LE Rebuilding Winterhold

[GoodfellowGoodspring]

I agree with Jodi79, the Winterhold destruction mod is more lore friendly and actually fits in with the area, i only use the exteriors however as i find the interior cells which were recently added a little underwhelming.

 

The other mod listed seems unfinished and really messy, i would ethier try fixing the mod myself or use the defense mod or the city building mod instead OP.

[Cardolan]

I'd think, if you look down you see that the entrance-walkway to the college is suspended, could this mean that we're talking harbour-city (a bit like what they tried with bravil)?

So you have the two (as it is in regular skyrim), then a nice stone-hewn stairway down that cliff, a harbour setup (maybe some cargo elevator platforms that lift cargo up the cliff. A bridge (like the one at the college spanning that ravine (that holds the harbour) and on the other side the rest of the town. Do make sure to add walls (like the ones on riverview and falkreath) to make it seem as if they've rebuilt. Adding whiterun/solitude/windhelm/riften walls to the city will make it seem odd that those survived the destruction.

So I'd go with adding some houses and a market-square behind the current Inn.

Those ruins next to the inn, opposite the Jarl's house (the ones where you enter town from (not on the side of the college) could be converted into a nice elaborate stables
open courtyard with bales of straw, with stables on the opposite side (so you get a courtyard that's bordered by the Inn, the stable-house, the actual stables and the main road. For the long thin house, make it half the width of the courtyard and put a blacksmith forge, anvil, tanning rack, workbench under a roof next to it (smelter a bit away).

Behind this, you make semi open storage zones (roof supported by pillars on the sides, no walls) filled with big crates and such. near the edge of the cliff you put big wooden cranes to make it look like cargo elevators.

Next to this, behind the Inn you make a marketsquare that is boxed in by this storage zone and the inn. opposite the inn, you put a stone carved staircase that goes down a bit (the actual descent to the harbour should be via wooden stairs and walkways (platforms that are affixed to the side of the cliff itself. Do this at both sides (maybe smoothen the cliff on both sides to make it look better). Add a few wooden bridges that connect the two cliffs here (so from walkway/platform over bridge to other side where it connects to walkways too). You could use the bridge format from dungeons and it so that some are opened (put a ship with masts under it to make it look like that's why the bridge is open). Do keep in mind to keep holes in the walkways (or add those bridges on the cliff too) so the cargo elevators can pass (not that they have to actually move).

Down in the Docks, just add docks, deepen the water here, you can remove the sandy beaches here and just make it seem as if the cliffs go down a bit further). Small fishing boats, maybe a bigger ship can be added here. Make sure that when you make the docks that you make not all out of just wood, stone piers where the heavy cargo can be unloaded and put in the elevators to be lifted up could be fun here. Do keep the passage open though, make it seem as if the ships sail in on one side and out the other (think you could get two of the ships (like the one moored in dawnstar) to lie next to one another (allowing you to cross to the other side over the decks too)). Add a sawmill here as well if you can (can't have that up there due to the fact they are powered by water).

Now back up to the market, a few stalls (not many, it's a cold area so keep in mind to maybe make it a roofed market with stalls built in).

Next to the market, opposite the storage zone with elevator, you could add either some homes (or maybe a few slums?). Alternatively, what about a small park? Don't put a statue to the divines, put something honouring Ysgramor there.

Last spot on this side, boxed in by park, entry to college and the Inn, add a few homes.

Two walls (like the falkreath/riverview ones) just to cover the entrance to town and that passage you take with Tolfdir to get to Saarthal. Keep those open or with openable gates, no need to hinder the path of NPC when you don't have to.

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Across the ravine then, same as on the other side, walkways that connect the docks below to a single wide non-ornate roughly hewn staircase that ends in a small square. the college fills a lot of the space here so just put a shady tavern opposite it (no bedrooms, just drink and food). I'd add a small church opposite the stairs and fill the rest with houses. Don't go too far though (those ruins, consider them a barrow or the like => the superstitious locals won't go too close to them. Surround the lot with a wall (like riverview/falkreath) and a single gate)

Do keep in mind that there is a maze of tunnels under the college that has an exit somewhere on this side of the ravine (forgot exact location). For a hall of the dead, I'd suggest either putting a door in the cliff on the side of the (vanilla town) and put it far below the town.

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A small sidenote, You could make the whole cargo idea more elaborate (seeing how deep that gorge goes). Go with the walkway idea, but add a few wooden platforms that span the gorge. add elevators there so you can lift the cargo from the ships to the platform, then move it to another elevator to be lifted to the top.

Another sidenote, you can make the harbour bigger still if you expand north too.

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REASONING:

I see the Nords as vikings, settled down a bit these days. Winterhold was, in my eyes, the capital of the old ways. From here they sent out raiding parties to loot the coasts of Solstheim and such (think vikings looting england and most of europe's shores). For that, you'd need elaborate structures to load and unload cargo, and a rather big harbour facility.

I'd keep the random objects to a minimum though (the outsides just crates you can't interact with, statues of the same and such (cos i don't want to turn it into those closed off segments like Solitude/whiterun/windhelm/riften and the cities of Oblivion). The market, make sure to make it in such a way that it seems they aren't stupid. Or turn it into a bazaar-like structure, wide indoor space with stalls filling it. For shop ideas: clothing, potions, ingredients, jewellery, armour, weapons, vegetables/fruit, meat, drink and books (?). Remember, there is a general shop already. Give it three entrances (one on storage side, one on park side and one facing the stone stairway to the wooden walkways over the docks and the wooden bridges across.

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I'm not that good at making mods, though if you want (and if this idea intrigued some of you, I can try to make this (long work though) or i can find some aerial shots of the city and draw/mark where i'd place everything).

Just let me know okay?

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ADDED:
Just a quick idea. Couldn't you turn the whole thing into a quest? Once the civil war is over, the new high king tells you to talk to the Winterhold Jarl. You need to do certain things (go talk to the jarl of falkreath to get lumber, talk to the one in Malkath for stonemasons and such. Each time you get a special item as reward.

Now we incorporate Hearthfire into it. In a place of town we put a drafting table and Carpenter's workbench. Since the quests cover materials, you just pay the special item and a new house/stable, part of the harbour gets added (like how you put the foundations, walls etc up using materials (for your houses).

Each quest-chain would unlock a specific area of town, and subquests allow you to build up that segment. Once an area is done, you talk to the jarl, who gives you a reward, starts the next segment and NPC start to arrive to use the new place.

Once everything is done, ships appear in town and you get a plot of land overlooking the new town where you can build a home yourself (like the hearthfire places).

PS: Thinking about learning how to make this mod myself, sounds like fun tbh.
PPS: Found a map and coloured it in to show a bit of what i had in mind:

colour code:
- Yellow = economic/industry zone (mostly cargo-storage, cargo lifts, and such)
- Deep red = stairs (connecting to walkways, not drawn here)
- Brown = residential area (where houses will be added)
- purple = walls (riverview/falkreath type)
- light blue = water (after deepening the gorge and removing beaches)
- dark blue = zones for possible fishing villages (few huts, fishing boats, maybe some nets?)
- dark blue area at top right (maybe make that into an old dock of the college? think that the entrance to those tunnels may be nearby so it could be turned into the place where the foodstuff and such for the college is brought in (like that old supply dock on castle volkihar (dawnguard)).
- light beige = zone for small church and a few houses
- khaki green = market area (thinking of making it a zoned hall (due to cold - think bazaar))
- light green = area with forge (for smithing)
- red = stable-house
- orange = stables (thinking walls and gate to keep cold out for horses)
- dark green (1) = courtyard (some bales of hay/straw)
- dark green (2) = at bottom of map, could move purple walls here and add an entire district of homes to town
- pink = park dedicated to Ysgramor
- dark yellow = path carved in stone leading to fishing village and connecting to docks.

 

LINK: http://postimg.org/image/tbjed5f69/

Edited May 29, 2013 by Cardolan

[mlee3141]

This gives me a lot of inspiration! I might have to rethink the rebuilding Winterhold part of my project.

[it4edda]

Hi guys! Have you seen DovahFahliil's work on Winterhold? He's writing a future Skyrim tale. Where Winterhold is rebuilt by The Black Dragon Trading Company. It's not a mod but with some extensive work in Creation Kit I can start adding the docks and see what I can do with the rest.

 

I like the layout of this Winterhold better than the current revamped versions. This will be new, not just ruins.

 

Old news or are you happy to see this?

 

/Dave

 

http://dovahfahliil.deviantart.com/

 

http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2014/031/2/c/the_odmi_collection__arrival_at_winterhold_by_dovahfahliil-d74j9te.jpg

 

http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2014/020/8/3/winterhold_map_4e214_by_dovahfahliil-d732bka.jpg

 

http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2014/020/4/d/winterhold_reborn_p_25_p_26_by_dovahfahliil-d732d70.jpg

[haiUnder]

This is a great idea and I have been kinda hoping for Winterhold mods. All the smaller citites seem to get overlooked a lot and even riverwood is more popular modding wise than places like Morthal, Winterhold, and Falthreath. If someone is really considering doing this I might be of some help with the writing and testing. It would be good to have another mod similar to Helgen Reborn, that one I really enjoyed.

[bben46]

Moving this to Skyrim Mod Requests -