Author Topic: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim  (Read 96136 times)

Offline Xessive

  • Gold Member
  • *
  • Posts: 9,918
    • XSV @ deviantART
Re: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim -> Update: Dragonborn DLC Trailer (11-5-2012)
« Reply #400 on: Friday, November 09, 2012, 06:57:27 AM »
Yeah, I think my brain blocked that stuff out about Morrowind :P haha Wasn't the case in Oblivion or Skyrim though, yay!

Offline Quemaqua

  • 古い塩
  • Administrator
  • Forum god
  • *
  • Posts: 16,498
  • パンダは触るな。
    • Bookruptcy
Re: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim -> Update: Dragonborn DLC Trailer (11-5-2012)
« Reply #401 on: Friday, November 09, 2012, 07:10:48 AM »
Oblivion was a huge step up in terms of combat. It actually did melee combat in a way that felt better than many of its competitors, even. It was pretty groundbreaking. Skyrim really tightened everything up even more, but wasn't as big of a leap as the leap from Morrowind to Oblivion.

I'd dearly love to see Morrowind remade, so anytime you hear about those projects I do get a little excited, though I doubt anyone will ever carry it off. The game is just so good and yet so meh. If the content could be rebalanced and repackaged, God, what a bad day for anybody who wants to be productive. I put probably 500 hours into that game and its expansions.

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline W7RE

  • Post-aholic
  • *****
  • Posts: 2,780
Re: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim -> Update: Dragonborn DLC Trailer (11-5-2012)
« Reply #402 on: Friday, November 09, 2012, 07:27:18 AM »
At one point I had the urge to play through all of the Elder Scrolls games. I downloaded Arena and Daggerfall, dug out my copy of Morrowind, and was looking to buy a copy of Oblivion. The same temptation is coming over me again. I already have trouble finishing just about anything I start, including video games, so I doubt I'd make it through any of them, let alone all of them. (and due to the nature of these games, by "finish" I mean the main story quest)

Offline Xessive

  • Gold Member
  • *
  • Posts: 9,918
    • XSV @ deviantART
Re: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim -> Update: Dragonborn DLC Trailer (11-5-2012)
« Reply #403 on: Friday, November 09, 2012, 08:44:17 AM »
Even though I loved Oblivion and am still enjoying Skyrim, Morrowind has left the biggest impression on me.

The environments in Morrowind were more whimsical. The closest to that since was the brief experience in the Shivering Isles. I'm really looking forward to the Dragonborn DLC for Skyrim now.

Offline Quemaqua

  • 古い塩
  • Administrator
  • Forum god
  • *
  • Posts: 16,498
  • パンダは触るな。
    • Bookruptcy
Re: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim -> Update: Dragonborn DLC Trailer (11-5-2012)
« Reply #404 on: Friday, November 09, 2012, 09:22:04 AM »
That's kind of an odd comparison. I don't think Shivering Isles and Morrowind have anything in common, other than the fact that they're unusual, less standard fantasy. "Whimsical" implies goofy somehow, Morrowind had quite a serious history and a pretty deadpan presentation. It was a well thought-out world, sans the usual castles and dragons and whatever for the most part. Giant mushrooms and weird animals and a harsher landscape. Not always dark, per se, but certainly has its moments.

Ugh. Such a great game. I really do miss it.

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline Xessive

  • Gold Member
  • *
  • Posts: 9,918
    • XSV @ deviantART
Re: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim -> Update: Dragonborn DLC Trailer (11-5-2012)
« Reply #405 on: Friday, November 09, 2012, 02:53:10 PM »
That's kind of an odd comparison. I don't think Shivering Isles and Morrowind have anything in common, other than the fact that they're unusual, less standard fantasy. "Whimsical" implies goofy somehow, Morrowind had quite a serious history and a pretty deadpan presentation. It was a well thought-out world, sans the usual castles and dragons and whatever for the most part. Giant mushrooms and weird animals and a harsher landscape. Not always dark, per se, but certainly has its moments.

