Settlements of Cyrodiil

[mhahn123]

Just wanted to announce the upcoming release of my newest project.

 

 

Before industrialization the main occupation of people, for ALL civilizations, has been agriculture.

Without a reliable source of food, no empire could fuel it's troops or civilian population for long.

Cyrodiil is vast, boasting 9 fortified cities and an immense population. Many of the popular mods like

Better Cities and Crowded Roads only serve to increase said population. We see food in the homes, Inns

and vendors sell it everywhere you go. Yet where are the farms that should be dotting the landscape in

every direction? Where does all the food come from to feed that population?

 

Settlements of Cyrodiil is an attempt to answer those questions. While there are a good many farming

mods out there, in my opinion it's still too few, there really aren't enough crops to supply such a large

nation. We have plenty of holes still left to fill..........

 

 

Details

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Settlements of Cyrodiil first began as an effort to rescue some very nice farm and village mods that had

gone to the wayside so to speak. Some of these were already successful releases in their own right, but

fell victim to un-patched conflicts with larger, more popular mods. Others were unfinished beta releases

that the original authors simply abandoned, some of the betas suffer from unpatched conflicts as well. I

have been granted permissions from the respective authors to overhaul and re-release these little gems.

 

Along the road to completing these overhauls, I realized there was also a marked lack of diversity in the

farms of Cyrodiil. Even with the many modders resources available, most farm mods retain a lot of the same

characteristics. So I set about creating new models and retexturing a good many others to add more flavor.

 

Settlements of Cyrodiil will be a series of modular releases which all utilize the same resource package. I felt this

was the best approach for avoiding mod conflicts as a whole, implementing future upgrades, and giving the mod

users freedom of choice as to which plugins they use or don't use. You won't have to have all the pieces if

you don't like a particular plugin. This is something that bothered me about other village packs. At some point

when this is much further along, I may do a merged file for those who wish to have everything.

 

 

The overall plan is to:

================

 

a) Relocate each of the settlements if necessary to eliminate mod conflicts, or at the very least minimize

conflicts. In some cases patches may just be unavoidable, there are a LOT of mods out there, and in some

cases moving the settlements too far from the original locale would just spoil the original theme.

 

b) Revamp each settlement to better fit into the chosen location, while maintaining as much of the original

look and feel as possible.

 

c) Tie up loose ends so to speak, fixing errors/glitches within the mods themselves.

 

d) Incorporate some dialogue interaction between settlements to add more ambience. This will most likely be

added into later updates once I am more comfortable with the techniques involved. Just learned how to do

this recently and would prefer to gain more mastery and avoid glitches if possible.

 

e) Add in at the very least some simple quests to each one. Some of the rescue mods have basic quests, sadly

most do not. Right now I'm still learning questmaking, so again would rather wait until I can get it right and

avoid messy fixes. These will most likely be added in the form of updated esps.

 

 

 

Release Plans and info (may not appear in exactly this order)

========================

 

1. White Rose Farm - Formerly White Rose River Farm by Poolacemail. A farming settlement which suffered badly

from conflicts with several larger, more popular mods (The Lost Spires, Shezries Towns,

MTC Expanded Villages). Due to the scope of the conflicts, a patch for any one of these

would have required relocation anyway. Village has been relocated to north bank of the

river eliminating all conflicts and is about 85% complete now.

 

2. Wickmere Farm - Also by Poolacemail. Also suffered from conflicts with other abandoned village mods

contained in this series. A mid sized farming community located on the southeast corner

of Lake Rumare, will only be moved just enough to eliminate conflicts with other mods in this

package. About 70 % done

 

3. Fort Novi Sad - A legion outpost and working farm by Poolacemail. Suffered from conflicts with Unique Landscapes Panther River and the city mod Bartholm. With Bartholm installed, having an outpost right outside the

city walls. New location is a little more strategic placing the settlement on the eastern bank of the

Niben River south of Leyawiin. This location guards entry to Cyodiil's southern waterway. 75%

 

4. Fort Nova Varos- Another legion outpost by Poolacemail. The location was on the tiny little island just north of the

Leyawiin Coast Guard building. This put it in direct conflict with Arthmoor's Molapi village. New

location will be on the opposite bank of the river from it's sister outpost. Again for strategic purposes.

 

5. Silverfish Falls - The fifth and final settlement from Poolacemail. Formerly Lakeview Village. This one used the same

real estate as Shezrie's Lakewood Village and conflicted with UL Aspen Wood. Relocated to the

small lake at the head of Silverfish River. Does conflict with UL Silverfish River, but solved with

correct load order.

 

6. Fisherman's Point - Formerly Fisherman's Rock Beta by Clintmich. Name changed because it was too similar to the

vanilla quest location near Leyawiin. The premise behind this was to create a village settlement

with open air market. Unfortunately never got past initial design stage, was abandoned by author

and never completed. South and east of IC.

 

7. Clearwater Farm - One of my own creations...very first in fact...that has been given a new lease on life. This was my

"on the job training" introduction to the CS. Believe me when I say it didn't look anywhere near as

good then as it does now. It had been gathering dust on my pc for a very long time until I decided

to move forward with this project. Nothing over the top here, just a simple farmstead beside a clear

woodland pond. You will find various crops, sheep, and a "bed" in the sheepfold that can be purchased

for three gold if you get caught out after dark. While it sits in close proximity to several Unique

Landscape mods and one location from Reclaiming Sancre Tor, there are absolutely no conflicts.

 

8. Oranstad - A beta release created by Spectic. Never got past being a "shell" village and has apparently been

abandoned. Fortunately, blanket permissions to alter the mod were included in the description. So

far have found no conflicts. Only remains to flesh out what has already been started. Oranstad can

be found on the road due east of Skingrad and south of Brindle Home.

 

9. Gold Coast Farmlands - Another of my own creations and the single largest undertaking I have embarked on. GCF is a

complete landscape overhaul of the region surrounding Anvil. This mod aims to transform the

Gold Coast area into a thriving farm community. The hillsides are now dotted with settlements

of all sizes, each having a unique ambience and specialty. From berries, to orchards, to poultry

and livestock. Several streams now wind their way through the hills, creating scenic waterfalls.

On weekends the farmers come together from 8-5 at the Gold Coast Farmers Market to hawk their wares

to the hungry masses.

 

10. Niben Barnyards - Transforming the the banks of Niben between Bravil and Leyawiin. This area has now become the bread

basket for southern Cyrodiil. This mod marked the birth of my "diversity" in farming campaign. NB

showcases many newly retextured vanilla farmhouses coupled with matching Barns...several of which

are new models built from scratch.

 

11. Regional Farms and Inns - Another of my own creations. Similar to my "Improved Waterfront Ships" mod, the goal of this mod

was to overhaul the existing farmhouses and Inns in the game. Giving each settlement a retexture

using regional vanilla materials, for the most part at least. I did have to customize some textures.

Only the buildings themselves are being overhauled to avoid conflicts since many modders have

taken aim at vanilla settlements. This will most likely be the first release as all of the models are

finished at this point and simply need to be placed.

 

 

 

There are others which will be announced as I clear some of these off the list. Plenty to stay busy with for a while. Hopefully this will appeal to the community and bring some of these poor orphaned little hamlets the much needed attention they crave. Once I have some free time from work and holiday madness I'll get some screenies posted for everyone to check out.

 

 

 

 

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Edited December 12, 2012 by mhahn123

[Nephenee13]

This sounds really cool! I look forward to trying them out.

 

Not sure if you were aware of Charming or not. I've sorta-kinda taken it over and am working on a few ideas for it. I don't think its location conflicts with an of the places you've mentioned, but just in case.

[mhahn123]

Hi Neph,

 

Yes I've tried out Charming already. Mostly to see what real estate it used, and it doesn't directly conflict with anything else that I know of. It is a nice simple little village, but could have used ...I don't know.... something more. Glad to hear you've picked it up.