Soluthis' Grassy Region: Area Claim #06 [Finished]

[Razorwing]

Finished by AnImpatientFan.

Soluthis' Grassy Region: Area Claim #06

Click the image for an overview

Estimated size: 8 cells.*
* The estimation in general is influenced by facts like parts of the cell being unmoddable or parts of it being water.

[blockquote]

Llan Dareth's farm, modded by TheImperialDragon, is situated in the northwest cell. The farm's cell [-14,30] is not part of the claim. Try not to make any changes in that cell since any information in your esp regarding that cell will be removed from your esp before it's merged.

The seemingly grayish area in the southwest cell [-14,28] is actually water.

The main road currently stops in -13,30. Mod it so that it continues south into -13,29 and then east into -12,29 where it exits both your area and Soluthis' grassy region as a whole. Try to make the road interesting to players by using path spears along it and modding rock mounds with adjacent flora, along the lines of this example from TES3. And so on, as you see fit.[/blockquote]

Soluthis' Grassy Region is a large forest situated mostly southwest of Soluthis. It borders the Velothi Mountains to the west and the Forgotten Forest to the east. Neither of those regions have been generated yet, so currently there is only blank canvas beyond the borders.
[indent][/indent]The thought of a forest may stir images of a beautiful, serene place where you can wander about and enjoy the scenery. However in Soluthis things are a bit different. The serene place where you can wander and enjoy nature is actually the rocky region up north. Our forest on the other hand is a deadly place. Relatively harmless prey roam about near the city and the main road, but deeper into the forest - areas 04, 05, 07, 08, 09 and 10 - extremely dangerous predators roam about in search of prey. The inner area is intended to provide fun for high-level player characters, while the outer area is intended to let low-level travellers on the main road survive.

[title]The particulars[/title]
The following STRPRegion textures are used here, in approximately these rations: ForestGrassLeaves and ForestMossGrassDirt (40%); GrassClover and GrassMoss (35%); Deadgrass, Deadleaves and ForestDirt (25%).
[indent][/indent]Toadstools, proria mushrooms and fall-type oak trees only grow on StRPRegionDeadleaves and StRPRegionDeadgrass landscape textures. Please bear that in mind especially when adding moving or deleting fall-type oak trees. There should be dead leaves texture beneath fall-type oak trees but at the same time the texture shouldn't be used if there isn't a fall-type tree around it.
[indent][/indent]On the other landscape textures are chokeweed and roobrush (very common), gold kanet and stoneflower (common) and dandelions (rare). And summer-type oak trees, naturally. West gash rocks can occur throughout the region but not in such great numbers that it detracts from the impression that it's a forest.

Being a forested area, and belonging to Soluthis/Reich Parkeep, the canopy consists exclusively of oak trees. We don't want to see birch trees or pines here, it should be a large oak forest - not unlike something similar to Sherwood Forest from Robin Hood.
[indent][/indent]There should be many more trees around than was generated. The many holes in the forest are there so modders can make it look interesting when adding new trees.
[indent][/indent]While the region may look pleasant and beautiful, please resist any urge to add cottages or farms or other minor settlements. They're nice in themselves, but the player would want to visit the forest to kill things rather than talk to NPCs.
[indent][/indent]You're welcome to move around or delete the generated content in your area if you wish, as well as changing the land heights. Make sure that your height changes don't affect other areas. Every cell should have a facecount between 100 000 and 150 000, which isn't to say that making each cell have 150 000 faces is the goal. If you know what you're doing you can trade facecounts between cells back and forth but otherwise don't go beyond 150 000.
[indent][/indent]Don't forget to add vertex shading underneath rocks where needed, because it looks bizarre without it. Please also use vertex shading to break up the monotony of landscape textures, but naturally never as dark as you use underneath rocks. You can often use very light green and very light brown to create subtle shades on the ground that help break up the monotony without the player really realizing it.
[indent][/indent]You're very welcome to add forest-like sound effects, butterfly boxes and other things you'd typically see in Oblivion forests. Please don't use other tree types though, including logs and knees.
[indent][/indent]Don't mod outside the bounds of the area; no object you place should protrude beyond your cells, even if the object belongs to a cell within your area.
[indent][/indent]No pathgrid is necessary for this claim.

[title]Time to kill something[/title]
Please don't add more M-markers than are already there. If you set up for instance a goblin cave then of course you can add a goblin or two outside it if you like, but for several reasons we don't want packs of monsters teeming about the area (with FPS being the main reason). If you do set up additional monsters in a cell and there is already an M-marker in it, please move the M-marker to another cell in your area. Preferrably one where there isn't another M-marker in an adjacent cell.

You're expected to set up entrances to locations in your area. You're welcome to mod them too, but you don't have to - you can issue claims for them instead. Please do that in a new thread on the Dungeon claims board. On average there should be one location for every ten exterior cells. When you pick a cell which will contain an entrance to a location, please name the exterior cell SoluthisLoc### where ### is an claim number. (In the cell list window just left-click on your cell slowly two or three times and a cursor will start to blink, letting you choose a name for the cell.) You can pick an arbitrary claim number, like SoluthisLoc395, which will then be re-numbered when your area is slated for merging. The interior cell for that claim will be named SoluthisLoc395lvl1 and so on depending on how many cells it encompasses. Sticking to the template makes it very easy to playtest the location.

Don't forget to decorate dungeon-type entrances and exits with Hermit's Crook, since a) that's the only places they can exist and b) they're helpful to players.

[title]In closing[/title]
To claim this area, post a reply saying so. You don't have to wait for anyone to confirm your claim, you can get started right away. But bear in mind you should not have more than two of these area claims active at any one time. If you claim a third one before one of the other two are approved by our reviewer(s) it'll likely get "un-granted" after the fact. It's just my way of ensuring that there are less dead claims lying around, especially since things are starting to heat up a bit for Silgrad Tower v3.0. I hope to see at least a few areas with accompanying locations modded before release.

[AnImpatientFan]

May I claim this one.

I think I am falling in love with the Soluthis region.
I will finish RP Location 10 before begining this one.

[sandor]

Sure, have fun!

[AnImpatientFan]

I was thinking of a tribute to those Nudeist Nord quests in Morrowind or something along those lines. It will be my first proper quest with alot of dialog but I will give it a shot if that's okay with you.

[sandor]

Originally posted by AnImpatientFan
I was thinking of a tribute to those Nudeist Nord quests in Morrowind or something along those lines. It will be my first proper quest with a lot of dialog but I will give it a shot if that's okay with you.

I personally have nothing against your idea (I like it).
However you could post a suggestion on our Quest Dev. board.
I am sure Bob will respond asap.

[AnImpatientFan]

I might give it a shot first, if I have trouble I will post it on the quest dev. board.

[sandor]

Originally posted by AnImpatientFan
I might give it a shot first, if I have trouble I will post it on the quest dev. board.

That's fine. :check:

[AnImpatientFan]

Do I still countinue the road, by the looks of it, it now goes SW into location 5.\

EDIT: I have penciled in the general concept for the quest.

1. A sick Nord, living in an overgrown, house in shambles is dying.
A witch living in a nearby cave has given him xxx Curse/Disease, she is the only one who is in possesion of the cure.

2. The Nord asks the player to enter the cave, find and kill the witch. The player is then to search for the cure in the witches belongings.

3. Once that is over and done with the player returns to the Nord and gives him cure. The quest is then complete and the Nord begins to complete a daily routine.

[AnImpatientFan]

UPDATE:

I was sick at home today so what better to do than mod. I have finished most of the landscaping now, and I am now begining to add locations, NPCs etc.

[AnImpatientFan]

UPDATE (Again): For the Nords house should I use the Nord cottage already there, if so, could you PM me the .nif for the doorway as that seems to be missing.

Cheers.