General Malaise "vs." reading comprehension ; also some talk of skyim and the elder scrolls (3 Viewers)

[The Gator]

I'd say this is a pretty fair criticism of the game.

In short, the author says that the quest system sucks because you're never given textual commands specific enough to complete them. "Go find this book I misplaced" but that guiding the game purely through the quest arrow/locators take out a lot of the exploratory feel of it. The game would be much improved if you were given journal entries that you could work off of and then you could turn the quest arrows on if you really were at your wit's end or just didn't want to bother.

Alternatively, you could just be given the option to say, "to hell with this" and dismiss quests without completing them. It would mean less clutter in the quests and possibly less lag as the game is performing fewer interaction checks.

Can't you kind of do this already? I know you get the main "Go find this book I misplaced", but then in the quest menu there is always more detail of where to go. I could be wrong, as I've only done that a few time(turning off the way points). I do, quite often, turn them of once I know where it is. Then getting there and making your way through the dungeon/hold is more fun.

I'll have to check this out when I get home. If so, I never noticed this.

Please don't quote me a 100% on this, I'm trying to go off of memory here.

There's more detail in there, but quite often probably not enough to go completely way pointless.

 

[GregR]

I'd say this is a pretty fair criticism of the game.

In short, the author says that the quest system sucks because you're never given textual commands specific enough to complete them. "Go find this book I misplaced" but that guiding the game purely through the quest arrow/locators take out a lot of the exploratory feel of it. The game would be much improved if you were given journal entries that you could work off of and then you could turn the quest arrows on if you really were at your wit's end or just didn't want to bother.

Alternatively, you could just be given the option to say, "to hell with this" and dismiss quests without completing them. It would mean less clutter in the quests and possibly less lag as the game is performing fewer interaction checks.

Can't you kind of do this already? I know you get the main "Go find this book I misplaced", but then in the quest menu there is always more detail of where to go. I could be wrong, as I've only done that a few time(turning off the way points). I do, quite often, turn them of once I know where it is. Then getting there and making your way through the dungeon/hold is more fun.

I'll have to check this out when I get home. If so, I never noticed this.

You definitely can toggle every individual quest on or off as far as the compass arrows go. I only leave turned on the quest I'm currently working on. Though you have to remember to turn it off as I think when a new quest is added it gets turned on by default.

 

[Foosball God]

Here's a mod I'm giving my seal of approval. Better Females by Bella. It improves facial textures to the point that female characters actually look attractive rather than fugly.

I recommend getting the files for the main mod (Better Females by Bella Version 3) and installing it, then grab Makeup Version 1 and install it to overwrite that part of the original mod, and then grab No Shine and install it overtop of the other two. All three of those can be downloaded from the Files part of the page I linked to. The maker of the mod seems to have a glamazon fetish or something and he goes way overboard on the makeup, so the Makeup Version 1 is a version that looks a lot more natural than his normal version. The No Shine is to get rid of some extra shiny qualities the original had on people's faces. You can view before and after pictures at the link I gave in the Images tab.

For those (PC only) not familiar with mods, here's a quick primer on using them. The vast majority of the original files for skyrim are contained in archive files which generally end with extensions like .bsa. If you instead put an individual copy of the file in the directory stucture, it will use that in place of the original. So replacement mods like this generally just add files, and removing them is as simple as going and deleting the files added.

In this case, the 3 mod files are zipped and you unzip them. The main one has a top folder of Data, so merge this into your skyrim\Data folder. The latter two the top folder is Textures, which is a sub-folder of Data, so go there and merge them in. The latter two will want to overwrite the files from the first one, so accept.

A mod like this you can add and remove without any issues. Mods that change objects in the game, like a new sword, can impact you sometimes in that you may have the item and then later remove the mod and the item goes away so the game can't find it. It is able to recover from it, but you might get a message it had problems loading some objects when you first load a save that predated the mod.

After awhile someone will come out with a mod manager program that basically acts as an installer and manager for you, so you can just click and the mod manager will know all the steps to do to add or remove a mod.

You calling my wife ugly?

 

[GregR]

Here's a mod I'm giving my seal of approval. Better Females by Bella. It improves facial textures to the point that female characters actually look attractive rather than fugly.

I recommend getting the files for the main mod (Better Females by Bella Version 3) and installing it, then grab Makeup Version 1 and install it to overwrite that part of the original mod, and then grab No Shine and install it overtop of the other two. All three of those can be downloaded from the Files part of the page I linked to. The maker of the mod seems to have a glamazon fetish or something and he goes way overboard on the makeup, so the Makeup Version 1 is a version that looks a lot more natural than his normal version. The No Shine is to get rid of some extra shiny qualities the original had on people's faces. You can view before and after pictures at the link I gave in the Images tab.