Ugh. Such a great game. I really do miss it.
No, it certainly wasn't goofy. It had a serious mood overall but the world was whimsical in the sense that the environments were so fantastical i.e. mushroom huts, giant mushrooms, silt striders, massive tree roots intertwining with architecture. It was all so escapist.

Shivering Isles brought something that instantly reminded me of Morrowind. Even the guards (Golden Saints and Dark Seducers) made me think of House Hlaalu and the Ordinators of Vivec. It was reminiscent.

Offline Quemaqua

  • 古い塩
  • Administrator
  • Forum god
  • *
  • Posts: 16,498
  • パンダは触るな。
    • Bookruptcy
Re: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim -> Update: Dragonborn DLC Trailer (11-5-2012)
« Reply #406 on: Friday, November 09, 2012, 03:27:48 PM »
Yeah, I can see that. I guess I was taking your statements more globally. Though I do agree that both were much stronger for being off the beaten fantasy path a little, definitely. Stock Oblivion felt a touch vanilla. Even Skyrim does at times, though the atmosphere is so well done and the Celtic vibe so strong it does give it a different twist.

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline scottws

  • Gold Member
  • *
  • Posts: 6,602
    • Facebook Me
Re: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim -> Update: Dragonborn DLC Trailer (11-5-2012)
« Reply #407 on: Saturday, November 10, 2012, 09:58:44 AM »
I will readily admit that I probably didn't give Morrowind a fair chance.  After all, I'm one of those people that urges people to get through the first couple of missions in the original Deus Ex.

I don't know though, the (early?) combat in Morrowind is just so bad.

Offline Xessive

  • Gold Member
  • *
  • Posts: 9,918
    • XSV @ deviantART
Re: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim -> Update: Dragonborn DLC Trailer (11-5-2012)
« Reply #408 on: Saturday, November 10, 2012, 10:25:14 AM »
I will readily admit that I probably didn't give Morrowind a fair chance.  After all, I'm one of those people that urges people to get through the first couple of missions in the original Deus Ex.

I don't know though, the (early?) combat in Morrowind is just so bad.
Yeah, if it weren't for Pug's encouragement I would have given up early too.

If you get into Skyrim working your way backwards to playing Morrowind might make it more challenging though. Stick to Skyrim :P

Offline PyroMenace

  • Senior Member
  • *
  • Posts: 3,930
Re: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim -> Update: Dragonborn DLC Trailer (11-5-2012)
« Reply #409 on: Wednesday, January 16, 2013, 10:01:30 AM »
So there's this mod to replace the theme music from the title screen to this.

Give it a listen, its really amazing.

Offline W7RE

  • Post-aholic
  • *****
  • Posts: 2,780
Re: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim -> Update: Dragonborn DLC Trailer (11-5-2012)
« Reply #410 on: Wednesday, January 16, 2013, 11:10:18 AM »
Update: I got Oblivion GOTY Edition (Xbox) for $10 on a Newegg Black Friday sale, and Morrowind for $5 during the Steam holiday sale. I now have all the pieces of the puzzle. If I do this, I'm starting with Arena and working my way up, so the games will be getting more and more playable as I go. even Daggerfall is a big step up from Arena. In Arena I'm going to be stuck with arrow key movement unless I get really creative with Xpadder. At least in Daggerfall you can easily set it up for mouse look with no mods.

Offline Quemaqua

  • 古い塩
  • Administrator
  • Forum god
  • *
  • Posts: 16,498
  • パンダは触るな。
    • Bookruptcy
Re: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim -> Update: Dragonborn DLC Trailer (11-5-2012)
« Reply #411 on: Wednesday, January 16, 2013, 02:37:36 PM »
Have fun! If you do it, you'll be a dedicated motherfucker. I'm a huge, huge fan of the series and even I've not managed it to stick to it.

That said, if you could really tough it out, Morrowind would probably feel so refreshing after the prior two that it would almost be like you were playing it when it came out, and God how I would envy you that experience. No game has ever sucked me in to the degree that Morrowind did, and it only got better as it got modded. I'd do a lot of very disreputable things to be able to experience that again for the first time.

