THE LAND OF HYRULE

The home of "Hyrule Isle" and "Name Pending" storylines!


'allo there, I've come to tell you about something that a couple of us are working on, and perhaps this topic might serve as a center for our communication. We aim to build the land of Hyrule from the Legend of Zelda games, both as an addition to Oblivion and optionally as a total-conversion. ('cause choice is nice.)
So far it's DJGamer, SteelKaos, and myself.

None of our assets will come directly from any of the games, and will be made by us. Except... the stuff already in Oblivion... And any modders' resources. Or other things that are freely distributable.



At the moment we are working on races and the general mapping. I've done Hylians, Sheikah, Gerudo, and Kokiri with custom textures and outwardly-pointing ear shapes, as opposed to Altmeri flat ears. The one I am most proud of though, is the Twili race, which has some nice, pretty effects to the skin and eyes. Unfortunately, my computer is a Vista, so screenshots might take a while.

Zoras are near completion, but will require more texture work since my normal mapping program decided to stop working. The Zora's head-tail and body fins are working nicely though, and move with the body almost perfectly.
I'm still learning how to create new hair...

Gorons, Skull Kids, and Deku will also be included.




Our method will be simple and organized.
1. Create the basic Landscape. Heightmapping, terrain, and such. Likely to be larger than Cyrodiil, but we're still working this part out.
2. Complete basic content such as races, a simple set of themed clothing, light armor, and heavy armor.
3. Trees, rocks, and other landscape items, and placement of them within Hyrule.
4. Housing, furniture, and clutter assets. (Probably a whole lot of heavily-modified Oblivion things.) Sounds and music, too.
5. Clothing, Armor, Weapons, and other items.
6. Puttin' it all together.
7. Storylines and quests.

This is devised in a way that no loose ends will exist. If we are somehow unable to continue the project, anyone else would easily be able to take over if they wished.
The Storyline is where we are a bit conflicted, so we will not dwell on it, and we'll save it for last in order to focus more on the hard content. Eventually, we will split into two teams for the plots, but that won't be until all content is created. So, no major focus on that for now.





Our current skills:
-Inorganic modeling and texturing. (items, houses, etc.)
-Lifelike animation in Blender. (should be easy enough to adapt to Oblivion's style)
-Shoddy organic modeling. (characters, monsters) (srsly, help!)
-Fair Nifskope use.
-Fair Construction Set use.
-Scripting.
-Writing
-Crazy learning curve.


Skills we need:
Organic modeling/texturing.
Greater skill with Nifskope or the CS.





So yeah, at the current moment it's getting these races finished. Most of them look pretty good so far, but making the Gorons and Deku from scratch isn't something I can do myself. I can rig them and set them up for use in the CS, but the modeling and texturing isn't something I can personally do.
The Zoras haven't turned out that well in texture either. The fin models are looking fairly good so far, but it's apparent that I don't have the texturing skill for them. (Or the normal mapping program... *grumble grumble*)

We need help on modeling Gorons and Deku. I can take care of rigging.

Apart from that, any and all help will be appreciated, even from people who aren't directly involved. If you have something, send me a link to download it, or send it directly to me at tuahshinguru@gmail.com .
Especially if it's hair or clothes.
But nothing that's made directly from other games' assets.



Well, let the games begin.

if you want a literall total conversion be sure to check out http://www.zreomusic.com/ (Zelda Reorchestrated) as I love using their orchestrated music for my Oblivion music (and Borderlands...)

oh, but let me continue reading this, I didn't get all the way through the post :read:

can't do Zelda-styled dungeons as I am almost certain Oblivion's engine could not do some of the many neat gadgets you get throughout Zelda...
One real question is which "Hyrule" map are you using? The one from the original, very first Zelda? The one from Ocarina of Time? The one from Wind Waker (underwater...though I have no idea how you could expand the areas that you could not access in Windwaker)? or the Minish Cap?

EDIT: added link to zreo website.

