UPDATED to version 1.1
Main changes: texture strip swap between column base and border for a more neutral (less bright orange) decor, vastly improved floor texture, darker doors to blend better, some missing Redoran textures added. Screenshots below are updated to show the new results.

CS screenshots:
http://i-asm.com/Morrowind/Redoran01.jpg
http://i-asm.com/Morrowind/Redoran02.jpg
http://i-asm.com/Morrowind/Redoran03.jpg
http://i-asm.com/Morrowind/Redoran04.jpg
http://i-asm.com/Morrowind/Redoran05.jpg
http://i-asm.com/Morrowind/Redoran06.jpg
http://i-asm.com/Morrowind/Redoran07.jpg
http://i-asm.com/Morrowind/Redoran08.jpg
http://i-asm.com/Morrowind/Redoran09.jpg
http://i-asm.com/Morrowind/Redoran10.jpg

I started looking at the Redoran door... and got discouraged by the low quality of the uninspiring existing texture and the problematic shape. But then I noticed other bits of Redoran architecture added by the Morrowind Visual Pack. It was a very strange mixture of colours and styles, based around two quality stone textures that outclassed everything else in detail.

The poor quality tiles were an obvious thing to replace, and that set me thinking about Islamic/Moorish influenced tiles instead. The orange column base tiles were the starting point, as they toned well with the yellow and blue stone textures. I started playing with tile resources and tesselation motifs I found, then saw how the mesh for two "tiles" were warped around the door surrounds and used as domed roofing, and that led to the Islamic source patterns which have a geodesic quality that work perfectly for those big, curved roof expanses. One also worked perfectly as a wall covering, athough I spent a day cleaning up a gorgeous tesselation from the Alhambra that was sadly disappointing when actually placed in situ.

Simplifying the border and mirroring it covered up the worst of the mesh problems in the "ribbed" roof supports. That also had to look reasonable stretched and shrunk in many different sizes - the blatant mis-sizing and mis-shaping of meshes is a particular problem with the curved Redoran architecture, but getting square tiles to stay square would have been nice - thanks Bethesda. :down: Getting the tilesizes right for the most seen areas and matching the detail "grain" everywhere was most important. The tile floor is also much better, I think, than uninspiring stonework. There is a bit more of the plain cream marble now to balance the busy patterns.

What amazed me was how the colours and designs gelled quickly. I remember the first time I explored Aldruhn - I gasped at the style and grandeur of the manors. I so wanted to find an empty manor there as a player house! I was gutted when Brara Morvayn moved back in... This takes it to a new level but it certainly doesn't feel like you're walking into a mosque, and in the huts and taverns the tile walls and floor have a clean, homely feel. It's all just warm orange rather than grey/blue. I like the idea that there's more colour in their houses to make up for the ash awfulness outside, and the ascetic Islamic motifs do seem to have a resonance with the Redoran honour/duty motifs for me.

Finally, I tried to do something special with the doors. They were difficult because of their shape with the strange recessed panels and one was used as the template for a round trapdoor, which made finding an architecturally realistic solution tricky. I can't say the gothic studwork is the perfect match for the Islamic-inspired tiles, but they are fine-looking solid doors!

I've inserted some of the unchanged MW Visual Pack textures into the archive so that the look I intended is complete. I hope the Pack authors don't mind. Much of what I did tweaked and reused those textures anyway. There's also a striking but matching plain red rug I made from something else which seems to crop up nicely in the manors a lot if you keep that texture naming. I need more and better rugs.

Usage restrictions: none, for my stuff. If you like it, share with friends! But the Visual Pack original textures may be more restricted...

So: if you like the look, go http://i-asm.com/Morrowind/RedecoratedRedoran.7z!

And don't forget my rebuilt http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1173024-velothi-doors-texture/!

Looks nice, and I'd definitely like to try it...

... but 7z can't open the downloaded archive (even after repeatedly trying to download).

Yep, something definitely wrong with it and I have the most up to date version of 7z.

Those are some pretty nice textures. Would you be willing to consider modding the exteriors (the ones for which you're currently using the Visual Pack)? I've never managed to find a Redoran exterior texture I really like - they're all too radically different from the original for my tastes.

Woud you believe I've never played unmodded MW? :teehee: I haven't any idea what the original textures look like. I've assumed that the Visual Pack didn't make radical changes to the look, but obvously I was wrong. I have to admit I'm a patterns and tiles kind of guy, so my ability to change or improve exterior or organic textures may be limited.

I've been having bad connection problems all day, I guess the first upload didn't work.The file is reloaded now, sorry for the inconvenience.

Probably just as well.

Really nice, I love it. One thing tho, both wooden doors totally don't match the rest of the tileset.

Good work :thumbsup:

:rofl: So true. I can't remember what unmodded MW looks like - I've had the game since around 2003 - and I don't want to remember either.

Yeah. But planking would have been so... dull. What makes all the doors really difficult is the way Bethesda made the meshes truly 3D, with deep recesses that look wonderful until you try to justify them architecturally and paint something on top that fits the design. With a recess as deep as on these, it can't be planking, and a metal banding or covering on wood (like the Velothi doors) was just wrong, and couldn't be done because of the trapdoor reuse. Some really solid wood was needed and I was uninspired by any other wood textures I found.

It doesn't help that the doors are reused inside and out, either, so there is no separate internal door to make a prettier version of. I'd hoped to try and put in some fine panelling, or maybe (my original thought) on the Hlaalu door, but the recessed mesh makes that almost impossible without completely replacing it and starting from a flat door. Given the awful low-poly arch shapes, that might not be a bad thing... :laugh:

The studs are fabulous, though. And they do work brilliantly on the trapdoor. Now I know how the doors "work" I might have another go, and save the studs for an Imperial castle makeover. :hubbahubba:

It is pretty radical, yeah (the VP textures look like stone, but the Redoran buildings are actually meant to be shells). http://images.uesp.net//c/c3/MW-places-Ald%27ruhn.jpg gives an idea of what the originals look like.

To be honest it doesn't look that bad when Vanilla, just totally different At least to me, then again I was never weak to "bad" graphics.

The original textures aren't bad, just low-res. I'd really like to see a replacer that was faithful to the original, but with a higher resolution.

The download still doesn't work for me.

Works here. Many thanks. :thumbsup:

Okay, It's working now.

Hmm. I thought just the Skar was a shell. The pods are too regular to be shells, and how do you explain the tall guard towers being shells? Or the siltstrider ramp? Or the walls? They are constructed objects. The fault there is in one texture being used for everything, rather than only specific "shell" remains. I rationalise the shell-like shapes by thinking that the Redoran chose that house form as an homage to Skar, rather than reusing more ancient shells, as it would be oddly convenient to find them in a cluster like that. The whole lore is faulty anyway - why only the one Emperer Crab shell anywhere?

They're described as shells in-game IIRC (or at least, built out of those materials), but regardless, the logistics of it doesn't really bother me. I'm just keen to find a texture that's similar to the original. Up to you whether you want to create one, of course.

But the problem is then that most of the Redoran internal (or alternatively external) architecture would have to have their NIFs updated to use different textures. That external texture is also used inside everywhere, even on parts that cannot be shells - look at the walls, ceiling, floor in my screenshots in the first post. That's a far bigger job than just replacing a texture, and it will still produce weird inconsistencies in the external look like the guard towers.

Hmm? I realise that texture is used indoors as well - it's the same texture (tx_redoran_hut_00.dds, specifically). Replacing that texture will change all the interiors as well. (Edit: I just realised you're saying the interior and exterior textures should be different, but aren't. That doesn't actually bother me at all; I'd be quite happy to have it all look shell-like.)

URRGH. I can't imagine those beautiful manor interiors with dirty shell walls and floors... :wacko:

I took the shells to mean that shells were a major part of the building material Redoran used (well, part from the Skar, which actually is a giant shell).

See, ancient Roman concrete is a mixture of quicklime, pumice (volcanic rock) and volcanic ash. Now that's a material that would stand up to the ash storms and form the smooth, organic shapes preferred by the Redoran. So, they have volcanic ash and rock in abundance. Quicklime is made by baking calcium carbonate. What are shells almost entirely made of - calcium carbonate. Given the insectoid and reptilian native wildlife, shells are something they could obtain easily, unlike say wood, clay etc.

I don't think that's a coincidence, I think someone in Bethesda did their research; and I think those smooth walls in Redoran architecture are basically Roman concrete. A material tough enough to stand for at least two thousand years. So, the smooth light-grey aggregate texture fits perfectly IMO.

OK, whatever. It was just a suggestion.

Updated to version 1.1

Mainly I swapped over two texture strips that reduced the amount of bright orange tiles, replacing them with the more neutral blue-grey wall texture, which tones the decor down substantially and makes the whole effect more subtle. The tile floor texture is vastly improved in detail, necessary because the architecture tiles size it so large compared to everything else. The wooden doors are also darkened a bit so they don't stand out so much. A few other minor changes and additions, so check the new screenshots in the first post to see if you like the improvements.

The mesh deficiencies in this architecture are truly starting to annoy me. Guess what I'll be working to fix at some point...