Skyrim's lighting looks the same as OB/F3. Dissappointing... : V - Skyrim

» Tue May 17, 2011 9:03 am

Shiny lights.

Good graphics can make a bad game tolerable; A good game can make bad graphics tolerable. Good games are more difficult to make than good graphics.
I would tend to prefer titles that put 90% into designing the game, and 10% into the graphics ~unless the point of the game was the graphics.
If the 10% wound up looking like Oblivion, then all the better.

I would play (even buy) a game that looked like graphics out of the late 80's ~if it was a great game; (http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/products.html).

I am aware that people play and sometimes buy(if possible) games from as far back as the 80's. What I was saying is that AAA developers like Beth would not make a huge title with graphics that would be cutting edge in 1995. They could make a huge game and perhaps a great game, but they don't/aren't as you can see from the screen of Skyrim. People can enjoy old games or games with simple graphics(like super meat boy. A small game with simple graphics made by a small indy dev).

» Tue May 17, 2011 7:46 am

double post

» Tue May 17, 2011 1:37 pm

I don't care. Does anybody, really? You can't expect Skyrim to look like Crysis or Resident Evil 5.

I don't. I want it to look better than Oblivion/F3.

» Tue May 17, 2011 3:39 pm

If I've learned anything as a console gamer who constantly browses gaming sites, it's to NEVER judge a game's graphical capability off a screenshot.

» Tue May 17, 2011 11:17 am

I don't care. Does anybody, really? You can't expect Skyrim to look like Crysis or Resident Evil 5.

RE 5 is on consoles, so yes we can.

» Tue May 17, 2011 6:14 am

You may have not noticed,but the video is lagging,and that is without npcs walking around,enemies and the player doing things.
And we also don't know how much of Cyrodill's landscape is made and loaded.
Theoritically TESV could have Crysis quality graphics,but except that the game wouldn't be playable at the consoles,it wouldn't even be playable at most people's pcs.
If Oblivion had Crysis texture quality and shaders,then the minimum requirements for it to run would be something like 8gbs of ram and a 4gb graphics card.

Cyrodill is multiple times larger than any of Crysis levels.

But again that doesn't mean that Skyrim can't have better graphics,but who knows ?
Maybe they are showing pictures of how the most of the gamers will actually see the game (that be console players) for obvious reasons,and the pc version might have options for better graphics.
You can't know until Gaminformer make an update regarding graphics or until we get the game.

» Tue May 17, 2011 2:33 pm

If it is a PC screenshot then i would be very disappointed seeing as they should be using DX11 lighting assets idk why they wouldn't. I also dont know why devs show off the lowest common denominator, why not just show off PC full spec screenshots and not mention on what system they were taken on

» Tue May 17, 2011 8:39 am

Well considering it's from 360 your entire thread is useless.

Not really. While a PC could probably crank things a little higher than the console, the 360 isn't going to be running Skyrim's minimum settings. Things like an object's ability to project shadows are going to be consistent across all platforms.

» Tue May 17, 2011 2:35 am

I wouldn't worry about the lighting as I'm sure it's going to be much better than in Oblivion. Without a doubt the fact that the game has to run on consoles lowers the graphical detail on PC. This can be compensated later with higher detail texture mods etc. if you've high end hardware.

» Tue May 17, 2011 2:05 am

That illumination is not perfect by far, not ever particularly cool. Look at 0:12...those houses look awful.

Apart from the soft shadows (which Skyrim already has BTW), all it seems is that the light feels more "natural". I agree with that, but that's nothing a few tweaks can't do.

» Tue May 17, 2011 4:33 am

I honestly don't see what you are complaining about. I watched the video and looked at the screenshot. Both were gorgeous.

» Tue May 17, 2011 3:42 pm

I'd say that one static screenshot is not really enough to judge a game's lighting, especially when you're comparing it to a video. Now, I do agree that the screenshot doesn't indicate a major improvement in lighting quality, it doesn't even show these new dynamic shadows that Skyrim is supposed to have. I'm just not going to judge this based on one screenshot. In any case, the models and the textures in the screenshot look pretty nice, and I like the look of that waterfall in the background, although I wish I could get a closer look at it (And the river it flows into.) Really, the only major criticism I can find with that screenshot is that it doesn't make the lighting in the game look that good.

Of course, I don't expect Skyrim to look better than, or even as good as Crysis anyway. I just expected, and still do, an improvement over Oblivion and Fallout 3.

Not really. While a PC could probably crank things a little higher than the console, the 360 isn't going to be running Skyrim's minimum settings. Things like an object's ability to project shadows are going to be consistent across all platforms.

Not to mention if the quality of lighting is a setting that can be altered in graphics settings at all, which it is not in many games I've played, it's probably not going to be the sort of thing that can look significantly better on the PC version than the console versions. If the settings on the PC version can be set higher than the console versions at all, it's probably going to be things like object draw distance and such, maybe we'll also get the option for very high texture quality whereas the console version is only set to high. Maybe we'll see Dirext X10 or even 11 support, but I'd think that would be worth talking about when announcing the new engine myself, so I doubt it, and even running Crysis on a computer that doesn't support DX10 it still looks a lot better than Oblivion, in terms of the technical quality of graphics.

Not to mention a lot of players are going to be playing the game on consoles, you can hardly say that how the game runs on consoles "doesn't matter" or anything

» Tue May 17, 2011 4:17 pm

don't judge you haven't seen anything yet to even judge

exactly right on! these morrons in the forums do not realize that the game is 10 months away...and allot will be added.....the pc [censored] and their graphics whoring....

i hope the gameplay is solid and the animations are a huge step up and i will be happy...and the story has to be epic not generic

» Tue May 17, 2011 12:00 pm

After watching > http://www.neoseeker.com/news/7891-elder-scrolls-oblivion-running-in-cryengine2/ < of a mod for crysis, which places assets from Oblivion into crysis, I realized how bad oblivion's lighting really was, and how important lighting is to how a game looks. Now watch the video for yourself, then look at this > http://static.zenimax.com/bethblog/upload/2011/01/Markarth021.jpg <. That is the only official high-res image of Skyrim we have at the moment. Look at these random images of Oblivion > http://images.wikia.com/oblivion/images/c/c6/AnvilFightersGuild.jpg < > http://www.drinksalot.btinternet.co.uk/oblivion/ScreenShot11.jpg < and these images of Fallout 3 > http://www.ngohq.com/attachments/screenshots/1420d1227439590-fallout-3-screenshots-fo3027.jpg < > http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_0zxxVnlL4fo/TF0bpeOx1jI/AAAAAAAAAIA/MSU-YNWOAOE/s1600/fallout_3.jpg < The lighting of Skyrim looks very similar to Oblivion's/F3's. Bethesda put in all the effort to make a new engine and overlooked the lighting. Yes, they added more advanced shadows, but it doesn't look like they improved much beyond that. When I watched that video I realized that lighting is the one of the most important aspects of the look of a game. Simply placing oblivion's meshes in Crysis improved how they looked dramatically. Do you think that Skyrim's lighting looks like Oblivion's/F3's? I know it's too late in Skyrim's development to change something as significant as the lighting, which is really disappointing. At the moment it looks like Skyrim is running on a slightly modified version of F3's heavily modified version of Gamebyro. Hopefully, the screenshot of Skyrim is from the 360 version or the PC version set to on low graphics..

look CAREFULLY in the image of Skyrim. it looks like the weather is pretty cloudy, even maybe foggy. look around it real life, and on those conditions, you won't see much shadow either.

and besides, my biggest concern about Skyrim has been taken care of: now the characters have pretty faces, and at least now they don't have a 3-foot wide nose

» Tue May 17, 2011 12:16 am

Wow... Cry Engine eats Gamebryo for breakfast.

» Tue May 17, 2011 3:29 am

tl;dr

I bought a 3.000€ PC so i can run games with decent graphics , it is a disgrace that developers are toning down gfx to fit into ancient consoles .
Crysis is not a new game , it is ancient too .

» Tue May 17, 2011 2:22 am

After watching > http://www.neoseeker.com/news/7891-elder-scrolls-oblivion-running-in-cryengine2/ < of a mod for crysis, which places assets from Oblivion into crysis, I realized how bad oblivion's lighting really was, and how important lighting is to how a game looks. Now watch the video for yourself, then look at this > http://static.zenimax.com/bethblog/upload/2011/01/Markarth021.jpg <. That is the only official high-res image of Skyrim we have at the moment. Look at these random images of Oblivion > http://images.wikia.com/oblivion/images/c/c6/AnvilFightersGuild.jpg < > http://www.drinksalot.btinternet.co.uk/oblivion/ScreenShot11.jpg < and these images of Fallout 3 > http://www.ngohq.com/attachments/screenshots/1420d1227439590-fallout-3-screenshots-fo3027.jpg < > http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_0zxxVnlL4fo/TF0bpeOx1jI/AAAAAAAAAIA/MSU-YNWOAOE/s1600/fallout_3.jpg < The lighting of Skyrim looks very similar to Oblivion's/F3's. Bethesda put in all the effort to make a new engine and overlooked the lighting. Yes, they added more advanced shadows, but it doesn't look like they improved much beyond that. When I watched that video I realized that lighting is the one of the most important aspects of the look of a game. Simply placing oblivion's meshes in Crysis improved how they looked dramatically. Do you think that Skyrim's lighting looks like Oblivion's/F3's? I know it's too late in Skyrim's development to change something as significant as the lighting, which is really disappointing. At the moment it looks like Skyrim is running on a slightly modified version of F3's heavily modified version of Gamebyro. Hopefully, the screenshot of Skyrim is from the 360 version or the PC version set to on low graphics.

Edit: Someone mentioned console bashing. I implied that 360 graphics where crap compared to PC. That's a true statement(depending on your rig) for the most part. I am not bashing consoles. I play games primarily on the 360 and I can admit that the graphics it can produce are terri-bad compared to a high-end PC.

We finally get to know a new elder scrolls game is coming out,which makes people happy.
Then not long after we get crap like this,or negative stuff,when we know hardly anything about the game,and haven't seen video footage of it.
THATS DISSAPPOINTING!

» Tue May 17, 2011 2:39 am

I bought a 3.000€ PC so i can run games with decent graphics , it is a disgrace that developers are toning down gfx to fit into ancient consoles .
Crysis is not a new game , it is ancient too .

You're right. The consoles are so last generation. On the other hand I wouldn't like the Tes series to be always put on hold until the console producers bother to make a new generation. 5 years was enough between Oblivion and Skyrim.

» Tue May 17, 2011 1:44 am

People are making too much of a deal when it comes to PC costs. It's really not that bad, and PC games are significantly cheaper to buy. Part of the problem is that a lot of people don't want to bother setting up a proper PC because it includes doing some minimum reasearch (nothing too terrible to be honest...) and end up getting ripped off. Having to buy a new computer to play New Vegas is nonsense unless your computer is 10 years old and you could never even play Oblivion or Fallout 3 on it.

Back on topic, jumping to conclusions drawn from a single screenshot can be dangerous to your sanity.

» Tue May 17, 2011 5:20 am

Because graphics make a game good? :rolleyes:

I guess go play Crysis 2 then instead but for the rest of us gamers that know it goes 1. Gameplay 2. Story 3. Graphics we'll still enjoy Skyrim.

Have you ever considered that people who like good graphics do NOT base a game only on that merit? Why can we not want good graphics AND good gameplay? If you already have the gameplay down, why not do some work on graphics?

Just as music is important to movies, graphics are important to games. Not because it makes or breaks games, but it helps with immersion and setting the feel of the game. For some, like myself, visual input is very strong and does wonders for immersion. I can not get immersed in a text based game, though that does not mean I don't like them, but I do not play them to escape reality for a few hours.

Some people don't need good graphics to get immersed in games. That is fine and fantastic, I respect that, but please don't dike it down for those that do enjoy them. The hardware is there, and they have people dedicated to the graphics aspect of the game, so why not use it?

» Tue May 17, 2011 10:52 am

That illumination is not perfect by far, not ever particularly cool. Look at 0:12...those houses look awful.

Apart from the soft shadows (which Skyrim already has BTW), all it seems is that the light feels more "natural". I agree with that, but that's nothing a few tweaks can't do.

The reason they "look awful" is because those are Bethesda's textures. They weren't meant to be imported into CryEngine 2, and they probably needed color, gamma, contrast correction for CryEngine's different lighting. That's also taken in the sandbox I believe which isn't the best quality-wise. I think you need to export the level and play it in-game for the best effect, but don't hold me to that, I'm not a Crysis modder. So that "awfulness" has nothing to do with the illumination, which is stunning. Not to mention the WATER, I'm not sure if that specific video features the water, I didn't watch... But there were several of these Oblivion videos made. The one at night is particularly spectacular. And the trees that don't keep their leaves turned toward the camera at all times are great... die SpeedTree (4.0 or whatever Oblivion used)! At least we'll get better trees in Skyrim.

Nobody has said anything about "soft shadows" in Skyrim. It's a technical term that means something quite specific. Not many games do actual soft shadows, they're a performance killer. Soft shadows should soften with light source size, as well as soften the further away the occluder is from the surface it's projecting the shadow onto, and soften with distance even if the occluder is touching the surface with the shadow. You could generally just call this the "penumbra".

» Tue May 17, 2011 7:22 am

A lot of peoplpe in this topic are bashing the original poster.. Not nice

Just to assure you: they did heavily improve lightningn. Your screenshot is just a bad example. Where can we see this lightning? The screenshot in the GI with the barmaid shows some very realistic shadowing as well as lighht sources.

As for the highrez screens: i have to say bethesda's textures might simply be the problem, not so much as the lightning.

» Tue May 17, 2011 8:55 am

I'm kinda happy it isn't a graphical revolution, that means my computer will be able to run it :celebrate:. But other than that,
I think it looks fine, and in my opinion design is much more important than technical graphics anyways (at least in rpgs).

» Tue May 17, 2011 4:35 am

I think they tuned down the outdoor dynamic shadows to keep the consoles from exploding. Even if they keep the same default settings for the PC version, it will most likely be possible to adjust the shadows to your liking using an INI file. Why? Because, unlike Oblivion, they didn't remove the engine's ability of displaying dynamic shadows for all objects, which the tavern screenshot clearly shows.

» Tue May 17, 2011 8:25 am

and the story has to be epic not generic

If today's marketing should be believed, epic is generic! :laugh: