I’m not dead!

I’m not dead, y’all. I’m just a bit tied up with other things at the moment, and haven’t had too much time for my mod. I’m very excited that the NavMesh bug has been fixed in the latest Skyrim patch, and I’m looking forward to seeing what it does for my modding. See you all in a bit!

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.