News from The Elder Scrolls Nexus
The latest news posted on Nexus Mods Network
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Project Spotlight: Fallout 4: New Vegas
This week we're talking to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/users/1663911]Metamoth (aka metalmouth7)[/url], the Project Manager for what is, perhaps, the most dedicated group of Fallout New Vegas fans out there. Fallout 4: New Vegas is a total conversion mod for Fallout 4, painstakingly recreating the game's assets and mechanics from the ground up.
[center][youtube]997PAfxFiGE[/youtube][/center]
[b]Thanks for taking the time to talk to us about your project, first off can you tell us a little about yourself and the key members of your mod team.
[/b]
I'm Meta, the Project Lead on F4NV. I've been with the team since its formation in August of 2017. I've been modding in one way or another for about a decade, on titles ranging from Battlefield 2 and Command and Conquer: Red Alert to Homeworld 2. I first started working with Skyrim about 3-4 years ago, and Fallout 4 not long after it released, however F4NV is the first project I've been involved with of this sort.
[b]For anyone who isn’t aware of your project yet, what is Fallout 4 New Vegas?
[/b]
Fallout 4: New Vegas is a community-run project aiming to remake Fallout: New Vegas in the newer Fallout 4 Creation Engine, taking advantage of some of the features of the newer engine to make for a better and more refined gameplay experience.
[b]Fallout New Vegas is considered by many to be the best Fallout game. How faithful are you planning to stay to the original?
[/b]
We're remaking all of the quests as they were in New Vegas, alongside all of the original features, with tweaks made where possible to take advantage of the features of the newer engine, as well as to bring back some of the cut content and expand on the game world where possible. Narrative-wise, nothing will be changing in Fallout 4: New Vegas.
[center][url=https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1547119779-1848870152.png][img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1547119779-1848870152.png[/img][/url] [url=https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1547119786-1864871593.png][img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1547119786-1864871593.png[/img][/url][/center]
[b]What are you adding that is new and improved?
[/b]
We're adding a number of new things to F4NV. We're aiming to expand upon the weapon mod system first seen in New Vegas with the added functionality of the Fallout 4 weapon modding systems. We're also tweaking and rebalancing the combat of New Vegas to better fit into the more dynamic combat of Fallout 4 while retaining the more RPG-based systems utilized in New Vegas to create a more dynamic and interesting combat system. We're also looking at some of the cut content found in Fallout: New Vegas and reimplementing some of it, alongside some new content in the form of new weapons and some smaller environmental encounters to address some of the issues the original game had in regards to many finding the worldspace in Fallout: New Vegas being somewhat barren and some exploration feeling unrewarding, while maintaining the tone and feel of the world. Our core philosophy when it comes to adding any of this content is to ensure that it feels like it was always present in Fallout: New Vegas.
[b]How did the project get started?
[/b]
The current F4NV project started off after an earlier attempt at the same goal that kicked off in late 2016. After that project came to a close in July of 2017 due to a number of issues going on internally, we picked up where that team left off and began working towards the same goals.
[center][url=https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1547123235-357119465.png][img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1547123235-357119465.png[/img][/url] [url=https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1547123224-1184291113.png][img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1547123224-1184291113.png[/img][/url][/center]
[b]Could you tell us about your workflow?
[/b]
Because of the size of our team and the scope of our goals, our project has a number of different sub-teams working at different speeds towards goals that support the needs of each team. To keep this in check, almost every sub-team operates within fairly strict milestone goals based upon gradual outwards expansion. This allows us to focus on more specific goals as a whole, with each subteam being able to work as quickly or as slowly as they need to so that they can meet their objectives, and means that teams that end up completing their goals faster than others are able to continue to focus on further milestones as the project moves forward.
[b]Building a mod collaboratively like this can be challenging. What advice would you give to modders looking to start projects like this together?
[/b]
There are two main considerations that are key to building a project like this. Firstly, you should always understand that failure is an option. Instead of fearing that, however, you should instead simply accept it, and work to mitigate the damage it'll do to your project. This tends to have a positive knock-on impact on planning and helps to keep a project viable, while also typically meaning that you're likely to end up completing work that can be released to the larger community if something does go wrong. This can often mean that the hard work of your team members will not go to waste, and often leaves your team members feeling a lot more happy with the work they're doing on your project. Secondly, while it can seem a bit obvious, planning for a reasonable scope is also very important. A project like this will be slow-going no matter what - that's simply the nature of modding. However, if you plan for the team you have, instead of the team you want, you'll often be a lot more able to meet your goals, and this will give your project a far better chance of success as time goes by and work is done on your project.
[center][url=https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1547132896-2061979573.png][img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1547132896-2061979573.png[/img][/url] [url=https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1547132897-1093844225.png][img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1547132897-1093844225.png[/img][/url][/center]
[b]Are there any technical accomplishments you’re particularly proud of from creating the project?
[/b]
One of the biggest things for Fallout 4: New Vegas is having all of the legacy systems for Fallout: New Vegas functional in the Creation Engine. Many of these things, such as skills, damage threshold, or the weapon condition system are a huge part of the gameplay loop in Fallout: New Vegas, and without them, F4NV would feel more like a pale imitation of the original. We've managed to recreate nearly all of the original systems, and this is a huge contribution to F4NV feeling like New Vegas.
[b]For anyone who wants to join the team or support your project, what’s the best way to do that?
[/b]
The best way to apply to Team F4NV is to use the [url=http://f4nv.com/apply.html]application form on our official website[/url].
[line]
A big thank you to Metamoth from the Fallout 4: New Vegas team for answering our questions. If there's an author or mod project you'd like to know more about, send your suggestions to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/64597][b]BigBizkit[/b][/url] or [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/31179975][b]Pickysaurus[/b][/url].
[center][youtube]997PAfxFiGE[/youtube][/center]
[b]Thanks for taking the time to talk to us about your project, first off can you tell us a little about yourself and the key members of your mod team.
[/b]
I'm Meta, the Project Lead on F4NV. I've been with the team since its formation in August of 2017. I've been modding in one way or another for about a decade, on titles ranging from Battlefield 2 and Command and Conquer: Red Alert to Homeworld 2. I first started working with Skyrim about 3-4 years ago, and Fallout 4 not long after it released, however F4NV is the first project I've been involved with of this sort.
[b]For anyone who isn’t aware of your project yet, what is Fallout 4 New Vegas?
[/b]
Fallout 4: New Vegas is a community-run project aiming to remake Fallout: New Vegas in the newer Fallout 4 Creation Engine, taking advantage of some of the features of the newer engine to make for a better and more refined gameplay experience.
[b]Fallout New Vegas is considered by many to be the best Fallout game. How faithful are you planning to stay to the original?
[/b]
We're remaking all of the quests as they were in New Vegas, alongside all of the original features, with tweaks made where possible to take advantage of the features of the newer engine, as well as to bring back some of the cut content and expand on the game world where possible. Narrative-wise, nothing will be changing in Fallout 4: New Vegas.
[center][url=https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1547119779-1848870152.png][img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1547119779-1848870152.png[/img][/url] [url=https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1547119786-1864871593.png][img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1547119786-1864871593.png[/img][/url][/center]
[b]What are you adding that is new and improved?
[/b]
We're adding a number of new things to F4NV. We're aiming to expand upon the weapon mod system first seen in New Vegas with the added functionality of the Fallout 4 weapon modding systems. We're also tweaking and rebalancing the combat of New Vegas to better fit into the more dynamic combat of Fallout 4 while retaining the more RPG-based systems utilized in New Vegas to create a more dynamic and interesting combat system. We're also looking at some of the cut content found in Fallout: New Vegas and reimplementing some of it, alongside some new content in the form of new weapons and some smaller environmental encounters to address some of the issues the original game had in regards to many finding the worldspace in Fallout: New Vegas being somewhat barren and some exploration feeling unrewarding, while maintaining the tone and feel of the world. Our core philosophy when it comes to adding any of this content is to ensure that it feels like it was always present in Fallout: New Vegas.
[b]How did the project get started?
[/b]
The current F4NV project started off after an earlier attempt at the same goal that kicked off in late 2016. After that project came to a close in July of 2017 due to a number of issues going on internally, we picked up where that team left off and began working towards the same goals.
[center][url=https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1547123235-357119465.png][img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1547123235-357119465.png[/img][/url] [url=https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1547123224-1184291113.png][img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1547123224-1184291113.png[/img][/url][/center]
[b]Could you tell us about your workflow?
[/b]
Because of the size of our team and the scope of our goals, our project has a number of different sub-teams working at different speeds towards goals that support the needs of each team. To keep this in check, almost every sub-team operates within fairly strict milestone goals based upon gradual outwards expansion. This allows us to focus on more specific goals as a whole, with each subteam being able to work as quickly or as slowly as they need to so that they can meet their objectives, and means that teams that end up completing their goals faster than others are able to continue to focus on further milestones as the project moves forward.
[b]Building a mod collaboratively like this can be challenging. What advice would you give to modders looking to start projects like this together?
[/b]
There are two main considerations that are key to building a project like this. Firstly, you should always understand that failure is an option. Instead of fearing that, however, you should instead simply accept it, and work to mitigate the damage it'll do to your project. This tends to have a positive knock-on impact on planning and helps to keep a project viable, while also typically meaning that you're likely to end up completing work that can be released to the larger community if something does go wrong. This can often mean that the hard work of your team members will not go to waste, and often leaves your team members feeling a lot more happy with the work they're doing on your project. Secondly, while it can seem a bit obvious, planning for a reasonable scope is also very important. A project like this will be slow-going no matter what - that's simply the nature of modding. However, if you plan for the team you have, instead of the team you want, you'll often be a lot more able to meet your goals, and this will give your project a far better chance of success as time goes by and work is done on your project.
[center][url=https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1547132896-2061979573.png][img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1547132896-2061979573.png[/img][/url] [url=https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1547132897-1093844225.png][img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1547132897-1093844225.png[/img][/url][/center]
[b]Are there any technical accomplishments you’re particularly proud of from creating the project?
[/b]
One of the biggest things for Fallout 4: New Vegas is having all of the legacy systems for Fallout: New Vegas functional in the Creation Engine. Many of these things, such as skills, damage threshold, or the weapon condition system are a huge part of the gameplay loop in Fallout: New Vegas, and without them, F4NV would feel more like a pale imitation of the original. We've managed to recreate nearly all of the original systems, and this is a huge contribution to F4NV feeling like New Vegas.
[b]For anyone who wants to join the team or support your project, what’s the best way to do that?
[/b]
The best way to apply to Team F4NV is to use the [url=http://f4nv.com/apply.html]application form on our official website[/url].
[line]
A big thank you to Metamoth from the Fallout 4: New Vegas team for answering our questions. If there's an author or mod project you'd like to know more about, send your suggestions to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/64597][b]BigBizkit[/b][/url] or [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/31179975][b]Pickysaurus[/b][/url].
For the records - ElminsterAU
For our Mod Author feature this week, we’re talking to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/167469]ElminsterAU[/url] best known for one of the essential tools for modding Creation Engine games. The xEdit application has become a staple in the toolkits of modders and mod authors from Oblivion to Fallout 76.
[line]
[i][b]Author's Note:[/b] This article was updated at the request of ElminsterAU to add additional users to the team section. (11/01/2019 23:15 GMT)[/i]
[line]
[b]For those in our community who want to know a little about the man behind the ElminsterAU handle, could you tell us a little about yourself?
[/b]
I grew up in mid-west Germany, along the Rhine valley, in the '80s and early '90s, moved to Australia a bit over 16 years ago, and am now living in south-east Queensland, north of Brisbane, with my wife and our 6-year-old twins. I got my first computer (an Atari 520ST) when I was about 8 and was instantly fascinated with it. Not just playing games, but also figuring out how to make the computer do things I wanted it to do. I taught myself programming using Omikron-Basic by looking at the examples. Still have fond memories of that time.
A year later we got a "family PC" (a 286 at first, a bit later a 386) which I was using on and off, but the Atari was my mainstay for quite a few more years. I dabbled with GW-BASIC on the PC but found it lacking, and so, shortly after Turbo Pascal 4.0 came out, I started learning Pascal by looking at examples and a pocket-sized "Turbo Pascal 4.0 - The Reference" book. I've learned plenty of other programming languages over the years after that (Everything from Assembler to Smalltalk, and more recently Java, C# and many more), but Pascal (now in the form of Delphi) has been my language of choice ever since.
When I was 15, while still finishing school, I started my own registered trade (which required getting special permission from a family court as a minor), building custom PCs and doing custom development work for a number of customers.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1547222670-738211894.jpeg[/img][/center]
After 10 years of school ("Realschule" in Germany), I started an industry apprenticeship as "[url=https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kommunikationselektroniker]Kommunikationselektroniker Fachrichtung Informationstechnik[/url]" (“Communication engineer specialized in information technology”) and finished it 1 year early with a top grade.
I was still doing custom development work during all that time and directly started full-time work for one of my major customers, [url=https://www.microtech.de/]Microtech [/url]where I quickly went from "new guy" to "in charge of designing and developing the application framework for our next generation software". After 4 eventful years at Microtech, during which time I also provided a completely new design for FlashFiler (the database engine I was using at Microtech) to TurboPower (the make for FlashFiler) for them to implement, I moved to Australia and was supported to start working on [url=http://www.realbusinesssoftware.com.au/rbscosmos.html ]COSMOS [/url]which was using the new release of FlashFiler that was based on my design.
Shortly after I arrived in Australia, TurboPower unexpectedly got bought and exited the Delphi component market (the buyer just wanted the developers for their in-house projects), leaving a lot of FlashFiler users without any real way forward. So instead of working on COSMOS as planned, over the next 8 months, I developed a new database engine from scratch, [url=https://www.nexusdb.com/]NexusDB[/url], which I've been working on, maintaining and improving, for the last 16 years.
Outside of computers, I've been an avid table-top RPG player and DM since my childhood, starting with 2nd edition DSA (Das Schwarze Auge, The Dark Eye, a German RPG) and later AD&D2 and following editions.AD&D got me started on reading fantasy novels. I have very fond memories of trying to read the original Dragonlance trilogy in English for the first time. This started me down the road as a ravenous reader of fantasy and science fictions books that continues until today.
[b]Can you remember how you first got into gaming?
[/b]
My earliest memories of "gaming" are of visiting a schoolmate and playing a whole bunch of games on his C64. The only title that has stuck in my mind from then is Giana Sisters, but there were many more.
When I got the Atari, I initially only had the high-resolution monochrome display for it, which means I couldn't play any of the commercial games on it. I have fond memories of my Dad driving me to the next larger city on weekends to visit a shop that had various freeware and shareware games and you could buy floppy disks with them for a small copy fee. One of my favourite games of these early days (I was 8 at the time) was [url=https://www.eckhardkruse.net/atari_st/baller.html]Ballerburg[/url].
When I finally got a colour monitor connected to the Atari my first game was [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeon_Master_(video_game)]Dungeon Master[/url] which cemented my love of RPGs. I also fondly remember spending countless hours with [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airball_(video_game)]Airball[/url]. There are way too many games to remember them all by now.I've long lost count of the number of games I've played over the years. I've dabbled in pretty much any genre, but overall found the most enjoyment in role-playing, tactical, and strategy games. Ultima 7 is still very much on my mind as the first computer RPG where I really felt that the world is “alive”.
[b]Do you still find the time to play any games?
[/b]
I try to take the time to play, but it has gotten much rarer than I like. I try out a pretty decent number of games every year, but hardly find the time to actually finish them. It's one of the reasons why I enjoy working on xEdit so much, as it keeps me closer to my gaming roots.
[b]For someone who is just dipping their toe into the modding scene and has never heard of xEdit, what does it do and why would they need it, how would you explain it?
[/b]
I'll be explaining some of the history of xEdit as well, so please excuse me for maybe being a bit long-winded.
When I started playing Oblivion, it was the first time I came in contact with a game that had such an extensive modding scene. I downloaded a whole bunch of mods (mainly from tessource.net which has become NexusMods nowadays), threw them all together semi-randomly and tried to play... to find that many things were suddenly broken and didn't work right. Looking around, I found that there weren't really any tools available to help me understand why that is.
Not having yet encountered a computer-related problem that I couldn't solve by throwing a custom program at it, I started working on TES4View, which today has grown into xEdit.But its roots are in "conflict detection". Loading your complete setup of mods in the same way that the game does, and providing direct visual information about how the different modules conflict and interact with each other. Everyone who uses any mods in a game that xEdit supports should be using xEdit to look for conflicts in their setup, to make informed decisions about load order and necessary patches. There is really no alternative to this. Things like LOOT or information from the author on the mod pages can give you some general information, but at the end of the day, every modded setup is pretty much unique, and it is up to the user to understand how their installed mods interact with each other and to make sure any conflicts are correctly resolved. There are no shortcuts for this. Mods are not “DLC from a third party”. Making them work together will require a certain level of willingness and dedication to learning how they work and interact with each other.
After I initially developed TES4View, I found out that a large number of conflicts between mods were caused by what I then termed "Identical to Master" or ITM records. Basically, every mod available at that time contained anywhere between some and countless records that had nothing to do with the function of the mod and which were identical to the same record in the official game master. By removing these unnecessary records, many mods that were incompatible before could then be used together. As it proved difficult to actually remove these records using the Construction Set (the official editor for Oblivion, which was later called GECK for FO3/FNV, and is called CK (= Creation Kit) for TES5/SSE and FO4), I then started expanding TES4View, which could only be used to view module files, into TES4Edit, to allow directly modifying module files to fix problems.
[center][img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1547219250-1652958956.jpeg[/img] [img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1547219257-2057031459.jpeg[/img][/center]
This brings us to the 2nd major use of xEdit, the process that is now termed "cleaning". The goal of which is to find and remove unnecessary records from a mod to decrease the chance that it conflicts with other mods. This is a process that normally should be done by the mod author before the release of the mod.
Unfortunately, not all mod authors do this, and newer versions of xEdit might get better at detecting ITMs, which, if the mod author doesn't update their mod anymore, means that mod users might want to perform this operation [b]if[/b] conflict detection shows that ITMs are causing unnecessary conflicts.
This is not a process that should be done ritually or habitually for every mod. It is no longer the early days of Oblivion modding when there were no tools for it and mod authors weren't aware of it, so every uploaded mod required cleaning. Nowadays, mod users should generally only perform it for mods that conflict detection has shown are causing unnecessary conflicts because of ITMs.TES4Edit quickly grow from just being able to remove ITMs to being able to fully edit all data in existing modules and even creating new modules from scratch.
The initial purpose of this was "conflict resolution" by creating patches, new modules that contained only conflicting records from two other mods, with their contents merged such that both original mods can work together. This is still one of the cornerstones of xEdit functionality for mod users today. While there may be pre-built patches for certain mod combinations available, almost every modded setup is unique, and there is a high chance that it contains combinations of conflicting mods for which no pre-build patches are available. Being able to create your own patches, based on the results of conflict detection, is an important skill that any mod user should have in their toolbox. Finally, once TES4Edit could reliably edit all information in module files, it became possible to "create new mods" from scratch, or make extensive changes to existing mods, using only TES4Edit. This really just builds on the skills developed for creating patches. Many mods on NexusMods today have been completely created in xEdit.Later I used TES4Edit as the basis for creating TES4LODGen, which was the first tool for Oblivion that could generate Tree/Object LOD information for your complete load order.
[b]The software has been maintained by a team of people over its lifetime, could you tell us who the key developers are and how they contribute to the project?
[/b]
The software that is xEdit today was initially closed source and I was the only developer working on it during the Oblivion, Fallout 3, and early Fallout New Vegas timeframe. If I remember correctly that should be everything up to Version 3.0.19.
After that, when it became clear to me that, because of work commitments and the birth of our twins, I would not have time to adequately maintain xEdit, I decided to open source the program.
Thankfully a group of dedicated people took the job while I went on hiatus, foremost Hlp, Zilav, Sharlikran.
[list]
[*][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/users/4147439/?]Sharlikran[/url] took over a lot of the organizational work and has been working on decoding record definitions.
[*][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/users/156622/?]Zilav[/url] added the scripting engine and localization support that was necessary to support Skyrim.
[*][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/users/1102380/?]Hlp[/url] did a large amount of work to enable save game viewing (which still a work in progress).
[*][url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/513981]fireundubh[/url] contributed greatly to the Fallout 4 record definitions, hardcoded records, and various other additions and fixes.
[*][url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/14649434]Jonathan Ostrus[/url] made significant contributions to the Fallout 76 record definitions.
[*]There are various other minor contributors that can be found [url=https://github.com/TES5Edit/TES5Edit/graphs/contributors]on GitHub[/url]
[/list]
All of them have been instrumental in creating the record definitions for Skyrim, Fallout 4, and Skyrim Special Edition.
[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/3155782]Sheson[/url] joined the project to improve LOD generation in xLODGen and work on DynDOLOD (the program part of which is a fork of xEdit with additional functionality). He has also been instrumental in updating xEdit to enable compilation for 64bit.
During these years I would (very) occasionally find a week or two of time to work on issues and features that required a deeper understanding of the xEdit core than the other project members possessed.
Around mid-2018 I found some spare time (thanks to the twins having started school by then) to come back to xEdit and was planning to do what I did before, spend a week or two on some difficult issues or features and then move on.
But what was planned as some quick fixes and new features has turned into a months-long project, for which I took time off from my usual work, with a huge number of improvements and fixes to xEdit that culminated in the release of xEdit 4 in mid-December.
All development work on xEdit since mid-2018 has been done by me, but Sharlikran has continued to provide valuable organizational work and [url=https://tes5edit.github.io/docs/]updating the online documentation[/url] that is now reachable through the Help button in the top right corner of the xEdit main form. Zilav and Sheson have provided valuable feedback.
[center][img width=500,height=149]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1546949537-1292865187.png[/img][/center]
[b]You’ve recently released a significant milestone release with xEdit (v4.0), what would you say are the headline improvements in the update?
[/b]
The most visible improvement is probably support for UI Themes, both light and dark ones, as well as theme colour awareness of the conflict colours (a dark theme with lighter text on darker background will make xEdit automatically use a darker background and a lighter font colour to show the different conflict statuses).
A very important addition is full ESL support. This means that xEdit now supports loading modules in exactly the same way as the game engine, with ESL flagged ones being mapped into the FExxx space. Without this improvement, valid SSE and FO4 setups that had over 255 modules in total couldn't be loaded into xEdit. Now, if it's valid for the game, it's valid for xEdit.To go hand in hand with the addition of ESL support, the complete load order handling in xEdit has been overhauled and will now behave identically to the game engine for all supported games.
The module selection dialog, used both during program start and at various times while using xEdit has been completely reworked, it's much more informative, has support for saving and loading presets, and filtering.
Language and codepage support in xEdit has been completely reworked. Before, xEdit simply used the system ANSI code page for most strings. Now, xEdit is very explicit about what code page is used for which strings and there are various ways to configure this.
Previous xEdit versions were slow to start as they used to build the information required for the "Referenced By" tabs on every launch. They also didn't build reference information for the game master file automatically, which had to be done explicitly after the program was running if desired. Now, the second and subsequent starts after updating to a new version of xEdit will be much faster, as the required information is read in from a persistent cache on disk instead of having to be built on each launch. On the first launch after an update, this reference information is built once and then saved to disk in a cache. While this first launch is slower, it is still faster than launching the previous version and then building the reference information for the game master, as this building process will now run using a multi-threaded approach.
The ModGroups functionality has been completely reworked. This is a centrally important feature of xEdit, which has been present for over a decade, about which, hardly anyone was aware. It completely changes how you go about looking for conflicts with xEdit. This feature makes conflict detection and resolution even with gigantic load orders a breeze. ModGroups are, at their most basic, a way to tell xEdit, "if this set of modules is loaded in this order, then any conflict between them has been resolved and you need to consider only the winning override for each record". In previous versions, it was necessary to use a text editor to create .modgroups files outside of xEdit, which almost nobody did. In this version, ModGroup support is fully implemented inside xEdit, with ways to create, edit, and delete ModGroups right in xEdit, as well as the ability to reload a different selection of ModGroups at any time.
Aligning alignable array elements is one of these features that hardly anyone notices when it's added because it just feels so natural and right, but if you remove it after someone had just a few minutes to get used to it, it's instantly and painfully noticeable. There are a number of arrays where the order is important, one of the primary ones is lists of conditions.
This is best explained in a short example:
Without this feature, a record with 2 overrides looked like this:
[quote]A B B
B C A
C[/quote]
With alignment active, it will now look like this:
[quote]A
B B B
A
C C[/quote]
The ability to filter in the View tab and to collapse nodes in the view tab hugely improves working with large records.
Two other new features go hand in hand with each other. One is the ability to create a delta patch. Given two versions of a module, xEdit can create a patch module that contains only exactly the records that are different between these two modules. The other is the ability to take a module (like such a delta patch, but also a plugin created in CK by editing records that already exist in a master) and merge this module into its master. Given the original version of a module and a delta patch, you can now re-create the 2nd version of that file by merging in the patch. This function can also replace the “merge into master” functionality of CK which normally requires the use of VC (version control).In addition to these big-ticket items above, there are hundreds of other smaller improvements and bug fixes all over the place.
On top of all this, which affects every existing game-specific version of xEdit, there is now full support for Fallout 76 in the form of FO76Edit.
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[b]When Bethesda releases a new game, what is the process you go through in order to make xEdit compatible with the new plugins?
[/b]
This is a rather involved multi-step process which is helped along by a number of normally hidden functions in the xEdit core to analyse the structure of module files. It is usually possible to use the record definitions of an existing game as the basis.
The first step is to analyse the gross structure of the new game master, what record signatures and groups are contained in the file in what order?
Once that has been established and the basic record definitions updated or created, each record type (there are hundreds in the most current games) is analysed on its own to understand what subrecords it can contain, and how these subrecords are structured. This can get rather complicated, with arrays and structs of subrecords, sometimes nested multiple levels deep.
The next step is to analyse the contents of each sub record. Is there only a single value? Or a complex structure? Most locations where FormID, strings, or floats are stored can be found with the right analysis tools. This doesn't tell you what these values are used for or named. It only helps to identify what type of value is stored where. It is especially important to find any and all places that can contain FormIDs in this step. Without knowing the location of every single FormID, it is impossible for xEdit to add, remove, or sort masters for a file.
Up to this point, the availability of an official tool like CK is irrelevant. The process described above was followed to generate the record definitions for FO76Edit (starting from the record definitions for FO4 and modifying/extending them where analysis found discrepancies) and took about 150 man hours in total.
What follows after this depends on the availability of an official editor for the module files.
If no such tool is available, like currently in the case of FO76, it is still possible to try and make informed guesses about what the likely labels for some of these unknown new or changed values are, but there is a lot of guesswork involved.
If an official editor is available, it's possible to use that to create test plugins by putting unique values into each field visible in the editor for some record type, then load that test plugin into xEdit (or a number of other internal tools) and try to match up the information in the official editor with what has been written into the file. This is a very involved and repetitive process that can take hundreds of hours to further refine the record definitions.
[img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1547221240-338210184.png[/img]
[b]Perhaps the only noticeable gap in xEdit’s library of supported games is The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind - is there a technical reason why it hasn’t been supported?[/b]
There is indeed a technical reason for that. xEdit was originally developed for TES4: Oblivion. Oblivion was the first game for which Bethesda used FormIDs to identify individual records, and the fundamental design of xEdit is based on the assumption that records have FormIDs that identify them. This has been the case for any game that followed Oblivion so far.
Morrowind does not use FormIDs and has a much less "generalized" overall structure to its module files compared to later games. This makes it much harder to support Morrowind within the existing framework xEdit has established to support all later games.
I have recently been working on finding ways to support Morrowind in xEdit. It's very much a case of trying to get a square peg through a round hole. But I've been making progress by following an approach where I synthesize virtual FormIDs for records on load.
This will require a lot more work and time, but I believe TES3Edit is an achievable goal.
[b]Have you ever wanted to make a tool like this for a different game engine?
[/b]
There are a number of other modable games for which I would love to have a tool like xEdit, and I've looked into the data format for these games. Unfortunately, none of them had a data format that would make adapting xEdit for them something that could be achieved with reasonable effort, if at all.
I do have to congratulate Bethesda, the basic structure of their module files is much more suited for supporting setups with multiple mods than anything I've found in other games.
[b]Given unlimited resources, what features would you like to bring to xEdit?
[/b]
Beyond Morrowind support, which I'm currently working on, there are a number of other big items I would like to address in the future.
The first one is to modularize the main form. That's what you see when you start xEdit, with the navigation tree view on the left and the tabs on the right. All of this is currently one giant strongly interconnected whole which has grown over the last decade. The goal here is to separate it all into distinct, isolated modules (the navigation tree view, the view tab, the spreadsheet tabs, the different functions that can be executed). This involves a large amount of work, and will not, initially, result in a significant change from the user's point of view. But it's really the required foundation for a lot of future work.
Once the main form is modularized, it's easier to build on that and support multiple navigation tree views (each one can be differently filtered) and views (showing different records concurrently).
This will also enable quality of life improvements like a scratch pad (an area where you can drag in anything from any record, be it a single value or a whole struct or array, then later use this as a drag source to copy into any assignment compatible place in other records).
The next big feature would be to support assets at the same level as modules are currently supported. The navigation tree view would list the .bsa/.ba2 files, as well as loose files folders in the correct order. You can open them up to explore the contained folders and files. When a file is selected, the view tab will show the different file versions, with information extracted appropriately based on file type, side by side, the same way that records are shown side by side. This should also include the ability to preview textures, possible models and other file types.
After that would be graphical visualization of path grids, navmeshes, and general CELL contents.
Outside of these really big items, there are countless more minor improvements that are possible, among them various quality of life improvements and improved error checking for navmeshes and other complex records.
Obviously, whenever Bethesda releases any new game based on a variation of the current module format, implementing support for that would have the priority.
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[b]I’m sure a large number of modders who’ve used xEdit would like to know, what is the best way to support the development of xEdit?
[/b]
The primary means of support would be to pledge on my [url=https://www.patreon.com/ElminsterAU]Patreon[/url] as this gives a somewhat predictable monthly income which would allow me to make long term plans in regards to how much time I can spend on xEdit development in the future.
Another possibility is direct donations via PayPal, either using the donation function here on NexusMods (which will forward you to my PayPal, Nexus Mods is not involved in the processing of it) or [url=https://www.paypal.me/ElminsterAU]directly[/url]. Both of these are currently easily reachable via buttons in the top right corner of the xEdit main form.
The last possibility is [url=https://ko-fi.com/ElminsterAU]Ko-fi[/url], which right now is simply another way to be forwarded to PayPal for a one-off donation so it doesn’t currently provide any benefit over making a direct PayPal donation. Please keep in mind that no matter what way you use to support xEdit development, the lower the amount, the higher the relative cut the payment processor takes. This is especially noticeable for very small amounts. If you donate $1, only about half of it will make it to me.
The huge amount of progress that has been made in xEdit 4 has only been possible by investing many hundreds of hours of development work, which, for me, came at a significant cost of lost income from my usual work. If I had purely worked on it in my spare time, xEdit 4 would still be 2-3 years in the future.
I obviously can't sustain ongoing xEdit development at a significant financial loss permanently, so the speed of progress for future xEdit development depends directly on the level of support I can achieve from the modding community.
At the time I'm writing this, current pledges on Patreon and average direct donations on PayPal together can finance roughly 1/8th of a month of full-time work on xEdit.
[b]Is there anything else you’d like to say to the Nexus Mods community? [/b]
I've greatly enjoyed my work on xEdit and interactions with many members of the modding community. I'll try to answer any questions that come up in the comments of this interview. I am usually available on the xEdit [url=https://discord.gg/5t8RnNQ]Discord server[/url] (also reachable via the Discord button in the top right corner in the xEdit main form).
[line]
A big thank you to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/users/167469]ElminsterAU[/url] for answering our questions. If there's an author or mod project you'd like to know more about, send your suggestions to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/64597][b]BigBizkit[/b][/url] or [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/31179975][b]Pickysaurus[/b][/url].
[line]
[i][b]Author's Note:[/b] This article was updated at the request of ElminsterAU to add additional users to the team section. (11/01/2019 23:15 GMT)[/i]
[line]
[b]For those in our community who want to know a little about the man behind the ElminsterAU handle, could you tell us a little about yourself?
[/b]
I grew up in mid-west Germany, along the Rhine valley, in the '80s and early '90s, moved to Australia a bit over 16 years ago, and am now living in south-east Queensland, north of Brisbane, with my wife and our 6-year-old twins. I got my first computer (an Atari 520ST) when I was about 8 and was instantly fascinated with it. Not just playing games, but also figuring out how to make the computer do things I wanted it to do. I taught myself programming using Omikron-Basic by looking at the examples. Still have fond memories of that time.
A year later we got a "family PC" (a 286 at first, a bit later a 386) which I was using on and off, but the Atari was my mainstay for quite a few more years. I dabbled with GW-BASIC on the PC but found it lacking, and so, shortly after Turbo Pascal 4.0 came out, I started learning Pascal by looking at examples and a pocket-sized "Turbo Pascal 4.0 - The Reference" book. I've learned plenty of other programming languages over the years after that (Everything from Assembler to Smalltalk, and more recently Java, C# and many more), but Pascal (now in the form of Delphi) has been my language of choice ever since.
When I was 15, while still finishing school, I started my own registered trade (which required getting special permission from a family court as a minor), building custom PCs and doing custom development work for a number of customers.
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After 10 years of school ("Realschule" in Germany), I started an industry apprenticeship as "[url=https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kommunikationselektroniker]Kommunikationselektroniker Fachrichtung Informationstechnik[/url]" (“Communication engineer specialized in information technology”) and finished it 1 year early with a top grade.
I was still doing custom development work during all that time and directly started full-time work for one of my major customers, [url=https://www.microtech.de/]Microtech [/url]where I quickly went from "new guy" to "in charge of designing and developing the application framework for our next generation software". After 4 eventful years at Microtech, during which time I also provided a completely new design for FlashFiler (the database engine I was using at Microtech) to TurboPower (the make for FlashFiler) for them to implement, I moved to Australia and was supported to start working on [url=http://www.realbusinesssoftware.com.au/rbscosmos.html ]COSMOS [/url]which was using the new release of FlashFiler that was based on my design.
Shortly after I arrived in Australia, TurboPower unexpectedly got bought and exited the Delphi component market (the buyer just wanted the developers for their in-house projects), leaving a lot of FlashFiler users without any real way forward. So instead of working on COSMOS as planned, over the next 8 months, I developed a new database engine from scratch, [url=https://www.nexusdb.com/]NexusDB[/url], which I've been working on, maintaining and improving, for the last 16 years.
Outside of computers, I've been an avid table-top RPG player and DM since my childhood, starting with 2nd edition DSA (Das Schwarze Auge, The Dark Eye, a German RPG) and later AD&D2 and following editions.AD&D got me started on reading fantasy novels. I have very fond memories of trying to read the original Dragonlance trilogy in English for the first time. This started me down the road as a ravenous reader of fantasy and science fictions books that continues until today.
[b]Can you remember how you first got into gaming?
[/b]
My earliest memories of "gaming" are of visiting a schoolmate and playing a whole bunch of games on his C64. The only title that has stuck in my mind from then is Giana Sisters, but there were many more.
When I got the Atari, I initially only had the high-resolution monochrome display for it, which means I couldn't play any of the commercial games on it. I have fond memories of my Dad driving me to the next larger city on weekends to visit a shop that had various freeware and shareware games and you could buy floppy disks with them for a small copy fee. One of my favourite games of these early days (I was 8 at the time) was [url=https://www.eckhardkruse.net/atari_st/baller.html]Ballerburg[/url].
When I finally got a colour monitor connected to the Atari my first game was [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeon_Master_(video_game)]Dungeon Master[/url] which cemented my love of RPGs. I also fondly remember spending countless hours with [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airball_(video_game)]Airball[/url]. There are way too many games to remember them all by now.I've long lost count of the number of games I've played over the years. I've dabbled in pretty much any genre, but overall found the most enjoyment in role-playing, tactical, and strategy games. Ultima 7 is still very much on my mind as the first computer RPG where I really felt that the world is “alive”.
[b]Do you still find the time to play any games?
[/b]
I try to take the time to play, but it has gotten much rarer than I like. I try out a pretty decent number of games every year, but hardly find the time to actually finish them. It's one of the reasons why I enjoy working on xEdit so much, as it keeps me closer to my gaming roots.
[b]For someone who is just dipping their toe into the modding scene and has never heard of xEdit, what does it do and why would they need it, how would you explain it?
[/b]
I'll be explaining some of the history of xEdit as well, so please excuse me for maybe being a bit long-winded.
When I started playing Oblivion, it was the first time I came in contact with a game that had such an extensive modding scene. I downloaded a whole bunch of mods (mainly from tessource.net which has become NexusMods nowadays), threw them all together semi-randomly and tried to play... to find that many things were suddenly broken and didn't work right. Looking around, I found that there weren't really any tools available to help me understand why that is.
Not having yet encountered a computer-related problem that I couldn't solve by throwing a custom program at it, I started working on TES4View, which today has grown into xEdit.But its roots are in "conflict detection". Loading your complete setup of mods in the same way that the game does, and providing direct visual information about how the different modules conflict and interact with each other. Everyone who uses any mods in a game that xEdit supports should be using xEdit to look for conflicts in their setup, to make informed decisions about load order and necessary patches. There is really no alternative to this. Things like LOOT or information from the author on the mod pages can give you some general information, but at the end of the day, every modded setup is pretty much unique, and it is up to the user to understand how their installed mods interact with each other and to make sure any conflicts are correctly resolved. There are no shortcuts for this. Mods are not “DLC from a third party”. Making them work together will require a certain level of willingness and dedication to learning how they work and interact with each other.
After I initially developed TES4View, I found out that a large number of conflicts between mods were caused by what I then termed "Identical to Master" or ITM records. Basically, every mod available at that time contained anywhere between some and countless records that had nothing to do with the function of the mod and which were identical to the same record in the official game master. By removing these unnecessary records, many mods that were incompatible before could then be used together. As it proved difficult to actually remove these records using the Construction Set (the official editor for Oblivion, which was later called GECK for FO3/FNV, and is called CK (= Creation Kit) for TES5/SSE and FO4), I then started expanding TES4View, which could only be used to view module files, into TES4Edit, to allow directly modifying module files to fix problems.
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This brings us to the 2nd major use of xEdit, the process that is now termed "cleaning". The goal of which is to find and remove unnecessary records from a mod to decrease the chance that it conflicts with other mods. This is a process that normally should be done by the mod author before the release of the mod.
Unfortunately, not all mod authors do this, and newer versions of xEdit might get better at detecting ITMs, which, if the mod author doesn't update their mod anymore, means that mod users might want to perform this operation [b]if[/b] conflict detection shows that ITMs are causing unnecessary conflicts.
This is not a process that should be done ritually or habitually for every mod. It is no longer the early days of Oblivion modding when there were no tools for it and mod authors weren't aware of it, so every uploaded mod required cleaning. Nowadays, mod users should generally only perform it for mods that conflict detection has shown are causing unnecessary conflicts because of ITMs.TES4Edit quickly grow from just being able to remove ITMs to being able to fully edit all data in existing modules and even creating new modules from scratch.
The initial purpose of this was "conflict resolution" by creating patches, new modules that contained only conflicting records from two other mods, with their contents merged such that both original mods can work together. This is still one of the cornerstones of xEdit functionality for mod users today. While there may be pre-built patches for certain mod combinations available, almost every modded setup is unique, and there is a high chance that it contains combinations of conflicting mods for which no pre-build patches are available. Being able to create your own patches, based on the results of conflict detection, is an important skill that any mod user should have in their toolbox. Finally, once TES4Edit could reliably edit all information in module files, it became possible to "create new mods" from scratch, or make extensive changes to existing mods, using only TES4Edit. This really just builds on the skills developed for creating patches. Many mods on NexusMods today have been completely created in xEdit.Later I used TES4Edit as the basis for creating TES4LODGen, which was the first tool for Oblivion that could generate Tree/Object LOD information for your complete load order.
[b]The software has been maintained by a team of people over its lifetime, could you tell us who the key developers are and how they contribute to the project?
[/b]
The software that is xEdit today was initially closed source and I was the only developer working on it during the Oblivion, Fallout 3, and early Fallout New Vegas timeframe. If I remember correctly that should be everything up to Version 3.0.19.
After that, when it became clear to me that, because of work commitments and the birth of our twins, I would not have time to adequately maintain xEdit, I decided to open source the program.
Thankfully a group of dedicated people took the job while I went on hiatus, foremost Hlp, Zilav, Sharlikran.
[list]
[*][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/users/4147439/?]Sharlikran[/url] took over a lot of the organizational work and has been working on decoding record definitions.
[*][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/users/156622/?]Zilav[/url] added the scripting engine and localization support that was necessary to support Skyrim.
[*][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/users/1102380/?]Hlp[/url] did a large amount of work to enable save game viewing (which still a work in progress).
[*][url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/513981]fireundubh[/url] contributed greatly to the Fallout 4 record definitions, hardcoded records, and various other additions and fixes.
[*][url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/14649434]Jonathan Ostrus[/url] made significant contributions to the Fallout 76 record definitions.
[*]There are various other minor contributors that can be found [url=https://github.com/TES5Edit/TES5Edit/graphs/contributors]on GitHub[/url]
[/list]
All of them have been instrumental in creating the record definitions for Skyrim, Fallout 4, and Skyrim Special Edition.
[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/3155782]Sheson[/url] joined the project to improve LOD generation in xLODGen and work on DynDOLOD (the program part of which is a fork of xEdit with additional functionality). He has also been instrumental in updating xEdit to enable compilation for 64bit.
During these years I would (very) occasionally find a week or two of time to work on issues and features that required a deeper understanding of the xEdit core than the other project members possessed.
Around mid-2018 I found some spare time (thanks to the twins having started school by then) to come back to xEdit and was planning to do what I did before, spend a week or two on some difficult issues or features and then move on.
But what was planned as some quick fixes and new features has turned into a months-long project, for which I took time off from my usual work, with a huge number of improvements and fixes to xEdit that culminated in the release of xEdit 4 in mid-December.
All development work on xEdit since mid-2018 has been done by me, but Sharlikran has continued to provide valuable organizational work and [url=https://tes5edit.github.io/docs/]updating the online documentation[/url] that is now reachable through the Help button in the top right corner of the xEdit main form. Zilav and Sheson have provided valuable feedback.
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[b]You’ve recently released a significant milestone release with xEdit (v4.0), what would you say are the headline improvements in the update?
[/b]
The most visible improvement is probably support for UI Themes, both light and dark ones, as well as theme colour awareness of the conflict colours (a dark theme with lighter text on darker background will make xEdit automatically use a darker background and a lighter font colour to show the different conflict statuses).
A very important addition is full ESL support. This means that xEdit now supports loading modules in exactly the same way as the game engine, with ESL flagged ones being mapped into the FExxx space. Without this improvement, valid SSE and FO4 setups that had over 255 modules in total couldn't be loaded into xEdit. Now, if it's valid for the game, it's valid for xEdit.To go hand in hand with the addition of ESL support, the complete load order handling in xEdit has been overhauled and will now behave identically to the game engine for all supported games.
The module selection dialog, used both during program start and at various times while using xEdit has been completely reworked, it's much more informative, has support for saving and loading presets, and filtering.
Language and codepage support in xEdit has been completely reworked. Before, xEdit simply used the system ANSI code page for most strings. Now, xEdit is very explicit about what code page is used for which strings and there are various ways to configure this.
Previous xEdit versions were slow to start as they used to build the information required for the "Referenced By" tabs on every launch. They also didn't build reference information for the game master file automatically, which had to be done explicitly after the program was running if desired. Now, the second and subsequent starts after updating to a new version of xEdit will be much faster, as the required information is read in from a persistent cache on disk instead of having to be built on each launch. On the first launch after an update, this reference information is built once and then saved to disk in a cache. While this first launch is slower, it is still faster than launching the previous version and then building the reference information for the game master, as this building process will now run using a multi-threaded approach.
The ModGroups functionality has been completely reworked. This is a centrally important feature of xEdit, which has been present for over a decade, about which, hardly anyone was aware. It completely changes how you go about looking for conflicts with xEdit. This feature makes conflict detection and resolution even with gigantic load orders a breeze. ModGroups are, at their most basic, a way to tell xEdit, "if this set of modules is loaded in this order, then any conflict between them has been resolved and you need to consider only the winning override for each record". In previous versions, it was necessary to use a text editor to create .modgroups files outside of xEdit, which almost nobody did. In this version, ModGroup support is fully implemented inside xEdit, with ways to create, edit, and delete ModGroups right in xEdit, as well as the ability to reload a different selection of ModGroups at any time.
Aligning alignable array elements is one of these features that hardly anyone notices when it's added because it just feels so natural and right, but if you remove it after someone had just a few minutes to get used to it, it's instantly and painfully noticeable. There are a number of arrays where the order is important, one of the primary ones is lists of conditions.
This is best explained in a short example:
Without this feature, a record with 2 overrides looked like this:
[quote]A B B
B C A
C[/quote]
With alignment active, it will now look like this:
[quote]A
B B B
A
C C[/quote]
The ability to filter in the View tab and to collapse nodes in the view tab hugely improves working with large records.
Two other new features go hand in hand with each other. One is the ability to create a delta patch. Given two versions of a module, xEdit can create a patch module that contains only exactly the records that are different between these two modules. The other is the ability to take a module (like such a delta patch, but also a plugin created in CK by editing records that already exist in a master) and merge this module into its master. Given the original version of a module and a delta patch, you can now re-create the 2nd version of that file by merging in the patch. This function can also replace the “merge into master” functionality of CK which normally requires the use of VC (version control).In addition to these big-ticket items above, there are hundreds of other smaller improvements and bug fixes all over the place.
On top of all this, which affects every existing game-specific version of xEdit, there is now full support for Fallout 76 in the form of FO76Edit.
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[b]When Bethesda releases a new game, what is the process you go through in order to make xEdit compatible with the new plugins?
[/b]
This is a rather involved multi-step process which is helped along by a number of normally hidden functions in the xEdit core to analyse the structure of module files. It is usually possible to use the record definitions of an existing game as the basis.
The first step is to analyse the gross structure of the new game master, what record signatures and groups are contained in the file in what order?
Once that has been established and the basic record definitions updated or created, each record type (there are hundreds in the most current games) is analysed on its own to understand what subrecords it can contain, and how these subrecords are structured. This can get rather complicated, with arrays and structs of subrecords, sometimes nested multiple levels deep.
The next step is to analyse the contents of each sub record. Is there only a single value? Or a complex structure? Most locations where FormID, strings, or floats are stored can be found with the right analysis tools. This doesn't tell you what these values are used for or named. It only helps to identify what type of value is stored where. It is especially important to find any and all places that can contain FormIDs in this step. Without knowing the location of every single FormID, it is impossible for xEdit to add, remove, or sort masters for a file.
Up to this point, the availability of an official tool like CK is irrelevant. The process described above was followed to generate the record definitions for FO76Edit (starting from the record definitions for FO4 and modifying/extending them where analysis found discrepancies) and took about 150 man hours in total.
What follows after this depends on the availability of an official editor for the module files.
If no such tool is available, like currently in the case of FO76, it is still possible to try and make informed guesses about what the likely labels for some of these unknown new or changed values are, but there is a lot of guesswork involved.
If an official editor is available, it's possible to use that to create test plugins by putting unique values into each field visible in the editor for some record type, then load that test plugin into xEdit (or a number of other internal tools) and try to match up the information in the official editor with what has been written into the file. This is a very involved and repetitive process that can take hundreds of hours to further refine the record definitions.
[img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1547221240-338210184.png[/img]
[b]Perhaps the only noticeable gap in xEdit’s library of supported games is The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind - is there a technical reason why it hasn’t been supported?[/b]
There is indeed a technical reason for that. xEdit was originally developed for TES4: Oblivion. Oblivion was the first game for which Bethesda used FormIDs to identify individual records, and the fundamental design of xEdit is based on the assumption that records have FormIDs that identify them. This has been the case for any game that followed Oblivion so far.
Morrowind does not use FormIDs and has a much less "generalized" overall structure to its module files compared to later games. This makes it much harder to support Morrowind within the existing framework xEdit has established to support all later games.
I have recently been working on finding ways to support Morrowind in xEdit. It's very much a case of trying to get a square peg through a round hole. But I've been making progress by following an approach where I synthesize virtual FormIDs for records on load.
This will require a lot more work and time, but I believe TES3Edit is an achievable goal.
[b]Have you ever wanted to make a tool like this for a different game engine?
[/b]
There are a number of other modable games for which I would love to have a tool like xEdit, and I've looked into the data format for these games. Unfortunately, none of them had a data format that would make adapting xEdit for them something that could be achieved with reasonable effort, if at all.
I do have to congratulate Bethesda, the basic structure of their module files is much more suited for supporting setups with multiple mods than anything I've found in other games.
[b]Given unlimited resources, what features would you like to bring to xEdit?
[/b]
Beyond Morrowind support, which I'm currently working on, there are a number of other big items I would like to address in the future.
The first one is to modularize the main form. That's what you see when you start xEdit, with the navigation tree view on the left and the tabs on the right. All of this is currently one giant strongly interconnected whole which has grown over the last decade. The goal here is to separate it all into distinct, isolated modules (the navigation tree view, the view tab, the spreadsheet tabs, the different functions that can be executed). This involves a large amount of work, and will not, initially, result in a significant change from the user's point of view. But it's really the required foundation for a lot of future work.
Once the main form is modularized, it's easier to build on that and support multiple navigation tree views (each one can be differently filtered) and views (showing different records concurrently).
This will also enable quality of life improvements like a scratch pad (an area where you can drag in anything from any record, be it a single value or a whole struct or array, then later use this as a drag source to copy into any assignment compatible place in other records).
The next big feature would be to support assets at the same level as modules are currently supported. The navigation tree view would list the .bsa/.ba2 files, as well as loose files folders in the correct order. You can open them up to explore the contained folders and files. When a file is selected, the view tab will show the different file versions, with information extracted appropriately based on file type, side by side, the same way that records are shown side by side. This should also include the ability to preview textures, possible models and other file types.
After that would be graphical visualization of path grids, navmeshes, and general CELL contents.
Outside of these really big items, there are countless more minor improvements that are possible, among them various quality of life improvements and improved error checking for navmeshes and other complex records.
Obviously, whenever Bethesda releases any new game based on a variation of the current module format, implementing support for that would have the priority.
[center][img width=500,height=149]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1546949530-245170919.png[/img][/center]
[b]I’m sure a large number of modders who’ve used xEdit would like to know, what is the best way to support the development of xEdit?
[/b]
The primary means of support would be to pledge on my [url=https://www.patreon.com/ElminsterAU]Patreon[/url] as this gives a somewhat predictable monthly income which would allow me to make long term plans in regards to how much time I can spend on xEdit development in the future.
Another possibility is direct donations via PayPal, either using the donation function here on NexusMods (which will forward you to my PayPal, Nexus Mods is not involved in the processing of it) or [url=https://www.paypal.me/ElminsterAU]directly[/url]. Both of these are currently easily reachable via buttons in the top right corner of the xEdit main form.
The last possibility is [url=https://ko-fi.com/ElminsterAU]Ko-fi[/url], which right now is simply another way to be forwarded to PayPal for a one-off donation so it doesn’t currently provide any benefit over making a direct PayPal donation. Please keep in mind that no matter what way you use to support xEdit development, the lower the amount, the higher the relative cut the payment processor takes. This is especially noticeable for very small amounts. If you donate $1, only about half of it will make it to me.
The huge amount of progress that has been made in xEdit 4 has only been possible by investing many hundreds of hours of development work, which, for me, came at a significant cost of lost income from my usual work. If I had purely worked on it in my spare time, xEdit 4 would still be 2-3 years in the future.
I obviously can't sustain ongoing xEdit development at a significant financial loss permanently, so the speed of progress for future xEdit development depends directly on the level of support I can achieve from the modding community.
At the time I'm writing this, current pledges on Patreon and average direct donations on PayPal together can finance roughly 1/8th of a month of full-time work on xEdit.
[b]Is there anything else you’d like to say to the Nexus Mods community? [/b]
I've greatly enjoyed my work on xEdit and interactions with many members of the modding community. I'll try to answer any questions that come up in the comments of this interview. I am usually available on the xEdit [url=https://discord.gg/5t8RnNQ]Discord server[/url] (also reachable via the Discord button in the top right corner in the xEdit main form).
[line]
A big thank you to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/users/167469]ElminsterAU[/url] for answering our questions. If there's an author or mod project you'd like to know more about, send your suggestions to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/64597][b]BigBizkit[/b][/url] or [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/31179975][b]Pickysaurus[/b][/url].
Nexus Mods/GOG Giveaway - Winner's Choice! #3
To celebrate the new year we are giving away another 5 GOG keys for a game of your choice redeemable at [url=https://www.gog.com/?pp=a120fe5cad51f0d0942d7c283478628047d6cfce&utm_medium=content&utm_source=nxm&utm_campaign=ws18&utm_term=en]GOG.com[/url]. If you were not among the lucky winners during the last giveaways, now is your last chance!
Please note that a [url=https://login.gog.com/login?pp=a120fe5cad51f0d0942d7c283478628047d6cfce&utm_medium=content&utm_source=nxm&utm_campaign=ws18&utm_term=en]GOG.com user account is required[/url] both for participation, as well as for redeeming the prize.
In order to ensure the winner comes from the Nexus Mods community, there are some mandatory steps to ensure your eligibility.
[list]
[*]Leave a comment on this article. You can say anything you want (site rules still apply)
[*]Log into the Gleam widget with your preferred method. (Facebook/Email)
[*]Click the second entry action that says "Leave a comment on Nexus Mods"
[*]Enter your full Nexus Mods username into the field (check your spelling!)
[/list]
If you forget to leave a comment or don't include a valid username, you'll lose out on your chance to win. If you are not sure what to write as a comment, why don't you tell us about your favourite holiday tradition?
Good luck and thank you for participating!
[url=https://gleam.io/PgrWa/gog-winter-sale-giveaway-winners-choice-3][size=5]Click here to enter for your chance to win 1 of 5 Game Codes for a game of your choice from GOG.com[/size][/url]
[i][size=1](Entries close at 16:59 GMT on 6th January 2019 - all prizes must be redeemed by the end of January 2019 or they will expire.)[/size][/i]
Please note that a [url=https://login.gog.com/login?pp=a120fe5cad51f0d0942d7c283478628047d6cfce&utm_medium=content&utm_source=nxm&utm_campaign=ws18&utm_term=en]GOG.com user account is required[/url] both for participation, as well as for redeeming the prize.
In order to ensure the winner comes from the Nexus Mods community, there are some mandatory steps to ensure your eligibility.
[list]
[*]Leave a comment on this article. You can say anything you want (site rules still apply)
[*]Log into the Gleam widget with your preferred method. (Facebook/Email)
[*]Click the second entry action that says "Leave a comment on Nexus Mods"
[*]Enter your full Nexus Mods username into the field (check your spelling!)
[/list]
If you forget to leave a comment or don't include a valid username, you'll lose out on your chance to win. If you are not sure what to write as a comment, why don't you tell us about your favourite holiday tradition?
Good luck and thank you for participating!
[url=https://gleam.io/PgrWa/gog-winter-sale-giveaway-winners-choice-3][size=5]Click here to enter for your chance to win 1 of 5 Game Codes for a game of your choice from GOG.com[/size][/url]
[i][size=1](Entries close at 16:59 GMT on 6th January 2019 - all prizes must be redeemed by the end of January 2019 or they will expire.)[/size][/i]
The Commandant of Creations - CDante
Today we are talking to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/users/1008186?tab=user+files]CDante[/url], a long time member of our site and prolific modder, who has brought us some amazing Fallout 4 mods such as [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/22442]Transfer Settlements[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/10660]Visible Companion Affinity[/url], or [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/34002]Ninja Smoke Bombs[/url]!
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1545404045-822165758.jpeg[/img][/center]
[b]BigBizkit: You are well known in the community for all your Fallout 4 mods, but, as always, we like to start the interview off by you telling us a bit about yourself.[/b]
CDante: Hey, sure! I’m an ‘80s kid from Europe, playing video games since the age of 4, so things I feel nostalgic for often date three decades back. When some of my friends tell me World of Warcraft was their childhood I feel very old, but I like to think I’m not THAT old yet. I was born and have lived most of my life in the beautiful city of Budapest. I work as an IT programmer and started modding shortly after the release of Fallout 4, almost three years ago now. It has become my number one hobby ever since and been consuming my free time almost exclusively.
[b]As if it was planned: on December 31st of this year, it will be your 10-year anniversary on Nexus Mods! Do you recall how it all got started for you, what made you want to join, and what made you want to make and release your own mods?[/b]
I remember why I registered because I clearly remember Fallout 3’s impact on my life 10 years ago. (It was almost as intense as Fallout 4 was in 2015.) I heard about Morrowind and Oblivion - sure - but when it came to RPGs I always preferred isometric games like Baldur’s Gate, Icewind Dale, and of course, I absolutely loved the classic Fallout games from the late ‘90s. I always loved post-apocalyptic themes in books and movies so the franchise just hit the perfect notes for me. Needless to say, when Fallout 3 came out in 2008 I HAD TO try it. And that’s how it became my first 3D RPG and the first Bethesda game I’ve ever played. And man, I got hooked… I remember I couldn’t stop playing it for months, literally day and night. I tried to max out everything, and absolutely loved the companion system – I wanted to have them all at the same time! That’s how I got introduced to the in-game console, and that’s why I started to download mods for a game for the first time. But I wasn’t really active on the site for many years, later I returned for Skyrim mods, then, of course, I had to download some cool mods when XCOM got a reboot – one of my other beloved franchises from the last century – but overall I’ve been really just lurking here up until my first mod release in early 2016.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/1151/images/10660-0-1466410559.jpg[/img][/center]
[b]Some of your most popular mod creations are [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/10660]Visible Companion Affinity[/url] and, of course, [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/22442]Transfer Settlements[/url]. What was the inspiration for those two in particular?[/b]
Like in Fallout 3, the permanent companions in all Bethesda titles are a big part in my game experience and why I love playing these games. In Fallout 4 they definitely delivered on that part, especially with the new affinity system they introduced. I wanted to see how I progress with them, how my actions affect the numbers behind the scenes so I could max out my relationship with each of them. So I started to look into Papyrus scripting, and Visible Companion Affinity was born.
Later on, I released more and more script-based mods, and by the end of 2016 Transfer Settlements was just something I knew I could do and would be a tool that would greatly benefit the community. So I uploaded [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cpb4j0d36cY]a first proof of concept video in early 2017[/url]. The reception was amazing, it really felt great reading comments from Gopher, Oxhorn, JuiceHead and many others, so in the next three months, I was working really hard to make it a reality. I received a lot of help from [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/users/2950481]Expired6978[/url] and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/17152929]registrator2000[/url] as I was completely new to F4SE plugins at the time.
[b]From all the mods you have created (including contributions to other mods) do you have a favourite or one that you are most proud of?[/b]
I always felt Transfer Settlements is my magnum opus and probably the most important of all my mods. But apart from that, I’m really proud of The Wasteland Codex as well. It’s amazing to work with such a quality content that the folks at the [url=https://www.youtube.com/user/ShoddyCast]ShoddyCast[/url] and [url=https://fallout.gamepedia.com/The_Vault_Fallout_Wiki]The Vault wiki[/url] provide, and so satisfying to put the perfect voice for the perfect Fallout chronicler into the game, courtesy of Mr. Jason Damron.
Oh, and of course GTKYMA Radio featuring interview #7 BigBizkit! Jokes aside, at the time it was a huge deal for me to work together with Darren on a mod, and putting the same interview series into the game that actually inspired me to become a modder just a few months earlier.
[b]You also have a little bit of a reputation for creating tongue-in-cheek mods and having fun with your creations in general. [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/32054]Uncle Pete’s Special[/url], or [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/30880]Helium Balloon[/url] are good examples of that. Where do you get the ideas for your more silly mods? Do you have a favourite humorous mod from another author?
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1545404221-457236812.png[/img] [img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1545404229-251316825.png[/img][/center][/b]
When it comes to memes I prefer humour rather than hate, and when it comes to seasonal mods I prefer April Fools over Halloween, Christmas or anything else. I don’t know. Humour was always a big part of my personality I guess, and these ideas usually just come up while following the latest buzz, and then I quickly implement them as mods within a few hours before they would get anything more serious or overly complicated. Uncle Pete’s Special was created while I was bored watching the 24 hour livestream of Fallout 76’s announcement. The idea of the Helium Balloon occurred to me when somehow I ended up browsing through my GOG library, and started playing a few hours with my old favorite point & click game, Monkey Island 3. I created [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/23198]Press X to Shaun[/url] when I came across [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAhG9D9UO7c]a YouTube video[/url] of that old Heavy Rain “Shaun glitch” and realized that it’s perfect for Fallout 4 since that’s the name of the Sole Survivor’s kid as well. And I guess [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/24914]The Creation Club[/url] was me overreacting to a pun just a bit.
