Wolf Mods, Skyrim (and more!) for Oblivion Options

[Lena Wolf]

If you value your life, stay away!

You can see it looming high in the mountains just South of Blackmoor - the Blackmoor Watch. It was a Legion bastion once... many centuries ago. There is no way to get to the top of the mountain any more, or is there? Don't you go looking for it! No matter what whispers you hear, secret passages or not! The place is a death trap for sure.

Since Blackmoor village does not have a resident gravedigger, we advise that you stay away from the Blackmoor Watch. It's such a bother getting rid of your corpse otherwise.

The Blackmoor Watch on a clear day

Another view

The Dragon Priest

It's got an interior too... But let's not spoil all the fun. I apologise for the Construction Set screenshots, it will all be tested in game, but I wanted to give you a preview in the meantime.

The Blackmoor Inn with the notice board where the above notice is posted. It also has a few local quests! Such as a minor spider infestation in the local mine.

The Blackmoor Mine problem (it isn't actually quite so bright in there, but I used a flash for you to see what's going on).

The delightful tunnels

I don't think it would be much of a spoiler to say that one of the local quests is to clear the mine so that it could reopen. The spider infestation was already present in the mine, but I added some tunnels and "improved" the situation quite a bit. From the point of view of the spiders, that is.

I shall be adding three more local quests, just building on what's already around Blackmoor, and adding a few things. These are not world-shattering quests, but they are no fetch quests either. Keep checking that notice board - they won't appear all at once. This is a system that can be easily expanded in the future as well.

[Acadian]

Looks like a neat mod for explorers and questers! Are the pink bits complaints from the mod system of something missing or not right?

[Lena Wolf]

Looks like a neat mod for explorers and questers! Are the pink bits complaints from the mod system of something missing or not right?

Thanks! Sorry, I should have explained. The pink bits are enemies. But rather than a fixed kind of enemy, these are randomly chosen by the system from a list. That's how the same location appears somewhat different every time you come there.

So at the Blackmoor Watch, they are draugr, but in the spider lair they are spiders, but of different levels and abilities rather than one and the same.

[Lena Wolf]

Lake Geir is beautiful this time of year. Any time of year. Why not stop for a drink along the way? The Drunken Sailor is always open.

The road connecting Riften and Ivarstead goes along the shore of Lake Geir. If one can speak of a shore of a loch. Mind the slaughterfish now.

[macole]

Since Blackmoor village does not have a resident gravedigger, we advise that you stay away from the Blackmoor Watch. It's such a bother getting rid of your corpse otherwise.[/indent]

Oh, that notice on the bulletin board is great.

[Lena Wolf]

Skyrim is getting on! More road building and small quests have been happening, and I am putting dungeons everywhere - I've got over 100 of them to place! (It was 97 to start with, but I added a few in the meantime.)

Here's the current progress map. Roads in orange are already built - landscaped, put stairs where needed, and all fully path grid. Where roads and stairs already existed, I took them up into the network - nothing is wasted. Roads in black were added in the previous release (so they already exist), and roads in grey are planned. They are approximate and subject to change, but that's where they are going. (Orange road locations are also still approximate, as I need to verify their exact location in-game.)

You see a road going to Snowhawk. It is a grand city here. I am not going to touch it in any way, other than build a road to its gate. Whiterun, on the other hand, does not exist. Yeah, I know! But fear not - I found a nice location for it, and you see the road already in place. Whiterun will emerge next.

This post has been edited by Lena Wolf: Jul 8 2022, 11:06 AM

[Lena Wolf]

I am entrenched in the moors... The moors of Hjaalmarch. Snowhawk sits far to the South, engulfed in River Hjaal, but the moors cover the Northern part of Hjaalmarch, the area between the shore of the Sea of Ghosts and the huge mountain with an entrance to Labirintian. Such is the topology of TWMP Skyrim, so the Jarl of Hjaalmarch may be forgiven for being only vaguely aware of the situation on the moors. After all, he sits in Snowhawk.

Morthal is a small town up on the moors, where too sits the Jarl of Hjaalmarch... Well, this one may not rule over Snowhawk, but he does rule over the moors.

This part of Skyrim will see a large transformation in the upcoming release. Firstly, there are the moors, where none existed previously. Secondly, there's Morthal and Windstad Manor - a house that you might earn for yourself. There's trouble here that is more than a fetch quest. This area fired up my imagination, so you will find two fairly long quests and a number of smaller ones already in this release. However, to tell you more would be a major spoiler, so I won't. Geralt is exploring the moors in my current fiction "I am Lena Wolf" here on Chorrol, so you can read a bit more about it there, but even so, I shall try to avoid too many spoilers.

To the East, the Pale is getting Dwemer ruins. Although we've got nothing like the Black Reach, there are still secrets to uncover in several large ruins. Dawnstar will not appear in this release, that town has a story of its own that is to be told at a later date. There is no Winterhold either - I am keeping these two towns out of the development at this point in order to keep it to a manageable size. At least this way it stands a chance of getting finished!

[Lena Wolf]

Dawnstar will not appear in this release, that town has a story of its own that is to be told at a later date. There is no Winterhold either - I am keeping these two towns out of the development at this point in order to keep it to a manageable size. At least this way it stands a chance of getting finished!

Scratch that, I went and built Dawnstar and Winterhold... It just didn't feel right not to have them. So now the whole Northern part of Skyrim is getting filled in quite nicely - towns, roads, Dwemer ruins. And snow!

Whiterun is still waiting to be built, but I'll get to it too. Each town has its own distinct look and feel with new or retextured house models, so it won't look like Cyrodiil duplicated. Winterhold also gets the College of Magic (in addition to the town of Winterhold). The College here is so much more than just a college though - I've imported the excellent City of Sunev mod (freeware), to be finished up and adapted to be the College of Magic rather than the Order of Dibella (sorry, not both).

In order to keep the development on track and actually get it done by the end of summer, I shall try to refrain from making any big quests for Whiterun, Dawnstar or Winterhold. They will have houses and people, everyone will be going about their business, shops will be trading, so they won't be ghost towns, but their stories will remain untold for now - until a future release.

I'll have some screenshots for you soon, even if just from the Construction Set, by way of a preview. Also the map will be updated, I'll post it all here in a few days.

[Lena Wolf]

Updated progress map is here! You will want to magnify it though - the map is high resolution, try opening it in a new window using your browser's context menu - it should get rid of the frame added by WordPress.

Like before, orange roads are done, and these are the actual roads with correct locations. The Dwemer Canal in Eastmarch is still provisional, and as such it conflicts with the road. I built the road following the landscape, so I'll need to solve that problem there - it should not be crossing the canal. Looks like the canal is going to get a bit bendy.

I am currently busy adapting the City of Sunev to be the College of Magic in Winterhold. That mod is mostly complete when it comes to interiors and city layout, and there are some 75 new NPCs (including guards), but none of them have any AI at all... That's quite a lot of work actually, to give them all something to do. Also some 20 NPCs are still homeless with nowhere to sleep, so more housing is required somehow. And then of course there's the city of Winterhold to do as well.

I was always so disappointed by Winterhold in TES5 Skyrim. Three houses and that's it? Surely, that site is far more important than that! Of course in TES5 they explained it by having had a huge explosion that wiped out everything, but actually you can see that even before the explosion the town was extremely modest. Well, not so in Skyrim for Oblivion! It is of course modest compared to, say, Whiterun or Snowhawk, but it has more than three houses (a dozen, at the moment). And yeah, there's that rivalry and animosity between the "town" and the "mages". Some things never change!

[Lena Wolf]

Picture time! It's all about Winterhold and the College of Magic which is located on the site of an ancient Ayleid city of Sunev.

First impressions - lower town

Winterhold Upper Town

Jarl's Longhouse and other posh buildings

The Guard House

Winterhold Upper and Lower - Divided, Yet Perfect

Ah yes, that other thing - the city of Sunev with mages inside

Sunev street

Another view

Still the same street (haven't got that many!)

The College of Magic (still the same street)

The other street

Sunev main gate

The great equaliser

[macole]

I like this. And there's Magical Armory shop, wow!

[Acadian]

Nice! Love the idea of a little Magetown!

[Lena Wolf]

Thank you both! Yes, Winterhold needed a bit of extra love, I felt, and when I saw that old mod of the city of Sunev - free to a good home - I just thought I found it a home right there in the North of Skyrim. Cold, yes, but mages will easily sort it out. Have you seen all the Southern plants and flowers? The planters are enchanted to keep the soil and the air above it warm, of course.

Magical Armory is at your disposal. They offer weapons and armour of the regular kind (best Nord quality, naturally), plus enchanted armour. Most enchantments are traditional, but the range is far wider than what you find at a regular smithy.

I'll do some interior screenshots soon, some of those interiors had me ooh and aah when I saw them in the CS. The original author had fantastic ideas, and all that done exclusively with standard assets. I substituted a few things of course to convert it from a religious institution into a magical one, but overall it was a very good fit to begin with. Still working through some unfinished bits at the moment, but it's getting along pretty nicely! Even if I say so myself.

[Lena Wolf]

The city of Sunev takes a lot of extra work... Of course I knew what I was getting myself into, but it was too good to pass up. I've done some retexturing, some model tweaking, mostly using resources made by others, but also a few things I made myself. I cannot make new models with Blender or some such, but I can make new models by combining parts of other existing models, and some of the times it even works... Anyway, here come the pictures. I tried to keep the interiors very close to the original, but in some cases things had to be changed to work.

Welkynd mine

Welkynd Masons Guild

Sunev Subterrania - the living area of the city

Mages Houses. There are so many mages in this town that they don't all fit in the Mages Quarters at the College. So other accommodations have sprung up, like these two houses.

Mages Houses from further away

More accommodations in the same area

Turn around

The Howling Twins Bath

The main college halls are also housed in Ayleid halls, which are far from ruins here. That's what you have apprentices for - to scrub the stone. But now that the stone is nice and clean, they don't want it dirtied by things like alchemy. Which is why College Practice Rooms are housed in a different building altogether.

The alchemy room. Some of the ingredients are grown right there too.

Learn to harvest your ingredients - it's just as important as learning to brew potions.

Consult the library

It is quite extensive

What do you mean - how to get to the upper shelves?

You levitate, of course. Could it be that you cannot?

No, I am not introducing levitation spells here - they've been outlawed, remember? But of course if you already knew how to do it...

All the mages now have a place to sleep, a place to eat and some AI to actually do it. As well as teach at the college, naturally. We've got an Arch-Mage who holds regular Council meetings. We've got the Office of Imperial Commerce, there to help the College in mundane tasks such as making money from all the Welkynd mining and trading... But the mages aren't as stupid as that. There's a balance here.

Things that remain to be done in Sunev is to recruit 20 apprentices to fill the halls (someone needs to keep scrubbing that stone), and to take care of the city guard which at this point just stands still wherever you place them. Their barracks need work too, because there're only three beds for some 20 guards... I foresee problems...

I shall also need to add a few non-magical citizens so that there's someone walking around town during the day, besides the guards. I've got a few of those Ayleid apartments free for that purpose. There's also a house for sale in the Subterrania - it's straight off the lobby, there's no need to descend into the baths. Although I wouldn't blame you if you did. You might want to visit the crypt and see if there's anything untoward going on there per chance. Who knows, the dead do become restless sometimes...

Other than that, I've been building more roads as a distraction from all the housing issues in Sunev. Here is the updated progress map.

[Lena Wolf]

The Smouldering Fort

by Jorgen Rammstein

The ancient Ayleid city of Sunev looks onto the Sea of Ghosts from the height of its white stone walls... The city of Sunev, now better known as the seat of the Winterhold College of Magic. And although the Jarl would like to pretend that the Nords don't want all those foreigners on their doorstep, they do rather like the taxes from the Welkynd mine that funds the college.

But politics and adventure don't mix, so let's return to adventure.

The white walls of the city of Sunev are visible from a long distance away, even though at first you take them for a snow-covered mountain. They stand out and blend in, all at the same time.

Walk the walls and look out onto the Sea of Ghosts. Your first ghost stands right before you: the Smouldering Fort.

This ancient fortress is built upon a cliff rising sharply from the sea bed, bizarre and out of place. What force thrust that rock upwards at such a decisive angle? That we shall never know, but the fort was built on top of it to keep watch for approaching ships. Then... well, we don't know what happened exactly. One day the fort burned.

Engulfed in flames, it stood as a giant beacon at see. The flames raged for days, far longer than would be possible even if every scrap of timber had to burn. Eventually the flames died down, but the embers were still glowing, making the night sky red.

Over the centuries the glow reduced and all but went out. Yet as you stand on the white walls of Sunev and the night falls around you, you notice that the fort is still smouldering... The rock around it still glows in the dark, and the wind brings strange noises from the fort - screeching of bone, clinking of metal, howling of lifeless breath.

There is no way up to the fort - you can see smouldering rock blocking the entrance. The pier had long burned down, and no ship or boat can dock there. And yet... Would a fort be built out at sea without an underground passage to it? I should think not. But would that passage not be filled with rock the same way as the entrance gate is? Probably. But can you be sure?

Some say there is no way in, that the undead in the Smouldering Fort are trapped there forever. Others say, where there's a will, there's a way. For all its civilised appearance, the city of Sunev is still an ancient Ayleid city where the passages to the true underground had been sealed. If you've ever been to the Ayleid ruins elsewhere, you know what to expect - those ruins are far from empty. They contain ancient treasures, both material and spiritual, and although mages are generally not interested in trinkets, they are interested in ancient knowledge. Do you really believe that all the passages to the ancient Sunev were sealed? It's your call.

[Acadian]

Looks like you're having a lot of fun with this Ayleid-inspired magical city!

[Lena Wolf]

Looks like you're having a lot of fun with this Ayleid-inspired magical city!

And that's just the half of it! The original mod didn't use any new assets, but I can... and there are so many new items available now that weren't available then! I've gone Ayleid artifact shopping on Nexus and now I have difficulty choosing what to use!!

[Lena Wolf]

Winterhold and the College of Magic at Sunev are finished! Phew! That was a big job. Those two towns together have almost 150 NPCs... That's including guards and apprentices, but still. Each and every one of them had to have a place to sleep and some AI, however basic. No one stands around like a statue any more, they all have stuff to do, places to be. It is a busy town, even though the apprentices are of course supposed to be at their classes, but you know students... Always finding an excuse to loiter around town instead.

I had to build some additional housing to give every citizen a place to sleep. By far most houses are of multiple occupancy - lodges. Posh ones have a concierge, plain ones just have several people living there. Some have their own rooms, whereas some just get a bed in a shared room. Well, people have different income and so different levels of luxury in their housing. Although with the Welkynd mine feeding the town, it is generally a very prosperous place. You should see Sunev guard barracks! All marble and silver. Winterhold guards are jealous, but on the plus side, they don't have two Captains and a Legate to remind them of their duties all day long. As always, everything is relative.

[Lena Wolf]

Whiterun is being built! I've done the city layout, but that's the easy bit. The interiors and the NPCs is what takes the real work...

This is a rather large city close to the White River which has spectacular waterfalls in TWMP Skyrim. Whiterun is located on a main road immediately after a bridge over the White River. The road passes through Whiterun and continues on to Snowhawk. So it is also the city's main street.

Right and left of the road are two hills: Dragonsreach and Jorrvaskr. They are facing each other, and Jorrvaskr is a little jealous because Dragonsreach is on a bigger hill. The town itself is split between the two hills as well: the smaller houses climb up the hill to Dragonsreach and use the rising land to compensate for the lack of height. The larger houses stand proud along the main street, not climbing anywhere and not needing the hill to add to their height. Some of you might recognise the architecture. Have a look at the pictures!

City entrance right after the bridge over the White River

Up the main street

The way to Dragonsreach

A few stairs to climb

And a bridge to cross

The Jarl lives here

Dragonsreach hill

Jorrvaskr

It's all about dragons

Don't forget to eat

Whiterun main street

[Acadian]

What beautiful work! Wow!