Galandil

I'd just be wary of using other assets atm though. After the whole fuss with Immersive Citizens and ETaC's patch for it I imagine copyright issues are a bit odd right now. Very nice, and I would very much like to consider using this in the future. However as far as level design goes for this iteration, it is finished. Maybe for the next iteration :wink: What happened with Immersive Citizens? ETaC? Copyright issues? Sounds serious. I hope I wont have that problem. But like WBizzyW said, this is a modders resource, so as far as copyrights goes, its made clear that this is to be used by other modders in exchange for credits. :smile:

Ladies and gentlemen. I can proudly say that I have found the cause of the rigging problem for the outfits. Or rather, the rigging problem for the bodies dismemberment weights. Blender does not import these values correctly which is why my character turns into natchoes aboard a space shuttle when my weight slider is pulled, but my outfit itself stays the same. But now it has been fixed. Jippi! So time to rig up some outfits I suppose :smile: So -No More of This- :wacko: http://i.imgur.com/SieBBMw.jpg Oh Noes! My body!! D: http://i.imgur.com/fdGHosC.jpg phew, all fine.... http://i.imgur.com/S5f1Z5x.jpg Oh noes! Not again! Noes! D: http://i.imgur.com/R5TYQCg.jpg Thankfully no more of that.... I'll start rigging up the outfits into the game and start applying them immediately to the NPC's. :wink: Always awesome when you find the solution and its something very simple, argh!

Three months ago someone asked the mod author in person if he had abandoned the project and this is what he had to say: is on hold as I am very busy with othr stuff , hope to get time to get back to it . Give the guy some time, he is just a little busy. If he had actually abandoned it he probably would've come clear on that. Modding can get tiresome every once in a while and it is good to take a break, but as he explains, he is just very busy with other stuff and hopes to get back to it. The comment is on the very top. So till Prometheus says otherwise, lets not write this off just yet :wink:

All of the cities are finished as far as I'm concerned, navmesh and all. What remains now to be done is to rig up the outfits which I've created, add texture variations, and equip these outfits to the NPC's which are added. We need to write about 15 more books to reach the goal of 100, and I'd like a few more tries to try and implement the courier system. But whatever I fail or succeed at implementing, the deadline is 1st of April. Once the mod is released I will start patching possible problems I may have overlooked, create compatibility patches, create optional, and then go through a learning curve to learn how dialogue and quests are implemented. Then I will start implementing them patch-wise along with cool systems like banking and other systems I've decided I want to implement.

Exactly. :smile: But I've also made the mod with myself in mind, so edits that I know I would like to see. I understand that not everyone shares my opinions and so perhaps optional or compatibility patches would be a good way to make everyone happy. I have two, or one trailer left to do. I like the music in the Lord of the Rings and the Witcher 3, but I have sort of already decided on a song for the last trailer I will make :smile: Maybe other showcases could use music from those series. Hehe! Happy to hear you will try the mod out, but I wont mind creating optional's or minor edits for people who want it. As long as its an optional that they can choose to use :D The sort of vegetation I've added in Falkreath has a lot to do with thistles, and weed, some mushroom growing in area's you can't or wont normally reach due to the city being built in a Pine-forest. I would be glad to add more in an optional though :smile: I appreciate any suggestion thrown my way, its nice to re-think designs and it is important to be open-minded. Hope you will enjoy the mod when it is released, and don't hesitate with throwing suggestions and feedback my way! The Great Collapse is one of those mysteries that I feel are left un-explored, by Bethesda, and by other modders as well. I do have a lot of story idea's I want to put into the mod post-launch, and that includes stories in Winterhold. :thumbsup: Quest planning is going great. I try my best to keep as much of it a secret not to spoil it, though I have presented some of the guild idea's here on the forum, as a form of insinuation of where I want to go with various quests. :facepalm: Some in more spoiler detail then others. The idea's I have will vary greatly, I do wish to create followers who may have stories related to them, along with stories related to organisations, secrets, I think in a way you could say that the quest poll on the top of this forum page lays it out what sort of quests I wish to implement. A big part of me does want to create follow-ups with actual conclusions to stories that I felt were finished before they had touched upon the subject matter entirely, I at least wish to do this where it is possible. So to answer your question, Yes. I want to do as many types of quests I can, but making quests takes time and I have yet to go through the learning curve of actually implementing such stories into the game. I guess the main focus I wish to apply is choices with consequences, something I felt was fairly well lacking in Skyrim. But like I said, creating these sorts of quests in the mod will take time so I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of downtime will be had after the mod is released where I can go through that learning curve and then start implementing what I have in mind. A lot of mod developers burn themselves when they make great promises of future content which they can never deliver, so I hope I haven't just gone and done the same. :sweat:

