AspenShadow

Thanks! Can't wait to see it ;) Btw, i've been tinkering with your Skular'Andlat model. I can probably texture it somewhere today if all goes well :) any hints for the materials its made of? And: redid the Blade texture on draco's model.. Tell me what you guys think of it :) The Dragon now blends near-seamlessly with the blade, a great improvement on the texture in my opinion :thumbsup:

I agree with him. Primarily, because I'm one of the major scripters for the project he is referring to lol, but it doesn't take much searching to find us. Edit: My team would kill me if I didn't mention that we got noticed and officiated by Chris himself! We'd love it if you would join us, we use our new nexus thread now; as the last one got overpopulated. And if you like you can join the whole team who currently has quite a following on our official forums here. We're always looking to recruit and I'm sure MCBM (manager) and the rest of the team would be glad to have more enthusiasts on board. Look Forward To Your Ideas, The Aspen Shadow

My apologies in advance for the long post, but I was very intrigued when I came across this mod as I'm currently working on the exact same idea to be incorporated into the "Skyrim-Alagaesia Total Conversion" Mod I'm working with, obviously because of this there will be a few inside-references that can't be removed and still preserve coherency. My ideas so far: Taken from "The Energy System" - "It's been stated in almost every thread on this forum at some point I believe, that we are scrapping/combining Mana and Stamina and replacing them with a much larger "Energy" pool, that will be one of the major changes and cornerstones of our mod. The aim is that with the amount of Energy you begin the game with at 100%, the attribute will realistically demonstrate how far an exaggeratedly fit human with peak energy levels can be pushed before exhaustion sets in. This "Energy" pool will act as both Mana and Stamina rather than a new function altogether, all strenuous activity will deplete the Energy bar, but in true Inheritance fashion any use of Magic will also deplete the pool; taking as much Energy as it would need to manually perform that task without magic. Obviously we will be taking artistic license with how much Energy magicks consume, so that creating a fireball will not leave you unconscious for the next 24 hours, the player has been trained and would be used to casting quite a few spells in sequence without tiring too much. Though the specific percentages haven't been figured out/agreed upon yet, you will regain Energy at a pace of... I don't know perhaps 1% each minute when walking or remaining idle. You regain it FAR quicker if you take consumables food/water and potions will instantly return a block value to you. So as opposed to the Skyrim: Mana, Health & Stamina system, we'd have two values of Health & Energy; the latter being significantly larger than health ofc. In terms of the mechanics of generating and regenerating "Energy", I make the distinction that generating is artificially induced via potions (instant) and food (EnergyOverTime), whereas regenerating is the constant process of you recovering Energy at a much slower rate when you stop expending it. I think I may have mentioned it at some point in the new "Speed System" but unlike most RPGs around, in order to properly function you can't go for days without eating food and more importantly, (the less commonly found) you have to actually drink. Whether that's water from a stream or ale from the tavern, you have to take in fluids and this is actually once a day at least. For food, maybe you can last past a day with a debuff, but thirst will stunt your overall energy that can be used/recovered over time and will eventually start damaging your health. Now this system is not going to be as harsh as it sounds, you certainly won't have to be the Dragon Rider famed for carrying bottles of water in his saddlebags lol, but it WILL make the travelling more realistic time-wise (establishing the need to make camp and rest; for those who haven't read the Speed Thread, you can only recover 12% Energy each hour of sleep, none of those 1-hour Skyrim power naps) and danger-wise in Alagaesia there aren't that many roving hordes of bloodthirsty monsters (sadly), the more common dangers come from starvation, thirst, exhaustion and tough terrain in terrible weather. If you've been travelling for a long time without rest and a group of bandits decides you'd look better as a corpse, then there will be an adrenaline boost mechanic for suddenly regaining some energy as you first enter combat, but if your too tired or weak from hunger/thirst, no matter how legendary you are, you're going to be chopped into tiny pieces. The intention is that after sleeping in a comfortable place, such as your own home, an Inn or Palace Guest Rooms lol, you will have maybe 110% Energy cap rather than 100%, until you next fall asleep. Conversely, many nights making camp in the foothills will slowly wear down your Energy cap (yes, this effect does stack under certain circumstances) until you reach a limit of say a 30% reduction to your overall Energy; which is cleared up when you next sleep in a comfy bed and have a proper night's sleep." - End Quote ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Taken from "The Speed System" - "I was sorely disappointed that not just with horses, but with every species in Skyrim that can