Right then, hopefully the answer to my question(s) will be a positive one and i shall be sticking around for a while, no doubt asking annoying questions.
I'm just about to enter my 3rd year of Solent University (in England) doing a degree in games art. [so i'm not a complete newb]
Now i havent been given the go ahead for anything yet, but ive already made up my mind somewhat concerning what i want to do for my FINAL MAJOR project.
I just finished Oblivion (a few years too late) and i loved the open world aspect, and realised this could be the engine i'm looking for.
Here's the major question:
What CANT i modify?
I wont go into details about what the mod will be about, but here's the important aspects I need to know:
Can I get rid of all Tamriel and start afresh on my own world? [as in, the data for tamriel is removed and replaced by the heightmaps/whatever for my own land]
Can I modify the HUD in a significant way?
Can I get rid of the annoying face generation part when starting a new game? I want just a few different characters available for playing.
If the above questions are either "YES" or "POTENTIALLY YES" then its great news.
THe project i want to do has NOTHING to do with elves and goblins, in fact most of the world wont even have trees or caves.
I've only played around with the mod programs for a day, the texture/model system is quite nice, though id rather not touch animations with a barge pole.
So let me know what i'm getting myself in for. Id rather stick with Oblivion's engine. the UDK doesnt seem to have a soul if u know what I mean.
Aeryn/Ruthven