Skyrim talk:Riften Guard

Tall Guard?

For some weird reason the guard in the left of the gate (not the one that asks for the toll, the one that says "Welcome to Riften...home of the Thieves Guild...they are just a bunch of thugs.") is unusually tall, even taller than my Altmer. Anyone else experience this? Note: he/she "shrinks" after the first encounter, they are only tall during the initial request for the toll/shakedown.MJ The Unrelenting (talk) 01:04, 2 October 2013 (GMT)

I don't see any obvious reason for this, and have never noticed anything like that when I encountered him. This sounds like a one-off, or a trick of the eye. --AKB ^{Talk Cont Mail} 01:07, 2 October 2013 (GMT)

I have never noticed this. Did you just observe this once? It was probably just a weird camera angle. If you could duplicate it and get a screenshot, that'd be interesting to look at. --Morrolan (talk) 01:09, 2 October 2013 (GMT)

The Riften Guard to the left of the gate is only tall during the initial "toll request" from the other guard, he/she doesn't look tall again after the encounter. I've experienced this with all 12 of my characters.MJ The Unrelenting (talk) 17:21, 6 October 2013 (GMT)

A screenshot would be nice. Nevertheless I will note it as something to look at on my next playthrough. --Morrolan (talk) 18:55, 6 October 2013 (GMT)

(←) Verified. What's more, he seems to be not just taller but also a bit wider. I compared my character (an Imperial) to the guard that tries to extort you, and he seemed to be the same size as male guards inside Riften. The guy on the left was positively massive.

There is no page for the toll encounter, so I've added this information as a note on this page.

I usually play Bretons so all the Nords in the game look huge anyway. :) --Morrolan (talk) 03:19, 8 October 2013 (GMT)

Hmmm. I wonder if the getscale console command would show his scale being set higher than normal. I'll try to get around to checking this in the next few days if no one else does. --Xyzzy ^Talk 03:47, 8 October 2013 (GMT)

I loaded up my level 1 character and checked out this guard, and I have to disagree about her (definitely a her) size. She appeared to be suspended a few inches above the ground, plus she is visibly slimmer than the male guard that stands at the west side of the gate, both of which would make her appear taller. However, after I attacked her and she moved from her spot, she didn't appear any taller than the male guard. I used getscale on her, and she has the same scale (1.00) as the other guard. Without a way to verify that she is larger, this probably shouldn't be in the article. --Xyzzy ^Talk 02:39, 9 October 2013 (GMT)

I uploaded an image, File:User-Xyzzy-Riften_Guards.jpg of the two guards side-by-side attacking me. I admit it's not the best composition for comparison, but even with the uneven ground, the female guard on the left doesn't appear to be larger, IMO. --Xyzzy ^Talk 02:58, 9 October 2013 (GMT)

Wait, what? Her? I've never seen a female guard there in this encounter. Mods? --Morrolan (talk) 04:00, 9 October 2013 (GMT)

Just the USKP and its add-on versions. --Xyzzy ^Talk 04:09, 9 October 2013 (GMT)

(←) Once again I get suspicious of USKP making changes. It's such a huge mod. MJ, what platform are you playing on? --Morrolan (talk) 04:38, 9 October 2013 (GMT)

I did a search of the terms "Riften" and "guard" on the list of changes for the USKP and didn't find anything that stated that they changed the gender or size of this guard, although they did fix an error in the persuasion check with the other guard to enter the city. From what I've seen, though, the team did make one undocumented change to the game, removing the stated gender of the Nerevarine from Neloth's dialogue. This makes it possible that this guard was altered by the USKP, so someone playing on a console, or with a completely unmodded version on PC, should verify this. --Xyzzy ^Talk 05:21, 9 October 2013 (GMT)

It's also possible that this is one of the small number of platform-specific changes. For the moment I'm going to tag the note with the XBox icon, because it's really clear that on XBox at least the guard ... really is bigger. --Morrolan (talk) 13:37, 9 October 2013 (GMT)

I play on 360, if that helps the investigation. Therefore, I am 100% sure that no mods were involved.MJ The Unrelenting (talk) 00:06, 10 October 2013 (GMT)

So MJ and me are reporting the same platform. That makes it more likely that this is either a platform-specific change or just one that's affected by USKP. --Morrolan (talk) 04:09, 10 October 2013 (GMT)

I unloaded ALL mods and started a new character with just SR, DG, HF and DB enabled, ran through Helgen as fast as I could, then used the console to jump to Riften. The left-hand guard was male and the same size as the right hand guard. I then reloaded my save from right before jumping to Riften and did it again twice. The second time the guard was male, but the third time it was female. The gender of the guard appears to be random, but each time his/her size was the same as the right hand guard. Can either of you Xbox'ers reload a few times and see if you always get a male guard? FYI, the guards RefID is 4582a. --Xyzzy ^Talk 05:39, 10 October 2013 (GMT)

(←) Remember, we can't use the console to jump to Riften. B) Do you know how far from Riften you have to be before this encounter spawns? Hmm, might be able to trigger it by using the carriage to get there. --Morrolan (talk) 05:47, 10 October 2013 (GMT)

I admit, whenever I visit Riften for the first time I ALWAYS use the carriage if that helps. MJ The Unrelenting (talk) 15:00, 12 October 2013 (GMT)

The method you use to get to Riften shouldn't matter as far as how the 2 guards spawn. I would think that traveling to the nearby Merryfair Farm then saving should keep you out of spawning range of the gate. --Xyzzy ^Talk 16:01, 12 October 2013 (GMT)

Oh wait the guard is just "floating" above the ground, just noticed this after starting a new character, an Altmer, immediately took the carriage to Riften, then waited until daytime, a wolf attacked and the disputed guard killed it, looking normal, then "grew" when it was just empty space. Problem solved, but it was hard to notice because of the blending in of the boots and the ground.MJ The Unrelenting (talk) 18:49, 12 October 2013 (GMT)

Lol. Thanks for checking. That's just leaves you, Morrolan. Do you still think this guard is larger? --Xyzzy ^Talk 18:54, 12 October 2013 (GMT)