Ooh! Yes. of course we'll have a compatibility patch for the unofficial patches, that is a must ;) I do like what I see in the Cutting Room Floor, my mod also makes some similar changes, adds some of the deleted NPC's as well as the Arena(Windhelm Pit). But yes, easily fixed with a compatibility patch. I do want to have as much compatibility as possible, and I'll probably need a lot of them. :) Novigrad? I was more thinking of Laketown from the Hobbit. Riften is finished. :( But I could always create optional dirty overhauls. Personally I always felt Riften felt right with the way they did it in Vanilla. I could always create compatibility patches if people want to combined Dawn of with Holds, maybe add the same design to the waterfront area, but I like to keep Riften as much in line with the vanilla design for the original release. I also have a plan to create a guild dedicated to being an architect, so that you can change and mix and match objects for area's in the city, like you were doing a house decoration / build, just for the city. Haha, yeah the music is a little cheesy. I am not very good at making trailers, they are very amateur, and the music is just there to cause some sort of theme.. I guess. hehe sorry :) Will probably again, have to make that an optional with all the vegetation's, because that's a design I have specifically tried to avoid due to how other city overhauls do things. Falkreath is a very dirty, very medieval northern Europe look supposed to simulate a clash of cultures, Colovian and Nordic. Perhaps there would be vines and other vegetation's growing in places people wouldn't normally approach, but I'd think that in a place where people trample all the time, have animal pen's etc... I also think that while Falkreath is the warmest hold in Skyrim, it is known for being damp, its still a Pine-forest and not a Rain-forest, the warmth in Falkreath is likely around 2*C to 15*C. While Skyrim is divided in Seasons, at least in design, I would figure that Riften would be a rather cold place, of about -6*C to 2*C. I could create an optional with as much vines and grass and tree's and flowers that people would want, but the whole reason for creating this mod is that I got a little tired of other modders approaching design as if their cities were a botanical garden. I have written I think two books concerning the Great Collapse, both touch upon possible reasons, as well as eyewitness testimonies to the disaster. The disaster isn't really proven to have been caused by anything or anyone yet, which is why people are so quick to cast blame left to right. I want to touch upon this further in the future but for now the collapse remains a mystery. I had not heard that the Maormer were present in the Sea of Ghost, I thought they lived south of the Summerset isles, in the Topal Sea. Otherwise the suspects of the collapse which is touched upon is, Mages, Elves, Red Mountain, Architectural unbalances, and natural phenomenon. Thank you :)

1. When I first implemented the notice boards, that was long before the Notice Board mod was released, and now that it is, yeah. Honestly would save me from doing a lot of work and I think the system that the mod author has created is perfect and very close to what I had envisioned as well. :smile: 2. Fear I am not too sure what Usleep is. :sweat: Since 2012 I haven't really been playing the game, just testing and modding, so I've missed out on a lot of the mod developments. 3. Sorry about the spelling, I've fixed it now. Do point out other spellings if you see them! :smile: 4. I could always use voice-actors so welcome aboard! If your willing to send me a voice-sample of various voices you can do, that'd be great, and then I'll get back to you when I have a character or characters you can voice. 5. I have made a trailer for Riften, which showcases the Canal Area outside of the city. Do check it out and let me know what you think :smile: 6. I've added torches to specific area's, and braziers. On one or two specific area's there is lanterns which are there lighting up the street, but this was more due to how dark nights can be. I sort of figured otherwise that the people of Falkreath would carry torches, or lanterns if it got particularly hard to navigate the city-streets. I realize that fog lanterns works as a point of reference when walking a fog-filled street incapable of seeing whats in front of you, but I kind of feel that adding a vexing amount of lantern will make Falkreath feel a little too modern. Perhaps an optional file could be made where we put this into the mod. 7. Whiterun's sewers aren't that expansive, more like a Water Canal that you can follow into the city if your eager to avoid detection by the city guards. The system isn't too expansive though there are narrow tunnels and the canals appear to have been made from the same kind of stone that you find in the Underforge. As for Solitude I sort of figured that the most expansive sewer system would be found near to the Mountainside, and not out on the archway. The sewers itself is built using edited Solitude assets to give it a feel of supportive beams. I've also written books which touch upon this in detail warning of a future where the city could crumble. The Water is yes, carried from the edge of the archway and towards the mountainside, then down the walkway and then unto the "Fjord". 8. Agree'd, the texture is a placeholder, for now. The main focus right now is to get the meshes rigged and put into the game. Color variations and dirt details can be applied afterwords. Great to hear that your excited, the mod will be out on the 1st of April. :smile:

You know that's really kind of you to offer, and honestly, as much testing as possible would help us a long way to airing out potential problems. However I have five friends who are already testing the mod and I've just yesterday gotten in touch with a mod reviewer who've been given permission to do a review of our pre-released version. Hopefully it will be a positive review and I am certain he is far better then I am at the PR-front. If the mod wasn't so close to releasing I likely would've handed you the link to the drive to test out as well, but the mod is coming out in just 6 weeks. Next week I have my Winter-break and I will devote it entirely to getting the outfits through the rigging process. I've downloaded 3ds Max and I've looked into clever tools like a morphed which will help me create _1 and _0 versions. I've made good use of resources I've been given permission to use and found clever ways of making use of them, either as outfits for NPC's or cool rewards you can obtain if you are perceptive enough. I kind of agree with Katy420 that perhaps it would be best to release with a clear label of it being WIP, as I've done some testing today myself and I managed 7 hours this time before CTD. I am not a professional mod creator, I do not know the systems inside and out, so the 7 hour CTD could be anything from being caused by my ENB, my computer, just a typical Skyrim crash, or it could be caused by being bloatified by the amount of stuff added in the mod. It would really help me fix these issues if I had people like yourself who are enthusiastic and wishes to test the mod out, but we are so close now to the release so if you wouldn't mind waiting 6 more weeks, and you will have it, no matter what clothes I haven't managed to rig or books I haven't managed to get into the mod. I promise you :) I also want to take this chance to announce that we now have 85 books, 15 need to be processed from word into the mod, but we're getting dangerously close to the goal of 100. These books are everything from historical in nature, informational, or folktales meant to flesh out the world with superstitious nonsense or children stories. These books are written by myself and a very helpful mod author called Alfredasl. I've added a ton of resources into the mod, almost feel as though I do not need to add my own outfits, almost. We have a ton of clothing outfits and armors which fit very well into the mod and I've distributed them where it makes most sense in terms of the sort of culture or theme that I have gone for with the particular city, and to what characters the outfits fit for. I do not want casual characters to stand out too much. I've also added a few of them to secret area's, to find them it could be wise to sneak into warehouses, treasuries, Jarl quarters or otherwise tricky area's. I've implemented a cool system for the bank lockers in Solitude, which means that you can obtain neat treasures and gold by finding the lockers owner and obtaining the key. Either through pick pocketing or finding the key in his home. There is also the matter of minor issues. The Falkreath Archer should now stop barraging arrows at his training dummy after a certain amount, and rest a few in between barrages. More letters have been added which will hopefully make the people in the mod somewhat more interesting, at least till I can implement dialogue and quests. There are a ton of Easter Egg's implemented and like I said, what remains now is to rig up the outfits and add them to the game. Once that's done I will have one last try at implementing the Courier System, and if I cannot make it work I'll look into it patch-wise later on. I intend to spend the time in March wrapping up the project and making trailers as well as contacting mod reviewers and hopefully they wouldn't mind helping me spread the word about the project, hopefully :) Otherwise I hope everyone has a nice Winter-Break.

