[Gaming] Elder Scrolls 5 - Dawnguard is HERE!

People are already doing things with the Creation Kit that surprise me. One guy even took all the major cities and added them to the main world space, so doing things like entering Whiterun will no longer have a loading screen. You can just ride your horse right up into town. I was not expecting someone to be able to do something like that for awhile.
 
Cannot wait for a magic kit to include Charm Humanoid/Animal/Daemon. (Yep I'm still bitching)

Then I'll start over and finally finish this game.
 
Now that I am home I am trying out the Creation Kit, it has a few bugs and crashed on me once, but so far seems pretty great. Just make sure to save often.

The most annoying issue I seem to have is I can't add face features like scars and such to the character models, because the layout of that screen does not seem to have a drop down menu for it like it does the hair, skins, etc...
 
Many new ones out... including a Beta for "Open Cities" I'm looking forward to use in a few days. I'm not installing anything properly tested.

I opened the CK tonight and yeah... I'll need to read up on a few tutorials cause...

LJKbw.jpg
 

Dave

Staff member
There are 321 mods in the store right now. Wonder how this will affect Nexus.
Added at: 23:01
BAG OF FUKKIN HOLDING!!!
 
Well, I was gonna upload a screenshot of my graphics, but then I downloaded the HD textures and yeah... huge difference.

Erm... apparently I need to unload some of the mods I just downloaded and/or roll back from the HD textures, because I am a freaking speed demon now. Everything runs about twice as fast as it used to. I run twice as fast when running, twice as fast while sprinting, magicka and stamina regen twice as fast... it's interesting, but I don't think I need to add that level of challenge to combats just yet.
 
So to enjoy the new workshop and mods coming down the line, I started another new character. I was really enjoying using a sword and shield a bit on my last character but she was so focused into stealth and magic that I didn't get to really play the game much with a shield as normally intended. As such, I have created an orc who is going to be a combination of sword/shield and bow, as I miss having decent archery skills. When it comes to magic I am going to focus on Alteration, so that I can really boost my defensive ability. I plan on finally finishing all questlines, as there are still a few I have not done yet.

Also, I am working on my first personal modification, and I am wondering if people think I should upload it. Basically, I always felt the Housecarls were a little to uniform. This is one of the reasons I think Lydia is so popular, because once you get her, why use the other Housecarls? They are pretty much all the same thing, with the same focus and skills, but you get Lydia a lot sooner. It would be nice if you had reason to take other Housecarls.

As such I am altering the stats and gear of all Housecarls. Each one is going to specialize in a certain areas. Right now they are all pretty much set to high block, heavy armor, and one-handed, with the next highest being archery and two-handed. Here are the alterations I designed so far, not going into to much detail.

Lydia - Redesigned to be much more "Nordic" and focusing on two-handed and archery. Spell School: Illusion
Iona - Redesigned to be more "Roguish" and focusing on one-handed and archery. Spell School: Conjuration
Argis - Left mostly untouched, still focusing on one-handed and shields. Spell School: Alteration
Jordis - Redesigned to be more "Imperial" and focusing on one-handed and archery. Spell School: Restoration
Calder - Redesigned to be more "Stormcloak" and focusing on two-handed and archery. Spell School: Destruction

To better explain the spell school marker, I am basically giving each character a spell, or set of spells, that best work with the design I am going for. Examples are Lydia can cast Courage or Fear (as I am making her into someone that rallies for you). Iona can summon a familiar (maybe even bound weapons, she basically uses summons to escape situations or distract enemies). Argis can boost his defenses (He is called the Bulwark, after all). etc... All of them will be given a pretty decent sneak boost, just so they no longer make you stick out while trying to sneak into a room.

This is still work in progress, but anyone else be interested in it?

Next plan is to make custom Followers.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
It slightly amuses, and slightly annoys, me that here I stand, a tower of glowing, menacing, lethal daedric power who, on a whim, could slaughter entire capitals... and yet city guards still admonish me about fiddling with locks and putting hands in pockets. Bitch, I will leave your hold a SMOKING RUIN. The only thing that stops me from doing so is the knowledge that even if I kill every single guard, they'll just "hire" more and they won't be any smarter either... just constantly trying to arrest the Dragonborn for jaywalking.

"You have committed crimes against skyrim and her peoples. What have you to say in your defense?"
Come on, that's just ASKING for FUS RO DAH.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Also, for the first time I JUST found out there's a basement in the blue palace where all the deposed jarls and their retinues hang out. As the only city I haven't taken yet is Solitude, everybody from Balgruuf on down the line, with their housecarls and stewards, is down there. It's quite a shock to step into a room and suddenly be face to face with everybody I ever kicked to the gutter. Surprised they didn't all jump on me, not that they stood a chance.

