[WIP] The Ravenwood Island project

[morovir]

Ok, first the new terminal textures:


I darkened the base texture, and matched the color to that holodisk texture. (it's a third-party retex of the fallout 3 holodisk) It now feels like it fits together a bit better. The right tape deck has a custom mesh with a circuit board texture as the background, and motor drives as cylinders. Looks  much better in-game.

Now, for the work on Arbor Glen:











Arbor Glen's forest floor isn't even close to done, but I am getting very happy with the results. I'm using a much darker vine texture on the ground that goes better with the muddy stone I'm using in the waterways. That, combined with more of the dark leaf textures is making the ground much darker and richer. I am still using the lighter dead leaves textures in "pools" where the light shines through the canopy.

Vertex coloring is also coming along nicely. I'm using a dark, forest green under the philodendrons and ferns, and a lighter (but still dark) green in places where the canopy is heavy. I'm aiming for a rain-forest look, and it's finally starting to look a bit more like it. Unfortunately, frame rates are starting to drop in certain areas, especially in fog. I'm going to have to lay off the northern most path, for example. I don't want to go below 30 fps on my rig - which is an AMD 64x2 5600+ with an nVidia 9800 GTX+.

I'm also working on getting the mod packaged up enough to ship as an early alpha. ShaddowT (on the officials) has offered to help out on interiors, and I can certainly use the help. I have a lot of homes that need filling out. Unfortunately, I've been a bit liberal with leaving files all over the place, so I'm going to have to get busy getting things organized!

[morovir]

I think I've just about got this beast packaged up for transport. It's a shade over 368MB compressed, and I took the opportunity to clean the crap out of it while I was at it. (making sure meshes are pointing in the right place, etc.)

It's in alpha shape, but at least my modding folder isn't a total trash pile anymore. I need to organize my junk pile as well, but for now, I'm focused on getting the current mod hosted somewhere.

[Mojito]

In an Austin Powers-like voice- "Groovy Baybie, yeah!"

I like it so far. Keep it up.

[morovir]

A variety of screen shots from around the island.

The first two are in Hrordis' Sweetshop. I added a cafe section - sort of like Starbucks, but with out the overpriced, crappy coffee. The next shot is Kyne's laboratory. I still have a lot of work to do in here, so it's kind of empty at the moment, but he is a consequential character.

The next three shots are in one of the NPC's homes. I'm aiming for imperial bureaucrat, but with some personal touches. The lady in the photograph is across the street...

The next set of shots show the progress on the bridges around the river port. I ditched the cobble stone, and went with dirt/grass paths everywhere. There is still cobblestone in Bree, and the keep itself, but I didn't figure it would make much sense to have paved roads everywhere.

The last two shots are part of the armory in Bree. I'm aiming for a Bass Pro Shop look.

[Oubliette]

Uhm... is that a wooden aardvark in those last two shots?

[morovir]

Uhm... is that a wooden aardvark in those last two shots?

Uh, no - it's supposed to be a marble wolf. I guess the texturing didn't go so well...

[Wolf]

Well it looks great anyways morovir.

[Oubliette]

Looks great the aardvark just threw me off a bit, maybe howling would be a better look for it.

[morovir]

Well, I asked my wife - and she thought it was a gargoyle or demon. I kind of like that, though. I'll try a few more animal statues, but this one may stay.

[peachykeen]

I wasn't exactly sure what it was either, when I first looked. In your screen it almost blends in.
I think, and I'm not really sure cause of the angle and not being able to see it ingame, but your texture looks more flecked than grained or marbled. If you really want it to jump out as a marble statue, doing up a marble texture in Photoshop and slapping that one may help. Just make it a high-res texture and use planar UV mapping, with the plane along the wolf's body (slicing it in half, long-wise). It sounds like a bad idea, but it will stretch the marble texture around curves and give it a carved, veined feeling (at least I think it will).
To stand out as a wolf, I think the ears are too flat. If a dog has its ears up, they're usually pointed forward. If they're pointed to the side, they tend to be slicked back. Just a few minor things that might make it be more obvious.

[Oubliette]

Oh I wasn't saying that I didn't like it but its very oddness stuck out so much I found myself wonder "well what's the story with that?" I had no idea how it would fit but I could see you coming up with a wonderful and convoluted explanation for it that would be well worthwhile, since you're not a lore hater

[shannon]

I've not disappeared, but most of the work lately hasn't been amenable to screen shots. Mostly misc objects and scripts. I have a deeper respect for Bethsoft after incorporating just a few dozen miscellaneous objects.

Of course, I'm aiming a bit higher with mine, but still - retexturing models, creating new icons, and getting it all in-game is tedious.

This comment makes me wonder if you are adding meshes one at a time. Do you know you can drag and drop the nifs into the misc tab (or wherever you want them to be) and they will show up immediately? I dont have any tricks for doing the icons faster though.

[morovir]

I've not disappeared, but most of the work lately hasn't been amenable to screen shots. Mostly misc objects and scripts. I have a deeper respect for Bethsoft after incorporating just a few dozen miscellaneous objects.

Of course, I'm aiming a bit higher with mine, but still - retexturing models, creating new icons, and getting it all in-game is tedious.

This comment makes me wonder if you are adding meshes one at a time. Do you know you can drag and drop the nifs into the misc tab (or wherever you want them to be) and they will show up immediately? I dont have any tricks for doing the icons faster though.

Oh yes, I know about the drag-n-drop, but many of the items I'm bringing in don't have icons already. My solution is to drop one in an empty cell, take a screenshot, and use PS to make an icon for it. This generally goes pretty fast, since empty cells use a flat background color (just use the magic select by color tool, and invert the selection) I then go back into the CS, and add the icons to the items. If there is a faster way to do that, I'm all ears.

[shannon]

I just wanted to save you some of the pointless effort I put into one of my old mods, but you already have it covered.

[MSam]

morovir, I've been watching your progress on a couple of sites and I thought it was about time I posted a comment. I really love the scope of the project and the amount of detail you're putting into it! The really subtle stuff that makes the mod so unique, like the portraits of the characters and the placement of items made to look like clutter it's like the NPCs are actually alive (..?).

So anyway, really loving the work. I'm thrilled to see that people in the Morrowind community still have such ambitions to continue such work!

[morovir]

morovir, I've been watching your progress on a couple of sites and I thought it was about time I posted a comment. I really love the scope of the project and the amount of detail you're putting into it! The really subtle stuff that makes the mod so unique, like the portraits of the characters and the placement of items made to look like clutter it's like the NPCs are actually alive (..?).

So anyway, really loving the work. I'm thrilled to see that people in the Morrowind community still have such ambitions to continue such work!

Thanks!

I appreciate the comments.

I only wish I could have worked on this the last week. I've been sick as a dog with some stuff my daughter brought home. Argh. I'm *still* hacking, and it's been a week. Good thing I love that kid...

I'm working on a geothermal feature on the South end of the island at the moment. I hope it turns out well, as I've got some real plans for it.

[morovir]

Finally! I'm over the mess that's had me sandbagged for so long.

I decided to do some exterior work in the geothermal area. No statics yet, I'm still molding the landscape. Lots of sulfurous rocks and mud, and I'm going to need one hell of a fog machine for this area. I'm aiming for something similar, but not quite, Molag Amur. I'm working on retexturing the mud pots, and I'll put in steam vents, in a few areas. Ravenwood isn't a live volcano, but it is geothermally "interesting" - in the same way Yellowstone is.

Unfortunately, no screen shots. For one, MGE is suddenly having problems with water. It is rendering water in map view as all black - so all the subtle colorations in the mineral pool are lost. I'll have to disable MGE, and gets some screenies. However, I also need to do some major smoothing. The current pools and stream are still a bit too rough.

The mud pots will help a lot, but I'm also going to borrow some dead trees as well.

I am thinking of trying my hand at turning the kwama foragers into real leeches - unless someone already has a good leech. I need something more like a leech for Arbor Glen.

[morovir]

The geothermal pool is coming along nicely, but I'm having a hard time transitioning to the rock above. I've also discovered that the weather is going to be an issue. It snows a lot in the highlands, and technically, this pool is in the highlands. I may have to alter that, or create a separate region for the pool area, but the snow really hides the colors. (It's very technicolored in clear weather)

I've also altered the asmire pots for the area with new textures. They are looking OK, but I distinctly remember a true mudpot mesh at one time - one that sort of burbled. I really wish I could find that mesh, as the current mudpots just aren't quite what I'm looking for. (Sort of a cross between one of Korana's cauldrons, and a rock formation)

I'm also studying real geothermal areas to get more ideas, but I really want to create a MYST-like machine for the area. Most of the water is barely ankle deep on purpose, but some pipes would make a nice addition. Something to remind you that Ravenwood is a bit of an odd place. Ah, but I'm so early in the development cycle for this area, it could go in almost any direction. It's a shame imageshack is down. I took a few screenshots of my progress.

[Truce]

Hey i just read the 3 pages and i have to say im impressed with what ive seen and i just cant wait to see it in my game [=

[Oubliette]

Hey Morovir lookie: http://forums.bethsoft.com/index.php?/t ... __16175326

He made updated versions of the trees your using that might actually not have too much of an FPS hit since he's working on a slow laptop. Says he might release them as a resource if there's enough interest in them

[morovir]

Hmm. Looks interesting. Last post indicates everything is good to go on a release too.

[Oubliette]

Actually he just released, waiting on a PES dl link last I checked

[morovir]

Wow, it's hard to believe it's been two weeks since I've sat in front of this computer. My MIL was in town, which makes it hard to mod...

Anyway, I have some shots of a geothermal area I was working on before she arrived. It's extremely early - almost no statics - but it's shaping up nicely. There is a deep, multi-hued pool, and a shallow (ankle deep) stream that runs to the sea.

I'm going to try to get started on statics soon. I actually have a modified mud-pot in there already, but the eventual goal is go add some dead trees and a sampling station. I'm aiming for something subtly MYST-like with the area.

[Oubliette]

So that's where you've been! Welcome back!

[morovir]

More updates on the Geothermal Pool area. It now has it's own region, to make it foggier. It's still on the coast, so no rain, but it will alternate between fog, overcast, and snow.

I haven't finished the statics, but I have started in texturing and vertex coloring statics. As you can tell, I've got a lot of work left, but it's coming along. I'm also working on the vertex paints in the CS to help with blending. The goal is a brightly colored, mineral pool, with a muddy stream leaving it.

BTW - I took the standard waterfall mist and recolored it yellow. I'm going to add a modified lava activator for damage in those pots as well.