(Part 2) Top products from r/skyrimmods

I'm running an i5 750 and it blows away skyrim on full HD texture pack (not the DLC one) and I also only have 4gigs DDR3 since my one stick was bad in my 8 gig kit. Then again, it is G.skill 2133mhz ram @ 2200mhz, so it's really fast, but trust me...4 gigs of ddr3 is enough. So is an i5. The i5 has crushed everything I have thrown at it and then some, and have it overclocked at 4ghz at a stable 32c idle/60c full load (corsair h50 dual fan push/pull), and there is no reason to upgrade for a long time (then again the 750 is better than the 2500k) but don't let anyone tell you the i5 is falling short. I also have the same video card and can vouch for its awesome performance (with ultra settings and hd textures it's not 100% smooth, but is absolutely more than playable, and could always just get a second one SLI and itll run smooth as glass and I only paid 175$ for this one and they're selling on Amazon in Like New for about $180 now, IMO the best video card right now under $250 by far, let alone $175)

All that being said....your real issue is your hard drive!!!!

Trust me on this!! I have the same hard drive but a 320gig caviar blue 7500rpm as my backup drive on my gaming computer (my htpc has the 3 caviar black 750's) and I had Skyrim installed on it for a bit, and then switched over to installing it to my main drive (corsair force gt 60gig SSD) -- holy fucking shit. Like ridiculous performance boost. This is all due to the textures being loaded about 100x faster from the SSD.

Also, trash the DLC texture pack, TRUST ME. I share the same sentiment that about 99% of other modders do as well, so just go and get the 2k HD texture pack. It is MUCH, MUCH better than the DLC, and is more noticeable, and is easier to run (I have tried both.) They put a lot more work into this one than the DLC. It's 2 something gigs to download, but 110% worth it.

So my recommendation - Get a SSD asap (at least you have sata 3 on your board, my board, the EVGA P55 FTW 300 didn't, so I had to get a Rosewill raid card, no biggy cuz it's an insane mobo... I HIGHLY recommend the Corsair Force gt 60gb - When I say you'll notice about 100% performance boost all around, I mean it.

Also, check whatever other mods you have one by one (this is made easier with the nexus mod manager) to see which one is causing the crash if it isn't a hardware or DLC issue.

Sorry for the delayed response: Yeah, step one is to usually invest in a decent cardioid mic and an audio input. Here are the ones I'd recommend for getting started. Good enough quality to be just under professional tier, though capable of producing professional quality sound, but not so expensive as to offer you features you don't need for years to come:
Mic: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002QAUOKS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Audio Interface (to be able to plug that or any other professional mic into [XLR input]): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01E6T56CM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

and this is optional but can be helpful to understand the true sound of your recordings, monitors:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075QVMBT9/ref=twister_B07NDRK282?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
(either the 3.5 or 4.5 would be totally fine)

Aside from t hose t hings, the only other things you'd need to get set up would be soundproofing foam, either putting panels up around your space, or around the mic itself. Conversely, you could set up inside a closet full of clothes and accomplish the same task for free, cable length and space permitting.

Good luck!

Reuse of Enviroments
I think the key difference lies in designer intent. Are the enviroments being reused to increase playtime, or to help drive the narrative? Reusing enviroments is a really (relatively) cheap and effective way to show the passage of time & the influence the narrative has had on previous enviroments. The player's familiarity helps draw emphasise to the changes made.

If I were to pick out one game that does this really well it'd be the original two Doom games. As a rough example, imagine the player enters a square room. The corners of the room are blocked off, so the room forms a sort of + shape. The player clears this area of baddies, but as they cross the room the walls blocking off the four corners lower revealing more monsters. Its a simple 'gotcha' design used to great affect during the earlier 'tutorial' levels, while the player is still learning the game. However after a while this design is altered. Imagine the same trap set up, this time though the player crosses the room and nothing happens. They exit and carry on till they are given reason to return - perhaps a key was later in the level. The trigger was hidden elsewhere in the level, so when the player returns the monsters have already been revealed and are waiting for them. The player isn't aware of this and expects an empty room.

Seligman
I studied psychology for 4 years. So I'm pretty well read up on a lot of the main theories & approaches. Its turned into a surprisingly useful tool when designing enviroments or narratives. I actually studies under one of Zimbardo's students and was surprised to find he is still quite active on the lecture circuit, even today.

If you're looking for more reading among similar lines I would strongly suggest taking a look at Nature via Nurther, Influencing Attitudes... and The Psychology of Attitude Change. I would also take a look at the theories behind Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. as there is a lot of very interesting work in that field. I would strongly suggest looking for an introduction to the cognitive & humanist approaches to psychology. They're a bit more modern than conditioning which has been shown to be incapable of predicting human behaviour.

I will mention that I'm by no means an expert of Seligman. I know of this research enough to know that I don't support it, but I've not read too far in that direction. I was mostly aimed in the psychobiological & cognitive directions. The main take away: if it works for you, keep at it until something better comes along.

Moonpath
Moving back to moonpath, I feel the questions you've asked are useful during the concept/pre-design phase but are not really useful once you've entered the sprint cycle (I'll be covering that in tomorrow's article).

Thanks for the heads up -- I'll definitely look more into Hassabis, sounds like an incredibly interesting guy with his plunge into neuroscience.

Thx, I went to a few universities and picked up several graduate coursebooks on AI, and also went through some online and conventional book sources. On Intelligence really opened my eyes to the power of hierarchical learning, and the mechanics of cortical hierarchies. Absolutely fascinating stuff.

Hahaha and yeah, I agree that the point of games is not to just kill the player. Despite the "adversarial" nature of most AI enemies, they're actually teachers, gently guiding the player towards more nuanced strategies and better reactions.

If anyone's curious about getting an XLR setup, I can direct you to some pretty good starting gear! I personally use the Audio Technica AT2020 cardiod condensor microphone and a Focusrite USB audio interface. You'll also want to buy a male to female XLR cable of some kind. A pop filter is also a good investment! And, of course, you'll want a stand of some kind for the microphone. I personally use this but it limits your ability to move the microphone away from a desk.

If you want studio quality, be sure to record in 24-bit 48k, with an uncompressed format like a wav. That's the standard both Hollywood and indie productions have been using for years.

Oh, and if anyone's curious about credentials, I mix and record audio for commercials.

With that CPU I'd recommend a 760, something like this would be nice. You could also go with a 270x which being less powerful would allow for the 4gb option. You could go with this and get the 4gb option keeping in mind that it will be less powerful than the 760. I'm running a 3gb 280x and its just tiny bit more powerful than a 760, so if you can do without giving everything 2k textures then I'd suggest the 760.

There's a problem I feel that many character mods for this game have.

Skin and complexions are perfect, there is no dirt or weathering, the pupil/iris in eyes are too high in detail (not necessarily resolution), among a few other issues. The mods that affect the face can cause tension with the hair/clothing if these aren't up to scratch, then you have the problem with eyebrows in that they can look like they're drawn on (as yours do here, no offense).

Unfortunately I haven't been downloading mods in a long time (still waiting since Legendary), but try to avoid smooth skins entirely, for a start. No skin is absolutely, 100% smooth and without edges. This makes it seem like the face has quite a low poly-count, even if it doesn't. And contrasts heavily with the world of Skyrim, and all other NPCs.

Just don't layer on the mods too thick when it comes to characters. Less is more in this case. You'll end up crossing into uncanny valley territory when you add too much detail. "SUPER HD 8K EYELIDS AND EYEBROWS" aren't exactly necessary and only add to the dissonance you're experiencing.

I'm sorry if I haven't explained myself too well, it's quite late and its been a long day. Hopefully other people can help with suggestions for what to download!

One last thing to remember before I head to bed: this is a 7 year old game. Beyond making each texture look as good as possible, the game is old. Animation quality, and many features you can't really influence will still seem relatively dated. I understand there are mods for these, and I understand there are mods for animation, but to paraphrase Steve Swink the mechanics and feel of the game are 7 years old. You can't change that with mods.

TL:DR: You're likely using too many mods, they contrast with each other and create the unappealing character you see. A human face is never going to look like the above example. Less is more with character mods - choose carefully, all faces have signs of weathering or ageing.

It would be an... interesting team, since as I understand it reverse engineering x86 is mostly for people creating malware. And the security experts thwarting them, I suppose. Book on Amazon: Practical Reverse Engineering.

If someone was a programmer looking to expand their skillset into IT security, though...

In a similar vein, "The Design Of Everyday Things" is a great read. And iirc uses quite a few examples like the one you gave.

A fourth generation i5 would be a huge performance boost, even more so if you have a Z97/Z97 motherboard to go with it that will allow overclocking.

Don't replace a R9 290X, it is a great card. You can upgrade the cooling instead, which will dramatically lower the noise and even give you a bit more overclocking headroom.

https://www.amazon.com/NZXT-Kraken-RL-KRG10-B1-Bracket-Black/dp/B00ITTFO8M

https://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Hydro-Quiet-Liquid-Cooler/dp/B009VV56TY

https://www.amazon.com/Noctua-NT-H1-Thermal-Compound-Retail/dp/B002CQU14A

Worst case scenario you decide to sell the card anyway and have a really good cooling setup to put on your new one.

I'll give it a try. I was able to play for about two hours with no crash which is good but also driving me crazy because I can't pinpoint a single cause. I was hoping it was some sort of animation issue, maybe the birds mod, or something that I could trace.

Ram: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006YG9E7O?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00

I'm doubtful it is the card because I tried playing hi-res textures disabled and with all post-processing disabled and my SPM read the same and I crashed similarly.

Card: XFX Radeon R9 290 R9-290A-EDFD 4GB 512-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Double Dissipation Edition Video Card

The controller looks like this: https://www.amazon.com/Xbox-Controller-S/dp/B00006409Z
In the archive is the software, xpadder, the config files I use, (for reference) the image you'll need to setup the controller with xpadder, and the driver. As well as two pictures of what my setup looks like.

Also included are links to both the controller, and the connector you'll need, (amazon) or if you want to do it manually, a link on how to splice in the USB connector to the existing cable.

One school of magical theory requires that all ingredients or components be "perfect" in order to have maximum (or even the desired) effect.

As such, you might pick all the flowers off a plant and discover there are only 1 or 2 that qualify (or none).

As a side note, there was an excellent book done on a similar theme for enchantment (I won't spoil the specifics for you as they aren't revealed until late in the book), called The Misenchanted Sword

You could always get something like {Ultra Low Graphics Mod} if you really need it.

But you can also get a laptop cooling fan for like 15-20 bucks,I used one of these bad boys before I built my desktop PC.

New Robin Hobb book is out. So if seems like I'm ignoring you, it is probably because I am.

Blue Snowball microphones are phenomenal quality and $60 http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Microphones-Snowball-Microphone-Textured/dp/B000EOPQ7E

Just gotta get one of these.

http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-1024MB-Graphics-01G-P3-2616-KR/dp/B0083YIGVU
my gpu