Deepen Moor - Arrenad Cavern [Completed]

[TheImperialDragon]

Arrenad
STATUS: Completed

Tileset: Moldcave
Number of levels: 1
Cells: DeepenMoorCavernArrenadInterior
Number of enemies: 5-7
Preferred enemy type: Creature
Exterior cell coordinates: (12, 0)

You'll need the 3.10 version of the ESM or higher to mod this location. Download the latest version here.



[title]How should I go about modding the layout?[/title]
First, you’ll want to find Razorwing’s moldcave tileset under Static->ST->Dungeons->Moldcave. Please do not use Oblivion’s generic cave set - we want our entire landmass, dungeons included, to look less like Cyrodiil and more like Morrowind.

Now that you’ve found the tileset, drag the StRwMoldcaveSmTunnelExitNatural piece into the Render window and move it to coordinates 2048, 2048, 4800. That is going to be the dungeon’s starting point. Have two ramp pieces (under Static->ST->Dungeons->Moldcave->SmallTunnel) leading down from the entrance before modding the main part of your dungeon. Feel free to separate these ramp pieces with a few ordinary small tunnel pieces.

Now that you’re a bit farther underground, you can mod the dungeon layout to your liking. If you want to have a water level in your dungeon (which makes sense, at least for caves in the flooded Deepen Moor region), you may change the cell’s settings. If you aren’t sure about how to use the moldcave tileset or where to find certain pieces, feel free to post your questions here in this thread.

In order to make the cave look interesting, you should place several static rock objects (Static->ST->Dungeons->Moldcave->Rocks). I personally, as a player, would like a cave better if it had at least three of these objects per tileset piece placed, but you can probably get away with one per tileset piece placed*. The main idea is to make sure there are enough objects to hold the player's interest. You can also use vines (Static->ST->Flora->Ambient->BitterCoast), cobwebs (Static->ST->Dungeons->Misc), and flora-type mushrooms (Violet Copringus, Luminous Russula, Mooncap, or Drogo Mushroom all found under Flora->ST->Flora->Shroom) in your cave.

The SoluthisLoc001 cells show how a good moldcave dungeon should look, so feel free to look at those if you need some ideas about how your dungeon should look.

*These numbers were rough estimates and may be subject to change later on.

[title]What would I find, in terms of loot, inside a cave?[/title]
It depends on what the cave is being used for. If smugglers are using it as a base of operations, you can expect illegal items (skooma and moon sugar, for instance), as well as some gems, armor, weapons, gold, and other loot. If renegade mages have taken over the cave, you’d find ingredients, books, potions, and other mage-related items. If the cave has only creatures, you can add dead adventurers, natural flora, gem rocks, and other fun stuff. Think creatively.

The preferred type of enemy for this cave is listed at the top of this thread. You might be able to do something else though if you want - just check with me first and I'll tell you if your idea is appropriate.

[title]How should I light the cave? [/title]
Again, it depends on what lives inside the cave. If there are NPCs, you might want to use the StLightComTorch01 set of lights because it supports the idea that someone is living there. If you have only creatures, you might want to place some glowing crystals (Activator->ST->Dungeons->Misc) or some Luminous Russula mushrooms (Flora->ST->Flora->Shroom->BitterCoast) and manually place lightbulb lights. You should also have a few ambient lightbulb lights placed where they are needed. I started a set of ambient lights which you can use; they are ID’d StIdMoldCaveAmb####. Try to have all lights guide the player through the dungeon. Try not to have more than 22 lights in a single dungeon cell.

[title]What enemies should I use?[/title]
As I said above, the loot you’d find would depend largely on which enemies you decided to use. The preferred enemy type for the dungeon is listed at the top of the thread, but it isn't final. If you want to change it to something else, let me know what that is and I'll tell you if it's okay.

The most common enemy types for caves in TES3 were outlaws (smugglers, bandits, rogue mages...) and creatures (nix-hounds, rats, mudcrabs...).

[title]Anything else?[/title]
Add a pathgrid to the cave. Playtest the entire dungeon and make any necessary corrections before submitting it for review.

[earendil]

May I take this claim?

I wish to tie this cave into my earlier claim. There is a widow in Soluthis whose husband has been lost to the south for over 10 years, himself being a haphazardous adventurer. He will lie somewhere in this cave as a permanent resident.

I also have another idea to add (literal) depth to this cave. I want to add a large set of chamber which lead to a magical wall/door in a lone small chamber. The adventurer will have a magical scroll on him, which you use on the door to find a lone Telvanni Mage. Hundreds of years ago, he was a radical Telvanni Councilor who wished to abolish slavery and establish friendlier ties with other organizations (Mages Guild, other houses, Empire, ect...) He even went as far to "disgrace" himself by taking one of his family slaves as a bride (shortly after, his bride mysteriously took ill and died before bearing him children). The Telvanni council sent him away to "establish ties" with other factions. The Telvanni Council instructed his Mouth to find somewhere to put him where he wouldn't get in the way, so he imprisoned the Councilor in this cave system, placing a powerful magical barrier on the door/wall, in case the council ever needed him again for something.

I can change any of this above mentioned plot to fit lore if needed, of course.

[TheImperialDragon]

Have fun with the claim. :check:

I'm all for having the dead adventurer in this cave, great idea!

Your story for the mage seems good at first glance, though I have a few questions about the mage. Is he alive when the player find him? If so, how did he stay alive? Will there be a quest/reward for finding him?

[earendil]

Hmmm, forgot about that.
I figure his Mouth could have left him in there with stores of food to last a while since the council didn't want to completely get rid of him, just hide him away somewhere. Aren't there edible mushrooms that grow in caves? I could plant a plethora of those about.
I could have him be dead from starvation, and you find journal entries mentioning his imprisonment and methods of escape involving magic (I thought about sealing the entrance behind the player and having the solution to escape be in his notes and a spell/magic scroll he didn't have the energy to use to open a side passage.
If he is alive, I was going to have him sacrifice himself to give you the spell or scroll to escape, since he has neither the energy or desire to continue on. The items in his 'prison' would be yours to take, either way if he is dead when you get there or sacrifices himself for your benefit.

[TheImperialDragon]

Aren't there edible mushrooms that grow in caves? I could plant a plethora of those about.

You could. I can't remember exactly which mushrooms are the edible ones, but I believe Luminous Russula is one of them. Mushrooms that don't have some sort of stat penalty would be the ones to use.

Another question : How would the player get into the prison? Is it some sort of trap?

Sounds like a fun encounter. Have fun modding it. :goodjob:

[blackbird]

The Telvanni lands are far away from silgrad and I don't think they ever possesed land around the region of silgrad. So I see this more of an exile.

[earendil]

Essentially that's what it is. The Telvanni Councilor was told he would be setting up relations with outside factions and promoting House Telvanni. The Telvanni Council really sent him into exile, replacing him with his Mouth, but leaving him alive as much as possible, just in case they needed him for something.

[earendil]

I'm having some issues with specific objects while working on this claim.

Doors don't show up as useable objects in-game, sometimes. I can see the model, but the name of the door won't pop up in game and you can't activate it. This seems to affect load doors as well as animation doors.

Sometimes miscellaneous items will do this too.

Do you possibly know a solution, or anyone viewing this thread?


Oh, I've also finished a good portion of the claim as well. I have 3 levels, 1 is mostly creatures and tunnels, 2 is a large chasm with magma and the dead adventurer who has the key to 3 which has the Exiled Telvanni Councilor. I think I will have him dead from slow poisoning by allergy to luminous russola (he'll mention it in his notes).

[TheImperialDragon]

Some doors have that problem, and Razorwing is working on the problem. When a door does have this problem, just click on it and type 'activate player' in console. That should do the trick (thanks Seniosh).

Misc objects do this sometimes also, but there's not much you can do about it right now.

Sounds like the claim is going well. :goodjob: Three levels sounds big.

[earendil]

I have a couple more questions. What does the pathgrid do for creatures in the cave? Is it meant for wandering NPCs to use? I have several areas where a pathgrid may not be usable for an NPC (rock bridges over a large chasm).

I am almost done with the first draft of my dungeon. I just have to clean up ID names and polish the extraneous bits better.

The layout and plot is as follows:
The first level is winding paths with spiders and rats (I dont know what else goes in caves in this area) much luminous russula, and 2 doors, one which is not locked.
The unlocked door leads to the second level which presents you with 2 paths in front of you. Both lead to a large vertical chasm. One path over a rock bridge leads to eventually a large room with a troll guarding the lost adventurer. He has a key to the next level down below and a not to give his ring back to his wife in Soluthis (an earlier claim of mine). The ring is not on his person, as his ghost has it in the first level pool.
Travelling down the second path leads down to the lover part of the chasm filled with lava and a rock bridge. If you have the key, the path far behind you collapses and traps you in, forcing you to enter the third level.
The third level has the exiled councilor, who is dead. Reading his notes discovers that he has a mild allergy to luminous russola that he wasn't aware of until he was living with it constantly. He discovers the enchantment on the door and makes a ring to counteract it, but the lock is too well made to be had my magical means. Since you have they key, you can take the ring and escape the prison (this is where my problem is, the script on the door should work, i tried with a vanilla oblivion door, but the moldcave doorjamb doesn't like me ). You go up to the locked door from level 1 and see the pool. The ghost appears when you inspect the pool more closely.
The treasure is whatever you find in the 3rd level or on the adventurer.

I hope I'm not being overly ambitious with this claim. I still have to make the reward for the Adventurer's ring when you return it (separate mod file), if you decide to return it. I've been busy with work lately, so progress has been a bit slow, but I should be done with the first complete draft soon.