Why Skyrim Should Have Been Delayed: An Argument in Pictures

[Mister Numbers]

Those glitches are IMPROVING the game. They look fucking awesome!

 

[Agayek]

Even so, the frequency at which I encounter these bugs is really absurd for any big name title. Especially one that has been patched twice. I've not encountered this many bugs this frequently in any other game.

Taking what you describe here, my experience with Alienware machines, and the general consensus of Skyrim players, there are a couple of possibilities.

First, and obviously what you think, the developers are at fault and the program simply doesn't work. Considering that your case is most definitely the outlier and not the general experience (seeing as there's relatively little forum posts about huge graphical glitches like these), this is unlikely to be the case.

Second, your graphics hardware is not functioning properly, most likely due to overheating (Alienware cases are really, really bad at proper airflow and cooling). This is possible, but seeing as you claim other games are working fine, it's probably not the cause. If you see similar factoring and graphical glitches in other games, then it most likely is. If this is the problem, your best bet to debug it is to borrow a video card from someone or cannibalize an old machine for its card. Put the new card into your machine and run the game. If this fixes the glitches, then your old card is at fault and should be replaced.

Third (and the most likely) is that you have a driver issue. Skyrim is making calls to the graphics card asking for X and the graphics card driver is going "lolwut?". The easiest way to test this is to find the manufacturer of your card, download the latest drivers, restart your machine and run the game again. That should fix your problem, but if it does not then it's likely #2 that is the cause and you will need to experiment with your video card.

Frankly, if you see any graphical problems like you've described here in other games, it's almost certainly your graphics card that is at fault. I've used Alienware machines before and their not nearly as well put together as they should be. The last time I got a machine from them, the graphics card fried itself from overheating within 6 months. Fortunately you should still be under warranty, so replacing it should be free.

 

[XzarTheMad]

Yeah. Your computer clearly isn't capable of running it properly, graphics-wise. So they shoulda delayed the game until... what, you got a new computer?

C'mon, mate. Get a grip.

 

[Gennadios]

It did not. My machine is a brand new Alienware (two months old) and runs other games without incident.

Ah, good old Alienware. That explains everything. If you need a replacement after your mobo or control center fries, Asus makes some decent Replubic of Gaming PCs.

 

[Eccentric Lich]

Obviously I know nothing of the machine you run this on.
But did the idea occur to you that your machine might have something to do with these graphical glitches?

It did not. My machine is a brand new Alienware (two months old) and runs other games without incident. I play Skyrim with no lag too.

Not saying your machine is bad, just that with a huge amount of hardware, software and set-up variables, the chances of something providing anything but a 100% compatibility is rather high.

Even so, the frequency at which I encounter these bugs is really absurd for any big name title. Especially one that has been patched twice. I've not encountered this many bugs this frequently in any other game.

That might have something to do with the fact that other games aren't a huge open world game with literally thousands of manipulatable items, character, locations and objects.

Oblivion is.

Now I'm sure you're not implying that Oblivion, a game from 2006, demands the same computing powers as Skyrim.

Besides the dragon being inspired from that one Core from Portal 2 to explore SPAAAAACE, these are all graphical glitches.

Like I said, I couldn't get screens of the non-graphical ones aside from that. It's stuff like a different topic opening than the one I had my cursor over or a reanimated person running in place. Well, I could get a screenshot from the latter, but it would just look like he started running.

I realize that this game is more demanding than Oblivion which is why I installed it on my new computer. I'm just saying that this stuff really is unacceptable and I tried to add a little humour in doing so.

I only saw one purple dragon. It moved fine. The purple melted away when I killed it. Your shit is fucked up. If you installed from disc, or your steam connection is shit, it might have corrupted something. Because everyone who played Skyrim has these glitches. Not even Bethesda would let it release with that major a problem.

I did install it from a disc. Granted, this stuff isn't constantly happening in my game. I can sit down for a few hours and play with no bugs but then turn it on again the next day and find what I've shown you. As for whether or not Bethesda would allow it, well, that's debatable. They did just break their own game with a patch and have to hastily fix it.

 

[distortedreality]

First of all, it was free. Second, you're right! I don't claim to be a PC expert. I do know how to install and play a game though.

I have been enjoying it a lot though, thank you.

I'm pretty sure you claimed to be a PC expert when you assumed to know more about game development than Bethesda.

Do you even know what hardware you're running, other than "omg it's alienware"?

Might help us fix the problem, unless of course you want to keep blaming others for your problem.

 

[Eccentric Lich]

Even so, the frequency at which I encounter these bugs is really absurd for any big name title. Especially one that has been patched twice. I've not encountered this many bugs this frequently in any other game.

Taking what you describe here, my experience with Alienware machines, and the general consensus of Skyrim players, there are a couple of possibilities.

First, and obviously what you think, the developers are at fault and the program simply doesn't work. Considering that your case is most definitely the outlier and not the general experience (seeing as there's relatively little forum posts about huge graphical glitches like these), this is unlikely to be the case.

Second, your graphics hardware is not functioning properly, most likely due to overheating (Alienware cases are really, really bad at proper airflow and cooling). This is possible, but seeing as you claim other games are working fine, it's probably not the cause. If you see similar factoring and graphical glitches in other games, then it most likely is. If this is the problem, your best bet to debug it is to borrow a video card from someone or cannibalize an old machine for its card. Put the new card into your machine and run the game. If this fixes the glitches, then your old card is at fault and should be replaced.

Third (and the most likely) is that you have a driver issue. Skyrim is making calls to the graphics card asking for X and the graphics card driver is going "lolwut?". The easiest way to test this is to find the manufacturer of your card, download the latest drivers, restart your machine and run the game again. That should fix your problem, but if it does not then it's likely #2 that is the cause and you will need to experiment with your video card.

Frankly, if you see any graphical problems like you've described here in other games, it's almost certainly your graphics card that is at fault. I've used Alienware machines before and their not nearly as well put together as they should be. The last time I got a machine from them, the graphics card fried itself from overheating within 6 months. Fortunately you should still be under warranty, so replacing it should be free.

I appreciate your attempts at diagnostics, but I actually updated my drivers right before installing the game and I'm using a cooling pad to deal with the overheating.

Yeah. Your computer clearly isn't capable of running it properly, graphics-wise. So they shoulda delayed the game until... what, you got a new computer?

C'mon, mate. Get a grip.

Learn to read other posts and get back to me.

First of all, it was free. Second, you're right! I don't claim to be a PC expert. I do know how to install and play a game though.

I have been enjoying it a lot though, thank you.

I'm pretty sure you claimed to be a PC expert when you assumed to know more about game development than Bethesda.

Do you even know what hardware you're running, other than "omg it's alienware"?

Might help us fix the problem, unless of course you want to keep blaming others for your problem.

My god, you've got your panties in a knot about something. I never said that I know more about game development than anyone. I know that a lot of games get rushed out these days to meet demands and make money as quickly as possible. I don't need to be an expert on hardware to know that mine isn't an issue when it's working just fine with every other contemporary game that I try to play.

 

[Daveman]

They said this with New Vegas and that turned out to be my favourite game ever... so I'm going to take this as meaning Skyrim will now be taking over.

 

[distortedreality]

I appreciate your attempts at diagnostics, but I actually updated my drivers right before installing the game and I'm using a cooling pad to deal with the overheating.

An Alienware Laptop???

Jesus, that's even worse.

 

[Levethian]

Interesting collection of rare glitch screenies

I would ask here:
http://forums.bethsoft.com/index.php?/forum/180-pc/
Try to include your computer specs & whatever other details you think may be of use.

And don't start off by blaming Bethesda - you likely won't get much help that way. :/

EDIT: Or search first - searching 'Alienware' in the forum gives 80 results.

 

[theheroofaction]

Other than that last one those are actually kinda funny.

Anyhow, speaking of these, the second, third and last one likely have more to do with your graphics drivers than the game,or your graphics cards are overheating ( alienware kinda sucks at staying cold).

 

[Stalydan]

I do wish the game had been play tested a bit more. I mean, the stuff that's been found in it could have been done if they'd let the people testing play for about a week or so rather than a couple of two hour sessions over a couple of days.

For the amount of bugs Bethesda games have, you'd think they'd learn to either start using other well praised engines with tweaks in them to fit their game style or test their games extensively to see if their new engine has any flaws they should correct immediately.

 

[stygN]

Yup, I've had it too.. Brand new gamingcomputer. The issue was however always resolved when exiting and re-entering a cell.

However, the dragon that flew off to space.. Never seen that.. But the dragons are still a bit messy...

 

[Taunta]

While I have seen people complain about the odd glitch occurring and never happening again, you do seem to be having an unusually large amount. I laughed rather heartily at the screencaps.

Kind of an off-topic question: Why is it that Skyrim has so many bugs? I play WoW quite frequently, also a huge open-world RPG, but these kinds of graphical glitches never happen to me. (I've never seen flying NPCs, quest givers melting into the ground, dragons exploring space,etc) The worst seems to be "oh this mob is evade-bugged", which gets fixed relatively quickly. Is it just a difference in the beta, the developer, or what?

I appreciate your attempts at diagnostics, but I actually updated my drivers right before installing the game and I'm using a cooling pad to deal with the overheating.

An Alienware Laptop???

Jesus, that's even worse.

Do you have anything useful to contribute other than being condescending to other people about their choice in computers? I thought not.

 

[HellRaid]

Let me preface this by saying blah blah blah etc.

This is a texture leak and is happening because the game is running out of memory. An unmodded version of Skyrim is only allocated 2GB of RAM by default, regardless of how much RAM is actually in your system and these texture issues happen when memory runs low (followed by a crash to desktop in a few minutes, in my own experience). Either turn down your settings OR (if you have 4GB+ of RAM in your system) download the Skyrim LAA mod (http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=1013) OR wait a week for the official LAA patch. This should also fix most random crashes to desktop you likely have had.

But yeah, this LAA thing should have been present in the release version.

 

[distortedreality]

Do you have anything useful to contribute other than being condescending to other people about their choice in computers? I thought not.

I asked for specs so we could help (in my lovable condescending way).

Not my problem if OP doesn't want the help.

 

[Fishyash]

Although bethesda isn't known for having the most stable games in general...

One of the things about PC games is that it is pretty much impossible for every game to work perfectly on every single computer.

 

[Eccentric Lich]

Do you have anything useful to contribute other than being condescending to other people about their choice in computers? I thought not.

I asked for specs so we could help (in my lovable condescending way).

Not my problem if OP doesn't want the help.

Actually, you never once asked for specs. You only complained about how terrible my laptop was.