NEENJA'S Showcase

Jannifer · Post by **Jannifer** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 8:19 pm

Neenja,

I was just cruising the Showcase section and came across your book text. I thought I'd offer my edit of it, which you may take or leave, just as you please. If something is an actual error, the correction will be in red .

A SummonerÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s Calling
By Rufarth Haas

Dear Reader,
As you must know by now, having found this book, this tome is exceedingly rare. So, may I be the first to congratulate you on your discovery of my little notebook. I hope it may help you learn the basics of summoning, and when your memory fails you, assist you in recalling the fundamentals of the fine art of summoning. Read On!

I
Before you start calling forth creatures from other planes, you must understand the basics of summoning. As you should know, summoning is the art of calling forth and binding creatures from other planes to do your bidding. I, personally, have always had a soft spot in my heart for summoning. I quite enjoy looking upon a mighty atronach, knowing it is completely and exclusively under my control.

II
Now, before you start mindlessly summoning creatures here and there, you must have at least a minimal understanding of what you are summoning. So, let me pose this question, what are you summoning? Daedra, of course! Daedra hail from the strange plane of Oblivion. Little is understood about Daedra and their ways, but I will tell you what I know. Daedra are beings of immense might. They are comparable to our animals of Nirn, both in their diversity and power. However, unlike animals, some (in fact, many) Daedra are intelligent, or at least semi-intelligent. For example, the Scamp is a little runt of a thing. It is able to employ elementary reasoning skills, but anything as complex as mathematics or alchemy is beyond it. Dremora, on the other hand, are a very intelligent breed of Daedra. Their wit and cunning match that of the most successful thief; their calculations and raw intellect are very near that of even the most astute scholar. I do not suggest summoning a Dremora as a beginner, merely because they are very dangerous if even the most minute detail of a summoning is out of place. However, when you have mustered enough skill to properly govern a Dremora, they can be the most effective of servants, able to evaluate and assess situations where other Daedra would be struck dumb by the complexity of the scenario. Overall, Daedra can be useful minions no matter what they are, be they Scamp, Clannfear, Atronach, or Dremora. For more information on the nature of Daedra, read On Oblivion and The Spirit of the Daedra.

III
All right, now weÃ¢â‚¬â„¢re finally getting to how to summon a Daedric servant. I will teach you how to summon a Scamp. The Scamp is the best minion for beginning summoners. It is fairly weak, and it is not as taxing on the body as higher beings to call forth. Scamps are well-suited to easy, mundane tasks, such as retrieving an item. If needed, Scamps can also be employed in battle. Most Scamps are far stronger than any untrained man and can thus be a very useful ally in a battle. Now, to begin the summoning of a Scamp, youÃ¢â‚¬Â¦
[The book goes on to explain how to summon a Scamp.]
And there you have it! Your very own Scamp! Of course, the spell I just taught you will only bind the Scamp for a small amount of time, but even the shortest measure of time an ally is there can tip the balance of a battle, can it not?

IV
Well, I hope this little runt of a book has and will prove useful to you. I hope you will attain summoning greatness, reader! Good luck to you!

Respectfully submitted,

Jannifer

NEENJA · Post by **NEENJA** » Wed Oct 18, 2006 4:51 am

WOW! So many posts! Believe me guys, after going for more than two weeks without a post in my showcase, This is a real ego-booster (even if much of the conversationg didn't have to do with my stuff). So, thanks Jannifer for the corrections. I'll be posting more stuff soon. See ya

--the NEENJA

NEENJA · Post by **NEENJA** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 3:34 am

Here are some nice pics of a sword I modelled quick tonight:
[img]http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/4545/awesomeswordcv3.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/28/awesomesword2uk9.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/5746/awesomesword3kp4.jpg[/img]

That's my blender work. More to come soon!
--the NEENJA
P.S. On the topic of the heightmap->morrowind file, perhaps using mGen in conjunction with, maybe, Terragen, could yield useful results. I'll look into this more when I feel patient enough to learn to use mGen

Radnurag · Post by **Radnurag** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 8:42 am

Reminds me of an Ebony Broadsword!

It's nice anyway...

angelus6 · Post by **angelus6** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 8:46 am

nice sword neenja. reminds me of spartan swords...

anyway, isn't it impossible to use TerraGen with te GameBryo Engine? or so im led to believe anyway...

