Holds

[Galandil]

 

Seriously, it looks like everything I've ever really wanted out of a city mod for Skyrim, and I am so impressed by how much time and effort you've put into putting it together alone.

If you want to test to see how it'll run on a build with a lot of mods already installed, I'd love to beta test.

(Admittedly, I'm mostly asking because it looks so cool and I'm eager to try it out.)

 

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.

 

 

[MissShaoHuan]

These looks excellent, and the fact that you're planning to add quests (which I find a lot of expansion mods don't really do) and were partially inspired by other mods and Dragon Age impresses me greatly, looking forward to this :smile:

 

Couple of points/questions:

1. I saw you plan on making some kind of message board for notices etc. Would it not be better just to make sure The Notice Board is compatible? Why do the work when it's been done already?

2. Are you bringing forward changes made by the USLEEP mod?

3. Spelling error in your OP in the description breakdown in Culture and Design: 'Dawnstar is known for its rebbelious history...'

4. Not a pro, but if you need someone who sounds like a typical British female I'm happy to help

5. Riften used to be an important port, being so close to both Morrowind and Cyrodill, so for me it's always seemed odd that the canals don't looks more used. Even if the town is no longer the same trade port it once was, I think the citizens would still use the canals out of habit and because it's what they know.

6. The Falkreath hold is quite warm compared to the rest of Skyrim, so is often foggy. I don't know if you've finished with Falkreath for now but I would put in fog lanterns, and if possible show how the timber and metal in the town is weathered away by the almost constant moisture in the air.

7. In terms of sewers - Whiterun is set on a tundra which is pretty low-lying, so when Whiterun was built it might have been a little difficult to build an expansive system of sewers because of the soil beneath it. Same with Solitude - it's essentially built on a huge cliff, so at one point the sewers would have to be directed away from the coastline and carefully constructed to not undermind the city's foundation. You don't have to take these into account, of course but a touch of realism like this really makes a mod fit nicely sometimes.

8. From what I've seen the clothing you've made looks great but very clean.

 

I'm so syced for this mod now and am really looking forward to it ^_^

Edited February 19, 2016 by Miss Shao Huan

[Galandil]

These looks excellent, and the fact that you're planning to add quests (which I find a lot of expansion mods don't really do) and were partially inspired by other mods and Dragon Age impresses me greatly, looking forward to this :smile:

 

Couple of points/questions:

1. I saw you plan on making some kind of message board for notices etc. Would it not be better just to make sure The Notice Board is compatible? Why do the work when it's been done already?

2. Are you bringing forward changes made by the USLEEP mod?

3. Spelling error in your OP in the description breakdown in Culture and Design: 'Dawnstar is known for its rebbelious history...'

4. Not a pro, but if you need someone who sounds like a typical British female I'm happy to help

5. Riften used to be an important port, being so close to both Morrowind and Cyrodill, so for me it's always seemed odd that the canals don't looks more used. Even if the town is no longer the same trade port it once was, I think the citizens would still use the canals out of habit and because it's what they know.

6. The Falkreath hold is quite warm compared to the rest of Skyrim, so is often foggy. I don't know if you've finished with Falkreath for now but I would put in fog lanterns, and if possible show how the timber and metal in the town is weathered away by the almost constant moisture in the air.

7. In terms of sewers - Whiterun is set on a tundra which is pretty low-lying, so when Whiterun was built it might have been a little difficult to build an expansive system of sewers because of the soil beneath it. Same with Solitude - it's essentially built on a huge cliff, so at one point the sewers would have to be directed away from the coastline and carefully constructed to not undermind the city's foundation. You don't have to take these into account, of course but a touch of realism like this really makes a mod fit nicely sometimes.

8. From what I've seen the clothing you've made looks great but very clean.

 

I'm so syced for this mod now and am really looking forward to it ^_^

 

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:

 

 

Edited February 19, 2016 by Galandil

[MissShaoHuan]

1st of April?! Gosh! That is exciting.

 

USLEEP is the Unofficial Skyrim Legendary Edition Patch, a collection of bugfixes for the base game and DLCs. It changes a lot but only in terms of fixing things - wrong QuestAlises, mesh mess-ups etc. made by Bethesda.

I don't know how you want to approach compatibility, as the more compatible a mod is the more people will want to use it. I don't mean for other town overhauls but mods like Cutting Room Floor (which unlocks many things that Bethesda didn't implement into the final release), Clothing and Clutter Fixes, Relighting Skyrim or many other mods in the fixes category on the S.T.E.P. (Skyrim Total Enhancement Project) website.

Not saying you have to make your mod compatible at all, of course :D but I guess it's all part of the marketing.

 

Riften looks great, I watched your videos and they remind me of Novigrad in The Witcher 3, which is a compliment because that city feels lived in. Is Riften finished? It looks awfully clean for a city that's been a bit neglected these past years (in the lore, I mean). Also I thought the first NPC you showed was going to fight me because of the dramatic music xD

 

I get fog-lanterns might be too modern an idea, but things like vegetation growing everywhere (particularly ivy and other crawlers) would work with the constant fog. As it would be in Riften too being on water that isn't freezing your socks off.

 

Oh nice. Also had a thought about Winterhold - I read that the Great Collapse may have been caused by the eruption of Red Mountain, or by the Maormer or Sea Elves causing issues deep in the Sea of Ghosts. Have you mentioned any of that at all?

 

Ah good, I'm rubbish at meshing so what you've done is already amazing.

[alfredasl]

1st of April?! Gosh! That is exciting.

 

USLEEP is the Unofficial Skyrim Legendary Edition Patch, a collection of bugfixes for the base game and DLCs. It changes a lot but only in terms of fixing things - wrong QuestAlises, mesh mess-ups etc. made by Bethesda.

I don't know how you want to approach compatibility, as the more compatible a mod is the more people will want to use it. I don't mean for other town overhauls but mods like Cutting Room Floor (which unlocks many things that Bethesda didn't implement into the final release), Clothing and Clutter Fixes, Relighting Skyrim or many other mods in the fixes category on the S.T.E.P. (Skyrim Total Enhancement Project) website.

Not saying you have to make your mod compatible at all, of course :D but I guess it's all part of the marketing.

 

Riften looks great, I watched your videos and they remind me of Novigrad in The Witcher 3, which is a compliment because that city feels lived in. Is Riften finished? It looks awfully clean for a city that's been a bit neglected these past years (in the lore, I mean). Also I thought the first NPC you showed was going to fight me because of the dramatic music xD

 

I get fog-lanterns might be too modern an idea, but things like vegetation growing everywhere (particularly ivy and other crawlers) would work with the constant fog. As it would be in Riften too being on water that isn't freezing your socks off.

 

Oh nice. Also had a thought about Winterhold - I read that the Great Collapse may have been caused by the eruption of Red Mountain, or by the Maormer or Sea Elves causing issues deep in the Sea of Ghosts. Have you mentioned any of that at all?

 

Ah good, I'm rubbish at meshing so what you've done is already amazing.

 

I have written on four mods for Winterhold so I think I got it covered but thanks for the input! Going to read up on the collapse a bit more. From what I already read however its most likely that the Mages who where resposible but I'll have a second look to make sure I didn't miss any evidence on the red mountain, do you have any links on where you read about this?

Edited February 19, 2016 by alfredasl

[Galandil]

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 :)

 

 

 

[MissShaoHuan]

 

1st of April?! Gosh! That is exciting.

 

USLEEP is the Unofficial Skyrim Legendary Edition Patch, a collection of bugfixes for the base game and DLCs. It changes a lot but only in terms of fixing things - wrong QuestAlises, mesh mess-ups etc. made by Bethesda.

I don't know how you want to approach compatibility, as the more compatible a mod is the more people will want to use it. I don't mean for other town overhauls but mods like Cutting Room Floor (which unlocks many things that Bethesda didn't implement into the final release), Clothing and Clutter Fixes, Relighting Skyrim or many other mods in the fixes category on the S.T.E.P. (Skyrim Total Enhancement Project) website.

Not saying you have to make your mod compatible at all, of course :D but I guess it's all part of the marketing.

 

Riften looks great, I watched your videos and they remind me of Novigrad in The Witcher 3, which is a compliment because that city feels lived in. Is Riften finished? It looks awfully clean for a city that's been a bit neglected these past years (in the lore, I mean). Also I thought the first NPC you showed was going to fight me because of the dramatic music xD

 

I get fog-lanterns might be too modern an idea, but things like vegetation growing everywhere (particularly ivy and other crawlers) would work with the constant fog. As it would be in Riften too being on water that isn't freezing your socks off.

 

Oh nice. Also had a thought about Winterhold - I read that the Great Collapse may have been caused by the eruption of Red Mountain, or by the Maormer or Sea Elves causing issues deep in the Sea of Ghosts. Have you mentioned any of that at all?

 

Ah good, I'm rubbish at meshing so what you've done is already amazing.

I have writen on four mods for winterhold so think I got it coverd but thanks for the input! going to read up on the collaps a bit more. from what I already read however its most likly that the Mages where responsebal but I'll have a second look to make sure I don't miss any evudence on the red mounten, do you have any links on where you read about it?

 

 

Mostly here which is apparently from something Savos Aren says.

[MissShaoHuan]

Ah good good. It just seems foolish to spend time making edits that have already been done by others.

 

Still a nice comparison. If you can use the Shire music from LotR for your trailers that might help, or any of the Witcher series city music to fit better. Up to you and how you want the trailer to feel of course.

 

If that's your vision for the city, then go for it and don't worry about making alternate versions for me or anyone else. We are downloading your mod after all :smile:

 

My only qualm is the vegetation for Falkreath and such, because although places that see a lot of travel wouldn't be that overgrown 'life will find a way' after all. Still, I plan on having a look at your mod to see how you've overhauled each city so leave my suggestions to the side for now if you will.

 

Ah I might have had the wrong sea, nevermind me. Savos Aren says the College wasn't to blame for the Great Collapse but any self-respecting magic-politician wouldn't accept blame anyway. Great to hear you've taken into account the history of each city too ^_^

 

How are your quest plans faring? Going to branch off of already existing quests (as in like a follow up quest) or guilds (such as the Thieves Guild rebirth or demise at the hands of the Dragonborn) or do your own thing? Or both? :dance:

Edited February 19, 2016 by Miss Shao Huan

[Galandil]

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:

Edited February 19, 2016 by Galandil

[alfredasl]

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:

 

Mushroom's and Weed? well I wanna live in falkreath now sounds like a pritty high place... ;)

 

Miss Shao Huan, thank you for the link, it was a great read, going to see if there is anything I can use for the writing in this mod, thanks a lot!