Silgrad Tower from the Ashes

Official 'Black Marsh' Landscape Claim for Naga-Cradle Jungle Region #2: North-East

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Naga-Cradle Jungle: North-East
AVAILABILITY: Completed by Ibsen's Ghost

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NB: All the tan cells in the picture must be modded plus any other cells that have been added in order to create the mountain region that borders with Morrowind. Take note that the x co-ordinates here (the numbers along the top) are all minus values whilst the y co-ordinates (the numbers along the side) are all plus values. Therefore, -06, 16 is the cell in the South-Western tip of the claim and 00, 26 is the cell in the North-Eastern tip.

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Description & Details

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This area of the Black Marsh: Naga-Cradle region is a hotly contested border region where many battles have been fought (and many armies lost) in acts of guerilla warfare and cunning combat techniques. It contains the city of Stormhold, a curious place with a long history, having once been a stronghold for invading Dunmer, a sanctuary for stray and exiled peoples and a centre for missionary activity for those prepared to convert the Hist-worshipping 'heathens' of the area.

Further South lies the settlement of Glok-Chuba, a Paatru dwelling that is rare in the sense of its proximity to other lands (most Paatru dwell in deepest Black Marsh). Mountains frame the North whilst the land gives way to the Vudai Marsh to the South.

The area is populated by many vicious creatures. There may be evidence of Hist-worship and the fabled Sarpa. For the most part, however, this claim is very dense jungle and should contain a lot of trees and flora, including the Rafflesia and Flora Fly. So objects will need to be added whilst most mania trees will need to be replaced so that there is a greater variety on display.

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At-a-glance Details

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Region: Naga-Cradle Jungle
Cell count: 72
Exterior cell coordinates:
SW Corner = -06,16
NW Corner = -06,28
SE Corner = 00,21
NE Corner = 00,26
Claim Size & Difficulty: Medium. Mountain Region to merge but Stormhold is already in place. Leave Glok-Chuba to a Settlement modder unless willing to create it.
Inhabitants: Mainly Argonians in the jungles although some Dunmer, Imperial, Nord and various others will appear in Stormhold so they might be seen around the area surrounding Stormhold.
Settlements in area: Stormhold & Glok-Chuba - please do not affect the cells designed for these settlement without notifiying a core member of your actions.
General Info: Please maintain contact about your modding on this thread but, above all, keep posting updates by adding v1, v2, v3 etc. to the end of your files.Take note that any esps submitted must begin with BM followed by your modder initials. For me, this is BMIG (IG for Ibsen's Ghost). Then submit your final claim to this thread: Latest esm and esp updates .

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Modding Directions

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Download the latest bsa details here: Black Marsh Resources: Latest bsa .

Your first task is to make sure that the flora and trees are not floating above the ground or have any edges of the models showing.

You may alter the height map as you wish but please bear in mind that this may affect other cells and the positioning of flora and trees as you will need to alter these accordingly. You are welcome to delete objects and there are recommendations on what to add below but please bear in mind that doing so means that you will probably have to add or delete vertex shading and make appropriate choices for texturing using the surrounding texture palette.

Your main task, however, is to make this area denser, darker and more realistic. Please bear in mind that the original cells for this region that determined the design of the Jungle are -12 to -16, 17 and -12 to -16, 18 and -12 to -15, 19 and -13 to -15, 20. All of these cells should be already complete.

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Modding Directions: What to add

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Textures - It has been recommended that the underwater textures be replaced with Swamp water textures ((Just go to 'Miscellaneous - Water Type - and select Swamp water). Otherwise, please use the existing NJ textures. When near to the borders with other claims, please make sure that there is a smooth transition. Otherwise, please keep to the sort of patterns that you see in the generated landscape. It's best to use non-grass textures around flora and rock objects to prevent grass peeping through objects!

Clutter and Flora - Much of the flora has already been added through region generation but you may decorate with the following rocks and flora: Stargazer Lily, Elephant Ear, Mania Bush, Great Forest Mossy Rocks (perhaps some lichen too), Saffron Crocus, Green Ti plant, LeafStripe1a Bromeliads and, to a much lesser extent Rafflesia, Dragon Arum, Monstera Plant, Sylvan Mushrooms, Maple Moss logs and Flora Flies.

You will find these under the Flora\blackmarsh folder or the Static\Flora\blackmarsh folder (in the case of the Bromeliads, for example). You will also find the mossy maple logs under Static\landscape.

It is only recommended to add some Rafflesia (one every 3-4 cells), some monstera plants (one every 2-3 cells) and some flora flies near the water. That's all you should need to do other than populate blank cells.

NB: Regarding the Rafflesia, see this post: NJRL0103 "Naga-Cradle Jungle: South" (Claimed) .

Trees - The main part of this claim is to select a greater variety of mania trees and other tree varieties so as to make the jungle dense and interesting. Some areas are already dense. Feel free to delete trees but bear in mind the need to keep the jungle dense.

At present, there are far too many of the maniatree08 trees so feel free to use any of the mania trees. Also add a few more bmjungletree varieties other than #3 (one every 2-3 cells should be enough), Hala trees (again, very sparsely - one every 3-4 cells should be enough), palm trees (especially near water), many more willow trees in the Northern parts of the region and, above all, more BMJungleVineRoot models as these contribute the dense, twisting jungle effect.

You can use Ctrl-D when you find one of these models to duplicate them and then to drag them out and position them where you see fit. Don't forget to vertex shade the bases when you do this though.

You may wish to choose a weather type or use activators such as fog. Please notify a core member if planning to do so.

Otherwise, ask if you'd like to use any other models or textures. I'm sure you'll make sensible choices but it would be best to check that out by posting screenshots or offering a suggestion in this thread.

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Settlements and Dungeons

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The best part of landscape claims that I enjoy the most are modding the dungeons. For this, you may use the mossy ruin exteriors (see blackmarsh-architecture-ruins) or the dead rootworms. However, there is a wide selection of possible dungeons on offer including SI ruins and caves. Please ask regarding anything specific.

About 3 dungeon exteriors is normal for a claim of this size. As this claim is fairly close to Tamriel, they may be the possibility to use vanilla forts or caves as well although these are likely to be very much in a state of disrepair.

All such dungeons can be decorated with appropriate clutter or you can leave this to the dungeon modder themselves. Please note that it should be your responsibility to post up dungeon claims once the landscape claim has been submitted. Please see the core about acquiring a claims template (that which is normally written in these threads) when you wish to do so.

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Important Notice and Technical Information

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If you decide to add a lot of one particular model, please notify on this thread the rough proportions of the extra models that you add so that it is easier for the next person who takes a landscape claim to work with you and maintain a degree of uniformity to the landscape. For example, tell us roughly how many of Koniption's striped bromeliads you are using per cell.

For extra help, please take a look at sandor's excellent claims descriptions on the ST site here: SHRAC05 "Steadhelm Region Area Claim" [Claimed] , particularly in the 'Technical Info' section.

Above all, make if fun for the player and have fun with the claim yourself!

Some more screenshots of the Stormhold area and the mountainous region. Still needs work but lots of potential....

I started work on this claim next. Some of the Southern area has been completed but the big news is that I completed the Stormhold cells which meant that I was able to finally get Stormhold put into its own worldspace. It was long and tedious work but Stormhold should now run a little smoother. :check:

Stormhold can now be put up as a claim and be revamped! =)

Today I completed the transferal of Stormhold into its own WS. It still needed a lot of adjusting besides the deletion of the files from the city area of the original WS. After that, I couldn't resist adding a little more taste of the jungle to the city. It's still far from complete but at least it's now looking like the jungle city than we'd hoped it would be....even if I would have had it in the mountains if I'd been the one to start the city.....

The areas shown are some of the additions, including an especially floral arboretum area full of jungle-related items. I used Helborne's imp statue....we need statues like this. Imperial ones just won't fit.

Btw, outside Stormhold rains almost constantly. Changing to the new WS has altered that. Do you think it should still be raining inside the city itself or just have a slightly more reduced chance of it doing so?

The pics look nice

Well, first of all, it is a jungle region, and jungles get a lot of rain. But you don't want it to rain all the time. I'd say if it's raining outside of Stormhold, and the player just then enters Stormhold, that maybe you should try to find a way to make it so that it's raining inside the city, for that seamless effect. Same for when player goes from the city to the outside world again.

I'd say have a slightly reduced chance of it starting to rain, if the player is in Stormhold and entered the city when it was not raining.

I think part of this would have to be scripted, for the seamless weather effect from exterior world to city, and vice versa, unless the CS has a function to automatically do that. But I'm sure the "Enhanced Weather"mod scripters would know how to do that; maybe they could help. I don't know if InsanitySorrow would be familiar with such scripting, but you could ask him first.

Koniption

Thanks! =)

The effect is fairly seamless. It doesn't just stop dead. Nonetheless, there needs to be a little more chance of having a storm within Stormhold itself....that's kind of why the city is called that, I believe. I think it's a fairly easy thing to sort out. I should be able to ask sandor about it and get it sorted for myself. I'll try to remember to do that once I finish this claim.

I spent almost a whole day on this and managed to get everything except a third done. The reason for it taking so long is that I needed to make sure that there was a 'buffer zone' where, when you play the beta version, you cannot easily see through the gaps to the empty landscape. Therefore, if I haven't got hills in the way then there are normally some strategically placed rocks....but this meant I had to hand-create some cells....nasty! :bash:

You should be able to see things like Koniption's Rafflesia plant, the outside of Stormhold, parts of the borderland with the Arnesian Jungle and finalising work on the mountains....I'm saving an area here for ShadowGame's Hist shrines but I have 25 cells to go and then I'll start adding some more dungeons entrances.

Btw, I've not included the faded path to the Morrowind mountain-access cave here yet but it's in development. Also, many of the other shots were too dense to show anything of significance....so don't be fooled....it's denser than this!

WOW! This looks perfect! I really like the rafflesia(or smth like that). Btw, it would be nice if we add some poisonous creatures, or plants, or something nasty :yes:

Yeah, you just reminded me that I need to put Koniption's exploding seedpods in there. I'll do it after I've done the main work, I think. Something similar to Harrada root could be used as well, I guess.

I will do a reasearch about some dangerous tropical creatures...