Which made me wonder... Why do they even LET me come into solitude? (Ok, not that they could stop me, but still)... Why does Jarl Elisif still tell me "It's a fine day with you around!" when she's got a basement full of allies who are NO doubt telling her that I was instrumental in the stormcloaks kicking all of them into exile?
 
Which made me wonder... Why do they even LET me come into solitude? (Ok, not that they could stop me, but still)... Why does Jarl Elisif still tell me "It's a fine day with you around!" when she's got a basement full of allies who are NO doubt telling her that I was instrumental in the stormcloaks kicking all of them into exile?
She likely knows that she will be in trouble should the Stormcloaks win, and thus wants to make sure she can hold onto whatever power she has left when the dust settles.
 
Basically. I believe Ulfric lets her keep Solitude if he comes to power, mainly because he needs her support to take the throne, so it's not like she's in any real danger. Then again, he might just be doing it because he murdered her husband.

That's the thing I really like about the whole war aspect of the game: We're not entirely sure who's telling the truth about the High King's death. Ether Ulfric pulled a fair move and has right to the throne or Elisif is right and Ulfric assassinated the King. We know one of them is lying, but we never find out which.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Basically. I believe Ulfric lets her keep Solitude if he comes to power, mainly because he needs her support to take the throne, so it's not like she's in any real danger. Then again, he might just be doing it because he murdered her husband.

That's the thing I really like about the whole war aspect of the game: We're not entirely sure who's telling the truth about the High King's death. Ether Ulfric pulled a fair move and has right to the throne or Elisif is right and Ulfric assassinated the King. We know one of them is lying, but we never find out which.
From other conversations I've had with NPCs, it seems Ulfric did challenge the king officially, but it was out of the blue, and the challenge was issued in a manner that made abdication the only alternative to refusal. So he did put him in a catch-22 where he had to choose between his kingship and his life, and he chose the kingship. Ulfric FUS RO DAH'd him in the arena, stabbed him while he was down, and made it out of the city before the vengeful half of the population could lynch him. So, by the letter of the traditional law, he acted legally, but it was still plainly a dick move.
 
I feel like maybe I don't use the shout system nearly enough - though I do most of my fighting from range and a lot of the shouts seem more aimed at giving you an out if you're surrounded by enemies and about to die. The only ones I really use are Marked for Death and Slow Time (though admittedly, since I spent so much of my early game time doing the side quests for the factions I don't really have many Shouts to choose from yet). Aside from Fus Ro Dah'ing someone out of your way, what do y'all use your shouts for?
 
I use Aura Whisper constantly. Being able to see where enemies are behind walls makes pulling off ambushes much simpler. If I need a burst of damage, I'll do a Fire Breath (enhanced with Parthanx'es Fire Meditation). If I need some breathing room, I paralyze them with Ice Form. Getting around is much easier with Whirlwind Sprint.

Really, the Shouts are very useful, as long as you have the right ones.
 
Oh, I'm sure they are, I just never use the damn things. About the only thing I ever use is Nightingale Strife if I'm getting my ass kicked and the occasional Slow Time to get through a swinging axe trap or Marked for Death if I'm facing down a Draugr Death Lord and my summons are on cool down. One of these days I ought to go through and remap my Nostromo for Skyrim (I only ever use it for WoW), to make the controls more seamless for me. Maybe then I'd remember the Z options more frequently.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Wuld Na Kest (whirlwind sprint) is really handy for getting to hard to reach areas across broken bridges and whatnot, and I often fool around with Marked for Death on strong enemies but I don't have to, and Ice Form comes in handy for crowd control . For stealth archers, Throw Voice is a godsend. Gets em to stand still right where you want them to.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Hmm... I do not know this "Throw Voice" of which you speak. Perhaps I will make a point of finding it.
Surely someone, a guard perhaps, in Whiterun has made mention they saw a dragon circling Shearpoint by now, haven't they?

Word to the wise, bring some potions. And a way to attack from range.
 
Heh, it's more than likely that they have. I really should go "Start the Hunt" though, and get rid of that cursed ring that will randomly turn me into a werewolf...
 
Heh. Sadly, the one mod that I was really looking forward to seemed to be the one that caused the game to double in speed - Reduced NPC Greeting Distances. Supposed to make it so you have to practically bump into an NPC before they'll start asking if you're doing your good deed for the day, or if you get to the cloud district often, or interrupting you to tell you that they don't have time to talk to you...
 

Dave

Staff member
Ever since I updated I'm crashing like a mad mofo. I've disabled all mods, including the ones from before...no dice. I may have to reinstall.
 

Dave

Staff member
Damn damn damn. Lost everything. Backed up my save files and tried to uninstall/install, but there was no uninstall in my control panel. So I used Revo Uninstaller to get it and reinstall. Loaded my save games and the system didn't like them.

Looks like I'm starting from scratch.
 
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