Dumac

[Zalzidrax]

A bit of an update on the Dumac interiors.

I found a bug in my puzzle script which required a major overhaul to fix it, and inveritably spawned another whole set of bugs, which were quite bothersome to fix.

Screenshot

But it is now all functional, except I don't think I've added sounds yet, but that should be a piece of cake.

As for the actual progress of the interiors, I have the observatory done, excepting a couple details. I have the Test of Disorder done, the main portion of the ruin is still under heavy construction, though. I'll try to upload a work in progress file, but right now the stuff is spread over two files, one of which has dependency issues, and both probably need to be cleaned in TESAME. I'll get that done tonight if a feel inspired, or tomorrow, more likely, and uploadwhat I've gotten done so far so peopel can take a look at it.

[Zalzidrax]

Here's the work in progress esp, all cleaned and everything. It's far from done, but it can't hurt to take a look and tell me what you think. There's still a fair bit of work to do on the interiors, but since I got the scripts for the test of disorder puzzle done, there's no frustrations, really, so I can mod much more happily.

[Quentin Fortune]

I'm looking forward to check it out once I'm home again ... which will be in six to seven hours :eek:

Greetings

Quentin

[Razorwing]

Zalzidrax: Excellent :goodjob: Looking forward to checking it out, probably tomorrow evening as I'm heading off to bed soon. That screenie was really funny, and boy do I know how you feel With scripting, everything is ten times more complicated than it looks... very rewarding though, when it finally comes together. And you're right that sounds are easy; except for spoken dialogue, which Morrowind is picky about, just about any wav or mp3 will do nicely.

Again: :goodjob: :goodjob:

[Zalzidrax]

New updated file- I've gotten the basic floorplan for all the parts finished and linked up the doors, so this version's probably a bit easier to navigate.

[Razorwing]

Originally posted by Zalzidrax
New updated file- I've gotten the basic floorplan for all the parts finished and linked up the doors, so this version's probably a bit easier to navigate.

I pledge to burn the midnight oil tomorrow, free from the burden of work for several days, and will playtest and check out Dumac thoroughly and perhaps be bold enough to suggest a thing or two here and there.

You have my personal gratitude for finally straightening out this exterior, which so many before have claimed and tossed away, and I'm certain it'll become one of the highlights of our next full release!

:goodjob:

[Razorwing]

Zalzidrax: I checked out Dumac, and made a little report of my suggestions.

- I'd like to suggest that you rename the start of your cell names to "Dumac Ruins" (anything works though) to differentiate them from the exterior cells, and from separate interior cells placed in those exterior cells. My little bandit hole "Dumac, Bandit Lair" would be an example of the latter, which could confuse things.

- Could you give each ID you've created the prefix "sltw_zl_"? It's your modder abbreviation for Silgrad Tower, and all our modders use the standard. Makes everything a lot easier as you know where your items are, and others know who created what. The abbreviation is applicable for everything - body parts, sound ID's, etc. Though we haven't brought the whole mod up to code yet. TIA.

- Can I suggest that you add more sound activators here and there around your project? I always thought the sounds are the spookiest part of dwemer ruins, and they do keep the player on his toes I think.

- "Dumac, Entrace" needs a lot more clutter, and perhaps some enemies too. If you find suitable enemies on the internet you like, then by all means go ahead and use them. Same goes for pretty much anything else dwemer-related that you find and like and want to use in Dumac. Also, could I suggest you make the lighting a bit darker and gloomier in this cell? I would suggest not exactly pitch black (as the entrance is above ground), but still quite dark, as there aren't any windows.

The door at the top of the level wasn't linked, and swung around to show the nothingness behind it, but I understand that this door will link to the outside world later on. Feel free to set it up, if you want I can't remember if there's a door on the exterior model or not... if there is, you can't hook it up to the interior yourself, but if there isn't a door then it's smooth sailing.

- "Dumac, Test of Disorder" looks very nice. I couldn't get the puzzle in the top dome to work (doesn't necessarily means there's a problem with it), but I turned off collision and had a look around and the cell seems very interesting. There was a lever in front of a dwemer statue that I pulled, but nothing seemed to happen. Might be that it's tied to the puzzle in the top dome though, as I take it a normal player would never get to it before solving the puzzle.

