[WIP] Oblivion Reconstruction Project

[Habel]

Edit: This mod will now be a full replacement of every single equipment mesh and texture. Smoothed meshes, high-res textures. Here's the first armor that I've completed as of this edit.

 

http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/5610/ironarmorcomparison.png

Edited April 23, 2010 by Habel

[AmpolX]

Why don't you just start out small first? Don't try to overload all this work onto yourself. Most new forum modders come here with big ideas, get a half decent team rallied, make promises that the project will be out in a few months but they end up quitting or abandoning their project after a few years due to lack of work. So my best advice? Start out small. Maybe just do a small release of each armor type with your new models or do a few clothing replacers. I really dont mean to sound like a killjoy here but think about what is real other than thinking about what is surreal.

 

And a FYI, Bethesda's own Pete Hines offically stated that they currently have no plans for TES:V. Where ever you heard that TES:V is being made was a lie.

[Habel]

Why don't you just start out small first? Don't try to overload all this work onto yourself. Most new forum modders come here with big ideas, get a half decent team rallied, make promises that the project will be out in a few months but they end up quitting or abandoning their project after a few years due to lack of work. So my best advice? Start out small. Maybe just do a small release of each armor type with your new models or do a few clothing replacers. I really dont mean to sound like a killjoy here but think about what is real other than thinking about what is surreal.

 

And a FYI, Bethesda's own Pete Hines offically stated that they currently have no plans for TES:V. Where ever you heard that TES:V is being made was a lie.

 

I think I saw a thing on it in a popular magazine so I figured it was legit - I don't remember which one though. If that's the case, though, then that really sucks.

 

I've actually been thinking out this mod for quite a while now, and I'm already quite experienced in blender, photoshop, the construction set, etc. It doesn't take me too long to do a full armor model, so hopefully the frequency at which I post pictures should lend me credibility. If I do get apathetic about it, I'll be sure to do that though and release the work I have up to that point.

[AmpolX]

I think I saw a thing on it in a popular magazine so I figured it was legit - I don't remember which one though. If that's the case, though, then that really sucks.

 

I've actually been thinking out this mod for quite a while now, and I'm already quite experienced in blender, photoshop, the construction set, etc. It doesn't take me too long to do a full armor model, so hopefully the frequency at which I post pictures should lend me credibility. If I do get apathetic about it, I'll be sure to do that though and release the work I have up to that point.

Hmm..well nothing at the officals has been said. As far as I know, its all speculation or just fan based ideas. Sometimes fans get a little too trigger happy with misconstrude information so they post an update fooling a bunch of people into believing there is a TES:V. Both Todd Howard and Pete Hines stated that nothing is set for TES yet or if anything ever will.

 

And I was in no way doubting your sense of skill in modding. I was just advising to start out small first. Many projects, just like yours, that have been in the works for years only released so little and so few. Its a long process with what your doing. But I have no more words to say so carry on in your prescribed manor.

[David Brasher]

You have an awesome computer. If you make a mod like you are planning, you should be aware that half the people won't be able to use it because they have computers that are not awesome. (Some of them are pretty sad computers.) I would venture to say that half of the people have to lower their graphics settings so that they can get a frame-rate which is playable. It is no fun playing a game in jerky slow motion.

[BlackerrR]

It is good idea, and i would love something like this, Bethesda's models now really look sad. But I agree David Brasher, maybe you should't make something that few chosen can play, I mean those with Space machines. But ofcourse, this is your personal choice, even if you want to create something really big like this, I'll be the first one to download. Good luck! :thumbsup:

[Habel]

High-poly models seem to have a different effect, from what I've experienced, than high-res textures do on FPS. I once did an experiment where I took an armor model with a vertex count of 37,000, put it on my character in the game, created a copy of my character exactly 6 times, and then had all of my clones fight each other. There wasn't even the slightest FPS drop from when they were wearing vanilla armor (which often has a vertex count under 2 to 3 thousand if I remember correctly). However, one time I redid the legion armor and it came out to be an absolutely enormous amount of polygons. The second I hit one of my clones to initiate a fight, the client froze. I'm not knowledgeable enough about the intricacies of game programming to know why I didn't suffer a huge FPS hit from having over 200 thousand vertices total being rendered in my field of vision, but that's how it was. Ever since then I've refused to use blocky meshes hidden behind otherwise masterful normal maps and high resolution texturing.

 

If this mod actually comes to be popular and there seems to be a demand for a lower-res version, I'll go through the textures and release a lower-res pack. If I don't have the time to do this, I have no problem with somebody doing it for me.

[Wolfhound646]

Plus, I would alway's rather have higher res-mesh, then higer textures.

 

That's my preference. So, are you going to start?

[worm82075]

And a FYI, Bethesda's own Pete Hines offically stated that they currently have no plans for TES:V. Where ever you heard that TES:V is being made was a lie.

 

 

Both Todd Howard and Pete Hines stated that nothing is set for TES yet or if anything ever will.

 

You are misquoting both of them. Care to provide your sources? I watch Beth news very closely and as I recall what was actually said was that there were no plans to share anything publicly about TES. If you know Beth then you know they begin production on their next game while they are getting the current one out the door. They have always been tight lipped about current productions. Mark my words, TES V IS in production.

 

As far as this project goes, well given the dramatic decrease in computer hardware costs in the last two years the number of people able to run OB full tilt has increased exponentially. Given that fact this project is a timely one.

 

My advise is not to start with increasing the already highest poly models in the game but rather to work from the lowest up. Lots of very low poly items such as clutter are screaming for improvement much more than the already pretty high poly armors.

[Habel]

My advise is not to start with increasing the already highest poly models in the game but rather to work from the lowest up. Lots of very low poly items such as clutter are screaming for improvement much more than the already pretty high poly armors.

 

I was thinking that today. I was already planning to run the clutter through a subsurface modifier in Blender for my own aesthetic taste but I didn't think anybody else would be interested. Since you mentioned that, I'll release it when I do it.

 

This mod won't take as long as one would think due to subsurfacing. While I do have to fix the texture's UV maps so strange things don't happen with the lighting when I use a script to double the vertex count, it's by no means an entirely manual and skill-based process. It's mostly just tedious labor - Bethesda models their meshes in a really strange way, they have a bunch of little pieces in their models where the faces of the polygons aren't connected to each other, so when I run the subsurface modifier, it detects an edge and rounds it where there isn't one. So that needs to get fixed every time it happens.