hi everyone, I started today playing Skyrim and I played only 10 minutes, and now I've got a headache. I wonder if is it only me. I feel like it's something related to the lightning, but I'm not totally sure. I had the same problem with Serious Sam 3 but as soon as I deactivated some settings I was able to enjoy it flawlessly. I wonder if you got any tips. Thanks for help

take a headache tablet thingy
have a rest
have a drink of water
play skyrim a few hours longer and see if your eyes get used to it.

Possibly the FOV. That can give me headaches if it's not set to an appropriate value. Open the console and type fov followed by a number. Try experimenting between values from 75 up to slightly over 100 and pick whatever feels comfortable.

I also bet its the FOV, try playing in 3rd person or adjusting the FOV to 85 or so. Also, don't pay in the dark, have a lamp or the room light on.

This would be my guess too.

Here is info about it and instructions how to make FOV changes permanent:

http://hubpages.com/hub/change-fov-skyrim

Besides FOV you could also be sitting too close to your TV/monitor.

Lay of the magika potions and have some nirnroot.

Or better, Take Falmer Elixir and have a nice sleep.

Perhaps you should take breaks more often. Nothing wrong with that.

He said he played only for 10 minutes. It's either room lighting or FOV. Most likely FOV, it gives me headaches too.

If PC Sir, you may be sensitive to frame-rate.

30 fps is film capture quality with the minimal/baseline number of motion artefacts.

More or less than this may cause problems. Frame rates in Skyrim jump continually on PC depending on the 'load' as confirmed by the fps counter I have set in the corner of my screen.

Dependent on 'grunt' in your machine and if you mod and how you mod.

Given that you had the same problem with Serious Sam. Then turned things off so to speak. This would suggest, as witnessed, that action adjusted the configuration and in turn the FPS

If not, proximity to screen and size of screen.

That's just for starters Sir.

I play the game for "a few hours" every day on xbox so I can't change FOV.
I watched a 10 minute Skyrim gameplay with the FOV set to 100. I didnt even make it to a full minute because it hurt my eyes straight away and it also looks stupid.

I also think it's the FOV. It's not uncommon thing to cause headaches. While for me personally narrow FOV has never caused headache, I know it has done so to several other people.

If on PC, I really do recommend adjusting FOV.

edit:

Note: adjusting FOV too high causes fisheye effect which can cause headache too.

Everyone experiences it differently. It's less of an issue on consoles because people sit farther away from the screen and can correctly focus on the natural ~60 degrees cone of vision, but on PC it's narrower and you lose proper peripheral vision, which creates a sense of disorientation.

100 is large enough to notice the fisheye effect, which can be a problem - values around 85-90 are usually more comfortable.

I sit like 1-2ft away.

I don't understand what you're trying to prove. You're not sensitive to low FOV, but it doesn't mean other people aren't.

Well guys, I want to thank everyone. I was able to fix my "problem" by adjusting the Fov to 85. Now I can play flawlessly.

Anyway, may I ask if there is any settings that I may tweak to avoid that "messy" graphic you get when Alduin attacks Helgen , and you stand up and it is all blurry and fuzzy ?

Thanks for the great link! I just tried it out and changing the FOV really makes a different opening the view up. I can actually see all of my weapon now I have mine set to 90. I was surprised I would like such a high number.

When I first went from gaming on a PC monitor to my Flat screen plasma T.V. I got headaches for about the first week and then it went away. I plan to go back to PC gaming very soon (don't know why I ever went console in the first place) and I will get headaches again. I just eventually get used to it.

I realize that your situation is a bit different because you did not recently switch between platforms, to my knowledge anyway...

I don't know, maybe my issue with getting headaches whenever I first switch platforms and therefore size and viewing distance of the screen is a different issue than your own.

All I do know is I never get headaches again after the first week or so of adjusting.

I get headaches if I haven't played an FPS in a while and suddenly come back to it. My eyes need adjusting or something.

I went back to the default settings. I noticed combat attacks seemed off somehow after messing with the FOV. Weapons also lost their big huge appearance looking more like toys. Fortunately am enjoying the default view thanks to things appearing larger which is more realistic.