[Slich]

I know there are quite a few projects that started out and one didnt hear anything of them again, but wouldnt a Skyrim mod be a quick-hit solution to provide us with an environment to play around in? I mean really, there are already dragons, the ability to veer into a soletaken/d'ivers form, shift into another dimension etc etc! Plus it would be free and the community can support it easily...

What do you guys think? Any modders out there who are willing/capable?

[Tapper]

Slich, on 10 December 2012 - 07:44 AM, said:

I know there are quite a few projects that started out and one didnt hear anything of them again, but wouldnt a Skyrim mod be a quick-hit solution to provide us with an environment to play around in? I mean really, there are already dragons, the ability to veer into a soletaken/d'ivers form, shift into another dimension etc etc! Plus it would be free and the community can support it easily...

What do you guys think? Any modders out there who are willing/capable?

There is/used to be a group called Modcraft (with their own forum) which set out to create a very ambitious Malazan variant of Morrowind. Silencer is/was their main representative on this forum. I don't know exactly what their status is, and if the project is/was still alive .

On the one hand: yes. On the other: I think even a smallish, contained environment (say, Malaz Isle with only Mok's Hold and Jakata on it) would be quite a lot more work than imagined. The one advantage I see is that even a limited environment can be expanded later on as the Azath Houses allow the opening up of other regions as expansions.

[Slich]

Yeah I had a look at their blog reporting on their progress, but the last post was in 2009 With each elder scrolls game being released, one can do so much more with the mods... so maybe it is easier to create something like this today, than back in 2009?

I totally agree. You create Malaz Isle as a starting point, with various "versions" added as warrens (shadow, omtose phellack, thyr...) If you compare it with some mods out there, it might only be "mildly" ambitious! Each feature just gets added as an update... a work in progress for a long, long time

[Soulcrusher]

If this was done properly it would be so goddamn amaze ^^

*wishes*

[Silencer]

It would also take several years, unfortunately. Nothing "quick" about it.

Even using recycled resources (i.e. no new meshes, textures, effects, dialogue, so forth) the amount of work involved in making a Malaz Island mod alone(and when I say that, it is with the caveat that such is done *properly*, as in Malaz City is not a Skyrim-esque "city" of five buildings) is gargantuan. Heightmap is a pain in the ass to generate, as is the LOD and such. Moreover unless you were happy with Skyrim's magic system to represent the Warrens, you wouldn't have anything that actually makes the game "Malazan" other than a few names of places that suspiciously like they were borrowed from Whiterun (or whatever). I'd say a solid six months with a small team gives you Malaz Isle light edition (no quests, no new resources). And that's a "solid" six months which doesn't really exist amongst mod teams.

If you actually wanted a Malazan experience, you would be looking at a completion date in 2015, maybe? To actually make Malaz Island (like we were going to do for our demo project, except in Oblivion) is work on the scale of the big Province mods for Skyrim (that is, mods which add in other provinces from the Elder Scrolls series) or a Total Conversion mod. For the record, most of the major Province mods die before they finish, or end up becoming obsolete due to the release of new versions of the game before they finish. >.>

Not that I want to stop or discourage anyone from trying (I'd play the HELL out of a Malazan mod for Skyrim), but it is a massive task to go beyond "in name only" level stuff.

[Slich]

Thanks for the feedback Silencer! Sounds like it is a mission still

Damn, but it WOULD be awesome... maybe something less resource intensive to start off with? Say just a testing area where some mechanics can be tested? Eg. warrens and scripted magic spells? Just to get the interest going...

But at the end of the day, I guess we want a game in which full immersion is possible... and for that to happen big bucks are going to be required. Bethesda should take note!

[POOPOO MCBUMFACE]

Silencer nailed it. Making mods is a lot, a lot of work, especially in the TES games (with their editors getting frankly worse and worse). Muffinwind took me a year and a half when I was still in school and had all the time in the world, and it shied away from making full cities. A less direct adaptation would work - putting Malazan elements in the TES world - like the Moon's Spawn dungeon mod for Morrowind. Except not quite like that because it shared nothing except the name and the flying fortress concept. There's plenty of potential generally, though; much of the TES world is long unexplored, and it's feasible that there might be Meckros cities out there, that there might be Planes of Oblivion based on Malazan warrens, that the Seguleh might come raiding the coast of Skyrim or that the Bridgeburners might show up as a battered Imperial Legion.

Project: Eternity is going to come with an editor, I think, and might make for an easier way to make this kind of project; I'm assuming modules for it will follow the Neverwinter Nights/FRUA model of being individual stories with their own areas, characters etc rather than additions to the main campaign. One of the head developers (Chris Avellone) is even a Malazan fan, so if we let them know about it, we might get a bit of press Have to wait and see how the game turns out, though.

I've been considering making a mod with the new Legend of Grimrock editor casting the player party as a band of thieves/mercenaries plundering Moon's Spawn. The scale would be a lot easier to work with.

[Slich]

Had a look at the Kickstarter page for Project: Eternity. Looks promising I guess! Going to have to wait a while though. Wouldnt mind supporting a Kickstarter Malazan project, if resources are the main problem for tackling the Malazan game problem........

Here is to hoping you get around to that LoG editor! Good luck!

[Garak]

Just wanted to say: Avellone is a Malazan fan? This makes so much sense, why didn't I see it before!

[ForkassalOfTheInnerCircle]

I doubt we will ever see a full-fledged Malazan Skyrim mod, because as Silencer stated, it is simply too much work. I am currently searching for Malazanish mods, but so far I've only managed to turn up with this: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/19678 (Karsa Orlong's sword). I find it strange that more things haven't been added, I'll keep on looking.

[Defiance]

I'm surprised nobody has made Dragnipur yet. But yes, a significantly-sized Malazan add-on would be a ridiculous amount of work. I sadly don't ever anticipate it happening.

On the other hand (not Malazan related), for Morrowind enthusiasts there's Tamriel Rebuilt, which is/will be the best game mod ever once it's done. I've been following the project for a couple of years, and while progress is understandably slow the work they do is incredible. I can't wait to play a complete version of it in 10 years.

EDIT: Just checked up on Tamriel Rebuilt, looks like they've released the Sacred East. I'm pretty sure that means all of eastern mainland Morrowind is complete.

This post has been edited by Defiance: 31 January 2013 - 08:54 PM

[Silencer]

Defiance: you should keep an eye on "Beyond Skyrim" for the future - it's a collaborative province mod project, intending to recreate the entirety of Tamriel in the Skyrim engine. I foresee it taking a good many years, of course, but the teams are off to a good start so far.

[Sinisdar Toste]

to get my malazan feel in skyrim, i just run around with a crossbow with exploding heads and the "i love mortars" mod in my back pocket. doesn't everyone?

[Lucifer's Heaven]

Forkassal, on 29 January 2013 - 04:18 PM, said:

I doubt we will ever see a full-fledged Malazan Skyrim mod, because as Silencer stated, it is simply too much work. I am currently searching for Malazanish mods, but so far I've only managed to turn up with this: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/19678 (Karsa Orlong's sword). I find it strange that more things haven't been added, I'll keep on looking.

I've seen that mod before, and I dislike it. Not at all how I imagined his sword.

[ForkassalOfTheInnerCircle]

Lucifer, on 01 February 2013 - 12:59 PM, said:

Forkassal, on 29 January 2013 - 04:18 PM, said:

I doubt we will ever see a full-fledged Malazan Skyrim mod, because as Silencer stated, it is simply too much work. I am currently searching for Malazanish mods, but so far I've only managed to turn up with this: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/19678 (Karsa Orlong's sword). I find it strange that more things haven't been added, I'll keep on looking.

I've seen that mod before, and I dislike it. Not at all how I imagined his sword.

Except for the razor-edge, it pretty much fits the bill of how I saw it (large and clumsy), so I like it and am planning to use it when I reach the appropriate level of smithing.

[Defiance]

Silencer, on 01 February 2013 - 12:06 AM, said:

Defiance: you should keep an eye on "Beyond Skyrim" for the future - it's a collaborative province mod project, intending to recreate the entirety of Tamriel in the Skyrim engine. I foresee it taking a good many years, of course, but the teams are off to a good start so far.

Interesting. Are they just building exteriors and interiors, or are they making NPCs and quests as well?

Anyway, Dragonborn in 4 days! I'm excited to return to Solstheim and see some of that sexy Morrowind architecture. Plus, I look forward to checking up on good ol' Raven Rock. I wonder if it'll have a trader's post or a smithy? And which of the three locations will the estate be located in? Or maybe they just ignored all that...anyway, no spoilers please. Also, checking up on Castle Karstaag will be great.

[ForkassalOfTheInnerCircle]

Defiance, on 01 February 2013 - 03:37 PM, said:

Silencer, on 01 February 2013 - 12:06 AM, said:

Defiance: you should keep an eye on "Beyond Skyrim" for the future - it's a collaborative province mod project, intending to recreate the entirety of Tamriel in the Skyrim engine. I foresee it taking a good many years, of course, but the teams are off to a good start so far.

Interesting. Are they just building exteriors and interiors, or are they making NPCs and quests as well?

Anyway, Dragonborn in 4 days! I'm excited to return to Solstheim and see some of that sexy Morrowind architecture. Plus, I look forward to checking up on good ol' Raven Rock. I wonder if it'll have a trader's post or a smithy? And which of the three locations will the estate be located in? Or maybe they just ignored all that...anyway, no spoilers please. Also, checking up on Castle Karstaag will be great.

The Beyond Skyrim project is supposed to be the whole thing (i.e. landscape, cities, npc:s, quests etc). However, there are a lot of mod teams involved and they only have some general guidelines to follow, meaning all of this stuff will probably vary greatly in quality. To me, this whole thing just sounds a tad bit too ambitious, but only time will tell how it pans out.

[Silencer]

They will be doing the whole thing. As Forkassal says, there are multiple teams working together - it is a collaboration, after all - which has its pros and cons. Generally they are sharing resources, many participants are members of more than one team, and they are all helping each other out on the design principles behind the project and sharing ideas as much as possible - the idea is actually that their forums are as open to the public as possible and moreso to each other.

There are of course difficulties with the tools available -- these are basically being developed as they go along. However the biggest plus side of the project is that the final product, so to speak, will not be one massive mod and it will not be compulsory to download all the provinces - so if one project gets to a RELz state before the others, all you need is the shared files and the mod for that province. Later on you will be able to load all the provinces and have a complete worldspace for Tamriel.

Obviously a very long-term project but they seem to be making good headway (for reference, I'm an admin on the forum hosting them. This has perks. ) despite many obstacles.

[Lucifer's Heaven]

Forkassal, on 01 February 2013 - 01:25 PM, said:

Lucifer, on 01 February 2013 - 12:59 PM, said:

Forkassal, on 29 January 2013 - 04:18 PM, said:

I doubt we will ever see a full-fledged Malazan Skyrim mod, because as Silencer stated, it is simply too much work. I am currently searching for Malazanish mods, but so far I've only managed to turn up with this: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/19678 (Karsa Orlong's sword). I find it strange that more things haven't been added, I'll keep on looking.

I've seen that mod before, and I dislike it. Not at all how I imagined his sword.

Except for the razor-edge, it pretty much fits the bill of how I saw it (large and clumsy), so I like it and am planning to use it when I reach the appropriate level of smithing.

But...but, that's not what flint blades look like That looks more like it's hewn from ordinary rock, and badly at that.


The point of using flint is the way it chips apart. These are flint blades:


And the following is more how I imagined his sword (this one is agate, so the colouring is wrong but the shape is closer). I imagine it a bit thicker towards the middle than this (similar to the way the Master Sword has a "spine" in Ocarina of Time) and huge, of course.


He does spend hours working on the stone after he hews the huge chunk. He hews one massive chunk perfect for working, as it is solid and not fractured. If he just knocked out the huge chunk and spent 5 minutes putting an edge on it then been done and good to go, I'd be more likely to think that looks right.
Ah, here we go, from the book:
"Parallel flakes, long and thin, translucent sliver punched away from the blade leaving ripples reaching across, from edge to way spine."
"Smaller flakes removed from the twin edges"
"This flint sword's serrated edges"
"Flint did not welcome roundness"
"For the pommel he worked the stone into a step-fractured, oversized diamond shape"
"Massive and brutal, yet beautiful in it's symmetry."
He's later mentioned stabbing someone with the point.

So, apart from just the implication that it's like other flint weapons we can tell from the descriptions that its:
Double edged, symmetrical, has a point, is thicker in the middle (has a spine), wavy/serrated edged, worked all over, large diamond shaped pommel, probably has a smoothish transition into handle (like the actual flint blades I pictured as he mentions right angle are usually bad, but only when he gets to the pommel after the handle is done).
So the only part of the sword that mod DID get right is the crescent moon serration along the edges. That's how sharp edges are made on hand done flint, they're chips punched away by a circular-ish shaped tool. Flint is basically made of lots of paper thin layers of quartz. Which is why you can knock flakes off of it, you break a piece off layer at a time. This knocks off slivers till you just have a few layers left, those being very thin and their edge forming the sharp edge of the blade. Although the crescent shapes in the mod are very overstated and over-sized, I'd have done them smaller (still oversized, it is Karsa just not quite so much).

[ForkassalOfTheInnerCircle]

Hah, I had absolutely no recollection of that passage, so it didn't really bother me. But yes, you have some points, it does not look like it's made of flint and it doesn't match the description you quoted. It's huge and it's made of stone, that's enough for me ;D. And to be honest, my imaginings of stuff that I read are very seldom detailed beyond a very rough outlining, that also probably changes between reads.