Overview

Well guyus, I've finally decided to delve into Morrowind modding. I have been designing miscellaneous textures for the Goldsrc and Source Engines for a few years now, and have decided to break up the monotony around here a bit by trying my hand at some Morrowind texture replacers. I have specifically decided I wish to completely redo the Imperial Fortress textures, as I have yet to find a desirable alternative to the vanilla rendition myself. The goal is to remain true to the original game's "dirtier" tone, as opposed to the gleaming white bricks used in the Visual Pack. Not a particularly specific goal, but I'm hoping to take some artistic liberties as well and give the forts my own touch.

Texture Closeups

• http://i39.tinypic.com/23wtgcn.jpg New!
  
• http://i46.tinypic.com/2nlqn83.jpg
  
• http://i42.tinypic.com/rvhyzc.jpg New!
  
• http://i40.tinypic.com/snl8vq.jpg New!

Texture Comparisons

• http://i44.tinypic.com/e1465e.jpg New!
  
• http://i44.tinypic.com/ru37f5.jpg

In addition, I'm hoping to push several color variants since that seems to be a major matter of debate around here. The three versions will be "Traditional" (faded seafoamy colors from the originals), "Grey" (for a more authentic medieval stone look), and "Dirty" (a darker, browner version akin to Connary's).

Looking good! I like how similar it looks to the normal vanilla look, but just much nicer.

Personally, for the rougher vs smoother, I can't tell the difference.

I like your texture in the first screen the most. It looks pretty sharp, which is how I prefer the textures I use. I'd have to look at the grainy one in game to see if I really liked it or not (often textures might not look good on a screen, but when viewed in game are quite impressive).

Looks excellent, my vote goes to right.

I like the first one better. The graininess of the second is a bit too much, in my opinion.

Thanks for the replies guys - I believe I'll stick with the left one. For the time being, here's a preview of the http://i36.tinypic.com/33z78dv.jpg (again, half size, an old habit from the days when I had to Dropbox previews constantly). Whereas the patterns in the walls linked to in my original post are a direct copy, that was just out of sheer laziness. For the most part, I intend to recreate all the contours and shapes of the originals by hand (I cheated and used a slightly less precise grid for convenience, though I think it's not too jarring a difference).

The color variety still needs work, and I have yet to even consider making it tileable just yet, but let me know what you think thus far.

Well I can definitely say it looks a whole heck of a lot better.
It looks a little too clean though.

Liking what I'm seeing so far

I have some http://i33.tinypic.com/2wrdwr5.jpg for the "blocks" on the pillars used to support the towers and archways. I got the idea from http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=1033715&st=100&p=15018210&hl=akatosh&#entry15018210, and since this project is primarily a way to satiate my "all the Imperial replacers are too clean/different" lust until connary releases his amazing compendium, I figured it'd be a welcome alternative to the blank inset used in the originals.

The first http://i33.tinypic.com/28iu4ix.jpg has been dirtied up a bit as well, I'll start on the larger one (used for exterior structures like the ramparts and docks, I believe) in a bit.

Nice and grimy. I like grimy :thumbsup:

@Stonefrog: Those textures look really good, and I expect I'll download this when it's finished. However, if you or anyone else want a reasonably faithful hi-res replacer in the meantime, there's this: http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Mods.Detail&id=5044

Thanks for the suggestion, Helena! Will tide me over for the time being.

I'm a bit sick of staring at stone for a while, and I've a lot of turnpaper deadlines coming up for school. As such, I'm changing the pace a bit by working on the dragon statue in the Ebonheart plaza. http://i34.tinypic.com/bhagwi.jpg

EDIT: The dragon was http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=1066169&hl= some time ago for any who've had their interest piqued by these old WIP shots.

Excruciatingly late bump inbound!

http://i46.tinypic.com/70bdzr.jpg

EDIT: Hoeboy 2,222 posts.

Looks sweet! :thumbsup: Looking forward to seeing some shots of them in game.

I have to give you some credit for keeping it looking so like the vanilla. One of the reason's I don't do replacers as much as I otherwise would is the tendency people have to go overboard. I can respect people like things looking nice and the work that goes into that sort of thing, but not everything is a gleaming palace. It sometimes breaks immersion for me cuz I keep thinking it looks too nice.

But this.. this I could buy into. The textures look like they are meant to be there. If anything it looks more like your restoring an old film.

Indeed - and I think the Imperial forts are the one part of Morrowind that suffer most from this problem. White/silver castles in pristine condition, or photorealistic red brick castles from 17th century Europe? Don't care much for either one. I know people like to customize their game, but I'm a bit of a purist and would rather stay as true to the originals as possible.

Of course, I do plan to add some little trims and inscriptions here and there to help with the "Imperial" feeling. I've updated the tower support block, the one that I added the Akaviri dragon to. Am experimenting a bit with adding "faded paints" to finer details like this. Monochrome gets boring after a while.

http://i48.tinypic.com/25ez4vo.jpg

What a fool you are...I'm a modder! How can you kill a modder? What a grand and intoxicating innocence...how could you be so naive? No hard drive failures or real-world obligations can work in this place! Come, click on these links. It is not too late for my thread bump.

http://i50.tinypic.com/2mq9c0y.png

When I think about it I may be straying a bit too far from the beige coloration used in the originals. Will probably release an alternate set of interiors that are warmer and less colored. What do you think?

I like these a lot. I've never really found a replacer for the imperial stuff that I was a fan of, cause they're all so different from the original I guess. I'll be waiting for this one.

Looks great.

All of this looks fantastic! :goodjob:

I also prefer to keep to the original "feel" of textures, so I'm looking forward to this!

Hnnn. Just picked this project up again. First off, my immense OCD and lack of satisfaction with the old walls has kicked in again, so I've http://i43.tinypic.com/atm9s8.jpg to make them stand out less. The depth is far, far better in this one as well if I do say so myself, whereas the old one felt almost as if it was caving in for whatever reason. Half scale preview again, just to make you suffer.

Secondly, I just finished up the second set of steps. The previous ones, are what you see indoors. These are outdoors, featured most prominently at the Ebonheart dock steps. As such, I've given them a far more worn look. Since I'm ever indecisive about my methods of presentation, here's a http://i39.tinypic.com/iwi68m.jpg. Full scale this time. :goodjob:

Glad to hear you ahve picked it up again - the textures look great.

Alright, this is starting to shape up pretty well - will hopefully have it released sometime before the end of next week. It's a royal pain to coordinate the shades and colors of the support columns against the walls, and I'm still not satisfied with the aforementioned walls! They almost look to be concave/receding into the wall to me, although you can only tell in the original post's comparison shot, not much so in the attached images.

Here's two Construction Set screenshots of the East Empire Company Hall showcasing the interiors thus far. The stone walls should be lighter, but otherwise I'd tried to keep it as close to the originals as possible. Yes, the columns and archways do clash that much in brightness! It's not as noticeable when the room is fully lit though, which is how they'll usually appear to be anyway. Now, without further ado:

http://i41.tinypic.com/73fb5k.jpg
http://i44.tinypic.com/28h06fl.jpg

any news?