imperistan

So, for my Mjolnir mod, I'm trying to create a spell that will allow the user to resurrect animals twice a day. (For those interested, in Norse mythology Thor is able to resurrect his two goats every day with his hammer) Now normally when I hit this kind of road block I just find someone elses work, study it, and then recreate it for my own purposes. However, the only working mod I've been able to find that had a true resurrection spell was Midas Magic, and while I imagine it would help, I've come to realize I have no idea what I'm looking at regarding the script for it. Well, sort of. I understand what the different parts mean, and what they seem to be doing, its just that I don't really know what I'd have to do to have this work for my own purposes. There also runs the issue that the way Midas is doing it seems to account for resurrected actors having their items reset by removing the items in the inventory first to a chest in a dummy cell and then returning them after the resurrection, which I don't think would be necessary for my purposes considering the actual point of Mjolnir's resurrection is to restore the meat of the animals. Any help here would be appreciated, as this pretty much the last thing I need before I'm ready to prepare the mod for the next release.

- Wrong. The Concordat, while nearly identical to the original ultimatum given by the Dominion, is NOT that ultimatum. They are two different things. And either way, it was still his idea to allow the Dominion those spoils after he cut his way through thousands upon thousands of their soldiers. - Wrong. They were clearly all dead, otherwise there would be no reason to use the word "completely". And I see no reason for the writer to embellish or glorify what happened either, considering he didn't seem to be all too happy with what happened any way. - Wrong. High Rock and Skyrim were fine. Yes Cyrodiil was ravaged completely, and Hammerfel was still at war, but thats no reason to do what he did. As I've said countless times before, I am not suggesting that he could nor should have invaded the Dominion at the time. But he could have stopped any further incursions into Cyrodiil, and with two provinces still untouched by the war it wouldn't have been that hard to bring resources down to protect the border in the meantime. And also, again as I've stated before, I have no issue with him ending the war at the time that he did. I just take issue with the fact that he spent literally no time looking at his assets and what was going on in the next province over before he decided to call for peace. And even THEN, went on to broker a peace that made the entire war POINTLESS. If he was so dumb as to give the Dominion everything they wanted in the first place after going through an entire bloody war with them (WHEN HE WON), and we're going to presume he did it to save lives, then he would have saved more lives if he never said no. If the goal is to spare poor old Cyrodiil (as thats clearly all he looked at in making his decision), then he should never have let the war begin, he should have bowed down and cowered and gave the Dominion everything, because he ended up doing so anyway. And while Cyrodiil was ravaged, to say it was nearly unusable is morbidly obese. The Imperial City was completely sacked yes, but it wasn't like the Dominion enacted a slash and burn policy. Cyrodiil's farmland (that weren't used as sites for battles anyway) would have still been intact, and really the only part of Cyrodiil that could say to be near irreversibly ravaged outside of the Imperial City itself would have been the shore lines of the Niben and Lake Rumare, where the main battles of the Great War in Cyrodiil prior the the War of the Red Ring occurred. But I can't imagine that outside of Bravil and some small villages that Cyrodiil would be that badly affected. (Hell, we even see in lore that apparently Bravil isn't doing very well even now, so this may be the case) Even Layawiin, being the first city struck by the Dominion would still be in a fair position because I can't imagine that the the sea would have been completely ravaged by this war (which I would think seems to be the main economic source for the town, being a port and all) - The war in Hammerfel proves that a stalemate would have resulted in nothing for either side. But thats without considering the fact that the Empire would have more provinces to draw resources from. (The Dominion isn't very large, and most of its forces and resources would have originated in Valenwood, with possible help from the Elsweyr kingdoms. One province can't quite out-support two, particularly with the Dominion suffering greater losses and an inherent strategic downfall as time went on) Yes you can call hindsight, but fact of the matter is that when the War of the Red Ring started, the forces in Hammerfel were already starting to push the Dominion back across the Alik'r. By the time the War of the Red Ring was over, if Mede had taken the time to take in and assess the totality of his assets, then I'm sure it would have been clear to him that Hammerfel was proving itself self-reliant in fighting the Dominion. That a fractured Legion and whatever militia could be raised could even accomplish as much as they did at the time would have been enough to convince most that continuing the war, if only for just a bit longer, would prove more beneficial for the Empire. - They had no advantage. Hammerfel proves this. Hammerfel's forces were no better than Cyrodiil's, and they fought the Dominion off for 5 years.

No, the Mede Empire is an illegitimate one if we want to put any stock at all in the Septim Empire (Which is what ever Empire supporter is doing. They aren't basing their opinions on the Empire now, they're basing it on the Empire that was, and that one is dead). And as for the War of the Red Ring, he did not make any sort of logical decision at all when he came up with the Concordat (Yes, it was HIS idea, not the Dominion's). He spent the greater part of that battle cutting his way through the entirety of the Dominion's forces in Cyrodiil (to the point where every last Dominion soldier in the province was dead when the war ended) and after he finished, it was literally a matter of 1-2 days before he decided to do the exact opposite of every other war leader whose engaged in a similar conflict and gave his enemy the spoils of war. The Empire had the right to dictate the terms of peace, and for all the Dominion would have known, not to accept them would have meant even further annihilation. In all honesty, I'm sure it was a big surprise for the Dominion when they were approached with the Concordat. I mean, its not like they didn't just lose not only a massive portion of their entire army in what was a single battle against a united and organized force of Legion. What the Dominion faced when the Great War began was a far cry from what came down upon them during the War of the Red Ring. If you ever watched the movie 300, then the difference would literally be like how the normal Greeks fought compared to the Spartans.

The Dragonborn can also decide not to face Alduin. Fact of the matter is, the Civil War is a second main quest. Its size and affect on the game world says that much, no matter how obvious it was that the Dragon Main quest was meant to be tied together with the Civil War anyway.

Because the Nerevarines actual story was ended. Akavir was his/her's epilogue, and the storylines presented (outside of the overarching one, but we were barely aware of that one). Even the CoC had a satisfactory end as they eventually dissolved into Sheogorath. The Dragonborn on the other hand, is still too tied up into the events of Skyrim's time line. With no real conclusion to the Civil War (Which the Dragonborn is in fact involved in, as its only the Dragonborn that enables either side to defeat the other) then we're left with no satisfactory end to a story that should have left us with a definite future for Tamriel. As it is now, Tamriel's future is very murky and frankly it'd be a mark of extremely poor writing to just write off the events of the game or to make another game focusing on Tamriel's future without providing satisfactory end to Skyrim's events. Its one thing to leave the eventual Dominion conflicts for another game, another thing entirely to leave the end of a very important story line integral to Skyrim to another game.

Well the reason for the overabundance of mods oriented towards female characters is because there's a large and rather dedicated part of the modding player base that use Skyrim pretty much as a dress up game. It goes deeper than that (for them) but really thats all there is to it. A lot of these particular modders have been at it for a long time, some reaching as far back as Morrowind. But anyway, the reasons I play female characters from time to time is if that happens to be the character I want to (role)play out. For instance one of my main characters (I have about 30 or so distinct characters) has a mother who I play through on occasion.

Yup. Most armors I've tried work well with the pieces, though some stop the pieces from showing. The boots and gloves addons in particular are hard to get to show up with other armor sets (if they even can be)

Then how exactly does a mod like the Aesir Armor mod become so popular? Granted, the mechanics of that particular mod are quite different from the pauldron sets of Morrowind, but even so the point still remains that people do in fact like to take advantage of mixing and matching different parts of different armors together. This is pretty evident in the various people putting up screenshots utilizing the various Aesir armor parts in conjunction with other armors, modded or otherwise. I for instance like to mix the Aesir Brown fur with the adventurer satchel and the two plain pauldrons with steel plate to create a pretty awesome look. NOTE: My saying that pauldrons and what not were unpopular is coming from older debates over the subject where a lot of the opposition came from people not wanting to mix and match and/or having issues with having so many armor parts.

Everyone knows you go to hell for the luaus.

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/36298 Finally finished the damn thing. http://static.skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/images/36298-1-1369176062.jpg

Yes, I would wait for the 780 if you're looking to max the game. It'll be the best, most affordable single card option you'll be able to get. Or if cost is no object just drop some money on a Titan.

If we base our conclusions purely on culture parallels, then obviously this can be the only way: Imperials - Clearly and obviously Ancient Roman Nords - Obviously Viking Age Scandinavians. Redguards - Moors Bretons - Medieval French/English/Italian. Altmer - A mix of Shogun era Japanese and WW2 Era Japanese, painted up with Tolkien Elves. Dunmer - Mix of Indo-European and Mesopotamian. Actually one of the more unique TES races in this regard, as they're a lot different than even a lot of other RPG, Fantasy, or even mythological Dark Elves. Bosmer - Mix of any number of Tribal cultures, particularly ones of the Amazon and middle Africa, with a lot of magic thrown in. Orsimer - Basically Mongolians sans horses. Has a little Chinese thrown in as well Khajiit - Saharan Nomads. Egyptian, Libyan, etc etc. Also has some Balkan influences. Argonian - Closest parallel is un-contacted Jungle tribes, though they're the least human of the TES races, so they're more closer to an ecosystem one might find in the Amazon than a culture. There are also other cultures that lend some of their features to the Argonians. Their naming structure for instance. Dwemer - They're basically just a variation of the classic dwarf of fantasy, just with the obsession with gold and jewels replaced with knowledge and technology. Outside of aesthetic influences, what we know of Dwemer culture doesn't really parallel much in the real world.

