Total Conversion

[shaun056]

Have they're been any successful total conversions? Or any where it hasn't fizzeld out and still looks promising? I can't seem to find any which is a bit of an annoyance. Looks like most get a good memento going and then fail for whatever reason. Anyone have any clues?

[Vagrant0]

Most of them fail completely just because of all the work involved. As opposed to large mods, which are rare enough in their own right, TC's also have to spend a considerable amount of time reinventing or re-purposing leveling, skills, class, and magic systems to fit with the theme of their respective worlds. Even if there wasn't an enormous amount of work involved with just making the mod, the mechanics of the game alone restrict what sorts of TC mods are even viable.

 

Additionally, since new worldspaces can be linked to the main game, most large projects just end up going with that approach instead of trying to reinvent the wheel. This also works out better for players since they don't need to have a nearly separate install just to play the TC without other mods interfering.

 

Essentially, the concept of the TC just isn't particularly practical within Oblivion.

[bben46]

Most total conversions fail because they are far to ambitious. Usually started by someone with no clue just how much work is really involved. They may have a great idea, but they seem to expect someone else to do all of the work for them while they sit back and tell everyone else what to do. Then when hundreds of competent modders, all of whom already have their own projects to work on, don't show up begging to be allowed to work on the great project. The originator starts learning to mod on his own. Possibly with a few friends and true believers. Then somewhere along the line people start losing interest, there are falling outs over what needs to be done and in what order, who should do what and personality clashes. The grand project is left with just 2 or maybe 3 people left and they get discouraged or overwhelmed. Most just lose interest after a couple of months.

 

Much better would be to use that creative energy on a much smaller project that can be expanded as they go. Do a small part of the conversion and release it. That stirs some interest and may gain a few more modders for the project. Then another part, and another part. As modders lose interest and fall off, they could be replaced by new converts willing to pick up where another left off. Don't expect a total conversion to actually ever be finished though as that would take a dedicated team too long to do. If you look at in one way, Fallout 3 is really a total conversion of Oblivion. And that took a large team of professional programmers several years to do. Not working in their spare time, but working full time on the conversion.

[LHammonds]

My view on Total Conversions...and no, there has yet been an overwhelming amount of resources for any genre to create a TC yet.

[Ghogiel]

The lead dev/s. need to be a industry professional, or at least has several or more years of experience in game modding. With large releases under their belt. has a very broad skill set- and will single handedly carry every aspect of the dev process.

If you want to do something really ambitious, something like mechwarriorLL, you need a team, a large talented team, years of dev time, and developer support. etc we have only a a level editor- a good one mind you. besides a few built in tools, we have no tools beyond that.

 

At best a partial conversion is possible. For example replacing all the ships in a space sim game with star trek ones. slapping in some new effects and writing some xml or whatever. bug feat of awesome, but do-able. You see the things like animating those, fire points and what not on those types of models are usualy simple helpers, so it is feasible.

 

when you think of a TC, see someone announce one without any previous work or experience, remember that nextgen game developement takes millions, takes a large team of fulltime professionals, and years to dev. < now think if you want to just re accomplish what a small section of the team did, with no budget, a skeleton crew, varrying skill set, and a lack of developer tools. yeah, point made.

[JCP768]

There's also the fact that people have conflicting views on what a total conversion is... some might say.

 

A total conversion would be something like: a mod that turns the game into ashooter set in space

 

Others might say:

A total conversion just has to be a 20+ hour long adventure in a new worldspace

 

And even others might say:

A major gameplay altering mod might fit.

 

There's also the fact that when you put 250 mods into your game it's practically a total conversion.

 

So uhhhhh.... which one are you asking about?

[Vagrant0]

Atleast as far as TES games go, Total conversions are usually any mod of significant size which exists as a stand-alone world that is not connected to either the vanilla story nor any of its environments. This is the definition which fits nearly all of the Morrowind TCs and was the focus of many of the early TC mods for Oblivion. A TC doesn't need to implement new mechanics, or use custom meshes for everything, it just needs to exist as its own world and its own story without any connections to the normal game. However, even with this criteria, a TC remains a rather monumental task simply due to all the work involved in building that world and creating all the quests. Most of the work of a large mod isn't in the scripting or even building of models, but instead most of it is in creating exteriors, interiors, and dungeons which contain enough detail to keep the player interested. The quests, the scripting, the storyline are usually much easier to put together.

[JCP768]

I'd say Windfall fits as a TC then. No real connection to Cyrodiil, besides maybe a few passing statements to make the mod appease to the lore fans, and there's legion soldiers patrolling part of the town. Other than that it's pretty separate from Cyrodiil.

 

Only thing it really lacked was multiple towns, some more wilderness life, and probably could have used some more dungeons, but other than that is was a very nice and fairly big world space/TC/quest mod.

[Vagrant0]

I'd say Windfall fits as a TC then. No real connection to Cyrodiil, besides maybe a few passing statements to make the mod appease to the lore fans, and there's legion soldiers patrolling part of the town. Other than that it's pretty separate from Cyrodiil.

 

Only thing it really lacked was multiple towns, some more wilderness life, and probably could have used some more dungeons, but other than that is was a very nice and fairly big world space/TC/quest mod.

Unfortunately, it isn't

Windfall.esp � This bridges the Windfall.esm and the Oblivion.esm

a TC shouldn't have that connection. The player should start a new game in that world and end it there without Tamriel even existing.

[JCP768]

There was a mod someone was doing for a school project a while back, had a survey to fill out after wards and all that... Anyway, it required that you load a save and start out in a new world space.It took about 2-10 hours to complete fully.(with some varying options so I guess 1 or 2 replays too)