[b]Being a mod author who is mostly focused on the Fallout series, you have been the first author to release [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout76/mods/1]a mod for Fallout 76[/url]. Where do you think modding for the Fallout franchise is headed in general? What would you want to see for future titles in terms of modding?[/b]
I created that very simple main menu loop for 76 as a proof of concept and with the sole purpose of giving the modding community a small nudge. It was good to see the number of 76 mods growing over the next weeks, and today I couldn’t even play the game without reg2k’s [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout76/mods/32]Better Inventory[/url].
When it comes to 76 in general, I’m probably more optimistic than most. I hope, after the many controversies, Bethesda will find their way back to their fans eventually by ironing out the numerous issues the game still has and starting to provide a service and new content that worth the full price of the game for any Fallout fan. And in the meantime – while our hands are obviously tied for a long time – probably for more than a year still – I’m pretty sure us modders will do our part and will find more and more creative ways to make this game better with the tools we currently have. I recently spent three days dissecting the vendor/container menu, trying out numerous ways to show up an additional bit of info on the UI whether plans or recipes are already learned by the player. While I certainly failed to come up with a working solution, I’m pretty sure there’s someone out there in the community who will think outside the box and release an instant "Mod of the Month" with a different approach.
However, my excitement for the upcoming 76 private servers is moderate at this point. Sure I plan to have my own server and I’m definitely going to try out new things on the server-side of modding that we cannot touch today. But who knows if that’s going to be in late 2019 or the second quarter of 2020, and how many players will opt to switch to a private server then? Will they do that even if they have to start a new character for it? How many users would download mods if those mods could only be installed by server owners through Bethesda.net? These are the questions I’ve been thinking of recently, so I’m a bit sceptical and trying to keep my excitement at bay for the time being.
Eventually, I can imagine 76 as a hub where players meet occasionally to play together, a sandbox where all of us have our maxed-out lvl 200+ characters with the perfect C.A.M.P. builds, everything unlocked, every quest completed, and we will return to this playground over and over when Bethesda releases some new content. And in the meantime, we play the more meaningful first-person adventures of earlier titles like we always did, and that’s fine with me, to be honest.
One thing is for sure, I still have twenty times more WIP projects and mod ideas for Fallout 4 than for 76 that I definitely want to finish at some point.
[b]Do you have any plans for the near future when it comes to mod releases?[/b]
I’m slowly working on a quest that’s both going to be a standalone mod and part of [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/27629]The Wasteland Codex[/url]. I don’t think it’s a huge spoiler if I say it’s going to feature ED-NA and The Storyteller, and since I started to play Fallout 4 again, I also want to finish some smaller quality-of-life mods that I started working on earlier this year – one that lets you whistle Dogmeat to issue him commands, for example, to find the corpses of your recently killed enemies; another one that lets you command your companions to automatically fix their own Power Armor; and I’ve been also working on a winter mod that makes your breath visible.
[center][youtube]DyFX5jbhxZc[/youtube][/center]
Of course these are smaller projects, the big one is always Transfer Settlements, and currently, my biggest mountain to climb is to be able to export settlements directly as ESP or ESL plugins.
[b]Outside of modding or programming, what are some things you like to do for fun?[/b]
Before modding, miniature tabletop games have been a huge part of my life for decades, especially Warhammer 40k. I have even organised a yearly convention for the hobby here in Budapest for nine consecutive years. I play airsoft occasionally, that’s another hobby that has been part of my life for a decade now. I also play the bass.
[b]What are some of the games you grew up with and are you playing any games currently? Do you use any mods?[/b]
Apart from those I already mentioned. I’m a huge fan of point & click adventure games. LucasArts is MY childhood, and I love to see the genre living its renaissance lately. I can always find new point & click games on GOG or Steam that look retro, but came out in recent years. They give me nostalgia even though I’ve never played them before. I also have a huge backlog of open-world titles – I’ve yet to play the DLCs of The Witcher 3 and definitely want to try out Kingdom Come: Deliverance, both of which I plan to mod for sure.
[b]Onto a completely different topic: how did you spend Christmas?
[/b]
Traditionally I visit grandparents in Budapest on the 23rd, then I spend Christmas out of town at my father’s. He is an amazing chef so it’s always a great time to be hungry when I’m there.
[b]Do you have any New Year’s resolutions - modding related or otherwise?[/b]
First of all, have to return to the gym after all this food as soon as possible. I have also decided to release smaller updates for my older mods to fix some minor issues that have been present for ages. It would be awesome to start the New Year with cleaner bug report sections. I would also like to upload videos to my YouTube channel more often. I have a ton of tutorials planned and it would be nice to finish all my WIP modding projects in 2019. There’s one in particular that I started back in 2016 and it hurts me to even think about it that it was more than two years ago and never got finished – talking about the [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkJEez89i-0]real-time hair and beard growing for Fallout 4[/url].
[b]Is there anything else you would like to say to the Nexus Mods community?[/b]
[url=https://www.patreon.com/ElminsterAU]Support ElminsterAU and the xEdit Team on Patreon[/url]! For many mod makers, the editor they created is just as important to modding as the Creation Kit, if not more.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/1151/images/10660-0-1466402910.gif[/img][/center]
[line]
A big thank you to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/1008186]CDante[/url] for answering our questions. As always, if there's an author or mod project you'd like to know more about, send your suggestions to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/64597][b]BigBizkit[/b][/url] or [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/31179975][b]Pickysaurus[/b][/url].
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1545404045-822165758.jpeg[/img][/center]
[b]BigBizkit: You are well known in the community for all your Fallout 4 mods, but, as always, we like to start the interview off by you telling us a bit about yourself.[/b]
CDante: Hey, sure! I’m an ‘80s kid from Europe, playing video games since the age of 4, so things I feel nostalgic for often date three decades back. When some of my friends tell me World of Warcraft was their childhood I feel very old, but I like to think I’m not THAT old yet. I was born and have lived most of my life in the beautiful city of Budapest. I work as an IT programmer and started modding shortly after the release of Fallout 4, almost three years ago now. It has become my number one hobby ever since and been consuming my free time almost exclusively.
[b]As if it was planned: on December 31st of this year, it will be your 10-year anniversary on Nexus Mods! Do you recall how it all got started for you, what made you want to join, and what made you want to make and release your own mods?[/b]
I remember why I registered because I clearly remember Fallout 3’s impact on my life 10 years ago. (It was almost as intense as Fallout 4 was in 2015.) I heard about Morrowind and Oblivion - sure - but when it came to RPGs I always preferred isometric games like Baldur’s Gate, Icewind Dale, and of course, I absolutely loved the classic Fallout games from the late ‘90s. I always loved post-apocalyptic themes in books and movies so the franchise just hit the perfect notes for me. Needless to say, when Fallout 3 came out in 2008 I HAD TO try it. And that’s how it became my first 3D RPG and the first Bethesda game I’ve ever played. And man, I got hooked… I remember I couldn’t stop playing it for months, literally day and night. I tried to max out everything, and absolutely loved the companion system – I wanted to have them all at the same time! That’s how I got introduced to the in-game console, and that’s why I started to download mods for a game for the first time. But I wasn’t really active on the site for many years, later I returned for Skyrim mods, then, of course, I had to download some cool mods when XCOM got a reboot – one of my other beloved franchises from the last century – but overall I’ve been really just lurking here up until my first mod release in early 2016.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/1151/images/10660-0-1466410559.jpg[/img][/center]
[b]Some of your most popular mod creations are [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/10660]Visible Companion Affinity[/url] and, of course, [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/22442]Transfer Settlements[/url]. What was the inspiration for those two in particular?[/b]
Like in Fallout 3, the permanent companions in all Bethesda titles are a big part in my game experience and why I love playing these games. In Fallout 4 they definitely delivered on that part, especially with the new affinity system they introduced. I wanted to see how I progress with them, how my actions affect the numbers behind the scenes so I could max out my relationship with each of them. So I started to look into Papyrus scripting, and Visible Companion Affinity was born.
Later on, I released more and more script-based mods, and by the end of 2016 Transfer Settlements was just something I knew I could do and would be a tool that would greatly benefit the community. So I uploaded [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cpb4j0d36cY]a first proof of concept video in early 2017[/url]. The reception was amazing, it really felt great reading comments from Gopher, Oxhorn, JuiceHead and many others, so in the next three months, I was working really hard to make it a reality. I received a lot of help from [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/users/2950481]Expired6978[/url] and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/17152929]registrator2000[/url] as I was completely new to F4SE plugins at the time.
[b]From all the mods you have created (including contributions to other mods) do you have a favourite or one that you are most proud of?[/b]
I always felt Transfer Settlements is my magnum opus and probably the most important of all my mods. But apart from that, I’m really proud of The Wasteland Codex as well. It’s amazing to work with such a quality content that the folks at the [url=https://www.youtube.com/user/ShoddyCast]ShoddyCast[/url] and [url=https://fallout.gamepedia.com/The_Vault_Fallout_Wiki]The Vault wiki[/url] provide, and so satisfying to put the perfect voice for the perfect Fallout chronicler into the game, courtesy of Mr. Jason Damron.
Oh, and of course GTKYMA Radio featuring interview #7 BigBizkit! Jokes aside, at the time it was a huge deal for me to work together with Darren on a mod, and putting the same interview series into the game that actually inspired me to become a modder just a few months earlier.
[b]You also have a little bit of a reputation for creating tongue-in-cheek mods and having fun with your creations in general. [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/32054]Uncle Pete’s Special[/url], or [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/30880]Helium Balloon[/url] are good examples of that. Where do you get the ideas for your more silly mods? Do you have a favourite humorous mod from another author?
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1545404221-457236812.png[/img] [img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1545404229-251316825.png[/img][/center][/b]
When it comes to memes I prefer humour rather than hate, and when it comes to seasonal mods I prefer April Fools over Halloween, Christmas or anything else. I don’t know. Humour was always a big part of my personality I guess, and these ideas usually just come up while following the latest buzz, and then I quickly implement them as mods within a few hours before they would get anything more serious or overly complicated. Uncle Pete’s Special was created while I was bored watching the 24 hour livestream of Fallout 76’s announcement. The idea of the Helium Balloon occurred to me when somehow I ended up browsing through my GOG library, and started playing a few hours with my old favorite point & click game, Monkey Island 3. I created [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/23198]Press X to Shaun[/url] when I came across [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAhG9D9UO7c]a YouTube video[/url] of that old Heavy Rain “Shaun glitch” and realized that it’s perfect for Fallout 4 since that’s the name of the Sole Survivor’s kid as well. And I guess [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/24914]The Creation Club[/url] was me overreacting to a pun just a bit.
[b]Being a mod author who is mostly focused on the Fallout series, you have been the first author to release [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout76/mods/1]a mod for Fallout 76[/url]. Where do you think modding for the Fallout franchise is headed in general? What would you want to see for future titles in terms of modding?[/b]
I created that very simple main menu loop for 76 as a proof of concept and with the sole purpose of giving the modding community a small nudge. It was good to see the number of 76 mods growing over the next weeks, and today I couldn’t even play the game without reg2k’s [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout76/mods/32]Better Inventory[/url].
When it comes to 76 in general, I’m probably more optimistic than most. I hope, after the many controversies, Bethesda will find their way back to their fans eventually by ironing out the numerous issues the game still has and starting to provide a service and new content that worth the full price of the game for any Fallout fan. And in the meantime – while our hands are obviously tied for a long time – probably for more than a year still – I’m pretty sure us modders will do our part and will find more and more creative ways to make this game better with the tools we currently have. I recently spent three days dissecting the vendor/container menu, trying out numerous ways to show up an additional bit of info on the UI whether plans or recipes are already learned by the player. While I certainly failed to come up with a working solution, I’m pretty sure there’s someone out there in the community who will think outside the box and release an instant "Mod of the Month" with a different approach.
However, my excitement for the upcoming 76 private servers is moderate at this point. Sure I plan to have my own server and I’m definitely going to try out new things on the server-side of modding that we cannot touch today. But who knows if that’s going to be in late 2019 or the second quarter of 2020, and how many players will opt to switch to a private server then? Will they do that even if they have to start a new character for it? How many users would download mods if those mods could only be installed by server owners through Bethesda.net? These are the questions I’ve been thinking of recently, so I’m a bit sceptical and trying to keep my excitement at bay for the time being.
Eventually, I can imagine 76 as a hub where players meet occasionally to play together, a sandbox where all of us have our maxed-out lvl 200+ characters with the perfect C.A.M.P. builds, everything unlocked, every quest completed, and we will return to this playground over and over when Bethesda releases some new content. And in the meantime, we play the more meaningful first-person adventures of earlier titles like we always did, and that’s fine with me, to be honest.
One thing is for sure, I still have twenty times more WIP projects and mod ideas for Fallout 4 than for 76 that I definitely want to finish at some point.
[b]Do you have any plans for the near future when it comes to mod releases?[/b]
I’m slowly working on a quest that’s both going to be a standalone mod and part of [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/27629]The Wasteland Codex[/url]. I don’t think it’s a huge spoiler if I say it’s going to feature ED-NA and The Storyteller, and since I started to play Fallout 4 again, I also want to finish some smaller quality-of-life mods that I started working on earlier this year – one that lets you whistle Dogmeat to issue him commands, for example, to find the corpses of your recently killed enemies; another one that lets you command your companions to automatically fix their own Power Armor; and I’ve been also working on a winter mod that makes your breath visible.
[center][youtube]DyFX5jbhxZc[/youtube][/center]
Of course these are smaller projects, the big one is always Transfer Settlements, and currently, my biggest mountain to climb is to be able to export settlements directly as ESP or ESL plugins.
[b]Outside of modding or programming, what are some things you like to do for fun?[/b]
Before modding, miniature tabletop games have been a huge part of my life for decades, especially Warhammer 40k. I have even organised a yearly convention for the hobby here in Budapest for nine consecutive years. I play airsoft occasionally, that’s another hobby that has been part of my life for a decade now. I also play the bass.
[b]What are some of the games you grew up with and are you playing any games currently? Do you use any mods?[/b]
Apart from those I already mentioned. I’m a huge fan of point & click adventure games. LucasArts is MY childhood, and I love to see the genre living its renaissance lately. I can always find new point & click games on GOG or Steam that look retro, but came out in recent years. They give me nostalgia even though I’ve never played them before. I also have a huge backlog of open-world titles – I’ve yet to play the DLCs of The Witcher 3 and definitely want to try out Kingdom Come: Deliverance, both of which I plan to mod for sure.
[b]Onto a completely different topic: how did you spend Christmas?
[/b]
Traditionally I visit grandparents in Budapest on the 23rd, then I spend Christmas out of town at my father’s. He is an amazing chef so it’s always a great time to be hungry when I’m there.
[b]Do you have any New Year’s resolutions - modding related or otherwise?[/b]
First of all, have to return to the gym after all this food as soon as possible. I have also decided to release smaller updates for my older mods to fix some minor issues that have been present for ages. It would be awesome to start the New Year with cleaner bug report sections. I would also like to upload videos to my YouTube channel more often. I have a ton of tutorials planned and it would be nice to finish all my WIP modding projects in 2019. There’s one in particular that I started back in 2016 and it hurts me to even think about it that it was more than two years ago and never got finished – talking about the [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkJEez89i-0]real-time hair and beard growing for Fallout 4[/url].
[b]Is there anything else you would like to say to the Nexus Mods community?[/b]
[url=https://www.patreon.com/ElminsterAU]Support ElminsterAU and the xEdit Team on Patreon[/url]! For many mod makers, the editor they created is just as important to modding as the Creation Kit, if not more.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/1151/images/10660-0-1466402910.gif[/img][/center]
[line]
A big thank you to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/1008186]CDante[/url] for answering our questions. As always, if there's an author or mod project you'd like to know more about, send your suggestions to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/64597][b]BigBizkit[/b][/url] or [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/31179975][b]Pickysaurus[/b][/url].
Nexus Mods/GOG Giveaway - Winner's Choice! #2
Just when you thought one giveaway was enough, we've got another one for you this week. [b]5 more free games of your choice[/b] from [url=https://www.gog.com/?pp=a120fe5cad51f0d0942d7c283478628047d6cfce&utm_medium=content&utm_source=nxm&utm_campaign=ws18&utm_term=en]GOG.com[/url] are up for grabs. Now there's a Christmas present you'll definitely like!
Please note that a [b][url=https://login.gog.com/login?pp=a120fe5cad51f0d0942d7c283478628047d6cfce&utm_medium=content&utm_source=nxm&utm_campaign=ws18&utm_term=en]GOG.com user account is required[/url][/b] both for participation, as well as for redeeming the prize.
In order to ensure the winner comes from the Nexus Mods community, there are some mandatory steps to ensure your eligibility.
[list]
[*]Leave a comment on this article. You can say anything you want (site rules still apply)
[*]Log into the Gleam widget with your preferred method. (Facebook/Email)
[*]Click the second entry action that says "Leave a comment on Nexus Mods"
[*]Enter your full Nexus Mods username into the field (check your spelling!)
[/list]
If you forget to leave a comment or don't include a valid username, you'll lose out on your chance to win. If you're not sure what to write as a comment, why don't you tell us about your favourite modding moment of 2018?
We've also updated our [url=https://gog.com/partner/WS18_nxm/?pp=a120fe5cad51f0d0942d7c283478628047d6cfce&utm_medium=content&utm_source=nxm&utm_campaign=ws18&utm_term=en]Winter Collection over at GOG.com[/url] with the classic Bethesda titles which have been added to the sale!
Good luck and thank you for participating!
[url=http://2nex.us/MBeh30n2EEx][size=5]Click here to enter for your chance to win 1 of 5 Game Codes for a game of your choice from GOG.com[/size][/url]
[i][size=1](Entries close at 16:59 GMT on 30th December 2018 - all prizes must be redeemed by the end of January 2019 or they will expire.)[/size][/i]
Please note that a [b][url=https://login.gog.com/login?pp=a120fe5cad51f0d0942d7c283478628047d6cfce&utm_medium=content&utm_source=nxm&utm_campaign=ws18&utm_term=en]GOG.com user account is required[/url][/b] both for participation, as well as for redeeming the prize.
In order to ensure the winner comes from the Nexus Mods community, there are some mandatory steps to ensure your eligibility.
[list]
[*]Leave a comment on this article. You can say anything you want (site rules still apply)
[*]Log into the Gleam widget with your preferred method. (Facebook/Email)
[*]Click the second entry action that says "Leave a comment on Nexus Mods"
[*]Enter your full Nexus Mods username into the field (check your spelling!)
[/list]
If you forget to leave a comment or don't include a valid username, you'll lose out on your chance to win. If you're not sure what to write as a comment, why don't you tell us about your favourite modding moment of 2018?
We've also updated our [url=https://gog.com/partner/WS18_nxm/?pp=a120fe5cad51f0d0942d7c283478628047d6cfce&utm_medium=content&utm_source=nxm&utm_campaign=ws18&utm_term=en]Winter Collection over at GOG.com[/url] with the classic Bethesda titles which have been added to the sale!
Good luck and thank you for participating!
[url=http://2nex.us/MBeh30n2EEx][size=5]Click here to enter for your chance to win 1 of 5 Game Codes for a game of your choice from GOG.com[/size][/url]
[i][size=1](Entries close at 16:59 GMT on 30th December 2018 - all prizes must be redeemed by the end of January 2019 or they will expire.)[/size][/i]
Into battle with LadyAlekto
This week we're catching up with [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/users/6191338]LadyAlekto[/url], the brains behind the #1 Battletech mod, [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/mods/79]RogueTech[/url]. Currently sitting at over 100,000+ downloads and 1,000+ endorsements.
[b]To begin, could you first tell us a bit about yourself?[/b]
I'm a 33-year-old obsessive nerd that loved Battletech since she found [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_BattleTech_novels]the books[/url] as a kid. I pretty much always tinkered with my games and tech. Also certifiable bullhead with a temper, but more than willing to help and assist if respect is there ;)
[b]What sort of things do you like to do when not working on your mod?
[/b]
Usually, I game, mod other things ([url=https://www.nexusmods.com/stellaris]Stellaris[/url] currently), waste time on Discord or Twitch/Netflix, or read comics and books, all the usual nerd stuff. When I can I cycle around the city and into nature for a while, usually with really loud metal shredding what remains of my ears ;)
[b]For those who haven’t heard of RogueTech could you explain what it is?
[/b]
A mod for the game Battletech that aims to introduce everything from lore and create an open-ended sandbox where you pit your tiny company against the whole known universe. The goal is to have a challenging playthrough where you have to use every advantage you can get to survive against the whims of RNGesus, provide an advanced AI that won't just suicide but plays for keeps, a strategic layer that isn't just tacked on but provides more depth like having to actually repair battle damage and the ability to customize your Mechs to the fullest. Also, the ability to actually pick your side, want to play for one of the Great Houses? Pick them and you start on their home planet with mechs that are tied to that faction, or just be another Mercenary on Galatea, starting with a bunch of random mechs and freedom to go as you please. With the online client enabled, you fight in an asynchronous multiplayer against everyone else trying to make their faction take over the whole Inner Sphere.
[center][img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1545227782-713922811.jpeg[/img] [img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1545227764-1254182330.jpeg[/img][/center]
[b]How did you first get involved in modding Battletech?[/b]
I was curious what was possible with the game files and then wanted a couple of Inferno SRMs (Short Range Missiles), it all went "downhill" from there, looking to add ever more toys I missed, trying to make a smarter AI and cooperating with the awesome mod community what else could be done.
Then came [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/users/11789743]Morphyum [/url]along with the [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/mods/148]Inner Sphere map[/url] and people started calling the combination of my rebalance and the IS sandbox a RogueLike... now we're here ;)
[b]You work as part of a small team on the project, can you tell us how each person contributes to the overall mod?
[/b]
Everyone brings their own ideas and vision to the mod. I work on the gear, AI, the majority of mechs, balance and keeping it all together with duct tape and spite.
[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/users/11789743]Morphyum[/url] works mostly on the Simgame DLL files, like salvage improvements, drop cost, variable maintenance and the making the Inner Sphere map work with the online client. He is helped by FrostRaptor to make the server as stable as we can.
[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/users/1517510]Cargo_Vroom (aka SrJoben)[/url] creates new tanks and adds new contracts to the lance generation. They also smooth out many issues both had in the vanilla game.
[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/users/28969875]Janxious (aka JoelMeador)[/url] contributes many small parts to RogueTech such as fall damage, melee improvements and the “weapon realizer” - this allows for many new mechanics not found in the base game. He has also taken over as curator for [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/mods/135]ModTek[/url] and the BattleTechModLoader, with a RogueTech specific fork to allows us to inject the new factions we’ve created.
[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/users/8754251]Tim (aka Guiltyspark34)[/url] is basically our community guy and the “Keeper of [url=https://roguetech.gamepedia.com/Roguetech_Wiki]the Wiki[/url]”.
Our newest member, GentlePayload has been adding new mech models. Most recently MadCat MKII, Arctic Cheetah and the Bushwacker.
The [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/mods/260]CustomComponent[/url] is made by [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/users/938055]Denaden[/url] and the Mechengineer rewriting to MechLab allow for greater control over how each piece of the mod interacts with the other parts.
[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/users/21710174]DonZappo[/url], who created the [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/mods/136]Consolidated Company Commander[/url] mod also deserves special thanks for sharing his Pilot Quirks and improvements to the Panic System from their Genivler mod. Genivler is a great alternative to those who may find RogueTech too difficult.
Lastly, there is Sheepy, the creator of AIM (a rewrite on how attacks play out and how the combat game GUI works) and Turbine (a performance improver that allows the game engine to load the ~8000 files in RougeTech).
A couple of honourable mentions go to m22Spencer for the performance fixer, SolahmaJoe who was first to figure out how to add models into the game and BloodyDroves - author of Annihilator and Assassin.
Aside from that, we have many contributors on our Discord Server too. They help with proofreading, QA, technical support and figuring out new ways to use the assets in the mod. A few of these people are:
[list]
[*]Arcanan and Alandauren who contributed many DLL and code fixes.
[*]AkodoReign who made many totem mechs and kitbashed additions.
[*]MXMach who keeps coming up with new overpowered toys.
[*]LB who broke their install enough to know how to fix almost any technical issue.
[*]RobertMerlow, GroggyGrognerd and GingerMagician who often stream RogueTech.
[*]Razunter who helped with the installer script.
[*]Cwolf who made the Modders Debug Tool and MissionControl features which we plan to add into the mod.
[/list]
And all our other lovely degenerates who participate. Hopefully, I didn’t miss anyone out! (If I did, just nag at me ;))
[center][img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1545227775-474408955.jpeg[/img] [img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1545228833-1800351023.jpeg[/img][/center]
[b]Have you had any interaction with the developers of Battletech during the development of RogueTech?
[/b]
We have, in general as modders, but the code piece that allows enemy spawns to be based upon factions is actually added by Harebrained Schemes for RogueTech. Especially the HBS team member known as “Eck” helps us to understand a lot of nuances of the game.
[b]What tools do you use to create your mods?[/b]
I for my part mostly just use Notepad++ for the JSONs and DNSpy to find what I can manipulate through them in the game's code.
Other coders use VisualStudio to write the DLLs for the Harmony injection to change and add the mechanics into the engine.
[b]Have you ever worked on mods for a different game?[/b]
This is the first I actually released, but I've modded my games going all the way back to Doom and always love taking things apart when I can.
[b]Now it’s been available for a few months, what is your opinion of the Donation Points system?
[/b]
I got a pizza out of it, that's nice ;)
[center][youtube]ENlBmHEf-LA[/youtube][/center]
[b]How do you see the current state of modding across the industry?[/b]
Depends a lot on the publisher, for me if a game is moddable it is a big reason to consider buying it. I dislike how games get evermore closed down, or even modding being impacted by game updates like it happens with the Fallout 4 Script Extender. Those of us who use and make mods are the most loyal customers, often buying DLC just for a single piece of code to reuse, but instead do some companies try to milk and shut down the art fans create, which is just a shame.
[b]Who is your favourite modder and if you could ask them one question, what would it be?[/b]
That's a tough one since I'm really really bad with names, but I'd ask each of the authors of my fav mods what made them decide to create this specific mod.
[b]Do you have any future plans for your mods you’d like to share?[/b]
I really look forward to when I start rolling out the mission improvements with Cwolf's Mission Control mod, it already is very fun with what it allows us to do.
[b]Do you have any advice for people in the community who might want to start modding Battletech?[/b]
Get yourself Notepad++ and [url=https://dnsspy.io/]DNS Spy[/url], use jsoncompare.com to find errors, embrace the output log and prepare to break it more often than have it work. If you are interested in getting yourself into harmony patching, read that wiki and be even more prepared to be driven crazy. But for all that is possible, the modding community is just wholesome and awesome, everyone will help when they know something.
[line]
A big thank you to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/users/6191338]LadyAlekto[/url] for answering our questions. If there's an author or mod project you'd like to know more about, send your suggestions to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/64597][b]BigBizkit[/b][/url] or [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/31179975][b]Pickysaurus[/b][/url].
[b]To begin, could you first tell us a bit about yourself?[/b]
I'm a 33-year-old obsessive nerd that loved Battletech since she found [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_BattleTech_novels]the books[/url] as a kid. I pretty much always tinkered with my games and tech. Also certifiable bullhead with a temper, but more than willing to help and assist if respect is there ;)
[b]What sort of things do you like to do when not working on your mod?
[/b]
Usually, I game, mod other things ([url=https://www.nexusmods.com/stellaris]Stellaris[/url] currently), waste time on Discord or Twitch/Netflix, or read comics and books, all the usual nerd stuff. When I can I cycle around the city and into nature for a while, usually with really loud metal shredding what remains of my ears ;)
[b]For those who haven’t heard of RogueTech could you explain what it is?
[/b]
A mod for the game Battletech that aims to introduce everything from lore and create an open-ended sandbox where you pit your tiny company against the whole known universe. The goal is to have a challenging playthrough where you have to use every advantage you can get to survive against the whims of RNGesus, provide an advanced AI that won't just suicide but plays for keeps, a strategic layer that isn't just tacked on but provides more depth like having to actually repair battle damage and the ability to customize your Mechs to the fullest. Also, the ability to actually pick your side, want to play for one of the Great Houses? Pick them and you start on their home planet with mechs that are tied to that faction, or just be another Mercenary on Galatea, starting with a bunch of random mechs and freedom to go as you please. With the online client enabled, you fight in an asynchronous multiplayer against everyone else trying to make their faction take over the whole Inner Sphere.
[center][img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1545227782-713922811.jpeg[/img] [img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1545227764-1254182330.jpeg[/img][/center]
[b]How did you first get involved in modding Battletech?[/b]
I was curious what was possible with the game files and then wanted a couple of Inferno SRMs (Short Range Missiles), it all went "downhill" from there, looking to add ever more toys I missed, trying to make a smarter AI and cooperating with the awesome mod community what else could be done.
Then came [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/users/11789743]Morphyum [/url]along with the [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/mods/148]Inner Sphere map[/url] and people started calling the combination of my rebalance and the IS sandbox a RogueLike... now we're here ;)
[b]You work as part of a small team on the project, can you tell us how each person contributes to the overall mod?
[/b]
Everyone brings their own ideas and vision to the mod. I work on the gear, AI, the majority of mechs, balance and keeping it all together with duct tape and spite.
[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/users/11789743]Morphyum[/url] works mostly on the Simgame DLL files, like salvage improvements, drop cost, variable maintenance and the making the Inner Sphere map work with the online client. He is helped by FrostRaptor to make the server as stable as we can.
[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/users/1517510]Cargo_Vroom (aka SrJoben)[/url] creates new tanks and adds new contracts to the lance generation. They also smooth out many issues both had in the vanilla game.
[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/users/28969875]Janxious (aka JoelMeador)[/url] contributes many small parts to RogueTech such as fall damage, melee improvements and the “weapon realizer” - this allows for many new mechanics not found in the base game. He has also taken over as curator for [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/mods/135]ModTek[/url] and the BattleTechModLoader, with a RogueTech specific fork to allows us to inject the new factions we’ve created.
[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/users/8754251]Tim (aka Guiltyspark34)[/url] is basically our community guy and the “Keeper of [url=https://roguetech.gamepedia.com/Roguetech_Wiki]the Wiki[/url]”.
Our newest member, GentlePayload has been adding new mech models. Most recently MadCat MKII, Arctic Cheetah and the Bushwacker.
The [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/mods/260]CustomComponent[/url] is made by [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/users/938055]Denaden[/url] and the Mechengineer rewriting to MechLab allow for greater control over how each piece of the mod interacts with the other parts.
[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/users/21710174]DonZappo[/url], who created the [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/mods/136]Consolidated Company Commander[/url] mod also deserves special thanks for sharing his Pilot Quirks and improvements to the Panic System from their Genivler mod. Genivler is a great alternative to those who may find RogueTech too difficult.
Lastly, there is Sheepy, the creator of AIM (a rewrite on how attacks play out and how the combat game GUI works) and Turbine (a performance improver that allows the game engine to load the ~8000 files in RougeTech).
A couple of honourable mentions go to m22Spencer for the performance fixer, SolahmaJoe who was first to figure out how to add models into the game and BloodyDroves - author of Annihilator and Assassin.
Aside from that, we have many contributors on our Discord Server too. They help with proofreading, QA, technical support and figuring out new ways to use the assets in the mod. A few of these people are:
[list]
[*]Arcanan and Alandauren who contributed many DLL and code fixes.
[*]AkodoReign who made many totem mechs and kitbashed additions.
[*]MXMach who keeps coming up with new overpowered toys.
[*]LB who broke their install enough to know how to fix almost any technical issue.
[*]RobertMerlow, GroggyGrognerd and GingerMagician who often stream RogueTech.
[*]Razunter who helped with the installer script.
[*]Cwolf who made the Modders Debug Tool and MissionControl features which we plan to add into the mod.
[/list]
And all our other lovely degenerates who participate. Hopefully, I didn’t miss anyone out! (If I did, just nag at me ;))
[center][img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1545227775-474408955.jpeg[/img] [img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1545228833-1800351023.jpeg[/img][/center]
[b]Have you had any interaction with the developers of Battletech during the development of RogueTech?
[/b]
We have, in general as modders, but the code piece that allows enemy spawns to be based upon factions is actually added by Harebrained Schemes for RogueTech. Especially the HBS team member known as “Eck” helps us to understand a lot of nuances of the game.
[b]What tools do you use to create your mods?[/b]
I for my part mostly just use Notepad++ for the JSONs and DNSpy to find what I can manipulate through them in the game's code.
Other coders use VisualStudio to write the DLLs for the Harmony injection to change and add the mechanics into the engine.
[b]Have you ever worked on mods for a different game?[/b]
This is the first I actually released, but I've modded my games going all the way back to Doom and always love taking things apart when I can.
[b]Now it’s been available for a few months, what is your opinion of the Donation Points system?
[/b]
I got a pizza out of it, that's nice ;)
[center][youtube]ENlBmHEf-LA[/youtube][/center]
[b]How do you see the current state of modding across the industry?[/b]
Depends a lot on the publisher, for me if a game is moddable it is a big reason to consider buying it. I dislike how games get evermore closed down, or even modding being impacted by game updates like it happens with the Fallout 4 Script Extender. Those of us who use and make mods are the most loyal customers, often buying DLC just for a single piece of code to reuse, but instead do some companies try to milk and shut down the art fans create, which is just a shame.
[b]Who is your favourite modder and if you could ask them one question, what would it be?[/b]
That's a tough one since I'm really really bad with names, but I'd ask each of the authors of my fav mods what made them decide to create this specific mod.
[b]Do you have any future plans for your mods you’d like to share?[/b]
I really look forward to when I start rolling out the mission improvements with Cwolf's Mission Control mod, it already is very fun with what it allows us to do.
[b]Do you have any advice for people in the community who might want to start modding Battletech?[/b]
Get yourself Notepad++ and [url=https://dnsspy.io/]DNS Spy[/url], use jsoncompare.com to find errors, embrace the output log and prepare to break it more often than have it work. If you are interested in getting yourself into harmony patching, read that wiki and be even more prepared to be driven crazy. But for all that is possible, the modding community is just wholesome and awesome, everyone will help when they know something.
[line]
A big thank you to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/users/6191338]LadyAlekto[/url] for answering our questions. If there's an author or mod project you'd like to know more about, send your suggestions to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/64597][b]BigBizkit[/b][/url] or [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/31179975][b]Pickysaurus[/b][/url].
Nexus Mods/GOG Giveaway - Winner's Choice!
Good news, everyone! [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/news/13881]As we mentioned the other day[/url], GOG's Winter Sale is here with some amazing discounts and if you like the idea of games for cheap, you will love the idea of games for free!
That's right. Thanks to our friends at [url=https://www.gog.com/?pp=a120fe5cad51f0d0942d7c283478628047d6cfce&utm_medium=content&utm_source=nxm&utm_campaign=ws18&utm_term=en]GOG.com[/url] we are giving away [b]5 GOG keys for a game of your choice[/b] valid for any game that is available on GOG (regardless of whether it is on sale or not).
Please note that a [b][url=https://login.gog.com/login?pp=a120fe5cad51f0d0942d7c283478628047d6cfce&utm_medium=content&utm_source=nxm&utm_campaign=ws18&utm_term=en]GOG.com user account is required[/url][/b] both for participation, as well as for redeeming the prize.
In order to ensure the winner comes from the Nexus Mods community, there are some mandatory steps to ensure your eligibility.
[list]
[*]Leave a comment on this article. You can say anything you want (site rules still apply)
[*]Log into the Gleam widget with your preferred method. (Facebook/Email)
[*]Click the second entry action that says "Leave a comment on Nexus Mods"
[*]Enter your full Nexus Mods username into the field (check your spelling!)
[/list]
If you forget to leave a comment or don't include a valid username, you'll lose out on your chance to win. If you are not sure what to write as a comment, why don't you tell us about your favourite holiday tradition?
Good luck and thank you for participating!
[url=http://2nex.us/MFGK30mXw36][size=5]Click here to enter for your chance to win 1 of 5 Game Codes for a game of your choice from GOG.com[/size][/url]
[i][size=1](Entries close at 16:59 GMT on 23rd December 2018 - all prizes must be redeemed by the end of January 2019 or they will expire.)[/size][/i]
That's right. Thanks to our friends at [url=https://www.gog.com/?pp=a120fe5cad51f0d0942d7c283478628047d6cfce&utm_medium=content&utm_source=nxm&utm_campaign=ws18&utm_term=en]GOG.com[/url] we are giving away [b]5 GOG keys for a game of your choice[/b] valid for any game that is available on GOG (regardless of whether it is on sale or not).
Please note that a [b][url=https://login.gog.com/login?pp=a120fe5cad51f0d0942d7c283478628047d6cfce&utm_medium=content&utm_source=nxm&utm_campaign=ws18&utm_term=en]GOG.com user account is required[/url][/b] both for participation, as well as for redeeming the prize.
In order to ensure the winner comes from the Nexus Mods community, there are some mandatory steps to ensure your eligibility.
[list]
[*]Leave a comment on this article. You can say anything you want (site rules still apply)
[*]Log into the Gleam widget with your preferred method. (Facebook/Email)
[*]Click the second entry action that says "Leave a comment on Nexus Mods"
[*]Enter your full Nexus Mods username into the field (check your spelling!)
[/list]
If you forget to leave a comment or don't include a valid username, you'll lose out on your chance to win. If you are not sure what to write as a comment, why don't you tell us about your favourite holiday tradition?
Good luck and thank you for participating!
[url=http://2nex.us/MFGK30mXw36][size=5]Click here to enter for your chance to win 1 of 5 Game Codes for a game of your choice from GOG.com[/size][/url]
[i][size=1](Entries close at 16:59 GMT on 23rd December 2018 - all prizes must be redeemed by the end of January 2019 or they will expire.)[/size][/i]
A whole new Monster Hunter World - MHVuze
Ever since [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/monsterhunterworld]Monster Hunter World[/url] released on PC in August of this year, we have been very proud to host the modding community for one of Capcom's most popular games of all time. In the few months that Monster Hunter World has had a home at Nexus Mods, we have seen a massive surge of mods created by our community. We are, therefore, very excited to talk to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/monsterhunterworld/users/3913354?tab=user+files]MHVuze[/url] today - one of the modding pioneers for Monster Hunter World who has contributed various tools and quality of life mods for our community.
[b]BigBizkit: Thanks, MHVuze, for taking the time to answer our questions. Many modders of Monster Hunter World will know your creations, but could you tell us a bit about yourself first to start this off?[/b]
MHVuze: Thanks for having me! I'm a 24-year-old from Germany working in law. I've always had an affection for tuning games to my liking and one of the first games I can remember modding is SpellForce 2. If I recall correctly, it had an official Editor / Mod Kit which is something I wish more game developers offered in this day and age.
[b]How would you describe the kind of mods you like to create for Monster Hunter World?[/b]
I would consider the majority of them QoL-improvements and temporary workarounds for game issues such as the texture loading or (now fixed) effect stuttering. I also released and open-sourced [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/monsterhunterworld/mods/6]WorldChunkTool[/url] which allows interested users to unpack the game data files and take a peek at them, as well as [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/monsterhunterworld/mods/18]WorldProcessTool[/url] which allows users to pause and resume the game - features that are unfortunately missing in the vanilla game despite being present in other titles of the series.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1544009182-288921319.jpeg[/img] [img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1544009330-1030368534.png[/img][/center]
[b]Ever since launch, the modding community for Monster Hunter World has grown rapidly. Why do you think has the game been so successful both with players and mod creators and what sets it apart from other games in your view?[/b]
First of all: I'm super happy to see the community thriving on PC. The success of the game itself on PC (and console, too) has gone well beyond my expectations. Same goes for the modding community: I'm excited to see a working 3D model conversion tool and a lot of quality projects by the modders in general.
As you might know, this is the first time ever a mainline entry of the Monster Hunter series has made it to the PC platform. The games have always had some weird design choices in the past when it came to a select few aspects and while Monster Hunter World is an incredible improvement in that regard over the older games, there are still some portions that a lot of players would like to experience differently. The by default lacking multiplayer gathering hub serves as a great example of things we modders can improve upon in the PC version.
That combined with a relatively low barrier of entry, all things considered, has certainly helped to get people interested in modding the game.
[b]You were one of the first mod authors to jump on creating content for Monster Hunter World. What is it that draws you towards the game and what made you want to mod it?[/b]
As pointed out above, this was the first time a mainline Monster Hunter game made it to PC, so I was excited to finally have a title that could be tinkered with without the drawbacks of a console (repacking, resigning, long loading times etc).
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1544010541-850194555.png[/img] [img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1544010549-1022485843.png[/img][/center]
[b]How did you first learn about how to mod Monster Hunter World? Do you have any tips for people who want to get involved with modding?[/b]
I've been a big fan of the game ever since a friend introduced me to Monster Hunter Freedom on the PlayStation Portable in 2006 - it has been the platform seller for me personally. Unfortunately, the series had a hard time catching on in the west and as such, there were severe delays when it came to the localization of the titles (a bunch did never make it over here at all!).
Stumbling across English fan translations, I decided to research how they are done and one thing kinda led to another. Ever since that point I've been dissecting the game files (alongside and with the assistance of some other smart minds, of course). Monster Hunter World was just the natural continuation of that but in fact, I have briefly looked at the PlayStation 4 version before the title was released on PC to get a first look - which absolutely paid off.
Dedication and willingness to learn new things are definitely key for those looking to get started. Things will eventually start falling into place and you will start to recognize patterns quickly the more time you spend investigating file formats and the like.
[b]Which creation of yours are you most proud of and do you have a favourite Monster Hunter World mod from a different creator?[/b]
I honestly don't have any creation that I'm most "proud" of but I am quite happy that WorldChunkTool got the modding scene for Monster Hunter World rolling so quickly after launch.
As a dog guy, I absolutely adore the somewhat proof-of-concept mod [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/monsterhunterworld/mods/378]Canine Palico by UberGrainy[/url] - I just wish it gained more traction and people adopted the armor sets and sounds for the changed appearance.
But it's still early days and it's very cute as is!
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1544008867-216961771.jpeg[/img][/center]
The [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/monsterhunterworld/mods/261]app launcher by HelloWorld[/url] is also of great use to me. I combine it with the aforementioned [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/monsterhunterworld/mods/18]WorldProcessTool[/url] for example.
[b]What would you like to see in the near future in terms of mods for Monster Hunter World, and maybe even in terms of DLC?[/b]
Adding completely new monsters, equipment and quests is the end goal in my opinion. For now, all mods in those categories are basically just replacing existing used or unused spots left by Capcom. Unfortunately, the game has a lot of stuff hard-coded as well as some sanity checks and so far the modding community is constrained by all of that.
Another point is transferring save data from the PlayStation 4 version of the game. That hinges on a more recent version of the PS4 firmware being exploited though and is likely well beyond the control of anyone reading this. I just hope it will be possible soon (with the PS4 version having launched in early 2018, I have my main character on there)!
As for official DLC, I am hoping for a G-Rank expansion in 2019. For those unfamiliar, it will add another rank of difficulty with harder quests, new monsters - thereby equip - and areas.
[b]What other games do you like to mod? Have you tried your hand at creating mods for other games?[/b]
Currently, I'm working on dissecting a so far seemingly untouched game of the Monster Hunter franchise. I don't really intend to mod it but am mainly interested in acquiring the assets that are exclusive to it so they could be used in Monster Hunter World, for example.
I did create some (personal use) mods for Spellforce - as I pointed out above - as well as The Sims 2 and a few other Monster Hunter games. I also tinkered a bit with God Eater and helped to create the [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonsdogma/mods/108]Japanese Voice-Over Dub[/url] for the PC version of Dragon's Dogma which can also be found over here on Nexus Mods.
[b]What other hobbies do you have outside of gaming and/or modding?[/b]
I love languages and have started learning Mandarin just three weeks ago, so that has been taking up a lot of my time recently. The rest of my limited free time is spent taking care of our pets, doing a little fitness and watching documentaries or shows.
[b]Would you like to say anything to our wider Nexus Mods Community?[/b]
Thanks for all the positive and civil feedback as well as the generosity expressed by a bunch of community members! Nexus Mods really is a great platform with talented creators and supportive users, so I am proud I could make a little impact in the Monster Hunter World portion of it.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1544008861-1491777492.jpeg[/img][/center]
[line]
A big thank you to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/monsterhunterworld/users/3913354?tab=user+files]MHVuze[/url] for answering our questions. As always, if there's an author or mod project you'd like to know more about, send your suggestions to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/64597][b]BigBizkit[/b][/url] or [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/31179975][b]Pickysaurus[/b][/url].
[b]BigBizkit: Thanks, MHVuze, for taking the time to answer our questions. Many modders of Monster Hunter World will know your creations, but could you tell us a bit about yourself first to start this off?[/b]
MHVuze: Thanks for having me! I'm a 24-year-old from Germany working in law. I've always had an affection for tuning games to my liking and one of the first games I can remember modding is SpellForce 2. If I recall correctly, it had an official Editor / Mod Kit which is something I wish more game developers offered in this day and age.
[b]How would you describe the kind of mods you like to create for Monster Hunter World?[/b]
I would consider the majority of them QoL-improvements and temporary workarounds for game issues such as the texture loading or (now fixed) effect stuttering. I also released and open-sourced [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/monsterhunterworld/mods/6]WorldChunkTool[/url] which allows interested users to unpack the game data files and take a peek at them, as well as [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/monsterhunterworld/mods/18]WorldProcessTool[/url] which allows users to pause and resume the game - features that are unfortunately missing in the vanilla game despite being present in other titles of the series.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1544009182-288921319.jpeg[/img] [img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1544009330-1030368534.png[/img][/center]
[b]Ever since launch, the modding community for Monster Hunter World has grown rapidly. Why do you think has the game been so successful both with players and mod creators and what sets it apart from other games in your view?[/b]
First of all: I'm super happy to see the community thriving on PC. The success of the game itself on PC (and console, too) has gone well beyond my expectations. Same goes for the modding community: I'm excited to see a working 3D model conversion tool and a lot of quality projects by the modders in general.
As you might know, this is the first time ever a mainline entry of the Monster Hunter series has made it to the PC platform. The games have always had some weird design choices in the past when it came to a select few aspects and while Monster Hunter World is an incredible improvement in that regard over the older games, there are still some portions that a lot of players would like to experience differently. The by default lacking multiplayer gathering hub serves as a great example of things we modders can improve upon in the PC version.
That combined with a relatively low barrier of entry, all things considered, has certainly helped to get people interested in modding the game.
[b]You were one of the first mod authors to jump on creating content for Monster Hunter World. What is it that draws you towards the game and what made you want to mod it?[/b]
As pointed out above, this was the first time a mainline Monster Hunter game made it to PC, so I was excited to finally have a title that could be tinkered with without the drawbacks of a console (repacking, resigning, long loading times etc).
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1544010541-850194555.png[/img] [img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1544010549-1022485843.png[/img][/center]
[b]How did you first learn about how to mod Monster Hunter World? Do you have any tips for people who want to get involved with modding?[/b]
I've been a big fan of the game ever since a friend introduced me to Monster Hunter Freedom on the PlayStation Portable in 2006 - it has been the platform seller for me personally. Unfortunately, the series had a hard time catching on in the west and as such, there were severe delays when it came to the localization of the titles (a bunch did never make it over here at all!).
Stumbling across English fan translations, I decided to research how they are done and one thing kinda led to another. Ever since that point I've been dissecting the game files (alongside and with the assistance of some other smart minds, of course). Monster Hunter World was just the natural continuation of that but in fact, I have briefly looked at the PlayStation 4 version before the title was released on PC to get a first look - which absolutely paid off.
Dedication and willingness to learn new things are definitely key for those looking to get started. Things will eventually start falling into place and you will start to recognize patterns quickly the more time you spend investigating file formats and the like.
[b]Which creation of yours are you most proud of and do you have a favourite Monster Hunter World mod from a different creator?[/b]
I honestly don't have any creation that I'm most "proud" of but I am quite happy that WorldChunkTool got the modding scene for Monster Hunter World rolling so quickly after launch.
As a dog guy, I absolutely adore the somewhat proof-of-concept mod [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/monsterhunterworld/mods/378]Canine Palico by UberGrainy[/url] - I just wish it gained more traction and people adopted the armor sets and sounds for the changed appearance.
But it's still early days and it's very cute as is!
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1544008867-216961771.jpeg[/img][/center]
The [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/monsterhunterworld/mods/261]app launcher by HelloWorld[/url] is also of great use to me. I combine it with the aforementioned [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/monsterhunterworld/mods/18]WorldProcessTool[/url] for example.
[b]What would you like to see in the near future in terms of mods for Monster Hunter World, and maybe even in terms of DLC?[/b]
Adding completely new monsters, equipment and quests is the end goal in my opinion. For now, all mods in those categories are basically just replacing existing used or unused spots left by Capcom. Unfortunately, the game has a lot of stuff hard-coded as well as some sanity checks and so far the modding community is constrained by all of that.
Another point is transferring save data from the PlayStation 4 version of the game. That hinges on a more recent version of the PS4 firmware being exploited though and is likely well beyond the control of anyone reading this. I just hope it will be possible soon (with the PS4 version having launched in early 2018, I have my main character on there)!
As for official DLC, I am hoping for a G-Rank expansion in 2019. For those unfamiliar, it will add another rank of difficulty with harder quests, new monsters - thereby equip - and areas.
[b]What other games do you like to mod? Have you tried your hand at creating mods for other games?[/b]
Currently, I'm working on dissecting a so far seemingly untouched game of the Monster Hunter franchise. I don't really intend to mod it but am mainly interested in acquiring the assets that are exclusive to it so they could be used in Monster Hunter World, for example.
I did create some (personal use) mods for Spellforce - as I pointed out above - as well as The Sims 2 and a few other Monster Hunter games. I also tinkered a bit with God Eater and helped to create the [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonsdogma/mods/108]Japanese Voice-Over Dub[/url] for the PC version of Dragon's Dogma which can also be found over here on Nexus Mods.
[b]What other hobbies do you have outside of gaming and/or modding?[/b]
I love languages and have started learning Mandarin just three weeks ago, so that has been taking up a lot of my time recently. The rest of my limited free time is spent taking care of our pets, doing a little fitness and watching documentaries or shows.
[b]Would you like to say anything to our wider Nexus Mods Community?[/b]
Thanks for all the positive and civil feedback as well as the generosity expressed by a bunch of community members! Nexus Mods really is a great platform with talented creators and supportive users, so I am proud I could make a little impact in the Monster Hunter World portion of it.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1544008861-1491777492.jpeg[/img][/center]
[line]
A big thank you to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/monsterhunterworld/users/3913354?tab=user+files]MHVuze[/url] for answering our questions. As always, if there's an author or mod project you'd like to know more about, send your suggestions to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/64597][b]BigBizkit[/b][/url] or [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/31179975][b]Pickysaurus[/b][/url].
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[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1544626039-2059297149.jpeg[/img][/center]
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What does the DarkFox say?
Today’s guest is [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/4672007]DarkFox127[/url], known for his YouTube series on the Creation Kit and as the man behind [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/20982]Caranthir Tower Reborn[/url] and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/20982]Riverside Shack - Buildable Player Home[/url].
[b]Thanks for taking the time to chat with us. For those in the community who don’t know you, could you tell us a little about yourself?[/b]
My name’s Richard aka Darkfox127 and I’ve been creating mods for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim since its release back in 2011. Shortly after spending some time in the Creation Kit and grasping the basics, I took to creating tutorial videos on [url=https://www.youtube.com/user/DARKF0X127]YouTube[/url] which got me a reputation in the modding community. Many people now describe me as the “go to guy” for learning how to use the Creation Kit, although I’m far from an expert.
In addition to my tutorial videos, I’ve released a variety of mods (mostly player homes) which have been successful over the years including [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/20982]Caranthir Tower[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/57141]Mörskom Estate[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/20982]Riverside Shack[/url] and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/4672007?tab=user+files]more[/url]. I’m also a strong believer in sharing resources whenever possible and working with others to make great content. I continue working on projects to this day and regularly stream the development process on both [url=https://www.twitch.tv/darkfox127]Twitch[/url] and YouTube.
[b]How did you first get into modding games?[/b]
Believe it or not, my first taste of content creation for video games was many years ago back in the days of Timesplitters 2. It was in a way modding, at least for the limitations of games consoles. I would create new multiplayer maps to play with friends or against bots. I even utilized the mission creation tools using triggered events and wrote my own little stories. I was in fact a console gamer for the better part of 20 years before coming across to the PC just prior to the release of Skyrim.
Other games I began to experiment with included the Far Cry series which had an amazing in-game map editor, again on the console. I would spend hours making multiplayer maps and uploading them online in the hopes that others would join me in playing them. I did on occasion build a large lobby of people to face off against each other which was great fun.
It would be accurate to say that I’ve always had an itch for creating things, even if it was on an old console with limited functionality. This eventually led to me purchasing my first PC which barely had enough power to load the web browser until I eventually saved up the money and bought a gaming rig, along with a copy of Skyrim.
I had barely left Riverwood when I discovered that there were professional-level developer tools available for the game which would allow me to take my creativity to a whole new level and scratch that itch once again. The downside is that due to spending thousands of hours in the Creation Kit, I have still to this day not finished the base game.
[b]Your two most popular mods are Caranthir Tower Reborn and Morskom Estate. The latter of which is a collaboration with Elianora. What was it like working on a project alongside one of the best house mod makers for Skyrim?[/b]
I honestly very rarely work alongside other mod authors, despite having done a couple of projects in the past with one or two. When I started chatting with [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/3231858]Elianora[/url]world space and checked out her mods, I realised that we each had the perfect ingredients to create something which was truly unique, if not a little too crazy.
[center][img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1544014384-764842121.jpeg[/img] [img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1544014394-6873021.jpeg[/img][/center]
At first, I thought that it might be a little chaotic sending files back and forth, but it ended up being fairly straightforward. We spoke almost every day and dropped ideas back and forth constantly. Eli’s ability to create amazing interiors and my knack for scripting and general implementation worked well.
She’s a super friendly person with some great talent and we both helped support each other throughout the development of the mod and we just gelled well. It was a pleasure to work on something which became so popular with a large number of people.
[b]Which parts of the mod did you each create?[/b]
After we both sat down and talked about having a winter home with all these cool immersive features, Elianora ran off and created the base structure out of nowhere. When she sent it back to me, my mind went insane and we both started springing more ideas up to the surface. From that point on, Elianora would go on to clutter the house and I worked on adding all the scripting madness into the mod. We passed the mod back and forth over time and eventually, we had a finished house mod.
It contained all the cluttering goodness of an Elianora home and all the insane features typical of my own house mods. I took on the additional roles of publishing the mod and writing the full walkthrough guide. We both took the time to test out the mod on our own systems and Elianora used her PC for doing the screenshots, given that she always picked out the best ENBs and her game always looks amazing. Although in the end the mod ideally required a mid-range to high-end PC to prevent all the crashes as we hit the limits of the Creation Kit’s capabilities to the point we can’t even mod it anymore, it turned out to be a successful mod regardless and I think I we are both proud of Mörskom Estate.
[b]Caranthir Tower Reborn is a huge player home and quest mod. Can you describe your process for designing and building this mod? [/b]
I’ve been asked this on stream before and it’s actually a tough one. Although I consider myself a very organised person, I never really have much of a plan when it comes to developing a mod. I get an idea, I dump some items in the render window and I see what comes of it. That’s oddly enough the way most of my projects start. Some may not be aware of this, but Caranthir Tower was originally going to be called Asires’s Tower. It started out as a square room filled with junk and a teleport which led to a random world space covered in ice. None of the story really existed and there was no logic to anything I was building. Since the very beginning though, I had this vision of a tower high up in the mountains. When I eventually made the decision to pick the project back up, I renamed it Caranthir Tower after a quick name generator search on Google. I know, not what people would expect but that’s how the name came about. I then started messing around with the largest tileset I could find because large obviously translates into epic.
[center][youtube]VRTJltc9h1c[/youtube][/center]
After many months, I had created a cool wizards tower high up in the mountains and people loved it. It was my first hit in the modding community which I’m extremely proud of, but then came the long road of taking what I had built and slowly turning it into something bigger, better and more ambitious. I decided to take the mod and recreate it from scratch. It eventually came to be known as Caranthir Tower Reborn and this time around it was bigger, better thought out and I pretty much just came up with ideas as I went. Eventually though, I finally stopped adding new features and released the mod.
With all that said, my development process for my mods has improved dramatically over the years. Although I still start with some basic ideas and roll with whatever I have, I take the time to plan out more. Each one of my projects now has a Trello board filled with ideas, not only from myself but from friends and other members of the community. I make sure that everything in the mod has its place and makes sense within the lore. When it comes down to which section to work on and when I find it is best to bounce around different aspects of development to keep things fresh. Sitting there and scripting thousands of lines of Papyrus really can get a little dull after a while, as can Navmeshing entire sections of a mod. So jumping around different tasks really helps to keep things interesting and prevents burnout.
[b]How long did it take to complete?[/b]
A wizard’s work is never complete. Just kidding, although there is some truth to that regarding Caranthir Tower right now. The mod must have taken me the better part of three years on and off. There would be spells where I would be working on other projects or taking a break from modding. To this day, I still have ideas and plans for Caranthir Tower and I’ll continue to work on some of my larger projects for as long as they are fun to mod.
[b]Are there any features you’re especially proud of?
[/b]
I think the biggest feature and the most tricky to have managed a workaround for was the rising of the tower itself. It turns out that the Creation Engine doesn’t like moving objects via scripting if there are too large. It took me four hours to figure out why my tower wouldn’t move and I eventually came up with a workaround by setting the scale down and changing it midway through the translation of the mesh. I wasn’t going to let the Creation Kit beat me on this one.
[center][youtube]-Jh-aVlCfuI[/youtube][/center]
Another feature which required a bit of workaround was the portal system for the tower. Getting the player to activate a teleport and select from a number of locations was easy but how would an NPC know how to navigate a message box? The answer is that they can’t. My solution was to place just out of reach doors behind the walls of the tower which NPCs can use to access every section of the structure. If you load up CTR in the CK, you can see the crazy link of portals throughout the cells that the NPCs will use the get around. Fun fact, they all go through the Lobby to get to their destination.
[b]You devote a lot of time to creating video tutorials for Creation Kit on your YouTube channel. What inspired you to share your knowledge this way?[/b]
As mentioned briefly earlier, I’m a strong believer in sharing knowledge and resources within the community. I started out with the Creation Kit watching the official Bethesda tutorials and eventually seeing some videos from other YouTubers like BestInSlot. When I continued to tear apart everything in the Creation Kit to see how things worked and began experimenting myself, I felt that as good as some of the tutorials out there were, I could fill in some of the blanks and offer further advice from my own experiences. I grabbed my old Xbox Original headset which was falling apart and found some free software to start recording my desktop.
[center][youtube]u5EmFVRRAzk[/youtube][/center]
I started low down the YouTube food chain, but at least I wasn’t using notepad to explain how to do things. Before I knew it, I had a following of people all watching my tutorials and I just kept sharing what I would learn. I think I’ve always enjoyed helping others out and explaining how to do things in as simple a way possible, so YouTube and the Creation Kit let me scratch another itch.
[b]What are your opinions on the Creation Kit?[/b]
As much as I may have joked and slandered elements of the Creation Kit before, at the end of the day, it’s an amazing tool which gives us access to the amazing worlds that Bethesda create and allows us to create our own stories within the game. Sure the tool has its downfalls and limitations, especially when you take a look at some of the more modern tools available for video game development, but this allows you to tap directly into Bethesda games which is something few developers give you so much control over.
If you’re willing to take the time to learn how to use the Creation Kit, it opens up an entirely new realm of possibilities to explore and working with the CK has given me some transferable skills I’ve been able to take with me in a professional working environment.
[b]How do you see the current state of modding?[/b]
With the release of Skyrim Special Edition and the VR experience, modding for Skyrim has bounced back a little. Now that people are able to convert the majority of mods from legacy across to SE, they can take full advantage of the slightly more up to date graphics and the 64-bit engine. There are still a good amount of people out there modding the game and downloading the new content which continues to be released by modders on a daily basis. Skyrim modding has certainly had stronger days but even the older Elder Scrolls titles are still seeing amazing mod releases and people are still playing those games. They’ve held on for many years and so will Skyrim.
[center][img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1544019654-1673582107.jpeg[/img] [img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1544019675-50546444.jpeg[/img][/center]
I feel that Fallout 4 modding has kicked off in a big way too, although I myself was never drawn into the latest title of the series (not counting Fallout 76). Fallout 4 has seen a lot of modders move on from Skyrim which is to be expected but the modding community will always remain strong for The Elder Scrolls franchise. I also don’t believe that the introduction of the Creation Club will have any impact on modding of Bethesda games as they know the importance of mods and they highly value their community. I think for as long as they have the capability, Bethesda will always make room for people to make their own additions to the game through the use of the Creation Kit.
[b]You’ve dabbled in modding Fallout games with Combustible Oil Lamps. Are you planning to create more content for the Fallout series?
[/b]
Creating the [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/32923]Combustible Oil Lamps[/url] mod was a short and fun project, however, the game never really pulled me in the same way that previous Fallout games did back during my console years. I may one day give Fallout 4 another shot (pun intended) and see where the experience takes me. I don’t have any immediate plans to mod the game, but it’s not off the table.
[b]What do you think of Fallout 76 and would you be interested in modding it?[/b]
Fallout 76 looks to be a very different experience from what fans of the series have come to expect. I’ve never been very big on MMOs as I’ve never got the time to grind my way through those types of game, as a result, they don’t tend to hold my interest. It’s unlikely that I would grab a copy of Fallout 76, especially given the recent controversy surrounding it.
[b]Do you still play the games you make mods for?
[/b]
Does diving into the game through the console and testing count? As mentioned previously, I never actually completed Skyrim. I did get through the main story and The College of Winterhold, along with the Dawnguard DLC but I still have not played the Dragonborn DLC. To my defence though, simsim899 and I have been building the ultimate mod list and intend to play through the entire game, eventually.
I tend to start a new game, create the ultimate face, head to Riverwood, see a cool location and dive back into the Creation Kit with a new idea. It’s very difficult for me to play the game without my creativity drawing me back out and into the Creation Kit. If I had a bucket list, completing Skyrim would certainly be on there.
[b]Which mod authors do you take inspiration from?[/b]
As I’m sure many have, I’ve always admired the work of [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/187943]Chesko[/url]. His understanding of not only the technical aspect of modding but how to best implement features so that they feel like part of the base game is incredible. More recently, the main focus of my projects is to aim for the same standards of implementation and try to introduce features into the game in a very clean way.
Additionally, I would have to shout out Elianora once more as I always find myself looking over screenshots of her mods to figure out how I should lay out some of my clutter in my own mods. Her creativity and ability to clutter interiors is the reason I reached out to her to create Mörskom Estate.I’m sure there are a few other mod authors too which have inspired me in the past and my community Discord always has some amazing posts from the community of their mod creations which always fuels the fire to create.
[b]How can fans of your work best support your modding efforts?
[/b]
When I started modding I never thought that I would get a following of any kind and it was never a target to do so. However, the more people that started to watch my content and leave me kind comments, the better my creations became. It takes time and resources to create new content, share the development process and provide adequate documentation for my mods and videos, so it’s always appreciated when people are able to help support my work through sites like Patreon.
Of course, I wouldn’t still be sat here if it wasn’t for people just tuning into my live streams, giving me friendly moral support and chatting away on my community [url=https://discord.gg/4WD7RCD]Discord server[/url]. A little coin always greases the wheels, but just joining in with the community and continuing to share content is the best way to support me and other mod authors.
[b]Is there anything else you’d like to say to the Nexus Mods Community?[/b]
I would like to give my thanks to all those who download my mods, give me valuable feedback and even report bugs. It’s a nice feeling knowing that people enjoy your creations and it makes it all the more worth creating mods for Skyrim.
Additionally, I would like to commend the Nexus staff for maintaining such an awesome site for modders across the globe and continuing to push the site and the community to new levels.
[b]What are your plans for the future?
[/b]For the past 6 months, I’ve been working on a new mod called A Cat’s Life which aims to bring cats into the land of Skyrim. It’s been a great project and it’s already approaching completion. The mod will include features such as cat feeding, a needs system, cat beds, collars and much more.
[center][img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1544018897-316502669.jpeg[/img] [img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1544018932-1361113544.jpeg[/img][/center]
Caranthir Tower may also have something in the pipeline but depending on how ACL does after release and how I feel in a few months time, it may or may not happen. I do want to continue to mod Skyrim and I’m looking forward to the day when the next Elder Scrolls game rolls out the door. Maybe this time I can actually play the entire game before the Creation Kit releases and pulls me away from playing.
[line]
A big thank you to DarkFox127 for answering our questions. If there's an author or mod project you'd like to know more about, send your suggestions to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/64597][b]BigBizkit[/b][/url] or [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/31179975][b]Pickysaurus[/b][/url].
[b]Thanks for taking the time to chat with us. For those in the community who don’t know you, could you tell us a little about yourself?[/b]
My name’s Richard aka Darkfox127 and I’ve been creating mods for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim since its release back in 2011. Shortly after spending some time in the Creation Kit and grasping the basics, I took to creating tutorial videos on [url=https://www.youtube.com/user/DARKF0X127]YouTube[/url] which got me a reputation in the modding community. Many people now describe me as the “go to guy” for learning how to use the Creation Kit, although I’m far from an expert.
In addition to my tutorial videos, I’ve released a variety of mods (mostly player homes) which have been successful over the years including [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/20982]Caranthir Tower[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/57141]Mörskom Estate[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/20982]Riverside Shack[/url] and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/4672007?tab=user+files]more[/url]. I’m also a strong believer in sharing resources whenever possible and working with others to make great content. I continue working on projects to this day and regularly stream the development process on both [url=https://www.twitch.tv/darkfox127]Twitch[/url] and YouTube.
[b]How did you first get into modding games?[/b]
Believe it or not, my first taste of content creation for video games was many years ago back in the days of Timesplitters 2. It was in a way modding, at least for the limitations of games consoles. I would create new multiplayer maps to play with friends or against bots. I even utilized the mission creation tools using triggered events and wrote my own little stories. I was in fact a console gamer for the better part of 20 years before coming across to the PC just prior to the release of Skyrim.
Other games I began to experiment with included the Far Cry series which had an amazing in-game map editor, again on the console. I would spend hours making multiplayer maps and uploading them online in the hopes that others would join me in playing them. I did on occasion build a large lobby of people to face off against each other which was great fun.
It would be accurate to say that I’ve always had an itch for creating things, even if it was on an old console with limited functionality. This eventually led to me purchasing my first PC which barely had enough power to load the web browser until I eventually saved up the money and bought a gaming rig, along with a copy of Skyrim.
I had barely left Riverwood when I discovered that there were professional-level developer tools available for the game which would allow me to take my creativity to a whole new level and scratch that itch once again. The downside is that due to spending thousands of hours in the Creation Kit, I have still to this day not finished the base game.
[b]Your two most popular mods are Caranthir Tower Reborn and Morskom Estate. The latter of which is a collaboration with Elianora. What was it like working on a project alongside one of the best house mod makers for Skyrim?[/b]
I honestly very rarely work alongside other mod authors, despite having done a couple of projects in the past with one or two. When I started chatting with [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/3231858]Elianora[/url]world space and checked out her mods, I realised that we each had the perfect ingredients to create something which was truly unique, if not a little too crazy.
[center][img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1544014384-764842121.jpeg[/img] [img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1544014394-6873021.jpeg[/img][/center]
At first, I thought that it might be a little chaotic sending files back and forth, but it ended up being fairly straightforward. We spoke almost every day and dropped ideas back and forth constantly. Eli’s ability to create amazing interiors and my knack for scripting and general implementation worked well.
She’s a super friendly person with some great talent and we both helped support each other throughout the development of the mod and we just gelled well. It was a pleasure to work on something which became so popular with a large number of people.
[b]Which parts of the mod did you each create?[/b]
After we both sat down and talked about having a winter home with all these cool immersive features, Elianora ran off and created the base structure out of nowhere. When she sent it back to me, my mind went insane and we both started springing more ideas up to the surface. From that point on, Elianora would go on to clutter the house and I worked on adding all the scripting madness into the mod. We passed the mod back and forth over time and eventually, we had a finished house mod.
It contained all the cluttering goodness of an Elianora home and all the insane features typical of my own house mods. I took on the additional roles of publishing the mod and writing the full walkthrough guide. We both took the time to test out the mod on our own systems and Elianora used her PC for doing the screenshots, given that she always picked out the best ENBs and her game always looks amazing. Although in the end the mod ideally required a mid-range to high-end PC to prevent all the crashes as we hit the limits of the Creation Kit’s capabilities to the point we can’t even mod it anymore, it turned out to be a successful mod regardless and I think I we are both proud of Mörskom Estate.
[b]Caranthir Tower Reborn is a huge player home and quest mod. Can you describe your process for designing and building this mod? [/b]
I’ve been asked this on stream before and it’s actually a tough one. Although I consider myself a very organised person, I never really have much of a plan when it comes to developing a mod. I get an idea, I dump some items in the render window and I see what comes of it. That’s oddly enough the way most of my projects start. Some may not be aware of this, but Caranthir Tower was originally going to be called Asires’s Tower. It started out as a square room filled with junk and a teleport which led to a random world space covered in ice. None of the story really existed and there was no logic to anything I was building. Since the very beginning though, I had this vision of a tower high up in the mountains. When I eventually made the decision to pick the project back up, I renamed it Caranthir Tower after a quick name generator search on Google. I know, not what people would expect but that’s how the name came about. I then started messing around with the largest tileset I could find because large obviously translates into epic.
[center][youtube]VRTJltc9h1c[/youtube][/center]
After many months, I had created a cool wizards tower high up in the mountains and people loved it. It was my first hit in the modding community which I’m extremely proud of, but then came the long road of taking what I had built and slowly turning it into something bigger, better and more ambitious. I decided to take the mod and recreate it from scratch. It eventually came to be known as Caranthir Tower Reborn and this time around it was bigger, better thought out and I pretty much just came up with ideas as I went. Eventually though, I finally stopped adding new features and released the mod.
With all that said, my development process for my mods has improved dramatically over the years. Although I still start with some basic ideas and roll with whatever I have, I take the time to plan out more. Each one of my projects now has a Trello board filled with ideas, not only from myself but from friends and other members of the community. I make sure that everything in the mod has its place and makes sense within the lore. When it comes down to which section to work on and when I find it is best to bounce around different aspects of development to keep things fresh. Sitting there and scripting thousands of lines of Papyrus really can get a little dull after a while, as can Navmeshing entire sections of a mod. So jumping around different tasks really helps to keep things interesting and prevents burnout.
[b]How long did it take to complete?[/b]
A wizard’s work is never complete. Just kidding, although there is some truth to that regarding Caranthir Tower right now. The mod must have taken me the better part of three years on and off. There would be spells where I would be working on other projects or taking a break from modding. To this day, I still have ideas and plans for Caranthir Tower and I’ll continue to work on some of my larger projects for as long as they are fun to mod.
[b]Are there any features you’re especially proud of?
[/b]
I think the biggest feature and the most tricky to have managed a workaround for was the rising of the tower itself. It turns out that the Creation Engine doesn’t like moving objects via scripting if there are too large. It took me four hours to figure out why my tower wouldn’t move and I eventually came up with a workaround by setting the scale down and changing it midway through the translation of the mesh. I wasn’t going to let the Creation Kit beat me on this one.
[center][youtube]-Jh-aVlCfuI[/youtube][/center]
Another feature which required a bit of workaround was the portal system for the tower. Getting the player to activate a teleport and select from a number of locations was easy but how would an NPC know how to navigate a message box? The answer is that they can’t. My solution was to place just out of reach doors behind the walls of the tower which NPCs can use to access every section of the structure. If you load up CTR in the CK, you can see the crazy link of portals throughout the cells that the NPCs will use the get around. Fun fact, they all go through the Lobby to get to their destination.
[b]You devote a lot of time to creating video tutorials for Creation Kit on your YouTube channel. What inspired you to share your knowledge this way?[/b]
As mentioned briefly earlier, I’m a strong believer in sharing knowledge and resources within the community. I started out with the Creation Kit watching the official Bethesda tutorials and eventually seeing some videos from other YouTubers like BestInSlot. When I continued to tear apart everything in the Creation Kit to see how things worked and began experimenting myself, I felt that as good as some of the tutorials out there were, I could fill in some of the blanks and offer further advice from my own experiences. I grabbed my old Xbox Original headset which was falling apart and found some free software to start recording my desktop.
[center][youtube]u5EmFVRRAzk[/youtube][/center]
I started low down the YouTube food chain, but at least I wasn’t using notepad to explain how to do things. Before I knew it, I had a following of people all watching my tutorials and I just kept sharing what I would learn. I think I’ve always enjoyed helping others out and explaining how to do things in as simple a way possible, so YouTube and the Creation Kit let me scratch another itch.
[b]What are your opinions on the Creation Kit?[/b]
As much as I may have joked and slandered elements of the Creation Kit before, at the end of the day, it’s an amazing tool which gives us access to the amazing worlds that Bethesda create and allows us to create our own stories within the game. Sure the tool has its downfalls and limitations, especially when you take a look at some of the more modern tools available for video game development, but this allows you to tap directly into Bethesda games which is something few developers give you so much control over.
If you’re willing to take the time to learn how to use the Creation Kit, it opens up an entirely new realm of possibilities to explore and working with the CK has given me some transferable skills I’ve been able to take with me in a professional working environment.
[b]How do you see the current state of modding?[/b]
With the release of Skyrim Special Edition and the VR experience, modding for Skyrim has bounced back a little. Now that people are able to convert the majority of mods from legacy across to SE, they can take full advantage of the slightly more up to date graphics and the 64-bit engine. There are still a good amount of people out there modding the game and downloading the new content which continues to be released by modders on a daily basis. Skyrim modding has certainly had stronger days but even the older Elder Scrolls titles are still seeing amazing mod releases and people are still playing those games. They’ve held on for many years and so will Skyrim.
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I feel that Fallout 4 modding has kicked off in a big way too, although I myself was never drawn into the latest title of the series (not counting Fallout 76). Fallout 4 has seen a lot of modders move on from Skyrim which is to be expected but the modding community will always remain strong for The Elder Scrolls franchise. I also don’t believe that the introduction of the Creation Club will have any impact on modding of Bethesda games as they know the importance of mods and they highly value their community. I think for as long as they have the capability, Bethesda will always make room for people to make their own additions to the game through the use of the Creation Kit.
[b]You’ve dabbled in modding Fallout games with Combustible Oil Lamps. Are you planning to create more content for the Fallout series?
[/b]
Creating the [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/32923]Combustible Oil Lamps[/url] mod was a short and fun project, however, the game never really pulled me in the same way that previous Fallout games did back during my console years. I may one day give Fallout 4 another shot (pun intended) and see where the experience takes me. I don’t have any immediate plans to mod the game, but it’s not off the table.
[b]What do you think of Fallout 76 and would you be interested in modding it?[/b]
Fallout 76 looks to be a very different experience from what fans of the series have come to expect. I’ve never been very big on MMOs as I’ve never got the time to grind my way through those types of game, as a result, they don’t tend to hold my interest. It’s unlikely that I would grab a copy of Fallout 76, especially given the recent controversy surrounding it.
[b]Do you still play the games you make mods for?
[/b]
Does diving into the game through the console and testing count? As mentioned previously, I never actually completed Skyrim. I did get through the main story and The College of Winterhold, along with the Dawnguard DLC but I still have not played the Dragonborn DLC. To my defence though, simsim899 and I have been building the ultimate mod list and intend to play through the entire game, eventually.
I tend to start a new game, create the ultimate face, head to Riverwood, see a cool location and dive back into the Creation Kit with a new idea. It’s very difficult for me to play the game without my creativity drawing me back out and into the Creation Kit. If I had a bucket list, completing Skyrim would certainly be on there.
[b]Which mod authors do you take inspiration from?[/b]
As I’m sure many have, I’ve always admired the work of [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/187943]Chesko[/url]. His understanding of not only the technical aspect of modding but how to best implement features so that they feel like part of the base game is incredible. More recently, the main focus of my projects is to aim for the same standards of implementation and try to introduce features into the game in a very clean way.
Additionally, I would have to shout out Elianora once more as I always find myself looking over screenshots of her mods to figure out how I should lay out some of my clutter in my own mods. Her creativity and ability to clutter interiors is the reason I reached out to her to create Mörskom Estate.I’m sure there are a few other mod authors too which have inspired me in the past and my community Discord always has some amazing posts from the community of their mod creations which always fuels the fire to create.
[b]How can fans of your work best support your modding efforts?
[/b]
When I started modding I never thought that I would get a following of any kind and it was never a target to do so. However, the more people that started to watch my content and leave me kind comments, the better my creations became. It takes time and resources to create new content, share the development process and provide adequate documentation for my mods and videos, so it’s always appreciated when people are able to help support my work through sites like Patreon.
Of course, I wouldn’t still be sat here if it wasn’t for people just tuning into my live streams, giving me friendly moral support and chatting away on my community [url=https://discord.gg/4WD7RCD]Discord server[/url]. A little coin always greases the wheels, but just joining in with the community and continuing to share content is the best way to support me and other mod authors.
[b]Is there anything else you’d like to say to the Nexus Mods Community?[/b]
I would like to give my thanks to all those who download my mods, give me valuable feedback and even report bugs. It’s a nice feeling knowing that people enjoy your creations and it makes it all the more worth creating mods for Skyrim.
Additionally, I would like to commend the Nexus staff for maintaining such an awesome site for modders across the globe and continuing to push the site and the community to new levels.
[b]What are your plans for the future?
[/b]For the past 6 months, I’ve been working on a new mod called A Cat’s Life which aims to bring cats into the land of Skyrim. It’s been a great project and it’s already approaching completion. The mod will include features such as cat feeding, a needs system, cat beds, collars and much more.
[center][img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1544018897-316502669.jpeg[/img] [img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1544018932-1361113544.jpeg[/img][/center]
Caranthir Tower may also have something in the pipeline but depending on how ACL does after release and how I feel in a few months time, it may or may not happen. I do want to continue to mod Skyrim and I’m looking forward to the day when the next Elder Scrolls game rolls out the door. Maybe this time I can actually play the entire game before the Creation Kit releases and pulls me away from playing.
[line]
A big thank you to DarkFox127 for answering our questions. If there's an author or mod project you'd like to know more about, send your suggestions to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/64597][b]BigBizkit[/b][/url] or [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/31179975][b]Pickysaurus[/b][/url].
Project Spotlight: Fallout - The Frontier
In the last few months, we have spoken to several teams working on huge Fallout mod projects such as [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/news/13702]Fallout New California[/url] or [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/news/13726]Fallout Miami[/url] and it is truly amazing to see the love our modding community continues to pour into the Fallout games. Today, we are having a chat with [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/5605673?tab=about+me]Tgspy[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/4184393]Odinsword[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/4776864]Nazothedark[/url], and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/1001644]Macintroll[/url] from the team from [url=https://www.falloutthefrontier.com/]Fallout: The Frontier[/url] - a massive, super-sized mod project for Fallout New Vegas that will take you on a new adventure, take you out of the warm and sunny settings you are used to, and plunge you right into the cold, hard reality of nuclear winter in the North American frontier.
[b]BigBizkit: Thanks for joining us today. How would you describe The Frontier, its setting, and story in your own words?[/b]
Tgspy (merger and content manager): Describing what has been years of work and thousands of man-hours is difficult, but, in a more joyful and fun way, I’d describe the Frontier as an exploration of just how far we can push New Vegas and its engine. It’s a wintery place filled with dark, gripping stories, fun characters, beautiful landscapes, and much, much more.
Odinsword (side content lead and writer): Two words "Frozen Shitterland", lol. To quote an NPC:
"There is an evil that slithers beneath the frozen grounds. It beckons like a beacon to the black-hearted, to those enslaved by vengeance and vice. I see it pulsing, writhing in the darkness, beyond the mortal veil. Don't stay in the frontier long, friend, else it will ensnare you, too."
[center][youtube]COadLxnCWQc[/youtube][/center]
Nazothedark (Legion main quest lead and side quest content creator): The Frontier is a story about failure and how good intentions can easily go astray.
Macintroll (level design and art lead): The initial idea for the Frontier included 4 main points:
[list=1]
[*]Create a new and different story for our beloved "courier"
[*]For a change, set this in a cold, snowy and harsh environment, kind of a non-stop nuclear winter.
[*]Set this in a big destroyed city separated by a river
[*]In a place where a conflict between 2 of the major forces we already know is ongoing. (New California Republic & Caesar’s Legion)
[/list]
So, we decided to create a very different environment for the player. Most of the existing original Fallout games were either taking place in a desert or on the green East Coast (FO3). To make a change and stand out from any other Fallout game or mods, a snowy, cold environment created from the old nuclear blast paired with a new survival experience was the initial goal.
To fit this idea in, we had to find some area where no other Fallout game has been settled before, so we chose the north-west coast, as it's not so far from the Mojave, and near the old North American "frontier" - the idea was decided upon and the name came from it. Soon Portland (OR) appeared to be a well fitting place for our diverse goals.
Fitting the lore and the old Fallout Bible, Portland was a well-fitting place including lore reasons for why the place would be filled with old war technologies, as Portland like in real life is/was a staging place for the US army (notably during Operation: Anchorage). It also features one of the best known, massive Vaults: Vault 6.
[b]The setting for The Frontier is very different than the one for the base game, taking you from a desert wasteland to a snowy region up north. What prompted the decision to move the setting north into a colder climate?[/b]
Tgspy: Simply? It’s really cool (pun intended). On a more serious term, it’s a unique change from the quite typical environments that the games are set in, deserts or green pastures. We picked a snowy environment quite early on in development of the mod as we felt it would be the best way to tell our story.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1542636406-333643825.jpeg[/img] [img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1542636411-182094681.jpeg[/img][/center]
[b]Can you tell us a bit about the size and scope of The Frontier in comparison to the base game and/or official DLCs?[/b]
Tgspy: In terms of size, The Frontier is best described as a giant DLC. It’s actually larger in terms of actual records (think of records as every single tin can placed in the world or every tree) than all of the official DLCs put together! What was originally a small project with a much smaller and condensed basis is now a giant mod. We’re all incredibly surprised by the sheer size that the Frontier has grown to over the last few years thanks to the incredible talent of our team.
Odinsword: I would say it’s more akin to an expansion pack rather than a modern DLC. It's virtually the same size content wise as a new game.
Nazothedark: I would compare it to the expansions of yesteryear like Brood War or Opposing Force.
So, not as big as the base game but larger than the DLCs.
Macintroll: To be honest, the initial goal was a more modest project than what we are currently aiming for. But as the project drew attention from many of the best FNV modders, some unrivalled and genius scripters, we could include totally new mechanics, never present in this engine or the old Fallout games before.
The main world space itself is a square of 64x64 cells, and all of them are accessible for the player - it's a real open world with no place unreachable. So even if the map itself is smaller than the FNV map, we use more space and we could include more content in it.
Furthermore, we currently have 4 different world spaces that you will be able to explore depending on the main quest or side quests you play. Overall I think we have a huge area to play with, and that is only referring to the exterior parts. There are also many interior cells - some areas are as large as the engine allows, and some places are so big that we have split them into 4 or 5 cells combined. Vault 6 itself is really huge as it's a vault for, like, 1000 people, but you will also visit caves, frozen caves, dungeons, hangars, old abandoned (or not) offices, factories, and a complete metro and sewer system. If all goes well you will almost be able to cross the town without seeing the light of day.
[b]It seems that you have opted for players to be able to explore your content with their existing player character. Why did you choose for The Frontier to be interwoven with New Vegas, rather than having it be a standalone campaign? How does The Frontier fit into the Fallout series in general, and New Vegas’ timeline in particular?[/b]
Tgspy: We chose to make it interwoven in the timeline of New Vegas because, in a lot of ways, it allows us to have a very solid basis for our lore and story. Since we run concurrently in the same time as New Vegas and the courier's story, we can more easily write out our own stories and don’t have to, essentially, work from scratch. There’s a lot of writing that we would have to do to fit the Frontier into its own separate campaign.
In terms of how the Frontier fits into the Fallout series, that’s one that individual players may have to ask themselves. The Frontier doesn’t make any major impact upon the courier's story as the official DLCs do, as we believe that may take out some of the genuine role-playing from the game.
Odinsword: It’s a decade after the battle of Helios One and concurrent with FNV.
Nazothedark: The Frontier takes place before the second battle of Hoover Dam.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1542636400-1695957883.jpeg[/img] [img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1542636416-629888420.jpeg[/img][/center]
[b]What can you tell us about the story at this point?[/b]
Tgspy: Not a lot! Over the years we’ve taken a very straightforward “show, don’t tell” approach to the way we go about telling our story, as we believe that “spoiling” or giving everyone the story ahead of time could ruin the experience for people who want to go into the mod and experience something new and fresh. We like to keep the idea of letting people’s imaginations run wild with exactly what may be in store for the Frontier as they progress. The best way to get a sense of what the Frontier is about is watching our previous trailers, or by reading up on our website.
Odinsword: Thematically the stories within are the living echoes of the Battle of Helios One: how one day one event can steer the fates of so many people.
Nazothedark: There are multiple main quests and both deal with the conflict between the exiles and Northern Legion.
[b]In your “Not Your Kind of People” trailer we learn that two factions from New Vegas, the (exiled) NCR as well as Caesar’s Legion, will play a major role in The Frontier. Will we see any other factions from New Vegas, or maybe even new factions altogether?[/b]
Tgspy: Yes! The Brotherhood of Steel will play a very very small part in the Frontier, which we’ve shown off in trailers already. Aside from the standard array of the NCR and the Legion, there will be many new factions for the player to interact with, namely the Scavs or Scavengers, which are the other major faction in the Frontier, consisting of the local population of the Frontier. There are factions ranging from very small to very large, so there will be plenty of variety.
Odinsword: Some old favourites make a comeback; some maybe not how you would think. Some new factions and groups will make their appearance as well.
Nazothedark: There will be returning factions, as well as plenty of new factions.
[b]What new gameplay elements can we expect to see? Do you have any interesting new mechanics that tie into the new settings?[/b]
Tgspy: The biggest gameplay element we’ve shown off so far is the driveable vehicles. This is one of our big selling points, with incredible scripting and creature animation work. We have a unique gameplay feature that will be included with the Frontier as well, which is our own version of Frostfall for New Vegas, which ties into the incredibly cold environment in the frontier. It will require the player to be on their toes and keep warm, as freezing to death could be quite an inconvenience for players.
Nazothedark: The biggest new feature are the vehicles. NCR players will get tanks while Legion players will get rideable big horners.
Macintroll: Drivable vehicles - cars, tanks and vertibirds are now drivable, customizable and repairable thanks to our animator and creature goddess Jamilla and our lead scripter Devilswish. However, they will be in limited quantity so take care of them, if destroyed you'll lose them permanently. Vehicles can now also be your enemies, so be prepared to fight very dangerous and though enemies.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1542636663-1208681608.jpeg[/img][/center]
Hypothermia - we added a new gameplay element fitting the snowy place: coldness. You'll have to gear yourself properly, avoid freezing water and find warming places (fire pits) if you don't want to take frost damage and die from hypothermia.
Zero gravity combat and exploration - a great way to feel immersion in space, because you already know you'll go to space during the game.
New creatures and new mechanics for them - each of our newly implemented creatures have specific skills, combat styles, and you'll have to adapt your gameplay to fight them with success.
[b]What can you tell us about the soundtrack for The Frontier? What mood are you aiming for and what are some inspirational sources that your composer(s) draw from?[/b]
Tgspy: Our soundtrack has a very simple mood behind it. Loneliness and Isolation. Many of our tracks are composed to make the player feel alone in this world, yet at the same time, make them cautious enough to keep their eyes open. The soundtrack is actually a combination of work from [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/users/524449]Averam[/url], who worked on a number of his own Fallout 3 Music overhauls, [url=https://www.mlamanna.com/]Michael La Manna[/url], a professional composer who provided quite a few pieces for us, and a number of other small time or hobby composers.
Odinsword: I'd say a big theme is the melancholy of the forgotten soldier, the suffering of the thankless hero. Some requests I have made have been influenced by western ballads like Streets of Laredo or Wayfaring Stranger.
[b]Let’s talk a bit about the team behind The Frontier: How many people are currently working on the project and how do you organise?[/b]
Tgspy: Currently, we have a team of nearly 30 people. Now, due to commitments ranging from life to work to school, not everyone is active. However, we have a large sum of those people actively contributing to the Frontier at any time. Our team organisation is quite a bit different from other larger projects; especially that of the Skyrim projects. Due to the relatively small size of the team, we tend to work a bit more freely, with less actual “reporting” being done, and some people taking multiple jobs. It works well enough for us.
[b]What was the initial inspiration to create such a huge, “supersized” DLC - as you intend for The Frontier to be - and to come together as a team to realise that vision?[/b]
Tgspy: When we first started the Frontier, I don’t quite think there was ever the idea that this project would get to the size it’s at now.
The original idea for the mod was to make another simple quest, inspired in part by the Rockwell series. Over time as interest in the project grew and more and more people joined up to the project, we rapidly expanded the premise of the mod into more DLC scale. This morphing has taken place over the last few years as the team grew and grew, and has reached a point where we are confident in calling this a DLC or larger scale mod.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1542636952-51360786.jpeg[/img][/center]
[b]Can people still join the project? Do you have a recruitment form?[/b]
Tgspy: Yes, we have a recruitment channel in [url=http://discord.gg/010HuEORHwewSvgPo]our discord server[/url]. We currently do not accept writers, and we’re looking for any 3D modellers.
[b]Is there anything else you would like to tell the Nexus Mods community, about The Frontier, the team, or in general?[/b]
Tgspy: Patience is key. We’re working hard to get this project done, but it won’t be done until we truly feel it’s done. We want to share this project with the world, and we believe people will greatly enjoy it.
Odinsword: Neil Gaiman once said something to the effect of: "Reading a story is to see a dream through the eyes of another man." Mods are no different. I hope that what we present inspires you, makes you take whatever dreams you have about the Fallout universe and put them to paper. Someone reading this right now is very likely to create something amazing because they saw this article.
[line]
A big thank you to the team from Fallout - The Frontier for answering our questions. If there's an author or mod project you'd like to know more about, send your suggestions to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/64597][b]BigBizkit[/b][/url] or [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/31179975][b]Pickysaurus[/b][/url].
[b]BigBizkit: Thanks for joining us today. How would you describe The Frontier, its setting, and story in your own words?[/b]
Tgspy (merger and content manager): Describing what has been years of work and thousands of man-hours is difficult, but, in a more joyful and fun way, I’d describe the Frontier as an exploration of just how far we can push New Vegas and its engine. It’s a wintery place filled with dark, gripping stories, fun characters, beautiful landscapes, and much, much more.
Odinsword (side content lead and writer): Two words "Frozen Shitterland", lol. To quote an NPC:
"There is an evil that slithers beneath the frozen grounds. It beckons like a beacon to the black-hearted, to those enslaved by vengeance and vice. I see it pulsing, writhing in the darkness, beyond the mortal veil. Don't stay in the frontier long, friend, else it will ensnare you, too."
[center][youtube]COadLxnCWQc[/youtube][/center]
Nazothedark (Legion main quest lead and side quest content creator): The Frontier is a story about failure and how good intentions can easily go astray.
Macintroll (level design and art lead): The initial idea for the Frontier included 4 main points:
[list=1]
[*]Create a new and different story for our beloved "courier"
[*]For a change, set this in a cold, snowy and harsh environment, kind of a non-stop nuclear winter.
[*]Set this in a big destroyed city separated by a river
[*]In a place where a conflict between 2 of the major forces we already know is ongoing. (New California Republic & Caesar’s Legion)
[/list]
So, we decided to create a very different environment for the player. Most of the existing original Fallout games were either taking place in a desert or on the green East Coast (FO3). To make a change and stand out from any other Fallout game or mods, a snowy, cold environment created from the old nuclear blast paired with a new survival experience was the initial goal.
To fit this idea in, we had to find some area where no other Fallout game has been settled before, so we chose the north-west coast, as it's not so far from the Mojave, and near the old North American "frontier" - the idea was decided upon and the name came from it. Soon Portland (OR) appeared to be a well fitting place for our diverse goals.
Fitting the lore and the old Fallout Bible, Portland was a well-fitting place including lore reasons for why the place would be filled with old war technologies, as Portland like in real life is/was a staging place for the US army (notably during Operation: Anchorage). It also features one of the best known, massive Vaults: Vault 6.
[b]The setting for The Frontier is very different than the one for the base game, taking you from a desert wasteland to a snowy region up north. What prompted the decision to move the setting north into a colder climate?[/b]
Tgspy: Simply? It’s really cool (pun intended). On a more serious term, it’s a unique change from the quite typical environments that the games are set in, deserts or green pastures. We picked a snowy environment quite early on in development of the mod as we felt it would be the best way to tell our story.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1542636406-333643825.jpeg[/img] [img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1542636411-182094681.jpeg[/img][/center]
[b]Can you tell us a bit about the size and scope of The Frontier in comparison to the base game and/or official DLCs?[/b]
Tgspy: In terms of size, The Frontier is best described as a giant DLC. It’s actually larger in terms of actual records (think of records as every single tin can placed in the world or every tree) than all of the official DLCs put together! What was originally a small project with a much smaller and condensed basis is now a giant mod. We’re all incredibly surprised by the sheer size that the Frontier has grown to over the last few years thanks to the incredible talent of our team.
Odinsword: I would say it’s more akin to an expansion pack rather than a modern DLC. It's virtually the same size content wise as a new game.
Nazothedark: I would compare it to the expansions of yesteryear like Brood War or Opposing Force.
So, not as big as the base game but larger than the DLCs.
Macintroll: To be honest, the initial goal was a more modest project than what we are currently aiming for. But as the project drew attention from many of the best FNV modders, some unrivalled and genius scripters, we could include totally new mechanics, never present in this engine or the old Fallout games before.
The main world space itself is a square of 64x64 cells, and all of them are accessible for the player - it's a real open world with no place unreachable. So even if the map itself is smaller than the FNV map, we use more space and we could include more content in it.
Furthermore, we currently have 4 different world spaces that you will be able to explore depending on the main quest or side quests you play. Overall I think we have a huge area to play with, and that is only referring to the exterior parts. There are also many interior cells - some areas are as large as the engine allows, and some places are so big that we have split them into 4 or 5 cells combined. Vault 6 itself is really huge as it's a vault for, like, 1000 people, but you will also visit caves, frozen caves, dungeons, hangars, old abandoned (or not) offices, factories, and a complete metro and sewer system. If all goes well you will almost be able to cross the town without seeing the light of day.
[b]It seems that you have opted for players to be able to explore your content with their existing player character. Why did you choose for The Frontier to be interwoven with New Vegas, rather than having it be a standalone campaign? How does The Frontier fit into the Fallout series in general, and New Vegas’ timeline in particular?[/b]
Tgspy: We chose to make it interwoven in the timeline of New Vegas because, in a lot of ways, it allows us to have a very solid basis for our lore and story. Since we run concurrently in the same time as New Vegas and the courier's story, we can more easily write out our own stories and don’t have to, essentially, work from scratch. There’s a lot of writing that we would have to do to fit the Frontier into its own separate campaign.
In terms of how the Frontier fits into the Fallout series, that’s one that individual players may have to ask themselves. The Frontier doesn’t make any major impact upon the courier's story as the official DLCs do, as we believe that may take out some of the genuine role-playing from the game.
Odinsword: It’s a decade after the battle of Helios One and concurrent with FNV.
Nazothedark: The Frontier takes place before the second battle of Hoover Dam.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1542636400-1695957883.jpeg[/img] [img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1542636416-629888420.jpeg[/img][/center]
[b]What can you tell us about the story at this point?[/b]
Tgspy: Not a lot! Over the years we’ve taken a very straightforward “show, don’t tell” approach to the way we go about telling our story, as we believe that “spoiling” or giving everyone the story ahead of time could ruin the experience for people who want to go into the mod and experience something new and fresh. We like to keep the idea of letting people’s imaginations run wild with exactly what may be in store for the Frontier as they progress. The best way to get a sense of what the Frontier is about is watching our previous trailers, or by reading up on our website.
Odinsword: Thematically the stories within are the living echoes of the Battle of Helios One: how one day one event can steer the fates of so many people.
Nazothedark: There are multiple main quests and both deal with the conflict between the exiles and Northern Legion.
[b]In your “Not Your Kind of People” trailer we learn that two factions from New Vegas, the (exiled) NCR as well as Caesar’s Legion, will play a major role in The Frontier. Will we see any other factions from New Vegas, or maybe even new factions altogether?[/b]
Tgspy: Yes! The Brotherhood of Steel will play a very very small part in the Frontier, which we’ve shown off in trailers already. Aside from the standard array of the NCR and the Legion, there will be many new factions for the player to interact with, namely the Scavs or Scavengers, which are the other major faction in the Frontier, consisting of the local population of the Frontier. There are factions ranging from very small to very large, so there will be plenty of variety.
Odinsword: Some old favourites make a comeback; some maybe not how you would think. Some new factions and groups will make their appearance as well.
Nazothedark: There will be returning factions, as well as plenty of new factions.
[b]What new gameplay elements can we expect to see? Do you have any interesting new mechanics that tie into the new settings?[/b]
Tgspy: The biggest gameplay element we’ve shown off so far is the driveable vehicles. This is one of our big selling points, with incredible scripting and creature animation work. We have a unique gameplay feature that will be included with the Frontier as well, which is our own version of Frostfall for New Vegas, which ties into the incredibly cold environment in the frontier. It will require the player to be on their toes and keep warm, as freezing to death could be quite an inconvenience for players.
Nazothedark: The biggest new feature are the vehicles. NCR players will get tanks while Legion players will get rideable big horners.
Macintroll: Drivable vehicles - cars, tanks and vertibirds are now drivable, customizable and repairable thanks to our animator and creature goddess Jamilla and our lead scripter Devilswish. However, they will be in limited quantity so take care of them, if destroyed you'll lose them permanently. Vehicles can now also be your enemies, so be prepared to fight very dangerous and though enemies.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1542636663-1208681608.jpeg[/img][/center]
Hypothermia - we added a new gameplay element fitting the snowy place: coldness. You'll have to gear yourself properly, avoid freezing water and find warming places (fire pits) if you don't want to take frost damage and die from hypothermia.
Zero gravity combat and exploration - a great way to feel immersion in space, because you already know you'll go to space during the game.
New creatures and new mechanics for them - each of our newly implemented creatures have specific skills, combat styles, and you'll have to adapt your gameplay to fight them with success.
[b]What can you tell us about the soundtrack for The Frontier? What mood are you aiming for and what are some inspirational sources that your composer(s) draw from?[/b]
Tgspy: Our soundtrack has a very simple mood behind it. Loneliness and Isolation. Many of our tracks are composed to make the player feel alone in this world, yet at the same time, make them cautious enough to keep their eyes open. The soundtrack is actually a combination of work from [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/users/524449]Averam[/url], who worked on a number of his own Fallout 3 Music overhauls, [url=https://www.mlamanna.com/]Michael La Manna[/url], a professional composer who provided quite a few pieces for us, and a number of other small time or hobby composers.
Odinsword: I'd say a big theme is the melancholy of the forgotten soldier, the suffering of the thankless hero. Some requests I have made have been influenced by western ballads like Streets of Laredo or Wayfaring Stranger.
[b]Let’s talk a bit about the team behind The Frontier: How many people are currently working on the project and how do you organise?[/b]
Tgspy: Currently, we have a team of nearly 30 people. Now, due to commitments ranging from life to work to school, not everyone is active. However, we have a large sum of those people actively contributing to the Frontier at any time. Our team organisation is quite a bit different from other larger projects; especially that of the Skyrim projects. Due to the relatively small size of the team, we tend to work a bit more freely, with less actual “reporting” being done, and some people taking multiple jobs. It works well enough for us.
[b]What was the initial inspiration to create such a huge, “supersized” DLC - as you intend for The Frontier to be - and to come together as a team to realise that vision?[/b]
Tgspy: When we first started the Frontier, I don’t quite think there was ever the idea that this project would get to the size it’s at now.
The original idea for the mod was to make another simple quest, inspired in part by the Rockwell series. Over time as interest in the project grew and more and more people joined up to the project, we rapidly expanded the premise of the mod into more DLC scale. This morphing has taken place over the last few years as the team grew and grew, and has reached a point where we are confident in calling this a DLC or larger scale mod.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1542636952-51360786.jpeg[/img][/center]
[b]Can people still join the project? Do you have a recruitment form?[/b]
Tgspy: Yes, we have a recruitment channel in [url=http://discord.gg/010HuEORHwewSvgPo]our discord server[/url]. We currently do not accept writers, and we’re looking for any 3D modellers.
[b]Is there anything else you would like to tell the Nexus Mods community, about The Frontier, the team, or in general?[/b]
Tgspy: Patience is key. We’re working hard to get this project done, but it won’t be done until we truly feel it’s done. We want to share this project with the world, and we believe people will greatly enjoy it.
Odinsword: Neil Gaiman once said something to the effect of: "Reading a story is to see a dream through the eyes of another man." Mods are no different. I hope that what we present inspires you, makes you take whatever dreams you have about the Fallout universe and put them to paper. Someone reading this right now is very likely to create something amazing because they saw this article.
[line]
A big thank you to the team from Fallout - The Frontier for answering our questions. If there's an author or mod project you'd like to know more about, send your suggestions to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/64597][b]BigBizkit[/b][/url] or [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/31179975][b]Pickysaurus[/b][/url].
Nexus Mods Giveaway #18
It's time for another giveaway!
We are giving out one Steam Gift Card worth £35 (~$46, depending on daily exchange rates) again.
To participate and to not screw up your chances of winning, pay attention to the entry rules below:
In order to make sure that the winner comes from the Nexus Mods community, there are some mandatory steps for ensuring your eligibility.
1. Leave a comment on this article. You can say anything you want. (The site rules still apply!)
2. Log into the contest entry form with your preferred method.
3. Click the second entry action that says "Leave a comment on Nexus Mods"
4. Enter your Nexus Mods username into the text field.
[i](If you didn't leave a comment here before going to the contest entry form, be sure to follow the link back here and do that.)[/i]
No comment or valid username = no Steam Gift Card for you.
[size=3][url=https://gleam.io/aKC5W/nexus-mods-giveaway-18]Click here to enter for your chance to win a £35 Steam Gift Card![/url]
[/size][i][size=1](Entry period ends on Friday, 30th November at 16:59 pm GMT)
[/size][/i][size=1]You can read more about why we do monthly giveaways for our social media [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/news/13406]here[/url].[/size]
We are giving out one Steam Gift Card worth £35 (~$46, depending on daily exchange rates) again.
To participate and to not screw up your chances of winning, pay attention to the entry rules below:
In order to make sure that the winner comes from the Nexus Mods community, there are some mandatory steps for ensuring your eligibility.
1. Leave a comment on this article. You can say anything you want. (The site rules still apply!)
2. Log into the contest entry form with your preferred method.
3. Click the second entry action that says "Leave a comment on Nexus Mods"
4. Enter your Nexus Mods username into the text field.
[i](If you didn't leave a comment here before going to the contest entry form, be sure to follow the link back here and do that.)[/i]
No comment or valid username = no Steam Gift Card for you.
[size=3][url=https://gleam.io/aKC5W/nexus-mods-giveaway-18]Click here to enter for your chance to win a £35 Steam Gift Card![/url]
[/size][i][size=1](Entry period ends on Friday, 30th November at 16:59 pm GMT)
[/size][/i][size=1]You can read more about why we do monthly giveaways for our social media [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/news/13406]here[/url].[/size]
Terrific Trees, Great Grass, Fabulous Flora - Vurt
Today we are talking to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/41808?tab=user+files&BH=0]vurt[/url], a long-time member of our community and renown mod author most famous for various flora overhauls for different games, ranging from [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/2154]Skyrim[/url] and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/39856]Fallout New Vegas[/url] to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/stalkershadowofchernobyl/mods/1035]S.T.A.L.K.E.R.[/url] and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/darksouls/mods/56]Dark Souls[/url].
[center][youtube]ewowzfEg6b8[/youtube][/center]
[b]Thank you, vurt, for agreeing to have a chat with us. To start this off, why don’t you tell us a bit about yourself?[/b]
Well, I live in a small city in Sweden, not too much to do around here, one of those places where it's preferable or even vital to have some very time-consuming hobbies I'd say!
I'm self-taught when it comes to 3D modelling and graphics (and I'm still learning). I've not worked with graphics/3D professionally apart from a bit of freelance work on some smaller indie titles ([url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/233860/Kenshi/]Kenshi[/url] being one of them).
[b]To many modders out there your username has become synonymous with all sorts of flora overhauls for different games. How would you describe your work in your own words?[/b]
Basically, it's just about trying to make a game that I enjoy myself more immersive graphically. It usually starts with me making a tiny modification to graphics for myself.
It can be just a texture that I find distracting or "off". Sometimes this expands into something larger and I start remodelling trees etc. and then it can be released as a mod if I feel that others might enjoy it, too.
[b]What is it that makes you gravitate towards grass, trees, and flower overhauls?[/b]
When I started no one else was doing these mods really, so if you wanted it there was no way around it other than to create it yourself. I think I've always had a genuine interest for, well, trying to recreate nature in some form. As a kid, I loved doing dioramas that involved nature and when I - for a while - was into drawing and painting my first choice was nature as well.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1542971131-185069500.jpeg[/img] [img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1542971289-1008495472.jpeg[/img][/center]
[b]You have created some of the most downloaded flora overhauls for various games: Skyrim, Fallout New Vegas, and Dark Souls - to name a few. Are there any significant differences in your approach when creating mods for different games?[/b]
It's pretty similar: extract models and textures from the game and have a look at them for a bit (you can learn a lot by just looking at these resources!). Then recreate them to your taste in Photoshop and model it all in Blender. Profit!
I try to not stray too far from what is already established thematically for the games, but sometimes it's fun to make something else entirely. For Fallout 3 I created an [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/19864]overhaul with healthy green trees and flora[/url] and it's been very appreciated.
[b]What would you say is your favourite mod of the ones you have created and why?[/b]
That would probably be [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/39856]Wasteland Flora Overhaul for Fallout: New Vegas[/url] because I had such a great time making that mod. It was my best learning experience, too. I made tons of tree models for that mod and I had to approach them very differently. Doing the Joshua trees and Yucca plants took a while to figure out. I decided early on that the bark could not just be the usual repeating 2D texture slapped onto a trunk, it just didn't catch what those trees are all about. To this date, I'm still very happy with them, and that is very rare for me.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1542972072-664990302.jpeg[/img][/center]
The flora there is very different from what we have here in Sweden, so, yeah, very exotic and interesting to me. I had to research a lot and I had to figure out how to make a dead place a bit more interesting, but without going totally over-the-top.
[b]What was it that initially inspired you to create flora overhauls of all things?[/b]
Morrowind started it all. I hadn't played it in many years and went back to it and I decided I wanted some mods. I installed the [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/5535]Morrowind Graphics Extender[/url] and it really blew my mind. In fact, so much that I stopped playing completely and just started downloading mods (anything that improved graphics) and grabbing and sharing screens because I thought it looked so amazing.
Though the two things that stuck out like a sore thumb was the short and low-poly trees and there was no groundcover either, like in modern games. Modders just didn't seem to have too much interest in that part. So I started looking for mods that did at least touch on the subject of flora to see how they were done, and what I could do to perhaps improve or expand upon it. I was hoping to be able to contribute to the Morrowind modding community because I was both very inspired by its immense creativity and at the same time also really thankful to the community as a whole for creating all those amazing mods. I really didn't expect my mods to be very popular.
The modder Vality should not go unmentioned either, he was a great inspiration and help to me during the first year or so.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1542972184-397717102.jpeg[/img] [img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1542972178-1234786030.jpeg[/img][/center]
[b]What would you say are the main things you have learned during years of modding for different games?[/b]
References are super important, don't be over-confident, or ashamed to use references. There's a reason why big studios have concept artists. Do your own concept graphics or use google to find images to use as references. In the beginning, I was very lazy with using references, so if something turned out good and natural looking it was pure luck. It's time-consuming and not good practice to not use references. Another important thing is to take breaks when it's just not fun or inspiring anymore. Days, weeks or months until it feels inspiring and fun again, or you might kill off your hobby completely because it becomes associated with stress or just bad feelings overall. I'm still on kind of a long break from modding, apart from doing some small mods like the [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/stalkershadowofchernobyl/mods/1035]Groundcover Overhaul for STALKER: SoC[/url].
[b]What are some games you are currently playing?[/b]
Red Dead Redemption 2 and Spiderman on PS4. On PC I play Rimworld (GOTY together with RDR 2 for me!) and STALKER: SoC with the Radiophobia mod. I'm quite terrible at finishing anything though. I recently also bought Shadow of the Colossus, I'm really eager to see how the natural environments are done there - might be inspiring!
[b]Do you have any favourite mods for the games you are playing?[/b]
It's hard to single out specific ones, but I appreciate any modder that does stuff that no one else seems to be doing because it's too boring, too complicated, or it's something you might think will not generate a lot of interest. Much like anyone who is playing Skyrim I can really appreciate a mod like [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/12604]SkyUI[/url] for example. To me, something like that seems unbearably complex to create. I 'm glad there are modders who do this kind of stuff. I also appreciate modders that don't move on just because a game is getting old and there are newer games to mod that might generate more interest.
[b]What are some of your hobbies outside of gaming and modding?[/b]
For the last few years, my biggest interest has been modular synths. Doing electronic music was what sparked my creativity when I was in my teens. I bought some cheap synths and I already had an Amiga. Later on, I switched to PC, and much later on (late 90s) I went 100% software using PC. Now I'm back to 100% hardware for doing music, no computer even. I find it way more fun than to work with a mouse in software, and it's nice to get away from Windows/PC for a bit.
I also really like being in nature - photographing, chilling out, or going for a long walk. For a mod like [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/141/]Skyrim Flora Overhaul[/url], it has been pretty essential for inspiration. If someone wants to check out my Instagram (mostly quick modular jams nowadays) it's [url=https://www.instagram.com/sonic_fckery/]https://www.instagram.com/sonic_fckery/[/url]
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1542971854-581970632.jpeg[/img][/center]
[b]Last but not least: Is there anything else you would like to say to the Nexus Mods community?[/b]
I'd like to say thanks for all the nice comments that I've been receiving throughout the years from users of my mods. They've meant a lot to my confidence and my will to continue to create mods! And why not a thank you to Robin Scott himself for such a great and thought out modding portal! It seems like almost any new and old game gets added to Nexus nowadays, that's great (and now I just reminded myself that I've yet to upload my System Shock 2 and KOTOR mods here).
Take care all, and have fun!
[line]
A big thank you to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/users/41808?tab=user+files&BH=2]vurt[/url] for answering our questions. As always, if there's an author or mod project you'd like to know more about, send your suggestions to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/64597][b]BigBizkit[/b][/url] or [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/31179975][b]Pickysaurus[/b][/url].
[center][youtube]ewowzfEg6b8[/youtube][/center]
[b]Thank you, vurt, for agreeing to have a chat with us. To start this off, why don’t you tell us a bit about yourself?[/b]
Well, I live in a small city in Sweden, not too much to do around here, one of those places where it's preferable or even vital to have some very time-consuming hobbies I'd say!
I'm self-taught when it comes to 3D modelling and graphics (and I'm still learning). I've not worked with graphics/3D professionally apart from a bit of freelance work on some smaller indie titles ([url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/233860/Kenshi/]Kenshi[/url] being one of them).
[b]To many modders out there your username has become synonymous with all sorts of flora overhauls for different games. How would you describe your work in your own words?[/b]
Basically, it's just about trying to make a game that I enjoy myself more immersive graphically. It usually starts with me making a tiny modification to graphics for myself.
It can be just a texture that I find distracting or "off". Sometimes this expands into something larger and I start remodelling trees etc. and then it can be released as a mod if I feel that others might enjoy it, too.
[b]What is it that makes you gravitate towards grass, trees, and flower overhauls?[/b]
When I started no one else was doing these mods really, so if you wanted it there was no way around it other than to create it yourself. I think I've always had a genuine interest for, well, trying to recreate nature in some form. As a kid, I loved doing dioramas that involved nature and when I - for a while - was into drawing and painting my first choice was nature as well.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1542971131-185069500.jpeg[/img] [img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1542971289-1008495472.jpeg[/img][/center]
[b]You have created some of the most downloaded flora overhauls for various games: Skyrim, Fallout New Vegas, and Dark Souls - to name a few. Are there any significant differences in your approach when creating mods for different games?[/b]
It's pretty similar: extract models and textures from the game and have a look at them for a bit (you can learn a lot by just looking at these resources!). Then recreate them to your taste in Photoshop and model it all in Blender. Profit!
I try to not stray too far from what is already established thematically for the games, but sometimes it's fun to make something else entirely. For Fallout 3 I created an [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/19864]overhaul with healthy green trees and flora[/url] and it's been very appreciated.
[b]What would you say is your favourite mod of the ones you have created and why?[/b]
That would probably be [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/39856]Wasteland Flora Overhaul for Fallout: New Vegas[/url] because I had such a great time making that mod. It was my best learning experience, too. I made tons of tree models for that mod and I had to approach them very differently. Doing the Joshua trees and Yucca plants took a while to figure out. I decided early on that the bark could not just be the usual repeating 2D texture slapped onto a trunk, it just didn't catch what those trees are all about. To this date, I'm still very happy with them, and that is very rare for me.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1542972072-664990302.jpeg[/img][/center]
The flora there is very different from what we have here in Sweden, so, yeah, very exotic and interesting to me. I had to research a lot and I had to figure out how to make a dead place a bit more interesting, but without going totally over-the-top.
[b]What was it that initially inspired you to create flora overhauls of all things?[/b]
Morrowind started it all. I hadn't played it in many years and went back to it and I decided I wanted some mods. I installed the [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/5535]Morrowind Graphics Extender[/url] and it really blew my mind. In fact, so much that I stopped playing completely and just started downloading mods (anything that improved graphics) and grabbing and sharing screens because I thought it looked so amazing.
Though the two things that stuck out like a sore thumb was the short and low-poly trees and there was no groundcover either, like in modern games. Modders just didn't seem to have too much interest in that part. So I started looking for mods that did at least touch on the subject of flora to see how they were done, and what I could do to perhaps improve or expand upon it. I was hoping to be able to contribute to the Morrowind modding community because I was both very inspired by its immense creativity and at the same time also really thankful to the community as a whole for creating all those amazing mods. I really didn't expect my mods to be very popular.
The modder Vality should not go unmentioned either, he was a great inspiration and help to me during the first year or so.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1542972184-397717102.jpeg[/img] [img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1542972178-1234786030.jpeg[/img][/center]
[b]What would you say are the main things you have learned during years of modding for different games?[/b]
References are super important, don't be over-confident, or ashamed to use references. There's a reason why big studios have concept artists. Do your own concept graphics or use google to find images to use as references. In the beginning, I was very lazy with using references, so if something turned out good and natural looking it was pure luck. It's time-consuming and not good practice to not use references. Another important thing is to take breaks when it's just not fun or inspiring anymore. Days, weeks or months until it feels inspiring and fun again, or you might kill off your hobby completely because it becomes associated with stress or just bad feelings overall. I'm still on kind of a long break from modding, apart from doing some small mods like the [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/stalkershadowofchernobyl/mods/1035]Groundcover Overhaul for STALKER: SoC[/url].
[b]What are some games you are currently playing?[/b]
Red Dead Redemption 2 and Spiderman on PS4. On PC I play Rimworld (GOTY together with RDR 2 for me!) and STALKER: SoC with the Radiophobia mod. I'm quite terrible at finishing anything though. I recently also bought Shadow of the Colossus, I'm really eager to see how the natural environments are done there - might be inspiring!
[b]Do you have any favourite mods for the games you are playing?[/b]
It's hard to single out specific ones, but I appreciate any modder that does stuff that no one else seems to be doing because it's too boring, too complicated, or it's something you might think will not generate a lot of interest. Much like anyone who is playing Skyrim I can really appreciate a mod like [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/12604]SkyUI[/url] for example. To me, something like that seems unbearably complex to create. I 'm glad there are modders who do this kind of stuff. I also appreciate modders that don't move on just because a game is getting old and there are newer games to mod that might generate more interest.
[b]What are some of your hobbies outside of gaming and modding?[/b]
For the last few years, my biggest interest has been modular synths. Doing electronic music was what sparked my creativity when I was in my teens. I bought some cheap synths and I already had an Amiga. Later on, I switched to PC, and much later on (late 90s) I went 100% software using PC. Now I'm back to 100% hardware for doing music, no computer even. I find it way more fun than to work with a mouse in software, and it's nice to get away from Windows/PC for a bit.
I also really like being in nature - photographing, chilling out, or going for a long walk. For a mod like [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/141/]Skyrim Flora Overhaul[/url], it has been pretty essential for inspiration. If someone wants to check out my Instagram (mostly quick modular jams nowadays) it's [url=https://www.instagram.com/sonic_fckery/]https://www.instagram.com/sonic_fckery/[/url]
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1542971854-581970632.jpeg[/img][/center]
[b]Last but not least: Is there anything else you would like to say to the Nexus Mods community?[/b]
I'd like to say thanks for all the nice comments that I've been receiving throughout the years from users of my mods. They've meant a lot to my confidence and my will to continue to create mods! And why not a thank you to Robin Scott himself for such a great and thought out modding portal! It seems like almost any new and old game gets added to Nexus nowadays, that's great (and now I just reminded myself that I've yet to upload my System Shock 2 and KOTOR mods here).
Take care all, and have fun!
[line]
A big thank you to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/users/41808?tab=user+files&BH=2]vurt[/url] for answering our questions. As always, if there's an author or mod project you'd like to know more about, send your suggestions to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/64597][b]BigBizkit[/b][/url] or [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/31179975][b]Pickysaurus[/b][/url].
CROSS-talk with Niero
This week we've caught up with a veteran modder, modeller, and texture artist who has created a dazzling array of high quality and highly customisable content for Fallout 4. [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/17527]Niero[/url] has recently also tried his hand at Skyrim mods, creating one of the top weapon mods this year [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/20203]CROSS_Crucible[/url].
[b]Thank you for taking the time out to chat with us. Before we talk modding, can you tell us a little about yourself?[/b]
Hey there, thanks for the interview, I'm a west coast American who takes hobbies very seriously.
[b]How did you first get into video games?
[/b]
I was a Starwars book nerd, and that sort of led into it. The first game I have a ton of memories from is Jedi Knight II.
[b]How would you describe the mods you create?
[/b]
In a word: customization. I like the idea that everyone gets something a little different out of my content. The ability to customize a player character in video games is super important to me when I play games, so its only natural that I forward that to my content. I really get a kick out of seeing screenshots of characters using my content in ways I never thought of.
[center][youtube]duSMHK87TEY[/youtube][/center]
[b]When you’re not modding, what other hobbies do you enjoy?
[/b]
I've been into sculpture since as long as I can remember, clay/wire that sort of thing. I only really got seriously into the digital side of sculpting because of Fallout 4. Learning and figuring out new things is my real hobby. Picture that kid that breaks all their own toys, that's me, because I'm more interested in how they work than what they do.
[b]When you think about making a mod, what do you take inspiration from? [/b]
Most of my mods are branched off of previous mods in some abstract internal way. When I make a mod I tend to experiment a lot and those experiments open doors to make stuff I previously thought impossible. A good example: I started the whole [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/34501]Blades[/url]/[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/93808]Crucible[/url] project as a way to mess around more with what I learned from the [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/31336]Cryolance[/url]. As far as inspiration for the raw content goes, it's tough to say. Fallout's weird post-apoc brutal-deco-scifi aesthetic is easy to expand on so there's tons of ideas that can work. Sometimes I like to do stuff just for the challenge, and then make it fit in with lore-gymnastics (like the [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/23308]Recall Collar[/url]).
[b]All your mods have "CROSS" in the title, what does that mean?[/b]
This goes back to Skyrim. When I play Skyrim I play exclusively with Requiem, and anyone that knows Requiem knows it can be pretty polarizing for a balance overhaul. I would make tons of small tweaks to Requiem with TES5edit/xEdit, and each tweak would get its own ESP; that way I could easily toggle them off and on when new versions of [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/19281]Requiem[/url] released. And of course, every mini-mod would have the CROSS tag to keep things clean in my load order. Fast forward to Fallout 4 and I still used the tag for my own mods, which I eventually started releasing, and now here we are. The word 'CROSS' itself is just my real name, in all caps for visibility, it's not some absurd acronym.
[b]You’ve been making mods for Fallout 4 since 2015, are there any mods in your collection that you’re particularly proud of?
[/b]
[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/23780/]CROSS_Crits[/url]. I still do a double take sometimes when testing newer stuff in-game and seeing the aftermath from the new critFX. Its scary in an unintended way.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1541678785-1731409184.jpeg[/img] [img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1541678781-910457413.jpeg[/img][/center]
[b]CROSS_Crucible, one of your newest releases, is your first mod for Skyrim. Will you be working more with Skyrim or was this a one-off?[/b]
It depends on if I start up another Skyrim playthrough (before ES6 at least). I'm sure once I get back into it I'll get a shot of inspiration, and then we'll have another 'CROSS_' Skyrim mod. I do enjoy The Elder Scrolls more than I do Fallout, so it will probably happen eventually. My biggest deterrent to messing with Skyrim is the lack of customization Skyrim offers, I'm totally spoiled by the Fallout 4 crafting system and all the possibilities it provides.
