[WIP REL] Keening - Indie Expansion Series [4] : III

» Sat Jul 07, 2012 4:22 pm

Hi folks!

I've worked on this project mostly on my own since Dec 2011, so it was designed to be detailed, interesting, and compact rather than focusing on scope. Version [Chapter] 1 is almost ready for release.

THE ELDER SCROLLS III: KEENING

[EDIT - JULY 7, 2012] http://www.automatichamster.com/keening/downloadsportal.shtml

Keening is designed to be my personal vision of what an expansion pack might have looked like if the Beths never stopped making them. Keening was inspired by the idea that a very fresh experience could be created by building off a small number of required mods. Exploring interesting aspects of the Lore, such as the fact that it is now known that the Ministry of Truth will fall from the sky, resulting in the destruction of Vvardenfell, inspired the basis behind Keening's Lore. Keening provides me, as a modder, with my own landmass and Lore from which to launch every modding idea that I have within a cohesive whole. Ten chapters (versions) that expand the plot and the world will be released. I hope that people will get a lot of enjoyment out of it, but most of all, I hope that it brings me to meet some amazing and talented people.

Keening v1.0 [Chapter 1: Keening City] Is a full release, which will include:
- Landmass (apoprox 15-20 cells) and a fully-functioning, detailed city.
- Quests leading up to joining the faction and discovering the city. Includes a new Dwemer Ruin and a strange outpost near Khuul, and a new barrow on Sosltheim.
- The first part of the main quest, "Cavern of Azura," which has a nice twist involving Winged Twilights.
- Side Quest: Muroids. Creatures with only 1 hp present a challenge, and an unusual reward from your local argonian.
- Side Quest: Help an aging archaeologist study the only unexplored dwemer ruin on the island.
- New situational music, new voice acting, new spells, new books.
- A different way of looking at modding standards for NPCs.

Basically, it's about someone who thinks they are a reincarnation of a certain Dwemer, supposedly on a mission from Azura to save Vvardenfell from destruction from the imminent fall of the Ministry of Truth. A city has built up around this cause as the faction brings together power, people, and resources. All may not be as it seems.

Series Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=BPoERLzOzag
Chapter 1 Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6GDD8Tc7sM&feature=youtu.be
Website: http://www.automatichamster.com/keening/
Required Mods: http://www.automatichamster.com/keening/downloads.shtml
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Elder-Scrolls-III-Keening-Morrowind-Expansion/250637605013467
Best Screenshots: http://www.automatichamster.com/keening/screens/splash1/

Chapter covers: http://www.automatichamster.com/keening/covers/

Spoiler

KN02 - Keening City Expanded
- Changes and expansions to Chapter 1 based on player input.
- Main Quest Part 2: The Ingenium - inspired by The Elder Scrolls novels by Greg Keyes.
- Keening Minelands Interiors, Lighthouse, and expanded locations in the City.
- Side Quests
- Children of Morrwowind and Ambient Town Sounds patches
---------------------------------------------
KN03 - Aftermath
- Main Quest Part 3: Balmora Aftermath - what if the Nerevarine failed and Dagoth Ur destroyed Vvardenfell?
---------------------------------------------
KN04 - Keening Underground
- The Underground Dwemer-built portion of Keening City accessed through various locations.
- Badlands: The Undead - a tangent based on Neo's Undead from MCA.
- Side Quests
---------------------------------------------
KN05 - The First Era
- Main Quest Part 4: The First Era - Indoril Nerevar, Voryn Dagoth, Dumac et al finish off the war against Skyrim
---------------------------------------------
KN06 - Port Sunder
- Port Sunder Interiors and Expansion
- Alternate Faction that plots against Keening City
- Side Quests
---------------------------------------------
KN07 - The Deadlands
- Main Quest Part 5: Deadlands - Several quests into the lands of Mehrunes Dagon. New models will be created for this.
---------------------------------------------
KN08 - Secret of the Lazmer
- Development of the Techno Industrial Dwemer Locations.
- New Faction, new race - Could this explain what happened to the Dwemer?
- Side Quests
---------------------------------------------
KN09 - Finale
- Main Quest Part 6: The Great Secret - My own vision for the grand finale of the story of Morrowind. Redemption, or Destruction?
- Delirium: Quest for Sheogorath - Some really bizarre stuff leading up to a war against an army of Golden Saints.
- The final fate of Kagrenac's profane tool, Keening.
---------------------------------------------
KN10 - Keening Integrated
- Aspects of Keening integrated into appropriate locations around Vvardenfell
- Side Quests