I would say best rule of thumb is that if you can get the vert count as low as you can without deforming the model unacceptably then you should.

You have a point, but yet again you make it out as if Ulfric is/was the only person capable of filling the role, and thats just false. He may have been the quickest to the plate but if he had died in that Thalmor prison, another would have taken his place. Everything that can logically be said about this situation says so, and not only that, but do remember that it was prophesied that this war would erupt. One man dying or failing to step up isn't going to stop the prophecy. Again, there is no shortage of great leaders in Skyrim, and even more than we see in-game. All it takes is one stepping up.

A catalyst is a catalyst, no matter how you paint it. It didn't have to be Ulfric slaying the High King. It could have been a rise of the people. Another Jarl could have just outright started rebelling. In the end it doesn't matter. This rebellion stands for more than just putting some bumpkin on the throne, even if the people fighting it don't know it. It stands for the beginning. The beginning of a new era for Tamriel thats free from the trappings and failures of the Mede Empire and the Septim Empire that collapsed before it. Free from the clutches of two warring empires that will only serve to plunge Tamriel into an even deeper darkness than has ever been seen before. If things do not change, now, in the present, before it is too late, then Tamriel will not see true peace for a long, long time. The Septim Empire is dead. Talos is dying. The elves are coming. And the Mede Empire will sit and watch it happen. Let it happen. The Mede Empire used to be strong. It could have fought back, it could have saved itself from being split and wrought with in-fighting. But instead, we saw Mede APOLOGIZE for killing so many invaders of his country. We see the elves gain EVERYTHING they wanted WHEN THEY LOST. The Mede Empire deserves to die. Tamriel deserves better than that. A chance at something better. The Rebellion is this chance, and no matter who started it this is what is needed to save Tamriel from darkness. In 200 years, no one will care if some stupid little man sat on the throne for 60 years and was a horrid ruler. But men will not be slave to mer. Tamriel will not be under threat of being unmade by psychotic elves obsessed with godhood. I'll say it again as I've said before in this topic. Ulfric is a red herring, and you all are too blinded by your personal hatred of him to see through him and his nonsense, and see the worth of the rebellion. You are too blinded by the promise of an Empire you'll never get back. Too blinded by the assurance that the Dominion will be dealt with, eventually. We are at the dawn of a new era of war. It is inescapable. But if the Empire is not left to rot as it should be, then it will be a greater and harder struggle then we can imagine to find the light again. <i>To respond to genocide with genocide only makes the Nords as bad as the Falmer before them. </i> You know better than to ignore context. An eye for an eye isn't out of the question here. We are dealing with two relatively primitive cultures here after all. And given that the Nords had done little to nothing wrong (and definitely nothing so wrong as to justify the slaughter of every man, woman, and child) then they were completely in the right in dealing that blow right back. <i>These seeds of rebellion are not nearly as strong as you think. </i> The game world is not a real world, and it is only written up to a certain point. And further, when you defeat the Stormcloaks, you defeat their entire army and replace the jarls of their cities with Imperial backed nobles. Do tell how anyone can reasonably be expected to rise up yet again when an entire army has basically been defeated or destroyed and the new leaders are now surely hard at work keeping any resurgence fully suppressed? Remember, the only reason either side manages to win the war at all is because of divine intervention by way of the Dragonborn. With that kind of backing, I wouldn't be surprised to see the losing side not be very eager to try again. And thats without going into the possibility that the Dragonborn is Talos reborn. If such a possibility were to turn to rumor, then whoever the Dragonborn chooses to side with would have a massive amount of support start coming in.

