House Mod Input

[mellophonist]

I am going to be starting a collection of house mods alongside my dungeon projects and would like you, the Nexus, to give me some input. Because after all, the mods I make will be made with you in mind! Now, I can simply make some generic houses that have a ton of armor mannequins, chests, weapon racks, etc. but that would be boring, so I'm asking you all the following questions...

1. What type of house do you like the best? (dark, hunter lodge, hidden, etc.)
2. What kinds of houses do you think are missing from the Nexus that would bring some new life to the housing section
3. Is there anything very specific you would like to see implemented in a house mod, something never done before?
4. What do you think makes a house mod unsuccessful/successful?

Now keep in mind I am only a single person and I want to do several house mods, so any ideas that are sovengard sized I will probably not take into account, due to the fact that it would require too much attention on a single mod. However this does not mean I don't want to be challenged! Give me your craziest, wackiest, most insane ideas you can think of! I want to be challenged when doing these mods and I want them to be unique on the Nexus. With Skyrim being dead in the water, now is the time to really kick the creativity in the modding community into high gear!

 

I look forward to all your ideas and thank you for all your input in advance!

[EnigManic]

Skyrim definitely needs more variety. What we really need are new architecture packages. Floors, walls, ceilings, doors and doorways, etc. New construction kits with different architectural styles would be invaluable.

[mellophonist]

Yeah I've been looking into finding different texture packs for interior cells but I haven't had much luck, you wouldn't happen to know of any would you?

[Luafien]

Well I’ll see if I can help out ;3

 

I’m fairly fussy when it comes to player houses, I’ve yet to have one that I was completely satisfied with.

 

1. I don’t really have a specific type of house I like, though I know the kind I don’t like are the huge, ostentatious variety. The one thing that will make me uninstall a house immediately is if it has multiple load doors- not inside to outside variety, but you need a loading screen to get to the basement, the master bedroom, ect. My rig, aging as she may be, isn’t bad with loadtimes, but it breaks the flow of the house and I find it unreasonably irritating.

 

2. As far as missing kinds of houses, I’m not entirely sure that any particular area is underrepresented. Perhaps a few medium or small-size houses for vampries, assassins, or thieves? I know there’s a few larger ones for evil-types, but a few subtler ones would be appreciated. Subtle as in not splattered in blood with Dark Brotherhood symbols everywhere, but darker in atmosphere, a slightly sinister or moody feel.

 

3. Well I’m not sure if anything hasn’t been done yet. Hm… Oh, I know. An apartment-style living space. Not like a modern apartment, but I think the jist is easy to grasp. It’s a bigger building, perhaps a repurposed estate, and there’s lots of rooms and only one of them is yours. Neighbors can be incorporated, some annoying, some friendly. Some creepy. Crazy landlady, ect. I had the thought about this the other day when I was contemplating how the cities of Skyrim have a max population of twenty.

 

4. Besides load doors, the largest thing that bothers me with house mods are the mannequins/displays. I find the ‘armory’ idea as just a room jammed full of mannequins to be particularly hideous. Mannequins that are incorporated into existing spaces tend to look better, or if they just have a small little nook instead of plunked down on the floor. I think the best mannequin display I have ever seen was in Rayek’s End. (Rayek’s easily would have been my idea house, I could live with it being too small, but I found its world location to be annoying. It’s right by a road, so you had a 50/50 chance of not being able to fast travel when you went outside due to enemies on the road.) It has one mannequin, but it’s in a little alcove and elevated up. It simply is the loveliest thing.

 

That being said, I love displays. Especially ones for jewelry or other forms of wealth. It just has to be tastefully place.

 

Another tiny peevish thing is when a house mod incorporates a lot of in game items as statics to decorate the house. It looks pretty, gorgeous even, the problem being is that none of that stuff is yours. And not in the way that you can’t snatch it and go, but that you did not earn that item and place it there.

 

 

Now that I’ve finished talking your ear off, good luck!

[Kraeten]

As something of a seasoned abode maker myself, hopefully my input will prove useful in some regard.

 

 

Q: What type of house do you like the best? (dark, hunter lodge, hidden, etc.)

 

A: Castles. Forts. Keeps. I like homes that are fortified. Pretty cottages and cabins really aren't my thing. Overall, the field of castle abodes is still ripe for improvement too. Deus Mons is hardly the best thing that can possibly be made....and as much as I like Eagle's Nest it isn't exactly a castle. More of a fine estate really.

 

 

Q: What kinds of houses do you think are missing from the Nexus that would bring some new life to the housing section?

 

A: I don't think any are necessarily missing. We've had dozens of Cottages, Cabins, Castles, Estates and other player abodes. We've had dwemer abodes galore too. What's missing I think, are high quality abodes that are actually added into the vanilla game in a lore friendly way. Adding a quest to the abode for instance goes a long way towards making a mod feel authentic.

 

Q: Is there anything very specific you would like to see implemented in a house mod, something never done before?

 

A: A well written and lore friendly quest with voice actors/actresses. This is by no means an easy task, but it would make the abode very special.

 

Q: What do you think makes a house mod unsuccessful/successful?

 

A: This depends on taste, and taste varies. I'll try to mention the big ones though. Firstly, there are drapes. "Drapes?!" you might ask incredulously. Yes. Drapes. I can't tell you why, but people LOVE drapes. Put them near windows, put them over doorways or put them around a fine bed. They'll love you for it even as you die a little inside. Okay that was a little dramatic but you get the picture. Secondly, there is the matter of "shinies". Nevermind the fact it might crap on the lore, people like their homes cluttered with shinies. Dragon heads mounted on walls, stuffed dragons, Daedric shrine statues, statues in general really even the one from Sovengarde all can be considered shinies. People also like well stocked kitchens, which means cramming the walls with shelves and drawers...then stuffing those shelves with wine bottles, mead, or bread..food in general. There's also rugs to consider. No successful player abode lacked rugs.

 

Display cases and weapon racks must also be mentioned. People like a lot of these in their abodes. Just not too many. Ten is probably a safe enough number, but that could be considered too much depending on the abode. Location of the mod is pretty important too. Pick a spot with a nice view and you've made your abode much more attractive.

 

There are a number of things that can make a mod unsuccessful too though. At this point lacking nav mesh will almost instantly turn people away. Poor lighting, either by having numerous light sources blinking on and off due to conflicts, or just having too few light sources in general will also turn people away. I'm sure there are more but the heat here is distracting me.

[jecoil]

1. Mid-sized, comfortable homes with plenty of space to display my trophies in style. A few luxuries, like pools or patios, but not the gaudy mega-palaces and full-blown forts. I don't like spending time simply trying to find my way around, so a simple layout is preferred.

 

2. I have not found a single custom player home compatible with children. Most don't even allow spouses without an additional mod. I need more space for kids, since I find myself collecting urchins the way my mom collects cats. Is the Hearthfire adoption system too complex to be modded? I've been trying to redo Lakeview myself, but I'm new at CK and it is a slow and maddening process.

 

3. I will say what I DONT want - merchants and trainers. I mean come on, who has someone running a shop out of their private home? Logically, that would mean strangers are coming in to do business while you are gone - otherwise these merchants would go bankrupt with you as their only customer. Just imagine what else these strangers are doing while "shopping". They could be drinking your mead, hitting on your spouse, harassing your chickens or going through your underwear drawer. No thank you, I'll ride into town to conduct my business.

 

4. Location, location, location. A boring house in an excellent location will outperform a excellent house in a boring/bad location every time.

[mellophonist]

Thank you so much for all your feedback! I love how some of your comments were... colorful... to say the least :P I kid, I kid. Anyways I'll definitely take all these thing into consideration when I start my first here in the coming weeks now that college is over for the summer. Once I get it into a semi alpha state I would love to have you all as alpha/beta testers! Ill let you know when it does get to that point. Thanks again!

[Apollyna]

Aha! What a good thread to see... great minds think alike, eh? I hope more people post here so we get a good consensus of opinions. I guess I could contribute, too... hmm.

 

1. What type of house do you like the best? (dark, hunter lodge, hidden, etc.)

2. What kinds of houses do you think are missing from the Nexus that would bring some new life to the housing section

3. Is there anything very specific you would like to see implemented in a house mod, something never done before?

4. What do you think makes a house mod unsuccessful/successful?

 

1. I like small homes. I need to get in, dump my stolen loot, sleep the night away, and get back out adventuring. But I also need a pretty home in a good location. I want something that fits my character - a dark lair in the cold north for my vampire, a warm and inviting cottage for my ranger, a hideaway for my thief, etc.

 

2. We have a great many castles and mansions and over-cluttered-with-miniature-statues dwemer ruins. I would welcome more plain houses, more immersion- and lore-friendly places.

 

3. Very specific... hmm... named storage is a big plus in my book, almost a selling point, but I realize this is possibly a bad idea. For one, you could turn some people off who don't want to put their stuff where the author thinks it should go. For another, I recently got a mod (Arrod's Better Containers) that lets you name, move, and craft containers anyway. I suggest mod authors forego uniquely-named storage and instead design their houses in a smart way. Instead of putting all chests along a wall in one room, put some by the forge, some by the door, some by the display cases, etc. And point their users to such a mod as Arrod's. Another specific thing I like to see is an easy to navigate layout. It's a house, not a dungeon, yknow? I like one or two big rooms with what you need in them, or having a hub-like hallway.

 

4. This is difficult to answer. As an author, I want my mod to get views, downloads and comments. I want it to be bug-free and I want people to like it and tell me they like it. As a user, I simply want what I stated above. A simple house that doesn't try to be the biggest, gaudiest thing in the game will suit me just fine.

 

For what it's worth I recommend checking out Riverside Lodge and Heartwood Cottage (can't recall the author right now). In my opinion Riverside Lodge is near perfect, with a gorgeous (GORGEOUS) view, convenient location, small-but-not-too-small size, crafting stations, obvious storage, etc. The same can be said for Heartwood, though it is much smaller. That's fine for me. Like I said, I just need to get in and get out.

 

...Just my two cents, but I hope it helps somehow!

 

..."medium or small-size houses for vampries, assassins, or thieves?" ... "Subtle as in not splattered in blood with Dark Brotherhood symbols everywhere"

 

This is pretty much exactly what I want to do with my time. Themed homes that aren't over-the-top. Good to see there's a market for it.

[mellophonist]

Hey good to hear from you again! And thanks for the input. (Just to be clear I didn't know your thread was open when I made this one, just sheer coincidence!) I will definitely take what you have pointed out into consideration. I hope to be starting on my first one here in the next few weeks, I'll post back on your thread when its in a testable form. If you would like to test it for me when it is, I would definitely appreciate it.

[Kraeten]

I mentioned quests before in my last post. While I still stand by that statement, I thought it might prove useful to mention there's another way to include a player abode into the game in a similar fashion. Darkfox127 made some excellent tutorials recently that explains how to accomplish Hearthfire type scripting. Menus for example. Personally I found this one to be the most useful. To summarize what it teaches, you can read a note or activate an altar....and every item linked to it will be popped into existence. Or removed from existence as well if you have the item checked as opposite to note/altar's status.

 

What does this mean in practice? Take my Grayhill Keep mod I'm working on for instance. When you'll first discover it in Skyrim the exterior and interior will be in disrepair. But after purchasing a deed from a merchant, and reading the deed, the Keep will be restored. This type of scripting allows the player to interact and play a role in acquiring the home much like vanilla player abodes which I'm sure you'll agree is pretty darn cool.

 

There's a screenshot below if you want to see what the script can accomplish.

 

 

 

http://i804.photobucket.com/albums/yy327/Adamant19/Untitled-1copy_zps9a5ba0a0.jpg

 

 

Edited May 10, 2013 by Kraeten