Silgrad Tower v2.5 RELEASED

[Razorwing]

I used to like Filefront a lot because they didn't delete your files, whether people downloaded them or not, but the last couple of months they've gotten really annoying and try to delete files quickly. Putstuff.com seems to have their drawbacks as well, especially lately with the last asset updates.

Can anyone recommend a file host that lets you keep large files indefinitely, and which people can download freely?

[Razorwing]

Public update #4 is outdated. Get Public Update #6 instead.

-=PUBLIC UPDATE 4=-
Released August 10th

-Download here- (Rapidshare.de) (54mb)

Filefront mirror

In this update:
?) Ghogiel submitted updates to his excellent Morrowind-style Imperial Legion armor. There is still a few minor issues to iron out, namely the position of the helmet and an icon for the greaves. If you installed the previous update (#3) you should probably clear out the folder [size=9]Data\meshes\ST\SilgradArmor\legion\ and Data\textures\menus\icons\ST\Armor\legion\ before extracting this, just to avoid confusion.
[blockquote]On a sidenote, Ghogiel made ST Modder status recently. Glad to have you with us, man! [/blockquote]
?) SACarrow created new Dunmer bar counter variations, including a really cool door object. By using the new pieces modders get much more freedom over their bar counter configurations than TES3 (and my to-the-letter recreation) offered.

?) Kingevil retextured several cave traps to blend better with the moldcave set.

?) VABG submitted a few missing icons for his Morag Tong armor suit.

?) A while back I stumbled on a great tapestry texture created by TextureFreak years ago, which resembles the famous Imperial tapestry with the dragon symbol you saw everywhere in TES3 (Furn_Com_Tapestry_04). The mesh and texture is included in this update and the entry will make its way into the esm eventually. The texture has great intrinsic beauty to it, but since TextureFreak's intention naturally was to create variety from the usual Morrowind game it purposely looks different from the original in a way that makes it less than perfect as a recreation. So if anyone wants to take a stab at it sometime, godspeed and good luck.

?) I'm currently doing a massive overhaul of everything Redoran. I wish it was ready to be included, but I need more time to finalize it. Though once I have, we'll have our own versions of all Redoran architecture that even supercedes Bethesda in terms of variety. But something that I can include, if only to guard myself against forgetting it later, is the new Redoran floor texture. I love the old floor texture, but it just doesn't work well with a tileset that twists and turns in all possible manners. However, Bethesda did use two types of Redoran floor textures, which means we can 1) save and use the old texture 2) solve texture glitches the tilesets used to have 3) get more variety and 4) be truer to the original - all in one. I didn't choose the new texture on looks alone. Out of the dozens of textures I considered, this was the one that looked close to the jist of what the original was meant to look like (i.e. concrete) while at the same time being close to seamless when rotated at ninety-degree increments. It's not perfectly seamless but then again the odds of a player seeing the seams that close up are virtually nil; he'd pretty much have to use vanity mode and even then would probably have to unhook the camera. I wager it's as good a floor texture as we're likely to get, but a good one just the same.

?) This update also includes meshes for Steadhelm that had been omitted by accident from previous updates, and the mesh for the Dunmer Temple tapestry.[/size]

[SACarrow]

This may just be me, but whenever I try to run an ESP keyed to the new CS, my whole computer locks up and needs a hard reset. My version of OB is 1.1.511 North America; no KotN, no SI. When I used TES4Gecko to set the 2.5 ESM & ESP to 0.8, things seem to work fine; at least I met Tavo.

Isn't setting the playing (not modding) mods to the new CS implicitly requiring SI? In that case, shouldn't the ESM & ESP be "set back" before release?

Just wondering,
Steve

[TheronNightStar]

newest (non-SI) patch for oblivion is v1.2.0416, try that.

Search for "OBLIVION PATCH v1.2.0416" approx. halfway down the page here

[sandor]

Originally posted by SACarrow

Isn't setting the playing (not modding) mods to the new CS implicitly requiring SI? In that case, shouldn't the ESM & ESP be "set back" before release?

Just wondering,
Steve

I have SI (latest patch) and run a separate install for OB 1.1.511.

I tested the ST esm v2.5 with OB 1.1.511 and SI, in both the cases there were no problems (so SI isn't required).

OB 1.1.511 (the game) also loads esp files of higher version (CS 1.2.0.404).

If you try to load an esp with a higher version into the CS with a lower version, the CS will display an error.

[Razorwing]

Public update #5 is outdated. Get Public Update #6 instead.

-=PUBLIC UPDATE 5=-
Released August 28th

-Download here- (Rapidshare.de) (50.0mb)

This update builds on PUBLIC UPDATE 4 of Silgrad Tower v2.5. If you haven't already, download #4 before extracting this update.

In this update:
?) Sandor has updated our world map, and the lod meshes relating to the update are included here.

?) Dwemer- and ordinator armor by Ghogiel and Cryo+SPARTAN VI respectively are now available in our mod, graciously prepped by captain-ultima. If you have a folder in textures/ST/armor/ called 'dwemerGhogiel' please delete it; it was for an earlier inclusion that was never carried through.

?) Phitt's chess game and dice.

?) In a funny coincidence I also happened to create a dice model, using the texture in this tutorial as base. It doesn't have any function besides being a misc item.

?) A new statue model for Steadhelm is included, looking not unlike Venus de milo. I didn't create it, I simply ran a vertex painting scheme on it and set up the texture mapping.

