My Riften House Mod Options

[mALX]

Made a few changes to my Riften Player house:



http://imgur.com/a/PYx2u

[mirocu]

That looks awesome! You really got some skills there, mALX!

[Acadian]

mALX, I love the changes you made to Honeyside! It is already a great house, as it is cozy, waterfront, convenient and best of all right next to the stable. How perfect to add the little touches you did. I especially like the little stable annex for the player's horse right under the porch. I love how you're channeling your creative talents into modding now. And mirocu sure is right about your talent. I think you've applied a large ration of hard work and determination as well.

[Destri Melarg]

If my Honeyside looked like this I would probably use it as my main house. As it is I always have to ship Iona off to Delphine because we keep bumping into each other. Like Acadian I love the stable annex. I also like the extra weapon storage in the basement and bedroom. Your Honeyside is beautiful, mALX, and it gives me yet another reason to be jealous of you PC players.

I want one!

[Grits]

That looks great, mALX! The downstairs is so nice and clean. I especially love the horse sheltered under the porch, the window boxes, and the plants along the walkway. Very nice!

[mALX]

Thank you all so much! The Player can fast travel directly to the house if they choose, and their horse will land directly in that stall instead of the Riften Stable yard.

I prettied up the house, then noticed it stood out like a sore thumb compared to the gray town around it - so had to pretty up Riften a bit to match it.

Those textures all came from the "Sexy Riften" mod; I deconstructed it and selectively customized the house and town to suit my own tastes. (That guys mods are AWESOME, but there are always just a few tweaks I like to make so mine is unique to itself).

The exterior is a sandboxer's delight - there is plenty for the NPC's to do there; and the player can sit up on that deck and watch them work their heads off if they want, or work on their weapons in the full exterior smithy I added.

I am adding some more sandboxing to the interior so Iona has plenty to do as well, and just downloaded some browner leather for the tanning rack so it should look better the next time you see it.

Also added a bridge across to that little island (it is within the same cell) so the Player and NPC's don't have to swim there (because most NPC's wont) and there is some cross-legged and sitting sandboxing set up on the island as well as some butterflies.

The butterflies are always for Buffy to enjoy, lol.

Not shown in the screens is a picnic table down that path (but still in the same cell) - for the player, their followers, or any NPC's traveling to town and hungry; they can stop in and eat, the food respawns - that was for me. I always like to see NPC's turning in to use and enjoy the facilities, to me it adds a touch of realism.

Thank you all again, I so appreciate the kind words!




This post has been edited by mALX: Jan 29 2015, 08:14 PM

[SubRosa]

That looks so much better than the vanilla Honeyside! One of my characters bought it once, just so I could see what it was like, and I was very disappointed. But your Honeyside is completely different. It has a warm, lively feel to it, that makes it seem like home.

[ghastley]

That looks great, mALX! The downstairs is so nice and clean. I especially love the horse sheltered under the porch, the window boxes, and the plants along the walkway. Very nice!

Actually, that's my only criticism. It may be too clean. OK if you're a house-proud woman, but I can't see Jerric living there.

[Renee]

Heck yes!! This looks really good. I'm still getting stuff sorted out in my Skyrim game, but when I feel it's stable I'll definitely see about adding this one

[Grits]

Actually, that's my only criticism. It may be too clean. OK if you're a house-proud woman, but I can't see Jerric living there.

True. Jerric’s signature is a kettle overflowing with mead bottles and several on the floor where he’s missed. I doubt that will be a popular feature in a house mod!

[mALX]

@ SubRosa - Thank you so much, SubRosa! I loved that deck out back, and Iona; she is like a dour Scot - I grew up with a family of dour Scots, lol. I guessed she was Skaal, for her personality.

But the gray coloring of the place was a huge turn-off (to me); the brown just looks warmer and more inviting imho.

Actually, that's my only criticism. It may be too clean. OK if you're a house-proud woman, but I can't see Jerric living there.

Yeah, just a little too new (my son agrees with you). I might need to keep digging for wood log textures that are just a tad more aged than those; a little less bright. I had the right color wood to do it, but it was in board form and removed the full log look that I loved, so I went with the brighter red instead.

That said, one of my major complaints about Bethesda games is the total lack of any clean or well preserved buildings in any of their games; even the palaces are grimy and decrepit; the Noble families all live in equal filth as the poorest in the game (actually, the Skingrad Player house was much cleaner and better preserved than the Castle - Hassildor needed to fire his staff and hire Eyja )

I was also stunned to see the Jarls' faces were as dirty as the beggars - to me that loses the immersion it was meant to create. In Fallout, people could not bathe because the water was irradiated, but Skyrim? The cold would not stop people from bathing or washing their faces, surely.

I Googled Siberia, these people look pretty clean to me:



NPC's had clean faces:


https://smallestlaunch.files.wordpress.com/...cclife_snow.jpg



And clean bodies:


http://siberiantimes.com/PICTURES/HEALTH-A...te%20trunks.jpg



And here is a poor area housing similar to Riften, which is kind of what I used as a guideline for my retexture:



http://www.goingrussia.com/wp-content/uplo...ck_92368345.jpg



House interior is neat and clean, just a bit cluttered:



http://rusmania.com/perch/resources/20140426-dscf3440.jpg



And the workshed is immaculate:


https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8264/86206236...6255510a9_z.jpg



Even the really poor houses are clean and well preserved:


https://greenswancreations.files.wordpress....11/russian2.jpg


http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/interior-ru...ba-22858267.jpg



So I can't buy into Bethesda's viewpoint that these people of this environment would be this filthy in their bodies or living conditions.

I lived in central Germany for two years in an average neighborhood, the houses were hundreds of years old, but no matter rich or poor these houses were immaculate inside and out, even the stoops were scrubbed down every Saturday morning so they would be inviting to enter. The stone and wood may have been slightly weathered, but still held its beauty, color, and was clean.

(example of a house in that area):


https://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/...um/15237599.jpg


So yes, I agree with you that I most def need to tone the color a bit and weather it a bit, maybe a happy medium between what Bethesda represents and what I have here would be better,






@ Renee - Thanks! I have been going back and forth on whether I should upload it or not, lol.




This post has been edited by mALX: Jan 30 2015, 01:01 AM

[mirocu]

Of course you should upload it, mALX! As soon as you feel ready, that is. Don´t do what many game companies do; release too early and have the 'customers' download patches and extra content that should have been there from the start...

[ghastley]

It wasn't the new, or bright textures I meant, but the lack of scattered clutter - the things someone just put down, because they haven't yet found the right place for them (and probably never will). Perhaps I should have said it was too tidy, rather than too clean.

That's always my problem when I'm making homes for the games. I have to consciously go and add more irrelevant stuff to make the places look like someone lives there. A few loose coins on a table near the front door, where someone emptied their pockets of small change. A book on the bedside table. Something that got knocked off a shelf (Oblivion's havok settings would often do that one for you). A kid's room looks uninhabited if it's tidy!

I seem to remember a TES alliance cluttering service back when we were all making Oblivion mods. "Experts" would add more junk to your houses to make them look more lived-in.

This post has been edited by ghastley: Jan 30 2015, 03:06 PM

[Grits]

I think you should use whatever bright and pretty textures you like best! If people want cold and uninviting they can just use the vanilla game, lol.

[SubRosa]

I love those Siberian pictures. It's the Polar Bear Club! Now I can see where you got your inspiration from. I am going to save some of those for future reference.

I really like the reddish-brown color of the logs you used. That is what gives the home so much warmth. I also noted how you transition from logs on the ground floor, to daub and wattle in the basement, which I thought was very clever. The floor is new too isn't it? I cannot remember for certain, but I thought the basement floor of vanilla Honeyside was dirt. At least it seemed dank and damp. I really like your tile basement floor better though.

Be honest though, that house from Germany is made of chocolate isn't it?

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Jan 30 2015, 03:55 PM

[Grits]

The original lower level has uneven (meaning different sized) mossy stone floors and dark, basement-looking stone walls. Knowing that the lake is just outside always puts a chill on my neck when my characters are down there. Plus it’s kind of misty inside. I also seem to remember the rugs looked really stained and ragged. Not pretty at all. Just the place for Iona to sleep. But the Hearthfire kids’ room also goes down there! Yuck. I think the plaster and tile looks so much better.

My only character who lives in Riften (Marius) lives in a mod house because he thought Honeyside was not much improvement over the Ratway. mALX’s Honeyside would definitely tempt him to move!

[mirocu]

That's always my problem when I'm making homes for the games. I have to consciously go and add more irrelevant stuff to make the places look like someone lives there.

Which in turn makes that irrelevant stuff quite relevant, wouldn´t you say?




Yeah. I´m deep

[mALX]

@ Mirocu - Oh, this mod was just a diversion. It was/is excruciatingly grueling scanning and re-installing all my files back onto the laptop. I got bored and decided to do something else for a little while.

I spent a little bit of time on Nexus looking at mods, then stuck in the game for a few minutes to play a bit. I was in Riften, and feeling a bit irked by all the gray around me when the sky was blue above; and (like Grits pointed out) was very disgusted by that basement. My old house had a basement that used to give me the creeps, and it was cleaner than that Riften basement.

I started off just to clean up the basement, but then wanted to make that deck overlooking the lake a bit nicer. It just went from there; but to be honest all that was done in a few hours. The two things that took the longest was choosing which colors to use where (had to re-do everything several times till I was happy with it) - and placing sandboxing all over the exterior so the player could sit up on that deck and watch the NPC's busy below, lol.

Thanks Mirocu!

It wasn't the new, or bright textures I meant, but the lack of scattered clutter - the things someone just put down, because they haven't yet found the right place for them (and probably never will). Perhaps I should have said it was too tidy, rather than too clean.

That's always my problem when I'm making homes for the games. I have to consciously go and add more irrelevant stuff to make the places look like someone lives there. A few loose coins on a table near the front door, where someone emptied their pockets of small change. A book on the bedside table. Something that got knocked off a shelf (Oblivion's havok settings would often do that one for you). A kid's room looks uninhabited if it's tidy!

I seem to remember a TES alliance cluttering service back when we were all making Oblivion mods. "Experts" would add more junk to your houses to make them look more lived-in.

Oh, okay! But actually, I really would like to age that overly red wood just a tad, weather it just a bit. Just enough so it doesn't look so brand new.

On the clutter - I actually have the Oblivion TESA Clutter pack still! - But I don't have any of my mesh and texture files re-installed yet since the crash of my laptop; so haven't even begun cluttering in there yet; but I've already thought of a few things I will want to do - not too many, just because the place is so small and it will be a fine line between pleasing and too much in such cramped quarters.

There are a few retextures I'll do with the clutter when I get my own texture files re-installed - example the baskets. - My favorite two basket textures (if you can see them in there) or on the left and right; the center basket (on the left of the table) is the vanilla basket color, and I don't like it at all:


http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq67/Ma...zpsc9547d00.jpg


But yeah, I most def planned to add some clutter; in fact I was already considering a few changes in that basement especially.

What is so odd - In that basement I didn't take anything out or add anything except a couple weapon mounts on the wall; but that basement looked full with the dirty textures. With the clean textures it looks empty! Nothing is changed but the lighter colored walls and floor!

TESA still has one expert clutterer, but she is doing it in her own mods = Elianora! She is AWESOME! I could just pore over her rooms for hours!

I'll never be that good, but this house will def have more clutter when I'm done with it (and get my files back in on the laptop).

Thank you very much Ghastley!


@ SubRosa - On those Siberian pictures - did you notice that there were no hard nipples? Man, those Siberian people must be tough as nails!!!!! It most def gave me a new insight into how skimpy an armor my character would be capable of pulling off and still be believable!

You are very right on that basement, it was the biggest feeling of offense I had of all Riften and Honeyside; that filthy basement; I could readily feel the mildew creeping directly up to the Player bedroom - it had to go. That basement is what really spurred this mod.

I dug up some original screens of Riften to highlight the differences/changes the mod makes a little better (you may recognize the last screenshot, hope you don't mind me posting that, it is from your thread:


Riften Player House:


http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb2012110...eyside_view.png


http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb2012110...ide_kitchen.png


https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-KaViYFXb...reenShot268.jpg


http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb2012013...es/9/99/MAN.jpg




Riften Township:


http://www.giannipc.com/josh/guide/sr_atlas_9a-005.jpg


http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb2012110..._Bunkhouse2.png


http://smg.photobucket.com/user/subrosa_fl...rim337.jpg.html


Thank you so much SubRosa!



@ Grits - Oh yeah, that basement gave me the willies too. I am not a basement type person, don't like dark or damp or dank places at all - that basement looked like it was all three. I loved that back deck (and proximity to the stables = not having to enter town to go home) so much that I wanted Misa to live there, but would not move in with that basement as it was.

It was the first change I made in the inside of the house. I've been down there numerous times since and never felt creeped out in the slightest - I actually do love the basement now!

Now, I have been wondering if I should set up an area for children in that basement, does Hearthfire change the basement structure or just redecorate it? Does anyone know? I wonder if it will undo my nice walls and floors down there? I might have to test that out.

On Iona - I do like Iona; I kind of get a kick out of how she moans and sighs like she is worn out by working so hard to keep the Dovahkiin fed and comfortable - kind of like she has the rheumatism, but keeps working anyway - but wants to make sure you know the sacrifice she is making to do it,

So far she has never once had a bad reaction when Misa has entered; which really used to bug me about the girl in Solitude (who used to say something like "What are you doing here!" - Like Misa didn't own the house, she did). I came close a few times to telling her to follow her Thane into some Draugr dungeons,


Thanks, Grits!


If I ever get my files unloaded from the external hard drive, I'll post some screens of my Megaton house make-over, lol.

[Grits]

I agree Iona is very impressive, especially if you are a wimpy thief getting his butt kicked throughout the Thieves Guild questline (Allek and much later Marius). Even Allek who eventually hauled her off to the pillar at Boethiah’s shrine (because he couldn’t stand the sound of her constantly chewing) realized he’d been a fool to leave her at home guarding his apple and mildew collection while he was off adventuring.

I’ll grab some shots of the vanilla basement with the kids’ room as soon as I get a chance. I’m pretty sure Jensa has it from her campaign to win hearts and minds for High King Ulfric after the war, and she would have installed kid rooms in all of her houses. I think the furnishings are just changed in the enchanting room, but I can’t remember.

[mALX]

I agree Iona is very impressive, especially if you are a wimpy thief getting his butt kicked throughout the Thieves Guild questline (Allek and much later Marius). Even Allek who eventually hauled her off to the pillar at Boethiah’s shrine (because he couldn’t stand the sound of her constantly chewing) realized he’d been a fool to leave her at home guarding his apple and mildew collection while he was off adventuring.

I’ll grab some shots of the vanilla basement with the kids’ room as soon as I get a chance. I’m pretty sure Jensa has it from her campaign to win hearts and minds for High King Ulfric after the war, and she would have installed kid rooms in all of her houses. I think the furnishings are just changed in the enchanting room, but I can’t remember.

As long as Hearthfire doesn't change the structure of the basement, it shouldn't interfere with my retextures; that is good.

Oh, I meant to say something about that basement mist before and forgot - there were three separate mists in that basement, one was HUGE! I don't even begin to understand Bethesda doing that, it is not supposed to be a dungeon! (Even if it looked like one before the makeover, lol).

Anyway, I removed them via moving them below the house quite a ways down so they won't be able to fog up that basement anymore (but Skyrim is so touchy about anything vanilla being deleted, so I didn't want to just completely remove them permanently).

Jensa as a mother, oh how awesome! Well, I will def be testing it out, since a lot of what I am redecorating could possibly be an issue if they used that room differently in Hearthfire.

If I ever upload it, I'll def have to make two separate ESP's; one for Hearthfire so a bunch of stuff isn't conflicting. Thank you for giving me the heads-up on that, I never realized Hearthfire would change the Riften house!