» Sun Oct 24, 2010 12:07 am Author: DarkRider/Darkrder
Version: 1.0
Last Update: 16 August 2010
Previous Threads:
[WIPz] Reclaiming Sancre Tor, Thread I *Broken Link*
[WIPz] Reclaiming Sancre Tor, Thread II *Broken Link*
[WIPz] Reclaiming Sancre Tor, Thread III *Broken Link*
http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=993539&st=0&start=0
http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=1010303&hl=
Teaser Storyline: In the aftermath of the Oblivion crisis, the Emperor is dead and no apparent heir will be named. The Blades, having served the Septim line for centuries, find themselves without an Emperor and without a cause to serve, and so they return to an ancient purpose…
Teaser Storyline 2: Cyrodiil has been saved and the last son of the Septim line has ascended into the heavens. With the passing of time, life in the Imperial City resumes its normal candor and The Champion of Cyrodiil fades into anonymity…until a messenger arrives. Blade Captain Steffan has requested your return to Cloud Ruler Temple. He needs your help to escort a small party of Holymen to the Ruins of Sancre Tor. Seems a simple task; Steffan warns the journey is treacherous one, but if you are successful a new path may opened before you…
Teaser Storyline 3: Thunder rolls overhead, the horses knicker nervously as you prepare to make the long journey to Sancre Tor. As the heavy storm clouds blot out the sky overhead, Captain Steffan catches your eye and smiles gratefully with a nod. The seasoned Blade foresees a dangerous road ahead and is obviously relieved to have a second blade along. As you mount your steed, the animal shakes the rain water out of its heavy mane. The four holymen appear from the Great Hall of Cloud Ruler Temple and begin to chant nervously. Steffan takes the lead and you close the holymen between you protectively as you weave your way down the mountain. Lightning flashes and on the distant road you see an unusual flicker of light. Someone is waiting for you in the darkness...
*NEW* Teaser Storyline 4: Bandits harry your party all along the road to Sancre Tor; with quick thinking and a quicker blade, you manage to keep them at bay. The holymen are exhausted but alive and well when the ruins at Sancre Tor finally come into view. No longer the ancient relic of a fortress you remember from months before, a vibrant living city has sprung up around it, reclaimed at last as a holy place and the new focal point for Blade affairs in Tamriel. Within the gray stone walls you find an army of Blades from across the Providences, living and working as one. Steffan offers you his hand and his thanks for your help with his escort detail, but the smile fades from his lips as he reads your expression. In your mind you wonder, with so many Blades so close at hand, why would Steffan send for you? Why would he require your help? The Blade Captain nods intuitively, "I know what you're thinking," he says evenly, "and you're right. There's another reason you've been called to Sancre Tor..."
What Does RST Add to the Game?: (The list of what's not in it is shorter, involves a flying carpet and a parrot...)
-Sancre Tor Reclaimed and Restored to Its Former Glory Inside and Out!
-An Elaborate Multifaceted Main Quest!
-Several Side Quests!
-7 New Dungeon Levels!
-5 New Worldspaces
-Private Player Quarters at Sancre Tor with multiple safe containers and display cases!!!
-Lightside/Darkside Morality Based Final Rewards!!!
-7 Claimable Player Owned Homes Possible!!!
-A shrine to Martin Septim complete with Blessing Alter!!!
-A Dojo, where you will join the Blades in practice and level up your skills!!!
-5 New Towns to Visit!!!
-Custom Blades Memorial! *NEW*
-5 New Blades Armors!!!
-Mini Game Activator Quests!!!
-New Companions!!!
-New Weapons!!!
-Easter Egg World!!! *NEW*
-Coveted Lore Based Treasures!!!
-And much, much, more!!!
Update!!!: :celebration:
Hail and Fair Greetings Blades Fans,
Well it's August 16th and as promised, here's the latest and greatest on RST's development!
Things have been very busy around here as the counter keeps ticking down to finish, both on RST's development and on Ladyflcn's bun in the oven. I have learned (being a first time dad, and of course none of you young blokes will understand now but take notes) that when a pregnant woman says "Honey, if these things aren't done before the baby comes, I will explode" she doesn't mean before the baby comes in the next 3 months, she means, "If you don't do these things right now I will explode". That's an important distinction, fellas. :lmao:
Overall though, Ladyflcn is doing very well and we're down to eleven weeks now so the bulk of the run is behind us. Despite her obviously needing me to help her and do stuff for her, she's been a real champ and been encouraging me to keep going with RST in hopes of seeing it released before the baby comes as much as everyone else.
So, where is the project now? :read:
The bulk of RST's run in development is behind us now as well. I had planned to get to Beta by today, but due to RL "honey do" lists and some software madness on TESA, that's been waylaid, but only a bit. RST will definitely be going to Beta this week, I'm just not sure which day, I have some dialogue tweaking to fix, a few boss battles need sorting yet, WhoGuru is still building one of the final dungeons, and I have several models out being worked on. In a nutshell, there are just some loose ends to tie up before she's complete enough for Beta testing to get started.
That said, I think this week looks good for Beta release. There is already enough material for them to play through that it won't matter if all the corners aren't tidy and finished up yet when they start. The goal is to get it started so we can start getting the rest of the bugs worked out as we go. There are seven experienced play testers signed on to test RST, a few have been holding their Beta testing slot for at least the last year. The testers will be posting their reports in the RST Project forum on TESA, while the project forum is currently closed to the public, I will be opening that to the public post release for those who want to dig around and check out concepts and things that were maybe binned, as well as to offer support for the mod.
Alpha tester lilith finished compiling the first big block of actor scripts (kind enough to mark typos for me too
) and will finish up the second half by next week so voice actors will start recording more than a few generic lines then they'll be getting into the real meat of it. I honestly don't know what's going to happen with the voice acting for RST. It was really important to me when I started, but it really is a time consuming pain in the bum. On a mod RST's size, where there are thousands of lines, the organizing, recording, mastering, is a bit mad really; fortunately lilith is a whiz with organizing and that's been a big help. The voice actors for RST all are experienced, but even then voice acting can be viewed somewhat critically by the mod playing community (not sure why they expect pro quality from amateurs LOL). Dialogue recorded in my office will never sound as good as dialogue recorded in a studio, but we'll do our best to give you a good experience. At any rate, the current plan is to proceed with voice acting with the goal of finishing by RST's release date. If the dialogue is not finished by then I will release RST without it and add the dialogue in a later update. Even if the dialogue is finished on time though, it will be packaged as a second optional file, so those who prefer no voices will not have to waste their DL time on something they won't use anyway.
At this point I will not update this thread now until August 16th, but do post your support and your cheering, keep the thread alive for the community, I check in often and it's good to know folks are still about! I will post again when the questbuild is complete!
Remember that you can always check my project site http://darkrder.webs.com for more regular news, information, images, and updates on the project! The Dimension has been updated as of 16 Aug 2010, so new pics and new stuff to see.
F.A.Q.: :read:
Answers to the big questions on everyone’s minds!
Q: When will RST release?
A: November 2nd has been set as the final release date goal. The release may be sooner if all goes well this Fall with voice actors. I will do my best to keep up with the progress bar here and to make regular mini updates to keep you all in the know! Of course, as in life there are no guarantees, it will be done when it's done, the important thing is that is will be done.
Q: I’m not a Blade, can I still play this and join up?
A: Yes, yes you can. The rank offered to players in the vanilla game by Grandmaster Jauffre is only honorary, so it doesn’t matter if you have it or not, you can still play.
Q: Do I have to be a certain level to play?
A: It’s recommended that you be at least level 12-15 before attempting RST’s Main Quest. That is the average level for players who start with finishing the vanilla Main Quest before anything else. Characters at lower levels will struggle and some tasks will be impassable; on the flip side, extremely high leveled characters are not recommended either. The super skills of an ancient rogue can actually get in the way of successfully completing tasks just because they can have insensitive controls and some adversaries will pose little challenge.
Q: The old guy and the blade from the beginning are dead in my game, does that matter?
A: Definitely not. Jauffre and Baurus are disabled by RST and replaced with cloned versions specifically for this expansion. It doesn’t matter if they are dead or alive when you load it up the first time.
Q: Does this mod require additional DLC’s or body replacers?
A: No. RST uses only vanilla materials or completely custom materials. There are no additional downloads required. All armors are for vanilla bodies, but have played nicely with the popular body replacers for those who do use them.
Q: Will I need to pay to play RST in whole or in part?
A: No, absolutely not. Reclaiming Sancre Tor will be 100% free to download in it's entirety; as an Oblivion mod should be. Added up over the 3 years of development the 8000+ man hours put into this project were a labor of hobbyist love and dedication. This mod belongs to Bethesda Softworks and they have graciously given us the privilege to build upon their work and distribute it freely. It's a longstanding trust that would be dishonored by asking for compensation.
Q: RST has a weapon\armor\creature\static I would like to use in my mod too, can I use it?
A: I get these requests a lot, and I’m flattered that so many modders see bits of mine in screens that they would like to use in their projects. The answer is yes, you can use any material from RST that belongs to me, however, not until she releases. I get the first bite of the pie, mates! When RST releases I will be releasing additional resource packs for modders to use in their projects.
More below…
bliviongate: 
