^this is good. There could be a "density" to each weapon. I guess it could be something like .0 density doesn't do make you sink or float at all, -1.0 density makes you float,; 1.0 density makes you sink. also if your density is too low then you wouldn't be able to swim down at all.

but, maybe this is too much. maybe the character's buoyancy should just be based on weight calculated by a preset density for each pound. This could be determined by an estimated average of the amount of dense and non-dense items that character would be holding.

To people who are saying "if you want hyper-realistic then...." sorry. I didn't know Hyper-Realism meant a predefined amount of realism (as I've explained before), I was just pointing out it's more realistic than what we've had before when i was making this topic.

I don't think games need to hyper-realistic just yet, but i do think they need to be getting there.

and yeah, i wikipedia'd it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyper-realism
now I know.

i say that if your inventory is over half full u should sink

Wrong. The items you carry will have at least *some* amount of bouyancy in water, and therefore they get lighter underwater.

Maybe if you just have to take your armour off to swim or something like that. I can see how it would get annoying having to go through your inventory and make yourself light enough every time you needed to swim.

Bad bad idea... bad.. just awful....

You can't even swim in heavy armour in RL... You'd have to take all your gear, loot etc etc w/e... tie a rpe around it all then swim across and pull it all over.

And DO NOT say that is a good idea. Fed up of this Hyperrealistic Bull. No offense.

If this was a hardcoe mode/survival realism thread, I would be bringing up the school of restoration about now, but this calls for the school of alteration. Water walking, water breathing, feather, and from restoration, fortifying speed/strength/athletics, what is the point of hyper realistic swimming if even an apprentice spellcaster can overcome any penalties.

Enh... I don't know what to vote for in the weight area XD so I went for over-encumbered. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like our forms of weight measurement are used in the Elder Scrolls universe. I would adjust those value in your poll to more accurately show the in-game values. Also, wouldn't athletics (or equivalent) and strength play a role? I'd prefer to see it act as a percentage of your max encumbrance (75-80%-ish) over a set value.

All of this realism 'stuff' people keep posting is impractical and is getting pretty annoying.

yeah i posted this a while ago... someone just revived it. I'm getting pretty sick of this stuff too.

Sounds like a broken record, but Daggerfall actually had this and it was determined by your strength and swimming skill.

Carrying a heap of gold -> jump in the water = sink like a hammer.

I wouldn't mind if they bring it back, I like to travel light.

Is there an explanation for this disagreement? Or do you and 'lots of people' simply disagree? TES is not a sim, so it doesnt have to be hyper realistic....ever. Now of course it is nice to see realistic touches to the game, but there is a certain point at which realism directly conflicts with good gameplay. Sure, we could make TES a sim about real life, and it would be 'hyper realistic' and 'immersive', but would it be fun? Maybe to others, but not to me.

At the end of the day, Im not waiting for 11/11/11 for IMMERSION, I am waiting for 11/11/11 for The Elder Scrolls. If that means its the most realistic game ever made so be it. Same goes for if it is the most unrealistic far fetched game Ive ever played. It never stopped me before. Im not entering the fantasy of TES to worry about how immersive it is, the game does that on its own without the help of poorly implemented realistic effects.

With all that said, No, I do not think there should be a limit in which you sink. If this were added, I'd simply never swim.....not too hard to get around that one. And unless Bethesda wants large groups of people to avoid large areas of their game world (all the water), Id hope they knew better than to add this. Being over encumbered is one thing, but sinking in water because Im wearing armor? That idea horrifies me.

If its too realistic it kills the fun. I'll be busy enjoying the underwater life and the variety of fish (cough cough), I don't want to worry about sinking.

I dislike this idea intensely. Is it in, or is this just an idea with speculation? I'm sorry, I didn't read the whole post... shame on me.... -_-

as much as i despise everybody suggesting that "it absolutely HAS be realistic and mimic real life %100, for it IS a fantasy game after all..." i would like to be able to cast water breathing and traverse the bottoms of lakes. yes from me.

The reason is that more realism makes the game behave realistically. How would you feel about dragons flying...without wings? That'd look pretty dumb, wouldn't it? (Nevermind Asian dragons, which undulate the way snakes do in water) Or how would you feel about daggers doing more damage than swords? Or torches not being extinguished when you take them underwater? Seeing a man in full armor floating has that same "something is wrong" effect.

Also, it's unfair to thieves who wear light or no armor. If I want to run away from the town guards, they shouldn't be able to chase me into the water with their chainmail on, unless they feel like drowning that day. So either heavy armor should sink, or leather armor should give me as much protection as steel, which is similarly unrealistic.

I mean, we already have it so that we can't walk if we have more weight in our inventory than our Encumbrance allows. Why not make it so that we cannot swim if it is half of that? If you want to swim in full armor, use a Feather spell.

Also, if Bethesda KNEW they were making a game with realistic sinking, they would have to put in the effort to add in things like boat transport, either real time or like Morrowinds. And one thing ES should do is try and add features, not take them away (which has been the trend since Arena. I understand there's a time to scale down, but there's also a time to stop)

There are some things that kind of dont make much sense, and then there are things that are just senseless. That 'something is wrong' effect is the same thing that happens everytime you pull up a menu, or save, or go days even years without taking a bite of food in game. The game is loaded with aspects that ruin what you folks call 'immersion' and so on, however take away these features and how would the game function. Surely having a menu pop up at the push of a button is not very immersing....so that is to say that taking away the menus would make the game more immersive....But does that mean the game would be better?

My point is that with dragons roaming the skies, Im not worried about someone jumping in water with armor and not sinking like a stone. I dont like the idea, because like I said it will simply mean I will avoid water at all costs. Why go in the water if Im going to have to go to my hideout and stash EVERYTHING (or most) of what I have just to do so? What if I wear heavy armor? Would that mean I have to take it off every time I enter water? Because I can tell you how that will turn out. My character will be the driest one in all of Skryim.

In all honesty it seems like this would only benefit wearers of light armor, and completely disregards heavy armor users.

I dont really like the idea. Sure it is realiztic but to me personally it would be really annoying.

I dislike this idea for two reasons.

1) I sounds just plain annoying.

2) It's way too over simplified. There is far more than just weight that comes into play for something like this. Some objects, while they may feel heavy, manage to float. Things like buoyancy and displacement would also need to be taken into consideration for it to reach anywhere near the "realism" people might want from it.

I agree that would be great! Maybe even showing the characters hands when you are picking things up and moving them around. Weather it be under water or not.