TES:V and ESO Environment Comparison

ArchMikem

This is my 600th thread btw

Got a new PC, reinstalled Skyrim with mah mods and put those new components to use. Reminded again the massive differences in the two different engines these games use, and why I believe even though ESO is much better gameplay wise, TES:V still has immensely better visuals. Also if you want the pics bigger you're gonna have to open in a new tab, cause of the forum being weird.



This is a RARE exception in ESO. This is a patch of forest in Summerset between Alinor and Cey Tarn Keep. ZOS has proven with areas like this that they can create lush, beautiful, thick vegetation and flora. However for some reason, most players' systems cry when we're in these areas. I have no idea why exactly, whether it's a game Engine issue or it's just too pretty to handle.



Another ESO example, from the entrance to Falkreath Hold Dungeon. Beautiful, lush, dense woodland scenery that, supposedly, was only possible since it's a small, narrow instance separate from the main overworld map.

And then TES:V



Woods outside Riverwood.



The lake to it's West.



An area Northwest of Falkreath.

I know that trying to render and keep track of dozens if not hundreds of other player characters in the same instance can hamper performance, but those images are indicative of THE ENTIRE map of TES:V. It's that quality, that detailed across most the entire world space of the game, and my new PC, which is still considered mid range compared to the rigs I'm sure a lot of you use to run ESO, can still maintain a stable 60fps. I have Vsync on so I don't know my max frames I get.

The world map of TES:V is huge compared to ESO, and I don't mean actual physical space. It's achieved the illusion of a vast wilderness you can get lost in. Round a corner or go past some trees and you suddenly don't know where you are anymore. The distances look immense and it gives you the sense that something in the horizon would take quite a while to reach. If ESO 2 actually is a thing in ZOS' future MMO plans, I really, really hope that a new Engine that accomplishes this visually is on their to do list....or maybe deep down I'm just another "Why isn't this Skyrim: Online?" person.

Royaji

Maybe I'm wrong but those screenshots do not look like vanilla Skyrim.

MartiniDaniels

Royaji wrote: »

Maybe I'm wrong but those screenshots do not look like vanilla Skyrim.

This doesn't matter. I remember when I first time launched skyrim on laptop with medium or low settings. I was stunned with how beautifully environment design is. ESO has some problems either with lightning or FOV or engine, i don't know with what, but majority of the game looks simply plain... yeah, it's much better in DLC zones, for example Nothern Elsweyr and Summerset are amazing on high-ultra settings with re-shade.
And re-shade helps a ton with shadow "depth" and fps hit is abysmally low like 1-3 fps. Devs definitely need to consider changing base game filter or adding an option with several filters. I often turn on/off re-shade for comparison purposes and it is immediate transformation from immersive, vibrant world and plain bleak one.

Royaji

MartiniDaniels wrote: »

Royaji wrote: »

Maybe I'm wrong but those screenshots do not look like vanilla Skyrim.

This doesn't matter. I remember when I first time launched skyrim on laptop with medium or low settings. I was stunned with how beautifully environment design is. ESO has some problems either with lightning or FOV or engine, i don't know with what, but majority of the game looks simply plain... yeah, it's much better in DLC zones, for example Nothern Elsweyr and Summerset are amazing on high-ultra settings with re-shade.
And re-shade helps a ton with shadow "depth" and fps hit is abysmally low like 1-3 fps. Devs definitely need to consider changing base game filter or adding an option with several filters. I often turn on/off re-shade for comparison purposes and it is immediate transformation from immersive, vibrant world and plain bleak one.

Well, it kinda does. There is a difference between "do it at your own risk" kind of setup you can get with Skyrim and "this has to work for most users" (rip PS4) that ESO is limited to just because of its online nature.

And I'm feeling some heavy pink shades here. Skyrim looks alright. In 2011. It does not hold up that well to modern standards without aforementioned "do it at your own risk" setup. On comparable settings vanilla Skyrim won't look that much better than ESO. It is a different topic that you can't really run ESO at higher setups due to optimisation.

And hey, a lot of it is personal taste. The real world is pretty bleak and gray you know. To me every re-shade just looks like someone turned saturation and gamma to 11 with extra blur at 9 to create this shrooms-induced world of "vibrant" colours. Not a fan.

bearbelly

Oh, yes. I MUCH prefer the Skyrim environment art to that of ESO.
Not that I dislike the art in ESO (it is beautiful in its own way), I just think Skyrim's is far more detailed and evocative.

Huyen

Skyrim without mods still looks better then ESO does at some points.

Faulgor

Has little to do with the engine. Mutliplayer environments just have to be designed differently to accommodate more players. For forests, that means they are more sparse and trees farther apart. For buildings and cities, it means they are scaled up compared to player characters. Yeah, that means MMO environments are less immersive, but I think ESO actually managed a good balance.

As for TES:V (and IV and III) having wilderness to get lost in, that's because there's actually wilderness. ESO is pretty much civilized in any direction, other players can be met everywhere, fast travel is much more readily available, and there are fewer reasons to travel back to town because inventory management isn't as much of an issue. In the single player games, you actively have to plan ahead when going exploring, whereas in ESO you can't really get lost anywhere. But that has nothing to do with environmental detail, it's down to different gameplay mechanics and multi- vs singleplayer.

Nemesis7884

what boggles me is that you specifically use an engine trimmed for large scale performance for an mmo like eso and the it also underperforms..so you end up with worse performance and worse visuals...and dont tell me it doesnt work - look at back desert online

Starlock

Personally, I don't compare the two. I compare ESO against itself as a standalone work of art. The designers do a good job with this game, especially in the newer regions. I don't expect photorealism, but then again, I don't expect that (or care about that) just in general with video games. I prefer it when designers steer away from photorealism in favor of a distinctive visual style instead. It makes it more art and often leaves more to the player's imagination.

Sailor_Palutena

ESO in 4k max textures is more beautiful than what I ever seen in Skyrim with mods. Yes Skyrim is beautiful with mods, but you can see it isn't natural, like a woman full of make-up or a photoshopped image.

ESO is all natural.

ArchMikem

Sailor_Palutena wrote: »

ESO in 4k max textures is more beautiful than what I ever seen in Skyrim with mods. Yes Skyrim is beautiful with mods, but you can see it isn't natural, like a woman full of make-up or a photoshopped image.

ESO is all natural.

It just needs 3x as many trees.

nafensoriel

ArchMikem wrote: »

/snip

One is a single player game.
One has the overhead requirements of an MMO.

You will never get an MMO to look identical to a period similar single-player game.
The single-player game will always look superior because, by design, it is capable of spending considerably more resources on making things look pretty.

On engines...
I want you to consider watchdogs and the controversy about its hidden settings that enable near EQ3 level graphics.
To the end-user, your argument would imply the engine is somehow old because of the release level graphics. Yet all it required was turning on a few flags. The same is true of any engine. Update art assets and updated modules and bam you have sudden pretty. That isn't "easy" though and it comes at a cost.

Inval1d

ArchMikem wrote: »

Sailor_Palutena wrote: »

ESO in 4k max textures is more beautiful than what I ever seen in Skyrim with mods. Yes Skyrim is beautiful with mods, but you can see it isn't natural, like a woman full of make-up or a photoshopped image.

ESO is all natural.

It just needs 3x as many trees.

Agree. I was kind disappointed when I first traveled to Valenwood just to see is not as dense as I expected it to be. Only a few big trees like ten yards from each other...

Dungeons enviroment looks nice enough in like Selene's Web, City of Ash (before going to Oblivion I mean) and Lair of Maarselok