Hey Skyrim buddies - Making this topic to discuss possible Sneak skill scaling problems, but I want to call out a few stats to set the appropriate stage for this thread:

• Character level: 49
  
• Sneak level: 100
  
• Sneak Improvement perk 5/5 (100%)
  
• 4 pieces of gear with +40% sneak
  
• All other relevant sneak and armor perks to improve the skills effectiveness

I've recently completed most of what I set out to build with my Thief, and it should be known that I had a blast on the way there - This is no way changes how much fun I had building my Khajiit Thief up until now. The results are somewhat disappointing, or rather, anti-climatic.

At level 49, most of everything I go up against seems to be able to detect me from ridiculously far distances while sneaking. For example, the Forsworn camps I must avoid entirely. To test my theory, I snuck up to an open area Forsworn camp, at night, from directly behind where a group of 3 were facing. I was on a very high cliff with a vast amount of distance between us, too far to consider a landing a successful sneak attack with my bow. The moment I peer over the ledge to see them, they immediately turn, fully detect me and begin running up all the steps to engage me. Unhiding and re-hiding to use the Shadow Warrior perk does not even phase them in slightest, even while out of their line of sight.

I never actually had this problem until I crafted the Sneak bonus gear, so it was a little odd to experience this consistently after greatly improving my sneak "success". I gained about 10 character levels leveling up my smithing and enchanting from their starting levels, to be able to create this gear. So, my only conclusion would be that the enemies have scaled up so high to render my sneak useless.

Is anyone else experiencing this problem? Or if not, is there something I am overlooking? Lastly, I have tried this on multiple enemies - guards in town still take quite a lot of time to detect me if I attack them, but anything in the open map or in dungeons, I am pretty much refused a sneak attack.

i had not a single point or equipment with 50 sneak and NOTHING ever detected me...now at sneak 100 with 1 perk in + sneak (just to get the dam+) and no +sneak equipment except muffeled boots, i can sneak directly in the face of most enemies and kill them without them noticing me...there are only hard/high lvl enemies where this doesnt work and i have to sneak attack from the back

I had a similar experience up until now at character level 49. I was once rarely detected, if ever at all. Not until I attempted to max out sneak's effectiveness did it seem to deteriorate to worthless. It is very bizarre to say the least!

I had this problem with some pickpocket gear I found after my skill was already 100. It always seemed to lower the chance of success instead of raising it when I had them equipped.

Hmm - I will test this tomorrow, same scenario without any of my sneak gear - That would be interesting bug to say the least. Oh, I am also using dual-enchant perk, so every piece of sneak gear I use has something else on it (like +archery). I will craft a full set of sneak-only gear as well for testing purposes. : )

I think it may be gear related. I recently received the Mace of Molag Bal, and was going to upgrade it via smithing. I have 100 in smithing and all perks. I was at the grindstone, the base damage on the mace was 34. When I checked the damage after upgrade it went to 70. Now I equipped my steel gauntlets with 17% smithing bonun on them. I re-checked the upgraded damage on the mace and it now read 64. Seemed the % bonus smithing gear lowered the quality of upgrade I could perform.

With the possibility of the sneak enchants being the cause, I found similar threads on the other forums, experiencing my exact problem. http://skyrimforums.org/threads/improved-sneaking-enchant-bugged.938/ Thanks guys : )

I'm going to sneak enchant my boots. I think that sneak is OP at higher levels. This could be an interesting way to tweak it a little.

Thanks OP. Cloud in every silver lining.

Yeah i found sneaking to be the same for me. But if you noticed the OP said that he had no problems sneaking until he made is sneak gear and at a very high level. Now my thief is only like level 36 or something and he can sneak on anything with a sneak of 100 and the first perk 3 times. But what hes suggesting is that at level 49 the game scales the npcs detection to be waaay too high, higher then sneak 100 with 5 of the first perk. Now this could be the case, or its a major glitch.

You are using muffle right? Weight of armor also effects it as does lighting and the other persons sneak skill.

I have read that this is a bug. If your sneak is 100 and you equip +sneak gear, it actually lowers your sneak chance.

I'm encountering the exact same issue. I'm level 50, sneak skill 100 and wearing nightingale armor, and I have every single perk in sneak. I haven't notice a difference made by gear, but I will absolutely test this tomorrow. I should have over 200% sneak, but people are still detecting me at a pretty alarming rate- ESPECIALLY Forsworn. It seems impossibly to get a sneak attack on anything, and if I do get a sneak attack in, you can FORGET about sneak attacking anyone else who might be nearby. Everyone in the loaded area instantly knows where I am, regardless of whether or not they're in line of sight or hearing range at all. I call horse [censored]. This is the one and only aspect of the game that I find truly disappointing.

Will be interesting to see the results if you guys test this, it certainly sounds like a bug.

I'll be doing so later this morning - I am at work at the moment, but am excited to see the results. I should also point out that I am using the launch-day version of the game and have not patched to 1.2 (I read this might have been addressed in 1.2) - If confirmed, I will update to 1.2 and see if I can reproduce.

Testing complete: After reviewing many of the reasons to not install patch 1.2, I am going to hold off on doing that, even if it has the potential to fix this. However, I did discover something interesting:

I found a keep that has a door in plain view of a couple Forsworn with bows. In this test, I am entering the door from inside, to the outside, placing me in plain view in full sunlight of the 2 Forsworn. This test is as simple as exiting the keep to the roof. I am already sneaking before interacting with the door, so I should arrive sneaking.

With Sneak gear equipped (+160% Sneak Success)

• Exit Keep by entering the door
  
• Loads into the outdoors
  
• The eyeball sneak indicator immediately opens to detected and the Forsworn engage combat

No +Sneak gear equipped

• Exit Keep by entering the door
  
• Loads into the outdoors
  
• The eyeball sneak indicator remains perfectly closed
  
• I remain still for 10 seconds, still no blip on the eyeball
  
• I stare directly at the Forsworn, staring directly back at me
  
• I walk slowly to the Forsworn and stop maybe 10 yards from them
  
• Sneak indicator remains flat, no detection, not even searching
  
• As I get up close enough to touch them while facing me, they finally engage

So that settles it - The sneak gear decreases my ability to sneak effectively. I am near virtually unseen without it, and I'm useless with it. That's a pretty sharp contrast!

I have a couple of characters with 100 Sneak+perks and no +Sneak gear but without the 'no-weight' perk from Light Armor, and they rarely get detected, even at point-blank range, unless I happen to be moving across someone's front while in a lit area. I haven't tested against Forsworn yet, though, so don't know if they have an increased ability to detect me or not under these conditions. I suspect not, but I'll have to find some and try it out to be sure.

Weird, I never get detected with 60.

60 what?

The + sneak probably rolled over, so it bugged and set your sneak really low. Kinda like enough fortify alchemy enchants through exploits will make your potions weaker. If I want to sneak, I use muffle boots (dark brotherhood)

Stealth 5/5 = 40%?

Couple things: in v1.0 I saw 100%, but in 1.2 I see 40%. Nerf? Even so, still ok!!

I just installed a separate version of 1.2 that seems to be running fine for me. I have confirmed this problem does not exist in 1.2. All is completely resolved. :intergalactic:

There's a bunch of rollover bugs in Skyrim. Like if your Pickpocketing chance is too high, it can rollover to show "0%", which may mean 100% or may mean 0%.