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It's a hard choice, but I think they need someone new to helm the TES series. Todd had a good run, but when he has ideas, he seems to have problems on determining how to implement them and to give them reason and benefit. And, well... That's what a lot of people are asking for - Systems and mechanics that are both interesting and rewarding enough to use and deep enough to expand gameplay. Skyrim's new stuff was at most kiddie pool deep. :confused:

Sometimes certain sound effects, especially those from old games, tend to come from SFX libraries that were around at the time, as setting up sound stages tended to be outside of a studio's budget. Some of these old SFX libraries are free, or are now free as they have aged and become more associated with the games that used them instead of just standing by themselves.

I think one of the clothing replacers for one of the bodies has an error with the robes - Do you use any body replacers, and which ones are they?

I'd like to remove the lens flare effect from the game as it's a) distracting (but not as much as the UI) and b) it's unrealistic when compared to the perception of the human eye. Better yet, I'd like it to be limited to only when the camera is in use to keep it realistic... Anyone have an idea on how to do that?

One trick you can try is to clone what is in one UV map into another. Make two UV textures - One that is for the final product, and the other for the proportionally-sized unwrap. Use the porportionally-sized layout, export the wireframe, and then make your blade texture using that. Once it's done, select the other, squashed UV that you'll be using, and go into Texture Paint mode. Back where you find UV textures, you'll want to set the texture you're cloning to the one that isn't squashed. Set the brush to Clone, and start painting - It will immediately begin painting the non-squashed mesh's texture into the UV of the squashed mesh. There will be some quality loss, but the result is something that can be used.

Personally, I think we're somewhat overdue for a moddable RPG that takes place in the modern world, in perhaps an urban to suburban setting. Mind you, it should be a RPG at its core, and not something like GTA V will be (or Fallout 3 where it's post-apoc), but lets you change or replace almost anything, yet not hand you with an overly complex editor like the CK has become.

Square Enix really did lose steam after two of its key personnel (Sakaguchi and Umastsu) quit to form Mistwalker. In fact, considering some of the choices made by Square Enix, I'm getting the feeling that it's quickly becoming a studio that can't earn back its losses and most of its members are mostly people desperate for work, or that the overall management of tasks has an all-time low over there as they over-emphasize on cutscenes (see above) just to send the message that the game's getting a redo. I mean, sure, it looks great and everything, but wouldn't it have been better if they spent less time on that and more time fine-tuning the systems somewhat more? They're trying to climb on the hard side of the uncanny valley for a game that just doesn't belong there.

Looks like it's referring to the vanilla femalefoot.dds file instead of the HGEC version. Make sure your HGEC textures are properly installed as well as the Roberts feet for HGEC. You'll also need to do some ArchiveInvalidation, or better yet use Wrye Bash and reset your timestamps on your BSAs. Oblivion tends to load files according to timestamps, so earlier files get overwritten by later files; I believe that the Steam version of Oblivion puts the current date and time on BSAs, so most replacer mods won't work unless you reset those.

I'm hoping that FTL ends up under $5... It's caught my interest, but it's one of those games where I don't know if I'll completely like it or not...

Again, depends on the person, and the type of fantasy you prefer. TES is the kind of fantasy that's grounded in reality, where things like dirt and blood exist - Unlike the typical fairytale fantasy where everyone good is beautiful and has the perfect skin and figure, and rarely to never get dirty (even when they do work is very dirty), while the evil are all ugly and have wrinkles and distorted, crooked bodies, and look like they haven't washed in months.

When prompted, check the "Do this for the next # files" and select No, and there shouldn't be any changes in your mods.

