Silgrad Tower v2.0 RELEASED

[Razorwing]

-=DOWNLOAD=- (309mb!)
Server #1 (Courtesy of: Rodan)
Server #2 (Courtesy of: ev1) /Thanks man!
Server #3 (Courtesy of: APY and Planet ElderScrolls)

Release posted on:
ESF
OblivionSource
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German forums
Morrowind&OblivionForum.de
Scharesoft.de

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PLEASE propagate the release post at will!

-=MEDIA=-


? Videos:General
??? The Road to Silgrad Tower
????? This video was shot on March 7th, showing the work-in-progress 'Road to Silgrad Tower' and featured in a forum thread on silgrad.com. Since shooting it, a region was generated to welcome the player to Morrowind, and the roadsign textures & models were updated for more clarity. To see the state of the road as it is in the mod, please refer to the screenshots.

? Videos:Steadhelm
??? Fly-by of Steadhelm | DL 3.0mb
????? An airborne flyby of Steadhelm, going through the dragon statue and halting outside the Rusty Guar.
??? Steadhelm Docks | DL 1.5mb
????? Walking along the Steadhelm docks.
??? Steadhelm Land Run | DL 3.2mb
????? Running through the charter town from the gate, over the bridge, and around town. [@]

? Videos:RP/Soluthis
??? Entering Reich Parkeep | DL 6.5mb
????? Shows a vertical panorama of the wallgate, then the player entering Reich Parkeep.
??? Traversing the RP walls | DL 12.9mb
????? The player walks up one of the exterior staircases, enters the wall system, then enters the open level of a tower and walks up to the panorama deck. Then he runs back and forth, eventually leaping down into Soluthis.
??? Reflective Windows | DL 0.9mb
????? Shows the reflective surface of our Redoran windows.
??? Dhryss | DL 1.0mb
????? A 360-degree view of the statue in Dhryss Plaza, commemorating the Akaviri warrior that became a local hero.
??? Entering the slums | DL 3.1mb
????? The player enters the Redoran wallgate near the Slums (a district in the city), then rests his legs on one of our custom stools.
??? Approaching Areya's Manor | DL 2.3mb
????? Running through the huge West Manors district, making his way to the Redoran leader's palace. NOTE the location can not be entered in this release, it is not modded yet.
??? Mushroom Forest | DL 1.3mb
????? Running around in the little mushroom forest in West Manors.
??? Harbor Lap | DL 4.1mb
????? Swimming out of the harbor exit and then back into town. The wonders of open cities!
??? Examining a Guild building | DL 1.9mb
????? A strafing view of the Redoran Guild building -- places that will become prime targets for acquiring quests in Soluthis. NOTE these locations can not be entered in this release. We need many more questmakers.
??? Temple Run | DL 2.2mb
????? The player stands on the upper exterior level of the Dunmer Temple and gazes out over Soluthis, then jumps down to do a lap on top of the compound wall.

[@] In this video you might notice a guard with invisible chest.
This is a technical glitch in the version that was used to record the video.
The error does not appear in-game.

? Screenshots:General
Panorama of RP/Soluthis | Panorama of Steadhelm

? Screenshots:Reich Parkeep
01: An entrance to Reich Parkeep, from Soluthis.
02: Retextured sidewalks with deep parallax effect.
03: An exit from Reich Parkeep, to Soluthis.
04: A place in the shade to catch up on town gossip.
06: Connecting three sidewalks, showing off the parallax effect.
07: The Fighters Guild is a great place to find quests!
08: You can peek through the wall windows, at least in theory - reaching them is rather hard.
09: The beautifully elaborate 'classic fantasy' lampposts, only seen in Reich Parkeep. Morning | Afternoon | Evening | Night
10: Looking down into the town from atop a guardtower.
11: You can easily traverse the city walls to, for instance, jump down into Soluthis.
12: Standing next to an exterior staircase, which are the normal means of getting up there.
13: Looking down into Soluthis from the citywall.
Additional screenshots:
01 | 02

