Haplo wrote:Sload wrote:Exterior changes: Foreign Quarter, Docks, Charnelworks
-Remove buildings 5 through 9 in [url=http://tamriel-rebuilt.org/old_forum/download.php?id=17992]this image.[/url] Replace them with buildings i2-29, i2-413 and i2-414 (413 and 414 are 15 and 16: [url=http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/9677/necint1qs9.jpg]this image.[/url]) If there is room, keep building 6.
-Remove i2-29, i2-411 and i2-415 (identified as 13 and 17 [url=http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/9677/necint1qs9.jpg]here[/url]). Put a fancy entrance to the catacombs along this wall.
Both of these are done. File is attached for viewing and a screenshot of an a suggested entrance to the catacombs is linked below. I believe this completes the exterior work of Necrom (apart from adding an entrance to the Temple and finalizing the Catacombs entrance). I thought about putting some shrine activators by the entrance. Or perhaps even all around the exterior of the building. Northmarkers were all changed to reflect their interiors' new positioning.
http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/1493/necromh.jpg
The entrance looks ok, but I believe it could be a little more grand. (Though not gaudy.) The doorjamb also bleeds into the other parts rather noticeable. More crucially, though, the statues should go for a number of reasons. Firstly, they represent saints that have no real connection to the catacombs and at any rate, saints do not represent the centerpoint of the Tribunal religion that one would expect in a place so sacred to the Dunmer. Secondly, statues are massively overused as it is. Read below for more information on that. I'd suggest something more like [url=http://www.majhost.com/gallery/Vahiku/TamrielRebuilt/necromcatacombs.jpg]this[/url].
However, this leads me to post some information that I have been wanting to post for a long time. It concerns a number of aesthetic changes to the exterior of the city that I would like to propose. The overall goal is to make the place look more austere. They are grouped per area of the city.
Overall
- All banners posts need to be replaced by something not utterly amateurish. They are modeled and textured very poorly. Their colors don't match the surroundings and their textures are stretched very badly. More importantly, though: they have a Holy Roman Empire Bird on top of them, for god's sake. If no one else volunteers I'll remodel that one myself. For free, too.
- All grass texture disappear. No exceptions. Some subtle vertex shading can probably be added as compensation.
Charnelworks
- Statues of St. Olms and St. Delyn at the end of the causeway go. Their pedestal can stay, as it has a certain decorative value and it fills the otherwise empty space. I would suggest repeating the round medallion on all four sides. The St. Delyn triangle can go, as it has no meaning and clashes with the overall color scheme.
Manor-district-but-not-really
- The St. Llothis statue on the corner by the fountain should go. It has no reason to be there. See general note on statues below.
- The fountain should go. Necrom is not a place for fountains. This will probably have to be replaced by a sobre (i.e. without statues) monument or something along those lines. For a challenge, how about a monument to the saints and heroes of the Tribunal faith. But without statues.
- The statue of St. Felms by the tree in the north-east corner can... stay, on the condition that it is not used anywhere else in the city. It would, however, be good to give it a reason for being there. Here's what we know about Felms:
"If you would learn fierce justice, follow Saint Felms the Bold, Patron of Butchers and Fishmongers. This brave warlord slew the Nord invaders and drove them from our lands. He could neither read nor write, receiving inspiration directly from the lips of Almsivi."
Use this.
Temple area
This region is going to need some urban planning. The green avenue in front of the temple is kind of nice, but it completely goes against the solemn and sobre atmosphere of the city that should be maximal in this area. In more detail, this means the following:
- No fountains. The room where they were can remain empty.
- No statues. They make the place look awfully gaudy. Know that around the temple alone, there are as of yet 14 (!) statues. The Almalexia statue is cloned twice on opposite sides of the road; the St. Llothis statue is cloned four times (and it doesn't even look good), etc.
- The green trees and rocks all go - this is Necrom and not Los Angeles. The room they open up stays empty.
- The graveyard goes completely. This was already decided. What it will be replaced with should be discussed here.
A General Note on Statues
Statues are nice sometimes. They are meant to draw attention and to honour the person they represent. All of this is lost when they are used indiscriminately. They become gaudy and amateurish, trying to achieve a grandeur that by their presence they completely destroy. The following are some figures of the number of statues used in Necrom:
Exteriors:
- Ex_v_vivecstatue: 1
- TR_ex_statue_soldier01: 2
- TR_ex_statue_llothis01: 5 (!)
- tr_ex_statue_felms01: 5 (!)
- TR_ex_ind_almstatue_03: 2
- ex_v_stdeyln_01: 3
- ex_v_stolms_01: 2
Interiors:
- Ex_v_vivecstatue: 1
- TR_ex_statue_soldier01: 5 (3 of which in a single tavern??)
- TR_ex_statue_llothis01: 1
- TR_ex_ind_almstatue_01: 5
- TR_ex_ind_almstatue_03: 4
- TR_ex_ind_almstatue_02: 3
- ex_v_stolms_01: 1
Grand total: 40
What is this? Did the Vvardenfell Garden Emporium add one too many zeroes to its order for St. Llothis statues so they had to give them away for free?
I propose a radical solution. All but a few of these statues should disappear. As a matter of fact, the only statues that I can actually see as having any reason of being where they are, are the St. Felms described above and the Almalexia one in the yet-to-be-renamed Census and Excise office.