Thank you! :smile: I hope it won't disappoint. There are already projects devoted to implementing the other Holds, High Rock included. The mod project is called "Beyond Skyrim" has been worked on I believe since Skyrim was released. I'll leave a link here for you so you can check out the amazing work they've put into this == https://www.facebook.com/BeyondSkyrim Here are some trailers for other projects that you may be interested in following :smile: Technically what you say is true and untrue, by working on a project which makes changes to the Skyrim world-space, its cities etc... you run the risk of creating incompatibles with other mod projects, or worse you face the problem of having too much on screen at once(Mod authors using many mods for same area, ... yes this is a thing), and it eats away at your memory. This responsibility is on the part of the mod user, not me as a developer. When it comes to creating compatibility patches which allow users to get creative with their load order that is absolutely my responsibility and thankfully a good and easy way to ensure that mods can run simultaneously without issues. I've always had a facination with early Scandinavian history and culture. Perhaps it is because I am biased being from there myself but a game that takes inspiration from that period and part of the world inspires me to make more content. While I am also very interested in early Arabian and Persian culture and history I doubt I could've been as motivated to work on implementing it. I came into the TES franchise from Oblivion and Skyrim did not hit a note with me when I first played it, but eventually with ENB's, texture overhauls I began to like it. I am however quite mindful of its shortcomings, shortcomings that thankfully can be remedied. I agree one hundred percent that it is far more enjoyable to start an adventure somewhere new, and discover secrets for the first time, which is exactly why I'm working on this mod. With heavy projects like Issgard, Rochebere, Luftahraan, Beyond Skyrim, etc... Skyrim itself will end up looking rather empty and shallow. My hope is that people can replay Skyrim and have it feel as a new adventure, discovering new secrets, new quests, new systems etc... I doubt the game will ever feel as good as it did the first time you play it but I hope it will be a nice addition to the game which will make it somewhat sense when people refer to Solitude being the largest city in the north, and not just like in vanilla where just a few paces west you'll find Luftahraan which is at least three times larger. I do have future projects in mind that I wish to pursue, but this mod in itself is a project I have made with myself in mind, as it is something that I feel as though I would need in order to feel like Skyrim is up to par with the rest of the content being added for the game. Hopefully when it comes to problems, it will not be more or less hazardous to use then other projects, like JK or Dawn of- but I do suspect that I will require a bundle of compatibility patches when I am done. Anyone who can help with that is very welcome to do so :smile:

Perhaps your right, so far I've shared the mod with a handful of people I know to test it to see how it performs on other systems. Skyrim itself when modded with graphics and scripts have problems clearing the memory and would eventually crash if you play it long enough, this is more of a problem with Skyrim itself then my mod. I am led to believe that this is fixed by having something called an ENBoost which thereby properly process memory. If this allows you to play indefinitely, or just twice as long is up for debate as far as I'm concerned but we have done some testing and on average you'd be able to play with this mod (rushing through one city after the other) for about 2-3 hours before experiencing a crash to desktop. I have myself tested with ENBoost and have been able to play for double that amount but you will still have the game taking in memory. Personally I think this is due to the quantity of people rather then the amount of objects and clutter. It could also very well be due to my game being modded with high resolution textures, high settings on my ENB along with other mods which may not work one hundred percent along with the mod without a compatibility patch. I do hope your right and that experienced modders may feel inclined to look through the mod and weed out problems, the problem in Dawnstar is the worst problem that I have and only seem to be experienced at that one location, after a long amount of time. I suspect it may be due to the packaging going on within the interior, even though the crash appears before you open the door, or that it may be experienced due to markers placed in the Tamriel world-space which would technically be passed within the city cell. I had a similar problem previously in the Falkreath's graveyard but I resolved it. I have carried out long tests myself, playing through the guild-lines and the main quest seeing if any problems sprout up or become more and more common. It stays very much the same, 5-6 hours without crash, no real performance loss in the cities. This however could only apply for my system. I also have Safety Load which I believe to be essential, without it it can cause infinite loading screens when leaving the Solitude library (likely due to the amount of books in the interior), I also have ENBoost which grants me more memory. I have error-checked the mod with Tes5Edit and the only error that comes up is linked to the Falkreath Longhouse faction where I've added more people. I do not know what this could imply as a causation for error but Falkreath itself does not cause problems anymore so perhaps it is irrelevant. I am though sort of prepared to have people pointing out problems on release that I may have overlooked or been unaware of how to fix. I will go through a learning period for creating quests and dialogues when the first iteration is released but I am certain I will have to patch the mod simultaneously to quench out any bugs or incompatibilities that people notice. You only get one chance of a good first impression but hopefully the good will out weight the bad :) I will have to release here on the Nexus, and on the Nexus only due to the agreements I have made with the many content creators who've allowed me to use their work in the mod, I do not know if they'd be too thrilled with having links to their content shared elsewhere. Thank you for your encouraging words :) I hope you will not be disappointed by the mod when it is released, and that it won't be too many problems.

