[Melly Angelic]

I would like to link to a planned http://www.thenexusforums.com/index.php?/topic/462397-total-realism-overhaul/ on the Nexus forums. That one is a lot more radical, but a lot of the ideas here are echoed on there. Maybe you can work something out?

[Dominic Vaughan]

That was a staple for the original Delte's List. So was the need to sleep. I must admit, though, that I completely love the sleep system that the developers have put into vanilla Skyrim. If you're the type of player who does not want to sleep, then you're not penalized (as all of the Sleep mods for Oblivion did). But, if you do want to sleep, you get a neat little buff that makes your skills improve faster. The more rested you are, the better the buff. For example, if you are "Well Rested", then you get a 15% bonus to your XP for 8 hours, until you start getting tired again. This bumps down to 10% when you're only "Rested".

You'll definitely want a slower-leveling mod if you want to stick with that. Between being Well Rested, and the various guardian stones, skills can level quite fast.

I do like the benefit-for-doing over the punish-for-not-doing approach, though, particularly when it comes to werewolf and vampire characters since they could have trouble sticking to a regular survival mechanics (resting, eating, etc). This way, they still get "punished" by not getting the bonuses, but they don't become gimped (they simply trade being able to regularly get certain bonuses for unique buffs and abilities).

I'd like to see something similar with Hunger mod. If you don't want to bother with it, you don't have to. But, if you want to eat and drink, then you get a little benefit of some sort if you're not hungry.

I think the cooked food buffs really needs to be redone from scratch. Make cooked food have much stronger effects than simple instant +10/+15 healing at max. Good recipes should provide boosts that last for hours (whether it's a fortify health/stamina/magicka that slowly decreases over time, or increased regen rates that slow back down). But a downside: keep food too long and it spoils.

Another thing is smithing. You can use grindstones and workbenches to improve your weapons and armor, but wear and tear from use should slowly undo those improvements, encouraging you to go back to the grindstone/workbench after getting more of the required items.

Also, I think crafting armor could be improved so different types of pelts can create different types of armor. Killing a snow wolf for its fur should ultimately allow you to make snow wolf armor, while a bear pelt will lead to bear armor. Currently, no matter what kind of pelt you get, it becomes ordinary leather which leads to the same types of armors.

Also, if possible, I think it should be illegal to use private crafting stations without paying (unless you're friends). Doesn't seem quite right that a complete stranger can walk over to the nearest shop's forge to make whatever.

Also weapon rebalances. There's no reason silver weapons shouldn't be craftable or improvable, especially since there's werewolves, vampires, ghosts, and zombies roaming about. Starter gear should not be so strong (more of a gameplay thing than immersion, but still). "Ancient Nord ..." weapons should not be as good as Steel, being that they're, well... ancient and rusted.

Also, elf and beast race children.

Also more general pvssyr and NPC interaction*. Skyrim cities and towns feel so lifeless with how 90% of the NPCs just brush you off when you try to talk. NPCs are quite willing to divulge their troubles and life stories if you happen to get within five feet of them, but I guess they're just not comfortable with general conversations. You should be able to ask more NPCs about rumors and jobs. More NPCs should be able to provide radiant quests to work up friendships with them (a lot of the dialog is shared among NPCs, so making some of those befriended NPCs marriage-potential would also work).

* I guess some people would argue "it's not realistic that everyone would want to talk to you!" I'd counter that with "it's not realistic for a capital city to be populated by a couple dozen people." It comes down to scale. I imagine it being that the unimportant people aren't represented in the game, as they'd just be useless waste. The NPCs you see are the "important" ones that will interact with you.

[lydia nekongo]

Nice to see you back Delte, was a big fan of your mod list for oblivion!

What needs to be reworked is the whole stealth/detection system, sneaking is too easy and enemies don't take stealth attacks or kills serious enough.
I want to see longer duration of NPC's looking for player when player has sneak attacked, a more complex stealth system like the mod stealth re calibrated mod
and a larger radius when NPC's are searching for player.

Also I would like to see the AI for the dragons tweaked, there's a mod that adds more health to the dragons, but I would like to see this expanded by
giving the dragons a more aggressive AI, meaning I want to see them spewing fire more and trying to grab the player from the sky.

I would also like to see a limit on how much the player can carry, similar to the system in the Witcher 1. And also a mod to buy backpacks like in fallout 3
to carry more weight.

[Mrs. Patton]

I think the cooked food buffs really needs to be redone from scratch. Make cooked food have much stronger effects than simple instant +10/+15 healing at max. Good recipes should provide boosts that last for hours (whether it's a fortify health/stamina/magicka that slowly decreases over time, or increased regen rates that slow back down). But a downside: keep food too long and it spoils.

This could work if you toned down some other things.

For example:

• Turn off auto-regen
  
• Redefine foods to give regen buffs that last a long time, make new durations be roughly based on food weight (and longer for prepared foods).
  
• Redefine potions to have minor side effects which become significant if you stack them. Make the side effects for "illegal potions" last a very long time.
  
• Drop the weight on potions since side effects would be their limiting factor rather than weight

You could add "get full and cannot eat" on top of this, but it should not be necessary. Make it so the regen buffs from different foods can only extend regen (and then only to whatever the normal duration would be for that kind of food), and there's no game benefit from overeating. Our characters lead a very active lifestyle, so any meaningful eating habits should be fine...

Note that this needs some careful thought though, because it will make combat harder for some characters.

[Lizzie]

Companion Idea #1: I'd like some system that will keep Lydia, or any other Skrim companion, from tripping the traps. Ideally, I'd like to use my Activate key to "mark" the trap for Lydia. If I don't mark it, she should be able to set it off just like I could. But, if I see a trap and mark it, I'd like Lydia to be unable to set off the trap even if she steps in the wrong place. Maybe a tweak to the game where, after a trap is "marked", companions are not recognized by whatever code sets off the trap? I dunno. I'm not a modder.

If that order is too tall, then, at the least, I'd like a mod that makes companions "invisible" to traps 100% of the time. Though this is not the ideal situation, I'd sure rather have a companion that never sets off a trap than one that does it all the time.

Care has to be made so that monsters and enemies still do set off traps. I like using the Voice to blow a baddie back a few feet onto a trap trigger, then watch him and his buddies get stapled to the wall. It's a great crowd pleaser.





Companion Idea #2: Another thing I'd like to see incorporated into the game is a way to communicate with Lydia from a distance. For example, I sometimes use the Voice to sprint through a trapped hallway of slicing blades. Before I do that, I usually tell Lydia to wait for me. What I'd like is a method of calling to Lydia, as if I were just speaking to her normally. The range should be limted on this to shouting range. I get to the other side of the trap, and I'd love to just hit a key to call her to come to me, after I've found a chain or some other way to deactivate the trap.

There are many other uses for this idea. I'm sure the player will be creative. But, think of it. You could have your companion guard a suspicious doorway while you clear the far corridor. When you're ready, you simply to her to rejoin you.

Maybe this could be done, simply, by taking the existing companion commands that show up in a dialog box and assign them to hot keys. Keys 1-8 are used in the game. Why not use keys 9 and 0 as hot keys that will tell your companion to either "Stay Here" or "Follow Me". I think something as simple as that would solve the issue.





Companion Idea #3: Companions need to have their own horses! Remember, in Oblivion, when you left Waynon Priory with Jauffrey and Martin on your way to Cloud Ruler Temple? Martin got on his horse. Jauffrey got on his horse. And, off you went, the three of you, on the trek to the fortress of the Blades.

Why can't that happen in Skyrim? If you buy a horse, you should be able to buy two--another for your companion. The horse could even be "owned" by the companion. When you mount your horse, the companion mounts his. When you dismount, so does the companion.

I have no idea how to implement this. Maybe look and see how Oblivion did it?

THOUGHT FOR THE COMPANIONS (re: the traps, as cited above in a couple of posts by might be a couch and myself) - Companion Idea #4.Is there a way to make your companions exactly follow your own foot steps? Maybe this would be something that can be turned on and off? Therefore, if you see a trap, instead of marking it, you go into a mode where the companion follows exactly your own movement path. Once you get past the trap, you turn it off.

Thoughts?

More on Companions....

Companion Idea #5: Wouldn't it be nice to open your game map and be able to tell your companion to go to any spot on which you click? For example, you could click on the map, and somehow indicate that you want your companion to meet you in Solitude. Once you travel to Solitude, you'll find your companion waiting for you there at the front gate, on the road, or in the tavern.

The idea is to get your Companion to meet you some place, so that you can adventure with them, but not have them with you 24/7 or have to go back to a spot and get them.

I think the command to do this should be linked to the activate key and the dialogue commands because it should be impossible to communicate with your companion from a long distance.

[Emma Louise Adams]

Hey, what's the deal with this forum? I can run Skyrim at max settings, but I get a lot of lag just making a post here. My words appear very slowly after I type.

What gives?

[Rude_Bitch_420]

This is going to be a great thread.

One thing that all my characters do while out in the wild is look for a vantage point. So i see a tall rock or ledge to climb so i can see over the tundra, iclimb it. When i'm on top i just can't see that far. If I am on a ridge line i would like to be able to look across with a pair of binoculars and see the other ridgeline, and any obstacles that may be between me and my next point of interest. If i am able to look across the horizon and there is a sabre cat between me and the next tree line I would like to know that, instead of just stumbling across him.


So for me binoculars would be an outstanding addition.

[sally R]

I actually don't mind the red dots for enemies in the compass. I like to think of it being enemies that the player can hear, since my computer doesn't have surround sound, but knows he/she can hear the clatter of skeleton joints coming from that general direction. It would be better, though, if that compass would actually be a "radar" circle that pointed out when my character was detecting enemies behind him/her, and how far back they are. If I'm a mage, I'd like to be better able to tell just how hot that breath breathing down my back is to know how much further I have to sprint before spinning around to fire off the next fireball.

The "my landmark senses are going crazy!" function of the compass, however, either needs to go or be toned down by a significant degree, however.

Also, for the idea about followers, I actually would like to see a few additional/custom hotkeys (or scripted spell commands or items) that let you do things like bring up commands for followers, like the "stand there" or "attack that" command, as well as just plain having the ability to force the followers to stand still, and then call or summon them to your side without having to actually walk up to them and talk to them. Yeah, that's not exactly immersion, but it's a solution to the problem of followers randomly disappearing because they cannot comprehend the notion of going around a fallen tree or jumping up a 1-foot rise, or NOT walking on the pressure plate in the middle of the hall. (And that's a pathfinding problem, I will point out. The game uses nodal instead of vector pathfinding, for whatever stupid reason, and as such, it will ALWAYS walk on the same invisible line for pathfinding unless it is extremely close to its destination point.)

[Katy Hogben]

Guns! And more guns! Light sabers. too. You know, for immersion.

[Sarah Knight]

Hey, what's the deal with this forum? I can run Skyrim at max settings, but I get a lot of lag just making a post here. My words appear very slowly after I type.

What gives?

Broadband speed doesn't affect skyrim?

[Adam]

Broadband speed doesn't affect skyrim?

Wow. You may be right. I do have the least expensive service. I don't have problems on other web sites, though.

[Czar Kahchi]

I have an idea that would likely tie in nicely with any type of hunger mod, although I have no idea if my idea would be possible.

My idea is basically the implementation of the 'Survival' skill from Fallout New Vegas. This would work for cooking exactly the same way Smithing does for making armour and weapons. Having this skill in game would then reward the player for cooking up food to heal themselves rather than relying on potions. There could also be perks such as:

Accomplished chef: After long experience sustaining yourself with whatever food can be found you no longer need salt to cook edible meals. (No longer need Saltpile for cooking steaks, stews)

You get the idea.

Also will link to this thread I made earlier which ties in with immersion. http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1291882-ideareqarmour-and-weapons/

[Arrogant SId]

Unlock spells and lock/door bashing. I can cave in a Giant's skull, slice off a dragon's head and incinerate a Daedra from the face of the plane, but I have to PICK a lock?

While I always use a lock bashing mod in Oblivion I don't think lock bashing and open spells should be added to Skyrim. There's an entire skill tree devoted to picking locks now, if could circumvent that minigame then those perks just wouldn't be worth investing in.

But still it would be nice to not be forced to become a burglar just because you don't want to miss out on treasure. Maybe if bashing the lock had a significant chance of breaking some or every object in the chest, and the spells only fortified your lockpicking skill for one lock instead of opening it outright? A "summon lockpicks" conjuration spell could also be nifty. As long as you gimped those features so straight up picking the lock is still required or the vastly superior option (if invested in).

[Ella Loapaga]

Yep, good suggestion. I can't stand the red dots showing you how many enemies you still have to fight and their relative direction.

Plus, the Clairvoyance spell in this game is pretty awesome. Disable that compass, and that spell becomes pretty valuable.

As much as I love the Skyrim soundtrack, I always preach that immersionists should disable, or at least turn down to zero, the Music slider in the game. There is an ini command to completely disable the music, too. Even with the slider at zero, the music is still playing, using the computer's resources. Disabling it in the ini file is the best way to go.

I used to suggest this on the old Oblivion "Delte's List". So many times people wrote on the thread, thanking me for the suggestion, in that it made their game so much more realistic and immersive.

I signed in today just to say thanks to Bethesda for Skyrim and maybe mention the compass. Thanks to you Delte I can save some time and get back to my new home in Whiterun

Skyrim is so immersive it's mind-numbing but with every step I take the compass kills a part of the immersion, I would not mind the compass if I could choose to see it by holding a button but I do mind seeing the compass 100% of the time. I would just keep the HUD opacity at 0% but some of the HUD is needed at this time because i'm such a noob with the bow I only irritate the enemy when I can't see the crosshair (for now, soon the crosshair will be just a distraction ).

I can't comprehend why any game-maker make such expansive landscapes and detailed stories then provide visual icons for every enemy and objective, they would save much time by making every mission " Follow the arrow, destroy all the red circles and find me that large icon". The greatest part of open world games is not knowing exactly where your going even when you know you're heading the right way... at least for me that is really important.

I'm playing on PS3 so modding is out of the question (I think), would it be possibe to patch a Display setting in the options to turn on/off the compass? Or make the compass accessible by pushing a button whenever i'm lost?

[Ashley Tamen]

Nice thread..
Problem with these games..Morrowind,Oblivion,FO3,FONV...I start playing then can't wait for the mods to come out..always been partial to Arwen's realism mods myself..and then keep restarting each time the game gets some new amazing mods..be they adventures..dungeons or most importantly the realism/atmosphere type mods..

Ok..from what I have seen of Skyrim so far...great work by Bethesda but...sharing the concerns of others...the levelling amd levelled systems need work..not sure if they would be called realism or balance..both really I guess.

Been noticing as I progess..60 hrs in..L24.(Yes,am taking my time) and seeing more and more enemies and merchants..especially the latter..dropping/selling a lot of magical or rare loot...surely,in terms of realism and balance..this can be toned down?
Merchants might have the odd rare item...but in the main..the amount of magical and rare loot should be scaled down..especially that which can be freely bought..It should be an achievement for the character to find such items in dungeons/tombs etc.
As for smiths..well..they should be selling primarily the following in my opinion...Human smiths and merchants..iron,steel,fur,hide,leather..maybe having them able to sell better quality items of those types if they are renowned..such as the Skyforge smith.
Other races..probably should be able to craft the above types plus their own racial type...i.e orcs could make some orcish weapons/armour and elves..elvish armour and weapons(Not sure if there are any elven smiths?)

Thus orcish and elven items should be very limited...and dwemer should only be found in ruins,barrows etc. or extremely rarely for sale..sure there are others out there who pilfer from dungeons and such as well as the hero..

Levelling needs to be slowed down....not sure by what factor but..certain of the skills and perks need to be looked at...

Smithing/Alchemy need some drastic attention..would be nice if the better one got at these then the less effect self training had..bringing in the need for the character to formally train with someone in order to advance beyond a certain point...Would also be nice if each tier of smithing/alchemy also gave a diminishing return based on the tier of the item to be crafted..i.e easier to craft iron than ebony etc....
In regard to the perks that allow for rare types to be crafted..would be nice if these could be related to a quest or such..as it feels false to be honest..to suddenly be able to craft dwemer armour or weapons..without even having been to a dwemer ruin..(Am currently restricting myself on this in game)..
Thus,,is it possible to introduce a mechanism where certain conditions have to be met before a perk..e.g. dwemer smithing can be learned?Could these also be implemented for smelting ore etc?I mean..if one has no clue of how to work ebony..why should one be able to make ingots from it...would be even better if all crafting..had failure rates that decreased as you got better..but there ws never a 100% certainty you would craft or smelt..or brew what you hoped for.

Another peeve..is the weight carried..a lot of items need rebalncing in this area..and the player carry weights also need to be looked at..Unfortunately..having done away with stats..the carry weight now needs to be linked to Health/Stamina....maybe have a base of so much..75lbs..150lbs?then add another sum per advance of health or stamina?With potentially 80 or so levels in game..this would need to be carefully balanced fro realism..
As it stands..stamina increase gives 5lbs carry bonues...and health gives nothing...perhaps it should be 1 to 2 or 1 to 3 ratio...not sure as there is so much loot people want to grab and yet,for realism purposes..most people should be able to carry..on top of their armour...about 80-100 lbs max...(Maybe a solution could be in having the armour perks that tackle weight..actually make them discount from carry weight?)

And moving on and related to carry weight..can we please,if it's possible,have some sort of maximum limit to weight that can be carried and yet allow one to move..i.e maybe have it 50% above what you can normally carry or 2 times...?After that..you become immobile...this would not only add to realism but would also make the chaarcter have to consider the choices on his sojourns into dungeons etc..as to what to carry with him on going and on what loot to bring out...

Just a few thought for now...will add more if I can think of them...

[Sabrina garzotto]

Hello folks. This is Delte. Remember me? It wasn't that long ago that I started an on-going thread on the Oblivion Mod forum.

Long time! Good to see you around, I was just wondering myself if anyone was going to do a thread for immersionists, and here you are.

[KU Fint]

- set bShowCompass=0 in the SkyrimPrefs.ini, disabling the compass. This gives you a beautifully free screen since everything else fades away out of combat, and it makes exploration more interesting without the compass to lure you to every landmark a mile around.

The compass is the only thing I hate, but honestly the game is so designed around it that it's hard to just turn it off. For one thing, just like Oblivion, quest givers never give directions or even name the destination most of the time. For another, landmarks and caves and other such things are not really made to stand out much, so you can easily walk right by a ton of stuff without adding it to your map or seeing it. Caves and such things in Morrowind were given little paths and such in front to alert you to their existence.

What I really want is a mod that makes the compass much smaller, thinner and more opaque than the default, and preferably puts it on the bottom somehow. Basically like what the immersive interface mod did for Oblivion.

[NIloufar Emporio]

Barber shop and face painter are necessary

[Causon-Chambers]

Long time! Good to see you around, I was just wondering myself if anyone was going to do a thread for immersionists, and here you are.

LOL! Cpt Joker! Good to read you!

