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[Antistar]

Clockwork

One day you come across some ruins at the foot of the Velothi Mountains; the site of a recent landslide. An ancient passage under the mountain has been uncovered; haunted by a strange apparition and leading to an unusual structure secreted among the mountain peaks: Clockwork Castle. Isolated from - and forgotten by - the outside world, the castle has not seen a living soul for a century or more... yet it is still inhabited.

'Chlodovech Castle' began its life around two hundred years ago, built by a very successful merchant family from faraway High Rock, according to the latest fashions from that province. Heavily inspired by Dwemer technology, all kinds of machinery and conveniences were later added to the manor; and over time it instead came to be called 'Clockwork Castle'.

Just what happened to this family? Who now resides in Clockwork Castle? Where did all that amazing steam-powered technology come from? Why does the apparition in the tunnels hound you and keep you from leaving? How can you escape the castle? These things can be discovered by playing Clockwork.



Summary

Clockwork is a quest mod for Skyrim set in and around Clockwork Castle; a full-featured player home. Four quests are planned; the first unlocks access to the castle plus some of its features, and each subsequent quest unlocks more features. The castle itself has an aesthetic largely new to Skyrim; influenced by steampunk and Victorian art/design. This ties into its backstory - and its new (voiced) NPC type. Read on for some more information on the mod's planned features.



New NPC Type

These are the Gilded. Just from looking at them it's obvious that they're Dwemer in origin, but what are they, exactly? That is a mystery to be solved in Clockwork.
- Gilded Male 01
- Gilded Male 02
- Gilded Male 03
- Gilded Female
- Lamashtu
- Lahar 01

 

 

Quests

Four quests are planned, as mentioned; each with an associated 'dungeon'. The first (and possibly the last) in particular are intended to have a horror theme (as in scary - not grisly, especially). We'll see if I can pull that off. The middle two quests are intended to revolve more around steampunk themes. Steam-power and machinery.



Clockwork Castle

- Castle Exterior 01
- Castle Exterior 02
- Castle Exterior 03
- Castle Exterior 04
- Castle Exterior 05

Containing all the usual player home conveniences you might expect - beds, storage, crafting stations, weapon/armour display, etc - plus more besides - Clockwork Castle aims to be a useful, believable and (hopefully) beautiful place for your character to live. The first quest is considered to 'unlock' the castle, as it involves actually reaching it. See below for more information on what can be found in each part of the castle.
- Clockwork Castle Layout (quick and dirty composite)


Main Hall

The Hall is the central hub through which all other major parts of the castle are reached.
- Main Hall 01
- Main Hall 02
- Main Hall 03
- Main Hall 04
- New Light Fitting 01
- New Light Fitting 02
- New Chair
- Clock that shows the hour, minute, day of the week, day of the month, the month itself and also has a rotating day/night plate to show am/pm.
- Home to numerous paintings, each with a plaque that can be examined to learn the name of the artist and artwork. (Also found in other parts of the castle.)
- Contains shrine to Zenithar.
- Adjoining Dining Hall; seats ten.
- Adjoining Kitchen:
--- Useable cooking pot.
--- Food storage, notably in a 'cold-room' open to the freezing outdoor air.
--- Food-sorting option.
--- Running water.
--- With Hearthfire add-on, an oven and butter churn (that takes milk, gives butter) are added.


Master Bedroom

The Master Bedroom incorporates a modest study, plus limited storage and display options for your most treasured items.
- Master Bedroom 01
- Master Bedroom 02
- New bed:
--- Bed 01
--- Bed 02
- Clock
- New sofa:
--- Sofa 01
--- Sofa 02
- Adjoining Master Bathroom:
--- Bathroom
--- Shower
--- Bathtub
--- Rudimentary Water Heater
--- Garderobe (medieval toilet)
--- Simple vanity and sink


Work Room

Generous stone room where the majority of crafting activities take place.
--- Work Room 01
--- Work Room 02
--- Work Room 03
--- Work Room 04
--- Work Room 05
- Unlocked by second quest (merchant services also unlocked at this time).
- Crafting stations: Forge, Grindstone, Smelter, Workbench, Tanning Rack and Woodcutting Block.
- Exhaust fans in ceiling to remove poisonous fumes of various kinds.


Mages' Study

Part library, part study (especially for magical pursuits).
- Mages Study 01
- Mages Study 02
- Mages Study 03
- Unlocked by third quest (or perhaps simply the crafting stations).
- Crafting stations: Alchemy Lab, Arcane Enchanter.
- Balance Scales (two, three) to be used for:
- Alchemy ingredient, soul gem, etc sorting: one-button sorting of all relevant items in inventory into 'specimen cabinet' containers.
--- Specimen Cabinet 01
--- Specimen Cabinet 02
--- Specimen Cabinet 03
--- Specimen Cabinet 04
- A number of bookcases: both display ones and labelled container variants.
- 'Book basket' book-sorting option.
--- Bookcases 01
- Pneumatic Tube Terminal
--- Manual and auto-sort buttons to quickly send items to similar terminals in other parts of the castle.
--- Pneumatic Tube Terminal 01
- Connects to the Glass Garden:
--- A large terrarium on the roof, full of plants to harvest for alchemical ingredients (or food).
--- Empty until third quest completed.
--- Plants ready to harvest every three days (by default; I might make this configurable).
--- Glass Garden
--- Irrigation
--- Stairwell Gazebo
--- Fungus and vegetable garden beds


Armoury

A Hall dedicated to storing and displaying weapons, armour and other treasures. Full of mannequins, weapon plaques, display cases, etc.

