[WIP] Vanilla Drops

[jamochawoke]

Ok so this is it, my big mod! As some of you might have guessed I've been working on parts of it (including Creepy Mannimarco project) for a long time now. I'm a slow learner and didn't have much time until recently to learn the CS and NifSkope but now that I have I've been more or less blazing on this project for the past couple of months.

 

The point of this mod is to add simple Atmospheric or Immersion additions to the Vanilla experience of the game. There are quite a few little touches like this that have been made by the community but they are all scattered about. My vision is to tie a lot of these great "atmospheric mood enhancers" into a mod that will encompass many aspects of the game that were overlooked by Bethesda when they made TES4. Many of these have already been done or have been released as modding resources. The really big task for me is to compile what I can (and get them working together!!!) and to modify whatever else needs to be done myself.

 

I wanted to create something that a total noob to Oblivion could just "Drop" into their Data folder and instantly have a better experience without straying from Bethesda's vision.

 

The qualifiers for these modifications are:

* They must be absolutely lore friendly

* They mustn't change the gameplay of Vanilla too much (hence Vanilla 'Drops') but where things are glaringly bad a tweak here or there might help

* They mustn't conflict with the major mods out there

* Everything must feel like it's a part of Cyrodiil

 

If I feel a particular Vanilla "Drop" is worthy of being released on its own I will do so. This will also help me keep a schedule and deadlines for myself as this is a rather huge project.

 

 

Progress (I will update this as I go along). 10% = Planning stage. 25% = I have the resources ready. 50% = I have implemented some changes already. 75% = Modifications are in Alpha Stage. 90% = Almost Done. 100% = Ready for Release.

 

Combat

--- Some new animations (but nothing ridiculous) added to liven up combat, making sure everything is fluid - 100%

--- Adjust combat scaling values, very slightly, to keep scaling from getting completely out of whack - 75%

--- Adjust archery - 10%

--- Adjust Hand to Hand - 100%

--- Adjust how block works to make it more immersive - 10%

 

The Blades

---- New Sidequest available for promotion - 75%

---- Revamped Cloud Ruler Temple with tons of utility and neat surprises - 100%

 

Fighter's Guild

---- New sidequests available at different ranks - 10%

|_> Interaction with the "ignored" guild halls

 

Imperial Legion

---- Imperial Forts - 25%

---- Imperial Armor - 25%

---- Imperial Legion Faction - 10%

 

Knight Orders (including Blades)

---- Improved Knight companion AI - 10%

---- Unique and individual Knight Order looks - 100%

---- Small quests from the populace your Order oversees - 10%

 

Mage's Guild

---- Creepy Mannimarco Encounter - 75% (I'm a huge fan of Milt's mod but I wanted something that felt more Vanilla and more "lich incarnation" than "Mannimarco after Apotheosis" for this project)

---- Mage's Guild rank rewards - 10%

---- New Simple Side Quests per Rank - 10%

 

Magicka

---- New spells for the ignored Mysticism branch - 25%

---- Richer spell effects - 10%

---- Necromancer spell subset and realism of the 'current' attitude of the Empire towards them - 10%

---- New "Master Level" spells only available at 100 skill - 25%

 

Settlements

--- Expanded settlements to make them more interesting and visually engaging - 50%

--- Some new, simple, quests to do once there - 10%

 

The Arena

--- Add some new NPC's you can fight in the Arena - 25%

--- New Arena Raiments that don't look so fugly - 100%

 

Wildlife and Monsters

--- Adjust creature populations so you see more wildlife - 10%

--- Add new benign creatures - 25%

--- Adjust how creature lairs work - 10%

--- Adjust creature AI - 25%

--- Werewolves with new animations, behaviors, and a subtle yet terrifying approach - 75%

---- New Liches and some story behind them (the ayleid ones contrasted to the new human era ones) tying all the quests that involve them together - 50%

---- New creature from completely new mesh -Winged Twilight - 50%

 

Misc.

--- Unique NPC's have Unique Looks - 75%

--- Better ambient sounds - 25%

--- Very minor but unique class bonuses - 10%

--- Interaction between Blades, Legion, and Knight Order factions - 10%

---- Small questline involving Orsinium - 10%

---- Clean up some of the campsites and add some friendly campers for once... - 25%

---- Add unique roving Adventurer NPCs so they aren't all your standard Orc from Orsinium - 50%

 

 

Many modders have tried to address some of these issues but I felt quite a few of them were overdone, their scope was far too large and drastically changed aspects of the game, they had elements which conflicted with other mods, or I simply felt they could use a bit of improvement.

 

Several mods that addressed these issues were also abandoned half-completed by their modders. I'd like to pick up and finish them if I can. Right now I am awaiting permissions on quite a few resources that were flagged "Need Permission First" to really get rolling but I already have the majority of my resources from "Just Credit Me as the Original Author" resources so work is still going along steadily.

 

If you'd like to help me on any of these aspects, go ahead and shoot me a message with what you can do. I've already received tons of help from these boards though and I have to give a very sincere thank you to everyone! My "Credits" list is growing longer by the day due to all the help I've gotten :).

