If it weren't for MODS...

[ERASERhead1]

Bethesda has definitely outdone themselves this time around, no question. But how much do they owe to the PC modding community? For me, everything.

As a newcomer to the PC, building one specifically for Skyrim and BF3, and having been one of the Sony faithful prior, I can't say I'd be a happy camper if I was playing this on the PS3.

The vanilla copy of Skyrim is 5.61gbs, while my superfly modded copy ("the one that says bad mutha fcka on it") is up to 7.91gbs.

How many mods is that? I'd say a little under a hundred. How much has it improved the game? Words don't do it justice. Not just graphically either: some of my favorites give me better thunder, more variety to an already amazing soundtrack, and all the third person and animation tweaks to make my dark elf Lucifer the most evil and silent of assassins... you know the deal: "The greatest trick the devil ever pulled..."

I know Bethesda put their heart into this one, and this modding community is tying together every vein to make it truly the best single player game I've ever played. Could I say that if I was playing either console version? No. This I'm sure will upset some people, and the last thing this is is an attempt to start a war.

I just wanna say thanks. I wanna list all the mods I've downloaded so far, to acknowledge every single one of these guys' individual contributions to a game that I wouldn't have bought for my PS3. To the dudes that allow me to never see a stitch of pop-up and look at a full dense forest stretching for miles in front of me. I can't wait to see what the creation kit brings, how sick this is gonna look with dx11, how limitless this game really will be. Bethesda built a canvas for this talented modding community to splash every color on. I'm gonna be playing this for YEARS.

[Bloodinfested]

Welcome to the community, Ya pc is the way to go for elder scrolls I havent seen a larger modding community for a game. Its hard for me to get sick of them if I would get bored of skyrim I would just jump back to Oblivion or Morrowind then back to skyrim its like a endless cycle lol. The dx11 will just be performance not features if I understood right so it wont look any better but it will run far smoother

[darker70]

Here here and so say so many of us,the disappointing aspect of Skyrim as been the shoddy treatment the PC has recieved the 2gb limit is just a small aspect of total lack of respect for the platform that made them the company they are today but the modders and general genius code monkeys from the PC world,have turned this almost Alpha into a stunning vision of what could have been if Bethseda had respected their PC customer base.

 

What is also amazeing is the creation kit is still not out and 1000 mods in the first 2 weeks must be a world record for any game so the mind boggles what we will see when the CK finally hits us,Also there does seem to be a sea change if u take the recent patch notes maybe they are seeing their error in treating the PC like a third rate system and if they don't act soon all the bugs will take the game of the year title away unless the modders come to the rescue.

 

So yeah thanx a million to every modder for all their efforts and turning Skyrim into what it should have been from the start the Best PC game ever !!

Edited December 3, 2011 by darker70

[ERASERhead1]

thanks for the replies darker and blood.

To Blood - I mentioned dx11 specifically for tessellation. Here's a 1 min explanation:

 

 

To Darker - I can't help but think what the consequences would have been had Bethesda developed this game for pc and ported to consoles. Think about it, with all the game breaking bugs, FPS drops, and other limitations with dated console tech, stuff I honestly have not run into at all, it would have been perceived as total incompetence and borderline negligence for Bethesda to have released the game to consoles in the state it was in at launch.

 

I've had the crash to desktop pre-patch, which I had fixed anyway, and the occasional FPS hit, which is to be expected and also something you can work with. V-Sync on by default says something about Bethesda stuck trying to keep things on an even keel across platforms, albeit the pc community suffering by and large.

 

I can't be mad at the ideology: they're a business trying to make money. I played the Fallouts and TES on PS3. Oblivion saved the PS3 not too long after it's launch; a game that (for me) came completely out of left field and kept me playing for hundreds of hours. While there were bugs present in those games as well, it wasn't anything that completely broke the game and had a workaround.

 

Bethesda should have done what Dice did for BF3 IMO: scaled the size and content down for consoles to eliminate a lot of these issues. How much would that have affected their sales? One could only guess.

 

These past few months have been a lesson in gaming and technology, and I encourage people to do the same if their interests ultimately lie in functionality and customization when it comes to video games. I can only hope Bethesda's next effort won't be seen until next gen consoles come out. That way the pc community doesn't have to fix what I'm quite sure of Bethesda initially wanted to do.

[Iv000]

Finally a positive topic. It is much appreciated in these dark times.

And I agree, Bethesda has made their part, and they outdid themselves. The modders will now do the finishing touches and bring this game to perfection.

[vertex23]

Welcome aboard. And yeah, I can't wait to see what the modding community can do with this game. I have some weird fantasy that maybe; just maybe the game will be ridiculously easy to mod and the entire "You bought it for console" will just be a huge slap in the face. When I say easy, I mean, adding horse stats, combat, ability to talk, and better jumping with just a few changes in code. Even changing and adding perks with just a simple GUI.

Hey, I can dream, right?

[Zalzama]

Yes, modders make this game a lot better. :tongue: Edited December 3, 2011 by Zalzama

[Bloodinfested]

Pretty hard to have a bug free large open world game like this even small linear games have bugs and cross platform adds to it with the software/hardware changes. As long as its not game breaking bugs witch I haven’t seen any imo, some balance issues but every TES is like that so I don’t hold it against them.

 

I’m one of those ppl that dislike consoles probably more then the next person but I understand why they cater to them. Most of the sales is just from consoles if they were just on pc TES wouldn’t be the same game as it is today, most likely less of a game do to budget restraints if not yet bankrupted. Gothic had close to the same on pc sales and they went belly up.

 

I really hope they do implement tessellation but I’m not crossing my fingers on that one I be happy with only the performance dx11.

[ERASERhead1]

In the chat Friday night some users were expressing their dislike for certain cities solely because of the FPS drop, Markath in particular. I mention it only because obviously the mods can accent this problem even more. The problem I'm running into is I don't want to take any out!

I dunno about you guys, but I'll take FPS over graphics any day. I felt this point sorta fits into the OP.

 

 

Time to overclock my card again.

[solidus2845]

Hmm, which mods are helping out with the pop-in? I have view distances maxed and the detail fade unchecked, but from a high vantage looking out I sometimes clearly see beyond the 5 adjacent "chunks" that the engine renders in high detail. As I go towards them, BOOM it will load them up. Most notable is water and trees in the distance.

 

You say there are mods and stuff that change this? If so, please point me to them!