‘Fallout 4’ Clipboard/Shield Animation Used From ‘Skyrim’, Uses Updated Creation Engine

If anyone has noticed from the beginning of the Fallout 4 game where the Vault-Tec representative is speaking kindly to the future vault dweller, there is something a bit off when the rep steps away from the door. One may get the feeling of Fallout Deja Vu as experienced as some kind of “glitch” in The Matrix, but the oddity here, according to Softpedia, is when the representative swings his hand down.

If some recall from the 2015 San Diego Comic Con, this is probably after he expresses, “Prepare for the future!,” only to see the clipboard stick to the top of his forearm as if it were a shield. Tons of Reddit users also noticed the same thing in Fallout 4.

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Since 2009, Fallout 4 has been in production and uses the same Creation Engine as the one used for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. According to a report again by Softpedia, this was a decent choice, as the engine has much flexibility. It was stated that this is not uncommon in the video game industry, but to catch this on the fly makes it pretty interesting.

Gaming Bolt, on the other hand, expressed that Bethesda should use a new engine altogether for future Skyrim and Elder Scroll games, even though the future about these are unknown at this time. The report says that regardless of the tweaks done on the Fallout 4 Creation Engine, it’s rather old, regardless, and suggests that a new one altogether would make future games more mind-blowing. That it should be “cutting edge,” like back when Skyrim was brought to gamers.

SiliconAngle stated that Bethesda gave a mention of sorts on their attempt to keep their Skyrim/Fallout 4 Creation Engine up to par with the ever-evolving and advancing technology.

“The hardware we play games on continues to advance at a rapid pace with exciting new graphics features. Our Creation Engine has evolved to incorporate this new technology in order to empower the artists and designers at Bethesda Game Studios to create an immersive new world. The tech team here is closely aligned with the art team, and together we carefully selected each individual feature based on specific artistic and performance goals we wanted to achieve in creating this world.”

Bethesda claimed the update to their Creation Engine after Skyrim was offering up dynamic lighting or “dynamic volumetric lighting” as stated by Fallout 4 game designer Todd Howard at the SDCC presentation. That being said, this could mean that Bethesda could improve how light in Fallout 4 and future developments could interact with the gaming environment.

For instance, light would reflect in a different fashion off of objects in Fallout 4, depending on the object in which it’s reflecting. If one could look at a piece of sheet metal at a salvage yard as the sun rises in the morning and the sun casts its first rays of the day on the item in Fallout, it would reflect in a fashion different than it would reflecting off, say, a log cabin. The textures are different, and thusly, this advancement could show a difference in appearance in Fallout 4.

“We want objects and characters in the world to feel tactile and grounded, and a big part of that is ensuring that these materials are distinct – that metal reflects light in a distinct manner from wood, for example.”

One thing about Fallout 4 is that is has its own realistic day and night situations, and with the dynamic lighting comes the beams of light also known as “God rays.” Bethesda has been working with the NVIDIA Corporation in accomplishing this. According to a report at TweakTown, such means to demonstrate the realism in graphics are also used in games such as Far Cry 4 when it comes to this, fur textures, HBAO+, and more. Looks like Fallout 4 isn’t an exception.

For those unfamiliar with HBAO+, it’s also known as horizon-based ambient occlusion, which allows for more realistic shadow around items that “occlude” rays of light. Apparently, this improvement on the part of NVIDIA for HBAO+ allows to be more efficient and speedier.

Anyhow, with the animation seen by the Vault-Tec representative at the door of the Fallout 4 protagonist, thought it’s just a minor idiosyncrasy at best, when games first come out and being as complicated as they are, which an open world game like Fallout 4 is, it’s not uncommon that glitches arise in Fallout 4 and are improved along the course following its release — though some Fallout 4 gamers may find the glitches more amusing than annoying.

Fallout 4 releases tomorrow for PS4, Xbox One, and the PC on November 10. Certain game reviews and even live streaming of Fallout 4 are already online, if one should chose to indulge in spoilers.

[Photo by Bethesda Games]