Skyrim Bug Turned Chickens Into Informants

[Logan Westbrook]

Skyrim Bug Turned Chickens Into Informants

Be careful whose eggs you steal; chickens can also be stool pigeons in Skyrim.

If you read the story about Bethesda not fixing amusing bugs [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/112719-Bethesda-Sometimes-Doesnt-Fix-Entertaining-Bugs] and wondered what sort of bugs it was talking about, then try this one for size: a recent bug in Skyrim [http://www.amazon.com/Elder-Scrolls-V-Skyrim-Xbox-360/dp/B004HYK956/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1317901780&sr=8-1] caused the game's chickens to report crimes to the town guards.

Bethesda's Todd Howard said that the design team started getting caught for crimes more often than they should have, and that it wasn't immediately obvious what was going on. "'Why are we getting caught?' 'Oh, the chickens are reporting the crimes!' he joked. "That actually took us a while to track down, that bug. Like, 'Why is this happening?'"

Sadly, despite being incredibly entertaining, the bug, which Howard attributed to the game's Radiant Story system, was fixed. However, several amused fans have vowed to mod it back in, so if you want chickens to rat you out, it might be worth picking up the PC version of the game. Perhaps Bethesda itself could add it in as part of a DLC quest: a crazed wizard who has enchanted all the animals in a local village perhaps, or a strange daedric curse that has turned a family into poultry.

Skyrim comes out for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 on November 11th.

Source: PC Gamer [http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/10/05/todd-howard-on-chickens-reporting-crimes-in-skyrim/]

(Image [http://www.flickr.com/photos/helloeveryone123/4079109977/sizes/m/in/photostream/])


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[Ruairi iliffe]

Hmm, talk about knowing something fowl going down.

But other than that, awesome find, would love to see the full Bug report

 

[Frostbite3789]

Wait, people have to report you for crimes now? The LAW isn't all powerful?

They don't immediately peg me as criminal scum?!

 

[Vrach]

Never trust a chick to keep her mouth shut

Wait, people have to report you for crimes now? The LAW isn't all powerful?

They don't immediately peg me as criminal scum?!

Welcome to several months ago - yep, you've got to be reported and there's also a separate bounty for each of the 9 or so areas.

 

[Calcium]

Those are the best kind of bugs surely, though wasn't there a similiar problem in Oblivion with stolen horses reporting themselves as stolen to guards?

 

[Daniel_Rosamilia]

Wait, people have to report you for crimes now? The LAW isn't all powerful?

They don't immediately peg me as criminal scum?!

Apparently not!
This is good. Very, very good... MWAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA
Also, if modding becomes possible on consoles (God I hope so), then I'd install some mod to get this back in,
I'd now have a legitimate excuse to kill chickens!
Captcha: 0.27x titratio...
I don't want to know what's on captcha's mind.

 

[MickyD47]

Hey Bethesda horses in Oblivion still report you for stealing them. Got round to fixing that one yet?

I better not have to approach chickens from the back to steal them.

 

[thisbymaster]

Finally, a system that makes sense. This is how all systems should work. Someone has to see you committing the crime and report it to the police.

 

[Jake the Snake]

That's fucking hilarious. I mean, yeah, it makes the game much more difficult, and I'm glad it's fixed, but that's pretty damn funny.

 

[Vault Citizen]

I'm glad this mod was removed, I had to be careful enough when I committed crimes in Oblivion without worrying what the chickens were saying.

 

[Kapol]

That's one that's likely better off fixed, even if funny. It might be funny at first. But it would get old pretty quickly.

 

[Wieke]

As far as amusing bugs go, this is a good one. Glad it was found though.

Has me wondering how hard debugging actually is for these kinds of projects. Cause as far as is know (which isn't all that much I admit) you'd need to add a break point to the function that alters the players "wanted" status so you can trace it back to the object that changed it. Though doing that would require at least a partial recompile of the project which could take some time.

 

[ChupathingyX]

I love how Bethesda are using this whole "bugs are funny" ruse to pull the wool over people's eyes because they know that Skyrim is going to have bugs up the wazoo, and with their fantastic QA skills will not be able to fix all of them, or even a good amount of them.

It doesn't matter how funny they are; bugs are still bugs.

 

[unacomn]

This reminds me of the time I took a petal from a flower in an inn in Ald Rhun in Morrowind, and everyone in the room attacked me, for being a no good thief. Either that or they were from Greenpeace.

 

[Zay-el]

I love how Bethesda are using this whole "bugs are funny" ruse to pull the wool over people's eyes because they know that Skyrim is going to have bugs up the wazoo, and with their fantastic QA skills will not be able to fix all of them, or even a good amount of them.

It doesn't matter how funny they are; bugs are still bugs.

I distinctly remember them saying some bus are funny and kept, not all. Also, while Skyrim might have some bugs at the start, I'm pretty sure they'll be able to sort them out relatively quickly. It's not Obsidian making the game this time around, after all. To my memory, Morrowind and Oblivion had far less nerve-grating bugs at launch, than New Vegas.

And I disagree on that, it does matter how funny of a bug is and how severe it is, because it measures into how much you're willing to continue playing. Gothic 3 final boss dropping into an invisible hole and becoming unkillable? Yes, that's REALLY bad. Red Dead Redemption donkey lady and cougar man? Admit it, that's more amusing, than annoying.

 

[l3o2828]

Ok this was probably the most hilarious thing i have heard this week.
Now I'm really interested in getting skyrim...

 

[Ruairi iliffe]

It doesn't matter how funny they are; bugs are still bugs.

I can tell you right now, this isnt true. Sometimes, rare yes, a bug can be put into features, if it opens up something no one thought about. Cant talk about my own experances yet, but i know the Little head shake from DoG in Half-Life2 Ep2 was a bug, but they kept it in because it worked so much.

 

[ChupathingyX]

It's not Obsidian making the game this time around, after all. To my memory, Morrowind and Oblivion had far less nerve-grating bugs at launch, than New Vegas.

New Vegas was made with Bethesda's engine, and the QA testing was done by Bethesda.

I do not believe that bugs should be kept in just because their funny, why not just make an easter egg out of it and then get rid of the bug?

 

[kebab4you]

Dem darn chickens! I knew they was up to something bad.

 

[Busard]

That is all