How about the arrow trajectory in skyrim, I mean I just get my 40% more archery damage , zoom and freeze time perk, but still I cannot hit a deer over, maybe, lets say, 80 meters/240 feet away. Last night, I successfully hunted several dear within 50 meters, so I tried to shoot 2 deers all perpendicular aligned to me, on a almost flat grassland which has a little slop upwards. 1 hour past, thousands of different arrows been shot at different angles, aiming down or high up, still, those happy critters were neither hurt or disturbed, just ignoring my aggression at all. Although I can see arrows hit the ground in front of them or flying over their shoulders, I don't see any arrow hit the target, no matter whether I am standing or sneaking.

So I wonder what is wrong? Am I not upgraded enough to make a kill, so my "powerless" arrow will vanish in the thin air upon impact? Or I didn't calculate the wind(which is unlikely the case, because I can see the trajectory)? Or simply because my aiming was really lousy?

I know arrow is quite powerless to make a kill at the end of their long flying. But anyhow, when those animals hear the sound of the arrows flying by and dropping around them, they should at least make a move, right?

So anybody care to elaborate this to me, I am sure I not the only one to be frustrated at shooting in long distance.

PS: yeah, one strange thing I observed last night, is that I saw giants and mammoths falling from the night sky when I am busy shooting, is this suppose to be normal? I guess not, because the giants were usually okay, and started walking after the fall, but those poor mammoths were killed immediately in most cases.

I too have issues with aiming (this sounds horrible)... When I'm not standing too far away (perhaps a normal size dungeon room) from a target and place my cross hair and the enemies head, the arrow always without doubt flies over the enemies head. So, when I reload, I am lower in an attempt to not over shoot. However, the arrow simply smacks into their gut... I'm going for headshots and I'm finding them very hard to come by. Am I missing something (besides the target...).

I'm starting to question whether arrows have a limited range now, I shoot them up in the sky and they never come back down.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ifc4n1tYfY

This video shows limited range on arrows.

Are you using a PC/Mouse?

If so, are you using the left mouse button to draw the bowstring to it's max extension?

The reason I'm asking is because when the game installed itself on my computer, it screwed up the default settings, and assigned the letter R to fire arrows. This negated the increased damage you get from drawing the bowstring to its max position, and also limited the distance the arrow flew to a very short range. It wasn't till Tuesday till I got that fixed, and now long-range headshots are a thrill. Have not seen the arrow trajectory at a point to where the arrow actually dips down.

Good luck.

Will look into this.

Arrows seem to have perfecty flat trajectory and maximum range to prevent those really long accurate shots.
Kinda svcks.
I would like to see someone make a mod that fixes both of these issues, but that's another topic.

Otherwise bows and achery are very, very well made. I do some traditional archery in RL, and I have never such realistic (fantasy)bow looks, sounds etc in any other game. Bravo.

I have not had any issues with arrows missing their marks, I actually got off a really sweet shot a couple days ago while going to kill some bandits. I was creeping up on the tower in case there were any patrols ( you never know ) when I saw two bandits walking back and forth along a bridge high over a river. I was well over 240 feet away because they were very small targets , so I proceeded to pull out my bow and draw the string all the way back. When I let that first arrow fly and saw the bandit tumble over the back of the bridge and fall to his death in the river I was to say the least very stunned. It was one of the best things I have seen in a game for a long time hehe. I actually had to use two arrows on the second because I miss-judged the first shot but I got her with the second one and she also tumbled to her death off the backside of the bridge.

I was wondering if someone can confirm for me, are headshots more powerful than a body shot?

Can u be more specific about this, how did u solve the problem? Actually I already reversed my mouse setting in the beginning of my game, so my left and right mouse clicks control my left and right hand respectively, that means I am using right mouse click to draw the bow.

Nope. There is no locational damage in Skyrim.

Thanks very much, now I wont have to worry so hard. Haha, still, the 'ole arrow in the eye socket does look a lot cooler...

takes awhile to get used to it, but you will
just learn the trajectory took me a long time to get used to arrows not arching downwards much

It's a bizarre step backwards for Bethesda, but they no longer let you shoot more than about 100 feet in front of you. Apparently, they forgot how to handle physics, and arrows fly straight, and just disintegrate beyond medium range, making the long-bomb sniping I used to love impossible.

I have no idea why they couldn't just copy-paste arrow physics from the last game, this is far worse...

That oddly brought to mind the old Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy TV serial where the whale crashed from the sky....poor thing :sadvaultboy: :rofl:

Anyway, I saw a thread earlier questioning the damage values at long range. The poster took the time to launch at the targets, various arrows, etc. nd thought about an idea that damage was indeed based on range. Range < X yielded a decent damage. Range > x yielded no damage, even though it was a probable hit. The damage cut-off seemed to be a sharp demarkation.

Just some food for thought.

Really just wanted to post about the HHGTTG

Well. It does reflect reality. Arrows have a limited range, MUCH shorter than guns. An arrow is a very large, high-drag projectile which slows down quickly in the air. Arrows quickly lose accuracy and penetration over range. I'm sure somebody will say "but english longbows!": those were used in an indirect fire role against formations. Sure, if you shot into the sky at a 30 degree angle the arrow would eventually land on that block of 500 guys out at a couple hundred meters, but that's basically using a stupidly powerful bow as field artillery and not what we have in the game which is precision marksmanship. And 80 meters is a pretty fair distance for a simple bow shooting a chunky armor-piercing arrow without any sights.

Though, even with a limited range being mostly realistic, I suspect the real motivating factor was to prevent "safe sniping". Hitting an actor with ranged attacks waaaaaaay outside their ability to perceive and having them unable to react you would just lead to different complaints.

My only suggestion to gamesas is that when using a bow the crosshair should turn red if you're aiming at something outside your range to actually hit. As it is, the only way to find your range is to waste a few arrows.

That made your comment sound so dirty.

I think is very correctable. The arrows seem to remain intact, properly strike surfaces, and even cause the proper alerts to enemies. They are just PASSING RIGHT THROUGH THEM! I'm trying to get the word out. This is NOT AN ISSUE OF AIMING. All the physics are there and rendered, just not the hit.

wikipedia quote(take it for whatever you think its worth): A flight arrow of a professional archer of Edward III's time would reach 400yds. It is also well known that no practice range was allowed to be less than 220yds by order of Henry VIII.

and for the love of everything remove or atleast add a damn option to turn off that horrible auto aim for us pc players. no real pc gamer use auto aim.. EVER, i use that no real pc gamer line a lot, mostly for fun, or as a personal opinion, but not in this case, auto aim is for console players, it has no place in pc games and quite frankly, anyone who disagrees with me on that one point is not a person worth listening to.

also, you can turn it off by adding a line or to to skyrim.ini but out of common decency i want it as a changeable option in the menu.

From my personal experience arrows do not have a limit. I killed a rabit (miraculously mind you) from ontop of a mountain shooting down, I even searched to find the corpse and it was so far away I couldn't even see it.
Now I have noticed that arrow trajectory is always slightly upward of where you shoot and the arch is almost non existant.
Also, Mammoths are impossible to shoot from long range.

I don't think you can get arrow headshots. I know that it wasn't possible for you to do it in oblivion. It was designed that way because it would look unrealistic if your enemy was running around with an arrow in his head. You might be able to do it for a kill shot, however.

Please explain further. Im not finding where you say arrow fire is set. In my controls settings there is mouse 1 for right hand and mouse 2 for left hand and R for ready/sheath. Nothing for arrows. Nothing found in ini either.

One of my passions is stick shooting. Owner of a dozen bows ranging from compounds down to composite recurves and longbows. Want to get realistic it needs to have the reaction flinch of the animals do to the sound of the bow releasing. lol anyone that has taken a deer with a bow knows about that. Practiced shooting 2-500 arrows a day from targets 10yrds to 100. Wind,humidity, and temp effect everything weither it is traditional shooting or modern day equipment, and i use both.Be happy the game is easy in its shooting,lol i can tell you that walking thru the woods stalking deer with a quiver of 6 arrows is very difficult,(they get hung on everything) i can't imagine trying to do it with over 100+ arrows.

I'm reading this and wondering what the point of your post is, because you completely contradict yourself. Maybe there is a horizontal limit and not a vertical limit, which even further renders this a bad glitch which needs to be purged.

I'm not contradicting myself. I'm saying I believe the bug is with mammoths in particular. I can hunt deer and people from miles away, but mammoths, the largest things I have fought I cannot hit.