Credits / Permissions

Spoiler

KEENING TEAM

- Dana Nova Darko: Everything except............
- Casey Mongillo: Voice Acting and Recording Studio work
- Jocelyn Baxter: Lore research, additional book authoring, co-plotting, playtesting
- Lucevar: Conversion of DJGamer's TIDR to Modder's Resource for Keening
- Jon Babb: Music

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CREDITS - Modder's Resources / Used with Permission

- AcidBasick: Clinker, Kriin [from Creatures XI]
- Arcimaestro Antares: Daedric Portal
- Arcimaestro Antares: Sitting at the Bar
- Cait: Silver Tail, Gogglefish [from Creatures XI]
- Chainy: Oblivion Plants for Morrowind
- Chanta' J. McWilliams (Silverfoxrival): Moonstone, Keening Stone, Lazmite Ore and Raw Lazmite
- Danke: Profane Dwemer Armor/ Alternate Daedric Armor
- DJGAmer: Techno Industrial Dwemer Retexture
- Lidicus: Slarsa and Rhulrym, Seducer, Horned Scrib [from Creatures XI]
- Martin D. Jordan (Leiawen): Leia's Dual Wield v.3
- Midgetalien: Daedric Resources
- NZDawghaus: Splash Resource Pack v2.0 [Used for parts of Keening Box Cover Graphics]
- Olaf Corduwener (Soulshade): Weapons of Tamriel
- Oriphier - Magic Gates Vfx Resource Pack
- PirateLord: Creatures XI, Flying Centurion, Luminarium Spider, Incendia Spider, Slaughtershark, Venom Netches, Blazing Scamp, Silver Saint
- Polyhedral & Luna C: Scorpion & Giant Scorpion [from Creatures XI]
- Qarl: Kayla's Knick Knacks
- Qarl: Statue Replacer
- Steve Deffeyes (Dongle): Musical Instruments
- Steve Deffeyes (Dongle): Printing Press Mesh
- Steve Deffeyes (Dongle): Weapons Pack
- Sypron: Glass Weapons Pack
- Taddeus: Sweetroll [Needs of Morrowind]
- Tamriel Rebuilt Team: Bugs, Parastylus, Daedric Bat [from Creatures XI]
- T-Bone: Dwemer Race (original bodies)
- TF: TF Books [blank book covers have been modified for Keening]
- Vurt: Mangroves, Bitter Coast Trees I & II, Leafy West Gash, and Grazeland Trees I & II
- WildKarrde: Pipe Organ

Unknown: Flesh Dremora, Ice Worm, Hellhound, Spider [from Creatures XI]

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THANKS

- Everyone on the gamesas Official Forums who offered advice and comments
- ab0t: Kriin animation fix / Enable-Disable Script / Levitation Disable Script
- Kagz and ab0t: assistance with figuring out how to add new sound files for the Muroids
- Cider! for conflict checks for the new location to the east of Tamriel Rebuilt.
- Doug Worthy and the rest of the crew at the Morrowind Facebook group for Spell ideas and encouragement.

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VOICE ACTING

- Casey Mongillo: Voice acting and sound editing
- Dana Darko: Voice acting
- Lennox: Voice acting

New voice acting is Copyright 2012 Dana Nova Darko

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MUSIC

Jon Babb [Bosa] Music used with permission
- Keening Theme [Nerevar] Composed exclusively for TES3: Keening - Copyright 2012 Jon Babb
- Aftermath [Welcome To The Field]
- Library [A Young Mind]
- Mages Council [Bonus_11]
- War [The Heroís Charge]
John Babb: http://jonbabb.com

- In Taberna Quando Sumus - Djembe^
- Medieval Drum Dance - Mince Pye^

Matti Paalanenís works are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Licence.
- Architect [Threshold] (Celestial Aeon Project)
- Dwemer [Burn them Down] (Essence)
Fazingath [The Ancients] (Essence)

Richard DeCostaís works are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.
- Delirium [Grottos] (Doctor Eternal)

Xiran's Morrowind Better Music System. Xiran: swing_1@libero.it
- Kogoruhn [Bonus_5] /aws_mac1 - Victor Vergara **
BMS Note: ** "This songs have been taken from MentalElfís MusicReplacer, I wasnít able to contact him/her, but he/she says in the readme that didnít get any response contacting the authors of those songs, except one, but I donít know who."

*Unable to determine artist, unable to contact artist:
- Dream [Mus4]*^

^Permissions pending, will be removed upon request.

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REQUIRED MODS PERMISSIONS

- Qarl: Gothic Attire Complete
"You may use any of my mods as a modder's resource and can do anything you like with them, with the following exceptions:
1. For my mods with clothing in them, don't just make a new shop and resell the clothes.
2. Don't pack my mods into a mods with a bunch of other mods packed in as a sort of combo mod pack.
Make your own mod. Don't just pack in a bunch of other mods and call it your own."

- Cenobote: Gothic Attire Complete
"ALL PERMISSIONS GRANTED, FOREVER"

- Korana: Clothiers of Vvardenfell
"Any mods I have created are available to re-upload. I do ask that at least one email to me is attempted.
I would like to know where my mods are hosted, in case of an update."
Note: Emails sent, no response. It is clear from a variety of sources that Korana has left the Morrowind Modding Community and will not be updating her mods.

- BadKarma, Lady Rae: Clothiers of Vvardenfell
Note: Creators have been contacted and full permission has been given.

Gothic Attire Complete and Clothiers of Vvardenfell are being combined into an edited version tailored for use in Keening. .bsa file included.
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KEENING PERMISSIONS

Do not redistribute, repackage, or modify. Keening is exclusive to automatichamster.com and gtagaming.com, and needs to stay in one location in order to be continually updated and to mesh with the website content.
If those sites go down and/ or Keening becomes "lost," and Dana Darko is unable to be contacted for over six months, please preserve the mod on Morrowind Modding History or other equivalent site should there become a problem with that site. Keep in mind that the readme is not entirely complete without the support of the Keening website.

After Keening is completed, new content will be released as modders resources. If you want to use some of the new resources before that time, contact Dana for permissions.

Patches that modify Keening by adding a new .esp file without modifying Keening's original [.esp] files themselves are allowed, but please contact Dana to coordinate.

If Keening is believed to be "abandoned," you do not have permission to take over the project and finish it. This one may take a long time, and may require some lenthy breaks for other projects.

Nova@Angeldroids.com
If for any reason that email fails, do a google search for Dana Darko's new contact information.
Failing that, contact Casey Mongillo. We're both quite public professional artists.
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Closed the previous topic because I overestimated how close I was to release.
Previous Topic: http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1355860-wip-keening-tesiii-independent-expansion-2/

I will be looking for playtesters very soon. After that, I'll announce the release in this thread and hopefully get a lot of suggestions, tips, and assistance - if you want to help create anything new for this mod such as models and textures, shoot me a pm. I won't be needing exterior/ interior/ quest modders - I'm taking care of all of that.

» Sun Jul 08, 2012 2:27 am

I've been working on the Dwemer Ruin Dzambrcht. Hopefully I can add a new type of dwemer experience to your game.

Dzambrcht: http://www.automatichamster.com/keening/screens/scrnapr18/dzam_hall1.jpg http://www.automatichamster.com/keening/screens/scrnapr18/dzam_hall2.jpg http://www.automatichamster.com/keening/screens/scrnapr18/aquanetch.jpg http://www.automatichamster.com/keening/screens/scrnapr18/sunkendwemer.jpg http://www.automatichamster.com/keening/screens/scrnapr18/dzambrcht.jpg http://www.automatichamster.com/keening/screens/scrnapr18/dzambrcht2.jpg

» Sat Jul 07, 2012 11:41 pm

I love it!

Always like what you make; It is detail oriented and that is a strong preference of mine.

» Sat Jul 07, 2012 8:39 pm

If my computer can run this svcker when it gets released, you know I'm checking it out. I'm a mod addict... Or insane. Just don't make an option to set laptops on fire.

» Sat Jul 07, 2012 10:56 pm

I'm trying to combine and edit the two clothing mods that Keening requires. I've created a .bsa file and a readme that explains what I want to accomplish, including cleaning and removing references to some exterior locations while preserving the interiors.

Keening: Gothic Attire Complete/ Clothiers of Vvardenfell Combined
Download 273 mb:
[Link removed - I'm just going to try to clean this myself unless someone offers to help]

If anyone would like to look it over and offer assistance or advice, I would be grateful. People have asked for less required mods and an easier install, or patches to help with compatibility on these mods with other mods that expand the towns that they add to, so this my way of trying to make that happen. I have no problem with this file exactly as it is, but since people have asked for options, hopefully this will help.

Readme

Spoiler

This is a custom combined version of clothing mods for use with Keening.
- Complete Gothic Attire by Qarl and Cenobite, edited by Spoon Thief
- Clothiers of Vvardenfell by Korana, Lady Rae, and BadKarma
Keening is compatible with the original versions of these mods, but this version is being created to provide an alternate install option. Original versions are included, but do not use both versions. The .bsa file should be used with both versions unless you have already installed the files from the original downloads, found elsewhere.
BSA Registration tool by Kingpix in included
Compiled by Dana Nova Darko
I am not sure how to clean it without removing cells that are needed.
Since this is required to run Keening, some exterior store locations are planned to be removed. Attempts to delete cell references to the following have failed, or only partially succeeded.
- Caldera: -2,2 (The Black Rose, The Wailing Wench)
- West Gash: -8, 13 (Wonderland Lost)
- Pelagiad: 0, -7 (McGulicutty's Seperates)
- Tel Branora: 15, -13 (Tel Branora Imports)
- Gnaar Mok: -8,3 (The Pirate's Cove)
All other stores/ vendors are either in interiors or fairly innocuous. I plan to relocate the stores from these locations to new locations in Keening, possibly in easter-egg locations if needed.
Original Readme's are included.
To reach the Easter Egg location in Keening, find the COV key in a barrel next to the supply shack, and look behind the mural in the Clothier's building. The Black Rose's exterior has been duplicated in a remote area on the new landmass.
Questions: Message Dana Nova Darko at the Bethesda Official Forums, or email nova@angeldroids.com

» Sun Jul 08, 2012 5:36 am

I love it! :biggrin:

Always like what you make; It is detail oriented and that is a strong preference of mine. :tongue:

Thanks - Clutter is the name of the game.

I'm trying to hold to the high standard set by mods like http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1228884-wip-pelagiad-expanded/page__hl__pelagiad%20expanded, http://morrowind.nexusmods.com/mods/41298, http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Mods.Detail&id=7545, Immersive Chargen, and http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=mods.detail&id=1125. Yes, I am telling you to go get those linked mods. :3

If my computer can run this svcker when it gets released, you know I'm checking it out. I'm a mod addict... Or insane. Just don't make an option to set laptops on fire.

Awesome

The exterior of Keening City itself is *extremely* detailed, so there is an fps drop. Keening is being built to be a bit more intense than what would have been built ten years ago, but I'm confident that most people who are used to using mods and such will be fine.

» Sat Jul 07, 2012 9:16 pm

I can't wait! I'm DLing the file, but it's pretty huge, and my internet isn't great, so it might take all night. I'll be happy to clean and merge them for you, if you'll let me. (I already have all of those mods, excepting Pelagiad Expanded. Win.)

On an unrelated note, what is an average ref count for your exteriors?

» Sun Jul 08, 2012 2:27 am

Thanks - Yeah, it's a big file but there's a lot of great work in there. Pelagiad expanded is still a WIP.

I would be very happy to have you clean the file for me, just so long as nothing is deleted that is needed. There should be a list of coordinates as well that I wanted to remove - exterior locations for clothing shops that exist in or near towns and cities and could cause conflicts. I tried to remove the black rose from just outside of caldera, but a few pieces were left over, and the modifications to the landscape persisted. If you can remove revert those cells back to default, I'll relocate those shops into easter egg locations in Keening itself. You'll be added to the credits, of course

On an unrelated note, what is an average ref count for your exteriors?

I have no idea. Keening City is pretty dense, but the count goes down when you leave the city gates. The MAIN Keening cell has over 1000 objects in it, but that's my only cell that goes that high. I anticipate that some people who may have trouble running vanilla morrowind will not be able to run keening city's main cell very well, but I'm taking that risk for the sake of detail.

» Sat Jul 07, 2012 6:47 pm

15 MINUTES OF ACTUAL GAMEPLAY - for those that are interested. Trailers and screenshots are fun, but after seeing the playthrough for Sotha Sil Expanded, I realized that nothing beats getting to see the mod actually being played. Skip ahead to 10:30 for Dzambrcht if you don't feel like watching the whole thing.

Click this fun link: http://youtu.be/jod_5iOLcLM

» Sat Jul 07, 2012 4:06 pm

Very nice. What's the sound effect mod you use?

» Sun Jul 08, 2012 3:27 am

Click this fun link: http://youtu.be/jod_5iOLcLM

I like the bigass hall at 13:40. Two things you should fix though- at 14:01 you can see the waterfalls obviously piercing through the platform, and at 14:24 you have some twitching walls from bad placement, probably two walls partially in the same spot.

» Sat Jul 07, 2012 9:25 pm

I'm looking forward to getting this installed for playtesting and recording on Casey's computer so that I can get it with better frame-rate and with MOSG? MGE XE at full power. Thanks for bearing with the videos from my low-end machine (ie, I'm too poor to upgrade to more than 4gb ram, lol).

I like the bigass hall at 13:40. Two things you should fix though- at 14:01 you can see the waterfalls obviously piercing through the platform, and at 14:24 you have some twitching walls from bad placement, probably two walls partially in the same spot.

Thanks - that's actually my most recent room created and I'd noticed those small glitches. The static for the doorway ended up being wider than the space allowed after arranging existing hall statics in a way that they weren't intended in order to create the great hall. So, I have to make the decision to widen the existing design or cover the seam with additional statics such as pillars. The clipping waterfall can easily be fixed - thanks for the reminder.

I'm going to be adding a lot more to the great hall as I finish up that whole quest area.

Very nice. What's the sound effect mod you use?

I'm not sure - In regards to what sounds? I've probably lost track of a lot of the plugin-less replacers that I use, but I'm pretty sure I have mods to replace walking sounds and magic sounds.

» Sat Jul 07, 2012 10:11 pm

Once you release this svcker, my Morrowind will end up with too much new content for me to handle. I am excited for this mod, and any mod that gives more content. I love how my game is already full of 100 bucks worth of content thanks to mods as it is. I think I have 105 mods and am using 95 of them as it is.

» Sat Jul 07, 2012 3:50 pm

Very nice. What's the sound effect mod you use?

I looked into it:
http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=mods.detail&id=7574 by Asirion
http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=mods.detail&id=1051 by Leon Medado

Once you release this svcker, my Morrowind will end up with too much new content for me to handle. I am excited for this mod, and any mod that gives more content. I love how my game is already full of 100 bucks worth of content thanks to mods as it is. I think I have 105 mods and am using 95 of them as it is.

Mods are lovely, aren't they? I tell people I'll play Oblivion when I finally finish Morrowind. Except, Morrowind just keep growing! Keening itself will probably continue to grow for several years. But Chapter One will give you a nice new land with a functioning city to live it if you want - so while you wait for the next chapters, you can use the player house there while you do other factions.

» Sat Jul 07, 2012 11:40 pm

I've been giving some love to the required mods, and Creatures is no longer required. Whatever files are needed are now part of the new Keening bsa file. Clothiers of Vvardenfell and Gothic Attire Complete have been merged and have also been given a simple .bsa file.

New locations are being created for the some of the exteriors from COV and GA Complete that may have conflicted with other town expansion mods/ Lore. http://www.automatichamster.com/keening/screens/scrnapr18/easteregg.jpg, formerly of Caldera (and conflicting with Caldera Expansion). The little town is more of an easter egg, so the new town won't be fully detailed for the first release of Keening. Most of the clothing can/ will be found in Keening itself, but I want to preserve all the original storefronts without any changes other than location.

Effectively, the only mods you'd need to get, now, in order to run Keening are Morrowind Comes Alive, Better Bodies, and Westly's Master Head Pack - and thanks to MCA, Westly's doesn't need to be activated (though I strongly urge people to activate it and use it.)

When Keening is released, you'll basically get the following files from my own website:

[Package 1: Clothiers of Vvardenfell/ Gothic Attire Complete - Keening Edit]
KN_Keening_Clothiers.bsa - 1.42 gb
KN_Keening_Clothiers.esp - 1 mb

[Package 2: Keening Chapter 1 - Keening City]
KN_Keening.bsa - 400 mb
KNO1_Keening_City.esp - 3.6 mb
Keening Music and Sound - 95 mb

Obviously, that stuff will be compressed. I suspect my files are too big for many of the mod sites.

A lot of these decisions have come from the feedback I've been getting here, and I really appreciate every little comment or tip.

At this time I should ask for beta testers - let me know if you want to ( and have the time) to look over the beta release and I'll link it to you privately when I have all my fixes and corrections added in. Once I've had some people actually play it through and drop me their notes - and confirm that it works without any missing files - I'll post a public link for everyone here.

» Sun Jul 08, 2012 6:31 am

Why does it require MCA?

» Sat Jul 07, 2012 9:03 pm

Why does it require MCA?

That's explained on my website, since it's a common question. Check it out, yo.
http://www.automatichamster.com/keening/downloads.shtml

» Sun Jul 08, 2012 7:00 am

Nice amount of work here and wonderful screenies.
Best of lucks with the expansion, it looks interesting and enjoyable

» Sat Jul 07, 2012 8:02 pm

That's explained on my website, since it's a common question. Check it out, yo.
http://www.automatichamster.com/keening/downloads.shtml

I've read it and I still don't understand why. If Keening is another worldspace why would MCA alter it? And if it's in Vvardenfell why would you force people to use MCA, questionable portions and all? Personally I use Starfire's, because it's nonintrusive and doesn't introduce nearly as many unbalanced/nonvanilla type NPC's. I'm afraid Keening might come across as "moddy" as MCA feels (doesn't fit Morrowind styling at all with that flowy animu hair). But if you're going to require MCA you might as well require every other mod you feel fits with Keening. Modify MCA to only effect your portions of the world, or don't expect people to jump on this. Also Bethesda might have a problem with you calling Keening an Expansion pack.

» Sun Jul 08, 2012 2:59 am

Seems to me that MCA has some 44000 + downloads, and is Hall of Fame with a rating of like 9.67. If you need to require a support mod for resources, I'd say MCA is exactly what you want. If by some odd chance Keening does only get 44000 downloads, I doubt that Dana will complain too much, eh?

» Sun Jul 08, 2012 3:14 am

There are indeed some mods that are so popular that I wouldn't think it detrimental to have a mod of mine be dependent upon them. MCA is definitely one of them.

TR could easily be called an expansion pack, I don't think Bethesda frets over that.

» Sun Jul 08, 2012 6:59 am

Bottom line: Keening is designed for people that like MCA. Those that hate it won't like Keening anyways, and I don't have a problem with that.

I've read it and I still don't understand why. If Keening is another worldspace why would MCA alter it? And if it's in Vvardenfell why would you force people to use MCA, questionable portions and all? Personally I use Starfire's, because it's nonintrusive and doesn't introduce nearly as many unbalanced/nonvanilla type NPC's.

Sorry, Mortimer, I think my explanation on the website was pretty straightforward. Because you're suggesting Starfire's NPCs as an alternative, I can only guess that you missed this:

While MCA's most well-known feature is to add NPCs to your cities, it includes resources such as Winged Twilight and Dremora Races; The Undead, which adds 150 new types of undead; Minions of House Dagoth, which adds new armor and weapons as well as 21 new ash creatures; and Jeremy's Knights of Tamriel, which is an outstanding line of new armor.

If starfire has these aspects that are essential to Keening, let me know and I will take a look at it as an alternative.

You might also want to take a look at MCA 7 now that it has been released with a lot of the changes people have asked for. In addition, Starfire and MCA are compatible with each other, so it's not an either/ or situation.

I'm afraid Keening might come across as "moddy" as MCA feels (doesn't fit Morrowind styling at all with that flowy animu hair).

I can only guess you missed this:

Keening is deliberately designed to follow the detail, clothing styles, faces, and hair featured in MCA.

While not every NPC has freakin' sweet hair, the feel of Keening City itself is *very* MCA. Keening makes no attempt to look like 2002, and I'm pretty sure I've said many times that my goal is to look more 2012. If Bethesda were to make new content in 2012, they would not let something ship at 2002 standards. Just as someone has recently released a mod that replaces the new faces from Tamriel Rebuilt that were designed to look like vanilla faces, people are welcome to release a mod that changes MCA or Keening to suit their preferences.

But if you're going to require MCA you might as well require every other mod you feel fits with Keening.

I have, and I did - Kayla's Knick Knacks is also part of Keening, and the massive amount of new furniture, clutter, statues, and other goodies has been a great boon to decorating Keening with things people may not have already seen a million times. Some of the items are extremely "moddy," which is perfect since I'm a modder and all. I'm open to suggestions for more.

Modify MCA to only effect your portions of the world, or don't expect people to jump on this.

I'm not going to touch a hair on MCA's pretty little head. Neo does a great job of taking community input and updating it every few years. However, someone has already stepped forward and said they were going to mod MCA to remove all of the spawn points. I'm not going to have anything to do with this, but opening up a mod and deleting all of its cell references is pretty easy.

or don't expect people to jump on this.

Keep in mind that I don't get paid - which is a joy for someone who does freelance work for a living. Doing unpaid work means that I can produce work that is exactly to my own vision, learn and grow from input, and connect with the people that enjoy my work. Also:

Seems to me that MCA has some 44000 + downloads, and is Hall of Fame with a rating of like 9.67. If you need to require a support mod for resources, I'd say MCA is exactly what you want. If by some odd chance Keening does only get 44000 downloads, I doubt that Dana will complain too much, eh? :smile:

Also Bethesda might have a problem with you calling Keening an Expansion pack.

My mod is not falsely attributed to Bethesda in any way - it's attributed to Dana Nova Darko/ Automatic Hamster. Bethesda encourages mods of all kinds so long as they don't use attributes from other games - they don't step in and ask people to change the name of a mod. If I'm on their radar, then that's pretty dang awesome - and it sounds like you think enough of my work that this could happen. I appreciate that, but I disagree and I'm not concerned, and even if they did ask me to change the name of my mod, I would be flattered and comply with their wishes.

I'll take this chance to go into why I made box art that says "expansion pack" on it. Beyond the fact that it was a lot of fun to do, which is the whole point of it all, I felt it was a good way to express my goal with the project. It's a mission statement to myself and to those that get it. In my mind, Bethesda's Morrowind expansion packs have had the following characteristics:
- New area to explore
- Main quest
- Side quests
- New voice acting
- New weapons, armor, and clothing.
- New creatures
- New functionality
- New Lore
- New Architecture

Keening and its resources as a whole does all of this to some extent, some more than others.

TR could easily be called an expansion pack, I don't think Bethesda frets over that.

While Tamriel Rebuilt is massive and wonderful, it doesn't have a main quest. It does not have new lore, as it is intended to draw upon existing lore. And if I'm not mistaken, it does not have new (or much) new voice acting. I'm not making this distinction to place my own work above theirs, just to draw a distinction between the projects, and that TR doesn't fit my own personal classification of an expansion pack. TR has a mission statement and I think they've done exactly what they planned to do.

Where Keening differs from Bethesda's example of an expansion pack is as follows:
- Keening has new situational music.
- Keening NPCs are "nolore'd" - ie, if an NPC has something to tell you about "cavern of azura," you click "cavern of azura" instead of "little secret."
- Keening NPCs do not use the situational voice greeting system - each NPC has its own voice greeting(s).
- Keening will be supported by a website with walkthroughs.
- Being a mod, Keening is a free download, and none of the countless creators whose work is featured got a single penny out of it. And every awesome thing that comes from that.

» Sat Jul 07, 2012 3:49 pm

Ok

» Sat Jul 07, 2012 10:52 pm

Is MCA Morrowind Advanced?

Oh, MCA is Morrowind Comes Alive... I feel like a dumb dumb lollipop now.

» Sun Jul 08, 2012 3:27 am

http://www.automatichamster.com/keening/screens/scrnapr18/seht.jpg

Well, that's a wrap! Keening Chapter One is done, and barring any incompatibilities when I upgrade from MCA 6 to MCA 7, I'll be uploading the beta for testing tonight or tomorrow. I may wait until the beta testers confirm that it works before opening a REL thread. Hopefully everything is fine, but at worst I don't anticipate any problems beyond a possible missing texture or something.

If anyone else wants the beta, let me know now and I'll pm you a link to download it.