Graphic/texture mods...really Bethesda?

[RenownedWolfman]

The vanilla textures don't look bad at all, its stupid to think they wouldn't care about the state of their own game. Besides I don't use graphics mods, they don't have a tangible impact on gameplay and all they do is either straighten up the individual cracks in a rock or the edges of a leaf.

 

Who looks that closely at textures anyway?

 

 

Not all graphics mods are like that, most current ones are, but theres a lot of peopel who are working to make good retextures of the game.

[OnlyOneWing]

The vanilla textures don't look bad at all, its stupid to think they wouldn't care about the state of their own game. Besides I don't use graphics mods, they don't have a tangible impact on gameplay and all they do is either straighten up the individual cracks in a rock or the edges of a leaf.

 

Who looks that closely at textures anyway?

I do for one, and the millions of other people who have downloaded various HD texture mods...

 

Just because you don't use graphics mods doesn't mean that other people don't appreciate them. I love playing 2D games for SNES and classic Playstation games, but when I buy a modern game for almost 70$ it should at least be optimized for my platform.

 

Or they could charge less for it, since it's just a port that was thrown together with a horrible menu system and various bugs. The excuse for the bugs/crashes is compatibility with all forms of hardware...but what excuse can be made for not releasing full quality textures with the game?

 

It is pretty bad when some inexperienced modders can do a better job of texturing Skyrim than professionals who are getting paid a lot of money.

 

I don't doubt that the people who actually made Skyrim hands on would love to have made the textures appear with the detail intended by artists. However I also believe that an executive decision was made to cut costs and release it as-is for PC. Or possibly Microsoft did not want there to be a huge visual difference between Vanilla Skyrim on PC and Vanilla Skyrim on Xbox360, so they put restrictions on the requirements for the product to be licensed on Xbox360... kind of like they do with Playstation 3 ports and DLC.

 

The fact of the matter is that it would have cost them a small amount compared to the profit that they have made.

[MadWizard25]

You have to remember that on the PC side, something like 50 - 60% of the people playing Skyrim are using a pirated copy. I actually suspect the number is even higher than 60%. For example, in 2010, COD Black Ops had like 4.5 million pirated downloads. The number of people who actually bought a real copy of COD BO for the PC is most likely something like 200,000 to 500,000 (a conservative estimate). In fact only 6% of legit buys (Xbox/PS3/PC) was of the PC version, the rest split pretty evenly between PS3 and Xbox. This trend has been going on since 2000s, with more and more income/ profit coming from console versions becuase people just pirate the PC version. So what you might say, what has this to do with Skyrim?

 

Well Skyrim is as popular if not more than COD BO, how many people do you think bought a legit copy on the PC compared to the console version? Very few! Again probably something like 10% of sales go to the PC, the rest split Xbox/PS3. You want to know why you get crappy console graphics for Skyrim? Its because the money is in the consoles. If a lot more people buy the console versions than the PC, of course the dev team will focus on graphics that suits the consoles, not the PC. No dev will want to spend time working on a PC only product just to see it pirated to hell and back which equals minimal return for their investment.

 

If you want better games with better graphics on the PC, somehow piracy is going to have to go. Doesnt seem likely, so expect a future full of console ports with less than optimal graphics for the PC. You should be very happy that they are actually even releasing a CK for the game, since its only PC based. The devs have effectively given pirates a tool to bring the game up to modern PC standards, with no return for their hard work, very altruistic of them ;)

 

Sause: My link

Edited December 7, 2011 by MadWizard25

[OnlyOneWing]

Pirating has nothing to do with it.

 

100 artists at a cost of 37.5$ per hour working 40 hours per week for four weeks could have easily completed this for a total cost of about 600,000$. Which is a very small amount compared to the more than 100million dollars they make profit from PC sales world wide alone.

 

Again, pirating has absolutely nothing to do with it. I know more people that have purchased Skyrim than pirate it(In fact I know no one who pirated it). Keep in mind that the majority of people who play pirated games do so in countries that the game was not released for. Like India and China...HUGE populations that will be pirating the hell out of any game released only outside of their countries.

Companies who look at pirating figures as a sales loss are ignorant. The vast majority of piraters would have never had the opportunity to buy the game in their own language anyway.

Edited December 7, 2011 by OnlyOneWing

[MadWizard25]

What im trying to say is that overall, because of piracy on the PC version, most income for a game comes from console versions. Even in countries where the game isnt released, you have ppl who import legit copies, again mainly Xbox and PS3. Therefore its simple economics, you focus on the platforms that make you the most money. And this isnt any BS sales figures, its a fact that console versions for major AAA games sell more. It is also a fact that most copies of that major AAA game are played on the PC, but a large majority of those copies are pirated! Pirated = no money. I gurantee you that most money is now made on consoles, even if you disregard the piracy argument. Again simple economics, which platform you make the most money you focus on...

