Neowin Exclusive Interview with Pete Hines

[LOC Veteran]

I would have liked to have posted this sooner, but due to Comcast and its uh, ongoing "issues" down here in Florida I've been offline since last Monday night until early yesterday morning. I'm getting back into the swing of things though, and I'm happy to announce that either tomorrow or the following Monday, Paul and myself will be conducting an exclusive Neocast: Gamers podcast interview with Pete Hines, one of the many talented people at Bethesda Softworks, responsible for the upcoming Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

Feel free to post any questions you may want to ask him about either the Console or the PC version. Paul and myself will gladly ask any questions you guys come up with, within reason of course :)

After about 12PM EST Wednesday 2/8/06 either I or a mod will lock this thread and I will get the questions together and reword/fix if needed. So have at it guys!

[Sensayshun]

Q.) You've given your decision to take away dynamic shadowing as because it was too slow and we'd rather have objects that are we are able to interact with more complexly than pretty shadows, which is true. BUT, wouldn't it be possible to just have it as a graphics option that you can turn on, so in a year or so when there are systems which are capable of running it with no problem it'll have shadows too?

It might just not be me understanding how dynamic shadows work, I don't know if they're something you can 'just turn on' and I realise the wording of my question was horrible.

P.S Love your games, the elder scrolls series are the only games my family actually buy :p We think you deserve the money :D

[LOC Veteran]

Q.) You've given your decision to take away dynamic shadowing as because it was too slow and we'd rather have objects that are we are able to interact with more complexly than pretty shadows, which is true. BUT, wouldn't it be possible to just have it as a graphics option that you can turn on, so in a year or so when there are systems which are capable of running it with no problem it'll have shadows too?

It might just not be me understanding how dynamic shadows work, I don't know if they're something you can 'just turn on' and I realise the wording of my question was horrible.

P.S Love your games, the elder scrolls series are the only games my family actually buy :p We think you deserve the money :D

So to be clear, you want to ask simply, why isn't there an option to enable/disable dynamic shadows in Oblivion? Correct?

:p

[former1]

First of all allow me to start with OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG! :p

Second of all, what have you most enjoyed working on with this project, and why?

Oh and can you please send a free copy to ..... :p ok I'll hold my luck on that :p

Thanks :)

Does he love neowin? :p

[Sensayshun]

So to be clear, you want to ask simply, why isn't there an option to enable/disable dynamic shadows in Oblivion? Correct?

:p

Yes, although cushion it up a bit to let him know we still think he's lovely. :blush:

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

I want to know (since he seems to have some good position, i actually have no idea who he is), what does he think of StarForce and it's many problems and shortcomings

[LOC Veteran]

I want to know (since he seems to have some good position, i actually have no idea who he is), what does he think of StarForce and it's many problems and shortcomings

He is actually the Vice President of PR and Marketing at Bethesda. Hence why almost all the Oblivion interviews are done by him.

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

Yeah, see, i didn't know that. :D

[LOC Veteran]

Yeah I somehow didn't think you did :p

[Keito]

I would like to know what they're going to do about optimization for older systems? I enjoyed seeing that Half Life 2 was running fairly decent on older systems, still capable ofproducing good graphics for those standards. Is Oblivion going to have that sort of optimization too, or are they more focussing on bringing a high detailed game, without people having crappy 'puters in mind :p (Want to know this because I don't have the money to buy a top-notch system every now and then and still want to be able to play games like this :))

Hope this somewhat makes sense :p

btw, LOC; you're awesome :D

[LOC Veteran]

Why thank you :p

I'll have to reword your question a tad, but that's a good question :)

[Smigit]

I wouldnt mind knowing what other games he plays besides Oblivion and whether he or his coworkers take inspiration from other games they play or do they aim to be more original and isolate themselves from the competition.

Also what do they plan to do now that Oblivion is out of the door. Besides taking a holiday will they be getting into the development of an expansion pack or do they have plans for some new game other than what we have heard of so far.

Lastly, what are his plans for the day after Oblivion finally ships. Martini by the pool?

[LOC Veteran]

:)

Just so you know the interview will delayed until next Monday now.

[LOC Veteran]

Alrighty guys, this is the final 12 hours or so you'll have to list any questions you might have about Oblivion. If all goes according to plan, we should be doing the interview sometime today around 4PM.

Remember, you can ask about the XB360 or the PC version. Just specify which you'd like to ask about, or you can ask a general question about the game. Or anything you want about Bethesda etc.

[stiletto9198]

Hey, first time reader, first time poster :D

Its great you guys are giving people the chance to ask questions. Most interviews have the same things asked/answered over and over, so this might give some new info to the community.

This question is kinda specific, and perhaps the info isnt readily available to Pete, but perhaps if you need some time to fill, you could ask it.

For the pc, will shadermodel 2.0b cards only get a bloom effect, instead of fp16 HDR?

edit : also, i remember a LONG time ago, there was an interview done with Bethesda (before Morrowind was released), and they had a general idea about the next few TES games, and that the 5th one would focus more on large kingdoms, with perhaps control of armies. Just wondering if theyve still got this as an idea.

Also, perhaps a Fallout 3 question. The TES team will be working on it if I remember correctly, do they plan on making it similar to the TES games, or more third person/isometric like the previous two.

Hope these questions help some.

[Necros]

Q1.: Could you tell something more specific about system reqs? I mean what graphic cards will run it smoothly on med or high settings on the common resolutions (800x600 and 1024x768)?

Q2.: Anything about the release date? Late February, early-mid March?

Q3.: Can I knock out people and are there any other ways to not kill someone (an NPC for example). Because if I'll start a thief I don't want to kill unless if it's necessary (like in Thief 3).

Q4.: Can we expect some new pictures and videos on the official site soon? I think everybody would like to see the final state of the graphics. Those rumors about degraded graph are annoying me. So it would be wise to show the community something. :D

I hope you'll answer these. :D Thank you.

[Ently]

Questions:

1) Will npcs who commit crimes get fines or go to jail and such?

2) Will Guards also attack anyone who attacks you first?

3) Will you see npcs steal stuff?

4) How do you recruit people to join your adventures?

5) Will you be able to change Radiant AI settings in-game using the console windows

Questions from here:

http://www.elderscrolls.com/forums/index.p...st=0&p=4225693&

[p0l4r]

Question(s):

1) will you be able to do somekind of swiftkill action while in stealth? sneak up from behind to slit your foes throat, or stab them in bed?

2) are the cloaks? with hoods? just so that a thief like me would look good?

3) are there any possibillety to turn off "you-cant-hurt-pepole-with-throwing-chers-and-stuff" mode? so that you can bring a throwing menace in a town, causing you to be set in exile from the town? (would have been great)

3) will you be able to throw items to distract ememies while fx: preforming a "swiftkill"? (see Q: 1)

4) are there any fun fighting as a thief?

thank you very much, i hope you dont mind my bad english. have a nice day

p0l4r

edit: also, what power will you gain from beeing a guildmaster in the guilds/factions will you be able to make pepople join your guild without that beeing a spesific quest? will you be able to take that gang of factin members for a raid in the town?

Edited February 13, 2006 by p0l4r

[lofblad]

Please ask about the racial abilities, racial attribute bonuses, weapon bonuses and so on. Since they changed the skills collection, what has changed in that department from MW?

[Seven Eleven]

Questions :)

1. If your a vampire and you feed on someone do they die alyways?

2. How much faster are horses than running

3. Any more info on a gold date / release date

4. Are you still having problems with the RAI?

EDIT:

5. Will entering water have effects on your armor (Cloth getting wet, Plate getting shiny)

Edited February 13, 2006 by Seven Eleven

[BleedTheFreak]

First time poster, but I've been following neowin.net since I started listening to the poweruser.tv podcasts a few months back.

Anywho, here are my offerings:

Here are some things I've been wondering about, if there is time to ask:

1) With regards to paralyze/physics - If I paralyze an actor, can he be tipped or fall into a nearby body of water? If so, would he drown, sink, float, etc? Would it depend on his weight?

2) We've heard crossbows and spears will not be in the release version of the game, but what weapon types will there be? We know swords, daggers, staves, warhammers, and axes will be present. What other types might be around that will make fighters happy?

3) It seems like a huge amount of coverage has been taken on by the print magazines of late. When would you anticipate some of the online sites (Gamespot, IGN, Gamespy, etc.) to have a chance to do some write-ups on the game? As I'm sure you've noticed, the fans are slavering for any media we can get, from screenshots to gameplay movies. Everyone's eager to see how it's all shaping up!

[Miltiades]

Question: Will it be possible to load/create a custom face or texture from a photo-image during (or prior to with a remote utility) character creation in TES4-Oblivion like FaceGen's Photofit feature where a user could make a digital representation of him/herself? I would very much enjoy a character running around the streets of Cyrodiil which actually looks like me.

Question: We have read that 'Horse Armor' and 'Holidays' will be among the first official plugins available for purchase. Can you tell us if more official plugins are already known at this time, and are you allowed to tell us what they will be?

Kind greetz,

Milt

[HairlessWookie]

1) Just so there will be one less thing for people to bicker about perpetually, please tell us if a PC with the latest hardware as of the time of this interview at the same resolution, on the same display, with x4 AA and x4 AF, would look the same as the Xbox 360 version at the same resolution, on the same display. (Assume there are no insufficiencies in the PC whatsoever, and that the display and resolution as well as degree of AF and AA are identical for the purposes of this question). You aren't being asked to explain why not if the anaswer is no. ;)

2) Are there mountains that we can reach the top(s) of without following paths, roads, walkways, ravines, etc. i.e. can we still crudely hop our way up a mountain using "footholds" ala Morrowind?

3) Do you forgive people like me who were unduely harsh but are genuinely sorry now? lol. (You don't need to answer this). :p

[schobbes]

I know you can view over great distances in OB. But can you also hear, say a deer call, over great distances? Will the sound be different in the forest then in the open field?

[VWW]

Haha.. i love it... look at all the first time posters! Welcome all! :D