Kolya99 Quest Showcase

Katze · Post by **Katze** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 9:53 pm

It's better than before, but still won't get you a promotion.

The loot is incredibly overpowered (I dont think that many glass and daedric daggers exist in the entire original game).

The interior is too big and sparsely decorated, and does not look like a real place.

You should scrap this vault idea entirely, and try and produce something that realistically would be found in the original game, like a shop, house, dungeon, market, bazaar, whatever. Hlaalu or Velothi are very good tilesets to use as they're very versatile. Don't make things bigger than they need to be either.

Also, don't bump so soon, you should leave it at least a week.

Tyrion · Post by **Tyrion** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 1:01 am

Yeah go with Cathartis' advice. Also, you bumped after only a few hours, which is a definite no-no. Wait a few days to a week, a reviewer will get to it.

I assume you've played the game, so you know the quality of work in a regular Bethesda made interior. That's the level we're aiming for and that's the professionalism we want to see in a showcase.

pacificmorrowind · Post by **pacificmorrowind** » Tue Jul 14, 2009 11:54 pm

do keep in mind that I'm not an exterior modder (by nature, much at all or with TR) but here's my review:
- there are some BAAD looking texture seems running the whole length of your town.
- the container placement seems a mite inorganic; I would suggest moving them around so they are less mathematical looking and more like people just keep them there.
- what is with the town lights way way way underground (down near water level)?

Other than that looks good to me but do note my initial sentece about not being an exteriorator.
Good Luck
Pacific Morrowind

kolya99 · Post by **kolya99** » Wed Jul 15, 2009 12:13 am

Post by **Haplo** » Wed Jul 15, 2009 2:14 am

kolya99, you are only allowed one account. Don't make another one. You broke two rules by doing that and by posting a showcase thread under the new account. I have deleted the new account and merged the posts with your original showcase thread.

Tyrion · Post by **Tyrion** » Wed Jul 15, 2009 2:39 am

As exteriors are my specialty

here goes

First off: your town is under-detailed and sterile. The area around is bare of anything. Towns have lots of little things around them, trees, rocks, shrubs, grass growing through paving stones, carts, outdoor stalls, discarded housewares, etc etc. Work with the terrain editor too.

-There are a lot of jagged spots in town, and the edges of town could use some work too.

-You haven't vertex shaded anything. Use this to give a more natural feeling.

-Your outdoor statics aren't natural looking at all, they also bleed in some spots.

-there's lights underground

-as per your question, the texture is ok I guess, you can use whatever paver texture they used in other Hlaalu towns, I don't know what it is off the top of my head. It does look a little more aesthetically pleasing but you should focus on the detailing first.

As it stands this .esp is a good form to work from. It needs detailing and some work to really make it come alive. Work on that, look at the level of detail in say, Balmora or Suran, and use that as a guide. Also don't neglect the area outside of town, the peninsula out of town is bare of anything, as are the roads right outside of town. Try for a natural feeling when you detail. Think of how people would move stuff around and place things, avoid rigidness.

Happy modding.

edit:
also, judging by its size, this file is dirty and needs cleaning

kolya99 · Post by **kolya99** » Wed Jul 15, 2009 4:45 pm

Tyrion · Post by **Tyrion** » Wed Jul 15, 2009 6:45 pm

You didn't use TESAME correctly and removed everything from your plugin. Only remove things that should not be modified by your plugin.

kolya99 · Post by **kolya99** » Wed Jul 15, 2009 7:51 pm

cire992 · Post by **cire992** » Thu Jul 16, 2009 3:18 am

You got it, plugin is properly cleaned now.

Here's looking at Resalla:

Landscape
- There's lots of texture seams... You'll either want to cover them or iron them out.
- Use landscape smoothing... Use the smooth verts tool in the Landscape editing window to keep your ground from looking jagged and geometric.
- No Vertex Shading... Use it under buildings, trees, rocks and other statics. It feints shadows and makes everything look firmly rooted in the ground. This tool can also be found in the Landscape Editing Window.
- There are some trees and rocks underneath the ground, you ought to delete them or place them somewhere in the town.

Objects
- Most of the clutter and containers placed around the town are bleeding (sinking) into the ground.
- The building directly to the south of the Hlaalu Council Hall needs to be pushed down into the ground more... its doors and frames are floating.
- Mayla the Clothier's banner should be raised up a bit, it's going to clip into the barrel underneath it when it's waving around in-game.

Aesthetic
- I like the layout
- Some adornments on the buildings would be nice (maybe some of those buttresses)
- Some more clutter around the town

Keep at it!

kolya99 · Post by **kolya99** » Thu Jul 16, 2009 6:17 pm

cire992 · Post by **cire992** » Thu Jul 16, 2009 10:47 pm

Now we're talking.

- The Buildings look a LOT better.
- Be more liberal with the vertex shading. Use different colors and shades and make sure you get it underneath all the buildings.
- The texture seams are still really bad, particularly near the entrances to the town. If you're having trouble blending them, try covering them up (maybe Hlaalu Walls?).
- The terrain badly needs more smoothing by the stairs next to the bookseller and to the north of the smithy.
- The building to the south of the Council Building still has some floating steps. Just raise up the ground on the south wing of the building. Don't forget to smooth the terrain there afterwards.
- most of the clutter (crates, urns, barrels) are either floating or sinking. You'll probably have to rotate them on the x and y axes so that they rest naturally on the ground.

You're on the home stretch now, hang in there!

kolya99 · Post by **kolya99** » Fri Jul 17, 2009 12:01 am

kolya99 · Post by **kolya99** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:02 pm

Post by **Haplo** » Wed Jul 22, 2009 12:49 am

It seems I'm missing something from your showcase .esp... I would recommend creating an island off the coast of Vvardenfell so that we can easily distinguish between your work and Bethesda's.

kolya99 · Post by **kolya99** » Wed Jul 22, 2009 5:54 pm

Post by **Haplo** » Wed Jul 22, 2009 6:00 pm

I'm just saying it's hard to tell what you did since it's just sitting on top of already existing land. If you make an island off the coast somewhere, I'll be able to see exactly what you did and how you did everything, and it's better to do something entirely yourself instead of just modifying what's already there; interior modders can't get promoted for modifying an existing interior, they have to make a new one.

kolya99 · Post by **kolya99** » Wed Jul 22, 2009 10:36 pm

kolya99 · Post by **kolya99** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 5:49 pm

Lady Nerevar · Post by **Lady Nerevar** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 5:59 pm

its been a while, so double posting is fine

kolya99 · Post by **kolya99** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 6:56 pm

Thrignar Fraxix · Post by **Thrignar Fraxix** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 7:42 pm

this is too small, there will never be a ruin this size. I'll review it none-the-less

chest bleeds into the floor
too many gems, all are rotated with angle snap which is bad
there are also many problems accounting for the uneven surface

kolya99 · Post by **kolya99** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 9:06 pm

Lady Nerevar · Post by **Lady Nerevar** » Thu Jul 30, 2009 3:54 pm

ait, my review
-default lighting
-most things in the lower room floated a bit
-over all i think there is a bit too much l00t for a ruin this small. there are two dwemer weapons and a bunch of gems in the first room alone.
-the telescope pillar was a nice touch, but it still feels a bit meh. i'd like a few more unique touches (maybe an interesting arrangement of pipes or something) to make the ruin stand out.

as ive mentioned in another showcase im not sure what Thrig wants for interiors like this. so i'll leave that up to him.

kolya99 · Post by **kolya99** » Sat Sep 19, 2009 3:52 pm

kolya99 · Post by **kolya99** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 8:50 pm

jonarus_drakus · Post by **jonarus_drakus** » Wed Sep 23, 2009 1:51 pm

Ohhh! Something for me to do!

I'll check it out...
...
...
...

NOW!

kolya99 · Post by **kolya99** » Fri Sep 25, 2009 12:01 am

jonarus_drakus · Post by **jonarus_drakus** » Fri Sep 25, 2009 12:07 pm

Sorry about that, RL has a way of interupting at the worst posible moments...

First off, the .ESP is dirty, it edits 4 cells other than those you created yourself (can provide a list if required - but its easy to figure out if your careful). One of the changes you made also resulted in an 'error warning' on loading.

Since you havn't linked your three cells together I'll just stick with reviewing the first one only for now (Though you will need to link them together - just to prove you can really - before you will get a recomendation from me).

TRTestingCell "Jermain Falx's House"
> Style mixing - you have both middle (MC) and upper (UC) class items mixed in together:
*DrawerClutterUpper03
*UC rugs(2) & UC tappestries(3)
*UC planters(2), urn, & pitcher

> The basket and ALL of the food items on the table float (be carefull with lowering such items, as the 'havok' physics engine will automaticaly bounce them into the air if they are placed wrong).

> MCBench01Bltrt (near dining table) floats. Activator furnature needs to be "f'ed" more than once before it will physicaly touch the floor (I find three times is generaly enough, but always check).

> MiddlePaintingLandscale01c needs to be set into the wall more (the bottom edge of the picture frame should contact the wall - or at least come VERY close to doing so).

> Once replaced with MC items, the tapestries also need to be set a little deeper into the wall (as far as you can without having them bleed into the walls).

> There is a MC 'double-chair' in the void under the floor.

> You remembered to set the Northmarker, Good!

Overall, this still needs work. The style mixing and errors prevent the cell from looking either finished or particularly 'lived in' (the lived in look is a REAL issue for me personaly - technical capacity is what you NEED though). Clean your .ESP, fix the errors, and pick one class style to go with and then I'll give it another look.

Sorry again for the delay,

JD.

kolya99 · Post by **kolya99** » Fri Sep 25, 2009 2:10 pm

jonarus_drakus · Post by **jonarus_drakus** » Fri Sep 25, 2009 2:23 pm

There are specific sets of rugs/tapestries for MC as well as UC under the clutter heading. In the case of furnature, there are full sets there too, its just that not every piece has an equivilent piece in the different class sets.
While the engine will make things 'fall' normaly, that doesn't excuse the need to lower them yourself, as if it is place 'floating' in the CS, it will stay there in-game untill such time that you manipulate the item (go in game and find such a floating item, highlight it and tap the 'Z' key, THEN it will fall).

As for cleaning your file i don't think TESAME works with the Obliv CS, I have heard of a program called 'TS Gecko' being used, but I'm not sure where to get it (I have yet to find a need for such things, never had the 'dirty file' issue myself - probably should get it anyway, just in case...)

FelixAmherst · Post by **FelixAmherst** » Fri Sep 25, 2009 5:29 pm

Yeah just to clarify, TES4Gecko is the program I use. It can clean your mods and create silent voice files etc, its a good program. Id get it, just incase.

And you can find it on google, Koyla =P

kolya99 · Post by **kolya99** » Tue Oct 06, 2009 10:46 pm

Four Greyhounds · Post by **Four Greyhounds** » Wed Oct 07, 2009 10:47 pm

hiya koyla. i'm gonna give this a look, even though i'm not yet a modder. (as i told denominator, i'm trying to get in some practice on reviewing) i'll update with a review when i'm done.

--northmarker, good

--clean, also good

TRTestingCell

--it seems a little bright to me. there are four lanterns all giving off their own light. use the static version and maybe two lightbulb-type lights (the invisible ones in game)

--pretty much everything (besides the desk and table) float.

--the food on the table floats severely. some of it also needs to be havoked and then adjusted by hand

--MiddlePaintingLandscape03 is off center.

--none of the linked doors have the yellow box in the right spot. this is what determines where the player will be standing and facing (the purple arrow) when they enter the cell.

--the best thing about this interior is the amount of clutter. it is very well cluttered, which usually doesn't happen much in showcases (at least in the ones that i've seen).

TRTestingCellPrivateRoom

--lighting is much better in here

--all of the wireframe furniture floats (the F key needs to be pressed more than with other objects, until it stops moving)

--you have a few more floaters up here, mostly the chests and sacks

--not as well cluttered as downstairs, but still proficient

TRTestingCellBasement

--too many lanterns, same as above

--a few more floaters down here, especially the rug

--pretty much everything on the shelves float a lot too

--this level is well-cluttered as well, though you may want to add a few more things.

overall, a fine interior. you must be very careful when placing objects so that you avoid floaters. this should come to you in time with more practice (at least it did to me). fix these errors up and I (or another OB modder) will review again. good luck!

kolya99 · Post by **kolya99** » Thu Oct 08, 2009 12:46 am

Four Greyhounds · Post by **Four Greyhounds** » Fri Oct 09, 2009 11:00 pm

here we go:

--i have no idea what Tony'sTestingCell is, but i'm almost positive it's not supposed to be here. i think this would classify your file as a dirty one.

TR Testing Cell

--some of the food items / plates still float

--i'm not entirely sure about this, but the yellow boxes i think to be on the floor. since this is where the player loads, this would (i believe) make them start in the cell in the air.

TR Private Room

--much better, not much wrong (besides the yellow box)

TR Basement

--also good, couldn't find any mistakes

to me, this would qualify a promotion. all we need is a higher up to confirm (and Thrig to approve). good job and good luck!

kolya99 · Post by **kolya99** » Sat Oct 10, 2009 8:49 pm

Katze · Post by **Katze** » Sat Oct 10, 2009 9:13 pm

Resize your avatar, it's way too big.

Four Greyhounds · Post by **Four Greyhounds** » Sat Oct 10, 2009 11:13 pm

since you're only allowed three fixes, i don't think that last one is valid. just wait for a modder to come by to recommend you, or ask you to create a new file.

Thrignar Fraxix · Post by **Thrignar Fraxix** » Sun Oct 11, 2009 12:18 am

Bethesda's method of cleaning isn't working for you apparently, this most recent file is still dirty (reviewing it since the reviewer wasn't a modder) TES4 Plugin Utility is what I use and it works for me.

Now for actual errors:
Main Cell:
Ownership needs to be applied in OB interiors since NPCs are made at that point.
Bread bleeds into the table (and the basket between it and the table)
actually, recheck everything in that basket
and almost everything on the plate for that matter
There is a chest that bleeds into the floor a little

Basement:
Open chest bleeds
cloth in chest floats
needs more clutter, misc items not conts and statics
couple other minor bleeders

Upstairs:
The bed has ownership... not an error, but why is this the only thing that has ownership?
There are a lot of places to sit here, an odd number. Change it up a little.
Same minor bleeders throughout

Overall, lots of small problems, but nothing big apart from the ownership and the cleanliness. If you make a new file, I doubt it will take you long at all to get promoted.