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

[Lena Wolf]

Thanks, Macole! I'm not worried about the comments. There's only one answer to those people: if you don't like it, don't download.

This reminds me: someone complained that the way Solitude looks in TWMP Skyrim Improved is all wrong. And by that they meant it's nothing like in TES5. Well... TWMP Skyrim Improved was made before TES5 based on the lore known to date. I'd say it's Bethesda who got their Solitude all wrong!

Skyrim will be getting Whiterun, Morthal and Castle Volkihar in the next release. Also, the moors, Windstad Manor and some crypts - possibly Ustengrav. I figured that's an old crypt and would have existed in the end of the 3rd era. But none of it will look like in TES5, because hey, it's 200 years prior! And because if you want it to look like TES5, go play TES5.

I also have an idea what happened in Southpoint in Valenwood - why it is so empty. Not sufficiently fleshed out yet, but it's a start. Hint: it's a port, so it's something to do with ships... possibly ghost ships... ooooh... Once I figure out the story, I'll want to make it, no doubt.

I spent the Easter weekend mostly cleaning up existing mods, mine and downloaded, fixing errors and making merges. Made a "Dungeons" merge that mostly contains new dungeons on the outskirts of Cyrodiil or just over the border. They are of increased difficulty (compared to vanilla), both in enemies and in dungeon layout, indeed some of them are tough mazes. The merge combines 18 mods of which several contain a dozen dungeons each... Of course by now I completely forgot where they all are and which is which, so it will be fun exploring them all. After all, the new companions that I just finished, need thorough testing - all that sorcery, blood magic and witcher's skills need to be put to a good use. That's after Lena and Lucien liberate the Cybiades - Lucien is next in line to get his head messed with as I continue testing the Companions system. He's a very different character from Hauk and will allow me to test different aspects of the system. Plus, not having a tank battlemage along will call for different fighting techniques... yep, I'm actually going to play now!

[macole]

This reminds me: someone complained that the way Solitude looks in TWMP Skyrim Improved is all wrong. And by that they meant it's nothing like in TES5. Well... TWMP Skyrim Improved was made before TES5 based on the lore known to date. I'd say it's Bethesda who got their Solitude all wrong!

Bethesda has gotten their stuff wrong ever since Daggerfall. IMO.

I also have an idea what happened in Southpoint in Valenwood - why it is so empty. Not sufficiently fleshed out yet, but it's a start. Hint: it's a port, so it's something to do with ships... possibly ghost ships... ooooh... Once I figure out the story, I'll want to make it, no doubt.

I sense Sload or more likely Maomer pirates looming on horizon. A Dreugh invasion, dragging off captives to the depths, would be a novel idea.

... yep, I'm actually going to play now!

Party Time!

This post has been edited by macole: Apr 19 2022, 04:10 PM

[Lena Wolf]

I also have an idea what happened in Southpoint in Valenwood - why it is so empty. Not sufficiently fleshed out yet, but it's a start. Hint: it's a port, so it's something to do with ships... possibly ghost ships... ooooh... Once I figure out the story, I'll want to make it, no doubt.

I sense Sload or more likely Maomer pirates looming on horizon. A Dreugh invasion, dragging off captives to the depths, would be a novel idea.

I was actually thinking Captain Jones with his ghost ship... The Flying Dutchman... will need to be renamed, obviously, may be the Flying Altmer? Doesn't quite have the same ring to it though... Hmmm...

Looking at Davy Jones, a Dreugh invasion isn't far off, actually.

This post has been edited by Lena Wolf: Apr 19 2022, 05:18 PM

[Lena Wolf]

I also have an idea what happened in Southpoint in Valenwood - why it is so empty. Not sufficiently fleshed out yet, but it's a start. Hint: it's a port, so it's something to do with ships... possibly ghost ships... ooooh... Once I figure out the story, I'll want to make it, no doubt.

I sense Sload or more likely Maomer pirates looming on horizon. A Dreugh invasion, dragging off captives to the depths, would be a novel idea.

Whoa! Maormer pirates... Just looked them up.

Among the Maormer, the leviathans are the most feared. They have been described by one scholar as "the spawn of some unholy and sorcerous coupling of Sea Elf and Sea Serpent". They are scaly and massive, standing a head and a half over the tallest Nords when they draw themselves to their full height, which they don't often do because they carry themselves in a beastly posture. Maormer leviathans are usually hunched over, their backs bent and arced like a snake ready to strike. When they walk, their movements are akin to slithering in an uneven predatory lope. The Leviathans appear unused to using their legs on land. They move deftly in the water, and can climb effortlessly up the slippery sides of ships. They are capable of stretching their jaws out of place to swallow their prey.

And in another UESP article they say that Maormer pirates frequent the waters of Southern Elsweyr... That's just next door! I think they might have taken a detour to Southern Valenwood as well... Poor Southpoint...

OK! We have the core of the story. I have ideas for graphics as well, using existing models and effects (although not all vanilla, there are many monsters to be had on Nexus). Now there's just this tiny detail: if the citizens of Southpoint got kidnapped, what was the point, where they were taken to and how to get them back? See, we're almost there...

[macole]

Now there's just this tiny detail: if the citizens of Southpoint got kidnapped, what was the point, where they were taken to and how to get them back? See, we're almost there...

Did you ever watch the classic TV show The Twilight Zone episode, "To Serve Man"? Got keep those leviathans happy, you know. Just a thought, don't know if it would really work well for your story.

[Lena Wolf]

Did you ever watch the classic TV show The Twilight Zone episode, "To Serve Man"? Got keep those leviathans happy, you know. Just a thought, don't know if it would really work well for your story.

I know the show but I haven't watched much of it, and certainly can't recall that episode. However, I met Leviathans in several other games, and although they had nothing to do with Maormer pirates, they did have the same spirit (and the same frightening appearance, going by the description). I am drawing on Davey Jones and what went on that ship, but it won't be a copy of the Pirates of Caribbean - it is just my inspiration. Let's just say, they are not going to let go of their captives so easily. Certainly not for nothing. You'll have to pay. Sacrifices will be required. All these concepts are not new; I have also figured out what to do if you find yourself too weak and unable to escape - there is a way out, unlike that vanilla quest "Through the Nightmare, Darkly". You can - if you are persistent enough - earn the right to return to your normal life. You can come back when you feel up to it, and restart the quest.

You will have to work for it. And this time, companions can't join you.

[Lena Wolf]

Ideas are brewing... This is going to be one evil story! I had a dream about it... But I can't tell you anything else because it would ruin it. Some details still need ironing out, but those are technical details, so I've come a long way with the concept. Once I've figured it out, I'll be ready to start on it. It'll probably be another month in the making. So... tentative release date - mid-Summer. Keep your diaries open!

I'll most likely do a maintenance release of TWMP Southern Alliance first. It isn't going to be a dependency, but it's in the area, so might as well. I still haven't fully solved the mystery of the LOD wall in the sea by Southpoint... It might collide with the ghost ship...

[Lena Wolf]

It's been relatively quiet on the modding front as I started to play Morroblivion. It is of course a very large mod, so it took a few days to get it downloaded and installed, and then a few more days to get it to work with some of the other mods I've been using in my Oblivion game (I made a fresh game installation for this). It started with a lot of crashes caused by mod conflicts - many combat and AI related mods rely on particular items from Oblivion base game and don't play very well with Morrowind items introduced by Morroblivion. And by this I mean for example potions, weapons, armour, combat styles, creatures.... err... pretty much anything. It took a long time trying to figure out what exactly was conflicting with what, but in the end it was just one mod that I needed to disable, and another mod that I had to update (I missed a recent update, apparently, in which pretty much all scripts got rewritten). The situation got complicated by the fact that all of that was in a merge with some thirty other plugins, a merge that was a merge of merges from a long time ago...

The major lesson here is this: NEVER and I mean NEVER use TES4Gecko for merging. Every merge it made turned out to be messed up. Use "Merge Plugins" utility instead (found under Skyrim mods on Nexus). It is not perfect, and I never managed to make it merge BSAs, but equally it never messed up an ESP merge for me.

While all that testing was going on - and in order to do all that testing - I started exploring Morrowind in the usual way, Seyda Neen to Balmora to Caldera to Gaar Mok, Hla Oad and back to Balmora. I made a few patches for the mods that I liked (mods that extend and enrich those areas), find them on Nexus, some more patches are still to come. I am also working on a Yet Another Map of Morrowind because the existing ones were either imprecise or had no roads on them. My new map is based on the same world map that I made earlier, which itself included a high resolution map of Vvardenfell from Morroblivion. But since I don't use Dynamic Map, that resolution was too high for me, and the map had no roads. I shall eventually release this Morrowind map as well, but it won't be any time soon because the roads need to be thoroughly tested. By that time I might add Tamriel Rebuilt (which had been converted to Morrowind already), and that will require a much bigger map anyway.

I must also add that my old "friend" RSI has reared its head once again, and since computer work is my day job as well, I shall have to turn down my modding efforts and take up something that doesn't require the use of my hands... like... umm... sleeping, may be?

[Lena Wolf]

Balmora has grown! I started with a patch, but then added more houses, more cafes, more trees, more people... Have a look at the pictures inside my Balmora patch mod.

Gnaar Mok had already been extended, but I still found things to patch... Those sideways lamps are really a plague in Morroblivion (glass lanterns floating on their side rather than standing upright). So I started fixing them and got carried away a bit. See pictures inside the Gnaar Mok patch mod.

[Lena Wolf]

I'm still in Morrowind, and so I released a string of patch mods to help reconcile Morroblivion More Detailed Places with the latest release and with Morroblivion Hlaalu Project. Still didn't get much further than Ald'ruhn, but decided it was time to load Tamriel Rebuilt... Haven't explored any of that yet - that's the continental part of Morrowind - but it didn't do anything bad to the game, so I'll get there eventually. It's a conversion of a WIP, so unfinished things and missing meshes/textures are expected there. Quests don't convert well either, but since I generally don't need quests anyway, that's just fine with me. I'll enjoy playing through them when they do appear, but I don't need them to go exploring. Speaking of which... there was no good map! So I had to make one. It's based on several existing maps, overlaid with the actual map generated by TES4LL (which shows the lay of the land, but I cannot for the life of me make it look nice, hence the need for manual artwork acrobatics).

Anyway, the resulting map (released on Nexus) shows the entire Morrowind with roads, whether or not they already exist in Tamriel Rebuilt - it's taken from their concept map. The map can be used also for playing classic Morroblivion, without TR - I find it nice to have Vvardenfell and Solstheim shown together with mainland, they are not floating in a bug blue ocean all by themselves, you know.

[Zelazko]

I think I ***may*** know why using TWMP Tamriel leads to frequent random crashes and it may not be a memory related issue since there are way to tweak purgers and it still crashes. The problem may lie when the Oblivion exe loads temporary references limit. The engine will count temporary references and persistent ones inside the ESP file but if the same ESP is converted into ESM then it doesn't count the temporary references therefore reducing the references cap.
Lena can you please use this xEdit script https://gist.github.com/aers/953a50c61b3028...7e5376e8590abed and see the number of references you get when it finishes the work - both persistent ones and temporary. If TWMP Tamriel set up hits beyond 1 million references then it is likely to cause the CTD when the engine loads those temporary references when you explore. Persistent references are always loaded at the start of the game.



[00:00] Start: Applying script "count_loaded_refs_in_load_order"
Found 0 temporary and 15732 persistent (15732 total) loaded references in [00] Oblivion.esm.
Found 287 temporary and 35 persistent (322 total) loaded references in [01] Tamriel_Missions.esp.
Found 287 temporary and 15767 persistent loaded references, for a grand total of 16054 loaded references.
[01:09] Done: Applying script "count_loaded_refs_in_load_order", Elapsed Time: 01:09

The mods that add new areas (loading doors) and NPC Ai Packages increase the number of the persistent references.

This post has been edited by Zelazko: May 27 2022, 03:50 AM

[Lena Wolf]

Zelazko, I am confused. My mod list is vastly different from yours and I have no CTDs with TWMP. How is it going to help to know how many references are in my game? Should you not do it yourself for your game instead?

Have you considered that your issue might be with OBSE? Many OBSE releases from the past year or so had bugs in them, in particular with processing array variables. I've been having troubles with Morroblivion randomly crashing, and I narrowed it down to that (check the OBSE log). The latest release 22.6.1 is a lot better but still a bit buggy. I myself am considering to downgrade back to 21.8 - the last really stable release.

This post has been edited by Lena Wolf: May 27 2022, 08:56 AM

[Lena Wolf]

Zelazko, I ran that script.

On my TWMP game it returned the following:

Found 3,026,247 temporary and 42,379 persistent loaded references, for a grand total of 3,068,626 loaded references.

This is well over 1 million (3 times over, in fact), and I have no issues with my TWMP game. I think this may not be a problem.

I also ran this script on my Morroblivion game which includes Tamriel Rebuilt but no TWMP or other large mods. I got this:

Found 1,011,974 temporary and 38,366 persistent loaded references, for a grand total of 1,050,340 loaded references.

Just over a million and three times smaller than TWMP, and yet Morroblivion is rather unstable. Here the crashes are caused by OBSE or possibly scripts that use OBSE incorrectly. It did not improve when I downgraded OBSE to 21.8, so I'm just having to live with it.

This post has been edited by Lena Wolf: May 29 2022, 11:33 PM

[Lena Wolf]

I am still playing Morroblivion, and modding it as I go. Hauk has arrived in Gnisis where he intends to join the Legion (umm, he was told to join the Legion since he's with the Legion already ). Upon arrival he found a ghost town with a couple of people walking around, nothing more. Where are all the soldiers? "On maneuvers," he was told. Yeah, maneuvering around Desele's House of Earthly Delights, no doubt. No wonder everyone wants to be stationed in Pelagiad! No wonder also that Gnisis is the only garrison still hiring recruits - it is clearly understaffed. Poor General Talius... err... Darius... is standing still like a statue 24/7. Hauk shook his head and did some magic.

Gnisis Port was born and is now on Nexus. Docks were constructed at the mouth of the river and an Imperial ship The Reliant is now sailing regularly between Gnisis and the Imperial City. They take passengers, if you are willing to sleep in the hold. And pay the fee. A couple of hanging bridges were added to aid crossing the river and to finally connect Gnisis to the road network so that you'd be able to enter the town from the South and not have to go sightseeing around the entire West Gash so as to approach it from the North. It took Hauk all day, and he was riding - it must be taking forever for everyone else. And now lo and behold, the town is filled with Legionnaires and sailors alike, and although there are still no organised parades on that big open space in the middle of town, there are at least enough people walking around to make you realise it's a living town and not an ancient abandoned ruin. Even General Darius finally relaxed - he and the others now eat, sleep and walk around, they are statues no more.

The Reliant in the port of Gnisis. The shore of Morrowind mainland is visible in the distance (from Tamriel Rebuilt).

The Reliant and a local boat

The long bridge over the river

Gnisis seen from the other shore

Gnisis seen from its Southern approach

The Legionnaires are back!

What's going on here?

Ahhh... The Imperial City

[Acadian]

Nice work, Lena!

[Lena Wolf]

Thank you, Acadian! I enjoyed making it.

While Hauk is considering his options in Gnisis, Geralt the Witcher needs to get ready for the Great Hunt - Hircine is becoming more and more insistent. This is going to be a different game with Geralt in the lead, and he is going to do the Bloodmoon DLC on Solstheim. Whose side is he going to be on? Can you guess?

Geralt's story in Tamriel is that he sailed to Skyrim, so that'll be Windhelm or Solutide. Both cities exist in TWMP Skyrim, ready to be explored. But there's no Morthal, and Geralt wants a house on the moors... There are no moors either, come to think of it. That whole corner where Morthal and Dawnstar are supposed to be, is as yet undeveloped. You sense where that is going, don't you?

TWMP Skyrim is shaped differently than TES5 Skyrim, but it is still possible to mark the Hold borders, major roads and cities such that in relation to each other they correspond to TES5 - the roads lead to the same places, cross the same rivers, etc. Here is my concept map. The next release of TWMP Skyrim Alive will have Whiterun, Morthal and most roads. And the moors. But also - and this is very important for Geralt as he's so fond of fighting monsters - Skyrim will have a large injection of dungeons dotted all over the place. I also intend to make sure it is possible to play the whole game in Skyrim, starting with level 1 - so the monster spawn needs to be made well leveled. At the moment you get overwhelmed by werewolves, and they are level 22...

I plan to build some 70 dungeons - forts, caves, mines, the usual. Import some Dwemer ruins as well with nice freeware mods. Build some Nordic crypts from scratch. But I started with the standard dungeons.

Yes, I am reusing vanilla dungeons from Cyrodiil - but I dare you to recall every single detail of every one! Because they are not going to be straight copies. These dungeons will be dynamic, with a fixed first cell opening to dynamically linked levels. I won't give more details here so as not to spoil the fun, but let's just say that these will be no labyrinths and nothing as complex as the Helgen Labyrinth or as endless as the Dune Catacombs. They will be logical dungeons that can never be truly "cleared" because you'll never know which levels get linked to that fixed lobby. I plan to have a few treasure hunt quests going as well, and you'll never know how many dungeons you'll need to clear to collect everything... If there ever was a place to hide the stones of Barenziah, this is it!

If you want a scientific explanation of how this can be possible, let me point you to everyone's favourite Dragon Break. Or felldew. Probably rather felldew - if you think that dungeon got flipped, you simply don't remember it right...

I've got a few days off - it's the Jubilee Weekend in Britain. And I'm spending it building the dungeons of Skyrim.

[Zelazko]

Are there any lore friendly looking outfits for Redguards (Crows & Forebears) from Hammerfell? I'm making embassies mods for TES IV. Getting something resembling Alik'rs outfit for Skyrim would be perfect.

This post has been edited by Zelazko: Jun 7 2022, 02:41 PM

[Lena Wolf]

Are there any lore friendly looking outfits for Redguards (Crows & Forebears) from Hammerfell? I'm making embassies mods for TES IV. Getting something resembling Alik'rs outfit for Skyrim would be perfect.

Redirecting to Oblivion Clothing discussion. There are a number of Hammerfell mods on Nexus, perhaps there's something useful among them?

This post has been edited by Lena Wolf: Jun 7 2022, 04:41 PM

[Lena Wolf]

The Dungeons of Skyrim

by Jorgen Rammstein

Many an adventurer have perished in the dungeons of Skyrim. Wraiths and draugr, Dragon Priests, vampires and zombie hordes await those who venture deep into the ruins of old crypts and abandoned mines. What are they searching for?

The Orcs believe there are treasures in the depths, ancient artefacts worthy of carrying back to Orsinium to please Malacath. The Nords tell stories of the lost Rings of Fortune - rings left behind by the many generations of Nords that came before. It is said that although each ring in itself only carries a mild enchantment, and sometimes even a mild curse, you are richly rewarded once you've collected enough of them. The reward is said to fulfil your most sincere desire... So be careful what you wish for.

In Riften, in the Ratway, people exchange looks and nods when someone brings an unusual stone - and the word in the street directs you there. The Stones of Barenziah... Could it really be true? If ever all collected, they will adorn the Crown of Barenziah that is believed to be more valuable than even the Grey Cowl of Nocturnal to those who value discretion.

The dungeons of Skyrim are dotted all over. Some start out as caves filled with animals or local bandits, some are goblin lairs, there also Nordic crypts, Dwemer ruins, disused Imperial forts, mines, crevasses, sinkholes, smuggler caves, rock fissures, underwater passages and even whole castles abandoned centuries ago... Explore at your own risk. The dungeons often have several levels, going deep into the rock, where a cave can open onto a ruined fort leading to an abandoned mine - you never know what you'll find.

When setting out, be sure to fill your pack with provisions and healing potions - you will soon make room for any treasures. It isn't just the undead that haunt the dungeons. A very large number of caverns and fort ruins was taken over by people with alternative views on Imperial Law - Necromancers, rogue Conjurers, apostate mages, as well as the usual bandits and marauders make many dungeons their home. And they welcome visitors with their weapons drawn.

But even they rarely enter the deepest caverns, for no one wishes to face what dwells there. If you ever fought a lich and found it hard, what would be your chances against an Ancient Lich or an Ancient Wraith? They cannot be harmed with either magic or steel, and only silver can chip away at their substance, of which they have a huge supply.

And if all of that wasn't enough... Know that the musty air of old caves is infused with spores that make you confuse one dungeon with another. If a fort looks familiar, it may be that you've been there before, but more likely that you only think so. If you believe that cave such-and-such opens onto a fort ruin on its lower level, you may find it open onto a mine next time you are there. The further in you go, the more likely it is that you are getting confused.

For this reason generations of explorers have been leaving marks in the dungeons, words scratched into the rock naming each hall. Are all of them named? Who knows. Perhaps you'll find one without a name and scratch it in yourself. What will it be? "The Halls of Despair" or "The Final Judgement"?

You will find gems and gold in those old halls. Pick it up... or don't. Those coins belong to the dead, and some are cursed. It is said that an odd Septim coin can teleport you into the depths of another dungeon, so that when you come out - if you ever come out - you will find yourself far away from where you started, in a different Hold perhaps, in a completely different part of Skyrim...

Welcome to the Land of the Nords.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The dungeons described in this book will appear in the next release of TWMP Skyrim Alive. Around 100 dynamically linked dungeons dotted throughout Skyrim, plus indeed David Brasher's Obsidian dungeons, Nordic crypts and Dwemer ruins, with some adjustments. Treasure hunt quests too. Get your gear ready, you've got work to do!

[Lena Wolf]

Skyrim is in. I have officially started working on the next installment.

This is going to be a big release, so it will take me a few months to make. I want to be able to play a whole game in Skyrim... Arrive by ship to Solitude and go play. And yet, there won't be an epic quest line to once again save the Empire. Skyrim is for explorers. I've got 97 dynamically linked dungeons lined up, with progressively more difficult levels. I put the first one in! And while doing so, also accidentally added an inn to the village of Blackmoor, extended their mine (plus added a small quest), built a high altitude watch tower with a keep accessed through a hidden entrance and currently occupied by draugr and led by a Dragon Priest - all that while building a road from Riverwood to Blackmoor (previously you had to teleport due to impassably high mountains). I am putting notice boards into villages (the first one - Blackmoor) where one can find various local quests (there will be three in Blackmoor to start with). It is an easy system to expand on later, too.

This means of course that any work on Valenwood and Elsweyr will have to wait until the start of winter (urgent bug fixes excepted). In summer I want to be in Skyrim!