For those (PC only) not familiar with mods, here's a quick primer on using them. The vast majority of the original files for skyrim are contained in archive files which generally end with extensions like .bsa. If you instead put an individual copy of the file in the directory stucture, it will use that in place of the original. So replacement mods like this generally just add files, and removing them is as simple as going and deleting the files added.

In this case, the 3 mod files are zipped and you unzip them. The main one has a top folder of Data, so merge this into your skyrim\Data folder. The latter two the top folder is Textures, which is a sub-folder of Data, so go there and merge them in. The latter two will want to overwrite the files from the first one, so accept.

A mod like this you can add and remove without any issues. Mods that change objects in the game, like a new sword, can impact you sometimes in that you may have the item and then later remove the mod and the item goes away so the game can't find it. It is able to recover from it, but you might get a message it had problems loading some objects when you first load a save that predated the mod.

After awhile someone will come out with a mod manager program that basically acts as an installer and manager for you, so you can just click and the mod manager will know all the steps to do to add or remove a mod.

You calling my wife ugly?

Clearly we must settle this with a bare-hands brawl for 100 coins. No using that fancy magic of yours, either.

 

[Carl Spackler]

Anyone else think the guys in the Dark Brotherhood know a safe word?

 

[TxBuckeye]

I got a quest twice. Is this normal? I did the Red Eagle quest very early on. Then doing another dungeon dive, I read another book that gave it to me again! Even though the area showed as cleared, most the bad guys were there again. I say most because the main bad guy was still dead when I got to him. But he had yet another, slightly different quest sword on his body! Then when I went to fight the big battle, nothing. Everything was still dead. So, it really wasn't a full quest but, given the value of Forlorn equipment, it was well worth it to go through it all again. I'm glad I redid too in that I had to clear it off my miscellaneous quest list again. Once I went through the motions, it disappeared just like the first time.

 

[GroveDiesel]

I'd say this is a pretty fair criticism of the game.

In short, the author says that the quest system sucks because you're never given textual commands specific enough to complete them. "Go find this book I misplaced" but that guiding the game purely through the quest arrow/locators take out a lot of the exploratory feel of it. The game would be much improved if you were given journal entries that you could work off of and then you could turn the quest arrows on if you really were at your wit's end or just didn't want to bother.

Alternatively, you could just be given the option to say, "to hell with this" and dismiss quests without completing them. It would mean less clutter in the quests and possibly less lag as the game is performing fewer interaction checks.

Can't you kind of do this already? I know you get the main "Go find this book I misplaced", but then in the quest menu there is always more detail of where to go. I could be wrong, as I've only done that a few time(turning off the way points). I do, quite often, turn them of once I know where it is. Then getting there and making your way through the dungeon/hold is more fun.

I'll have to check this out when I get home. If so, I never noticed this.

You definitely can toggle every individual quest on or off as far as the compass arrows go. I only leave turned on the quest I'm currently working on. Though you have to remember to turn it off as I think when a new quest is added it gets turned on by default.

Yah. That part I know.I mean the part where if you check the journal entries for the quests, you can get more drilled-down/specific information on completing them.

Yeah, I have one where I'm supposed to go find 3 items for an alchemist wannabe. First of all, it shows up as 3 quests under the Misc quest, which is annoying. Then, she told me where I had to go to get them, but that info isn't shown in my journal. So if I want to complete that quest and erase those 3 items from my list, I need to go all the way back to that person and ask them where the stuff is again. Annoying.

 

[hooter311]

I'd say this is a pretty fair criticism of the game.

In short, the author says that the quest system sucks because you're never given textual commands specific enough to complete them. "Go find this book I misplaced" but that guiding the game purely through the quest arrow/locators take out a lot of the exploratory feel of it. The game would be much improved if you were given journal entries that you could work off of and then you could turn the quest arrows on if you really were at your wit's end or just didn't want to bother.

Alternatively, you could just be given the option to say, "to hell with this" and dismiss quests without completing them. It would mean less clutter in the quests and possibly less lag as the game is performing fewer interaction checks.

Can't you kind of do this already? I know you get the main "Go find this book I misplaced", but then in the quest menu there is always more detail of where to go. I could be wrong, as I've only done that a few time(turning off the way points). I do, quite often, turn them of once I know where it is. Then getting there and making your way through the dungeon/hold is more fun.

I'll have to check this out when I get home. If so, I never noticed this.

You definitely can toggle every individual quest on or off as far as the compass arrows go. I only leave turned on the quest I'm currently working on. Though you have to remember to turn it off as I think when a new quest is added it gets turned on by default.

Yah. That part I know.I mean the part where if you check the journal entries for the quests, you can get more drilled-down/specific information on completing them.

Yeah, I have one where I'm supposed to go find 3 items for an alchemist wannabe. First of all, it shows up as 3 quests under the Misc quest, which is annoying. Then, she told me where I had to go to get them, but that info isn't shown in my journal. So if I want to complete that quest and erase those 3 items from my list, I need to go all the way back to that person and ask them where the stuff is again. Annoying.

Spoiler

Yeah, you don't get #### from that quest, but gold, not worth it.

 

[thecatch]

Finished my playthrough with my first character last night. By the end, I had 8-9 quests in my journal that I couldn't complete because of bugs. Also obtained 15 of the 16 Daedric items and didn't get that achievement because of another glitch. Very frustrating. Got about 20 minutes into a new character and realized I needed a break from this game.

Side note for new characters:

Spoiler

You can level your sneak up to 100 in about 15 minutes in the cave during the escape from Helgen by just sneak attacking your companion in the back.

 

[AcerFC]

I have become so beat since I got this game. Went down to play last night @10:30. Before I realize it's 1:30. Come upstairs mad go to sleep. Then my son wakes up at 2. I took the morning off and my wife didn't so I had to take care of him for the 3 hours he was up. Suffice it to say, I wont be playing tonight

 

[AhrnCityPahnder]

random:

-- I giggle most times I see "Take Leek" as an option for acquiring vegetables.

-- Whenever I kill someone and there's a ledge in site, I have to throw the body off. Every time.

-- Every time I see a Hagraven, I think of

.

 

[Childress]

Is there any way to check how many hours I've logged playing this game on the 360? I'm afraid to see but I just have to know.

 

[The Gator]

random:

-- I giggle most times I see "Take Leek" as an option for acquiring vegetables.

-- Whenever I kill someone and there's a ledge in site, I have to throw the body off. Every time.

-- Every time I see a Hagraven, I think of

Holy smokes... the Hagraven one is spot on now that you mention it

 

[IvanKaramazov]

Finished my playthrough with my first character last night. By the end, I had 8-9 quests in my journal that I couldn't complete because of bugs. Also obtained 15 of the 16 Daedric items and didn't get that achievement because of another glitch. Very frustrating. Got about 20 minutes into a new character and realized I needed a break from this game.

I've only done 9 of these so I've got a little ways to go, but are you sure you didn't miss any? Several of the daedric artifacts are miss-able if you make the "wrong" choices during its respective quest. The fact that they're miss-able is irritating, of course, but it's a design decision, not a glitch.

 

[TxBuckeye]

Yeah, I have one where I'm supposed to go find 3 items for an alchemist wannabe. First of all, it shows up as 3 quests under the Misc quest, which is annoying. Then, she told me where I had to go to get them, but that info isn't shown in my journal. So if I want to complete that quest and erase those 3 items from my list, I need to go all the way back to that person and ask them where the stuff is again. Annoying.

So, if you make one of those three the active quest (select in under Miscellaneous and then make Miscellaneous the active quest) it doesn't show you where to go? Because I've got this one too. I am still in town so I can go back and write the stuff down if need be.

 

[GregR]

I'd say this is a pretty fair criticism of the game.

In short, the author says that the quest system sucks because you're never given textual commands specific enough to complete them. "Go find this book I misplaced" but that guiding the game purely through the quest arrow/locators take out a lot of the exploratory feel of it. The game would be much improved if you were given journal entries that you could work off of and then you could turn the quest arrows on if you really were at your wit's end or just didn't want to bother.

Alternatively, you could just be given the option to say, "to hell with this" and dismiss quests without completing them. It would mean less clutter in the quests and possibly less lag as the game is performing fewer interaction checks.

Can't you kind of do this already? I know you get the main "Go find this book I misplaced", but then in the quest menu there is always more detail of where to go. I could be wrong, as I've only done that a few time(turning off the way points). I do, quite often, turn them of once I know where it is. Then getting there and making your way through the dungeon/hold is more fun.

I'll have to check this out when I get home. If so, I never noticed this.

You definitely can toggle every individual quest on or off as far as the compass arrows go. I only leave turned on the quest I'm currently working on. Though you have to remember to turn it off as I think when a new quest is added it gets turned on by default.

Yah. That part I know.I mean the part where if you check the journal entries for the quests, you can get more drilled-down/specific information on completing them.

Yeah, I have one where I'm supposed to go find 3 items for an alchemist wannabe. First of all, it shows up as 3 quests under the Misc quest, which is annoying. Then, she told me where I had to go to get them, but that info isn't shown in my journal. So if I want to complete that quest and erase those 3 items from my list, I need to go all the way back to that person and ask them where the stuff is again. Annoying.

Toggle all other quests off, and toggle that one on, and look at your map.

 

[hooter311]

I'd say this is a pretty fair criticism of the game.

