Game News Skyrim - How Not to Make a PC Game

[Jaesun]

Tags: Bethesda Softworks; Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim; Eric Schwarz

<p> </p>
<p>Gamasutra is featuring an article by Eric Schwarz <a href="http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/EricSchwarz/20111111/8866/Skyrim_or_How_Not_to_Make_a_PC_Game.php">examining many of the PC issues with Skyrim</a>:</p>
<p> </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Unfortunately, Skyrim's PC user interface is quite possibly the clunkiest and most difficult I have ever seen in a game made after the DOS era.  I have played games from 1985 that were infinitely more usable than Skyrim; that a modern game makes so many elementary mistakes suggests a certain kind of malevolence, not simple laziness.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Heavily tied to the horrendous UI design in Skyrim's PC port is the incredible lack of foresight demonstrated in the game's various customization options.  Some of these things, such as the inability to change certain game settings in-game, are unfortunate, but predictable considering previous Bethesda games.  There are, however, yet more problems which are clearly the result of extreme incompetence, ineptitude, or laziness, which extend to the most basic functions of the game.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Key remapping is something that you'd think would be a standard feature in a game, and that would work.  Bethesda, it seems, have decided that getting such a feature working isn't critical to releasing a triple-A product. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>One final damning point about Skyrim's PC port - it's horribly, pathetically optimized, and has major compatibility issues.  Right from the bat, I knew that something was wrong when my high-end system was getting framerates in the low 20s from time to time, and when performance did not improve upon lowering the graphics options.  Things became even more suspicious when I realized that there was no rhyme or reason for any of the framerate drops - whether I was outside in the overworld, the terrain stretching into the distance, or inside a tiny shop the size of a prison cell, the game's framerate fluctuates all over the place.  There's no question about this: Skyrim is badly optimized.</p>
</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p>You can <a href="http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/EricSchwarz/20111111/8866/Skyrim_or_How_Not_to_Make_a_PC_Game.php">read the full article here</a>.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Spotted at: <a href="http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/EricSchwarz/20111111/8866/Skyrim_or_How_Not_to_Make_a_PC_Game.php">Gamasutra</a></p>

 

[Ruprekt]

Actually my principle criticism would be the terrible sound and music quality. I'm assuming low bitrate thanks to being limited to a single xbawx dvd. I'm kind of about this...

The UI is bad but not so bad I'd rather use my controller over a mouse with a first person game. And I haven't experienced slowdowns but then I'm playing on high rather than attempting ultra with a gtx460.

The engine is defintely a new iteration of gamebryo: being able to force ambient occlusion with the fallout3 flag is conclusive.

 

[Suchy]

Works smooth for me on GTX280, but I CAN'T STAND THAT FUCKING INTERFACE either.
Oh, and the writing is weak. And textures are terrible. And the FOV... everything looks like if you had binoculars stuck on your eyes.

 

[Micmu]

clearly the result of extreme incompetence, ineptitude, or laziness

That's 100% accurate description of whole Betshitsda and their "products" right there.

 

[attackfighter]

the most annoying thing about skyrim is that the mouse sensitivity is super low and also that the sensitivity for moving vertically is lower than it is for moving the camera horizontally... fuck bethesda for thinking this shit was a good idea, they probably thought it was making the game more 'cinematic' to force you to move the camera around in such a slow, shitty manner.

 

[Excidium]

You can change mouse sensibility in the gameplay options, I think.

 

[pocahaunted]

I'm glad someone else is recognizing just how much of a hatchet job this PC port truly was, the UI and the favorite system just don't belong in a PC game.

 

[attackfighter]

You can change mouse sensibility in the gameplay options, I think.

It;s inadequite even at max setting and plus there's no way to tweak the vertical and horizontal movements so that they're the same.

 

[Dire Roach]

Mods will fix it.

 

[Wunderpurps]

They don't understand concept of aspet ratio.

 

[baronjohn]

For everyone complaining about the FOV, open the console and type 'fov 100'

 

[Rhalle]

I'm about to fire it up for the first time. Anyone remember that FO:NV had a problem with some things rendering in a higher DriecteX level than others, and that causing big FPS drops? There was a fix for it.

Anyway, yeah. It's really hard to reconcile how apparently horrific the PC version is with all the unqualified praise the game has gotten from reviewers. Are they all on the take? Seriously.

 

[Mister Arkham]

the most annoying thing about skyrim is that the mouse sensitivity is super low and also that the sensitivity for moving vertically is lower than it is for moving the camera horizontally... fuck bethesda for thinking this shit was a good idea, they probably thought it was making the game more 'cinematic' to force you to move the camera around in such a slow, shitty manner.

This is my absolute biggest issue with the game so far. It runs well enough (just not having the problems a lot of people seem to be) and looks pretty good, and the whole thing has kind of a sense of fun to it...but why in the deep blue everloving FUCK can't I look up or down quickly? Especially in a game where there are DRAGONS dropping out of the sky at you all of the time. I mean, are you shitting me?

 

[curry]

the most annoying thing about skyrim is that the mouse sensitivity is super low and also that the sensitivity for moving vertically is lower than it is for moving the camera horizontally... fuck bethesda for thinking this shit was a good idea, they probably thought it was making the game more 'cinematic' to force you to move the camera around in such a slow, shitty manner.

This is my absolute biggest issue with the game so far. It runs well enough (just not having the problems a lot of people seem to be) and looks pretty good, and the whole thing has kind of a sense of fun to it...but why in the deep blue everloving FUCK can't I look up or down quickly? Especially in a game where there are DRAGONS dropping out of the sky at you all of the time. I mean, are you shitting me?

You can adjust mouse sensitivity in the settings menu.

 

[Roguey]

More like "Spotted at: the link sea provided himself in Crispy's thread."

 

[Hamster]

Just launched Skyrim for the first time:

Wow, just, wow. Dat interface. Whats up with mouse in menus?

 

[Zarniwoop]

So the game is horribly optimized, has a terrible console interface, doesn't allow you to set some basic options, and shows a big lack of foresight.

I don't really get why this particular game gets singled out for so much hate over this. How does this make Skyrim unique? It describes basically every "PC"- game released since 2006. All piss-poor console ports really.

I've seen some Youtube videos etc, and while it does indeed look bad, I'm not convinced that this game's UI plumbs new depths of terribadness in the same way that for example ME2 did.

 

[racofer]

So the game is horribly optimized, has a terrible console interface, doesn't allow you to set some basic options, and shows a big lack of foresight.

I don't really get why this particular game gets singled out for so much hate over this. How does this make Skyrim unique? It describes basically every "PC"- game released since 2006. All piss-poor console ports really.

I've seen some Youtube videos etc, and while it does indeed look bad, I'm not convinced that this game's UI plumbs new depths of terribadness in the same way that for example ME2 did.

Oh no no no. You have absolutely NO IDEA how much worse this one game is compared to anything you've ever played on PC regarding the interface.

You have NO IDEA!

 

[Zarniwoop]

Worse than ME2? Because it seems that in Skyrim you can at least re-bind keys for items or menus, just in a retarded way..

 

[Suchy]

So the game is horribly optimized, has a terrible console interface, doesn't allow you to set some basic options, and shows a big lack of foresight.

I don't really get why this particular game gets singled out for so much hate over this. How does this make Skyrim unique? It describes basically every "PC"- game released since 2006. All piss-poor console ports really.

I've seen some Youtube videos etc, and while it does indeed look bad, I'm not convinced that this game's UI plumbs new depths of terribadness in the same way that for example ME2 did.

Bro, I was bitching at L.A. Noire being a terribly botched port when it comes to controls. And then I tried Skyrim... It's like Bethesda's attemt at trolling PC players.

Worse than ME2?

It makes ME2 look like a native PC game.

 

[DwarvenFood]

sea

 

[Rhalle]

Holy Christ, mouse sensitivity is off the charts-- it's unplayable, and there's no way to change it in-game.

Mouse-look at zero, no acceleration and minimum DPI setting (so low its unusable on the desktop) and it's still too fast.

 

[attackfighter]

the most annoying thing about skyrim is that the mouse sensitivity is super low and also that the sensitivity for moving vertically is lower than it is for moving the camera horizontally... fuck bethesda for thinking this shit was a good idea, they probably thought it was making the game more 'cinematic' to force you to move the camera around in such a slow, shitty manner.

This is my absolute biggest issue with the game so far. It runs well enough (just not having the problems a lot of people seem to be) and looks pretty good, and the whole thing has kind of a sense of fun to it...but why in the deep blue everloving FUCK can't I look up or down quickly? Especially in a game where there are DRAGONS dropping out of the sky at you all of the time. I mean, are you shitting me?

You can adjust mouse sensitivity in the settings menu.

at default sensitivity you can basically move your camera 40° with a single 'sweep' of your mouse and that's only if your system is already configured to have high sensitivity outside of the game. When you adjust the ingame sensitivty to maximum (as pretty much everyone in the world probably does) it's still only like a 180° turn at most (probably more like 90° but w/e) which is fucking retarded! is bethstapo so disconnected from reality that they think a good default setting is to have your camera only move 40° at a time? are their heads so far up their asses that they think a maximum of 90° turn is acceptable?! I once thought that those gameplay trailers where they slowly pan the camera to show off the environment was simply done slowly in order to give it a cinematic feel... now I know it's how Bethstapo actually thinks that people play...

 

[Luzur]

been playing for about 5-6 hours now, the game itself is ok except for some random shit like rabbits running beside foxes, shit like horsecarts go flying when i touch them or a dragon getting stuck in a tower, shitty textures and as mentioned above, the UI.

i mean, what where they thinking?

Bethesda, why not simply abandon the PC market and go total retar...err console instead?

but NPC's has gotten prettier, got more moves then before, and the land looks and feels bigger, although i am pretty sure thats some illuison.

 

[Roguey]

Bethesda, why not simply abandon the PC market and go total retar...err console instead?

Because
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