Silgrad Tower from the Ashes

Hi everyone.

I've been quite busy recently so I haven't had much time for modding, but I have been quietly working for Black Marsh in different ways. I've searched across the internet for mod resources we could use, and got in touch with the people who made them. This thread is a work-in-progress compilation of what I've managed to round up for you guys so far.

ALL of these mods were either made by generous-hearted types who made their mods "open", or who when I asked gave me their permission to use them in Black Marsh. Not all of them are complete though, and some will need tweaking and alterations before we can integrate them. Together, however, I think they're going to save us a lot of time.

So to get us started:

Morrowind Style Argonians!
A guy called Jjinx wasn't happy with the changes that were made to the Argonians' appearance between Morrowind and Oblivion, so he made this mod to partially change it back. This gives the Argonians faces more like the ones we remember from Morrowind, but they still have the Vanilla texture. However I emailed him and he gave his permission to further develop his idea in any way we want, so we can add our own textures to complete the effect.
IMPORTANT: This mod acts as a REPLACER for the Vanilla Oblivion Argonians. Someone who knows better than me how TESCS works needs to crack this mod open and save his new face shapes as a separate species.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/images...061281.jpg

BW's Argonian Hair Pack
Ever got worried that with so many NPCs to mod and a limited number of Vanilla character options, Black Marsh will end up populated by Argonian clones? Then worry no more! This huge pack adds dozens of new "hairstyles" (ie. horns, spikes, etc.) for male and female Argonians. Some are shiny and metallic, and not really anything we could use, but others are excellent.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/images...343762.jpg

BW's Argonian Eye Pack
By the same author, this adds a great range of new eyes for Argonians, ranging from the unusual to the feral to the seriously creepy-evil-possessed look. Also very useful for generating the diversity we will need to produce unique and memorable tribes.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/images...342667.jpg

Argonian Hide Armour
This guy made a new suit of armour made from... er... Argonians. Whilst I doubt we could call it that in Black Marsh (unless the Dres are supposed to be PURE evil), this stuff is a dead ringer for light, marsh lizard-skin armour. He already announced it was an open mod, but I've emailed him to ask if he might want to do some more for us.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/images...263948.jpg

The files are for the most part too large to host here (except Morrowind-style Argonians), so I'm sorry I could only give you links directly to the downloads:
Hair and Eye Pack: http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=13050
Hide Armour: http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=6555

More will be coming soon! I hope to enlist the help of modders who can add rideable boats and Kothringi to Black Marsh!

And if anyone has any other open mods they know of, please post the links here so we can have them all in one place.

Rideable boats would be awesome, Since the roads are pretty much terrible in the black marshes and most of the travel is done by boat.

A prototype rideable boat does already exist:
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16105

It doesn't work on my copy of Oblivion but I suspect this is just a version incompatibility. Apparently it works just fine for other people, but its only a beta and still needs a lot of work.

The guy said anyone can use it or modify it, but I've emailed him anyway to see if he would be interested in helping us refine it. Seeing as he's the expert (and it runs on a massive, complicated script) that should be easier than us trying to reverse-engineer the mod to get it to work for us.

Anyway, download it, see if you can get it to work, and tell me what you think!

Wow the rideable boat is amazing,really usefull for Black Marsh. :yes:

He says that he's currently working on modifying the script so that it could be attached to other meshes to make new boats. I suggested that we could model some of our boat designs from Concept Art for him to rig the script up to.

The biggest limitation of the script (and the most important for us to bear in mind when we model) is that the whole boat must be a single, integrated object. This is why, for example, it won't work on a ship, because that's made of multiple parts. If we want to use this on anything we will need to make the models seamless. Is anyone up for it? I would try it myself, but I don't know the first thing about modelling I'm afraid.

One idea which would be easier to do would be to stretch out equally the standard rowing boat mesh and texture, to make a sort of long thin canoe. I don't know how practical this would be, though. Your thoughts?

And so my quest to find open resources continues.... leading me to a MASSIVE ARMOUR AND WEAPONS TREASURE TROVE!

Sorry about the double post. But this is supposed to be a list, after all.

I think I've more or less solved House Dres now, as far as armour is concerned at least. A guy called Ghogiel has re-created Bonemold, Dreugh and even Dwemer armour (for Dres leaders and their bodyguards only). What's more, these are distrbuted as Modder's Resources (ie. they're NOT plugins - just textures and meshes for modders like us to use in our own mods if we give him credit)

I we decide to use these, that means House Dres armour is already done, and we can concentrate on their architecture.

Bonemold: for the classic Morrowind look for guards and enforcers.
Dwemer Armour: rare antique armour that would be used only by the bosses of the Dres and their personal guards. Most would only have bits of it, not a whole set.

As far as I can tell, both are included in a resource pack here:http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=10775

Dreugh Armour: for elite warriors. Could also be used for the Cantimiric Velothi, who are Dark Elves living by the sea who would fish for Dreugh to make the armour.
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=10967

There is also an alternative Bonemold helmet that doesn't look so much like a Redoran one:
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=6997
But the guy wants permission from anyone who wants to use it. I have emailed him but we'll have to wait on that. We'll also need this file, which turns the resource into an in-game object:
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=10794

ALL of these and more can be found in one single pack here:
http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/Vi...il&id=3004
However this contains a lot of different people's work, so the whole permissions aspect will get more complicated.



ALSO, here is a VAST new item pack that's CRAMMED with stuff we could use. Better yet, again it's provided as a modder's resource. This guy doesn't like modding apparently, so that he can devote all his time to texturing. There's no new meshes here, just many, many, MANY retextures of armour. I'm sure that we can find PLENTY we could use. I'm still going to email the guy to ask for permission, even though he didn't say people had to, and modders resources are for... well, modding anyway, but it's always best to check these things early so as to avoid problems later. Trust me, this is AMAZING. It's a modder's smorgasbord of new items!

http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/Vi...il&id=3575

By the same guy, this has some fantastic wooden staffs which would be just perfect for all our Argonian shamans out in the swamp, and some that would make great Lilmothlit or Kothringi artefacts:
http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/Vi...il&id=4395

And this is a huge selection of new armours and weapons by the same guy. Not sure how many are the same as the ones from the first pack:
http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/Vi...il&id=4376


AND FINALLY....

Again by the same guy, how better to stage a massive mid-mainquest slave revolt than with this comprehensive set of FARMER'S TOOLS THAT CAN BE USED AS WEAPONS?
http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/Vi...89&id=2581

Com's Argonian Headsets

"Feel free to reupload it / use content so long as the original,
unedited readme is included and credit is given where it is due."

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=6553


Com's Torch Compendium

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=6472

Loth's Armory of the 1st empire

"You may use any or all of the original content included without permission but I do request that I be given credit for the orinal meshes and textures where used. I would like to be notified of any public release based on this content as a matter of courtesy. Please address any problems, requests, or comments to lothdebonneville@hotmail.com."

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=12999

Here's a nice set of spears, which Tlo says he's checked and are ok for us to use:

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=13689

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=18446

Holy crap this monster/mount kicks ass!!!

Look at it, and I'll try to get the maker to let us use it.

HOLY SH*T!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :pop::pop::pop::pop::pop::pop::pop:

THATS AMAZZZZING!