The next suggestion would just be icing on the cake: I think it would be really cool if you could create a dwemer painting which shows how the levers should be positioned for the puzzle to be solved. Then the player would know what goal he'd need to work towards.

Again, the cell could use a lot of clutter as well as some enemies. You might want to make the top dome a separate interior cell, so you could fit more clutter into the main cell without it affecting the framerate? Just an idea. It's not really necessary to do that unless you want to really clutter it and fill it with enemies, I think. I'd say you could easily fit 800 references including a dozen enemies in an interior cell without hurting the framerate, but that's your call of course.

- "Dumac, Hall of the Dwarf-King" Very nice! More clutter and a couple of enemies and this cell is perfect, I think. By clutter in this cell I mostly mean some 'crap' in the hallways to make them a bit more interesting. Kegs, bookshelves, beams, lights, and things like that.

- "Dumac, Maw of Angthuac" Perfect!

- "Dumac, Observatory" / "Dumac, Underhall" Looks good. Just the usual suggestion, some clutter along the corridors and some enemies.

- "Dumac, Vaults" Cool cell! It looks like a lot of fun to play. Could I suggest you add some garbage to the big floor slabs? Just a couple of beams and similar here and there maybe, to break the floor pattern and heighten the general impression of an old, abandoned place in disrepair.

- "Dumac, Warrens" Lots of clutter work needed here to spice it up I think.

All in all, a bloody great job Zal! :goodjob:

[Zalzidrax]

The cells are now renamed to Dumac Ruins.

Renaming the objects I've not done yet, as just about every single one is referenced in at least one script, and renaming would be a bit of a headache. And can I use ZX instead of ZL as my modder abbreviation. It's what I usually use when naming things I've made. I'll do it eventually, but it will have to wait until when i'm in a better mood.

Changed your abbrevation to ZX; 16.07.05 QF

As for the test of disorder, the pipes interconnecting the lever blocks represent passages in the maze, and the levers show the direction of the rotating corridors. That isn't very clear right off the bat though. Hmm... maybe if I put a lever in the entrance that operated a single corridor with similar representation, that should be enough of a clue for people to get it, if they think.

The statue lever in the maze opens the wall to the small armory room nearby. It is not accessible if you have solved the maze in the manner I did, however, if set up the passages so that you can fllip the lever, and then solve the puzzle, then you will be able to access the armory room. Unfortunately, I haven't thought of way to provide a hint to its use yet, so suggestions would be welcome.

As for clutter and creatures, don't worry, they'll be there, i just haven't gotten to adding them yet, like I said it is far from done.

[Razorwing]

Zalzidrax: Just do a search in the CS for the abbreviation you started out using, and tick them off one by one. I did it for my first project before I was given an abbreviation, and it didn't take too long. I'm working on an introductory text for modders interested in joining our team, which might answer some of the usual questions. Apart from the modders who joined us this last month I think I'm the last new modder to join the team, and that was 1? years ago, so the need hasn't really been there until now that I've been aware of.

My first hunch was that I had to align all the levers so they pointed the same way, and that would make the orbs swing around when I got close to them. But I had a recollection of you saying that that part of your work wasn't finished yet, so I didn't perservere with the puzzle. I'm more action-oriented, but I don't doubt your puzzle will be a very entertaining challenge for the more intellectual players. You might consider adding a second way in that provides a challenge for mage- and fighter-type characters? For example linking the entrance to a second "Test of ..." cell. So players who can't figure out the puzzle can go in the second way, if they can overcome that challenge. It'd help in letting more players experience your work, I think. Your call, of course.

I'm sure you were going to add clutter and enemies, but I mention every suggestion I think of that I don't know for a fact the modder is going to work on. Would be a shame to let something through I felt needed polishing just because I was too lazy to mention it. :]

[Zalzidrax]

UPDATE

With the exception of getting everything named right, this version is finished to the point where I'm satisfied with it more or less. However, I'm sure that there are bugs I've missed, and even if there aren't, I still need input on what needs improvement and polishing before this gets added to ST.

So here you go, tell me what you think: