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[Taker34]

I am really underwhelmed by the remaster work here. The texture updates mostly look like quick and dirty upres and sharpen jobs. The volumetric effects and god rays are very nice, but they only serve to better light really ancient models and textures - much like a lot of garish ENB mods over the years, the overall look is just lipstick on a pig. Everything that truly needed overhauling: the ghoulish character models, the quaint animation, the mashy combat system - all that's still here. It would have been nice to at least see some, I dunno, PBR for materials considering how much metal, wood, and cloth you're staring at in this game constantly.

I feel like even console-only folks who never dabbled in the PC version upgrading from PS3/360 are going to feel a little burnt by this thing. There's just nothing here that looks good aside from the sun coming in through the trees sometimes.

Well it is what it is, Skyrim ported to the newest version of the Creation Engine. Nothing more nothing less. Changed animations, a new combat system or new models would be more in the vein of a remake... and Bethesda at least added mod support for consoles, so maybe we'll see some progress on this side. It depends on what you've expected but everyone would've told you months ago that it'll be a bog standard version of vanilla Skyrim with Fallout 4 effects and better vegetation.

Enjoy the game for what it is - after playing hundreds of hours of Mount & Blade on PS4, I don't even really care about graphics in medieval/fantasy games as long as the atmosphere is right.

 

[leng jai]

Is there really much to complain about though? It's literally free on PC if you own the DLCs. Console players got a significantly nicer version with mod support, and the PC version got DX11, 64bit support and much better shadows/lighting. Modders will do the rest.

 

[LichtenbergFigures]

Apologies if this question has already been answered, but if you did upload a mod with external assets for the PS4, how does the Bethesda site know it has external assets? Is it to do with the file type?

I realise anything involving sound files would like just not work at all, but for everything else, what checks are in place to enforce the restriction?

 

[Darkstorne]

Is there really much to complain about though? It's literally free on PC if you own the DLCs. Console players got a significantly nicer version with mod support, and the PC version got DX11, 64bit support and much better shadows/lighting. Modders will do the rest.

That's pretty much my view as well. Just got to hope ENB adds improved lighting/shadows and sub surface scattering again, and this will look pretty great. I started a game quickly this morning and was amazed by the lighting through the trees, but disgusted by skin textures. It's like the newer effects just emphasize how old this thing looks at times.

I also crashed in Helgen keep in an unmodded game, so 10 minutes after starting. It's definitely Skyrim!

 

[Drazgul]

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/855/?

I've ported version 2.2 of the SkyUI mod

This is only a basic version so there is no: map additions, favorites menu and other missing from SKSE items.

All credits go to original autor of this mod: schlangster

Haven't tried it myself yet so caveat emptor. Better than nothing I guess if you're too impatient to wait for SKSE.

 

[RK9039]

Please. The game was popular and loved before the mod community took off and was widely praised by the massive console audience, particularly 360. Let's not act like it didn't deserve awards by rewriting history. It's still ranking as one of the best games of all time, without mods.

Well I never said it wasn't popular without mods. I said the big thing is the modding, which is true, and at least in today's standards Skyrim is nothing compared to big RPGs of today (look at the Witcher 3). The main reason it's so popular on Steam/PC even after all of these years is because of mods, that's a fact.

 

[Nollemaster]

I read a few pages back that there already was a pc mod that enabled achievements. You guys think it's possible for the Xbone too? I remember from the Oblivion 4 Construction Set there were specific scripts commands that were responsible for achievements.

 

[SuperEpicMan]

Just started playing this and made it to Riverwood, but I am slightly regretting my choice of race (I went with Imperial). Am I right in remembering there is a point where it asks me if I would like to change any of my details?

 

[Seiniyta]

On PC the game seems blurrier at least. It's harder to appreciate the improved lighting when everything looks so fuzzy. Is that because of the lightning or another post-processing effect at work?

 

[TheChewyWaffles]

Can't play due to crashing. Just going to have to shelve this.

 

[TsunamiOfSwagger]

It's Game. I literally go in whenever I'm in my local shopping centre to laugh at the preowned prices.

It's actually £34.99, so not too bad. But their 2nd hand prices are beyond ridiculous.

 

[Spacecowboy77]

I'd try playing with the settings first, enable/disable vsync, try fullscreen instead of borderless windowed etc.

Does the game load if you open the console in the main menu and type "coc qasmoke"?

Apparently was just a mod load order problem, thanks anyway

 

[Taker34]

Just started playing this and made it to Riverwood, but I am slightly regretting my choice of race (I went with Imperial). Am I right in remembering there is a point where it asks me if I would like to change any of my details?

You can't change race at this point on console - there are workarounds for that on PC. I'd recommend restarting the game and creating a new character, because getting to Riverwood usually takes less than 10 minutes.
It's painful to replay the worst section in the game by far, but it's better than sticking with a character you don't like.

 

[SuperEpicMan]

You can't change race at this point on console - there are workarounds for that on PC. I'd recommend restarting the game and creating a new character, because getting to Riverwood usually takes less than 10 minutes.
It's painful to replay the worst section in the game by far, but it's better than sticking with a character you don't like.

Ah that sucks, I thought there might have been an option like there is at the end of the sewer section in Oblivion.

 

[Xilo]

I'm a little disappointed with the special edition. I was hyped enough about this release that I even installed Windows on my PC to play it (Ubuntu user). There are definitely some things that look better, like trees and the lighting and shadows, but overall it just feels like they are selling the same game with a couple mods for $60. On my i5-6600, 16gb ram, GTX 960, I get between 30 and 50 fps on high (not ultra) settings. I feel like I get a much better experience with vanilla skyrim running through wine on linux with a couple mods installed. I would recommend this game to anyone who has never played Skyrim, but there really isn't anything here for the people who have already played vanilla skyrim with mods.

 

[Hakkelus]

Any mods yet that take advantage of the 64bit?

 

[RK9039]

Ah that sucks, I thought there might have been an option like there is at the end of the sewer section in Oblivion.

Get the alternate start mod, by-pass all of the helgen crap.

 

[Ravensmash]

Any decent or must have ps4 mods yet?

 

[FloatingDivider]

I am really underwhelmed by the remaster work here. The texture updates mostly look like quick and dirty upres and sharpen jobs. The volumetric effects and god rays are very nice, but they only serve to better light really ancient models and textures - much like a lot of garish ENB mods over the years, the overall look is just lipstick on a pig. Everything that truly needed overhauling: the ghoulish character models, the quaint animation, the mashy combat system - all that's still here. It would have been nice to at least see some, I dunno, PBR for materials considering how much metal, wood, and cloth you're staring at in this game constantly.

I feel like even console-only folks who never dabbled in the PC version upgrading from PS3/360 are going to feel a little burnt by this thing. There's just nothing here that looks good aside from the sun coming in through the trees sometimes.

I agree with this sentiment entirely. That being said I do think there is some sort of update to texture rendering because I tried a texture replacement mod and there seems to be all sorts of specular highlighting going on that shouldn't be there.

So while Bethesda themselves shipped some of the most spoopy looking textures that aren't upgraded in any significant fashion I have hopes for modders being able to maybe get some sort of pbr working?

 

[Darkstorne]

On PC the game seems blurrier at least. It's harder to appreciate the improved lighting when everything looks so fuzzy. Is that because of the lightning or another post-processing effect at work?

Probably TAA. Try disabling it or using FXAA instead. It was a huge problem with Fallout 4 too. Another solution is to install Reshade (or look for a Reshade mod) and make use of a sharpening filter.

Any mods yet that take advantage of the 64bit?

All of them. 64 bit means there's no 4GB RAM limitation anymore. You don't have to worry (as much) about overloading your installation this time around. You're still limited by your own hardware of course, but if you have the GPU and RAM to support 4k textures everywhere, then go for it.

