Modder’s Resources

Thank Dibella for all the excellent modder’s resources that are being made ready for us modders to use in our mods. These things often enrich mods in totally new ways. I used a lot of them in Dibella’s Watch, and I will be using them here as well. Most often, I’m just looking for stuff to enhance the aesthetics of the mod a bit, make it a tad different from vanilla and generally add atmosphere.

I shouldn’t be adding details yet, but this one was too good to resist. I’m talking about Blary’s Open Books Resource. Right now, I’m only using them for eye candy and statics decorating the Protektor’s small study in the castle. These will come in handy later on when I create the Great Library of The University as well. I also need to create a proper map of The Frontier to decorate walls and tables, and I’m set.

Baron Carnar’s Keep

Baron Carnar’s keep ended up looking more like a small mansion than a keep proper, but I think it’s suitable for a poverty stricken Shire like Carnar. There will probably be an annex to this mansion/keep still, because the baron needs a lot of space to house all his soldiers.

Carnarshire lies on the very edge of civilization, and it is the first line of defense against the barbarians in the north. Therefore he fields an unproportionally large garrison and levy. His troops will also be spread out at watch towers and the like around the shire to keep the entire area under control. I will script occasional barbarian attacks and raids on the shire as well, to illustrate the pressing need for the Baron to keep his military strong and ready.

Carnar Keep

Creating Worldspaces

Right.

There’s a lot of interest in creating own worldspaces out there. Here’s a post with links on how I created the Frontier heightmap. This should get you started and it’s pretty easy when you get going. Prepare to be frustrated, because it’s a great undertaking. I made several attempts when creating my worldspace, and only after five or six attempts did I end up with something I thought was satisfying, so it can be quite frustrating, but it’s also rewarding beyond description. This is only the method I used. There are several other methods out there to try as well.

First, you need L3DT. This is software that lets you produce heightmaps. It’s fun to work with and I enjoyed it a lot. There’s a free trial of the full version, which you’ll be wanting to use, and if you like it and use it a lot, I’d suggest you buy it. It’s only when you get to importing the map you’ve made for L3DT into Skyrim where it becomes tricky. You will need the TesAnnwyn application. Maegfaer wrote a lot of posts about it on the forums, though, and his posts are what helped me get the heightmap into the game. Read and follow this one.

If you’ve gotten this far and have your heightmap in the game, congratulations. You’re one of the selected few. You are Dragonborn. But then you’ll want to add distant land to this as well, because all you see at this point is the near vicinity of your character. read the pages on CreationKit.com about how to generate distant land. The descriptions there are pretty good and to the point.

Keep your eyes on the forums and ask questions. People are very helpful over at the official Bethesda forum and there’s a lot of knowledge to be gained from there. Good luck!

The Farmer Family

It seems I’m always doing things that I shouldn’t. I planned to make the keep/fortress at Carnar today, but instead I started creating a farm. I completed this entire farm with exteriors done and the interior fully decorated as well. This will be the home of four NPC’s. the farmer and his wife, their daughter as well as the farmhand. And oh yeah, they should have a dog too.

I have all NPC’s clearly in my head already when I start creating the areas they will inhabit. The farmer is an old-fashioned gentleman who lives by the old ways and honours. He’s an old veteran (possibly of higher rank, like Legate) who fought for the Empire in the Great War, which is also why he hates the Thalmor more than anything in Tamriel. The farmer’s wife is strictly religious beyond what’s healthy. She has staring, dark  eyes and looks evil. The farmhand, this poor sod, sleeps on a bedroll out in the barn. He’s also a hunk, and the farmer’s daughter has a crush on him. She’s lazy and daydreams a lot; she’s quite attractive, but with a terrible nose that somewhat ruins her appearance. These farmers are quite well off, because they supply the entire Carnar area with their agricultural produce.

Wish I could start creating the NPC’s already.

Down by the River

I’m really bad at making rivers, but finally I got a small forest stream near Carnar looking really good. the surroundings aren’t textured yet on the screenshot, but I’ve done that later too, and it’s looking great with lush forest all around.

The Last Outpost

The last outpost before the untamed wilderness of the Frontier is the town of Carnar. This outpost will be your last chance to purchase supplies, do some smithing and rest before entering the northern wilds. Carnarshire is poor; it’s economy is based on logging and farming and most of its income goes straight into the efforts of protecting the colony from the wild barbarians in the north who do constant raids in the area.

The town itself is done. I’ve added interiors too, but they’re not decorated yet. I think I succeeded in making it look like the small frontier outpost it’s supposed to be. It looks kinda quaint. I only need to add a small keep to it still, as there’s going to be a baron overseeing the area and he needs a small fortress to rule from. The Baron of Carnarshire is going to play a role in the main storyline later on as well.

An Interior

I am quite proud of this interior. I finished it some time ago, but haven’t showed it here yet. It’s the inside of one of the taverns in the City of Anvil Nova. This place will be very popular. Mark my words.

"The Dark Corner"

Portable Campsite

Another mod recommendation here. This is Portable Campsite by mcxar. This lets you buy camping gear and set up camp wherever you want. This may not seem really useful, but it’s a lot of fun.

I remember having a mod like this in Oblivion too. Vilja and me set up camps all over the place when out scouting for good locations to place towns and villages. Aaah, those were the days. I hope this Portable Campsite mod will become just as memorable.

This mod has many more different types of gear than the one I had for Oblivion. Large and small tents, chairs, campfires and numerous other thigs to play around with. It also has several translated versions.

Out camping.

Some of the progress today

I’ve been working with LOD today, mostly. LOD is what you see in the distance. Like distant trees, rocks, mountains, buildings. Those sorts of things.

LOD always ends up looking really bad. Especially the settled areas start looking crap. Also, I’ve tried to generate distant trees, but they don’t show up in-game at all. No worries. I’m not the only modder having trouble with LOD, and I’ve been there before. It seems all Bethesda games are like this, and I know full-well that the end result, however maybe far in the future, will be more than pleasing.

To keep my modding morale up, I need to do beautiful things in-between crappy LOD. That’s why I’ve also dedicated some of my energy today to detailing the terrain of The Frontier. There are some random beautiful pictures from The Frontier down below.

T’Jira Monastery

T’Jira Monastery lies perched on an island to the east of the continent of The Frontier. The monastery is owned entirely by the Aldmeri Dominion, which has purchased the entire island from the corrupt Protektor of Anvil Nova. The Dominion states that the island is an ancient holy place in Aldmeri culture, but rumour has it that the Dominion has more than religious ceremony in mind with the island and the monastery.

I based the design loosely on the P’Jem monastery as seen in Star Trek Enterprise.

T'Jira Monastery on The Frontier.