Exterior Town/City Claims

[Dave_91]

Regarding the modding of Vvardenfell's exterior settlement, town and potentially dungeon exterior claims-

I was thinking about this, and was recently discussing it with KuKulzA. My thoughts were, that as of now, all exterior city and town claims are to be held back from modding, until we have sufficient work done on the exterior world itself. Also, only a modder that knows his or her way around the construction set sufficiently, and can show that they have knowledge and excellent building skills may claim a major town/city exterior and have some evidence to show their skill. The reason I thought of this, is because for this mod to be somewhat effective in its purpose, we need people who can really express themselves in the CS to create the immersion and feeling of being in Vvardenfell again. No offense to any modders, and I think their work (including work of my own like Maar Gan) should be held from merging until sufficient landmass work is done.

I should think this would only apply to the major towns and cities, like Vivec, Ald'ruhn, Balmora, Caldera, Gnisis, Suran, Sadrith Mora, Ebonheart, Pelagiad etc. The rest I think could be okay, like Hla Oad, Khuul, Ald Velothi, Maar Gan and Gnaar Mok, but we shall see how it goes if my ideas should take effect. Interiors can go on for claiming as normal, they won't necessarily count. At the moment, I'm not sure what to think about other exteriors like dungeons and landmarks.

So basically what I'm saying is: until sufficient world building is done, we should leave out pretty much all exterior town and possibly dungeon building. That modding will be done only by modders who know what they're doing, and the towns in particular to be left out to very experienced modders. Remember, this isn't aimed at anyone, the progress we have so far is great, I just want this mod done easily and without problems. Although seeing the towns on the heighmap is great, it's not quite right without a populated landmass to go with it, which is why we should stress to modellers that exterior statics will be just as important as tilesets and armour/item making.

As far as claims go, I think we should state in the thread that there will be no claiming of exteriors when building towns. Only the interiors may be claimed unless the exterior town does not count as a major town.

I'd appreciate it if people could let me know what they think.

[Hector the Hooded]

Sounds a bit blunt, dave. Like something I would say ! Thats a good lad!

Very good idea, however, interiors should stay free-game, as they often provide a familarity device/learning curve for the newer modders !

[Dave_91]

Yeah interiors are fine, anyone can claim at any time. Just exteriors of certain towns and certain locations that would need a modder who'd be dedicated to get it finished, so that it would be clean, nicely modded and so people are immersed. Know what I mean?

Sounds a bit blunt, dave. Like something I would say ! Thats a good lad!

:lol:

[Dave_91]

Come on people, I need opinions!

[Seniosh]

I think letting only experienced, dedicated modders do the city exteriors is a fairly good idea. Ensures that things get done, with a good deal of quality.

How exactly do interiors work? It seems like you claim a whole city at a time, but what ensures that the interiors and exteriors match? Seems intimidating a bit. I don't really know that much about your system though, so i could be mistaken on that.

[edit] i seem to be just a bit off, in that interior claims are one at a time. But the thing i didn't see was northmarker data, interior model, ect. The way i see it, the exterior must be set up before the interiors, so that things like model and such can be taken into account. Especially with tilesets like Hlaalu, which has no set models that can be decided on, the interior modder will need to know what the exterior is like.

Also, it's useful to be able to set up AI with a working exterior, so you can have your guy go to the local tavern, walk around the city, ect.

Just my view as a modder (though i don't mod Vvardenfell)(yet)

[Dave_91]

Interiors will be set up as a one claim kinda thing like ST for the bigger towns, makes things more varied, know what I mean? The interiors will be more original that way in the sense that they've been made by a few modders rather than one. Plus taking on all interiors for a large city would be some work, I imagine.

Thing is, with northmarkers, and tilesets, we don't really have enough info to go by atm. Since quite a few towns will be changed here and there, it's hit and miss. Ald'ruhn as you may know will have changed dramatically... hence why no plans for the claims have been made. That, and the fact we're still discussing layouts for a few of the other towns makes it hard to coordinate what will be happening when claiming. But we should start to take it seriously now... I expect when we get a thread going on BS forums we'l potentially get more modders, andl we'd need to have a proper system worked out, like you say.

Also, it's useful to be able to set up AI with a working exterior, so you can have your guy go to the local tavern, walk around the city, ect.

That's actually a very good point. We'd have to figue out a way around that for the modder. Only thing I can think, is to build the towns before allowing development of interiors, OR setting up AI after the towns are complete but that may be boring for the modder- it's fun to see your NPC wander around outside and stuff, doing the stuff you told him to do in the AI.

Just my view as a modder (though I don't mod Vvardenfell)(yet)

Your views are appreciated.

[Seniosh]

the other thing too with AI is that it's best to do everything at one time: dialogue, AI, inventory, ect. Because if it isn't done all at once, it may never BE done, cause people forget, ect ect.

I really do think it's easiest to get the exterior done before the interiors, or at least the setup done, so i'd say that planning is a very very good idea.

And individual claims do a lot to make it all less intimidating for new modders. It'll take a lot of effort to set up that many claims, but start with one city at a time, and it'll work

[Dave_91]

Well I have a maths exam tomorrow (), but I'll have all day after that to start redoing the claims. Seperate claims is a good idea, I think ST's system is great... hopefully we could get something similar to theirs set up soon.

[InsanitySorrow]

Well I actually have not started on Seyda Neen, don't know if it counts. Becuase I am waiting on the tile sets and the land. So yeah tis a good idea.

[Dave_91]

:yes: I think Seyda Neen should be safe for exterior building...

When we get the tileset.