Skyrim WILL Support DirectX 11, But Limited
Skyrim will feature DirectX 11 support, but it won't be staggering.
For those who were disappointed that Crytek's Crysis 2 for the PC didn't come packed with DirectX 11 support, there's good news... if you're into RPGs, of course. According to Bethesda Game Studios' Todd Howard, The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim will arrive with DirectX 11 support.
But there's a catch, and it doesn't sound promising in regards to taking full advantage of current PC-based hardware. "I guess the real question here is do we take advantage of DirectX 11's big new features and the answer is 'not specifically,'" he told IGN in an interview. "Our graphics work centers around doing things that will look the same regardless of platform, and sometimes that implementation will be different on the 360, PS3, and PC."
IGN's interview covers various topics regarding the upcoming RPG, and doesn't focus on specific platforms until the end. But one of the more interesting subjects covered in the Q&A focuses on possible multiplayer and/or co-operative play features, or in this case, the apparent lack thereof. That said, The Elder Scrolls will remain a single-player franchise with the release of the fifth installment despite the seemingly interesting possibilities.
"The two most requested features we get are dragons and multiplayer," Howard said. "We got one of them this time! We always look into multiplayer, put lots of ideas on the whiteboard, and it always loses. It's not that we don't like it. I can think of ways it would be a lot of fun, but at the end of the day, that dev time is going to take away from doing the best single player game we can, and that's where our hearts are."
The interview also reveals that players can actually ride dragons, but "not in the way you're asking." There's also mention of unicorns, but Howard (jokingly) said that could arrive as a DLC for a measly hundred dollars-- DLC offering levitation would cost a hefty three hundred dollars. Ouch. Joking aside, there is also talk of the game's point-of-view, revealing that Skyrim will offer both third and first-person perspectives although the latter viewpoint will be the primary focus.
"3rd person, with the new animation system, is better than ever, and people really seem to enjoy playing in it, seeing their character," he admitted. "But it's primarily designed as a first person game. I see the 3rd person as an extra, and certain things like picking up objects, talking to people, whatever, are always harder in 3rd person. Some people on the team think the combat is better in 3rd person because they can see their surroundings better. Personally, I usually play 1st person unless I'm just running through the wilderness and want a different view."
To read the full two-page interview with Todd Howard, head here.
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I don't really care, considering how absolutely awesome the screenshots and videos on their website look already...
I'm actually pumped for this release. Haven't said that in a long time.
YES! I love you! Prioritizing... what absolutely all the rest of the games industry sucks at.
Yes It's awesome that they are not doing because they really want to make teh SP the best they can, or haven't found a way to implement MP so it's perfect. But how awesome would 3-4 player co-op be?
I can't imagine how bad oblivion would have been had they taken away dev time for anything else... it felt like they'd all been writing plots and doing the voice acting on their fag breaks as it was!
I'm sporting dual GTX470s (SLI) so this is good news for me. DA2 let me down, still have fingers crossed for Witcher 2, but Skyrim.. ..I'll use my remaining vacation days when it hits the shelves.
Yeah it'll probably be like every other port over. DX9,and a shoddy DX11 upgrade with no option for DX10.
"Our graphics work centers around doing things that will look the same regardless of platform, and sometimes that implementation will be different on the 360, PS3, and PC."
and that is why there will never be ANY progress in graphics for ANY game platform EVER again...
this is piss weak developers!! where do you think the inspiration for a new console comes from???
THATS RIGHT! PC GRAPHICS KICKING THEIR ASS!!
the new dual core graphics cards out by both manufacturers are THIRTEEN TIMES more powerful than the ones in the consoles!
but this is exactly what sony and microsoft wants, they don't want to sell you a new console every 5 years... they are expensive for them to make! they just want to sit back and reap the royalties from all the games now!
it is a sad, sad state of affairs...
Too bad I still don't have a PC that's capable of running this.
/pissed
Too bad I still don't have a PC that's capable of running this./pissed
if you could run anything that was released in the past 5 years you probably could run it...considering there wasn't much development in the past five years because of something...wonder what that might be...
hehe I like this!
Honestly, DA2 with the extra texture dl did things right. Sucky outdated 5-8 year old graphics to be workable on console (xbox360, ps3) but with a pc texture pack for up to date technologies... Bethesda should consider that. Actually, imo the best of both worlds.
To be honest, this is one type of game where I am not angry at them not using the newest and best graphics - as long as they spent all of the time they saved working on the plot!
It took 1 guy a little over a year to hack oblivion so that it had co-op. You can't tell me Bethesda's team of uber-programmers with intimate knowledge of the game engine find co-op to be "too hard".
No, ladies and gentlemen, what he really means to say is "well, we know people want co-op mode. . . but fuck em. We're launching The Elder Scrolls Online sometime in the future, and we don't want to jeopardize it's player base (that pays us $15 a month).
It took 1 guy a little over a year to hack oblivion so that it had co-op. You can't tell me Bethesda's team of uber-programmers with intimate knowledge of the game engine find co-op to be "too hard". No, ladies and gentlemen, what he really means to say is "well, we know people want co-op mode. . . but fuck em. We're launching The Elder Scrolls Online sometime in the future, and we don't want to jeopardize it's player base (that pays us $15 a month).
The programming side of it is easy. You could hack multiplayer into anything you wanted, really. That's not the issue.
The issue is making it balanced. How do you make the game fun for both players instead of the higher level running around and destroying everything in sight while the low level just watches? What happens when a player joins a game with a quest active that they've already finished? Or one they shouldn't be able to do yet? What if it's at a story-fork and one player went one way and another went the opposite? On top of that, how do you sync quest progress so both players get credit when they actually do quests they should both be doing?
Adding support to just let each other run around is an easy mod. It's making the gameplay good that's the hard part.
None of the comments here seem to get the gist of Todd Howard's statement. C'mon people, he's using some pretty slick / convoluted talk, but he basically said:
"We'd love to push DirectX 11 and make Skyrim GORGEOUS on the PC... but it would deter our console buyers. So, we're going to hold back the PC's visuals in the interest of console sales."
This is exactly what Crytek did. DX11 isn't crap if they allow the mode, but implement none of the features. I don't know why these game companies insult the PC gamers that made them successful in the first place. This is why Battlefield 3 is still gonna be the only game I pre-order.
"The two most requested features we get are dragons and multiplayer," Howard said. "We got one of them this time! We always look into multiplayer, put lots of ideas on the whiteboard, and it always loses. It's not that we don't like it. I can think of ways it would be a lot of fun, but at the end of the day, that dev time is going to take away from doing the best single player game we can, and that's where our hearts are."
play a game called rune, make oblivion multiplayer like that, and we will love it.
but my biggest concern is that brethersta, a company that couldn't produce an engine that plays at good and stable frame rates (a quad core, 4gb ram, win7, hd 4950 or 4850 cant remember which, bogs down in the 5-7fps range at 1920x1200) FAR TO OFTEN on an unmodded version. they couldnt come up with a good dx9 version of their engine, and they are thinking of 11 on a new one? ARE THEY HIGH
and their complaining about 3rd person... how crappy a developer do you have to be to not be able to make a 3rd person mode function right along with a first person... ITS NOT HARD... MY GOD
and btw, if you mark your comment as 'Negative', it seems it automatically assigns you -1 thumbs down. I wish Tom's would fix the voting thing.
- "he told IGN in an interview. "Our graphics work centers around doing things that will look the same regardless of platform,"
Well that right there just ruined it for me. =(
Skyrim (aka Oblivion 2: Port from the Console)
levitation was one of the best things about Morrowind, alongside the freedom and variety of items. who cares about dragons, just dont give me bland, limited spells and 3 types of generic item sets
RPG is about role-playing, not about watching graphics. You have Crysis for that.
Even if they don't add in the other visual features of Dx11 I'll just be happy with the general performance improvement.
"Our graphics work centers around doing things that will look the same regardless of platform"
So if something looks like crap on consoles, it has to look like crap on PC too.
RPG is about role-playing, not about watching graphics. You have Crysis for that.
Graphics may not be as important as role-playing in an RPG but they are part of the experience.
the elder scrolls previous to this (morrowing and oblivion) had great graphics and really stressed out the latest pc's. Its a little disappointing that they want it to look the same across platforms, oblivion and morrowind were primarily pc games and oblivion was only pushed to console afterward.
Ugh, why not just call it Crysis 2.5 then? Hopefully the heavy modding community will come out with HD textures and other nice looking mods.
So, what their REALLY saying is, once again, my crossfire setup will be useless overkill and I will get 80fps+ on all settings maxed.
I guess I should just get a 30" ips or eyefinity so I can actually put my money to use.
and their complaining about 3rd person... how crappy a developer do you have to be to not be able to make a 3rd person mode function right along with a first person... ITS NOT HARD... MY GOD
And you've made how many third person games?
So, saying this is a DX11 game is like putting USB3 connectors on a USB1 device and calling it a USB3 device.
Dragons wil be awesome, don't bet me wrong. But I'd trade them for DX11.
Please put that somewhere on your whiteboard for the next Elder Scrolls!
graphics whores. skyrim looks awesome regardless of weather it has Directx 11. it will look better on pc do to higher resolutions. that's arguably a more substantial graphics increase than directx 11 so quite your bitchin.
Pc gamers did this to yourselves by pirating games and demanding ever increasing graphics to take advantage of your new tech. this eventually made the PC not as profitable for a game developer do to increased development resources and lowering base of paying customers. just to be clear, I have been a PC gamer since the late 80s, I just cant justify the expense of a new system that has so few games made to take advantage of it these days. Its sad really.
graphics whores. skyrim looks awesome regardless of weather it has Directx 11. it will look better on pc do to higher resolutions.
1) People like you only make this stupid situation worse by making devs think that it's ok to screw the PC in favor of consoles.
2) Most monitors even now support 1080p max, maybe 1920x1200. So no, no higher resolutions unless you do multi-monitor setups, which are totally fugly because of the gaps caused by monitor bezels.
What did this is the explosion of console gaming into the mainstream sector, full of gamers who have no idea of what 'awesome graphics' means, and investors who are short-sighted and want their profits NOWNOWNOW instead of over a long term.
Don't understand the mentality of needing a whole new system for next-gen games- sure if you've got the money to blow, but graphics cards are pretty affordable these days and I'm pretty sure most people have a PCI-E slot on their mainboard, unless you haven't upgraded this decade...
If they make it on a PC they should have an easy time making the pc look great and just tune down some setting from the xbox/ps3 ports. I dont see anybody who likes Oblivion and owns an xbox not buying the game because the PC game looks better? Does this kind of stuff really happen?
As a developer you would have to be vehement about being outdatted not to use DX11. It backwords compatible to DX9.0 anyway. They only thing you would be doing by choosing DX9.0 instead is limiting your options to a 5 year old technology.