Below is the conversation about this claim carried over from the old forums:
Braggi:
OK, I am in to have a look at the claim you reserved for me. A warning - I will be quite sporadic in my visits for the next month or two due to offline concerns. With that said, let me start to weaving the pieces together towards developing something useful for you.
Some additions to the description for clarity and completeness, as taken from Deeza's previous PM to me:
1. Raven Spring is classified as a town in the mod. (Need to keep that note for any dialogue to be written.)
2. 8-10 houses.
3. Church of Stendarr.
4. Tileset: Nordic.
Now, a few questions to get me up to speed, since I am unfamiliar with the mod's current setup.
1. First off, do you have a visual geographic overview for reference here on the site? What I am thinking of is along the lines of the provincial map with a rough plotting of where the towns and roads are, to be used for tracking. This will help me understand the layout of the terrain on your land mass, which in turn will shape the basic design. For example, I need information along these lines for laying out the gates and roads/paths leading up and into the town.
2. Since a Nordic tileset is to be used, it would be very helpful to know how hilly/mountainous the terrain is on this portion of your land mass. E.G.: Do you collectively picture this place being similar to Bruma in layout with stone walls and terraces or are we dealing with flatter land and perhaps a wooden stockaded construction instead?
3. Regarding the spring the town was named after: does it leave town to join a river, lake or pond nearby or is it simply a capped wellhead in town?
4. What resources, aside from the spring in town, are nearby? I.E. forests for logs, farmlands, mines, etc. Since this is a town, as opposed to something smaller like a hamlet, are the residents miners, farmers, trappers, loggers, foresters or something else? Knowing these will also help decide what the major building materials for the town are, namely wood or stone.
5. Trade: I note the description I was sent did not mention any businesses or shops, so I assume there are none. However, if the town is isolated enough they would have some kind of trading post, most likely, as frontier-type towns tend to do. If not, then what is the trade center close enough by that would fill the breach?
6. A couple of questions for concepts that jumped out at me regarding the war after the Imperial Simulacrum. I will need approval before including these, to make certain I am on the right track and that my concept fits the vision for this portion of the province.
- Deeza, I assume your books on the war of Bend'r-mahk are part of the lore for the mod. If so, then may I use them as reference for the history of the town as I develop the town layout? I still have my copies of them kicking around. (If you have updated them since you first wrote them, please let me know where to locate and read the updated texts.)
- If the above is true, then the Nords took the place over and then relinquished it again after the Imperial edict restoring this portion of province to the Bretons came about. Based on that idea, I was thinking of including a ruined house somewhere, from the Vanilla OB buildings from Kvatch. (If you have alternatives, I am happy to work with them instead.) My reasoning here is that this was a rich Breton's home done in the southern provincial style that was a casualty of the war. My thinking is that the Nords torched it since it stuck out like a sore thumb, reminding them of the southwestern portions of High Rock too much for their liking.
That should be enough for the moment to get me started. Looking forward to your replies.
Deeza:
Welcome to the forums, Braggi! Sorry I took a while to respond to you, I've been busy! I'll try to answer your questions in order:
1. I don't yet, because TOYB is still wrestling with the heightmap. It's 99% done, but it's that little 1% that's still causing trouble. I'll post an overhead shot asap.
2. Also awaiting the final heightmap. You'd be free to modify the immediate area of the town to fit it in, though, as long as it doesn't look out of place. Personally, I like the idea of the palisade walls.
3. Given the position, it's likely a stream that feeds into the Bjoulsae.
4. There's plenty of forests and very likely mines too (not finalised yet though).
5. I should probably amend the description. When I say "houses" I really meant "house-sized buildings". In a town at least one should be a shop. A general store sounds like a good idea for such a remote town. It's so close to both Skyrim and Hammerfell there's likely to be a fair bit of trade.
6. Yes they are still part of the lore, subject to a few revisions (modified versions are in progress, will be posted soon). However this DOESN'T affect you, because they deal only with the northern end of the war. What exactly happened down south is still open to interpretation.
7. I really like the idea of a torched house. Perhaps it could even be an opportunity for a buyable home, with the player getting to rebuild it and choose from several styles?
Hope all that helps,
Regards,
Deeza
Braggi:
Thank you. That helps me a quite a bit.
Regarding the height map, I understand completely - it is a big job readying one for mod use and yes, the height map editor in the CS can be pretty tough to work with sometimes.
I'm going to take a deeper look around the site today, to try and get an idea of what resources you have for your mod, specifically houses and wall construction materials. If I don't see something that I know is useful, is it all right if I suggest a resource? (Anything that I suggest will be fan made and freely available.)
With that, I'll get into gear and poke around a bit.
**Update**
Okay, I do have a suggestion to start things off with.
Are you using Meo's Settlement Resource? It has stockade walls that could work fairly well for the town concept here. If not:
1. Link to the resource:
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=20641
2. Requirements: Keep the directory structure intact. (Other requirements have to do with hosting the mod.)
3. Permissions required: Readme credit to Meo and to Mikal33 for his "Improved Trees and Flora" textures
And if you are using another stockade resource, please let me know.
Deeza:
Certainly, we're always looking for new suggestions. We already found MEO's resource, but thanks all the same. Let us know if there's anything else. The resource archive should be up soon so you'll be able to check through yourself.