Sload · Post by **Sload** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 1:00 am

Oi, mate, I was wondering if you had looked into questmaking on Oblivion at all.

NEENJA · Post by **NEENJA** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 6:58 am

Sload wrote:Oi, mate, I was wondering if you had looked into questmaking on Oblivion at all.

I have. I've slowly been migrating from Morrowind to Oblivion, and therefore have been interested in modding for Oblivion. I even started making a quest showcase for Oblivion. I'd also like doing interiors for oblivion if everything weren't so darn preset (for buildings) Anyways, thanks for checking in Sload!

--the NEENJA

horodnicdragos · Post by **horodnicdragos** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 7:01 am

NEENJA: If you need any help regarding modeling feel free to ask me. Now the sword looks a bit detail less, as I've studies a few swords The handle has a big part of detail. Do don't worry about the polycount on the handle. The sowrds in oblivion are usually arround 1000-2000 triangles.

NEENJA · Post by **NEENJA** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 5:49 pm

Yeah, so far I'm still a n00b to 3d modeling, and I may always be. (But it's a buttload of fun, and that's what it's all about, isn't it?

) Anyway, I think I'll work on making the sword nicer, and get that short quest up on here soon. Thanks for talking to me guys!

--the NEENJA

Joco · Post by **Joco** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 9:25 am

You are on the right track, primary for fun. You aint defenitly that bad, you have talent, just practise some more and you will get the hang of it. Keeeeeep up!!

//Joco

NEENJA · Post by **NEENJA** » Thu Nov 23, 2006 7:30 pm

All right, I modelled this. Thought I'd show it off.
[img]http://img66.imageshack.us/img66/9420/swordmt2.jpg[/img]
[url]http://img66.imageshack.us/img66/9420/swordmt2.jpg[/url]

It's a sword. What cha think?

--the NEENJA

horodnicdragos · Post by **horodnicdragos** » Thu Nov 23, 2006 8:27 pm

That's not bad, personally I got tired of swords. Here's a good one I found for you. Try to do a fish, use your imagination. Take your time needed and post a screenshot here.

More inspiration:

[img]http://www.seaserpentproductions.com/images/fish%203D%20model%20wireframe%20and%20shaded.jpg[/img]

Harke the Apostle · Post by **Harke the Apostle** » Thu Nov 23, 2006 9:21 pm

horodnicdragos wrote:That's not bad, personally I got tired of swords.

I feel the same way.

Joco · Post by **Joco** » Fri Nov 24, 2006 8:43 am

Me to indeed, tried to do like 10 different kinds...

El Scumbago · Post by **El Scumbago** » Fri Nov 24, 2006 10:59 am

Nice stuff, there's certainly some skill in you. Work on it, and given the chance...give us a helping hand!

NEENJA · Post by **NEENJA** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 8:37 pm

I'm starting to make a legion fortress north of Vvardenfell. Tell me what you think of the layout:
[img]http://img131.imageshack.us/img131/8590/tesconstructionset20061jh0.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img115.imageshack.us/img115/4677/tebsconstructionset2006ar6.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/2631/tesconstructionset20061ca6.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img131.imageshack.us/img131/2061/tesconstructionset20061pa6.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img421.imageshack.us/img421/2290/tesconstructionset20061rv6.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img421.imageshack.us/img421/1024/tesconstructionset20061oa2.jpg[/img]
So, what do you think? Critiques and suggestions are definitely welcome.

--the NEENJA

Harke the Apostle · Post by **Harke the Apostle** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 9:03 pm

It looks more like some kind chemical factory, the layout doesn't abound in logic.
Perhaps you could check some of the fortresses in game?

NEENJA · Post by **NEENJA** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 9:14 pm

the layout doesn't abound in logic.

Err... how so? Well, it may be partly my bad; the whole thing isn't supposed to be a fort, more like a fortified city with the fort in the center. Here, this may communicate my idea better:
[img]http://img115.imageshack.us/img115/4677/tebsconstructionset2006ar6.jpg[/img]
See, how there's an inner fort, with surrounding houses? I apologize if I didn't make this clear earlier.

--the NEENJA

CleverClothe · Post by **CleverClothe** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 9:22 pm

The four towers look too odd. The wall tower pieces should be spread out. And the land seems too flat for Morrowind standards.

Those towers on the hill seem too big to be just guard towers. The fat one is almost a Motte.

I would suggest that you vary the terrain and merge the central fortress in with the wall.

Harke the Apostle · Post by **Harke the Apostle** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 9:30 pm

I understood, and I still think the design would make more sense it you changed it a little. the guard towers seem silly (although I admit I can't see them very well), and the central fortress with the donjon look dwarved by the walls and the guard towers.
One thing you could do is, rather than having an entire fortress within the walls, just closing off the part were the soldiers are with a wall, and making the donjon bigger.

NEENJA · Post by **NEENJA** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 9:50 pm

Alright, I agree, the towers were quite big, and the entrance towers were quite crowded. In any case, here are some different entry ways I experimented with:
[img]http://img76.imageshack.us/img76/9662/tesconstructionset20061hs8.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img123.imageshack.us/img123/2169/tesconstructionset20061bg9.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img123.imageshack.us/img123/7797/tesconstructionset20061pm5.jpg[/img]
I prefer either the one with four arches or two arches in the middle. Your opinions?

And here are the guard towers resized:
[img]http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/6431/tesconstructionset20061mg9.jpg[/img]
Note that the fatter one is a beacon tower that is used to signal the coming of ships.

And here is my actual fort, redone:
[img]http://img118.imageshack.us/img118/7533/tesconstructionset20061tg1.jpg[/img]

So, whatcha think?

--the NEENJA

angelus6 · Post by **angelus6** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 10:27 pm

thats some nice work neeja. im liking the layout a lot. but the surrounding town looks a little empty. maybe room for a couple more houses and then barns/stables etc?

Harke the Apostle · Post by **Harke the Apostle** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 12:01 am

I'm no reviewer, but it still doesn't look to plausible to me. You have to think about the hierarchy of buildings. Which building is the most important? That one should be the largest. Also a town with a castle always has the castle placed on the most strategic location; that is with the keep next to the guard towers, and the city on the other side.

Joco · Post by **Joco** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 6:56 am

I think it is a god idea and that ingame it would not look that strange. God work, just make the small adjustments and the final finish!

/Joco

NEENJA · Post by **NEENJA** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 12:54 am

Alrighty then...well, I'll be working on that Morrowind mod more...in the mean time, here's a cave I made in Oblivion a little while ago.

--the NEENJA
P.S. The cell name is CreepyCave01.

NEENJA · Post by **NEENJA** » Sun Dec 03, 2006 5:33 pm

Bump.

CleverClothe · Post by **CleverClothe** » Sun Dec 03, 2006 11:53 pm

On the entrance, the second would be more typical of cities. But the third one would be more unique if you spruced it up a bit.

PoHa! · Post by **PoHa!** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 3:50 pm

Hullo Illiterate dark clothed sneaky guy!

Sorry you haven't gotten any feedback on your OB cave. Giving feedback to others helps.

And ah, what a cave you have made. Quite illogical in parts, actually, but its size is nice. I'll break my critiques down into 2 categories: Layout and Themes. Detailing could use some work too, but those two things stand out the most...

Layout
I have an issue with the first hall that you come to, where you go down two ramps. There's no reason to go down two ramps, as one could easily be used, or none at all. It just seems unnecessary to me, is all.

Another issue with the ramps, after the second room, you go up a ramp, then you turn right, and right again, and you go down a ramp. It'd be nice if there was a room up there, even a small one... or... something, just to make it feel like one's not running through halls JUST to run through halls.

Now, regarding your tiles, PLEASE do not rotate any cave piece. If you do, rotate every one of them at the same rotation. Why? Because there are normally 4 different tiles for each piece, one for each of the 4 cardinal directions. This is because of the way that the textures were made for them, and I can tell from a glance that many of these tiles were rotated. When placing cave pieces, if you drag a piece into the render window and its not the right rotation, grab another. Yes, its a bit more tedious. But when done correctly, the cave will look seemless.

Lastly, the lighting is a bit odd, noticeably when it suddenly turns orange around the corpses. Where does this come from, anyways? IF they happen to be burning, then it would make some sense. But the chance that that will happen is too slim to have such a noticeable light coming from each one. I like that you have lights to draw attention to things that you want noticed, but these things do need a light source, otherwise, it kinda looks off. The occasional dim ambient light in a hallway would make sense, perchance coming from a hole that is too small to see. But a bright one, right outside a tent (where it would make sense to have a man-made light source) is rather odd looking to me.

Themes
You have corpses hanging from the ceiling, animals in a pit, and what I will assume is a very rich hermit living in a back area of the cave (why is he a part of the AzuraOrder, anways?). To put it bluntly, you need a single idea behind your cave. A simple theme to keep it tied in together. If I had been exploring this cave, I'd have expected it to be a goblin cave from the first room. Then, in the second room, I might have thought that the goblins were having a war with necromancers, which would be interesting and fun and all.

Then, by the last two rooms, I don't know what's going on. There aren't any necromancers, which is kind of a let down. If its a goblin cave, then since when do they know how to herd more than rats? The animals here look thrown in, for fun, as does the hermit in the back with his rich furniture.

Work on these two things, and add some more details. You've got plenty of heart, Mr. Neenja. You just need to focus and think about your work a little bit more.

NEENJA · Post by **NEENJA** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 9:32 pm

Thanks for the reply, PoHa!

Ookay, truth be told, this wasn't exactly the best showcase, I suppose. Mainly because of the themes. I made this cave a little while ago with the intention of making a bigger mod, but it kinda died down. The idea behing it is that there is an "Order of Azura" (OA) that is dedicated to peace between mortals and Daedra. (Now I'm not sure if this next part is lore-friendly, but-) the goblins are actually daedric initiates of the order in the bodies of some goblins, and Jaden Trumson (the NPC) is a higher level priest of the order, watching over the initiates. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but I think that I started making this in the early part of my Oblivion ownership. I suppose I could've made that all clearer, huh? Oh well

Anyways, I'll work on all the other stuff you mention, Poha!

Right now, I'm almost done making a tavern for Oblivion with a mini-quest. I was like 99% done, but the CS crashed.

D'Oh! I'll make sure to save more often now. Anyways, once I redo all the stuff I did for that, I'll upload it. I personally think it's nice.

--the NEENJA

angelus6 · Post by **angelus6** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 9:49 pm

damn, i hate when the CS does that! i'l give your Mini-quest a try as soon as you up it Neenja. i like the idea for the Order of Azura (even if it is against lore). keep up the good work man

Dexter · Post by **Dexter** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 10:24 pm

One good thing about having to restart a mod due to a crash is that we are less likely to make mistakes the second time around. Knowing what to place where allows us to focus more on building the interior without any errors, instead of obsessing over the big picture and missing the small things.
Of course, there is always the chance that you did something brilliant in your original file, and trying to duplicate that in the new one never turns out quite as wonderful as it did. My advice to you, if you run into this problem, is to try and approach the problem from a new angle, and don't worry about copying things exactly as they were before. Allow them to take a new shape, and you may just end up creating something better than the original.

NEENJA · Post by **NEENJA** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 4:54 am

Indeed, Dexter. So, here's my new showcase. It's a tavern that you can reach either by typing

Code: Select all

coc 11NEENJAinterior

in the console
OR walking through a random door in the Arena district of the Imperial City. Unfortunately, the dialogue is only text, so make sure you have subtitles on. There is a book you must find for the quest; it's behind the shelves to your right when you enter.

Tell me what you think of this. I would love to get plenty of feedback on this.

--the NEENJA

P.S. I noticed that you need to make furniture a persistent reference to use it in ai packages-excuse my ignorance, but what exactly persistent references, and do they do anything other than what I just mentioned?

Thrignar Fraxix · Post by **Thrignar Fraxix** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 5:45 am

OK!

I went in there and I found a couple errors.
1: The bar is positioned horribly. I stood behind it and the guards couldn't get to me. (I always kill everything in an int when I am done =D)

2: Why is it obvious that the bartender is a misogynist (or however that is spelled)

3: it probably isn't a good idea to have free floating dialog relate to a quest. in the quest relating to the copious coin purse, the game freezes the player in place as the vital dialog takes place.

4: Barrels are never locked except for the uber sweet one in fort farragut

Edit: 5: I think the chairs are a bit close to the tables, but I don't know.

6: a lot of the items were not owned by anyone, and thus were free to take. This is not how it should be.

NEENJA · Post by **NEENJA** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 5:50 am

thanks tf. I'll wait to see what anyone else has to say, and work on fixing it.

--the NEENJA

PoHa! · Post by **PoHa!** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 5:58 am

Just looking at this interior, it looks really nice, Neenja.

Tavern:
- The fire doesn't give off light by itself, or at least the on you chose doesn't. You should put a light here.
- The lighting should be set for the cell, so that you're not relying ENTIRELY on your own placed lights for visibility
- Locked barrels don't make too much sense, IMO
- The bar is placed such that you can't move behind it, and the pathgrid doesn't go around it. If you shot the barkeep, there'd be nothing he could do about it
- SackClutterMiddle03 (on top of a chest) rests somewhat illogically
- Stick to lower class clutter for lower class taverns
- As a general rule, don't use named items. Dark11FoodCrate, in this instance. While it doesn't appear to be connected to anything quest-wise, its just best not to take a chance, and reviewers will catch it
- The love letters book was a fun read, but I wish I could have seen more of the in between letters, to give the characters more depth

NPCs:
- Not a fan of Hannibal's hot red hair. Kinda kills the immersion, you know? Try for more natural colors
- You didn't set the merchant container for Venis (a name which reminds me too closely of Venus, but whatever)

Otherwise, I thought it looked pretty nice. The amount of clutter looked pretty good, with enough variation to look lived in and used. The rooms might have used a little bit of something lying around, but that's pretty much trivial. These are all pretty minor things, IMO.

Post by **Haplo** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 9:33 pm

A little birdie told me that once you've fixed these errors, you'll be promoted

angelus6 · Post by **angelus6** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 10:55 pm

oooooo! nice going NEENJA. can't wait for you to join teh Modder Ranks. enjoy ure member status while it lasts.

NEENJA · Post by **NEENJA** » Sun Dec 10, 2006 1:30 am

A little birdie told me that once you've fixed these errors, you'll be promoted

Wow, really? Who is this bird? I think I want to give it a hug.

JK. Anyways, here is my newly fixed interior. Follow the same instructions to get there as before.

I do believe I addressed every mentioned issue with this except for the following:

it probably isn't a good idea to have free floating dialog relate to a quest. in the quest relating to the copious coin purse, the game freezes the player in place as the vital dialog takes place.

By "free-floating dialog", I assume you're referring to conversations between NPCs. I don't think I made any of these, so what exactly are you referring to in my mod?

Stick to lower class clutter for lower class taverns

I think I did this pretty well, except there are a few places where I may have used middle class containers, but only because I couldn't find any lower class versions of them (sacks in particular). If this is what you meant, then are there lower class sacks? If so, I'll gladly use them in the future.

The love letters book was a fun read, but I wish I could have seen more of the in between letters, to give the characters more depth

I think that the letters were just the same mushy "Oh I wish I were with you" stuff, but if you want me to, I wouldn't mind writing more. I guess I was just a little impatient about uploading this.

Well, here it is, my mod!

--the NEENJA

Post by **Haplo** » Sun Dec 10, 2006 1:52 am

Promoting for several reasons:

Lots of patience, an active desire to stick with it is apparent throughout the showcase.

A good attitude and desire to learn and constantly improve.

Skill with interiors, exteriors, and writing.

Compatibility with both Oblivion and Morrowind

A very much desired aptitude for quests, and lots of potential for modeling. One of the most well-rounded modders in a long time. Welcome aboard, NEENJA!

EDIT: Try re-uploading the .esp, the latest you've uploaded has no actual cell in it. There are no references or anything. TESAME job gone awry?

NEENJA · Post by **NEENJA** » Sun Dec 10, 2006 5:35 am

Thanks a ton for the promotion!

But you really can't find the cell? I downloaded that exact same file, and was able to get to the cell without any other mods activated. Just to recap, the cell's name is 11NEENJAinterior. But oh well, I suppose I could re-upload it if you wish...

But yeah, thanks a ton! There are lots of new forums for me to check out! cool!

So, since the moddership system changed, I assume I'm promoted for interiors and quests, am I right?

--the NEENJA