Excpet for the fact that Dagon tricked the Falmer into it, and the Nords rapid expansionism, and hostile activites, were real concern for the Falmer. Even so, a total massacre of all the humans in Skyrim at the time was uncalled for. To put down the Nords for their response to genocide just ignores the facts. Ridiculous. Ulfric is the figure head. He's the one who gives voice to their discontent. The rebellious Nords named their movement after him for crying out loud. To trivialize his role demonstrates a clear lack of understanding. Skyrim was peaceful before Ulfric, with the help of the Thalmor, stoked the flames of civil war. Without him it's just a rabble of very simple minded and disgruntled warriors. Anyone can replace him. Anyone. The seeds of rebellion existed long, LONG before Ulfric came along and gave the people of Skyrim a push. If those seeds did not exist for years prior to Ulfric slaying the High King then half of Skyrim wouldn't have joined up with him the near instant he started the rebellion. It already would have taken a while for word to reach Dawnstar, Riften, and Winterhold that Ulfric had started a rebellion. If the people were not already convinced there, then Ulfric would not have had any forces at all for at least a month outside of those of his own city. Indeed, it was the very fact that Ulfric didn't plan his rebellion very well (He is an idiot after all, good at battle, horrible at war) that the rebellion almost came to a very swift end. Its clear that his 3 initial allies weren't preparing beforehand for the rebellion as otherwise they would have been better prepared to secure the territory after Ulfric started the rebellion. The fact that Ulfric was caught in the middle of his own territory proves his forces had not yet been rallied and had not secured their territory against Imperial incursion. It is the very fact that Ulfric had any allies to call upon at all that proves that the rebellion does not rely on JUST him. Replace him with any other man capable of leading an army and you'll still have the Rebellion. But it doesn't matter if its the Dragonborn himself. Without the people of Skyrim willing to fight for independence the rebellion would be nothing. The people of Skyrim might be very well educated but do they not all fight for just one man. It is only those who are closest to either side who fight specifically for Ulfric or the Empire. Everyone else is either fighting for their homes or fighting because they're being told to. Anyone can glorify a leader and invoke his name in battle, but in truth if its a choice between him and that person's home, the home will be chosen first. Everytime. If Ulfric does not act in the interests of those he intends to lead then he will be ousted, and the rebellion will go on. And don't insult the people of Skyrim. That just lessens your argument to nonsense. (and before you say it, I'm right in calling Ulfric an idiot, because he is one. And also because I will readily admit that I don't like him. Unless you are willing to admit that you don't care about the people (which makes you a part of the problem) then you have no right to belittle them)

Got a say, that was the stupidest thing I ever saw. I've been trying to get this handle perfect all morning, and here I just upped the flattening threshold by 5 and stiched the parts together, and bam, perfect. I feel like I just went full on, well, you know. :wallbash: :wallbash: :wallbash: :wallbash: :wallbash: :wallbash:

Hmm, I did forget about using the checker pattern. Did solve most of my issues, as most of the distortions weren't really distortions (visually anyway). However, the handle is still proving problematic distortion wise. Having trouble getting a good wrap around without the middle being really distorted. And trying to move the lines around distorts the edges which makes it worse.

Using 3DS Max Now, I understand what unwrapping is and how to do it. However, whenever I go through my weapon model and get it to a point where its almost all unwrapped in a logical way (excepting the handle, which is proving problematic in this regard) I turn on the "Show Distortions" option, and these distortions show up all over the UV's. And for the life of me I can't seem to get them to go away. And these occur no matter which particular method I use to unwrap, whether it be automatic or manual. There has to be something I'm missing here right?

The Snow Elves massacred the first human settler's save Ysgramor and may be a few others, iirc. Unprovoked, no less. They had it coming to them. And as for Ulfric, the revolution has grown beyond him. He may have started it but the reasons to continue it have nothing to do with him anymore. To get hung up over some insignificant replaceable welp is to be extremely short-sighted.

Frankly, I just go by the rule of, if you can throw such a large texture into the mix without much performance loss, then go right ahead. Because even if its only going to show a difference in a few cases, at least I could be secure in the fact that every instance that particular texture shows up in will look its best.

Yeah I smell either ENB or some PS.

I figure a lot of the issues people have with non-lore-friendly mods is that it isn't obvious nor relatively simple to use the tag system properly. If the sites actually explained the tag system more simply (it really doesn't. For instance first time I tried using it I thought that you selected the tags you wanted to see, not the tags you didn't want to see) and made it so it wasn't hidden in murky waters in a dank cavern at the bottom of the sea (exaggeration) then people would start using it more and then they wouldn't have any issues with such mods because they wouldn't see them. I for instance never see any of the "silly" mods (its what I call them, and its not meant to be disrespectful. But seriously, mods like the MLP mods are kind of silly. You can't tell me they're serious business when its brightly colored, physics defying, big-head ponies. I also throw the anime inspired stuff in with the silly moniker just because compared to how I like my game to look and play out, anime stuff looks ridiculous) And besides that, more often than not, its the silly mods that make it to the top of the endorsement rankings. So if someone isn't using the tag system and they're trying to find the best lore-friendly mods, then I can't blame them for getting exasperated if they have to go through several pages before the silly mods stop being so common place.

^ I am the exact opposite. I go for full immersion, lore friendly, as realistic gameplay as possible, and challenging as ever. And of course every graphics mod I can pump into the game.

I wonder if those of us who've been participating in this topic since the beginning have realized that the Stormcloak supporters (and/or those who don't take either side) tend to stay relatively the same while the Imperial supporters tend to come and go? I find it fascinating and makes me wonder. Did we convince them, or did they give up? Gives you a good idea of the conviction in both sides.