I’m putting together a section exterior claim so that work can properly resume on the section file. To reiterate the current plans for the exterior:
-change dirtroad to mainroad - fairly simple and straightforward.
-remove excess smoke from chimneys/remove excess chimneys/improve chimneys
-changing/improve the sign outside 'Eurilon: Weaponsmith', which looks rather cobbled together.
-make adjustments to the coastline to remove the lumpy rock look.
-add detailing at dock
-increase height of Old Ebonheart Castle's towers
Please do provide feedback on how the claim is set up in this thread, feedback on the claim name in this thread, and more general feedback on how sections should be set up here.
2015-08-10 20:50
3 weeks 14 hours ago
I’ve updated the exterior claim after a short day of modding. (It’s been a while). I haven’t tested the file in-game yet. Progress:
Dirt to main road - changed to WG_Cobblestones re: this thread. Not sure if we're going with that, but it only takes a second to switch out.
Excess chimneys - didn’t get around to this
Sign - didn’t get around to this
Coast line - I've only done the cliff on the north side of town. Does it look good so far? I may need to use the ridge models for the castle, as it probably needs to be rockier.
Dock detailing - could always do more, but I did want to keep it simple. I remembered to alter the pathgrid a little to match my changes.
Modified tower - left this for now, to provide a bit more chance for discussion as this change is the most important. (Again, old discussion with pictures is in this thread).
I'd also like to add a touch of detailing around the edge of the town square next to the docks; the side across from the wall looks like it could use some love.
Tomorrow I’ll probably jump in-game and test my progress and take a few screenshots.
2015-08-10 20:50
3 weeks 14 hours ago
As promised, screenshots:
Didn’t run into any problems in-game, though I’ve only made minor changes so far.
2015-08-10 20:50
3 weeks 14 hours ago
Claim updated.
Proposed change:
Name Change - rename 'Old Ebonheart, Castle' and 'Old Ebonheart, Castle Bridge Towers' to 'Old Ebonheart, Ebon Tower' and 'Old Ebonheart, Bridge Towers' respectively.
Screenshots of some of my changes to the town (some harder to spot than others):
More screenshots to follow.
As I should have done last time, I’ll be posting claim progress over there and anything related to planning over here.
2016-01-17 01:30
2 months 1 week ago
I love the additional details, especially the stands and that small boat place.
The cliffs look great as well and the mainroad texture makes much more sense for such a large Imperial city.
2015-08-10 20:50
3 weeks 14 hours ago
Thanks!
Though I can’t lay claim to the stands.
I took a somewhat larger series of screenshots of the castle from various angles and in various conditions, which should hopefully give a good idea of how it now looks. My most radical change is adding a turret to the top of the Castle Services building, (fifth screenshot among others), mostly because I wanted an eighth auxiliary spire. As I indicated in my notes in the exterior claim, the turret, along with all of my other changes to the castle, can easily be moved or removed.
So the remaining changes I plan to make – pending feedback – are to adjust the two remaining patches of cliff beyond the castle, rename the two cells as above, take a last look at the file polishing it as needed, and clean the file.
2015-08-10 20:50
3 weeks 14 hours ago
Claim updated. I’ve finished implementing the proposed changes, bar some cleaning and feedback. That being said, a few more potential changes have popped up I’d like to implement:
-add a prison marker in front of the designated prison building (see below) and a divine intervention marker in front of the Grand Chapel of Talos.
-give Astrolabie Belard in ‘Old Ebonheart, Imperial Navy Command Post: Tower’ a first name that isn’t Astrolab
ie. (Probably Astien).-Edit: was just pointed to a table in the east side of town that is floating and barren, so I’ll see to that as well
On to Ebon Tower:
Ebon Tower has eight spires circling the central spire. Together, the nine spires represent the Nine Divines. Perhaps in dialogue the towers could casually be referred to accordingly:
Cell name: ‘Old Ebonheart, Ebon Tower Gatehouse’ → dialogue-only names: Zenithar Tower and Stendarr Tower; dialogue example: “[...] You’ll find it in the gatehouse, in the Zenithar Tower vaults.”
Cell name: ‘Old Ebonheart, Ebon Tower Chapel’ → dialogue example: “The chapel in Arkay Tower provides limited Imperial Cult services, but visitors tend to just go to the Grand Chapel of Talos instead.”
Dialogue example: “Newcomers tend to think Ebon Tower refers to just the bell tower. The bell tower is called Talos Tower; Ebon Tower is the name of the fortress as a whole.”
A bit of interior planning:
The tower I added, Arkay Tower, could be used to house a small chapel/altar, probably level to the battlements, and perhaps priests’ quarters, probably at the top level via a trapdoor. The lower tower could perhaps link to a small croft where the remains of some Imperial dignitaries lie, either awaiting shipment back to Cyrodiil to be permanently interred or, more rarely, to remain there in eternal slumber.
The storage vaults should be in/under the Zenithar tower if not both towers of the gatehouse.
The Dibella and Kynareth towers are a bit more complicated; the current idea is that the census and excise offices are based in towers 1 and 2 respectively, and that as tower 2 is undergoing repairs the excise offices are housed in Dibella and maybe Kynareth Tower instead. All well and good, except 3 is already a perfectly good census and excise headquarters. My suggestion would be one of following:
Now for the last (probably) round of screenshots:
2016-01-19 04:30
2 years 8 months ago
Nice progress, Gnomey! I basically agree with all your changes, as long as they don’t complicate Seneca’s work on the interior. Your descriptions will be useful when writing “specific place” dialogue for the tower.
2014-01-08 21:55
1 month 2 weeks ago
There goes my obscure, poorly justified medieval easter egg then. :)
Swift and sure work nonetheless. The Ebon Tower’s gonna be great!
2015-08-10 20:50
3 weeks 14 hours ago
I could change his first name to Abelard, actually. I put off changing his name and mentioned him here mainly so that I could hear why he got the name in the first place, as I figured you or someone else who worked on OE recently gave him that name. One could even give him a short line saying that he was posted to Morrowind as the result of a scandal.
2016-01-17 01:30
2 months 1 week ago
The last screenshot from the third row is now my new wallpaper
We should definitely upload some of these to our media section.
2015-08-10 20:50
3 weeks 14 hours ago
All changes implemented and claim dropped. The file should be clean, but I certainly wouldn’t mind someone else looking over it.
2016-01-17 16:36
4 years 12 months ago
Quick question; what significance does the blue banner have on the Ebon Tower? It’s the only blue one I can see, so I assume it must mean something amongst the red ones.
2015-08-10 20:50
3 weeks 14 hours ago
There are several blue banners around Old Ebonheart:
The only two I placed are the ones in the last image, as the blue banner seemed to be used more commonly around town than the red banner and I wanted to stay consistent. I don’t think they have any significance.
2015-12-29 23:49
11 months 2 days ago
I wanted to revive this thread to propose an alternative castle tower design, as shown below. The current tower seems rather unappealing, so I decided something new would be nice to offer. The new alternative still has the pointed roof and keeps the grandeur feeling that many wanted.
Note that Seneca had shown me a similar design some months ago. I decided to make a copy based off my memory of that, though I’m not sure of my accuracy.