walk, run and sprint, that that is all they can do... Walk. Run. Sprint. A bit of a lacklustre 3-speed system tbh, where the only real variable that affects it is how much stamina (or in Alagaesia Energy; replacing mana and stamina for the Inheritance magic system) you have and even that doesn't effect running only sprinting. And so, I've decided one of my first CK projects will be designing a realistic Speed/Effort system for species movement, for players and NPCs as well as the obvious star of this development: Mounts. {Note: Bear in mind that Stamina/Energy will be GREATLY increased, so the following percentage estimates will take quite some time to deplete.) Unmounted The basic premise is to introduce a few formulas into the game that measure how fast you are moving and then relate it to both your stamina/energy, if you've been running for 2 days straight you will be b***dy exhausted, atm only short sprinting has that effect. I'll be removing all sprinting and instead you start out running at the normal pace in Skyrim, as you travel (for example) a mile at that speed the script will trigger, increasing your speed, at certain distance/time 'waypoints' your speed will increase further until your character reaches, maybe 25% Stamina/Energy, at which point you'll start to slow down (in higher increments) until you hit 5% Stamina/Energy, causing you to slow to the default fast-walking pace. And once you hit 1% you will have to make a small camp and rest or hit 0% and pass out (debuff on wake-up). You regain Stamina/Energy at a pace of... I don't know perhaps 1% each minute when walking or remaining idle. You regain it FAR quicker if you take consumables food/water and ofcourse every hour you sleep you regain about 12% Stamina/Energy, no more Skyrim 1-hour sleep sessions completely refreshing you lol. However this doesn't mean that you can walk onwards forever across the wilds and not lose (in fact gain) any Stamina/Energy, a second formula designed to measure distance travelled in a certain time will accurately reflect how far you can walk non-stop/within-a-certain-time-period without resting for like 1/2-hour/1-hour, before you stop regenerating Stamina/Energy as you walk. After 'too long' walking without a break (the time required to break is increased depending on how long you've been walking) you start to lose Stamina/Energy obviously at a much slower rate than running, but still significant enough that replaying Eragon and Murtagh's fast-paced journey through the Hadarac Desert might kill you if you don't bring the right supplies or have enough Energy left to draw Water from the Earth (All magics will ofc consume larger amounts of energy; instantaneously though, which for some very draining spells could cause a HUD blurring for a min or so) and as you near 1%; just like with the running mechanic, you'll have to establish a camp or reach 0% and fall unconscious, which has a random chance to have you attacked by a wild animal/bandits, be so exhausted when you wake up (debuff) that you can't escape the wilds. I'll conclude the Unmounted Section by saying that if I get around to it and public opinion would like it included, I'd like to edit the script so certain weather types effect the effort it takes to traverse certain landscapes. A boiling sun in the Desert and a boiling sun in the forest produce two VERY different reactions, similarly you'd enjoy a rainstorm in the Hadarac (perhaps not if it kicks up a sandstorm) whereas in the middle of the Endless Plains it might not be so appreciated. Non-Dragon (Horse/Other) Mounted The Horse system will work much the same way as the Unmounted, except for a few little differences ofcourse. A Horse's 'trot' (walk) is almost the speed of the Player's Highest Running Speed, but ofcourse as the Horse's 'walk' can be maintained pretty much indefinitely as Horses have fairly large energy pools (though a Player can surpass it naturally) right from the off, the MAIN difference between a Horse and a Player travelling is ofcourse the effort involved, the player will be able to load a horses saddlebags with items, fire arrows from it's back (probably as far as Dragon-Riding-Fighting will get), and primarily reserve his own energy levels for magic and fighting, most low level characters will REQUIRE Horses until their Dragon has matured enough to be rode upon and has built up a decent Energy pool. Now on to the Horse's 'Gallop' mechanic, and I understand what you're thinking so far it sounds like there are still just two speed settings trotting and galloping, same as ever right? The difference lies in the fact that all mounts (not Characters obv) have a much steeper and quicker climb into the higher 'running' speeds and be able to maintain this for GIGANTIC distances (though ofcourse they will consume more water than a character to compensate) a horse can be driven to near-death exhaustion (5%); though it would've been a VERY long journey for them to reach that point, and still not reduce it's pace, a horse only grinds to a halt when you make it or it hits 1% Energy and refuses to move any further, and you can even scrape th meat fro your horses bones for food if your in a tricky situation; lost in difficult terrain where game is scarce... " - End Quote Sorry, for the GIGANTIC post, but I'd appreciate the oppurtunity to collaborate with this project alongside my Alagaesian work as they should coalesce nicely into each other. Yours, The Aspen Shadow

