Elder Scrolls VI - No New Graphics Engine

GameWatcher reports that the Elder Scrolls 6 and Starfield will not get a new graphics engine.

The Elder Scrolls 6 engine will, then, essentially be an upgraded version of the Starfield engine, which will in turn be an upgraded version of what's running Fallout 4 and Fallout 76, which in turn runs Skyrim, New Vegas, Fallout 3, and - though a bit of a stretch - Morrowind, too. A proper sausage, right?

Now, this is all well and good in and of itself, but the flaws of Creation Engine have come to a staggering head with the issues pinpointed by the Fallout 76 Beta. For example, Creation Engine has huge physics problems when running at above 60 FPS, and is playing catch-up with modern game engines in virtually every area that counts.

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More information.

Good news for broken mess fans.

I was hoping they'd adopt a new engine. But I can see pros and cons with this. Some of the pros might be that more development time will go to creating a fun game (versus creating a new engine). As pointed out in the article, modders are familiar with this engine and mods have traditionally been a positive force for Elder Scrolls games. On the flip side, I'm terribly exhausted by "cell loading" as it's jarring and un-immersive. Having recently played AC Origins, I think their game engine could make a fantastic Elder Scrolls game… big huge seamless map with zero "cell loading."

Deja Vu.

But did anyone really expect otherwise?

This doesn’t really mean much. It’s like saying “We’ve decided to stay with Unity instead of using Unreal” when Unity 2018 is vastly different in the technological sense than say, Unity 2.

I however, fully expect much pedanticism!

Good for modders at least.

They will still update the same old engine they now call the Creation engine. In my opinion it's a remake & rebranding of the Gamebryo engine just heavily modded.

Originally Posted by joxer
Good news for broken mess fans.

Weird I could have sworn you were into that crappy euro pirate game….which was a mess…

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
Good for modders at least.

They will still update the same old engine they now call the Creation engine. In my opinion it's a remake & rebranding of the Gamebryo engine just heavily modded.

If it's good for modders then it's good for Bethesda Creation Club as well.

Damn you Bethesda, this well has run out of water !!!

Originally Posted by henriquejr
If it's good for modders then it's good for Bethesda Creation Club as well. Damn you Bethesda, this well has run out of water !!!

Seriously you don't want to read my opinion of the Bethesda Creation Club.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
Seriously you don't want to read my opinion of Bethesda Creation Club.

But I can guess it

Originally Posted by henriquejr
But I can guess it

Yep it would get me a yellow flag on this site if I posted it.

Meh, make some anonymous blog "article" then link to it.

People have been asking for a new engine since Oblivion came out. It's obvious Bethesda is never gonna make a new engine on one of their mainline titles. It's too expensive. We'll see a new Elder Scrolls with a new engine when Bethesda gets a new engine for another in-house game. The best opportunity would have been Fallout 76, in my opinion, but they're obviously not interested.
My advice is let them do their thing. If you like it, then play it. If you don't, just give up on them already. It's way past time.

I don't know… whether it has "the same engine" or not sounds more like a marketing thing to me. They could change it a little bit, give it a new name, and Pow! New graphics engine! Or they could completely change how it works under the hood while still giving modders the same sort of API to work with and, oh, it's just an upgraded version of the existing engine. It all depends on who they want to please.

P.S. If you're getting 60fps in Skyrim, you need more eye candy mods!

I wouldn't assume that all modders are delighted at incremental change. For a lot of the more basic and cosmetic mods, it's convenient if things stay the same, but also not that hard to adapt to a new scheme. But for some of the bigger and more involved mods, I know some of those guys are very frustrated at the limitations of this very dated and clunky engine, and some have even quit because they're so sick of it, and Bethesda's refusal to fix things.

It's not refusal, it's complacency. Why change the recipe for the gruel if you got a line around the block?

"It allows us to create worlds really fast and the modders know it really well," says Bethesda's Todd Howard for Gamestar.

Read, "we're set in our ways, ready to serve up the same recycled slop until we retire. Regardless, we have modders to fix our junk and make it halfway approachable anyway."

Originally Posted by Drithius
It's not refusal, it's complacency. Why change the recipe for the gruel if you got a line around the block?

"It allows us to create worlds really fast and the modders know it really well," says Bethesda's Todd Howard for Gamestar.

Read, "we're set in our ways, ready to serve up the same recycled slop until we retire. Regardless, we have modders to fix our junk and make it halfway approachable anyway."

Been the philosophy of Bethesda since Morrowind. They even steal ideas from modders.

No new graphical engine, but I'll bet money that it will be burdened down with some horrible online requirement.

Not if they stick mods behind a paywall…. or otherwise restrict modders.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
Good for modders at least.

They will still update the same old engine they now call the Creation engine. In my opinion it's a remake & rebranding of the Gamebryo engine just heavily modded.

Originally Posted by TheMadGamer
On the flip side, I'm terribly exhausted by "cell loading" as it's jarring and un-immersive. Having recently played AC Origins, I think their game engine could make a fantastic Elder Scrolls game… big huge seamless map with zero "cell loading."

Any 3D game must load it partially like that, otherwise it wouldnt be possible to run it at an acceptable framerate. They did improve how for example 2D billboards turns into 3D trees in Skyrim SE, it's a slight fade instead of a direct "pop" into 3D (looks awful). Bethesda's games has been terrible at this since Oblivion, but at least it is improving. In Morrowind there were hick-ups when a new cell was loading, it was noticeable sometimes in Oblivion and FO: NV, but gone completely with Skyrim.

But yes, it does not mean much. RDR 2 is still using Rockstar's engine etc etc.. it's usually how it works for game series like this.