Deeza's WIP Thread: East of Alinor

[Deeza]

You may remember that some time ago, Senten, Lord Skorm and myself made the latest of many attempts to make a Summerset Isles expansion for Oblivion. Like all the others before it, the project had a lot of bad luck (members having to leave due to real life commitments) and now seems to have stalled, at least for now. But a lot of progress was made, so until such time as other people are interested I have decided to continue it as a personal project. Razorwing has kindly said I could host the dev thread here.

What I am working towards is completing the plan decided on by the Core of the project: to scale back from the plan of recreating the whole province and focus on the smaller of the two Summerset Isles - hence my new name for the project: East of Alinor.

This is quite a small island, so it will be easy to fill it to the brim with interesting things to do. There will be two cities, several villages, gigantic monasteries, wizards' towers, lonely hermitages and of course a variety of dungeons. The island will house ancient Elven tombs, mysterious mines worked by goblin slaves, and the sinister haunted coral ruins of the ancient Sload civilisation.

To give you some idea of what has been accomplished, here are a selection of screenshots:

LANDSCAPE
A collection of old screenshots - may be revised as I work through the region gen.
Tropical beaches of the south
The Silver Hills
The ancient forests of Firsthold

DUNGEONS
Entry to one the Coral dungeons of the Sload
Interior of an ancient Sload ruin

FIRSTHOLD
Has a good claim to being the oldest city in the world. Firsthold will be the flashpoint for the storyline of the island. Built on a river, it will be a city of crumbling mansions and home of the enormous First Guildhall of the Mages' Guild (the closest thing the Guild has to a worldwide centre of authority)
The walls, towers and main gate of Firsthold
Very early WIP of Firsthold Castle
Untextured WIP of Firsthold river bridges

WESTGUARD
A small feudal village, ruled by a high-ranking Altmer noble. The rest of the population are peasants, who live in little stone cottages clustered around the base of his castle.
Castle Westguard
The main street of Westguard

SILSAILEN
A coastal town in the tropical south of the island, built around the ruined walls of a gigantic castle destroyed by Numidium four hundred years ago.
The approach to town
Looking down into the valley

CRYSTAL TOWER
If I get further than the smaller island, I plan to add a region around the famous Crystal Tower, as well as having the Tower itself as a town/epic dungeon. The region will have been transformed by the ancient magic of the Tower into a surreal landscape of crystal plants and animals made from ice (currently being made by InsanitySorrow).
Crystal landscape 1
Crystal landscape 2

BELPORT RUN
A small islet between the two main islands of Summerset. A fishing village dominated by the vast and mysterious lighthouse, built by the Aldmer before recorded history.
The road to Belport Run
Belport Manor
The lighthouse
The lighthouse from above
Fishing cottages

OTHER LOCATIONS TO BE INCLUDED:

Skywatch
The second city of the East Isle, Skywatch holds the tropical south. Once razed to the ground by the Sload, the city was rebuilt by the army which liberated it, and still has a proud warrior culture. After an unfortunate incident involving his daughter, the current King is the deadly enemy of his opposite number in Firsthold.

The Great Trebbite Monastery
Once the centre of resistance against the modernising policies of the King of Firsthold, this monastery has been dissolved, the monks exiled. It is now used for magical research. The monks want it back.

Vukhel
Home to a reclusive and very powerful Altmer wizard, who lives in a huge magically-protected tower overseeing the lives of his peasants and huge crystal mines worked by goblin slaves.
The gates. Lord Vukhel doesn't like visitors!
The huge open-cast quarry of Vukhel (unfinished)
The pits, home to the hundreds of miner goblins

The ruins of Old Skywatch
After Skywatch was captured by the Sload millennia ago, it was obliterated by their sinister magic. So powerful was the taint on the place that the city was eventually rebuilt on a different site, higher up into the mountains away from the shore. To this day, the burnt ruins, half-submerged into the sea, are said to be cursed...
Example of the Dark Ruin tileset, by the mod author

The Parabinic Monastery
A rival order of monks, forced to play host to their exiled Trebbite brethren. They aren't too happy about this, as they disagree with them on many points.

The Monument of Bitter Tears
An extravagant temple marking the spot where Trinimac was destroyed by Boethiah. It is still the focus for the ancestor spirit's philosophy of mourning the creation of the world. Though recently orcs also venerate it as the birthplace of Malacath.

Firsthold Royal Tombs
A huge underground complex using the Anima Cyrodiil tileset resource. The Altmer are terrified of their own dead bodies, viewing them as unnatural, so they are entombed deep beneath the earth in underground palaces. This will be a key location of the story.
Showcase of the Anima Cyrodiil rooms, by the author
Showcasing more of the Anima Cyrodiil tileset, by the author

The Skywatch Catacombs
A huge dungeon that reaches deep below the city into the spine of the mountains. Dark secrets lurk in its depths...

[Senten]

Oh,my dear project..Im really sad,i don't have time to continue.

Good luck Deeza!Good luck!

[Deeza]

Thanks Senten! I think I stand a good chance of finishing the island this year (I basically have all the resources I need now, its just a case of organising and placing it all). InsanitySorrow has kindly agreed to help me organise it all in the CS.

[Ibsen's Ghost]

Some truly gorgeous stuff going on here. I particularly like the Crystal Forests...they're very unique and other-worldly indeed!

Of course, you know what I'm going to suggest, don't you? If the whole thing goes kaputski then I'd be interested in raiding parts for Black Marsh. Like the beach which could be adapted for the Parchlands whilst the walls, towers and Bridge of Firsthold as well as Belport Run (great lighthouse) might well suit a settlement that lies close to the border with Morrowind. Sadly, Westguard and others probably just wouldn't fit at all in BM.

Anyway, lovely stuff! :goodjob:

[Deeza]

Actually, there could be some stuff you could use anyway (I'm a great believer in recycling resources). Senten made a lovely bamboo hut, which unfortunately doesn't really fit in with rest of the village buildings. It would, however, be perfect for BM. I will send it to you when I can find the file.

[Lady Nerevar]

westguard is ridiculously white, otherwise it looks interesting. good luck.

[Deeza]

Originally posted by Lady Nerevar
westguard is ridiculously white

In what way exactly do you mean? Is it that the surface is reflecting too much, or is the texture just too light?

[InsanitySorrow]

Originally posted by Deeza

Originally posted by Lady Nerevar
westguard is ridiculously white

In what way exactly do you mean? Is it that the surface is reflecting too much, or is the texture just too light?

Is it supposed to be white?

If so there is to much reflection from the building, I think thats what Lady Nerevar was on about :yes:

[nick_op]

Originally posted by Deeza

Originally posted by Lady Nerevar
westguard is ridiculously white

In what way exactly do you mean? Is it that the surface is reflecting too much, or is the texture just too light?

It looks like a combination of the diffuse map being too white and the specular map being too bright, thus making the building look very flat and not realistic at all.

[Deeza]

I think I can see what you mean. The texture was supposed to be a creamy, pinkish-white marble (this is what it looks like if you open it on its own). Unfortunately I'm not a texturer and can't do anything about it.

However, now that I have some made-from-scratch tower meshes, I could replace the castle walls. Do you think that's necessary, or do you think it looks alright with vanilla towers and walls?