[WIP] Ravenwood Island

[loriel]

Reposted from old forum (http://forums.elricm.com/emma):
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Post Posted: 06 Sep 2008 08:34 am Post subject: [WIP] Ravenwood Island
I decided not to start over with Wyrmwood Island. It's too far in, and it actually doesn't look that bad (to me, at least) I've restarted it three times, and I see no need to do it again.

However, I have found I love landscaping; and I've gotten a very good basic island from Littoral. I've decided to name it Ravenwood. It will initially be completely deserted. No buildings, no mines, no tombs - just rocks, trees, water, and creatures.

I've already gotten the basic landmass mostly done. There are a few rough spots to iron out, but overall it's looking pretty good. As usual, there is an interior lake, rivers, waterfalls, etc.

The purpose of Ravenwood is to act as a base for future stories. It is an unpopulated island full of possibilities. I also intend to make it as realistic as possible, using the best textures and meshes I can get my hands on.

I haven't stopped working on Wyrmwood Island, I'm just going to take a break for a while. I've written down most of my thoughts on the questline, so I don't forget them, and now I need a sabbatical. I figure creating a beautiful forest seems like a good way to rest.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 06 Sep 2008 09:20 pm Post subject:
Update:
Managed to get the coast fairly well textured up, and reduced the outline of the island so that the textured surface only extends about 2 to 2.5 cells from the shoreline. This reduced the file size from about 76MB to 17MB. It's still a very large island, though.

I went with mud & rocks around the shoreline, and dark sand on the ocean floor. I haven't done the surface shoreline yet, but given the latitude, I'm looking at doing rocks & snow. It's going to be a frozen wasteland! Smile
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 07 Sep 2008 11:45 am Post subject:
Update:
I did my first "in-game" test. I decided to make it a TC for this first go around (removed all dependencies to the original game files). Obviously, it will be a mod at some point, but for now I just brought in my half-elf race, created a player, and went with it. I didn't take the time to bring in any clothing models, so my first test run was nude! Embarassed

This island is going to need a *LOT* of smoothing. What I thought were gentle bumps were absurdly large spikes in reality. In some areas, the snow & rock texture makes the spikes look good, but I still think a good low-pass filter run will do the place wonders.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 07 Sep 2008 07:24 pm Post subject:
Update:
I got the base snow layer just about done. I still need to go around the coast one more time and layer in the ice and icy rock.

Just for squirts and giggles, I decided to 'finish' a small section of the northern coastline. Really just some snow & rock textures, a bit of landscaping to smooth it in, etc. I didn't even add statics.

The landscape is amazing. The level of detail that Littoral added has, so far, survived smoothing. Walking around on the northern shore was incredible, especially at dusk when the pink light hit the snow. This island is definitely going to be a keeper.

It's also going to be big. Holy Moses! The entire island of Wyrmwood would easily fit in one corner of this island. There is a raised section split from the main island by a river that forks around it. This section alone is larger than the entire *exterior* of Wyrmwood island. No kidding, the whole mod would fit on this one slab of rock.

I may regret it when I get to putting in trees and shadows, but there are a few outs. For one, I can assign a "tree line", above which there won't be any trees. The mountains are tall, but not quite as tall as Wyrmwood - probably close in scale to the Red Mountain. Also, there will definitely be some wind-swept areas along the windward side that won't have trees either.

So far, it's really coming together. I wish I had known about this landscape tool earlier!
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 09 Sep 2008 08:03 pm Post subject:
Update:
I started adding in the textures I've found on the 'net. I've only used the highest resolution textures I could get my hands on. Needless to say, it's been fun.

I've been trying to pick the right transition textures to go from snow, to snowy grass, to less snowy grass, to grass & moss, etc. I also took some of the BM rock meshes and retextured them with the high-res textures, and they are amazing. No kidding - you'll think it's Oblivion (until you get close to some water...) It is so far and away different from anything in Vvardenfell it's not even funny.

For some reason, I find landscaping relaxing. I can almost imagine myself being there. So, in essence, all of my landscapes are places I'd rather be! Smile

Unfortunately, screenshots are difficult at the moment. Most areas are far too rough right now. I only just started adding tree and rock statics. It's still effectively a TC, as I have no dependencies on the base ESM's at all for now. I'm doing that on purpose to make it easy to keep things clean. Eventually, when it starts to get close to the finish line, I'll relink it with at least Morrowind.

I will probably have to link with either Tribunal or Bloodmoon - for scripting if anything else - but for now there is not a single texture from any of them. The meshes are from BM, though; so that will probably be what I link in. I don't suspect I will need any Trib dependencies.

I'm also playing with using the hi-res packs on buildings. I took the standard governors manor, applied some hi-res details, and it looks like a different building. Unfortunately, it's going to take a hoss video card to run Ravenwood. I'm trying not to go overboard on textures, since it generally looks awful, but also because it kills frame rate. However, I'm going for raw natural beauty on this one.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 13 Sep 2008 12:50 pm Post subject:
Update:
Added regions today, and worked on better naming for the various areas. There are 6 regions at the moment:
Windward Coastal, Leeward Coastal, Leeward Forest, Highland, Transitional, and Interior Forest.

Most of these have to do with the weather, but some are handling sleep creatures as well.

I've been working on the detailed texturing, but I find myself at the hardest part. What should the landscape look like? How do I transition from one area to the next? I tend to diddle around quite a bit at this point, and it's worse now because I have more textures to choose from.

I'm also running into problems with the CS render window going nuts. I'm wondering if my video card is overheating. I may need to pop the side off, and see if that helps stabilize things.
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Posted by: blockhead2
Post Posted: 13 Sep 2008 03:40 pm Post subject:
Can't give you any concrete or specific advice but ...

"simplify, simplify. simplify"

I forgot who originaly said that, but I find it of help in my plugin-making process.
_________________
Meanwhile, at the dance party
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 13 Sep 2008 09:26 pm Post subject:
I'm trying not to overdo it on the transitions. In fact, I'm trying to keep them as much like the ones in Bloodmoon as possible. In fact, I may need to go look over how the forest areas blend into the glacial areas.

One of my bigger problems is the scale of the island. I hadn't realized it when I started playing around with the island out of Littoral, but it is really big. Not quite Solstheim, but a significant fraction. Most of it is submerged, and already textured, but a significant chunk is above water, and in need of a lot of work. I began to get an idea of the issue when I started placing trees. I was dropping them down like rice at a wedding, and they just weren't filling the space.

However, this is my ultimate landscaping project. I'm using everything I learned in my first few failures, and Wyrmwood - which is still going, and applying them. There are some cliff faces, using the statics from the Felsaad expansion, but mostly subtle height variations. I'm also making better use of vertex shading. I've already been using it to do shadows, but I'm finding that a big of shading can really make a difference to a moss-covered area. A bit of turquoise makes icy areas shine, etc.

And when I'm done, Ravenwood is going to be mostly empty. I'm looking at one small village, Little more than an Inn, smithy, magic/herbal supply, a shop or two, and a few commoners. Just enough to outfit a hunting party, really. I'm aiming for something about half the size of Pelagiad, minus the fort. I've decided to place it near the bank of the lake

The eastern shore of the bank slowly slopes down into the water, and it continues south along the river. It looks to be a very pleasant place to put a small village. Not terribly scenic, as it will be far from any waterfalls, but it looks like a good location. Low-key is the goal on this one.

Finally, there will be a keep fairly far away. I'm looking for something very "lone mage in the woods"-esque. I've already got the exterior statics for the keep done, and even placed near where I want them. The keep will be fairly low-key, and as subtly creepy as possible. I've got a quest in mind for it, and I believe the locals in the nearby village will be suspicious of the goings-on there. Very suspicious indeed... The idea is still percolating. Smile

The rest of the island is going to be devoted to wildlife - both predators and prey. I'm going to turn large swaths of the island into the huntsman's paradise I was angling for on Wyrmwood - only this time, expeditions are going to require some real travel! Try to imagine Yosemite Valley in the early spring, only as an island, and you will get an idea of what I'm aiming for.

Lastly, now that I'm mastering altering meshes and texturing, I'm redoing a bunch of statics for use in the forest. All for sets of "rocks" (there are four basic multi-rock statics) have been textured to fit in various places to fit with the ground textures. I've been very happy with that effort. For example, I now have an area with "rocky moss" on the ground, and a set of rocks that is covered in moss. They really look like they belong together. Similarly, I took a static that was originally snow on a rock, and turned into moss on a rock. I stuck it near a transition area between rock and moss, and it is looking nice.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 14 Sep 2008 09:11 pm Post subject:
Update:
Got a LOT of texturing done. I did about 4 cells in the leeward forest, and added tree statics. That section is really starting to look like a forest. I also smoothed out the landscape (except for the parts that are supposed to be rough), and added some nice, sharp hills. The idea is to get lost - frequently! Smile

I also cleaned up the areas around the lake and the waterfall. I didn't manage to finish the waterfall, but I've got the area sketched out fairly well. Just to keep my sanity, I went ahead and * did a base texture for the interior forest, which will be tweaked later.

I've also firmed up the transition areas quite a bit. There are only a few, and I wanted them to look as nice as possible, while still conveying the concept of walking into a different climate area. It helps that most of the areas are either foggy, snowing, or overcast.

Lots of good basic landscaping stuff, basically. It's coming along nicely.

I have experienced a few CTD's, though; and that's worrying me. I'm not sure if it was a result of my jacking my speed up to 256 and running as fast as I can, or what. I suspect it is, because when I was at 1024, I was getting CTD's pretty often. (One of the reasons I backed off on the speed while testing)

Many of the new surface textures are 640kB - 1.2MB DDS files - which are a good bit larger than the ones in the original game. Although I'm not using a wide variety of them in any given cell, I have a lot of statics with large textures as well. I'm wondering if the engine is having trouble keeping up?

It doesn't seem to be a problem at a normal pace, but I'm still curious to know if that's what the culprit is.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 17 Sep 2008 08:22 pm Post subject:
Update:
I played around with nifskope a bit, and created a new set of common interior tiles. I'm using textures from a high-res texture replacer that are substantially better than the originals - much darker and richer. I've only got one wall done, and I'm impressed with the new textures.

I also created a separate "floor" and "ceiling" tileset - so I can do what I've always wanted to do, and create open atriums using the common tileset. It's similar in concept to what I did with the Imperial tileset in the Wyrmwood Facility office complex, only with wood instead of stone. I did have to create a new pillar static that only has supports on 3 sides. At first, I wasn't sure how to do it - since the supports are all on one branch, but that turned out to be fairly easy - I just set all of the vertices on one of the support to 0,0,0.

I'm aiming to create an open dining area on the second level, with a large, vaulted ceiling for the living room / fireplace on the first level. Directly under the dining room will be a bar, and entry area. All areas will be primarily lit with 'sunlight', and I am using modified versions of the common tileset with the windows replaced with translucent versions (Specifically, I'm using Korana's diamond cut-glass texture)

Above this will be a residence similar to the Wyrmwood Keep. The primary difference will be that I plan to make the upstairs fully interior - unlike the rest of the keep which will be a false exterior. This should suit the vampiric characters. I'm not sure how to handle the library, but I'm thinking it should be in the fully interior area as well. It may be a tight fit getting everything in. I haven't worked out the entire floor plan yet, but I know I want something unique from Wyrmwood.

On the "interior acting like an exterior" front, I'm working on scripts that will update the interior region between clear, overcast, and cloudy. Much like ASE, when you come in from outdoors, the script will alter the interior region to match the exterior region. For clear and cloudy, it will just mirror the exterior region. For everything else, it will set it to overcast. This avoids the problem of it 'raining' or 'snowing' inside the keep.

Naturally, ASE style activators and lights will be used as well, to complete the effect. It should be one of the more realistic interior cells anywhere when I'm done.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 18 Sep 2008 08:30 pm Post subject:
Update:
I started experimenting with indoor areas, using the high-definition texture set for common rich interiors. In the process, I created a new set of wooden pillars - 0s through 4s, and cs. Essentially, I stripped off the angle supports on various sides, until I had one of each. The cs is two alternating supports - for back-to-back hallways. They really have helped a lot to avoid poking supports in places they don't belong.

I'm also creating a false exterior using the governors mansion barbican (gate) The gate actually fits down over the hallway that leads into it fairly nicely at 1.25. I did have to create a new spiral staircase 'setpiece' that is squished at the side, to keep it from poking through the gate static.

Lastly, I made some flat 'cobblestone' tiles that look like the cobblestone on the exterior. It's not a perfect match, since the exterior is blended with the grass, but it's pretty close. I can fudge it with shrubs and trees. When I'm done, it should look like you are staring outside - even though it's all smoke and mirrors! Smile

I'm going to try and have 'windows' on a couple of sides, and simulate the exterior as best I can. I will just need to make sure there is plenty of vegetation around the windows - since I don't want to continue simulating forever.

Lastly, the entrance to the great hall is looking pretty good. The ideas I've come up with on various projects are all coming together nicely. The atrium, in particular, seems to be working nicely. It will give a much more spacious feel than the normal common interiors.

I purposefully created a hallway that terminates near the front door to make it easier to simulate one continuous cell (since I can't realistically handle the barbican 'guest quarters' area in the existing cell. It is very much like Korana's Ascadian Rose Cottage in effect.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 26 Sep 2008 11:25 am Post subject:
Update:
Stalled. My dad has been in the hospital for the last couple of weeks, and I traveled back home to help out. Although I took my computer with me, I didn't have time to work on anything - and I'm still exhausted now.

Before I left, though; I started working on the interior forest. I find it helpful to pop in, walk around, and get a feel for the height of things. In doing so, I realized that the scale of various features is off. Some areas that I thought were gentle slopes have turned out to be large cliffs, and vice-versa.

As in Wyrmwood, getting the landscape 'just right' has been difficult. I still find myself tweaking this and that, especially around water features. The river in Ravenwood is going to need a lot of adjustment - I can already tell. I just don't like the way the area flows. (pun intended... Smile )

I also thought about how to use transparent windows in the village. I already intend to use fairly dense forest and rocks to obstruct the views, but I'm worried that it may be hard to replicate for the interior cells.

I also thought about 'cheating', the way Korana did - and simply take a snapshot of the wilderness from the vantage of each window, emulate the foreground with statics, and use the picture as a backdrop. The problem with this is weather and daylight. The picture will always look the way it did when you took it - it won't change with the weather or time of day.

It may be possible to use a picture in which the sky has been cut out - leaving only the trees and landscape. This effectively turns all of the far statics into 'static sprites', but at a sufficient distance, I think it would look OK. By setting the alpha for the sky to zero, you should see the interior sky normally. I'm going to try this method out, and see how it works.

The other cheat was to put curtains up, so you can only see a sliver of the exterior. The trouble is that if you walk close enough, the curtains don't help much - you still need to simulate almost as much as if the curtains weren't there. This, combined with the static sprite idea, may be the answer. However, this doesn't help with the ground, which is quite uneven, with lots of dips and rises.

So, I'm looking at surrounding the village with a wall. This will clip the forest floor entirely, allowing me to just put a small stand of trees in. For the upper floors of buildings, I will use curtains. To maintain the illusion, I may have one 'picture window' that has a more full implementation of the exterior.

I haven't really done a great deal with this concept yet, but I've been thinking it through. The effect adds a great deal, but I can understand why most modders just use the stock window pieces.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 14 Oct 2008 01:44 pm Post subject:
Update:
It is hard to believe I've not done anything in nearly a month. My dad was hospitalized with a severe liver infection and herniated stomach. I spent a couple of weeks out of the loop traveling, but now my dad is better; and I'm back home.

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to do much yet. I've been thinking about the island quite a bit, though. Mostly exterior landscaping stuff.

The island's not dead, though - just temporarily on hold until I get some free time.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 16 Oct 2008 12:10 pm Post subject:
Update:
I found that I'm going to have to create some new statics for my keep interior. None of the existing planks are doing what I need them to for the 'open floor plan' I started with one of the stock planks, re-textured it to match, and have been playing with its vertices to get the size just right.

I'm still not ready to start hitting Blender yet, but I've found I can actually manage quite a bit of minor work just using Nifskope.

Important note - when modifying the original interior pieces to create a 'ceiling only' piece, alter the collision data so that the Z axis is the same on all vertices. This removes the 'floor', while retaining collision for the ceiling.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 26 Oct 2008 07:41 pm Post subject:
Update:
Not much. I lost my entire Windows installation. Thankfully, I have all of my stuff backed up to, not one, but two USB hard disks. I'm copying my files back to the main disk as I type this update.

I was bitten by the av2009 malware program. I would have assumed you had to be doing something squirrelly to be affected, like surf for porn or warez, but I was just trying to watch a normal video. Windows Media player tried to download a codec, and the next thing I know, my rig is fried.

It's just as well, I suppose - I was getting a bit too soft on Internet discipline, and this certainly taught me a lesson.

Fortunately, the downtime game me a good opportunity to slot my new 7600GT, and get a clean driver install. I'm hoping the new card perks up the CS as well as the game.

[loriel]

Post Posted: 01 Nov 2008 06:23 pm Post subject:
Update:
Finally, a solid sitting of work!

I figured out how to create the 'wings' of my keep. It is somewhat reminiscent of what I did in the lighthouse on Wyrmwood Island. I used wall panels at 45 degree angles to simulate the rounded edges of the wings. Rather than use the spiral staircases, I used the regular 'rich' staircases, which gives the area a very luxurious feel. (I'm using hi-res textures for all the interior wall pieces.) The wing is going to end up being about 3x3 tiles to accommodate the stairs.

I still have a lot of cranking to do to complete the wing, and the basic layout of the main keep area, but it's coming along nicely. Using an 'exterior' interior has also turned out nicely. I did have to add a few walls to keep from just littering the grounds with statics, but so far it looks great. The only issue is when the weather switches to fog - there is fog in the house!
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 02 Nov 2008 02:38 pm Post subject:
Update:
I took a step beyond just retexturing today. I needed a common stairwell, without the walls. Unfortunately, the woodwork was all merged in, so it was nearly impossible to get what I wanted from the prefab mesh. So, I took just the stairs from a prefab, added the branches from some standard planks and walls, and created an exposed staircase.

The sides are done using a rich wallpaper, and I edited the vertices so the wall would fit (I lowered the Z axis of one of the corners to 48). The planks are done using baseboard wood, and still needs just a bit of work, but it's looking pretty nice.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 06 Nov 2008 09:23 am Post subject:
Update:
I may have to release the Ravenwood Keep by itself. It is coming along very nicely. Once I figured out how to use nifskope, and was no longer limited by the setpieces in the original game, the options really opened up.

I still haven't figured out the whole layout yet, particularly the upstairs areas, but the great hall and guest quarters are fairly well done architecturally.

I wanted a great open area for the great hall. I created a custom exterior static out of the governors mansion meshes that essentially combines two donjons, three roofs, two wings, and a barbican together. Total ground space is 6x7 tiles. The wings are an additional 3x3 - but most of the space is taken with stairs. I'm using primarily wooden stair pieces, but I do have two spiral stair cases for the guest quarters above the gate area.

The best part is that the great hall is mostly open. It's two blocks high in most areas, with a catwalk around the perimeter. I am planning a sitting area in one corner, and a bar in another corner, but those are details for later. You could practice flying in the great room!

The experiment was to make an interior 'exterior', though; and that's been the focus. There is a courtyard area, and a patio area, that are replicated to provide a (more or less) unified view of the exterior from all interior cells. (It simulates being able to look out the window). I've kept the coordinate systems identical, to make it easier to align the final version of the courtyard.

The final version will have guards patrolling these areas, with scripts to move them when necessary. (since each interior cell is running independent of each other) This should look amazing at night when everything is done.

About the only problem I've seen is the lighting at night is a bit off. Areas that should be dark are apparently being moonlit inappropriately. I will probably need to add some 'dark' (negative) lights in these areas to maintain appropriate lighting throughout the day. Candles also seem to be getting overpowered at night, so I am adjusting their radius to make them light the floor appropriately.

All in all, a good experiment. The keep is starting to come together nicely.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 11 Nov 2008 12:29 pm Post subject:
Update:
I have fixed the texture mapping on the common stairs so that they work well with the new paneling. I also created a set of 'exposed' common stairs for use with open areas. It wasn't too hard, and I did all the work in nifskope. It's pretty much the standard stairs UV-mapped so that the base-board texture stretches all the way across. I used standard planks on either side, and closed in the sides with half a wall piece on either side. I had to correct the texture mapping on the wall pieces, and remove collisions from missing areas.

The final set looks nice, and allows for a large, open atrium using the common style.

I also tweaked a few other static meshes to round out the keep interior views. I have some static wall pieces that emulate the sides of the keep pretty well. With the exception of the ground and trees, the views of the exterior from inside the keep look fairly accurate.

I'm not sure if anyone else can use these modified statics, but it's going to be a long time before this place is done - so I'm willing to package them separately.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 14 Nov 2008 10:45 am Post subject:
Update:
I decided to create plain wooden pillars that are regular and tall with no supports, and use the support pieces separately. This caused quite a bit of rework, since I had originally used standard pillars with different supports. However, the new supports are working out just fine.

I also started in on the bedrooms and bathrooms in the residence. Korana's clawfoot tub has been brought in, as has a copper bathtub. I'm also using some of Korana's floor tiles in places, specifically the red tile. Looks nice, but I'm not sure about coordinating everything. (I'm not an interior decorator!)

The keep is slowly starting to take shape internally as well. I still need to lay out the basement areas, but most of the above-ground areas are fairly well done architecturally. I am really enjoying the open feel of truly transparent windows, as well as the atriums, and other areas with high-ceilings.

At some point, I need to switch back to exteriors - particularly around the keep. I'm going to have to be mindful of that, though; since I will need to replicate parts of the exterior in each of the interior cells.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 17 Nov 2008 03:37 pm Post subject:
Update:
More work on the keep. I've been cleaning up the reworked meshes as I've been going, and finishing out the interior architecture. At this point, the keep is very near the point where it's time to start furnishing.

Unfortunately, I'm still finding detritus from where I converted my pillars. Not too much of a problem, but it seems I am constantly finding missing pillars.

I'm also discovering that you can see a LONG ways in an interior cell. Cripes - I've been putting interior ground meshes so far out from the keep that it takes several seconds to walk it - and I can still see beyond the edge. I suspect the rocks and trees will help with this, so I may have to go the other way around - and put the rocks and trees inside first, then move them to the exterior cells.

I'll try to post some screenies soon. The keep interior is starting to look pretty nice.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 18 Nov 2008 02:29 pm Post subject:
Update:
I modified a bunch of the wall, floor, and ceiling tiles to eliminate sparklies. (the bright lines that appear under walls, between floor tiles, etc.) I was able to eliminate the black 'under floor' statics I had been using.

Adjustments were fairly simple. For wall statics, I had the back static (the wall) go down to -0.5 instead of 0. Same for stairwells. For the tiles, I just made sure they were exactly -128 to 128 in both directions. So far, so good - I haven't seen any sparkling lines yet.

I also worked on the study area, adding statics to simulate the low wall around the top of the governors mansion. These are now visible through the windows, and add quite a bit. More importantly, they hide some of the theatrical pieces below.

Lastly, I worked on the fireplaces. All of the fireplaces are now lit. Some were so close (literally back to back) that I got some strange sound interactions that made the fires sound mechanical. I eliminated this by making silent fires, and then adding a fire sound emitter between the two fireplaces. You really can't tell there is only one emitter.

