The Dwemerologist's Showcase

The Dwemerologist · Post by **The Dwemerologist** » Thu Jun 26, 2008 5:28 pm

First off hello everyone. I've been screwing around with the Morrowind editor for about 2-21/2 years. I am really much better at making both exterior and interior cells but can also do basic models (mostly weapons or static) but I suck at texturing. Here is a simple house I made. It's at wilderness -8,-15.

~the D

poiu · Post by **poiu** » Thu Jun 26, 2008 6:27 pm

I've taken a look at your showcase, and it is not clean. You should delete everything wich you didn't create with tesame. All the misc objects and the cells you didn't change should be deleted. Look for the tutorial on this site for more information about that.
- I think the interior itself is a bit empty, it could use a lot more random stuff like crates, books sacks etc.
- There are a couple of floating objects (the candle, the plates, the hound meat)
- You've used a house that is made out of one piece, but for the showcsae, we would like to see if you van use gridsnap propperly.
- You've mixed styles. You've used imperial (_com) and dunmer (_de) stuff. You should only use one style.
- when detailing, it is good to turn off the snap to angle button, so you can rotate everything in different angles.

I suggest you make a new interior keeping the above things in mind.

The Dwemerologist · Post by **The Dwemerologist** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 8:09 pm

I made a new mod and have read through the TESME tutorial at least 4 times and each time I tried to follow along only to get confused and when I test it out the things I put in there are missing so could somebody please help me?

poiu · Post by **poiu** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 8:23 pm

I've taken a look at your file again. If you check the objects you've placed, there is a * next to the count.
For example the misc_com_silverware_knife. If you look it up in the list of items, under misc, you see the * next to the number. That means you've changed something other than the reference data. When placing an object you should only change the reference data. If you place an object and you press the 'save' button, you get the *. It means that you changed all the object in the whole game. So when placing objects never hit the save button, and only change the reference data. I think you when you press the save button you rename the object, but still with the same name and id. If you remove it in tesame, you remove all the copies of that oject from your file.

The Dwemerologist · Post by **The Dwemerologist** » Sat Jun 28, 2008 8:16 pm

Here is this better?

poiu · Post by **poiu** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 9:26 am

Did you change cells other then your showcase cell on purpose? If so, it is clean. If not, it is not clean.
review:
- The hound meat is floating above the paper
- The mortar is resting on one point, it should bleed a little
- All the papers are floating a bit, you should lower the manually
- The skulls rest a bit illogical, try to rate them, so they are resting on two points.
- The sack on the crates can should bleed a little
- The bed is bleeding and floating
- the candles are imperial, but this is a dunmer interior, so those should be changed.
- You've use inperial furniture, wich should be replaced too.
- The light settings are left at the default, and you should check illegal to sleep here.
- it is better to replace the lightbulbs with with real candles or lanters.

edit.
Your interior is not grdinsapped propperly.

The Dwemerologist · Post by **The Dwemerologist** » Sat Aug 15, 2009 6:23 pm

Okay after a year away i'm ready to give this another go.

Thrignar Fraxix · Post by **Thrignar Fraxix** » Sat Aug 15, 2009 6:30 pm

I cleaned out your showcase thread. I'm not sure what that guy from a year ago's problem was, but you didn't need to see that every time you looked at your thread.

I would review this but I am heading out the door.

The Dwemerologist · Post by **The Dwemerologist** » Sat Aug 15, 2009 6:38 pm

Thanks for cleaning that out. He ended up sending me an apology message so I don't really care.

Kiteflyer61 · Post by **Kiteflyer61** » Sat Aug 15, 2009 7:44 pm

OK, I'm a new modder here but I'll give you my take on this file.

First of all the file is very "dirty". A lot of cells listed as modified that shouldn't be, GMST's etc. A few textures are listed as moddified in the file as well and shouldn't be. You should also have your file dependent on Morrowind, Tribunal, and Bloodmoon. You'll need all three to mod for TR.

Interior:

- Interior shape does not fit exterior.
- Default light settings, need to be toned down.
- Illegal to sleep here not checked.
- com_sack_01_chpfood5 in corner should either be placed flat or replaced with one that looks like it's bent (com_sack_03_chpfood5).
- Door marker stuck in door, could cause problems with transporting into interior.
- Com_Sack_02_Ingred standing on point, should be bled into floor a little to look right, also bleeds into bookcase.
- stack of misc_com_plate_01 plates float. Not sure plates should be stacked.
- light_com_candle_07 floats.

Exterior:

- No chimney on exterior even though there is a fireplace inside.
- Very little detailing
- Island surface is very flat and plain except for very small depression (swamp?)
- Only single texture used on island, no vertex shading, very "blocky".
- Door marker stuck in door, could cause problems with transporting out of interior.

Overall I'd say this still needs a lot of work. Try cluttering up the place more and adding some more detail. There should probably be more decorations like tapestries and such. You also should read some of the tutorials on this site. They will help you improve your skills in a lot of areas. Esspecially the one on scaling. It's the one skill that really helped me get prommoted.

It's also important to try and make your interior fit the exterior as well.

Keep trying. Your skills will improve with practice.

The Dwemerologist · Post by **The Dwemerologist** » Sat Aug 15, 2009 9:54 pm

All right is this any better?

Kiteflyer61 · Post by **Kiteflyer61** » Sat Aug 15, 2009 10:38 pm

Hey,

I'm going to let one of the other modders do a review for you because I'm not any good at exteriors yet, but I had to let you know your exterior improved a lot! Your interior still looks a little bare to me though and there are a few errors. Take your time and make this showcase special. TR is looking for quality much more than speed.

Someone else will come along shortly and give you another review.
Good luck and "Keep on Moddin'".

The Dwemerologist · Post by **The Dwemerologist** » Sat Aug 15, 2009 11:45 pm

Here is a more spruced up version. I hope it's more to your liking.

Katze · Post by **Katze** » Mon Aug 17, 2009 10:40 pm

I only do interior reviewing, so that's what I'm going to look at here.

-No northmarker. Important to remember this, even in int claiming where you will not make the exterior, you will have to align the northmarker according to north in the provided screenshot/map coordinates.

-The door was scaled to 0.96, leaving a gap on the right hand side. I returned it to 1.00 and it seemed to fit fine.

-pillow on the bed probably needs to be sunk a little more

-the skooma vial probably shouldn't be there

-light_com_candle_07 on the bookshelf floated slightly

-com_sack_02_ingred bleeds into the edge of the rug

-a barrel_01_cheapfood20 in the corner was floating, probably because you scaled it and forgot to return it to floor level.

-light levels look to be default, or at least close to it. look at some beth or TR interiors of the same tileset to get an idea of correct light settings.

-some of the lights you placed had radii that were way too big. this would make the place look too bright. aim for lights with a radius of 64 or 128.

-with the rug, the tassels at each end float slightly when the rest of the mesh is flat against the ground. I find it good practise to manually sink the rug until it is the tassels that are against the floor, as it looks more natural.

-a lot of your copied and pasted miscs and containers (bowls, cups and the like) have not been rotated to make them look more natural.

However, this showcase does contain a fair amount of promise. I liked how you show a grasp of the use of 3D scale to make things more interesting, and you seem to understand how not to style mix (kinda hard with the com set, i know xD). At least if you had used TR_Data, you could have gotten some imperial rugs instead of being forced to use de ones. I think you should note down all these pointers, make one more interior (one of the dunmer sets, they'll get used far more), and if that's good, I'll recommend you for promotion.

The Dwemerologist · Post by **The Dwemerologist** » Tue Aug 18, 2009 2:03 am

Is this better? It's only an interior (showcase house) there is no exterior for it.

blackbird · Post by **blackbird** » Tue Aug 18, 2009 10:51 am

My review:
-The island could use more detail. Some areas are not detailed and some others are good detailed. The general rule is 100 refs per cell. The sea floor isn't detailed at all.
-There is a texture seam near the house
-You could consider using Ai (ascadian isles) textures when placing some AI flora, but watch out for texture seams.
-There is a side which is too steep. If you like steep hill, cover it up with a lot of rocks or use some cliff meshes (although we don't have small BC cliff meshes). Almost the whole underwater part of the island is too steep for me.
-Use more vertex shading. Especially around bigger objects like bigger rocks and the house.
-You could use more BC flora.
-Your claim is still a bit dirty. There are few unnamed cells affected.

General conclusion: It was not bad, I have seen soem good elements. But the claim could be more detailed at some places, especially the sea floor which hasn't changed at all.
Avoid steep hills or cover them with a lot of rocks or cliffs meshes (available in TR_data).

The Dwemerologist · Post by **The Dwemerologist** » Wed Aug 19, 2009 11:05 pm

Black Bird: I've decided to work on interiors for right now but when I go back to working on exteriors i'll be sure to keep all that wise advise in mind.

Post by **Haplo** » Thu Aug 20, 2009 12:28 am

After three reviews of one showcase file, you are required to create a new interior.

The Dwemerologist · Post by **The Dwemerologist** » Thu Aug 20, 2009 1:47 am

my latest one is a new interior from all of the other posts.

The Dwemerologist · Post by **The Dwemerologist** » Tue Aug 25, 2009 8:54 pm

--bump--

Kiteflyer61 · Post by **Kiteflyer61** » Tue Sep 01, 2009 12:04 am

Hey Dude,

Sorry about the wait. It seems to be very busy around here right now.

I'll give you a review though.

-Illegal to sleep here not checked
-This interior doesn't fit any of the hlaalu exteriors. If you had turned the upper floor around so that it was over the lower floor it would have worked for two or three of them.
-You still have a little bit of style mixing going on (de_r furniture with com_ decorations) generally the only com_ stuff you can get away with is sacks ( since there aren't any de_ versions available). You also have a de_p chest on the floor when there are de_r versions.
-The pathspears are usually for exteriors and caves. They look out of place in interiors. There is a rail piece for hlaalu interiors in the static set or you can use a wall and post combo.
-Bk_wildelves is bleeding into the book next to it and the other end is hanging out in space.
-The yellow glass bowl is standing on a point. Some things have to be bled slightly to look right.
-The lighting is a little excessive. You don't need to use so many lights. Interiors show up a lot brighter in-game than in the CS. Also your sunlight settings should be left very low if not off for interiors as they don't get used by the game.
-While technically not an error, you shouldn't use skill books unless a claim calls for them as they are quite rare in-game.

Now for the stylistic stuff.

Your interior feels pretty bare, especially for a rich one. Try adding more furniture and clutter. The bookshelf looks a little too perfect IMO. Don't use gridsnap for small decorations and items. It doesn't look right for everything to be perfectly lined up. Also be sure to rotate things like bottles, plates, etc. The textures are different going around these things and it looks more natural if you rotate them. Don't be afraid to put furniture at angles to make them look more natural. Even a 5 degree turn can make a lot of difference. Another thing I should mention is using loaddoor versions of doors and doorjambs when they are available. It cuts down on poly counts for users who don't have fast machines to play on and it makes it easier for reviewers to do their thing.

Overall I'd say you're improving nicely. Keep up the good work!