Level Design - Skywind #1

This is a big call out for all those that have any Level Design experience. Anybody that has played around with the landscapes, town or interiors in the Creation Kit is going to be of much help.

Our problem is that we have an environment that was created with an automated converter tool. Although it has set up the game world with the original models, the translation has not faired well with both the land texture tiling and also the general look of the sparse object placements. A huge percentage of the Morrowind world is the height map with little in the way to break it up.

Please download the latest release 0.6.0 that has dirt-cliffs, mountains and rocks taken from Skyrim but altered with appropriate textures for every given area (region).

This will be the base models in which all landscape level design will be done from.
I have also added ztrees rock resources, which has 13 new rocks.

You will be able to find all these new models under "static\morrowind\landscape\dirtcliffs", "static\morrowind\landscape\mountains" and "static\morrowind\landscape\rocks". Each is prefixed according to area; 0AI, 0AL, 0AC, 0BC, 0GL, 0RM, 0WG.

The spreadsheet below is used to record what cells are being edited and if a person wants to book a number of cells so that they can work on them. These are the grayed cells. Light grayed cells are blanket changed cells; meaning they are open to further editing. Darker grey cells are areas that are being specifically edited by a person or team. Please post on this thread which area you are likely to work on.

CLAIMS ON AREAS WORKED ON - BE IN QUICK!!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Alvwmz6hbHGPdGZib2ZTLXh1S195WWRSaE1XZUtfTGc#gid=0

Also specify if you are going to do blanket type changes, that are open for other people to come and add more detail to, or you would rather just do the entire start to finish of level design. For example somebody might do lots of rocks changes to areas, but leave flora, clutter, animals open for somebody else add.

So far the team for Level Design includes:

Anthelius : selected cells in Bitter Coast/Ascadian Isles and Grazelands/Red Mountain

Eloth : Balmora, (shulk egg mine and up to caldera), moving up the southern end of West Gash

Mireneye : Sadrith Mora, Wolverine Hall (not been present for a while)

SqallyDaBeanz : Moglar Amur

Sheo : Khuul

JDT001 : Gnisis

Happychappy: Seyda Neen to Vivec

Brent333: Southeastern Azura Coast

Ravanna : Environment Artist and Moddler

Veltoss : Pelegraid (not been present for a while)

Because of the vast vista differences of Morrowind it would be better to talk about improvements also for regions:
Ascadian Isles — A fertile agricultural region of islands and peninsulas in southernmost Vvardenfell.
Ashlands — A forsaken ash desert in the areas surrounding Red Mountain.
Azura's Coast — A mostly uninhabited region of rocky islands and peninsulas on Vvardenfell's eastern coast.
Bitter Coast — A swampy and poor region along Vvardenfell's west coast.
Grazelands — The pastures in northeastern Vvardenfell.
Molag Amur — A region of volcanic rock and lava pools in the southeastern interior of Vvardenfell.
Red Mountain — The volcanic mountain dominating central Vvardenfell which is encircled by the Ghostfence.
Sheogorad — A wild region of islands and peninsulas surrounding Sheogorad Island off Vvardenfell's northern coast.
West Gash — A rocky, highland region in western Vvardenfell that is rich in minerals.

Last edited by grumpycat on 15 Mar 2014 - 04:03.

New swag for landscapers

New swag for landscapers courtesy of Witcher 2 and their developers CD Projekt RED who are kind enough to allow use of their assets in other games. True champions of the people. Witcher 3 out 2014 :) The models are not complete, they have no collision, and the shaders are not optimal. Also the specular textures need to be put into the alpha of the normals, so they are too shiny in areas, too dark in others. But want to get it into the next developer release so that people can start getting inspired.

My initial thoughts are that many of these could be used as an Azura Coast tileset of some kind.

Scarps / embankments, generic enough to use all over Morrowind for breaking up general landscape and giving it more shape. An alternative to the Skyrim dirt cliffs, these can be used more subtle when buried into the earth to show wear and tear on the land. In theory no more large areas of titled textures.

these look excellent, most

these look excellent, most wont fit for West Gash, but otherwise we can recolour some and useful for most areas.

WII was much higher res/quality than skyrim, what are the polycounts like, and do they LOD?

Actually they are about the

Actually they are about the same res/poly count. The difference is that the textures are baked on rather than tillable. So they get really specific and nice detail, but they do not scale well. If you make them bigger then the detail loss is quite obvious.

With sizes as well, I scaled most things up 5 times to get them to something that might work with Skyrim world.

One set of rocks uses quite a few different textures per rock, so this is not as optimized as Skyrim basic 1-2 textures per rock. But that is only for like half a dozen models.

I have to admit the scarps/embankments could do with the plateaus stretched out to be longer so that they are easier to fit on gentle slopes. Its quite hard to get them to fit without exposing gaps, or you end up burying them so much that they get lost! More work :(

amazing, love those guys!

amazing, love those guys! well done! Those could look amazing in Sheogorad or something :)

Was toying with the idea of

Was toying with the idea of using this sort of style for Azura Coast. Is anybody else feeling it?

I think the way to go is to make as many things called "Object Palettes" http://www.creationkit.com/Object_Palettes in the creation Kit to make up large sets of grouped assets so that these shapes can be applied more quickly. The thing with these new assets as they cant be scaled up (without textures getting blurry) so trying to cover areas means using A LOT of models.

Thanks to Ravanna textures and ideas of a few different overlays of barnacles and moss/lichen it will help with overall look of detail, especially up close.

I'm definitely digging that

I'm definitely digging that look. The new assets we got are incredible! I say go for it, 100%.

I agree. Perfect for the

I agree. Perfect for the Azura coast ; ) (especially the shells texture)

I love the moss and barnacle

I love the moss and barnacle covered rocks, I'm all for it. Any chance there could be harvestable barnacles on some of the rocks?

Any chance there could be

Any chance there could be harvestable barnacles on some of the rocks?

Its not an Elder Scrolls world, without being able to pick up, throw it, and cook it in a pot. Was thinking the same thing, so yes :)

I have this stupidly crazy

I have this stupidly crazy idea I MIGHT mod into Skywind by myself.

If any of you have played Demon's or Dark souls you may know the areas Blighttown or Valley of Defilement. I'm thinking of ways to remodel the landscape around Seyda Neen to have a more thick atmosphere and make it seem like its' actually very far down below the "surface" world so to speak.

I made a small alpha image below. It really doesn't show much but to give a sense of scope I would place buildings on the platoes and connect caves and walkways between them.

Then I'd model a new light-house to stand further out from everything else and put down a nice little harbor.

The quest cave could technically be moved to like a sewer area to this, unless that is absolutely against the lore available.

Again, I'll probably do this for myself if anything neat comes out of it I'll share it ;)

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I don't know about completely

I don't know about completely changing the atmosphere like that Mireneye. but if it's just a personal/optional thing then I say that looks pretty cool.

Hey Mireneye, if you want to

Hey Mireneye, if you want to do a unique area then you might have better luck with doing something for the Beyond Skyrim projects on darkcreations.org

A concept for Southern Azura

A concept for Southern Azura Coast. Would sort of start from where Vincent has finished his work doing the Acadian Isles. This is just a sample concept. I've got other project work so don't have time to landscape myself (at the moment) so hoping others will pick up the landscaping. There is heaps to do, so please, please start helping if you want to try your hand at it.

Boring pile of nothing before.

I'd estimate there are well over a hundred of these tiny outcrops through the Azura Coast so I really cant see a better way for people to get started than to claim their tiny piece of the pie and get yourself into the act of helping the project. Great to tell your friends that you actually made part of the game. Its also the cheapest way of getting your own private island, short of being Richard Branson.

That looks stunning, keep it

That looks stunning, keep it up!

we cant use this 'rocks' in

we cant use this 'rocks' in our region. this rocks was created by rockfall in mountain terrain, not in in volcanic terrain. im talkin about happy's azura coast.

The idea is to be like "The

The idea is to be like "The Giant's Causeway" in Scotland caused by a volcanic eruption that made basalt columns. Admittedly its not perfect, but we are limited by people who can make assets at the moment. Beggars and choosers, we being beggars of course.

But these are some cool concepts

if we will make flat meshes

if we will make flat meshes in the future than, i think it is ok)

Don't forget the basalt

Don't forget the basalt cliffs from drangonbron, with your new assets I think all those pictures can be more or less recreated ingame.

Yeah Dragonborn is quite

Yeah Dragonborn is quite specific setup, but will be good for cliffs and rubble :)

Actually I think we are pretty close to what happens with wear and tear exposed to the ocean.

some retexturing of

some retexturing of dragonborn walls, the witcher rocks (darker texture?) add some overlay effects and perhaps some unique self made rocks like taller menhirs (unless the dragonborn walls suffice) and I thnk we got oursleves a sweet looking azura coast :3

Reference for Ravanna, here

Reference for Ravanna, here is the dragonborn before being cut up

Just an example of 1 of 7 versions from this model

Quick concept using literally

Quick concept using literally 2 assets, 1 basalt and 1 worn, with lichen, moss and barnacles to basically hide the fact that the textures have not been done yet.

That looks incredibly

That looks incredibly realistic, cant wait to see it with the new textures.

omg that looks soo real o,o U

omg that looks soo real o,o U sir have a gift!

Id say that was a success. we

Id say that was a success. we need to wear the basalt tower rocks down a bit, make them more natural, and smaller size i think. with new textures we def have a system for AzC now.

Id say that was a success. we

Id say that was a success. we need to wear the basalt tower rocks down a bit, make them more natural, and smaller size i think. with new textures we def have a system for AzC now.

Yes agreed, more worn and these were scaled up to 3x the normal Dragonborn size, so smaller will also mean it wont be so dominate. But a couple of islands might have big structures as a "feature".

Ravanna if you can make the witcher textures seem to be of basalt structure more then i think we will be perfect.

My only concern is that is such a domineering look that we need to be selective how many islands have these formations and to what extent the islands are covered.

Hey, i was playing around

Hey, i was playing around in seyda neen (specifically the starting area) Iv noticed the wall done a line... like at all to the point their are giant gaps you can see the rest of the map in.
Also the collision on the stairs in the warehouse (steps to the second floor not the spiral steps) are realllly screwed up. You fall through the artwork onto invisible steps just below it. O_o

Also a few rocks in balmora around the temple that are sorta just floating and the back sides of them are opened up. Perhaps raise the terrain up a bit to make it match or put more rocks behind them?

Drakonman wrote: Also the

Drakonman
Also the collision on the stairs in the warehouse (steps to the second floor not the spiral steps) are realllly screwed up. You fall through the artwork onto invisible steps just below it. O_o

I'm pretty sure those stairs were fixed.

Mehh wrote: Drakonman

Mehh
Drakonman
Also the collision on the stairs in the warehouse (steps to the second floor not the spiral steps) are realllly screwed up. You fall through the artwork onto invisible steps just below it. O_o

I'm pretty sure those stairs were fixed.

i just downloaded a fresh copy of this as well as a clean install of skyrim. Is it fixed in the next update or...?

The stairs to Arilles

The stairs to Arilles tradehouse have been fixed but are not currently available. The next public update will contain a fix.

Would it be possible to add a

Would it be possible to add a Distant LOD version of the main land? not actually construct the main land but make it visible but impossible to go to like vardenfell in Dragonborn?

Yes.

i would totally help if i

i would totally help if i could get my creation kit to actually work and stop crashing on startup!

Have you tried to validate

Have you tried to validate it's cache? Also do you have any DLC installed? If so you have to edit CK's .ini files.

I decided to make another

I decided to make another video showcasing some of the recent landscaping progress and cities. I plan on making more in the future, so if your work wasn't shown in the video, do not worry! Please check it out and let me know what you guys think! Keep up the good work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOWsu73v8lU&feature=youtu.be

Freakin awesome, nice job. It

Freakin awesome, nice job. It reminded me how much effort has gone into making this so much more than a conversion.

What area are those mushroom rocks? I've never seen them before, the blew my mind.

I loved the video, the

I loved the video, the landscape of Morrowind is taking shape if skyrim is fun to explore this will be so many times better, playing Morrowind is cool but playing it with these eyecandies ...

just one thing i noticed in the video: there is a tree overlapping the lighthouse, has this been fixed?

Can we get a detailed update

Can we get a detailed update on what has been done, merged, and who has left? It looks as if this thread has not been updated in a while and several of the people that have area's are not longer here. Also, how is the Google doc edited and where is the key so I can read if something is finished or not?

The reason I ask, is that I am back and I am going to start correcting world navmesh by hand. Starting with roads and paths. So Followers, NPC's and can actually move about without getting stuck.

But before I start, I want to know for sure where the landscaping is done and for which cells. So we do not have to come back and redo a redo of the navmesh.

There is still a lot of fine

There is still a lot of fine tuning to be done. Even in the "finished" areas some of the land might need to be edited a bit. The only place I can think of where the road is "finished" would be the Ascadian islands.

As it stands, there is a lot

As it stands, there is a lot of landscaping to be done still, and no one has really stepped up to help, in fact, we've been losing more volunteers then we've gained. I encourage new and old members alike to give landscaping a try. It takes a lot of practice and an artistic eye, but after awhile it can be one of the more simpler tasks to do. Just off the top of my head, here is a list of areas and their current status.

Bitter Coast - HappyChappy, being redone I believe. Ask him about it

West Gash - Eloth, about half done. I think anyone can help work on this area, but check in with Eloth.

Ascadian Islands - Vincent S. - Mostly done, needs some fine tuning and work around the eastern end.

Red Mountain - The model is being redone so no work can be done here yet

Ashlands - SquallyDaBeanz, working on this daily, needs a lot of fine tuning still but is about half way done. Should be finished in a month or two.

Azuras Coast - Thermocrius is working on this area. No idea how much is done.

Sheogorad - Firewolx, he just started as well and we haven't heard much from him. This area is also free to work on. Check out the post.

Molag Amur - SquallyDaBeanz, Mostly finished, still plenty of fine tuning to be done. Anyone can help texture blend and add rocks, plants, etc to bare areas and the road.

Grazelands - LASentry has just begun work here. Please coordinate with him.

I'll post an updated map claim soon.

It looks like I'm working on

It looks like I'm working on the West Gash now, so please update that Squally :)

G-R-O-U-N-D

G-R-O-U-N-D T-E-X-T-U-R-E-S

Ok one area that can be improved on is the usage of ground textures.

When you are in the Landscape Editor, you can press "I" to pull up the ground textures per quad menu. This shows you how many textures are being used per cell divided in 4 parts. Upper left, upper right, lower left and lower right.

6 textures maximum per quad. You'll notice that some only have a few textures filling the slots.

Now rather than using grass to hide the visible repeated lands, more clever use of adding extra textures and/or mixing in textures that already exist should be done. There is a case for optimization of less ground textures used, however given that grass densities can be reduced (a big proven performance bug-bear) that its preferable to add in these extra textures. Even some of the Rock ground texture can eventually be removed from many cells, as they are covered with real meshes now. So at least 1-2 slots per quad will probably become free for a lot of cells. Honestly we know you've done a good job of level designing if these can be removed.

Just a little mixing it up can go a long way. As far as WHAT textures to use, really we can add unlimited variety. Up until now we have been basing ground textures off a 1 to 1 replacement of Morrowind textures, updated of course. However imagination is the limit. If you (the landscaper) would like more variety, something particular, then search the internet, or even find some photos/art that matches what you are thinking. That is what teams are for, to get the results that you are thinking of.

My suggestion is try to work without grasses until the very end of your work. Make it the last thing to use to construct your level designing. You can turn this off in the editor and in game you can turn it off with the command 'TG'. Better to see if your area stands up without grasses turned on.

It is probably likely that we are going to have a performance version that is a lot lighter on the grass densities, so keep this in mind.

All landscapers please respond to this as an "I understand". Trying to get communication and consistency better this year and its certainly not going unnoticed that people don't get the full picture of what we are trying to do as a unit.

I didn't do much of this in

I didn't do much of this in Molag Amur except in a few key areas. I will deinitely get around to it. The Ashlands, however, is looking great. Adding various colors also helps break up the ground.

Heya guys, i hope iam not

Heya guys,

i hope iam not posting this in the wrong forum thread, if so please correct my mistake.

I was wondering if and where you still could use a helping hand in landscape/exterior/interior cell editing. Id like to be of help for the project and am currently undertaking a games designer Bc degree which does involve level design.

Hello, I too would like to

Hello,

I too would like to help on landscaping : just need to install everything first and pick a location if that's ok :D.

From what I understood, we can use the witcher 2 assets freely right ? And our goal as a landscaper is to add details and optimize space to make it memorable / cool / varied and basically do the level building for an area, correct ? Is creating new assets if we find that something is missing an option ?

Pardon me if some things have been said already.

By the way I'm a level designer working at Eidos MTL, I've just discovered the Skywind project so I'm interested. I have some basic knowledge of the creation kit (and the red engine for that matter, so I shuld have the assets for the witcher 2 already on my computer) even though I haven't gone in depth with terrain as I mostly worked with kits / modules and interiors. But I love doing exterior work and lanscaping in general so I'll keep learning the tools.

Cheers

Hey there Moutrave, if you're

Hey there Moutrave, if you're looking to help with landscaping, check out this thread here http://morroblivion.com/forums/skyrim/skywind-development-forums/landscaping-and-level-design/7471 check in with me if you have any questions.

Hi Moutrave, thats great.

Hi Moutrave, thats great. Make sure you communicate on possible areas of interest that you might want to work on.

We have threads with various concepts for areas, and we also have artists sketching up things right now as well. So its important to bounce off ideas going into regions.

Best thing to do is to have a look around the world to get a feel for what work has been done, what assets you have to work with and then we will get you setup. Feel free to msg me anytime.

A far as the witcher assets go, they actually are not that good in game. The textures are baked, meaning that up close the detail isn't very good for the sizes that they are. Elder Scroll games are about walking on the rocks, up close and personal. Give them a try, but you'll probably see what I mean.

Hey folks, I'm a graduate

Hey folks,

I'm a graduate of product design, so have plenty experience with Photoshop, Illustrator and Solidworks, though solidworks is not too much use here I'm just giving the idea that I can get my head round design packages fairly quickly. I tinkered a fair bit with the original Morrowind con. set, building rooms caverns, gardens, transporters with sketchy lore reference... high emporer of the mages guild has certain perks in that you can have a transportal in your gaff... erm.. like I said, sketchy lore friendliness!!

I'd love to help out with this project, both to aid a truly honorable project of rebirthing the Nerevarine and to selfishly build up some game dev. skills! I spotted it in December, though I just bought the Morrowind expansions yesterday. I think I would probably like to first get my hands dirty with landscaping (gonna repost this in the landscaping thread in a min).

It's about 4 years since I've played Morrowind so need to get into the game again. I will be getting stuck into that from today in my spare time, I wanted to check in with you guys to express my intentions first though. I'm green but I'm pretty sure I'll pick up what I needs to be known soon enough and for now will work on what you think most needed.

I know this is an old thread,

I know this is an old thread, but can I still claim areas to work on? I was looking through here: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Places and it looks like there are still lots of places that aren't being worked on. I would like to work on maybe one of the small towns, or one of the many camps that exist.