Nah, you can't have cathedrals without bishops. What kills this setting is insanely stupid things like http://www.nickwalker.nu/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/Oblivion-2009-08-01-20-31-54-51.jpg. That's just too dumb for words.

All the crinkley bits around fjords?

This topic has been around since July. I think that since the mods havent done something about it since then it should be alright.

http://www.vastavalo.fi/albums/userpics/14143/metsa.jpg

Real forest. Tall trees. Imagine yourself walking among them, with soft shadows and a lantern in your hand.

This is by far my favorite thread. Great pics everyone!

I thought I would add pictures of where I live right now just to add some inspiration and flavor. These pics don't represent a personal opinion about any game, but I would like to see some landscapes that resemble these areas.

Bend is http://www.mikeputnamphoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/sunrise-card.jpg http://sunrivervacationrentalhome.com/1-sunriver-mountains.jpg http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_EB_9lR-1fgA/SDhnnR97bfI/AAAAAAAAAFM/XctBCxOQKq4/S660/Mountains+and+my+Bike+004.jpg. http://www.mikeputnamphoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/canyon-creek-meadow.jpg http://www.mikeputnamphoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/tumalo-crop.jpg http://www.mikeputnamphoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/painted-hills.jpg http://www.mikeputnamphoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/ponderosa-grove.jpg pics I could muster up of the http://www.skiingthebackcountry.com/images/3697.jpg.

Also, http://media.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/photo/p5x102-4edb-9jpg-df530abe5cb325b6.jpg http://lh6.ggpht.com/mattblomgren/SLq-uPa_poI/AAAAAAAABaw/H2KPY0egr3I/s800/IMG_0186.jpg http://cdn.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/hires/effectsoffor.jpg.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bear_cavalry.jpg

How about a video? If anyone is interested in the potential environments of Skyrim, you might be interested in the latest episode of Coast on iPlayer if you can access the site (might be UK only).

It showed off the myriad of islands around the shallow southern coast of Norway; some of the country's greatest fjords; a huge frozen waterfall and its glaciation effect; as well as studying a fjord famous for being a timebomb. Apparently a mountain is due to landslide alongside it, which would send a tsunami racing down its length towards the sea, wiping out every settlement in its path. Beautiful and deadly nature, just the way I can imagine Skyrim.

Yes, throw in a dark and foggy night, tainted with the howl of wolves, a soft but dark and moody music, and some occasional flash of light reflected in animal eyes from afar and the setting would be complete.

Imagine your newbie character trapped in such a place with just a rusty iron dagger in one hand and a lantern in the other; That would be an experience.

Edit:

Imagine your newbie character suddenly encounter http://www.deep-focus.com/dfweblog/images/480_vengeance_2.jpg in front of his/her!

By the way talking of forests I liked to show the forest scenes I liked to see in future games, like http://www.flickr.com/photos/8224124@N07/3386979291, http://www.flickr.com/photos/stanzim/2164224489/, http://www.flickr.com/photos/7619625@N02/538763534, http://farm1.static.flickr.com/44/109339800_c230b9b7a5.jpg, http://www.flickr.com/photos/33629650@N00/190353097, or http://www.flickr.com/photos/9011434@N03/4133807896.

Or even in more surreal themes, something like http://www.templates.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/amber-forest-by-marcin-j-nikiforuk.jpg, which reminds me a bit of Morrowind's Telvanni homes, although these are horizontal.

Forests are not always made of wood and trees, for instance there are http://www.tt5.com/files/2010/09/madagascar-tsingy-stone-forest-photos-1.jpg http://i1.treknature.com/photos/12420/mad0137a.jpg http://lh6.ggpht.com/_HEo-gU-E4bE/St6Q4xqgmgI/AAAAAAAADbs/enMVLoY75Wg/s800/tsingy_5.JPG in Madagascar, and http://www.coolpicturegallery.net/2010/01/chinas-270-million-year-old-stone.html in China, and some in other places, like http://zuzutop.com/2010/01/strange-formations-of-shaped-stone-on-kuril-islands/, or http://www.planetware.com/i/photo/cuenca-e1055.jpg http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/448783/448783,1255548197,1/stock-photo-big-stone-formation-shaped-hinge-located-at-the-place-called-the-enchanted-city-of-cuenca-spain-38877439.jpg.

That ... would ... be ... EPIC!! :bonk:

OK, got a few visual wishes again:

http://features.cgsociety.org/newgallerycrits/g88/41488/41488_1233498528_large.jpg is one of the scenes that I really want to see in a future game. :goodjob: It can be achieved with current cutting edge technology, but needs quite a bit of work.

As for http://features.cgsociety.org/newgallerycrits/g57/15157/15157_1147474785_large.jpg kind of detailed city development, I know in a TES game, if you need to fill it with an interactive population, it is too soon to hope for such a game, but one can keep hope for a decade if need be.

These four CG scenes are included here for inspiration on a variety of landscape themes: http://features.cgsociety.org/newgallerycrits/g92/317692/317692_1205939521_large.jpg, http://features.cgsociety.org/newgallerycrits/g92/317692/317692_1221258427_large.jpg, http://features.cgsociety.org/newgallerycrits/g92/317692/317692_1208851204_large.jpg, http://features.cgsociety.org/newgallerycrits/g57/195157/195157_1173444849_large.jpg.

And finally two monster scenes: http://d2d04grx5ahzvh.cloudfront.net/000_WebRoundups/26_Monsters/18.jpg and http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/9/2006/09/DragonsLitLayers01%20sm.jpg.

OK, that's all for now.

Lol, the northen Kingdom one is from assassins Creed

Yes, but it is designed by a member of CG community, and I think should be a proper setting for Hammerfell, or Elsweyr.

Edit:

OK, here are some fantasy style scenes that I like to see in future TES games: http://www.ambientart.de/3d/gallery/characters/Dark%20Wizard.jpg, http://www.ambientart.de/3d/gallery/fantasy/Fellbeast.jpg, http://www.ambientart.de/3d/gallery/fantasy/Twisted%20Tree.jpg, http://www.ambientart.de/3d/gallery/nature/Upstart.jpg.

Or some fantasy landscapes like these: http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=1372&g2_serialNumber=4, http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=1405&g2_serialNumber=4, http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=1407&g2_serialNumber=3, http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=7233&g2_serialNumber=2, http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=7263&g2_serialNumber=2, http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=7339&g2_serialNumber=1, http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=7077&g2_serialNumber=2, http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=7164&g2_serialNumber=2, http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=7158&g2_serialNumber=2, or http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=7319&g2_serialNumber=2.

Some cool places out of Skyrim: http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=7304&g2_serialNumber=2, http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=1646&g2_serialNumber=2, http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=7996&g2_serialNumber=2, http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=7105&g2_serialNumber=2, http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=9253&g2_serialNumber=2, http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=8023&g2_serialNumber=2, http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=8067&g2_serialNumber=2, or http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=9028&g2_serialNumber=1.

Or some Oblivion scorched places:http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=7874&g2_serialNumber=2, http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=7858&g2_serialNumber=2, http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=7882&g2_serialNumber=2, http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=7885&g2_serialNumber=2, http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=7892&g2_serialNumber=2, http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=7855&g2_serialNumber=2, or http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=9317&g2_serialNumber=1.

And different styles of culture and architecture for inspiration: http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=8687&g2_serialNumber=1, http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=8678&g2_serialNumber=1, http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=8709&g2_serialNumber=2, http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=8846&g2_serialNumber=1, http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=8715&g2_serialNumber=2, http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=8841&g2_serialNumber=2, http://www.carbonmatter.com/images/POP3_1_matte.jpg, http://www.carbonmatter.com/images/POP3_4_matte.jpg, http://www.ambientart.de/3d/gallery/buildings/Chinese%20Venice.jpg, or http://www.ambientart.de/3d/gallery/buildings/balkis-1.jpg.

http://www.john-howe.com/portfolio/gallery/data/media/20/big/RoyalAssassin-port.jpg

This picture has always made me drool.

wow

amazing

yes yes yes I want to see such things in ES5

see gothic 3 they had such amazing environments.

bethesda learn and evolve

now I'm drooling

Heh heh. Watch out for the keyboard.

OK, some more visual wishes:

I want to see some http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/ngipc_11_19/n02_sean-heavey.jpg http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/ngipc_11_19/n47_yevgen-timashov.jpg http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/ngipc_11_19/n12_patrick-john-odoherty.jpg.

Or some http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/ngipc_11_19/n01_alex-tan.jpg http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/ngipc_11_19/n07_james-haskins.jpg http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/ngipc_11_19/n11_joao-vianna.jpg http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/ngipc_11_19/n14_sharon-raoli.jpg http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/ngipc_11_19/n39_linh-dinh.jpg http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/ngipc_11_19/n43_ron-mccombe.jpg http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/ngipc_11_19/n03_hongsik-kim.jpg.

And some more diversified and interesting vistas, events and landscapes, like these:

• http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/ngipc_11_19/n04_jesus-oranday.jpg
  
• http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/ngipc_11_19/n05_ario-wibisono2.jpg
  
• http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/ngipc_11_19/n06_freddy-cerdeira.jpg
  
• http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/ngipc_11_19/n08_fred-turck.jpg
  
• http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/ngipc_11_19/n09_nikki-krecicki.jpg
  
• http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/ngipc_11_19/n15_amy-helene-johansson.jpg
  
• http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/ngipc_11_19/n16_jay-fine.jpg
  
• http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/ngipc_11_19/n17_glen-hush.jpg
  
• http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/ngipc_11_19/n20_aniko-molnar.jpg
  
• http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/ngipc_11_19/n23_karolis-milasevicius.jpg
  
• http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/ngipc_11_19/n24_kostadin-luchansky.jpg
  
• http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/ngipc_11_19/n25_john-palmer-gregg.jpg
  
• http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/ngipc_11_19/n29_nam-in-geun.jpg
  
• http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/ngipc_11_19/n33_natalia-luzuriaga.jpg
  
• http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/ngipc_11_19/n35_ario-wibisono.jpg
  
• http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/ngipc_11_19/n37_rodrigo-west-de-magalhaes.jpg
  
• http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/ngipc_11_19/n44_sukru-mehmet-omur.jpg
  
• http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/ngipc_11_19/n22_ragnarsson.jpg
  
• http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/ngipc_11_19/n30_stephen-murdoch.jpg
  
• http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/ngipc_11_19/n41_audun-wigen.jpg

Even best movie CGI is nowhere close to those details and quality. Very nice screens. (Right now, I am reading Cryengine 3 papers, they have implemented realtime global illumination on Consoles and PC. It will be really amazing. Imagining Cryengine 6.)

I think that John Howe one if based on the Robin Hobb Assassin books. Well worth a read.

The forests should truly look like something in those pictures up there on this page and feel like forests instead of some random trees somewhere. Really thick forest areas would be really, really, really epic and great. I mean there is no forest at all in Oblivion, just trees, but no forest.

Edit: there should also be fallen trees in the forests:

http://www.yourlocalweb.co.uk/images/pictures/12/04/fallen-tree-pitmedden-forest-118217.jpg

Also these would be epic forest rivers:
https://secure2.convio.net/osi/images/content/pagebuilder/10897.jpg
http://www.osiny.org/images/content/pagebuilder/10923.jpg

Yes, I know.

I post those pictures mainly for inspiration, I know the full detail possible in the nature will never be possible in a computer generated world, but I chose those pictures to send a message, via a picture, and the title helps as well.

Never say never. I believe there will be a time sometimes when computer games will have real world grapfics just as movies :celebration:

But it will be a looong way a way.

I'd like to see things like
http://www.bildungsservice.at/faecher/geo/Staaten%20und%20Landschaften/Neuseeland/NZ%202003%20-%20Lake%20Tekapo%20-%20DSCF8273.JPG http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/6324/dsc1162l.jpg

http://www.fletchersince1909.com/images/chateau.jpg http://www.nzetc.org/etexts/Gov04_05Rail/Gov04_05Rail014a(h280).jpg

Here are some more natural scenes that I really like to see in a future game, but I know the detail is too much for a current computer horse power:

Sorry pals, I kinda made a nice selection out of the images on http://pixdaus.com/index.php?sort=ever, but got botched, as those images expire out of the page, so instead of that, I just give you a link to the source.

:brokencomputer:

At the bottom of the page, you can click on "Next Page" link to see more of the images, some of them are really inspiring.

Hi,

the following pictures are some great artworks from some users on deviant art and they hit my "wishes" spot on...

I hope you like them too...

http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs28/f/2009/239/b/4/Forest_by_Ardel2W.jpg

http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2010/337/8/d/magic_forest_iii___dark_place_by_thoosah-d33d1ar.jpg

http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs31/f/2008/196/c/7/Alaska_34_by_RuhnART.jpg

http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs41/f/2009/008/1/0/1033ef53a8cc6283ad9e2ed04814b3af.jpg

http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs50/i/2009/285/f/3/Ashenvale_Forest_by_Dr4kon.jpg

http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs39/i/2009/093/a/6/Snow_Forest_by_MDFS_by_Mrs_Dani_Filth_Stock.jpg

enjoy i sure did...

wow those pictures makes me want to pick up my camera and make such pictures myself and then get very disappointed because i won′t be able to make them so good...
if the next elder scrolls would be like that...