Thank you so much for this. I really enjoyed the archery in Oblivion and the awesome physics. My guess is that these settings were either to allow players who don't consider gravity shoot better (there were many mods back in the day doing just this sort of thing) or it was modified to be more user friendly on a controller, where aim assist is beneficial due to how wonky non-mouse aiming can be.

Can't comment on the bug however. I think the guy above me may know what he's talking about. Perhaps NPCs just haven't loaded yet. Which svcks.

I have been doing some testing on this and I found that there is a range limit, it is around 4000-4015 game units. However, some NPC can still be attacked outside of that range if they are doing something like sitting in a chair or using a grindstone. So the problem is nothing to do with arrows or magic it's with the NPC AI not detecting the attack.

I don't know why anyone thinks the f1PArrowTiltUpAngle ini setting fixes this. It's just the Angle that the Arrow is Tilted Up

PS: I found a fix
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1279548-archery-magic-range-limit-fix/

The video linked in the OP is not conclusive in my mind. It's not certain that those arrows are actually hitting the target. They could well be going over the target's head. The video itself is not clear enough to say with certainty. Would be nice if they actually shot those arrows, then ran over and somehow showed the arrows lying either in front of or behind the target to be conclusive as to where the ended up. Let alone if the arrows are sticking in the target like they normally do.

I'd like to use this. Just wondering, this only effects the player, not the NPC's right? I mean, will the NPC's accuracy differ because of this setting?

I hit the cow!!!! I hit the freaking cow! It took me 5 shots. In the dark no less.

I'll do some better testing tomorrow. The save I loaded up from my new character, was being interrupted by a random dragon attack on Whiterun right behind me. How dare he interrupt my testing!!!

Thank you for figuring this out. Well, what looks to be very promising fix at this point at the least.

I guess I've never sniped anything that was too far away, but this does change the overall behavior of arrows. I was getting frustrated as [censored] when an arrow aimed at an opponents head would lob itself up and over, hitting the wall behind about where my retcile was. This fix makes archery more skill base (Having to compensate for trajectory arc.) It's consistent, however, and I don't have to work around the game's otherwise strange archery mechanics.

Sorry if my post was slop. I'm so tired.

Does editing the ini disable Steam achievements? I realize they're not really meaningful for gameplay and I never thought they would matter to me, but on some level I find that they do ;x

You would think that, but no. Destruction magic works just fine. Only arrows has this problem. =P

Haven't tried this yet but already made changes to the ini files from work!

I too felt that the archery didnt feel quite right before whilst aiming, I hope this fix will make it feel more natural to how I play

Will post back!

Also made another change mentioned on page 4 of this thread in regards to Actor distance, maybe that'll allow us further sniping from afar

Bah! there goes our singularity with you mages!




IT WORKS IT WORKS!! YES! I just sniped the [censored] out of a farmer.... Oh Thank Talos. Please marry me. Regardless of gender, I'll switch teams for you!

I'm to take a wild guess here and say that at least part of the problem is hitting creatures on the other side of a cell boundary.

i've not had much issue with this, then again i've been only really shooting at humanoids mostly.

it sorta sounds to me though that certain non-humanoids have perhaps had their collision mesh changing with range (similar to how the LOD on the model reduces/changes the shape of a model at distance).

perhaps they accidently hooked up the collision mesh to the LOD for non-humanoid collision meshes. I'm assuming that the game can generate it's own LODs dynamically that is... though even if it's not the fact would be that that'd mean at a certain range the animal would no longer have a collision mesh as the game would not find one, thus leading to un-hittable critters

Thanks for this Topic i'll try this "fix" and report afterwards

Skip this 'fix' and go straight here:
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1279548-archery-magic-range-limit-fix/

Thanks Pearl43 i read that too

Just a shot in the dark on Bethesda's thinking on this one...

Either they really wanted to make it easier for new players, or...

The focus on third-person gameplay meant that having to adjust the arc for disctance was entirely impractical in third-person, and thus some form of auto-aim was implemented.

I have not tried the fix yet, I'll try and update this when I do. but I would say it's entirely frustrating to not damage the target, but at the same time completely give away your position. :-X

Dan O.

I think Meepid has the correct explanation. And probably also explains why the poll is 50/50 (Yes/No).
The tilt fix that the OP posted only affects the angle at which the arrow is shot, the "auto-aim".

The second fix that Azura linked that Meepid is talking about affects the range at which NPCs are given scripts/AI to perform.

People were confused over their results since they were missing shots on NPCs that are drawn visibly , but don't actually exist in terms of scripting, pathfinding etc.
I guess the way to think of it is as if the NPCs that arrows go through at long distance are the equivalent of "grass" where they can be seen, but don't interact with the player. When you get closer than 4000 game units, the game decides "hey this isn't just grass, this is now an herb!" (or "this isn't just a visible NPC, it is now a visible and interactable NPC")
While NPCs that (for some unknown reason) are allowed to have scripting/AI at distances greater than the 4000 can still be interacted with (hit).

Whether or not the fVisibleNavmeshMoveDist=12288.0000 fix breaks other parts of the game, I'm not too sure about. But it does fix the distance-shooting problem (even without a tilt fix).

So has anyone concluded whether it's the fVisible or the Tiltup variables that "fixes" archery?

Do you apply both? Do you apply only one of them?

The fVisible fixes the range at which NPCs can be hit by arrows.

The Tiltup fixes the "auto-aim" feature that causes short range shots (under 10 meters) to fly over heads (if you aim at the head), and long range shots (~100 meters) to hit the target if you aim at the target.
Beyond a certain range (I don't know exactly), the auto-aim is disabled, and the arrow flies where you aim it. (as if you input the Tiltup fix)
It does not make NPCs that are not interactable, able to be hit by arrows. Only the fVisible one will fix that issue.

It is up to you if you want to turn off the auto-aim. (Tiltup fix)

If you apply the fVisible fix, everything will be hit by arrows... However, it COULD possibly screw up parts of the game. I honestly have no idea if it can/or will I'm just throwing that out as some disclaimer.
Like it could make dragons aggro and fire from extreme distances etc. I haven't tested it much beyond just hitting random targets at long range.

Could anyone who has attempted the fVisible fix verify whether or not the NPCs can react to being hit? To clarify what I mean when you shoot the NPC what do they do? Do they say "Ow what was that!?" do they keep going about their lives like nothing happened? Do they immediately book it in your direction? I have a 12 hour work day so I won't be able to check for another 6 hours I can only check the forums on my breaks.

The next question that must be asked is why did bethesda put in a limit? Was it just because they don't want people making completely unrealistic sniper shots of doom, or is there some some problem that would come from making such shots?

Just a little bump for myself so I can try this whe I get back home Will get back to you on how this is. Personally I havent any big quirks about the archery system in Skyrim, other than that the arrow goes a bit above the crosshair which I got used to, somewhat. and I think I may have noticed that the arrow acts a little wierd if it goes very far.

Now if only you Skyrim archery buffs can figure out how to make it so it doesn't bounce the arrow off the ground if I creep up on an incline and try to shoot over it even though my crosshair is CLEARLY above it.

The crosshair is where you are aiming, not the location of the bow. If you imagine holding the bow flat they the character does while they sneak you don't hold it at eye level, you hold at about chest level.

Eyes
H bow
I knees
L feet
L

use 3rd person mode to make sure your bow is over the hill not just your eyes.

So far it seems NPC will run up to get into range to attack you the same way they they did before if you are attacking from range.


The change to fVisibleNavmeshMoveDist doesn't change the AI.

I would say this is a console design issue, as they aren't as likely to attack from the same range as PC players. I don't know if the 360 would even have the view distance. Another possibility is gameplay design, Bethesda doesn't want you sitting on top of a hill raining down death on everything you can see. To that I would say, play the game however you want to

Adding a yes vote to the poll. Archery feels just about perfect now.