- Armoury 04

- Armoury 05

- Armoury 06

- Armoury 07

- Armoury 08

 

 

Basement

Comprised of several utility rooms; some just full of machinery, others more immediately interesting and useful:
- Travel Room
--- Activated/unlocked by fourth quest.
--- Allows teleportation to cities in Skyrim.
--- Allows teleportation to Recall Point designated by 'Return to Clockwork Castle' spell (learned after completing fourth quest).
--- Travel Room 01
--- Travel Room 02
--- Travel Machine Console 01
--- Travel Machine 01


Living Quarters

Accommodation for everyone who is not Lord/Lady of the castle.
- Rooms of varying size and quality:
--- Large rooms for family members and guests.
--- Less well-furnished rooms for more important castle staff.

- Support for adopting up to six children via Multiple Adoptions (and Hearthfire of course)

--- Child Room 01

--- Child Room 02
--- Dormitories for general servants and guards.
- Laundry Room
--- Generous stone room with running water.
--- Communal bathing facilities.
--- Communal lavatory (couple of garderobes).

 

 

Mausoleum

 

- Mausoleum 01
- Mausoleum 02
- Mausoleum 03



More Screenshots

Here are some screenshots of places not strictly within Clockwork Castle itself.


Clockwork Terminuses

Each town has a Clockwork Terminus. This is where you end up when you use the castle's Travel Machine.
- Falkreath Terminus
- Markarth Terminus
- Raven Rock Terminus
- Riften Terminus
- Solitude and Whiterun Terminuses
- Windhelm Terminus
- Winterhold Terminus

 

 

Quest screenshots

- Landslide 01

 

- Velothi Tunnels 01

- Velothi Tunnels 02

- Velothi Tunnels 03

- Velothi Tunnels 04

- Velothi Tunnels 05

- Velothi Tunnels 06
- Velothi Tunnels 07
- Velothi Tunnels 08

- Velothi Tunnels 09

- Velothi Tunnels 10

- Velothi Tunnels 11

- Velothi Tunnels 12

- Velothi Tunnels 13

- Velothi Tunnels 14

- Velothi Tunnels 15

- Velothi Tunnels 16

 

- Bones 01

- Bones 02

- Bones 03

 

- Nurndural 01

- Nurndural 02

- Nurndural 03

- Nurndural 04

- Nurndural 05

 

- Amalgam 01

- Amalgam 02

- Amalgam 03

 

 

Comments and suggestions are welcome. I'd be particularly interested to hear what sorts of features people would like to see in various parts of the castle. I'd recommend reading the Development Commentary section below first, though.


WIP Thread 01

Edited by Antistar, 12 February 2016 - 07:09 PM.

[Antistar]

Development Commentary

Here I go into a little more detail on where I'm coming from with this mod; what I have in mind and why - that sort of thing.

 

Note: As of 17-10-15, this is all really outdated! I'll leave it here so that you (and I) can see what I was thinking earlier on in the project, but it would be best to look at more recent posts (or more recent threads, if it comes to that) to see where I'm up to.


I'm probably best known for my Fallout 3 and New Vegas mods: WMK, WMX, DTO, for example. Before all that though, I made a mod for Oblivion called Hoarfrost Castle. I mention this because Clockwork is in some ways a spiritual successor to Hoarfrost Castle; they are both quest mods based in Elder Scrolls lore, with quest rewards revolving around gaining ownership of - and improving - a player home. (Clockwork is not a sequel to Hoarfrost Castle in terms of story though; just to be clear.)

There are other similarities: the general interior layout of the castle is similar in both mods. If you've played Hoarfrost Castle, you should feel at home in Clockwork Castle.

There are also some notable differences. First is quest number and structure; Hoarfrost Castle has seven quests, with three in the middle able to be completed in any order. Clockwork has four planned quests in a linear storyline, though these are intended to be longer, more involved and more interesting than those in Hoarfrost Castle. Production values are planned to be higher all-round in Clockwork, really. On the art front, for example, I became a lot more comfortable modelling and texturing for gamebryo-engine games (Oblivion, Fallout, Skyrim, etc) through working on mods like WMK/WMX and DTO, so... there's a lot more custom art in Clockwork than Hoarfrost Castle. One other note on quest structure; a key part of the player character's motivation is that they're trapped in Clockwork Castle and its immediate surrounds, so the player is locked into completing the quest line once it starts (as in some of the official DLC for FO3/FNV, for example), in order to escape.

The second notable difference between the mods is voiced dialogue; Hoarfrost Castle has none - just text - while Clockwork is planned to have full voiced dialogue.


Voice

The only characters (with speaking roles) encountered are the Gilded; the new NPC type. The reason for this is that their voices are generated by voice synthesis - also known as Text To Speech (TTS). This may seem like a cause for concern for some, but it's actually been the plan all along to use TTS, and many aspects of the mod grew out of the early decision to use it. (Eg: story, setting, quests, characters, art...) The characters using it are written with it in mind, to the point where I think it would actually be difficult for a real person to give a voice performance with the delivery I have in mind. Not everyone is as talented as the voice actor behind GLaDOS. (Not that that's the precise delivery I have in mind.)

In any case, here's the result of a voice test for people to download if they're curious. (Note - link has expired. If anyone is curious, let me know and I'll upload it elsewhere.) The first file in the archive is the raw TTS output, and the second is the same audio after I've processed it a bit in Audacity. The idea is basically for it to sound like it's coming out of the Gilded as seen in those screenshots above; so it should sound recognisably unnatural and have a metallic echo/vibrance to it. At the same time it needs to be intelligible (not processed into messy oblivion); so altogether that's what I tried for in that test. If anyone out there is a sound wizard and can come up with something that sounds better (and can describe how to do it in something like Audacity), go for it. The less steps the better: I'll have a lot of lines to generate, and the batch-processing stuff in Audacity at least is fairly limited.


Art

There are a few reasons I decided on the steampunk and Victorian influenced art direction. The story and setting revolve around Dwemer technology and the way it influenced a particular character living in Clockwork Castle; an inventor of sorts. 'Of sorts' because his inventions mostly involved taking existing Dwemer designs and re-purposing (or even just relocating) them so that he could make use of them himself. Dwemer technology in the Elder Scrolls is itself very steampunk - a genre/movement/etc that often incorporates Victorian-style art and design.

With that in mind, representing the 'latest fashions' of High Rock (as mentioned in the intro) as Victorian in style was a natural choice. The province of Skyrim is depicted in TESV as being relatively wild and uncivilised (compared to Cyrodiil as depicted in TESIV, for example), so a Victorian style was a good shorthand for the sensibilities of a wealthy family from a (potentially?) more civilised place like High Rock. Of course I don't know exactly what High Rock is like; I believe it hasn't been depicted in a game since TESII - Daggerfall. I do think there's enough wiggle room there to say that - for the sake of this mod - something Victorian-style was in fashion somewhere in High Rock around two hundred years before the events of Skyrim.

Anyway. Having said all that, I also just really like Victorian art and design.

You'll probably note that one of the tilesets in the screenshots posted above is basically a retex of parts of the Solitude interior tileset. This is only used in Clockwork Castle; it doesn't replace the existing Solitude interior tileset.

Moving on to where the art is coming from. A lot of it I'm just making myself, but I'm also using a lot of resources in the public domain. For example, there are a lot of resources out there (presumably) aimed at architectural work that contain high-poly 3D models. I'm using some of those as a starting point for things like the new chairs, light fittings and picture frames. It's certainly not drop-in-and-use, though; essentially they're used as reference and to generate normal maps for the low-poly model. I need to create the low-poly model, the collision model and then the textures - and then get it all into Skyrim - myself. They're usually altered from their original appearance to a great or lesser extent according to my needs, too.

A few notes on the paintings. They're all classic paintings from the physical world - all of them in the public domain. Beyond just liking them a lot personally, the paintings are there to break up blank walls and because it's another aspect of Victorian interior design; lots and lots of paintings. I've taken care to select paintings that look to me like they could believably have been painted somewhere in Tamriel. When it comes to the 'read the plaque to learn the artist and title' feature, I've also changed some of the titles to not explicitly reference things that exist in the physical world and not in the Elder Scrolls universe. The credits for Clockwork contain the full original titles of the artworks, though. Speaking of which, for anyone who's interested, here's the list of paintings included at the time of writing:

Spoiler

- Adolf von Menzel - Blind Man's Buff (c1860)
- Albert Bierstadt - Among the Sierra Nevada Mountains (1868)
- Alphonse Mucha - Heraldic Chivalry
- Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson - Portrait of a Woman in Turban (1820)
- Anthonore Christensen - Poppies and Daisies (1903)
- Charles Edward Perugini - Girl Reading
- Daniel Ridgway Knight - Hailing the Ferry (1888)
- Daniel Ridgway Knight - Tying up the Hollyhocks (1888)
- Edmund Blair Leighton - A little prince likely in time to bless a royal throne (1904)
- Edmund Blair Leighton - The Hostage (1912)
- Esias Van De Velde - Garden Party Before A Palace (1614)
- Frank Dicksee - Funeral of a Viking (1893)
- Frank Dicksee - Paolo and Francesca
- Georges Michel - Mills at Montmarte
- Hendrick Avercamp - Winter Landscape (1610)
- Ilya Repin - A Shy Peasant (1877)
- Ilya Repin - Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan (1885)
- Ilya Repin - Rest. Portrait of Vera Repina, the Artist's Wife (1882)
- Ivan Shishkin - The First Snow (1875)
- Ivan Shishkin - The Road in the Rye (1866)
- Jacques-Louis David - Patrocles
- James Dromgole Linton - Celia from As You Like It
- James Sant - Feeding The Chicks
- James Tissot - October (1877)
- James Tissot - The Rendezvous (1890)
- James Tissot - Type of Beauty (1880)
- Johann Heinrich Fussli - The Nightmare (1791)
- John Atkinson Grimshaw - Autumn Morning
- John Atkinson Grimshaw - The Lady of Shalott (1878)
- John Everett Millais - A Dream of the Past - Sir Isumbras at the Ford (1857)
- John Everett Millais - Autumn Leaves (1856)
- John Everett Millais - Chill October (1870)
- John Everett Millais - Joan of Arc (1865)
- John Everett Millais - Mariana in the Moated Grange (1851)
- John Everett Millais - The Blind Girl (1856)
- John Everett Millais - Winter Fuel (1873)
- Joseph Farquharson - Cauld Blaws the Wind Frae East to West
- Jules Breton - The Recall of the Gleaners (1859)
- Konstantin Makovsky - African (1882)
- Konstantin Makovsky - Egyptian Warrior (1871)
- Konstantin Makovsky - Portrait of Alexander Popov (1863)
- Konstantin Makovsky - Portrait of Lady Vivien (1900)
- Konstantin Makovsky - Portrait of O Makovskaya (1864)
- Konstantin Makovsky - Tea Drinking (1914)
- Louis Janmot - Flowers of the Field (1845)
- Mary Cassatt - Two Women Throwing Flowers (1872)
- Nikolai Yaroshenko - The Student (1881)
- Viktor Vasnetsov - After Prince Igor's Battle with the Polovtsy (1880)
- Viktor Vasnetsov - A Knight at the Crossroads (1878)
- Viktor Vasnetsov - Snow Maiden (1899)

Locations

The 'beam of light in the sky' mentioned in the intro is planned to be a simple mesh (with a visible-when-distant variant) to attract the player to the entrance to the tunnels that lead to Clockwork Castle. Once the player reaches it, the first quest kicks off and the beam of light disappears.

Ostensibly, Clockwork Castle is somewhere in the northern part of the Velothi Mountains; the mountain range on Skyrim's eastern border with Morrowind. Somewhere that can't be reached on foot - overland, at least. Outside the playable area of the game (by default). I need to decide between actually placing the Clockwork Castle exterior in the Tamriel worldspace, or creating a new dedicated worldspace for it (like the major towns have). I need to look into it more, but it seems like the latter would be better compatibility-wise... and in any case the player is not (supposed to be) able to just walk from the castle back into the normal Skyrim exterior anyway.

The idea is that the castle is surrounded by sheer drops and cliff-faces, and obscured by clouds and fog so you can't see too far away from it.


Features

Beyond the usual player home features (crafting stations, display mannequins/plaques, etc), I've mentioned some more out of the ordinary things that may not have an apparent use in vanilla Skyrim. For example, the running water in various parts of the castle. The idea with that is that by default it's just there to add to the sense of place, but if you're also using a mod that (say) involves the drinking/bottling of water for the sake of hydration, the running water can be used for that. Hopefully without any required compatibility patches.

The same goes for other unusual features. The bathtubs can be ignored as set dressing, used for a temporary minor bonus to disease resistance and the speech skill, or hooked into a 'personal hygiene' mod if one pops up. The 'cold room' in the kitchen will do nothing on its own, or keep food from spoiling if you're using Imp's More Complex Needs. Currently that's set up to work without a compatibility patch (thanks to Imp's help), but I haven't tested it yet.

Similarly, the Living Quarters may be an area you never need to visit for gameplay reasons, but if you have a number of followers, there will be room for them to stay there. (A mod that lets you tell followers to 'stay/live here' may be necessary for that.)

Onto item-sorting, using alchemy ingredients as an example: there's been a trend - going back to Morrowind at least - for sorting scripts to sort each ingredient type into their own separate container. To perhaps be blunt, I've never found this useful. Maybe in Morrowind - at a stretch - but ever since Oblivion, inventory is viewed as a simple list, where you can easily find things in alphabetical order. It's even easier with SkyUI's various sorting and filtering features. In contrast, having to look over a huge array of identical or near-identical containers to find the ingredient you're after is quite inconvenient. So - like in Hoarfrost Castle, I've put in a simple one-step 'sort all ingredients into container' system. I'd be interested though to hear people's views on this stuff; in particular what sort of items you'd like to be sorted, where you'd like them to be sorted to, how they should be categorised, etc.


Progress

My plan is to make the castle first and then do the quests/dungeons/etc. So far I've done the physical appearance aspect of the new NPC type (several suits of non-playable armour, effectively), plus most of the castle interior, including (obviously) all the art that required. It feels like it's taken a long time to get to that point, probably because it was front-loaded with a ton of required art, and I don't consider myself a great artist. Turns out co-ordinating a consistent art direction across a whole bunch of detailed meshes, textures, level design, lighting and screen effects is fairly difficult and time-consuming! Who knew.

Fortunately, at the time of updating this post, the last interior cell for the castle is well on the way to completion. For the castle itself, only the exterior remains after that. I'm also planning to use mainly vanilla tilesets when making the dungeons, so there should be a lot less time there spent on art. Anyway, I'll keep this thread updated with what I'm working on.

Oh - and that question? That question someone's going to ask even after I say this? You know - THAT question: "When's it coming out?"

When it's finished. (It's not a case of keeping anything secret; I just don't know myself when it will be.)

 

 

Note: As of 17-10-15, this is all really outdated! I'll leave it here so that you (and I) can see what I was thinking earlier on in the project, but it would be best to look at more recent posts (or more recent threads, if it comes to that) to see where I'm up to.

Edited by Antistar, 16 October 2015 - 10:22 PM.

[Antistar]

From the end of the previous thread:
 

It looks wonderful. I think part of the reason not many folks would harp on the lore aspect of this is because its a fairly isolated mod and well made to boot. By isolated I mean its not adding in things like roaming dinosaurs that shoot lasers out of their eyes while eating villagers. (I'd watch that on youtube though)



In other words one can swallow in a world that has things like daedra, an area that seems different from the rest.

Yeah, I think that especially once people see it more in context - with the story and whatnot - Clockwork Castle looking as it does will make more sense. Moreso than when just comparing one of the shots I've posted to any given area in the base game.

It's representing a different part of Tamriel as being... well, different to Skyrim.

[LP1]

This is looking absolutely amazing.  Are you making all of the new models and textures yourself?  Stunning design work.

[Death Toaster]

Ohh this mod looks good.. Hope it comes to the Nexus..

[Gold_Dragon]

Still looking good!

[Antistar]

Thanks everyone.

 

 

This is looking absolutely amazing.  Are you making all of the new models and textures yourself?  Stunning design work.

 

I go into some detail on this in the second post, but basically: textures are from scratch (though things like wood, stone, metal, etc are usually photo-sourced), and some models are from scratch, while others have existing resources as a starting point. A lot of work goes into changing/optimising those, though.

 

 

Ohh this mod looks good.. Hope it comes to the Nexus..

 

It will be on Skyrim Nexus. I'm not really planning on releasing it on Steam Workshop at this stage. Unless things have improved there recently (I usually forget it exists, to be honest), there are aspects to the way it works that I see as... not optimal. This isn't an ideological thing or anything like that (not sure how to put that); I just don't like how it works.

 

One particular problem I can foresee with Clockwork specifically is that I plan to release a main file that includes standard textures, plus an optional high-res texture pack file (on the same page) - which as I understand it is not possible on Steam Workshop. There may well be other optional files in the future, too.

[LP1]

The more I look at these pics, the more I'm just completely blown away.  Can't wait to see this in-game.  Thanks for sharing.

[Hebrock]

Really great pictures!

I like how you use the Solitude kit.

[meloncholyroar]

Antistar Ive followed your work for a long time 

Hoarfrost had 2 things I remember that I havent heard mentioned:
1.) You felt yourself as the lord (or lady) of a manor with many underlings. Do you see the automatons as a sucessor to this?
2.) A vampire/necro chamber. Are you planning on hitting this as well?

[Antistar]

Thanks everyone.

 

The Work Room is just about finished. I should be able to post some screenshots in the next day or so.

 

 

Antistar Ive followed your work for a long time 

Hoarfrost had 2 things I remember that I havent heard mentioned:
1.) You felt yourself as the lord (or lady) of a manor with many underlings. Do you see the automatons as a sucessor to this?
2.) A vampire/necro chamber. Are you planning on hitting this as well?

 

1) To an extent. There are far fewer of them in Clockwork Castle than in Hoarfrost Castle; I'm going for a different feel, this time.

 

2) This sort of thing would probably stretch the believability of the setting a bit, but I can think of somewhere that it might fit in... especially if it's something the player character can set up themselves, rather than being found exactly as-is. Are there any particular features vampire homes (or home mods) tend to have? I haven't actually played a vampire in Skyrim yet. Right now I expect to have optional add-ons for the DLC (if one or more of them is not simply required by Clockwork by default - unlikely, but possible), so the add-on for Dawnguard could also expand this vampire-oriented area.

[Cabius]

So is that vacuum tube system going to be able to automatically sort the items you put in it? That would be amazing.

[Antistar]

So is that vacuum tube system going to be able to automatically sort the items you put in it? That would be amazing.

 

The idea is that you can place whatever items in it, then press one of (currently) four buttons to send the contents to the corresponding terminal (so a bit like the Mojave Express dropboxes in Fallout New Vegas, only not menu-controlled) - or you can press an 'auto-sort' button to automatically move all the appropriate items (alchemy ingredients/smithing materials/etc) from your inventory to the matching terminal. Previously I was thinking of only having the auto-sort buttons in the Travel Room (which is where you appear when you teleport to the castle), but now I'm thinking of just having them at all the pneumatic tube terminals. No reason not to, really.

 

Anyway, this should allow for more control (with the manual buttons) and be faster (with the auto-sort buttons) than the system you mention. It may be a matter of taste to some degree, though.

 

The person wanting a different design for the terminal may get their wish; these extra auto-sort buttons wouldn't really fit on the existing button console thing. Originally I was thinking of a kind of modular system with cubes that can fit together in whatever combination and hold a button or one of those brass plaques to help label the nearby button/s - or nothing, to act as a spacer. I am leaning more towards doing that, now. (I avoided it before because asset re-use is a good thing, if you can manage it. )

Edited by Antistar, 06 June 2013 - 03:22 AM.

[meloncholyroar]

Vampire mods seem more atmospheric then anything else. A coffin is nice but still...

But again I join everyone else and say dont add more, we want to see a release date in the near future. 

[Antistar]

Here's the Work Room:

 

- Work Room 01

- Work Room 02

- Work Room 03

- Work Room 04

- Work Room 05

 

In the first two shots there you can see a Dwemer gear assembly modified to be an exhaust fan and set in the ceiling. (There's one above the smelter too.) Access to the Work Room is planned to be part of a quest reward. The quest involves restoring steam-power to the castle; until that's done, the Work Room is full of poisonous fumes since the exhaust fans aren't running.

 

The tools hanging on the walls are statics; they won't go flying if you brush up against them.

 

Not a lot to say about the room's features; it's got all the smithing/leather-work crafting stations in there, a chopping block, plus a pneumatic tube terminal and a set of sorting scales for smithing materials (along with its associated containers). I guess there is also a tap in there (not pictured) for running water - so that whoever's working the forge doesn't have to go to the kitchen or something to fill up the trough.

[Cabius]

Wow I really like the look of the work room!

 

Thanks everyone.

 

The Work Room is just about finished. I should be able to post some screenshots in the next day or so.

 

 

 

1) To an extent. There are far fewer of them in Clockwork Castle than in Hoarfrost Castle; I'm going for a different feel, this time.

 

2) This sort of thing would probably stretch the believability of the setting a bit, but I can think of somewhere that it might fit in... especially if it's something the player character can set up themselves, rather than being found exactly as-is. Are there any particular features vampire homes (or home mods) tend to have? I haven't actually played a vampire in Skyrim yet. Right now I expect to have optional add-ons for the DLC (if one or more of them is not simply required by Clockwork by default - unlikely, but possible), so the add-on for Dawnguard could also expand this vampire-oriented area.

 

 I think with this you could have an empty room where the player has the option to buy a few different upgrades with different themes. A Vampire room would include cattle for the vampire to feed on, bottled blood, a few aesthetics, etc. As to other options for the room, maybe a Clockwork workroom where you could make your own dwemer automatons to fight for you? or maybe it could just be different themes such as, and imperial or stormcloak theme, a magical theme. IDK just ideas. Maybe instead of buying an upgrade you have to reactivate some strange dwemer device called "Dwemer spacial dimension manipulation device" or something. It would be a device that the dwemer created using magic and technology that can change a small area into anything. (Kind of like what the TARDIS does)

Edited by Cabius, 07 June 2013 - 01:49 PM.

[SilentSpike]

Oh my...this thread has blown me away!

 

Really, really, seriously awesome work. I cannot express how exciting this mod is - there is a severe lack of quest oriented mods in general, nevermind mods with concepts as unique as this.

 

Out of curiosity are you using blender, maya or max to do your mesh work?

 

Also, last I heard there was some issue with adding new animated NPCs. Can anyone answer me (even very unspecifically) what the status is on this currently, I mean, how are the gilded added in?

(I believe it was something to do with AI packages or something)

Edited by SilentSpike, 07 June 2013 - 02:33 PM.

[meloncholyroar]

Wow I really like the look of the work room!

 

 

 I think with this you could have an empty room where the player has the option to buy a few different upgrades with different themes. A Vampire room would include cattle for the vampire to feed on, bottled blood, a few aesthetics, etc. As to other options for the room, maybe a Clockwork workroom where you could make your own dwemer automatons to fight for you? or maybe it could just be different themes such as, and imperial or stormcloak theme, a magical theme. IDK just ideas. Maybe instead of buying an upgrade you have to reactivate some strange dwemer device called "Dwemer spacial dimension manipulation device" or something. It would be a device that the dwemer created using magic and technology that can change a small area into anything. (Kind of like what the TARDIS does)

 

The only thing I ask is for the place to have butler NPC. thats all

[Antistar]

Thanks guys.

Wow I really like the look of the work room!


I think with this you could have an empty room where the player has the option to buy a few different upgrades with different themes. A Vampire room would include cattle for the vampire to feed on, bottled blood, a few aesthetics, etc. As to other options for the room, maybe a Clockwork workroom where you could make your own dwemer automatons to fight for you? or maybe it could just be different themes such as, and imperial or stormcloak theme, a magical theme. IDK just ideas. Maybe instead of buying an upgrade you have to reactivate some strange dwemer device called "Dwemer spacial dimension manipulation device" or something. It would be a device that the dwemer created using magic and technology that can change a small area into anything. (Kind of like what the TARDIS does)

What sprang to mind for me was to make use of the mausoleum/crypts I'm planning to put in (they're outside the keep). They're part of the story and a way into one or more of the dungeons, but there could also be an empty(?) crypt in there that could be converted into a vampire sanctuary. Maybe with a secret passage into the keep basement (which is where the Travel Room is) so that it's not too separated from the rest of the castle and its features. Anyway it's not really a high priority, but we'll see.

Oh my...this thread has blown me away!

Really, really, seriously awesome work. I cannot express how exciting this mod is - there is a severe lack of quest oriented mods in general, nevermind mods with concepts as unique as this.

Out of curiosity are you using blender, maya or max to do your mesh work?

Also, last I heard there was some issue with adding new animated NPCs. Can anyone answer me (even very unspecifically) what the status is on this currently, I mean, how are the gilded added in?
(I believe it was something to do with AI packages or something)

I'm using 3dsmax.

On a technical level, the Gilded are just suits of armour right now. The plan was to create a new 'race' (by duplicating one of the existing ones - say, the Dunmer) and have them never take the armour off. (Also to make new voices for them.) They'll use the default animations for humans/elves/etc; I'm not making new ones for them, if that's what you meant. I haven't looked into it in detail yet, but there shouldn't be any problem with that.

If you've got any links to info on these problems with AI packages though, that would be helpful.

The only thing I ask is for the place to have butler NPC. thats all

There's a character whose name I haven't decided yet and so is just referred to as [servant] in my notes... so you're probably in luck.


(Oh; I later realised that that tap I mentioned earlier is actually pictured - in the first shot there - but it's pretty small.)

Edited by Antistar, 07 June 2013 - 09:23 PM.

[SilentSpike]

I'm using 3dsmax.

On a technical level, the Gilded are just suits of armour right now. The plan was to create a new 'race' (by duplicating one of the existing ones - say, the Dunmer) and have them never take the armour off. (Also to make new voices for them.) They'll use the default animations for humans/elves/etc; I'm not making new ones for them, if that's what you meant. I haven't looked into it in detail yet, but there shouldn't be any problem with that.

If you've got any links to info on these problems with AI packages though, that would be helpful.

Ah okay, that should be fine then 

I unfortunately don't have any links discussing the AI package problems on hand, there was a pretty old thread discussing but I can't track it down using the search function

[Antistar]

Since I had it on the brain, I redesigned the Pneumatic Tube Console (aka 'the bit with buttons'):

 

- Pneumatic Tube Terminal 01

 

It's made from a modular set of 'button rack' pieces: an octagonal prism box, dwemer furniture legs, and element borders for things like the brass plaques. There's also a straight cube version of the box, but I haven't used that for anything yet.

 

I'm moving on to the Travel Room next, and it will probably take a while. The teleporter is the planned centrepiece, and the idea is to have a kind of brass topographic map with a button in the place of each town. Pressing a button sets that town as the destination - with a rotating plate above the teleporter showing the current destination via the town's emblem. (Another button sets the destination to where you last cast the 'Return to Clockwork Castle' spell.) Entering the teleporter takes you to the destination - using an auto-load transition.

 

That's the plan, anyway; should be a lot of work.

[meloncholyroar]

Wow.... just wow.. these textures are simply amazing. Any new progress?

[Mavkiel]

Honestly, whenever I think about downloading a house mod, I think, why bother, I'd much rather have your house.

 

*pokes you with a stick* Hows it coming along? :-)

[Antistar]

Thanks guys.

 

Work on the Travel Room is in full swing, and I'm really happy with how it's coming along. The Travel Machine is in-game and working just as I had hoped, though its console - what will be the brass/bronze topographic map with buttons - is still just a placeholder right now (paper map on a table with buttons). I'll go into some more detail on how the whole thing works once I can show some images of it.

 

The brass topographic map is what I'm working on at the moment. For a while I thought I might need to generate it from the game's heightmap using a displacement modifier in 3dsmax, but then I spotted Ethatron saying in HQ3DMap that the .btr files the game uses for the in-game map are actually .nif files - so I was able to rename them and import those (after some tweaking to get them to actually import). I started with the increased detail ones from HQ3DMap, but a lot of refinement is necessary, since (among other reasons) what the in-game map uses is covered in places with LOD meshes.

 

I was glad I could import those as a starting point, since the displacement strength (the height/depth of everything) is already set correctly, and they also included all the water planes in the right places. Anyway - so what I'm in the middle of right now is refining the high-poly model for the map. It's a little tedious because it's over half* a million triangles (used to be more) even without turbosmooth; it makes my system chug a bit. Once it's done and in-game I'll need to add detail to the rest of the cell - it's mostly just the bare layout right now - and then I can show some pictures.