As I turned on Skyrim and played the game, just before I started this thread, I thought of you. You see, Lydia was yawning, letting me know that she was tired. It made me think of Oblivion and a certain hunger mod with stomach grumbling sounds....

Good to see you back.

The compass is the only thing I hate, but honestly the game is so designed around it that it's hard to just turn it off.

Turn the compass entirely "off", using the ini setting mentioned upthread. Then, get yourself a clairvoyance spell. That's all you need. Navigate by landmarks and the position of the sun.

That's what I did/do. And, I don't think I'm ever going back.

[Hilm Music]

As I turned on Skyrim and played the game, just before I started this thread, I thought of you. You see, Lydia was yawning, letting me know that she was tired. It made me think of Oblivion and a certain hunger mod with stomach grumbling sounds....

Hah, indeed! I had a similar experience while playing Fallout 3 - after installing an overhaul mod, I suddenly heard those grumble sounds emanate from my character much to my delight and surprise. Guess a good idea goes a long way.

Good to see you back.

Just like old times.

By the way, a member named ynamite http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1267425-req-realistic-sun-shadows/ some great settings to change the shadow update rate to a more realistic pace, instead of occuring in large jumps.

You need to add the following lines to the [Display] section in Skyrim.ini:

fSunShadowUpdateTime=0
fSunUpdateThreshold=0.025

The shadows still update in incremental leaps, but they are much smaller and occur more frequently, and while it's not quite real-time it's a massive improvement worth mentioning.

[Amber Ably]

Turn the compass entirely "off", using the ini setting mentioned upthread. Then, get yourself a clairvoyance spell. That's all you need. Navigate by landmarks and the position of the sun.

That's what I did/do. And, I don't think I'm ever going back.

I have it off, but I have to open the map a lot. Call it being bad at navigation if you like, but I end up going the entire wrong direction without NWSE markers of some kind. The mountains and such all look similar, so that isn't much help to me.

I prefer the compass off to on even now, but a very thin and half opaque compass on the bottom would be perfect IMO. I never even noticed the compass in Oblivion with the UI mods unless I looked for it.

[Sarah Unwin]

I have it off, but I have to open the map a lot. Call it being bad at navigation if you like, but I end up going the entire wrong direction without NWSE markers of some kind. The mountains and such all look similar, so that isn't much help to me.

Have you tried Clairvoyance? I use it all the time.

[Brandon Bernardi]

This is going to be a great thread.

One thing that all my characters do while out in the wild is look for a vantage point. So i see a tall rock or ledge to climb so i can see over the tundra, iclimb it. When i'm on top i just can't see that far. If I am on a ridge line i would like to be able to look across with a pair of binoculars and see the other ridgeline, and any obstacles that may be between me and my next point of interest. If i am able to look across the horizon and there is a sabre cat between me and the next tree line I would like to know that, instead of just stumbling across him.


So for me binoculars would be an outstanding addition.

A dwemer looking glass found in a dungeon somewhere would be very cool. Unfortuantely the game doesn't load objects and creatures that are very far away, so it wouldn't work that great.

Anyways, the big thing the game needs is fishing. There is already a developed economy with miners, loggers, farmers and fishermen. We can take part in all of these things, except fishing which makes me think that it was left out at some point in the game's development. The fishing in WoW had a decent system(yeah, you hate that game but this is not the place to tell us about it), with different fish available in different areas, not to mention various seaweeds and the occasional rusty sword or magical trinket. It would also be a fantastic way to sit back and relax while enjoying some of the best views in the game. Hell, you could even make new cooking recipes and craft your own fishing rod out of wood.

I'm curious to see if there are any remnants of an unimplemented fishing game once the construction set is released. The most inconvenient hurdle is animations and the scripting, which will most likely have to be modded in.

[claire ley]

A pet cat that wanders around your house.

[Betsy Humpledink]

how about... instead of dying... you become unconscious and wake up the next day half healed with your weapons laying about the floor, etc etc.

not dying is more Role-play friendly than dying and reloading all the time, to me atleast.