Good luck, man! You should totally do this in blog format, or vlogs or something, let us see how it's going for you.

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline W7RE

  • Post-aholic
  • *****
  • Posts: 2,780
Re: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim -> Update: Dragonborn DLC Trailer (11-5-2012)
« Reply #412 on: Wednesday, January 16, 2013, 05:18:37 PM »
I thought about doing it in Let's Play format and uploading it to YouTube. I had some issues getting a good recording of Arena though. Also, I don't have a way to capture Xbox footage, so I'd have to come up with something by the time I got to Oblivion. Of course, the first 3 would probably be the most interesting to watch.

Offline Quemaqua

  • 古い塩
  • Administrator
  • Forum god
  • *
  • Posts: 16,498
  • パンダは触るな。
    • Bookruptcy
Re: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim -> Update: Dragonborn DLC Trailer (11-5-2012)
« Reply #413 on: Wednesday, January 16, 2013, 05:24:20 PM »
Yeah, I think at this point everybody's played Oblivion or seen a lot of it. But watching people suffer through Daggerfall's plethora of bugs never gets old.

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline MysterD

  • Forum god
  • *
  • Posts: 18,049
  • OWNet 4 Eternity & Beyond
Re: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim -> Update: Dragonborn DLC Trailer (11-5-2012)
« Reply #414 on: Monday, March 18, 2013, 06:56:02 PM »
BethBlog -> Patch 1.9 on PC released; adds Legendary Difficulty & Skills; and a lot of bug-fixes.

Quote
Skyrim 1.9

NEW FEATURES

Legendary difficulty setting
Legendary Skills – Skills of 100 can be made Legendary. This will reset the skill to 15, return its Perks and allow the skill to affect leveling again. This effectively removes the overall level cap.

Offline Cools!

  • Administrator
  • Veteran
  • *
  • Posts: 1,628
  • Let's burn.
Re: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim -> Update: Patch 1.9 PC adds Legendary Difficulty
« Reply #415 on: Monday, March 18, 2013, 11:41:29 PM »
That's kind of neat!

Offline Pugnate

  • What? You no like?
  • Global Moderator
  • Forum god
  • *
  • Posts: 12,236
    • OW
Re: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim -> Update: Patch 1.9 PC adds Legendary Difficulty
« Reply #416 on: Tuesday, March 19, 2013, 02:16:48 AM »
That's pretty awesome of them.

Offline Xessive

  • Gold Member
  • *
  • Posts: 9,918
    • XSV @ deviantART

Offline Quemaqua

  • 古い塩
  • Administrator
  • Forum god
  • *
  • Posts: 16,498
  • パンダは触るな。
    • Bookruptcy
Re: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim -> Update: Patch 1.9 PC adds Legendary Difficulty
« Reply #418 on: Wednesday, March 20, 2013, 03:32:41 PM »
Damn, man. Cosplay is so... simultaneously fascinating and irritating. When done well it's really impressive, but I just don't understand what compels people to do it. You get to take a few pictures, and then... what? Go to shows and wear the thing periodically? It just seems so pointless. But when done as well as some of those, it's pretty cool. It makes me wonder why they aren't trying to do some sort of theater with it or something.

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline Cools!

  • Administrator
  • Veteran
  • *
  • Posts: 1,628
  • Let's burn.
Re: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim -> Update: Patch 1.9 PC adds Legendary Difficulty
« Reply #419 on: Wednesday, March 20, 2013, 03:46:36 PM »
Chicks like attention. That's why.

Offline Quemaqua

  • 古い塩
  • Administrator
  • Forum god
  • *
  • Posts: 16,498
  • パンダは触るな。
    • Bookruptcy
Re: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim -> Update: Patch 1.9 PC adds Legendary Difficulty
« Reply #420 on: Wednesday, March 20, 2013, 04:23:18 PM »
Which I can understand. But how much fucking time must they put into that shit? That's a lot of time, effort, and I guess maybe money just for some nerds to gawk at you for an afternoon.