Oh, I may be wrong on this, but I believe ZREO is royalty free music, so it is free to use (so long as credit is given) in any project :hehe:

Thanks for the link! I've heard of them before, but didn't know they were that big. It'll be perfect! <3


Actually, I'm sure that I can script the dungeons well enough. I think I've seen a working hookshot before too. But I don't remember really.

We're creating our own map of Hyrule based on Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess, with some hints from other games thrown in. We're each drawing out or own interpretations, and we'll decide on which is the closest and most well thought-out before we start the landscaping.
The storyline that DJGamer wants to do is pre-OoT, but mine is post-Twilight Princess (which would negate Wind Waker, since it's on another timeline). Luckily, we'll be able to use the same Hyrule for both storylines, in case we decide to split it into two parts at the end.

That's also why we're doing things so organized and saving the storyline for last. Then, both groups will already have all the assets to work with, and quests/storylines are easy to do at that point.

on a technical standpoint - there really has been no defined "timeline" for the Zelda series. But, yes, as most assume, Wind Waker took place in the far future.

I say you should do Link's Awakening :hehe: it didn't take place in hyrule, but it is the most underated Zelda game, and damn, I found it to be one of the most enjoyable handheld zelda games available. Or, the mysterious and unloved Majora's Mask - the only real official "sequel" to any Zelda games, as all the rest took place different times, different "links" different places and didn't follow up the previous story...only Majora's Mask followed up on OoT...I would like to see what the "sequel" would be to Majora's Mask after Link is finally able to leave Tarmina Fields.
both of those games were like the blacksheep games that went underappreciated, but I literally just played through all of Majora's Mask fairly recently, and though I will admit, in the Zelda saga...it certainly was a different game then all the rest, but I think it still held up the Zelda game play pretty well, and the story was not aweful at all!
as for Link's Awakening...god...that one is just a trip!


so, there are a lot of possible options....I would really - my opinion - like to see a follow up to one of these "black sheep" games...ofcourse as for a selling point for this mod? It probably wouldn't make many want to download it because they want to hear the follow up of the games they are familiar with...sadly, even though OoT is a great game...it seems it is a bit over appreciated, along side with Twilight Princess which I have yet to complete as it's new "upgrade" seemed to deter me away from playing it...to me, it just didn't feel quite the same as the other Zelda games, even though the formula for it had not changed...which the formula for zelda is getting really old now too...
big evil arises, link must stop him by going to the dungeons, ofcourse inside the dungeons are the correct keys to get through and god forbid an opstacle that cannot be passed. Get the dungeons gadget, which just so conviantly happens to be the dungeon boss's weakness (why would the "evil one" put the weakness to the dungeons guardian in the guardian's own dungeon!?!) but ofcourse first you have to get the boss key to open the door to the guardian, which also conviniantly is located in the same dungeon...
it gets predictable, though somehow still is fun. Still if you are trying to recreate Zelda gameplay, keep these notes in mind to help create the unpredictable :hehe:

Hehe... there was a sequel to Majora's Mask. It's simply that nobody knows about it yet. My storyline will change that.
I won't give away anything more about that. ;3


But yeah, I want to expand to Link's Awakening and the Oracle games (which I think would fit well with what Link does after leaving Termina).
The Ballad of the Wind Fish is one of my favorite songs of all time. I even remember when I finished the game. I was on the bus in 3rd grade.
And I never remember anything!

lol, I remember when I first played it...I think I was in 3rd grade too...no wait...I lived in Austin...so it had to be atleast 1st grade...
anyways, It's good to see you will be expanding on the "Black sheep" games! You don't have to expand any more on how, but I am curious if that was the original plan or if I helped in that :hehe:

it would be cool to see the use of the Mask system again...just..god...no quests that are as complicated and irritating as getting the Couple's Mask (Marriage Mask/Sun Mask) Oh...I hated doing that, the pressure of time frames is so awefule! The clock is ticking to get the Sun Mask to give to Anju, but it is going on a conveyer belt, and you have to solve these puzzles quickly. Once done, you have to sprint as fast as you can to Anju, and in the last hour before the moon hits, see Kefei give the mask to Anju....that last hour is aweful! You're just like "HURRY YOUR [naughty language] UP!!! The MOON IS FALLING AND I AM GOING TO DIE!!! THIS IS NO TIME TO PUTZ AROUND!!!" as soon as you get it, no time to run to the bank and drop of rupees, no, you have to use the Song of Time to save yourself.
Oh I hate time pressure!

Hello, technically the mod is tentatively titled Hyrule Isle and it's a kind of rebirth of my idea for Dawn of Hyrule. The plot is actually quite well worked out so I'd appreciate it if suggestions as to where this should be set in the timeline would be ceased because I've put in A LOT of work and thought into constructing something of an "alternative lore" for the Zelda universe. By "alternative" I mean strictly in the sense that it is technically unofficial and that future Zelda games may come along and include things that contradict what I've established. I've been fairly careful however to base it in the current state of the lore but add many of my own touches and ideas.

Right now I'm not going to say too much about my version of the story besides that it is a prequel to pretty much every Zelda game ever released. Here's the current teaser page for the website I'll eventually be putting together: http://hyruleisle.deejaygamer.com

I'm also going to throw this screenshot out there: http://hyruleisle.deejaygamer.com/hyruleisle-mudora.jpg

I'm really hoping we can work this into a singular project with a singular story direction incorporating both ideas from both sides although obviously the point where it's set in the timeline for my idea is pretty much fixed.

As for the concept of a "sequel" to Majroa's Mask, actually in my time line I've actually got something roughly worked out for what Link does after MM, although technically now that I've watched for a Let's Play of MM I'm not sure how well the idea would work or I'd at least need to modify it quite a bit because in my original concept Link voyaged further into Termina whereas the game seems to imply that Link returns to Hyrule after MM, supposedly to continue searching for Navi. The whole idea that he travels to other lands could still work I suppose lore-wise, though.

As far as making a mod-based sequel, unless there's a way to forgo character generation and simply place the character into the role of Link (without using some kind of save game-type thing) I'm not sure how it would work. The idea I have in mind right now would be to have an eventually expansion that allows the player to travel to Termina and engage in a new quest line there. It might even be possible to work in some kind of strange "time warp" element that actually sends the player to Termina in the future rather than "prequel Termina".

I think I'm going to be editing this post quite a bit as I'm going through and reading some of the posts.

I think it could be interesting to use a kind of time element similar to MM for a possible Termina expansion (although it could feel a bit redundant-like why is Termina constantly on the verge of disaster?). I agree though that the whole conveyor belt thing is a bit too much. At least with the end bit you can reset time at the end-yeah you have to wait for nearly the last minute for Anju and Kafei to get together but if you've done everything right it's sure to happen and afterwards you play the song of time. There's that element of suspense and tension to it that I actually kind of like.

Speaking of which, there are a number of elements from the LoZ series that I'm not sure could be implemented without OBSE. The Ocarina element particularly seems like something that may require OBSE to work. The Hook Shot is something I'm not sure could be implemented even WITH OBSE because simply put the Zelda games are designed with the Hook Shot element in mind from the start so all the mechanics associated with it are hard-coded into the game. There is next to nothing in Oblivion that I think could be used to create Hook Shot functionality-I think the best we might be able to hope for is something that will ultimately come off as something really cheap and might not even work very well-ultimately doing more harm in its inclusion than good.

A similar problem may exist with some the transformation effect abilities although I have some hope that OBSE could allow for some of those elements to actually work out in some way.

well you just came in and were a party pooper for this whole thread...
alright, well, from a personal stand point - if you care to hear an opinion - to me this "alternative" lore and "sequel to every game" idea is making me rather not interested any more but don't let my minor complaint stop you...I will still probably check this out when and if it gets finished. If it looks like it was done well, and done right, then I will be sure to download it.

Heh, hence the split project on storyline. We'll do two; DJ's and mine. But we won't worry about it until all the hard content is finished. Then we don't have to be as dedicated to one-anothers' plot.
We are working to make our plots compatible with each other and canon, but the focus is radically different.


So for the time being, this project is nothing but content creation.

NOT a sequel, a PRE-quel, like Star Wars Episode I only with less svck. lol

Again, my personal hope is that we'll come to agree on a singular storyline although obviously it would have to dominately be based on my concept since it's firmly established in terms of where it fits in the time line. Another idea I'd kinda like to go with is that the "main mod" set in Hyrule uses my story and the Termina expansion focuses more on Tuah's own ideas-hence the possibility of a "time warp" being involved somehow.

As much as Tuah seems to want the story thing to be saved for last, I'm really anxious to reveal at least a few things about my own story because I'm quite proud of how it's shaped up so far. The goal is to create a sense of history for the land of Hyrule and many elements of my story aim to explain why a lot of things are the way they are in the time of OoT, Majora's Mask, Twilight Princess and so on. I know some people might be turned off by the idea of "fan-invented lore" but I hope that once people hear some of my ideas they'll actually be a bit intrigued by them.

I mean more for a crafting aspect. Feel free to develop and talk about your story as much as you'd like in the mean time before we put it in.

Here's an idea though. For the time warp, since my story takes place far after the game of Majora's Mask, perhaps the expansion to your story could be a prequel to the events of the game. Remember the "builders" I mentioned? The expansion could have something to do with them more directly, instead of as an "uncovering the secrets" sort of thing. It would lend itself more to such a "fan invented" theme due to how it's presented, but the story would still later turn out like I'd mentioned.



Also, since I'm done with the Hylians, Sheikah, Gerudo, Kokiri and Twili, all that's left for races are the Zora (who need texture and hair work), Gorons, and Deku. Two of those will require a better modeler, and the the Zora will require someone with Nifskope and texturing skills.

Perhaps I'll draw up the map I've been working on and send it to you. Creating the land will be our next step.

it's not so much fan invented lore that turns me away...I really couldn't explain in words...but your tiny little bit of revealing hereis bringing me back
Still....have to say I like the idea of Tuah expanding on an Official Game...I don't care if it contradicts a previous Zelda game...hell, it's a fan made work, what am I going to expect? You guys don't talk to Miamoto about the time line of Zelda, or the lore, or future installments. all you got is what you know to make this mod, and so I will give you guys some leyway on that. (god my typing is horrendous today)
I'm not a super Zelda fan-nerd who would kill someone for ruining a small aspect...hell call a Deku Scrub a Deku Shrub and I won't care (yes I know people who will go crazy because you mix those names up)

Anyways, I guess it is because a sequel to Majora's Mask is just more appealing than a completely new setting. As I mentioned before, a lot of people would be turned away from this mod if it expanded on things of their baby (Zelda) that they aren't familiar with, and sadly, I would say a good 85% of the Zelda Fan base only knows the story of OoT and Twilight Princess...another large percent would include Wind Waker, but as far as Hand Helds, the old NES Zelda (offically called: Link...which, btw I have not played myself), and - god forbid - those disgusting CDI Zelda games, most people are not familiar with these, and so the general idea of expanding on these things they are not familiar with would turn them away. This is the case (I believe) with me, since you would be expanding on...too much lore, and basically expanding on something I am unfamiliar with, kind of turns me away. But - however - the idea to make an "expansion" (if you want to call it that) from your mod, to communicate with Tuah's idea for this mod...I think it pure genious!

First off, that would real me in most definately to get this mod (and actually waste time tracking a WIP thread that - just as any other WIP thread - has the potential of being dropped) because you included the "sequel" to the only real "sequel" ever in the Zelda universe...well, actually I think the second NES Zelda was a direct sequel of the first...but I may be wrong....
I mean, the strange (yet appealing) oddness that made up Majora's Mask is something I would love to see a follow up on, and same applies for the other game that is considered the "black sheep" of the series: Link's Awakening.

anyways, let me stop rambling on my thoughts on this...as if my thoughts matter as you two both seemed rather set with your choice for this mod...and besides that, it is your mod! so again, my thoughts don't make a difference here.

EDIT:
Here is an idea to make you two's ideas for the story communicate well.
Everyone knows what Zelda is...well...pretty much...but how many people do you think are familiar with it's lore indepth?

Hell, most probably just played Zelda for it as a game...not to really get indepth with it's story. So, from a economic standpoint - even though this mod is free - if you really want to get some downloads, make the first part "the prequel" also be the "prologue" to Tuah's expansion. In this case, people who are not familiar with Zelda lore will become familiarized with it to be able to understand Tuah's where Tuah will not have to waste a whole bunch of pointless filler storybuilding to let players get familiarized with the general basic lore of Zelda.
DJ, your mod opens the players up to Din, Nayru, Fayor, and the TriForce and the "Sacred Realm" so this way, no breath is wasted in Tuah's version to explain these things and their role.
I believe a prequel would easily be able to build story without pointless filler in the event of explaining these basic elements of Zelda Lore (especially if its the prequel to explain the formation of the events that unfolded throughout every game).
anyways just a thought...and jeeze, my posts get longer and longer...

I'm going to go ahead and mention some of the general ideas involved in my story-mostly what it establishes in terms of "origins":

• The origin of the Fierce Deity Mask. Does it contain a soul? Where exactly did it come from?
  
• The origin of the "rule" that you need to be balanced in the three aspects of the Triforce in order to attain the whole thing at once. In my story, it turns out that this was not always the case.
  
• Who is the Desert Colossus statue supposed to be a representation of? Fan speculation seems to point to Din, but I'm going with a different, more original idea regarding just who the "Sand Goddess" is.
  
• Why do the Gerudo give birth to one male child every century?
  
• Why do all the Sheikah have red eyes?
  
• What was Zelda's "disguise" in Ocarina of Time based upon? (In other words, Sheik will actually be a character in my story).
  
• When was the Master Sword forged and for what purpose?
  
• Details regarding the creation of the Spiritual Stones.
  
• Details regarding the nature and creation of the Book of Mudora originally from A Link to the Past.
  
• Some information in regards to the northern lands featured in The Adventure of Link (the second NES Zelda game).
  
• Elements of back story which explain how Hyrule was originally founded.
  
• Back story regarding some of the Hylian's past interactions with Humans (not all of which were entirely peaceful).

I think there might be a few things I've forgotten to mention but these are most of the key points I've got worked out thus far.

I'll also say that the player starts out as a slave/gladiator who is freed in order to serve as a champion for a member of the royal family.

Another possibility for the the expansion concept is that it could even involve traveling to Hyrule's future as well in some capacity although I think it would mean creating duplicates of the landmass and all the cells since it would probably be a pain to actually make all the changes purely scripted. lol

real quick the first question that will be answered was answered



it mentions that Majora's Mask was a tribal mask used in sacred rituals imbeded with a spirit. (which would be a good question to answer who was the big mean tough guy who got imprisoned in the mask in the first place) but to comabt the evils that were placed in the mask, Feirce Deity was made (never said from what though) to help remove the evil that was in the mask of Majora.

Ofcourse, you idea of answering that question isn't completely pointless, as I pointed out in the parentheses, there are still questions left unasnwered. Who was this "tribe"? Who was the big bad guy that had to get locked inside the mask of Majora? Who was sacrificed to be locked into the mask of Feirce Deity?

Of course, for speculation purposes, if you look at the words that make up the name of the mask: Fierce Deity, that also leaves other questions. Fierce would be someone who is strong and intimidating, a Deity is a god or being that is worshiped...so, who is this Deity they made this mask for to help fight Majora?
so many questions that between you two's mods could answer! And now...I am thinking this mod is so brilliant, I cannot sit in my seat any long

I've done a lot of research and actually the origin of Fierce Deity isn't quite that clear.

http://www.zeldawiki.org/Fierce_Deity http://zelda.wikia.com/wiki/Fierce_Deity

There is A LOT of fan speculation, but few solid facts presented in the game.

I'll probably be revealing what my concept is in regards to that sooner rather than later because it relates very closely to the central conflict of the plot.

Btw, I am pretty handy with textures and using NIFSkope although I don't exactly know all of NIFSkope's features I'd say I'm better at using it than the average person who probably only uses it for a live preview of retextures (which I admittedly use it for most of the time as well lol).

"That mask that was stolen from me... It is called Majora's Mask. It is an accursed item from legend that is said to have been used by an ancient tribe in its hexing rituals. It is said that an evil and wicked power is bestowed upon the one who wears that mask.
According to legend...
the troubles caused by Majora's Mask were so great...
the ancient ones fearing such catastrophe, sealed the mask in shadow forever, preventing its misuse. But now that tribe from legend has vanished, so no one really knows the true nature of the mask's power."

I can't say much more than this right now. xD

I can't believe I was so dense that I forgot about ZREO. I have every ReOrchestrated song on my iPod, yet when she asked me about music, I said I'd see what I could do XD

This is a really great idea! I've seen other Zelda mods for Oblivion, but none as well thought out as this. I would really like to give a hand where I can, but I've got a lot of other projects going on atm.

What kind of problems are you having with screenshots? Cus I have vista too, and there's some really easy work arounds.

http://cs.elderscrolls.com/constwiki/index.php/How_To_Create_Screenshots_Using_Oblivion

Or just use something like FRAPs if you want to keep anti-aliasing on.

Well, my graphics card svcks so I already don't have anti-aliasing. FRAPS might be more convenient for me.


MAP HERE

So I was working on a map of Hyrule, but I figured that the one I'd laid out on paper is almost exactly like the one like Cryonaut sent me, so I'll post the link to it:

http://bsaltzer.deviantart.com/art/Ultimate-Hyrule-Map-154552164

I'd done a map very similar to the left half of that, except with Death Mountain a bit higher up, and Kakariko Village below it (more like OoT placement. I think the Lost Woods should be placed toward the top of Kokiri Forest though, so the Temple of Time will be slightly closer to Hyrule Castle.
I also think Lake Hylia should be a bit larger and moved a bit upward as well. I want to recreate that huge bridge from Twilight Princess, but it would seem a bit pointless if there is such easy passage around it instead. A small mountainous area between Hyrule Castle and Lake Hylia would work.

Now, I don't have much experience with the original few games, nor any of the Toon-Link games, so I would not be able to accurately re-create the East side of the map. Should we forget about it for the time being, come back to it, have somebody else work on it?


Please feel free to share your thoughts. After we've decided on this, I'll start making heightmaps.

The map looks great so far! I'm fairly impressed by the combination of the maps from the various different games. It does seem to work out, though I do agree maybe the Lost woods should be more above the Kokiri forest, and Lake Hylia should be bigger. Maybe even have the Faron province be a little less protruding into Hyrule Field. I liked how it was wide open in OOT, and I think it could be beneficial with the Oblivion engine.

I think a small bit of hindrance from exploration might prove to enhance the experience a bit. One part of Zelda games is the joy of finally getting to explore new areas. Finding creative ways to get to the new areas could be a lot of fun! Like the Gerudo Desert; they won't let just anyone across the bridge. So, disguise yourself as a Gerudo? Sneak across? Fly across using a cuccoo? (I could theoretically make that...) Push the Gerudo into the river? .... Hell, maybe you are a Gerudo?

I think a good design could be to provide definite "routes" between larger areas, like most Zelda games have. But within each larger area, there is a lot to explore, and the player can always find another way of getting past without taking said route.

Making Lake Hylia bigger would allow us to create a rocky ridge between it and Hyrule Castle's moat. So, anybody wishing to go from Faron Province to (what is listed on that map as) Hylia Province would have to take the bridge across the lake. This could mean that farmers from Ordon are more likely to ship things across the bridge rather than from the front of the castle, while Lon Lon ranchers are more likely to just use the front.
Little things like this add a lot of depth, I think.

Oh, yeah I see. That does make more sense, I love how it was like that in the Zelda games. Are you going to be disabling fast traveling then in the Hyrule worldspace? I know it's possible (I think by a script), but I'm not sure how to do it exactly. And a disguise system would be great! I would love to dress up as a gerudo, and infiltrate the desert and fortresses. I've seen a mod that has a whole disguise system, it requires OBSE though I think. The whole actually being a gerudo from the start does raise some interesting questions though. Mostly pertaining to the story line. Do you plan to make all of the races playable from the start? If so I guess the player could miss out from the main story line (if it is based around Link), and possibly have other quests specific to their actual race.

The map looks pretty good although not quite as accurate to most of the ideas of what the "Northern Hyrule" of AoL is supposed to be placed-but again this is an "interpretation" of Hyrule, and it could even be said that each official game is an interpretation. A representation rather than a presentation. Much as Myst has been retconned as a game based on something that "actually happened"-although we won't go so far as to say that certain aspects of those game's stories solely existed for the purpose of game play (although there are many aspects of the Zelda games that could obviously be explained as such lol).

As far as the [/i]locations[/i] on the map go, well it would work for a "future" (post OoT) version of Hyrule if we either split the project or go with all out with the time-travel route for the expansion (which would then involve future Hyrule, future Termina, and perhaps some interesting interactions with "past" Hyrule as well with a bit of an Ocarina of Time feel to it). The problem is obviously the inclusions of the towns based on the sages. Actually, I'm not even sure when those places are established and it largely depends on which time line you place LoZ and AoL in-I think the main theory is that it actually takes place sometime after Wind Waker, which the original lands of Hyrule somehow become un-flooded and the Hylians return to it-find the original southern lands to be too desolate and instead return to their ancestral lands (according to my time line) in the North.

I'd say as far as the map goes the area that is now in the north east is filled with "future locations of-", although there could be some flexibility with the idea that some of those lands are beginning to be re-settled in the "future Hyrule" time frame, but I doubt all the tows will have been established yet. There are also a few locations on my map and a few I plan to add to my map (mainly dungeons/temples) and such that would need to be thrown in as well. I think the general agreement is that we'll try to aim for something that falls between our two concepts so maybe I'll start trying to put something new together.

However right now I'd like to try doing a bit of work on the website because once that launches I'll be revealing a bit more of my basic plot ideas.

Okay, read a bit of one post. I think in terms of fast traveling I think if we use it it'll be styled after Fallout 3 or Oblivion with a mod that disables having all the towns immediately reachable. Fast Travel is a nice feature for some people and I think the general idea should be "if you don't like it, don't use it". On the other hand, there are games like Morrowind which provided nice alternatives like a built-in transportation network that you have to pay to use. It would seem odd to include a Fast Travel option and at the same time a system that you have to pay to use. I think perhaps a good compromise would be to make Fast Travel work by default then make a mod that disables Fast Travel and adds in its place a "commericial" transportation system.

More notes on the map:

Looking at it now I see what it's trying to do and you REALLY REALLY need to look at this really nice map theory...if I can find it...

http://www.zeldalegends.net/index.php?n=article_18

This is what I personally accept as the Geography of Hyrule and my own map is based off that concept. The map I see right now seems to consist of Twlight Princess/OoT Hyrule to the west and LoZ/AoL Hyrule to the east-whereas according to this theory Hyrule from LoZ and ALttP/OoT/TP are all ONE AND THE SAME!!

Yeah, many quests will be different depending on the race, but an option will be available to choose whether you play as "The Legendary Hero" or as somebody else. If you play as a custom character, you'll still get to team up with Link and follow some of his quests.

As for the storyline, I'll have to review DJGamer's again (I got a bit lost reading it all the first time). In my plot, the races will be quite peaceful between each other, though the Gerudo will be much more sparse than they were in previous years. The only Gerudo still alive that I know of was Telma, but that's a bit of speculation. I'd imagine that the Gerudo integrated themselves into Hylian society, and a lot of Sheikah probably did as well. Impaz stayed in the village, but others like the fortune-teller left it.
Since I plan to integrate Twili into the game, perhaps people might not like them, due to the recent Twilight crisis. That could make an interesting story...

Fast Travel might be a combination of Morrowind's system and one of the Zelda systems. In OoT and MM it was songs, but in TP it was shadow magic. Not sure yet.