Were your characters made slimmer by the Dragon Bones update?

GreenHere · February 2018

I, and many people I've talked to in game, have had characters made skinnier/slimmer since the release of Dragon Bones. It's a slight change, maybe 20ish percent, but it's noticeable and pretty annoying. Particularly noticeable in the legs & arms, and easier to see on characters that were on the slimmer side in the first place; some are downright anorexic looking now.

Before everyone swoops in with their witty replies, yes... Food buff is active, our characters weren't skinny when we made them, and we even lift, bro.

Myself and many others consider this a fairly serious issue, since the appearance of our characters matters to us and changing it would require us to PAY to fix it. If we even could. Looking at the character creator/editor, none of the settings appear to have been altered for my characters (going from memory), yet visually there's definitely been a change.

All that said, I'm not sure what to do or if there's even anything to be "done" about it. I'd like to know if this is affecting a lot of people, though.

::EDIT:: This issue it not referring to the way many different styles of armor can change the way characters look. I should have clarified before that I have not used the Outfit system at all on characters this is affecting, and I've heard the same thing from other players with the issue. Nothing has been altered on our characters, aside from what apparently was done by this update. I noticed upon first logging in after installing the patch, before even leaving the character select screen.

Sixty5 · February 2018

Yes, my toons have been slimmed down

Seems like they have all been skipping leg day since the update.

A lot of legs in the outfit system seem to make it look like I have stick legs.

Ratzkifal · February 2018

No, nothing has changed that I can see

After hearing this happened to others I started hallucinating that my Telvanni Master Wizard outfit got slimmer, but that's probably not true.

jcaceresw · February 2018

Other

I have noticed on the outfit station that some chest and legs motif parts make my toons to be more slimmer or too fatty. one of the hew's bane motifs make my toon to be too obese on the sides.

GreenHere · February 2018

Yes, my toons have been slimmed down

To clarify, I have not utilized the Outfits system at all on these characters, I am seeing it on Costumes they've been wearing for months. It's definitely true that many armor styles can drastically alter the dimensions and perceived dimensions of characters, but that's not what I am referring to. It can be seen on bare arms and legs, too.

Streega · February 2018

No, nothing has changed that I can see

My old characters didn't change at all (my heavy armour DK got even fatter?), but the new alt I've made turned out to be a lot slimmer than in the creator. Doesn't bother me much, as he is only for the new rewards and will unfortunately "die" soon

GreenHere · February 2018

Yes, my toons have been slimmed down

Streega wrote: »

My old characters didn't change at all (my heavy armour DK got even fatter?), but the new alt I've made turned out to be a lot slimmer than in the creator. Doesn't bother me much, as he is only for the new rewards and will unfortunately "die" soon

I also created a new character to take a gander at the new level up system, and thought I noticed that she was slimmer than in the creator as well. But by then I'd already noticed the alteration to my existing toons, and couldn't be sure if I could trust my senses anymore, haha.

I figured putting any of that in the original post would have muddied the waters, and make it even longer than it already was unnecessarily. But I'm inclined to believe you on the alt being slimmer than intended.

Nestor · February 2018

Yes, my toons have been slimmed down

You are not the first to mention this.

They seem slimmer to me, in the Character Select screen for sure. But in game, maybe a little, hard to tell. Most of mine are skinny anway.

I do have two fat mules, Mule McAllister and Stanley Storage, I made them as fat as possible during Chargen. I will have to load them up and pay more attention. I did load them up after the patch, and at first glance they seem to have lost weight, must not like Aldmeri Cooking.

GreenHere · February 2018

Yes, my toons have been slimmed down

Nestor wrote: »

You are not the first to mention this.

They seem slimmer to me, in the Character Select screen for sure. But in game, maybe a little, hard to tell. Most of mine are skinny anway.

I do have two fat mules, Mule McAllister and Stanley Storage, I made them as fat as possible during Chargen. I will have to load them up and pay more attention. I did load them up after the patch, and at first glance they seem to have lost weight, must not like Aldmeri Cooking.

It really is harder to tell on the beefier characters, for me at least. Even if they got the same treatment, it's not such a drastic change; but on my characters that were on the slim side of healthy weight... I am not happy with how they look anymore. Ones that were on the thicker side are now more average weight. So I can only assume the lumbering mounds of muscle and blubber that many of us have for alts were slimmed down too, but it's too hard to tell because they're still huge. :P

Marginis · February 2018

Yes, my toons have been slimmed down

This has happened at least two times already as far as I noticed, on console too. My main looks quite different than he did when I first made him on PC. And I have video of him from the beta and launch of the game on PC and the launch of the game on console, so it's not imaginary. As an RPer this just generally sucks, especially since I worked so hard on my character and made him just right. Those triangle sliders, god...

And if anyone was wondering, this is with the characters naked, no outfits or armor. We already know how some outfits contort your body.

Osteos · February 2018

No, nothing has changed that I can see

You guys need to lay off the skooma

Eiagra · February 2018

No, nothing has changed that I can see

All my characters are large, muscular male orcs, and I use very specific template that I have screenshots of, and I take screenshots when I create a new character. I'm very particular as to their appearance. In the name of science, I have stripped a couple of my orcs down to their smallclothes and examined and scrutinized them quite closely and thoroughly... I'm not noticing any difference compared to the screenshots I took at their creation.

To help with determining if this is hitting certain races, genders, and combination of sliders, it may be helpful if everyone who wants to provide feedback on this issue can either provide data as to what their body triangle and sliders are currently set at or a screenshot of the sliders on the Change Appearance screen (either at character creation or if you have a Token).

Above is an example. Male, Orc, generally maxed/muscular body sliders, and no noticeable change.

Hope this helps!

temjiu · February 2018

Yes, my toons have been slimmed down

I'm beginning to wonder if it has to do with the new cosmetic system, and whatever possible changes they had to make to existing skins in order to standardize things. When I look at new characters in the creation screen, they don't look like they are thinner, but my current characters in gear definitely look thinner, specifically in the arms and legs.

It's an odd behavior. But plenty of people are commenting on it, so I don't think it's just a random occurrence. And from what I can tell, it is linked to either the gear, or at least there' a difference in game vs the creation screen.

In another thread, someone mentioned that it could be an after-affect of them making changes to resolution. I could see that too....if I change from my default resolution of 1920X1080 to 1600X1200, my characters look ALLOT different. I personally am not sure what they changed in the video department, but it's been brought up during the course of these discussion, so figured it was worth noting.

GreenHere · February 2018

Yes, my toons have been slimmed down

Thanks for the input, all. Glad to know I'm not alone in my perceptions here, but I find it odd that so many have seen no change. Makes me wonder if not all people were hit by this somehow, most people just aren't super observant, or some other factor I haven't even considered.

@Eiagra has the right idea, picture proof would be great... if only I had taken screens before all this. Didn't know I'd be needing to supply evidence one day :P

Lysette · February 2018

I think they got taller, and this creates it - when i choose a different hair style I cannot even see that hairstyle, because half of the head of my character is off screen - something has changed.

dtsharples · February 2018

Be careful with deleting those new characters, there is an issue still with items being deleted with them too.
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/395196/extremely-dangerous-housing-storage-bug-still-exists-dont-delete-your-characters/p6

GreenHere · February 2018

Yes, my toons have been slimmed down

Taller?! I hadn't noticed (or even considered) that, but it actually sounds kinda plausible. My characters look thinned out in a way that could be described as "stretched" or something, so I suppose as theories go that's not half bad. But if that were the case, I would expect their faces, necks, etc. to look... off. And to my eye, they don't. Just weirdly skinny legs and arms.

Too bad I didn't carve notches in the door frames as my characters were "growing up", eh?

P.S. - @Lysette, you didn't vote in the poll! My super scientific research data! Noooooo!

Gilvoth · February 2018

Yes, my toons have been slimmed down

yes, and i hate it.
they changed the resolution with this patch and it ruined the appearance of everything.

GreenHere · February 2018

Yes, my toons have been slimmed down

Thanks for the heads up, @dtsharples! That would be a pretty serious bummer on top of the issue I'm already having here.

But for me, I have no intention of deleting my characters... I just want them to look the way I paid money already to make them. If I have to spend 1k crowns each to edit them back to the way they were pre-DB, I'll be none-too-happy about it. I have 15 characters now. It's the same for many of us; particularly ones who care enough about our characters to instantly notice and dislike a subtle change like this.

GreenHere · February 2018

Yes, my toons have been slimmed down

dwemer_paleologist wrote: »

yes, and i hate it.
they changed the resolution with this patch and it ruined the appearance of everything.

@dwemer_paleologist
Say what now? Can you elaborate, please?

Gilvoth · February 2018

Yes, my toons have been slimmed down

GreenHere wrote: »

dwemer_paleologist wrote: »

yes, and i hate it.
they changed the resolution with this patch and it ruined the appearance of everything.

@dwemer_paleologist
Say what now? Can you elaborate, please?

the resolution the game outputs effects the resolution your monitor gives to you.
right click on your monitor [and choose Resolution], it allows you to adjust your resolution, that will give you insight as to how this is effecting your view of stretched out characters.

Gilvoth · February 2018

Yes, my toons have been slimmed down

[Display settings]

GreenHere · February 2018

Yes, my toons have been slimmed down

dwemer_paleologist wrote: »

GreenHere wrote: »

dwemer_paleologist wrote: »

yes, and i hate it.
they changed the resolution with this patch and it ruined the appearance of everything.

@dwemer_paleologist
Say what now? Can you elaborate, please?

the resolution the game outputs effects the resolution your monitor gives to you.
right click on your monitor [and choose Resolution], it allows you to adjust your resolution, that will give you insight as to how this is effecting your view of stretched out characters.

Unless I'm misunderstanding what you mean, shouldn't things still look the same if the aspect ratio is unchanged? I'm running the same resolution as before, and stepping down my Video Settings resolution (in-game) makes things look the same (just fuzzier). Only when I start choosing non-16:9 ratios do things look weird, but even then the proportions of characters is still easy enough to tell... Everybody looks "wider" with weird aspect ratios, but still with strangely skinny arms and legs.

Elsonso · February 2018

No, nothing has changed that I can see

I am wondering if they are quietly updating the character rigging now that they have dropped support for DX9. This could result in some minor appearance changes like this as they change how the models and textures are assembled.

Gilvoth · February 2018

Yes, my toons have been slimmed down

GreenHere wrote: »

dwemer_paleologist wrote: »

GreenHere wrote: »

dwemer_paleologist wrote: »

yes, and i hate it.
they changed the resolution with this patch and it ruined the appearance of everything.

@dwemer_paleologist
Say what now? Can you elaborate, please?

the resolution the game outputs effects the resolution your monitor gives to you.
right click on your monitor [and choose Resolution], it allows you to adjust your resolution, that will give you insight as to how this is effecting your view of stretched out characters.

Unless I'm misunderstanding what you mean, shouldn't things still look the same if the aspect ratio is unchanged? I'm running the same resolution as before, and stepping down my Video Settings resolution (in-game) makes things look the same (just fuzzier). Only when I start choosing non-16:9 ratios do things look weird, but even then the proportions of characters is still easy enough to tell... Everybody looks "wider" with weird aspect ratios, but still with strangely skinny arms and legs.

GreenHere · February 2018

Yes, my toons have been slimmed down

@dwemer_paleologist

lol

This is the first I'm hearing about any resolution changes or anything. Is there any patch notes or something I missed addressing this?

lordrichter wrote: »

I am wondering if they are quietly updating the character rigging now that they have dropped support for DX9. This could result in some minor appearance changes like this as they change how the models and textures are assembled.

Interesting insight. Yet you noticed no changes yourself, @lordrichter ?

Rex-Umbra · February 2018

No, nothing has changed that I can see

I wish they were

Elsonso · February 2018

No, nothing has changed that I can see

GreenHere wrote: »

@dwemer_paleologist

lol

This is the first I'm hearing about any resolution changes or anything. Is there any patch notes or something I missed addressing this?

lordrichter wrote: »

I am wondering if they are quietly updating the character rigging now that they have dropped support for DX9. This could result in some minor appearance changes like this as they change how the models and textures are assembled.

Interesting insight. Yet you noticed no changes yourself, @lordrichter ?

I have not paid a lot of attention to it, to be honest. When I play games, I expect visual anomalies. Unless they jump out of the screen and slap me, like with Nocturnal, I tend to tune them out.

I know that they made a lot of concessions for DX9, and they might want to take some of those back. That will make some potentially significant changes to the builds, skeleton, animation, meshes, and textures. Whenever that happens, there is always the chance that things could appear differently. It's rather like swapping out the foundation of a building, and I am not sure they even want to do such a thing with this game.

coop500 · February 2018

Other

I haven't.... noticed but now I'm curious and wanna look.

Theodorus · February 2018

...Now that you pointed it out, I notice it, I hate it, and I blame you

I have a female wood elf sorc who I intentionally made very much on the slim side; now she looks like a poster child for anorexia nervosa.

So yes, in my opinion they did something, nor am I happy about it. Those of us who invest something in how our characters look do not want them changed to facilitate coding for some other aspect of the game.

My guess is, it would have to be the outfitter system, but why it should need to be is a mystery.

Ermiq · February 2018

Other

Idk. I've noticed that my characters have been looked different when I first logged in after a patch was installed. I was blaming those ugly hats suddenly appeared on their heads, but then I've seen this thread and I... still don't know.

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Were your characters made slimmer by the Dragon Bones update?

Were your characters made slimmer by the Dragon Bones update? 117 votes