? Screenshots:Soluthis
01: Your first sight after exiting the portal to Reich Parkeep/Soluthis
02: Like in any town, the guards have unique armors.
03: It can become yours... but only through bloodshed.
04: Giant mushrooms ('emperor parasols') growing on a hill beneath Reich Parkeep
05: The statue of Dhryss, an Akaviri warrior who became a local hero, stands guard in the Plaza bearing his name. (Dayshot)
06: A book entitled 'The war with Akavir' remembers his importance to the town. The model was created by Prometheus. (Nightshot)
07: Overhangs were a common sight in TES3, especially in Redoran towns, and are likewise common in Soluthis. Here they shield bushels of wickwheat from rain.
08: Closeup of two windows, showing the texture techniques.
09: Mountains in the distance
10: The statue of Kali Gulas, in the Square bearing his name. In reality the person behind the moniker was a modeller instrumental in making Soluthis a reality.
11: A busy city scene in Soluthis, with an entrance to Reich Parkeep in the background.
12: The Guardtower is one of two types of Redoran law enforcement facilities, with the other being the Barracks.
13: You can enter the lookout deck on the towers that have been modded.
14: The Council-type building is inspired by Ald Skar in Ald'ruhn, but smaller and somewhat more elaborate.
15: A Redoran bridge in the foreground, and the massive Imperial bridge between the two Imperial Districts of Reich Parkeep in the background.
16: The Redoran bridge seen in Soluthis is the second incarnation, after the design of the original bridge was deemed too far from Redoran. That bridge can now be seen in Steadhelm.
17: Cloesup of a Barracks building at night. The fires in the Redoran lightposts only come on at night.
18: A Dunmer grainsilo at sunrise.
19: Saltrice plantation in the slums.
20: Many of the rocks seen in Soluthis were inspired by the West Gash rocks from Morrowind.
21: The entrance to the West Manors district, where the Redoran leader will eventually be found (in later releases).
22: Closeup of Master Lord Areya's Palace. NOTE that you can't enter the location in this release.
23: View from within the West Manors district.
24: The harbor, viewed from outside the city walls.
25: Soluthis is divided into neighbourhoods, and each neighbourhood has a sign like this one to let you know where you are.
26: This type of roadsign is extremely rare to see.
27: The 'Guild'-type building will become prime spots for recieving quests in future releases. Questmakers desperately wanted!
28: City view with full LOD turned on.
Soluthis Temple::
01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06
Additional screenshots:
01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18

? Screenshots:Steadhelm
01: The new Steadhelm guard armor (retextured by ev1)
02: City view
03: The dragon statue in the town square
04: The outdoor caf? at the Rusty Guar
05: The bridge (closeup)
06: The bridge (distance)
07: Exterior shot of the Mages Guild
08: The Lord's Pawn
09: A ship moored at Steadhelm's docks
10: Battlements rise from the fog near the docks
11: The Wind Rider lies capsized off the coast
12: View from one of the coastal guard towers
13: Entrance to the Temple of Kynareth Chapel
14: Ri'Dar in The Rusty Guar
15: Sten the Wild in The Rusty Guar
16: Kiseenaji, the proprietor of A Woman's Touch
17: Altars in the Mages Guild
18: Elenirna in the Mages Guild
19, 20, 21: Mages Guild interior shots

? Screenshots:Custom flora
(these are roughly 1/3 of the total number of custom plants, flowers and mushrooms in our mod)
Ash Yam; Black Anther; Chokeweed; Comberry; Corkbulb; Fireflower; Gold Kanet; Hackle-lo; Marasmius Epydrias; Marshmerrow; Proria 1 | 2; Razortongue 1 | 2; Roobrush; Saltrice 1 | 2; Snowdrop; Toadstool; Wickwheat; Willow Flower 1 | 2.

? Screenshots:Travelling to Morrowind
01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12


-=WHAT'S NEW IN V2.0 ?=-


Where to begin

The landmass has been updated and reworked since the last release, and what's more, our two cities are now situated directly on that landmass. You can swim out into the Inner Sea from Steadhelm, or gaze out over the huge sprawling Redoran city from atop Reich Parkeep's city walls, or run from city to city without having to see a load screen. This amazing relocation of our cities as good as seamlessly from their old worldspaces would not have been possible without sandor's skill and dedication in seeing it through.

