Anyone who solves it gets a massive cookie... but during the opening scene, the first guy walks up to be executed and then nothing happens... what is the cause of this?

I think I can answer, but it is definitely a spoiler. For the most part, I've discovered if you're not watching the right place, the action continues anyway. It's not a cut scene, nor do they wait for you to be paying attention.

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Edit: Or, are you saying your computer freezes up at that point? If that is the case, I have no idea. I didn't have that kind of a problem.

However, I will reward with another huge cookie if anyone can tell me how to get rid of the black markings that show up on my screen. They don't go away, but at night they seem almost white. They look almost like something written in dragon runes, but very blurred. I think they may have something to do with my nVidia 8800 video card. I think I need to change some settings, but I don't know which.

the recommended card for this game is a Nvidia 250 which is quite a few cards newer than my 9800s, and therefore newer than the 8800 (that was the first card i played oblivion with by the way ran it wonderfully too)

so my thoughts there would be to drop quality to lowest, and then work your way up in the settings... for example, my computer can play at ultra high, but it lags.... i dropped it down to high and it runs as smooth as unmodded oblivion... and neither me nor my girlfriend could tell a difference in the graphics soooo no great loss for a ton of performance increase

so that would be my suggestion... it could also be that your settings are set to low to see what the 'runes' actually say, i noticed alot with oblivion if you have your detail on to low, that things that you need to see (such as the map of wayshrines in Knights of the Nine) would become impossible to read due to the lowering of the texture quality. therefore i would recommend running the game on high too to see if you can read the m:)

as for my issue, my save game was corrupted... the executioner was in the wrong spot therefore his animation nor that of the captain ever executed i found a save game on nexus that brought you in right before character creation and it worked fine... it must have been from my system lagging to badly during the opening scene ( i was running it on ultra at that point still)

Hurray!! I found my problem and solved it!

I went into the Options menu at the time of game launch and upped the resolution from low (which it was on to begin with since game said that was all I could use) to medium. Gameplay improved greatly, but the black splotches were worse. Next, I turned ON anit-aliasing and anisotropic filtering. All nasty blotches are gone. Shadows look great, as does all the other textures I've seen so far. No lags so far (knock on wood) and it is much, much more fun.

Sorry, though. I don't know what's causing your problem, but possibly dropping it back to high resoluation instead of ultra may help. Gis says any computer that worked on Oblivion should work fine and at least on high if not ultra, but I think Ultra may give it a lag if we don't have the high-powered video cards. When I got mine, it was top of the line and cost me a bunch, so I'd love to keep using it for awhile longer if I can. Newer ones aren't any less expensive.

I guess, cookies to both of us?

Hi Everybody;

I look in every-now-and-then, but I have not Posted in a long time.

OK, I got Skyrim from a friend, they Gifted me on Steam, I didn't think I would be able to get it for a few months! Thank You Again!

Anyway my 6 year old computer can play Skyrim, but it crashes to desktop some times, about 3 times in 5 hours of play. After playing for a little I set the graphics to Low, but it did not stop the Crash, and the graphics are not very good, so after reading what Nowena had to say, I am going to set it to Medium... then High... and see what I see. We'll See.

I run Win XP and I did upgrade my GPU some time last summer to the NAVIDIA GT 220, so I will try a higher setting.

I think there is some Mods coming soon that will need some VAing, and I for one, will do as much as the Modders let me. I have that Texan accent to deal with...

Mr. K

Congratulations Mr. K. I have a fairly new computer. It will be two years old in February and I have had at least three crashes. Seem to happen for me when I am searching barrels for some strange reason. Good luck on the VAing. I think I heard a Nord with a bit of a drawl. Seem to be mostly Nords, Imperials and a couple of Dunmer so far.

Yep Nakia, Barrels have been a problem, I also had a total lock on my computer, just out by a river, had to turn off the power to reset the computer. I get a crash or lock-up when I get a message from steam, I had to set Steam to not send me messages wile in-game; that happened sometimes with other games too.

I set my graphics to High and it seams to run better, looks a little better too.

Lots of Fun, but it is way past my bed time, So...

Mr. K

That's what I found, Mr. K. When I set the resolution up - from low to medium and then medium to high - it actually got a bit more stable. Been playing for about 15 hours now and it locked up once while in a fight with a group of witches. I think what caused it was one of them cast a shock spell at the same time I cast a flame spell at her and they met in the middle. hehe. Anyway, it locked and I had to close the game to free it, but didn't need to reboot computer. (Usually, that's what I had to do in Oblivion.)

No crashes so far. And, no problems with the barrels or the crates - other than the traps which I haven't always noticed. Er, seldom notice until they snap. Do watch out for those chests. They can occasionally be nasty. Even the locked ones.

I just can't get over how gorgeous the scenery is! And, wandering down the mountain during a snow storm . . . watching the night sky light up with the northern lights once the storm is gone . . . listening to the silence all around me (with soft music playing). Oh, I think I'm getting lost in this place. I hope nothing urgent pops up at work.

By the way. Have either of you done the quest to the Eldergleam Sanctuary yet? Wow. Just, wow. I love whoever designed that place.

It also may be a long time before I finish the main quest. I'm thinking months. Spent what money I'd gathered so far to buy me a black horse. These are a bit hardier than those delicate carriage horses in Cyrodiil and more aggressive, too. Join right in the fighting.

Thanks Mr. K. I will check and see what my missages on Stream are set to. I am not used to Steam Bethesda did a great job on the graphics and I can't believe someone has already done a texture overhaul. I haven't done the quest you mentioned, Nowena, but from what I have seen I think Bethesda checked out what some of the modders did and incorporated their ideas.

I know what you mean, Nowena, this is not a game to rush. Just sit back and enjoy. My character was really dumb about the Dragonborn line. "Whatcha talking about? Me have a dragon soul? Don't jive me." My Khajiit is rather frail looking at least that was what I intended. Think I put a screenshot up on Steam and Facebook. Am trying to get a decent video without spoilers but Steam and FRAPs competed with each other and I had to change FRAPS and then I get so immersed in the game I forget to turn it on.

This game is fabulous.

hehe. First time I've ended up with a bounty and not known it. Wandered around Whiterun for some time and every now and then a guard would walk by and say, "I know you." Couldn't figure out what that meant. Finally, I stopped one to see what he was talking about and he gave me the pay your bounty or go to jail speech. Fortunately, it was only 40 septims and I had just sold a bunch of stuff. But, I still don't know for sure what I did. Maybe it was the usual problem I have with companions. The surly one stepped in front of a fireball once but he said he would forgive me that one time (don't do it again). Maybe he gave me a bounty anyway. At least I don't remember stealing anything.

I remember now about the messaging while ingame. I turned those off on Steam several games ago and haven't turned it back on. It is quite a big immersion breaker. Not to mention game crasher.

I made my first weapon from scratch! A fine iron dagger starting from mining the ore, which I smelted, fashioned, and honed. Then, I made a hide helmet to go with it, starting from wolf hides from wolves I killed. It is fabulous to learn. You go find that nord woman smith in Whiterun and she actually "trains" you. She doesn't just take your money and poof, you're trained one level. She gives you pieces you need and sends you toward the proper equipment and trains you. More of a tutorial than a level up. Excellent! Now, I can make whatever I have the ingredients for. Next, I need to try enchanting, I've already done quite a bit of alchemy and finally found a cookpot so I could cook a couple of recipes.