In short, the author says that the quest system sucks because you're never given textual commands specific enough to complete them. "Go find this book I misplaced" but that guiding the game purely through the quest arrow/locators take out a lot of the exploratory feel of it. The game would be much improved if you were given journal entries that you could work off of and then you could turn the quest arrows on if you really were at your wit's end or just didn't want to bother.

Alternatively, you could just be given the option to say, "to hell with this" and dismiss quests without completing them. It would mean less clutter in the quests and possibly less lag as the game is performing fewer interaction checks.

Can't you kind of do this already? I know you get the main "Go find this book I misplaced", but then in the quest menu there is always more detail of where to go. I could be wrong, as I've only done that a few time(turning off the way points). I do, quite often, turn them of once I know where it is. Then getting there and making your way through the dungeon/hold is more fun.

I'll have to check this out when I get home. If so, I never noticed this.

You definitely can toggle every individual quest on or off as far as the compass arrows go. I only leave turned on the quest I'm currently working on. Though you have to remember to turn it off as I think when a new quest is added it gets turned on by default.

Yah. That part I know.I mean the part where if you check the journal entries for the quests, you can get more drilled-down/specific information on completing them.

Yeah, I have one where I'm supposed to go find 3 items for an alchemist wannabe. First of all, it shows up as 3 quests under the Misc quest, which is annoying. Then, she told me where I had to go to get them, but that info isn't shown in my journal. So if I want to complete that quest and erase those 3 items from my list, I need to go all the way back to that person and ask them where the stuff is again. Annoying.

Toggle all other quests off, and toggle that one on, and look at your map.

No, he's right. Nothing shows up on the map for that quest. You have to ask her where to gather them or you can just purchase them slowly over time.Here some stuff that helps that I remember:

Spoiler

Nimroot grows near water, check up north by solitude. Its a bright little turnip like plant.

Nightshade all over by the Dark Brotherhood hideout.

 

[thecatch]

Finished my playthrough with my first character last night. By the end, I had 8-9 quests in my journal that I couldn't complete because of bugs. Also obtained 15 of the 16 Daedric items and didn't get that achievement because of another glitch. Very frustrating. Got about 20 minutes into a new character and realized I needed a break from this game.

I've only done 9 of these so I've got a little ways to go, but are you sure you didn't miss any? Several of the daedric artifacts are miss-able if you make the "wrong" choices during its respective quest. The fact that they're miss-able is irritating, of course, but it's a design decision, not a glitch.

Yup, I only opted out of one of the quests and finished all the others and received their items.

 

[GregR]

I'd say this is a pretty fair criticism of the game.

In short, the author says that the quest system sucks because you're never given textual commands specific enough to complete them. "Go find this book I misplaced" but that guiding the game purely through the quest arrow/locators take out a lot of the exploratory feel of it. The game would be much improved if you were given journal entries that you could work off of and then you could turn the quest arrows on if you really were at your wit's end or just didn't want to bother.

Alternatively, you could just be given the option to say, "to hell with this" and dismiss quests without completing them. It would mean less clutter in the quests and possibly less lag as the game is performing fewer interaction checks.

Can't you kind of do this already? I know you get the main "Go find this book I misplaced", but then in the quest menu there is always more detail of where to go. I could be wrong, as I've only done that a few time(turning off the way points). I do, quite often, turn them of once I know where it is. Then getting there and making your way through the dungeon/hold is more fun.

I'll have to check this out when I get home. If so, I never noticed this.

You definitely can toggle every individual quest on or off as far as the compass arrows go. I only leave turned on the quest I'm currently working on. Though you have to remember to turn it off as I think when a new quest is added it gets turned on by default.

Yah. That part I know.I mean the part where if you check the journal entries for the quests, you can get more drilled-down/specific information on completing them.

Yeah, I have one where I'm supposed to go find 3 items for an alchemist wannabe. First of all, it shows up as 3 quests under the Misc quest, which is annoying. Then, she told me where I had to go to get them, but that info isn't shown in my journal. So if I want to complete that quest and erase those 3 items from my list, I need to go all the way back to that person and ask them where the stuff is again. Annoying.

Toggle all other quests off, and toggle that one on, and look at your map.

No, he's right. Nothing shows up on the map for that quest. You have to ask her where to gather them or you can just purchase them slowly over time.Here some stuff that helps that I remember:

Spoiler

Nimroot grows near water, check up north by solitude. Its a bright little turnip like plant.

Nightshade all over by the Dark Brotherhood hideout.

Ah, my bad, I was confusing it with the quest the mage in Riften gives.Yeah, that one, I wouldn't put anything in the journal either so I'm not going to criticize them. It isn't like you're supposed to go to a location. They gave you a general tip, but nothing necessary to complete the quest. Most of the "gather 10 or 20 of this or that ingredient" I ended up buying the majority of them.

On nirnroot...

Spoiler

These can be the hardest to get... unless you found the farm that actually grows them. If I remember right it's near Treva's Watch, a little eastish of Ivarstead maybe?

 

[Ignoramus]

I'd say this is a pretty fair criticism of the game.

In short, the author says that the quest system sucks because you're never given textual commands specific enough to complete them. "Go find this book I misplaced" but that guiding the game purely through the quest arrow/locators take out a lot of the exploratory feel of it. The game would be much improved if you were given journal entries that you could work off of and then you could turn the quest arrows on if you really were at your wit's end or just didn't want to bother.

Alternatively, you could just be given the option to say, "to hell with this" and dismiss quests without completing them. It would mean less clutter in the quests and possibly less lag as the game is performing fewer interaction checks.

Can't you kind of do this already? I know you get the main "Go find this book I misplaced", but then in the quest menu there is always more detail of where to go. I could be wrong, as I've only done that a few time(turning off the way points). I do, quite often, turn them of once I know where it is. Then getting there and making your way through the dungeon/hold is more fun.

Really all it would take (since you can turn off the map indicator) is some fleshing out of the quest dialogues.

 

[snitwitch]

for PC users, looks like there's finally a "go to" UI mod: SkyUI

It requires installation of something called the Skyrim Script Extender, which I haven't done yet, but I'm excited to try this out. Looks like they've started by revamping the player inventory menu, and the magic menu is next on their list.

 

[snitwitch]

I'd say this is a pretty fair criticism of the game.

In short, the author says that the quest system sucks because you're never given textual commands specific enough to complete them. "Go find this book I misplaced" but that guiding the game purely through the quest arrow/locators take out a lot of the exploratory feel of it. The game would be much improved if you were given journal entries that you could work off of and then you could turn the quest arrows on if you really were at your wit's end or just didn't want to bother.

Alternatively, you could just be given the option to say, "to hell with this" and dismiss quests without completing them. It would mean less clutter in the quests and possibly less lag as the game is performing fewer interaction checks.

Yeah, this bothers me sometimes. A few journal entries are helpful, but for the most part they are useless and you end up just going to the map to find the arrow.

 

[NorvilleBarnes]

I always toggle the quests off. Especially the ones that say collect x number of this ingredient. As I go along I see the occasional message like 7 out of 15 of this ingredient collected. But I don't go out of my way to just collect that item. Sometimes I'll finish a dungeon, kill the boss, and get a notification I just completed a quest and instructed to go collect my reward. But I don't do that right away either. Eventually if I'm talking to someone a dialogue option will be available like "I killed so and so, I'm here for my reward."

Basically I'm just playing a guy out hunting, gathering, mining, fighting, sneaking, sniping and coming back to town to make, improve, enchant, and sell stuff.

Oh, and as far as the map: "Cleared" my ###!

 

[GregR]

for PC users, looks like there's finally a "go to" UI mod: SkyUI

It requires installation of something called the Skyrim Script Extender, which I haven't done yet, but I'm excited to try this out. Looks like they've started by revamping the player inventory menu, and the magic menu is next on their list.

Awesome news. Hadn't checked mods in awhile, just started going through new ones the other night.

The player inventory has been changed from the original two-list-layout to a single big panel. Included features:

...

* Sortable columns to order items by a specific stat. Multi-state columns to sort by value/weight ratio, and to quickly single out equipped, stolen, enchanted or poisoned items.

...

* Support for exotic resolutions. Tested from 800x600 to 5760x2160.

 

[Encyclopedia Brown]

for PC users, looks like there's finally a "go to" UI mod: SkyUI

It requires installation of something called the Skyrim Script Extender, which I haven't done yet, but I'm excited to try this out. Looks like they've started by revamping the player inventory menu, and the magic menu is next on their list.

What does this mean?I just purchased the game, and am at that exact site seeking mods to get started.

 

[Drifter]

for PC users, looks like there's finally a "go to" UI mod: SkyUI

It requires installation of something called the Skyrim Script Extender, which I haven't done yet, but I'm excited to try this out. Looks like they've started by revamping the player inventory menu, and the magic menu is next on their list.

Awesome news. Hadn't checked mods in awhile, just started going through new ones the other night.

The player inventory has been changed from the original two-list-layout to a single big panel. Included features:

...

* Sortable columns to order items by a specific stat. Multi-state columns to sort by value/weight ratio, and to quickly single out equipped, stolen, enchanted or poisoned items.

...

* Support for exotic resolutions. Tested from 800x600 to 5760x2160.

Yeah - a big thumbs down to them not improving the inventory or naming of potions at all in the main game. This seems like something they could have had an intern do when the game was being developed.

 

[Notorious T.R.E.]

I'd say this is a pretty fair criticism of the game.

In short, the author says that the quest system sucks because you're never given textual commands specific enough to complete them. "Go find this book I misplaced" but that guiding the game purely through the quest arrow/locators take out a lot of the exploratory feel of it. The game would be much improved if you were given journal entries that you could work off of and then you could turn the quest arrows on if you really were at your wit's end or just didn't want to bother.

Alternatively, you could just be given the option to say, "to hell with this" and dismiss quests without completing them. It would mean less clutter in the quests and possibly less lag as the game is performing fewer interaction checks.

Can't you kind of do this already? I know you get the main "Go find this book I misplaced", but then in the quest menu there is always more detail of where to go. I could be wrong, as I've only done that a few time(turning off the way points). I do, quite often, turn them of once I know where it is. Then getting there and making your way through the dungeon/hold is more fun.

I'll have to check this out when I get home. If so, I never noticed this.

You definitely can toggle every individual quest on or off as far as the compass arrows go. I only leave turned on the quest I'm currently working on. Though you have to remember to turn it off as I think when a new quest is added it gets turned on by default.

Yah. That part I know.I mean the part where if you check the journal entries for the quests, you can get more drilled-down/specific information on completing them.

Yeah, I have one where I'm supposed to go find 3 items for an alchemist wannabe. First of all, it shows up as 3 quests under the Misc quest, which is annoying. Then, she told me where I had to go to get them, but that info isn't shown in my journal. So if I want to complete that quest and erase those 3 items from my list, I need to go all the way back to that person and ask them where the stuff is again. Annoying.

You can just select that as your quest and it gives you an arrow telling you where to go, right?

 

[Mile High]

for PC users, looks like there's finally a "go to" UI mod: SkyUI

It requires installation of something called the Skyrim Script Extender, which I haven't done yet, but I'm excited to try this out. Looks like they've started by revamping the player inventory menu, and the magic menu is next on their list.

Awesome news. Hadn't checked mods in awhile, just started going through new ones the other night.

The player inventory has been changed from the original two-list-layout to a single big panel. Included features:

...

* Sortable columns to order items by a specific stat. Multi-state columns to sort by value/weight ratio, and to quickly single out equipped, stolen, enchanted or poisoned items.

...

* Support for exotic resolutions. Tested from 800x600 to 5760x2160.

Pretty sweet mod after I figured out how to set up the Skyrim Script Extender thing. Also like Tytanis-The Ultimate Mod

 

[AhrnCityPahnder]

Yeah - a big thumbs down to them not improving the inventory or naming of potions at all in the main game. This seems like something they could have had an intern do when the game was being developed.

potion naming is really irritating. They should have it sortable by effect like when you're enchanting something, then show you what you have in that category.

 

[GregR]

for PC users, looks like there's finally a "go to" UI mod: SkyUI

It requires installation of something called the Skyrim Script Extender, which I haven't done yet, but I'm excited to try this out. Looks like they've started by revamping the player inventory menu, and the magic menu is next on their list.

What does this mean?I just purchased the game, and am at that exact site seeking mods to get started.

It means someone came out with a more useful inventory screen. Showing more items in the list at once, and letting you see the value, weight, and stolen flags without having to individually select each item to view them. And most importantly, letting you sort them by those attributes.

If you are just starting out, I would play it for a bit to see how it works to start with before loading up many mods. And when you add mods, add them one at a time and play a bit and test what they are supposed to do to make sure they are working properly and not causing instability.

Sometimes I put mods on and don't like what they do so remove them. Other times they are close to what I want, but not quite there. And sometimes you can actually go look at the mod and figure out how to change it the way you like. I did this with the Oblivion mods that changed the user interface. Like one of the UI mods removed showing you the date and time when on the map page, so I figured out how to put it back in. Also figured out how to resize the map to take up more screen space, and replace the default map with a better looking one from a different mod.

By the way, anyone wanting help dealing with mods, installing or merging, I'll help as best I can, just post or shoot me a PM. I'm not an expert with all of them but I've run hundreds of mods with Oblivion so have hit a lot of the gotchas before, like issues around mod load order and such (which aren't a problem with Skyrim yet as no one can make the type of mods that load order matters until the construction set is out in January).

 

[The Hank]

for PC users, looks like there's finally a "go to" UI mod: SkyUI

It requires installation of something called the Skyrim Script Extender, which I haven't done yet, but I'm excited to try this out. Looks like they've started by revamping the player inventory menu, and the magic menu is next on their list.

What does this mean?I just purchased the game, and am at that exact site seeking mods to get started.

It means someone came out with a more useful inventory screen. Showing more items in the list at once, and letting you see the value, weight, and stolen flags without having to individually select each item to view them. And most importantly, letting you sort them by those attributes.

If you are just starting out, I would play it for a bit to see how it works to start with before loading up many mods. And when you add mods, add them one at a time and play a bit and test what they are supposed to do to make sure they are working properly and not causing instability.

Sometimes I put mods on and don't like what they do so remove them. Other times they are close to what I want, but not quite there. And sometimes you can actually go look at the mod and figure out how to change it the way you like. I did this with the Oblivion mods that changed the user interface. Like one of the UI mods removed showing you the date and time when on the map page, so I figured out how to put it back in. Also figured out how to resize the map to take up more screen space, and replace the default map with a better looking one from a different mod.

By the way, anyone wanting help dealing with mods, installing or merging, I'll help as best I can, just post or shoot me a PM. I'm not an expert with all of them but I've run hundreds of mods with Oblivion so have hit a lot of the gotchas before, like issues around mod load order and such (which aren't a problem with Skyrim yet as no one can make the type of mods that load order matters until the construction set is out in January).

I wish that you could do this with XBOX and fix that map, its terrible!

 

[GregR]

I'll add that it is a good idea to read both the Description, and the discussion/comments tabs on those mod pages. The comments is where you are most likely to find out if there are problems with the mod.

As an example, there was a UI mod out really early on that did much like SkyUI. However it broke a number of things including causing the Misc menu on merchants to frequently disappear, which meant you had to use his complete item list to buy an item from that class. As a result I didn't install it, deciding to wait until he figured it out.

I still need to read through all the SkyUI comments to see if it has issues. If not will be giving it a try hopefully tonight.

 

[GregR]

Apparently a new patch was rolled out to PC via Steam. Those using Hayden's multi-monitor fix will want to stick with version 1.3 until he comes out with a new fix for it. I have auto-update of the game disabled by Steam, so I'm still on 1.3.

If you do roll with the new version though, apparently they fixed two things in it, and one of them is the LAA issue... so the normal executable will now use 4 GB of RAM if available instead of 2 GB. So the 4 GB mod is no longer necessary once going to the new patch.

 

[GregR]

Haven't tried it, and won't until it is out of beta, but here is a mod that allows animals other than horses to be mounts. So far mammoths, sabercats and bears it looks like. Says he's working on dragons but what he has for them so far is corrupting saves so hasn't put it out there yet.

 

[joker]

Question for those of you who've done Boethiah's Calling:

Spoiler

I sacrificed Lydia, but am wondering if I should get someone less important (like a mercenary). Any ramifications I should be worried about? It wouldn't take me long to go hire someone off the street; I was just tired of listening to her whine...

 

[thecatch]

Question for those of you who've done Boethiah's Calling:

Spoiler

I sacrificed Lydia, but am wondering if I should get someone less important (like a mercenary). Any ramifications I should be worried about? It wouldn't take me long to go hire someone off the street; I was just tired of listening to her whine...

No, not really.

 

[Drifter]

Question for those of you who've done Boethiah's Calling:

You're doing business with those freaks?

Hell's yeah. Daedric swag is the ####!

 

[joker]

LOL - I wonder what's going to happen when I finish the House of Horrors for the other dude. I'm assuming he's not a huge fan of Boethiah...

 

[JerseyToughGuys]

Here's a mod I'm giving my seal of approval. Better Females by Bella. It improves facial textures to the point that female characters actually look attractive rather than fugly.

I recommend getting the files for the main mod (Better Females by Bella Version 3) and installing it, then grab Makeup Version 1 and install it to overwrite that part of the original mod, and then grab No Shine and install it overtop of the other two. All three of those can be downloaded from the Files part of the page I linked to. The maker of the mod seems to have a glamazon fetish or something and he goes way overboard on the makeup, so the Makeup Version 1 is a version that looks a lot more natural than his normal version. The No Shine is to get rid of some extra shiny qualities the original had on people's faces. You can view before and after pictures at the link I gave in the Images tab.

For those (PC only) not familiar with mods, here's a quick primer on using them. The vast majority of the original files for skyrim are contained in archive files which generally end with extensions like .bsa. If you instead put an individual copy of the file in the directory stucture, it will use that in place of the original. So replacement mods like this generally just add files, and removing them is as simple as going and deleting the files added.

In this case, the 3 mod files are zipped and you unzip them. The main one has a top folder of Data, so merge this into your skyrim\Data folder. The latter two the top folder is Textures, which is a sub-folder of Data, so go there and merge them in. The latter two will want to overwrite the files from the first one, so accept.

A mod like this you can add and remove without any issues. Mods that change objects in the game, like a new sword, can impact you sometimes in that you may have the item and then later remove the mod and the item goes away so the game can't find it. It is able to recover from it, but you might get a message it had problems loading some objects when you first load a save that predated the mod.

After awhile someone will come out with a mod manager program that basically acts as an installer and manager for you, so you can just click and the mod manager will know all the steps to do to add or remove a mod.

 

[Jethro Q. Walrustitty]

I got a quest twice. Is this normal? I did the Red Eagle quest very early on. Then doing another dungeon dive, I read another book that gave it to me again! Even though the area showed as cleared, most the bad guys were there again. I say most because the main bad guy was still dead when I got to him. But he had yet another, slightly different quest sword on his body! Then when I went to fight the big battle, nothing. Everything was still dead. So, it really wasn't a full quest but, given the value of Forlorn equipment, it was well worth it to go through it all again. I'm glad I redid too in that I had to clear it off my miscellaneous quest list again. Once I went through the motions, it disappeared just like the first time.

I got this last night as well and thought it was weird. I was just going to ignore it, but my OCD would've gotten to me eventually. Now that I know there's actually another sword there, I'll have to do it. I will avoid reading anymore of the Legend of Red Eagle books though.

 

[Mad Cow]

So while I was running around up north, I found Mzincleft or whatever it was. Had no quests for it. I clean it out, find the device that is quest oriented, go find that quest and head down to Blackreach - very cool. Finish that up. Now a week later I am walking in Riften and a chick wants me to get her sword down there, the one which doesn't appear unless you are a certain level and have the quest. Apparently, that dungeon resets.

 

[rascal]

Hoping to get this for x-mas for my xbox.

 

[fasteddie_21]

I'm going solo. I had been carrying around the dog and Belrand around with me. I gave Belrand to the Boethian shrine last night and then finished the quest to return dog to owner. I was sick of that piece of #### running into me and pushing me anytime I was trying to do something precise with aim or picking something up. The final straw was him pushing me off a narrow stone bridge last night.

I've rolled solo the entire game except for the quests where someone is automatically assigned to you.

Yup, same here. The Steed Stone = the awesomeness of carrying weight.

 

[hooter311]

I'm going solo. I had been carrying around the dog and Belrand around with me. I gave Belrand to the Boethian shrine last night and then finished the quest to return dog to owner. I was sick of that piece of #### running into me and pushing me anytime I was trying to do something precise with aim or picking something up. The final straw was him pushing me off a narrow stone bridge last night.

I've rolled solo the entire game except for the quests where someone is automatically assigned to you.

Yup, same here. The Steed Stone = the awesomeness of carrying weight.

No Steed Stone, but I'm level 55 and have leveled up Stamina 80% of the time. I think I can carry around 620 with a couple enchanted items adding to the perk.

 

[Mad Cow]

No Steed Stone, but I'm level 55 and have leveled up Stamina 80% of the time. I think I can carry around 620 with a couple enchanted items adding to the perk.

What's Stamina primarily useful for? Power attacks of melee weapons? If so, why that over health?

Stamina is also for the slow-mo scoped in bow attacks. Very useful there.

 

[Clifford]

I found the lamest stone in the game

Let's you raise undead once per day. I've had that spell since lvl 3 or something.

 

[Drifter]

So, I've been carrying this f'n "Drevin's Bow" around for pretty much the entire game. While working on smithing and enchanting, I went ahead and turned it to Legendary status and threw on a "Paralyze" target enchantment. I hope that whoever Drevin is, appreciates it whenever I run into him.

 

[The Gator]

So, I've been carrying this f'n "Drevin's Bow" around for pretty much the entire game. While working on smithing and enchanting, I went ahead and turned it to Legendary status and threw on a "Paralyze" target enchantment. I hope that whoever Drevin is, appreciates it whenever I run into him.

Same here. That along with some blade shards 2-3 amulets and a dagger. //sidebar//Anyone collect all of the dragon preist masks?

 

[GregR]

So, I've been carrying this f'n "Drevin's Bow" around for pretty much the entire game. While working on smithing and enchanting, I went ahead and turned it to Legendary status and threw on a "Paralyze" target enchantment. I hope that whoever Drevin is, appreciates it whenever I run into him.

Yeah, I carried that thing around forever before I found the quest that let me get rid of it. Spoiler with the location for the quest:

Spoiler

There is a farm bordering that lake outside of Riften. I want to say it is near the bridge out to the island. Anyway, there is a guy on the farm that will ask you to get him Drevin's bow as a side quest.

 

[GregR]

So, I've been carrying this f'n "Drevin's Bow" around for pretty much the entire game. While working on smithing and enchanting, I went ahead and turned it to Legendary status and threw on a "Paralyze" target enchantment. I hope that whoever Drevin is, appreciates it whenever I run into him.

Same here. That along with some blade shards 2-3 amulets and a dagger. //sidebar//Anyone collect all of the dragon preist masks?

When I did the quest that starts with the drinking game, I had a dozen bottles of wine already on me, and the quest gave me another that was a quest item. Which meant I couldn't sell off any of the other wine bottles. Really annoying.Oh, speaking of beverages... when traveling outside of cities, I would suggest carrying 1 bottle of Honningbrew mead with you. There is a random encounter where it is beneficial to have one and be as generous as possible in sharing it.