Skyrim - v1.2 Update

[badmofo]

'Never trust a user' is the most important rule I've learnt over the years, and when the user is an I.T person then be twice as skeptical! Help desks must hate jerks like me ringing up with obscure messes I've gotten myself into because "I know computers", and a lot of gamer's (particularly PC) probably think they're quasi-experts just because they've managed to get the game to boot. (as evidenced by the many assertions made on this forum )

Anyway my 2 cents is that the dev team have every bug that users are complaining about and more logged in their bug tracking software and have them prioritised by some pre-defined formula, and they're working their way through them. There's no way the test team could have missed the key mapping problems on the PC for example, that bug just didn't make it to the top of the list before 11/11.

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

"This does not work" is not useful information. Such reports are sent back to the user, because the usual tongue-in-cheek answer to this is, "well, it works on my workstation."

Well, there is already a hint in that :

Not every desktop user has a workstation. A workstation, in its traditional sense, is still something quite different that a normal Joe Public's desktop PC.

At least I believe so.

This is my life at work. Sample:

user: "The new thing is broke and it worked before!"
me: "Did you make any changes to your stuff?"
user: "No!"

About 90% of the time after hours of work I find out that they did indeed make changes and the changes are bad. Or their stuff never worked in the first place. Sigh.

I have found this even within my circle of friends.

 

[sakichop]

I wish people would stop using hyperbole. If all their energies went into consoles, there wouldn't be a PC version. In any case, cross-platform development has many benefits, least of all increased stabilty (fewer undiscovered bugs) and higher quality of the codebase.

Now, if you're talking about optimization and UI design… but I don't think that even the former is an issue these days with all the standard APIs and similar hardware.



Which doesn't need to be a problem and can be a benefit.

I wish some people would start using common since. Obviously he knows someone worked on the pc version or there wouldn't be one. But how many people worked on the pc vs console. 70/30—80/20—90/10. I would bet it's closer to the later than the former.

I don't see how it would increase stability either as they still have to play test each system individually. That's why you have different bugs on different systems. Dev's even complained about developing for the ps3 in the beginning because it was such a pain.

As a pc gamer how do consoles benefit me. By having my games made by default for an xbox 360 controller? NO. By having my games made for 5 yr. old hardware? NO. Having the pc versions delayed so they can supposedly add features? NO. like batman AC. delayed till 11/15 to add directx 11 and physx. Then delayed again until the 22nd although I got a copy on the 18th at a bestbuy. So the game was already done and released so why the extra delay. 1 more week to sell on consoles maybe? Oh yeah and after all that Dx11 was broken and they admitted it was.

Your in denial if you think companies aren't putting the bulk of their resources in to the console. Just search around the web developers are not hiding it. Ubisoft recently stop just short of saying most pc gamers are just pirates and then retracted it when a shi*storm broke out.

If your a console player then great. I don't begrudge you that but please don't act like pc gaming taking a backseat is good for pc only gamers like me. It's not.

Sorry don't want to hijack the thread just get tired of hearing how pc gamers overreact or are whiners. It's easy to say things are good if your a console gamer because everything is going your way but,I think you'd have a hard time finding benefit if they started making 95% of games for the nintendo ds and then just porting them to your console of choice.

 

[Thaurin]

Your in denial if you think companies aren't putting the bulk of their resources in to the console.

No, the bulk of their resources is put into developing the game. Cross-platform development does not mean that you're developing the same game twice.

Different compilers will expose different bugs. Bugs fixed for one architecture may fix bugs in another. Cross-platform design makes your codebase more flexible. Seeing as how PC hardware comes in 723.123.895 possible combinations, it kinda already is necessary to have good design that is portable.

I suppose that 80% of resources is shared among the platforms, as far as development goes. 95.5% of all statistics on the internet is made up on the spot.

 

[Thrasher]

Seeing as how PC hardware comes in 723.123.895 possible combinations

Shouldn't that be an even number?

 

[Ragnaris]

Did they fix it so you are now able to hotkey dual wield melee weapons for your left hand?

Not sure I understand, can you elaborate a bit more? I've never been a dual wielder, so I'm unfamiliar with any troubles it has had with being hotkeyed. Are you asking wielding two weapons to the same key?

 

[CountChocula]

Not sure I understand, can you elaborate a bit more? I've never been a dual wielder, so I'm unfamiliar with any troubles it has had with being hotkeyed. Are you asking wielding two weapons to the same key?

I have never been able to hotkey any weapon to my left hand. The hotkeys only seem to put weapons in my right hand.

If I want to put dagger X in my right hand and sword Y in my left hand, it seems the only way to do that is via the inventory menu, rather than hotkeys.

As for hotkeying dual wielding spells, you can press the hotkey button twice, in order to equip the same spell to both hands. However, I'm not able to assign any hotkeys individually to left hand spells (for example healing in left and frostbite in right), etc.

 

[Thrasher]

Yeah, it sucks. That's why I don't use the hotkeys, and I just stick with the favorites menu and left- or right clicking to assign to hands.

BTW, someone on the Qt3 forums was nice enough to upload all the files needed to revert back to 1.1.

http://www.box.com/s/gka0789pb7z427nxr0e4

 

[sakichop]

No, the bulk of their resources is put into developing the game. Cross-platform development does not mean that you're developing the same game twice.

Different compilers will expose different bugs. Bugs fixed for one architecture may fix bugs in another. Cross-platform design makes your codebase more flexible. Seeing as how PC hardware comes in 723.123.895 possible combinations, it kinda already is necessary to have good design that is portable.

I suppose that 80% of resources is shared among the platforms, as far as development goes. 95.5% of all statistics on the internet is made up on the spot.

Thanks for proving my point. when they develop the game for cross platform they need it to work on all platforms. So they won't take advantage of the extra abilities of the pc. It will be developed mainly for console by default as the pc can do everything the console can do. They then have a team add pc features if they decide or do a direct port. most times they add the pc features half ass like batman ac with dx 11.

That's why my pc skyrim version comes enabled for xbox 360 controller by default, I can't map all keys to my keyboard with the original release and is very poorly if at all optimized for mouse input. it doesn't take advantage of my 8gb of memory or my gtx 480's or extra processor power. limited dx11, etc etc. Forgive me if I can't see how any of that is a benefit.

Also i'm checking all over the internet to verify if you have the correct # of different pc hardware combo's.

Not sure what you are talking about with the internet statistic's. I'm talking interviews with dev's stating they are focusing on console development. Such as the ubisoft interview.

 

[Ragnaris]

I have never been able to hotkey any weapon to my left hand. The hotkeys only seem to put weapons in my right hand.

If I want to put dagger X in my right hand and sword Y in my left hand, it seems the only way to do that is via the inventory menu, rather than hotkeys.

As for hotkeying dual wielding spells, you can press the hotkey button twice, in order to equip the same spell to both hands. However, I'm not able to assign any hotkeys individually to left hand spells (for example healing in left and frostbite in right), etc.

Unfortunately this is still not possible. I tried to hotkey a sword in my left hand after sheathing it, but it seems to reset itself to the right hand, oddly. I tried to hotkey two different weapons to two different keys, and for some reason my spells seem to move themselves to the left hand every time.

 

[DeepO]

Unfortunately this is still not possible. I tried to hotkey a sword in my left hand after sheathing it, but it seems to reset itself to the right hand, oddly.

Yeah, that caused me postponing my character going dual wield for quite a while.
During the late game I sorta rectified it via conjuration - bound sword in the left hand, normal sword in the right.
Utilizing this combo is without issues hotkey-wise and the bound sword is treated as a normal one, aka perks and skill level in 1-handed apply to it, dual wield perks included. And it trains both 1-handed and conjuration.
Switching from dual wielding to bow or sword + spell became non-issue afterwards.

Can´t say for sure how this combo performs at lower levels, but using bound sword(s) may be actually pretty effective there, considering that with the mystic binding perk (requires 20 in conjuration and is available right after the "opening" perk) bound sword deals same damage as a daedric one.

 

[Thaurin]

Thanks for proving my point. when they develop the game for cross platform they need it to work on all platforms. So they won't take advantage of the extra abilities of the pc.

What point is that, that they're putting most of their resources into console development? Because I never proved that.

The point is, 80% of the core for all platforms will be the same. Resources for platform-specific development will be small in comparison. That they don't spend more resources into PC-specific features is another thing entirely. Maybe they do spend more on console-specific development than on PC-specific—I don't know. I tend to think not, nobody wants to release crap, even on PC. It just kills their brand. It's stupid. I think that it's all been a conscious decision to do it like that, not the result of neglect for PC. What reasons they have, is anybody's guess, but I tend to think that your opinions on how the PC version should be is in the minority, which is why Bethesda released it like this. Yes, despite the, *ahem*, "shitstorm" that is supposedly going on on the internet.

But really, there is no reason why they couldn't have made Skyrim "more suited for the PC" (as you believe it would have been) and still have a multiple platform release. That is my point.

Personally, I think the game is just fine. Also, it stresses my 470GTX out pretty well, especially with the new beta driver and SSOA on. DX11 tesselation would have been nice, but it would have killed 83.2% percent of PC's in the installed base.

P.S. The gamepad default setting is… strange, I agree (and I do a lot of gamepad gaming on PC). I would like to hear a developer's response on that one day.

 

[ToddMcF2002]

So are things as messed up as reported on consoles with this patch? Resistances? Dragon behavior?

I'm glad I'm distracted by Morrowind at the moment. My Nord has been sidelined in Skyrim for a while.

 

[kalniel]

Developing for console is subsidising the game for us PC gamers. I wouldn't be surprised if the total lifelong cost of releasing the PC version actually ended up negative - or at least a net loss compared to possible extra revenues on consoles. But Bethesda love PC games - that much is obvious as soon as you look into the style and depth of the game, let alone the toolsets. Without console users subsidising us however, we'd be looking at a much smaller scope of game and no toolset. IMHO.

So could the game be better if it was exclusively designed for the PC? Sure - but it'd cost so much per unit to be unsellable.

So are things as messed up as reported on consoles with this patch? Resistances? Dragon behavior?

Worse - resistances are at least fixable on PC.

 

[booboo]

I'm pretty sure I had "do not automatically update" set for Skyrim, but it seems to have updated anyway. I seem to have lost WASD for menu controls? ESC is all fine and well, but my mouse is still overly sensitive and I would like to be able to back out of menus one level at a time using a key and WASD…but that doesn't seem to work. So everything now seems to be enter and/or mouse click, with ESC to cancel everything. I also noticed no change to the utility of dual wielding i.e. 1 key press to equip 2 different spells etc. I understand that PS3 users are happy, but this patch does not seem to have been of much use at all to PC users which is rather disappointing.

 

[crpgnut]

I'm still playing the original game, with no patches. Some quests are bugged, but given how many there are, it is to be expected. Still, I think Bethesda should have been running their auto-play QA on pcs instead of the xbox. I've got about 35 pounds of gear that I can't offload. I just console my carryweight to give myself 35 pounds back, so no big deal.

 

[skavenhorde]

Those claws add up quick. I was able to put two in a chest, but the rest I'm unsure if I've used or not so I keep. In any case some of them won't let me put them in a chest. I think once you are done with them then you can get rid of them, but I'm not taking any chances. I only got rid of those two because I just did the quest involving them (the one with the amulet that sucks!!! Went through all that trouble to get it and when I finally got it it so wasn't worth the trouble).

 

[crpgnut]

I've only done the golden claw-Riverwood and the Ivory Claw-College. I guess I haven't come across the others yet. I've done 2/3 of the quest of which the ivory claw is part, is that the amulet one you're talking about?

 

[kalniel]

I'm pretty sure I had "do not automatically update" set for Skyrim, but it seems to have updated anyway.

Yeah I found that. It seems Steam is quite eager at resetting the option.

I seem to have lost WASD for menu controls? ESC is all fine and well, but my mouse is still overly sensitive and I would like to be able to back out of menus one level at a time using a key and WASD…but that doesn't seem to work. So everything now seems to be enter and/or mouse click, with ESC to cancel everything. I also noticed no change to the utility of dual wielding i.e. 1 key press to equip 2 different spells etc. I understand that PS3 users are happy, but this patch does not seem to have been of much use at all to PC users which is rather disappointing.

I have a rather better experience - WASD is still working fine for menus, and my mouse is perfect now. I've also gained a bunch of FPS/responsiveness. Make sure you've not made any changes to the ini files - if in doubt back up, then delete them and re-verify cache from Steam.

 

[booboo]

You are right: WASD does work. What I really meant was directional arrow keys - I'm sure I was using those before (for menu navigation) and they do nothing now. Any idea how I can get them to work? I didn't modify my INI, and have now switched off 360 controller setting under gameplay options, which may have caused some issues initially. My mouse sensitivity is dialed all the way down, but still a little too snappy - I have a "gaming' mouse, which I regret buying, but for some reason its been very badly behaved in Skyrim.

EDIT: just found this, seems I'm not going senile:
https://unofficialskyrimpatch.16bugs.com/projects/7078/bugs/210402


@Skaven: do you mean Gauldur's amulet? I'm still using it at (level 40)! I have no skill at enchanting and it's the best compromise I've found for stat boosting. Now that I think of it, much of the loot I've foudn has been kind of crap. Seems you have to invest in enchanting if you want to get really good stuff? My mage ended up on 500 mana, but I had tow wear quite a few items to get that, and they were not 'top of teh range' by any means (well, not to me anyway ;-)