I think the first thing they need to do is reorganize themselves before they even start VI. After giving us very, very shallow renditions of what was promised to us in Skyrim, perhaps they should just focus on figuring out what people want most in the core game instead of assuming that the next game just has to appear more epic than the last. Another thing they need to do is solve the "stressed vs. fair" elf appearance debacle that's been introduced between Oblivion and Skyrim. There are those who want brow ridges and looks that appear like they could take a blow to the face or two (and have), and then there are those who for the most part want the fair, Tolkien-esque looks that in part came from Oblivion (which itself and Skyrim was based upon several locations of LOTR). Easy way to do it? Basically, your commoners are rough and dirty while most mages, high-class, and noble elves are going to appear much fairer, with perhaps some switcharounds to complement a character's personality. Oh, another step is to stop using LOTR for major inspiration. It might be fine for the nations built by men, but what is left has been established by mer and beasts, and you know people want surreal yet realistic environments for the mer nations (and maybe Black Marsh). And, I know this might be tough for them to do, but perhaps it's time to bring in someone new to write the stories and lore for the new game - People who care about the dialog and dimensions of the characters have been, for the most part, disappointed in Skyrim's dialogue and choreography, as in if the whole thing being acted out was done by puppets. Maybe it's best to invest in some rigourous mocap in the next game. Voice acting also needs help; you can bring in all those actors, but they are useless when the dialog is disorganized. Someone heard one actor state how difficult it was to go from one line to another due to the change in emotion - Right off the bat, this should have been a red light and that lines of dialog needed to be re-recorded or downright rewritten in order to preserve the flow of conversation and cohesion behind the topics. And good talent isn't always needed - I'm sure there were a few people around in development that would have been happy to try and do some voice acting to give more variety to races and people, all at a low cost (their hourly rate). And finally... Let's not give release dates. Perhaps if the core game was completed, and the extra stuff that wouldn't be complete by that deadline was instead left out in favor of tweaking the initial experience, but included (and with better depth) in a later patch, it would be better revered by those who wish to experience the game story-wise and have little care towards how much you are given to explore. In fact, Bethesda is actually at quite an impasse when you think about it - You've got three types of audiences that you need to appease, and for a series that has attracted all three, the next one will be next-to-impossible to develop... Unless they stop trying to appease one of them. The first is those who play RPGs purely for the exploration, This is done in spades by Skyrim, but the end reward is one that, after a while, disappoints and no longer provides a real purpose for these players. Realistically, the same can be said about challenge, as the leveling system can provide some challenge that is for the most part defeated once you max out three or four skills. It's like Bethesda believes that a dungeon or ruins full of insanely difficult beasts or characters is supposed to be taboo, and that having to turn back and wait until you are tougher equals defeat for that player. The second - and one I have well-covered in what they desire - are those who play for the story, and explore in order to mold the story their way and develop character interactions and relations. It seems that Bethesda has missed the mark on this since Morrowind, where they have traded in the alien landscape and fantastical characters that are yet grounded in reality for Oblivion's "world in denial". After fans noted how generic and out-of-place Oblivion's artistic theme felt, and that the story progression did very little to reflect the situation at hand upon the world and its citizens, they then redacted that decision in Skyrim's artistic theme, where the world's situation was visible and reflected by the theme, but ended up once again making (again, this is of those who desire a story being their source of entertainment) a tale that was in the end shallow and take place in a world that was also shallow - As for one, generic, oft-stereotypical groups were once again abound. For instance, note how many people you meet used to be ex-bandits, but yet none of the current ones you "meet" have no story on themselves or their band (except for one bandit chief), not even to the point where they could let you join their group or be stripped of your items and taken prisoner if knocked unconscious - These are options and conditions Bethesda should explore in the next game, to add reasonable purpose towards these groups that we've killed so many times. And then there's the lore, which many either hate the new additions or feel that the addition of new lore only redacts or contradicts old lore in the older games, despite the passage of time and no reason given to the changed elements, other than that they were ignored. The third interest in TES is roleplay, and all in all this is what Skyrim does best. You're allowed to be what you want for the most part, and the game doesn't necessarily revolve around what your character does. What's probably best here is if Bethesda expands the available character rewards and routes here, and make it possible for new systems to come into play in order to expand roleplay. Don't like how a guild handles things? Make your own! Do you want to play as a merchant? Well then, why risk your hide trying to find relics to sell at high prices? Hire some mercs and let them loot some ruins in exchange for a share of the loot and some pay while you are running the shop! Perhaps you're out to get rich on your popularity - Become a socialite and then lie, cheat, and steal your way into prosperity! TES needs to be a world that's alive in order for roleplay to function properly, and because I said of the problems above, they aren't helping TES surpass this situation. When you've got three audiences like that, of course it's going to be near impossible to appease them all, and more likely, if you even tried, you could more than likely disappoint them all. If they really want to retain all three, then it's more than likely to take over a decade of development for it to appease a majority of them. But then this question resides - Would Zenimax approve of such a long development cycle? After seeing EA's failure with Medal of Honor after putting millions of dollars into the game, it's likely that a development cycle over a decade long would take up just as much if not double that amount of money and could very well not end up very profitable even after reaching millions in sales. However, there is that other option, where they have to choose which one of the audiences to "axe", and disappoint that audience so much with the next game that they never return to the series, leaving them with a much more manageable two goal audiences. Choosing which one should go definitely is a tough decision, but the result is that there would many less balls in the air that they have to juggle. All in all, the setting can wait - Once the mechanics are down-set and the goals made clear (and to never again promise any additions that are pending [or just fire Pete Hines]), and the prevalent problems that have occurred are dealt with, TES has got a very rough road to travel that it made for itself.

I believe you need to update your bashed patch.. You need to right-click it and select "Rebuild Patch...", and then go through your options available to check if anything minor can be changed or if mods can be merged into the patch opening up precious space for other patches. After that, your patch is up-to-date and should get the game working.

It's okay as long as it's not overdone, and for extra stuff that's very complex but couldn't be done within the development timeframe - TES could actually very much benefit from this model, as they could first release VI as a core adventure RPG game, and then add all the little details in that users want to see in the game the most, like character relationships that are actually meaningful but not a burden to your own character, and side quests that are creative and really go into depth instead of all the bland and shallow quests we've gotten the last time. That kind of open-endedness at the end of production depends on the game, and I'd say that open-world games like the Halo and TES series would really benefit from it in order to hone on what players want to see added (or removed/redacted). Now, the rate of content that is released also matters as well. I feel like TF2 does it way too often, which seems to be every 2-3 new days because they have to add a hat or did some change with the engine or server. Once every month can very well also be too long; once every 1-2 weeks definitely keeps the game fresh and the content flowing, and shouldn't burden the buyer from trying out all the new additions.

Seeing how HB keys have come up in Steam's trading threads both now and in the past, I'd say so. If you have something that was in the HB before you got it, then it's more than okay to give them to someone else.

Not to mention that free-to-play seems to bring in the worst of players - Hackers. Apparently it's gotten so bad that they are resorting to "hunting down" the hackers: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-12-05-soe-boss-smedley-goes-to-war-on-scumbag-planetside-2-cheaters Now, don't get me wrong, but wouldn't one of the ways to stop hacking is to... you know... patch the code? And the frequency of aimbotters possibly means that there is no lure to play as a support character, or is there even an option to do so? Character flexibility is perhaps one thing they should take a look at.

They did... for the 3DS. New graphics and everything, but the result is something that's not as dark as the original (which did benefit the story). If you want to go for the original game, try finding one of the Zelda OOT Collector's Edition discs. It was a promotional item that came with a Wind Waker preorder - I still have mine. You got not just the original, but the more difficult Master Quest version as well.

I think if you have your copy of Oblivion's CD key available, you can enter it to get the GOTY version of it at Steam. In fact, there's a lot you can get for free with certain CD keys, because a friend of mine entered the CD key of his copy of Half-Life into Steam and got it and also many other GldSrc games for free as a result.

What? Dunno where you're getting that information but a look at the blog suggests otherwise. I wouldn't say a new world is needed, but an event that permanently changes Tamriel into an even more diverse world would be a good change. As it is now, it just doesn't feel like an geographically-appealing area, but after a few massive events here and there, of which some say is what the TES games are building up to, could transform Tamriel into something radically different, and it would be not just a breath of fresh air for the series, but a breath of fresh air for the whole medieval-esque RPG genre.

You mean this? Or perhaps my own collaborative flavor of HGEC?

If you have a Steam copy, delete your Music folder and then press "Verify integrity of game cache" in Oblivion's properties in the Steam library. Then if you want some of the mod's contents back, install the music folder part of it again but don't overwrite the files when prompted.

There's actually different head shapes for Argonians, according to the tribe they are part of. What you're probably seeing is two of those shapes. That might also mean that you can pick which phase your Khajiit was born under, and no longer limited to the Suthay-raht...

Well, I do have to admit, you seem a little too focused on the bugs when you talk about games. Some bugs can be hilariously funny after all, and why eradicate them completely if that's the case? For example, some of the best moments in the PC release of GTAIV is when the game bugs out or glitches and you end up with something like lots of people falling through the ground...

Oh yeah, with that information, now that I think about it, it might be connected to how the engine handles crowd control. It's not as... good as previous games, and it tends to screw up in ways you have mentioned. I'm guessing there will be a patch to fix it sometime soon.

If it makes you feel any better, Apple isn't invincible everywhere - The argument that the name "iFone" was too similar to the iPhone didn't hold up in Mexican courts, and Apple lost. English source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/11/02/iphone_ifone_mexico_trademark/ (Originating source included in this article as well) Another thing that I consider "bad" about Apple is that I really don't care for their iTunes service. Really the whole sad thing is there isn't much middle ground when it comes to either app distributor - Apple has strict QA regulations and has fees to upload apps onto iTunes, meanwhile Google Play is free but is completely umoderated and rendered ineffectively profitable by piracy. Actually, both can be unprofitable unless you're willing to pay for advertising, or put it into your app. I think it would be better handled if someone decides to do something like Steam does, where they could very much have the best of both worlds. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if it is Steam that revolutionizes the mobile market! :biggrin: