Limited distance to kill smb using a bow. I can't make up my mind what's wrong and why I can't kill smb from a long distance. There are two situations: in the first one my arrows flew through the enemies (I've checked the same on a mammoth, and the area around was full of arrows, but none of them reached the goal). And in the second situation I came a bit closer, made just about one or two steps, and had no problem in killing both of them.
Is there any solution to this problem?

smb?

Small Mobile Beast?

smb = somebody

Ok, not completely logical but I'll allow it

There was a talk about this issue recently. There was a thread explaining all the ini functions, and I remember one of the ini settings determined how far away will an arrow shoot something.

Yeah I've experienced this and it's annoying.

Can I change these settings?

Certainly, all settings in the ini are editable, albeit some will mess up the game.

edit: not to get it wrong, this one doesn't. I don't remember which setting it is, but iirc whoever was taling about it said he set it to 8 000, and above 12 it can cause some trouble (I think it was fps hit, but not sure). Sorry for not really being helpful.

if you are on the PC than just go to http://skyrim.nexusmods.com and use the search (or search for the right category).

there are more than enough archery and arrows mods out there and there is a very simple one that does what you want.

I thought it was sub-machine buns that lydia munches on

In My Documents\My Games\Skyrim\Skyrim.ini - NOT SkyrimPrefs.ini - locate and edit the following, or add them if they do not appear:

[Actor]fVisibleNavmeshMoveDist=12288.0000[Combat]fMagnetismStrafeHeadingMult=0.0fMagnetismLookingMult=0.0f1PArrowTiltUpAngle=0.7f3PArrowTiltUpAngle=0.7

fVisibleNavmeshMoveDist controls the range of collision detection on the arrows, preventing the 'arrow passes through long range targets' issue. 12288 is more than sufficient.
fMagnetismStrafeHeadingMult & fMagnetismLookingMult control the horizontal auto-aim that some players complain about. Setting these to 0 removes this feature.
f1PArrowTiltUpAngle & f3PArrowTiltUpAngle control the initial trajectory of the arrow in 1st & 3rd person. This corrects the 'arrows arc prematurely and hit above crosshairs' issue. Note that this makes arrows hit slightly below crosshairs at very close range. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMMTJta_fPs.
If you do not want one of the above changes, simply remove the corresponding lines.

Edit: These tweaks should be safe, but it is always wise to make a backup of your INI file before editing. I take no credit or responsibility for any injury or death resulting from the use of these changes. Unless they deserved it.

Thanks a lot!

[Actor]
fVisibleNavmeshMoveDist=49152.0000

awesome distance for kills!