Is there a bandit ready to fight behind the door? Maybe we’ll choose a different entrance.
I sneak into a store at night to relieve the owner of some of his many riches. The lock is quickly cracked, then it goes into a loading screen. As soon as this fades, ominous battle music begins and the shopkeeper charges at me, sword in hand – dammit!
I quickly leave the apartment and stumble over a chicken as I try to escape: the whole village is already after me with torches and pitchforks, while a dragon attacks and burns everything down. I start to run at full speed, but out of nowhere a courier engages me in a conversation – “Not now, man!”. This fictional situation is in Skyrim not at all improbable, but thanks to an ingenious mod it can now be skilfully avoided.
Skyrim mods are a dime a dozen, but you can always find a few gems on Nexusmods. For example, you can significantly beautify Skyrim’s forests without sacrificing much performance:
Skyrim:
Mod conjures up beautiful forests without flaring up your PC
This way you avoid unwanted confrontations
Modder JaySerpa has the solution for all curious, thieves and assassins. With Take a Peek
you can now explore what’s on the other side of the door without committing a crime. Kneel in front of the door with a hotkey and take an inconspicuous look through the keyhole. This even works for doors that you can only open with a loading screen.
You can see how this looks and works in action in this short showcase:
link to YouTube content
NPCs inside the room cannot see you while you are spectating them. However, this does not apply to characters who are on your side of the door: they will comment on your questionable behavior accordingly. Nobody will attack you, however, because according to the laws of Skyrim you are obviously not committing a crime.
While many fans are still playing and modding Skyrim, a sequel is already in development. Two of our authors explain why they think Elder Scrolls 6 shouldn’t be set in Skyrim under any circumstances:
more on the subject
Why Skyrim 2 is a great idea and a terrible idea at the same time
Behind it is creative technology
In order to incorporate this new feature, JaySerpa has come up with an unusual solution: in fact, by pressing the corresponding button, you will be teleported into the room behind the door, made invisible and placed on a chair. At the same time, your field of vision is limited so that it appears as if you are looking through the keyhole.
In this way, secret viewing can be easily implemented without encountering engine restrictions and without having to install completely new functions. Incidentally, Bethesda Games themselves have used similar tricks in their games.
For example, in a Fallout 3 DLC, there was a sequence where you ride a subway. In fact, such a trip was technically difficult to do. Therefore the character was given the train as a hat (or piece of armor) and made her run through the tunnel with it. So that this is not noticeable, a special animation was used that made it look like the train was moving.
What do you think of this mod? Have you always wanted to be able to sneak more immersively, or do you just chop everything to pieces with your battle axe anyway? Write your opinion in the comments!
