Hello!

I noticed a problem in a screenshot I saw.

http://betacache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/9/2011/02/skyrim6.jpg

See that tree, just to the left of the waterfall? It doesn't have nearly enough soil to reach that size. Its taproot should be several feet long, but it doesn't seem to have one. It's also missing the horizontal width of soil necessary for its spreaders. I know it shouldn't come as a surprise that trees need soil to grow. Surely some check could be added to the tree placement algorithm that would make sure they actually do have the appropriate depth of soil for their size? It really breaks immersion to have trees crammed in random places where they couldn't possibly survive.

Thanks for the consideration!

Not mine. I'm no botanist.

Hahaha! Please tell me you're joking....

Magic trees, man. This is the land of Skyrim.

I did not even have any idea about this until you brought it up.

It does not break iommersion and your just blowing tiny, very tiny things out of proportion.

snip

I did notice that trees growing on rocks seemed strange...

is it fact that trees in TES are identical to trees in real life?

Ive seen trees growing on rocks, small cedar ones, not tiny but not gargantuan. You would be amazed what nature can do.

@Cyclone

Of course. They are. Thats silly to say that trees operate magically in TES just because it appears those trees dont have enough room for the roots to grow. Technically they coudl say trees grow differently, but thats just dumb,

I actually agree with OP, trees need roots, it would be pretty darn cool to see roots at the base and maybe breaking the surface nearby.

Damn, man. Some people's immersion is so easily broken. I think some of you guys just play games like this to intentionally seek out ways that it is not realistic.

Wow....



Really?

Actually, you would be surprised about all location where a tree can grow to be huge where it seems not to have nearly enough earth to grow.
Anyway, tree could let it's roots grow in depth instead of width and reach more earth that way.
Even though it looks like it shouldn't be there and that it doesn't have enough soil, it could have let it's roots grow between rocks and all the way to the earth and water.

Perhaps. But I think it is safe to assume that some of the people who play Skyrim will be people who go to forests somewhat regularly and have seen trees. And as far as fixes go, this one is almost certainly very easy and simple.

Do keep in mind I am merely pointing something out, not saying "Skyrim will svck because the trees aren't handled perfectly.


Probably! They look much more real, so my mind goes "wait, that's not how this works".

*sigh* what next...a geologist thinking the shape of the rocks breaks immersion....makes me think back to the day I found 8-bit games immersive....players immersion is so frail now a days.

The tree on the left does not bother me all that much, the second tree from the left makes me go "What" ever since you pointed this out. :shifty:

I do see tress very often, and do go to forests, there not exactly removed from society. And as Ive said before you would be amased what you can see nature do.

Ive seen trees growing out of cliffs.

This must be one of the most weird topic's I have ever seen

Maybe there's an underground cave or the rock has small cracks, through which the roots can get through. We will never know.

Well...at least now you can cut that tree down now right? If it really...bugs you that much...

But ya...trees grow where ever they darn well please. Believe me. If a seed can find some dirt, a tree will grow there.

You can get trees that size on boulders and the size of outcrops. Of course, they usually tend to be gnarled and bent, not mast-straight pines. And isn't this the fake/ early dev build pic?

I hope the game is so good that this is what reviewers have to fall back on in their "cons" section

There are two things to consider here: Firstly, Cedar and pine are different. Second, the cedar was most probably growing in a crack in the rock. If Skyrim had big granite mountains like you see in northern California, adding that behavior would be reasonable.



It's not like it's a huge deal. It's just like "wait, what's up with that tree?" But it should be reasonably easy to fix.


Yeah, the rocks have a whole lot of problems, and are more obtrusive. I don't like that either. But there's no sense in worrying about that at this point, because fixing them would be a ton of work and really not worth it.



That's the one I mean. Sorry if I was unclear.


I could be seeing this wrong, I suppose, but it looks like the place where that tree is is actually protruding. We can see empty space below it.

Well since the leafs in the lower right corner can grow through solid rocks, why shouldn't the roots? :biggrin:

Once seen, it cannot be unseen. It's not a really big deal, but it does make the image look "off"

Of course, I find the tree density in that pic to be insane.