Can you post a video so we can see the distances you are talking about? What are your settings? What platform? It's important because it could unlock the problem. I have had the issue while shooting down a mountain at a rabbit with at least 20 arrows.

I'm at work currently, but when I get home I can video it. But I'm playing on the 360 having changed no settings but the difficulty to expert.

80-meters with modern archery equipment is pretty impressive. The farthest shot I've attempted is 105meters on a bear sized 3D target with a 60lb compound bow and target arrows. I had to aim 6-8 feet over the target just to hit it. 80-meters with a medieval bow is amazing.... accurately at least.

Dr. Scott as well as the Other bow hunting gentlemen. All of this is well and good but is irrelevant. The arrows GETTING TO THE DESTINATION is not the problem. Please don't derail the issue.

Yes.

Just to clarify. This isnt about accuracy vs range.

This is an issue of arrows that reach the target not dealing damage.

I'm not sure about this scenario but I think some bugs definitely exist with the arrow. I was doing a dark brotherhood quest where I waited until 2pm to ensure everyone in the house was sleeping. I went to the bedroom where the target was sleeping on her bed. I figured an arrow would be the best solution. I get a huge bonuses, plus if I sneaked while taking the shot the damage would be multiplied ensuring a quiet,single shot kill. Anywho, this was not the case. All my arrows just went through her and I ended up having to use my sword and waking everyone up.

Was this a point blank shot? If so that's really quite odd, and makes for an even more complicated problem than originally perceived.

There are quite a few threads on this topic and has quite a few players upset, archers and mages alike.

Once again, if you can see it, you should be able to hit it.

Not that I like it, but maybe it was something they did purposely to kinda force more (inter)action? Just a thought.

There's an auto aim? O_o

I used to shoot traditional my self. I had a long bow, but I sold it. 63" inches unstrung I think 40Lbs at 24" draw. I could be a bit off, its been over a year since I sold it.

Otherwise, the archery is pretty close to real life, I honestly do not remember having too much arc in my shots at under 35 yards, but at 50 yards I had to arc the shot a bit.
The game is not perfect, but its pretty good.

Hitting a walking target on the edge of your render distance, it pretty interactive

Ruins the game for my archer, oh well time to put him on the side and wait for the community to fix it. God knows beth wont.

I've hit moving targets just inside of view range (Max Visibility settings), Its not impossible nor does it not do damage - it might be a glancing blow if the arrows sticks in them and that might be a bug - Arrows fly straight at short range, beyond that they drop slightly, beyond that they drop more and you actually Have to aim above the target to hit it (indirect shots). So I haven't seen an issue with this also....there's INI settings to control the effect of Gravity on Arrows, Found it http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1272621-ini-compendium/page__p__19288120__hl__gravity__fromsearch__1#entry19288120.

@John_Doe_Guy: Yeah there is a bug occuring but its not specific to arrows, general clipping/physics/collision bug - thats what its sounds like at least. Plenty of those bugs/glitches in the game too, at least on PC.

{edit: actually if this is a Bug issue thread this really isn't the right forum for it}

Not everybody is getting this bug, but those of us who do are pretty certain that the problem has nothing to do with aim. Arrows visibly go through the target and stick into whatever is behind them.

i hit things perfectly fine at long range you must not be aiming at an arc.

Make sure you reply without actually reading any of the post.

Why!? This is annoying. I was showing the game to my g/f. I wont get into how stupid the AI is when it comes to object detection or a rock, but I will tell ya that when I got a headshot the guy was running around with 3 arrows stuck in his face. She laughed and asked why the game lacks so much. She pointed out most of the flaws before I could and she hasn't even played TES games before. Usually people are blown away the first time. So I made excuses as to why this was worth the money. Eventually I gave up and just played Portal 2 with her.

Shot about 100 arrows from long distance at creatures, noticed a clipping effect on a couple of targets. Just before the arrow hit it would suddenly change course by about 45 degrees. Only noticed it because of the zoom feature. Any one else get this?

Strange.... See my arrows have always flown true. I've gotten pretty good with Skyrims aiming nuances. They just pass through the actor, never any sporadic behavior like that.

Well that's just...

Tonight I was trying to hunt some wildlife when I noticed that none of my arrows, despite being perfectly placed, were doing anything at all. It seemed like this only happened at a certain distance and beyond. I even tested it out on Mammoths to make sure it wasn't an aiming issue. No matter if I shot straight on or at an arc the arrows were doing nothing. I found this to be particularly strange because these were not long range shots by any means. These were what I would consider medium range shots or slightly further. What makes it even stranger is that I can definitely recall making longer shots on bandits, so there's no reason why this should be an issue. I even experimented with different bows and arrows and they all have the same problem. Hopefully this gets fixed in a patch soon because this is really disappointing.

UPDATE: Check here If you're still having problems with Long-Range Archery.


http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1277914-possible-fix-for-long-range-archery-bug-pc/

this is old news man. I thought it just fixed the angle at which the arrow leaves the bow...is it stopping the "arrows passing through" problem?

I've wasted hundreds of arrows trying to hit things, that concievably I should be able to hit. I even found a nice spot with dirt all the way up to my targets so that I could see if the arrows were actually hitting the ground (ie throwing up dirt), they did but the arrows that should have hit the deer, sabercat and bear did absolutely nothing (the first two didn't even react, but the bear kept acting "alerted" without being hit).

And you can forget about hitting those damned circling dragons that refuse to engage you up close...

EDIT:

Looking at the video on that thread, it looks like the problem it addresses is the "no damage" one aka "passing through".

I'll try it out myself.