09-02-2006, 07:25 AM
![[Image: Area04_Composite.jpg]](http://www.silgrad.com/oblivion/reichparkeep/components/map0808/Area04_Composite.jpg)
[blockquote]Soluthis' harbor area encompasses the west side of the city. The massive tower in the center of the harbor, which is home to the city's census and excise office, is an easily recognizeable feature. To the north you'll find Vaniken R'i's vineyard, while travelling eastward will lead you under the massive bridge into Reich Parkeep.[/blockquote]
Location: MAP #04
House type: Hole
Claim size: Medium
Status: Finishedd by jucklesjenk.
[blockquote]Here, in the Daily Cuttle Office, is where Soluthis' and Reich Parkeep's newspaper of the same name is printed. At the heart of the location is the Printing Press model I ported from our old mod, which you can find in the starter cell. Use as many copies of it in this interior as you like. Another obvious item you'll want to use is the paper bolt (Misc Item > ST > clutter > Dunmer > Paper Bolt).
Three NPCs work in the office, and they all have homes in Soluthis not far from here. One is an Editor and in charge of the office, the other a printer, and the third a journalist. Since all essential claims in this area are completed, it would be a good idea if you gave AI to characters nearby that aren't doing anything in particular, like Tanler in Soluthis0907 for instance. Find 'em and give them the necessary AI to show up for work in the Daily Cuttle Office each day.
Dialogue will be an important part of this claim because the kind of players who are likely to appreciate this location will want to chat as much as they can with the NPCs.
Since it's a special location in the city you should mod one quest that the player can pick up here. It should be an intellectual in style, given both the nature of the location and the kind of players it's likely to attract. By intellectual I mean that it should be a non-violent quest that forces the player to excersize his mind.
For instance you could write three books that each contain a clue, and disperse them around the city. Feel free to place them in pre-existing homes if you like. The Editor could give the player a clue to where the first book is, the bookseller Cyra Catella (ReichParkeep21) could give a clue where the second book is, and the owner of the second book could give a clue to where the final book is. That's not to say the books won't exist before the player get the clue, of course - it's just a nice way of saving the player some time without having to resort to quest markers. After the player has found the first book he can return to the Editor to get information about where Cyra Catella's store is, because in such a large city the player might wander around for hours trying to find the second clue... and that's neither fun nor excersizing one's mind. Once the player has all three books, no more clues - it's up to him to figure it out.
If you'd even entertain the notion of writing three books I have every reason to believe your fantasy life can yield a suitable conclusion to the quest -- but if you're still strapped for imagination then a suggestion would be that the books were written by an adventurer, and in each volume he gives clues to where he buried his treasure. The editor wants a particular artefact from the treasure, while the player is welcome to the rest of the loot. The treasure turns out to be buried underneath a rock in the city. Check out the WorldObjects > Activator > StRwActSignColbox objects; see how I used a collision box on top of an existing model to get it to display a title? You can use the same method but attach a script to the collision box and then place it on any rock you like. The player can choose to keep all the loot by simply not returning to the office afterwards. For fun, write an edition of the Daily Cuttle that smears the player if he fails to return the artefact after X number of days and distribute it around the city by placing it in interiors.
Don't forget to post a wip of your plugin once a week or so, depending on how fast you work, so that it can be checked for technical problems that might prevent it from being merged.[/blockquote]There is a starter cell for this location, so load up Oblivion.esm + Silgrad_Tower.esm and open the cell Soluthis0909, and then you can get started. The owner(s) of this building are Dunmer belonging to Great House Redoran. Please use the name generator to come up with good male/female names. Don't use any Imperial stuff in this location, whether from TES4 or from our mod, apart from clothes and weapons. You can modify the layout if you like, but don't sprawl it too far. This is for suspension of disbelief only, as some players might wonder if he wasn't going under someone else's house. If you need more space just add another vertical story under the existing basement.
Please set up AI behaviour for the NPC(s) in your claim at your discretion, but do make sure they wander around outside for a part of the day so the neighbourhood feels alive. Note that the exterior is situated in SoluthisWorld04, not in SilgradTowerLand. Try to use existing xmarkers when possible to avoid clutter but don't let them limit you if they don't work for your needs.
[title]Information.[/title]
Extended information on modding in general can be found in sandor's excellent thread Technical Info concerning Interiors, and naturally the articles on the CS wiki are always worth reading. But don't forget to run forum searches here as well, because often you'll find the answer here instead of the wiki. If you don't find the answer, feel free to post the question here in your claims thread But beyond that it's worth remembering that trial-and-error is an integral part of modding and it's only natural that you have to playtest your work to see if what you did worked or not.