[b]What tools do you use when crafting your mods and why?[/b]
Photoshop for general concepts, Zbrush for the high poly, Substance Painter for textures, Nifskope for special FX, and then xEdit/CreationKit for the ESP. Photoshop/Zbrush/Substance are basically standards of video games art production, and they're all really good, well documented, programs.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1541678776-1529038811.jpeg[/img] [img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1541678771-1492808712.jpeg[/img][/center]
[b]What are your thoughts on Fallout 76 and are you interested in modding it?[/b]
The game itself looks neat, folks have been dreaming of a co-op Fallout/Elderscrolls experience since Morrowind, so its great that they're finally doing it. I didn't get much time with the BETA, but the core gameplay loop seems like it will hold people's attention for a very long time. I need a ladder/rating system to stay interested in PvP, so I don't know how much time I'll spend with that aspect of the game. Internally the game seems very similar to Fo4, so any content I make going forward will probably work on both platforms, which is pretty cool.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/1151/images/35598/35598-1540757824-1717146778.gif[/img][/center]
[b]Do you have an upcoming content you’d like to tell us about?[/b]
We don't have an official name yet, but I'm working with TheKite on a weapon inspired by the New Vegas Helios One quest. The plan is to give it two modes: A more traditional point and shoot laser mode, and a target designation mode that lets you mark an area and call down some orbital firepower. I posted a preview of the orbital strike FX recently.
[b]If you could give one piece of advice to a new modder who wants to make content like yours, what would it be?
[/b]
You have to want to learn, more so than you want the end result. It's the journey, not the destination, that sort of thing. And if you really do enjoy this kind of thing don't hesitate to spend money on education/tutorials. It's a hobby after all, any hobby worth doing is worth over-doing.
[b]Is there anything else you’d like to say to the Nexus Mods community?[/b]
Please forgive me, Todd.
[line]
A big thank you to FrankFamily for answering our questions. If there's an author or mod project you'd like to know more about, send your suggestions to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/64597][b]BigBizkit[/b][/url] or [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/31179975][b]Pickysaurus[/b][/url].
[b]Thank you for taking the time out to chat with us. Before we talk modding, can you tell us a little about yourself?[/b]
Hey there, thanks for the interview, I'm a west coast American who takes hobbies very seriously.
[b]How did you first get into video games?
[/b]
I was a Starwars book nerd, and that sort of led into it. The first game I have a ton of memories from is Jedi Knight II.
[b]How would you describe the mods you create?
[/b]
In a word: customization. I like the idea that everyone gets something a little different out of my content. The ability to customize a player character in video games is super important to me when I play games, so its only natural that I forward that to my content. I really get a kick out of seeing screenshots of characters using my content in ways I never thought of.
[center][youtube]duSMHK87TEY[/youtube][/center]
[b]When you’re not modding, what other hobbies do you enjoy?
[/b]
I've been into sculpture since as long as I can remember, clay/wire that sort of thing. I only really got seriously into the digital side of sculpting because of Fallout 4. Learning and figuring out new things is my real hobby. Picture that kid that breaks all their own toys, that's me, because I'm more interested in how they work than what they do.
[b]When you think about making a mod, what do you take inspiration from? [/b]
Most of my mods are branched off of previous mods in some abstract internal way. When I make a mod I tend to experiment a lot and those experiments open doors to make stuff I previously thought impossible. A good example: I started the whole [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/34501]Blades[/url]/[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/93808]Crucible[/url] project as a way to mess around more with what I learned from the [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/31336]Cryolance[/url]. As far as inspiration for the raw content goes, it's tough to say. Fallout's weird post-apoc brutal-deco-scifi aesthetic is easy to expand on so there's tons of ideas that can work. Sometimes I like to do stuff just for the challenge, and then make it fit in with lore-gymnastics (like the [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/23308]Recall Collar[/url]).
[b]All your mods have "CROSS" in the title, what does that mean?[/b]
This goes back to Skyrim. When I play Skyrim I play exclusively with Requiem, and anyone that knows Requiem knows it can be pretty polarizing for a balance overhaul. I would make tons of small tweaks to Requiem with TES5edit/xEdit, and each tweak would get its own ESP; that way I could easily toggle them off and on when new versions of [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/19281]Requiem[/url] released. And of course, every mini-mod would have the CROSS tag to keep things clean in my load order. Fast forward to Fallout 4 and I still used the tag for my own mods, which I eventually started releasing, and now here we are. The word 'CROSS' itself is just my real name, in all caps for visibility, it's not some absurd acronym.
[b]You’ve been making mods for Fallout 4 since 2015, are there any mods in your collection that you’re particularly proud of?
[/b]
[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/23780/]CROSS_Crits[/url]. I still do a double take sometimes when testing newer stuff in-game and seeing the aftermath from the new critFX. Its scary in an unintended way.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1541678785-1731409184.jpeg[/img] [img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1541678781-910457413.jpeg[/img][/center]
[b]CROSS_Crucible, one of your newest releases, is your first mod for Skyrim. Will you be working more with Skyrim or was this a one-off?[/b]
It depends on if I start up another Skyrim playthrough (before ES6 at least). I'm sure once I get back into it I'll get a shot of inspiration, and then we'll have another 'CROSS_' Skyrim mod. I do enjoy The Elder Scrolls more than I do Fallout, so it will probably happen eventually. My biggest deterrent to messing with Skyrim is the lack of customization Skyrim offers, I'm totally spoiled by the Fallout 4 crafting system and all the possibilities it provides.
[b]What tools do you use when crafting your mods and why?[/b]
Photoshop for general concepts, Zbrush for the high poly, Substance Painter for textures, Nifskope for special FX, and then xEdit/CreationKit for the ESP. Photoshop/Zbrush/Substance are basically standards of video games art production, and they're all really good, well documented, programs.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1541678776-1529038811.jpeg[/img] [img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1541678771-1492808712.jpeg[/img][/center]
[b]What are your thoughts on Fallout 76 and are you interested in modding it?[/b]
The game itself looks neat, folks have been dreaming of a co-op Fallout/Elderscrolls experience since Morrowind, so its great that they're finally doing it. I didn't get much time with the BETA, but the core gameplay loop seems like it will hold people's attention for a very long time. I need a ladder/rating system to stay interested in PvP, so I don't know how much time I'll spend with that aspect of the game. Internally the game seems very similar to Fo4, so any content I make going forward will probably work on both platforms, which is pretty cool.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/1151/images/35598/35598-1540757824-1717146778.gif[/img][/center]
[b]Do you have an upcoming content you’d like to tell us about?[/b]
We don't have an official name yet, but I'm working with TheKite on a weapon inspired by the New Vegas Helios One quest. The plan is to give it two modes: A more traditional point and shoot laser mode, and a target designation mode that lets you mark an area and call down some orbital firepower. I posted a preview of the orbital strike FX recently.
[b]If you could give one piece of advice to a new modder who wants to make content like yours, what would it be?
[/b]
You have to want to learn, more so than you want the end result. It's the journey, not the destination, that sort of thing. And if you really do enjoy this kind of thing don't hesitate to spend money on education/tutorials. It's a hobby after all, any hobby worth doing is worth over-doing.
[b]Is there anything else you’d like to say to the Nexus Mods community?[/b]
Please forgive me, Todd.
[line]
A big thank you to FrankFamily for answering our questions. If there's an author or mod project you'd like to know more about, send your suggestions to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/64597][b]BigBizkit[/b][/url] or [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/31179975][b]Pickysaurus[/b][/url].
Enderal: Two years later, new DLC, and more
Roughly two years ago [url=https://sureai.net/]SureAI[/url] - an indie studio from Munich, Germany - released their massive project called [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/77868/]Enderal - The Shards of Order[/url] - a total conversion mod for Skyrim. Since then, hundreds of thousands of players have been able to explore the completely new story and world of Enderal, embarking on entirely new adventures, separate and distinct from the lore of the Elder Scrolls series. Today we are talking to Nicolas, project lead on Enderal, about re-releasing on Steam, the new [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ocpwvp35Rs]Forgotten Stories DLC[/url], and more.
[center][youtube]VnracFjiC_k[/youtube][/center][b]
BigBizkit: It has been two years since the release of Enderal, and hundreds of thousands of users have been able to explore and enjoy its diverse world by now. However, to those who have not yet heard of it, how would you describe Enderal?[/b]
Nicolas: Enderal is a total conversion – that is, a stand-alone game based on Skyrim and the Creation Engine. It features a 60+ hours dark, mature story with psychological horror aspects, and an immense game world to explore, ranging from lush forests to snowy mountains to tropical beaches. We also revised or expanded most game mechanics and added new ones, such as small survival elements.
Regarding its overall feel, many people described Enderal as the middle ground between games like Dragon Age or Skyrim. I think the description fits.
[b]As you would expect from a total conversion, Enderal is very different from Skyrim. What would you say are the key differences when it comes to story and atmosphere?[/b]
As mentioned above, the story plays a far more important role in Enderal than it does in Skyrim. We value emotions, believable characters, and profound themes a lot and try to translate that into an open world RPG. The result is, we believe, a story that is less sprawling and more linear, but more emotional.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1541088035-852734336.jpeg[/img] [img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1541088029-109471385.jpeg[/img][/center]
[b]In Enderal, players gain experience points and have to invest them in their character as opposed to Skyrim’s “learning by doing” concept. What prompted this particular design decision and what would you say in general are the core differences between Skyrim and Enderal when it comes to gameplay?[/b]
One of the reasons we decided against Skyrim’s learning by doing system is that it takes away a lot of control we designers have over the player’s character progression. Experience points that can be earned through combat, questing and exploration are a lot easier to keep track of and control, which, in return allows us to balance encounters and challenges a lot better. This ability to track player progression is even more critical considering that, in Enderal, enemy power doesn’t scale with you. Another reason was that we’re a bit old school and simply prefer EP-systems over learning-by-doing systems.
Enderal also changed Skyrim’s skill-based perk system to a more old-fashioned class system, where there are nine classes that each contain perks for multiple skills as well as two to three unique “talents,” activated abilities that replace Skyrim’s shouts. For example, the Infiltrator combines the “Rhetoric” (Speechcraft) and Sneaking skills, and its two talents allow the player to silently teleport behind an enemy or throw a blinding powder that enables him to disappear. There are a lot more gameplay tweaks and changes, but they are too much to cover here – give it a try and see for yourself!
[b]The world of Enderal is a bit smaller than Skyrim, but a lot more diverse featuring everything from dense forests, jungles, and deserts, to huge cities and snow-covered mountains. What was your design philosophy behind the different regions and Enderal’s world in general? Do you have a favourite region?[/b]
Our primary goal was to create a world that feels handcrafted and entices to explore. We don’t believe in procedurally generating game worlds – they feel generic, and, more important than that, soulless. We play-tested a lot and tried to add as many vistas, encounters, and environmental stories as we could so that the game doesn’t only incentivize exploration but also rewards it.
I love all regions, but my personal favorite has always been the Heartland, a lush, mixed coniferous forest in the center of Enderal. It has an old-school wildness to it that makes me want to wander around there for hours.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1541088007-1125022496.jpeg[/img] [img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1541088013-190260323.jpeg[/img][/center]
[b]Development had started before Skyrim was even released meaning that you guys played Skyrim for the first time with your project already in mind. What were some aspects of Skyrim that stood out to you and that you thought you could expand on in Enderal?[/b]
Good question! We definitely saw lots of potential in the new, Nordic setting, even though we expanded on it. Back then, the vast, open tundras and massive mountains of Skyrim were something we hadn’t experienced before in a game, and we wanted to achieve a similar sense of awe in Enderal. We also liked the new perk system and the fast-paced and dynamic combat and magic system. Though fun, combat had always felt somewhat clunky in Oblivion and Morrowind.
[b]Before Enderal, you already had a substantial total conversion mod to your name - Nehrim: At Fate’s Edge. How would you compare the development process for both projects? What lessons that you had learned from your work on Nehrim were you able to apply?[/b]
To think big, but stay reasonable. It may not sound motivating, but since SureAI’s inception in 2003, we saw an endless number of exciting and ambitious total conversion projects crash and burn, and most of them due to overambition. Most people don’t know this, but even Nehrim was on the verge of failing for several times. Only through significant cuts, we managed to get it done.
Also, and I think every modder who has worked in a team can relate to this, you have to plan and think differently when coordinating a non-commercial project. We learned to never entrust new team members with important tasks right away, even if they are motivated and talented. For most people, modding is a pastime, and there are virtually no ramifications from abandoning a project halfway-in, so you’ll always find people bailing out unless you’re very lucky. Though most probably have good reasons to do so, there’s a good chance they won’t tell you and just disappear silently, leaving your project plan in shambles.
Finally, and this goes hand in hand with the previous point, always maintain an atmosphere of creativity and excitement. These are the fuel of any modding project, and as soon as a team member feels like they can’t “realize their dreams” in your project, the chances are that he or she will drop out soon.
[b]What is very striking about Enderal, is that the mood it sets is darker and at times more sombre than Skyrim’s, and that the storytelling touches on more mature themes. Can you tell us a bit about that in particular, and what your inspiration, in general, was when writing Enderal’s storyline and quests?[/b]
Nowadays people have very different definitions about what “mature” means – for me, it’s less about gore and sex rather than about dealing with certain topics and the way in which the game presents them. At its core, Enderal deals with the topics of inner demons and the “perpetual nature of human conflict,” with a twinge of psychological horror. We don’t shy away from touching upon risqué subjects and want our stories to get under peoples’ skins, make them feel something and maybe even think about some of the topics we address. At the same time, we put a lot of effort into shaping believable, three-dimensional personalities who are more than just quest-givers or plot devices and who the player will remember and grow to like, loathe, or even love.
As far as inspiration is concerned, the foundation of Enderal’s plot is heavily inspired by [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analytical_psychology]Jungian psychology[/url], as odd as it sounds. It’s hard to explain without spoiling too much of the story. Of course, we also got inspiration from a myriad of games, books, music, and even real-life events, but these are a lot harder to pinpoint.
[center][youtube]0yx86JRbTnQ[/youtube][/center]
[b]An essential part of creating an immersive experience is the sound and music design. Enderal comes with its own set of UI sounds (for e.g. level ups, or completed quests) and a unique soundtrack. Can you talk a bit about what went into composing the soundtrack and what the inspiration was? [/b]
(Answer by composer [url=https://soundcloud.com/marvinkp]Marvin Kopp[/url])
All in all, composing Enderal’s soundtrack took about four years. We started with two major, juxtaposing themes (“[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6QIAw0duF0]Black Light[/url]” and “[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCkAOn4l7-c]Towards the Horizon[/url]”) that represented the dark and the hopeful side of the narrative. From these two themes, the other pieces grew organically – first, the exploration pieces, then battle tracks, then character themes and music for specific events and story moments. Since we didn’t have a big budget at hand, we mainly used virtual instruments and a sprinkle of live recordings. An expensive garage band, so to speak.
I drew most inspiration from the story and the level design. Other composers who inspired me are Hans Zimmer, Jeremy Soule, and Tom Twyker.
[b]As most huge projects, I understand that you had to cut a lot of content from the release version of Enderal for various reasons. What were some of the things that did not make it into the final release due to, let’s say, engine limitations?[/b]
The real-time flight system!
We had developed a complex scripting system that would have allowed the player to travel through Enderal on the back of a [url=https://en.wiki.sureai.net/Enderal:Myrad]Myrad[/url], WoW-style. We had to cut it because the engine just couldn’t handle loading and unloading areas this fast. That didn’t come easy.
Also, we would have loved to have a proper, in-game menu for Enderal’s new class/perk system. We tried modifying Skyrim’s beautiful perk menu, but couldn’t find a way to remove the obsolete skill trees, and our attempts at coding our own menu failed due to time reasons. Finally, we meddled with creating cutscenes in the first months of development, but, though possible, the process just turned out to be too time-consuming without the right tools.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1541156407-358779656.jpeg[/img] [img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1541156412-223645095.jpeg[/img][/center]
[b]It has been around ten years since you started development, and two years since the release of Enderal. That is a lot of time to reflect on. How satisfied are you with how Enderal’s release went? How did the reality of the release and reception compare to your anticipation during the past years of development?[/b]
As a matter of fact, SureAI has been around even longer – the founding fathers, Johannes and Dennis, joined forces back in 2003.
All in all, we’re very happy with the release. Up to this day, around 2 million people downloaded Enderal (counting the most significant portion of downloads via our website), and if only half of them played it, we’re humbled. Also, it really struck a chord with some people who have remained loyal fans ever since – there’s plenty of fanart, fan-fiction and even some covers of our bard songs or original soundtrack. Furthermore, almost half of the Enderal team are now full-time game developers, some in leading positions.
Personally, what moved me as a writer the most were some of the mails we got from people who were deeply moved by the story and some of its characters. If you work on something for as long as five years, self-doubts always find their way into your thoughts, ranging from “this won’t be as good as we think it is” to “this project will be a complete disaster!” I know it sounds cliché, but the reactions of some fans made it all worth it for me.
[b]Let’s move onto what the future holds for both fans of Enderal as well as SureAI as a studio: In early September you launched your very own [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/933480/Enderal/]Steam Store Page for Enderal[/url]. Could you tell us a bit about what that means for players? [/b]
Mostly, that installing Enderal will now be easier than ever before – one click and that’s it. We also have our own directory now, so that your (modded) Skyrim and Enderal won’t become entangled. We also added achievements for those who like them.
[b]You have also announced a brand new DLC for Enderal called “Forgotten Stories” which, as I understand it, will feature loads of content that was initially cut from Enderal’s release - among other stuff. Can you tell us a bit about “Forgotten Stories”, how it will fit into Enderal, and what working on it was like?[/b]
As you said, Forgotten Stories aims to add all the content we had to cut due to time reasons. Among it are two sprawling, non-linear guild questlines that allow the player to join the Golden Sickle, a merchant’s guild in Ark, and the Rhâlata - the enigmatic cult ruling the Undercity. There are also around twelve side-quests that take place in previously quest-free regions or deal with neglected story strands of the main game (hint to Enderal players: The Veiled Woman).
[center][youtube]7Ocpwvp35Rs[/youtube][/center]
There is also a plethora of gameplay improvements and additions, such as new classes, revised and improved crafting mechanics (every non-combat skill now has an actual impact on the game-play), new spells, new talents, et cetera. We fixed hundreds of bugs and drastically improved performance and crashes.
Working on it was both exciting and a challenge. As I mentioned before, many of us are now professional game-devs, so it wasn’t always easy to allocate time. On the other hand, it was inspiring and motivating to experience the anticipation some Enderal fans felt for the add-on. A lot of Forgotten Stories also felt like polish, which is my personal favorite in any work – the chores are done, now all that remains is to make it better.
[b]Enderal is currently available for Skyrim Classic and Legendary Edition. Are there any plans to eventually port it to Skyrim Special Edition? Do you think Enderal could benefit from the engine improvements in Skyrim SE?[/b]
We’ve toyed with the idea, but we won’t start before releasing the last patch for Forgotten Stories – we just can’t afford the time to patch Vanilla Enderal and SE Enderal at the same time. The benefits, however, would be substantial, not only concerning graphics but also performance. We’re definitely considering this.
[b]You guys might be most famous for the total conversion mods Nehrim and Enderal, but you also released a standalone game in early September called [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/871920/Mad_Restaurant_People/]Mad Restaurant People[/url]. How would you describe the game for those interested in trying it out?[/b]
“Mad Restaurant People” is a game developed by one of our members, Dennis Weich, an external coder, and Marvin Kopp, who did the soundtrack. It’s basically a little experiment they created to familiarize themselves with Unreal Engine 4. In “Mad Restaurant People,” the player takes on the role of a waiter who has to serve an evergrowing number of customers in time before they get angry. The further he progresses, the more obstacles he faces, such as rats, drunk people, and fires.
[b]Last but not least: is there anything else you would like to share with our community about Enderal, SureAI, or future plans?[/b]
If you haven’t tried out Enderal yet, we’d be honored if you did when Forgotten Stories comes out! Also, I (Nicolas) am currently working on an episodic, spin-off novel that explores the mercenary past of one of Enderal’s main characters, Jespar. It’s set in Kilè, a tropical island archipelago inspired by ancient Mesopotamia, where Jespar is hired to uncover the cause of a strange, preternatural coma the country’s richest man has fallen into.
The first chapter will become available on my Patreon page when Forgotten Stories comes out. Patronage isn’t required to read it.
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[line]
A big thank you to Nicolas from the SureAI team for taking the time to talk to us. As always, if there's an author or mod project you'd like to know more about, send your suggestions to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/64597]BigBizkit[/url] or [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/31179975]Pickysaurus[/url].
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BigBizkit: It has been two years since the release of Enderal, and hundreds of thousands of users have been able to explore and enjoy its diverse world by now. However, to those who have not yet heard of it, how would you describe Enderal?[/b]
Nicolas: Enderal is a total conversion – that is, a stand-alone game based on Skyrim and the Creation Engine. It features a 60+ hours dark, mature story with psychological horror aspects, and an immense game world to explore, ranging from lush forests to snowy mountains to tropical beaches. We also revised or expanded most game mechanics and added new ones, such as small survival elements.
Regarding its overall feel, many people described Enderal as the middle ground between games like Dragon Age or Skyrim. I think the description fits.
[b]As you would expect from a total conversion, Enderal is very different from Skyrim. What would you say are the key differences when it comes to story and atmosphere?[/b]
As mentioned above, the story plays a far more important role in Enderal than it does in Skyrim. We value emotions, believable characters, and profound themes a lot and try to translate that into an open world RPG. The result is, we believe, a story that is less sprawling and more linear, but more emotional.
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[b]In Enderal, players gain experience points and have to invest them in their character as opposed to Skyrim’s “learning by doing” concept. What prompted this particular design decision and what would you say in general are the core differences between Skyrim and Enderal when it comes to gameplay?[/b]
One of the reasons we decided against Skyrim’s learning by doing system is that it takes away a lot of control we designers have over the player’s character progression. Experience points that can be earned through combat, questing and exploration are a lot easier to keep track of and control, which, in return allows us to balance encounters and challenges a lot better. This ability to track player progression is even more critical considering that, in Enderal, enemy power doesn’t scale with you. Another reason was that we’re a bit old school and simply prefer EP-systems over learning-by-doing systems.
Enderal also changed Skyrim’s skill-based perk system to a more old-fashioned class system, where there are nine classes that each contain perks for multiple skills as well as two to three unique “talents,” activated abilities that replace Skyrim’s shouts. For example, the Infiltrator combines the “Rhetoric” (Speechcraft) and Sneaking skills, and its two talents allow the player to silently teleport behind an enemy or throw a blinding powder that enables him to disappear. There are a lot more gameplay tweaks and changes, but they are too much to cover here – give it a try and see for yourself!
[b]The world of Enderal is a bit smaller than Skyrim, but a lot more diverse featuring everything from dense forests, jungles, and deserts, to huge cities and snow-covered mountains. What was your design philosophy behind the different regions and Enderal’s world in general? Do you have a favourite region?[/b]
Our primary goal was to create a world that feels handcrafted and entices to explore. We don’t believe in procedurally generating game worlds – they feel generic, and, more important than that, soulless. We play-tested a lot and tried to add as many vistas, encounters, and environmental stories as we could so that the game doesn’t only incentivize exploration but also rewards it.
I love all regions, but my personal favorite has always been the Heartland, a lush, mixed coniferous forest in the center of Enderal. It has an old-school wildness to it that makes me want to wander around there for hours.
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[b]Development had started before Skyrim was even released meaning that you guys played Skyrim for the first time with your project already in mind. What were some aspects of Skyrim that stood out to you and that you thought you could expand on in Enderal?[/b]
Good question! We definitely saw lots of potential in the new, Nordic setting, even though we expanded on it. Back then, the vast, open tundras and massive mountains of Skyrim were something we hadn’t experienced before in a game, and we wanted to achieve a similar sense of awe in Enderal. We also liked the new perk system and the fast-paced and dynamic combat and magic system. Though fun, combat had always felt somewhat clunky in Oblivion and Morrowind.
[b]Before Enderal, you already had a substantial total conversion mod to your name - Nehrim: At Fate’s Edge. How would you compare the development process for both projects? What lessons that you had learned from your work on Nehrim were you able to apply?[/b]
To think big, but stay reasonable. It may not sound motivating, but since SureAI’s inception in 2003, we saw an endless number of exciting and ambitious total conversion projects crash and burn, and most of them due to overambition. Most people don’t know this, but even Nehrim was on the verge of failing for several times. Only through significant cuts, we managed to get it done.
Also, and I think every modder who has worked in a team can relate to this, you have to plan and think differently when coordinating a non-commercial project. We learned to never entrust new team members with important tasks right away, even if they are motivated and talented. For most people, modding is a pastime, and there are virtually no ramifications from abandoning a project halfway-in, so you’ll always find people bailing out unless you’re very lucky. Though most probably have good reasons to do so, there’s a good chance they won’t tell you and just disappear silently, leaving your project plan in shambles.
Finally, and this goes hand in hand with the previous point, always maintain an atmosphere of creativity and excitement. These are the fuel of any modding project, and as soon as a team member feels like they can’t “realize their dreams” in your project, the chances are that he or she will drop out soon.
[b]What is very striking about Enderal, is that the mood it sets is darker and at times more sombre than Skyrim’s, and that the storytelling touches on more mature themes. Can you tell us a bit about that in particular, and what your inspiration, in general, was when writing Enderal’s storyline and quests?[/b]
Nowadays people have very different definitions about what “mature” means – for me, it’s less about gore and sex rather than about dealing with certain topics and the way in which the game presents them. At its core, Enderal deals with the topics of inner demons and the “perpetual nature of human conflict,” with a twinge of psychological horror. We don’t shy away from touching upon risqué subjects and want our stories to get under peoples’ skins, make them feel something and maybe even think about some of the topics we address. At the same time, we put a lot of effort into shaping believable, three-dimensional personalities who are more than just quest-givers or plot devices and who the player will remember and grow to like, loathe, or even love.
As far as inspiration is concerned, the foundation of Enderal’s plot is heavily inspired by [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analytical_psychology]Jungian psychology[/url], as odd as it sounds. It’s hard to explain without spoiling too much of the story. Of course, we also got inspiration from a myriad of games, books, music, and even real-life events, but these are a lot harder to pinpoint.
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[b]An essential part of creating an immersive experience is the sound and music design. Enderal comes with its own set of UI sounds (for e.g. level ups, or completed quests) and a unique soundtrack. Can you talk a bit about what went into composing the soundtrack and what the inspiration was? [/b]
(Answer by composer [url=https://soundcloud.com/marvinkp]Marvin Kopp[/url])
All in all, composing Enderal’s soundtrack took about four years. We started with two major, juxtaposing themes (“[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6QIAw0duF0]Black Light[/url]” and “[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCkAOn4l7-c]Towards the Horizon[/url]”) that represented the dark and the hopeful side of the narrative. From these two themes, the other pieces grew organically – first, the exploration pieces, then battle tracks, then character themes and music for specific events and story moments. Since we didn’t have a big budget at hand, we mainly used virtual instruments and a sprinkle of live recordings. An expensive garage band, so to speak.
I drew most inspiration from the story and the level design. Other composers who inspired me are Hans Zimmer, Jeremy Soule, and Tom Twyker.
[b]As most huge projects, I understand that you had to cut a lot of content from the release version of Enderal for various reasons. What were some of the things that did not make it into the final release due to, let’s say, engine limitations?[/b]
The real-time flight system!
We had developed a complex scripting system that would have allowed the player to travel through Enderal on the back of a [url=https://en.wiki.sureai.net/Enderal:Myrad]Myrad[/url], WoW-style. We had to cut it because the engine just couldn’t handle loading and unloading areas this fast. That didn’t come easy.
Also, we would have loved to have a proper, in-game menu for Enderal’s new class/perk system. We tried modifying Skyrim’s beautiful perk menu, but couldn’t find a way to remove the obsolete skill trees, and our attempts at coding our own menu failed due to time reasons. Finally, we meddled with creating cutscenes in the first months of development, but, though possible, the process just turned out to be too time-consuming without the right tools.
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[b]It has been around ten years since you started development, and two years since the release of Enderal. That is a lot of time to reflect on. How satisfied are you with how Enderal’s release went? How did the reality of the release and reception compare to your anticipation during the past years of development?[/b]
As a matter of fact, SureAI has been around even longer – the founding fathers, Johannes and Dennis, joined forces back in 2003.
All in all, we’re very happy with the release. Up to this day, around 2 million people downloaded Enderal (counting the most significant portion of downloads via our website), and if only half of them played it, we’re humbled. Also, it really struck a chord with some people who have remained loyal fans ever since – there’s plenty of fanart, fan-fiction and even some covers of our bard songs or original soundtrack. Furthermore, almost half of the Enderal team are now full-time game developers, some in leading positions.
Personally, what moved me as a writer the most were some of the mails we got from people who were deeply moved by the story and some of its characters. If you work on something for as long as five years, self-doubts always find their way into your thoughts, ranging from “this won’t be as good as we think it is” to “this project will be a complete disaster!” I know it sounds cliché, but the reactions of some fans made it all worth it for me.
[b]Let’s move onto what the future holds for both fans of Enderal as well as SureAI as a studio: In early September you launched your very own [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/933480/Enderal/]Steam Store Page for Enderal[/url]. Could you tell us a bit about what that means for players? [/b]
Mostly, that installing Enderal will now be easier than ever before – one click and that’s it. We also have our own directory now, so that your (modded) Skyrim and Enderal won’t become entangled. We also added achievements for those who like them.
[b]You have also announced a brand new DLC for Enderal called “Forgotten Stories” which, as I understand it, will feature loads of content that was initially cut from Enderal’s release - among other stuff. Can you tell us a bit about “Forgotten Stories”, how it will fit into Enderal, and what working on it was like?[/b]
As you said, Forgotten Stories aims to add all the content we had to cut due to time reasons. Among it are two sprawling, non-linear guild questlines that allow the player to join the Golden Sickle, a merchant’s guild in Ark, and the Rhâlata - the enigmatic cult ruling the Undercity. There are also around twelve side-quests that take place in previously quest-free regions or deal with neglected story strands of the main game (hint to Enderal players: The Veiled Woman).