 

 

Oh - I also scripted and hooked up the Pneumatic Tube Terminals recently, since they're all in place now. Now you can shuttle items around the castle with a satisfying click-clunk-hisssss-clunk.

 

*Edit: Oops - I meant a quarter million.

Edited by Antistar, 27 June 2013 - 12:08 AM.

[richmond_b]

So glad you're still working on this Antistar! Will definitely replay Skyrim once this is done, it's looking great.

[Mavkiel]

This honestly looks like the best sort of house one can imagine. I admit, I am really curious about the sort of dungeons you will make.

 

In the vanilla game, the scariest bit(for me), was one of the markath quests where you explore a dwemer ruin, and finding the bodies of a previous expedition. (and the journal fragments from them). It wasn't a cheap sort of scare that folks often aim for, more like a sense of dread at whatever is behind the next door.

[meloncholyroar]

Antistar I hope you're proud of yourself... I cant play Skyrim right now knowing that this mod is yet to be in it.

[Antistar]

Thanks again everyone. I sort of feel the same way in not wanting to play until Clockwork is finished. I've actually only played three characters so far. Unfortunately, although the Clockwork Castle interior is nearly done, the mod as a whole is still a long way from being finished.

 

As an update, the brass topographic map is finished and in-game. It looks pretty good, I think. I'm starting on a heavy stone base for it now, since it's basically a big chunk of metal. I'll need to do some buttons for it too (with the actual button parts being plaques engraved with the various town emblems), but that shouldn't be too hard.

 

 

 

This honestly looks like the best sort of house one can imagine. I admit, I am really curious about the sort of dungeons you will make.

 

In the vanilla game, the scariest bit(for me), was one of the markath quests where you explore a dwemer ruin, and finding the bodies of a previous expedition. (and the journal fragments from them). It wasn't a cheap sort of scare that folks often aim for, more like a sense of dread at whatever is behind the next door.

 

I think I remember doing that quest, but not much about it. I don't really find any of Skyrim itself scary, but that's not really what it's about, of course. Off the top of my head, the games I've found scary are Thief 1/2/3, Undying, Silent Hill 2/3/4 (more unsettling than scary, maybe), System Shock 2, and Amnesia for a more recent one. Amnesia is probably the scariest game I've every played (I actually made it through that without dying even once, if you can believe it, which upped the tension somehow), but the strongest reaction I've ever had to a scary game was probably with the 'Family Grave' mod for Undying.

 

I still remember playing it around ten years ago at Uni, and even though it was a second playthrough so I already knew what to expect, getting freaked out enough that I had to stop playing and go over to my girlfriend's place because I didn't want to be alone. (And then have to awkwardly explain in front of her friend who happened to be there that I had shown up because I was scared of a computer game.) I don't know if it would have the same impact on me these days, but it's a great mod, I think.

 

As for (parts of) Clockwork being scary, it's really not going to compare to those games. Probably stating the obvious there; I want the mod to be finished at some point, so there isn't enough time to devote to that! I do have a number of ideas for hopefully scary things though - and methods to implement them that may even work - so it should be a lot better in that regard than the scary parts of Hoarfrost Castle, at least.

[LP1]

Take your time.  But know that you have a posse eagerly awaiting the release date!

[Antistar]

Here's the Travel Room more or less finished:

 

- Travel Room 01

- Travel Room 02

- Travel Machine Console 01

- Travel Machine 01

 

I've sort of described how it works before, but now that there are pictures to refer to, here's how it works. Say you want to go to Whiterun; you press the 'Set Destination To Whiterun' button - in the place of Whiterun on the topographic map (a.k.a. the 'Travel Machine Console') - and the emblem plates circling the entrance to the Travel Machine rotate to show the Whiterun town emblem at the top, indicating that Whiterun is now the current destination. Then you walk into the Travel Machine and are teleported (it's an auto-load transition) to the Whiterun Clockwork Terminus.

 

There's a Terminus for each town; a small cell containing another auto-load transition back to Clockwork Castle's Travel Room, plus an exit to the town in question. I still need to make these Terminus cells; right now I've just got a couple of placeholder cells in there to test that it works. I'm also still working out where these cells are going to pop out, exactly. At the moment I'm leaning towards having them come out somewhere near the fast-travel point for each town; outside the town walls (for the towns that have walls), in other words. Teleporting into the middle of the town may be more convenient, but I'd like to avoid potentially breaking quests and whatnot that may expect the player to come through the main gate when visiting a town for the first time.

 

 

Anyway; the Travel Room is the last of the interior areas currently planned for the castle, so soon I should be ready to finally move on to the castle exterior (and then quests/dungeons/NPCs after that). I still have a couple of side-rooms to add in the basement/Travel Room area; a room of machinery and a storeroom - and then some assorted chores like making navmeshes. Also need to do the Terminus cells, of course.

 

 

Oh; when I was in the middle of working on the Travel Machine, my parents visited and my mother said that it reminded her of a stargate. I could only say "Oh... damn - I see what you mean."

 

In my defence, I haven't watched anything Stargate-related in ten years or so. I expect I'll get a lot of jokes about it, anyway.