» Mon Mar 03, 2014 10:28 am I'm a bit of a Medieval history buff, and there's something that bothers me quite a lot which the texture artists have got wrong.
There are several sets of armor which have chainmail. However, the links hang in the wrong direction on all of the armors that I have seen so far.
For some stupid reason it won't let me post links here, otherwise I'd show some screenshots and images of what I'm talking about. Allow me to try illustrating to the best of my ability.
Chainmail (or the proper term, maille) armor is made of circular links in a repeating four-in-one pattern:
O.O
..O.
O.O
When this pattern is assembled correctly, the rows of links will alternate directions. To be effective as armor, a piece of maille must be oriented so that the rows hang properly.
Particularly on some Nord armors in the game, the maille is oriented with vertical rows, the links curving upward and downward, like this:
.n.n.n.n.n.n.n
u.u.u.u.u.u.u
.n.n.n.n.n.n.n
u.u.u.u.u.u.u
This orientation is incorrect. On a real piece of maille armor, this arrangement causes the links to open up naturally by their own weight, which makes the maille less dense, less flexible, and much less efficient as armor.
Proper arrangement of maille is with horizontal rows, with the links alternating left and right, rather than up and down:
(.(.(.(.(.(.(.(.(
.).).).).).).).).)
(.(.(.(.(.(.(.(.(
.).).).).).).).).)
This pattern makes the links hang tighter and overlap naturally, giving the armor more density and room for flexibility.
The proper orientation is seen in Medieval art, surviving pieces of armor, and modern reproductions. The maille armor in the game is oriented 90 degrees from what it should be.
I understand that this is a minor flaw at most; it's not game-breaking at all, just a visual mistake that few people would notice. But I appreciate the attention to detail in the Elder Scrolls series and I would appreciate it if this error was fixed. I may be just a bit picky with these things but knowing that it's not right messes with immersion for me.
