Silgrad Tower from the Ashes

Size: 96 cells.

The Steadhelm Region Area Claim #07 (SHRAC07) is a large forest/swamp situated southwest of Steadhelm. It borders to the sea, other Steadhelm region claims and an ungenerated area to the south, so currently there is only blank canvas to the southern border.



I would like to thank Razorwing for creating the claims map and for the excellent Soluthis landscape claims template. I decided to use this landscape claims template as a basis for a more or less standardized landscape claims overview.

[title]The particulars[/title]
The area is lush with tall trees, rich plantlife, and a variety of fungus.
Plants and fungi that grow here include violet coprinus, luminous russula, bungler's bane, hypa facia, slough fern, and occasionally hackle-lo. There are only two farms in the higher Steadhelm areas because the rest of the land is too salty.

Do not add other types of trees/shrub, rocks, use the existing types (the only exception, you may add buckthorn to every cell when not already generated). The same applies to the existing rock types.

Use the existing landscape textures.
If you have another idea please send a PM.

You're welcome to move around or delete the generated content in your area if you wish, as well as changing the land heights. Make sure that your height changes don't affect other areas. Keep the facecount of an exterior cell between 200,000 and 250,000. Don't forget to add vertex shading underneath rocks/trees where needed, because it looks bizarre without it. Please also use vertex shading to break up the monotony of landscape textures, but naturally never as dark as you use underneath rocks. You can often use very light green and very light brown to create subtle shades on the ground that help break up the monotony without the player really realizing it.

If you notice floating rocks/trees/flora in your area, please fix them. Either by realigning them or by deleting and replacing them.

Don't mod outside the bounds of the area; no object you place should protrude beyond your cells, even if the object belongs to a cell within your area.

Please use leveled monster lists, so it's easer to change/adapt these later on. Don't forget to create pathgrids for the creatures to move about on. Do not add more than one M-marker per cell (to keep the FPS performance acceptable).

You could add a new weather profile for your claim, just send a PM and we'll discuss the details.


What to do with the swamp?

• Add more SilgradBlackGumBC trees.
  
• Create many small islands (look at the screenshot from TES3).
  
  
  
  A typical TES3 swampy area, click the image for a larger version
  
  
• Make it interesting for the player, add caves, creatures etc.
  

What to do with the forest/land?

The majority of the generated area is fine except for things mentioned in the following list.

• Add as many StFloraBiCoSloughFern as possible on locations where the player has a high chance to see these plants, for example along a road or a new location.
  
• Add StFloraBiCoBunglersBane/StFloraBiCoHyphaFacia01 to the trunks of trees on locations where the player has a high chance to see these fungi, for example along a road or a new location.
  
• Add one Hackle-lo to every tenth cell.
  
• Add one StFloraBiCoVioletCoprinus01 to every sixth cell.
  
• Create muckpools and add Draggle tail and Ampoule pods (they only grow in muckpools).
  
• If you want to reduce the total number of trees in a cell, please do so, don't forget to remove/change the vertex shading.
  
• Set up entrances (see below) for caves etc.
  

[title]Time for some adventure[/title]

You can find remnants of years gone by here and there - Velothi tombs, you'll definitely not find villages, farms or inns.

You're expected to set up entrances (caves etc.) to locations in your area. You're welcome to mod them too, but you don't have to - you can issue claims for them instead. Please do that in a new thread on the Dungeon claims board. On average there should be one location for at least every seventeen exterior cells. When you pick a cell which will contain an entrance to a location, please name the exterior cell SteadhelmRegionAreaClaim07### where ### is an claim number. (In the cell list window just left-click on your cell slowly two or three times and a cursor will start to blink, letting you choose a name for the cell.) You can pick an arbitrary claim number, like SteadhelmRegionAreaClaim07210, which will then be re-numbered/renamed when your area is slated for merging. The interior cell for that claim will be named SteadhelmRegionAreaClaim07210lvl1 and so on depending on how many cells it encompasses. Sticking to the template makes it very easy to playtest the location.

