Silgrad Tower from the Ashes

Howdy


I know their is still a bit of chatter going on in this Board.

Are we beating a dead horse ?

Has anyone heard from Insanity ?

Are their plans to clean up this board and move ahead ?

Enjoy
Bob

I think Kukulza leaving was more than a setback for Vvardenfell. I hope the team carry on with it though

That's more than likely the reason. I stopped modding for Vv because it doesn't have proper leadership. After KuKulzA left, esp's of unfinished claims were flying around everywhere and there was nobody to merge anything so we could build on a master file. There was also a lot of modders who were claiming things, then never appearing again. sandor made efforts to help create a master file and merge files to it, which was excellent, but sandor quit soon afterwards for an unknown reason (probably because he's too committed to ST, which I can understand). I think things have slowly went downhill now ... KuKulzA was the biggest 'hindrance' as everyone knows, yet even with resources and a master file it's been hard to cope without a good leader or someone to keep control of things.

Perhaps I've stopped modding (if only temporarily) for Vv, but I (as well as a fair few others, I imagine) would really hate to see it go down the drain, especially when we have all of the ideas, concepts, plans and the potential resources to create it.

Whether or not it would happen, I'd definitely be for the idea of ST merging with Vv (even if I am overlooking many technical and non-technical issues). I don't know what the core of ST, or everyone else thinks of that idea though.

I think someone's going to have to take on the job of just organizing the files, if, as you say, there are many unfinished ESPs and such flying around everywhere. Organization is the key to any project's success.

Try to get a dedicated core together- everything else will fall into place if you can get 3-4 guys working as an administrative body. I think the project's greatest weakness was not the KuKulzA left, it was that he was the only one in charge.

Get a person dedicated to file management, and a person dedicated to reviewing and managing claims, and it should be much easier to get things done.

I really hope you guys can pull through this. Vvardenfell's one of the mods i've most looked forwards to.

I also think that you could probably re-organize your forums, to make it easier to see claims and progress. Split the forum up into different boards, just to make it more visually attractive and organized.

Silgrad has a board for claims, a board for discussion, etc. It reduces clutter, and makes it much easier to find everything. If you could get someone to implement a similarly organized system for Vvardenfell, i think you could be more productive.

I hope Vvardenfell keeps going. It seems like such an important part of TES and the project as a whole. I have limited time @ the moment and I am helping Sandor in Silgrad City, but this project will be my next stop as soon as I get more time(when?) or SC gets closer to completion. Please keep this mod going as it would be such a terrible shame to see it vanish.

Agreed seniosh - just hope someone actually does it. I sure hope that will happen.

Yeah lets hope someone steps up to the challenge. I for one would be gutted to see this mod join the rest of the mods that have been archived recently

On a more actions not words note, once someone does take up the reins then I'll gladly help with concepts, literature etc as I'm hopeless at modding

Tell you what Coinneach - get together with dave (he posted a bit re this) and any others you can round up and start an ESF thread! The save Vvardenfell thread.

Pile on whatever you can, show them some of your good stuff here and advertise for new blood!

Having managed the Vv claims for a number of months I realized why this mod was a mess.

1. I was running the claims. Why? Because I tried to take a claim last year, and there was no organized system to do it. So I invented a system, and sort of inherited the job of claim manager. Even though I had never done anything like that before.
2. "Squatters". Those few people who took claims almost never finished them and disappeared. I call them squatters.
3. Lack of experience. A lot of folks came in and "shared their ideas" or talked about quests, but only at best succeeded in extending the to-do list.
4. No leadership. I don't know who InsanitySorrow was, but he shouldn't have led this project. The most correspondence I got from him is when he pm'd me a week after took his position announcing that he had claimed Caldera. For obvious reasons I never got any updates on how that was going. I miss KuKulza. Not to say he was the only problem... Dave and I never intended nor wanted the amount of responsibility that landed in our laps. I didn't know a damned thing about running claims...

For this mod to survive through this spring:

1. The mod needs better leadership. Not another KuKulza, more like four or five of them. Dave has emphasized to me before that the lack of an experienced modeler has been a problem as well, and I agree. With Jago on the scene this won't be a problem for a new team.
2. Organization. Vv's boards are a mess. Claims need to be front and center, easily accessible and better organized. My system from last year was crude at best and needs to be re-evaluated. No one was leading this team for the last few months, so it doesn't matter how much was accomplished either, because nothing was being directed to any one place or person.
3. This has been debated a lot for some reason, and some of it is irrelevant at this point anyhow, but there are two other major morrowind-oblivion crossovers out there that I can think of. Getting on friendly terms with Phitt and the members of the SoVvM team is probably going to be a good idea in the long run. All three mods are trying to strive toward the same or at least similar goals, and it's extremely beneficial to at least pay attention to what others are doing, even if they're doing it a little different. From and artistic standpoint, tunnel-vision is baaad.
4. None of the above actually matters if a new team can't attract serious claims modders. Half a year ago (at least) I posted up dozens of interior claims. About five or six of them have been finished up until now. I think four of them were done by Dave and I. Maybe about fifteen in all have been claimed, probably less. No claims modders on a Silgrad type of project equates to no progress, and that's about all that can be said for Vv's claims since... ever.
5. The Vv project needs lots of love, affection and a community of warm hearts and cute little bunny rabbits. That has to be my only saving grace for leaving the project. :banana:

cire- if you and dave are willing to take next week to plan out the re-organization of the boards, i think it'd help a heck of a lot. Even if you have to halt all other Vvardenfell-related work, and you two just work out a coherent forum-system via PM, i think it'd be extremely beneficial.

It'd be a one-time thing that'd require only as much work as you're willing to put into it, and It would definitely help attract and keep modders. Nothing is as inviting as a well-organized forum with easy to reach claims, discussions, and files.

That is, of course, only if you and Dave are willing to put in the required amount of time needed to do what could potentially be a massive re-organization. Otherwise, best to find someone else to do it. Nothing's as messy as a half-completed re-organization which was abandoned halfway through.

Even if you don't necessarily lead the mod (god knows i couldn't lead a mod), it would help, and it would be something. Then all you have to do is forge yourselves a strong core. I know how much work even a medium-sized project is, but I just completely re-organized the Morag Tong boards, and they're MUCH more presentable now, so if you feel up to it, give it a go.

I even made a nice draft of a forum structure, based off of Silgrad's, but incorperating many of the existing boards. With this structure, there would be no threads on the Main page, as with Silgrad's. Instead, the Misc threads are in the "Tavern" board. Alternatively, you could just have the Misc threads where they are now, but i like the less-cluttered version better.

"Category" indicates a board similar to "Silgrad Tower Discussion" or "Claims and Coordination" it's there for organizational purposes only. "board" should be obvious. I also included descriptions in some places. You don't have to follow this structure, but I thought it'd be nifty to make, and might help someone who wants to organize the Vvardenfell forum into a force to be reckoned with

[Category] Vvardenfell Discussion
[board] Tavern (or equivalent)
Maybe that's just how I'm used to seeing things, but having the misc discussion board at the top makes sense to me. Houses things like Modder IDs, greeting threads, general updates, ect.
[Board] City Discussion
For the planning of the cities of Vvardenfell, what else? Includes HOW you plan to impliment them, questions about them, ect. Perhaps you want to split them up into even more sub-boards? Such as one for Vivec, one for Balmora, one for Ebonheart, one for Sadrith Mora, and a combined board for the other, more minor towns. Again, you guys know Vvardenfell best.
[Board] Main quest
Also obvious - a discussion of the Main Quest

[Category] Vvardenfell Claims
[board] Vivec Claims
[board] Balmora Claims
[board] Suran Claims
[board] Ebonheart Claims
[board] You guys know the cities, and what claims need to be posted
[board] Regions Claims
the region claims would all be posted as separate threads in this board, no need for each region to have a sub-board

[Category] Vvardenfell Development
[board] Factions and Quests
[board] (link to the shared Visual Development boards)
[board] (Link to the shared Literature dev boards)
[board] The Vault - Central file distribution board. Updates to the ESM and assets. How you distribute the files, and to whom, remains completely at your discretion. This could be a hidden board, members only, ect.

And I think that takes care of just about all of the boards and topics I saw in a quick overview of the existing Vvardenfell Forums. Remember, the Archive button can be your friend.