Skyrim Patch 1.7 has entered Beta.

[Neovalen]

According to Bethblog a new Skyrim patch 1.7 beta has been released to the masses. It is billed as a "bug fix" patch instead of a content patch, however the release notes are a little sketchy.

BUG FIXES

• General memory and stability optimizations
• Fixed crash related to new water shaders
• Fixed rare crash related to dragon landings
• Using vampiric grip and swimming no longer prevents swimming animation from playing afterwards

I removed the lines about the Xbox 360 as it doesn't apply to the PC player base (mainly Kinect junk).

 

According to Arthmoor this patch MAY have fixed some of the dialog bug issues people have reported with 1.6.89.0. Source 1, Source 2.

[Farlo]

I like that they're trying to fix stuff, but I fear for the massive number of broken mods that comes with every patch.

[MadWizard25]

Everybody check you Skyrim Unplugged settings quickly :D

[LeetMiniWheat]

Great... I've spent the last month perfecting my 1.6 mods, and now a new patch? /wrists

[torminater]

yeah, i'm not sure, whether this update is worth being considered as a "patch"

[Neovalen]

Edit: Just tried 1.7 for myself. They did not change the forge area in Riverwood. Not sure where that guy got his information.

[torminater]

they should really really put out complete patch notes...

[Neovalen]

Alright, I decided to go against my normal grain and actually installed the Skyrim 1.7 beta since I hadn't re-installed STEP anyway. I am actually impressed. Did a full refresh of ini's as well.

 

 

The good:

   The dialog bug appears to be fixed, I can use USKP 1.0 and have no bugs now with getting quests from dialog. I have reported this in the USKP Thread #10 on the Bethsoft forums for Arthmoor.

   I think they fixed the shadows...or at least improved them drastically from what I remember. I may just be imagining things but you can tell me. Screenshots coming soon.

 

The bad:

   I haven't found any so far... for once. Give it time, I'm sure something will come up.

 

The unknown:

   I don't know about the supposed performance increase, I'm still pegged at 60fps.

[Neovalen]

Here are the screenshots... These are the default Ultra Shadows (Resolution: 4096, View Distance: 8000). They aren't perfect but I think they are improved. Don't mind the jaggies, I had AA only set to 2x during this test run.

 

Have not noticed as much z-fighting (still present but reduced) or shadow striping (more rare). In Surround, the odd shadow flickering is gone.

 

Unfortunately the SLI water flicker/HDR bug still persists unless Stereo3d is enabled.

[frihyland]

By all reports 1.7 is more stable than 1.6 so do a full skyrim directory zip backup and upgrade.