[WIP] Bitter Coast

Looking good, I really like the ambience and misty feel of it.

Absolutely love the athmospherics, only not sure if mucksponge would grow in Bitter Coast. Great work nevertheless! One thing we should consider though is some thicker and taller swampy grass types, so that the ground doesn't feel that barren.

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I also really liked the grass types MGE had for Bitter Coast.

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That's of course something to consider in future, but I might get a concept artist on it ;)

Oh, and I would forget. Not sure how much possibility we have here, but I'd really like to push some glows in the Bitter Coast. Torchbugs, glowing mushrooms, Koda flowers and their ampules, maybe some shining dragonflies... I'd love the area to have lots of little glowing lights show up in the night, turn it into pretty much a swampy, natural Las Vegas :P A bit similar effect as Blackreach had. We might need more assets to make that happen though, any ideas? Could have concept artists work on that too :P

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@ Squally: I think it looks great and doesn't need any changes on your end. The greenish, murky water effects are PERFECT as is, as are whatever weather settings you have going. You are doing a great job already!

The only changes that a low-wrung forumite such as myself would recommend are related solely on assets and are surely incoming down the road - higher quality trees, more vines and hanging mosses, etc. Tall grass will/would be great - I see the Bitter Coast as being a fairly dense and unforgiving place, not so much as the dangerous ashen regions, but still very mysterious and densely packed with flora and fauna.

Also, I'm 100% behind Dragomir's recommendation to look at Vurt's grass from Morrowind, as he shows in the screenshot. Vurt's grasses were all excellent, but his work in the Bitter Coast was by far my favorite - the coiled fern-type plants (I know they exist in the real world but the name escapes me), large ferns, etc. I have bolded this part of the post because, if the rest is never read, Dragomir's opinion was rock steady.

I know it's not a part of the vanilla Bitter Coast, but I always to see more ruins in the Bitter Coast - places that the swamp easily reclaimed. Perhaps a long-abandoned Dunmer settlement, a former Nordic site in the northern part of the region, or even just a few generic wooden frames (something like the destroyed farmhouses from Skyrim; the one in Dragonborn near Raven Rock comes to mind). Just something to consider for ambience that wouldn't require new assets. On that same mindset, it would be pretty cool to see Hlormaren overtaken my greenery - ivy and vines, marshy weeds, etc. It would look almost like an ancient, jungle-esque ruin rather than a simply abandoned stronghold. Just a thought. :)

Thanks for reading. You're doing great, Squally!

I like the idea of bog "reclaiming" things. Probably adding new ruins would be too much, but a rotten frame of a house could work. Also the ruins that are already there could have elements that show obvious signs of being swallowed by the mud. Not too big Daedric/Dwemer architectural props around the ruins, to signify that the complexes used to be bigger once. And I'm all for Angkor Wat'ish Hlormaren, overgrown with not only moss, vines and ferns, but also trees in many parts.

About Vurt - I'm not a big fan of some of his works, but in general most of it is really good ;) Things I had the most beef with were the tropical Grazelands and those imposing ash trees (maybe they'd be a bit more bearable if there wasn't so many, he just turned ashlands into a forest mostly).

Speaking of reclaimed ruins, it seems that Seyda Neen was built on or near a much older temple garrison or settlement of the same name, judging by the Dunmeri name meaning "True Passage". It could be that when the Colovian settlers arrived, the Dunmeri shacks in the town were already there, all that remained and what was left over from before Vvardenfell was opened for non-temple settlment, and the name stayed as colonial buildings were constructed.

I actually got some boat assets that might fit the bittercoast area. [External image]

Hey squally I'm not sure how much of a halo player you are, especially the of the first one, but I believe that some of the environments in the level 343 Guilty Spark pretty closely sum up what we're trying to conceptualize.

Here's a video for reference, from the remastered version. There are many striking resemblances, especially to your glowy plant thing, as well as to the general atmosphere I think. I get we're not trying to copy them but I think it's a great source of inspiration nonetheless.

That's really cool, I think it would be nice to take the torchbug in a jar mesh/animation, and put it inside of the pod, while making the pod texture transparent. I could see if I could try setting that up, it would be nice to see moving torchbug silhouettes inside the pods. Another thing, it could be nice to have some hive pods higher in the branches as well as on the trunks, like this screenshot (from the swamps in Halo CE Anniversary, those pods reminded me of the glowing plants from that level in HCE):

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Edit: Beat me to it about the halo connection 

> torchbug in ampoule pod
= nice idea

We are going to change models of torchbugs and dragonflies? It will be shame if they will be just earthling insects.

FYI, trees are going to be replaced. Also when I raised the pond levels, some objects got submerged, so you could look at raising them to give more features to the water.

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Actually you could raise most things by 200 if they are in the water.

On the topic of glowing flora... Nirnroot, anyone? [External image]

alysander

> torchbug in ampoule pod
= nice idea

We are going to change models of torchbugs and dragonflies? It will be shame if they will be just earthling insects.

I think I might try making a Vvardenfell Torchbug concept. And by the way, I was referring to the bigger pods on the trees.

Nice topic. I was always thinking that biter coast should be redone. Bitter coast is kelp area but for near coast space and bays we can do exceptions.

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Much more moss things.

For ancient ruins in Seyda Neen they can be simply add them as foundations, planted by moss and grass in that way they are almost not recognizable. Deteriorated and covered by vegetation. I can doodle some art about trees and other stuff sth similar to this but more depicted. I have some ideas how to make this region more interesting. Btw. we need new trees anyway.

Good idea for Boethiah's ruin would be for it to have sunken into the muck over the years, instead of just randomly at the bottom of the sea.  Could still have parts under swampy murky water, like the head of the statue.

Are you going to add underwater ruins? What about adding some relics, like amphorae, little statues and other stuff, placed in underwater ruins, hard to find, that are not worth even a penny for any vendor, but the description of the items says "this could be worth a fortune to somebody"? Then there could be an archaeologist somewhere who will buy this relics for a lot of money.

Right, if anyone would like to have a go at new grass types, here's some reference photos, courtesy of Smitehammer.

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i think equisetum, cyperus and this Acorus-like plant are the best candidates to grass for swamp areas.
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Also i think Univ. of Tennessy need to eradicate some slugs.

This reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophioglossaceae (all category)
could be used for differentiate fern-themed grass types.
 

Just a taller grasstype would really help fill in some of the emptiness! One grasstype. And that's what I posted these plants for.

I made a paintover of one of your screenshots with Vvardenfell Torchbugs:

Also it would be cool if they fly away from you. :D

[External image]i found this concept on deviantart, it portray some fictional swamp trees, if these were to be implimented, we could reach a full foreboding swamp experience

edit: concept by rodrigo vega

Natascha - ha - ha - ha - du bist schon
but simple plants like equisetum have more priority/value i think.

Get this man some rocks and trees! 

guys remember please :)) no matter how beautiful it will be, if it makes your machine drop below 20fps it's no good :P

and if any one wants to reuse the textures for the leaves here you go

and if any one upgrades and has anything better than a AMD Radeon HD 6450 send it my way :P

@SquallyDaBeanz you think you will release Skywind by the end of the next year? From what I have read on this forum, because of all the new content and features you guys are working on (some of them still not started yet), we will be lucky if Skywind is ready some month before the release of The Elder Scrolls VI (so not before 3 years...). :D

As for the earlier discussion on ruined structures reclaimed by nature, Hlormaren offers some good opportunities:

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I would imagine that the stronghold itself would be more of a canton if it was fully excavated, but plant growth, roots, mushrooms, trees, moss etc could make this place very interesting. 

Funny you should mention that ice.

Just reworking Davis's Dunmer FOrtress into modular designs.
It would indeed work well with vegetation.

Very nice, one way this could be approached is to swap out the floor texture on the stronghold exterior with the Bitter Coast dirt texture set, with bits of the normal stone floor texture showing through the raised stone pieces from the Skyrim platforms. That way, it can give the feel that the ground has been broken down to become a part of the surrounding region, like in the last reference picture.

I doodled sth too.

Just break monochromatic mood and add much more fungus and weird plants. For example like this one below

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Hydrona Africana

Maybe i will rework this plant/fungus to smth more fantastic. Real world species shouldnt spoiling originality of Vvanderfell.
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Also i can make big affixed female of firefly, but it need some animation (open/close elytras) to have sense.

I would like to see traversal conditions, like in the murk having your movement speed slowed down for a time, that would make the region feel larger when not on a path, and having the path snake a bit more around the bog would also lend the region a bit of stretch. Also some poisonous pods or thorny overgrowth to get in your way would be great :)

An animation idea; take fireflies and use what Skyrim used for its bat animations i.e. bleak falls barrow, and have them fly out of hiding. Maybe even real bats, or the Vvardenfell equivalent ;).

Poisonous plants sound like a good idea in this swampy environment. I'm thinking of the Spiddal Sticks from the planes of Oblivion (the mechanic, not the plant itself of course). Something that releases a poison when you carelessly walk right through it.

I would like to see a dangerous swamp water predator, which could make getting certain ingredients dangerous. Think slaughterfish, but lying camouflaged under the swamp water's filth.

i think i saw you doing this already in one of the videos, but mossy embankments against winding roads so you cant cut away from the trail without effort, similar to how Shivering isles did its paths, its still non linear, but it makes the region feel larger than it is. i feel for the bitter coast this is very necessary, its very narrow. and doing this across the whole province would not be a bad idea if done sparingly, vvardenfell is technically the smallest TES map. [sorry for the double post, if a mod could clean that up that would be great, :)]

i think i saw you doing this already in one of the videos, but mossy embankments against winding roads so you cant cut away from the trail without effort, similar to how Shivering isles did its paths, its still non linear, but it makes the region feel larger than it is. i feel for the bitter coast this is very necessary, its very narrow. and doing this across the whole province would not be a bad idea if done sparingly, vvardenfell is technically the smallest TES map.

how about durzogs? they seemed to enjoy the muddy dampness of the underground amalexia.

Zhalor as for a dangerous environment i have a few ideas like using the Poison Bloom mechanic im still yet to play with the textures for it too ive also had an attempt at some retextured apocryphta tentacles that could be used around a certain area or plants

i just put them here, hope they will be useful as references. And could You add more water, wood and fog?