I agree with this sentiment entirely. That being said I do think there is some sort of update to texture rendering because I tried a texture replacement mod and there seems to be all sorts of specular highlighting going on that shouldn't be there.

Interesting, that looks like an alpha issue with the texture. Either it's a shoddy texture modder, a simple mistake on their part, or the engine manages alpha maps differently now and all texture mods will need tweaking before porting over. Should be easy to find a way around though =)

 

[Bod]

I'm a little disappointed with the special edition. I was hyped enough about this release that I even installed Windows on my PC to play it (Ubuntu user). There are definitely some things that look better, like trees and the lighting and shadows, but overall it just feels like they are selling the same game with a couple mods for $60. On my i5-6600, 16gb ram, GTX 960, I get between 30 and 50 fps on high (not ultra) settings. I feel like I get a much better experience with vanilla skyrim running through wine on linux with a couple mods installed. I would recommend this game to anyone who has never played Skyrim, but there really isn't anything here for the people who have already played vanilla skyrim with mods.

But when this new version is fully modded it will surely look better than the original modded.

Plus most got it free on pc so i do not understand the problem.

 

[lazygecko]

I agree with this sentiment entirely. That being said I do think there is some sort of update to texture rendering because I tried a texture replacement mod and there seems to be all sorts of specular highlighting going on that shouldn't be there.



So while Bethesda themselves shipped some of the most spoopy looking textures that aren't upgraded in any significant fashion I have hopes for modders being able to maybe get some sort of pbr working?

Like I said earlier, what it looks like to me is that the method of storing specular maps have changed. In regular Skyrim (and Bethesda's other pre-F4 games), specular maps were baked into the alpha layer of the normal map, which is a bit quaint by industry standards. The speculars are probably split into their own separate texture files now. So if you load an old texture mod into SSE, the game is not going to find any reference to a specular texture, and essentially treat it like it's fully specular everywhere.

That's my theory anyhow. Since there aren't any tools yet for reading and extracting the new .bsa format, I can't look at the SSE textures and verify it.

 

[Glowing Bovine]

I agree with this sentiment entirely. That being said I do think there is some sort of update to texture rendering because I tried a texture replacement mod and there seems to be all sorts of specular highlighting going on that shouldn't be there.



So while Bethesda themselves shipped some of the most spoopy looking textures that aren't upgraded in any significant fashion I have hopes for modders being able to maybe get some sort of pbr working?

If I had to guess?

Bethesda switched to a pbr rendering pipeline, which handles specularity (how reflective the textures are) differently.
Textures are gonna have to be updated to work with the remaster.

 

[Drazgul]

but if you have the GPU and RAM to support 4k textures everywhere, then go for it.

I would suggest to stay within reason still - as beautiful as those misc clutter pieces are in glorious 4k textures, how often will you really zoom in on those nordic plates to really notice the difference. I would save the highest quality textures for the stuff that really matters, characters, armor and the like. High-res textures also tend to gobble up disk space, which can be a concern for SSD users.

 

[CyberPunked]

I agree with this sentiment entirely. That being said I do think there is some sort of update to texture rendering because I tried a texture replacement mod and there seems to be all sorts of specular highlighting going on that shouldn't be there.



So while Bethesda themselves shipped some of the most spoopy looking textures that aren't upgraded in any significant fashion I have hopes for modders being able to maybe get some sort of pbr working?

If it's not implemented in the engine, it's near impossible.

 

[NBtoaster]

The brighter colors generally make it quite a bit nicer to look at. This is the same weather and time of day but the old color grading made it look much more dreary.

(the building difference is quest related)

 

[KageMaru]

That's odd. Most people are getting frame drops outdoors.

My 6700k at stock, n1080, 16gb randomly drops into the 50s and even high 40s sometimes. 2560x1080.

Now, OC'd to 4.4Ghz and I never get a frame drop.

TBH after the intro, I just walked around and didn't hit another town or any big fights. Maybe that's why? It did slightly dip to 59fps a couple times in the beginning but I didn't think that was worth mentioning.

