City Planning Thread 1: Blackrose

[Deeza]

He's still around I think. Just doesn't sign in that often.

[Deeza]

Right! First update on the construction of the city! It didn't turn out quite like what I had originally planned, but I think you'll be pleased with the results!

The exterior of the city has now been created, and has everything except clutter properly placed. The interiors have also now been created and named, and I have started work on some of them. I would give you screenshots, but for some bizarre reason only the bamboo that I moved myself during the city construction is visible when I boot up the game. Has anyone got any idea why this would be?

City Layout Plan: Started by GreyWizard and updated by me :check:

Landscaping for City Region: Completed by Ibsen :check:

Fort Retextures for City Walls: Completed by Ibsen :check:

Khajiiti Ruins for City Centre: Completed by morcroft. :check:

Model for Imperial Tower at city centre: Not started. :alert:

Clearance of city site and basic placement: Completed. :check:

Building placement: Completed. :check:

Cluttering: Not done. :alert:

NPC planning: Not done. :alert:

Interior claim making: Done. :check:

Interior cluttering: Not done. :alert:

Anyway, here's an in-CS screenshot of the city.

[Ibsen's Ghost]

Originally posted by Deeza
It didn't turn out quite like what I had originally planned.

Ain't it always the same? hrug: Looking really nice though!

Regarding the 'error', all I can suggest at the moment is simple stuff like: are you using the latest esm and have selected the correct esm/esp in the loader? You must have the assets already as we can see the results here....if you can send your esp to me then I can take a look myself, if you wish.

Just a quick question: are we having a 'closed city' here or is the modding such that most of the activity will take place inside some very, very damp dungeons and interiors? If unsure, opt for the closed city approach as it's considered the safer option when considering fps and general functionality. I'd be uneasy about having open cities from the point of view of someone with quite a crap PC. Setting up a child WS and pasting across the modding should be no problem if this is the case.

Btw, do you want what you've done so far to be merged? I thought I might as well get my Murkwood height-mapping done so I can work on the assets and, eventually, the generation of it. Just post it up on the esm thread as normal if you'd like to do that.

[jucklesjenk]

Looks pretty good Deeza! Nice!

Out of interest (it's hard to tell from the screenshot), around how many buildings are there (houses, inns, shops etc.)?

[Deeza]

@ Ibsen:

I'll be making a few more alterations tonight then post it up in the esp thread. You should check it yourself before merging it though. I'm currently leaning towards a closed city, as the way it turned out, the walls completely surround the city except for one entry through an intact tower.

@ JK:

There are about 10 inhabited buildings in the city, plus numerous ruined and uninhabited ones. The city's population was wiped out 300 years ago and unlike the western and eastern cities of BM it has never really recovered.

[Ibsen's Ghost]

It sounds wise to keep it closed. I'd post up the esp here if you're unsure then. If you don't know how to create a child WS then that's something I could do as well if needs be.

I can't remember how to do this off the top of my head but it's not hard and it just involves pasting across all of the finer details into the child WS and leaving some of the bigger objects that you will be able to see from a distance over the top of the walls. Basically, anything that you can't see from outside the city over the walls can be deleted from the main worldspace and access between the two is granted by the main gate/door. You may know all of this already though.... hrug:

[Koniption]

Heheh, it really does look like a decrepit "rose"-shaped city. Great work on the city, Deeza!

It's turned out quite "nice" so far, in an appropriately grim sense of the word.

KP

[Ibsen's Ghost]

I hope you don't mind me posting up screenies of the unfinished Blackrose, Deeza. These shots were taken in the daylight without weather effects so beware: what you see will look better than this with everything fine-tuned!

The entrance looks great! I love the interior hallway where you need to walk over planks to get inside. :goodjob:

Nice use of the architecture....albeit perhaps a little too much variation for my liking. I haven't explored fully yet but the completed fort and MD's buildings deserve recognition....although we can use them again elsewhere, of course.

Cool platforms for the buildings placed inside forts....very chaotic style...and I mean that in a good way! One part seemed to have lots of chair legs preventing easy navigation though....the bit where there are market stands...

@ Deeza - You may already have plans to sort out the following but here are some things I noticed anyway:

• There's too much clipping where trees and bamboo clash with walkways and so on. I'd have deleted these first tbh because it can affect fps even if the objects are fully hidden behind buildings but it depends how you feel you work best, I guess.
  
• Some parts of the walkways and paths are very difficult to navigate with posts and trees in the way and a lack of stairs to mount them. It's important to make sure that thoroughfares are relatively clear. How is access to the temple going to be provided, btw?
  
• I would change the land texture that surrounds the temple and creeps up the walls....it's too bright and doesn't fit.
  
• I would certainly put Blackrose in its own WS to avoid fps issues as it's very dense.
  

I struggled to select only 10 of my favourite shots. Looks gorgeous, anyway. =)

[Deeza]

Thankyou! I'd never actually seen it in-game before, as I have display problems right now, but it looks much better than I'd dared hope!

I plan to use morcroft's models in several other locations (in place of the Barsaebic ruins in this section of the marsh), so we'll get plenty of use out of them. It occurs to me that the fort ruins could be used to replace the forts you've already put in the beta region?

Honestly I'm baffled by the trees, as I had no idea they were there! For some reason they didn't display in my version of the city. Possibly my version of the esm is out of date? I'll be updating it now anyway. Then I can thin out the vegetation.

Agreed about the land texture for the hill. Do you have a suggestion?

I see your point about the walkways. That will need to be fine-tuned, so I think I need to resolve my display issues so I can walk around the city and see what's needed. I plan to have a skinny Imperial tower going up the side of the hill that cuts through the old buildings and provides access to the Temple.

Anyway, glad you like it! I had great fun making it.

[Koniption]

:eek: Wow....I'm really digging those screenshots! The city looks great!

"All Hail Deeza!" * background voice chorus - "All Hail!" *

hehe

Koniption