[Haley Merkley]

Must have been someone else who asked about Blackwood. The patch seems to have worked, when I had a run around that area. Its handy to know how to make those things.

The patch works, but it's got a bunch of extra edits that don't belong there. A byproduct of how the CS messes things up when you do patch ESPs. I can link the fixed up version for download if you want.

I did however notice a small land tear between cells 3, -1 and 3, -2 if Faregyl.esp loads after (as BOSS suggests) ElseweyrAnequina.esp. The land tear disappears if Faregyl loads first. I did a quick TT (remove trees) and TCL to get a good view of the landscape and couldn't see any landscape conflicts.

This should not be the case unless something in the Elsweyr file has changed. I'll take another look but the last time I wandered into my village everything looked fine.

EDIT: Oh, yeah, no wonder it all looked fine. That would be due to the patch between Faregyl and Elsweyr which is on the download page for Faregyl

[Tracy Byworth]

Sorry, that was a big vague. Here is a screenshot of the spot I mean. The piece by the post I've highlighed without any collision, is where the stairway piece reaches the balcony.
The railing blocking it just needs to be shunted left and that one post removed.

http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/2168/fixcaravanserai.jpg

ah that explains it nicely, thanks and http://www.4shared.com/file/133770900/dc0d7e0a/fixed_caravanserai.html.
Pacific Morrowind

[Mimi BC]

I did a quick tour of the Elseweyr province too, and was mightly impressed. Extraordinare work for *one* (I think?) person! :tops:

Thanks. I can't take any credit for any of the new models or textures though. Those were all created by other modders, as you can see in my very long acknowledgements list.

The patch works, but it's got a bunch of extra edits that don't belong there. A byproduct of how the CS messes things up when you do patch ESPs. I can link the fixed up version for download if you want.

Yes, please do. The CS really has a mind of its own sometimes!

OK, no problems with JQ-Return_of_Dagoth_Ur.esp loaded first. Don't know how important the Path Grids are, though. I guess out in the open it's not so important?
I did however notice a small land tear between cells 3, -1 and 3, -2 if Faregyl.esp loads after (as BOSS suggests) ElseweyrAnequina.esp. The land tear disappears if Faregyl loads first. I did a quick TT (remove trees) and TCL to get a good view of the landscape and couldn't see any landscape conflicts.

EDIT: Oh, yeah, no wonder it all looked fine. That would be due to the patch between Faregyl and Elsweyr which is on the download page for Faregyl

Petrus, you can find that patch on Arthmoor's Faregyl Village mod page. Ignore the reference to my old ElsweyrFaregylRoad.esp . . . that one was all merged into this mod and the patch works for both.
The path grids with that Dagoth Ur mod shouldn't matter. Enemies all ignore those anyway when combat begins. At worse, if you have a companion with you, he might decide to go hug a tree.

ah that explains it nicely, thanks and http://www.4shared.com/file/133770900/dc0d7e0a/fixed_caravanserai.html.
Pacific Morrowind

Thanks. Oh, there's a little post on the right of that entrance, which is now topless, and should go. Not terribly important though, I can always just stick something on top of it.

Sadly the Orcrest textures still shine. Those ones are pretty stubborn things!
Someone else tried compressing the normals with DX5 (I think?), which removed the gloss, but if you weren't using the Large Texture setting, they would show up all pixelated.

[Mariaa EM.]

This should not be the case unless something in the Elsweyr file has changed. I'll take another look but the last time I wandered into my village everything looked fine.

EDIT: Oh, yeah, no wonder it all looked fine. That would be due to the patch between Faregyl and Elsweyr which is on the download page for Faregyl

Ah, thanks, that explains things.

[Mylizards Dot com]

Thanks. Oh, there's a little post on the right of that entrance, which is now topless, and should go. Not terribly important though, I can always just stick something on top of it.

Sadly the Orcrest textures still shine. Those ones are pretty stubborn things!
Someone else tried compressing the normals with DX5 (I think?), which removed the gloss, but if you weren't using the Large Texture setting, they would show up all pixelated.

Ooops... I must forgot to delete that one, sorry, new file shortly (ie this evening).
I did the Orcrest textures by giving them a specular map (alpha channel on the normal) in DXT5, that's all that can be done as far as the textures, I'll give a look at the nif (they could have shiny settings in there) - just the outside orcrest meshes right?
Pacifici Morrowind

[Lady Shocka]

Was in Corinth and accidentally bashed someone (deadly reflexes), guard runs up and I choose to bribe (pay fine?). Get teleported to Leyawiin (when you have stolen in Leyawiin) with a bunch of friends (Bonesmasher priest and a Golden saint amongst others - this is not any of your doing I know that). Is it not coded yet or did something untoward happen?

[Jaylene Brower]

Sadly the Orcrest textures still shine. Those ones are pretty stubborn things!
Someone else tried compressing the normals with DX5 (I think?), which removed the gloss, but if you weren't using the Large Texture setting, they would show up all pixelated.

I did all the textures to DTX1, fixed the shine but pixelated them under large setting. I think the solution to that is checking the mipmap box when you save them, I didn't do that.

[Siidney]

Just checking up on my favorite mod...

[Dean Ashcroft]

I did all the textures to DTX1, fixed the shine but pixelated them under large setting. I think the solution to that is checking the mipmap box when you save them, I didn't do that.

the ones I did are DXT5 - necessary for normals to have the alpha channel which is required, also did with mipmaps - any textures I do ever always have mipmaps, that evidently didn't work.
http://www.4shared.com/file/133997215/a1c4b38d/testocrestmeshchange.html... didn't really see much unusual - one funny thing the gloss number was really low... also not sure if these are even the problem meshes? what meshes are the problem and does that fix those three (if those had the problem).
Pacific Morrowind

[Yonah]

the ones I did are DXT5 - necessary for normals to have the alpha channel which is required

Somewhat off topic, but I need to ask. *ALL* normal maps require the alpha channel? Regardless of what they're being applied to?

[RaeAnne]

Did two quests yesterday

Spoiler

The zebra queen: I did this two times because my game CTD. The second time I just ran to the village directly but didn't see anyone riding a zebra (didn't look very hard), does that only activate when asking at Kings Walk?
Second: I round up with the Blasphemer and told him to tail high - when I went back to Bonesmasher to tell him I let the guy go there was no dialog option.

Cheers!

[Nitol Ahmed]

Was in Corinth and accidentally bashed someone (deadly reflexes), guard runs up and I choose to bribe (pay fine?). Get teleported to Leyawiin (when you have stolen in Leyawiin) with a bunch of friends (Bonesmasher priest and a Golden saint amongst others - this is not any of your doing I know that). Is it not coded yet or did something untoward happen?

Yes, that's right. I haven't added a prison to Corinthe yet. I was going to make it as a dungeon of some sort. So at the moment it takes you to Leyawiin. The game just drops you off at the nearest prison marker.
I have done one in Riverhold though, so if you're up in that area you get transported there.

I thought bribe was more appropriate. The khajiit are a bit corrupt, they pocket the gold for themselves.

the ones I did are DXT5 - necessary for normals to have the alpha channel which is required, also did with mipmaps - any textures I do ever always have mipmaps, that evidently didn't work.
http://www.4shared.com/file/133997215/a1c4b38d/testocrestmeshchange.html... didn't really see much unusual - one funny thing the gloss number was really low... also not sure if these are even the problem meshes? what meshes are the problem and does that fix those three (if those had the problem).
Pacific Morrowind

Thanks, I'll test those out.

Somewhat off topic, but I need to ask. *ALL* normal maps require the alpha channel? Regardless of what they're being applied to?

I did try that once, deleting the alpha channel from all of those textures. It actually did remove all the gloss in-game, but in the CS when you view the buildings they are appear pitch black. I assumed the same would happen in the game as well under certain lighting conditions.

Did two quests yesterday

Spoiler

The zebra queen: I did this two times because my game CTD. The second time I just ran to the village directly but didn't see anyone riding a zebra (didn't look very hard), does that only activate when asking at Kings Walk?
Second: I round up with the Blasphemer and told him to tail high - when I went back to Bonesmasher to tell him I let the guy go there was no dialog option.

Cheers!

Its easier if you ask at the Caravanserai.

Spoiler

You can get a quest arrow then. The zebra rider doesn't live in the village, but rides across the countryside nearby. She is activated when Ogra first gives you the quest.
The Blasphemer one should update when you tell him to flee to quest stage 20 which adds a journal entry saying that you told him to escape. Then the priest has a new greeting where queststage=20 which wraps things up. You could just try speaking to the priest again to see if it clicks in. Of if your journal hasn't updated console setstage ANQSmallQuest2 20. You can also change your mind and kill the fleeing orc. He runs up to Riverhold.

[Nuno Castro]

I did try that once, deleting the alpha channel from all of those textures. It actually did remove all the gloss in-game, but in the CS when you view the buildings they are appear pitch black. I assumed the same would happen in the game as well under certain lighting conditions.

So then what happens if you save the normal map file in DXT1 instead of DXT5 but don't actually delete the alpha channel?

[adame]

So then what happens if you save the normal map file in DXT1 instead of DXT5 but don't actually delete the alpha channel?

It results in files that work on the Large texture setting, but on Medium or Low the texture becomes pixelated.
I tried a few other things some months ago following some other suggestions but many of my changes just resulted in instant ctds. Instead of getting bogged down with it, I just put it aside.

[BRAD MONTGOMERY]

Oh, that's lovely. Makes me wonder if any of the LOD textures in RAEVWD are suffering from odd problems then since the vast majority of those normal maps were saved as DXT1. I play with the large texture setting so I've never noticed an issue

[Bethany Watkin]

the ones I did are DXT5 - necessary for normals to have the alpha channel which is required, also did with mipmaps - any textures I do ever always have mipmaps, that evidently didn't work.
http://www.4shared.com/file/133997215/a1c4b38d/testocrestmeshchange.html... didn't really see much unusual - one funny thing the gloss number was really low... also not sure if these are even the problem meshes? what meshes are the problem and does that fix those three (if those had the problem).
Pacific Morrowind

Here's the results. The buildings are by two different modders, and the different meshes give different results. The new normals worked on one building in removing the gloss, but not the others. Although the texture did come out looking pretty odd in both cases.

This stuff sure is a lot trickier than it looks!

With new low wall nifs + new normals
http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/2702/anqtesttexture1.jpg

With new low wall nifs only
http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/465/anqtesttexture5.jpg

New normals (gloss removed from some buildings, but not others. But the texture result is odd.)
http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/5552/anqtesttexture3.jpg
http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/4408/anqtesttexture4.jpg

Oh, that's lovely. Makes me wonder if any of the LOD textures in RAEVWD are suffering from odd problems then since the vast majority of those normal maps were saved as DXT1. I play with the large texture setting so I've never noticed an issue

Its quite likely, dxt1 seems to do that. I had the same problem with the sand storm sky when that was compressed as well. The normal map just results in dark/light pixels behind the texture, but if its the main texture it pixelates into a rainbow of colours.
Someone else mentioned DX1 does this if the texture files don't have the right mipmaps . . . or at least I think it was something like that.

[Leticia Hernandez]

Right. I'll recheck if I can get it to kick in without resorting to setstage.
Also I noticed that my Zebra meat was not removed - guess she wasn't hungry.
I'll finish up the MQ next so I can unload Enhanced Deadric Invasion; then I'll go back to Elsweyr and continue checking things out.

Cheers!

[jessica sonny]

So then what happens if you save the normal map file in DXT1 instead of DXT5 but don't actually delete the alpha channel?

There is two type of DXT1... just to make it confusing
DXT1 RGB: then Photoshop(or w/e you're using) deletes (doesn't save) the alpha channel - good for everything that doesn't need an alpha (normal maps should have an alpha) and is 1/2 the size of DXT5.
DXT1 ARGB (1 bit alpha): the alpha is dropped down to 1 bit - not sure what the actual ingame effect of this is but it isn't the recommended setting.
You can have mipmaps with any normal dxt level (1,1,3,5) and as long as you have the mipmapping set to low pixelation settings... there's a good setup guide on nexus, it looks fine on low textures.

Here's the results. The buildings are by two different modders, and the different meshes give different results. The new normals worked on one building in removing the gloss, but not the others. Although the texture did come out looking pretty odd in both cases.

This stuff sure is a lot trickier than it looks!

With new low wall nifs + new normals
http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/2702/anqtesttexture1.jpg

With new low wall nifs only
http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/465/anqtesttexture5.jpg

New normals (gloss removed from some buildings, but not others. But the texture result is odd.)
http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/5552/anqtesttexture3.jpg
http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/4408/anqtesttexture4.jpg

I think the normal map needs to be flattened a bit - that looks like too bumpy of a normal, I didn't change the normal map except for adding the alpha channel, I'll check that and look at the building exterior nifs for more funny gloss settings.
Pacific Morrowind

[Matt Bee]

How come [REFR:##03638C] (places FarmHouseDoor01 "Door" [DOOR:000253B0] in GRUP Cell Persistent Children of ANQBrukreichZahrajiPlantation "Zahraji's Farmhouse" [CELL:##021CE8])
is owned by the vanilla NPC ThorleyAethelred "Thorley Aethelred" [NPC_:0018AFD9]?

[Jade MacSpade]

The alpha channel is not required on normals, but it will be used if it exists. Most of the normals are DTX1 RGB. If they wanted 8bpp they used DXT3 with black (unused alpha). If they wanted the alpha they used DXT5 with a proper alpha channel (this adds reflectivity). All equipment should use DXT3 with alpha. And alpha channels on colormaps are unused.

Pixilation is most likely due to bad mipmaps which were over sharpened. Generate new mipmaps with soft sharpen filter. If the main texture is really sharp and detailed, you may need to skip the first mipmap with the soft sharpen filter.


Today (and possibly tomarrow) I am going to try to make high resolution BTQ style landscape textures of Elsweyr that show the rocks and buildings. Then I'll make a set of high quality reductions from those.

[Mariana]

How come [REFR:##03638C] (places FarmHouseDoor01 "Door" [DOOR:000253B0] in GRUP Cell Persistent Children of ANQBrukreichZahrajiPlantation "Zahraji's Farmhouse" [CELL:##021CE8])
is owned by the vanilla NPC ThorleyAethelred "Thorley Aethelred" [NPC_:0018AFD9]?

I probably just hit the wrong name in the NPC drop-down menu when assigning the door. Doors have to be given ownership manually, they don't just inherit it from the cell like other objects. And if the door isn't owned, an NPC won't lock/unlock it.

I think the normal map needs to be flattened a bit - that looks like too bumpy of a normal, I didn't change the normal map except for adding the alpha channel, I'll check that and look at the building exterior nifs for more funny gloss settings.
Pacific Morrowind

Today (and possibly tomarrow) I am going to try to make high resolution BTQ style landscape textures of Elsweyr that show the rocks and buildings. Then I'll make a set of high quality reductions from those.

Those texture fixes and improvements will make a huge difference. Thanks so much for doing those.

[Sophie Louise Edge]

I probably just hit the wrong name in the NPC drop-down menu when assigning the door. Doors have to be given ownership manually, they don't just inherit it from the cell like other objects. And if the door isn't owned, an NPC won't lock/unlock it.

So it doesn't matter *who* owns it?

[Reanan-Marie Olsen]

No, it does matter who owns it, because an NPC won't trespass against something owned by other NPCs. At least not as far as I've seen when making mistakes like that about setting the wrong owner on a door. And I do find it irritating that the CS won't assign the door the same owner as the cell it leads to if you've set the cell ownership.

[pinar]

I just wanted to stop by and say that I am thoroughly impressed by your work. The cities are beautiful and unique, which makes exploring them a truly gratifying experience. Though, I must say, Corinthe will forever hold a special place in my heart. Those small side alleys and that bustling marketplace really create such awe in me :wub: . Most of all, I love the landscape. The small details found in each type of terrain from the beaches to the desert sands, the new creatures, the sandstorms! Lovely...just lovely. May your love for modding never die!

[My blood]

Hope all is going well...this is such a great mod!