Skyrim Special Edition - remastered Options

[Acadian]

I was intrigued by this comment by SubRosa in another thread:

I just saw a vid with Bethesda's E3 announcements. The Skyrim Special Edition is at the back. I hate to say that I am massively underwhelmed. I thought the game looked far better on the old systems. The new version looks like it is covered in a bright haze that washes out all the individual colors, and the clarity of the image. But maybe that is just the sunrises and sunsets, and not how it looks all the time.

I tend to agree with her initial assessment. Since the announcement, the BethSoft SkyForum is awash with opinions and speculation – more than I want to even try and follow.

I thought I’d create this thread as a place to comment on the remaster and, when the time comes, share impressions among those who try it and what is involved for those wishing to transition to it. I did note over on BethSoft that one of the moderators (Pluto) said it will be several years before another TES game is announced. So perhaps it is good to freshen up the current one. Looking over the list of enhancements though, they all seem to be cosmetic. Since my game looks fine as far as I’m concerned, my initial take is to not worry about the remaster – certainly not at this point.

[ghastley]

Yes, I've installed it, as the new CK is expected soon, and I've already had a request for Orc Hearthfires SE!

As yet, there's no Flawless Widescreen support, so it runs only on my left-hand monitor. I'm undecided if the new look is an improvement overall. I like the higher-res textures, but not the enforced DoF (adjustable, but I can't find "off"). Performance is merely OK, but since it's running effectively in a borderless window, instead of genuine full-screen, Windows is probably messing up the video optimisation.

The hard thing to get used to is no SkyUI. SKSE has to be updated first, and no guarantees that it will be done then. And the cloudy map, blood-spatter, and some other mod-fixed annoyances.

You can run both games. Nothing is overwritten. Saves are in a separate folder.

Body mods (since they have no esp) can be copied over and will work, but things that need new animations/skeletons etc. (jiggly bits, animated hair, poses) need re-working/conversion. Some of that needs external tools, and NifSkope has been updated to do the bits it can handle. Some nif's aren't compatible and will need de-stripifying, and missing tangents added. Anything that's not a replacement needs the CK, of course.

My first character was amused to find a horse standing where Hadvar was supposed to during the opening sequence. He was trying to push the horse off his spot, while he read the list, and it wouldn't budge.

P.S. I did fire it up at 6000x1080 and it's unplayable with the UI falling off the screen, but I can take screenshots at least. I may do a panorama from the Dragonreach Steps to post here.

This post has been edited by ghastley: Oct 31 2016, 10:28 PM