, poses) need re-working/conversion. Some of that needs external tools, and NifSkope has been updated to do the bits it can handle. Some nif's aren't compatible and will need de-stripifying, and missing tangents added. Anything that's not a replacement needs the CK, of course.

My first character was amused to find a horse standing where Hadvar was supposed to during the opening sequence. He was trying to push the horse off his spot, while he read the list, and it wouldn't budge.

P.S. I did fire it up at 6000x1080 and it's unplayable with the UI falling off the screen, but I can take screenshots at least. I may do a panorama from the Dragonreach Steps to post here.

SubRosa, I'm only playing it on the PS4 so far. I'll use my PC version once I've gotten a new PC. I can't think of a reason to switch to SSE from a stable, modded PC game right now unless you want to mod for the new version. I would wait until some (ha ha) of the bugs get worked out and the mods catch up. That said, I'm excited for what the future will bring with more demanding mods for the new version.

On the PS4 Skyrim is an entirely different atmosphere from on the PS3. Colors change according to light and weather. Jensa and now Jerric (of course, he will not be left out of anything) are walking around slack-jawed at how pretty it all looks. Again though, there might not be an improvement over a game that you have already modded to your liking.

ghastley, I don't remember where I saw a discussion about the Depth of Field slider not reaching zero (and you have probably solved this already), but I saw on the BethNet forums Lysette said to set bDoDepthOfField to 0 in the SkyrimPrefs.ini. That's the second thing I will change some day in my new SSE PC game. (The first thing will be timescale!)



Here are some screenshots of Jensa's unmodded PS4 game:

BFB in the afternoon snow.

BFB at dawn.

Partly cloudy with a chance of blood spatter.

It darn near looks hot out there.

The weather has definitely improved. Rain especially looks wetter and doesn't fall through the roof (or rocks) any more. The white-out blizzard has been toned down a bit, too.

I've been busy watching the water. They fixed the flow mechanics, so rivers don't flow sideways, and slow down where there's a blockage etc. The reflection/transparency of the surface seems improved, which should make fishing easier.

It is good to hear that it is completely separate from the regular Skyrim install. That will make it easier to use it. Not being able to turn off Depth of Field is bad. Unless that .ini tweak works. I am already using the same tweak with the normal version of Skyrim!

The biggest issue for me is mods. I have a few hundred of my own mods that I would have to convert before I could even consider playing the SE. Not to mention the hundreds of other people's mods that would need to be converted as well. Without SKSE and SkyUI I would not even think of it. But even if and when those get ported over to SE, I don't really think it is worth the effort just for a game that has a few more graphical improvements (and some graphical dis-improvements like forced DOF).

I think it is the consoles who get the real value here. With no mods to begin with, there is not much to hold you back. But one thing I noticed in Grits' pics instantly turns me off of trying it. I can see a faint fog over every pic. Not dramatic, but there. That is something removed by one of the mods I use, which pushes back the distance of exterior fogging, and another eliminates interior fogging.

So I do not see me ever bothering. It just looks like too much work before it is even playable.

I'll probably do most playing on the old, but supporting my mods will mean testing on SE, and hoping that XB1 works, as I'm not getting one.

Don't you have mods you've published for OE (Original Edition), and still maintain?

I do. But I have not given any serious thought to converting them to SE. I do not see the point, if I am not going to be playing it.

Yep, liking it so far. Once it gets more mods it'll be great. Haven't played in a couple of days.

I am struggling to understand how the "afternoon snow" is so dark and colorless and the "dawn" shot is bright with sunlight

But all the screens after that first one are gorgeous!!!! I love seeing color in Skyrim, it might entice me into firing it up!

The weather is a lot more "real" now. The snow would go with overcast skies, low light, and various levels of reduced visibility from the snow itself.

I find the rain to be particularly good in the new release. If only I could remember to start Fraps, I'd post some.

I think they will have to keep up with the current and future gen PC systems and Consoles; and rather than break into the new technologies with the new games they will be bringing out in the future, they decided to practice working on the new technology with an established game like Skyrim.

Then once they get the hang of it, they will start implementing their new games into the new formats.

I wouldn't be surprised if their future games will come only in 64 bit. Microsoft wants everyone to buy their latest versions of PC & XBox; and they have been huge funders in BSG. If their games are made only for the most current equipment it will force people to update their systems.

Either that, or they will offer 32 bit as a secondary option only.

Hmmm, I would hope that would be adjustable. One of my (few) fond memories of Skyrim was standing in a woods when it started snowing, and the sun was glistening off the snow flakes like it used to do when it snowed in New York State. It was a gorgeous moment, and enhanced by the music in the background it was a magical one. One of the few times I found myself enchanted by Skyrim.

Fallout 4 was Bethesda's first 64 bit game. When Beth bought out the Fallout franchise they used the game engine they had from Oblivion to make Fallout 3, giving it a few updates and tweaks. Then they took the Fallout 3 game engine and used it to make Skyrim, again, giving it tweaks. They have been using the same game engine since Morrowind in fact.

But I think they actually made a brand new game engine with Fallout 4. It is 64-bit, so it must be all new code. Unless there is still some 32-bit code buried in there (which would not surprise me, knowing Bethesda), but I have not seen anyone say so. Given their history of reusing the same game engine over and over, they undoubtedly used the Fallout 4 game engine to make the Skyrim SE (since it is also 64-bit). When their next Elder Scrolls or Fallout game comes out they will surely use the same engine again, with more tweaks. So future Beth games will all be 64 bit.

Really though it is about time. We have had 64-bit operating systems for what, 15 years now? When Windows 95 came out we were getting true 32-bit games within just a few years.

TBH, one thing I don't like about Skyrim's graphics is how dark and grey it is when it is snowing. When I go out when it is snowing the sky is all grey to be certain, but the air is bright, because snow is white, and reflects light. All the other colors in the world don't become muted either. This woman's scarf would be grey or black in Skyrim

I know that I had a lot of trouble with both Skyrim and Fallout 3 crashing on my 64 bit PC; had to go through a bunch of ini changes and some DLL to stop the constant crashes.


I've been meaning to ask this; mainly because I haven't seen or heard a single thing about it since FO4 came out - is there a Geck? Is it modable?

I believe the Geck for FO4 has been out for a while. I think you can only download it from Bethesda.Net though. But I am not sure.

I think I saw that when I went there to get the Skyrim SE CK.

You need to download the Bethesda.net launcher to get to it. That seems to also replace the Steam Client for running SSE (and it loads a lot faster), so I wonder if the same applies for FO4?

Ooh, is it possible they are cutting out the Steam middleman? And what does that do to people who bought their games via Steam?

(I just hope they don't sever Nexus).







Oh, than you! I guess since I didn't buy the game, I didn't keep following it or something. Hadn't heard a thing about mods or DLC = anything!

I'm seeing reports that the Necromage perk no longer works beneficially for vampire characters. I wonder what other stealth fixes will turn up. Hopefully the Astronaut Stone is fixed! Jerric is at Fort Dawnguard, headed in that direction next. Fingers crossed that he will not start absorbing his summon spells.

It looks like SE only needs Steam for the initial download (because of the entitlement check, they had to do it that way). Thereafter it seems to run without, but is probably directly hooked up to Bethesda instead. Still, it might persuade people like mirocu to consider the PC release. Thorny's already got a console (360?) copy of OE, so he's coming to the dork side of the farce already.

It will be a relief to me to not have to deal with Steam. It gives me a hard time about modding my games on my PC, but allows me to on my broken laptop - even though I have brought my account over to the PC and let them know I would be using IT from now on instead of the laptop.

So just what is this Bethesda Launcher, and how does it work/what does it do? I have heard of it, but never got any real details.

I suspect it's similar to the part of the Steam Client we actually need for Skyrim. DRM and little else. Without the rest of the overhead, it can be much smaller and faster.

It will just pass every keystroke to Bethesda until your next reboot, just like the Steam one.

Ok, I broke down and installed it. It is pretty much like the Steam client. Just for Bethesda. Basically the same as the Origin launcher that all EA games have, or Battle.Net for Blizzard games, and so on. There is not much on it, just the CKs for Skryim and FO4, Fallout Shelter, and their silly card game. But being able to bypass Steam would be nice.

Basically it moves the DRM from the Steam Client to the Bethesda Launcher... Still, pretty much every company has their own version of the same thing these days.

So even though I bought Legendary Skyrim through Steam, I'll be able to avoid it for Skyrim only? And does Bethesda have an "Offline" mode so I can keep playing it even when I don't have an internet connected to the PC?

I'm starting to think that it doesn't replace the Steam launcher as much as I thought at first.

When I launch SSE for the first time after booting up the PC, I still get the contact to Steam. But for all subsequent launches, it's much faster, and there doesn't seem to be any Steam linkage. Before, Steam client would nag me to go online each time, and now it's straight to the Play/Settings/Quit menu without that.

Whether the Bethesda launcher is keeping an online connection alive, I haven't investigated, but I doubt it. It would need to connect to look or mods, but you can't tell if it does so when you select that option, or at start-up. I haven't pulled the plug to find out, mainly because it's out of reach.

However, I need the Bethesda connection for converting and upload mods for Xbox, so the Launcher is more relevant there.

---

I'm now trying to decide which mod comes next. I may just repeat the order I built them. I won't bother with the outfits, as they'd really need higher-res textures for SE. That consideration may lead me to holding back on Khajiit HF until I can do a better canopy texture.

Agreed. In a post apocalyptic wasteland one might expect a lack of bright color overall; but I've seen pictures of Alaska (and even Antarctica) and they are stunningly beautiful. Rather than being colorless, the snow almost creates a prismatic effect. I'm glad they included the Northern Lights though!

*deleted rant about other things that bug me about Skyrim...*

I wonder if it will be like when you "Port" textures from one game to the next how sometimes their size is altered in the new game rendering them unusable for that purpose there. I had trouble bringing cloth textures (that I used perfectly fine in Oblivion) into Skyrim, it was like they were being held under a giant magnifier.

Just bought the Special Edition for the Xbox One since I've heard Sony screwed over the PS4 owners.

At long last....Mods!! Never have I experienced some good console mods.

I'll be playing it later this week whenever I have the time!

WOO HOO!!! Mods !!!