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline Cools!

  • Administrator
  • Veteran
  • *
  • Posts: 1,628
  • Let's burn.
Re: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim -> Update: Patch 1.9 PC adds Legendary Difficulty
« Reply #421 on: Wednesday, March 20, 2013, 04:44:13 PM »
Time they should've spent in the kitchen! Amirite?

Offline Cobra951

  • Gold Member
  • *
  • Posts: 8,934
Re: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim -> Update: Dragonborn DLC Trailer (11-5-2012)
« Reply #422 on: Monday, April 08, 2013, 11:54:26 PM »
BethBlog -> Patch 1.9 on PC released; adds Legendary Difficulty & Skills; and a lot of bug-fixes.


This filtered through to the consoles today, so I grabbed it.  Perfect timing too, since I picked up the Dragonborn DLC for half price in a sale last week.  But the truth is that I don't know what to make of it.  It works in a really weird way.  Basically, you lose 85 points from your skill, and all perks expended into it are returned to be used any way you want.  The result is that you can level up the skill again, and add overall levels to your character.  But why would I want to?  Enemies level with you, and now you're suddenly much weaker in some skills you chose to level up all the way.  I only do that to skills that are important to my play style (specifically because I don't want to be leveling up artificially with side skills that don't add to survivability or playability).  So I would have no choice but to gimp myself severely, or go level up stuff I don't use, just so I can rack up levels for the hell of it.  All the while (unless someone with inside info can tell me different) enemies are gaining overall kick-assitude on me.  No, sir.  I just don't get it.  My characters are in the low 60s, and any further level ups end up hurting them.  That was true before this new twist, and it seems to be even more true now.


Offline MysterD

  • Forum god
  • *
  • Posts: 18,049
  • OWNet 4 Eternity & Beyond

Offline MysterD

  • Forum god
  • *
  • Posts: 18,049
  • OWNet 4 Eternity & Beyond
Re: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim -> Update: Modders building TES3:Morrowind in Skyrim
« Reply #425 on: Monday, September 23, 2013, 05:39:39 PM »
All PC owners of Skyrim that are missing Dawnguard...

...For some reason, I got a 700 MB update.
And Dawnguard is now in my DLC Box.

Is BethSoft giving this away?
Or what?

EDIT:
Dawnguard DLC got yanked from accounts for those who didn't buy it.
Oddly enough - files and Dawnguard.ESM still remain in actual game folder and from game launcher's Data Files section, though...
« Last Edit: Monday, September 23, 2013, 08:57:31 PM by MysterD »

Offline MysterD

  • Forum god
  • *
  • Posts: 18,049
  • OWNet 4 Eternity & Beyond

Offline idolminds

  • ZOMG!
  • Administrator
  • Forum god
  • *
  • Posts: 11,933
Re: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
« Reply #427 on: Thursday, November 26, 2015, 02:12:42 PM »
Hmm, thats tempting considering I dont have any of the DLC.

Offline Quemaqua

  • 古い塩
  • Administrator
  • Forum god
  • *
  • Posts: 16,498
  • パンダは触るな。
    • Bookruptcy
Re: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
« Reply #428 on: Thursday, November 26, 2015, 11:15:46 PM »
It's generally pretty good. Hearthfire was a bit limited compared to how nuts they went with things in Fallout 4, but it was a fun thing, and I liked Dawnguard and Dragonborn quite a bit.

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline MysterD

  • Forum god
  • *
  • Posts: 18,049
  • OWNet 4 Eternity & Beyond
Re: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
« Reply #429 on: Saturday, November 28, 2015, 12:42:26 PM »
It's generally pretty good. Hearthfire was a bit limited compared to how nuts they went with things in Fallout 4, but it was a fun thing, and I liked Dawnguard and Dragonborn quite a bit.
B/c it's a Bethesda-game & their stuff is very highly-modded, modders might require you owning certain DLC's for certain mods of theirs to function.
So, it's usually in the best interest at some point to buy all the official DLC's - even if you buy certain DLC's on the cheap.

B/c at some point I might want to use JE Sawyer's Hardcore Mod for FO: New Vegas (yea, I know - it's Obsidian game, but still on Bethesda's RPG engine) - I did have to buy the weapon packs b/c he requires you own EVERYTHING to use his mod.
(JE Sawyer was the lead dev at Obsidian on FO:NV, BTW).

Offline MysterD

  • Forum god
  • *
  • Posts: 18,049
  • OWNet 4 Eternity & Beyond
Re: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
« Reply #430 on: Saturday, April 09, 2016, 09:16:24 AM »
This been out a few months, I guess...
But, in case you missed it, since I certainly - I'm just pointing this mod out, since I really love the FO4-style quick-loot system + tested this mod out happily last night for Skyrim...

Nexus Mod -> Fallout 4-style Quick-Loot System Mod for Skyrim.

Offline MysterD

  • Forum god
  • *
  • Posts: 18,049
  • OWNet 4 Eternity & Beyond
Re: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
« Reply #431 on: Saturday, October 29, 2016, 06:53:51 AM »
PC Gamer - Skyrim Special Edition's audio is worse than original edition (on PC and X1 only).

So, basically...for the SE, Bethesda compressed the hell out of the original WAV files to XWM format probably to fit the game on disc easier, keep file-size down for downloading, or whatever for PC and X1.
It might not be noticeable too much on speakers, but people using headsets been noticing it big time.
There already is a way to implement the old original game's clear WAV files into SE, listed in this article.
« Last Edit: Sunday, October 30, 2016, 08:31:20 AM by MysterD »

Offline MysterD

  • Forum god
  • *
  • Posts: 18,049
  • OWNet 4 Eternity & Beyond

Offline Cobra951

  • Gold Member
  • *
  • Posts: 8,934
Re: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
« Reply #433 on: Sunday, October 30, 2016, 08:33:12 AM »
Thanks for the heads up.  Now I'll be waiting not only for a price drop, but also an audio fix.

Offline MysterD

  • Forum god
  • *
  • Posts: 18,049
  • OWNet 4 Eternity & Beyond
Re: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
« Reply #434 on: Sunday, October 30, 2016, 08:34:50 AM »
I was having, on the PC version here, some issues w/ a 30FPS cap (WTH?) w/ Skyrim SE PC on my rig (i7 950 Bloomfield; 16 GB DDR3 RAM; "4GB" 970; W7 64-bit).

Well, I recently found the fix for Skyrim Special Edition 30FPS cap issue that I was having.
 
Basically, go into My Documents\My Games\Skyrim Special Edition\SkyrimPrefs.INI and switch the in-game VSync Off by taking VSyncPresentInterval=1 & change that value number to 0 so that it reads VSyncPresentInterval=0. Save the file.
 
Basically, this is the Fallout 4 PC FPS performance fix.
 
Hopefully, Physics + Hit Detection don't go out the window now. If it does, I'll have to use NVidia Panel to likely do a VSync On Cap (For either Regular VSync for 60FPS cap, Half Refresh @ 30FPS, or Adaptive Sync to bounce b/t 30FPS or 60FPS when necessary which would be based on framerates it's hitting on-the-fly) - b/c (1st-party) Bethesda Softworks games are so damn dependent on FPS caps and/or VSync being present.
 
I've got MSI Afterburner capping this at 60FPS w/ this gamed maxed-out at 1080p here - with in-game settings having TXA on; everything else on and at their highest setting; & also the NVidia Panel Enhancing the in-game AA on with FXAA used to drown-out the vasoline-like smearing look that TXA causes.
 
Much better.
 
Now I need at least ported over the QuickLoot Mod + SkyUI Mod + SKSE Mod (SkyUI requires SKSE to work properly); and I'll be good to go w/ this new Skyrim SE PC.

EDIT:
That's really crappy that old edition owners of Legendary Edition on console don't get free upgrade to Special Edition on their respective console. The free upgrade here for Skyrim Legendary owners on Steam is the only reason that I have Skyrim SE on Steam.

