[WIPz] Skingrad outer district

Post » Sat Apr 02, 2011 2:01 pm

Hello everyone, this is the first mod in city expanding series.

So, what does this mod do? Well, i started this mod because i think the surroundings of almost every city is Very bare, so this mod aims to fill out this "Bareness".
For now, this mod adds five buildings under the bridge that connects the Skingrad with its castle. There are no NPCs at the moment, but im working hard to give each house an occupant with personality, job, and maybe a family.
Screenshots:
http://img130.imageshack.us/i/ssssct.jpg/ http://img707.imageshack.us/i/ssssstw.jpg/
http://img707.imageshack.us/i/ssssssqoo.jpg/ http://img707.imageshack.us/i/sssssssd.jpg/
http://img707.imageshack.us/i/ssssssssw.jpg/ http://img707.imageshack.us/i/ssssssssscj.jpg/
http://img707.imageshack.us/i/ssssssssssb.jpg/

I made this mod with Better cities and TIE in mind, so theres absolutely no incompatibilities with them, but there should be no other incompatibilities or bugs so far.
Any feedback, ideas and bug reports are most welcome!

I hope you enjoy this mod! :foodndrink:

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=30732
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Khamaji Taylor
 
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Post » Sat Apr 02, 2011 2:03 pm

Looking lovely so far!
Will you be adding lower class houses as well? Perhaps to the other side of the city.
How will you handle the way people are living outside the city walls, will there be extra guards?

I like the style, keep it going!
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JeSsy ArEllano
 
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Post » Sat Apr 02, 2011 10:33 am

Not sure extra guards are really an issue as there is already a Stable outside each city (with residents) and a few other adjacent houses, such as Honditar's near Chorrol. Unless it's a full-blown suburb, the quards can probably see what's going on from their regular posts and patrols outside the gates.
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Rude_Bitch_420
 
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Post » Sat Apr 02, 2011 9:43 pm

Guards would add realism, even if it was just one to walk around making sure no one was brawling etc etc.
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alyssa ALYSSA
 
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Post » Sat Apr 02, 2011 7:27 am

Fantastic! I've always thought vanilla cities are little more than expanded castles, so this should at least make Skingrad feel more like a city and less like a small fortress harboring a few peasants.
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Amy Masters
 
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Post » Sat Apr 02, 2011 7:24 pm

Thanks for feedback everyone!

I've just started adding few new lower class houses, and as soon as im done with it, i will expand the district on the other side of the bridge.
And about the guard thing, i think i will add something like town militia, you know, citizens protecting their own homes... :toughninja:
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Prohibited
 
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Post » Sat Apr 02, 2011 5:21 pm

Guards would add realism, even if it was just one to walk around making sure no one was brawling etc etc.


No, there are already way too many full-time guards in the game. What would add realism (as in: This was how things were actually done back in the day) would be each able citizen having to work guard duty every now and then, or pay a tax to avoid it (which only the wealthiest could afford on regular basis).

Yes, this includes the PC if he has a house in town. ;)
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Averielle Garcia
 
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Post » Sat Apr 02, 2011 7:39 pm

No, there are already way too many full-time guards in the game. What would add realism (as in: This was how things were actually done back in the day) would be each able citizen having to work guard duty every now and then, or pay a tax to avoid it (which only the wealthiest could afford on regular basis).

Yes, this includes the PC if he has a house in town. ;)


I really like the look of this so far! Nice work. Are you going to make it compatible with the new Unique Landscapes Skingrad Outskirts mod?
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Claire
 
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Post » Sat Apr 02, 2011 7:27 pm

For sure they will be compatible, and i even recommend using it, as it will add more realism and immersion to the game. :liplick:
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An Lor
 
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Post » Sat Apr 02, 2011 6:11 pm

This is a great idea. I am in full agreement with the concept, but I lack the competence to do anything about it myself (except to download other people's efforts).
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Quick draw II
 
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Post » Sat Apr 02, 2011 9:14 am

Im just working on expanding the district to the other side of the bridge, and it should be done soon, then i will finally upload this mod to Tesnexus!
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Kathryn Medows
 
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Post » Sat Apr 02, 2011 10:50 am

Nice idea. It's allways bugged me that cities are just ponked down in the landscape with no surrounding support structures. The only place in game that feels natural to me is the wine growing region on the other side of Skingrad.

I would like to see more farming landscapes around the cities. Chorrol Hinterland does a pretty decent job for that city, the others are in sore need of an upgrade.

For this mod I would be really happy if you could squeeze in several more fields around Skingrad and some low class farm workers housing.
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lauraa
 
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Post » Sat Apr 02, 2011 4:10 pm

Looks fantastic. Make sure there aren't many old people living in the uphill houses, though... there's just too many stairs :D
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Rebekah Rebekah Nicole
 
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Post » Sat Apr 02, 2011 10:09 am

Did I mention that my character is afraid of heights! How do you plan to cater for these sort of adventurers?

Looks really nice. What Skingrad really needs though is some sort of slums outside the gates, around the walls, where the less well off reside. The Waterfront in the Imperial City tries to capture this feel but it doesn't really work. Now that'd be super cool.
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Meghan Terry
 
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Post » Sat Apr 02, 2011 7:19 pm

Nice idea. It's allways bugged me that cities are just ponked down in the landscape with no surrounding support structures. The only place in game that feels natural to me is the wine growing region on the other side of Skingrad.

I would like to see more farming landscapes around the cities. Chorrol Hinterland does a pretty decent job for that city, the others are in sore need of an upgrade.

For this mod I would be really happy if you could squeeze in several more fields around Skingrad and some low class farm workers housing.


You obviously haven't downloaded UL Skingrad Outskirts yet then, which adds three small farms and a miner's camp around Skingrad.
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Dragonz Dancer
 
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Post » Sat Apr 02, 2011 11:55 am

Here are some screenshots of the new house i added to the district. They are taken in CS because i dont have my Oblivion disc right now, so excuse the bad quality.

http://img42.imageshack.us/i/newhouse01.jpg/ http://img42.imageshack.us/i/newhouse02.jpg/
http://img42.imageshack.us/i/newhouse03.jpg/

This mod is actually completed, but i have a little problem with Tes4Gecko merging ESPs function. This mod is currently divided between seven ESPs, and when i want to merge them, it creates some file with the name of the plugin, but it has no description, i cant open it in CS... I guess the fault is mine, but could someone tell me how to merge those files please? :brokencomputer:
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Brandon Wilson
 
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Post » Sat Apr 02, 2011 2:33 pm

You obviously haven't downloaded UL Skingrad Outskirts yet then, which adds three small farms and a miner's camp around Skingrad.

I don't download all the ULs at once. I get them when I feel like I need a reward :D

3beN that is a very nice setup. I know that those stairs aren't the easiest to fit together but it looks very attractive. I'll be downloading it.
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Alina loves Alexandra
 
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Post » Sat Apr 02, 2011 12:05 pm

I don't download all the ULs at once. I get them when I feel like I need a reward :D

3beN that is a very nice setup. I know that those stairs aren't the easiest to fit together but it looks very attractive. I'll be downloading it.



Thanks a lot, Nerevarine
Ok, ive finished some small things like some small rocks etc. , so the mod ready for upload, but i didnt fixed that ESP merging with Tes4Gecko, someone help please, so i could upload it! :ahhh:
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FABIAN RUIZ
 
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Post » Sat Apr 02, 2011 2:23 pm

This mod is actually completed, but i have a little problem with Tes4Gecko merging ESPs function. This mod is currently divided between seven ESPs, and when i want to merge them, it creates some file with the name of the plugin, but it has no description, i cant open it in CS... I guess the fault is mine, but could someone tell me how to merge those files please? :brokencomputer:


Seven ESPs? That's rather odd, why didn't you just stick with one?

Merging with Gecko is really simple, so unless you get an error message I can't see why it would fail to work. Did you forget to add .esp to the end of the filename? When Gecko lets you type the filename in just before merging, it does expect you to include the file extension, so if you left that out, you'll end up with an unusable file. Just use Windows to Rename the file, then add .esp to the end, this should allow you to use the file.
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no_excuse
 
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Post » Sat Apr 02, 2011 10:56 pm

Thanks a lot for the help DNIAIU, you will never notice that there were seven esps. :celebration: . But one more thing, i know this has been probably discussed many times, but how i can move some things added by Better cities, namely some trees and rocks that stick through stairs in my mod when using BC. When i move them in CS, they just get duplicated in the game. Help will be appreciated. :foodndrink:
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Louise Dennis
 
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Post » Sat Apr 02, 2011 2:25 pm

Thanks a lot for the help DNIAIU, you will never notice that there were seven esps. :celebration: . But one more thing, i know this has been probably discussed many times, but how i can move some things added by Better cities, namely some trees and rocks that stick through stairs in my mod when using BC. When i move them in CS, they just get duplicated in the game. Help will be appreciated. :foodndrink:


You would have to make your mod dependent on the BC ESP, which would make Better Cities a requirement for anybody wanting to use your mod.
I suggest that instead of doing this, you provide your mod in one ESP, for all to use, then provide a small patch ESP for users of Better Cities. This patch ESP would handle moving/removing BC-placed objects, and nothing else.

To do this, you need either Wrye Bash or TES4Edit. It's easier in Wrye Bash, but TES4Edit is easier to install, so if you don't already have Wrye Bash and don't want to install it, use TES4Edit instead.

Here's a description I gave someone not long ago when using TES4Edit. Note that for them I used "Better Imperial City.esp" as an example, you don't want that one, you want "Better Cities - Skingrad.esp"
To create an ESP which edits the contents of another ESP, do the following with TES4Edit:Start TES4EditTick "Better Imperial City.esp"Click OKWait for the following to appear in the right side of the window: "Background Loader: finished"In the left side of the window, click the + symbol next to "Better Imperial City.esp"Click on "File Header"Click Edit from the menuTick ESMClick OKIn the right side of the window, find the row titled "Record Flags", and right-click in that row under the column heading "[02] Better Imperial City.esp"Close TES4Edit using the X button in the top-right cornerClick OK in the new window to save the changeNow start the Construction Set"Better Imperial City.esp" will appear up in the area where ESMs are found instead of down where ESPs are foundTick that ESP, then click OK to start a new ESPNow make whatever changes you want to the IC DistrictsSave the new ESP as normalWhen finished, close the CSBefore launching the game to test your edits, you have to repeat what you did in TES4Edit to "Better Imperial City.esp" except instead of having ESM ticked, you must untick it. If you don't do this, then in-game everything will look screwed up.And if you want to make further edits to your new ESP, you must retick the ESM entry using TES4Edit before launching the CS and activating your new ESP, otherwise you will break your mod.


In Wrye Bash, you right-click "Better Cities - Skingrad.esp" and choose ESMify Self. Remember to ESPify Self again before testing in-game.



This is called ESMifying and ESPifying the master ESP. You must always ESMify the master ESP before using the CS, and you must always ESPify the master ESP before using it in-game.

Once you've created your patch, you want to make a copy and redirect the master to use "Better Cities - FULL.esp" so that you have two versions of the patch. Again this is easy to do in Wrye Bash, but it's all rather fiddly in TES4Edit, and I'm not up to describing that right now. So install Wrye Bash if you haven't already!

In Wrye Bash, select the copy of your patch, then click in the white box on the right-side titled Masters. Now right-click on "Better Cities - Skingrad.esp" in that list and choose Change To. Select "Better Cities - FULL.esp" and click OPEN. Then click Save at the bottom of the Masters box to confirm the change. Don't try this with other mods, it'll only work with Better Cities because of the way we handle the Form IDs in the separate ESPs before merging.
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Dan Scott
 
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Post » Sat Apr 02, 2011 11:42 pm

nice work! personaly I think all the cities should have a large slum around them, with a few shops too.
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Sam Parker
 
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Post » Sat Apr 02, 2011 10:44 am

nice work! personaly I think all the cities should have a large slum around them, with a few shops too.


There will be some shops in the future (maybe)

Well, i have another problem (hopefully the last one). After the merging all the esps into one, a wall has appeared sticking through the sidewalk. Actually, the wall has been there before, but ive added a new house and that wall was blocking way to the house. So i have deleted it, saved, tested, but it was still there. So ive done some minor changes to the landscape near the house and added some small rocks, deleted the wall, saved, but that damn wall is still there. I just dont know what to do about this, as i want to release this mod as soon as possible, so i could slowly begin working on interiors of the houses. Please someone help me with this problem :ahhh: !

And i never thought that editing some things in Better cities would be that hard, but thanks a LOT for the help Dniaiu, youre the best!
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joannARRGH
 
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Post » Sat Apr 02, 2011 10:22 am

There will be some shops in the future (maybe)

Well, i have another problem (hopefully the last one). After the merging all the esps into one, a wall has appeared sticking through the sidewalk. Actually, the wall has been there before, but ive added a new house and that wall was blocking way to the house. So i have deleted it, saved, tested, but it was still there. So ive done some minor changes to the landscape near the house and added some small rocks, deleted the wall, saved, but that damn wall is still there. I just dont know what to do about this, as i want to release this mod as soon as possible, so i could slowly begin working on interiors of the houses. Please someone help me with this problem :ahhh: !

And i never thought that editing some things in Better cities would be that hard, but thanks a LOT for the help Dniaiu, youre the best!


If you're deleting a wall and it keeps reappearing, then that piece of wall is most likely from another ESP you have loaded in the CS.

Exactly what files are you ticking in the CS when you activate your own ESP?
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Kevan Olson
 
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Post » Sat Apr 02, 2011 3:47 pm

If you're deleting a wall and it keeps reappearing, then that piece of wall is most likely from another ESP you have loaded in the CS.

Exactly what files are you ticking in the CS when you activate your own ESP?


Im just ticking the Oblivion.esm and SkingradOuterDistrict.esp, nothing else.
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Andrew Perry
 
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