So, joining the project

[Mothergoose]

I would like to join the project. I am very lore knowledgeable. I have read all the in-game books, many organized peices of lore data (ex. the tamriel timeline), and much of the official lore content released on the forums. Also, I know and understand the construction set well, and I am (I believe) a very talented and detail oriented interior and exterior artist.

This below attatchment is a part of an independent project I am working on called "nerevar city". As such, being in the very most early stages of alpha, there are still many errors and at this time it only includes interior cells.

I can build shops and rooms very well. I am well versed in hlaalu, telvanni, and imperial architecture, but I have a good understanding of all types of architecture and could easily learn cavern design. I have spent thousands of hours playing the game, and have a good understanding of what is and is not similar to vanilla morrowind.

Currenlty learning scripting. Can do the most basic retextures with the utility nifretex. Look forward to learning that field to.

Also, will likely submit a fiction sample on the forums in the following week. I hope I can be of help on this project.

Consider kindely,
Mothergoose

[Mothergoose]

Oh, my file also dependent on several modders resources, but at this time none of these have been implemented into any of my custome interiors. Should be able to veiw my interiors with no missing meshes or texture problems (After getting the file loaded).

Again, its alpha.

[Nanu]

As to the fiction part of your post, I can say that I look forward to it. As to the interior pert, I will say that you will get much farther if you were to show us one interior instead of several.

Welcome to the forums, kind traveler, enjoy your stay.

[Mothergoose]

Ok, if that is the prefered way to do things around here. This plugin should meet those requirments. I wiped it up in about fifteen minutes- a fully furnished, partially flooded, crummy shack located in Khull -9, 17. One room, one exterior building- with all the proper stuff. Some land was fixed to accomodate it. Not that anybody would likely use this mod anyway.

[Lud]

A quick review:

-Your file contains dirty GMSTs. You'll need to clean these references from your esp file.
-You misspelled Khuul
-You use light_com-chandelier as a light source. Such an item is reserved for imperial areas, as the dunmer would tend to use native things. (note the distinction between de and com items)
-The bookshelf, bucket and barrels are floating; watch out for the uneven surfaces
-The shack is a little bare; perhaps some extra clutter might be a good idea
-This guy has two copies of the same book; it's best to make each book unique
-I like the idea behind the cobweb, but it's positioned in such a way as to allow you to see the edges; try to hide the parts where the strands simply end in mid-air
-I like the partial water

Overall, this isn't a bad attempt. Fix the stuff that i've pointed out, detail it a bit more and take care with item choice.
For item choice, etc, you'll probably find [url=http://vernon.tamriel-rebuilt.org/tutorials/Vegor_Interiors_Tutorial.htm]this[/url] useful.

[Gnomey]

A showcase interior should not use a single shell, like a shack, but should instead be made up of modular pieces. (Take a look at an ancestral tomb, for example). I suggest that you make a second small interior once your shack is finished to show us that you know how to use gridsnap.

[Haplo]

@Gnomey - If you download his other .esp (dependent upon MW.esm only) you can tell easily he knows how to gridsnap )

From checking out your initial .esp, I can tell you a few things from one of the very first interior cells (Hlaalu West Wing). This looks like a lot, but it's really not that much, I promise:

Rule #1 DO NOT COOKIE CUTTER EVER!!! This means copying entire cells or objects from other locations (usually the vanilla game) and pasting them verbatim into your .esp. Some times it's okay to copy and paste, such as when you can't figure out how to create a shell for this difficult exterior, but you know Bethesda did it somehow, so you copy their architecture and paste it. But never copy items! You copied Neloth's chambers (a vanilla NPC), and it transferred ownership along with the c&p'd items. Bad!

When creating interiors, don't forget to check the "illegal to sleep here" box in the menu with light settings. Otherwise the player can sleep anywhere in the cell like the Wilderness, instead of needing to use a bed.

Also, about beds; we generally bleed our pillows a little bit into the bed to make it look realistic. If you view your pillow on your bed in the CS from a side view, you can see how unrealistic and awkward it looks. Since objects don't have physics applied to them like Oblivion statics do, we have to place them realistically ourselves. Much more work, but it makes for a much better interior.

Objects like misc_de_bowl_glass_peach_01 come to a point at the bottom. Realistically it would roll onto its side and possibly fall over once it's placed that way. To fix this, simply bleed it into the surface it's resting on a little until it looks like the bottom of the bowl is a flat surface. Careful, however: bleed it too much and you might go through the bottom of the inside of the bowl.

We also bleed the round sacks into whatever surface they're resting on a little.

You mix com and de furniture around in the same cell. This is bad! Dunmer have their own equivalent to the com furniture, and vice versa. You use a common bar, but a Dunmer bar door, which doesn't even fit

This one a lot of people hate: When you use poor Dunmer furniture, I'm sure you've noticed how there's really no flat surface anywhere for you to place objects on. This is okay sometimes, but for bookshelves or tables, it can get really annoying quickly. I know it's a pain, but objects should be rotated/tilted slightly to rest completely when on these uneven surfaces. Generally an x or y change of a few degrees one direction or the other is plenty for this.

Some of your books are rotated for some reason, and aren't resting flat on the shelf. I also notice you use a lot of complete sets. This is generally a bad idea, unless you're making a library or something to that effect.

You do a decent job with containers, rotating and placing, but try scaling them (crates, sacks, barrels, chests, urns, etc) up or down. Select a container and hold the 's' key down and move your mouse forward or back to see the effects. Don't scale them too large or too small though! They have to remain realistic

In Bradas Moloth's quarters, you use the same rug about 10 times, in very square locations. Try mixing it up with different rugs (and maybe a few less), with different sizes, and not all at 90-degree angles from one another.

Interesting Council Hall But we generally use daedric only for daedric ruins

Your plug-in modifies several vanilla cells such as Tel Mora and Tel Vos, and various Vivec interiors.. Clean these with TESAME, and try to avoid affecting other cells altogether in the future.

Your plug-in modifies lots of exterior cells (about 9 or 10) but they're all empty. This is no good

That's all for now.

[Mothergoose]

Ok, good stuff. All fixable, and I will keep those comments in mind when I go back and redo some of my cells. Remember, my first attatchment is my own independent mod and I may decide to keep some things as is for my own purposes. However, I can definetly try to do things more of the "correct way" from now on, especially if I make any cells for TR.

I will build yet another sample, with grid snapped cells, and this time some more appropriate furniture, and upload that. I do hope (that with both my samples) there was more good then bad in each.

The "Library" in the west wing, is actually a book store. I felt that a little diversity in the wing would give it better atmosphere. Also, I never copied and pasted neloths quarters. Although, I did copy and paste the convenant interior for my general quarters, however I completely restocked and redecorated it so that I doubt you could really tell.

As for the bar statics and bar door, this design is used in shops all the time. If the people of TR would prefer that I not use them then I most definetly won't, but I had reasoning behind those choices that I made. Some examples:

hlaalu pawnbroker, vivec
hlaalu general goods store, vivec
Pelegaid, Uulernil: Armorer
Dagon Fell, Hefnir: Trader,
Balmora, Doris Dravel: Bookseller

These all use bar parts for their shops, as display tables, or whatever. I do admit, I could put more on them though, like candles or books. I may consider doing that.

The rugs in Moloth's Quarters were made the same color and size on purpose. I was going for a red and blue color contrast in the rugs and tapestries. It is hard to do something different for every room, and I was trying to be creative. I may do the changes to that interior that you described. It did seem a little incomplete to me too.

The council hall was made daedric on purpose. The city itself is a gift from azura, and much of the city is going to be made in daedric or have daedric accents.

Some things I did that I am not sure that you noticed or not-

I put in about a dozen new npcs (with original names). I assigned ownership tags to everything. I furnished the interiors with (what I felt) were appropriate and sufficient lighting. I also added many creative touches to several of the rooms, including a poem to one of the rooms in the west wing. I made I pet for Opiarium, with the AI adjusted so it wouldn't attack the pc, ect. I hope you will consider all this when evaluating wether or not I could be helpfull in the project.

I do plan on cleaning my plugin of GMSTs. The changes to other cells was accidental, and it happens when you are trying to reference other cells for ideas. Will have that fixed before I release that mod as well (I know how to do it, if that is something anybody is worried about).

Will upload another sample soon. Thanks for all the constructive contricism. I hope that I can be an assest to TR soon.

[Haplo]

What I meant about bars was; you used a common bar, when there is a Dunmer bar you should have used instead. Your misuse of the common bar isn't even consistent because you used the Dunmer bar door (With a common bar. It's like putting a van sliding door on a truck. Just doesn't fit ), which should have clued you in to the fact there are Dunmer bar statics calling your name just aching to be used

I also noticed after the post that some of the NPCs you used didn't have your MC_ prefix (or whichever letters they were). Remember to prefix everything you do (when creating TR interiors or references, you'll need to add a TR_ prefix to the interior cell name or object name. But we'll cover that later)

EDIT - And if you're interested in doing some texturing, there are plenty of Oblivion meshes (mostly miscellaneous clutter) that are awaiting them, if you want to brave the forays of that game . Just let me know if you do!

[Gnomey]

There's nothing stopping you from using bar parts, but com_ bar parts are a no-no. There's a full set of Dunmer bar parts which strangely enough are in the Activator tab, which is easy to miss. And if you were actually talking about com_ bars in Dunmer interiors Bethesda is notorious for ignoring TR rules. They also have plenty of floaters and bleeders, another thing that shouldn't be done in TR.

Edit: Drat, Haplo beat me to it.

[Mothergoose]

Ok, I think I understand what you meant by the bar parts. If if it seemed like I was coming off as indignant, I apalogize. That was not my intent.

Haplo, I wish I could do those textures for you, but my knowledge and technique is very limited. I have been moding for years now, but I have only gotten serious about it in the last six months. My texturing is still very new and alien to me, although I hope that will not always be true.

I have put together yet another sample for you to examine. I tried very hard to keep in mind all of you suggestions as I made this. I hope you will find it satisfactory.

I made and furnished a smithy, in redoran architecture, and placed it in ald-ruhn.

[Mothergoose]

Ok, it has been a little more then a week now since I uploaded my last showcase, and I can see that it was never even downloaded...

I feel that my talents are up to TR standards. I would very appreciative if the members of TR would be patient enough with me to keep reviewing my showcases, and give me tips on how to improve. I wish to be a member of the project, I really want to contribute, and I think that the TR and the modding community would benefit from my skills.

This is another showcase. This time an ancestral tomb. This one is different from the others, because during the course of its creation I took the time to become aquatinted with some TR original statics, activators, and the such. I placed it in Molagreahd 16, 17; a region I thought could perhaps use a random tomb for cave dwellers to explore. I hope you will think so too.

This showcase has been cleaned with the enchanted editor. It adds a tomb, medium in size, to the game under the interior cell "Verano Ancestral Tomb". I spent a lot of time on this interior, to try and make it up to TR standards. I believe that I have been successful in this.

Also, and I mean this with complete politeness and respect, I would appreciate it if the TR reviewers would be honest with me about my chances of becoming a TR modder. If I am very unlikely to be chosen at this time, even if I upload perfect interiors, I would like to be told that up front. I won't take it personally, I'll just go back to my own personal projects.

That being said, if there is an opening available for a new interior designer, I would very much like to fill that. I will keep improving on my skills until the TR modders find them satisfactory enough to allow me to be a part of the project. I come here humbly and hope to learn much and contribute a great deal.

I want to be a part of this project, because I believe it is here that I could do this most good for the morrowind modding community. I know this project has been years in the making, and I imagine some of the more seasoned members are very wary of anybody wanting to join in it now, just after your first major release. All I can say to this is that I have not been a dedicated modder for very long. I have become so now because I want to give back to the community that has given me so much. I believe I can give back the most with this project. Regardless of whether or not I am chosen to be a part of this project, I will continue to work towards making mods that I hope people will enjoy.

Anybody who is interested in knowing just why I feel it is important to contribute quality morrowind mods can read this link. It may appeal to some of you:

[url]http://forumplanet.gamespy.com/morrowind_cs_general/b49689/19752642/p1/?3[/url]

Thank you for being patient with me. I hope this next interior will be to your liking.

EDIT:
Illegal to sleep
Haunted sounds added
Tapestries deleted
Big urn deleted

[Haplo]

First thing I noticed is you didn't check "illegal to sleep here". This is important because we don't want the player being able to just hit the t button to rest anywhere in the cell, otherwise beds become useless.

Dunno how I feel about the TR_urn_ash00_2 being 1.63 normal size. It seems pretty large.

It also seems kind of bland using nothing but urns, and placing them all on the altars. Try placing objects like a dagger, or a small chest, or coda flowers or something.

Finally, (yes this is a fairly short, informal review) the hidden drop off point has no means of returning to the top floor if you fall in. The player has to have a teleport scroll or a potion of levitation or fortify acrobatics or something, and not all of them have that. Pitfalls such as this that don't include a non-player-made way to escape should be avoided.

[Mothergoose]

*Changes made*

Added a dagger to one of the alters, and some coda flowers. Not much personal initiative but I didn't want to over do it.

Corpse placed at the bottom of the pit with a potion of rising force on his person.

Also, added some haunted sound activators. Those were in the original file but they got lost somewhere...

Corrected file loaded in place of incorrect one (former post).

EDIT:

Also, thank you haplo for downloading. I appreciate your review.

[Haplo]

You still haven't set illegal to sleep. To do this goto World > Interior Cell > then look for the box that says "illegal to sleep here" and check it.

I don't know if you have more than one, but a Mummy_02 bleeds a bit into the altar next to it. Make sure you take care when placing objects so they don't bleed.

Also, about the common tapestries: They shouldn't be used in a Velothi tomb. If you're going to use tapestries (really the only one that should be in the interior is the one hiding the drop off) they should at least be Dunmeri (de_) instead of Common (com_).

I'll tell TF to come along (our Head of Interiors) and check this over when he logs on tomorrow. You shouldn't be too far from promotion at this point. Good work

[Nemon]

We are really anal about this stuff I'm happy I didn't have to showcase back in '03...

[Thrignar Fraxix]

REVIEW:
the path extends over the hole of the pit causing there to be some caspering
putting tapestries in front of a door is generally not a good idea, especially when that tapestry is _com and this is a dunmer tomb
I'd add another altar to the first room as that part on the right is a little bare.
caspering at the bottom of the pit too
in_velothismall_room_05 needs another altar in there as it is kind of bare ATM
in_velothi_ashpit_01 caspers a little bit (top one last room)

Nice job on the bones and the urn pieces in the last room, didn't see any errors there. (which is rare for those types of items)

[Mothergoose]

Ok, should be the last of the fixes.

*deleted middles pit static peices to eliminate the caspering effect*

*Put veloth prayer alter with prayer stool static in first room to fill the space*

*replaced the common tapestry with a dunmer (de) one*

*put in another alter in room with the skeletons. One urn and a book placed on it*

Thank you very much for the review. If the interior is found satisfactory, is there any other showcase you would like me to create?

[Mothergoose]

Ok, one last final showcase that I have prepared for all of you. I built a flower shop, in common/rich room style, and placed it in "Firewatch, 18,15".

I edited some of the land, and also added some exterior statics to place it "neatly" in the town.

New class made: "Florist".

Added some basic unique dialouge for the two characters that run the shop.

A lot of attention was paid to detail on this one. This will be my last showcase. After this I will assume that my skills are not needed or required at this time and go back to my independent projects.

[Morden]

Showcases get missed sometimes. Sorry. We're all stretched pretty thin with other tasks and we don't always catch updates. You've been very patient, but if you don't get a response its ok to send a private message to a Reviewer, Administrator, or relevant Global Moderator. We can always use more interior modders for Morrowind, especially those who are willing to learn.

[Mothergoose]

Thank you for responding. I might pm a reviewer, but I am getting the impression that if I were going to get promoted, it would have happened by now.

No hard feelings though. I learned a few things during my stay on the forums, and I always have my own projects to attend to. Although I would apprecaite a review, as I can't use this anywhere else and I did spend a fair amount of time making it.

[Haplo]

Sometimes it takes a day for people to get promoted, others can take weeks. It varies greatly on a great many things, so don't take the apparent lack of enthusiasm as a denial. I know for myself that this time of the year is probably the busiest, with everything going on regarding the end of school (and graduation this year too) and a big list of things to do outside of that and TR.

Here's a review of the interior (which is already very good):

misc_com_redware_vase on the shelf in the bedroom is bleeding a little and needs to be raised. After this, you'll need to raise the black roses too so they don't bleed.

Light_Com_Candle_12_77 on the same floor on the bed table is bleeding

misc_com_redware_vase down below near the door to the stairs also bleeds into the table it's on. Same story as above.

The misc_com_redware_vase near the window, same story. Make sure you raise the roses too so they don't bleed after the vase fix.

both light_com_lamp_01_175's near the entrance bleeds a tad bit

One of the piles of clippings on the paper on the counter (the roses at the end) is floating badly (paper and all)

Also, one caveat: You have a rug with some items resting halfway-on and halfway-off (the bed, namely). This is alright with this type of rug, since it's really flat, but for most rugs, it's best to avoid placing things partially on them if you can help it.


This may seem like a lot, but they're pretty small things. They are however important things to fix. Address this list and you should be fine for a promotion

[Mothergoose]

Thank you for the review Haplo. I can definitily appreciate how busy you all must be.

*Fixed Known Errors*

[Thrignar Fraxix]

Where is the new file?

[Mothergoose]

Oh, here it is. There must have been some error uploading it.

[Haplo]

The Light_Com_Candle_12_77 by the red bed still bled a little, but the rest was fixed. Good job!

Member Promoted for interiors.

[Mothergoose]

Thank you very much Haplo for all you help and giving me a chance. I hope soon to be a perductive and active member of TR. Also, thank you Thrignar Fraxix and the others who reviewed all my interiors.

[angelus6]

congrats

and lol giant avatar

[blackbird]

congrats!

[The guar man]

congrats and if it makes u feel any better it took me 6 months to get promoted lol...but i had no interet for 4 of those months.