 

 

EDIT:::

 

Updated October 8, 2011

Edited October 8, 2011 by jamochawoke

[MarkInMKUK]

If you are after increasing realism, you might want to keep an eye on our mod thread entitled "Proper" khajit and argonian bodyshapes/animations" . We're trying to improve the bodyshapes (and creating matching clothing) so they look more like beast races and less like "men in makeup". While not directly linked to the things you list above, some of the ideas at work may come in useful for your improved werewolf section.

 

Wildlife - one thing which is massively unbalanced in vanilla Oblivion is the ratio of predators to prey animals. Obviously it's hard for the system to render dozens of creatures all the time, but having things like rabbits that form groups and then ALL run for cover as you or a predator approach would add a lot to immersion. Also bird alarm calls (even if you don't see the bird in question) when a non-concealed predator is around would be a useful heads-up for danger approaching, or could trigger increased wariness in your enemies if YOU spook the birds. (If you DO put rabbits in, PLEASE make them move like rabbits - one mod adds them and they hop when running, but WALK when moving slowly and rabbits just DON'T do that!)

 

As far as the arena goes, it might also make a good place for formal duels - adding a way for upper class characters to settle disagreements in a formal way.

 

There's also a small discussion thread which touches on aspects of economic realism here - you may find it interesting and it might spark more ideas - or help to rule some out.

 

I also recall a thread a while back discussing "blocking animations for magic" - not sure whether that ever came to anything but it might be useful to look at.

[jamochawoke]

Thanks!

 

You have some great ideas there. I'll have to see where I can appropriate some and put them in my mod.

 

I had noticed, for one, that Mr Siika's rabbits walk. It's a really simple NifSkope and animation swap fix... so thank you for that idea. I'll be putting them in for sure.

[jamochawoke]

Guys, I just finished the Heavy Arena Raiments for the Male body and am about 90% done (just finishing up some textures) with the Female body one.

 

They look really really freaking good! And they still look like they belong in Vanilla! (With a little more touch of Rome :) )

 

I'm way excited!

Edited April 9, 2011 by jamochawoke

[MarkInMKUK]

A suggestion for any cosmetic mods like armors - make versions for the popular body mods too, as otherwise your entire comments page will be full of people whining that you didn't do them for Exnem's / BAB / HGEC / DMRA / TGND / whatever

 

... and weight them for BBB or you'll get that faction nagging too

Edited April 9, 2011 by MarkInMKUK

[jamochawoke]

I'm going to have to respectfully decline. I feel putting 12 hours per armor and another hour converting the texture to the other armor (that's heavy blue/yellow male, heavy blue/yellow female, light blue/yellow male, light blue/yellow female, champion male, champion female) then spending another 2-3 hours getting all the clipping right (because vanilla armors have issues) is enough for me.

 

Those are just the arena armors. I have quite a few other armors to do.

 

If someone wants the armors for non-vanilla bodies, they are at perfect liberty to make them for those bodies after asking me first :P.

 

 

Vanilla Drops is supposed to keep the vanilla look and feel... so doing stuff for other bodies is kind of beyond my scope... especially with how massive this mod already is :thumbsup:

[MarkInMKUK]

OK - as long as you have a policy in place :)

[Deleted1848331User]

Its a good thing the vanilla raiments fit Robert's bodies already :P

 

Sounds like you have a long road ahead to finish this. If I may suggest some things (if you're after fixing some annoying things), you could change some AI packages (Like the Odill AI) to make them run instead of walk. Or like the one Fighter's Guild quest where you have to follow that guy to a ruin and he walks the whole way.

 

Another thing is increasing health of some characters to make the game slightly easier. The only one I think would need changing is Farwil Indarys, however, because he always kills himself when you go to close the Oblivion Gate with him, and then you don't get a reward from the Cheyhindal Count. (Either Thornblade or the Staff of Indarys)

 

I like how this sounds, so I'll try it out when it comes out, I'm sure!

[jamochawoke]

I've now finished all of the Arena Raiments and made several fixes to things in the Arena that were bothering me quite a great deal.

 

The only thing about the Raiments is I need to fix a small clipping issue with some of the heavy raiments and then they are ready for release :).

 

Once done I'll probably release all Arena changes as a self-contained mod.

[jamochawoke]

Decided to give an update today.

 

Been working for the past two weeks on creating the new Winged Twilight mesh (a daedra annoyingly absent from Oblivion!!!).

 

I originally started by attempting to import a Morrowind modded Winged Twilight into Oblivion, but I since learned that that is a legal no-no. So I have been making one from scratch which will make it nice and high poly anyways. I have been manipulating a mesh from the HGEC mod for the upper body, adding lots of "unearthly" elements to the body... So far everything looks amazing! The lower body will prove to be a much tougher challenge but I've gotten the skeleton correct on the legs and feet... so creating a mesh around those shouldn't be TOOO tough.

 

I'm about 50% done with the mesh right now (upper body and wings done).

 

I've learned that custom weighting a custom mesh with rigging really sucks :P.

 

Pictures coming soon if anyone is interested... no textures yet though.