I think such a thread is necessary on these forums because as we all know Elder Scrolls games are not only famous for their storyline and best RPG elements but for support for new technologies in PC gaming. And there will be new things when game comes out. So we should let Bethesda know what we would like to see included in their next TES title.They probably won't do all these things but maybe few of them. Show with your vote which one is the most important.
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1.Multi core processor support in the engine: Oblivion wasn't multithreaded and neither was Fallout 3 so vote for this if you want multi thread support.

2.Implementation of one of the latest Direct X APIs: This could be of course DirectX 10.1 or 11. There are some nice feaures in DX 10.1 like ambient occlusion, SSAO and Gather4. Implementation of http://www.legitreviews.com/images/reviews/584/DirectX%2010_1%20White%20Paper%20v0.4.pdf definitely would be a good step over DX9 TES IV. But it's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_x_11#DirectX_11 that brings us Shader version 5 and Tesellation.

3.Implementation of proprietary technologies like Nvidia's PhysX: Maybe some of us find such proprietary solutions cool and want to see in next game.

4.Trouble free support for scalable graphic solutions like Crossfire and SLI: Personally i didn't see any improvements IN OBLIVION after adding second HD 4850 to my system. I checked graphics cards usage manually. There i saw Oblivion utilizing second graphics adapter but both cards loaded maximum %60 in contrast to single card is loaded %100 all the time. So there was something hindering the extra power and it was not my hardware. In Fallout 3 there was a lame issue with HDR lightning and multiple graphics cards.This was never fixed. If you enable HDR lighting with SLI or Crossfire then sky starts to flicker as you move around. So annoying indeed. You can google it and see how people with multiple cards had to turn off HDR to play this game. If you want Bethesda to solve such problems, your vote belongs to here.

5.Official support for OpenAL based Creative EAX Advanced HD to make 3D sound work under Windows Vista and 7 using Creative ALchemy software: After Microsoft removed hardware layer from Windows sound we could no longer use sound effects like EAX or any kind of 3D positional audio. Because such technologies are based on Direct Sound and direct sound uses hardware layer to communicate sound cards. Since Microsoft removed it from Windows, all expensive Creative sound cards became as useless as onboard sound chips. Then Creative announced that there's actually a way to bring all these features back using an open source sound library called OpenAL. They developed Creative ALchemy and released on their website for free. This software basically simulates Direct Sound commands using OpenAL so you have your sound effects back. But then again there were only few games supporting OpenAL and unfortunately it was impossible to bring back these features for non-OpenAL games. These games had to use 2D Windows software sound. If you don't want TES V to be one of them, then vote for this.
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P.S. Please remember all we're trying to achieve here is to increase quality of the next TES game by collaborating so please don't start any flame wars based on ATI, Nvidia fanboyism. Thanks.

given that Gamebryo is CPU intensive, and that Bethesda seems to be sticking with Gamebryo as its engine, then, if Gamebryo is used for TESV, I vote for multi-core processor support.

EDIT:

I have no interest in seeing new DirectX stuff. I'm using Windows XP, so I can't get DX 10 and above anyway.

I'm not using SLI, and I think SLI-users are likely in the minority. There are multi-core GPUs now, anyways.

I'm not using a Creative soundcard anyway. Given the inevitable march of new waves of technology, by five years time, there will be other audio systems to achive the same effects: Creative EAX will be obsolete and a thing of the past. Multicore processors, however, are here to stay.

All of those options sound good to me, but I'd also like the multi-core processor support. Since I have multi-cores I'd like them to be used to my advantage

Believe me they aren't. There are considerable amount of SLI and Crossfire users. And when it comes to multi core GPUs, they are also considered SLI or Crossfire. Only difference between them and two seperate cards is multi core GPUs uses integrated bridge.

Seems a little pointless, since any technological improvements are dictated by Gamebryo. I suspect that any improvements that Bethesda makes to the engine will be limited.

The ability for multicore threading is latent in the Gamebryo engine. It is already there (since TES III)... but at present, its functionality appears to be broken.

Definitely multicore threading, that would make the game run oh-so much faster. It could also take some of the enormous load off the GPU.

DX 10.1/11 are pretty much understood that they would be using them. At least, that's what I thought..

Not really, Bethesda has a in-house team working on its engine rather than depending on Gamebryo updates. Which is good since Emergent (Gamebryo maker) is in a bit of trouble and recently had to lay off a sizable portion of its work force.

Here's a quote from Peter Hines

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=18463

I don't care about any of the choices you listed, to be honest. I'm even still stuck on a single core Pentium 4, but I guess multi-core rendering support would be of utmost priority right now for Bethesda's tech. In the end, all the faults of Morrowind/Oblivion - the clunky animations, the oversensitive physics, the interface/controls, those all boil down to the developers' own skills. Let's hope they've learned a thing or two and can improve these aspects of their engine for TES V.

The only actual software addition I think they need to incorporate into future games is http://www.umbrasoftware.com/.

I second that wth the addition of http://www.naturalmotion.com/
lightsprint as well.

The issue as I see it is that we're given Gamebryo...which in it's own right is a solid engine to develop an RPG on, but to use a car anology It's just the base model.
I want Bethesda to invest in the sports package, leather trim, premium sound etc...

HDR
Speccullar Occlusion
Direct X 11
Wet Surfaces
Anti Aliasing
Depth Of Field
Shader model 5
MegaTexture system (Rage)
Hardware Tesselation
Compute Shaders
Ambient Occlusion

I picked multicore because that's the only poll option I understood.

NO GUN IN TES!!!

Oh wait, you mean that kind of technology, well i'd really just want them to utilize Umbra and Lightsprint, that would help so much.

Make the graphics as great as they can be as long as they are scalable! I don't care for bling if I can't run it.

Support for Crossfire. It's so annoying to play a game that isn't Crossfire compatible and have to deal with flickering lighting effects and similar bugs (when you force the game to run with Crossfire) or have to run the game with only one graphics card (I have dual ATI HD 4870's). Support for dual core processors is basically a given these days. Fallout 3 didn't exactly like my quad core processor, until I changed a setting somewhere. Before then, I got a crash once per hour.

roger that.

The fact that Beth has always pushed the tech envelope is a blessing and a curse. As a release date purchaser, I'm hoping that I'll be able to run the game, but also that the game will still be fun to play 5-6 years down the road like Oblivion and MW were.
In all honesty, I would still buy the product if they didn't make any advances from the FO3 engine, I'd grouch about it, but I'd still buy it. I think that after all this time I'm just jonesing for some new Beth soft. I tried some other games and I guess I've been spoilt - I can't even enjoy a shooter anymore. I tried to play the witcher and I couldn't get past the fact that I can't wade through a river and let's not get into the alchemy differences.
I'm sure that TES5 will satisfy most techies and that it will last a long time. I just hope that they don't do what they did with Morrowind when it came out - some reviewers recommended 'next year's PC' to run the game. I hate knowing that the game only looks half as good as it could be (anyone that has GTA4 for the PC knows what I'm talking about).
In the end though, like I said, it's all about what's behind the graphics (story, content) that counts for me.
JUST GET IT DONE ALREADY! or when its done, whatever.

Err... why is that a poll ? Even a SINGLE SELECTION poll ? Why would anyone want only ONE of these ? Why would anyone NOT want any of these ?

> Multi core processor support in the engine

Will probably be there anyway

> Implementation of one of the latest Direct X APIs

Will be there for sure anyway

> Implementation of proprietary technologies like Nvidia's PhysX

Will very likely be there anyway

> Full scale & trouble free support for scalable graphic solutions like Crossfire and SLI

Probably wont be there, too rare

> Official support for OpenAL based Creative EAX Advanced HD to make it work under Windows Vista and 7 using Creative ALchemy software

We'll get good audio, most likely. OpenAL ? Possible.

Yes scalable graphics is a must because there is a huge gap between users hardwares. My brothers PC for instance uses a stone age processor and graphics card (athlon xp 2500+ and radeon 9600 pro) compared to my hardware and there are people whose rigs ten times stronger than mine.

I'd like to see a video settings menu similar to Medieval II Total War's. Anyone remember the "shader version" option there? That's what i want to see in next tes. Put there shader 2,3,4 options and let users choose appropriote shader version for their hardware. it may look like s*** but that doesn't matter, if that guy wanted better graphics he'd buy new hardware anyways. if you don't allow them to decrease graphics settings, then gamers starts to think like "these guys must have signed an evil treaty with hardware manufacturers to make us buy newer hardware." then starts boycotting stuff or sayings like "nah dude don't buy it, 'cuz all they're doing is boosting the graphics.they left storyline and gameplay untouched." even if developers improve storyline and gameplay, people with old hardware will never see it so they'll keep bashing it no matter what. so scalable graphics is very very important. go and make graphics looking sooo good that even best hardware breaks sweat to render it but also make so scalable that ancient hardware can run it.

the reason why oblivion unplayable on old PCs was its forcing pixel shader 2.0. later people made a small application called "Oldblivion" which forced game to use pixel shader 1.1 so older PCs could also run it with decent framerates. if bethesda allowed users to choose shader 1.1 in the options then i'm sure more people would have bought and played it.

EDIT:


I doubt it. Bethesda uses Havok physics both in Oblivion and Fallout 3. I think they'll keep supporting it. Because PhysX is only for nvidia cards but Havok can run on all hardware.

Rather than most of these, I'd be quite happy if Beth went through and did a thorough stress-testing of modules to eliminate any memory overflows, catch glitches related to excessive amounts of items in a container, etc.

Sure, I've got a GeForce 8800 that's being underutilized with the engine preferring 2.0 shaders, but on the whole, I doubt a 64-bit DX10 build is going to provide me the same improvement experience that a brutal QA regime could supply.

(Oh, and while they're at it, how about a script profiler, so modders and mod users can determine what scripts to optimize?)

Surely, it will look a great deal better than oblivion, but I'm more concerned about optimizations and returns to old methods, such as reopening all of the cities, making larger capital cities, adding real windows, much more ambient sound dynamics etc. Hopefully Beth will implement some of these.

Freaking Umbra!

Also, they should hire all the orphans in Bangkok, and get them all to be QA people. That way, we avoid the hideous bugs plaguing us since Daggerfall.

Umbra and Lightsprint. I have a good feeling they'll use them.

To add something a little more console specific, I'd like to see them take advantage of the 360's ability to write the game to and run from the hard drive instead of running from the disk. I don't know anything technical about what could be achieved, but I seem to remember that some game developer commenting on it... Anything that reduces load time is a big plus in my book.

Primarily DX11 with Quad-Core optimization a very close second are on the top of my list and shame on you for making me choose between them in the poll. Physx is third, but I have no real expectation to see it.

lol yeah i should create poll like primary wishes and secondary wishes

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