Lastly, I altered the UV maps on some more of the furniture. All furniture in the keep is using a high-res swirlwood texture. Some pieces took to this better than others. The armoir, for example, still needs some work.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 25 Dec 2008 12:17 pm Post subject:
Update:
<sigh> I've reached that point where the landmass is mostly there - shape-wise. Sure, I'll need to tweak it into final position, but it's more or less what I am looking for.

So now comes the hard part - staring at a nearly blank slate, and deciding where to go. I kind of have an idea of what is going on with Ravenwood, and I've even been poking around with a few concepts, but it is still in the early brainstorming phase in a lot of ways. Right now, I'm trying to decide on vegetation...

The keep is coming along nicely save for one detail: You can see too far from the windows. I may have to take some screenshots for distant detail, and create a sort of lightbox around the interior cells. It is turning out be more difficult than I thought creating a believable "fake" exterior...

However, it will be worth it if I can get it to work. I'm working on some automaton NPC's that will 'guard' the false exteriors - and you can watch them as they walk the perimeter from inside the keep.
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Posted by: morovir
* Post Posted: 25 Dec 2008 08:02 pm Post subject:
Update:
Fixed more of the common interior setpieces - the elevation was off on the base "center" block, resulting in light leakage. (sparklies) Now, I no longer need to put black sheets under the floors to eliminate this effect! Smile

I've actually quit using the stock common blocks entirely. I now only use my custom 'center' for hallways. Everything else is using my separated models. This allows for rooms that are of varying height. Walls are also entirely done using custom models. It was getting too hard to keep track of combined models, and my rig seems to be handling the larger number of simpler meshes just fine.

I also sorted through all of the various tree, shrub, and grass models I've found. It appears that there are only about 42 actual tree models, with hundreds of variations in bark & leaf textures. I've created a system for naming flora models based on their textures. This should make things simpler when I get started in the forest.

The goal is to have a nearly perfect set of models going in. I'm hand tweaking nearly every model I'm using on Ravenwood to get rid of any loose ends. Should make for a nice set - if anyone is still modding for Morrowind by the time I finish.
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Posted by: blockhead2
Post Posted: 27 Dec 2008 06:12 am Post subject:
Heyyyyyy ... nice to see that this thread is back to life. I'm glad you are still working on this. Smile
_________________
Meanwhile, at the dance party
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 30 Dec 2008 09:46 am Post subject:
blockhead2 wrote: Heyyyyyy ... nice to see that this thread is back to life. I'm glad you are still working on this. Smile

I had to take a break to work on the baby's room. Painting and decorating for real takes almost as long as doing it in Morrowind! Smile
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 30 Dec 2008 10:14 am Post subject:
Update:
I was sitting in the tub Sunday morning, and let my mind wander a bit. I decided on a direction for Ravenwood island.

I still want a practically deserted island. In fact, there will be more bears and horkers than people. However, there will be a village - in the trees. I found some really good elf-tree models that will support houses. However, the villagers won't be elves, but half-elves.

It occurred to me that half-elves would likely be outcasts. They aren't fully elven, and they aren't fully human. Elves are notoriously xenophobic, and would consider a half-breed to be weaker, and inferior. Humans wouldn't trust them because they would live longer (hybrid vigor, and elf genes), and perhaps have elven features.

Many would be the product of rapes, and even the children of happy, but misguided, interracial romances would have problems as they grew older. Perhaps not uniformly, but they would be treated as worse than the beast races, which are at least 'pure'. Being intelligent, though; they would make poor slaves - and officially, at least; they would have rights as citizens.

Eventually, like other outcast groups, they would want to form their own village away from others - Ravenwood. Ravenwood looks cold and forbidding, and too small to have much value. However, half-elves are still elven enough to have the deeper magics, and can create a warm(er) oasis, hidden from the coast. To keep the illusion, the docks are far inside the island along the river.

Unlike Wyrmwood, there is no deep conspiracy. There are no imperial connections on the island, or any real connections to the outside world at all, really. (not entirely true, but close to it) The villagers want as little as possible to do with outsiders - even less than the Dunmer of Morrowind.

The half-elves are still searching for a new home, perhaps one beyond the known territories. However, something went terribly awry many years ago that halted the search; and left one girl an orphan far away from her kin.

In some ways, I like this story better than Wyrmwood. I don't feel as slimy writing some of the dialogue. It's still a tragedy, but not a moral tragedy (at least, not in the same way).

There won't be as much treachery, but there will be deceit. No one on the village will trust you, at least at first. Even if you play as a half-elf, you are still an outsider (in the same way as if you play a dark elf) More likely, most won't even acknowledge you for a while. There are zero hotels planned, and only one tavern for the locals. Sleeping arrangements are going to be difficult until you've proven yourself trustworthy.

There will be Dwemer technology involved. In fact, in some ways, the story loosely mirrors the Dwemer thirst for knowledge, though for a different goal. There will not, however; be a Dwemer facility. Beyond a few artifacts, I am creating all new "half-elf" artifacts, which have a Dwemer heritage, for the story. The facility concepts are going to be 'interesting'. Try to imagine a cross between a hobbit-hole from the LOTR, and a traditional Dwemer facility.

I'm using mixtures of wood and iron textures for the structures, and iron for junction boxes and pipes. Electrical controls are custom, and I'm working on a "control panel" that is interactive. Hopefully, it will look somewhat similar to the control panels in Atlantis, but with a more medieval feel.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 02 Jan 2009 02:57 pm Post subject:
Update:
Started in on the keep interior. I now have the keep entirely contained, with doors to the exterior, and to the subterranean areas. I even managed to sneak in some very nifty 'doors' that might be useful in the main quest. Wink

Lighting is still interesting, but it's coming along. I am trying to figure out how to turn lights on and off, such as in certain lighting mods for thieves. I imagine some scripting is going to be necessary for that one.

I'm also working on a master lighting controller for the keep. This script will keep track of what lights are on and off, and replicate them accordingly in other areas. (Particularly for the exterior windows) Lighting is going to be complex in this mod. I learned a great deal about lighting, and lighting controls, in Wyrmwood. (There are a LOT of script-controlled lights)

The place is still pretty empty - no NPC's or anything - but it's coming along.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 02 Jan 2009 08:12 pm Post subject:
Update:
I think I'm getting the hang of complex UV editing. I wanted to create a wall set that used tapestries, instead of simple repeating textures. The basic walls were fairly easy - just move the UV map around until the tapestry texture was centered. I did have to create a "double-wide" base texture, to account for the wood pole in the middle, but other than that, it's a pretty straightforward retexture.

The windows, however; were a bit different. Not the worst thing I've retextured, but definitely one of the more complex. Finished results are very nice, and definitely give a very different feel to the room. I'm aiming to create a more feminine feel, and the tapestry walls really go a long ways toward that.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 04 Jan 2009 08:13 pm Post subject:
Update:
I carved up the third floor of the keep a bit more. There are now two master suites - one for a man, and another for a woman. Both are decorated accordingly.

There are two smaller bedrooms, one for a young girl (I hope...), and another for a female apprentice. Besides the two master baths, there is a smaller bath - fairly narrow, but functional. Lastly, there is an office the size of one of the smaller bedrooms. I have screenshots of some of the new rooms over in the screenshot section.

I also replaced some of the transparent doors with translucent doors. I figured it wouldn't do to see right into a bedroom! However, most of the interior doors have transparent glass, as do all of the exterior facing windows.

Lastly, I did some work on the Half-Elf mod. Mostly just correcting path info. I have created a file structure for my mods that should keep everything organized, but I've had to go in and rework some of the meshes and mods to point to the right places. Not too bad, since it's still a derivation of MVR, but it had to be done.

Right now, I'm trying to figure out why the Half-Elf stand-alone is requiring both Tribunal and Bloodmoon. My guess is the dialog linked them in, but it is just a race mod - it should need no other plugins. Argh...

Added:
I found a way to hide a critical key in a well-worn, but interesting way. I'm not sure about the scripting. I'm a bit nervous having a script directly affect a misc object, but it seems to work. The script enables the object, and then disables itself. The object is an ordinary misc object, with references enabled. I did it so that the object would show up at the same place reliably, regardless of where the player was.

[loriel]

Post Posted: 05 Jan 2009 08:17 am Post subject: Sounds amazing
I can't wait to see this in the flesh so to speak.

Any clues as to timescale or is that still too far away to pin down or dependant on RW influences.

Everything I have seen so far makes me think this might be a must have.
_________________
Truly Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take but the moments that leave you breathless. [ES53]
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 05 Jan 2009 10:44 am Post subject:
The timescale is in the present. However, the story involves events which span about 35 years into the past. One of the NPC's was a young girl when the main event happened, and the quests involve exploring what happened - and who was responsible.

Unlike my other WIP, Wyrmwood Island, this one is not threatening. There is no malevolent force bent on doing something evil, and there is no one really to save. Everything that occurred, occurred before your character was old enough to walk in all likelihood. The ending is a bit sad, but it does bring closure to one of the NPC's - and in return, you get to keep the keep.

It's a bit like Myst, in the sense that you can continue, or not, at your own pace. It's a puzzle, but not one that will harm you if you don't complete it quickly. You just won't be the "owner" of the keep until you complete everything.

My goal in Ravenwood is to create something I consider beautiful. The island, the keep, the story; etc. I may have trouble packaging it - I've spared almost no expense on textures, meshes, etc. The island alone, which was created using Littoral, is mammoth - ~16MB "empty". Textures will bump that up another 10-20MB.

Ravenwood Island is also large enough that I plan to host my other mods in the future on it. However, to keep things to a reasonable scope, I may not even bother with the Half-Elven village at first. (I'm leaving an open area in the forest basin for it, but I may not actually put the buildings in)

I am releasing my Half-Elves stand-alone mod soon, though. I've just about cleaned up everything - except for an odd dependency on Tribunal and Bloodmoon I need to track down. It's a BB based playable race that is a mix between Bosmer and Breton/Imperial. I've recolored everything to match, and I use this mod in my main game for my character.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 05 Jan 2009 11:01 pm Post subject:
Update:
Not much. I did get around to adding Barabus' clocks to Ravenwood. The static wall clock is presently ticking in Percius' office. Very nice. (Barabus always did have some of the best looking mod pieces)

Other than that, I'm still retexturing several pieces of furniture. A dresser is the current victim. I'm reapplying a mid-tone swirlwood texture to it, and unfortunately, the original UV map was WAY off. I am standardizing on a single woodtone/grain - so all pieces are going to get remapped. Some look OK as-is, others are requiring a great deal of work.

When I'm done, I'm going to archive them away, as these should be useful for future projects (especially with a known good UV map) Unfortunately, some pieces are turning into real nightmares. The dresser, for instance, has taken several hours - and I'm still not quite done yet.

I'm also replacing hardware on several pieces of furniture. I don't particularly care for the tri-gem hardware...
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 06 Jan 2009 01:29 pm Post subject:
Update:
I finished the dresser UV map. It looks a LOT better with the wood texture spread out a bit. I also absconded with some better looking handles to replace the trigem handles it came with. They are kind of a rubbed brass color. Very nice.

I also used a faucet animation to create a working bathtub (of sorts). The scale is wrong on both the faucet, and the water, so I have scripts that handle resizing.

The water is more fun, because the copper tub is too narrow at the base for the water surface at 1.0. So, my animation controller starts it at the floor at 0.95, and as it rises, resizes the water at certain levels. It actually runs fairly smoothly.

The rate of rise is timed to match the spigot. It takes just as long as the water is running to get to the top. Once it reaches the top, you can activate it to "bathe"

Now, I just need to replicate it for the clawfoot tub. The timing and scale are different, but the basic code should work.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 08 Jan 2009 10:24 am Post subject:
Update:
I learned a(nother) valuable lesson about transferring files between machines. Unfortunately, it came at the expense of a good night's work. I lost the animation scripts for the bathtub. Argh.

I did, however; fix the four-poster bed. I exported the model as a .obj and reimported it. That cleared up the problem with the textures. Unfortunately, the mattress had never been texture mapped - and all of the vertices were at the origin. So, I ripped that block out, and swapped in one from the OTHER victorian bed model. After tweaking the scaling on the X-axis a bit, and adding some support poles under it to fill in the gap, I have a reasonably nice looking poster bed.

Now I just need to rewrite the bath water animation code again...
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 08 Jan 2009 11:38 am Post subject:
Update:
I finally figured out what was going wrong with Barabus' clocks. They require a Tribunal global DaysPassed. I'm not sure if it would be safely possible to replicate the function, or if I should just live with the fact that I'm going to be dependent on Tribunal AND Bloodmoon.

Right now, I'm only dependent on Bloodmoon, due to the locale (snow covered conifers) and certain functions for scripting. I've been pondering tying in Mournhold to the main plot anyway, so this might be a decent enough excuse to just leave the clocks as they are, and move on.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 08 Jan 2009 03:39 pm Post subject:
Update:
Ok, the animation code is back in. It's timed with GetSecondsPassed, so it should be good regardless of frame rate. Parameters are timed precisely for the length of the faucet sound file I'm using - which is about 12 seconds)

The trigger allows an external script to begin the bathwater animation. I haven't added support for resetting the level, or draining the tub, yet. I may not worry about a drain animation - I may just check to see if you've been away for a day, or slept, and reset it while you aren't looking. (that's what servants are for, right?) Wink

Code: begin mvr_bathwater_copper_script

short init
short trigger
short level
float interval
float z_start
float z_incr
float z_next
float z_scale1
float z_scale2
float z_scale3
float z_scale4
float z_end
float timer
short is_scale

short state
short button
short button_pressed

if (MenuMode == 1 )
return
endif

if ( init == 0 )
set z_start to GetPos Z ; Get the idle position
set z_incr to 0.18 ; Critical - determines smoothness, and speed
set z_scale1 to z_start + 9.0 ; Pre-determined points where the scale
set z_scale2 to z_start + 14.0 ; should be adjusted
set z_scale3 to z_start + 22.0
set z_scale4 to z_start + 29.0
set z_end to z_start + 35.0
set interval to 0.05 ; Critical - determines smoothness, and speed
setscale 0.95
set init to 1
return
endif

if ( level == 0 )
if ( trigger == 1 )
set level to 1
set timer to 0.0
set is_scale to 0
return
endif
; Water level animation
elseif ( level == 1 )
set timer to timer + GetSecondsPassed
if ( timer > interval )
set timer to 0.0
set z_next to GetPos Z
set z_next to z_next + z_incr
if ( z_next > z_end )
set level to 2
return
elseif ( z_next > z_scale4 )
if ( is_scale == 3 )
SetScale 1.0
set is_scale to is_scale + 1
set z_next to z_next - z_incr
endif
elseif ( z_next > z_scale3 )
if ( is_scale == 2 )
SetScale 0.99
set is_scale to is_scale + 1
set z_next to z_next - z_incr
endif
elseif ( z_next > z_scale2 )
if ( is_scale == 1 )
SetScale 0.98
set is_scale to is_scale + 1
set z_next to z_next - z_incr
endif
elseif ( z_next > z_scale1 )
if ( is_scale == 0 )
SetScale 0.97
set is_scale to is_scale + 1
set z_next to z_next - z_incr
endif
endif
SetPos Z z_next
endif
return
* endif

if ( state == 1 )
if ( GetSoundPlaying "mvr_bathing" == 0 )
FadeIn 1
EnablePlayerControls
MessageBox "You are now as clean as a the rain!"
set state to 0
endif
return
endif

if ( OnActivate == 1 )
MessageBox "Would you like to bathe" "Sure" "Not right now"
set button_pressed to 1
return
endif

if ( button_pressed == 1 )
set button to GetButtonPressed
if ( button == 0 )
FadeOut 1
DisablePlayerControls
PlaySound3DVP "mvr_bathing", 1.0, 1.0
set state to 1
return
elseif ( button == 1 )
Activate
endif
endif

end
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 08 Jan 2009 11:08 pm Post subject:
Update:
Not much - added a bunch of new furniture. Bookshelves, tables, desks, etc. All are custom meshes I've found in other mods. In fact, I don't think I've used a single mesh from the original game in the keep yet. Outside I'm using standard trees, but even the rocks have been retextured.

At any rate, the keep is slowly becoming a home. the bathrooms are further along, but the office and bedrooms are filling out as well.

As for scripting - the fans now hurt if you jump up into them. Smile
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 11 Jan 2009 07:13 pm Post subject:
Update:
I finally got around to organizing my texture folders. All meshes now point to appropriate places in \textures\mvr - rather than just "unsorted"

While I was at it, I worked on the glass texture. I like the cut glass texture that was used with the glowing windows mod - only not one of the glowing ones. It's a diamond-cut glass pane, but I've altered the transparency to make it appropriate for interior standard (nearly transparent), interior privacy (translucent), and exterior (opaque). The doors in the keep are looking very sharp.

I also worked on making sure that the "backstage" areas still match. If you look down from the study, you can "see" into the rooms below. I used privacy glass, so there isn't much detail, but it gives the illusion.

A variety of other items got reworked as well. Since my story involves Dwemer-like, but not Dwemer, items, I worked on the textures to several Dwemer pipes and machines to remove all inscriptions. While I was at it, the tube corridors got a makeover as well. They are now concrete, with metal trim. It looks a bit like the SGC!

Other items of note. I got around to adding more sound effects. Keying in the correct code on the security keypad now gives audio feedback. I also finished the animation code for the copper bathtub, and I'm mostly done with the basin script. (I need to figure out how to point the player in a specific direction...)
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 12 Jan 2009 02:48 pm Post subject:
Update:
I modified Korana's glass doors to use door knobs. I borrowed the doorknob components from one of Barabus' doors (from the crypt set), and retextured them. Hardware is mounted correctly, so that it is opposite the pivot point. (doors work as expected)

The final door looks very nice. It's done in swirlwood, and has three different transparencies/ opacities of glass from nearly clear to fully opaque. I also created another heavy-duty door using the stock door model, but different textures.

Other than that, I finished off searching through the keep for visual anomalies. Tonight I'm hoping to tackle the problem of synchronizing door positions between the residence and study levels. The code I used in Wyrmwood won't work here, because the doors are in different cells.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 13 Jan 2009 11:29 am Post subject:
Update:
Polished off the interior/exterior window models to use the new glass. I'm now thinking about interiors, and I'm starting to bring in misc objects and lights.

This is the part where I get stuck. I'm OK with architecture, but actually creating a "lived in" room is hard...
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 16 Jan 2009 03:47 pm Post subject:
Update:
New circuit boards and enclosures! I took the original circuit boards, and added parts. I used the resin mesh to create solder blobs, dwemer tube pieces to create diodes, and various other bits to create control crystals. I have three versions of both - active, inactive, and damaged. For giggles, I created a fourth version with a candle flame attached.

I also took various pieces and created an enclosure for the circuit cards. It is somewhat Dwemer in appearance, but is pretty clearly something new. I combined rusty iron textures with circuit textures. The power cables are the powertubes from Sotha's lab.

I'll try to get some screenshots at some point.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: Blaydon
Post Posted: 16 Jan 2009 04:00 pm Post subject: Size
Quote: I may have trouble packaging it - I've spared almost no expense on textures, meshes, etc. The island alone, which was created using Littoral, is mammoth - ~16MB "empty". Textures will bump that up another 10-20MB.


Honestly I would not worry too much about the size of this project.

I have just downloaded Mourhold expanded and that was 340MB.

So it takes a little longer to download and takes up some more hard drive so what, From your screenies its worth the time and space.

As far as I am concerned you are on a roll and I doubt that I am the only one to think that way. Applause

It would I think spoil things if you get concerned about file sizes and let it influence your vision.
_________________
Truly Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take but the moments that leave you breathless. [ES53]
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 16 Jan 2009 09:44 pm Post subject:
I'm not too worried yet. That said, I'm not using any textures from the original game. EVERYTHING is from a texture enhancer pack. However, I've tried to create a set of common "general textures" - things like metals, rubber, crystals, wood, etc. and use them as much as possible.

This not only helps make everything look similar (all of my rich furniture looks like it is from the same set), it also reduces the texture load. Plants are about the only exception - since each one requires a separate texture for the most part.

Most everything is OK to reuse, but I do need to contact Qarl about some of his textures.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 18 Jan 2009 09:22 pm Post subject:
Update:
Fixed a whole boatload of meshes I intend to use. In some cases, fix means pointing to the right textures. In others, it actually means going into the vertex table and manually moving things around.

I found a modern looking desk that would make a perfect control panel. Unfortunately, it needed some work. It's asymmetric, and looks "homemade" I've managed to fix the worst of it - I can live with the lower shelves being a bit out-of-round. I also created some new textures for the console. It should look nice when I'm done.

I've also decided to pan on a lot of meshes. Some are just too primitive. They either look bad, don't take textures well (and are too difficult to remap), or just don't fit in. I don't want to wail on anyone elses work, but some of the meshes out there for Morrowind are just flat out bad.

I'm getting closer, though. I have most of the furniture I want retextured and ready. Misc objects will take a bit longer, but I have enough to get started for now.

I also had an idea for a mine - one where living workers are replaced with Dwemer automatons. I'm still fleshing this idea out, but I like it.

[loriel]

Post Posted: 19 Jan 2009 09:24 am Post subject:
Update:
Ok, I think I've managed to convert a strange modern desk into a suitable control console. The surface is largely the dark, rusty iron I used for the junction boxes. Only the top surface is different.

I used a picture of an unpopulated circuit board that had large pads on one side as the base texture. They look like touch pads under the top layer, which is a light crystal texture. I set the alphaproperty up to make it look bluish, with crystal highlights.

I still need to work on glow maps, but it already looks pretty sharp. The idea is to use it as a bot control station. Which brings me to the second thing:

I've figured out why the island is secret, and how that relates to the machines. The mine *is* a mine, but not an ordinary mine. It will be operated by modified Dwemer Centurions - or it will at some point. I couldn't avoid a little conspiracy - it's just too fun.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 19 Jan 2009 09:55 pm Post subject:
Update:
I'm mostly done with the textures for my new machine. I'm trying to decide if I want to go through the hassle of making it truly touch controlled, or just have a main activator run through the options as messagebox menus.

I like the first idea, but I will have 25 statics piled on top of an activator. most will be disabled at any given time, but still. I'd need another 12 "invisible" activators that would sit on the surface. They can't be identically shaped, or only one will work. I've already experienced the joy of invisible doors - so...

I dunno. I'll have to wait and see how things pan out.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: Ibis
Post Posted: 20 Jan 2009 10:33 pm Post subject:
Wow this sounds totally interesting, morovir. I've got to go back and read the whole thread so I get the full picture on this mod. I am fascinated now.
_________________
[kittyavvy]
Confused Kitty
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 06 Feb 2009 07:42 am Post subject:
Update:
Things have been slow going with the new baby, but I've managed to start in a bit on the half-elven village. It's what I imagine a Bosmer village in Valenwood would look like - platforms suspended high in the air, connected by rope bridges. Of course, these aren't Bosmer, so there will be enclosed shacks on the platforms.

It's pretty rough right now - the ground is somewhat done - waterways are close, textures are close, shading is OK. The platforms and trees are in, as are some of the bridges. I had to modify the shacks to work on elevated platforms, and that took a bit.

The end result is looking fairly interesting. Of course, once I get the rest of the trees in, it will change, but even now I can tell I like this idea.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 07 Feb 2009 11:03 am Post subject:
Update:
I brought in a whole load of trees and shrubs, and the 'Valenwood-esqe' region is looking pretty good. The platforms are just a tad small, but it actually works. (Which is ironic, because I took a standard platform, retextured it, and blew it up 50%) Each platform is a 3x5 array of these platforms, with boards along the seams and edges. I still need some work on the bridges, but over all, these platforms are looking sharp.

