» Sat Mar 05, 2016 1:40 pm SKYWIND
Hey Modders!
We are a volunteer modding community known as TES Renewal Project. We’d like to introduce our mod Skywind to you. A project dedicated to re-imagining TES III: Morrowind in the Creation Engine.
In the past, forum posts have been locked due to Bethesda’s request that the importing of assets between games is not a situation they condone or can legally support. In light of this, for the past three years we have been working tirelessly to meet this request by creating brand new models, textures, heightmaps and audio. The results are stunning. Literally hundreds of volunteers and more than an estimated hundred thousand hours have gone into meeting this request.
Starting from the ground up, we have concept artists re-imagine these assets and landscapes, then both amateur and professional leveled volunteers create them with meticulous detail. Audio components, such as music, SFX, and voice acting utilize original creations of the community that help modernize the atmosphere of Vvardenfell. Our game mechanics department aims to modify the base mechanics of the Creation Kit to establish a hybrid system reflecting what we think are the best elements from both Morrowind and Skyrim. Quests have been implemented with enhancements on the original plots where we feel it is most beneficial. Skywind is not TES3:Morrowind, that has its own place in history. Skywind is truly is its own unique experience, a hybrid that does not seek to make Morrowind obsolete, or diminish its brilliance, but instead a platform for a community of fans to come together to re-imagine the province, to extend it, to mold it into something that is its own.
With forum admin permission, we are posting to draw more potential modders’ attention to our project to help organize and build logic to our master, construct the world, design assets, or record audio to bring the world to life. The asset base far exceeds Morrowind and now rivals Skyrim. It is an exciting development platform for those wanting to get back into modding or wanting to continue the Elder Scroll legacy of high-level modding.
If you are not familiar with our project then please check out our youtube channel and developer video series to get an idea of the magnitude and scope of what we set out to do. https://www.youtube.com/TESRSkywindOfficial
We have our new "Making of Skywind IV" that has a focus on recruitment, so please check it out.
We hope this brief introduction has sparked some old memories or peaked interest in those that have not played the original game, who wish to experience the re-imagining of Morrowind, and we encourage you to visit our development website at http://tesrenewal.com to check out our progress and become part of the community.
If you think you’ve got something to contribute, please don’t hesitate to fill out our volunteer form that can be easily found as a link on our website and we’ll do our best to find tasks open to your particular skill set.
We are proud of the fact that many of our developers have gone on to join top-tier studios with the help of their Skywind portfolio work.
There is still an enormous amount of tasks to be done and we are hoping that if you have ever opened up the Morrowind, Oblivion or Skyrim Creation Kits, or have experience with animation, concept art, coding/game mechanics, landscaping/level design, modeling, music, voice acting, sound/fx or writing, that you will come and join us in probably the most ambitious and beautiful mod ever to be undertaken.
So come join us Outlanders!
Skywind Development Team
Frequently Asked Quesions
Spoiler
A: It is a non-commercial, fan made modification for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim that seeks to merge the amazing world of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind with the enhanced graphics and capabilities of Skyrim's engine.
While ownership of both games is required to play, the player only actually plays Skywind using the Skyrim game, and not the older Morrowind game. This means that the user interface, combat, graphics, and system requirements for the Skywind mod are all those of Skyrim, and NOT Morrowind.
2. Q: What will I need to run Skywind?
A: Currently, Skywind is not available for public download due to its alpha state. When it is released you will need the following:
TES III: Morrowind, including the Bloodmoon and Tribunal expansions installed correctly on your system.
TES V: Skyrim + Dragonborn and Dawnguard expansions (not hearthfire)
YOU NEED LEGITIMATE COPIES OF BOTH GAMES - even if you defeat the copy protection somehow, pirated copies of the games DO NOT WORK RIGHT with Skywind and you WILL have problems.
3. Q: Why is Skywind not available for public download anymore?
A: The team here at TESrenewal.com is putting our heart into making Skywind the best product it can be and we want to make sure that our fans get to experience our vision as it is meant to be. Due to the alpha stage of the project we have decided to keep our work internal and update you via our various youtube channels and other social media outlets. We will open Skywind for further developers in the future when we have reached a point where feedback will be constructive. Currently, many aspects of the game are still a work in progress and it would be hard for anyone not directly involved in the project to know what is, or what is not a bug or simply unfinished at this stage. We greatly appreciate the interest our fans have in the project and understand how much you want to play it and we’re working hard to make it what it is destined to be.
4. Q: Will Skywind be complete with quests, or will it only feature the Morrowind landscape?
A: Skywind aims to have full functionality upon release equivalent to recent Elder Scrolls titles, as well as to expand by reintroducing critical elements from Morrowind that did not make it into Skyrim. We cannot make any promises at this time about what will and will not make it into the final release but rest assured some are already implemented and others are being worked on.
5. Q: But Morrowind had very outdated graphics, especially in the mesh and texture areas!
A: All textures and meshes are being redone to give the game an updated appearance. All the landscaping has been redone from scratch, to reflect new designs and visions. The level of quality upon release should rival or surpass the average Skyrim mesh, texture and level design.
6. Q: Will I be able to take advantage of the new Skyrim systems while in Morrowind? Things such as smithing and crafting.
A: Yes you will! This is in the process of being implemented. In the future you will be able to craft many of the objects from Morrowind using local materials. That means real mining and Morrowind style crafting stations too. These recipes will be balanced so as not to interfere with a Morrowind style of gameplay. Smithing will also be overhauled as to not overshadow the value and rarity of particular found items and to balance the game so that players do not feel like they need to smith or lose out on the best armor. The skill will still be incredibly useful and will work differently than it did in Skyrim. New crafting fields unique to Skywind will be introduced, bringing further functionality to previously static objects such as the loom and kiln. These professions are based on those the Temple saints are patrons of, valued by Dunmeri culture. Minor tier crafting professions will tie into major ones, but are not exclusive to a skill. These include cooking, dyemaking, and pottery.
7. Q: But what about fast-travel and quest markers? They could ruin a true Morrowind experience.
A: We will turn them off by default, as we want to bring back the more immersive roleplaying elements of Morrowind. However you will be able to use fast-travel and quest markers because they come with the Skyrim engine. There are several .ini tweaks that are especially helpful for this, and they only take a few minutes to look up and add to your .ini files. Note: Always make a backup copy of your .ini files before attempting to tweak them so you can revert back if something goes wrong.
8. Q: I have heard that the armor system will be similar to the one in Morrowind, is this true?
A: Over the course of development our modelers have explored the possibility and found it to be prone to major clipping issues. At this point, we will be using the system found in Skyrim as it gives us greater room to create interesting armor designs without having to worry about major modeling issues between pairing different armor types. In the future we may revisit introducing morrowind style elements that are less prone to clipping issues such as left and right gloves, and separating out pauldrons, but for now creating the armor sets and getting them into game is a higher priority. As in skyrim, clothing and armor will not be able to be worn at the same time. This is due to clipping issues as well as some of the hardcoded elements of the game.
9. Q: Is there any estimate for a release date?
A: Currently there is no solid release date. With a community project such as this, progress often comes at an irregular rate and is hard to predict. Currently we have been experiencing a steady level of activity in several key sectors that has benefited the project immensely. When we have a release date in mind we will undoubtedly notify our fans via our youtube page here. If you would like to help with the development of Skywind we would love to have any qualified volunteers come on board! Please see our volunteer forum on www.tesrenewal.com if you believe you have the passion and aptitude to learn and help.
10. Q: In Skyrim, there is a really nice perk system with 18 separate skills. In Morrowind there are 27 different skills, with a class and attribute system. How do you plan on reconciling these differences?
A: We are currently exploring the possibility of a skill tree overhaul specific for Skywind. The goal of the overhaul would be to create a skill tree system that brings back elements from Morrowind as well as restructuring the perk system altogether. It is too early to say if we will be able to achieve everything that we are planning but we want you to know that we making a serious attempt at redefining this system. Anyone interested in this aspect and has experience in this area is welcome to contact the game mechanics department lead if they would like to volunteer!
