Exterior - Interior INCONSISTANCIES

Aelthwyn · March 2018

Is anyone else disturbed by the extent to which the interiors of some of these houses do not match the exterior? I know they make them look bigger on the outside with what looks like attics or third floors with dormer windows you can't get to and all that, and okay fine I guess that is to be expected, BUT there are some things like a Window on the outside right where the Fireplace is on the inside!?!? Several windows in a wall on the outside that has NO windows on the inside?!?! Seriously?! They couldn't be bothered to at least make a pretense of matching the inside to the outside of the buildings?!

I still love the houses, but there's a part of me that just sort of twitches every time I come inside and notice these things.
(I was just previewing Domus Phrasticus and couldn't take it anymore, I just had to say something)

Wreuntzylla · March 2018

Huh, maybe that's why none of the windows are functional.

LadyAstrum · March 2018

Yes, I can't tell if it is idleness, lack of attention to detail, or low standards, but I think it's ridiculous that interiors and exteriors are sometimes different. Can't a house exterior be designed to match it's interior, or vice versa?

Did ZoS think people wouldn't notice, or do they think most people don't care for a high level of quality in houses?

It is things like this that do the game an injustice. So many nice things, but the details, the attention to errors, seems lacking at times.

logarifmik · March 2018

This topic was raised several times, by your humble servant in particular. I don't know devs reasons to do so, maybe it's an oversight, maybe just a lazy design, but it bothers me a lot. It's the first thing I consider when buying a house now. It also should be pointed out, that discrepancy of interior and exterior can be found even in regular game buildings, so the phenomenon is widespread. This flaw one can find in singleplayer TES games as well, but not in such quantity. I doubt, that it'll be ever fixed, though. Even simple cases, like wrong size of windows in Ravenhurst, most likely will stay as it is.

R_K · March 2018

logarifmik wrote: »

This topic was raised several times, by your humble servant in particular. I don't know devs reasons to do so, maybe it's an oversight, maybe just a lazy design, but it bothers me a lot...

The interior spaces of [nearly all] buildings -- that you enter/exit via a door -- are not physically located within the buildings' exterior facades.

When you use a door, you are actually performing a "jump" into or out of the interior space. This interior space is located pretty far below and/or far away from the door you just used.

I am not a Zenimax developer; but, my guess would be that this design choice facilitates the creation of larger, unique or more interesting interior spaces that may not otherwise fit into a building's exterior facade. Regardless of the rationale, I believe that this is why you rarely see "operational" windows that you can actually see through.

Aliyavana · March 2018

Amaya lake lodge is missing entire sections of interior

Grimm13 · March 2018

The perception filters are on the blink in some cases....

Most likely different designers working on the same project. They both get a rough layout then the interior designer ends up making changes to accommodate the space they are wanting or gets told to make a change. Since there is no direct limitations to differences the outside design is unchanged. Same process can happen with one designers as they do the outside first then the interior.

logarifmik · March 2018

R_K wrote: »

The interior spaces of [nearly all] buildings -- that you enter/exit via a door -- are not physically located within the buildings' exterior facades.

When you use a door, you are actually performing a "jump" into or out of the interior space. This interior space is located pretty far below and/or far away from the door you just used.

Thank you for such detailed answer, but I'm aware of how this game deals with interiors. In some other games, for example, interior is generally a separate zone, but it can have a good match with exterior nevertheless. It's not the point here how exactly it was done technically, but how it looks from the design perspective. And it looks slapdash.

R_K · March 2018

logarifmik wrote: »

Thank you for such detailed answer, but I'm aware of how this game deals with interiors. In some other games, for example, interior is generally a separate zone, but it can have a good match with exterior nevertheless. It's not the point here how exactly it was done technically, but how it looks from the design perspective. And it looks slapdash.

I definitely do understand where you are coming from and, yes, I agree that it would be ideal if games didn't exhibit this type of inconsistency between interior and exterior spaces ever -- it would be that much more immersive.

With that said, I don't think it's a fully realistic expectation for a game of this scale. If even one building or structure ended up needing a larger interior space than its corresponding facade could accommodate, everything around that structure would have been to moved (including their own interior spaces). Such changes would pose substantial budgetary and timeline issues and would therefore be seen as a risk that would be worth avoiding by any decent Project Manager.

TelvanniWizard · March 2018

A wizard did it.

Jayne_Doe · March 2018

aliyavana wrote: »

Amaya lake lodge is missing entire sections of interior

Yes, but it is based on a building in Balmora. It's the councilors residence or whatever the guy is in Balmora whose daughter is missing. I checked out that place and it's exactly the same interior and exterior that is used for Amaya Lake Lodge. It's still a bummer, though, as it'd be cool to have all that space that's missing under the stairs, or even have a door that leads to an open porch area.

As to Domus Phrasticus, that is one of the worst offenders. My husband bought that place without noticing the inconsistencies, but it wasn't long after he made his purchase that he noticed all the issues. He never goes in that place now as it bugs him too much.

M_Volsung · March 2018

I have Mistveil Manor and Autumn's Gate, the interiors and exteriors match up ok but what bugs me is the fact that, in Mistveil, we have sunlight streaming through windows in a wall that's quite literally shoved right up against a mountain and Autumn's Gate has a couple windows inside that when you go outside are right in the center of where the wall surrounding the property meets the house...

ghastley · March 2018

A wizard built it?