I get the feeling new people aren't making it all the way through this thread anymore with all the scripting talk and trying to figure stuff out. Though it has been extremely helpful to me, I know this thread might be quite a mess at this point. So, if you made it through the thread - congrats and welcome to my project!

....maybe I should start a thread #3 soon... maybe when I let the playtesting file out of the bag.

It looks kind of futuristic. That's an interesting approach.

I think the implication is that the Dwemer didn't all die off and completely disappear. That city looks to be a new Dwemer city.

Oh, I see. I thought it did look like Dwemer but I thought you just used that as a base.

Very smart. Right, it's not just eye-candy. Part of the story/ lore is definitely going to be about questions - who built these "new, living" dwemer structures? - and, did any dwemer survive, where did they go, and what are they now? I'm not going to say if these structures are built by surviving Dwemer or by someone else imitating them... but if it raises an eyebrow and gets you curious about, then I've done my job correctly. To me, Morrowind is less about leveling/ killing bosses than discovering, learning, and exploring. Yagrum was much more interesting to me than Ur.

I think what I'm cooking up with Sunfall just may change your mind about that.

I am looking forward to this. I find it quite impressive what you're pulling off as a single modder, even with pulling in resources. I also checked out your DA site. I draw stick figures poorly and have great respect for artists.

My best friend is really good, I get envious of his skill sometimes.

Oh, your mod is going to rock, no doubt. I was using them as examples because in Bethesda's vision, Yagrum is all talking and Ur is all fighting. Remember when you asked me who/ what the big final boss in Keening was and I pretty much responded by saying there isn't one. The Antagonist is Sheogorath, but you obviously don't kill him in the end.


Thank you for that vote of confidence! I'm honestly new to this community and I had NO IDEA there were so many "team" projects. But, I have no interest in farming out pieces to other modders. I'm doing this mod because I want to express my creativity - I want to work on it, see my ideas come to life. I'm literally not going to create a location unless I have an interesting idea that I want to try out... getting other people to fill space for me seems counterproductive. If I built a shack and honest-to-god I don't know what I want to put in there, I'll just delete it rather than carbon-copying and inserting a generic character-with-barrels-and-hammock. You won't search half the town's interiors and not find anything you haven't seen before - and when it's done, every vendor, character, and customer will at least have a quest or small favor or conversation attached to them. Or, I will delete the character. So - yeah, it's a big mod, but it's relatively compact for the amount of content I plan to have. As Tonal reminded me, Keening's locations were created for the story, rather than creating a landmass and then trying to come up with quests to fill it out. The whole process just keeps my mind active when I don't have a freelance job to work on. If one of the many amazing team-made mods asked me to do some work for them, I'd probably say yes if I had time, but after running a popular webcomics collective years ago, I'm not about to try to be "leader" on another online organization any time soon.


Thanks! :3 My artwork keeps me afloat while I work on this project. Well.. barely, HA! I have similar feelings towards musicians, which might be why I'm finally being able to draw/ design some album covers. My art ended up on itunes this week, which was rad. I'm supposed to be doing some artwork soon for an awesome video game company - the founder of the company found my art and loved it... showed it to the rest of the team and they loved it, too. Who knows, I might end up doing a graphic novel for them (it was mentioned), but I'm just waiting patiently... they've already made a movie from their flagship game, so hopefully this will go through soon and I can get to work. If you like my art, feel free to spread it around - especially the video at danadarko.com. I'm really only able to devote so much time to modding because I'm pulling in enough art jobs to squeeze by without having to get a day job - another reason why I might have to release Keening in installments... if I have to take a break to build up more money again, I want to at least have the City completed and able to be played and tested.

Indeed they are. My version of Ur does plenty of fighting, no doubt, but he talks just as much, if not more. And what he has to say carries a great amount of weight in the overall story. You don't only speak to him at the end, either.


It's a unique idea, and a good one, though I prefer having a final boss to fight. I get a greater sense of completion out of the whole thing, especially when the boss is as bad-ass as Ur is going to be.

Any chance I can fight The Architect and possibly survive if I'm feeling rather stupid?

Well, to be honest, depending on what path you take, The Architect *could* be a "final boss." Longterm, I'm planning a group that is actually against her unstoppable rise in power, but that is planned for after I have Keening completed. Whether her powers remain pure or whether she gets corrupted by the power (we ARE talking about an adventure named after one of Kagrenac's Profane Tools) is something I want the player to actually wonder before they reach the end. There are plenty of mini-bosses such as the Nordic Fryse Lord Nabith Malistah... there will be a healthy balance between dungeon stomps and errand quests.

I am super pumped for this, really...now if only I could get smartmerger to finish a damn merged_objects.esp

BTW, I would prefer not to have to use MCA (already using starfires npcs), but if absolutel necessary for this mod I will. That said, if I do DL MCA then I plan on removing the adds to cities, that won't be a problem in regards to Keening will it?

Awesome! Hearing from people who are interested really helps my morale on this extensive, solitary project.

Yes, Keening is a mod built on MCA - the idea being that there are a huge amount of resources in MCA (some of which you almost never see) that I wanted to see integrated into a game. That was the idea for the experiment. Removing MCA from Keening would remove a large amount of armor, weapons, clothing, two races, and many creatures. The winged twilight guards and all of the Azura-related quests would have to be removed, Half of the new armors that are used for encounters, stores, and rewards would vanish. Some of the essential clothing that defines the look of the city would be gone. Conquered Balmora would lose all of its new Sixth House foes. I would basically have to gut Keening to remove MCA entirely... and then, what's the point of releasing a mod made of of stuff people have already seen a million times? So, I hope that if people were to be able to compare Keening with MCA and Keening without it, they would choose it *with* MCA. I know that a lot of people may see MCA as a simple NPC-adding mod, but it's much, much more powerful than that, and I aim to prove it. And luckily, Starfires NPCs are compatible with MCA.

Keening does use some of the randomly-generated NPCs, but it does not rely on the NPCs added in Vvardenfell. If you create an .esp file that removed the npc additions in cities, you might consider releasing it. Out of respect to the creator of MCA, it would be in bad taste for me to release such a thing myself. But, I welcome mods that will allow people to customize their Keening experience to their liking.

Sounds pretty good.

HAHA! Tonal Architect wants to fight The Architect!

*SUICIDE*

Girls win by default. I.... am... the Architect.

I think it'll be more like what happens when you divide by zero.

Only the original remains. What about what Superkitten said? Girls win by default. At least, we have pride. Diminished. By their victory.

*SUICIDE I SAID!*

If I'm playing as a woman, what then?

Ah, it doesn't matter anyway, because girls don't win by default. I do, because I cheat.

console commands? Me too sometimes...

Console commands are for wussies. I make mods that help me cheat.

Well, the Architect's rank is Grand Architect. A step below her is Tonal Architect. He's the dude that built the Dwemer Planeship. Also, he is the gatekeeper for Keening's own Daedric Portals to the Deadlands. So, Modder Tonal Architect vs Keening Tonal Architect - FIGHT!

If you want to take a peek at my current plans for the Ten Chapters of Keening. Planning Chapter One to be released around May 1. And don't worry, I've started work on pretty much all of these installments, but I'm organizing a release schedule to organize my workload, and allow people to experience Keening in stages as the story progresses, with expansions, factions, main quest chapters, and side quests each time. Probabaly a release every month or so.




KN01 - Keening City
KN02 - Keening City Exanded
KN03 - Aftermath
KN04 - Keening Underground
KN05 - The First Era
KN06 - Port Sunder
KN07 - The Deadlands
KN08 - Secret of the Lazmer
KN09 - Finale
KN10 - Keening Integrated

I'm going to make some quick tweaks and then package up KN01_Keening City.esp for playtesters tonight or tomorrow. I'm going to submit it to the 10th anniversarry modding tourney at Great House Fliggerty od the 16th (I think) and then release it around May 1, with any corrections and a little more voice acting and textures, and completing some side quests.

1. I will need to move the landmass to make way for people who want to play Tamriel Rebuilt map 4 (or 3? I dont even know)

2. Right now, when you steal something, the characters just yell - they don't do anything else. Not sure what's wrong.

Release map 3 for TR. I am part of TR myself so a move is a plus.