They are also very high. VERY high. From the ground, they disappear into the fog unless you are practically right underneath them. You cannot jump off, even in the streams, without taking damage unless you have a high acrobatic skill or feather.

On the up side, you can see very far from them. The platforms are above the main tree line, so when you look out in the morning, you see the tree-tops and the lake. I'm not sure who created the elf tree models (they are jw_?) but they are awesome. Exactly what I was looking for. Once all the trees and shrubs are in, it's going to be gorgeous from the platforms.

Lastly, I spent a bit of time on the 'shacks'. I'm almost done with them. I took the shack exteriors for 1-3, modified them slightly to get the door closer to the 'ground', and retextured them entirely to fit. They look a bit rough in places, but it actually looks fine - given the rough wood look.

The other two shacks have had their posts shortened to where a decent ladder will get you to the door. I kept the posts to allow for storage under the shacks. I probably knocked about 75% off the post height, though. Again, I completely retextured the shacks to match.

The interiors are still a bit of a work in progress. I really didn't have to modify the meshes too much, though I did add a wooden platform (to cover the 'dirt floor'. I chose a nice plaster for the walls, and replaced the grill with a dwarven grate. This allows me to open up the interior as an exterior - the sky shows through the grates.

Once I got all the new meshes in, I swapped the normal shack door for a very nice wood/metal door - the same ones I used on the rear of the keep. The residents are trying to recreate Valenwood, not Hla Oad. They will be nicely appointed when done.

Each platform could support up to three 'shacks', but I will probably not actually fill out each platform. One platform will be a 'commons', with a tavern-esque building. I haven't decided how to do that one yet, but the rest will be created out of my modified shack meshes. The end result appears like a bunch of tree houses in the forest.

The ground is also coming along. I discovered some of my shrubs don't have collision data. I'm trying to figure out how to add collision to it - but I may end up having to just use an inviso wall. The surface textures are a combination of mud, mud & moss, dead leaves, and some dark sand. I'm trying to keep a 'mottled' look to simulate the light passing through the tree tops. It's not perfect yet, but it's definitely coming along.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: MyCat
Post Posted: 07 Feb 2009 05:19 pm Post subject:
Did you ever play Qarl's The Underground 2? In the Luminer Realm there are platforms high in the trees with huts on them. If it doesn't crash on you, that is. Sad

He has working animated elevators to get you from ground to above and back again. Also small moving platforms to get you from one big platform to the next. Not trusting them, my character used his constant effect levitation Icarus Ring instead.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 08 Feb 2009 12:35 pm Post subject:
MyCat wrote: Did you ever play Qarl's The Underground 2? In the Luminer Realm there are platforms high in the trees with huts on them. If it doesn't crash on you, that is. Sad

He has working animated elevators to get you from ground to above and back again. Also small moving platforms to get you from one big platform to the next. Not trusting them, my character used his constant effect levitation Icarus Ring instead.

No, I've never seen it. I keep hearing more and more about it, though; so I may have to give it a shot sometime.

I hadn't planned on using animated platforms, though. The village is full of high-level mages, so they would prefer to use levitation. Smile
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 09 Feb 2009 12:12 pm Post subject:
Update:
The platforms are mostly in, with walkways to most of them. One of the platforms will require an invitation - or a levitation - to get to. it is *very* high. So high you can see the snow covered areas from it. There is no practical way to run a rope bridge to that platform anyway - it's across a small jetty from the main village.

On the upside, you can actually dive into the lake from this platform (without killing yourself). Might be useful to know in certain circumstances...

However, I'm having trouble with some of the cliff statics I borrowed. The seams are very visible in most of the textures I've tried. I'm probably going to have to retexture them entirely - but I'm not sure what texture I want to use yet. I'm sticking that in the pending file.

I've taken a few screenshots of the area, and it's turning out well. The weather is almost always 'bad' (fog, overcast, rain, thunderstorms) The fog is the best, though. The sky is clear above, but the whole forest is enshrouded in a heavy fog. The only downside is that the cabins are also above the fog. I'll need to deal with that somehow...

Once the basic cabins are in, I'm probably going to switch up, and start working on the lake area. The lake isn't very large, but I like it anyway. I'm going to aim at stocking it at some point as well.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 10 Feb 2009 07:55 am Post subject:
Update:
I've decided on a direction for the western fields. There is simply too much land over there to just ignore, so I carved out a hollow near the lake, and I'm going to build a wee village there.

Not much, probably not even as large as Seyda Neen. Just a tavern, smithy, a few shops, and some commoner homes.

The idea is that there are essentially three 'strains' of half-elves, depending on where they came from. It's sort of a microcosm of Valenwood, High-Rock, and Skyrim. Each 'village' will be fairly small - probably about the same size as the villages in Wyrmwood.

I'm staying away from large overarching quests for now, so they will just be villages for the time being. Ravenwood is actually large enough to support them, unlike Wyrmwood - which was, indeed, too small. (You were right, Osiris!)

I think the new island is about right. I actually got lost the other day in it. I was going to show my wife the new waterfall I built in the tree-house village. It was foggy at the time, and I was near the southern cliffs on the bank of the river. I thought I knew just how to get to the waterfall, but I managed to get turned around, and ended up at the lake instead!

For reference, the tree-house village, alone, is larger than the interior of Wyrmwood Island. The western grassland is larger than the entire island all by itself. I haven't timed it, but it takes a pretty long time to walk the circumference of the island. I'm going to be working on this place for a LONG time.

On the upside, Wyrmwood taught me how to landscape effectively. I created the basic landscape for the tree-house village in about 4 hours.
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* Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 10 Feb 2009 03:55 pm Post subject:
Update:
While working on the village, I realized that my architectural texture folder was a mess. I cleaned it up, removed any duplicates, and renamed/renumbered all of my textures to match my naming scheme.

I've already done this to the landscape, book, furniture, and (mostly) the gentex folders. It makes finding a texture a LOT easier, though unfortunately, it also means I'm going to have to take notes - since soon I will no longer know where a particular texture or mesh came from. Of course, I've seen so many duplicate files with different initials that I will probably have trouble finding the original artist anyway.

The upshot is that the new naming scheme is making things much easier, not only to find, but to keep track of variations of meshes. I now have, for example, a platform_wp01s - which is a wooden platform with a weathered wood plank texture.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 12 Feb 2009 05:31 pm Post subject:
Update:
Building mania! I took the stock shingled buildings, and retextured them completely. They are much more saturated, and look great. The lakeside village is already looking sharp with them.

I also modified the skywalk mesh to use a shingle/tile roof, so it matches the rest of the buildings. Not terribly hard, but definitely worth it. I didn't want too many thatch houses in this village.

I also modified the common tower to have a copper roof/ceiling - again, not wanting thatch. It goes well with the new copper roofed building. It's an amalgam of the standard tower, and a new tower mesh I found on the 'net. I plan to turn it into a wizard's office.

I decided to retex the 'colony' pier, which looks better than the stock. This also helps differentiate the village from the tree village, which uses more of the stock pieces. For squirts and giggles, I also retextured the longboat as well.

I still need to layout the village, and I'm thinking of modeling it after a portion of Baldur's Gate. The colors are a bit more vibrant than most Morrowind villages, and it will look like a proper town.

Lastly, I solved a problem with my very gently sloped beach. Right now, it shows up poorly in the overhead view, so I dropped in a few large trees. Problem solved.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 15 Feb 2009 07:38 pm Post subject:
Update:
I think I've finished the buildings I wanted for the Imperial-esque village. It's a medium size village - about the size of Caldera, only minus the governors mansion. It's right on the bank of the lake, and has cobblestone streets.

I'm still working on smoothing out the streets, but it's looking decent so far. I'm aiming for an old look, so buildings have moss on their tile & shingle roofs, and the cobblestones have grass growing through them. It looks very established already.

No interiors yet, just the exterior buildings for now.

I also modified the Solstheim bridge to fit in with the grassy areas better. It has moss-covered stone bricks, and dark,moss-covered wood. It actually turned out better than I had hoped. I still need to clean up the ravine it's crossing, but it's shaping up fairly well.

I also firmed up the highland plains as well. No trees yet, but the shape is about right. The plains will be mostly clear of trees, save around the periphery, and will be home to a small farm. I plan to leave some open areas for hunting as well. Cait's deer are a certainty, as are the standard wolves. Not sure about bear - I may keep them elsewhere.

Right now, I'm having trouble coming up with village names. I'm going to have to ponder on it a bit. There are going to be three villages - each reminiscent of the tree cities of Valenwood, the stone & brick cities of Daggerfall (high-rock), and the primitive log-cabin Skaal village.

Any suggestions are welcome! Smile
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 16 Feb 2009 12:07 pm Post subject:
Update:
I've come up with some names for the villages. I was thinking of actually naming the tree village 'Ravenwood', after the island. The Bretic village I was going to name 'Bree', and the Skaal-like village 'Winter's tide'. I'd really like an opinion on these, particularly before I start in with NPC's.

As for NPC's, I think I'm going to nuke Wyrmwood. The island is too small for a quest mod, though I may retexture it for a house mod. I did have some fairly well developed characters, though; and I'm thinking of porting a version of them to Ravenwood. Greiri, for example, could be completely cut out and moved - though she would need to be a half-elf for consistency.

One issue with that is that there is NO imperial presence on the island, and it is of vital importance that remain so. In fact, maintaining the secrecy of the island is of the utmost importance. In the story so far, many of the decisions have been made based on keeping all knowledge of the habitable central valley from escaping. The only race on the island, with one or two notable exceptions, are the half-elves.

There are three 'sub-races' of half-elves, depending on the pairing. Half-nordic, half-bretic, and half-imperial. Although not uniformly so, the three villages will be more represented by the corresponding race. Thus, the 'Winter's tide' will have more half-nordic characters, while 'Bree' will have more half-imperial characters. Ravenwood is intended to house the more magically inclined, and will lean towards half-bretic characters. The villages aren't segregated, though; and there will be a mix in each.

The story is beginning to develop, and the core elements are coming together. Each village was formed as the sub-races began to self-segregate based on their interests and likes. Those who preferred the cold, snowy forest formed 'Winter's tide'; those that preferred quiet, contemplative study formed 'Ravenwood' high in the trees; and those that missed the towns of their youth formed 'Bree'. However, they each contribute to the "economy" of the island, and are bound in common cause of secrecy.

Presently, with the loss of their leader, Percius, they have fallen away from the common goal of Ravenwood; and no longer communicate and trade with each other as much. They have lost sight of their shared heritage. The quest is going to involve getting the three villages to work together once more, despite setbacks that threaten to derail the whole process. The final quest will require the help of skilled craftsmen, enchanters, and smiths from each of the villages, as each possess a unique skill.

There will, of course, be an adversary. Someone who does not wish for the villages to reunite. This person will stop at nothing to prevent you from succeeding, and some detective work will come into play.

If you are successful, you might even become the new duke. You will have earned the respect of each village as a neutral party, and they are going to need new leadership. Alternately, there is another surviving member of the duke's family that might do - though some may take issue with that.

Learning from the mistakes in Wyrmwood, I'm not going to go into detail. The blurb above could be part of the release notes - it will be apparent within a few hours of landing on the island. However, I want to return to the original (oddly enough) concept I had when I started - I wanted to create a political mystery.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 17 Feb 2009 01:48 pm Post subject:
Update:
I cleaned up a section of the interior forest that had been bugging me. I'm going to turn that section of the forest into a hollow of sorts. I want lots of areas that are just 'wild' - and not necessarily tied to anything. I now have two large sections of forest that are, more or less, hunting grounds.

I also cleaned up, and defined, the passes. As per the story, there is a narrow icy path on the Western side. Just wide enough for a player, and perhaps a guar, to get through. (though why you would have a guar on Ravenwood is beyond me...) The Eastern end has an ice field - essentially, a glacier. The glacier is only 1 block deep, though - it's intended to hide the interior forest.

The effect, from both sides, is fairly complete. You can't see one area from the other. There is no easy way to walk from the coast/leeward forest into the interior forest. In fact, there are only four non-magical ways (mark/recall doesn't help if you haven't been there yet)

1) Boat from Winter's Tide. This is the easiest, but requires you to prove yourself. This is the intended means of travel for the main quest.
2) Walk around the coast, and enter through the Western Pass. Not recommended due to a lack of shelter from blizzards and wildlife.
3) Swim. Distance isn't too bad, given the location of Winter's Tide, but there are fish in the river; and other things that lurk in the forest.
4) Climb the highlands, and rappel down. Not actually a bad idea, but there is still the lack of shelter from blizzards, wildlife, and the aforementioned 'things that lurk in the forest' aspect.

The coasts are mostly textured now as well. There are some sections, particularly around out-of-the-way places where I still need to do some work, but I'm mostly down to smoothing. That aspect is going to take a very long time. This island is HUGE. I had to map it somewhat to compute the locations of certain sites, and I definitely went beyond Wyrmwood.

However, it seems doable. I'm going one block at a time - save for villages, where i spend time in the village as a whole. Bree is still getting worked on for now, but I plan to return to Arbor Glen and Winter's Tide.

Lastly, I've pulled in some aspects of Wyrmwood that I liked. No details, but I think that they will prove interesting.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 17 Feb 2009 07:41 pm Post subject:
Update:
Bree now has a farm. Well, one proper farm, and another animal pen in the town. The farm is on the ridge above the town. I don't have the farmhouse done yet, but the exterior is coming along nicely.

I've also cleaned up the ridge, and made it more steep - using cliff statics. I'm really pleased with the way the town is turning out. It's still a fairly small town, smaller in area than Caldera, but it should be quite serviceable.

To keep things reasonable, not all houses will have full exterior views. I'm going to cheat a bit, with curtains; but it is simply too much work to reproduce the exterior for all of the buildings. Besides, I figure commoners are going to have trouble buying all those fancy windows anyway! Smile

I suspect I may end up spending a lot of time here. It's a nice little town. I'll have to make sure the tavern is very cozy, and the book shop is well stocked.

[loriel]

Post Posted: 18 Feb 2009 09:51 pm Post subject:
Update:
I've managed to hunt down all of Cait's farm animals, and a few other wild animals as well. Right now, I have cows, bulls, chickens, roosters, goats, rabbits, squirrels, deer, etc. I also have a few trout, and a salmon for the river. I still have a way to go on finishing those, as I need to integrate them with sound, but at least the models are all squared away.

I also created some retextured some of the NOM food models using photos on the Internet. I have some real blue, swiss, cheddar, and a hard cheese textures. Combine that with a better cheese model, and I should be good to go. I also redid the ham, boar meat, and a few other meats.

The eggs, and some of the fruit, were fine as-is. It seems like I'm spending a lot of preparatory work getting all of my models and files squared away, but once I do start working, it goes pretty quickly. The organization has definitely paid off, though I have spent almost as much time on it as I have the actual island itself.

Ah well. The end result is that Bree will have a full farm, and Winter's Tide will have actual game to hunt. I'm looking forward to actually getting the farm put together.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 19 Feb 2009 10:47 am Post subject:
Update:
Not much - I just rounded out the foods, and created a mini-mod to link them. The omelette, in particular, got an upgrade - as did the grilled beef. They are going to look quite tasty in-game.

As an aside, what is up with GiMP? I know I'm a die-hard Photoshop user, having run it since version 4, but seriously - did the GiMP folks just randomly put controls places on whims?

I had to use it briefly at work, since the machine I was on didn't have a copy of Photoshop, and it took me 10x longer than it should have - largely from having to search the Internet for a howto. The end solution wasn't great either. I just needed to take some 32-bit color images, desaturate (convert to grayscale), and take out the alpha layer. I was creating sample imagery for a camera emulator at work - and I used GiMP to overlay sequence numbers on the frames. I ended up saving the grayscale images to windows BMP files, re-reading those, and saving out PNG's. It worked, but it was VERY painful.

If I have to do that again, I'm going to hunt down gimpshop - which looks more like Photoshop.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 19 Feb 2009 08:35 pm Post subject:
Update:
More work on Bree - and a lot of messing around with creatures. I think I have all of Cait's animals that I need for Bree, and all of Ravenwood. There will be pigs in a pen in the south part of town. Cows, bulls, chickens, and goats in a farm overlooking the town proper.

The rest of town will have 5 'commoner' houses, three shops, three 'nice houses', a tavern, a warehouse, and a mine office/dormitory. I pretty well have the lay out down.

The tracks between the mine entrance and the mine warehouse are also in. Those turned out fairly nicely. I used some stone bricks to provide easy crossing, since you have to cross them to enter the town.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 21 Feb 2009 03:12 pm Post subject:
Update:
Bree is starting to slow down a bit. It could just be because I always set my speed to 255 when debugging, but I notice pauses at cell boundaries I didn't before. I suspect it has something to do with the huge texture files I'm using. I'll have to keep an eye on it. Bree uses about five surface textures, and every building has a subtly different set of textures. (I am beginning to see why most common towns all look alike in vanilla MW!)

At any rate, interiors are going OK. I have most of the commoner homes built (as in, four walls and working doors - no clutter or furniture) I'm going to just get the interiors done enough to where I can come back to them in another pass.

I am also trying to figure out where to place NPC's. I understand that if you schedule them, and move them about, that you can get game crashes. I'm wondering if I should create an actor backroom, and move all actors from there first?
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 22 Feb 2009 08:07 am Post subject:
Update:
I fixed an odd problem near the docks, where the overhead map was incorrectly showing water/wet ground instead of dry ground. Apparently, my attempts at smoothly entering the water have been met by MW's strange map generating code. I just lifted it a bit, smoothed it, and it appears to be fine now. I used tree cover elsewhere, to maintain the smooth surfaces.

I also got the large/rich shop interiors sketched out as well. The wall textures will need to change, but the floors, pillars, stairs, windows, etc. are all correct. Eradril Valerius' house is also architecturally complete. (and it has the correct wall textures!) Eradril is the governing wizard of Bree, so I created her a custom tower. Unlike the rickety towers you normally see, this tower is very clean. It's been completely retextured, has a copper ceiling instead of a thatch ceiling, and when I'm done, will have MUCH cleaner stairs than the original. I'm not done with the mesh, and I'm having an issue with the ceiling collision mesh (the game is ignoring it...), but it already looks pretty nice.

Since it's intended to be used as part of a house, I also added everything you need to just tack the tower onto a common interior. It has the pillars, door jamb, and extra wall bits already attached. I even centered it, so you can use multiples of 256 when placing it. Smile
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 22 Feb 2009 02:18 pm Post subject:
Update:
I finished out the basic architecture for the mine warehouse and office. The office is also a workshop, so I decided to put in real skylights. They look very nice during the day, but since the weather never really clears off, not so great at night.

I also modified a few window statics to allow for interior windows. They are stacked back-to-back, and allow you to look from one area to another. In this case, it allows Mr. Snodgrass to keep an eye on the work from his apartment in the mine office.

The warehouse is a bit more simple. Just a 3x4 grid, but it also is "open". I found some custom heavy chandelier meshes that look great in there. It has a very dark, warehouse feel too it - even without the crates.

The tracks also terminate in there. They come in under one of the doors, curve around, and come to a stop next to the stairs. Even without furniture, it has a nice feel. It is NOT an exterior/ interior - it's a plain old interior - so I could get it dark. I need to try running it on a CRT, as I'm on my laptop right now. The external display is also a LCD, so I can't tell on brightness.

I've got some screenshots, but I haven't posted them to imageshack yet.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 22 Feb 2009 05:34 pm Post subject:
Update:
It's been a long weekend, but I've gotten a lot accomplished. Fast travel is now implemented - with four gondoliers. I thought about a fifth, but the destination would not be on the river. I thought it was interesting that the price to travel from Bree to Winter's Tide was about 20gp. Naturally, travel within the forest is much cheaper. Also interesting - it is cheaper, by 1 gp, to travel from Bree, to Arbor Glen, and then to Winter's Tide. Strange that...

Other than adding docks to Arbor Glen and Winter's Tide, I also added a dock below the keep. It is technically in the Interior Forest, and that is what the Gondoliers call it, but it is actually an entrance to the Keep. I didn't want to name it specifically, because the dock is right in the middle, and there is forest above on both sides. You'll just have to know that 'Interior Forest == Keep'

I still have a few basic interiors left to do. There is one shop style which hasn't been completed yet. Once I knock that out, I'll move to Winter's Tide, and start doing basic interiors there. (Actually, I may borrow the tavern and shop interiors from Wyrmwood)
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 23 Feb 2009 07:40 pm Post subject:
Update:
I put in the basic architecture of Raven's Beak armory, and The Raven's Nest apothecary. Both are going to have some unique architecture - much like the Mining Office.

I left an area in the armory for a bear statue, and there is an apartment above the shop. I left a 2x3 area for the apartment - which is generally enough. It's going to be an interesting shop, but other than the open atrium with the bear statue, not much to write home about.

The Raven's Nest, on the other hand, is going to be special. Try to imagine a Bass Pro shop - only instead of a water feature in the center of the store, the entire store is a water feature. The entire floor is under water, deep enough to support a handful of fish that wander about. There is a fairly large waterfall in one corner, with some mossy rocks and ferns about.
*
Piers are held up with tree stumps, and there is scaffolding that leads to the 'shop' area. The shop area is really only about 1.5x1 - but the whole store is full of plants.

On the second floor is an open-air apartment, much like Arbor Glen. In fact, the entire store looks like Arbor Glen. This is not surprising once you meet the owner, but I went to great lengths to duplicate some of the features of that village in this shop. There is, however, a regular fireplace. It's Bree, after all - folks want some creature comforts. It should be an interesting shop when it's finished.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 24 Feb 2009 03:19 pm Post subject:
Update:
Spent some time fixing bad names. I had used Ravenwood.<area name> instead of Ravenwood,<area name> That took a bit of work to fix, but now all the names are correct.

I also spent some time putting in path grids in a few areas where NPC's were getting stuck - when I noticed something odd. The Colony pier static has some bad/missing collision data. The NPC's are walking through the walls. I accidentally discovered that the roof is also not colliding. I still haven't worked out how to add collision data reliably, but I'm going to try to fix them - since they are used in several places.

I also fixed the skylight door scripts. You now correctly fall, rather than being gently deposited on the ground, when sneaking in through a skylight. Right now, only one building has a loose skylight door, which is actually part of a quest, but I may add one to the pool building as part of a sub quest.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 24 Feb 2009 08:28 pm Post subject:
Update:
One of the temptations I have when modding is the desire to make everything 'pretty'. Unfortunately, not everyone's house is 'rich', there are always commoners, middle-class folk, and a few rich guys. I spent some time reducing the stature of some of my commoner houses, replacing wood paneling with plaster walls, altering Barabus' fireplaces to fit in the new houses, etc.

On that note, I finished out the Bree Meat Packing Co. building. It's very utilitarian, with a two-story high barn, and apartment on the third level. It even has a freezer! I altered a standard stone wall panel to have an ice dark/detail texture, set the glossiness up, and adjusted the tint to slightly blue.

I also finished out the dormitory, also in plaster and stone. I even found a wood/plaster ceiling to finish it out. Very utilitarian and plain - just as you would expect of a dormitory for miners.

I still have the farmhouse, barn, and cellar left to do - but the village of Bree pretty much has its interiors. I'll do some more screenshots at some point, but I'm very pleased with the way Bree has turned out so far.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 25 Feb 2009 10:45 am Post subject:
Update:
I got the barn interior mostly done. I created a hay overlay for the milking stalls, but I may need to tweak the alpha layer on the texture. It still seems a bit dark. The barn looks nice overall, though.

I also corrected a bug in the modified centurion archer. It was not allowing you to harvest scrap metal and darts upon death. I had inadvertently left a return on isdead == 1 line in the code. The corrected centurion now correctly handles activation regardless of mode / health status.

I am still trying to work out a way to use the centurions as regular guards - in that they can send you to prison, collect fines, etc. Unfortunately, I haven't found a good way to replicate that behavior yet. For now, they are either in attack or ignore mode only.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 25 Feb 2009 04:27 pm Post subject:
Update:
The barn, farmhouse, root cellar, and tavern are done architecturally. That means that, other than the mine, all of the buildings in Bree have interiors.

The Black Talon Tavern turned out nicely. I used a dark purple theme throughout the inn. The tavern will be a hub for several quests, so I wanted it to look nice - and fit with the name. I'll post some screenshots when I get a chance, but it really needs lighting to set it off.

The farm house is, well, a farm house. It's done in a mix of middle-class and upper-class, though. After all, that farm supplies all of Ravenwood with groceries and milk! Likewise, the Meat Packing Co. is done in middle class style.

Now that Bree is fairly well done in terms of buildings, I'm going to move back to Arbor Glen. There are lots of shacks that need installing.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 25 Feb 2009 09:22 pm Post subject:
Update:
As part of the main quest, I created an interesting computer display. I used a very high-res picture of the space shuttle's glass cockpit, and extracted 10 displays. They are, of course, indecipherable in-game, but they look like computer displays - which was what I was going for.

Although I plan to more precisely control them as part of the quest, for now I just have a loop running in Eradril's tower.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 04 Mar 2009 09:58 pm Post subject:
Update:
I found a set of houses & house mods that I think might work better in the tree village - the Sylvan houses. They have that different feel I'm looking for in that village.

Originally, I thought I was going to have to contact the Wizard Island guys, but it turns out the houses are a separate modders resource. As is most of the stuff they used - which is why I find it so interesting that they require permission to use anything. I've looked at so many models, I recognized most of the stuff in Wizards Island - they did do some nice retextures, though - and the scripting is interesting.

I haven't gotten too far with Arbor Glen, so now would be the time to switch models for the houses...
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 05 Mar 2009 12:52 pm Post subject:
Update:
I like the Sylvan houses for the tree village. They will be a bit more cramped than the standard shack, and I may use a bit of both - I'll have to see how it looks- but they should be serviceable. There are no taverns or inns in Arbor Glen, so that will help.

I also discovered that the mod on PES is missing a few statics. The interior for house 5 is missing, as is the exterior for house 3 (and 3 is actually 4). Wizards Island had the missing exterior, but not the missing interior. I was able to create a new interior for house 5 by merging two copies of house 2. Collision was an issue, but I exported to .obj and reimported - which seems to have fixed the collision problem. At any rate, I now have a complete set of 5 Sylvan houses for Arbor Glen.

I also fixed the Colony pier, so that the small shack section has proper collision. I was using inviso blocks, but those are gone. I'm going to attempt to correct the collision in my tower model as well - but at least it's serviceable right now.

Things have slowed quite a bit now that wife and baby are back home. She wanted to show the family the new baby, but I didn't have enough vacation time - so I ended up dropping her off, and returning later. I got a lot done in two weeks, which is good - because now I'm back to about 1 hour a day for a while.

[loriel]

Post Posted: 06 Mar 2009 04:26 pm Post subject:
Update:
I'm working on Winter's Tide, and the Thirsk models have turned out to be bears. The UV maps are messed up in several places, and there are some strange texture links. I think I've finally gotten all of the texture kinks worked out, but I'm still struggling with the UV map for the ceiling. I may have to just punt, and alter my new texture to match the old one as closely as possible - just to avoid screwing with the UV map.

I was able to modify most of the top and bottom, though - and it looks fairly nice. I'm going with wood textures that match the rest of Ravenwood - since presumably the wood would have come from the interior forest. The pillars are also stone now. It's a nice refresh of an old tavern.

I'm just hoping the other Solstheim buildings aren't this bad.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 11 Mar 2009 12:19 pm Post subject:
Update:
Ugh - more problems with the colony piers. I haven't figured out what is going on, but there is some serious collision issues with that piece.

I was able to extract a segment that doesn't appear to have any collisions problems, and I'm creating a 'dock set' out of it. Instead of a fixed pier, with steps, I'm creating pier segments that can be stacked - much like the original dock segments. If it weren't for the clean look of the timbers, I'd almost punt, and use the original dock pieces - but I think the work will be worth it.

Presently, I can build simple segments of colony-style pier with no collision problems. I'm going to try to extract the little shed as well - since that is useful for housing travel agents.

I also retextured the first of the solstheim buildings. It looks really good. I'm a bit surprised bethesda didn't do the same - but I suppose multiple layers were a bit hard on graphics cards of the day.

I set up a new thatch base layer on the roof, added a detail layer of ice, and a dark layer of snow. I jacked the glossiness up, and the final product looks like it belongs in a snowy area. I'll have to shoot up some screen shots of the new building. Unfortunately, it's only 1 of 7...

Winter's Tide is looking to take almost as long as Bree in terms of custom statics.

EDIT:
I finished my collection of colony pier pieces. Took about an hour, and a few export/imports, but I now have a working set. They all have normal collision, and can be pieced together to form almost any shape - much like the original set. Some are a bit irritating to work with - because the origin isn't set quite right, but they are tolerable.

The pieces are 1) the standard platform, 2) platform end (essentially, just the vertical beams / crossbeam), 3) shelf, 4) shed, 5) covered platform (the shed with the back removed so you can walk through it)

The covered platform is handy, because you can use it as a terminal. For Winter's Tide, the plank to the ship is running to a covered platform. I may need a shelf, but dunmer are among the more tall characters - so it might be fine.

With Wanderer's dock pieces, I think Winter's Tide is going to turn out nicely.

Just out of curiosity, is anyone else interested in playing with these new dock pieces?
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 12 Mar 2009 08:56 am Post subject:
Update:
I think I may have solved the problem with my new pier set. I ended up placing an invisible rectangle 1 unit above the woodwork. This *seems* to have fixed the icy version of the piers - the other piers work fine already. not sure what that's all about, since they are just retextures.

I also did some more work in Winter's Tide. There are now two large ships; a galleon and a standard ship, a long boat, and a small rowboat for atmosphere. No interiors yet, but the dock area is looking fairly good. Now that I the pier pieces are good - I can move on. No stuttering on the docks so far.

I also finished the retextures of the skaal buildings. The woodwork has been given ice details, and high glossiness. Stone work has been given a deeper stone detail. Some elements were retained - such as the painted wood, and other decals. The biggest difference is the thatch roof. That was completely redone on all of the buildings. I added an ice detail, and a snow/ice dark layer. When combined with high glossiness, it gives a nice final effect.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 16 Mar 2009 02:45 pm Post subject:
Update:
I got to spend a bit of time in Winter's Tide on this trip. I cleaned up the village a bit, redid the ground textures, and added a few interiors. This village is still coming along, and I don't have all the NPC's named yet - but it's looking reasonably good already.

I also started on the Sisyphean - the transport ship that you arrive on. Interestingly, I discovered that you can't swim into the very forward section with the ship tilted 165 degrees off-axis. I had to modify the static mesh, and bump up the scaling, before I could reliably swim into the very forward sections. The scale makes the ladder seem larger (it is), but I'm hoping the darkness kind of hides that fact.

As hackneyed as it may seem, I'm going with the shipwreck idea. There will be a few differences, however. For one, you will spend quite a bit of time aboard before it meets its fate, and get to know the crew hopefully.

I am a bit concerned I may have placed the shipwreck a bit too far from Winter's Tide, though. I jacked my speed up to 255 (boots of speed fast) and it still too a very long time to reach the village. Given that I intend to put in weather based damage, that could make that first trip a bit hairy. If you are unfortunate enough to depart right before a blizzard, you could end up dead before reaching the halfway point.

Of course, that could make things interesting as well...
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 17 Mar 2009 10:31 am Post subject:
Update:
I now see why it was a good idea to go through a few islands before settling on a big one - I'm getting very quick with exteriors. I'm still sorting out a system, particularly for snowy areas, but Winter's Tide is going well. I have the village fairly well textured, and am now adding trees and rocks.

I also added a few dry gulches to the large sub-island that Winter's Tide is built on. The area is fairly large all by itself, and comprises about 2/3 of the leeward coastal forest.

The village will be smaller than Bree, and be comprised mostly of hunters and fishermen. Like Bree, I'm just punching out the interiors - no furnishings or anything yet. Having placeholders makes it easier to consider what should go where in-game.

I also fixed a few mesh problems as well. Apparently leaving unused nitexture* blocks in a mesh causes the CS to die. I've cleaned up the meshes I'm using, and so far everything is stable. It would seem I've generated a couple of mini-mods already, just in the course of building Ravenwood. In addition to the Half-Elves, I now have a completely retextured set of buildings for both common and nord/solstheim styles.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 18 Mar 2009 09:00 am Post subject:
Update:
I did a lot of landscaping around Winter's Tide, and a few points further into the Leeward Forest. I am really liking the direction it's going in - it's turning into a winter wonderland.

I even managed to get lost myself. There are a lot of rolling hills above the village, and everything is covered in snow. There are no marked roads in the leeward forest - largely because of the snow. There is a trail head that leads out to the edge of the village area, but beyond is nothing but pure wilderness. At any rate, I was wandering around back there, and got turned around. It was snowing, and it took me a minute to get my bearings. I knew I was on an island, so I just went North until I reached the river, and then West until I reached the village. I was listening to an atmospheric track called "Into the Orion Nebula", and it made the journey very interesting.

I like Bree, but I suspect I could spend a lot of time wandering around in the Leeward Forest as well.

That aside, I created basic interiors for most of the cabins. There is a small, medium, and large interior corresponding to the longhouse models. I had to create the "large" interior from the medium interior. It still needs some tweaking, but it is functional.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 19 Mar 2009 08:51 pm Post subject:
Update:
Not much, work-wise. I've been thinking about a lot, though. Particularly about the beginning. I've been planning to implement inclement weather based damage for a while. Essentially, if a blizzard blows in, you are going to freeze (potentially to death) if you stay out in it.

The thing is, I also intend for you to have companions, or at least stragglers, as you begin. I've already started playing around with the scripting and dialog for one particularly NPC, who will ask you to guide a ad-hoc party to Winter's Tide.

I don't want to make things too difficult, but the trek will involve fighting the island itself (bears, wolves, etc.), the weather (blizzards), and the centurion guardians - who will be somewhat camouflaged archers. While I'm writing things such that you can complete all the quests even if both companions don't make it, it would be preferable if they did. So, you get to face the island with two stragglers in tow.

The creatures are fairly easy - just avoid them. The weather, however; is a different story. I'm thinking of outfitting the Sisyphean with a carryable tent - like the Adventer's Tent or Ranger Tent, but that would cause problems if you, like me, always have Laura or Constance with you. IOW, I really like the idea, but I don't know how to deal with companion mods - something that will definitely effect me.

* The other idea is to place caverns in strategic locations, and have one of the companions note them as you near the entrance. This solves the issue of shelter, and potentially allows me greater flexibility in force the weather to turn ugly. I'm already somewhat going down this path - since the shipwreck of the Sisyphean is VERY far from Winter's Tide. We are talking about a nearly all day walk at normal speed. It would be easy to get turned around, go the wrong direction, and end up very lost on the Western coast, so I intend for one of the companions to warn you if you start heading too far to the west. There is a western passage, which leads to Bree, but the quest that allows you to roam the wilderness without interference from the centurions starts in Winter's Tide - so you would be constantly attacked if you tried to enter Bree first.

If you managed to miss that passage, it would likely take nearly three or four days to come full circle at normal speed. It is almost guaranteed that a blizzard will occur in that time frame, at which point you would likely die somewhere on the coast.

I'm kind of heading towards the idea of making one of the companions a guide of sorts, even though they will want you to lead the way. I just need to work out how to do it.
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Posted by: Blaydon
Post Posted: 20 Mar 2009 03:18 am Post subject: guide
if you make him say a thief who likes to hide and usually works alone then he would not push himself forward for leadership but would have knowledge of use that way you get a guide who does not lead.
_________________
Truly Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take but the moments that leave you breathless. [ES53]
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 01 Apr 2009 01:12 pm Post subject:
Update:
I had a few hours, so I spent some time in Winter's Tide. I'm toying with the idea of force field barriers around the village. Probably not, but they are in now. There is one passage under the barrier - mostly cliffs, and a short open-air cave. I have another hole punched through with a rock arch static - that leads to the bridge over the river.

I will probably go with a stone wall instead of a force field wall. I don't want to give away too much that early. I borrowed the ghost gate meshes for the field, but created new activators (so the Winter's Tide barrier doesn't go down with the ghost fence.) It does look nice in places, though - particularly around the southern entrance.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 03 Apr 2009 06:10 am Post subject:
Update:
The field barriers are gone. They were nice, but a bit unrealistic for the setting. Instead, I used retextured colony walls from Bloodmoon. They have a nice snow-covered stone texture, a vast improvement over the originals.

I also started landscaping just outside of the village. The smaller island that Winter's Tide sits on is now becoming easier to navigate. I've added dry riverbeds, some rolling hills, etc. It will still be troublesome in snow, but in decent weather, it should be fairly navigable.

I wish I had more time to spend on it. I've had to return to the concept of picking one small area, and focusing on it for an hour or so.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 03 Apr 2009 08:50 pm Post subject:
Update:
I finished the waterworks for a small, alpine stream south of Winter's Tide. It turned out quite nicely. I used a combination of textures on the water to give it that frigid look. The base texture came from a texture replace pack for Morrowind. The under layer texture came from a streams & rivers mod. I did a bit of work in nifskope to adjust the specular color, and now I have a very frosty looking river.

The angles are such that there are some seams here and there. They aren't too bad, and I've tried to cover the worst ones. Unfortunately, the layout of the river doesn't incline itself to right angles, so I'm just going to have to live with a few seams.

The entrance, but not the cavern, to the well spring is also in. I'm planning a small side-quest in there, related to the ranger who lives above it. Nothing terribly deep, depending on your POV...

The ranger's cabin is also placed, but has no interior yet. I added some pier pieces, and a covered shelter, as a lookout tower. You can really see quite a bit of the stream from that high, though without a frame rate optimizer, fog envelopes pretty much everything else. I suspect that with a frame rate optimizer, the view would be pretty spectacular from that tower.

I still need to rough in the trail up to the rangers cabin. It's almost there, but still needs texturing and carving.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 03 May 2009 04:42 pm Post subject:
Update:
Well, the bad news is that I got laid off last week. The worse news is that I didn't back up my stuff before it happened. Fortunately, the IT guy is a friend of mine, and he agreed to burn a DVD of my stuff. I really hope that happens, because I had all of my modified stream resources on that machine.

The good news is that I did get around to creating a computer terminal model that I like. Like all of my models, it's a bit hacked together, but it looks reasonably decent. I took a very high-res picture of a WII keyboard, and used that to create the key overlay as a glow map. I used a combination of a Victorian picture frame, and a display case, as the body of the terminal.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 05 May 2009 02:57 pm Post subject:
Update:
The IT guy at my former company did me a favor, and copied off my working folder to a portable hard disk. I'm backing it up now to a couple of places. I hadn't realized it had grown to 12GB when I asked him to burn a DVD...

So, I'm back to where I was before - only with the new terminal models. I'm going to drop a few in to see how they look on Ravenwood.
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Posted by: osiris
Post Posted: 06 May 2009 12:31 am Post subject:
morovir wrote: Update:
The IT guy at my former company did me a favor, and copied off my working folder to a portable hard disk. I'm backing it up now to a couple of places. I hadn't realized it had grown to 12GB when I asked him to burn a DVD...

OMG, you should consider to switch to a Blu-ray Disc recorder: a single dual layer disc can hold almost 30 GB of data. Wink That's what I planned to do in the future.
_________________
The Chieftain's Chambers
Get yourself Tamriel Rebuilt Map 1 v2.0 + Map 2 v1.0 in just one download NOW!
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 10 May 2009 10:56 am Post subject:
Update:
I cleaned up my 'office' while I was out of work. I still need to go through all of my 'stuff', and clean out the trash, but my desk is clean again.

I also put in some work near the keep area. There is a new vineyard, meadow, and path from the keep to the bridge to Arbor Glen. I actually have plans for the meadow, and it seems to be large enough for the task.

The vineyard is kind of small, but again, it's large enough for the task as well. Besides, I didn't see the need to waste that much space on pure eyecandy.

Lastly, I got a lot done on the river terminal. The building interior is mostly done, but I still need to work on the textures. I'm angling for a mix of imperial and neo-common (my own take on common) The imperial pieces are coming along, but still need some texture work.

[loriel]

Post Posted: 13 May 2009 07:38 pm Post subject:
Update:
I completed my new 'tent' model. It's an elven tent, and I have one placed in the meadow just to the east of the keep. I created a 'flap' using a tapestry base. I manually adjusted the vertices until I covered the opening. Since it is double sided, it creates a nice 'door' (that only looks right as a teleport door, but...)

I also put in some more work on the meadow. I added a bunch of static and container plants. Some of the plants that I found models, but no inventory items, for are just for show. I wish I could find, or create, the ingredient models - but I'm somewhat limited for the moment.

At any rate, the meadow is coming along nicely.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 26 Jul 2009 05:41 pm Post subject:
Update:
Wow, I can't believe it's been this long since the last update. I've been hammered at the new job, and haven't really had time for modding.

That said, I got to work on the keep again tonight, and I worked out an easier way to simulate an exterior in an interior. I created *huge* squares with the basic ground texture. I added a couple, and tilted them so that they wouldn't disappear from within the level (a few degrees off-axis is adequate)

I then copied all of the statics from the real interior to the false interior. The effect is fairly convincing. I'm going to go ahead and finish the actual exterior before continuing, though- as it will get copied four times. I'd rather start from a "final" exterior.

I've also been thinking about one of the alternate dimension areas. Not quite sure how I want to approach that one yet, but at least the ideas are still percolating.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 27 Jul 2009 08:14 pm Post subject:
Update:
I decided to do some more work in the Interior Forest. I mostly worked around the keep, and the neighboring meadow. They have much more subtle landscaping now, and are really starting to take on a final shape.

Some of the new rock and tree textures are helping quite a bit by adding some texture to the ground. The meadow is really more an area of gentle hills, but there is a small campsite near the bottom. The whole area really reminds me a bit of an area in the highlands of Yosemite that I really liked.

The aim is to get the big stuff done near the keep, so I can create the false interiors. A lot of the ground is blocked by large trees, so once I get those placed, I can probably safely ignore smaller things on the ground. We'll see.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 30 Jul 2009 04:50 am Post subject:
Update:
I only managed a couple of hours - got home late. I did clean up the Arbor Glen village a bit, though. All platforms are now connected, and there are paths to the ground. The whole thing looks a bit creaky, but that was the effect I was going for.

I'm using a mixture of the bitter coast "sheds" and the Sylvan house models. I was a bit unsure about blending two styles like this, but it really makes sense in a half-elf village full of "refugees" from the rest of the world. I've retextured all of the models so that they appear to have common origins in the forest, which definitely helped.

Overall, the village is looking fairly sharp. You really feel like you are walking in the clouds, even if you have your view distance jacked way up. Some of the rope bridges actually go through trees, which has a nice effect. I'll post screenshots when I get a chance, but I'm beginning to take to Arbor Glen. It may be right across the lake from Bree, but it feels like a whole different world.
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Posted by: Neko
Post Posted: 30 Jul 2009 10:16 am Post subject:
The rope bridges sound nice.

If I ever get into a fight near a rope bridge, I feel obliged to drag the fight over to the middle of it, just for added drama =)

-Neko [cat]
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 31 Jul 2009 05:09 am Post subject:
Update:
Not much. Thunderstorms in the area knocked the power out right as I was getting into things. Argh!

I did, however, start on Agarond's Tower. It's a bit of a mix between common and Sylvan. The structure is Sylvan, which has cylindrical ceilings. That makes straight walls difficult, but I've tried to work with it. You can tell in a few areas that the original models weren't perfectly symmetric, but I actually feel that adds to the model - gives it a rustic look. I'll find some nice piece of furniture that just perfectly fits one of the slightly off-angle walls I had to put in to hide the structure.

I used a rich, dark wall paper and turned the lights down - since it *is* a wizard's tower. There are overhead chandeliers that do a fair job of bumping up the ambient light levels, and sconces along the central corridor to light up the dining area.

The two side wings have lofts, while the central corridor is fairly free at the moment. Descriptions really don't cover it, so when I get a chance, I'll take some screenshots. I've really tried to make use of the more open setpieces I created for the keep, and Bree.

Of course, not all of the houses in Arbor Glen will be so richly appointed. The idea is that wealth scales with altitude, so the higher the house, the nicer the interior.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 01 Aug 2009 05:34 pm Post subject:
Update:
Now things have been cooking. Arbor Glen is fairly well defined now, though it does need more shrubbery. All but one house has a blank interior (you can enter the house without falling through space...)

All of the walk ways are fairly well done, though I'm tweaking exact locations as I walk through the village. There are six platforms - five for the village itself, and a whole platform for the governor and his staff. Each platform has three houses of varying size.

Every platform is connected to another (or the ground) by at least two rope bridges. I haven't worked all of the exits out yet, but there is at least one that drops you near the boatman.

Fun stuff. There are two places where you can "safely" jump off of a platform. One is a bit hard to see, and if you miss, it's splat time. (the entire village is on the order of 3-4k above the ground) The other is the back port of Agarond's tower (the governor). You can fairly safely jump off the edge closest to the lake and hit it reliably if you are running. It's kind of a rush, since you can't actually see the water all that well when you jump. Note - simply dropping off of the platform won't do, you actually do need to run and jump.

I also created an interior for the keep's barn, as well as an "interior exterior" This one was interesting because the view from the window included a drop-off. (one of the tributaries of the interior river) I think I managed to pull it off, but it depends on fog/bad weather for the effect. There is a weird shimmery effect on the plants (grape vines) that I can't explain - it doesn't appear when you are outside. Not sure on that one, but it doesn't kill the effect.

Lastly, I created some more bed models out of pieces of other beds. The new beds are all brass poster beds, but with different bed spreads. I think I managed to pull pieces from four models to create them. The actual poster bed is Qarl's, the bedspread models and mattress were from separate beds, but I can't recall whose, and I used (more or less) stock pillows from morrowind (retextured to match).

I really need a better system to track where these pieces came from. I've got bits and pieces of meshes spread all over my hard disk. Some are .nif files, others are just bits I liked, and stored away as .obj's.

In one way, having .obj's of favorite bits is nice. I can create lots of models without having to mess with a 3D modeling program. On the other hand, I'm probably going to miss a lot of people in any credits. The bigger pieces I have documented, or simply recognize, but for some of the pieces I have long forgotten the original creator.

Thankfully, clothing and weapons are still fairly well documented. The bits and pieces I'm talking about were really for furniture, plants, and houses.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 01 Aug 2009 08:13 pm Post subject:
Update:
Arbor Glen has claimed its first victim - Elegnan. I was playing around with the path grid, and decided to have her aifollow my player around. Nothing too difficult, and she managed to get all the way to the tower.

On the way back, though; I noticed she seemed to get stuck in places. In particular, places where the path cross cell boundaries. I'm not sure how to deal with that one, since there are numerous crossings. In particular, she seemed to have difficulty with rope bridges - I'm wondering if I need more points for those...

At any rate, there are few ropes in place in Arbor Glen. I may have to fix that, though; because to my horror; Elegnan walked off of one of the riser platforms. I was already to the next village platform when I looked back to see if she was still behind me - only to catch sight of her plummeting to her death. I ran back to where it appeared she fell, turned god mode on, and dropped. Sure enough, right at the base of the tree was her body. It took nearly 5 seconds for her to hit. (based on when I saw her go over to when I heard her scream)

I find it someone interesting, if disconcerting, that she seemed to follow me better BEFORE I put the path grid in. Of course, I plan to add characters that wander about the village, and the grid will be absolutely necessary for that; but what could I be doing wrong? I always assumed that when a character cross a cell boundary, they would walk towards the nearest grid point in the new cell?

Ugh - apparently I still have a lot to learn before doing path grids.
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Posted by: blockhead2
Post Posted: 02 Aug 2009 04:11 am Post subject:
* morovir wrote: I ran back to where it appeared she fell, turned god mode on, and dropped. Sure enough, right at the base of the tree was her body. It took nearly 5 seconds for her to hit. (based on when I saw her go over to when I heard her scream)

Do NPCs scream when they fall? I don't remember that happening but it's been a while since I ran the game.

Quote: I find it someone interesting, if disconcerting, that she seemed to follow me better BEFORE I put the path grid in. Of course, I plan to add characters that wander about the village, and the grid will be absolutely necessary for that; but what could I be doing wrong? I always assumed that when a character cross a cell boundary, they would walk towards the nearest grid point in the new cell?

Ugh - apparently I still have a lot to learn before doing path grids.
I've had problems with path grids in my plugins: sometimes I think they are disregarded.

As for path grids across exterior cell borders, I don't know. Eveything gets kind of funny when you cross cell borders. The only thing I can suggest is to check the pathgrids in the unmoadded game for any outdoor areas that are more than one cell in size, such as Balmora, to see how they position the points that are by the edges of cells

In Balmora, the Orc NPC often falls into the river. Maybe path grids just suck?
_________________
Meanwhile, at the dance party
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 02 Aug 2009 04:46 am Post subject:
No screaming during the fall - that was totally silent. Major scream upon hitting the ground. Almost surreal, really.

I think the "solution" is to finish the safety ropes. Not only good for players, but also good for NPC's. They hit about waist to chest level on most characters, so the collision should be good enough to stop you from going over - short of jumping.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 03 Aug 2009 06:37 pm Post subject:
Update:
I finished the safety ropes for the walks. The platforms still don't have them, but that's going to take a lot more effort. (The modified Ald-Ruhn stuff was fairly trivial) This should keep folks from plummeting to their deaths while walking between platforms. (some of the walks are buried in trees, so it's hard to see at times)

After a while with that, I opted to do some more landscaping. There is a new waterfall nearer to Agarond's tower. It's a shame you can't actually see it *from* the tower, but you can get great views on the walks to the tower. (The tower is so high that you can't see the ground)

I'm fairly pleased with the way that waterfall is turning out - particularly for a spur of the moment addition. I decided to use pine trees, since it starts at a fairly high elevation. A bit of a shift from the towering elven trees in the village, but it gives a slight sense of transition with altitude.

The cliff-side trail that leads into the mountains is also coming along. It's one of three (normal) ways into and out of the lower valley. (not including the boats, which are fast-travel).That has turned out better than I expected, but I will still need to clean it up with statics.

Lastly, I polished up the servants quarters under the keep. I added two rooms for dormitories, a kitchen, a pantry, and a work area. No items yet, but the space is allocated. There is also a septic system under the keep - a large pipe brings in water that flows over a grill and return pipe. It's the most "dungeon-like" part of the keep, and will have large rats. It's key to the plot, so I tried to pay attention to the lighting and water depth. It's just deep enough... Wink

The final tunnel to the river port still isn't done yet. I'm debating on actual tunnel versus cavern. However, there will be a passage that allows entry to the keep from the river. It is intended for use by the servants, so it won't be fancy.

The river port facility itself is largely done already, though it still needs furnishing. The stairs and doors are all in, save one. (for the aforementioned tunnel).

Other than that, I fixed a whole slew of floating trees and rocks. I seem to find more every trip. Arbor glen is almost firmly attached to the ground finally!
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Posted by: Froderick
Post Posted: 06 Aug 2009 11:00 am Post subject:
Safety ropes are a good idea. Too bad Bethesda didn't put some along the Odai in Balmora. There's usually a pretty large crowd of NPCs wading in the river by the middle of my game! Laughing
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 10 Aug 2009 05:14 pm Post subject:
Update:
I was pretty tired last night, so I stuck to landscaping. I added a split in the river just west of Arbor Glen. In the process of doing so, I created a whole new set of sedimentary rocks that really go nicely with the texture I used for the river bottom.

It's purely eye-candy, but I can't stand a bare spot in a forest (unless it's a meadow) It really looks good in the overhead view (map view) as well. I still need to add vegetation, but it's pretty complete already.

I also identified the need for sedimentary rock with moss on it as well, for the floor of Arbor Glen.

I'll try to get screen shots tonight.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 12 Aug 2009 08:18 pm Post subject:
Update:
I decided to spend my couple of hours modeling this time. I created a new "computer" model with a chassis and cover. (It looks a bit like an old-school mini-computer) It's partially animated, in that you can open the cover and look inside.

The interior is pretty bare, but the idea is to populate it with activator versions of the cards - which you can "insert" and "remove". I used a "doom-like" tech panel texture for the exterior, and a green circuit board texture for the interior.

To go with it, I also created a new circuit board model. This one matches my power board set, in that it appears to be phenolic with gold traces. Unlike the power board, though; I created models for a PLCC44, SOIC8, and SOIC14 (though it got shortened to 12 pins). I also dropped some models of capacitors and diodes on the board as well. It's not finished, but I've already got it clean enough to drop in-game. I even managed to create an icon for it!

I may release a "tech" modders resource with these at some point. The circuit boards, card cages, terminals, and computers are getting fairly complete. I only have a few more models to go before I have what I need for Ravenwood island.

Essentially, all I have left is a ceiling mounted computer terminal/monitor and an oscilloscope/ logic analyzer type instrument for the laboratories. I also have an idea for a modern looking piece of heavy equipment, but I'm still pondering on it.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 16 Aug 2009 08:09 pm Post subject:
Update:
Not bleedin' much. I spent two hours organizing models and textures. I've collected so many mods, and mods I'm using as resources, that it's gotten out of hand.

So, I've started organizing a bit (again). My original system is working, it's just that I've neglected the organizing part for a while. For example, I have nearly 30 unique bed models. Up till now, I've kind of floated along; but now that I'm getting serious with furnishing the houses, I've found that I need to stick with the system.

For reference, the system for beds works like this:

bed_<bedspread type><double/single><model number>_<specific serial>

That is because I'm using a blend of original bed models, and some of Xia's models, and the bedspreads are different.

Eventually, I believe this will make modding easier, as I can quickly find the type of model I want, and then retexture it to fit the specific need. It should allow me to think more about what I want, and less about what I have.

The only trouble I see is that I've stripped most of the models down to the bare essentials. Unless they used a special texture, most don't even link to textures anymore. In some cases, I've even stripped the models down to sub-blocks. (I have a folder of interesting or useful meshes that are essentially just sub-blocks I liked)

Since a lot of modders have the bad habit of renaming the textures that come with pieces, I've started trying to hunt down duplicates, and shoehorn as much as possible into a tx_<texture type>_ <material>_<number> system. In the process, I have retextured practically every model I've got. In some cases, that was just repointing - but in others, it has literally meant retexturing.

When Ravenwood is finished, it should look very nice - but I will have to study hard to figure out who to thank for the pieces!

[loriel]

Post Posted: 17 Aug 2009 09:53 pm Post subject:
Update:
I started in on furnishing a few of the rooms this time around. In the process, I started using my updated system of naming objects.

The house in question is Eradril Valerius' house in Bree. Eradril is an older female mage, and she has more traditional tastes; so I went Victorian for the sitting room. I took the Victorian chair and sofa models, and textured the wood with a nice "burlwood" texture. I then applied a gold fabric texture to the seat cushions. For the chair, I used a different gold fabric texture for the trim. The chair looks great - a lot better than I imagined, though I did have to tweak the UV map. (the original modder didn't put a lot of time into the UV map it would seem)

I still need some rugs, and a desk, but the sitting area is coming along nicely.

The bedroom is "modern" rich, as is the bathroom. I am using one of my custom beds, which I believe uses a wooden frame by MJY, and a bedspread model by Xia. I'm not sure where the mattress came from. I am using a regal blue with gemstone bedspread on the bed. Combined with the swirlwood poster bed frame, it looks very rich. With the proper lighting, this could be one of the best bed models I've put together. (I still like the brass bed better, but it didn't fit well with this NPC)

The bathroom really turned out nicely. I have several Victorian style frames with paintings of the sea, or sunsets at sea, around the room. It has Korana's flush toilet, a modern sink with granite counter top, and the white porcelain tub. The sink has a modified version of my double-basin script, which will allow you to 'wash up' in the final version. I even threw in my animated faucet, though the tub will already be full in the final mod. Although the room is lit through the window, I added some wall sconces for lighting, as well as a fireplace.

Just for giggles, I put a wall shelf above the tub with one of Korana's lavender soaps on it.

I'm not done with it yet, as it still needs towels, more soaps, etc. but it already looks great - especially at night when the light from the sconces illuminates the bathwater.

Note, not all houses will be this rich. Eradril is one of the original companions, and as the story goes, they were all extremely wealthy when they started. She is also the "mayor" of Bree, so it fits that her house would be very nice. I'm toning it down for the commoner homes, and I will probably end up retexturing the "bent" pieces from the original game.

More importantly, my naming system is working - at least for statics and static activators.

Lastly, I finally got around to creating a black lace set of underwear for the ladies. I got a bit lazy, as the panties don't have a proper band, but from a distance, they look good. If I get time, I'll try to clean those up.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 18 Aug 2009 08:55 pm Post subject:
Update:
I finished my alternate set of panties - the black lace pair. The black pair is much simpler than the pink pair, and a white pair should be fairly trivial at this point. I'm also not sure where I would use the white pair, since the french maid outfit I'm using already has them built into the leotards.

Other than that, I completed retexturing some models to look like machines. I now have a variety of machine models that are somewhere between modern and Dwemer. (which was the goal).

Lastly, I started on the strange shipwreck anyone will likely encounter. It does involve a real ship, and there is a debris field - it's just not where you would expect it. In fact, you can't even see the sea from the shipwreck site. Wink I don't want to get too into it, since it will be a major plot point, but it is shaping up nicely to be one of the more interesting parts of Ravenwood.

I also cleaned up some of the mini-mods that I've been using to organize things. I figure it will be easier to clean along the way than attempt to clean a mod as large as Ravenwood at the end.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 19 Aug 2009 08:32 pm Post subject:
Update:
More work on the Lorien. I took a galleon model (I'm going to have to dig to find the original modder who did it, but it's very nice) and complete retextured it to fit Ravenwood. That was a bit frustrating, because the original model was nearly 2MB!

Of course, a lot of that was unnecessary animation nodes, since the ship wasn't animated. So, I stripped the model be exporting/importing to .obj; and that left me with a model that was about 683k - a dramatic improvement.

Took me a couple of hours to do the retex, and then I optimized texture sources. That dropped the model quite a bit more. Now I'm about 650k -still big, but manageable.

Other than that, I added more junk to the wreck site, and colored the rock appropriately.

It's hard to believe all of that took two hours. About the only other thing I got accomplished was sorting my gentex and fabric texture folders some more. I have a *lot* of unsorted textures, and I'm trying to get them all in order. Unfortunately, there are a lot of duplicates, and textures that just don't look great.

I am going to try a duplicate file finder to see if I can at least get the dups out. That should at least get me down to a minimal set of source texture files.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 20 Aug 2009 08:45 pm Post subject:
Update:
Not a whole heckuva lot. I did some more organization of my mesh and texture folders, since I'm starting in on interior decoration. I have collected a lot of models, and it's becoming more and more necessary to keep them organized.

I did, however; retexture several models. I have some silk curtains that look very nice, as well as three versions of the victorian chair - one in gold print, another with gold/black flowers (my favorite), and a final with red/gold flowers.

I also decided to save a bit of work, and use translucent windows in many of the homes in Bree. They still let in the light, but I no longer need the same level of detail for each of the "interior exteriors" Only a few buildings will have full false exteriors (the tavern, Eradril's house facing the garden, the cottage, facing the private alley, and perhaps a couple of others.

The new window models look nice, though. It appears as though the glass is frosted or textured.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 21 Aug 2009 08:34 pm Post subject:
Update:
Lots of good stuff this time. I've been working in Eradril Valerius' house, and it's coming along nicely. Rather than go on, I'll bulletize the list.

1) Fixed the fire sound effects for the fireplaces. The new fire sound is MUCH more pleasant than the default one.

2) Modified Qarl's lamps to be actual lamps. The bulbs look pretty much like modern day bulbs after a retexture - complete with porcelain base and silver prongs. I also scripted the lamps to actually work - they even make a switch sound when you turn them on and off. There are only two right now, but they both look very nice.

3) I retextured several models to fit with Eradril's house theme. Being a guy, it's been a stretch to imagine how an older woman would decorate her house, particularly a mage/scholar. I may have to get a second opinion on the choices for art, rugs, etc. However, it looks good to me so far.

4) I turned the hallway leading to Eradril's bedroom into a mini-library. The whole house is fairly compact, but I figured she might want some "light" reading near her bed. The tower laboratory will have more scholarly books in it.

All in all, her house is coming along nicely. The bathroom just needs misc objects to be done (towels, soap, etc.) The bedroom, likewise, is pretty close. Downstairs still needs a lot of work. The kitchenette is still bare, and the living room just has two chairs and a coffee table.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 22 Aug 2009 08:29 pm Post subject:
Update:
Tonight was NPC night. I went ahead and dropped in a lot of the Bree NPC's, and gave them shell actor scripts. Eventually, I want to work out a scheduling system, so that actors can move around town, but for now they just have the nolore variable defined to keep them from talking about Morrowind stuff.

A few NPC's resize themselves at startup. I wanted a bit of variety, and that was the easiest way to do it. They simply run an init section in their actor scripts that sets their scale. Works quite well, though I really wish there was a way to adjust their weight as well.

I also started in on one of the middle-class homes - the Catanius Home. This is an older couple, and they are really commoners - though Arlowe is nominally a clothier. His shop is also his home, though I divided up the "personal" areas from the "business" areas as best I could. The purpose of Ravenwood is not to shop, though there will be shops. Arlowe will essentially be a medieval shopkeeper of sorts. No fancy displays or anything, he will just sell stuff out of trunks.

I am using the semi-opaque windows here, so I will likely not go crazy reproducing the town outside the window. You can only see vague shapes through the glass, so I'll probably just stick with a few trees, etc.

Since I was at it, I also worked on the lighting in the Catanius home. It's going pretty well, though I ended up having to put three "dark" lights in to keep the ceiling from getting too bright. I also had to adjust the semi-opaque window, since it seemed to be glowing too much at night. The window now looks more appropriate in moonlight. For giggles, I threw in some wall sconces near the entry area - and they actually they actually work fairly well lighting only the door. The final effect is nice, if unfinished.

A good solid session, all in all.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 23 Aug 2009 09:03 pm Post subject:
Update:
I worked on Hrordis' Sweetshop, in Bree this time around. Hrordis is an interesting girl, and so is her room. The shop portion is actually quite plain. White plaster, oak, etc. It's going to be a bakery, so there will be lots of breads, tarts, etc.

Her private area, however; is done in pink, violet, red, and gold. It may even be over the top pink, I'll have to post screenshots when I remember to copy some to my thumbdrive. The bed is a victorian, poster bed with pink lace sheets, hot pink pillows, and a black frame. The walls are done in a dark pink tapestry pattern, and the rug is red and gold; as are the victorian style chairs.

On the wall are two paintings and a tapestry. (all are pictures of classic paintings). The tapestry is of two angels kissing. The pictures are two classic nudes, one reclining in a chair; the other bathing. By pure serendipity, the two angels look a whole lot like the two nudes. Trust me, it's not what you (probably) think. Wink

Hrordis herself is wearing one of Cali's tight red dresses, slightly altered to have a shade of transparency. I'm going to put her in some of Cali's shoes, and I'm hoping Qarl's stockings will work OK on her as well.

At any rate, this is all part of a small subquest to build depth in the NPC's. It will seem pretty close to over the top, until the very end. Nothing evil, just some misunderstandings, and perhaps a bit of misplaced jealousy.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 24 Aug 2009 09:03 pm Post subject:
Update:
Mostly new models this time. I found a set of retextured bar & counter pieces I really liked, but they were for Oblivion. They had glass panes instead of sides, so you could put stuff in them. Unfortunately, you can't import models directly, so I had to recreate them - which I have. My set isn't identical to the original, but it's close enough for Hrordis' Sweetshop. I've got some loaves of bread in them right now.

The wood is a standard swirlwood texture, and the glass is actually from one of Barabus' clocks. The original models also had the problem of not terminating properly - so I corrected that in my version. (I put in some end pieces, so they look OK when you terminate the counter) There is a slight problem with the counters, in that the textures don't quite line up, but I think I can fix * that.

I used bits and pieces from several models to create the new set, but the end result looks fairly nice.

I also modified a cattail model to look more realistic. The original model I found has two flat blades with a cattail texture, and depends on the alpha channel to look decent. The new cattail model uses modified corn cobs, and looks a LOT better. Collision is still wonky, but I can fix that. I'm going to put a lot of cattails in a pool near the ice fields. The idea is to keep people from walking in the "water", since that pool is 'fake'.

Other than that, not much. I actually didn't get much done in the CS this time. Most of the work tonight was modelling.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 25 Aug 2009 05:11 am Post subject:
Update:
I had an idea for a new building in the shower this morning. I'll have to try it out when I get to mod tonight. I'm going to go for a "lakeside apartment" building. The apartments themselves will be kind of small, but they will look out over the central lake. Should be nice.

I was needing a home for one of my NPC's, and I think I just found it. I'll have to stick a middle-class commoner in the other unit.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 25 Aug 2009 09:27 pm Post subject:
Update:
The apartment complex worked out. I'm going to move the home you get as part of the main quest over to it, as I would prefer to keep all the shops in the central square.

There are actually three apartments. #1 is a mid-size unit, big enough for a bed, table, stove, and maybe a chest of two at 5 squares. #2 is small. However, I did get to use the space under the stairs, which can hold a crate or two. Effective space is 5 squares, though you can only walk in 4. This unit has no window - so it may be a bit dark.

The upstairs unit, #3, however; is a whole different ballgame. it takes the entire second floor, save the two squares for the entrance and stairs. 10 squares total, and you get a lovely view of the lake. The upstairs unit has a functioning bathroom, decent size bedroom (the size of the average inn room), a living area, and an entry way that will have book shelves.

As a bonus, I put a deck on the second level for outdoor seating. I haven't furnished it yet, but it should make for a fairly nice "fourth room" To finish it off, it has skylights, windows on three sides, and a custom fireplace.

It's actually MUCH more spacious than the previous cottage I had intended for the players use. My favorite part is that you can see the main dock and parts of the city walls from within the apartment. Once I get the ground planes in, you should be able to see the shallow beach that runs along the edge of the lake.

I keep forgetting to post screen shots. My Morrowind machine is off the Internet right now due to a dead (wired) router. I'll try to get some screenies soon, though.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 26 Aug 2009 09:10 pm Post subject:
Update:
New screenshots are posted.

I also started working on a streetlamp mesh. Unfortunately, most flame emitters use alpha, so the glass is causing a problem. Right now, I can either have glass, or flame. Sheesh, I really wish I knew how Barabus solved that one.

I did get it to work once in nifskope, but it killed the CS when I tried to use it.

Other than that, I finished up a single-person bed model for the apartment. It uses the same poster bed frame as the one in Eradril's place. The bedspread mesh is different, though - it only has one pillow hump.

I also polished off the fake coastline of Bree for the apartment. It looks pretty good, as long as the weather is bad! Smile
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 27 Aug 2009 08:55 pm Post subject:
Update:
I decided to take a night off from working on the island itself, and instead put in some time on the support mods. am completely reworking Atmospheric Sound Effects for Ravenwood. That's actually not entirely accurate - I'm really just taking a subset of it for this mod - since I only need a fraction of the sound effects. For example, there are no mushroom trees, daedric shrines (sorry!), and everyone on Ravenwood Island, with the possible exception of you, is a Half-Elf - so the voices are out. However, to keep from interfering with the regular mod, I've created a new mod that only supports Ravenwood Island. The two mods should run side by side without interfering with each other.

Also, since some of the sounds don't fit in Ravenwood, some of the scripts had to be modified. I also want to integrate some of the Bloodmoon sounds into the system as well. I'm still working on that part, but I do have weather sounds working in the Keep, and several buildings in Bree. I'm going to have to make some more alterations to support blizzards in Winter's Tide - I'll probably just remap the ashstorm sounds.

The other issue is the dialog for Juju. I always hated the way her dialog worked, and that there were lots of Juju's. There will now be three separate "musicians" on the island, with their own dialog related to Ravenwood Island. The tavern song control is now filtered on the class "musician", rather than a particularly NPC ID. This should (if it all works) allow for multiple musicians, with different repertoires.

I do plan to keep Duncan's list of songs, but I did rename the ones that didn't have names to something fitting. (I listened to them all, and created names for the ones with names like 'track15') Also, each musician will have different comments on each track. It should be much more immersive when I'm done, as the musicians will disappear into the woodwork. I understand giving credit where credit is due, so his list of credits will show up in the Ravenwood Island credits.

Anyway, I'm hoping to polish off this mini-mod tomorrow. Of course, in the final version, all of these mini-mods will get merged - but for now, it's easier to keep track of everything in separate ESP's.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 29 Aug 2009 07:42 pm Post subject:
Update:
A lot of plumbing, so to speak. I didn't actually manage to get any architecture done today - other than altering the computer CPU door cover code to make the panel move slower.

I created a new version of the half-elf females that are clean-shaven for several NPC's. The difference is pretty stark, particularly for Hrordis, who is wearing a very sheer, red dress. She looks at least 50% more feminine, which is what I was going for. I also used the new "race" for the Bard in the Bree tavern.

I cleaned up more of the ASE code for sound effects, and start dropping in activators in Bree and Ravenwood Keep. I still don't understand all the code, but more and more is making sense. I've made alterations to several scripts to handle blizzards. Since there are no ash storms in Ravenwood, I'm just switching the code to check for Blizzards - the new ASE for Ravenwood will be VERY specific (and fully integrated) I've also completely overhauled the dialog to fit Ravenwood. I always hated the generic dialog from Juju, so now there will be a whole class of musicians who can tap into the tavern music stuff. I'm even thinking of expanding it, so different musicians play different songs. Credits will go in the readme, not in the game.

I also cleaned up the code for the terminal system. I'm assuming for now that there will only be one terminal in any given cell, which should be reasonable. The use of computer terminals will be fairly extensive in some parts of the mod, particularly later on, so I am trying to get the scripting right. It needs to be easily extensible.

In addition, I created a screen-saver that looks like the matrix screen saver. It's actually animated - so it doesn't require any code to use. Glow maps are a problem, so I gave the whole mesh a light green emission.

I also started looking at Elynda's winter wear. That is an awesome clothing mod - and absolutely perfect for Winter's Tide and outlying cabins. I couldn't have asked for anything better. I'm working on integrating the pieces I want already.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 30 Aug 2009 08:36 pm Post subject:
Update:
Quite a bit, actually. I started in on selecting clothing and accessories for the NPC's. A lot of it was integrating Elynda's winterwear stuff, but I also reorganized the three clothing mini-mods into one, and cleaned out the cloths I had inadvertently created in the base mod.

I'm running mwedit on the side to alter the clothing mod as I go, and reloading. It's actually working out fairly well.

I also started on Sottilde, one of the core NPC's. She is one of three NPC's who will use custom "races", and like the others, she will be very unique. I'm still working on scripting her, as she will have some very interesting capabilities.

Her back story is written for the most part, and should provide an interesting, though entirely optional, twist.

Lastly, I started on a very unique tower installation on the north end of the island. It has always been in the works, but I couldn't quite put my finger on where I wanted it. Once I started sketching in the various paths to Arbor Glen, as well as the Lorien, it became obvious. Now I just need to start reworking the mountains in the area.

The tower's occupants are somewhat quarantined from the rest of the population - mostly voluntarily - so I'm trying to make it an arduous journey to get there. This is probably the only place on the island I would consider "creepy", but again; this is a mystery mod - not a hack and slash mod. The denizens are plenty safe enough, as long as you are polite. Smile
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 02 Sep 2009 10:32 am Post subject:
Update:
I have started in on one of the last major exteriors, the dark wizard's keep. It is turning out to be quite dramatic. There is a winding trail leading from Arbor Glen up the interior face of the mountain. There is a new waterfall you will cross on the way up. All in all, it should be a nice journey.

On the coastal side, I raised a large promontory peak, and ran an ice-coated bridge across the gap.

I haven't settled on an architectural style yet, but I worked on the inhabitants. That usually helps me decide what kind of structure to use. These folks aren't just eye candy either. They are critical to solving a mystery.

There is going to be a lot of landscaping going on. You can see a good distance from the bridge. It is above the tree line, which means no easy outs.

[loriel]

Post Posted: 03 Sep 2009 08:24 pm Post subject:
Update:
There was a problem with the mage tower model I was using for on the north side of the island. The collision was messed up badly. It took a bit of time to fix this, but now I have a working tower. I ended up recreating (from scratch) most of the structure of the tower mesh, and copied just the nitrishapedata blocks.

Later on, I noticed that the number of children in the original mesh was incorrect. It listed 16 blocks, but only 14 were populated. That was probably it, but I now have a mesh with working collision, so it wasn't a total loss.

I also fixed a bunch of bad textures on several statics. I've renamed a lot of stuff, and moved it around, and some of my older meshes weren't properly pointing to the new locations. The Lorien, for example, now has a properly textured propeller.

I also noticed a problem with the ice floe statics. I borrowed a static from the original lava pieces, which apparently are similar to the slime layer in that the collision plane is actually well below the visible plane. I corrected this, and now my ice is acting properly.

Other than that, I went down a bit of a rabbit hole looking for certain items and animations for one of my subquests. I'm back to landscaping and interiors, but for the last couple of days, I've definitely seen the seamier side of Morrowind modding! Not that they aren't great folks, they are - in fact, you probably know a lot of them - I just wasn't expecting what I saw when I took the blue pill.

On the upside, I have found a lot of awesome meshes for hair, bodies, etc. Sottilde is now sporting a new hair piece, and she is looking downright hot. Twisted Evil

To paraphrase: The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have tons of stuff do, and miles to go before I sleep.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 04 Sep 2009 06:51 pm Post subject:
Update:
I'm on "vacation" with the family. We went home for labor day, and this means I spent 8 hours driving. It's fun, but boring. (I've driven the route so often I can almost do it by autopilot)

So, while my wife and daughter were sleeping in the back, I spent some time thinking about Ravenwood. In the process, I developed more of the story for the residents of Raven's Beak, a tower on the North end of the island. It should be a touching tale of love in an age of vampirism...

Other than that, I polished up a better cattail model. Instead of a cross-like deal that requires and alpha channel, it's an actual, honest to god, cattail.

Here are some screenshots of the new Sottilde, and the new cattail model:








These have full collision, so they will eventually block access to most of this pond. I am going keep using the original cattail models for plants further in, since they won't be as visible. These models are comparatively high-poly, so I will need to be judicious in their use.









These shots are of Sottilde with the new hair. I can only tip my hat at the modders who come up with this stuff. Amazing work.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 07 Sep 2009 07:58 pm Post subject:
Update:
I started working on the meshes for Raven's Claw manor - the tower on the north end of the island. It's loosely based on an Oblivion mod from ORE, but the mesh is all new. I did borrow a texture or two, primarily for the load door, but the brick-work, rock, etc. are all custom. It's pretty clear from a walk-through in game that something is wrong with the normal map, but I'm still new at the modelling stuff.

The only thing left to do is smooth the upper stairwell that goes between the lower and upper tiers. Once that is done, it should be ready to furnish.

Other than that, not much. I just got back from 'vacation', and am exhausted. Smile

Oh, and Wesly released a conversion of some Sims2 models from Adele on CanadianIce & Howndog's forum. It is a *VERY* nice set of furniture, and I can highly recommend it. I've gone through each piece, and it's all good stuff. 8 different styles, from oriental to regal to morrocan. I can definitely see uses for all 8 styles in Ravenwood, given the eclectic nature of its people.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 08 Sep 2009 07:45 pm Post subject:
Update:
Massive overhaul on the River Port warehouse. It is much larger, with an office suspended over a portion of it. It's now about 5x4 cells in area, and 2.5 cells tall.

The main area is lit by chandeliers, but the office area is lit with florescent lighting - Dwemer style. I added a flickering light near the door for effect. I still need to tweak the lighting, as it's still not quite right, but it's looking pretty cavernous - and it should, it's built into a cavern. I imagine all I need now is a few wall sconces here and there, a few electric lights on desks, and I should be in good shape - lighting-wise.

I also got the water sounds perfect. You can hear the water on the ground floor, but not in the office. That worked out nicely.

This is going to be a tough area to finish. It is going to house the Ravenwood central computer room, as well as all the containers of stuff for the keep. I also need to work on the rear cavern area, which is the underground passage to the keep. That's going to be a separate cell, but the door is in place.

A good, solid night of modding; but now I'm ready for bed!
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 09 Sep 2009 07:58 pm Post subject:
Update:
The ravenwood warehouse terminal is turning out to be more difficult than I had at first thought. The upstairs area gets underlit by anything I put in the area below it, so I may have to leave it dark.

I also discovered that I hadn't gotten around to custom door jambs for the tower stairs. I'll need to work on retexturing the spiral staircase model for that area.

What I did get done was lighting, and lots of it. I now have florescent lighting that covers most of the office area. It's still very dark, which was the point, but it looks nice.

I also fixed up Qarl's lamp bulb mesh with new textures. I've been using the bulb itself for lamps, but now I actually want the whole mesh for stringing along caverns. It looks quite nice, but then Qarl always did good work.

The office wouldn't be complete without some drab furniture, so I took some "fine" furniture, and refinished in oak, with a light stain. Looks nice and "well worn" - perfect for a warehouse office. To top it off, I added an ugly electric lamp - to read the ledgers by.

Finally, I dropped in the computer CPU and another terminal. I found a small bug in the display code, which I fixed, but I still have a lot of work left to do on that. I'm going to use standard dialogue for the computer interface. I had originally thought about message boxes, and I may still do that for some things, but there is too much data to make messageboxes worthwhile. So, I'm going to have "computer NPC's" that you will talk to when you successfully log in.

This will also simplify the terminal code. Now, I only need 5 screens, and a bit of glue logic. Once you login, control is transferred to the NPC. It's not perfect, but it should work fairly well.
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Posted by: jromate
Post Posted: 10 Sep 2009 01:12 pm Post subject:
Ohh bad news about the virus dude!
I am looking very forward to Ravenwood coming out. I can't hardly contain myself...been watching. Please hurry. No pressure Laughing
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 10 Sep 2009 08:11 pm Post subject:
Update:
I tried out a special item Melian made for me, and it worked out great. Needs a few minor adjustments, but nothing I can't do in nifskope. (shout out: Awesome 'item' Melian - thanks again!)

Beyond that, I spent more time in the warehouse getting the lighting right. I think I've just about gotten it, but there are still a few areas that are too dark, or too bright. I'm amazed at how many dark lights I end up using. It's almost absurd, but it seems like the only way to maintain good contrasts. In some areas, the ratio of normal to dark lights is about 5:1.

(lighting is hard...)

I did, however, get a lot closer to finishing the computer terminal scripts. I've had the basic login stuff working for a while now, but I added code that automatically returns you to the login screen after a few seconds if you mistype. I also got the main menu screen up - though I may change it. Some of the options no longer make sense.





The terminals are really working out quite nicely. Each display is animated, with two near identical images. The only difference is the blinking bits - which allows me to simulate cursors, and other blinking things on the screen. There is a glow map that allows the display to appear to be emitting light as well. It looks a lot better in-game than it does in screenies.

The matrix screensaver was a bit more difficult, because the images change rapidly - so I ended up making the whole display glow slightly green, and did without a glow-map. It works, though.

Of course, the warehouse has a fairly utilitarian computer. Other areas will have more involved computers, and I will need to animate fading and moving data on screens.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 11 Sep 2009 08:38 pm Post subject:
Update:
Back to landscaping. I decided to work on the small spring and pool near the ice fields. In doing so, I'm beginning to rethink some of the texture choices I made in other water ways. I kind of like the slate, and I'm thinking there needs to be more, particularly in streams.

I also retextured the a few other pieces, and dropped in a lot more cattails. This is a quest area, and I'm trying to slowly clean it up. I want a natural look, though; so it's taking some time.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 12 Sep 2009 07:26 pm Post subject: *
Update:
More landscaping. I cleaned up more of the area around the spring near the ice field. I added a lot more slate pieces near the area. I also added some slate that intermittently shows up along parts of the river. I actually looks a lot better than I had anticipated.

I also created more boulders, with both the sedimentary and slate rock textures. These I sprinkled around areas that were kind of bare.

However, my big project was the hollow near the river port terminal. The main channel to the water fall is deep and narrow, almost a cut. The other side is deep, but slopes up to a meadow. I really like this area, as it reminds me of places I've been. It has lots of slate and sedimentary stone. I bounced the bottom around enough that there are some natural pools down there as well. When I get all the ferns in, it should look a lot like a place I used to enjoy when I camped more.

I still need to work on the big waterfall near the keep - the one that all these streams are coming from. I've got two big waterfalls to finish now, which isn't like me. I normally stay on a waterfall till it's done, but these are going to be a bit difficult because of the height, and because it very well may be possible to walk above them.

The one I'm going to start on next has a high-altitude grotto, with a cavern-like area behind it. That should be interesting. I'm going to attempt to make a waterfall "door" for the grotto. That is, it will look like you are just behind the water, but in reality, you will be in an interior cell.

Of course, if I can do it with just static meshes, and avoid the whole cell thing, I may go that route too. Waterfalls don't normally have collision, so I will have to dink with the mesh to get a "waterfall door". I may just put an inviso-wall up, and have the door activate on collision. That would make it more or less seamless.

No real point, just eye candy; but I like pretty landscapes. I may drop some squirrels or rabbits down there. Smile

I also found my first critical bug. Apparently when I reworked the half-elves voice acting, I screwed up something with the males. All male half-elves now say "get lost", regardless of their disposition. I'm going to have to track that down, as I can't have that in the final version.

Also, for some reason, attempting to alter a NPC's disposition while you are in conversation causes a CTD - or at least if you do it from the console. Seems to happen reliably, but I can alter disposition from the console when I'm not talking to them, so it works out.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 13 Sep 2009 07:17 pm Post subject:
Update:
I spent a lot of time in the river valley west of the keep. It is looking really nice, with the addition of ferns and bushes. The overhead view is very nice as well. Over all, this little valley is nice, and I may have to put something quest related down there. Smile

These shots also include updates of the spring area (near the ice field), and an area on the main river just outside of Arbor Glen.




































I also did some more work on the computer terminal code. There are now sounds whenever you enter a command or data, and sounds for access denied and granted.

I also set up the structure so that terminals can do "communications", access local controls (say to unlock doors, turn on lights, etc.), check messages (these will be integral to the main plot), or log out. While I don't have the dialog yet, the underlying code is pretty close to ready once I get the fake NPC's and their dialog started.

Communications will consist of a static snapshot being displayed on the screen of the person you are talking to, followed by a forcegreet of the NPC in question. It should simulate talking through the computer terminals. Of course, at certain points, the person may not be available, so I'm going to have to tie it into the overall scheduling system.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: osiris
Post Posted: 14 Sep 2009 12:14 am Post subject:
Very good.
How far are you from a first open beta?
_________________
The Chieftain's Chambers
Get yourself Tamriel Rebuilt Map 1 v2.0 + Map 2 v1.0 in just one download NOW!
-------------------------------------
Posted by: Aidan
Post Posted: 14 Sep 2009 03:33 am Post subject:
Wow. EEK! This is really impressive. Just how big do you intend this to be?

Looking forward to exploring these places myself.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 14 Sep 2009 05:08 am Post subject:
As to when - a long time probably. You can see in the map shot that the area just west of the river is completely untouched. It's not large, and I do intend to get over there soon, but for now, it's just open landscape. I also have a lot of areas in the leeward, and northern, forests. The southern and western areas are more exposed, and will have more ice floes than trees.

There is also a massive amount of scripting and dialogue left as well. Most NPC's are essentially "in", but most have nothing to say.

As to how big, well the entire island is roughly 10-15% the size of Solstheim. My earlier 25% estimate included a lot of ground that is underwater, and that isn't receiving much attention. Of that, a goodly chunk is above the tree line, and probably won't be used, or will be used sparsely. (Much of the highlands area)

The leeward forest, and the interior forest, are where the action is - and those areas are about the size of the Ascadian Isles.

I may "release" a terrain only version to get opinion on the island. I would like feedback on the size, and composition - but even that is a ways off.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 14 Sep 2009 08:14 pm Post subject:
Update:
Messaging is now working for two of the terminals. I really wanted to just setup the architecture, play with it a bit, etc.

I discovered that you can't setup a creature using a static mesh. The engine doesn't like that very much. So, the message boxes are brown rats. Smile The rats have no AI package, are set to respawn, and corpses persist. I just hid the rats in dark corners.

However, more importantly, they work. Because of the way the system is setup, I ended up setting up "mailboxes" for each user. Thus, when you log in, you see every user as a topic. When you click on their mailbox, another dialog offers you a list of messages sorted by date." It was a necessary compromise to keep the number of topics to a reasonable number - because there will be a lot of messages.

Unfortunately, I didn't have my thumbdrive upstairs, so I can't show a screenie, but the bottom line is, email on Ravenwood Island is now up. Wink

The player will get a computer terminal of their very own, assuming they take Eradril up on her offer of an apartment in Bree. Unlike a normal computer network, every terminal is a stand-alone system. I'm contemplating allowing you to select a user ID, but for now, every terminal is assigned to a user. This makes the scripting a lot easier.

I am still considering how to handle the end of the main quest. Depending on how I handle it, I may "move" the players computer to the keep. However, right now I'm leaning towards leaving the player home where it is on the lake. We'll see. (technically, this isn't hard - I don't even have to move the rat - but it is doubtful the people of Ravenwood would accept the player living in the keep)

I also adjusted the sound effects on the terminals so they are a bit more loud. You can now hear them from a few feet away, but they aren't overwhelming.

This was a night of plumbing work. The terminals are a key element in the plot, and I really needed to get the scripts going. Now, I am set up to duplicate the terminals, and create new mailbox rats. I still need to get communications going - but I will need to wait until the interiors are done, since I will be taking snapshots in the houses.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 15 Sep 2009 08:28 pm Post subject:
Update:
I finished the last of the circuit board models. It's amazing what you can accomplish with nothing more than nifskope and photoshop.

I took some pictures from Digi-Key, created "resistor", "capacitor", "diode", and "LED" models, and the uv-mapped the pictures on to them. Once I got everything placed, I exported the whole deal, and reimported it. This cleaned up a lot of cruft. I reapplied textures, optimized the texture refs, and then combined shapes. The final mesh is fairly tight.

For the "on" version, I created a blue glow map for the LED's, and applied a gold texture as a glow map for the diodes. Looks great in the dark.





I also took a screenshot of the new messaging system.




===============================
EDIT - Links to screenshots added back (lost in transfer from old site) - Loriel

[loriel]

Post Posted: 16 Sep 2009 07:18 pm Post subject:
Update:
Not much. I'm too tired to mod effectively. I did get some work done just up the hill from the river. Added some trees, random rocks, etc. but over all, I just wasn't up to it.

So, I worked on texturing instead. I've been playing with the Adele/Shannon furniture set. I really like this stuff, but the textures need just a bit of help. So, for a couple of models, I just overlaid the original texture as a detail texture, darkening it up, and giving the crevices more depth. For others, I added an old metal texture, that gives them a slightly more grayish look - antiqued, you might say.

All in all, though; a fairly disappointing night. I'm turning in early... Neutral
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 17 Sep 2009 08:09 pm Post subject:
Update:
Tonight went a lot better. I started out with the meadow just west of Bree. This area got a major cleanup, texturing, and general landscaping. I'm not finished with it by far, but it looks a lot better.

Squashed a few of the existing bugs. The mail system got hung in a loop in the warehouse terminal due to a bad line in the dialog. That's now fixed. I also recompiled the scripts, and found some bad references that had been causing problems.

Lastly, I started playing with Adele's furniture. I found that the Xavier series looks a lot better with a gold patina. I added a detail texture to the pieces using a gold-foil texture. It adds a lot of depth, while still maintaining the character of the pieces. I really like these new furniture pieces - they are going to help out tremendously on Ravenwood.

That's about it for tonight. I had some screenshots, but I forgot the thumbdrive again.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 18 Sep 2009 08:21 pm Post subject:
Update:
Found and fixed a bunch of bugs in the scripts. Now, I no longer get random errors when I travel to the spring area near the ice fields, or in parts of the keep.

Unfortunately, I'm still having problems with sound effects. The tavern music system from ASE, for example, isn't working properly. The sounds are in, and I can play them in the CS, but when I use either the musician NPC, or even attempt to play the songs from the console, nothing. Just silence.

Which is about par for the course. I've got a bunch of fireplaces that are silent as well - even with stock sounds. I'm not sure what the deal is with that, though I've been able to resurrect some. The lake, for instance, now has sound again.

Weird.

At least I'm not getting any messages or CTD's, though. My goal was to finish the tavern, but I didn't even get started. I spent the whole two hours on scripting issues.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 19 Sep 2009 04:41 am Post subject:
A few new shots of Ravenwood:



Lighting is still a bit off in here, as is evident on the player. However, everything is working so far.



I wrapped up the view of Bree from the Apartment. That actually looks pretty close to the view from the patio.




Here is a shot of my modified Xavier series furniture by Adele. These have a more gold tone to them.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 19 Sep 2009 08:58 pm Post subject:
Update:
Lots of good stuff this time.

All NPC's now have local actor scripts. I still haven't done much more than add nolore variables to most, but having place holders is handy. Eventually, I hope to schedule virtually every NPC on the island. I'm also trying to solve the somewhat ridiculous problem of NPC's stopping at closed gates and doors when chasing you.

I'm still working on exactly how that works, but right now I'm looking at setting a variable when a NPC is in combat. If that variable is true, and the NPC is near the door in question, the door will get activated. I'm trying to do this by adding scripts to the NPC's, but I suspect I may need matching scripts on doors.

Since I don't plan to have NPC's chase you through load doors (which would be fun to script), there are a limited number of doors involved for any given NPC. We'll see, but I'm hoping I can get this working.

I also worked on the Black Talon tavern and cavern. The tavern got a load of new furniture and lights, as well as a bartender. The cavern got a Chinese Junk, which will be the tavern owner's home. The junk is setup with transparent windows, so I'm doing a "set" outside of the ship for that "interior exterior" look.

I fixed the sound on the musicians songs. The sound is now localized to the musician, which gets a bit weird at times, but it's good. As you move around the tavern, the sound changes. It's a neat effect. The player is attached to the musician NPC's.

Weather in the valley got an overhaul. I added two new regions for Arbor Glen and "towns" (Bree, Riverport, and the Keep) These have no sunny or cloudy weather at all - it's always bad weather in these areas - due to the compromises necessary to get the interior exteriors to look right.

However, large sections of the forest will now have sunshine possible. Not much, about 5% each for sunny and cloudy, but a small probability.

Lastly, I started furnishing the Black Talon tavern. I'm still trying to decide what style the tavern needs.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 20 Sep 2009 09:16 pm Post subject:
Update:
I decided I needed a couple of different computer terminal models. The fancy swirlwood models are for the "leadership" (Percius, Eradril, etc.). The techies get slightly more modern terminals:






There will be a third model for another area, but it will be a derivative of this one; and will simply hang from a pipe/junction rather than sit on a desk.

The area under the keyboard has glowing LED's, and some interesting circuitry. (A few chips, resistors, capacitors, diodes, etc.) I optimized the crap out of it, though; so it's fairly low poly. I also figured out how to take advantage of a limitation of MW's alpha channel processing, and let it "clean up" some of the parts on the board for me. It looks very nice in-game.

The CPU is, in fact, an xbox 360. I converted an Oblivion model to create it, and then did some texture work. It is animated with a flip controller, which creates a subtle throb of the blue ring. I added an old metal detail layer, to make it look dirty.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 21 Sep 2009 08:25 pm Post subject:
Update:
More plumbing. I created a "black" and "silver" version of the terminals, and cleaned up the display meshes. I had borrowed a mesh from somewhere else, and there was still some unnecessary cruft in it. To increase performance, I cleaned all unnecessary cruft out of the meshes. They now have just an animation node, and the trishape / flip controller. Not much of a gain, I know; but every little bit helps. I also sorted out the texture paths, and cleaned all of that up.

As for the mod itself, I added an additional message mouse (tm) for Emmanuelle Snodgrass in the Mine Office, as well as a dark display terminal. I need to find a better way to handling coding of the terminals, since right now every script adds every topic every time. I suspect what I want is a generic script to do setup that gets called by the terminal specific script.

I also need a start script that can generate/set the passcodes for all of the accounts. Some codes will be "hard coded", because they have specific meaning in the story line, but most will be random.

All in all, this part of the mod is going really well. While I'm not completely happy with messaging, it is highly effective. Of course, I'll have notes and diaries as well; but this is going to be an effective way to reveal clues.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 25 Sep 2009 07:47 pm Post subject: *
Update:
More nifskoping - and hex editing. I found a set of tube corridors I really liked a while back, but they had a bit of a problem. There was only cross corridors. Sure, there were wall pieces, but it really wasn't an elegant solution.

So, I have hacked together the walls and the corridors to form a 3-way and right angle corridor. The final result is much easier to piece together, and looks correct in overhead views.

Because of the high number of polys, I used a hex editor to remove the triangles I didn't need, and then used nifskope to optimize the meshes again. A quick export/import to clean everything up, and I have working tube corridors with no need for wall pieces.

I really should try blender sometime, as I can't help but think there must have been an easier way to do this. However, this did work - and I now have a complete set of corridors for my underground laboratory area.

That's about it for tonight. I'm hoping to start in on some of the underground areas soon.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 26 Sep 2009 07:53 pm Post subject:
Update:
For some reason, I got busy in the library - updating book models. I have combined a number of book mods, ranging from Daggerfall, complete collections of books, specialty books on alchemy, and even the Oblivion set suitable for Morrowind. I have edited a few of the books to remove references to the Nerevarine legend, since it likely hasn't happened yet, and such.

The first task was to repoint all the meshes and textures to MVR folders. Since the end mod will be integrated into Ravenwood, there is little point leaving crap strewn about - and it makes for a clean uninstall.

The second task is to select better covers for a lot of the books. I am using a book retex mod as the base, since it has better models and textures. I've created misc versions of several textures by hand editing in Photoshop - I have 41 misc book models now that cover a wide gamut.

Right now, only the daggerfall books, and a handful of specialty books, are still not repointed to new models. When I'm done, the libraries of Ravenwood island should be very nice to look at. I am starting with the Keep study.

I would like to add scripts that keep you from taking the books until the quest is finished, so I'm looking into that. There will be a tremendous number of valuable books all over Ravenwood island, and it would be a shame to make such a nice island a target for massive book theft. At least, before you are ready to leave... Smile
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 01 Oct 2009 09:08 pm Post subject:
Update:
Almost done with the books. I have reassigned all but a few scrolls to new meshes. The meshes are from various book mods, but have been retextured using a variety of sources. They all look good, though.

I created an opened and closed version of most miscellaneous books, foruse with podiums, laying on desks, etc. All in all, I have ~60 miscellaneous book models, in addition to the meshes for specific books (the Oblivion set primarily)

I still need to work on the page textures, and for the open books, the detail textures. This mod alone is probably worth a release, given that it drags a tremendous number of resources together in a nifty package. It doesn't alter cells, though - it's just books. It still needs scripting as well.

A nice diversion, as I prepare to start putting books and clutter in homes around Ravenwood.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 06 Oct 2009 08:24 pm Post subject:
Update:
More books. I forgot about the stock books in MW, many of which I want to use better book jackets on. I went from nearly done to fairly far away. It's worth the effort, though. The new book jackets are a big improvement over the old ones.

I also had an idea for the southern interior forest. I want to put in a water wheel, and flesh out this part of the forest. Right now, it's just a huge cliff that extends up into the highlands, but I think the southern end needs a more (or less) gradual ascent. It will test my ability to transition between snow and grass.

I didn't get a chance to work on either, though. I'm trying to round out the books first - since I'm going to be using a lot of them soon.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 18 Oct 2009 05:45 pm Post subject:
Update:
I got a great deal of work done around the grist mill. I really like this area, as it's in a dark, moist river valley. There is a fairly deep pool with Abbott fish in it. The mill looks North towards the river port.

Arbor Glen also got a lighting update. Because it's a city in the clouds, I wanted the lights to look like stars in the distance. I took the Ashland lantern, and retextured it to look more like a crystal. The light has been tweaked to look similar to the stars in the night sky.

I also did some more work on Eradril Valerius' garden. Because her house is a "high class" house, it has transparent windows, so I did a false set.

Lastly, I cleaned up some Dwemer corridors I found in an unfinished mod. The original modder didn't quite finish these, and there was only a straight segment, and a four-way cross. I added a corner (two-way) and three-way intersection - and retextured them for good measure.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 19 Oct 2009 08:32 pm Post subject:
Update:
I'm not sure why I can't reliably link pictures, but I'll try to post some in the screenshots area. I have quite a few new ones.

I didn't get a whole lot done tonight, but I did start working on porting a new race. They will be important in the main plot, so I don't want to go into a lot of detail. I'm not sure if the artist is still around, but they are very nice work indeed. All I had to do was add selective glow maps.

I'm also trying to track down the modder who did the Zone. I really don't care for much of it, but the architecture is absolutely perfect for what I want to do. Assuming I can get permission to use the city blocks, I'll dump the races (weird, very weird) and other bits.

That's about it. I'm writing the back story for the new race, and that's going to take a while.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 23 Oct 2009 07:27 pm Post subject:
Update:
I never heard back from the modder who created The Zone. I'm going to try once again, and in the meantime, clean up the models I want to reuse.

I've held off from actually using them, just in case I can't get permissions.

A lot of the models had unnecessary animation controllers. I notice a lot of MW models do this. I'm not sure why. I've been cleaning all of that out, and optimizing the models. They are really quite nice, but now that I'm digging into them, I'm finding problems here and there.

The alternate race, on the other hand, is in. I'm not messing with the sound stuff on them, but that's OK, because the backstory requires they speak a totally alien language.

Other than that, I've been smoothing out the textures in Arbor Glen. It's much more "muddy" Smile
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 05 Nov 2009 10:15 pm Post subject:
Update:
I'm almost done with the Zone models. I was unhappy to realize that the stairs don't have ramp collision meshes, so you bounce all over the place going up and down them. I wish I knew how to use a 3D modeling tool, as I would really like to fix the Ziccurat interior mesh. It would be perfect for what I want to do.

I still haven't heard anything from the original modder. I am beginning to wonder if he/she has disappeared entirely. As such, I'm creating the new outpost in a separate file.

The outpost, unlike the Zone, is floating in an interior ocean. There will be no solid ground. This is requiring a bit of rework on some of the meshes, and a bit of a reimagining on some things. It should be interesting, but I haven't gotten it all put together yet.
============================
Edit - added links for screenshots - Loriel

[loriel]

Post Posted: 16 Nov 2009 08:53 pm Post subject:
Update:
Back to the keep this time. I cleaned up a bunch of bad texture names in meshes. Of course, by bad I mean that the names were identical to the original names, so that in-game, you got the old texture. I still haven't weeded them all out, but I'm making progress.

I also got a lot of work done on the exterior sets for the keep. Now, the study and residence actually have sets that resemble the actual exterior. It's not perfect, but it's pretty close. I may frost the windows in the bathrooms to make it a bit closer, since those are the only areas where the fake exterior sets look 'bad'.

I scripted the doors in the false sets. Now, the doors visible in the study open and close based on the state of the real doors in the residence. It's unfortunate that it took six global variables to do it, but it's up and running now. This has been on the to-do list for a while.

Lastly, I started in on some of the exterior areas in the keep. Specifically, I reworked the sculpture in the rear of the keep. It's now based on a sculpture from the zone, which just happens to look a lot like the biomechanoids.

Some solid work for a change...
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 17 Nov 2009 08:58 pm Post subject:
Update:
Not much... I worked in the Keep study, adding the first of the electric lamps, and cleaning up the book shelves. I also rearranged the furniture, and moved the computer terminal to a corner.

The bulk of the work was in cleaning up the texture mess with the furniture. I tracked down even more pieces that were pointing to the wrong texture, and corrected the links.

I had really hoped to get more done, but I'm too tired to keep hacking on it. My creativity is pretty much shot when I get this tired, so I have to stick to pretty mechanistic stuff - like texture links and folder organization.

On that front, I also retextured a bunch of candles, sconces,and lanterns. Sheesh, is that boring work or what. They do look a lot nicer, though.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 20 Nov 2009 07:15 pm Post subject:
Update:
Wow, due to a special luncheon at work, I actually got time to work today. (I got off early)

I started in on the cavern system beneath the keep. It's not terribly elaborate, but it will require some levitation - or at least some good acrobatic skills. Only a portion is intended to be well traveled, the rest will be dark and damp. Should be nice. Smile

I also got a lot more done cleaning up the book collection. I still haven't placed all the books, but they at least have new covers.

Lastly, I created a new set of silver coffee items. They look like big, bulbous versions of the usual items. So far, I have the pot itself, a creamer, and a sugar bowl.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 20 Nov 2009 10:41 pm Post subject:
Update:
Wow, it's really late.

However, I've gotten a lot accomplished. I don't want to go into too much detail, but I've gotten a lot of work done in a special quest area. The lighting is looking really nice, and the interior of the vessel is also in good shape. I just need to add a table with some misc items on it.

I still need to add all of the doors, and finish decorating the cavern, but it's coming along nicely.

The only problem I'm having is with a levitating pedestal. It flies right out from under you. I'm not sure how to actually get it to carry you. I suppose I need to do some research on Mad Max's ride-able objects.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 22 Nov 2009 08:04 pm Post subject:
Update:
I decided to ignore the multitude of problems in the southern caverns, and move to an area where I can make some real progress - the tavern.

I got a lot of interior work done in the Black Talon as a result. Retextured tables, chairs, lights, the works. I even threw together some very nice black and gold curtains for the windows. (to hide the fact I didn't recreate the city in the false view...)'

The best part, however; is that the skylight now appears correct. There are two trees, and a rock ridge visible through the skylight. It looks very cool to look up now.

The tables are actually redone versions of the "stump" style tables. I like the look, but not the low-res textures. The new versions have a red-stained wood finish, and a natural bark trim.

I'm not sure where the chair models came from. It's a straight-leg chair, and I'm fairly certain the original model was wi_ something. At any rate, it got a retexture to match the tables.

Before I was done, I had a complete set of bar-set counter top done as well. Now, the whole bar feels like it fits. (color-wise) It was starting to look a bit low-rent, though; so I spiced up a wall-sconce I found with a more natural looking silver, and much better candle textures. (honey-colored)

I really just need to add patrons to get the first floor going. The second floor needs more furniture for the rental rooms (and scripting for the doors)

I also spent some time on a quest area to the south of the villages, in the highlands. This area needs too look good both with, and without, the quest-related static meshes. I'm also using it as an entry point to decorating the southern slopes of the island. They have been neglected since i put a shipwreck near the area.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 01 Dec 2009 09:29 pm Post subject:
Update:
Lots of work on the taverns. Specifically, the Black Talon tavern, though much of it will apply to the tavern in Winter's Tide as well. Scripting is now handled for the bards and the beds.

I've also put in the boxes and crates of food and drink. The publicans now serve food!

Lastly, I tweaked the lighting in the BTT. It's a lot more subtle, and the candles look more like beeswax candles, with nice silver sconces. It's not much different from stock, but they look (to me, at least) a lot better.

New screenshots have been posted.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 02 Dec 2009 09:13 pm Post subject:
Update:
I've finished the icons for the food and drink. I'm still thinking about whether to include rotten and moldy food - but for now, the edible food is working. I still need to assign alchemical properties to some of the items (or dig them up from other mods), but at least now they don't show smiley faces in inventory.

I've tried to stay within NOM for the most part, but a lot of foods don't have NOM equivalents, so those won't be "nutritious". A bit confusing, but the added items really are nice.

Other than that, just more work on the Black Talon Tavern. The rooms upstairs are more complete, and now have most of their furniture. I still need some clutter for the upstairs rooms, but they are looking fairly good already. The biggest problem is scripting the guests to walk between their rooms, and the downstairs area. Actually, getting them to open the door has been the problem - but I'm still working on it.

The idea is to have a dynamic environment inside the tavern, with people milling about.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 06 Dec 2009 01:50 pm Post subject:
Update:
Not much. I started in on some of the other interiors, specifically Hrordis' Sweetshop. (Now that I have all the pies and breads in)

I've also been tweaking the lighting. I can see how you could spend a long time on this aspect alone. Getting it just right is hard.

I'm still poking around on rocks and exterior landscaping as well. I want to add more high-poly rocks, especially around villages, and along the river.

That's about it for now.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 13 Dec 2009 08:46 pm Post subject:
Update:
Well, I think I won "Doofus of the Year" tonight.

I was working on integrating weather effects into ground-level buildings, and was having problems with effects not working. Nothing, nada zip. I checked all the obvious things, made sure the scripts were running, checked that the correct zstart values were getting loaded, etc. Everything looked like it should be going gang-busters.

Except that it wasn't. It was dead silent.

At some point, while trying to debug this, I looked out the window of one of the buildings, and noticed it wasn't raining. For lighting reasons, I use a separate "interior as an exterior" region specifically for interiors with windows. This way, when you look out the window, you see clouds and water (where applicable)

Since the stock game doesn't block collisions on water and snow, I can't use the same regions as the real exteriors, else it would rain and snow inside. So, I created a new region called "Ravenwood Interior" - and gave it a 100% chance of overcast.
*
As I checked the weather detection code, it immediately dawned on me that the script was picking up the weather inside the building, rather than outside. Normally, when you enter an interior, the last weather value is cached, which allows the original script to work. However, if the interior is mimicking an exterior cell, it has a weather system, and updates the global. It even has a wind value, which allows you to check for interiors acting as exteriors.

So, the weather effects code was working perfectly fine. It just thought the weather was overcast!

Unfortunately, the fix is going to be painful. I'm going to have to add a script to every door, on every building, that sets a global variable with the current exterior weather and recode the effects scripts to look at that instead.

This isn't too bad, because only exterior doors need the script, and the script can be the same on all exterior doors. The only trouble is, I use the same models (and door entries) for both interior and exterior doors - so I'm actually going to have to create new doors, and replace existing ones.

This is going to be a bit of a side project, but hopefully when I'm done, buildings will have emulated weather.

On the other hand, progress on the interior valley is going well. I've pretty well textured the ground with a mixture of pine needles, moss, grass, and rock. The road beds are (more or less) done, and shadows have been drawn for most trees. I walked through the area, and I'm pretty happy with the way it's turning out. It looks particularly good in bad weather.

I've also gotten a lot further on the exterior area near the secluded cabin. There is a swampy pool in front of the cabin that is slightly annoying. Because the whole area is quite a bit above sea level, the pool isn't real. If you walk in it, it's like you are walking on dry land. However, it looks really nice. (well, actually it looks like a cess pool - but that's what I was aiming for) This is yet another area where I like Oblivion - exteriors can have different water heights. In this case, I could easily alter the water height without messing anything up - but oh well, fake water will have to do. There isn't a good reason for the player to be in it anyway - it's pure eye-candy.

The cabin, platforms, planks, posts, etc. have all been retextured to look very worn, and overgrown with moss. It should be an interesting area. The idea is that it will be abandoned at first, but it can be claimed by an NPC as part of a side quest. The cabin will come back to life at this point. Should be an interesting area.

It's also not linked with the road system. It's directly west of the cattle herd, though - and if you look closely near the ground, you can see the chimney.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 21 Dec 2009 09:06 pm Post subject:
Update:
More misc items and scripts. I was kind of tired, so I didn't do a whole lot of stuff with the exteriors - largely because I know I'm going to have to redo a boatload of doors. <sigh>

I did, however; get more done on Hrordis' sweetshop. Flour decals, random ingredients strewn about, improved pathgrid and AI settings (to keep her from bouncing off the counter), etc. It's actually beginning to look more like a working bakery.

I need to give the rest of the kitchens the same treatment, but I wanted to focus on bringing in misc objects this time around. I'm also creating icons as I go in a lot of cases. Not hard, but it does take a few minutes of time in photoshop. I like to do nice, alpha-friendly DDS files. Smile

Other items of note include a ruined wagon for the secluded cabin, corrected sound instances for interior weather, and fixes for a strange problem involving scripted doors and interior cells not updating.

Weather effects now work in several locations in Bree. It's a nice change.

I'm also working on simplifying the weather systems. Right now, there are three regions for the central valley alone. This is somewhat insane, so I'm working on slimming that down to one for the entire valley. Fortunately, the new scripting with the doors helped a bit with that, even if they introduced a new problem...

The other nice side-effect is that the new weather systems will allow you to potentially see the night sky through the skylights again. There is some lag, since MW doesn't immediately alter a region's weather, but the lag is acceptable unless you are just looking for 'bugs'.

Next up - finishing off the sound activators for interiors. Unfortunately, this means a whole bunch of exterior doors are going to have to be replaced all over the island. After that, I will start placing exterior sound activators for forest sounds.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 27 Dec 2009 08:09 pm Post subject:
Update:
I was gone all Christmas, and just got back today. I did, however; get some nice photos of slate and moss for textures. I've been using Qarl's textures, but I wanted to add in some of my own.

At least one of the slate textures worked out great. The other had some issues. I tried to get a picture of wet slate, and that didn't work out so well.

The moss seems to be OK, but I'll actually have to try to apply it in a few places. It's pretty saturated, largely because I was shooting on a clear day.

First up is rocks, though. I have been wanting better slate rocks for the river for a while.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 28 Dec 2009 09:45 pm Post subject:
Update:
I got distracted with textures again. I found a boatload of granite, marble, metal, and wood textures. Interestingly, they are completely free to use:

www.mayang.com/textures/

I've been working on getting them into shape for modding, creating tileable dds files. The granites and marbles are done, and look very nice. I redid a sink with some of the new textures, and they look very sharp in-game. Turns a regular sink into a high-end fixture! Smile

I'm going to try to run through some of the metals and woods as well, but I don't want to get too distracted. I still have landscaping to do.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 30 Dec 2009 09:21 pm Post subject:
Update:
I found some more free texture sites, and have gone nuts with textures again. That said, I did get an important plot-related mesh completed - an xray/MRI display. It still needs some tweaking, but it's more or less good to go. It cycles through 12 MRI slides, and is designed to fit a standard Ravenwood terminal.

Other than that, it's back to doors. I was hoping to have more doors to choose from. Right now, there are only about 5 or 6 exterior door models, so a lot of buildings have the same door. I'm hoping that every building will get a unique door that fits it. Of course, there will be some "standard" doors on a few buildings. Barns, utility buildings, etc. won't get special treatment. Shops and homes, however; should have better doors.

I've got about 12 planned.

I also found a very nice lace texture pre-tiled that I plan to use to upgrade the panties. I haven't even seen them in months, but I immediately thought of them when I saw this texture. Should improve the quality of this item greatly! Smile

Other interesting items are an improved rock tile for landscaping around the river, an improved "wood chip" tile, for the lumber yard, and an improved "leaf debris" tile for Arbor Glen.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: Neko
Post Posted: 04 Jan 2010 05:14 am Post subject:
morovir wrote: www.mayang.com/textures/


ooo, saved!

-Neko [cat]
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 04 Jan 2010 06:22 pm Post subject:
Update:
I got through the doors, for now. I have a total of 13 square doors, four arched doors, and a handful of custom doors (trap doors, special mesh doors, etc.)

Not quite enough for a unique door on every building, but definitely enough to relay basic info on the building. (rich/common/poor, etc)

I've also started in on the Raven Claw manor. I decided to switch things up a bit on this 'house'. It's actually four buildings and a tower, connected with skywalks. The owner originally wanted to found a village, like Bree; but due to 'circumstances' was forced to abandon his plans. So, rather than let all of his buildings go to waste, he connected them to create a single house. Space-wise, it will a touch smaller than the keep; and mostly stairs and walkways, but it should be interesting.

Oh, and the new ground textures are working out. The wood cutting area looks great! Smile

[loriel]

Post Posted: 06 Jan 2010 07:07 pm Post subject:
Update:
The last of the major houses is coming along nicely - Raven Claw Manor. The only trouble is that this manor will get dual-use, and I'm still trying to work out the details on that.

In the back story, Raven Claw was originally supposed to be a village like Winter's Tide, but due to unusual circumstances, the rest of the island refused to allow it. So, unlike the rest of the villages, it lay idle.

Rather than let it go to waste, the 'governor' turned it into a single house with skyways. So, ignoring those, the place should look like a typical common village with buildings that look like shops. However, each shop is actually a room in the manor. The old bookstore is now a foyer, a tavern the kitchen and servants quarters, etc.

The trick is, the village will eventually get populated as part of the main quest, so I'm trying to work out how to handle that. I'm aiming towards having multiple cells, and switching out the doors with a script.

I still have a couple of caves, and the mines, left as well - but I'm hoping to get the interior architecture done soon. Then, I can start in with the rest of the interior decorating in full force.

Oh, a lot of my newer textures are from here: www.cgtextures.com/

You have to register, and you can only download 15MB/24 hours, but most of the textures were either directly usable, or required very minimal rework.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 09 Jan 2010 09:18 pm Post subject:
Update:
Lots of small stuff.

I've been going through my texture pile (and I do mean pile...) and created a bunch of new paintings. The paintings were all selected for the Raven Claw manor, and like the other sets, are intended to provide a bit of visual background for the occupants - most are from the continent.

In this case, the art has both snowy winter scenes, and pastoral summer scenes. Not everyone gets this treatment, but Raven Claw manor is an important quest location.

I also got a lot of work done on some new consoles. I took a very high-res picture of a digital audio workstation (of all things), and created consoles with pushbuttons. Floppy drives became card readers, and VFD displays, well, stayed displays. The console also has some volt meters, and other gauges. Looks reminiscent of some screenshots I've seen from Fallout 3, but is entirely based on stuff from cgtextures, and stock meshes. (except for the console itself, which came from an unfinished mod on PES) The ship also got a working over. Looks very old and abandoned.

Lastly, I've started in on Raven Claw manor. It's really starting to shape up out there. (the manor sits on a promontory high above the northern coastline) I created a new cobblestone texture that looks like it is coated in ice and snow. Really works well for this area.

On that front, I'm working on several other sedimentary rock textures for the river basin, as well as some rock/sand textures for the lake bottom.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 12 Jan 2010 09:39 pm Post subject:
Update:
I started using the new textures tonight, and they are already looking nice. I wish I could post all of the screenies at once, but for some reason the forum software is balking at that.

While I was at it, I started working on the trail from Arbor Glen to Raven Claw Promontory. I have a nice mountain pass going, with a stream flowing down through the mountains. It's not even close to being done, but it's looking quite nice already.

I also got a lot of work done in Raven Claw Manor. Lots of new paintings and doors.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 17 Jan 2010 10:19 pm Post subject:
Update:
Argh. Five hours of work, and nothing to actually show anyone.

As hinted by my other post in the texturing section, most of the work tonight involved figuring out weird texture problems. The pixellated rocks & other statics finally bugged me to the point of figuring out what was going on. In the process, I've just about completed fixing the exterior problems on Raven Claw Promontory. All of the buildings have matching material and texturing properties, so they look like they match - even the mages tower. It's hard to get a good screenshot, but I have filtering turned on for all meshes; so you can get really close and not see huge pixels! Smile

Unfortunately, smoother textures a good screen cap do not make.

I did, however; get a lot of work done on the lake that started this whole side effort. I wanted rocks that looked like they belonged at the bottom of the lake. The standard sedimentary rocks just weren't cutting it, so I created new rocks with a mixture of slate and mud textures. Unfortunately, rocks that look good above water stood out like sore thumb under water, so I have added vertex color properties, and shaded them slightly bluish gray to match the lake bottom. I still need to tweak the color properties, but they are *finally* looking good, and the lake now has some interest. It's still quite deep, but now there is some random stuff at the bottom. Rock shelves, sunken boats, etc. - all shaded to look like it fits.

To make matters more fun, I added more fish hanging out under the rock ledges under water. I need to look into a fishing mod, but for now the fish are just for looks.

I'm not done by a long shot, but the lake is coming along nicely now. I just need to keep creeping up into Western Arbor Glen to complete the area.

Lastly, I retextured some more beds for the Moose Lodge in Winter's Tide. They are nice, sturdy wooden beds with fur bedspreads. I'll try to get some screen shots when the rooms are a bit more decorated.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 21 Jan 2010 06:05 pm Post subject:
Update:
A lot of cleanup. I've redone all of the exterior building models to simplify the NIF's, and clean up the jaggies. Most of the buildings are now down to a single inode, and maybe a dozen nitrishapes - makes retextures much easier as compared to the original bethsoft models.

Hopefully I'll get back to working on the actual mod soon - instead of just tweaking models.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 24 Jan 2010 09:49 pm Post subject:
Update:
Model tweaking is still going on, but I can finally see the results a bit more. Winter's Tide is looking less like a Skaal village, and more like a Nord village of sorts, though with it's own style. I've been recoloring buildings, and making them all match more closely, but they still retain a unique flair. More importantly, the buildings look like they belong in the same village.

It took a while, but all buildings now have the same texture and material properties for their wooden structures, stone walls (if any) and thatch roofs. I also cleaned up the properties for a bunch of rock wall pieces. It's quite subtle, but I feel it makes a difference in the way the village looks.

I also cleaned up some of the textures and meshes for a few other areas, but by and large, Winter's Tide got the biggest bang this time around.

Lastly, I sketched out a few places around Bree for commoners homes. They won't be in the town, but instead will be outside the city wall along the major walking paths. No real plot here, just filling in the area. After all, I need some folks to shop in the shops!

All in all, I'm very happy with the way this mod is going right now. The landscapes are gentle and deep, with rolling hills, a lake & river, and mountains. I still have a lot of work on smoothing out some areas (like the waterways below Arbor Glen; but it's definitely coming along. The interiors, likewise, are coming along nicely as well. The sweetshop, in particular, is looking good. I'm glad I found some flour decals!

That's about it for now.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: Oubliette
Post Posted: 24 Jan 2010 10:07 pm Post subject:
Morovir - I like your drive and dedication to the sheer scope and breath of this mod even posting consistent updates with little pandering and clamoring for them. I for one and looking forward to this mods completion even if I don't say that often. You've done a wonderful job so far Applause
-------------------------------------
Posted by: Neko
Post Posted: 25 Jan 2010 06:06 am Post subject:
Oubliette wrote: Morovir - I like your drive and dedication to the sheer scope and breath of this mod even posting consistent updates with little pandering and clamoring for them. I for one and looking forward to this mods completion even if I don't say that often. You've done a wonderful job so far Applause

Seconded. I like the attention to detail. I'm going to have a lot of awesome mods to play when I get back into the swing of things, and I look forward to seeing this one.

-Neko [cat]
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
* Post Posted: 26 Jan 2010 06:23 am Post subject:




A few shots of the updated Winter's Tide
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 26 Jan 2010 06:24 am Post subject:
A few more shots of Winter's Tide:




BTW - I hate this new "three image" restriction. I know why it's probably there, but it makes it hard for this sort of stuff.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 26 Jan 2010 06:25 am Post subject:




A few more random shots with updated stuff.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 26 Jan 2010 06:25 am Post subject:




Night time in Ravenwood.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 01 Feb 2010 10:07 pm Post subject:
Update:
I have nearly reached a major milestone. The first of the villages, Bree, is almost exterior complete. (interiors are another matter) I finally got my streetlight model working satisfactorily, and have gotten the last of the buildings in.

All that is left is to add misc plants, a bit of clutter, and swap out some doors with newer models. Frame rate has taken a bit of a dip, with certain angles dropping to about 50 fps - but I have a low end machine, and that is still very playable. Especially since there is no combat (or should be no combat) in Bree.

The street lights really added a lot, and I'm glad I pushed on with them. I did have to cheat a bit on them, though. I used a semi-opaque glass texture, added a glow map, and placed a standard flame with it's alpha removed. Amazingly, you can't really tell that the flame is blocky behind the glowing glass - it actually looks fairly realistic. The lamp itself is a cross between the Mournhold street lights and a standard travel lantern. It has a slightly Elvish flourish that I like.

As for the buildings, I have added one last shop/house. I'm moving the enchanter over to the new building, and adding a different NPC to the previous cottage. Most likely a scholar/savant - but I haven't decided yet.

The other three are in a new little grotto I carved out near Bree, on the path to the keep. Actually, the hollow has been there for a while, but I've defined it much more, and added rocks and shrubs. There are three total houses, all for commoners. To maintain the effect, they aren't brick or stone like the houses in town. Instead, I went for a more plain wood paneling texture. I also used my "lower class" doors for these.

I really don't see myself doing much more to the Bree landscape, though I may mess around with the cliff textures. I like the rock/vine texture a bit more than the moss/lichen textures. However, as I discovered, the cliffs around Bree are quite tall; and Bree is right on the lake. (You can wade in if you walk far enough North) I dunno - I'll have to try a few things.

Other areas of interest were Arbor Glen's forest floor. I created a new muck layer, and separated a few pools of much from the streams that run under the village. Unfortunately, my attempt to cross animated water with opaque muck ran into some problems. It looks great up close, but from a distance, it shimmers. I'm not sure if standard muck does that or not, but I'm looking for a solution.

Lastly, I started in with the mushrooms and other ingredient plants. The interior forest is finally starting to look like a proper forest.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 02 Feb 2010 10:03 pm Post subject:
Update:
I have new names for the new commoners, and one enchanter. Bree is now pretty much complete, though I may need to add a few more NPC's for flavor. (the bar is still kind of empty)

I've also pretty much completed Bree's interior city layout. It's fairly well lit, but there are a few dark alleys. A bit of clutter, and this area will be done. I'm also thinking of adding a few squirrels, but I'll have to see how that goes.

Lastly, I started in on the interiors for the last of the new buildings in Bree. Penelope's Shop is the furthest along, but the remainder should go fast - as they are plain houses. Penelope's shop is going to be interesting. It's done in yellow tinted plain stones, and granite. The house is on the smaller side, but I think it will work out in the end. I'm aiming for a sort of cross between Hlaalu and Imperial.

Remaining interiors include the Bree ore mine, the northern cavern system, Raven Claw manor (specifically, the servants quarters and guest house), the underground research facility, and a bot factory. I also intend to do a few animal dens as well.

I'm excited to reach some milestones in Bree, as well as Winter's Tide. Once all of the interior and exterior architecture is done, I can start in on furniture and clutter, as well as NPC placement. There is still a ton of work left, particularly in the coastal forests; but it's nice to be able to return to some fairly finished areas for a change.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 09 Feb 2010 10:30 pm Post subject:
Update:
The new interiors are sketched in, and I've started adding decorations and furniture. In the process, I created several new endside pieces for lower class homes. These feature plaster walls and a wood/plaster ceiling - instead of the usual wood paneling. They actually give the common homes a brighter feel, though one of the plaster textures takes that down quite a bit. There should be a good mix of lower, middle, and upper class homes and businesses in Bree.

The interiors for Bree are now fairly well complete architecturally. That is, they are entirely enclosed, and have basic fixtures like fireplaces, doors, and windows. I still need to finish out with clutter and furniture, but the buildings themselves are done. Lighting is a mixed bag. Most of the key shops and houses have lighting in progress, but most other buildings still have default lighting. Same with weather effects activators and lights. I'm still installing those in buildings. Fortunately, most exterior doors have been updated to include the new scripts required to make them work.

The last of the new shops is Penelope's Shop. I may change the name if I can think of a better one, but she is the town enchanter. She also sells a variety of soul gems with generic souls. (powerful, but nothing that will alter the game) Her shop is largely done in marbles and granites, with rich wood paneling for the ceiling. I heavily modified the smokestack to match the decor, and added several "dark lights" to keep the ceiling dim. To top it off, I dropped in a mist activator under the coals in the central fire pit. This shop looks really good at night (the cell, like most in Bree, is an interior acting like an exterior) I'll try to post some screen shots if I can ever remember to carry my thumbdrive with me.

The other three houses are, more or less, commoners homes. I'm going to avoid simply calling them commoners, though. I'm creating new classes to give them each unique trades or statuses. This should be doable on this scale, though can understand why Bethsoft punted, and called anyone who wasn't a shopkeep or major NPC a commoner.

I did punt a bit, though. I am creating a unique guard class for each village. Like regular guards, they are simply named "<village> Guard", and they will respawn. I'm modeling the guards after Pelagiad - since it's the closest Vvardenfell town to Bree. (except for the castle, of course) I've got prison markers in Bree, which will likely also serve Arbor Glen. I need to add a prison marker for Winter's Tide.
I'm hoping to get the villages up to working status soon, and that means dealing with crime.

Lastly, I started modding a cubbyhole mesh I found that you can use in common interiors. You hide it with a static, like a picture frame. This should come in handy for hiding things without containers.
========================
Edit - Added links to screenshots - Loriel

[loriel]

Post Posted: 13 Feb 2010 07:21 pm Post subject:



The new streetlamps in Bree.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 13 Feb 2010 07:22 pm Post subject:



The new streetlamps in Bree.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 15 Mar 2010 09:06 pm Post subject:
Ok, tubs are (more or less) done. I may have to retex to handle a few more houses; but the code is complete. I'm not entirely happy with the clawfoot tub code, but because I have to adjust scale instead of just z position, the granularity is a PITA.

The other two models allow me to primarily adjust the Z-axis, which I can do with a great deal of granularity, and occasionally alter the scale (4 times during the animation). The clawfoot model, on the other hand, stays put until the scale moves from .67 to .92, at which time I increment the Z-axis by 1.0 for every 0.01 change in scale. Unfortunately, attempting to change the scale by increments other than 0.01 results in no change. It seems like 0.01 is the smallest increment for adjusting scale. This is a problem because it makes the water level rise in a slightly jerky fashion - and no amount of dinking with time intervals completely fixes it. (though slowing it down does help) Since I'm also constrained to completing the animation within the time allotted by the animated faucet, it becomes an issue.

However, it's not critical - it's really just a fun animation. So, I'm calling it 'good enough', and moving on.




Oh, the first model is completely "plumbed" except for the faucet. It has retextured Dwemer style pipes, resized to fit the tub. Looks great in-game! Smile
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 15 Apr 2010 07:35 pm Post subject:
Update:
Squat. I managed to get a nasty sinus infection that went on for weeks. The drugs I was on for that pretty much nuked any will to mod for a while.

So, I finally get better, only to find that my 7600GT has finally bit the dust. I can't even boot into Windows without the video going flaky. Looks like the RAM is toast on the card. I wasn't even OC'ing it either, it was running stock.

So, I'm looking to find a decent board to replace it on a strict budget. Unfortunately, for now my modding system is dead, though.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 24 Apr 2010 09:27 am Post subject:
Ok, I'm almost back up. I went through the ringer a few times getting Windows installed on my "new" rig, but it's running fairly stable now.

I ended up getting a free Athlon 64 X2 5600+ new in the box, along with a 320GB hard disk. I bought a XFX GTS 250 (thinking it was problem with the video card).

Unfortunately, it turned out to be the motherboard and CPU. Both are 100% dead. The 7600GT, as it happens, is perfectly fine. So far, it looks like my Corsair RAM modules are good too.

So, I ended up going back to my Asrock 939 dual vsta board with an AM2CPU card. This board is older than dirt, and one of my hard disks is stuck on a SATA1 port, since this board only has one SATA2 port on it. It still runs OK, though.

I did have an issue with the wireless card initially. Windows would lock hard as soon as it loaded the driver. I swapped the wireless and sound cards, and it seems to have resolved the issue. I now have a clean device manager.

The only other odd thing is that Windows Update has a newer driver for my Audigy, but the system blue screens when I try to install it. Solution - don't install it.

So, at this point, the OS is running again. Performance looks decent so far, so I'm going to go ahead and restore my Morrowind folder. I may even be back to modding tonight if we don't lose power.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 18 May 2010 06:18 pm Post subject:
Well, I've finally gotten back to work. I've been checking out meshes made by third-party modders for Fallout 3, and while most (vast majority) are just retextures of Bethsoft meshes, a few useful items popped up.

It's going to be a bit odd asking for permissions to use a FO3 mesh in Morrowind, but I'm hoping I can work out something.

My favorite so far is a desk fan by Lord Inquisitor. I've converted it to TES3, and animated it. Works fine, but I need a sound effect file to go with it.

No new screenshots at the moment, but I'm working on some ideas.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 19 May 2010 07:45 pm Post subject:
Updates:
1) Back in business. The new rig is a LOT better than the old one - particularly when moving around in the CS. It's making landscaping a lot easier.

2) I finished the animation on my desk fan. I borrowed the keyframe data from a Tribunal gear (one of Sotha's gears), as it was smoother than the keyframe data from the Dwemer fan. I touched up the texture a bit, added a detail texture, and generally worked on the UV map to correct some issues with seams.

I ended up having to do some major surgery on the nif, though. Lord Inquisitor didn't separate the pieces when he created his model - so I had to do it myself. The final product works great, though.

To finish it off, I created a nice antique fan sound effect to attach to the fan. It actually worked out quite nice, though the fan sound is somewhat soft. If you are standing next to it, you can hear it, but if fades fairly fast.

Lore wise, they are Dwemer in Ravenwood. I'm going to make another stab at cleaning up the texture, and make it more Dwemer-ish. Once that is done, it will be good to go.

3) I cleaned up a similar laptop model and texture. I'm not going to replace mine, though. My models will be for the "locals". The laptop will be for the "non locals" I also extracted a "screen" mesh to do limited animations. I wish I could figure out how to do this with playgroups and kf files, but I have been unsuccessful so far in attaching playgroups to texture transforms - so I'm doing it with scripting. The new setup will work similarly to the current one.

4) I started using Archies trees. They are incredible - but also high-poly - so I'm trying to keep it down with them. However, the forest in Arbor Glen is looking a lot better. The weeping willows are definitely what was missing. With those in the forest, it's looking better almost exponentially.

5) I've started on, but not finished, fixing the sticker bush problem. A couple of my bush meshes are causing the player character to get stuck when you get to close. I need to add a collision node with a smaller, simpler, shape.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 19 May 2010 07:57 pm Post subject:



New models. Yes, that coffee maker is custom - not stock FO3. The texture is also custom. Likewise for the fan.

Last edited by morovir on 23 May 2010 05:42 am; edited 1 time in total
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 19 May 2010 07:57 pm Post subject:




Arbor Glen with new trees and bridge *
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 21 May 2010 04:01 pm Post subject:


How about a brand new sewing machine, with a combination of Dwemer and Elven styles? Yep, I took another mod that had a "Dwemer" sewing machine, and converted it into this beauty.

I'm trying to get the clothier shop furnished, and needed some more equipment.
-------------------------------------
Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 21 May 2010 09:23 pm Post subject:
Update:
Lots of little stuff, and one house started.

The little stuff involves fixing or patching textures on lots of miscellaneous items and furniture. I always hate mods creating a ton of folders, so meshes I'm using all point to a single root folder. This means that all of the meshes I'm using have to be edited. While I'm in there, I optimize the meshes, and simplify their structure. Sometimes, I add my flourishes or animations, but most of the time, it's just repointing texture paths. In the case of meshes that require similar textures, I'll try to use a common texture instead to save space. My gentex folder is getting used quite frequently for this purpose. An original texture has to be pretty unique, or hi-res, to not get replaced with a gentex texture.

Sometimes, the original UV map is either excruciatingly bad, or the texture is. If I can't fix it with a gentex texture, I will go in and redo the texture mapping. There is a patio chair, for example, that looks really nice - but has a bad default UV map. I've corrected the map, and switched textures, and now it looks amazingly good. Assuming I ever finish Ravenwood, the credit section is going to be "fun", as I've mixed and matched mesh and texture bits freely to create the models. Some are almost unrecognizable at this point.

Anyway, I got a lot done on bringing in new models tonight. The Catanius home, for example, is now looking a lot more like a tailor shop.

To break things up, I also did a bit of landscaping. I'm tweaking the rock textures in Arbor Glen to create a more natural look. It's a bit hard to tell from the ground, but from the platforms, the new rock work is an improvement.

Lastly, I fenced in a section of Bree around the Catanius home to create a back yard, and added some shrubs, bird bath, and flower pots.

"New" Models:
Merged several cauldron meshes, and a steam generator, to create animated cauldrons with soup. As it happens, all of the base meshes were Korana's, but from different mods. I now have a set of 5 cauldron models, each with unique textures, for use in various situations.

Simplified the textures on a set of clothing iron models, and used an improved wood texture on the handles.

Redid the UV map on a Adirondack style patio chair.

Built from parts a sewing machine for Mrs. Catanius. Based on parts from a dwemer sewing machine I found and a glass top table. (show above)

Converted a "chemistry set" mesh for Morrowind.

Converted, and retextured, a bird bath. Pulled in a standard animated water static for the water layer.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 22 May 2010 12:41 pm Post subject:
Updates:
More landscaping. Arbor Glen is really taking on a Valenwood-esque feel with the philodendrons. I still need to add the ingredient container plants, but I am seriously enjoying turning it into a jungle.

I also found a huge fallen tree mesh. By huge, I mean large enough to walk in. I dropped one near the edge of AG, and I'm going to see what comes of it. Perhaps a meeting spot?

I also added rats. Lots of rats. Well, not a lot yet, but I have the leveled creatures set up. The goal is the right rat for the right place. Arbor Glen and Bree are getting brown ones, Winter's Tide is getting snow rats, etc. Ships will probably get a mix of black and brown, maybe some tan rats.

Lastly, I have fixed a bunch of bad bushes. Collision is now missing for the tall red grass (that was irritating), and correct for some of the low shrubs and philodendrons. I can now walk base Nalion's house in Bree without getting stuck on the bushes! Smile

Other than that, I'm still cranking on bringing in statics and misc objects.




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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 25 May 2010 05:41 am Post subject:
Updates:
Nothing really to show a screenie of, more basic plumbing work.

I found a collision problem with the tavern mesh (easy enough to fix). I had expanded the standard building 4 to 1.5x width to accommodate a larger interior. Unfortunately, I forgot to scale the collision data!

I've also fixed the collision on a whole host of shrubs and small trees. Even Archie's models have poor or bad collision data - allowing you to walk right through a large wooden bulb! I'm still fixing collision data on the dock pieces, though. I saw Nalion fall through the dock while play testing last night, so clearly there are still some holes in it...

So, after battling with collision for a while, I decided to tackle scripting. My lightning emitters have failed to work for some time now, and I decided to figure out why. It turns out that when I fixed the sound emitters, I forgot to make the same changes to the lightning emitters.

You see, I am using interiors acting as exteriors for practically all of the buildings in Bree. This means that getcurrentweather actually changes when you go inside, so you can't count on it in the weather effects scripts. Instead, I use a script on the load doors to update a global variable right before you enter the cell, and then use the global variable in place of getcurrentweather. This works fabulously for the most part, though I have a large section of code at the top that checks for the player moving from interior to interior, exterior to interior, and loading from a saved game. Yes, all those checks are necessary.

So, I simply replaced get current weather with 'mvr_real_weather' in the lightning code, and now I have a working indoor weather simulator!

Well, sort of. There is an obscure bug in the 'inside_stone' code I can't figure out. I keep getting right eval errors. Not sure why, but I need to track down why - because I actually have a few stone buildings...

I also got a lot of interior work done. Jonus Oranius' house is almost completely furnished. Hrodis' sweetshop got a nice update (I'm aiming for a middle-ages Starbucks feel) and the local newsman got a retextured printing press.

Lastly, I've been working on the story board for the plot. I'm trying to resolve some of the last questions *I* have about certain things, and how a bunch of half-elves got their hands on some of the things in Ravenwood. It's actually worked out fairly well, and I feel I'm finally patching some of the holes in the plot that have been bugging me.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 25 May 2010 09:43 pm Post subject:
Update:
I updated the mesh for the Ye Olde Blackbird Bathhouse to allow for a machine room in the rear. I've already got the mesh situation in Bree, so I just needed to add the interior.

It's linked in, but no machinery just yet. There will be a side quest related to the bath house, and it's modified Dwemer machinery. Nothing major, just enough to make it clear that Bree is the tech village.

I'm also still squashing bugs in the sound emitter code. I discovered I was playing blizzard sounds while it was merely snowing. Argh!
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 28 May 2010 05:22 am Post subject:
Update:
Not a lot. Animated a few more resources - specifically a stone wheel and an air conditioning unit. I also started in on the Meat Packing Co. It's getting an overhaul, and sound/lighting effects.
============================
Edit - Added links to screenshots - Loriel

[loriel]

Post Posted: 02 Jun 2010 05:47 pm Post subject:
Update:
I'm finally taking the plunge and learning Blender. I've been using Darknuts Greater Dwemer Ruins resource pack, and I'm apparently wanting to combine them in ways he didn't foresee. So, I'm having to make alterations to the meshes that would be painful in nifskope.

So far, so good. I've got the tool chain up and running, and have successfully altered the first mesh. I also discovered that the coordinate systems are exactly 10:1 - meaning 76.8 in Blender is 768 in Nif/TESCS. Nice! Shame it took as much math as I used to figured that one out... DOH!

Unfortunately, this means that while I have my next interior in mind, I'm going to be stuck modeling for a bit first.
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Posted by: melian
Post Posted: 02 Jun 2010 07:12 pm Post subject:
morovir wrote: Update:
I also discovered that the coordinate systems are exactly 10:1 - meaning 76.8 in Blender is 768 in Nif/TESCS.
I never realised that! d'oh! Wow, that would have made some things so much easier if I'd known it a couple of years ago Embarassed
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 05 Jun 2010 07:28 pm Post subject:
Update:
Apparently all that time using nifskope paid off. I'm still not proficient in blender, but I can at least get stuff done now. I'm still in the "take bits of other meshes, and mash them together" phase, but now I can actually make intelligent edits to the meshes.

Tonight's fun was to take a boiler room intended for a ship, and convert it into an underground facility. This actually wasn't that hard, but it did involve a lot of blender operations.

I figure with a bit more practice, I can pretty much leave nifskope for simpler tasks, like setting up properties and texture paths. (which I'm still fuzzy on how to do in blender)

Good progress, though. I only need a few more models before I can really start going after the Ravenwood facility.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 06 Jun 2010 01:34 pm Post subject:
After staying up all night with blender and nifskope, I think I am finally getting the hang of this. I started on part of the underground facility today using the meshes.





I still need to come up with a standard material scheme for various things. Right now, I'm still using a lot of "stock" Dwemer textures, but I really need to start migrating to custom, non-Dwemer textures. The problem is, which ones? Sheesh.

Still, I'm exited about these new meshes. They are exactly what I was looking for in this section. Almost makes me less depressed over the southern cavern problem.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 03 Jul 2010 09:55 pm Post subject:
Update:
Lots of stuff. Revamped the forest floor in Arbor Glen with a nice vine texture, and started working on larger cliffs in the River Port and Arbor Glen areas.

I'm also trying to pin down the stone and path textures. I'm now using the same grassy dirt for most walkways, with the exceptions being paths very near the keep, and inside Bree. (those still have cobblestones)

I also dumped the only rope bridge, outside of Arbor Glen, for a stone bridge. Looks much better, and makes the Bree/Keep path more uniform. I'm effectively redoing the exterior landscaping in waves - and this wave is starting near Arbor Glen.
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Posted by: morovir
Post Posted: 21 Jul 2010 07:45 pm Post subject:
Update:
I finally got over the bug that had me down for so long. I lost nearly two weeks!

At any rate, I've restarted exterior landscaping. I had an idea for a geothermal pool, similar to the pools in Yellowstone. I've actually gotten the pool pretty close to done, but I'm still trying to integrate it into the rest of the island. It's very technicolor, with lots of blues, yellows, and greens. It will be similar to the ashlands, but more colorful - with lots of sulfur, etc.

Unfortunately, imageshack is presently down, so no screenies, but this should be an interesting area when completed.
===========================
Edit - added links to screenshots - Loriel

[morovir]

Hey, thanks!

I was reformatting it myself, but this will definitely work.