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]

I'm starting to think that it doesn't replace the Steam launcher as much as I thought at first.

When I launch SSE for the first time after booting up the PC, I still get the contact to Steam. But for all subsequent launches, it's much faster, and there doesn't seem to be any Steam linkage. Before, Steam client would nag me to go online each time, and now it's straight to the Play/Settings/Quit menu without that.

Whether the Bethesda launcher is keeping an online connection alive, I haven't investigated, but I doubt it. It would need to connect to look or mods, but you can't tell if it does so when you select that option, or at start-up. I haven't pulled the plug to find out, mainly because it's out of reach.

However, I need the Bethesda connection for converting and upload mods for Xbox, so the Launcher is more relevant there.

---

I'm now trying to decide which mod comes next. I may just repeat the order I built them. I won't bother with the outfits, as they'd really need higher-res textures for SE. That consideration may lead me to holding back on Khajiit HF until I can do a better canopy texture.

[mALX]

I'm starting to think that it doesn't replace the Steam launcher as much as I thought at first.

When I launch SSE for the first time after booting up the PC, I still get the contact to Steam. But for all subsequent launches, it's much faster, and there doesn't seem to be any Steam linkage. Before, Steam client would nag me to go online each time, and now it's straight to the Play/Settings/Quit menu without that.

Whether the Bethesda launcher is keeping an online connection alive, I haven't investigated, but I doubt it. It would need to connect to look or mods, but you can't tell if it does so when you select that option, or at start-up. I haven't pulled the plug to find out, mainly because it's out of reach.

However, I need the Bethesda connection for converting and upload mods for Xbox, so the Launcher is more relevant there.

---

I'm now trying to decide which mod comes next. I may just repeat the order I built them. I won't bother with the outfits, as they'd really need higher-res textures for SE. That consideration may lead me to holding back on Khajiit HF until I can do a better canopy texture.

I wonder if it will be like when you "Port" textures from one game to the next how sometimes their size is altered in the new game rendering them unusable for that purpose there. I had trouble bringing cloth textures (that I used perfectly fine in Oblivion) into Skyrim, it was like they were being held under a giant magnifier.