topeira

what do you mean " As you hold block the sprint buttom is available for an implemented riposte"? what is this feature i know nothing about? what is this riposte? also i think that parry (sprint button) should be done when NOT blocking. that's the beauty of it - you either block or ready for a parry. u cant hide behind blocking and miss a parry and nothing will happen. u take a risk by being open in order to get a good parry. but for that to be effective the parry needs to be more effective than a normal bash. otherwise blocking characters would only bash and not parry. but seriously - what is this riposte thingy?

A little nudge. A little bump.

hi guys. im using a SkyrimPrefs.ini file with many tweaks to , supposedly, maximize stuff in the game. 1) do u know which lines i should edit so objects like rocks, bushes , shrubbery, and other medium, sized stuff will be seen for longer\farher? 2) also i see lines like: [Display] fMeshLODLevel2FadeDist=3072.0000 fMeshLODLevel1FadeDist=4096.0000 fMeshLODLevel2FadeDist=9999999.0000 fMeshLODLevel1FadeDist=9999999.0000 what do they mean? is LOD 1 is more simple mesh? and LOD 2 is the more "complicated" mesh? do all objects have 2 LODs than? there is LOD 2 when u r near and LOD 1 when u r far? if that is true than - what settings tell when LOD 1 fades out completely? 3) in the examples above - what meshes are these? 4) looking here: [LOD] fLODFadeOutMultActors=15.0000 fLODFadeOutMultItems=15.0000 fLODFadeOutMultObjects=15.0000 fLODFadeOutMultSkyCell=1.0000 [Grass] fGrassStartFadeDistance=10000.0000 b30GrassVS=0 fGrassMaxStartFadeDistance=10000.0000 fGrassMinStartFadeDistance=400.0000 what do these lines mean? what is fLODFadeOutMultObjects, in particular? what is b30GrassVS=0 ? 5) what is fGrassMaxStartFadeDistance=10000.0000 fGrassMinStartFadeDistance=400.0000 does that mean that grass will start fading away at 400.000 and vanish completely at 10000.000? im not sure i understand. 6) do u know how many centimeters\feet\inches are the distance unites approximately? I'd appreciate any help. cheers!

if 2 handeds are as fast as 1 handed than what's the point of 1 handed weapons?! not good. however yeah, these weapons are really really slow. even the swords. i think that once it's possible than 2 handed weapons should cause very short staggering even with their normal weak attacks. a short stagger should give one handed wielders a chance to recover and block the next attack. also the entire point of the sluggishness of 2 handed is to allow the defender time to bash them. when the AI is attacking you with a 2 hander it's on purpose that they are slow - since the player needs to have the time to react to the attack by bashing. also i wish that there will be a mod that allows blocking to cancel a swing of a weapon (especially a 2H one) in the first second of the animation to allow the much needed defense. in short - i think the 2H speed is fine , but they must stagger a little bit and there should be an option to turn the beginning of the swing animation into a block. otherwise if u use a 2H than there is no way in hell you avoid damage.

i know what you mean - in many cases melee combat can be really satisfying and fun - the basics are simple - blocking works well against normal attacks. bashing is a MUST against power attacks. power attacks work well against blocking enemies. when these rulls are followed than combat can be really satisfying. BUT the occasional enemy that can take 10 hits from a battle axe or the horribly annoying instant death kills the casual bandit can do to the player without him being able to stop him - these break the game. there are already mods that prevent the instant kill animations by the PC. why are there no such mods that work on the AI yet?

when i do what u suggested i get a few lines that say "bandit highwayman" with IDs and when i type "player.placeatme ff00167b" (for example) i get difference NPCs every time. sometimes not only they are not bandit highwayman, they are not even bandits. sometimes they are hunters. sometimes they are bears! also i figured that if i press ~ in the middle of combat and then click with the cursor on an NPC than i get it's ID, but i am not sure what is this number im getting. using the number i get by clicking on objects when the game is console-paused inside "player.placeatme" gives me nothing. im not sure what to do :\ any farther advice?

the idea , IMO, is to make blocking a way to avoid damage easily (holding block). using another button (the sprint button or the SHEATH button) to do another animation that will parry attacks will result in an extra move that is more reflex based that will prevent damage for all characters that have something physical to parry with. i dont think fists and magic should be able to parry metal though (not to mention that there is no existing animations for blocking with fists or magic. there ARE animations that can be used for a PARRY move). also dual wielders and magic+weapon warriors can use PARRY as a way to deflect attacks but parrying requires good timing , so it's harder than blocking. it "should" retain the balance - defensive stances with easier defense and weaker offense OR great offense but needing to rely on reflexes. blocking two handed weapons is easy with parrying and bashing, but blocking one handed weapons will be much harder. also i wonder if mods will allow players to CANCEL their attack in order to block. it makes sense (mostly gameplay wise) that if i started a swing and i wish to cancel it in favor of a block than as long as i try to holdd block while my character is still just taking momentum before the actual swing - i should be able to. right now if i ta the attack button with a dual handed weapon than im commited for a 1.3 seconds animation of a regular swing and can't do $hit about it. makes attacking with two handeds a matter ot taking damage no matter what against one haded NPCs. also i think that staggering as a result of a two handed normal attack should be resent. the swings are so slow that it will give the attacked NPC enough time to stagger, regain balance and still hit the player before the second swing. but where are the modders that can eliminate the automatic finishers of NPCs against the PC? and surely it isnt that complicated to make blocking more effective (make it prevent more damage). if a modder is reading this - please let us know if this can be done. also, i'd like to hear more thoughts about this discussion.

hi guys. i want to spawn specific enemies to test stuff around. how can i tell what ID codes spawn what enemies in the console? for example; i want to spawn a bandit highwayman with a sword and shield? how do i know what code he's using? should i encounter such an NPC and type something in the console to reveal his ID code? will appreciate any help. thanks

yes. yes. and yes. i agree with most of what you said. first of all - about the scalling system: im gonna do some blasphemy now, if u dont mind - i'd prefer the action-game method here: somehow making certain enemies and weapons do the same amount of damage to the player regardless of his level. bears should kill the PC in about 5 hits, as well as saber cats. 1 handed swords should kill a player in 6 - 10 hits (depends on the enemy type and the PC's armor) and two handed weapons should kill him in 4-7 hits. (normal ones. not power ones). how to implement such a thing is not the topic of this thread. digressing. SO... - parrying animations are already there - the bashing with a sword+empty hand and bashing with a torch (actually i prefer the "attack an enemy while he's blocking with shield" animation. this lil bit of false hit looks appropriate for a parrying animation). these animations can be used for a new parry button. not a new button on a keyboard but a new use of an existing button. as i suggested - the SPRINT button, which isnt used during anyways unless held alongside the forward button. tapping it should cause the said animation to play , even with a magic+empty hand or dual wielding (unless the PC uses magic) and cause a stagger to the enemy. - i'd also wish to see normal attacks causing staggering at an enemy that isnt blocking or power attacking. the shortest kind. however if every time you hit an enemy u cancel his attacks than i dont know how it will effect the gameplay. it might break hit as enemies will not block right after being hit to prevent a "staggering loop till dead" battles and also what will non blocking enemies do? (mages, archers, dual wielders, battle mages and beasts like bears, spiders or trolls?) - i dont think that regaining stamina from a succesful parry should apply. parrying takes effort. power. small stamina cost should still be applied, IMO. however i also think that swords should have better parrying than shields by creating longer staggering on the enemies part. also if one is using weapon+empty hand than he isnt encumbered by the weight of the shield with his attacks so his hits should do about 20% more damage and an additional 5% for criticals with a sword. But just for starters i just wish that a modder, like "site bot" who made so many nice gameplay mods (bows and arrows , mostly), would just fart a little mod that makes blocking about 95% effective against normal hits and about 75% effective against power attacks and also make the sync-kills, as u call them, by the AI either none existent (as you said - to prevent the "im winning, one more strike against this fool, im in 80% health, im gonna kill him... WTF i got impaled?!) or existant only at the last 15 health points. that's all is needed for now. THESE changes seem possible even without the CK, but it doesnt look like modders care. like none of them plays a melee character :(

humpty bumpty

good to hear there's someone else like me. the bashing as a means to stop a power attack is already there. power bashing to open up the enemy is there as well. blocking is there (if u equip the proper hands combo for it) and power attacks that go through the defense are there as well. most of the mechanics are there! i think that skyrim, WAY MORE than oblivion, is close to have a great combat system with mods. but until someone like minded like us will use the CK to do this, the system can be improved by minor tweaking. just make blocking really effective and lower the damage and stamina of the weaker bashing. this will help a lot.

