Please see the image: (note, in-game statue nudity) http://i41.tinypic.com/opcth4.jpg

This is shot in a player available home (not telling for spoiler reasons) so all should be player friendly here. However I took this shot after spending at least 15 minutes to get this statue facing the way I wanted and sitting where I wanted it. Note the helmet in the back. I took me at least five minutes to place it 'sitting up' on that chest. I finally gave up on having it face outward.

Course there is that 'bug' that means that when I leave the place and come back the first time everything is on the floor and I have to place it again. Afterwards it generally stays.

I recall how easy it was to place things on shelves and such in Morrowind. OB I never really tried other than using the display cases. But this game is like a lesson in aggrevation to put anything where you want it. My point, it shouldn't be this way. Why on earth has it been made so difficult to actually decorate anyplace? Unless you are using the weapon racks, bookcases or display cases it is nearly impossible to effectively decorate anything.

Is this ok? Should it be this way? Is this something that Bethesda should fix or must we wait on the modders again (like with OB)?

Kind of a rant I know, but it just floored me once I realized how much time I just spent to place a statue on a table.

I totally agree! It was so great to be able to lay out all my Alchemy ingredients on tables with EASE! I collected candles and lined shelves with them. This is one of the things I really miss!

The house decorating has gotten progressively worse since Morrowind

The worse was after I saw an image during a load screen of a skull wearing a circlet. I thought that was really cool and that I would line my fireplace mantle with skulls wearing circlets. If you could only image how hard that is to pull off. Just getting the skull placed can take forever. Trying to add a circlet without moving the skull ... impossible. Course even if you succeeded it would all be laying on the floor the next time you entered the house. I just wish there was a way to tone down the game engine's 'feel' when moving things around. Just add some friction to the world. It can be funny to watch a Saber Cat slide 500 feet down a road, but it can also be a pain if you are chasing it trying to get it's pelt before it flies over a cliff.

I play on the 360 and supposedly, I heard it is far harder to place items on a platform then it is on the PC.

It takes far too long to place an item, mostly because of the following:

*The item drops for no reason

*The item faces the wrong way and you have to constantly toy with it for it to face the right way.

*You place an item on a table, shelf etc and the item falls over.

*After taking your time to place the item, you come back in your home to find the item or items scattered on the floor.


The idea of decorating your home is an option but when people do choose to decorate their home they realize the mechanics are stuck in the Dark Ages of games.

My thought is when you walk up to a table or any other object; you have the option to click on it. When you click on it a screen opens up showing you the items already placed and the items you can place (think of it like the trader window). You go to your inventory and select the items you wish to place on the shelf/table and click close when you are finished. Now the items you placed show up and there is no need to spend five or twenty minutes placing a single item.

I like collecting things in the game and I love to decorate my home, but it has become too much of a headache and I simply gave up on trying. IF down the road they fixed this mechanic they should add in more items to decorate your home with, or give the player the option to do it themselves. The "upgrades" I buy with my home come with decorations that are simply ghastly.

Home decorating was better in Fallout 3 after a patch that toned down the interior physics, same with New Vegas. Hopefully, the physics will get toned down in an upcoming patch.

The issue is, the game resets all the clutter in your home after a period of time, even if you remove it. This reset can knock things off the shelves and tables and on to the floor.

Ive managed to set up a lot of decorations in my Breezehome and Proudspire Manor... Its had its moments of frustrations, but Im much more overwhelmed by the presentation than past games, even with the mechanic being not as good as past games.

exactly as ccna said.

it's unbelievable/unforgiveable that they've regressed this system and made it worse then previous titles.

what's the deal with always grabbing objects at the center and not being able to spin or turn upside down without tons of effort, lol. it's a joke.

Does this work at all? Placing stuff, leaving, replacing it and then it stays? I've seen this a few times but before I spend time doing it would like some sort of confirmation.

It is how I decorate my homes, as long as I don't pick it up into my inventory and just move it the second time it stays.

The decorating isn't as bad as it was in oblivion IMHO. The hit boxes are better and objects aren't as bouncy when I place them on things. Many times in oblivion, walking too briskly past objects would send them flying, and gently placing them on a table would turn them into rubber balls lol. Once a modder makes a placement mod like they did in oblivion we will all be much happier. That mod allowed you to lock objects in place so you wouldn't make them fall walking past them or bumping into them. It also allowed you to change X Y and Z axis.

Not completely,
They did make it crappy in Oblivion. However I thought they did a much better job for fallout 3 and wish they had left it that way. BGS I guess does not understand, Don't fix what is NOT Broken...FFS...LOL

I see, thanks for the info. Will try it with a few special items and see how it goes. So the key is no inventory the second time... got it.

EDIT: So basically the first time you could just drop everything on the floor, and the second time place it carefully without putting it in your inventory?

One time I got a dweemer bowl that I wanted to fill with all the gems I had gathered in the game (which was a pain in the butt separating). I put all the gems in the bowl ONE. GEM. AT. A. TIME.... and then I went out for an adventure....and came back and saw the bowl tipped over and my gems scattered all over the fireplace area

This subject is near and dear to my heart as one of the most fun thing in these games is building my own display room with the GECK or CK, and then filling it with my spoils in the game. Unfortunately, it looks like I won’t be able to do anything near like I have done in New Vegas or Oblivion. (See my links below) Everything you see on the display stands in both rooms was placed 100% by hand in the game.

Balok’s Glenvar Castle Display Room: http://ypdesign.com/tes/glenvar/display.htm

Balok’s Buck’s Place Display Room in New Vegas: http://ypdesign.com/fnv/bucks/display.htm

There is a decorator assistant out that runs off of Script Dragon, but I haven’t tried it yet since I’m also waiting for the CK to build me a display room like the ones above. I hope it gets better or I’ll be really, really disappointed.

Yeah, normally I drop it on the floor, exit then re-enter the house then just move the item to where I want it.....it's like if it goes into your inventory it "resets" the item, if you understand what im saying.

I wish I had my screen shots with me. I had the "House Under the Hill" mod in Morrowind. In there was a huge display room. I had every weapon and armor in the game on display in that room. With the weapon re-texture mods, it looked so cool.

Funny thing, I had almost all that stuff in my Hlaalu Stronghold when I was playing that game on the Xbox.

I miss those days.

Yup, thanks for the help. Will try tonight when I get back home. Start with a couple of items and see if it's worth my time continuing with more.

Morrowind is fabulous with texture mods, and I enjoyed those house mods as well. I liked the hideout in balmora myself. I have a fresh install of morrowind and the expansions, but I haven't had the urge to install all those mods again.......I think I have my night planned now lol

Its sad I cannot decorate my house anymore like I could in Morrowind
I miss named soulgems, I miss movable light sources, I miss being able to place things where I want them and have them stay there.
Oblivion decorating was bad and it seems this time no thought at all has gone into it.

Indeed.....remember being able to pile up your gold? My telvanni tower turned into Scrooge McDucks vault. Good times

Oblivion was the same way, but without the bookshelves and weapon racks. I remember going crazy in Oblivion trying to balance all my books on their ends on the shelf without knocking over all the other ones that I'd already put up... what a headache! In this sense I'd say Skyrim's system is an improvement because it has bookshelves and weapon racks, at least. The object placing in Morrowind was a lot more stable, I know, but it had its limitations on where/how you could position things. If it's a choice between stability or freedom to put things upside-down and sideways, I'd pick the freedom myself.

on my 360 i spent serious time decorating my houses and looked forward to it in skyrim.

i'm still in shock that they implemented a rack at breezehome to hold 2 freakin weapons. seriously?

20 or whatever books per rack in a game with hundreds of books and the grab button auto-holds the books (and everything else) at the center of the object. wow.

The thing that bothers me is the developers are aware lots of players like to decorate their homes, but the homes are not always set up this way. Most of the homes in the game are set-up like any other NPC home. Honestly, I could careless if I have a kitchen, give me more bookshelves etc. The homes in Skyrim svck, espeically the most expensive house. IMO seems like the housing has gone downhill along with being able to decorate.

Hey at least you can use the weapon rack. Mine is bugged and I can't activate it (at least in Breezehome, haven't gotten any other houses yet).

Just wanted to confirm that I did try the trick mentionned earlier in the thread and it does seem to work (for now at least) for those who were wondering/are interested. Put a nice statue of Dibella in the bedroom, the Eye of the Falmer above the headstand, a few skulls on the fireplace, etc.

I've entered the house many times after and nothing has moved yet.

Will play with it more later I guess.