You have to use the Moldcave tileset to mod the caves.


[title]Technical info[/title]

How to check the existing textures in an exterior cell and how to remove blocky (screenshot) textures?


Make sure you look north (select something and press "C" or "T").
Open the landscape editor (select the render window, press "H") and select a texture (CTRL and rigth-click on the texture). Press "I" and you'll see the textures for that cell.

The cell is devided into 4 quads (screenshot).


The bottom left one (#1) is the bottom left part of the cell.
The top left one (#3) is the top left part of the cell.
The bottom right one (#2) is the bottom right part of the cell.
The top right one (#4) is the top right part of the cell.


Right-click on the texture (in the texture overview) and delete or replace it. If you can't delete it, replace the texture. If you see a black texture, save the esp and reload the esp.

Extra info.


How to raise/lower the water level of a cell?

Select the cell where you want to create the muckpool, go to the cell view window and edit the cell (right-click) in question. Finally change the water level (height) to your liking.

If you want to see the cell grid lines, select the render window and press "B".


Where do I find the SilgradBlackGumBC trees?

You'll find these in the object window WorldObjects>>Tree>>SilgradBlackGum.


Where do I find the Velothi tileset?

You'll find these in the object window WorldObjects>>Static>>ST>>Velothi.
There are two sets: The Small and Sil (Sil == Static>>ST>>Velothi>>tileset) types.
The StExVelEntrance03 is reserved for the Silgrad area.


Where do I find the Moldcave tileset?

You'll find these in the object window WorldObjects>>Static>>ST>>Dungeons>>Moldcave.


[title]In closing[/title]

To claim this area, post a reply saying so. You don't have to wait for anyone to confirm your claim, you can get started right away. But bear in mind you should not have more than two of these area claims active at any one time. If you claim a third one before one of the other two are approved by our reviewer(s) it'll likely get "un-granted" after the fact.
You have to use the Silgrad_Tower.esm v2.95 or a higher version.

Last but not least have fun!

I think I'll take it . In fact, I've already done a little and I have a few questions for people:

* The part I am working on includes a fort placed on a precipice. The problem is that I want to put the door behind the area where there is a sheer drop. Does the Fort tileset allow for this so that the immediate entrance is capable of curving around and down, turning sharply in on itself?

* Does anyone know of a good handrail object that I can use? Preferably fairly long-ish that I can piece together in a spiral? And do we have any tree stump textures?

* I have ideas regarding the general purpose of the Fort and would like to have a large fire burning in the middle. This isn't going to slow things down for the PC too much, is it?

* I'm hoping to have a river running downslope as seen in a recent addition to the Elsweyr mod:
Can anyone tell me how this is this done?

Aaaarrrrggghhhhh! These texture grids are bloody impossible to work with. They don't run by any kind of logic at all.... :bash: . The grids do not correspond with the bottom left/bottom right etc. pattern. In one instance, they altered a quad that was a couple of cells away. And when I'm painting with one texture across cells, it changes both cells but with a different texture for each one. wtf !?!?!?!?

Edit - I'm off out for the weekend but here are some screenies. As has been the case all day, I've been plagued by little irritations. There is another one hassling me here because I just couldn't get rid of the fog so that I could get some clear shots of what's being developed. Anyway, it should give you an idea of the lie of the land.

The main things are the increased amounts of streams, waterfalls and lakes. There is also a large hill fort with steep drops on all sides, together with a half dry-stone-walled and half-roped-off path spiralling around the hill. The fort is intended to be an old Garrison used by the Steadhelm militia which in the past has been vital to military operations. The bridge should to Streadhelm should be able to be seen in the distance and, with luck, the smoke should climb over the parapets as a signal. Perhaps the old fort has been over-run...?

There is also a cave under a waterfall and there will eventually be a ruin stranded in the middle of a lake. Still a lot of floating things around though and lots of work to do.

Quote:Originally posted by Ibsen's Ghost
Edit - I'm off out for the weekend but here are some screenies. As has been the case all day, I've been plagued by little irritations. There is another one hassling me here because I just couldn't get rid of the fog so that I could get some clear shots of what's being developed. Anyway, it should give you an idea of the lie of the land.

After using the coc/cow command, seeing the undesired weather type e.g. foggy, reopen the console and use the arrow to execute the previous command and hit enter. The weather will change, sometimes you have to do this twice or thrice but it's a quick way to change the weather type to the desired one.

There are other possible solutions (e.g. change the region weather temporarily).

I'm off making good progress again and managed to get some decent screenies to show everyone. In the meantime, here's a progress report:

Progress Report

Landscaping & Height Editing - Almost done.
Terrain Texturing - Partly done in particular areas such as around the fort and ruins.
Main features (with map markers) - One Fort, One Cave and One Ruin (all un-named). At least one more cave to come.
Flora - Nothing done as yet, just the generic stuff. Have corrected some flying objects but I preferred to keep the trees above the Fort flying until I decided what to do with the surrounding area.
Enemies & Pathgridding - Nothing done.
Vertex Shading - Nothing done.

These questions I still need help with:

* The part I am working on includes a fort placed on a precipice. The problem is that I want to put the door behind the area where there is a sheer drop. Does the Fort tileset allow for this so that the immediate entrance is capable of curving around and down, turning sharply in on itself?

* Do we have any tree stump textures I can use?

* I would like to use one SI effect of magical clouds hanging over the ruin. Is this do-able?

* I'm hoping to have a river running downslope as seen in a recent addition to the Elsweyr mod: http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/1347/...ncecz3.jpg . Can anyone tell me how this is this done?

Concerning your questions.

You solved the fort problem yourself (thanks for the PM).

I am not aware of tree stump specific textures.

ST is not depending on SI so these magical clouds can't be used.

Please fix the link for the river.


You made good progress.

Quote:Originally posted by sandorPlease fix the link for the river.

......???

FYI, I PM'd Iliana about the river flowing downhill. I was hoping to implement this down the bank near the Fort stemming from the lake and into the sea but I'm still unsure how to do this. I think that, along with the slight adjustments to claim 8, I may add a few (very small) muckpools in that area just to make things a little more consistent with what I'm doing here.

Quote:Originally posted by Ibsen's Ghost

Quote:Originally posted by sandorPlease fix the link for the river.

http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/1347/...ncecz3.jpg

Linkee no workee :eek:

Progress Report

Landscaping & Height Editing - Done except for a possible stream down the hill, (if this proves possible) and the islands in the sea area.
Terrain Texturing - Partly done in particular areas such as around the fort and ruins and mostly complete for the Eastern half of the claim.
Main features (with map markers) - One Fort (as yet unnamed), One Cave (Angel's Tear Cave) and One Ruin (Rammoch Ruins). At least one more cave to come.
Flora & Flying Objects - I've just about covered half of the claim now (the Eastern side). For the Eastern half, all rocks are dealt with and relevant flora included. The Western area is yet to be checked, including the Fort.
Enemies & Pathgridding - Nothing done.
Vertex Shading - Partly done.

One more thing...I just got a PM from Iliana which inspired me to get started on a new waterfall where I was planning to have a stream. He mentioned Arrius Creek which is absolutely gorgeous: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q54Vg90Kl...re=related

Apparently, the makers used 'Texians Water Meshes' which looks like an under-used resource but, on the evidence of Arrius, is under-rated too: http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=8930 . I guess the guys around here will already be familiar with them but I wondered if they were truly worth adding to the BSA at all.

My main interest is in getting hold of a wider water mesh so that I can make bigger expanses of water in amongst all of the muckpools. You'll notice that Arrius also has water surging around corners. Both of these could be useful for any claims I may undertake further inland.