New Provinces

[LithianLord]

"The creation kit isn't even out yet and this guy wants to remake entire games already. What a looney."

 

Yes I know how the title sounds, but I am here to give you a logical explanation of my findings and interests. I don't expect this to get past discussion by any means, but I have complete faith in the community to see the opportunity that lay before us. There have been mods such as Morroblivion (that caused a stir last time I checked. Apparently people didn't like combining games) and so forth that allow you to travel to different games. There have also been total additions of provinces that have gone past little but area design. MY favorite mod is Elsywer and I remember having a mod that added valenwood and skyrim. Both of the later hardly had any content and no NPCs. Still amazing feats of creation that I loved every moment of.

 

I remember modding in Fallout 3 and trying to make whole new areas outside the border areas. After many talks with various modders, we came to the conclusion that adding new areas entirely with transition points in the vanilla world was not only easier, but much more compatible. I find this a shame though as any addition areas are so obviously modded projects and create a disconnection to the main world.

 

Where am I getting at in all of this? Skyrim has the resources and framework to add on other beloved provinces. By no means a small feat, but the attention to detail Bethesda has shown gives us the opportunity to think big. I now draw your attention to this Youtube video:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlbA2qiXsf0&feature=player_embedded

 

For those that cannot watch this or do not understand where I am going with this...let me explain. As a background design, Bethesda has created hallow landscapes for the surrounding provinces of Skyrim. Now this is so those who venture to the farthest mountains in the game have a sense of direction. From what I see, it may be possible to see the white tower from a mountain in Skyrim. But what does this mean for the modding community? From what I can see in this video alone, there is a full framework for talented modders to recreate areas of Tamriel. Again, no small feat.

 

What I take out of this video is not - "There is land! Someone add some buildings!" Instead I see it as Bethesda has made the engine support a much larger area than the game contains. We are shown that we can easily remove the barriers provided by the game and continue building where Bethesda took off. It doesn't need to be Tamerial, but the opportunity to expand is there before we even have our hands on a creation kit.

 

TL;DR - Skyrim is jam-packed with detail. Every part of the game is hand crafted and it shows off. We don't have huge empty space like in oblivion nor do we have the "simplicity" of morrowind. For those teams dedicate to larger projects, please consider expanding this beautiful game instead of trying to cram more content into an already filled province.

Edited November 18, 2011 by LithianLord

[carnith]

I'd love to see some of the surround areas added, even if in smaller increments. I've personally been looking into starting a mod to slowly add High Rock, starting with the Western Reach (Jehanna and Farrun + southern Mtns.). Many attempts will made at province mods I'm sure, hopefully some will succeed as well as say Silgrad Tower did.

[TheReverendTholomewPlague]

It's like they're asking us to add the other provinces into the game...

[Mansh00ter]

The only problem I see with using the background landmass is that it cuts off abruptly, so you would either have to expand it (not sure if possible) or change it so that there are impassable barriers. For example Vvardenfell and Red Mountain are cut neatly in half. Other than that, to have the basic geography already there is very neat.

[Ashbean]

this would be amazing to see- especially morrowind, as we'd see how it is now after the red mountain eruption- maybe all the towns would be ruined/