After games like Bloodborne and Uncharted how bad do the models look? Do they look last gen?

Waiting for my Pro to play . . .

Yeah they definitely look last gen. Played the vanilla version at 4K a few days ago and the models looked similar. May make a comparison video if I find the time, though there are plenty of those already on YouTube.

 

[CaptainofIndustry]

Does it run ok on PS4? I almost picked this up on PS3 a few years back, but didn't because of all the issues.

 

[JohnnyFootball]

So...why the fuck is my only resolution option 1280 x 720 on PC?

 

[Lister]

So...why the fuck is my only resolution option 1280 x 720 on PC?

Have you got an ultra wide monitor? The options menu flipped out 'cause I did.

You can change the resolution to whatever you want in the skyrimprefs.ini in your "Mydocuments/Mysaves" folder.

The thing killing the buzz for me right now is thatthis is officially the first game I've tried that doesn't support the Steam overlay and therefore doesn
t support the Steam controller!

 

[JohnnyFootball]

Have you got an ultra wide monitor? The options menu flipped out 'cause I did.

You can change the resolution to whatever you want in the skyrimprefs.ini in your "Mydocuments/Mysaves" folder.

The thing killing the buzz for me right now is thatthis is officially the first game I've tried that doesn't support the Steam overlay and therefore doesn
t support the Steam controller!

No. I have a normal 16:9 monitor.

Can't change the fucking resolution.

 

[pitchfork]

Holy shit, the open cities mod on Xbox One runs like a dream!

I don't know my ass from my elbow when it comes to modding so no idea what kinda magic its running, but Bethesda really should hire the creator!

 

[Coxy100]

Does it run ok on PS4? I almost picked this up on PS3 a few years back, but didn't because of all the issues.

if you read through the thread it seems ok so far. (minus some aspect issues that X1 users suffer with too)

 

[FloatingDivider]

If it's not implemented in the engine, it's near impossible.

I know but I'm assuming they're using the FO4 build of the engine which is pbr enabled but bethesda simply chose to not produce the texture maps required to make use of it. I mean the world currently looks like it's just a diffuse texture + normal maps. So I'm hoping with a bit of ingenuity modders could add the correct mappings to enable pbr rendering.

I mean I might be completely misunderstanding this because all of my knowledge of the whole pbr process comes from putzing around in Unity but I've still got my fingers crossed.

 

[Ensoul]

I am sure this has been asked but is upgrading from the xbox 360 to the ps4 worth it? I tried playing the xbox 360 version recently and I am not going to lie: It was rough to look at. Are the graphics for the ps4 noticeably better?

 

[E92 M3]

Should I get this on PS4 or Xbox? Also, do mods instantly disable achievements?

 

[wesleyshark]

Should I get this on PS4 or Xbox? Also, do mods instantly disable achievements?

Each system has their own advantage:

-PS4 Pro patch will let you run in it native 4k. I think overall on the regular ps4 it looks better but I don't know the exact specs.

-Xbox is going to have/already has loads more mods. Not even comparable, there.​

Both systems capped at 30fps.


Yes, achievements/trophies will be disabled when using mods.

 

[ISee]

I am sure this has been asked but is upgrading from the xbox 360 to the ps4 worth it? I tried playing the xbox 360 version recently and I am not going to lie: It was rough to look at. Are the graphics for the ps4 noticeably better?

Last gen to current gen consoles is a huge jump imo.
PC to PC. It's there, but nothing dramatic.

edit: If your 360 version is still installed just look for yourself.
Riverrun Bridge to Whiterun, looking at the mill. Should be easy enough to find. I don't think there are many differences between the PS4 SE and PC SE (besides resolution and framerate), but I could be wrong.

 

[E92 M3]

Each system has their own advantage:

-PS4 Pro patch will let you run in it native 4k. I think overall on the regular ps4 it looks better but I don't know the exact specs.

