..but at this point, I am deeply saddened with Skyrim. I have endured some of the lesser bugs/CTDs and simply attempted to "work around" them in order to keep playing the game. However, there are two bugs which I'm having issue with and in turn have caused me to cease playing for the last 4+ weeks.

Issue 1 - Otherworldly Physics

Historically I have attempted to keep my gaming box up to date; playing a multitude of games at high frame rates and with 120Hz LCD panels in order to reduce ghosting. I enjoy the crisp graphics and responsive input such setups afford. However, it wasn't very long into my initial Skyrim character that an issue was encountered. For the record, I'm currently playing on an I7 975 machine, with dual GTX 580s (SLI) and with a Planar SA2311W 120Hz gaming LCD. Apparently (even with vsync at 120Hz) the physics engine in Skyrim is not very happy. There is the "swim effect" (as I call it), wherein the screen starts flickering, the sound starts making a weird stuttering noise, and occasionally my character starts swimming...in the air...on dry land. This issue seems worse when I am near water, but I have experienced this in the middle of fields/open areas. Another bug is not so healthy to some of the fauna in the game. A simple jaunt through the wilderness may reveal flying mammoths, saber cats, wolfs, deer, spiders, foxes, etc. Once the physics engine realizes that a mammoth 50 feet in the air is not exactly realistic, said beast will plummet to its demise. Yet another manifestation of this bug can prove to be quite deadly to ones character. Occasionally, opening doors or unlocking jail cells will send objects in the area flying about poltergeist style. I have been killed by flying flagons, bouncing baskets, and severely wounded by countless other supersonic objects. Lastly, sometimes this bug just wants to be heard. Entering an inn, you may hear what sounds like someone beating the hell out of an adjacent wall. Or, when in your cozy Breezehome, the sound of pots rattling against walls will attempt to entertain you.

Issue 2 - Radiant Madness

Jorleif would have me kill that dragon at Bonestrewn crest. Unfortunately when I accept his quest and venture to this location, there is no dragon to be found. I would also love to fulfill the bounty regarding the bandit leader at Valtheim Towers; however someone forgot to tell him to meet me there. Similar issues affect the location of other dragons, giants, bandit leaders, etc. Interestingly enough, treasure chests and other loot does respawn at these locations, even if the owners/guardians do not. It seems as if the radiant engine wants to respawn things for these quests, but for whatever reason the quest objectives simply do not materialize. I have only noticed this bug thus far in regards to "external" quest objectives. If a giant is in a cave, or a bandit leader is in a dungeon, the radiant respawn works fine. Currently I have multiple radiant quests bugged across multiple characters, as giants, dragons, and bandits refuse to respawn (even if killed around level 5, I still do not see these beasts/NPCs by level 81).

So while traveling to a quest location (with beasts striking the ground around) you might sound like fun, arriving at this location only to find the objective non-existent may not be quite as appealing. I have resorted to lowering the refresh rate of my monitor in order to "reduce" some of the physics bugs; however this does nothing to resolve an increasing list of absent quest objectives. I have observed these (and many other) persistent bugs since 11 11 11, across 4 level 81 characters, and during 594 in game hours. During the last 4 weeks, I have simply been firing up Steam, checking for an update, and then shutting down Steam. Occasionally an update has popped, but after a quick test the bugs have thus far been persistent.

I know there are others here in the forum that has seen these bugs.
I know there are others in the forum who would love to have a more responsive mouse (unhampered via vsync induced lag).
I know there are others in the forum with 120Hz gaming LCDs, who would love to reap the benefits of such a setup while playing Skyrim (without LCD ghosting, or haunted physics).

I am writing this post as a last ditch effort to save an otherwise awesome game. I only pray that it doesn't fall on deaf ears.

D

It is my understanding that the game's physics engine is tied into the FPS for timing purposes. I'm not 100% sure about this, however. This would explain your physics problems running the game @ 120hz. I'm honestly surprised you haven't had more problems than what you've been experiencing--like quest timing being totally off and the in-game days being longer/shorter than they should be. It svcks for those with 120hz monitors, but the way the engine is designed I don't think it's meant to run at that speed.

I personally ran into a LOT of physics and quest problems when I turned off V-sync for my 60hz LED. It went away when I turned it back on.

You may HAVE to run it at 60 FPS to get everything to run correctly, but don't take my word for it. There might be someone around here that knows more about this issue than I do. I'm actually sure of it

I admire your commitment. Or perseverance. It would take a fraction of that time to find out that havok physics are tied to the frame rate and that there are methods of limiting your frame rate to avoid such problems. Many issues with radiant quests are attributed to cross-version problems and likely won't get addressed. In the end, nobody will care if a bug only manifests if you receive the quest under 1.2 and attempt to complete it under 1.3. If you don't like the way they look in your journal, you can use the console to remove those quests, then reacquire them by asking for work in the the appropriate hold.

Don't worry about it, the game will be bug-free by 12 12 12.

Weird, I have been playing through Skyrim on my Xbox 360 three times, my PC two times soon and I haven't faced a single bug (only the most minor ones, but they are nothing to care about).
I can't figure out any technical tweaks to fix your problems, but lets base it on simplicity;

If I were you I would have deleted all mods from my computer (if you got any), remove my saved files, left no traces from the game and just reinstalled it.

I avoid bugs and complications with the game by saving often so that I can simply reload if I encounter any difficulties. The worst thing I have ecnountered on this playthrough is just the wounded soldier in the Tempel of Kynareth that walks up from being in pain and agony and then lies down again when I enter... oh and perhaps Camilla Valerius using a mind blowing amount of time to get her ass to the bridge and instruct you where to go in The Golden Claw Quest.

I appreciate all of the responses. For the record I am still plyaing vanilla Skyrim, as I feared mods would only aggravate/produce more bugs. Admittedly, it appears I have been spoiled by other games/game makers via having titles work properly with contemporary hardware...out of the box. I do not like the idea of having to "nerf" my gaming box in order to make a high calibre title (such as Skyrim) work properly, nor should I have to. I did at least want to make sure my main issues were reported to the Bethesda community in the hopes that at least some adjustments to the game would be made. From the look of things, I may be waiting a while. At any rate, the next Guild Wars 2 beta event is almost here. Thanks again for all you your responses.

Wind guide you,

D

I wouldn't say playing at a constant 60fps a nerf. You can increase your graphics settings further than you could at 120hz and it feels completely smooth.