?) The Velothi Mountains got a few new spruces now, intended for steep slopes. Also for the Velothi Mountains is half a dozen _far models for the JM rocks we'll be using. Given the nature of _far models they're located in meshes\rocks\jeralmountains, so if you ever wonder how they got there then they're from this update.

?) The ambient plants Daisy01.nif and -02.nif (meshes\ST\Flora\Ambience\) have been missing from previous updates, but are included now. They hark back from when I created the Hlaalu interior tileset and wanted something to stick into the flowerpot. The daiseis aren't my own creation though. They're used in the aforementioned flowerpot and also exist as a misc item, but these two versions are meant to grow freely in nature, flowerbeds or -pots. They're not flora types because it seemed silly for them to have alchemical properties.

?) The 'Royal Redoran Bed' is where the Redoran leader will spend his nights. It's meant to be unique to the leader and his family.

?) There's one Redoran bookshelf and three Redoran display cases in this update. The display cases were the first version of the bookshelf, but I *cough* forgot to measure properly and turns out most books wouldn't fit in it. I kinda liked the way it looked though, so I kept it. Can be used to display vases or other misc stuff.

?) The redoran shelves have better collision now, and uses one of Zarf's wall textures instead of the old MVP one. I also optimized the spokes inside the arc bookstands to save a whopping 1,000 faces (give or take a few), with little visual loss.

?) While decorating a dinner table I was reminded that we're in short supply of foodstuffs that look good on plates, so I proceeded to create a simple ambient model of a couple of salad leaves. It's a physiqued static, so you can knock it around and such, but you can't pick it up.

?) I replaced the texture "RedoranWallZarf03.dds", which had a useless parallax map, with the old version from "Silgrad Tower v1". For a period of time I was very excited about parallax maps and added a ton of them, some with little to no visual improvement. It wasn't fully clear to me what an FPS hit the many parallax maps would cause either. I don't think I ever turned on this particlar parallax map, so using the non-parallax version of the texture should give a slight FPS boost* with no visual difference. At the same time I replaced the garish Photoshop-created normal map with a smoother Crazybump-created normal map.
* since the parallax map was never turned on in nifs I would imagine the FPS boost would only be experienced on cards with low video memory, and only in certain situations; I don't think the difference is noticeable either way, but every bit helps especially in cases like these when there was no visual compromise.

[TheImperialDragon]

Originally posted by GaminMan
All clear, downloading files properly now :goodjob:

EDIT: Hmm, so do I just copy all meshes/sounds/textures int data file?

Into your Oblivion Data folder, yes.

[Lord Grievous]

Thanks for this great mod, keep it up!

I'm already looking forward to the v3.0 release :banana:

[Razorwing]

-=PUBLIC UPDATE 6=-
Released September 10th

-Download here- (Silgradtower.net) (107mb)

This update is based on Silgrad Tower v2.5, so you should not download prior updates.

In this update:
?) The assets for fwp_coder's cool Netch Leather armor is included in this release and will hopefully be seen around our mod before long.

?) SACarrow's "Fatleg"-style Dunmer shacks are included in this update.

?) Three new mushrooms with accompanying ingredient have made their way into our mod. The spindly Grey Cortinarius grows up in the Velothi Mountains region. The fat and bulbous Ashunor Boletus grow around the Silgrad region, and so does the White Trumpet -- albeit only underground, in caves around the region. The models and textures were created by zpirit from the "Neverwinter Nights 2" mod scene.

?) I improved the mapping on the strongbox container, which for some inexplicable reason I had decided to texturemap wrongly in the past just to make it look like Bethesda's mapping (which was less than great in that particular case). For fun I also physiqued it.

?) I created a practicedummy like the one from Morrowind. It's not hinged like Oblivion's dummies unfortunately but once that can be done from Max I'll be sure to update it.

?) I created two new upperclass Dunmer bookshelves. It's really just one model though, only the shelves differ (in placement and numbers). The older upperclass bookshelf, which resembles the TES3 counterpart, is enormous and is practically impossible to fill up with books. It's very useful for other, more spacious, items.

?) We have our own brand of lily pads now, dubbed "Azura's Hands". The models were created by me, while the textures (and the bulk of the work imo) were created by TextureFreak and borrowed from his Morrowind mod Swampy Swamps.

?) There is a new fern in our mod, brought in because I needed an ambient plant for flowerpots and because we only use the other two ferns (Lady Eternity's) in our Bitter Coast region. The model and texture was created by TaLLan from the "Neverwinter Nights 2" mod scene.

?) I created four new muffins (ingredients). The textures are from the Morrowind mod "Dragon's Breech", except the normal and specular ones which I created.

?) I created a practice dummy like the ones we remember from the old game. Sadly it isn't animated like Oblivion's dummies, but maybe I can make it so in the future when I have more time and/or it's easier to do it from Max. While doing the dummy I also made the practice mat a tad better looking, and revised CanvasWrap01's normal map.

?) The mapping on my redware models became slightly misaligned after the introduction of Ghogiel's excellent redware textures. The misalignment is now fixed, and while I was at it I updated some of the model's collision. I find it fantastic that the new version of the max exporter can export box arrangements that can be pasted into a pre-existingly physiqued model. It'll make it a breeze to create optimized and accurate collision for bowls and other tricky misc items.

?) The Rich Dunmer Bookshelf #2 no longer crashes the CS. The model also has new & improved collision.

[Sjors Boomschors]

I have downloaded ?SilgradTower v2.5 Public Update v6.0? and it does not work correctly. When I un zipped it with ?WinRAR v3.51? I got 500 errors and now I cant erase the extracted files or what ever I like to do with them. Is it only me ore are others having the same problem.