A new travel system, dubbed the 'Road to Silgrad Tower' (seen in the video), replaces the old portal system as the main transportation to Morrowind. Apart from looking and feeling better than the old system, it's also more intuitive for players since they can follow the roadsigns from Cheydinhal and further makes our mod compatible with the open cities mod. The system was a joint effort of sandor (modding/generation), Razorwing (modelling) and TheImperialDragon (dialogue/modding) and also enjoys the wonderful roadsign textures created by ev1. For the release after this one we hope to have a long, exciting dungeon crawl between Cyrodiil and Morrowind -- perhaps contained in it's own whole separate worldspace ? la Pale Pass. Alternatively, or perhaps to compliment it, we'll continue investigating the possibility of open travel by way of invisible automatic loaddoors which in theory would transport you seamlessly from the Cheydinhal region to an identical reagion on our landmass.

Reich Parkeep has been given an almost total graphical overhaul. The new city wall system is exceedinly intricate in design, and quite a sight to behold. Here and there along the wall system are exterior staircases, which you can traverse to get on top of the walls and walk around up there -- sometimes lending itself as a perilous shortcut to Soluthis, for those bold enough to jump. The houses have been retextured, as has the city's custom sidewalks whose cobblestones have a really deep parallax effect that at times can be breathtaking. Reich Parkeep has it's own lampposts now as well, different from the otherwise unique Redoran lightposts that light up Soluthis. If you check out the town you'll notice more new light sources as well, such as traditional TES3 wall sconces, Imperial lanterns, and even carryable torches reminiscant of the ones from TES3!

Sandor has successfully transferred Steadhelm to our main worldspace, and continued its development by leaps and bounds compared to the last release. There's many sights to be had in town, whether exploring the many fortifications or enjoying the view of the Inner Sea from Steadhelm's docks. Steadhelm is billed as an Imperial charter town, so - much like the charter towns in Morrowind - it's decidedly Imperial in architecture and atmosphere. However the Imperial influences doesn't extend to nature and terrain, as you'll see Morrowind-style rocks and flora as well as trees unique to our mod. The town is still being worked on, and needs settlers -- so if you're in the mood to pick up a claim, swing by the Steadhelm claims board and find one you like. Or better yet, check out the town in-game and see if you find an empty house where you'd like to let for instance your avatar (in-game persona) to live. Creating more quests in Steadhelm is another concern, and indeed an important concern for the mod as a whole, so if you have those skills and is interested in modding a part of the Morrowind Province - please don't hesitate to get in touch with us. In other Steadhelm news, one of our best texture artists - ev1 - has retextured the city guard armor, as well as designed a tapestry with the city's new logo (a firefly).

All our textures are now normal-mapped. Several have also been parallaxed, often to great effect, and better use is made of the specular effect.

A new type of Redoran bridge, unlike anything you've ever seen, can be seen in different places around town.

Barabus' crypt set is again part of the Silgrad Tower mod, as it was in the TES3 mod. This time around however the set has been edited to take advantage of new parallax maps, so the inscriptions on the headstones really look like they're cut into the stone. There is a partial interior available in the mod if you want to check it out, next to the Chapel in the South Imperial District.

Silgrad Tower now sports the unique book cover textures Phoenixamon created for TES3, mapped on models by Razorwing (who also created normal maps for them). The exceedingly beautiful book covers are sure to spruce up any home, whether in Morrowind or in your player home. Go ahead, pick up a few of them when the homeowner aint looking Or if you're a stickler for the straight and narrow, you might find some of them in Cyra Catella's bookstore in Reich Parkeep. They are all physiqued by the way, and behave like you'd expect.

All the ingredient meshes are now physiqued, as are a number of misc items. Some work remains to be done in that area.

Ev1, formerly 91.css, is known as the creator of the yellow Velothi wall textures seen on the Temple exterior since a few years back. He recently returned to the team in style and has created a wide selection of textures for us. The guards in Reich Parkeep look better than ever for instance, as do the Redoran designs that benefit from his work. He filled out an old request for roadsigns that had been open for probably half a year, which finally allowed to us to have proper TES3-inspired roadsigns. We even remodelled the fence piece Bethesda used to hold their roadsigns in TES3 for us to hold our roadsigns. Coupled with parallax- and specular maps from Razorwing the roadsigns come alive in 3d like you'd never believe. But only if the light is right, so for maximum accessibility the titles also appear on-screen. Ev1 also created glass textures which will be seen on glass gemrock containers in Seniosh's glassmine (work-in-progress).

Silgrad Tower now has a full compliment of trees, although you won't see all of them in this release since some of them were created for regions that have yet to be started on. One type, the buckthorn shrub, can be seen in many places in Reich Parkeep and Soluthis, as can our older custom tree type, FLESH's oak trees.

One of the oldest news, if one can call it that, is Razorwing's oak tree update submitted shortly after the last public release. What we didn't know back then was the importance of billboards, both when it came to the ability of trees to function with LOD and terrain generation and when it came to keeping the CS stable. In the old release trees popped in and out of existence as you got close to them, but from that update onward they display in the distance just as Bethesda trees does. The discovery also lead to a wiki article that explains the problem & solution in more detail.


-=WHAT IS SILGRAD TOWER ?=-


Silgrad Tower creates a region of the Morrowind Province's mainland, which you can reach in this version by following the roadsigns starting at Cheydinhal's eastern gate. The region is situated in its own worldspace, which spans 36 quads (or 34596 cells), effectively making it nine times the size of Cyrodiil. Two major cities are situated on the landmass; the twin cities of Reich Parkeep/Soluthis and the Imperial charter town Steadhelm. A third city, our capital named Silgrad Tower, is in the wings but not fully placed as of yet.

The region is theoretically located on the opposite side of Vvardenfell's western coast, stretching in latitude as far north as Ald'Ruhn and as far south as Hla Oad. To get a better sense of where our region is situated you might want to take a look at Bethesda's old concept map for Morrowind ( http://www.silgrad.com/oblivion/images/m...pt_Map.jpg ); notice the two cities 'Soluthis' and 'Silgrad Tower' in the northwest? Our mod takes place roughly between those two cities (while at the same time adding in new cities and settlements). The layout of Morrowind changed quite a bit between that concept map and the real game, and our landmass follows the latest official map more closely.

Soluthis lies in the forested hills to the north, and is the district seat of House Redoran. When the Empire took control of Morrowind some four hundred years ago they began constructing fortifications in the city on two hills, which have now grown to become a small town called Reich Parkeep. The Hlaalu metropolis Silgrad Tower, currently not available, is situated in the fertile, pleasant south. It's said to be the second largest city in Morrowind, rivalled only by the capital Almalexia and is a natural center for trade and commerce. Steadhelm is an Imperial charter town on the coast of the Inner Sea, bordered by mountains to the north and a huge swamp to the south. Several smaller Dunmer villages and Imperial settlements can also be found in the region, as can numerous farms.

Our goal is also to have plenty of adventure beyond the comfort of the city walls. Huge burial tombs lie forgotten in the wilderness, mountain strongholds shelter warlords, renegade Daedra worshippers carry out their sinister rituals in remote shrines, highwaymen rob travellers of loot and life alike - and war drums sound from the west, as barbarians from Skyrim prepare to drive Redoran into the sea.

Some of you may be thinking, "Morrowind? Vvardenfell? Is this a TES3 mod, or... what?" And the answer is no, it's not a TES3 mod, it's an Oblivion mod - but we've painstakingly modelled pretty much everything you'll see in our mod from scratch to make you think you're in Morrowind again. Our teammembers have come together with one thing in common above all else - a shared love for The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, and we want to see the spirit of Morrowind, and the spirit of the lands our team modded for TES3, live on through the new game.


-=HOW DO I INSTALL SILGRAD TOWER ?=-


Notice folders called "distantlod", "meshes", "textures", and so on? Copy these folders and the data files to your C:\Program Files\Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion\Data\ directory. Make sure you also copy the data files "Silgrad_Tower.esm" and "Silgrad_Tower_Travel.esp" to the Data directory.

Then start Oblivion, tick Oblivion.esm and Silgrad_Tower.esm and Silgrad_Tower_Travel.esp, and you can start playing the mod.


-=HOW DO I GET TO SILGRAD TOWER ?=-


After you've installed the Silgrad Tower mod, make your way to Cheydinhal and exit through the east gate. You should immediately notice helpful roadsigns [01], which will guide you on the path to our lands. The path will take you north, through the mountains [02] [03] and past the Estate of Lord Rugdumph. Take the shortcut through his yard. [04] [05]. Continue on the path marked by the roadsigns and eventually the Cave to Morrowind will appear before your eyes [07].

After an imagined dungeon crawl beneath the mountains - which we hope to make a reality for the next release - you'll find yourself across the border, in Morrowind [08]. The area you enter bears a striking resemblance to the Cheydinhal region, since the intention is for the region to make a smooth transition to more traditional Morrowind surroundings. Shortly after you've come out of the cave you should notice the home of Tavo Talds, a dark elf who's made it his job to guide new arrivals [09]. Talk to him for helpful pointers on how to reach our cities. [10] You can pay him a little money to recieve compass markers, or pay him a lot of money to reveal the location of portals that can whisp you there in no-time. The choice is yours, but since work on our regions are in its infancy we do recommend the portals. If you change your mind (and didn't save your game) just bring up the world map, return to Lord Rugdumph's Estate, and repeat the process.


-=WHAT IS THERE TO DO IN THIS MOD ?=-


There are several quests in Reich Parkeep and Steadhelm. Not so many in Soluthis yet. Stopping by the Fighters Guild in Reich Parkeep is a really good tip.

There are a ton of new objects in the mod, like for instance over a hundred unique-looking books and dozens of custom ingredients, and you can take all of it home with you to your character's home.


-=TEAM NEWS=-


We've opened up a few of our [planned regions for claiming, posted on the Dungeon & Exterior Claims. Currently open is the Forgotten Forest, a large 'spooky' forest that will have Gothic horror influences and all-round be aimed towards scaring the player senseless. More regions will be opened up within the next couple of weeks, as focus can shift from "v2 crunchtime" to goals farther on the horizon.

Ebbedin, the Redoran fishing village situated in the middle of a delta where the river Ashunor flows into the Inner Sea, is back on track again after a couple months hiatus. IAMTHEEMPEROR has finished about 50% of the exterior. Our village holds the promise of being one of the more interesting sights in the next release (Silgrad Tower v3.0), featuring among other things unique Dunmer shack architecture courtesy of SACarrow (models) and Stilgar (textures). Seeing as the village is in the middle of our Bitter Coast region you can also look forward to new flora and rocks that tie in with the way the Bitter Coast on Vvardenfell used to look. They have actually been finished for quite some time, but Ebbedin will be the first location that can take advantage of them. Regrettably we weren't able to bring back the style of the trees from Morrowind's Bitter Coast, because albeit we could make them look similar they would feel quite alien and crude compared to the kind of trees Speedtree can produce. So it won't look very much like Bitter Coast in that respect, but it'll still look swampy (and swampy in a different way than you saw in TES4).


InsanitySorrow joined Silgrad Tower in late January, transforming his "Return of the Dwemer" mod concept to the Dwemer ruin Dumac, which was a part of our TES3 mod. Development is well underway, albeit not yet to a stage that made it into this release. For the next release it's geared to be one of our most exciting locations for players. InsanitySorrow is head modder, while TheImperialDragon is creating models (such as a brand-new, complete interior tileset), and Ghogiel is creating textures. For information and work-in-progress screenshots please head on over to IS' Progress thread.

Dumac is planned as an ancient Dwemer city comprised of many sublevels beneath the earth. Apart from all the cool, unique loot you'll find down there you'll get to see multiple quests that tie in with the ruin. A mysterious Synthesis Machine is rumored to be hidden somewhere in the bowels of the ruin, and finding it should prove to be both a challenge as well as a priority for any daring adventurer. The Dwemer ruin will also be filled with both cool enemies and exciting puzzles, so it'll be a challenge for your mind as well as your prowess in battle. All in all the Silgrad Tower team, spearheaded in this particular venture by InsanitySorrow, hope to recapture everything that was great about the Dwemer in Morrowind.


Kedal is "a Dark Elve community that lies beneath Soluthis. They have a very dark past and few dare to venture far beneath Soluthis to reach it. Spell bound by a dark wizard, they are forbidden to leave their town and have never seen daylight for over 1,000 years. They are under constant siege of the Guardians of the Dark Oasis of which the Dark Wizard has broken open the portal to. Out of this, the Kedalins have become some of the best wizards and smiths that anybody has ever known. Some have found this secret underground city, but few have returned to tell of it."

Kedal is also a very ambitious project within the framework of the Silgrad Tower team, and goes into such details as creating a whole language for the Kedalin people. Work is progressing at a steadily pace. The first epic dungeon being modded right now, as is the Upper City. However the guys in charge, Steineach and Forsena, are in need of a scripter and a modeller. Head on over to the Kedal board for more info, or contact Steineach or Forsena directly.


