Soluthis (& Others) Landscape Features

[Ibsen's Ghost]

I don't know how Shakes is doing with the Soluthis region but, after seeing the wonderful suggestion of using Cappadocia as inspiration (it's perfect for the environs of Reich Parkeep), I had an idea that I thought might apply here.

I was originally thinking of having some unusual rock formation around the coastline of my Steadhelm landscape (see screenshot 1) but I soon realised that such a thing was probably unsuitable for the area. So I thought along the lines of a natural bridge which is common to rocky areas but also appears in woodlands (see screenshots 2, 3 & 4). I'm sure it'd be easier and less facecount-critical to have such a thing here in this region.

On the same subject though, I started thinking about cave entrances and the rather sudden entrance to them all without much of an outcrop, so I wondered if it were possible to create a natural tunnel, too. This could be big (so you couldn't see the back of it - see screenshot 5) or small (so you could see right through it). The problem with this, however, is that you'd need to texture it so that it fit in with an appropriate land texture and effectively functioned in the CS as a rock but was actually part of the landscape. Just a few ideas, really.

[Seniosh]

Ooh, i've always wanted to see a large outdoor rock-cave type thing as a den for wild animals.

For example, who ever heard of a bunch of wild guar living in a cave? But guar living under a rocky outcropping , that's just common sense. They would also make great bandit hideouts.

As for texturing, just make the tunnel texture the same as the landscape textures, and then the modder can hand-paint the ground around the tunnel so that everything matches.

[Ibsen's Ghost]

Absolutely, Seniosh! Nice ideas.

If only we could get a modeller for the job. We can't expect the mighty Sandor to do everything. I have to say: I'm a little perplexed and disappointed at the lack of landscapers around here. It's obviously not a popular task and yet it's so crucial to the quality of the project as a whole.

[Seniosh]

That's cause landscaping's kinda tedious, and not very glorious i'm afraid. Plus, the region generator has a bit of a steep learning curve in the beginning. It's definitely very manageable once you've tamed it, but in the beginning, it can be a lot of trial and error.

It's definitely something that needs to be done however, so i should stop talking and get back to work on Dumac's landscape :lmao:

[TheImperialDragon]

Shakes was doing the Ashunor Valley region. Razorwing and sandor are the ones working most with the Soluthis area.

Right now, I think the focus should be on generating the regions. Region generation isn't a very popular task (though I'd never be able to guess why...) and our claims haven't done well. I'm hoping to be able to get through a number of them myself sometime soon. After the regions are generated, things will look a lot more complete than before.

Hand-landscaping, on the other hand, is a bit easier to understand and does seem to suit more (but still not many) modders. The first big job after generating all the regions will be going over the region transitions. That will be tedious, but the result should be worth it.

[Seniosh]

@TID:
Bit off-topic, but once i'm done with Dumac's BC region, if you need to use the Preset for anything, feel free to. I know there are still large areas of BC which are un-generated, and if i can get a functioning preset, I see no reason not to use it.

[TheImperialDragon]

Thanks for your offer, Seniosh. I'll be sure to keep it in mind when I get around to the BC. If I do use your preset, I probably will make small changes so there's variation between the different sub-regions.

[Tobi the Dane]

Landscape models aren't "un-popular". It's just that architecture, weapons, furniture and other things are more fun.

If I weren't working on something right now I guess I could have made a few caves and such.

But what about raining? Rain in oblivion passes right through everything, that would look funny inside a cave.

Maybe it's possible to write a script that disables the rain effect when the player is close enough to the cave model?

[Ibsen's Ghost]

Originally posted by Tobi the Dane
But what about raining? Rain in oblivion passes right through everything, that would look funny inside a cave.

Maybe it's possible to write a script that disables the rain effect when the player is close enough to the cave model?

Good point, Tobi. Thanks for that. Again, it's probably for someone who's got time to experiment.

In the meantime, on the previous subject, I was wondering what parts of the landscape are fully modded? I've been finding my landscaping fairly enjoyable and I'm sure if I have the time to do another claim then it won't take me quite as long...it's just that I've had a lot of time on my hands lately, unexpectedly.

[Ibsen's Ghost]

I was idly browsing through ORE when I came across Meo's Settlement resources and thought I'd go check them out. They looked as if they might have been the answer I was looking for to the question of how to set up a bandit ambush in the woods. As it turned out, they weren't really very suitable but I then found some rocks and stuff in the pack that may well be of interest.

I have attached a screenshot of rocks that closely resemble what I was looking at here and which should certainly help the rocky region of Soluthis, especially if we're going for a 'Cappadocia' effect. The one on the right is of most interest and what is not shown here are the rocky bridges that can be positioned to fit into other rock faces. Likewise, I'd not noticed it before but this shot of the Unique Landscapes' Colovian Highlands looks bloody gorgeous and very much like the sort of effect I'd hoped we could achieve.

Something like this could revitalise the whole art of landscaping.