It is always hilarious to see physics in elder scrolls games and fallout, but I always wonder why Bethesda has a tendency to make everything weightless. Sure it's fun to push a cart through a dungeon and watch the awkward positions people die in, however, it would be so much more immersive if physics was done right.

I pondered why Bethesda seems so poor at physics when it dawned on me... Maybe they are right

Using simple rotational mechanics you will find the radial acceleration of any object in circular motion is a_r = 4*pi²*R / T², where a_r, T, and R are the radial acceleration, period of rotation, and radius of Nirn respectively. The period of rotation, in this case, will be the length of a day in Nirn so you can set the radial acceleration equation equal to the acceleration of gravity at Nirn's surface to find when the inertia of objects on Nirn's surface will counter-act the force of gravity. Now, assuming Nirn has about the same radius and mass as earth you can solve for the period of rotation by which everything in Nirn will be weightless by the equation g = 4*pi²*R / T². Set g equal to 9.8 m/s² and R equal to 6378.1 kilometers you will find the period of rotation to be about 84.5 minutes. The timescale used in Skyrim is 16:1 realtime which means for every 1 second on earth 16 equivalent seconds happen in Nirn, meaning the length of a day in Nirn is 90 minutes!

Eureka! I never would have imagined Bethesda was that thoughtful about their physics! The slightly slower rotation means things in Nirn only have the slight appearance of weight.

This also explains why I keep overshooting things in Skyrim >.>

But I'm owning now that I have my Elven Bow of Fury with 20 fire damage enchantment

Anyone else seem to find the perspective with bows in Skyrim a bit weird? It always seems to fire a bit higher than I imagined but thankfully now I think I am finally getting over the overshooting phase lol

And what happens when I go `set timescale to 5 like I've always done, Mr. Smartypants?

It's not Bethesda; it's the Havok Physics Engine.

I have yet to play a game that uses the Havok Engine not have strange physics problems.

THough this takes the cake: I decapitated a guy and tried to pick up his head but it was like the head weighted 1000 pounds and all I could really do was roll it on the ground. His body, though, I can pick up and move as effortlessly as a feather.

You create an alternate plain in oblivion where everything you see is fake and everything strange is a result of Daedra messing with you.

Only something like an elder scroll could do that anyway and as we all know that screws everything up.

Yeah, the Havok engine tends to be wonky, as it was one of the first to really have that sort of physics, and is about 10 years old, now. It still gets updates, but you can really tell it's the same physics engine I've been playing with for the past 10 years. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Havok_(software)

What's really funny, though, is when I see that in games I would never expect, like Atelier Rorona... A Gust game from a company that had previously only ever done 2d graphics, and where the whole thing was cell-shaded mixed with watercolor stills. It's about as far as you would think you could get from games like this or Bioshock or FEAR.

Bethesda still has to set some variables for the Havok Engine though right? I mean if I remember correctly Havok doesn't actually simulate physics as much as Nvidia's Physx does so more work is put on the devs for prerendered animations and explosions ect. I would like to think the devs would at least have the ability to make objects feel like they have a little weight behind them. Then again we wouldn't have all those hilarious youtube videos

Just a shot in the dark here, but you realize that this is NIRN and not Earth right? How do we have any inkling of an idea how physics works in such a magical world?

Hell, it might not even BE physics.

There has to be physics; there can't NOT be physics.
Then again Morrowind didn't have physics...
You may be on to something.

I did intend this for amusemant purposes, and I always like rationalizing things in magical worlds. Although Nirn seems to behave just like in regular physical mechanics with Seccunda and Masser revolving around it.

And I answered your question in my OP



I stated I made certain assumptions to make the equation work. What I find most interesting though is it does work.

Why does there have to be? It's not like it's set in our universe. It's a creation of godly beings for christ sakes.

Yes and no. I don't know how the Havok engine is incorporated into the game engine. However, I do know from time spent modding in the Source engine, that the only variable you can define for the physics is weight, and it uses very small numbers (between 0 and 100) that do not necessarily equal pounds or kilograms.

It also doesn't use real world physics equations because the vast amount of variables needed would be impossible to render in real time on even a modern day super-computer.

I didn't comprehend anything you just said...

Kick ass

Physics in games usually makes them more fun imo done right or not. Done right immersive, done wrong funny. Doesn't nearly make up for lack of gameplay though so I would say gameplay mechanics > physics unless physics is one of your gameplay mechanics which isn't really the case in this game but can be fun hehe...

This...

... Is Chinese..

There can be no physics.

Magic is a word that can explain ANYTHING.

How can you be here at school TODAY when you couldn't come to school last friday because you DIED?
Magic.

Sometimes the answer even lies in the question itself:

Why did my character fly 50 yards and down a mountain after getting hit by... magic?

I'm just glad things don't float any more and picking up an object off a table doesn't cause everything else on the table to shift and settle like in Oblivion. So the physics are much better in Skyrim, just still not perfect.

Indeed, that had been the problem.
Though I still don't mind the physics in the game, really, it's just a game!
Gameplay and all the rest > Physics

From what I can observe from the game and thinking about what you said I am starting to understand why it appears weightless. I can imagine if you use larger numbers for the weight the engine starts doing some very wonky things, even more wonky than now lol

Still, even with current cpu limitations seems like you could do more by rethinking the algorithms for the engine. Probably would all be obsolete anyway by the time you finished it since gpu support for most things seems to be the future including the gpu doing all the tasks of the cpu. It won't be obsolete however for the xbox since the cpu is the only thing it has left as comparable to modern computers which is probably why skyrim is more cpu intensive and only uses like 40% of my gpu most of the time.

I have found a new annoyance.Placing items on shelves and tables to create a gallery was one of my greatest pleasures in MW.

In OB,that was partially possible but if I used shelves,there was the danger of items launching at supersonic speeds when I entered the house,passing through walls and vanishing into "oblivion".

In Skyrim,items are much more stable than in Oblivion,but I found that the items I placed with great care get "relocated" when I enter the cell.Not sure if this is a bug,but it's kinda annoying that I cannot create the galleries of MW. Meh XD

Havok Physics Engine is heavily outdated. Future games will most likely use euphoria or something similiar.

This must be the last generation of games to use that. I have hope.

Yea, that has been a real draw back in my experience too. It is a real pain trying to decorate my house. Never played oblivion to the point of owning a house but wow that would svck. Morrowind was my favorite elder scrolls game, an the only thing I really miss now are the house decorating and spears. Seriously, how awesome would it be to be a rampaging nord with a spear? Or even better a spear and a shield? Wish one elder scroll game would have a 1h spear, would feel so much like a historically accurate german barbarian lol

Near the farm south of Whiterun, there is currently a dead giant's club floating about 80 feet up in the air and rising.


Also, in every house and inn there's at least one mess of cups or food on the floor.

So whenever something falls to the floor it's magic. Nirn must have an epic magicka bar....

I'm suprised they went with Havok again. Its just so unconvincing. So far I've had:

1] Rocket propelled bodies
2] Goats that fly in a diagonal line until they reach a point and fall to their deaths
3] Perpetually rocking skeleton bones
4] Mammoths flying 50 feet in the air trying to get over a tree stump

And other more minor stuff. Also the ragdoll is pretty shabby. I've yet to see a better ragdoll than was un Unreal Tournament 2003/2004. Even UT3 had worse.