LE What does Bethesda have against long hair?

[DrunkPirateRobert]

I know very little about modding, but I am curious as to why games like Skyrim never seem to have an option for long hair (the short hair in game which claims to be "long hair" is not actually "long" at all).

 

Is it so difficult to provide long hair in game for some reason that I am unaware of? Seems to me that any game which puts so much detail into so many aspects of the game could offer friggin long hair as a character option.

 

Anyway, I suppose I shall just have to wait until somebody provides an equivalent of Ren's Hair (hair mod for Oblivion) for Skyrim. *sigh*

[FireBug3]

Thair technology is too bad for it, thats one of the reasons why this game is far away from being "next generation" game, they have static models, i dont know if you can attach dynamic bones to it, but i dont think so.

[forplugins1]

I love long hair too. And hair in Skyrim looks really poor...

[redxavier]

I suspect that it's to do with physics and clipping. Skyrim doesn't have a cloth mechanics, so it's unlikely to be able to handle hair physics as well, and static long hair just looks bad. Then it can clip into almost anything and everything.

[razorpony]

Long wigs can be made and rigged to move with the body skeleton but there will always be clipping issues when wearing bulky armor. Lack of hair physics is the #1 issue I believe.

 

RP

[Matth85]

As everybody said. It got too many problems involved, and Bethesda never have enough tine -- or money, to do so.

[JMMcNemo]

The attempts at long hair I've seen in Oblivion, etc., fall into two categories-- either they have clipping issues, or they fold weird and bunch up or stretch weirdly around the creases (the neck, the hips, and so on). The same goes with capes or cloaks; the physics needed to make them look good while the character is doing pretty much ANYTHING other than standing stock still is pretty intensive alongside the AI/combat systems, the textures and the long distance views, etc., etc. I'm not saying it CAN'T be done, but there's always sacrifices somewhere along the way... realism is often one of the first, due to sheer practicality.

 

Sure, I'd love to have a ponytail that reached down to my butt, but not if, when watching a bird fly past, I impale my back and my hair bursts through my chest like a snake. I'm more than happy to ignore Realism, but Plausibility still is required.

[Matth85]

Sure, I'd love to have a ponytail that reached down to my butt, but not if, when watching a bird fly past, I impale my back and my hair bursts through my chest like a snake.

You know, that would be awesome! Thanks for the image in my head ;)

 

As a sidenote: The ony games I've found doing hair perfectly is newer "realism" games, as the latest Final Fantasy game. Then you can see the game are super linear, no replayability and generally boring after a while. Getting a game as Skyrim at a good realism level, and having no clipping, would require a NO console port and a few more years of production time. Something which is hard consider the economy of the world, as of now.

[SavageArtistry]

Seems like they might take a look at some of the things that have been done in Second Life. It's pretty low resolution for the most part, but there are flowing garments and hairstyles. There are still clipping issues but it appears to be doable even on a lower end game.

[gengrimm]

Biggest issue is probably the Gamebryo engine.