Offline Pugnate

  • What? You no like?
  • Global Moderator
  • Forum god
  • *
  • Posts: 12,236
    • OW
Re: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
« Reply #435 on: Sunday, October 30, 2016, 08:47:03 AM »
If we needed a news reporter we'd definitely hire D.

Offline MysterD

  • Forum god
  • *
  • Posts: 18,049
  • OWNet 4 Eternity & Beyond
Re: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
« Reply #436 on: Sunday, October 30, 2016, 08:49:35 AM »
If we needed a news reporter we'd definitely hire D.

Hehe! Thanks, bro. :)

Offline Cobra951

  • Gold Member
  • *
  • Posts: 8,934
Re: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Update: NO Class System for Skyrim
« Reply #437 on: Thursday, May 04, 2017, 11:32:15 AM »
Very pretty.  But it's Bethesda.  What elite gear do you need to make it look and move like that?

What was elite is now common.  The PC version of the SE runs at 60 fps with almost no hiccups for me, and that's from the mechanical hard drive.  (It would fit on the SSD, but with only 100 GB free after Windows and serious software, I'm not touching it for gaming.  Save games usually end up on the SSD anyway, so it works out well for autosaves.)  Drops to 30 fps are extremely rare, and hard to reproduce for settings tweaks.  (The launcher decided to crank everything up to high/ultra, so there is room for performance tweaks.)  What surprises me the most is the nearly complete lack of streaming hiccups.  They're almost as rare as fps drops.

After years on consoles, I'm now overwhelmed with how much I can mess with to make the game look the way I want.  On the Xbox, I have no choice but to put up with the excessive green tint in the SE--which I hate.  On the PC, not only can I color-correct at the driver level, and mess with the game's config files, but I can also use external software to inject shaders through SMAA.  I've spent the better part of 2 days toiling with SweetFX, and last night I finally got it to a look I really like most of the time.  It's saturated and sharp.  It blooms to yellow rather than pukey green, without making interiors look too red/burgundy.  The colors are similar to The Witcher 3's knights DLC (what's it called?) but without the damn green haze.

One cool feature is that the screenshot key produces 2 images, one with the external effects, and one without.  Here is one example.  I was thinking of posting more, but it would take a while and be overkill, really.

Before:


After:



Edit:  Oh, one more, for night effects:

Before:


After:


Offline MysterD

  • Forum god
  • *
  • Posts: 18,049
  • OWNet 4 Eternity & Beyond
Re: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
« Reply #438 on: Thursday, May 04, 2017, 04:41:54 PM »
@Cobra

So, I take it you're really digging your new kick-ass PC and being able to tinker w/ PC games' settings & their mods again, eh? ;)
The ability to customize your hardware + games in so many ways, that's why I love so PC gaming so much.
The only real limits here on PC are...well, whatever the hell you're throwing for hardware in the PC, which you can choose yourself! There's nothing fixed here!

Hell, I was able to recently get Quake 1 going again on my PC thanks to DOSBox (used that to unpack the BAT files on the CD from freakin' 1995, since 16-bit BAT files can't be recognized in W7+ by default), grab some Source Ports, and get a mod of a music-file fix to bring the music back to the game.

« Last Edit: Thursday, May 04, 2017, 05:45:52 PM by MysterD »

Offline Cobra951

  • Gold Member
  • *
  • Posts: 8,934
Re: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
« Reply #439 on: Thursday, May 04, 2017, 05:30:51 PM »
Hey, man.  Oh yeah, I love being able to control everything.  But I was serious when I said I'm overwhelmed.  That's the flip side of this coin.  There are too many things that interact with each other in ways I don't know, so I've been going through a lot of trial and error.  Right now I'm trying to dial back the bloom so that faces don't get smeared by colored light under some circumstances, but not lower it so much that it ruins the overall look of sunsets and the like.  I think I've spent as much time playing with the settings as I have replaying the game.  Well, maybe not.  It just feels that way.  :)

I still haven't started Dawnguard, Hearthfire or Dragonborn.  Those will be new experiences for me.