Rocks (DL now included)

[Sachiel]

Update: Okay, here are all the nifs on TES Nexus: http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=22591







Hi there. First thread with some contribution in it. I made some rocks. Do you think you could need them?

They're just some meshes with vanilla textures. Working fine ingame, collision and all. Maybe I'll give the Morrowind stones a shot. The claim is still open according to the open-jobs-thread, isn't it? If you have any suggestions about what kinda rock would be cool to have, let me know.
Btw, is there any way to get grass that isn't just texture on stones and rocks?

[Ibsen's Ghost]

You're the perfect answer to a bit of a dispute, Sachiel! Your work is both excellent timing and sensationally damn fine modding! I've wanted a 'natural bridge' rock for quite some time and I needed some good shapes that would fit my plans for the Steadhelm Region, so you've just become my bestest friend :bananarock:

The coincidence that you are ready to create rocks is almost uncanny and these are exactly what I was looking for to create a sort of archipelago for my next landscape claim! I really couldn't have asked for anything better.

However, I'm sure sandor will want to have them re-textured for use in this region so I'll await what he has to say before I start partying. Would you be willing to do any re-texturing work yourself, if that's okay? In the meantime, I'll edit this post with links to work you might wish to consider soon.

Edit - The rocks that caused the issue with my current claim were some of the bigger 'Great Forest' rocks that you see here:

They are ideally used as a buffer for the rough water meshes that I use for my streams. I tend to favour rocks with overhangs so that I can create interesting landscape features for my dungeons and locations.

I will normally make my 'features' requests on this thread: Steadhelm Features Requests

But I also suggested a few rocks for Soluthis regarding the more ambitious 'Cappadocia Mountains Effect' here: Soluthis (& Others) Landscape Features . You will notice that I am specifically asking for a 'natural bridge' here

P.S. - I would be interested to know the answer to Sachiel's query regarding the grass as well. Although I fancy the answer will be 'no', I am nonetheless hopeful that some trick with flora would do the job.

[Sachiel]

Hehe, *blush*. Good to know one is needed. :banana:
For some reason nobody seems to make rocks and stones. Mr_Siika did a groovy pack with some in it though still I feel that overhangs and gorges (and natural bridges) are something that Oblivion is missing badly. Entius Gorge was great but nothing you could use well as a resource. Chorrol Highlands was something that went into the right direction.
Anyway, I think I could do some retexturing. Maybe with Quarl's Textures for Morrowind. And yeah, I had something bigger in mind as well. You know, all the aforementioned stuff like natural bridges or maybe rocky islands. Still it would be cool if there would be grass. Actually one would need grass as a static. Wonder if that could be done.
About cappadokia, yeah, very phallic. I liked that about Morrowind. Made it much more fantasy-like.
But, well, the next thing I'll try is a natural bridge. So, I'm gonna keep you updated and am going to have a look into the Steadhelm-thread.

[nick_op]

Nice, work on the rocks! :goodjob:

I especially like the natural bridge - Morrowind had at least one of these, and I thought they were really cool, whether you were walking over one, or if it was towering above you.

I reckon Razorwing et al would probably like them with either new textures, or using some of the existing ST textures.

Originally posted by Sachiel
Still it would be cool if there would be grass. Actually one would need grass as a static. Wonder if that could be done.

The grass used in Oblivion is tied to certain landscape textures. I don't know if it is possible to do the same for object textures, but I reckon if it was, it would already have been done.

Grass as a static object is certainly possible - just set up a mesh with one polygon and attach it to a billboard mode. Set it up with a grass texture with transparency and voila! Of course, it would only be of limited use, and would take forever to place in the CS.

[Ibsen's Ghost]

I'm glad you're familiar with the 'Unique Landscapes' mods, Sachiel. Now we're speaking the same language! I don't quite have the skill of those guys, nor do I think we have the overall memory space to do what those guys do consistently but they're a continual source of inspiration for landscapers. I'm glad you like the 'Phallic-Cappadocia' idea :goodjob: . Razorwing will be pleased that you're following the general style of Morrowind. I look forward to seeing more of your work!

Regarding the grass issue, we do have some flora that looks rather grass-like such as small ferns and such and I wondered at the possibility of fitting the grass to the rock model as a unique rock object. It wouldn't be very economically effective in terms of the memory but it should work if it were really needed for some reason, shouldn't it? It's a shame it can't be done more easily. I'd considered that one before but not in terms of how to actually make it happen.

[Razorwing]

Terrific work Sachiel :goodjob:

Could you email me a copy of them to razorwing@silgrad.com? I can then add them to our BSA updates and make a plugin that merges them to our main esm and then we can start using them in our mod.

As far as rock claims in Silgrad Tower goes the field is wide open. I've modelled a lot of rocks reminiscant of the ones in the old game, but they really are very reminiscant including being lowpoly, being crudely designed, and having open bottom edges which make generation difficult. Partly because I didn't have a lot of skill back then, partly because I didn't enjoy the task. Mostly the latter. Nothing would make me happier than to retire my rock models in favor of rocks of the quality you could make

I think the rock type in our mod that needs a rework the most is the ones reminiscant of the Bitter Coast type. Would you be interested in making them? If so I uploaded a copy of our current BC rocks. It's very important that a new rock made by you make have a similar geometry to the existing rock it's meant to replace, because we've already generated tens of thousands of the existing rocks on our landmass and if the difference is too great there'll be problems with the modded content; rocks colliding with one another, rocks floating in mid-air, and things like that. The new rocks can (and should) have closed bottom edges though, so where the existing rock just cuts off at ground level your replacement rock should continue downward in a natural way. It would also be great if your rocks had moss layers similar to the moss in the screenshots you posted, not just because it looks better but because they'll be used in a swamp setting and moss would do a good job of conveying a squishy, damp feeling.

I'm not sure if you want the rock textures we'll be using as well? They're just seamless rock textures and work just like Oblivion's, so any stock rock texture you use to set up the uvw map should work without a hitch with our textures.

By the way if you get discouraged by the number of rocks in the archive, please don't feel like you have to remake all of them. Even if you only remake one it will still give our mod a visual boost If you want to choose which rocks you want to remake then please start with the largest rocks since they're the ones that have the widest use to us.

Speaking of grass, I think it would be way cool if you could add grass directly to the rock mesh I was thinking just a plane with a transparant texture, similar to what nick_op mentioned. Would that be possible? If so I'm sure I have a few suitable grass textures I could send you.

[sandor]

I agree these rocks are very nice indeed.

[Sachiel]

A small update. Firstly, I made a version of the detailed one without a bridge. Not too innovative, though. Secondly, I made a rather simple stone wall that could be used to create chasms and gorges at a rather low polycount. Just don't expect another Entius Gorge.

Here's just a quick test. The chasm is made mainly out two of the new stones.

I'm working on a natural bridge as well. But, like the stone wall in the pics, lacks a bit of inspiration. Hope you like them nonetheless.

[Ibsen's Ghost]

They may not seem exciting to you Sachiel, but they're really going to make all the difference to landscape modding. Indeed, you appear to be modding my entire 'rock wish-list' there! The shapes are perfect, such as the cave-like passage. And is Shot 23 showing one of your own models with an overhang?

[Sachiel]

Hehe, actually the cave like passage is almost entirely created out of the overhang-thing in shot 23, which is my own, yes. That one and the phallic things. And some minor vanilla rocks. Glad you like it because it's my stone wishlist as well.

Edit: You might also like this: