teklanika

Ulfric really is a bastard is what you say is true. Torygg supported Ulfric? Noooo... Wait, and when did he kill Balgruuf, if that's what you're saying. Yeah, the high king really was a supporter of his cause! And sorry, I meant the high king as a Jarl---one in the same, Jarl/High King. (since he was leading Solitude) Basically I was saying Ulfric killed the High King, who is still considered a Jarl---even though he was a supporter of the true sons and daughters of Skyrim and their cause. The High King was very young, too, so it looks bad on Ulfric for slaying a CHILD with the sacred Thu'um... I mean, he speaks so strongly about the true citizens of Skyrim and their right to claim Skyrim back and resort to old customs, and yet... he killed a true son of Skyrim with the most sacred of all Nord legends.

Except for the Companions, College of Winterhold, and Bard's College, the questlines are well done. The contrast between Thieves Guild and say, the College of Winterhold, is massive. There is depth to one, and the other... well, you get my point. It's disappointing, yes, but at the same time the game delivers in many other ways. I wouldn't get too down about it, there will be patches and DLC at least...

I dunno... I think Ulfric is a pretty selfish guy. Especially once I listened in on him talking to his mate, the guy in the Officer armor. He was very selfish and sounded like he cared little for the common-folk of Skyrim. I don't approve of how little respect Ulfric gave to the dead, too. He spouts off about the "sons and daughters" of Skyrim, and yet he murdered them in the streets of Whiterun outright. Then, Ralof had the balls to say "I'm pretty sure I killed more than you. I was counting." I know this is a LOTR reference, but they were killing something far more sinister in that scenario, lol. I can't help but feel like Ulfric is power-hungry. Especially since he killed one of the weakest Jarl's in the whole province, just to prove a point! (and the high king was a known loyalist to Ulfric, to boot!)

Taking a fort while playing on my warrior character. Man... I must have driven my upgraded Imperial Sword through something like 50 soldiers that day. On master difficulty, I was one-shotted by most archers, so it was no easy task! I used the fort walls for cover and lured out Stormcloaks one by one, smashing them to pieces as they ran out from the safety of the fort walls. It's a shame the bodies disappear, or I would have had a mound of them the size of The Throat of the World!

I regret choosing the Stormcloaks on my warrior type character. It was fitting for the backstory I created for him, but... once I had to I was pretty upset.

Fact 1: I'm clearly not rich enough to live in the Cloud District; what with being Dragonborn and all, I'm a poor sap. Fact 2: I'm a bad person even though I just gave you 1 gold coin. You know which beggar you are, ya ba*tard! Fact 3: I should definitely think about joining the mage college in Winterhold, even though I was pretty sure I hold Archmage status there already. Fact 4: I guess I'm Brynjoff's(sp?) new protegee, even though... wait, I thought I was the leader of the Thieves Guild? (All sarcasm aside, I love this game so please don't get me wrong. :))

Ugh I can't fix it, no matter what I do. It's only this ONE particular character I'm playing; my other two, with 100+ hours on them, work just fine. This sorta sucks... I'm sure it's one of the mods I'm using, but I don't want to take the time to isolate it. Guess this guy is flying solo now, lol.

Can't seem to isolate the issue... I'm running over 40 mods, but none of them modify anything quest/follower related. What's going on?!

Anyone? Please? I can't recruit anyone! :(

This is the first time I've had this issue, but it's really sucking... Basically, the game insists I have a follower and won't let me recruit one, despite the fact that this is a new save and I don't! I'm only level 11, playing a Warrior type character, and no matter what I do I can't seem to recruit anyone. Lydia says I have someone already, and so does Iona (the chick that comes with Honeyside in Riften), so what the hell? Anyone know of any solutions? I'd be much obliged!

I haven't run into anything I can't charm yet, since putting perks in Dual Cast. :) Illusion is insanely fun, and the amount of control it offers is unparalleled! My only complaint is I can't charm undead until I hit 100 Illusion :(

A word of caution to the OP---I'm sure you're very excited to get started making your own armor, but honestly... it's no where NEAR that easy. :/ Many people on the Nexus make it look easy with their beautiful work, but the truth is that it takes many hours; you must be highly dedicated to figuring everything out! I recommend heading over to the Construction Set Wiki site (http://cs.elderscrolls.com/index.php/Main_Page) to get yourself started. There are many guides on this site dedicated to teaching the basics of TES modding. You will need: Photoshop/GIMP, a 3D modeling program (3ds Max, 3D Coat, etc), and Nifskope. These are just a few programs that can be used to make your armor. I would recommend Photoshop and 3D Coat in your case, because 3ds Max costs a huge lump sum to even obtain the product legally. If you're strapped for cash, you can swap Photoshop with GIMP as well; it's just personal preference. Like another poster here said, you will need to create a high and low poly version of your armor, then bake your normal maps using the low poly version. You can find tutorials on the websites associated with whatever 3D modeling program you use; these tutorials will help teach you how to bake textures and maps, and so on. Any work you create will take a lot of refining and tweaking, since you don't know exactly how everything is supposed to look. I myself am still learning all of these things, and it takes many hours to be satisfied with my work. I wish you luck on your armor endeavors, and look forward to seeing some mods released by you!