TheImperialDragon has begun work on Ald Nium, a small rural village located a short distance south of Soluthis. The village, which is comprised mainly of local farmers, will be the focal point for an upcoming Fighters Guild quest.


Bob196045 joined the ranks of the core team a few weeks back, in light of his work on our TES3 mod which he has spearheaded for close to a year. Next to his continued leadership of the TES3 mod Bob also became our new Quest Moderator and has already gotten a lot of work done in straightening out quest ideas and organizing the quest department.


Nakanja's back! For those who don't know him, Nakanja is one of our very oldest team members and was active in the early years of our team back in TES3's heyday. He's been gone for a long time, but through his recent work reminded us that he's one of our very finest modders. Hope to see you around for a long time, bud!


-=PUBLIC/PRIVATE=-


=Differences between the public and private version of the mod=

Silgrad Tower comes in two versions. The public version, which you can download, and the private version which is only accessible to modders in our team. The key difference is that the public version lacks some of the visual flair of the private version. There is no difference in functionality (havok physics etc) or in playable content.

Throughout our mod's development our stance has been that the assets we create are exclusive to our team. We don't want our assets used in other mods because we're a team, and we'd rather see that modders who want to use our assets join our team instead and help with our effort to bring a part of the Morrowind Province to Oblivion. So far we've been fortunate in that our wish has been respected, but it's a fortune that has only come through vigilance in defending our rights.

Weary of living on the brink of having our assets stolen, we decided to maintain two versions of the mod where the assets we care the most about had been dulled down to lessen their appeal to rogue modders. It may not be as fun for players, but it's better than closing down the public version completely.

This does NOT mean that the assets in the public release are free for anyone to use in their mods. The reason *they* aren't protected is because we want to strike a balance between our concern for our own material and our concern for players having a good time playing the mod.

As time goes on, visual improvements made on the existing models will be sorted into the private version.

To experience Silgrad Tower the way it's intended to be experienced -- take the step and become a modder on the team! :-)



-=HOW DO I MOD FOR SILGRAD TOWER ?=-


First off you need to use the modder version of the main esm, rather than the esm that comes with the normal player version. Download here, extract to your Oblivion/Data, and overwrite when prompted:
Server #1 (filehosting.cc) | Server #2 (filefront.com) | Server #3 (putfile.com)
The modder version esm is stripped of content that is only merged to the main esm for public releases, and so it is not recommended for players simply because it's not as fun to play.

All information regarding how to mod for Silgrad Tower can be found in sandor's article, which is also linked at the top of our forum's overview page. Everyone starts out modding with the public version. It may not always look like the private version, but the havok/collision are identical so you should have no problems for instance decorating an interior. After you complete a sufficient number of claims or work on other things together with the team the core will eventually promote you to ST Modder. As ST Modder you'll get access to the private version as well as continual access to internal updates as we work towards "Silgrad Tower v3". The key ingredient in the equation is that the core votes on all promotions, there are no fixed rules of which circumstances can result in a promotion. Prove your sincerity, take your claims seriously, stick around long enough, and it'll happen.



-=FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS=-

1. When I go through the cave, the land disappears and I start falling!
This is because an .esm mod conflicts with ours. Esm's can't affect other esm's without causing landscape bugs, but if the other esm doesn't alter the landscape then the problem doesn't appear until you play with a mod that does change landscape - like Silgrad Tower does. A simple way of solving the problem is to just untick other mods than Silgrad Tower's, but it's of course not the best solution. Another way is to use Timeslip's Oblivion Mod Manager ( http://timeslip.chorrol.com/obmm.html ) to change the load order so that Silgrad Tower's esm's are loaded right after Oblivion.esm. That technique works most of the time, but the problem may persist with some esm's and then the only solution is, regrettably, to untick them.

[indent][/indent]1b. Why won't the game load?
[indent][/indent]ModernMarvel said: I just downloaded Silgrad Tower and updated.
[indent][/indent]However, after I click both mod files and start the game, it just
[indent][/indent]sits there at "Loading". I have yet to see the game start, as I
[indent][/indent]get impatient. Does it usually take forever and a day to load?
[indent][/indent]WhiteWizard answered: No, it shouldn't do that. The problem you
[indent][/indent]are having is conflicting esm's. The only way (that I know of)
[indent][/indent]to fix it is to use Oblivion Mod manager to change the load or-
[indent][/indent]der to have Silgrad Tower load first.

2. I don't see any roadsigns or caves?
Please ensure that you ticked "SilgradTowerTravelEsp.esp" on your launch screen, since playing without it causes the roadsigns to disappear (among other problems).

3. The cave is silly. Why don't you make a broad road so the player can just walk to Silgrad Tower?
Ultimately that is our goal, however, solving more important concerns have taken precedence so far. The current solution is still better than the old one, which saw a weird portal standing freely inside Cheydinhal.

4. When will this mod be finished?
The mod will become more and more playable over time, offering dozens of quests and plenty of unique visuals. We'll never reach a point where we say, "Ok it's finished, let's disband and go do something else" - we'll continue adding to our mod throughout Oblivion's lifespan (and most likely beyond that seeing as our TES3 mod is still being worked on as well). Setting goals for ourselves is another matter though, and our goal is as was mentioned above to finish the three major cities and mod numerous cool dungeons and other locations around our lands. We should reach that goal before autumn 2007, and have a blast along the way modding all that fantastic stuff. When we reach that point we may decide to expand our area and/or create additional quests.

5. Why don't you just use TES3 models?
It's illegal to distribute Bethesda's models and other assets, meaning that if we ripped TES3 models we would be regarded as an illegal mod and couldn't operate on ESF and other crucial places. We're in it for the long haul, and some of us are already looking forward to an eventual fifth Elder Scrolls game which makes it even more important that we have a firm platform to stand on that doesn't compromise Bethesda's copyrights in any way. Besides that consideration the models in TES3 were highly optimized, to make them run on a mid-range computer in 2002, and would have needed extensive work on them just to bring them up to technical par with what you'd expect from Oblivion. For an experienced modeller, editing an old model in that way and making it look good is usually more work than creating it from scratch.

6. Are you modding Vvardenfell?
No, we are modding a region of the Morrowind Province's mainland situated west of Vvardenfell.

7. Will you make the whole Morrowind Province?
Perhaps we will expand our landmass in the future as the existing region gets completed, but modding the whole Morrowind Province is not our goal. Our goal is to make the part that we DO mod the best we possibly can.

8. How do I uninstall the splash screen?
The splash screen is totally independant from the mod and is enabled through the existence of three files. Deleting the following three files from your computer returns your game to normal. Deleting them doesn't affect the Silgrad Tower mod.
Oblivion\Data\menus\options\main_menu.xml
Oblivion\Data\Textures\menus\loading\tes_oblivion_logo_bink.dds
Oblivion\Data\Textures\menus\loading\tes_oblivion_logo_final.dds

DO NOT DELETE THESE FILES if you have deleted your .bsa archives!!
[indent][/indent]If you have deleted your .bsa archives and you delete these files your game will stop working. You should never delete your .bsa archives, they are your only means of reversing a plugin that changes game files without having to reinstall the game.

Still having problems despite having your .bsa archives in place? Probe shared his findings; [font=Courier New]"I followed the instructions to the letter, However as soon as I saw the mention of bsa archives I realised what I had done, I am using OBMM to manage archive invalidation and I hadn't updated the edits.

9. What does the term "Dunmer" mean?
"Dunmer" is the name dark elves prefer to call themselves. The term "dark elf" is an Imperial invention.

10. What does the term "Redoran" mean?
To say it succinctly, it is a political power in the Morrowind Province who controls the western-most sliver of the Province. More information on them can be found on wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_Redoran ).

11. Reich Parkeep sounds like it has something to do with Nazism.
It doesn't - in fact, the name was created by Bethesda themselves. Reich Parkeep was even an in-game town you could visit in the very first game, Arena, and we're bringing back a lot of quaint details from those dusty annals of lore.

12. What does the name Soluthis come from?
In the early stages of Morrowind's development, Bethesda planned to mod the whole Province - but only bits and pieces of it. In the end, only Vvardenfell was modded, but modded in whole. However their original plans for TES3 became known when they released an old concept map to coincide with the 10th anniversary of Elder Scrolls in late 2004. Apparantly, they had changed the name of Reich Parkeep to Soluthis. We like the old name, because the town existed in our TES3 mod and it's grown on us. So then we decided to use both names, but use them separately for the two different districts.

13. Can I use your models/textures in my mod?
The short answer is no. The longer answer is that if you want to use something *specific* then please contact Razorwing (razorwing@silgrad.com), because you might be allowed to use it. An example is Tarnsman, who was granted personal permission to use the ingredient meshes in his "Morrowind Ingredients" mod.

Breaking our right to exclusivitivity would be a copyright violation and only result in locked threads/deleted uploads for you and tighter privacy arrangements for us. Given that a lot of modellers share their work freely as modders' resources there's no apparant reason why anyone would want to take our stuff; the only reason one can think of is if they are pursuing the same ideas we are - that of recreating the Morrowind Province. They would be welcome to do so, because a little healthy competition is just a good thing, but to try and do so using our own models and textures against us is unfair.

If someone wants to use our assets we would like them to become part of the team instead. We have a history of giving a wide berth to modders who come to us and wants to work together with us on their own pet projects, and they enjoy substantial freedom in the framework of the Silgrad Tower team. Not to mention access to helpful teammembers whom holds expertise in a wide area of the realm of modding, and whom all work towards the same goal. That's what is so great about being in a team, there's always someone there who knows more than you do about something who can help you out when you get stuck, and you may know more about something than he does, and so everyone has a good time and gets to see their creative dreams fulfilled in our massive, sprawling lands. The writer of this very readme was in the same place three years ago as any new modder in the team is. I'm still here, and having more fun than ever. Give our team a chance and I'm sure it will grow on you the same way it has on me.


-=CREDITS=-

For a full and up-to-date list of credits, please see this article on our website. New entries in the credit list include Barabus for his crypt set (edited by Razorwing), Brillo for his N'Dib models, and Qarl and Mikal33 for the landscape textures.

[WhiteWizard]

Yay!!! :jump: :jump: :jump: :jump:
Is this the public or private version?

[Cuthalion]

VERY NICE!

Razorwing, we all love you!

[Dave_91]

Fantastic!

RW- Is the Bonemold Armour that was being worked on (or any other new armours/weapons for that matter) included in v2.0?

[ev1]

Nice..!
Downloading..

[Green @nt1-n00b]

Just how far is the walking distance??

[Arbiter]

Amazing news, I already gave my compliments on ES forum. =)

[Zarf]

So, should we hire a hype machine?

And I had no idea that "The Road to Silgrad Tower" actually connected Cyrodiil to Morrowind. I thought you still had to use the Cheydinhal teleport, and that would place you on the "road", already inside Morrowind. This is WAY better than I thought it would be!

Fantastic work... I'm downloading right now. Want me to make a video for it?

[Razorwing]

WhiteWizard: It's the public version.

Cuthalion: Thankyou I only did a third of the job though, there's no way the release could have been pulled off without sandor and TheImperialDragon working on it as well.

Dave_91: The assets are, but we found that using the armor on NPCs crashed the game so they are not seen in-game in this release. I'm not sure why yet. Hopefully the bug can be ironed out now that "crunchtime" is over.

Green @nt1-n00b: Two and a half minute from Cheydinhal's east gate, if you're running at top speed and don't run off track. Faster with a horse, and naturally you'd shave two minutes time if your player character has discovered Lord Rugdumph's Estate.

Zarf: I'm glad you were pleasantly surprised The portals aren't gone completely though, you can still find them after you've stepped into the Morrowind Province, just to save players from having to run across the vast, naked worldspace. I really hope the regions will get developed more for ST v3 so the player won't be bored getting to the towns... heck, if it works the way I hope it might take him days to get there because he's sidetracked by cool tombs, caves, dungeons and the like

Yes please, I would love a cool video! :bananarock:

[IAMTHEEMPEROR]

IT'S PART[SIZE=20]AY TIME!!!!![/SIZE]

=) :alert: :lmao: ?( :yes: :goodjob: :check: X( :banana: :bananarock: :eek: :] :lol: :wasted: hrug: :| :poorme: ;( hh: :idea1: :idea2: :wtf: :bash: :flamed: :chaos: >( :bitching: :O :pop: lap: :applause: :bow: :worship: :tongue: :cake: :love: :evil: :no: :brew: :dunce: :hugall: :party: :bounce: :crown: :elk: :guar: :kiss: :deal: :bitch: :dance: :confused: :book: :read: words: hield: :BW: :mchm: :cheers: :HB: :explained: :jump: :thumbsup: :boo: igh: :wave: