No need for apologies. Understandable. I'm happy to share a sample. I'll upload in the near future. Keep up the good work!

These look absolutely incredible, I'm wondering, are you planning on somehow incorporating additional things to them? Like more special drops and maybe making a special armor/weapon from them? I think a robe with a texture made of their shimmering beauty would look beautiful.

I've seen VASE in some FCOM mod lists posted here. How does that work out? I'd really like to see these wonders in game.

Cheers Xilverbulet!

Vou, it's probably worth remembering that these are a creature resource as much as anything else and to a fair extent the main aim is to have them in MMM as part of MMM. Stuff like "special drops", and fancy weapons and armour are the kinds of rewards I would expect from a quest mod (or just additional resources), which would be a whole different kind of mod. It's not that I don't want to make that kind of mod, it's just that this mod *isn't* a quest mod.

Arkngt, it should work fine with FCOM as far as I know, as long as you're using a Bashed Patch for your leveled lists.

Vac

It was an idea but yeah it's a perfect thing to add to MMM, just makes things all the more unique and makes oblivion feel more like a living world than just a "location". But great work never the less.

A new version of the main VASE resources has just been http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=28186.

Changelog for 2.1 is just a few texture and animation tweaks and fixes. Nothing major was done in terms of development. This version should be the one going into MMM, so at this stage development is essentially complete. The other ideas I have for things are likely to be for other mods.

Enjoy!

Vac

Edit: Wow. There's real excitement here isn't there? I forgot to mention in the changelog that there were also changes made to prevent any unintended side-effects from using Arkngt's Shining Creatures with this mod (i.e. corrupted wisps will no longer shine).

Vac is female? Amazing how many female modders there are. Or am hopelessly old fashioned when I think of computer games and modding as a mostly geekish male hobby?



Lys means Light, but what does the rest mean? It doesn't sound very nordic, to be frank (pun intended).



Damned, I failed the Nerd Test!

I've got no comment on the gender bit: I don't think it's important. Male or female are both fine, though I might dislike it if people start referring to me as "it". :blink: Well, it should come with an omlout on the "?", and v?tte means "wight" in old Swedish. I believe I did ok with that name. Oh, and the Franks were a Germanic tribe more than a Nordic one. .Me too.

Vac

Ah yes, then it makes sense. Amazing how much difference those two dots can make. It's "vette" in Norwegian, and is pronounced the same as Swedish "v?tte", while "vatte" has a different pronounciation.

Ha, Vac! It seems that you've been far from being idle for the last few months ;] Your then quite a number of pupils has grown even more since I've seen it last year. How should I refer to them today? Ephemeralegions? ^_^

With that explanation I think you did. The Swedish "?" can best be translated to "e", at least as seen from Norway. And "vette" is still a word in Norwegain dictionaries.

I guess PetrusOctavianus and I (both being Norwegian) just didn't get the "vatte"->"vette", but it is probably more obvious to Swedish players.


Edit: Going for a cup of coffee, and Petrus answered before me...

Glad to hear I am not messing up too much with other people's languages. Well, this stuff got released back in November, and I've done very little modding-related stuff since then. But yes, the progress (both technically and just sheer numbers) was fairly phenomenal in the period over summer and autumn. And I have to say: I'm still really proud of what I managed to create with these things.

It's good to see you around again though: I haven't seen much of you lately. Being busy, I guess? Aren't we all...

Vac

Greetings Vacuity,

I just wanted to take a moment to say, Wow! I really, really like VASE! I'm still working out the final kinks of my build, and the character I have been taking through the motions (a bosmer assassin now at level 13) had not yet encountered any of them. So, I'm wandering along and come across the Vanilla "No Stone Unturned" quest at the Imperial Bridge Inn. You know the one? I remembered it having its challenges, but I'm still thinking my assassin and her companion can do this one quickly.

Well, my build is an FCOM one, and yes VASE fits in very nicely indeed, if you're listening Arkngt! And let me just say now, FCOM + VASE + level 13 non-magic using assassin = a very rough time all around! Especially those beautiful, and deadly, vatte-lys. Of course, FCOM makes everything new again, even a little mini quest like "No Stone Unturned". For example, one of the rooms that would normally have maybe 2 trolls and 2 will-o-the-wisps, instead had 3 trolls, 6 guardian imps w/ 8 or 10 implings, and then 2 vafurlogi (I'm pretty sure that's what they were), and 2 vatte-lys (I am certain that's what those were!) Yeah. It was challenging, to be sure... but the vatte-lys were the ones that nearly did her in. They were almost impossible to kill, and their attack, when it struck home, was devastating. And all the while you can't help but just watch their ethereal forms dance and sparkle through the air. Gorgeous... truly.

Anyway, I just wanted to toss that out there. Remarkable work. I can't wait to see more of these in the world... my character probably can, but I can't!

Thank you!
veg

Heheh, I am glad you like them. The vatte-lys are a favourite bevause they were the first design I got to work that was genuinely different to the will o'the wisp. It's also quite http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll61/Revanchism/WilloftheWisps/VatteLysFinal17.jpg when resting.
But for real beauty the very best are the ones that took the longest (funny how that works out): the http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll61/Revanchism/WilloftheWisps/VafurlogiCombat.jpg and the http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll61/Revanchism/WilloftheWisps/HiggsCasualty.jpg.

The really sad thing is that to really see most of these creatures at their most beautiful, they need to not be in combat, as I made most of them look very different in combat, that means only a few people will see them in their full beauty.

Also glad to hear they gave you a challenge!

Vac

They did indeed give me a challenge, but really, enough can not be said about how gorgeous they are. When I first saw the vatte-lys, I was hidden and had a chance to just watch them. They were huge, like your pic, but both were the same shade of an eerie blue. Beautiful. Are the colors dynamically generated, by the way? All of those pics are great! Another quick question: was the higgs possibly inspired by the Higgs boson? Just curious.

Well, thanks again... I really like your work!
veg

None of the wisp colours are dynamically generated. The closest to that is the Vafurlogi, for which the layers of orbiting particles change colour, but if you pay attention, you'll see each vafurlogi has a set progression of colours. Some vafurlogi's colour progression is "clockwise" on the colour wheel, and other vafurlogis have "counter-clockwise" colour rotation and each vafurlogi displays a full 90 degrees of the colour circle (but centered on different locations on the wheel). There are no bi-coloured vatte-lys, there are no mono-coloured virvatuli, the will o'the wisps really are intended to be that pale, that really is http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll61/Revanchism/WilloftheWisps/RainofBlood1.jpg, and http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll61/Revanchism/WilloftheWisps/EidolonHowlingHalls.jpg doesn't match the heartbeat in the Future Sound of London's "Cascade"... Damnit.

As for the Higgs... well, you know. Everyone's got to have some fun, right? Writing that fluff was highly entertaining, and the higgs is so beautiful with it's bouncing, dancing curtain of light.

Vac

I actually got to see one of these before it saw me ...
"what is that ... ooooh shiny ... almost hypnotic ... ... yikes!"

For "hypnotic", the Eidolon's the winner there (go to SI). I really *need* to make videos of these things, as the animated systems on the eidolon and the vafurlogi are things I am really, genuinely proud of and they just don't show in still shots.

Vac

Exactly! And you know, that completely captures the whole idea in the first place, right? The unwary traveler sees... something. He's completely awestruck by what he sees and can only watch. By the time he faintly realizes something is amiss, like a little tickle in the back of his mind, it's too late... and then he's never heard from again!

That's very much what I was trying to achieve for most of them: something that would mesmerise the unwary player. My tester, Lilith, reported that it worked, and even after working on these things for months, I was still very happy to watch them.

Vac

Hi, Vac, thanks both for great mods and support.
A quick question:
Are your meshes PYFIed or I have to do it myself?
Thanks.

These creatures are made from particles and animations, so there are no any meshes to optimize here.

Not strictly true: the corpse is a mesh, but it's very small indeed and doesn't use a lot of polys. I can't honestly remember if I PYFFIed them or not. I suspect I did already, as it's the kind of thing I'd do.

Vac

These creatures are just beautiful. Thanks. I've just installed and am looking forward to seeing them in-game.

gothemasticator

These beasts add a lot to the game.