5-1-Red

[Lady Nerevar]

maybe put some colums to suport them?

its lookg realy sexy btw. what i would love is an overhead screen to give us an idea of the lay out...

[kebra]

For sure, they are still not connected to anything. İt's still some test to see how impressive it is!
LN, promess in my next send, actually it's a big mess, i build by groups of elements and keep some, some others not. So elements are floating quite everywhere, nothing to help to have an idea! Maybee a sketch or a plan could better.

[kebra]

Here is a general vue.

İnside of the red circle, the acropolis.
On the left they will be a wooden downtown sheltered, on the water, between the acropolis and the cliffs.
All around, the city.

İ just used nine cells, not to touch MW.
But i haven't respect the borders, everything has to be redone.
Exemple: buildings of old-BL are not in my claim and still remain in the middle of nothing...

KF can you contact me to speak about that, i need to now what has been decided, to adapt the BL borders.

[Noirgrim]

Please provide an update with the progress of the claim. If you do not wish to continue with this claim, please say so.

[kebra]

OK, i will send something. Sorry to take my time, but i had to recover a bit after OB.( i stay with MW )

The city exist, but it's still a mess.

Hello Noirgrim, i don't now you but i like your work.

[Noirgrim]

Well thank you. But please don't send the claim to me, just keep working at your own pace and post regular updates. Your last one was in Feb., we'd prefer weekly updates. So, no need to hurry yourself, just keep working, post updates and screenshots.

[kebra]

First Beta,

This esp is rotten, you will need the TR_Eot.esm, the TR_OOT_Main.esm and the TR_Data.esm, from the old MW versions of course! Some meshes could miss the cliffs for example…
I will send a clean one later (one month).

It’s a WIP files, 60% is done, hundreds of meshes have to be fixed or connected (all the shags district, broken bridge, new harbour…everywhere), complete elements will changes (old part of Acropolis…).
Only a few real problems remain, in the canal for example.

I’ve kill the surrounding but haven’t touch MW. If it’s true that map5 will be partly redone, I would like to claim (in time) all the plains around the city, to have something logical.

Some areas are partly detailed; it’s to test the Fps. Tell me if you have any problems, for me it’s Ok.

For info read this thread and the one in the TR public discussion forum.

The Plan: Let a door in the Balmora siltstrider.

http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/9036/blplan1oq6.jpg


Quickly, (it’s just my point of view and I know nothing about Lore)

BL is a decadent city, who has lost of here glory, but remain the center of this land.

There is tree architectural styles never isolated: A primitive, with the Hlomaren meshes, the time BL was a fortress and the canal, a natural fjord, a harbour but also a holly place. A classical one, like the square towers. And a late one, too perpendicular, too rich, too monumental, the new harbour, the canal…

Districts:

The big step. Old and deserted, the door is closed, a step (build after a stone fall) run up to the Acropolis. The big step has been added during the late period, destroying the area.

Siltstrider, this area is from the middle period, this is an alive part of the city and the main entry. The bridge to the Hlomaren tower is the main access to the acropolis and a way goes to the shag district.

Shag, the center of the life in BL, poor. Up, on the broken bridge, the house of somebody able to fly.

Near the fortress, up of the shags is a little religious, rich, district. The area is closed by two bridges from the acropolis (do quests to access). Religion is one of the reason of the survival of the city, why not a pilgrimage to the canal?

The fortress, isolated from the city. A hubs system for the ships.

The old harbour, what remain of the harbours of the first period (other was the canal). This harbour is very active, near the shags it is connected to the acropolis.
On the left of the mouth of the canal is a tavern (rich).

For those still reading, an amulet of levitation is hidden on the forge behind the first house left after the siltstrider.

The new harbour, from the late times, it’s the main harbour. A door takes you to the other side of the acropolis.

Lighthouse side: The steps running up goes to a district owned by some thief-assassin secret society. The steps going down lead to a night complex Int-Ext for the mariners (cheap, with alcohol, games, girls, etc...), all under the control of the thieves, of course.

The alien gate, built after the coming of some aliens named Azura & Vivec… Well, think what you want, I like it.
I don’t know if it’s better to keep this door close to the acropolis or not.

From the primitive period, deserted area. The biggest market of BL was here, a few sellers still come. A guardian has his shack here. A door (middle period) is going to the wild.

Up, a middle-time deserted district. And down--the same. Interesting people could still occupy some of the houses.

The canal: it was a holy processional avenue from the late period. Today, the first floor still belongs to religion and is partly closed. The second floor is a luxury market Int-Ext connected to the harbour. Slaves are sold here.
The center square is the holy place. I'm tryin something like a necropolis, tell me if I should continue or stop with this idea.

The Acropolis: What was the city in the old time. Now, the place for all institutions of any type. Nobody can sleep here, but people can live inside the acropolis (Vivec system), especially the rich.

Some parts are deserted here also (Int also must have ruined areas), especially the primitive ones above the shacks.
No idea about the other buildings for now, just some buildings must have access to the bridges for the religious district.

Big things to be changed:

The old acro (upper part).
The night district near the lighthouse. Technic, but also the big arch.
The gate to the wild and all Ext access and the main old gate.
The new acro, the too-big step on the roof.
The middle acro, the bridge from the building to the terrace (too large)…



Well, I haven’t chosen the Velothi set; I hate it, and I even don’t now if I like BL. I would love questing in this place, but not having my home, for sure.
And please remember--it’s a Work In Progress, don’t review it!

PS: Special thanks to Vernon, and, if Kingfish or Dexter read this, gives your opinion.

[Haplo]

I like it a lot so far, kebra I won't comment on the Lore parts just yet; better to let more people express their views on it.

One thing: shags are actually 'shacks'

I love the design, and I'll look into that request of yours about the plains in front of the city.

(kingfish is sadly no longer active here (:-(), he stepped down a while ago, and I took his place as head of Morrowind exteriors)

[kebra]

If nobody feeds back, I will finish the work just for me.

[Theo]

The pics and concepts seem cool, but I cannot test the file until my comp is back up again.

[Tyrion]

You've not touched the whole city yet, right?

[Bloodthirsty Crustacean]

All sounds good (and I can't wait to play and quest this city! ), but "Alien Gate"? Even by Morrowind standards, that's a bit weird. Also, I'd have thought devout Redoran (who this city would have been populated by at the time of its construction) would know who Azura and Vivec were.

Unless I'm not getting you here.

One thing I'd like to see (and I believe is what you may be getting at) is (though this may be more up to NPC/dialogue folks) an area, perhaps near the centre of the city, where noble Redorans are trying to "hold out" against the wholly un-Redoran corruption that holds this decaying city in its grasp. Could make for some cool quests and characters, and would be the perfect set-up for a potential sponsor for Redoran PCs.

[kebra]

To Tyrion

I don't understand what you mean. I'm building a complete new BL, nothing stay from the Rodan version. And, if it can answer the question, the city is finished, i just need detailing and fixing (a hard and long work), all Ext places, monuments, concepts are done. Do you have some ideas? Tell me now, before i start connecting the meshes.

To Blood

I called the Aliens door, the one named second door in the BL tried in the open forum. There is a pic.
Of course it's joke, somebody called them like that to say that they were too exotic, a little provocation, sorry. In fact, they were just the main gates of the early fortress.

About the Lores, i don't now and will wait what the others will say before building more things.
I will try to send a version working for all tonight.
I have fixed some of the elements i didn't like, the style, not the meshes.

Ps: Theo, good luck, you seems under pression.

[kebra]

And a double, sorry.

Update:

You just need the TR_Data.esm, now.

Some meshes could miss, i did an installation to a friend and i remember about:
Some of the WG cliffs!
The TR_Imp_Grille_ZY
The serie of TR_Furn_de_urn_broke
Probably more. Try the browser.

I have changed some elements, fixed a few meshes and detail a bit.

[Bloodthirsty Crustacean]

Well, I've had a quick look around and this place is 100% phenomenal! It perfectly captures that Morrowind feel, with one of my favourite architecture sets. The thing that I presume is the "Alien gate" is awesome, and the bridges to the cliff cities/shacks are unbelievably cool.

This is how Beth wished Morrowind would look, and really gets at the feel the concept art projects.

Not being an exteriorer, I can't really contribute any advice or anything, but I felt the need to express my awe at the work you folks do. Keep it up!

[Tyrion]

I agree 100%. I had a look at it before but I saw some errors here and there and wondered if you knew about them. Some buildings are floating or have no foundations, but they're easy to spot so I'm sure you know about that and you'll take care of it when you make fixes and detail things. The layout is awesome, the scale is awesome, the whole city is just awesome!

[kebra]

What do i do with the center, do i pursue the necropolis or niet?

[Haplo]

Do you think you could make it a sort of ancient, unused Necro? As in, you can still sense the glories from ages long since passed away. Not a 'ooh look cobwebs and a creepy skeleton' sense. I think it'd be neat to have it on a differen't level of grandeur than the rest of the city. Maybe make it feel older, more important, and much grander, although on a smaller scale since you don't have all the room as the outer city has.

[kebra]

Exellent idea, but difficult, i have to try.
Actually, i opened three wall sections, the idea is to open some others, not much.
But to make it old and respectfull, i don't now, what a challenge.

http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/6858/blkta1cv7.jpg

[Haplo]

That's one of the main reasons I chose what I did; there will be many opportunities to have scary or populated mortuaries and the like in the later maps, and this as an ancient and respected center for Redoran and a hub for trade and trafficking makes it that much more impressive to see so much thought put into the city.

I think the players and fans will really appreciate it, and I hope it will be a fun, refreshing challenge for you I'm certain whatever you come up with will rock regardless!

[Thrignar Fraxix]

any updates? I always love new blacklight screens

[Haplo]

kebra is away at the moment

[kebra]

I'm back...and not. I mean, i'm back, but not in a place i can modd.

Thrignar, i'm really late on Map2, it's actually my priority and i have to find an idea for those catacombs, so BL and my others claims will wait a bit.

And,

I would like to have more critics on BL, i'm not sure that everybody like it and don't want to pursue before having a complete discussion about it.

[Silvone Elestahr]

I'm not a loremaster, nor am I someone who is very experienced with exterior modding. But I think you are doing great with this city. In some ways, it exceeds everything else in TR, which can be good and be bad. It definantly exceeds, in both quality and quantity, anything that Bethesda produced in the original Morrowind, and that can only be good.
The city is large, larger likely than any other city with the exception of Almalexia. I remember reading that Blacklight really shouldn't be much larger than Vivec, and I'm not really sure if it is. But in my opinion, that doesn't matter. You are not making a city where there is more to do than anywhere else, with guilds and shops at every corner, each with its own uber weapon/armor/spell, etc. You are making a large city, but it is in reality quite small, considering it is not fully inhabited. You said most of the life centers around the shacks and the commons around the Silt Strider. That essentially leaves the rest of it as a reminder of the times gone by. It is like a gigantic ruin of the greatness of the House Redoran (it is Redoran, no?). It gives the city a dual-purpose, which, in my opinion, makes this the greatest city I've ever seen. It doesn't just fill in another spot on the map, but gives the player a sense of the history of Morrowind.

Anyway...

If you don't finish this, I must say I would be terribly disappointed.

[Gnomey]

I agree with Silvone. I think that, when my character first enters a complete Blacklight, it will seem as though he will just have entered another level of immersion. In that way, the place might feel isolated, but in a good way. I think that if BL was without quests, and another TR city was given all of its quests, BL might still seem to have more of a history and identity, and would also give the player a sense of the intrigue and cultural conflict that's occuring at the time of playing. And the way that it is built, and what I said before taken into consideration, I'd probably just keep to the city for a good long while, and try and explore every nook and cranny inside it.

After all, BL has everything from shags to the canal, from the velothi lighthouse to the Imperial lighthouse, from the Fortress Era buildings in their collosal size and the typical square towers of a more recent velothi style. Then there are the parts still bustling with activity, like the thief district, and the almost completely abandond parts of the city, which seem almost like the ruins of a great city recently unearthed after over an era of being buried. If I had to list a bad thing about it it would probably be my fear of what the city will fo to my FPS. Oh, and maybe also the Imperial lighthouse. It's almost too high and thin for my liking, but I keep forgetting about the lighthouse of Alexandria.

[Theo]

Do not forget to write sort of "Guide to Blacklight" for BoT for this purpose.

[Silvone Elestahr]

I was planning on writing a history of Blacklight once he had finished with the general design of the city. It could include a sort of guide to the city, or it could be a book apart.

[Vernon]

kebra, you are such an ace - keep up the good work

[kebra]

And you gave me my chance, thanks Vernon. I really miss you, man!

[kebra]

About the Catacombs:

For harbor, i have been forced to create an artificial floor (pic3). My problem with the cata is that i'm limited like shows the pic1.The only solution is to use the harbor's technic, but that means that all the Acropolis ground will look like the temples area (up-left of pic3).

What peoples thincks?
I don't like the idea to extend the artificial floor, but i can do great catacombs. I don't now!

[Thrignar Fraxix]

2 questions/comments

1: Do sudden altitude changes cause crashes in low end computers?

2: Are you SURE this won't make low end computers burst into flames?

Other than these two things, it looks awesome.

[Jedak]

Does anybody really have a low end computer these days anyway? I mean, back in the MW days a comp would explode - nowadays a low end comp is a high end MW days one.

[Nomadic1]

My comp is a little crappy. While I doubt it would explode, it might have difficulty with the city.

[kebra]

Nomadic1, the best is that you test it on your crappy machine to tell me. Mine is not a racing one too (3 years old), but it's OK.

That's not answering my question:
Do i open those Kata and make an artificial floor even if it will make this area too uber?

[Thrignar Fraxix]

Difficult post time:

I loaded your latest WiP in the CS and I have to say, THIS IS FRICKIN HUGE! You appear to plan to make the city 9 cells! This is WAAAAY too big! Your city is more than double the size of port telvannis, and in that doubled space you cram houses in like sardines. I am not sure how big this should actually be, but I know this exceeds it by a wide margin. I would recommend cutting out every cell that you aren't entirely attached to just as a start. Someone who knows how big this should actually be should be along shortly to give you a cell number and/or building estimate.

I am sorry Kebra

edited after I read the thread and realized that the 3 southernmost cells named blacklight weren't meant to be part of the town.

[kebra]

Necrom and Narsis have quite the same size, only PortTelvanni is littler. BL is a city of same rank.(i was with an old version of map2 for Necrom.)

We already had this discussion, at the end i have proposed to wait the following update, but when he came nobody say nothing, what do i have to think now?

What i want now is to have the line fixed, tell me what's Ok, what's not...

[Nomadic1]

IMO aim for 80 ints for this city.

And comparing anything to Narsis is a nono - that city is in desperate need of being cut down in size.

[kebra]

That will make those main cities at the same size of average one's, between 3-5 cells.
And comparing any cities to Telvanni's one means nothing because it's a vertical architecture.
What about Narsis and Necrom, will we half sized them?
Also, the city his half ruined, with no Ints, just for theatre.

Anyway, i'm not sure to accept that months after the first relaesed, i remember to have send some warnings to avoid that, and ask several times if it was Ok...

PS: i especially don't want the same thing for Map2!(That's also the reason of the many pics and questions i send.)

[kebra]

Double

I propose a new city with a new name:

UmourNoir

Ps: Ok, it's a bad joke, but i'm a bit hangry... Tomorrow will be better...

[Haplo]

Well if you actually look at Necrom, it really only has content enough to fill 5 cells, not 9. It simply extends into different cells because it's rotated. I would say 80 interiors as well, with a few abandoned/blocked ruins.

That new shot looks like a perfect sized area for the city... bring the number of ints in that area to 80 and it will be perfect, in my opinion. Tomorrow could you upload a WIP file?