I completely agree. Attempting to make a city that large after factoring in graphics and models, not to mention the rest of Cyrodiil that would have to follow suit in the epicness of the Imperial City, would kill the highest end PC.

Not necessarily. You could, perhaps model it as such that it is made out of about seven separate city zone, each for an island perhaps. And you don't necessarily need new textures. Sure, the stock vanilla textures look bland, repetitive, and boring but hey, thats what bethesda gave us, a generic fantasy world.

Bethesda could have quite neatly solved both the 'we can't possibly make a lore-accurate IC and do the rest of Cyrodiil too' and the 'we can't make an endless jungle work even with Speedtree' problems by setting the game entirely within (and beneath) the IC. It would have been pretty simple to modify the game's main quest to fit (e.g. Kvatch becomes the city docks or the bridgehead so that Dagon's first assault cuts the city off from the rest of Cyrodiil). The city sewers could have connected to ancient Ayleid ruins, goblin-infested cave systems and suchlike. Instead of several 'cities' (none of which were actually bigger than a village) with counts, you'd have had factions ruling different parts of the city (and getting help from them all to repel the daedra could have replaced the boringly repetitive 'Allies for Bruma' quests).

Lots of missed opportunities. Shame.

That one looks really nice, that's all I have to say really nice work.

Bethesda did their best, but they could have done better. I could mention much to make the world seem more lively, which I mentioned already some in the TESV thread. Where are all the ships in IC eh? Trade doesnt get itself done you know!

And where is the jungle. But they did a good job.

Hello Ysbai, you maked intresting cartographic map of the imperial city, by far more intresting than it is in the game, for a game by now today's gaming standards the imperial city is boring, i even might think the random generated cities in Daggerfall are better and more logicial than what we get up with...

I also hope one day someone will come up with a imperial city rebuild project, with you're imperial city's map as guidline, i myself would change the tower a bit, with buildings around it, i always disliked the idea of a graveyard around the tower and non governmental buildings... I also wonderd why there is only one bridge to the imperial city it doesn't make truly sense...

Anyway I really love you're map...

Macros;

For what it's worth, I liked the map also. It must have taken a while to draw, judging from the amount of detail.

The tower on my map is just doodled in with pencil. I had always planned on doing something else with it. Like adding some outbuildings, that magical garden with the talking shrubbery heads (that would have been a cool thing to have in the game), whatever else that had been mentioned over the years as being around the tower. Vague plans dance around in my skull but I didn't want to do a disservice by forgetting or messing up on it.

Syronj: Couple of hours spread over a few days. This is only the latest of about six. One or two actually included an expanded view showing a much larger version of Weye. Another had colour-coded buildings ala Daggerfall to show what they were and was much smaller looking, it would have actually fit into the current game, I think.

God I hope you're kidding. That would turn OB into a generic dungeon crawler.

Grand Theft Horse: Sin City

Set in the late years of the First Era under the Reman Emperor. when Sanguine was living in the Imperial Palace. Skooma, politics, street gangs, poisoned daggers and harlets.

Now that sounds like a game I want to play!

umm.... where's the Arena? Was the scale on it screwed up?

As opposed to what it is now, where you can't move a few steps in the countryside without stumbling onto the entrance of a cave, Ayleid tomb or ruined fort? What part of being set in a huge city, brimming with social interaction makes that a generic dungeon crawler? I like Duskweaver's idea. City's are essential to RPG's, particularaly TES with its (prior?) emphasis on choices, culture, history and political machinations. And recall one of the greatest RPGs was set almost entirely in one city? Admittedly, it was a very weird city...

No it wouldn't.

And, on the subject of a lore-correct Imperial City having to be large...not really. Just made up of island districts and canols -- no Daggerfall-esque scope is needed, as Morrowind's cities proved.

One question: I'm aware of the symbolic importance of White-Gold Tower as a mythic Tower due to its shape as a Wheel With Eight Spokes...but I always assumed that the Wheel was formed with the tower in the middle and the rest of the city as the Wheel, hence the circular shape. If that's the case, how could you work around that using the OP's island system? Would the Wheel's "ring" be a wall around the island complex? Or am I missing how the shape is formed in the first place?

The Wheel thing is based on WG's placement in relation to the other Towers. In the middle of them all, not the cities own towers.

Yes, but the city's immediate shape on top of that makes it so much more persuasive. It's like Tiber Septim is winking at us.

The thing that bugs me the most with the Imperial City is that the market district is diametrically opposed to the waterfront. Logic would have had the Market District develop as close to the port as possible. Instead, they put the Temple District there. And the Market District is, instead, connected to the Prison.

Are these Tower theories purely based on how the IC looks, or also in regards to it's location?

Jar'zayn: This is quite conveniant for the prisoners who manage to escape, as they can steal some new clothes from the shops under the cover of darkness so as not to be readily identified. Not that Jar'zayn would know any of this, of course.

I just may print out this map and put it on my wall. I love it's look!
It was not laid out right, as I mention in other posts, nothing in Cyrodil was placed strategically.

From the makers of Morrowind...

It's stuff like that that really eats me. Things that are obviously wrong at first glance but nobody thought of it during the production. Or Leyawiin cutting off the river, or the Imperial City being inaccessable by wagon, or the one bridge out of the city leads to nowhere, or the gigantic bridge dividing the bay from the river which prevents those boats you see in the harbor from sailing, lack of tributaries, lack of a palace, ect. These cities would be cute if your little nephew drew them in crayons, but often you would suppose full grown people could do a little better.

It's there, and I probably did screw up on the scale. When the market district and arena area merged, the arena proper is now sort of with the docks. It's that circular bullseye looking bit in the northeast.



Is what I have any better? Granted the main docks are sharing space with the arena and its various buildings, temples, and whatnot but it's now much closer to the shops. No stairs in the way and it can also be reached with little boats along the canols. The waterfront district is now more or less a shipyard or dry dock type thing. The real city bothered me about its odd placement as well. Don't know if I made if better or worse.

Even Jeremy Irons is capable of acting poorly when directed by Courtney Solomon.

Besideswhich, the landscape of gamesas has changed somewhat in the intervening years.