[stilly]

I grabbed all of the DLC and I can only say beware. I think that once I installed the HIGH RES update pack 3 or 4 things got really buggy. On the XP machine with 4 GB of ram and a 1.280gb or whatever nvidia 570 it runs great but it will crash to desktop so learn your quick load and quick save. I found a ini fix that I THINK has helped, but really nothing helped as much as NOT using the update high res packs. Since I turned them off I have YET to see people or weapons or parts of rooms that are all purple and smooth because they are missing textures. I think though that it might be due to me only having an XP machine that can only address 3-4GB of ram and sometimes when the game wants to use the ram above the 3gb mark or what not it will crash. Apparently if you have a Vista or W7 machine with 4 or more GB of ram it should be more stable. Operative word here is SHOULD be more stable. Sucks though because it is VERY sensitive around the temple on solsteim so when I start killing the temple workers or whatever soon after it will crash and I am like, DAMN...

I DO like the new weapons and new ingredients and stuff (cause I am a hoarder) though but damn. It seems like things that you start get locked in that state when you travel to solsteim. Now it seems that I can not unlock the "investigate the murder scene" or the "talk to jorlief about getting help" or "visit the winterhold college" things just do not go away but maybe I need to select and unselect them. It might be best to finish the main dragonborn questline and the side quests BEFORE you visit solsteim.

One thing is fo SHO though, dragon bone bow totally WHOOPS many things once you sharpen it up and use dragon bone arrows. I found that I like the deathbrand armor too because now there are sets of armor it seems and that makes it closer to Diablo because you get bonuses for wearing the different armors or pieces. I also like the CHAOS damage enchantment where you can enchant a weapon to do damage or frost/fire/shock as ONE enchantment and then pick another enchantment. THe new powers that you can discover after making your way through the black books are cool, but what sucks is that in order to change the books or activate the different powers you MUST be in solsteim, else the books will do nothing for you (although you can still use the power). I like having an ability to summon a dreamora as a butler to carry things or buy my stuff off me right there in the field...

I ALSO like being able to buy a plot of land and build the house that I want. EVEN though the damn apiary does not work. Funny though, on my second built house the greenhouse side has produced MORE honeycomb and bees then my apiary has. I THINK that having a green house + apiary + kitchen + storage might be good for the apiary but you can not have any kids then. Also, the garden/greenhouse does NOT work with the green thumb perk. You harvest 3-4 items from each single item that you plant in your garden. THen after a day or two you come back and you can harvest them again. BUT, when you see the greenthumb perk it says you harvest (4) (2) items meaning 8 but that is not true. Oh well... Greenthumb is STILL good to have

I keep seeing that there is a way to get weapons beefed up beyond legendary though but I dunno how to do it. I see references to flawless and perfect or something and I am like, DAMN. My bow can do about 300 damage normally and when I get lucky it will do 3x + critical strike...

I found that once you get a dragon bone arrow, give 1 to Lydia and also equip her with the giant's club from tumble pass or what not. Lydia totally rocks and can tank many enemies now...

I found that it is now ALSO harder to smith your abilities up the old way. FORGET 500 iron daggers. I think I had to make like more than 2000 so I ended up making dwarven bows and THAT seemed to be better. I guess that the smithing/enchanting/alchemy skills are now based on EXPENSE of the item you make. SO make some expensive items and you do not need to make as many. Banish or paralyze enchant dwarven bows now and you are gonna have lots of cash to play with.

Wanna make cash fast and easy? Once you get your whole lot of enchanted weapons and stuff, go to a merchant that has lots of cash (Lucian or whatever in riverwood) and sell to him, then when he is out of money, quick save, attack him and quick load and he has a full inventory and cash again... Works with just about most of the vendors.


Also, I have not played dawnguard yet. I only wanted to play hearthfire and dragonborn or whatever to build the homes and explore the new map. I got dawnguard though because it was dlc and I WILL start it, but not just yet...