Good idea :smile: I have set a final release deadline for 1st of April, then it will be precisely two years since I announced the mod here on the Nexus. Considering whats left to do I might end up releasing ahead of the release date but there is also the matter of creating compatibility files, trailers, etc... but the 1st of April is essentially when I'll have to put on the table what I got and cross my fingers for that people will enjoy it :smile: I am horrible with deadlines and I have made some in the past which I have been completely unable to hold due to underestimating the amount of work and / or getting school or other real life interruptions which have slowed the progress. However at this time I have had some friends test the mod out and the response is that the mod is at an acceptable stable performance and does not seem to have any serious issues that needs to be addressed before release, with that said, there are still a few problems which I am quite honestly unsure of how I will fix or what is causing them. Rest assured that they are not game breaking or serious enough, as far as I'm concerned to be considered unbareble. To name an example: "The priest in Dawnstar is taking you through town towards Vaermina's shrine, he starts talking on the way but uses the gate to leave the city which interrupts his dialogue and he does not repeat it again. The poor farmers in Falkreath who've lost their daughter decides to go hiking rather then heading up past the mill to get to Corpslight farm, they do head home as you'd expect afterwords and continues the normal routines afterwords, I thought at first this was related to the navmesh, it is not. Items on the market shelves at the Solitude docks have a habit of havoking to the ground, this is caused by Occlusion Planes which are put in place to keep it performance friendly. I have some idea how to fix it and will look into it once outfits and the courier system is implemented. The last problem which is far more serious is the odd habit of crashing if you've played over an hour and heading towards a tavern in the cut-throat alley section of Dawnstar. The crash happens just as you stand before the door. I have no clue as to why this happens and reloading a save, even outside the Dawnstar cell will not repeat the crash issue. I have no idea what is causing it, and since it doesn't repeat itself when you load a save then I do consider it a mild hiccup rather then a game breaking issue. Considering I've separated the mod into stages, this first iteration being the physical city overhaul / city addition part of the mod, it is way past Alpha. I am certain there may be some minor problems that will need to be fixed, and I certainly would appreciate feedback and any form of help really, but considering it runs fine, all of the content for this iteration is included and has been firmly tested. I'd be somewhat cautious to label the mod a work in progress, even though it is certainly true that it is and will be as long as I can come up with what I think in my opinion would be cool idea's and concepts to Skyrim. :smile: I appreciate the tip though :smile:

Thank you for your kind words :smile: The first iteration will sadly not include any dialogue, any quests, or any guild quest-lines. I will try and add as many quests and guild-lines patch-wise and as often as I can, but they will not be included in the first iteration and there may be some downtime after the first release where I will go through a learning curve of implementing it. I hope this reply does not disappoint you, and that you will try out and enjoy the mod when it is released :smile:

Really? I'm allowed to port resources willy nilly from the Witcher 3? I was not aware of that and for safeties sake I would have to get a confirmation on this first. With that said though I could really only think of a few outfits I would want to put into the mod, I could imagine adding some of the armors as part of quest characters, or future content and rewards. The outfits in the Witcher 3 also look very different from what you find in Skyrim and I fear they would stand out too much if they were found everywhere, though I may be wrong about this as I have not yet seen them in the Skyrim game. I will of course look into this. Thank you for bringing this to my attention ;)

Some more screenshots of outfits. This weekend I have literally worked my fingers to the bones. We now have vest variations for all the clothing variations and I therefor have all the bases I need to start working. Not all variations will be available in the mod, seeing as there are over 720 of them, but I will make it possible for players to purchase all of the non-vest variations and then add the vest ontop sort of like you would a cloak. For the NPC's however I will use outfits due to making sure that the memory stays pristine. I still have the rigging process ahead of me but I think I now understand what I did wrong before and I believe there is a solution which shouldn't take up too much of my time. Here is an example of short vests with brown bear fur. Whats interesting is that I can see possibilities of making texture variations for the vests. Instead of fur I could use leather, or fabrics. Considering this is Skyrim I would guess that fur vests would be the most common. What do you think? http://i.imgur.com/9ZqHFEK.jpg http://i.imgur.com/0Hj4OWP.jpg Here it is without the texture. Don't you think it could be used to make other vest types? :smile: http://i.imgur.com/goPmIBw.jpg

Update; Thought I'd upload some screenshots of the work I've done so far on the outfits. I'm sorry I couldn't showcase these earlier but I had to make sure I had the permissions I needed in order to create these :) I will of course make more and these are very simplistic, I have not added any belts or any pouches or any extra details and that is because they can be used as bases for when I do so. Do note that while every one of these have different collars, lengths on the sleeves and the lengths of the shirt, these are also variations which are available to all of the shirts. I do hope you like what you see, and if not do point out where I can improve. http://i.imgur.com/3zpEiak.jpg http://i.imgur.com/tGNXdJd.jpg http://i.imgur.com/bMkbpQg.jpg http://i.imgur.com/TC0KmZA.jpg Hope you like them :)

Small update; Okay, I've finished the base outfit models. So we have four variations of shirt collars, we have three variations in the length of the sleeves, long, elbow and above elbow. We also have three variations in shirt length. Now that the hard modelling is over I can create variations by adding variate belts, variations on pants from vanilla assets, and variations on whether or not there is any linings knitting the collar. I will also add variations with vests and jackets which will variate between hide and fur. All of these things will have variations in color, so variation of color of the shirt, and variation of type of fur and hide for the jackets and vests. Hopefully this will add enough variate clothing for the mod to not make characters feel repetitive. I've received some helpful advice from a fellow developer here at the Nexus who has experience with rigging to muscle weight and I have managed to find my problem. However how to go about fixing this and how long it will take is really up int he air right now. :)