Amazing textures and I love the staff design, even if the mace calls out to me more lol. The effort you put into your work really shows and I hope you get the bow animation working soon :thumbsup:

That sword is amazing! The detail goes right down to the scaly textures on the draconic part of the blade. :)

Looking good on the shield so far :biggrin: Is the shield curved/sloped or does it need to be a flat surface to get that level of detail? Now that we've got an official mod thread are we shutting down our original 60+ page :wallbash: thread? And MC, now that you're back, can we please start the process of agreeing on an official plan of action for team members before the CK release next week? I'm getting two-people-have-produced-the-same-height-map visuals whenever I close my eyes lol. Granted, not a catastrophic thing, but it'd be better to have things more organised so that this admittedly large development starts off without a hitch.

yeah thanks and good luck I wish I could help, but like I said I am no experienced modder or scripter (little bit of fun scripting to mess with school computers here and there but no more then that). I myself am a reader of the inheritance cycle so I am particulary happy people are trying this. However I also question the likliness (haalbaarheid) of getting it done, for if you want a total conversion you will effectively create a inheritance RPG game. but succes anyway Reiterating Urwy, English is my first language and I completely understood you :smile: Thanks for the advice, it's helpful when creating a base plan for commencing with the mod. My thanks also to Peregrine, I'm not certain if I've touched on the system in any detail yet on this forum, but yes that is pretty much what we are going to do. I tend to overcomplicate things and your explanation is far more coherent, so thanks for the clarity lol :tongue: Though I hadn't considered the cooldown lockout on chargeables yet, I didn't foresee that flaw with the storage gems... Hmmm interesting idea. I would LOVE to include the combination system personally, but I'm sad to say I'm not sure it's possible atm :facepalm: , we discussed something like it and we'll probably integrate a way to combine certain words for custom spells, but I'm not sure we could mesh all of them, there are just too many. Perhaps with a couple more over-zealous scripters and 1+ year though.

The Aspen Shadow Texturing: Very Low; Seeking Practice and Apprenticeship :wink: Scripting: Low-Mid [Learning] Quest Writing / Dialogue: High Voice-Overs: Mid-High Contact Methods: Private Message or [email protected] for email. Additional information: - I have yet to acquaint myself with Papyrus, but am eager to get stuck in and while I haven't worked in Elder Scrolls Scripting before, I have had garnered some experience over the years. - I'm currently involved in "The Major Conversion Alagaesia Mod" (it's quite groundbreaking I advise checking it out), I have enough time on my hands these days to contribute to more than one mod at a time, I just wanted to make it clear that caught between two conflicting mod-workloads my attentions will go first and foremost towards that. I'm VERY British (accent), though I can affect a variety of different RP tones and overly-dramatic voice overs. I'm well read and have had training in the theatrical arts (and performed quite frequently in my youth) on top of my admittedly limited voice-editing software, I believe I'm as good a candidate as any for Voice-Overs. I have a very high quality PC, Wireless Headset with Prof Microphone and am enthusiastic about gaining more experience and knowledge of Scripting, but also any other skills I enjoy the entire creation process too muhc to limit myself to one field, so I'll gladly work on some simplistic modelling/texturing tasks in exchange for some apprenticing/tips lol.

Creation Kit is coming out very soon now! ;D We need to start establishing where we are going to begin... For instance all potential scripters will need to get acquainted with Pyrus/Papyrus (the new language) ASAP and start work on... what first the dragon riding? All map editors which is pretty much everyone on the team to some extent I think, will need to get together and sort out maybe two teams? And start delegating areas, zones, roles, etc. And the Quest Writers and Voice Actors will need to be doing some experimenting with the new Dialogue Flows and especially the Scene-Editor, alongside their continuing goal of coming up with non-main questlines. Speaking of which once production of Alagaesia; the most ambitious mod to date for Skyrim, has begun, we will need to figure out and all agree on the main questline so we can start implementing little lore changes in the environment. Maybe while the Voice Actors are waiting for things to be decided and up and running so they can start recording, they could work on producing some short in-game books with Inheritance Trivia, History and Lore in, maybe? We will need to document some changes over the decade we've been away from Alagaesia after all and it's a simple and quick start to the mod. It's a big project, we need to start out at time-efficient pace and not lose that drive and enthusiasm over the course of the development! :biggrin:

I can't leave this thread alone for a week without 3+ models being added lol, I'm loving the new designs especially the intricate draconic blade :biggrin: I don't know how you guys manage that level of detail... :geek: Keep stocking up the Armory and good luck to the two new modellers! :thumbsup:

The inscriptions on this Battle-Axe are AMAZING! How did you embed the four smooth indentations on each side, the one's near the inner edge by the gilding? :D

The ruby is spot-on! I love it. As for the dragon and new Zar'roc model, I find myself more and more in awe of Draco's modelling skills, the dragon looks brilliant (though I'm not 100% on the first wing preview) and far more like an Alagaesian dragon than the Windviper-esque dragons of Skyrim. The only thing that looks left to do is give her scales and present to Urwy for some textures and we'll have the figurehead for the Alagaesian Total Conversion Mod! :) I left the forums for a weekend due to computer trouble and when I come back there are about 8 new pages of previews and ideas. Keep up the inhuman pace but don't work yourself to death :)

Dark Elves, (I vote yes) will they be singing a familiar forest into their twisted (evil-looking or at least opposite of normal elves) haven or will they be going with singing (or maybe screaming/shouting?) stone into their caves and tunnel systems. Which raises an important point where will the Invasion's landing point be? Also just to add some redeeming dimension to them (Stormcloaks really had nothing to make the player like them in some way), these are the descendants and children of the Left-Behind, who were forced into suffering, war and famine by our Elves' ancestors just because their ancestors were criminals, war-like, greedy, murderers, etc.?

Is it weird that I'd love to see that dagger coated in Seithr Oil and sticking out a bandit's back lol? :P Oh, speaking of which, Seithr Oil? Yay or Nay? And if we add it in then will it simply be a horrible acid/poison or will we add in some special scripts to make it 'Ravage Health' so wounds inflicted with a Seithr Oil soaked blade won't heal like in the books?

That dagger is beautiful, love the hollow in the blade gives it an exotic feel. :thumbsup: At this rate you and Draco are going to make enough weapons to fill an armory before we can even start making Alagaesia.

Same here, I have a giant Alienware Gaming PC that can run Skyrim on the highest graphics settings without incident. Any news yet on when the Creation Kit is out by the way?

If I remember correctly the description of Durza the Shade's blade is curved and the wire-thin scratch along the blade would be a start to seeing if some of the more personal blades can have indentations and runes for the 'Named' weapons.

I don't know whether the issue of the beggining for the Mod is still open, but after having read through 25+ pages (lol) of evolving ideas on the subject, I figured I'd throw in one of my own. I've thought it through and this should be do-able in-game: Start off as a starving/poor child (orphan?) running from city guards (the city is currently guarding dragon egg/s as their guardians rest and recover from a [evil-faction] assault) after stealing some food from nobility, you know the city well and use the rooftops/alleyways/etc. to make your escape before the guards chase you towards the building the eggs are kept in for noble children to test themselves with, you fall through a weak section in the roof above and find yourself in the storage vault/room and over the course of exploring touch and subsequently bond with an egg. It opens up into a system similar to the race selection screen where you choose how your matured dragon will look and yourself (wearing masked/blurred clothing or you screen is blurred from energy exhaustion/blood-loss from lucky guard's arrow). You grow into semi-adolescence under the tutelage of the Dragon Riders before you leave into the world to start the journey. (Method of leaving; attack, capture, final trial gone wrong, etc. optional?) Anyway as a fan of the Inheritance books (though I can still admit that the writing can be pretty flawed, yet the world is amazing), I'd like to be a member of the Project as anything from a Mapper to a Voice Actor, a Quest-Writer to a Scripter (Script depending on the Creation Kit and Skyrim as I have yet to explore it fully). I'm going to squeeze in my sincere plea that you do not simply make the Hadarac Desert a passable area, it has great potential as a hardcore area for testing players and a lot of quest options. Similarly in a testament to CP as Roran played a significant part alongside Eragon, I'd like to propose a small side-questline determined by a 'History' section of the character-building screen [just a simple series of checks: Whether you have a brother? Were you a bully during training? Did you make a good impression as you grew up, etc.?] that you venture to a different location depending on your race and find your brother (same race) or if you were an only child a childhood friend from your street beggar life and embark on a questline together before a choice-based ending were they either die, or succeed and become a fairly renowned figure of some sort (Roran obv. Palancar Valley). The history section of character creation would be simple to implement and depending on a basic check-roll would affect how people react to you in early game before you make many decisions that define your character through quests. Thanks for exercising my creative muscles with this thread I hope to see you all on the Project Forums as a member :thumbsup: