I don't really know the right word, but I hope those of us with good PCs can max out the settings and have the next-gen graphics that were meant for this game. The graphics look good for 360 and PS3, but I'm hoping on PC you can tweak settings to make it look like Crysis.

This isn't meant to be a console vs. PC thread so don't start with that... but do you guys think that's a possibility? I mean Oblivion had graphics enhancing mods on PC that made the game look better.

If you mean "optimized" in the sense that Skyrim will offer good graphical bang for your buck (i.e., that the burden placed on system resources will seem justified by the quality of the graphics)... we'll just have to wait and see. Personally, in the past I've felt that Bethesda isn't particularly good at performance optimization; their games demand a lot of resources for somewhat lower graphical quality than I'd expect from such use of resources. On the other hand, everyone has their own opinion of what's normal and acceptable when it comes to performance-to-quality ratios.

If you mean you're wondering whether there will be crazy powerful graphics options available to PC owners with expensive rigs, even though Skyrim will suffer from the usual consolitis dumbing-down we're all used to from multi-platform games these days, I'd say probably yes. Thank goodness they're using a new engine. Hopefully, items will stop levitating off of tables and stuff when you touch something nearby now!

I've been playing Elder Scrolls games since Morrowind's release date (I'm not cool enough to have started with Daggerfall, sorry), and I'll be building an incredibly powerful gaming rig around July or so (not just for Skyrim, mind you), so I guess I'll get to see the best of what Skyrim has to offer graphically.

oblivion looked absolutely fantastic on pc's when it came out. I don't think we will have a problem

I hope it has good performance for the according hardware. I want my GTX580 Sli to be sweating when playing in full HD due to all the enhanced graphics effects and DX11 support. I also want it to be able to run good on my lower end laptop GPU with low settings (console equivalents cause its a pretty good GPU) and lower resolution.
DX10 and 11 makes it easier to take advantage of all current hardware much easier, be it multicore CPU's or DX10 and 11 GPU's. Much of the hardware gets wasted in the DX9 api. I agree with the OT though should be one of , if not the best looking game on PC with max settings.

You do know that open world games on the scale of Oblivion require a ton of system resources for things OTHER then graphics right? Just because a game is using a lot of resources with not too spectacular graphics doesn't mean the game is poorly optimized.

i think they are only optimizing it for the xbox 360



i would very much like them to throw dx11 in there aswell. and a modable particle system

Why do you think that? That leaves out 2 of their 3 platforms. Oblivion on higher settings certainly took advantage of High end PC's. Xbox version was noticeably behind in visuals to maxed Oblivion.

I wish they would ban all posts having to do with platforms period ! these platform wars are way to wearying, and are platforms for either people braggin about their system or whining about the lack of bethesda's team to try and strain their systems abilities, if they did pc users would gripe about having to change system items to run it or brag that theirs was actually bought in the future and ported back to them via some friggin wormhole.

Oblivion was not optimized for the PC. The menu structure was designed for a console, and was awkward on the PC.

Storm

Yes, I'm well aware of this. I've played games like X3: Reunion in which a lot of system resources (processor, memory) are simply dedicated to tracking what all the AI characters are doing across the entire game universe.

It could be that this is the sole reason I've felt that graphical optimization has been poor in previous Bethesda games, but I don't think so -- primarily because patches, fan mods and end user tweaking can often drastically improve the performance of Bethesda games. The above has some truth to it, but I don't think it's a catch-all excuse.

Interface, and design wise it wasn't as much as it should have been. Tech wise when it comes to GPU features supported, CPU and RAM usage its about what I would expect for a game of that time period. Back then at most people had dual cores and very few had mulitGPU setups.

the problem is that oblivion and skyrim can run on the same hardware ( xbox )


therefore a great leap in graphics is not expected for the pc

I really hope Skyrim is optimized, period. I'm sure us console players want the most the developers can squeeze out of our 360s and PS3s, too.

Certainly. I think they will though looking at those mag scans. :foodndrink:

Besides the massive open world and the complexity in it, you can tell it wasn't well optimized. It doesn't even scale so well with greater hardware so, yes, i REALLY hope they put more time to it this round.

Bethesda SHOULD prioritise graphics for the PC making them eons ahead of the console, a lot of you want this I see.
Then let the console users get what they want from their game, just don't tie the PC users down because of a multi platform release.
Putting more work on one platform than the other is not impossible. It has been done before and still is. (crysis).
Anyway I feel I can't stress this enough, we just have to wait and see if bethesda listen to their fans come november.

Agree completely. Everybody wins.