I've been playing for about 8 hours so far and it looks like some animals are always at the same place so are they randomly generated or scripted? What about bandits, hunters etc. are they randomly generated or scripted?

I know dragons are supposed to be randomly generated but if i see a dragon, load a previous save and go back to the same place the dragon is there again so how is it randomly generated?

Past certain points its generated and saved once reached. If you reload 2 seconds away from an event, chances are it will be the same, but if you're far away it changes.

I saved at the bottom of a hill, at the top is event point, my first time I was a frightened women running towards me, the next reload it was a pack of dogs and after that a horse with a dead bandit, all minor quests or points of interest. For things like giants they're spawn might be the same but the packs are random and so are the times at which you'll fine them wandering around and where.

Dragons are completely random and appear and may or may not attack you or things other then you, like towns or bandits, that also depends on what attacks it and thats random also depending on what spawned nearby.

You can see how beth games are famous for bugs, its like one big set of random events on top of each other.

All loot is random, and often cave themes can be random too.

Weather is random.

It's all scripted.

There's a couple designated points on the map where you get "random encounters" (that's how they were called in FO3) and there's a list of possible events that could take place, for instance I got an old ork who wanted me to give him an honorable death, then the next I might see imperial soldiers escorting an arrested Stormcloak. Other than that, scripted conversations and NPCs everywhere.

As for dragons being random, yeah I call bull [censored] too. I've had a dragon show up very conveniently during several main quests, and I've also found at least 4 locations now where dragons spawn and fly around the area aimlessly. But cmon, this wouldn't be the first time Todd Howard lied to us.

Every comment says something else


Im kind of interested to know that too.

Trust me on this.

I'm sure anyone on these forums will tell you that the towns are INCREDIBLY scripted. It's to the point where, when I enter a city for the first time and see two people idly standing next to each other, I think "ah, scripted event" and either stay away if I'm not in the mood or go listen to it. I've yet to be wrong when I thought I saw a scripted event.

And dragons? I've only been jumped by them during main quests or at specific locations (mountains, near the top, other areas that have clear map markers that basically say "dragon here"). I've NEVER been attacked by a dragon in an open field, near a lake or coast, in the woods, etc etc etc. It's ALWAYS a mountain or an area near a main quest map marker.

Ya it looks like there's two sides on this one lol

Here's my thoughts... I'm not sure about animals but i've watched some youtube videos of people passing the same place i just did and they encountered the same animal i did so it looks like animals are scripted atleast on some places. As for bandits it looks like they're scripted, dungeons are mainly scripted except the loot and yes it looks like there are random events that can happen at certain point. I'm not sure about dragons since i've only met couple so far maybe someone who has more experience can tell more about them? Weather is definitely scripted on some places for example there's always a snowstorm when you go do that golden claw quest but i've also had rain randomly so there's also propably random weather.

Having set spawn points isn't the same thing as "scripted.". There are plenty of scripted moments, sure, but there's also some randomness. Two wolves spawning at a crossroads and two frost trolls spawning at the same spot will play out differently. Add the possibility that a patrol or caravan is passing by, and you get new factors. The game isn't a rudderless world simulation, so there are scripted elements to advancevthe story, and randomized elements to make the world seem more alive.

Some dragons are scripted, many are not I've fought them in very random places multiple times (like outside the abandoned shack)

I'd love to hear your version of non-scripted. And where you've seen it, or should I say, haven't.

Parts are scripted, others are not. The level of which we can't know till we get the CK.

I dont think dragons are completly scripted...

I was doing a quest for dark brotherhood and as i was sneaking to take out my first contract, a dragon flew over and messed my whole plan up.

Shot contract with arrows...then killed dragon

Non-scripted would be something like how an NPC can react to an item you drop. There, whether they react or not or HOW they react to your dropped item depends on stat values they've been given, such as a morality stat. Or for example, the Sims, where the sims will move about on their own and fulfill their needs. I believe M'aiq in Oblivion also had an interesting script that made him randomly run about and collect calipers, so some people reporting seeing him running to random bins and locations to loot calipers when they followed him.

The thing about the dragons is, they have no goals or random stats to govern their activity...or do they? Even if they do, there isn't [censored] to do at their spawn points (the top of mountains), so what do they end up doing? They fly aimlessly in circles until you're in the area, then they may or may not find you. If they find you, hooray a dragon battle, if they don't, they go back to flying aimlessly in circles.

Either way, the point is that "radiant AI" doesn't seem like words I would have in mind when trying to describe "they circle around mountain tops aimlessly until Dovahkiin arrives."

Errr

It's both, don't listen to the apologists or the over-critical entitled players

Some events are scripted, like several encounters during MQ's, and some town related events/happenings, and some special spawns (i.e. bandits will spawn in Helgen after the events in the intro, the Giants near Whiterun, some special areas will always have a certain type and level of enemy, etc). Others are completely dynamic, such as when Kahjiiet traders show up in town, or general dragon spawns, side quests in guilds (companion questline example: you'll get randomly generated quests for doing odd-jobs, which are effectively infinite according to Bethesda), people travelling roads, drunkards on the side of the road asking for a drink, and I believe some minor quest happenings like a guy trying to offload some gear he stole on you, in which he will return at a later date for.

There's a [censored] tonne of dynmamic stuff. You probably won't see half of it though if you FT everywhere or focus on doing MQ's only. As such it is very rewarding to explore, as you'll never know what you are going to get.

You need to play more.

The dragons don't just fly around in circles.
They don't just appear on the top of mountains.
One time I was doing a major quest and a dragon interrupted it out of nowhere.
They sometimes attack near major cities.
They sometimes attack in the middle of nowhere.


You sound so clueless about what is actually happening in game.

People are too busy critiquing the game to play it, duuh.

Ya it seems some parts are scripted, others arent but the question is, is it possible to mod this when CK comes out?

Also can dragons appear inside a city? It would be pretty awesome but i doubt it.

This actually happens. I chucked some crappy weapons on the steps inside Dragonreach and one of the guards who saw me do it came by and told me off for leaving weapons lying around because somebody could get hurt. The NPCs also have a habit of reacting to my appearance. Lots of them comment at random when I have a disease. The alchemist in Whiterun always does. Of course she tries to get me to buy cures from her every time too.

The obvious goal of the dragons is extermination of everything that isn't dragon. They get distracted by anything that walks by, including moose. I find this works to my advantage. I had one appear near the farms south of Whiterun. That was chaos until I and a couple guards caught up with it.

The one thing that does feel less random than Oblivion is the NPC conversations. Nobody talks about the weather or the mudcrabs anymore. NOt sure why. The only problems with that feature in Oblivion were a lack of variety and too few constraints: NPCs tended to switch topics and moods with hilarious abruptness.

Some Dragons are definitely scripted (if not all) I've encountered a few dragons, mostly at the 'dragon wall' locations - but for the others, they seem scripted - I've encountered the dragon by the Whiterun tower twice and the same blood dragon at the College of Winterhold 3 times (all 3 corpses are still there).