Yeah I already looked through everything on UESP and didn't find exactly what I was looking for. It tells you the base level for each spell in which it is effective, but it doesn't tell you the exact levels at 100 illusion and with potions included. I guess I'm just looking for someone who uses illusion religiously and knows exactly what levels they can effect a target. I want to make sure illusion will still be viable at level 30-40. (I usually make a new character around this time) So far I'm level 22 with 64 illusion, and with Dual Cast I can effect a mammoth and a giant even! (Calm, Fear, AND Frenzy!) It's hilarious to watch a giant beat both of his mammoth's to death, lol.

This isn't very helpful to me :/ I need someone to answer my questions! :(

I have 57 Illusion skill, and I have a couple questions before I continue tossing points into the tree. So, here it goes: 1. What is the maximum level at which Calm/Fury/Fear will still work? (With 100 illusion and all perks that buff these spells) 2. If I put a point in Dual Cast, will it still do 2.2x the power of the spell, thus slightly more than doubling the effective level of Calm/Fury/Fear? 3. If I use Dual Cast, all buffing perks, and have 100 illusion---will I be able to further increase the effectiveness of Illusion by drinking a potion that increases the Illusion skill? (Say the max level I could calm was 41, then I chug a potion and dual cast, will it go up to 87 or something?) If anyone can answer these questions I'd be so very grateful! I'm supremely enjoying Illusion, and I want to make sure I'm not wasting my time putting points into it. :)

QD Inventory is a god-send. Please download it. :)

Argh... you're right, and it's so very unfortunate. :( Edit: I managed to get the Long Bow to Legendary status without using the Smithing/Alchemy exploit! I simply purchased a Smithing Elixer (the 50% power one), used my four pieces of Smithing gear (11% on each piece), and it worked! I was also able to get my Nightingale armor to Legendary as well, using the same method. It would seem that any item that won't upgrade past Flawless (all magical items, and some leveled/quest items) requires some Smithing gear (at least 40%) and a potion of 40% or more. So a Smithing increase of 80% or so will be enough, and this can be obtained by legitimate means!

Today I decided to use the 600 iron ingots and leather scraps I had amassed to level my smithing. I hit 100 and made some ridiculously powerful gear (with only 3 points in enchanting, too...), and I'm sorry I ever did. I luckily created a save before I did everything, because being this powerful is not fun at all. However, when I had 100 smithing I noticed something that really bugged me; I couldn't upgrade certain items past "Flawless" unless I used a smithing potion and my 44% increase smithing gear. (the Long Bow being one of them) So my question/request is---are there any mods out there currently that change this? I'd like to be able to upgrade the Long Bow without having to break my game with insanely high smithing skill. Same goes for the Scaled Horn Armor, etc. I'd like to be able to keep my smithing relatively low, but at the same time be able to upgrade some of the more junky items to be on par with say... a Glass or Ebony bow. For example---I have an Ebony bow that does 48 damage, but I'd prefer to use the Long Bow (I like the simple looks) and be able to upgrade it to at least 48 damage. If there is already a mod out there that does this I'd love if someone could point me in the right direction! :)

So I may be alone in this, but I have a quick suggestion that might improve the immersion of Skyrim. ---------------------------------------------------- Realistic Armor & Weapons ---------------------------------------------------- I've logged about 200 hours in Skyrim so far, and the one thing I've noticed is that I ENJOY the look of the low-end armors and weapons. In fact, I'm still rocking a full set of Legendary Steel Armor. I like the Hide, Leather, Iron, Steel, and Banded-Iron armors (as well as the useless Long Bow or Iron Sword etc). I feel that they fit Skyrim's setting quite well; very gritty and pre-modern. My problem is that Bethesda likes to 'tier' their armor and weapons, which means that you will eventually move up and the aforementioned armor/weapons will become useless. I don't want to go dungeon crawling just to find a super-powered Elven item that I HAVE to upgrade to if I want to be viable. I'd like a mod that changes all of this. Within Nifskope is the ability to swap around pieces of armor with other sets. I'd like to see a mod that takes iron/steel/leather/hide, and mixes them with the 'tiered' armors to create something less flashy, and more down to Earth. 1. An example would be mixing hide with Elven or Scaled, etc. 2. Mixing Iron/Steel with Ebony/Daedric. 3. Borrowing names and color schemes and applying them to the more 'mundane' weapons such as the Long Bow. In the end result, I'd like to see every piece of low end armor (even the guard's armors) mixed with pieces of the tiered armor, to create something unique yet also very in tune with the setting of Skyrim. No longer will there be beautiful gem encrusted Elven armor---instead, it will be a mix of REAL metals such as iron/steel/etc. I would like to retain the tiers of armors and weapons, but simply mesh them together with their more realistic counterparts. That way, when you upgrade your Banded-Iron armor to Ebony, there is still a hint of realism. I don't want to HAVE to upgrade to a flashy Final Fantasy style armor if I don't want to. I'd much rather swap my Steel armor with Orcish if it looks like a mix of the two. I hope this makes sense, and I hope that someone out there would be willing to give this idea a shot! What do you guys think? :) Edit: I'm well aware of the fact that all items from Iron and up can be upgraded with Smithing to reach the armor cap. I'm simply saying I'd like to see the tier armors look more like their weaker counterparts. That way I still FEEL like I'm playing a gritty fantasy game with inspiration coming from the dark ages, etc.

Something interesting happened to me regarding free horses... I was minding my own business in Riften, joining the Thieves Guild and such---when all of a sudden, when I walked out to the stables, I was able to ride the horses there for free! Both of the horses standing in the stables were free to take, no red name or anything. So... as curious as I was, I hopped on one of them and it's been with me ever since! It follows me if I fast travel and meets me at any other stable in Skyrim. Weird, right?

Well, all i did was max out enchanting and smithing. Once i did that, i enchanted some cheap gauntlets, clothing, necklaces and rings with +25% smithing effectiveness (all using grand soul gems and enchanter's elixir). Once i did that, i wore those clothes, giving me a +100% smithing bonus, and then drink a blacksmith's elixir, maxing me out to 150%. Then i improve my weapons. After, i craft my daedric full suit of armor, then with another enchanter's elixir, enchant a +44% bonus to one-handed damage to all armor that can possibly be enchanted with this ability (gauntlets, boots, ring and necklace). That's how i get my overkill armor and weapons lol... This right here, is exactly why you're having no fun. If you min/max Skyrim, then of course it will become easy almost immediately. If you want a challenge, I suggest you introduce a little roleplaying into your game. 1. Don't fast travel. 2. Don't pick up more than ONE crafting profession to put perks into. I suggest Smithing or Alchemy. 3. Don't allow yourself to reload when you make a mistake. Play it out and see what happens. 4. Do not buy loot/potions from vendors. Only use the items found within dungeons. 5. Turn your brightness down to about 1/4 the bar. Makes the game more dark and engaging when you can't see your enemy right away. 6. Make sure you're on Master difficulty. 7. Don't use any trainers. 8. Don't use a companion. These are just a few things I personally do to enhance my fun with Skyrim. The easier you make the game, the easier it will be to become God.

QD inventory will sort your items for you, as well as put all equipped items at the top so you don't accidentally sell them. Just thought I'd throw that out there, since a major portion of complaints are related to the new UI implemented into Skyrim.

Like others have said already, when the CK comes out there will be so many house mods you won't even be able to sift through all of them. In fact, the first thing I'm making when it's released is a house in all major cities that don't have one. Then a house in that When you put in to account the scope of Skyrim, it's easy to see why Bethesda was unable to finish making the homes perfect. Though, Solitude is actually the exception in my eyes. That house is damn near horrible in every way. Even the lighting seems so static and awful, it's like stepping into Oblivion for a second...

That program looks sweet! So if someone were to purchase that, what would be the course of action to get a new normal map off a stock Bethesda texture? Would we have to model a completely new *steel sword or something* and then use Quixel to bake the new map from there? Sounds too tedious to me. :/ Looks like the only way to make vanilla items look better is if we remodel them as a high poly model and bake them---which wouldn't make much sense considering I like the original model and don't have time to make one myself. So then, the only other way to make the item look good is to simply paint a new, high res texture, and use the default normal map; or at least, a slightly modified normal map. My girlfriend is bringing over a tablet for Photoshop that allows you to paint much more accurately. I'm going to try taking a steel sword 512x512 texture, scaling it to 1024x1024 or 2048x2048, and painting fresh details on to it. That should make the sword itself look much better. From there, I'll have to play around with the normal map and see what I can come up with. The default map is too dull and doesn't look elevated enough, so maybe I can fix that at least. Tweaking that and the glow map should come up with a nice result, hopefully!

If anyone has answers to these questions feel free to post here, that way everyone else looking for answers can read up! I'm still trying to figure this stuff out. I can't get the texture I want the way I want it, especially with the difficulty of making a decent looking normal map. The Nvidia plugin is terrible... haha :whistling: