Ph0rce

Surprise! I've decided to release some of the content to the community. I can't make plugins for oldrim anymore, as I no longer have the oldrim CK and have no intention of installing it; as a result, the pack I've released today is just the replacers for the Dwarven dagger, Keening and Volendrung. Next week I'll post a pack for SSE which has a plugin and more content. Later still, I'll post a resource pack containing everything that wasn't released for either game.

Hi everyone. I'm sorry to disappoint, but I'm afraid that TCW for original Skyrim is now officially dead. Most of the old asset are now defunct, and may or may not see release as separate modders' resources. Now before you all throw full wine bottles at your computer screens, I will mention that I am still working on something, which is being made specifically for SSE. It is a descendant of this project; similar idea, but a completely different workflow and approach; I'm considerably happier with the results I'm getting this time around. Sorry to be so cryptic, but I don't want reveal much before I'm close to release and ready for testers. Over the years I've acquired a habit of promising a lot, and delivering either very little or nothing to this community, and it's a habit that I'm really trying to kick. So keep an eye out; maybe we'll see a new forum thread with new content on the horizon.

Shezrie pulled all of her work after the insanity surrounding paid mods; and given all that happened during the controversy, i can't say I blame her. She has re-uploaded some of her mods, however it doesn't appear this particular mod was amongst them.

Sorry for the long absence everyone. I decided to take a bit of a break from the project, followed by a vacation that cut off access to computers and internet for more than a week. Still no progress on getting the spider to actually work in-game, though the challenge is now over. In the end, I chose not to go with any of the names submitted; nothing really jumped out at me for use on Clan Mzark, though I did like the "mastercrafted" name. I might use either that or something similar for top-tier items used by the peoples of the holds. Now, on to my latest work: I'm still struggling to understand the thought process at Bethesda for the complete 180 in the design of Volendrung. Going back as far as Arena, the design of the weapon has been fairly consistent (general appearance was established in Arena, hammer head was more heavily defined in Daggerfall, appearance was more detailed in Morrowind, design was further fleshed out in Oblivion, and then design was completely chucked out the window and replaced in Skyrim). The only element of any of the older designs present in the Skyrim Volendrung is the set of spikes found on the hammer head, along with the top of the haft. It's not a bad looking weapon my any stretch, but it looks utterly demonic in its appearance, and while this is not a bad thing (particularly since it is associated with a Daedric Prince), the text identifying it as a Dwemer weapon makes it look really out of place. So I've taken the design back to basics, whilst reinterpreting the weapon using my material-based approach. http://www.ndavidteixeira.com/images/Oriius/TESV/TCW2/Screenshots/0107.png http://www.ndavidteixeira.com/images/Oriius/TESV/TCW2/Screenshots/0108.png http://www.ndavidteixeira.com/images/Oriius/TESV/TCW2/Screenshots/0109.png http://www.ndavidteixeira.com/images/Oriius/TESV/TCW2/Screenshots/0110.png http://www.ndavidteixeira.com/images/Oriius/TESV/TCW2/Screenshots/0111.png http://www.ndavidteixeira.com/images/Oriius/TESV/TCW2/Screenshots/0112.png http://www.ndavidteixeira.com/images/Oriius/TESV/TCW2/Screenshots/0113.png http://www.ndavidteixeira.com/images/Oriius/TESV/TCW2/Screenshots/0114.png Not sure what's next. Probably one of the other unique weapons (either Spellbreaker or Zephyr). Or maybe Sunder, though I don't think that I'll tackle another hammer just yet. And before anyone asks, the armour is an unreleased update of my old Blackguard mod that I've been packaging up for release. I do need screenshot artists, so if you're interested, please PM me.

Now this is how cities in Skyrim should look. I'll be following your progress.

You might look up Made with Mischief. Software's cheap, and definitely one of the better digital drawing packages these days (though it's tough to use without a tablet). The advent of Adobe's Creative Cloud has definitely brought down the price of Photoshop (I pay $15USD per month for a Photoshop CC 2015 license that comes with a copy of Lightroom, though I'm not sure that offer is still available). As for your project itself, I won't create a model for you; the more self-reliant content creators that this community has, the better in my opinion. However, if you are interested, I will help guide you through the development process if I can, either in this thread or over PM. Depends on what modeling package you used in your first attempt. The pieces of software for modding work that I know how to use are: Blender, xNormal, Photoshop (CS2 and later), Illustrator (CS3 and later), Crazybump, Inkscape, Substance Designer 4, Substance Painter (though I don't use it often). If you use any of these in your workflow, feel free to ask me questions.

Not sure about 3DSMaxm but Blender has a decent STL converter and offers full OBJ support. I imagine most 3D modeling packages offer the same level of support, whether vertex, or NURBS (just not parasolid; that type of system doesn't seem to play nice with vertex-based files). Really just depends on what's available to you.

It does. To test the creature in-game I actually did a straight-up replacement of Bethesda's spider mesh. In any case, I've managed to track down at least part of the problem: The body part was set incorrectly in the NIF (BP_TORSO which the exporter used vs SBP_32_BODY, to which the mesh is assigned.) So the spider actually shows up now. Unfortunately, it won't move. I was attacked by a version of the static spider that I showed in the above screenshots that followed me by sliding around the room and "attacking me with its mind" or something (it was actually a bit funny to watch). I think this might be tied to my export settings, so I'll have a look at those and report back later. *UPDATE* Nope, wasn't the export settings. Looks like it's back to the drawing board.

I've merged this thread with my WIP thread in the Skyrim Mod Talk forum Please feel free to close this thread.

Sorry about that. Suppose this is what I get for posting while low on sleep. To be perfectly honest, I'm not completely sure what the problem is myself. I think it may have something to do with the rigging; something may not have transferred properly when I imported the file into Blender. When I try to place the spider in-game, the creature is completely invisible (save for the occasional puff of steam and any electrical effects attached to the spider centurion). When I dove into the CK to test the mesh there, I got the following error: http://www.ndavidteixeira.com/images/Oriius/TESV/Support/Errors/w-arrayerror001.png I can't seem to find anything directly wrong with the NIF (though I've admittedly missed errors in NIFs before), and information that I've been able to find on the error is scant. Have you seen anything like this before? Thanks William. I'll update the list after work this evening. *UPDATED (see above)*

http://www.ndavidteixeira.com/images/Oriius/TESV/TCW2/Screenshots/099.png http://www.ndavidteixeira.com/images/Oriius/TESV/TCW2/Screenshots/0100.png http://www.ndavidteixeira.com/images/Oriius/TESV/TCW2/Screenshots/0101.png http://www.ndavidteixeira.com/images/Oriius/TESV/TCW2/Screenshots/0102.png http://www.ndavidteixeira.com/images/Oriius/TESV/TCW2/Screenshots/0103.png http://www.ndavidteixeira.com/images/Oriius/TESV/TCW2/Screenshots/0104.png http://www.ndavidteixeira.com/images/Oriius/TESV/TCW2/Screenshots/0105.png

Thanks MakotoSamurai. You are the second person to identify the material; first was tjrock3 who did so in image comments yesterday. I simply didn't give myself the opportunity to update the thread at that time. Curiously, both of you identified the material as "voidstone" which from what I've read is the ore, rather than "voidsteel" which i've been led to believe is the refined metal. Is that not the case? I genuinely don't know as I haven't played ESO myself. As it stands, here's the results of the challenge (will update as more entrants arrive): tjrock3 - MasterworkMakotoSamurai - AbyssalMakotoSamurai - of the VoidMakotoSamurai - Tamed VoidWilliam Lionheart - Void WalkerWilliam Lionheart - Void CrawlerWilliam Lionheart - Void StalkerFor your creature suggestion, what do you mean by "floating sphere". Do you mean something like that droid from the old Star Wars movies? Or perhaps a hovering version of the Dwarven Sphere. In any case, I'm not looking at implementing flying creatures for the moment, though I may explore that avenue at a later time; clan Aztul as well as the nameless fifth clan have yet to be fleshed out in terms of enemies (though Aztul is mostly planned). Ok, progress update: I'm having trouble implementing the spider as a creature unfortunately (I've made a request for help over on the modder forum. If you think that you might be able to help, feel free to download a copy of the mesh and some low-res textures here. Please note that those textures will not work with Bethesda's original UV Layout). But I have managed to implement the spider as a static, so I can at least show you all how it looks in-game, refracting lighted crystal and all. http://www.ndavidteixeira.com/images/Oriius/TESV/TCW2/Screenshots/089.png http://www.ndavidteixeira.com/images/Oriius/TESV/TCW2/Screenshots/090.png http://www.ndavidteixeira.com/images/Oriius/TESV/TCW2/Screenshots/091.png http://www.ndavidteixeira.com/images/Oriius/TESV/TCW2/Screenshots/092.png http://www.ndavidteixeira.com/images/Oriius/TESV/TCW2/Screenshots/093.png http://www.ndavidteixeira.com/images/Oriius/TESV/TCW2/Screenshots/094.png http://www.ndavidteixeira.com/images/Oriius/TESV/TCW2/Screenshots/095.png http://www.ndavidteixeira.com/images/Oriius/TESV/TCW2/Screenshots/096.png http://www.ndavidteixeira.com/images/Oriius/TESV/TCW2/Screenshots/097.png http://www.ndavidteixeira.com/images/Oriius/TESV/TCW2/Screenshots/098.png (continued in next post)

Great modding gods of the Nexus, I beseech thee. Please help me get my altered mesh working. For quite a while now I've been using a Blender 2.49/2.7x workflow based on this tutorial. It's worked well for everything that I've done so far, but my recent remix of the Dwarven Spider has left me scratching my head. It seems to export fine from Blender 2.49 and sets up as normal in Nifskope, but it doesn't render in-game. Instead, the model is completely invisible despite seeming to have a functional BSLightingShaderProperty. When I dive into the CK to try and see if it works there, it will load as a static mesh; attempting to drop a spider into an interior gives me the following error: http://www.ndavidteixeira.com/images/Oriius/TESV/Support/Errors/w-arrayerror001.png My guess is that it might have something to do with weighting. Perhaps something was screwed up during the import/export process. I've hosted a copy of the files on my server here. I get the feeling that I'm probably missing something simple. Would anybody please be willing to look my files over? Thanks, - Oriius

@Di0nysis: I'd forgotten about the Souls series. But that game is still extremely simple in how its environments are set up (there are relatively few assets requiring collision for example in any given scene). With fast travel, you're always going to see a loading screen. It's down to the fact that you have to unload all assets and environment data, and then load everything for the new region; unless of course you want an unstable mess like the one that Skyrim becomes when trying to load too much at once. @DDProductions83: Great. Now I want to play TW3 even more. Why must you torture my free time and wallet so?!

Thank you very much, William. I appreciate it.

http://www.ndavidteixeira.com/images/Oriius/TESV/TCW2/Screenshots/086.png http://www.ndavidteixeira.com/images/Oriius/TESV/TCW2/Screenshots/087.png http://www.ndavidteixeira.com/images/Oriius/TESV/TCW2/Screenshots/088.png I'm issuing an official challenge to the community: The last two of these screenshots are two images of a "Legendary Spider Worker" made of a mystery material. My challenge is twofold: first, identify the metal (the only clue I will give you is that it made its debut in The Elder Scrolls Online), and second, come up with a name for this tier of armour/enemy/weapon. The winning suggestion will be used in the release of Tamriellic Craftworks, and will be fully credited. Challenge closes on Saturday, May 30th.

Well, that took a great deal longer than expected. For the next build I decided to up the ante and remake the Spider Centurion; now for all intents and purposes the "Mzark Spider Worker". I've completed all of the ancient variants; the Mzark Spider Centurion will now use a slightly different model so that you can tell the difference between the two at a glance. The worker's low-poly mesh remains unchanged from Bethesda's original. The only difference from the one that shipped with the game is a complete redo of the UV Layout; Since I no longer work with a traditional workflow, I've elected to let Blender handle the UV layout on its own. This has the notable advantage of minimizing distortion in the texture, but also has the the disadvantage of making the textures extremely difficult to edit manually in Photoshop. For comparison: http://www.ndavidteixeira.com/images/Oriius/TESV/TCW2/Screenshots/079.png Bethesda's texture on the left, mine on the right; both for the same mesh. And on to the glamour shots: http://www.ndavidteixeira.com/images/Oriius/TESV/TCW2/Screenshots/076.png http://www.ndavidteixeira.com/images/Oriius/TESV/TCW2/Screenshots/077.png http://www.ndavidteixeira.com/images/Oriius/TESV/TCW2/Screenshots/078.png http://www.ndavidteixeira.com/images/Oriius/TESV/TCW2/Screenshots/080.png http://www.ndavidteixeira.com/images/Oriius/TESV/TCW2/Screenshots/081.png http://www.ndavidteixeira.com/images/Oriius/TESV/TCW2/Screenshots/082.png http://www.ndavidteixeira.com/images/Oriius/TESV/TCW2/Screenshots/083.png http://www.ndavidteixeira.com/images/Oriius/TESV/TCW2/Screenshots/084.png http://www.ndavidteixeira.com/images/Oriius/TESV/TCW2/Screenshots/085.png (Continued in next post)

Even with the ability to address more memory, you still wouldn't be able to load the entire game simultaneously. Even a workstation-level machine wouldn't be able to do it, and those things tend to have considerably faster memory at amounts larger than 32GB. To make Skyrim a seamless experience, you would ideally want a portal system. An obvious example is of course the Portal series. But does anyone remember a game called Dungeon Siege? If memory serves, Gas Powered Games used a portal system to link together cells in such a way that you were guaranteed to only ever get one loading screen per playthrough (the one when you started the game). I think that the Witcher 3 is doing something similar as well, but I haven't had a chance to look at that game (and probably won't for several months yet).

At the end of the day, it's the modder's choice; never the player. The players are neither clients not consumers, though I'm sure the request for feedback is appreciated. If Lost Isles is what you'd rather work on, I say have at it. I get the feeling that the mod community (myself included) will be happy with whatever you decide.

Dropbox works fairly well, but it lacks the "check in/check out" system that you seem to need. Not sure if that feature exists on any freeware platform. Hm. Perforce sounds intersting. I might have to check that one out myself.

Wavefront (OBJ) is a purely a geometry format. Its advantage is that it can be read by nearly any piece of software that can read vertex-based files, however it can't store anything beyond vertex/face data and vertex colour data, as well as UV Mapping data. That means no custom coordinate systems, no textures, no shaders, no physics and no material settings (without an external file). It also has no file compression to speak of, which can yield utterly massive files at higher poly-counts. NetImmerse Format (NIF) was originally created by a company called Numerical Design Limited for the NetImmerse Engine (the engine that eventually became Gamebryo, Lightspeed and Creation). NIF supports the same types of data as Wavefront, but also supports full texture and material data, along support for shader effects, verlet physics, havoc physics, and skeletons. There are likely quite a few more features supported by the format, but I'm hardly an expert on the format, so I can't list them off the top of my head. The primary downside of NIF though, is support. Very few pieces of software can read it natively (the most important of those in our particular situation being the games that we work with like Skyrim). The format is also consistantly evolving as Gamebase (current owner of the engine) continues to update it. I believe that Bethesda has modified the format as well to produce the types of nodes used by the Creation Engine. To sum it up: OBJ is an open standard format used for content development which only supports raw data; while useful, there are quite a few formats available which are much more advanced and s a result often supersede it (a good example being Kaydara's FilmBox (FBX)). NIF on the other hand is a proprietary format developed for a specific game engine and all variants of, with limited usefulness beyond the scope of development for those specific engines.

Thank you both. For a change of pace I decided to take a crack at remaking one of Bethesda's meshes. A few days and a hell of a lot of tweaking later (less than half of the mesh still matches the original), and we've got the Mzark dagger. http://www.ndavidteixeira.com/images/Oriius/TESV/TCW2/Screenshots/069.png http://www.ndavidteixeira.com/images/Oriius/TESV/TCW2/Screenshots/070.png http://www.ndavidteixeira.com/images/Oriius/TESV/TCW2/Screenshots/071.png http://www.ndavidteixeira.com/images/Oriius/TESV/TCW2/Screenshots/072.png http://www.ndavidteixeira.com/images/Oriius/TESV/TCW2/Screenshots/073.png http://www.ndavidteixeira.com/images/Oriius/TESV/TCW2/Screenshots/074.png http://www.ndavidteixeira.com/images/Oriius/TESV/TCW2/Screenshots/075.png And before you ask, no: I will not add wood back into the texture scheme. having wood in the handle for the Mzark weapons never made any sense to me. I'm sure it lightens the weight of the weapons slightly, but it just looks bizarre along side the rest of the weapon, particularly when the Dwemer (even Clan Mzark) were known for a machine aesthetic. Not sure what I'll tackle next. Might take a day or two off to actually play the game a bit. You'll just have to wait and see.

Wow, been a long time since I was last back to the BethSoft forums. I saw the thread, and the idea of a contest is always welcome. Personally, I'd love to see a contest based around the creation of assets (models, textures, weapons, statics, clutter... maybe even a new tileset). It would be something out of the ordinary, and also something that I might personally join (not much of a CK user myself, unfortunately; it me it's something of a necessary evil).

Your welcome, and thanks for the shout out. Unfortunately I feel that I need to make a correction: The Nexus forums are the only place where I go by the name Ph0rce. Only reason that I still use that name is because I can't change it without closing this account and opening a new one, which after 9 years is not something I particularly want to do. Everywhere else on the internet (including Steam), I go by the name Oriius.

That's a good tutorial you've been following. I used it myself last year when I was working on some glass bottles. As for the glow, your problem is definitely the shader settings for the NIF. Glow maps are incompatible with environment maps (and vice versa). A good example to look at is the original Arvak mesh that shipped with Dawnguard (if you have access to it). The mesh was obviously set up for glow, but at the last minute they changed it to an environment map, which gave it its plastic appearance. An alternative mesh to look at is the Dwemer Spider mesh's jewel. Effectively, if you want those sigils to glow while still maintaining the environment map on your sword, you're going to have to make the sigils a separate mesh. Below is a step-by step instruction for using the glow shader. It's written for the complete novice, though I suspect your knowledge is quite a bit more advanced: If you look at the BSLightingShaderProperty for your mesh, you'll see that the first line says "Skyrim Shader Type". Typically, this will be set as "Default" or "Environment" for most meshes. To add glow, you're going to want to change that setting to "Glow Shader". Once that's done, open your BSShaderTextureSet and set the first 3 lines as your diffuse (_d or no extension), normal (_n) and glow (_g). All others should be blank. To complete your glow effect, go back to the BSLightingShaderProperty and set your Emissive Color to the colour of your choice (white if your glow texture is coloured), and then set your Emissive Multiple. If the glow shader part of the mesh is hidden behind a refraction shader, you're going to want to multiply the Emissive Multiple by 10 to make sure that it shows through the shader effect. Now onto the export process. It's late, and I've had less sleep in the last few nights than I'd prefer, so forgive me if I'm reading this incorrectly: You're exporting a 3DS from Blender and loading importing directly into Nifskope? If I'm reading that right, then that's probably the source of your UV coordinate woes. I've read reports that indicate trouble with UV coordinates when importing files directly. There are a couple of methods for exporting to Skyrim from Blender, but personally I use the original workaround method of exporting an OBJ from 2.7x, importing into 2.49a, deleting that material before applying a new material (along with any required vertex colours) and then finally exporting the file via the NIF plugin using the settings for Fallout 3. Then, once that's done, take the new nif, convert from Fallout 3 format to Skyrim format, and then bring in your necessary settings. There's a more modern process out there using some tools that the community has created, but I've personally never gotten them to work. Then again, you've obviously got the sword working in-game, so your export process definitely works. I saw in the comments thread for your mod that you say you're bad at textures. I'd say the work isn't bad, but If you'd like I can offer a critique of the mod and tips on how how to improve your technique and really make those textures pop. Tomorrow though. I need to wander off and find some shuteye.