Balmora - Morrowind Remake

[DanGTA]

Hi guys, I've recently started work on remaking parts of Balmora in Morrowind for Oblivion, I'm putting my years of experience in texturing to use, and hopefully I can produce some half decent results.

 

I've started out remaking some of the Balmora textures in higher resolution, from scratch. Here's a screenshot of a comparison of the original Morrowind textures compared with mine.

 

Original (Left), My Remakes (Right)

http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/6898/balmorawallpreview01fj5.th.jpg

 

Here is a new screenshot showing a Morrowind model with my textures on...

http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/9928/balmorawallpreview02qr7.th.jpg

 

They're not excellent, but they should look pretty decent in-game. I plan on finishing every Balmora texture, since most of them are similar to each other. Let me know what you think :)

 

If any of you can offer support (for modelling, textures or mapping) let me know by sending me an email, I'd love to work in a team on this project :)

 

I'll try to update this thread as much as possible, so keep checking back :D

 

Thanks,

Dan

 

Ps. Do you think it's worth remodelling everything to add them few extra polys? Although, i could just make them look more detailed with normal maps...

[TheTerminator2004]

I'm afraid you'd have to make all new models- Its illegal to use the original Morrowind models in Oblivion.

[crazydave]

I'm afraid you'd have to make all new models- Its illegal to use the original Morrowind models in Oblivion.

not necessarily, I'm pretty sure its completely legal as long as he isn't redistributing Morrowind meshes, He can always use the morrowind archives, but it would mean that you would need Morrowind to play the mod.

[TheTerminator2004]

Do you mean the Morrowind .bsa files? Because using them would be the same as using a .zip archive with all the meshes in- they are just another way of compressing files, after all.

 

I'm afraid there is no way it would be legal to use anything from Morrowind- not the models, not the code, nothing. It is really quite irritating.

 

Besides this project is already being done: TES4 Vvardenfell

[crazydave]

Do you mean the Morrowind .bsa files? Because using them would be the same as using a .zip archive with all the meshes in- they are just another way of compressing files, after all.

Im not saying to upload the morrowind BSA with the mod, Im saying you tell the plugin that the meshes it needs are in your BSA, witch you wont have unless you have morrowind installed. You aren't distributing thier stuff, so its completely legal.

[DanGTA]

I'm aware of all the legal stuff and that mod, which is why it's no hassle if i model the meshes myself. But, could you at least comment on the textures i have made? That is what i originally asked for...

[Peregrine]

For those of you saying you can just make your Oblivion plugin with references to the original Morrowind .nif files, it doesn't work. Back before we had model import tools, I tried using the export plugins for Morrowind to get objects into Oblivion. The model files do not appear properly (it got the bounding box, but not the model... and if I remember right, crashed the CS eventually), since at some point Bethesda changed the details of the file format. To use Morrowind's models, you'd need to import them into your 3d modeling software, then export them to Oblivion's version of .nif. So unless you want to publish a package of textures with "buy 3dsmax, and do the rest yourself", you'd need to distribute your edited version of the Morrowind models.

 

Of course that's kind of a gray area... since you're editing them and releasing them in a completely different format, they're not techincally the same model. I forget what the exact percentage difference required to call it a "new" work of art is, but in theory you could use the Morrowind models as a base for your new work. But like I said, it's really a gray area... I'm not a lawyer, I'm just repeating what I've heard elsewhere.

 

Besides, you're better off rebuilding them anyway. Morrowind's graphics were good for the time, but you might as well take advantage of the higher poly counts allowed by Oblivion's engine.

 

 

 

As for your textures, they really need some work. Right now, they kind of look like a step backwards from Morrowind. I can't tell if it's the texture itself, or your rendering setup, but the colors (especially near the top of the wall in the first image) look really washed out and faded. Could you post some neutral-lighting radiosity renders so it's clearer?

 

Also, you need to add dirt. Dirt is your friend. If you're increasing the resolution, take advantage of it and layer on the dirt, cracks, paint chips, etc. If you want a simple trick for this, use the render-to-texture (or texture baking, or whatever your software calls it) option to render an ambient occlusion pass in unwrapped form. The dark areas are the cracks... paint dirt in those areas, as a good start.