SHRAC0801 "Astermeier Cave" [Claimed]

[Ibsen's Ghost]

Astermeier Cave
STATUS: Claimed by earendil

Tileset: Moldcave
Number of levels: 1 or 2
Cells: SRAstermeierCaveInterior00, SRAstermeierCaveInterior01 etc.
Number of enemies: 5-7 (for one level) & 10-12 (for two levels)
Preferred enemy type: Undead
Exterior cell coordinates: (56, 2)

You'll need the 3.19 version of the ESM or higher to mod this location. Download the latest version here.



[TITLE]Ibsen's Ghost's Description & Extra Details[/TITLE]

Situated at the top of two waterfalls in the far South-Eastern region of Steadhelm, Astermeier Cave bears all the hallmarks of mysticism (with mist-enshrouded waters, moonbeam and moths) but also a great deal of the decay found in the Steadhelm swamps with overhanging wisps of the snow gum tree and logs and trees bearing fungi.

This is an open claim and is open to interpretation so any quest modders wishing to use it are free to do so. However, this is one possible location for enacting some part of my ‘recruitable companion’ side-mission featuring Anaster Marrowmir. Anaster will be a fully voiced companion – a Redguard ‘voodoo-practicing’ necromancer originating from Stros M’Kai (as befits the earlier Elder Scrolls game). He has a Caribbean accent and will comment on events in the game itself and should (hopefully) be completely skinned and possess his own character traits, equipment, weapons, spells and skills. He will be designed to fit alongside one (or more) of the major quest-lines, especially any of those concerning necromancy, alchemy, pirating and new magic (NB: he may appear in ‘Black Marsh’ with a more detailed ‘voodoo’ storyline).

[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, 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 or sandor first and we'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. TID 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.

To clarify the above, the first interior cell for this claim will be named SteadhelmRegionAreaClaim0801lvl1, the next level SteadhelmRegionAreaClaim0801lvl2 and so on, depending on how many cells it encompasses.

NB: - Thanks to Sandor and TID for allowing me to use their claims descriptions as a default.