It's official!

While Julian and I haven't completed testing the new card yet, we have over 50% of our previous mod load out installed and everything is continuing to run smoothly! FPS in the upper 50's, typically at 60, even around Oblivion Gates and in the IC/Waterfront zones.

Here's the specs of my old Mac Pro: Taliesin

Aaaand now an update.

I decided to spend my sick day today loading Steam and - yup - Skyrim on my old Mac Pro. So far I only have the Steam Legendary content installed, and just made it through the first day. Of course I started over with my favorite (so far only) Skyrim character. Just as Julian *pwns* Oblivion and is my main PC, Alise Sudmeri is the Dragonborn in so many ways. After following Hadvar to Riverwood, Alise has improved her Imperial Light armor, her mace and long bow, and has had a good night's sleep.

What's next? I want to try the Skyrim Hi Res pack from Beth. Any thoughts? SKSE and SkyUI are definitely next, as I just can't play without them. I haven't played since October 1 of last year, but Steam's stats tell me Alise and I have put over 400 hours into the game. Wow!

I will have to go over my Skyrim install on my MacBook Pro and see what is already installed and working there, so I can recreate that here. I'm also looking at a few more mods. I love Argis pretty much the way he is, but I wish he was a little higher resolution. But I don't want him baby-faced - I loved how the NPCs in Skyrim look so rugged - almost reflective of how tough life is up there. Camping/Northern Ranger and Frostfall are also def on my list, as Alise just can't play without them. Being a Southerner, she hates the cold, especially along the northern coast. And she wants her kids back, so the Multiple Adoptions is coming back too.

Hmm, it's getting late, and I've got an early day tomorrow. Normally I'd stay up later, but with this darned cold I'm just taking things easy. Hasta la vista, babies!

Skyrim Hi Rez Textures: Before installing them the game automatically put my game settings at "Ultra." After installing them it automatically set them down to "Medium."

Well, you don't have to take the game's auto settings as set in stone, but it does give you an idea of how much memory they are using up.

Yes, upgraded textures make a huge difference in game; I would consider them necessary. So either use Bethesda's official ones or find an alternative that uses memory more efficiently - but some hi-rez textures are most def needed.

Congrats on the new install! Here’s some news: Chesko has just released Campfire, and apparently Frostfall 3.0 is on the way with big changes under the hood. Might want to check it out before you get into installing your camping mods. His mod page explains it far better than I could. Pretty exciting.

I hope your cold is better today! <-- restorative tea for hautee

@mALX: thank you for the info. This rig handled Qarl's High Res textures (the Redimized Version) just fine, so I'll look around for something like this for Skyrim. I want to keep things as high as I can because I know I want a lot of high textures on the people and clothing/armor.

@Grits: Wow, I'm really out of touch - Frostfall got updated since I last played! And now Campfire, too? What I liked about Frostfall is that it made me and Alise really think about our forays in the wilderness. It certainly made the trip up to the Throat of the World that much more arduous! After defeating Alduin, it wasn't certain if Alise would make it back to the Greybeards before death by hypothermia set in! Good thing those dragons gave off a lot of heat. Thanks for the restorative tea - I'm still fighting this thing and it's awful!

Can anyone explain why the sound sometimes disappear when I´m internetting? I don´t do anything, nothing happens, but suddenly the sound is gone and the only way to get it back is to log out and restart the puter.

I reckon it´s a bug of some kind but is there a fix? I´ve looked around a little but came up short.

It sounds like your sound card has an executable or two that load when windows starts, and they are taking a crap on you. Try Googling your sound card, and few keywords like "not working" or "quits".

I have an external Soundblaster, and it goes *boom* everytime it starts up, presumebly the executable you´re talking about.

Thanks, Rosa. I´ll look it up

It goes boom? Is it supposed to do that? Does it connect to your computer via a usb cable? If so the cable or usb port could be your issue as well.

When it starts up it makes a sound and of course how loud depends on the volume knob. And yes it´s a USB but what do I do about that?

Maybe try plugging it in to a different usb port? I mean, maybe that one is arcing or something. (but don't listen to me, I know NOTHING! NOTH-ING!) (said in the voice of Shultz from Hogan's Heroes).




This post has been edited by mALX: Apr 18 2015, 03:36 PM

My computer is about two years old now, and some of the usb ports on the front panel just don't work anymore. The port you are using might be going bad. So like mALX said, try plugging it into a different port. I doubt it is the cable that is bad, but you could try replacing that as well.

Huh. I didn´t think the USB ports would go bad, but I guess it could make sense then seeing as my puter is six years old now.


I heard a rumor that Windows 7 had a bug that caused this problem but whatever it is, it never happens when I play games or just mess around. It only happens when I´m online.

If you have a kitten in the house, there is every possibility that the kitten has bitten that cable - SubRosa's suggestion to change out the cable is a very good one.

The only animals I have in my apartment are dust rats and their teeth are rather dull


I could get sound to work again by fiddling with the connection so that´s not a problem anymore. But my internet issue has gone worse and is now to the point where I simply cannot access said net at all, so I have bitten the tasty orange and decided to go back to regular broadband again. Costs more but it´s 99% more reliable which is what I want.

Agree 100% - I left broadband to save a few septims and haven't been happy with my internet service since.

I have actually. My problem isn´t related to my internet provider at all, it is simply on my puter´s end

Then how will changing to broadband fix them? Are you sure it isn't your modem?

The broadband is connected to the puter via network cable, the mobile modem via USB and those ports are apparently fragile and cave in. I can hear the sound the USB makes whenever you insert/disconnect something and it keeps making that sound as it loses connection. If it was the modem it wouldn´t make that sound.

Hopefully I´ll get it sooner than they said

I hope that sound isn't arcing electricity! That is what my laptop charging jack was doing and why I had to fix it before it could be used between May 2013 and September 2014.