Path To Glory

[Ibsen's Ghost]

This thread is a guide on everything that still needs to be developed for the mod in its approach towards a completely playable beta status.

I thought it might help to have an overview of all of the claims information that is currently missing. At the moment, I'm hoping to submit more claims so as to make the forums even more accessible to new modders but, for the time being, it might help to just ask me about some idea of the claims that are currently classed as 'open', just not yet published. Please bear in mind that all of this information refers only to the beta regions. All other information can come later.

I have also included some of the information regarding models still required but we now have a rather impressive range of assets and we now need to do some modding as a priority. Nonetheless, many of our claims will now benefit from a vastly superior range of custom assets than existed previously.

REGIONS - All five beta regions (+ 3 others) have been generated. The beta regions (areas that are playable in the beta version) are: the Naga-Cradle Jungle, the Rottmere Everglades, the Parchlands, Darkmoor and Blackwood. A small amount of the following regions will also be available in the beta: Throttlemesh Myre, Talu Swamps, Murkwood, Vudai Marshes and the Arnesian Jungle. At the time of writing, the first three of those have undergone region generation. There are (or will be) lists of information available about environmental assets for each region as a reference point.

LANDSCAPES - All landscaping within the beta regions is now complete, leaving the non-beta regions to landscape. Some work has already taken place on Throttlemesh Myre and Talu Swamps, however. Landscape work involves adjusting errors made in generating regions, adding trees and flora where necessary and setting up the exterior entrances to key locations such as dungeons. It can be time consuming but this depends on the region itself...it's also quite rewarding!

TOWNS AND CITIES - The first job regarding settlements is : CLAIM: City Planning and AI but some settlements still need to be planned so that the function of each building is clear. All exterior settlements for the beta are now complete although some may benefit from a little extra polish later. Blackrose and Moonmarch have also been created beyond the beta regions. Town claims are popular and very satisfying so you must either show your commitment to get such a claim with consistent modding or make a solemn vow to undertake ALL the interiors, NPCs and path-gridding associated with the claim yourself. If you do this and then leave before it's done, it will get deleted.

DUNGEONS - Besides quests, this is possibly our least-developed area with only 4 complete dungeons (two forts and one Ayleid ruin) and 3-4 semi-complete dungeons (one rootworm, one rootworm burrow and two Barsaebic ruins) completed. Although landscaping provides us with dungeon entrances, dungeons can also be created independently.

We currently need around 20-30 for the beta. This seems a lot but auxiliary dungeons (unrelated to major quests) can quickly and easily be added by merging and adapting for BM some of the work by Edolsian who has given us consent to adapt his work. The good news is that we have a wealth of options open to us as the range of possible BM dungeons is very wide:

• Dead Rootworm Tunnels (BM-specific)
  
• Mossy Ruins (BM-specific)
  
• Mossy Caves (BM-specific)
  
• SI ruins (WiP - to be adapted using ShadowGame's Hist Shrine models)
  
• The 'Hist Dimension' might also be classified as a dungeon. One area is complete and the design work has been done.
  
• Vanilla dungeons such as forts and possibly the Gideon sewers.
  

INTERIORS - See the city planners or myself regarding which interiors are complete or still to be done but this is another much-needed area and does not actually take long to complete, especially if modding a mini-claim. Here is a list of work to be done:

• Stormhold Castle
  
• Stormhold Interiors - all but one is complete (the Hole-in-the-wall bar)
  
• Gideon Castle - partly constructed
  
• Gideon Interiors - all but one is completed (the player home)
  
• Chasepoint Interiors - around 3-4
  
• All upper district interiors in Soulrest including the Castle / mansion
  

AI & Pathing - InsanitySorrow was in charge of this as mentioned here: CLAIM: AI Development List . We now have weapons, armour, clothing and so on for the Factions so everything is available to customise these as we wish. We also have a variety of Argonian races and others such as Lilmothiit, Sload and Naga available, as disussed on this thread: New Race Selection. Hopefully, the Paatru and the Sarpa will follow shortly. AI and path-gridding is now much needed work and there is a list of NPCs to complete here: Claim: Unfinished AI and NPCs . Myself and Deeza can handle any dialogue that needs to be done but any other modders may also contribute.

QUESTS - Besides incidental quests, the Fighters Guild, Shadowscales and Sotho Tren quests are the only faction quests in development as yet. We do have some (very) small quests but before setting up the quests we need things such as AI and a fuller gameworld. Many ideas exist and yet more actual modding is needed to put this into practice. These threads: http://www.silgrad.com/wbb2/board.php?boardid=154 contain some nice ideas but you should be able to include your own. For example, some playable Faction questlines remain unclaimed. For reference purposes, this is the current list of factions: List of Factions .

CONCEPT ART - With so much great stuff available (and much more in development), this is an area not much sought after as our world has already been pretty much designed. However, designs on anything related to the above would be very welcome. Please check this area: http://www.silgrad.com/wbb2/board.php?boardid=63 .

BOOKS - We have over 50 books already but always welcome new writing. The BM is full of magnificent opportunities for books that go way beyond the mere restrictions of the likes of 'The Lusty Argonian Maid' and, although we have ideas in mind for main quests and major reference materials, we would welcome any creativity that people wish to offer. It's not a worry for me though because it's the sort of thing that I do in my sleep and enjoy the hell out of! =)

MODELS - Tons of fantastic stuff! Work is completed by our modellers such as llamaranger, Koniption and Shadowgame (with plenty of others) besides being brought in by out-of-house sources and this is our most active forum: http://www.silgrad.com/wbb2/board.php?boardid=153 so competition is quite intense and the creativity is abundant here. However, more ideas crop up when need requires them. To date, we still have things in the model claims thread and this includes things such as:

• Perhaps some more Argonian cultural items such as shrines / 'Bhuru' Voodoo / totems.
  
• Some specialist clothing items such as shamanic robes and a full 'Baron Samedi' outfit for the 'Anaster Marrowmir' playable companion NPC.
  
• Various items and settlement/shop signs.
  
• Some more quest rewards.
  
• Occasional pieces of architecture (though most is now available).
  
• Various other bits and pieces to fit with our tilesets, especially a Hist Shrine interior tileset, preferably.
  

SOUND - Music is currently being worked on by Xae. This is at a fairly advanced stage. Xae has contributed a large amount of the most BM-specific work and is working towards completing the set for battle, dungeon, explore, public and special categories. Good progress here, too!

VOICES - As quests begin to be more developed (which is getting increasingly closer), we can start to add voices. I have recorded complete racial voice sets for UC and LC Imperials, Khajiit and Nord which will be used to vary the range of voice sets beyond Bethesda's very limiting range i.e. using the same voices for both Nord and Orc ( ?( ). These will be added later, along with the music, in a separate download. I can handle any voice (click on my sig) but Argonian is very draining and I may need some help.

SPECIAL CLAIMS - These are things that are special to BM and/or would just improve the overall quality of the mod. So far, this includes:

• Diseases, Flora and Potions - this requires special attention as such features as the 'Khanaten Flu' are a big feature of BM.
  
• Shamanic Magic and scripted events (will be needed increasingly for quests).
  

Current work in progress is normally recorded here: 'To Do' thread for Ibsen's Ghost . However, I don't always use this thread. You get a better idea of how things are going by just hanging around the forums. Progress is always made in fits and starts but we're certainly on course for the beta.

[Deeza]

Great to see it all in one place - it doesn't look like so much now!

I actually reckon we're in with a chance of getting this done before TES5 comes out. And even then, assuming TES5 isn't set in BM (which seems quite unlikely at this stage) we can probably just continue and port it all to the TES5 engine at a later date.

[Ibsen's Ghost]

I have a few ideas in mind to speed up development and get us well on the way. All of this will get cut down over the next few months, trust me.

In the meantime, I'd like to discuss with the core which of the factions we should concentrate on mainly when adding quests to the beta version. I'm in two minds over whether we should just focus on some factions to the exclusion of others or create quests that simply take the PC up to the halfway stage of the Quests. Of course, we could always compromise and have some completed faction questlines and some others that are semi-complete and simply pose the question: What will happen in the completed version?

I'll raise the topic on the core forums but I thought I'd mention it just so that everyone else knows what's going on.

[Ibsen's Ghost]

I updated the OP. :check:

[Ibsen's Ghost]

As per Dozent's request, I updated the OP. :check:

[Deeza]

You know, it occurs to me that now might be a really good time to update this, given that we're getting very close.

We could also do with a new thread explaining what we're planning to do beyond the beta. For example, the status of Longmont, Moonmarch and other places.

[Ibsen's Ghost]

Cheers for that. I'll get this sorted. As it's a slightly longer task than a mere forum post, give me a little time and then nudge me if it's not sorted over the next couple of days.

[Deeza]

Of course.

[Ibsen's Ghost]

I updated the OP of this thread with records of our progress. :check: