Better Cities - Solitude Bakery Screenshots
imgur.com/a/an0L4
imgur.comPosted Sep 27, 2014, 2:40 PM UTC
9339
imgur.comThis is from an upcoming Solitude overhaul made by Twarrior and Moozilbee (me), under the Better Cities name.
This particular building is from Nernie's Solitude, who's given us permission to merge with his mod as he no longer works on it.
I've completely redesigned the lighting in all of Nernie's Solitude's interiors, and made a few additional tweaks, bug fixes, and improvements.
Nernie's Solitude is one of the many mods we're merging with, currently we're also going to merge with [Solitude Public Bathhouse,] (http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/37063/?) [Raidient Raiment Overhaul,] (http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/54143/?) and we're going to ask for permission to merge with [My Own Solitude Outskirts Improvement] (http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/37063/?), we may in future merge with one of the Solitude docks mod if we can fix the bugs and performance issues they have, however if not Twarrior is going to create his own docks modification that's aiming to be as performance friendly as possible, whilst still expanding heavily on the docks area.
We have a lot more in mind for Solitude, including the possibility of a merge with MissJennaBee (more info on this soon) you can check the [Reddit thread] (http://www.reddit.com/r/skyrimmods/comments/295tup/better_cities_skyrim_a_city_mod_coming_soon/), or the [comments section of the old Better Cities Skyrim mod] (http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/30046/?tab=4&&navtag=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nexusmods.com%2Fskyrim%2Fajax%2Fcomments%2F%3Fmod_id%3D30046%26page%3D1%26sort%3DDESC%26pid%3D0%26thread_id%3D888394&pUp=1#) for updates.
ENB used is the Grim and somber game playing preset.
The main way to get it to look like this is with the Grim and Somber ENB - Game playing preset. The mod's interiors will look better than most of Skyrim's vanilla interiors with ENB as I'm designing the lighting of them all to look warm & realistic with most ENBs. Other than that, I'm using a whole host of Texture mods for tiny little things, the games not very smooth for me due to a lack of RAM (I've got 4GB) and the massive amount of texture mods I pile on just for these screenshots. But the main texture mods are most of the popular ones like Skyrim HD 2k, and for other things just look up fur texture mods, wood texture mods, find one you like, etc.
Edit: more info.
11
Sounds very promising! Will it be compatible with JK's Soliture or Dawn of Solitude?
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It won't be compatible with either, because it will do a lot of the same stuff and much more, those mods are focused on simply improving the visuals of the city with new clutter, Better Cities adds many new buildings as well as new clutter & visual improvements, however we might merge with one or both mods, probably not for Solitude as we already have most of Solitude changed enough already, but we might merge with Dawn of Markarth or JK's Markarth when we overhaul Markarth, for example.
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Nice! I'll test each of the mods to see which I prefer, but usually I think buildings > everything so I'm pretty hyped for this!
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If you want to see more, I have two more albums, [here] (http://imgur.com/a/6JRXk) and [here] (http://imgur.com/a/HuL6C).
Also, if you want to try the mod out, we're looking for people to beta test some of the interiors if you're up for it!
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Just my $0.02 but I really think in general compatibility and cooperation with other big and popular mods is essential to flesh out the world more and increase adoption! It would be amazing if your additions could be done "in addition to" the JK/Dawn Of series, especially because I don't think those do anything to interiors, so yours would fill that aspect nicely.
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We're aiming for as much compatibility as possible, and we're looking to merge with a lot of mods to combine the talents of many different modders.
However, for Solitude, pretty much everything JK's Solitude and Dawn of Solitude do, we've already done, or we've done something similar that means it wouldn't be possible to merge them.
For example, take the market area. Dawn of Solitude adds a new baker market stall, which isn't needed for us as we have an entire bakery, and it adds a magic shop, which seems unlore friendly as citizens of Skyrim are meant to hate magic/be afraid of it, because of winterhold.
In the area just outside the main entrance to Castle Dour, JK's Solitude adds in two big watchtowers, we've used the space for about 5 new houses and buildings, and a new watchtower/gatehouse area.
Then, there are other places, like that little alley next to the winking skeever. JK's Solitude adds in a small storage area, BC Solitude adds in two entirely new houses and interiors with NPCs for you too explore.
However, for other cities, like Whiterun, we will very likely be asking JK for permission to use parts of JK's Whiterun, as it's a great mod, and it would provide a very nice base mod for us to work off, allowing us to spend much less time doing visual work, and much more time working on new interiors and NPCs.
2
Sounds great, I'll be sure to check it out!
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I look forward to it :)
Would you like to Beta test a few new parts of the mod? Twarrior has some stuff that needs testing with NPCs and interiors and what not.
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I would love to! Sorry for the late response by the way, been somewhat busy these past days
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That's fine, I'll PM you a file when we need more testers!
Twarriors just finished a lot of AI related stuff so we'll probably need testers soon.
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This looks really cool! I always thought there needed to be some kind of bakery or cafe.
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Thanks!
This particular interior is designed by Nernie, with all of the lighting done by me to give a sort of warm, homely feel to the bakery. The bakery is also where you can buy a lot of new food types, also made by Nernie!
2
Any chance for an realistic needs and diseases patch for the food once it's released? The lack of one kept me from using the original mod even though I loved how the food looked.
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Of course, we're aiming for complete compatibility with all popular mods that aren't directly editing Solitude, which is why we're doing testing with lots of other mods to make sure there are no conflicts, although the only thing the mod is likely to conflict with really are basic needs mods like Realistic needs and diseases, and mods that add things to Solitude like Interesting NPCs, but neither of them will cause any problems that a compatibility patch can't fix, and wherever possible we're going to just build compatibility into the base mod (Interesting NPCs for example, will be compatible with the base mod), so you have less patches cluttering up your load order.
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This is awesome. I can't wait to see more!
Collaboration gives you the freedom to help each other enough to be able to focus on creation more. All you have to do is learn to work around each other and help each other with problem solving, positive feedback, and inspiration!
Use the more repetitive tasks to foster and inspire new modders and you will be able to reach farther and touch Epic greatness! Teamwork keeps you all moving in the right direction!
If we all want to see even greater things we must speak up and continue to support this type of work.
Go Moozilbee! This is quite Awesome.
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Thanks Rightfuture :)
So whilst we're talking, is there anything in particular you'd like to see added, and for anyone else, what do you guys want to be added to the mod? We're going to have finished each city eventually (or merge with other modders who have), so give us recommendations for any city that you want to see improved!
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I can think of tons of things. Passageways and rooms built in (and on) the walls. Shop stalls and crates should not be the only built wood clutter.
Wood battlements that extend the watchtowers and walls that you can walk up to like Better Cities -Whiterun. Think of medieval castles that have woodwork built around the stone walls during wartime. I will link a pic from Castle by David Macaulay that shows an example of what I mean. Scaffolding, ropes, walkways, and tucked away work areas are nice. You can also look at the combination of Dawn of Windhelm/jk/ Grey quarter, where they build around areas with wood, and have tucked away sleeping or storage quarters.
It's all about interesting places to explore.
I think if you can make room for a patched partial dawn/jk you will get more traffic. You can have an installer for modular part compatibility. Even if there are a lot of differences you could pick the best of the two and turn off the rest in an .esp. Having an option is a great thing. Either way if this is the case I will probably like yours even better.
Make the entrance to Solitude Epic, you want a grand entrance into your mod. Make the main door worth the entry! Dress up the exterior as a separate exterior module enough, and people will use it with the other main Solitude mods and lead people to yours. First impressions.
Use the mountainside leading into Solitude - great place to rain arrows down from. You just need 1 walkway. Also, if you build wood structures outside the walls of the palace and the walls above the overhang it would also be a great place to rain arrows down on boats or an army coming from the river or sea. Maybe they could drop some boulders, or fire?
None of the mods seem to spruce up the bards college or add accessible areas or extra floors to the building between the college and the palace. Heck the palace itself could be made more interesting, including the roof. Old dragon watch towers anyone? The castle keep itself could build into the mountain and open up some more space, or have areas built into the walls.
Walkable, explorable space expands gameplay a lot here.
You could also have some semi random npc scripted events that fit into city life a little for immersion. It wouldn't take much to spice it up. Like out of the pub brawls. or a sneaking smuggler team at night, maybe religious or Thalmor convoy entering the city or conducting sparse or pulsed activity. You could have some trade or guild traffic occasionally. Goods and supplies have to get in and out of the city. Have someone bring in and out a cart or 3 to the docks. Maybe have a delivery person stop at different buildings on a schedule. Temporary Festival congestion might be a lot to ask. A little goes a long ways to making the city feel active. Have some semi - random movement if possible. routines are great for guards, not for cityfolk who need to move around to make the city seem alive, you may only need 2 or 3 mixups and some non-synced randomization thrown in for timing, to get things a touch more interesting.
I could go on at length.
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Damn, you're just full of great ideas.
I'm gonna think on these, think about which can be implemented and how, I'll definitely look at having interesting places to explore and having hidden little rooms, the Solitude entrance currently looks pretty decent with a statue nearby and lots of fancy stone houses, but it does have some gaps with patches of dirt and things that I'm going to replace with more squished in stone houses and stuff.
Also, you know that area just to the right when you enter Solitude, where the dude gets beheaded, do you have any ideas of what we could add there, to make it look like it actually has some purpose, because in the vanilla game it's used once for a beheading and then just sits there, I need something to add to it to make it look like it has some actual function other than a beheading spot.
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Absolutely, I see this area done wrong all the time.
It's hard when you can't build up the space to move the execution.. Maybe build a second floor walkway between the walls and the building above the action, but high enough not to obscure it. Have a stairway on one side up to it, above the entrance to the tower if you do it on the right.
You could use the space as a staggered royal presentation place on a second floor decking, above the execution could appear like a stage where a king could present to the city. It could be built on posts in the corners or into the wall itself around the execution area. Make a stage for city speeches to address the townfolk!
It could be a exterior place where nobility felt raised and protected. It could lead up to the wall above it and let noblemen and ladies look down on the city from the upper walls. You could even build 2nd level wood decking near the palace where nobles could feast and gawk out in the sun, or huddle under tents in the rain and wind. Personality.
An entry statue is a great idea, pay homage to the king! This might be a in a bleak spartan place, but the city needs to feel regal. It needs to impress on entry!
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here's one pic. Not the one I'm scanning in of course.
and here's a good pic:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoarding_%28castle%29
and
Apparently they call this Hoarding. I call it Battlements since people would more likely remember it.
I will have to scan and upload the one I took a pic from since I could not find it on the internet.
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Let me guess. Someone stole your sweet roll.
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http://i.imgur.com/kmmPmGn.png