-Xbox is going to have/already has loads more mods. Not even comparable, there.​

Both systems capped at 30fps.


Yes, achievements/trophies will be disabled when using mods.

Thanks. Is it easy to disable mods to continue getting achievements?

 

[wesleyshark]

Thanks. Is it easy to disable mods to continue getting achievements?

A playthrough with mods is a separate save file than a modless one. You can't swap within the same save file but you can have two separate playthroughs going.

 

[Scumcore]

I would be buying this on PS4 if it wasn't for that Skyrim "tease" on Switch.

True... So true. Would have been a no-brainer, but after the Switch tease I'm probably skipping it. The idea of playing Skyrim again on my TV and switching it to handheld so I can continue to play in bed/backyard/toilet is to damn good.
Or I'll just skip them both and enjoy the game again on PC.

 

[Kaffeemann]

Well, it seems that Bethesda really upscaled many textures and even doubled the resolution without much visual improvement:

http://afkmods.iguanadons.net/index...rting-standard-mods-to-sse/page-3#entry163361

Meanwhile, they heavily compressed most of the audio files: https://www.reddit.com/r/skyrimmods...atures_a_significant/?st=iutrks2p&sh=0b7c2b1c

 

[sTiTcH AU]

Logged into my steam to see I have the special edition in my library. I had no idea previous Skyrim owners get the SE for free. Kinda wish there was a 360 > Xbox one upgrade option instead of having to pay full price for the console versions. But the PC version will do just fine.

 

[Darkstorne]

Meanwhile, they heavily compressed most of the audio files: https://www.reddit.com/r/skyrimmods...atures_a_significant/?st=iutrks2p&sh=0b7c2b1c

This thread is REALLY interesting. Not only do we learn how awful the new sounds are on PC and Xbox One compared to the original game's, but we learn that the PS4 version of Skyrim Special Edition has sound quality that far surpasses the original game's quality due to Sony's high quality proprietary format.

That also helps explain why Sony wouldn't allow mod content that adds audio. Just guesswork here, but presumably it simply wouldn't have worked unless they released a free version of their sound file system for modders to make use of? And even then modders would have to package their files completely differently for the PS4 versions.

 

[FloatingDivider]

Well, it seems that Bethesda really upscaled many textures and even doubled the resolution without much visual improvement:
http://afkmods.iguanadons.net/index...rting-standard-mods-to-sse/page-3#entry163361

Meanwhile, they heavily compressed most of the audio files: https://www.reddit.com/r/skyrimmods...atures_a_significant/?st=iutrks2p&sh=0b7c2b1c

oh jezus lmfao, this is probably the lowest effort remaster ever remastered. I cannot believe they neutered the sound quality that much. I noticed the harsh compression earlier but figured it was like that in the old one but I never paid attention because I used to give no fucks about sound quality.

The textures are immediately evident, I don't even know if they ran a sharpening filter on them honestly. I'm kind of sad because I really wanted to play skyrim again but I guess I should just install the old version. Those new shadows look so much better though and the godrays are a nice bonus.

 

[Darkstorne]

Also, praise Talos, rain finally doesn't fall through roofs in Skyrim! I didn't dare to dream they'd carry this over from Fallout 4, but thankfully they did =)

 

[wesleyshark]

Also, praise Talos, rain finally doesn't fall through roofs in Skyrim! I didn't dare to dream they'd carry this over from Fallout 4, but thankfully they did =)

This is huge

 

[Boss Doggie]

Ugh, MO doesn't work with this game, do I really have to go with NMM? I hate that one.

 

[Pantaghana]

Ahhh, bound weapons. Cast Bound Bow, enter sneak mode and now 80% of combat encounters are trivial. Invest some perk points into archery and sneak critical attacks, now 99% of combat encounters are trivial.
The remaining 1% features characters with multiple ethereal arrows sticking out of their head complaining about the wind.

Skyrim, even though you were designed by a bunch of lazy hacks, I missed you.

 

[7DollarHagane]

Yikes. Wait for a sale