So no pressure, right? hehe! I really do hope your not having too high expectations and that the mod will enrich your playthrough. I've been doing some stress tests myself as well as a few others and it appears to be very stable despite the amount of characters, buildings, and clutter this mod adds to Skyrim. I cannot vouch for how compatible it will be initially with other mods though. A friend did test out the mod and combined it with JK's Whiterun and Dawn of Whiterun to see how well it worked with all three overhauls, amazingly it worked fine though I suspect there may be conflicting navmesh edits and perhaps vanilla object conflicts. I will try and create as many compatibility patches as I can when the mod is released as I know there are certain essential mods that have some minor incompatibilities. The mod is essentially finished now, I am fixing some nitpicked issues that I find as I test and if I discount adding new outfits, perhaps finally getting around to adding two signs for the Butchery and Bakery in Falkreath- I could release the mod today. However I'd hate to implement this patchwise later so I fear it will be a bit still before I release. I've been having some rigging problems with the weight-scaler for the outfits for the mod but I am receiving some tips from a fellow modder and will fix this, so far I've managed to create a texture-placeholder which I can create color variations for, a base outfit, and today I have created various collar variations. Tomorrow I will look into the sleeves and create variations there as well for each of the collars, and the day after I will create variations on the length of the shirt. Then its all about adding the variations of belts, fur/hide vests/jacket variations, pants variations to the numerous bases, fix the signs (should be quick enough to do, just need to create a texture), and release. I do want to fix a courier system for the mod but that may take a bit longer as I believe it involves scripting. Like I said I did plead to a modder here on the Nexus for permission and help but he never replied so I will have to try and sort this myself. We have so far 59 books and more are coming, a friend has been very helpful with helping me write a good deal of them and we've made a goal to have a round number of 100 books available in the mod, after all the mod provides a library in Haafingar and Eastmarch, and a bookstore in Falkreath, may as well add a few new books. I've told the testers that I am placing a final deadline on the mod, as far forward as the 1st of April, that will be the second year since I created this forum page but I suspect I will be done long before that. If I can keep this pace and not receive any heavy school assignments I could have this done before March, I hope your not disappointed with the deadlines as I am sure your eager to begin your Skyrim adventure, that makes two of us as I have personally not really played Skyrim properly since 2012 when I started working on this mod. Either case I really appreciate your comment, its nice comments like that that makes me push forward now to get this done, thank you :)

While I appreciate the enthusiasm for the mod I think I have enough testers for now, I am however very open to other forms of help if your interested. I have uploaded videos and screenshots of the various cities and I would appreciate some feedback on the design, where have I gone wrong, where could I have improved. I was also bugged by the representation of the cities in Skyrim, that is why I started working on this project. The fact that half of the cities were not very memorable, had the same architecture as Riverwood and in some cases was even smaller then Riverwood, I felt it needed to be diversified. I have gotten very mixed feedback on the design of the cities, some really like Falkreath, while others really dislike Dawnstar. While I am sort of finished with modding the design already and just got some nitpicking details to solve before releasing I am very open to opinions on the design, after all the design on the earlier version of Falkreath bugged the heck out of me until someone let me know what was wrong with it, and hopefully I improved it enough so that that person was satisfied. I hope the mod won't disappoint when it is released :)

Mid-January Update; We now have 59 books, I have also distributed a good deal of letters and notes around the new interiors, I have made some fixes to the mod like bad spawns, bad animation collisions and some faction related fixes. I have added relationship packages and I have made it possible for radiant quests for the thieves guild to send you to some of the new locations. I have spent some time trying to figure out how to make the courier system work but I have so far been unable to do so. About a week ago I contacted a modder here on the Nexus asking if I could use his his script as a resource in the mod which I think he declined as he read the mail but did not respond. I will keep trying of course but it may take some time. I have started today working on the outfits for the mod and I am sure I will with time start showcasing some of them as I complete them. Only a few have had the time to actually test the mod out and feedback has been positive and has helped me fix a few minor issues around the mod, at least for those who've tested the mod seems very stable so that at least is something I don't have to worry about. If you are a modder who have some idea how to edit the courier and wouldn't mind giving me a run down it would be very appreciated :)

Thank you, I really hope the project will not disappoint when it is released :)

Another short update: Okay. We got LOD which I've tested and improved upon. We have dynamic guards who react to the civil war in the same way that the original guards and Jarls do thereby avoiding any problems in your game regardless of your choice of preferable faction ruler of Skyrim. We have new improved windows in Dawnstar which are no longer dark all day around but react to the lighting outside with a cold overtone to mask that its in an interior, we also have the same open lighted up sewer grate for the exits from the Whiterun Water canal thereby properly representing the exits from the tunnels. I have spent most of this early morning properly making sure that doors and locks work correctly and characters who should be able to come and go and own that particular door have keys to use. I have also made sure to fix a few minor bugs (Like Maul the Blackbriar bully properly now lean against the walls in the Riften Docks). I have also made sure to make that certain NPC's who previously are up and awake 24 hours a day now have a sleep cycle but yet retains their intended and important functions, like for an example innkeepers. We now have properly working navmesh that doesn't create hiccups. We have a load of new books, letters, notes, Easter eggs, new unique items, as well as other goodies available in the world. We have more guards and other faction related characters who react to the civil war and take upon vital roles in the society and thereby provide new challenges, an example: Warehouse guards who you must avoid if you are to get your hands on unique items or other treasurers. And finally, we have proper dragon compatibility for attacks in the new city worldspaces == Dawnstar and Falkreath (Actually a load of fun), no longer will dragons dive underground and poof up from the ground when it suits them; almost like gophers. They now fly properly and can make attacks, an experience that can get quite intense especially in narrow street alleys. I'll admit that I have spent most of the day today trying desperately to make a courier system work where the courier will deliver letters to the player before heading towards the nearest courier headquarters or inn before staying there and drinking and sleeping before he or she is sent to deliver new letters to the Dragonborn. I am quite sad to say that the courier system functions like this; after a courier has delivered a letter he will shortly afterwords be disabled thereby disappearing and will not reappear before its time to receive a new letter. I have tried to make this work but every time he arrives at a headquarters he is terminated from existence. I do wish to continue trying to make this system work, as it really takes me out of the experience to see the courier standing aimlessly in the middle of the road waiting to be deleted from existence before my waking eyes rather then act naturally and retire to a place that I have conveniently made so that he or she will go there. I fear I must be frank though that there may be a chance I may not be able to make this work before the actual first release in which case that feature will have to be implemented in a future patch. Aside from the courier system and creating new outfits, perhaps writing a few more works and making sure they can be readily available in the world I feel as though this iteration is finished. I assume I should make it respond to radiant quests as well but that should not take me too long. I have uploaded a version of my mod for some friends and acquaintances who've agree'd to test out my mod and give me feedback on the experiences and issues they've encountered. Should the feedback be majorly positive along with little to no issues in the crash department then you can expect this mod to release very soon. I will try and follow-up with a brief synopsis of the feedback's and post them here and if they inquire about anything important then I hope people will share their views.

If you wish to learn how to mod I can think of no better channel with tutorials then Darkfox127. https://www.youtube.com/user/DARKF0X127 He taught me all that I know and I am sure you will find him just as helpful :smile: As for mesh and texture modding I would look into 3dsMax or Blender for molding the mesh which is the clay that you attach a texture to. Photoshop works well for creating textures, Nifscope is an essential tool to process your meshes into Skyrim, there are plenty of tutorials availeble on that topic on youtube. You only need to search for "Skyrim Nifscope tutorial" and there you go. Blender also has plenty of tutorials and I believe 3dsMax probably has even more as it is a much more popular tool. Good luck with your mod :smile:

Short update: Hope everyone have had a nice Christmas. I know I have :smile: I have spent the last week creating LOD meshes and approximately fifteen minutes before writing this update I got a hold of Tes5LODGen and implemented my LOD. It works almost perfectly! I do have to fix a few vanilla LOD meshes and add them to the Solitude resources that I have used so as to not stand out wrong but beyond that I think we now have a proper and working LOD. I guess I will have to add the LOD as a BSA when released in case people uninstall my mod and finds odd distant objects in Skyrim. I have also written around 10 - 15 new books that can be found at the bookstore in Falkreath and the Great Library in Solitude, I do intend to write more. The stories themselves are greatly inspired by the Poetic Edda as well as other works on Nordic mythology and culture. I have also written some original work on my own which in large part focuses on a hero or heroine who either dies by her flaws or overcomes by her strengths. Tomorrow I will start working on the outfits that I have talked about and hopefully have them ready before the end of my Christmas break. I will on Sunday allow testers to stress test the mod and hopefully we will now have it in an optimized and releasable state. If I fail to update this forum with further updates or manage to release before its back to school then I hope everyone has had a Merry Christmas / God Jul :pirate:

Wow :) Love the crystallized cave. Good work! :)

I'm sure you'll do fine :) Besides, study now, relax later. Good luck with your exam.