[RELZ] Solstheim Castle: a tribute - Season's Greetings!

Post » Thu Dec 05, 2013 7:34 pm

What?

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elliot mudd
 
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Post » Thu Dec 05, 2013 10:28 am

Presumably he means that you are the only person who gets the thumbnail-only view. Everyone else sees a mid-sized picture in the regular view, and a full-screen view when clicking through as my linked pics in the 8th May post.

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Jesus Lopez
 
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Post » Thu Dec 05, 2013 9:41 pm

Your link in the 8th May post is the one I used for the second screen shot in mt 9th May post. :tongue:

However, It seems to be an issue with Chrome. I opened the link using Explorer and it was fine. :thumbsup:

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K J S
 
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Post » Thu Dec 05, 2013 1:39 pm

Glad you got to the bottom of it.

Just an update: I've been working on the floating 'Varldshav Village'. I've made Davie's Locker (a tavern aboard the boat - not quite as upmarket as Korana's original, but times being what they are and all that!), and there's a dormitory for the rest of the inhabitants. I'll now finish off the on-deck market.

I've also made a balcony on the castle, which replaces the deck area in Korana's mod: a place for watching the world go by. It's a sort of outdoor-indoor room, half of it under shelter, with the firepit (as in Korana's mod) and plenty of seating. The unsheltered part has a staircase, at the top of which is an observation point overlooking the sea. There's also a little mini roof-garden bit.

Following that, I'll have to make the courtyard housing the stables, smith and other buildings.

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Ross
 
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Post » Thu Dec 05, 2013 8:19 pm

I havent played MW in such a long time and most especially havent played Koranas mods even longer but I do have a few questions.

Koranas castle faced West (again if I remember correctly) and had a large courtyard built around it, one gate facing the docks and one gate opening to the north. Are you looking about expanding northwards because I always thought it was rather unnecessary.
Also considering the amount of NPCs in that mod (a pirate captain comes to mind) will you be adding them as well?

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Alkira rose Nankivell
 
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Post » Thu Dec 05, 2013 5:45 pm

As I explained earlier in the thread, the "footprint" of the mod was too big to be viable - Bethesda have added in an extra island (Horker Island) and a Dwemer ruin where Solstheim Castle should be, so it's actually impossible to have it in the right place. It's now slightly northeast of its proper location, just beyond the invisible barriers (which you have to switch off in the .ini).

There is still one gate opening the docks and one the opposite side, but they now lead directly to the castle with (almost) no surrounding land, just like the real life castle, Bodiam. Instead of the expanse of land surrounding the castle, there will now be a small interior-as-exterior courtyard, and the "village" is now aboard a ship.

Since Skyrim is 200 years after Morrowind, there won't be the same NPCs as in the original mod. The captain's chamber is now a nursery, and there will be a different Khajiit maid (perhaps the original's grand-daughter?). There will be plenty of NPCs in the castle, but I will add these in last.

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Cool Man Sam
 
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Post » Thu Dec 05, 2013 9:24 pm

Your player homes are always the best. The Royal Pavilion is amazing :D

I'm definitely looking forward to this :)

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Dale Johnson
 
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Post » Thu Dec 05, 2013 10:29 am

Thanks!

Uhhh ... I kind of went back on myself: I realised that it wouldn't be Solstheim Castle without Ripplewood Grove. So I've built it in an interior-as-exterior cell - the courtyard is considerably smaller than in Korana's mod, and uses the Dawnguard castle courtyard piece. Instead of completely surrounding the castle, you step off the boat onto a bridge and then directly into the castle. You then exit the castle through the kitchen to the courtyard (leading to barracks, guard towers, etc.) and then through another exit in the courtyard to Ripplewood Grove, which is now walled in by the same courtyard tilepiece. Again, it's smaller but keeps the general idea of the place. There is, of course, Brondolf Barrow, if you'd like to pay your respects to the previous owner.

Again, I'm keeping the quest out of it, on the assumption that you're either the 200-year-old owner who solved the riddle in Korana's mod, or their heir.

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April
 
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Post » Thu Dec 05, 2013 8:25 pm

As a slight concession to questing, I've put a non-respawning undead foe in the secret dungeon bit. It just didn't seem right not to have one, and the lighting should be a dead giveaway that it's a "danger zone" before you get anywhere near the fight.

I've added in a small new room - the cellar (now part of the South Wall) has a little room leading off it that is your treasury - it is filled with gold and glittery things and ingots, etc. The barred door can only be opened with the key, which is hidden somewhere in the castle.

Talking of hidden, I did finally find the sort of 'hidden door' I'd been looking for all along - a section of wall that opens out - so there are three such hidden entrances: one to the upper study (no longer part of the master suite, so the lady of the house can also enjoy it); one to the vampire quarters and finally to the secret necromancer's dungeon.

As an additional easter egg (and to keep my interest going in this very long-term project), I've decided to make most of the NPCs resemble characters from Game of Thrones. This will inevitably be with varying degrees of success due to the limitations of the CK (the resemblance to Jaime is tenuous at best, and the kids are generic, though in the editor Danaerys looks absolutely spot on - haven't seen her in game yet). Obviously I'm not calling them Game of Thrones names, because that would be too distracting, but it can be a bit of fun if you're a fan of the show working out who each is supposed to be.

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Kathryn Medows
 
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Post » Thu Dec 05, 2013 6:17 pm

That sounds very exciting indeed. :clap: It sparks memories of the undead boss in the bowels of Battlehorn castle form Oblivion.

Your talented efforts are greatly appreciated. :thumbsup:

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suzan
 
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Post » Thu Dec 05, 2013 11:59 am

I'm going to upload this as a beta this morning: the castle is functionally complete, though I still need to add all the NPCs (only half-a-dozen or so are currently included), optimize the cells, finalise some of the navmeshes, etc. etc. The NPCs only have generic packages, if at all, so all that needs to be done - in other words, there's still a mountain of work to do.

Meanwhile, you can be running amok and letting me know what needs fixing, any glitches or errors that need fixing, etc.

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Lauren Graves
 
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Post » Thu Dec 05, 2013 8:42 am

Beta uploaded: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/36786//?

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Joie Perez
 
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Post » Thu Dec 05, 2013 6:18 pm

:bunny: :bunny:

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Angela
 
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Post » Thu Dec 05, 2013 9:18 pm

Well Done!

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Emily abigail Villarreal
 
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Post » Thu Dec 05, 2013 1:14 pm

Thanks - btw I'm aware of the collision issue blocking the exit to the greenhouse (you have to toggle collision off ('tcl' in the console) to activate the door. I'll fix that next update.

Otherwise, the only reported bugs so far seem to be people failing to disable their borders before using the mod. :)

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Alan Cutler
 
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Post » Thu Dec 05, 2013 6:57 am

Congrads on the release.

My current character is still quite a ways away from making it across the big pond to Solstheim. None the less, I will be downloading soon enough. It really looks amazing.

Great job, indeed.

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Kelly James
 
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Post » Thu Dec 05, 2013 8:07 pm

Princess- I had a super strange bug, in the Master bedroom there was a sewer grate to "sigmus septimus".

Another observation is that in the display room, Vilja opens each of the center large display cases, even though they are empty. Probably just looking for her next sweet roll or something.

Fantastic work thus far! Definitely takes me back to the morrowind/Korana version!
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Chloe Lou
 
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Post » Thu Dec 05, 2013 8:46 pm

How to disable borders?

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suniti
 
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Post » Thu Dec 05, 2013 10:02 am

From the mod description page...

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x a million...
 
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Post » Thu Dec 05, 2013 12:09 pm

Wow, that is strange! I certainly haven't altered any cells called sigmus septimus, so I'll have to investigate and check - and perhaps seek help, since doors can do strange things.

:edit: Found it, tried and failed to fix it. Help topic here:

http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1462183-help-dirty-doorportal-ref-please-can-you-help/

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Manuela Ribeiro Pereira
 
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Post » Thu Dec 05, 2013 2:57 pm

New version 0.98 uploaded

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/36786//?

==================
Known Issues:
==================

- Exterior navmeshes incomplete/missing
- NPC AI packages to be finalised
- Castle still rather empty of people (more NPCs to be added)
- All interior navmeshes to be checked and finalised
- Room/portal optimization incomplete
- Counter marker in Merchant Hall needs moving
- Backgrounds to be written for other NPCs

==================
Changelog:
==================

08/06/13 : version 0.98 beta release:
- "Floating door" in master bedroom removed
- Some NPCs added
- Greenhouse door moved

02/06/13 : version 0.96 beta release

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Catharine Krupinski
 
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Post » Thu Dec 05, 2013 7:07 pm

Wow thanks!

Solsthiem Castle has always been my favorite house mod in Morrowind. I loved all of Korana's mods, and this is a worthy tribute.

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Jenna Fields
 
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Post » Thu Dec 05, 2013 11:12 am

Having been bitten by one too many navmesh issues, I'll wait until that's complete to dl, or go to Solstheim.

Good Work!

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Ana Torrecilla Cabeza
 
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Post » Thu Dec 05, 2013 11:04 am

I'm working on the navmesh now. I've put in all the NPCs, so the next update will be NPCS + Navmesh, so that the release update will be room optimization and schedules (they're currently using DefaultSandbox packages).

Are there any further issues I need to be aware of? I've literally only had two bugs reported: the greenhouse door and the 'floating' door in the bedroom. Is my mod really as flawless as all that? ;)

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Isaac Saetern
 
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Post » Thu Dec 05, 2013 6:23 am

It looks like it is coming along very nicely. Great job on this.

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Zach Hunter
 
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