Melee Combat ,as is, seems to rely way too much on how much damage one can take before dying and not enough on how skillful the player is. yeah, this is an RPG so many might expect that , but skyrim DOES provide useful mechanics to make good use of good reflexes but then kinda falls short in implementing them. while i have good ideas that are too complicated without the CK, i AM curious about tweaking some things that might be possible even now - 1) right now a player can block and be as defensive and careful as possible yet he will still be beheaded by a powerful bandit even if he's ready to bash and has over 60 HP. i suggest disabling the finishing moves by the AI. but if possible than make AI finishing moves only available if the player has below 20 health or something. 2) make blocking a lot more effective. blocking with a shield should not injure the player and require less stamina than blocking with a weapon. blocking with a weapon, IRL, requires more force from the blocker than blocking with a shield so it should take more stamina. so blocking with a shield should block 98% of the damage of normal attacks, but only 80% of power attacks. also blocking with a weapon should block 92% of the damage of normal attacks, but only 70% of power attacks. this will make blocking more effective and valid as a way to defend oneself. 3) normal bashing should be used as a parry move and not as an openning move for farther attacks. this should be done by making bashing at an enemy that is blocking or just standing there less effective (less chance of stagger or shorter stagger as an effect) BUT cost less stamina , do less damage but still be highly effective when done at the same time as an enemy's power attack or normal attack. bashing is fast and should be the best way to open up an enemy if timed just right. 4) power bashing, IMO, is fine as is - takes a lot of stamina and can cause piratically anything to stagger. 5) slightly slowing down the movement sideways with a weapon drawn so combat is not so floaty. it's fine when u have magic in both hands but not when you have a weapon out. movement forward should remain the same, IMO. 6) since blocking is more effective, there needs to be bigger consequences to being hit, so enemies should do more damage. (optional. im playing a melee character with only 140 health in level 26 and with 250 stamina so i die quickly. i think it makes sense to die quickly if blocking prevents more damage) Do these changes make sense to you, guys? is there a modder out there that might be interested in trying to tweak these things? what do you think? p.s. - i think other ideas could improve combat significantly like using "hit a blocking enemy" animation as a parry animation used by tapping the sprint button as an enemy attacks - this can be a way for dual wielders or magic+weapon wielders to defend themselves. also making normal attacks cause very very short stagger to enemies that arent blocking or power attacking (short enough so the enemy has time to block after being staggered before he's hit again). but these type of ideas are probably not possible yet without the CK and will require some smart coding so im not even going there.... yet....

while im not sure if it'll be a good idea to roll (how well will this work in 1st person?) not to mention that in order to roll there needs to be animation for turning left or right and then getting up to the proper direction. but maybe this can work by simple trying to SPRINT sideways. i'd recon a way to do this is not by rolling but by a very quick side stepping. just a short burst of fast movement to the side with a cost of stamina. there are so many combos that dont allow blocking , they need a way to defend themselves.

bump (since no one even got to read this yet)

hi guys. i am no modder, but i assumed that a mod like what im looking for might be easy to do if i knew where to look and how to do it. what i hope to achieve is this: 1) blocking with a shield stops 98% of incoming damage, unless it's a power attack - then about 20% of it goes through. 2) blocking with a weapon stops 93% of incoming damage, unless it's a power attack - then about 30% of it goes through. 3) normal weak bashing coasts no stamina or very little stamina but does almost no damage. its mostly meant to stop power attacks (or against very weak enemies). 4) power bashes do less damage and take less stamina. 5) normal attacks can stagger for a very short time. (this might be harder to do, so im not counting on it being possible ATM, not to mention succeeding with this will require more subsequent changes to the combat mechanics...) achiving these goals (at least 1, 2 and 3) will, hopefully, result in a combat that has a lot to do with good defensive skills, blocking and timing the bashes to prevent incoming attacks instead of spamming it just to create windows for attacks. so my primary question is - how do i go about editing such values? unless someone else has thought about doing a mod like this, in which case i'll give him the honors. it'll take him a lot less time to do than to help me figure out how to do it myself. though if it's not more complicated than extracting some files, searching for the right lines and editing values and saving as ESP than i'd give it a shot... i just dont know where to begin and what tools i might need.... not to mention if it's possible without the CK....

I love the idea. But how will u control it? It seems like u can, naturally, carry one weapon on your back (two handed or bow) and 2 weapons on your belt (swords on left side. Axes qnd maces on right side). So the way i see it the game should keep your last played weapon on the armor if u switch to a weapon from a different slot. So if u r using a bow and switch to a one banded than the bow stays. But if u switch from a bow to a two handed than i would guess the bow will disappear. I am afraid a bow+2 handed will look wierd together. But amny ppl would also love a way to holster shield on back mod. If u can make a weapons mod than surely u can make a shield-on-back mod as well. But how would the shield fit with everything else? Also once a weapon is shown on the armor, how can the player take it off if he wants to? Just some food for thought :P

Agreed. I do the same. I love getting a good headshot insta-kill from a couple hundred meters away even if it doesn't matter (only possible to hit that far away with fVisibleNavmeshMoveDist=14000.0000 in the ini otherwise the arrow passes right through the enemy/bear/living thing) To chime in on the thread, I'll post what I said in another place: The arc they put in the game is ON PURPOSE. Not to counteract gravity to make it easier to aim, definitely not to make some kind of auto-aim (though I realize there may be some kind of auto-aim arrow magnetism thing going on when the arrow just would otherwise barely miss). It's because arrows fly in an arc regardless of how straight you aim them. It comes down to technique. Archers "nock" their arrows on the string a little lower than the tip of the arrow being held in place by the hand/grip. Thus the back of the arrow is a little lower than the front. This is to help hit targets in real life. It gives the arrow a natural arc. Also, some arching comes from the way the bow is aimed in relation to the arrow. When one aims, he pulls the arrow back so that his hand's thumb (that is holding the string) meets his lip. He then aims down the shaft, nut not directly (since the back end of the arrow is around his lip, not his eye. Thus, if you're looking down range in a straight line (represented by the crosshair in game) and the back of the arrow is beneath your eye, then the tip of the arrow is pointed up, creating an arc. I've practiced archery with all manner of bows since I was quite young [about 8]. Bonus fact: For a very long time, gun's "iron sights" have been crafted in a way that causes you to aim slightly higher than your target when aiming down sight even when you think you're actually aiming perfectly straight. This is to emulate the same built-in mechanics of a bow arching an arrow. All are created to counter-act gravity. Personally, I leave my arc default. I do not change the ini settings, because I can honestly say as a bit of a real life archer, that Bethesda's arc is pretty natural. As it stands in the game, the default arc is great. Just like in real life, within so many feet, aiming at a bullseye directly WILL cause you to hit slightly higher than the bullseye. Then at longer distances, you must still manually tilt your bow to aim higher. Bethesda got it right on the money. Except with arrow speed. Way too slow for me :P A mod fixes that. So, counter-intuitively, if you want the game to be more realistic, you will NOT change it in the INI. Bethesda actually did a good job. Interesting post. Makes me want to change the arc back to default. But(!) i feel like the arc is auto changing. If i aim close than the game gives me shallow arc. If i aim far than the arrow foes in a higher arc. So basically i never had to compensate for distance. Am i right? Also, has anyone tried the magnetism thing? Does it help arrows go where u aim?

darn, these boards move really fast. here's a bump

am i the only one thinking that it's immensely annoying to be blocking an enemy and still get these automatic instant kills by the AI like being decapitated or impaled on enemies swords? i think that if the player is blocking or bashing than no enemy should be able to do an instant death maneuver on him. if i am playing good and ready for an incoming attack i shouldn't be punished in a way that i have absolutely no control over. is there a way to create a mod that makes sure the enemies can NOT do instant kill moves on the player unless he has really really low health (about 10 or 20 or so)?

I love it when the camera is really close in 3rd person when i draw the weapon, but once i sheath the weapon the camera is too close and i pull it back a little. the problem is that once i draw the weapon to fight the camera is already too far away. the need to constantly move it closer andd farther is annoying. is there a simple way to make it a little farther when the weapon is sheathed and closest when it's unsheathed by default without the need to constantly change camera distance? and another question i assume isnt possible yet - a way to have the camera stay behind the shoulder even when the weapons are drawn? (the same camera angle as when the weapons are sheathed)

that was a funny video. i think the idea will get old a little quickly, but for laughs it can be funny. the PC might as well shout "im so awesomekicka$$!!!!"

i dont know about difficulty, but i would sure love a mod that adds more enemies. i'd love to see slightly higher numbers of bandits or draugrs or skeletons roaming the place, or even in dungeons. right now im lvl 19 andd i AM having difficulties in combat (i havent upgraded my health at all so i die really quickly) but in many occasions im fighting 3 bandits at a time where i'd like to fight maybe 6 or so, but not the strongest ones. the weaker ones. meaning - i'd love for a mod that increases the amounts of enemies but if there are 3 week ones, 2 medium ones and 1 strong one than the numbers will grow like 5 week ones, 4 medium ones and 1 strong one. something that makes sense.

Very deep and interesting changes. Do u have the knowhow on how to script AI as well? And how to integrate stuff like bashing with dual weilding or staggering for various amounts of time? (by using existing animations)

you are right. it WAS a bug. however i am not sure where i got Lydia. i think it was in whiterun in the main jarl's palace. anyone remember's where she's from? (i dont own a house yet)

I dont get what ppl want with the UI. Using the WASD in it is easy and fast. Thanks to hotkeys i visit it only to change appearance and sell/buy. Not that often. Im totally fine with the map too. Its a shame i cant rotate it, though. Its gorgeous. And these are really small issues. The game is amazing. Loving it. Cant see a reason not to get it.