 

I suggest you read the pirating info guide by tweakguides from my source, its actually the most unbiased read on the subject i have come across, and ive even studied pirating at Uni...

 

100 artists at a cost of 37.5$ per hour working 40 hours per week for four weeks could have easily completed this for a total cost of about 600,000$. Which is a very small amount compared to the more than 100million dollars they make profit from PC sales world wide alone.

 

I agree with you here; Skyrim could have probs been developed for less, but also it seems like you have never heard of capitalism (jk) :D also your diregarding thats its not only the devs (artists) that need to be paid, but the publisher, distributors, QA, secretaries, etc, etc... Also could you please supply the source for the 100 million dollars profit for PC?

Edited December 7, 2011 by MadWizard25

[Matth85]

What im trying to say is that overall, because of piracy on the PC version, most income for a game comes from console versions. Therefore its simple economics, you focus on the platforms that make you the most money. And this isnt any BS sales figures, its a fact that console versions for major AAA games sell more. It is also a fact that most copies are played on the PC, but those copies are pirated! Pirated = no money.

 

It takes no effort to break Xbox360, Wii or pS3 either. The only reason why it is less done, is because most people are afraid to try.

If it is human made, it can be broken by humans. We all got the same technology, so nothing is safe. It is more done on PC,

 

I agree that there is more piracy on PC. However, would you buy a random game, if you knew it did poor ports to PC from console? The only reason I bought it was because I plan to mod it, and want the TES saga, and modding, to community. They want to get rid of piracy? Stop using middle-stops that swallow money, like steam, and stop doing console port. The age of consoles are out.

[CalibanX]

So far I actually prefer the vanilla terrain textures. While I have HD mods for baskets and clothes and chickens and lots of other stuff I haven't found a ground texture that's worked for me yet. While these terrain textures look great in screenshots, when installed, I often find that they look horrible where one texture encounters another. In the vanilla game, they are all blended together nicely which is one aesthetic reason I think they might have made them at the resolution they did. A little bit of blurriness makes for a more seamless transition from one texture to another. With the HD ground texture mods they have these really ugly hard, immersion breaking straight lines where one texture meets another. Especially around roads. Maybe these issue will be corrected in the future, but for now, It looks terrible even though it's higher resolution.

[MadWizard25]

It takes no effort to break Xbox360, Wii or pS3 either. The only reason why it is less done, is because most people are afraid to try.

If it is human made, it can be broken by humans. We all got the same technology, so nothing is safe. It is more done on PC

 

True mostly, it is still possible to pirate on Xbox and PS3. However its easy to compare the number of console pirated downloads vs the number of PC pirated downloads. PC is massively larger than the console. There are a few reasons for this, such as increased difficulty to use a pirated game on consoles (think mod chip or firmware flashing), voided warrenty, banning from LIVE services, etc. So overall people pirate much less on Xbox and PS3 than on PC, and by less i mean 10 fold less, just visit any torrent site to confirm. And less pirating on console versions does not mean less people are buying the game for consoles, just that more people are buying a legit copy. The console market is huge!

 

I agree that there is more piracy on PC. However, would you buy a random game, if you knew it did poor ports to PC from console? The only reason I bought it was because I plan to mod it, and want the TES saga, and modding, to community. They want to get rid of piracy? Stop using middle-stops that swallow money, like steam, and stop doing console port. The age of consoles are out.

 

Hehe, i actually see it the other way around, the age of console is dawning because of piracy on the PC. They release console ports because they focus on console for cash atm. And belive me im just as annoyed as you are about the rash of console ports. However i do think that the only way to stop console porting is to make the PC attractive again i terms of profit. But who knows, maybe thats exactly what will happen in the future!

Edited December 7, 2011 by MadWizard25

[Matth85]

True mostly, it is still possible to pirate on Xbox and PS3. However its easy to compare the number of console pirated downloads vs the number of PC pirated downloads. PC is massively larger than the console. There are a few reasons for this, such as increased difficulty to use a pirated game on consoles (think mod chip or firmware flashing), voided warrenty, banning from LIVE services, etc. So overall people pirate much less on Xbox and PS3 than on PC, and by less i mean 10 fold less, just visit any torrent site to confirm.

 

It's easier, yes. Which is by it is done more. However, do you think the mindset of "Oh, the xbox guys pays the most! Let's port it to the PC!" helps? Heck, it makes it even worse. Now add we are forced to use steam! If I didn't really want Bethesda to keep steady, I would never buy the game. We all know game industry might break soon. Blaming that on the piracy is idiotic: Not when they give us half-arsed ports. They are not helping the situation at all.

[RenownedWolfman]

Pirating is also possible and is widely done on consoles as well, so the loss in sales is not secluded to the PC sales, their are losses on all consoles, people look to the PC for most pirateing but it happens on every system. Edited December 7, 2011 by RenownedWolfman