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There is also a plethora of gameplay improvements and additions, such as new classes, revised and improved crafting mechanics (every non-combat skill now has an actual impact on the game-play), new spells, new talents, et cetera. We fixed hundreds of bugs and drastically improved performance and crashes.
Working on it was both exciting and a challenge. As I mentioned before, many of us are now professional game-devs, so it wasn’t always easy to allocate time. On the other hand, it was inspiring and motivating to experience the anticipation some Enderal fans felt for the add-on. A lot of Forgotten Stories also felt like polish, which is my personal favorite in any work – the chores are done, now all that remains is to make it better.
[b]Enderal is currently available for Skyrim Classic and Legendary Edition. Are there any plans to eventually port it to Skyrim Special Edition? Do you think Enderal could benefit from the engine improvements in Skyrim SE?[/b]
We’ve toyed with the idea, but we won’t start before releasing the last patch for Forgotten Stories – we just can’t afford the time to patch Vanilla Enderal and SE Enderal at the same time. The benefits, however, would be substantial, not only concerning graphics but also performance. We’re definitely considering this.
[b]You guys might be most famous for the total conversion mods Nehrim and Enderal, but you also released a standalone game in early September called [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/871920/Mad_Restaurant_People/]Mad Restaurant People[/url]. How would you describe the game for those interested in trying it out?[/b]
“Mad Restaurant People” is a game developed by one of our members, Dennis Weich, an external coder, and Marvin Kopp, who did the soundtrack. It’s basically a little experiment they created to familiarize themselves with Unreal Engine 4. In “Mad Restaurant People,” the player takes on the role of a waiter who has to serve an evergrowing number of customers in time before they get angry. The further he progresses, the more obstacles he faces, such as rats, drunk people, and fires.
[b]Last but not least: is there anything else you would like to share with our community about Enderal, SureAI, or future plans?[/b]
If you haven’t tried out Enderal yet, we’d be honored if you did when Forgotten Stories comes out! Also, I (Nicolas) am currently working on an episodic, spin-off novel that explores the mercenary past of one of Enderal’s main characters, Jespar. It’s set in Kilè, a tropical island archipelago inspired by ancient Mesopotamia, where Jespar is hired to uncover the cause of a strange, preternatural coma the country’s richest man has fallen into.
The first chapter will become available on my Patreon page when Forgotten Stories comes out. Patronage isn’t required to read it.
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[line]
A big thank you to Nicolas from the SureAI team for taking the time to talk to us. As always, if there's an author or mod project you'd like to know more about, send your suggestions to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/64597]BigBizkit[/url] or [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/31179975]Pickysaurus[/url].
Creature Feature - MihailMods
This week we’re chatting with Mihail ([url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/37834630]MihailMods[/url]). Best known for his massive collection of creature mods for Skyrim and Skyrim Special Edition. Mihail is preparing to release a mega pack, containing over 100 of his creations in a single pack.
[b]Thank you for taking the time to speak with us Mihail. Before we get into your mods could you tell us a little about yourself?[/b]
Hello, my friends from Nexus staff, and hello to all my friends from the Nexus community. I'm very happy to be here talking with you, it’s a big pleasure to give this interview, and has been a pleasure to be on this site for the last 2 years.
Well, I'm the guy from my profile photo! My name is Mihail, I’m 40 years old and I'm Romanian (but I was born in Mexico, the son of immigrants). I have lived almost all my life in Europe and now since 2008, I have been living in South American countries, currently Brazil, enjoying some sun and beach.
I'm a former athlete and martial arts teacher, unfortunately, retired since 2008 due to 2 severe neck and back injuries contracted in 2001 and 2003 that shortened my professional life. Thanks to Akatosh, I can have a normal life with very little limitations, but if I return to the sport, I could end up in a wheelchair, so I need to stay retired.
Video games were also a big passion. I started to modify games in 1998, and TES was a passion since the first title in 1994. Since I have lots of free time nowadays, modding is not only a fun hobby but also a form of therapy for me, since I had felt kind of useless and unproductive in this 10 last years in Latin America. If you think I’m giving a lot to the community, be sure you are giving me a lot too, most importantly meaning to my free time. I do my modding activity daily, almost as a regular job, at least 8 hours per day.
[b]You have created an army of weird and wonderful creatures for Skyrim, where do you get your inspiration when choosing which beasts to bring to life?
[/b]
Thanks for the compliment, and well, my plan since the beginning has been to make all TES’ bestiary available, so many of my creatures are from TES official lore. Sometimes they can't immersively fit in Skyrim’s wilderness, so I make them as exotic pets, sometimes summons, but there is always a way. I also try to introduce more “realistic” animals, such as megafauna and farm creatures. And, as a big fan of Dark Sous, Bloodborne, and other RPGs, sometimes I also introduce to this series some creatures inspired by beasts from those games, always with immersive lore added to them. Since TES canon is very subjective and open, I used this to expand the TES universe, without breaking the logic or immersion for the players.
Also, I'm a big fan of The Witcher’s world and creatures, and since CD PROJEKT RED is kind enough to allow the usage of their stuff, sometimes I bring to Skyrim some creatures directly from The Witcher's world too.
I also do mythological creatures and accept suggestions too. For example, my recently released Gorons from the Legend of Zelda was a suggestion from a member of my Discord server.
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[b]Do you have a favourite theme of creature to create (demons, monsters, (prehistoric) animals, etc.)? Or one particular mod that you are most fond of?
[/b]
I particularly don't like to do undead. I like the final result, but because of the necessity of transparencies, ghostly FXs, scary HD hounds, putrid parts, etc., I find this kind of tiring. I like to work on animals, humanoids, but especially Daedra. And if I need to choose amongst Daedra, Atronachs and Golems are by far my favourites to work on. Amongst my mods, my favourites are almost always precisely them, but I have a special love from my recently released Goblins, and my Centaurs.
[b]Are these creatures all your own creations or do you work with others? (If there is a team, please tell us about them.)
[/b]
I'm not the kind of guy that works well in groups because I always want to work quickly. I worked alone for more than a year on creature production alone. I started to take part in some collaboration in the beginning of 2018 on animals, specifically with Berkian from Dark Creations/ Beyond Skyrim, and other great authors, but it's still work to do since I commonly need to re-model them and animate the models. In creatures (undead, monsters, Daedra) unfortunately, I received no collaboration until 2 months ago. Recently I have started a partnership with my good friend SoN6of6TrediS, and you can already see some of our colabs in the mods where you find his name alongside mine on the author tab. Despite this, I have always had some great team members supporting me in other matters regarding MihailMods production. Since almost the beginning I have at my side my good friend Joseph Russell, now also releasing his own mods on the Nexus, who worked with me on some of my quest mods. Also since the beginning, I have had at my side my great buddy RustyShackleford69 too, helping me with the lore, my other good friend Lonenorseman, who worked with me founding my discord server, and my dear moderators from my Discord Server, Mara, Eboni, Zio and Spasticon1, who do an amazing job taking care of the MihailMods server and are also amazing friends to me, and great modders. Also, I think that a new partnership will start with my good buddy UrzumoghDrunkface.
[b]Your creatures are not only great standalone mods, but you also keep them fully open source - allowing others to include your animals in their own creations. What made you decide to release them this way?
[/b]
I worked in some mod projects for Skyrim with other authors until the release of Dragonborn DLC, and then I left and returned in September 2016. The plan was to make just quest mods this time, but I found that in all these years, less than 30 % of the TES bestiary has been done for Skyrim, nor mythological creatures, or even common animals. I tried to do my quests Sulfur and Fire, Corprusarium and Hall of Memories using the resources I had and those that were kindly offered to me by other creatures’ authors, andIi thank them a lot for that, but they didn't have everything I needed. So I stopped the quests’ production and decided to make a big immersive creature pack, with really unique creatures, not only as a standalone creature mod for players but also as a big resource for all modders. You will find there all you need, and you can indeed use them in your mods, and focus yourself on making the quest, and not in digging for creatures, and claim permissions from, in many times, rude mode authors. That's the main goal, no one more will be unable to make the mods they want just because they can’t get the creatures they need.
[b]Are there any mods made by the community, using your creatures, that you particularly like?
[/b]
I, unfortunately, see that only a few mods really use my creatures, and this makes me kind of sad. I know that are lots of mods being done using my creatures, but just a few already released.
When I returned in 2016, I had forgotten about lots of things about modding, and there was a lot I had never known, especially to do with making unique creatures. Let's be fair - until them what was done in creature mods was to just re-texture a creature, or make a simple mashup, or just animated a creature exactly with the same body proportions of the vanilla creature that the animation is based on. I have a lot of respect for the authors who have done this, but I wanted something new and unique. So I started to explore the possibilities, making new body shapes to work properly, animate creatures with 4 legs and 2 arms, humanoid creatures with flapping wings, creatures with 4 arms, with many heads, etc., and I have succeeded on this, as you can see in my mermaids, centaurs, harvesters, hydras, land and sea dreughs, imps, etc. Also, I wanted them to have custom sounds, custom behaviour, loot, effects, spells, etc., and this all was very experimental, so, in the beginning, some of my first mods had many glitches, bugs, sounds too loud, sometimes creatures were not balanced properly, commonly too strong, etc., but I learned with the passage of time, and always corrected all my old mods, also releasing new models to the creatures.
So I saw that sadly some people that experienced this issues in the beginning, never tried the updates or the works that came after, and just spread until now the same myths. This is sad, because I improved myself a lot in this last 2 years, and I've done a crazy effort to produce more and better each day for the community, for free.
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[b]When making mods, tell us about the tools you use? (Which ones and why?)
[/b]
I use ZBrush for modelling and retopology, I use 3dmax for rigging and light modelling, Photoshop for texturing and the basics Nifskope and the creation kit. I think ZBrush is the best, not much to say, I think almost all modders agree, but on the rigging part, I think 3dmax is much more friendly. Not a big fan of Blender, I have used it for many years, but still, think it’s very alien. I know that there are very little tutorials about creating unique creatures for Skyrim, step by step, just a few on Blender and not complete, so I promise some complete tutorials for soon, from initial sculpt into the final settings on creation kit.
[b]To create a balanced game, what do you consider when setting up stats and abilities of new creatures?
[/b]
I think that things need to be immersive and logical. As I’ve said before, I made some initial errors on the stats and balance of my first creatures, and they are now fully corrected, but some of my creatures being especially powerful is not a mistake, it's fully intentional.
I'm an old school gamer, and I don't like the idea of all being levelled. Sometimes you need to run from a creature until you reach a higher level. A game that gives you the chance to slaughter everything at any level does not make sense to me. So the stats, abilities and balance of my stuff is a mix between Morrowind/Oblivion, Skyrim and Souls series types of gameplay.
I also believe that strategy is very important to the fun of playing a game, so my mini-boss and boss type creatures always have strategies that can be used against them, sometimes in the architecture of the place, or observing the types of movements they do, or some weakness they have, etc. Since all my creatures have special abilities, weaknesses, resistances, type of behaviour, etc., you must observe them before you engage in combat, and following this logic, you will usually deduce what strategy you may use against each specific foe.
I also make a big effort to make the world alive, so you will see, for example, Goblins trying to take back their caves from bandit invaders, giant Terror Birds hunting deer on the tundra, angered Gorons attacking miners that disturbed their rest, Ghosts haunting crypts, Ogres assaulting travellers on the roads, and many more things that happen independently of you, and that makes the world looks much more alive.
Also, I’m against touching levelled lists and I hand-place everything, also when they are more than 100 individuals of a species, for example, a duck. I don’t think I need to overpopulate your game with my creatures, and also doing this hand-placing and selective spawn of creatures, I’m already running out of space.
[b]You also have a quest series “Shadows of Dagoth Ur” saga in the works. What can you tell us about that?
[/b]
As I have said before, I hid The Corprusarium of Solstheim- Shadows of Dagoth Ur pt.1, Sulfur and Fire- Trial of Mehrunes Dagon and The Hall of Memories - Reencounters in Moonshadow precisely because I was not happy using creatures from other authors because they are not what I want them to be, so I hid them to make my own creatures for them. Now the 3 mods are released again to the public (or close to the release) by the time this interview is released, and you can see the big improvements that all the mods received, not only on creatures but on landscapes and on the quests themselves.
Shadows of Dagoth Ur pt.2 does not have a title yet but will take place on an island off the province of Morrowind, on the sea between Mournhold and Necrom, approximately the size of Solstheim. An island of fishermen, with a volcano when the soul of Dagoth Ur managed to return and are again trying to conquer the world and spread Corprus. It's the continuation of the Corprusarium mod, and I’m sure you will like it a lot.
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[b]Do you have any advice to people wanting to get into creating mods like yours?
[/b]
Trust yourself, believe that you can, and you will do. Don't do what the others are already doing, do unique things, go far, and think out of the box. Thinking straight on this modding thing only will make you do things that resemble the vanilla game. You need to find other ways, have no fear of errors, you learn by making mistakes, and improving them after. Be very demanding with yourself, always being the biggest critic of your work, but also your biggest fan. Oh, one other thing: you will not please all the community, and you even if you make the best possible mod, you will also have people on your mods complaining about things that are not your fault. Let’s say that 50% of the community doesn’t know how hard is to make a mod, especially creatures, so they don’t understand the obstacles you find and the limitations you have in Skyrim’s engine, for example with new animations. So, don't let that get to you, because if you work with heart, you will receive the recognition, but remember, you will still need to prove yourself worthy in each new work.
In the beginning, I heard many times that my work was garbage, bad, terrible, an offence to modding, including from other modders. I received many "NO"s when I asked for permission to use some of their assets. I was ignored many times when I asked other modders for help in some modding matter, I was told many times that I had no future in the modding scene. And now I'm here giving this interview as a form of recognition from the Nexus staff and the community, so, my good friend, you can do it, just understand that you must have the biggest respect for the community, never act in a selfish way, and always do your best.
And that’s it. Huge thanks to all of you, and let’s keep modding like crazy.
[line]
A big thank you to Mihail for taking the time to speak to us! If there's an author or mod project you'd like to know more about, send your suggestions to [b][url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/64597]BigBizkit[/url][/b] or [b][url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/31179975]Pickysaurus[/url][/b].
[b]Thank you for taking the time to speak with us Mihail. Before we get into your mods could you tell us a little about yourself?[/b]
Hello, my friends from Nexus staff, and hello to all my friends from the Nexus community. I'm very happy to be here talking with you, it’s a big pleasure to give this interview, and has been a pleasure to be on this site for the last 2 years.
Well, I'm the guy from my profile photo! My name is Mihail, I’m 40 years old and I'm Romanian (but I was born in Mexico, the son of immigrants). I have lived almost all my life in Europe and now since 2008, I have been living in South American countries, currently Brazil, enjoying some sun and beach.
I'm a former athlete and martial arts teacher, unfortunately, retired since 2008 due to 2 severe neck and back injuries contracted in 2001 and 2003 that shortened my professional life. Thanks to Akatosh, I can have a normal life with very little limitations, but if I return to the sport, I could end up in a wheelchair, so I need to stay retired.
Video games were also a big passion. I started to modify games in 1998, and TES was a passion since the first title in 1994. Since I have lots of free time nowadays, modding is not only a fun hobby but also a form of therapy for me, since I had felt kind of useless and unproductive in this 10 last years in Latin America. If you think I’m giving a lot to the community, be sure you are giving me a lot too, most importantly meaning to my free time. I do my modding activity daily, almost as a regular job, at least 8 hours per day.
[b]You have created an army of weird and wonderful creatures for Skyrim, where do you get your inspiration when choosing which beasts to bring to life?
[/b]
Thanks for the compliment, and well, my plan since the beginning has been to make all TES’ bestiary available, so many of my creatures are from TES official lore. Sometimes they can't immersively fit in Skyrim’s wilderness, so I make them as exotic pets, sometimes summons, but there is always a way. I also try to introduce more “realistic” animals, such as megafauna and farm creatures. And, as a big fan of Dark Sous, Bloodborne, and other RPGs, sometimes I also introduce to this series some creatures inspired by beasts from those games, always with immersive lore added to them. Since TES canon is very subjective and open, I used this to expand the TES universe, without breaking the logic or immersion for the players.
Also, I'm a big fan of The Witcher’s world and creatures, and since CD PROJEKT RED is kind enough to allow the usage of their stuff, sometimes I bring to Skyrim some creatures directly from The Witcher's world too.
I also do mythological creatures and accept suggestions too. For example, my recently released Gorons from the Legend of Zelda was a suggestion from a member of my Discord server.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1539684241-669631333.jpeg[/img] [img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1539684245-1263347529.jpeg[/img][/center]
[b]Do you have a favourite theme of creature to create (demons, monsters, (prehistoric) animals, etc.)? Or one particular mod that you are most fond of?
[/b]
I particularly don't like to do undead. I like the final result, but because of the necessity of transparencies, ghostly FXs, scary HD hounds, putrid parts, etc., I find this kind of tiring. I like to work on animals, humanoids, but especially Daedra. And if I need to choose amongst Daedra, Atronachs and Golems are by far my favourites to work on. Amongst my mods, my favourites are almost always precisely them, but I have a special love from my recently released Goblins, and my Centaurs.
[b]Are these creatures all your own creations or do you work with others? (If there is a team, please tell us about them.)
[/b]
I'm not the kind of guy that works well in groups because I always want to work quickly. I worked alone for more than a year on creature production alone. I started to take part in some collaboration in the beginning of 2018 on animals, specifically with Berkian from Dark Creations/ Beyond Skyrim, and other great authors, but it's still work to do since I commonly need to re-model them and animate the models. In creatures (undead, monsters, Daedra) unfortunately, I received no collaboration until 2 months ago. Recently I have started a partnership with my good friend SoN6of6TrediS, and you can already see some of our colabs in the mods where you find his name alongside mine on the author tab. Despite this, I have always had some great team members supporting me in other matters regarding MihailMods production. Since almost the beginning I have at my side my good friend Joseph Russell, now also releasing his own mods on the Nexus, who worked with me on some of my quest mods. Also since the beginning, I have had at my side my great buddy RustyShackleford69 too, helping me with the lore, my other good friend Lonenorseman, who worked with me founding my discord server, and my dear moderators from my Discord Server, Mara, Eboni, Zio and Spasticon1, who do an amazing job taking care of the MihailMods server and are also amazing friends to me, and great modders. Also, I think that a new partnership will start with my good buddy UrzumoghDrunkface.
[b]Your creatures are not only great standalone mods, but you also keep them fully open source - allowing others to include your animals in their own creations. What made you decide to release them this way?
[/b]
I worked in some mod projects for Skyrim with other authors until the release of Dragonborn DLC, and then I left and returned in September 2016. The plan was to make just quest mods this time, but I found that in all these years, less than 30 % of the TES bestiary has been done for Skyrim, nor mythological creatures, or even common animals. I tried to do my quests Sulfur and Fire, Corprusarium and Hall of Memories using the resources I had and those that were kindly offered to me by other creatures’ authors, andIi thank them a lot for that, but they didn't have everything I needed. So I stopped the quests’ production and decided to make a big immersive creature pack, with really unique creatures, not only as a standalone creature mod for players but also as a big resource for all modders. You will find there all you need, and you can indeed use them in your mods, and focus yourself on making the quest, and not in digging for creatures, and claim permissions from, in many times, rude mode authors. That's the main goal, no one more will be unable to make the mods they want just because they can’t get the creatures they need.
[b]Are there any mods made by the community, using your creatures, that you particularly like?
[/b]
I, unfortunately, see that only a few mods really use my creatures, and this makes me kind of sad. I know that are lots of mods being done using my creatures, but just a few already released.
When I returned in 2016, I had forgotten about lots of things about modding, and there was a lot I had never known, especially to do with making unique creatures. Let's be fair - until them what was done in creature mods was to just re-texture a creature, or make a simple mashup, or just animated a creature exactly with the same body proportions of the vanilla creature that the animation is based on. I have a lot of respect for the authors who have done this, but I wanted something new and unique. So I started to explore the possibilities, making new body shapes to work properly, animate creatures with 4 legs and 2 arms, humanoid creatures with flapping wings, creatures with 4 arms, with many heads, etc., and I have succeeded on this, as you can see in my mermaids, centaurs, harvesters, hydras, land and sea dreughs, imps, etc. Also, I wanted them to have custom sounds, custom behaviour, loot, effects, spells, etc., and this all was very experimental, so, in the beginning, some of my first mods had many glitches, bugs, sounds too loud, sometimes creatures were not balanced properly, commonly too strong, etc., but I learned with the passage of time, and always corrected all my old mods, also releasing new models to the creatures.
So I saw that sadly some people that experienced this issues in the beginning, never tried the updates or the works that came after, and just spread until now the same myths. This is sad, because I improved myself a lot in this last 2 years, and I've done a crazy effort to produce more and better each day for the community, for free.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1539687511-835699333.jpeg[/img] [img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1539684249-1650524829.jpeg[/img][/center]
[b]When making mods, tell us about the tools you use? (Which ones and why?)
[/b]
I use ZBrush for modelling and retopology, I use 3dmax for rigging and light modelling, Photoshop for texturing and the basics Nifskope and the creation kit. I think ZBrush is the best, not much to say, I think almost all modders agree, but on the rigging part, I think 3dmax is much more friendly. Not a big fan of Blender, I have used it for many years, but still, think it’s very alien. I know that there are very little tutorials about creating unique creatures for Skyrim, step by step, just a few on Blender and not complete, so I promise some complete tutorials for soon, from initial sculpt into the final settings on creation kit.
[b]To create a balanced game, what do you consider when setting up stats and abilities of new creatures?
[/b]
I think that things need to be immersive and logical. As I’ve said before, I made some initial errors on the stats and balance of my first creatures, and they are now fully corrected, but some of my creatures being especially powerful is not a mistake, it's fully intentional.
I'm an old school gamer, and I don't like the idea of all being levelled. Sometimes you need to run from a creature until you reach a higher level. A game that gives you the chance to slaughter everything at any level does not make sense to me. So the stats, abilities and balance of my stuff is a mix between Morrowind/Oblivion, Skyrim and Souls series types of gameplay.
I also believe that strategy is very important to the fun of playing a game, so my mini-boss and boss type creatures always have strategies that can be used against them, sometimes in the architecture of the place, or observing the types of movements they do, or some weakness they have, etc. Since all my creatures have special abilities, weaknesses, resistances, type of behaviour, etc., you must observe them before you engage in combat, and following this logic, you will usually deduce what strategy you may use against each specific foe.
I also make a big effort to make the world alive, so you will see, for example, Goblins trying to take back their caves from bandit invaders, giant Terror Birds hunting deer on the tundra, angered Gorons attacking miners that disturbed their rest, Ghosts haunting crypts, Ogres assaulting travellers on the roads, and many more things that happen independently of you, and that makes the world looks much more alive.
Also, I’m against touching levelled lists and I hand-place everything, also when they are more than 100 individuals of a species, for example, a duck. I don’t think I need to overpopulate your game with my creatures, and also doing this hand-placing and selective spawn of creatures, I’m already running out of space.
[b]You also have a quest series “Shadows of Dagoth Ur” saga in the works. What can you tell us about that?
[/b]
As I have said before, I hid The Corprusarium of Solstheim- Shadows of Dagoth Ur pt.1, Sulfur and Fire- Trial of Mehrunes Dagon and The Hall of Memories - Reencounters in Moonshadow precisely because I was not happy using creatures from other authors because they are not what I want them to be, so I hid them to make my own creatures for them. Now the 3 mods are released again to the public (or close to the release) by the time this interview is released, and you can see the big improvements that all the mods received, not only on creatures but on landscapes and on the quests themselves.
Shadows of Dagoth Ur pt.2 does not have a title yet but will take place on an island off the province of Morrowind, on the sea between Mournhold and Necrom, approximately the size of Solstheim. An island of fishermen, with a volcano when the soul of Dagoth Ur managed to return and are again trying to conquer the world and spread Corprus. It's the continuation of the Corprusarium mod, and I’m sure you will like it a lot.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1539684258-406331485.jpeg[/img] [img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1539687527-2040392985.jpeg[/img][/center]
[b]Do you have any advice to people wanting to get into creating mods like yours?
[/b]
Trust yourself, believe that you can, and you will do. Don't do what the others are already doing, do unique things, go far, and think out of the box. Thinking straight on this modding thing only will make you do things that resemble the vanilla game. You need to find other ways, have no fear of errors, you learn by making mistakes, and improving them after. Be very demanding with yourself, always being the biggest critic of your work, but also your biggest fan. Oh, one other thing: you will not please all the community, and you even if you make the best possible mod, you will also have people on your mods complaining about things that are not your fault. Let’s say that 50% of the community doesn’t know how hard is to make a mod, especially creatures, so they don’t understand the obstacles you find and the limitations you have in Skyrim’s engine, for example with new animations. So, don't let that get to you, because if you work with heart, you will receive the recognition, but remember, you will still need to prove yourself worthy in each new work.
In the beginning, I heard many times that my work was garbage, bad, terrible, an offence to modding, including from other modders. I received many "NO"s when I asked for permission to use some of their assets. I was ignored many times when I asked other modders for help in some modding matter, I was told many times that I had no future in the modding scene. And now I'm here giving this interview as a form of recognition from the Nexus staff and the community, so, my good friend, you can do it, just understand that you must have the biggest respect for the community, never act in a selfish way, and always do your best.
And that’s it. Huge thanks to all of you, and let’s keep modding like crazy.
[line]
A big thank you to Mihail for taking the time to speak to us! If there's an author or mod project you'd like to know more about, send your suggestions to [b][url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/64597]BigBizkit[/url][/b] or [b][url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/31179975]Pickysaurus[/url][/b].
A frank Interview - FrankFamily
[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/2531318?tab=user+files&BH=0]FrankFamily[/url] is the creator of many artifact and HD overhaul mods for the Elder Scrolls: Skyrim. If you are looking for some [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/73007]amazing paladin armour[/url], or want to get your hands on some special [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/67987]artifacts of Boethia[/url], make sure to check out his mods. Today we are happy to talk to FrankFamily about his work, modding in general, and more.
[b]You are mostly known for your mods that add brand new models of swords, armours, and artifacts to the world of Skyrim. Before we get to your modding work, could you tell us a bit about yourself?[/b]
My name is Borja, I'm from Spain and I'm a student of pharmacy at the moment, finishing the degree this year, hopefully. On a note more related to the topic at hand, I suppose, I've always liked video games, so it definitely makes sense I'd end up doing this stuff. Still, if someone had told me before I started I'd have had strong disbelief, it all started a bit out of the blue.
[b]You have accumulated hundreds of thousands of downloads across your mods for Skyrim and Skyrim Special Edition. How would you personally describe the kind of mods you make?[/b]
I basically have, like, two series of mods: Frankly HD which is retextures and it's what I've been pushing more recently, and artifacts which are a bit of everything.
My main focus is 3D modeling, but it also gives me an opportunity to try other aspects of the game, like quests. The ideal scenario would be making a compelling quest in which you obtain a few unique weapons and armors as a reward, all based on established lore of the game, which is an important aspect for me.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1537541415-424178347.jpeg[/img] [img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1537541404-874458647.jpeg[/img][/center]
[b]Do you still remember the very first mod or model you made for Skyrim? What made you want to start making your own mods in the first place and why did you decide to share them with us all?[/b]
The oldest that is still available is the [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/3087][b]Nightingale Carbon Fiber retexture[/b][/url]. It's my first steps in Photoshop basically. You can see in one of the screenshots there's a bear and an obvious Photoshop lens flare on top... it's pretty awkward in retrospect.
I do seem to recall I started a retexture of steel armor around that time, but not sure if that got anywhere. Even older than the carbon fiber one are my Fallout New Vegas mods, but those are more about playing with the modding tools and some free to use models plus a bit of scripting. I hadn't started delving into 3D modeling at the time. The very first mod I did was putting some aliens in Fallout New Vegas' starting village.
I didn't know modding was a thing until I found the Nexus. Like, you can do anything you want with the game, from your home, and you don't need to know anything about anything to start. Because that's the thing: before I got into modding I didn't know anything related, I have zero programming or 3D modelling or image manipulation background, I draw painfully bad.
And there is even a plethora of easy to use tools and tutorials - that's absolutely amazing. So I downloaded some for Fallout New Vegas and I guess that with some time the question "Can I do that?" arises. I was about 15 or 16 years old, the idea of being able to add stuff to a game I liked was extremely cool. Of course, I started with the most basic stuff, but one thing leads to another.
So, once I started making my own mods, the only reasonable thing to do, for me, was share them and share them on the Nexus of course. And that's what I've kept doing since.
[b]It is apparent that you have come a long way since then, and that you now have an impressive mod portfolio to your name. Do you have a personal favourite among your own mods?[/b]
You wouldn't ask a father to pick a favourite child, would you?
I think I am more attached to the artifacts than the rest, not sure which one I'd pick from those though. Perhaps the one about Boethiah because the result is closer to what I wanted to make from the beginning.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1537541410-1946525558.jpeg[/img] [img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1537541396-1589320421.jpeg[/img][/center]
[b]Most of your mods either overhaul existing Elder Scrolls artifacts, or add entirely new ones to the game. Your artifacts of [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/16199]The Breton Paladin[/url] as well as the various lore-inspired artifacts added in your [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/15264]Tournament of the Ten Bloods[/url] mod stand out as particularly amazing work. Can you tell us a bit about the design and development process for these two mods, and about what inspired you to create them?[/b]
There's heavy inspiration from Oblivion in both, the Knights of the Nine DLC and Boethiah's tournament in particular. To a degree, I play on my own nostalgia which doesn't always result in the best mod for everyone.
I'm interested in Elder Scrolls lore in general, so I read the wiki pages about the stuff that appeared in Morrowind, but I haven't played it. Nonetheless, it's another source of inspiration. [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/13972][b]The Ice Blade of the Monarch[/b][/url] one is all based on lore from Morrowind for example.
[left]
The general process for artifact mods usually starts here: [url=http://en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Artifacts][b]http://en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Artifacts[/b][/url] - going through the lore pages looking for what to do. [/left]
Once I decide which one I want to focus the mod on, I start modelling, trying to make it somewhat resemble the original design.
Then I think of a quest for it and usually add some other artifacts along the way. If there's going to be an enemy that needs to have something and stuff like that. It's a bit of a mess since I have plenty of models started but unfinished, so I try to find excuses to fit them in the mod I'm working on at the time, instead of starting yet another model.
[b]Other than Skyrim and Skyrim Special Edition, do you make mods or models for other games, or do you have any plans to do so?[/b]
Aside from the ones for Fallout New Vegas I mentioned, I'd like to mod Fallout 4, but I don't know if I'll ever think "I'm done with modding Skyrim, let's move on". There's way more stuff I want to do than time available.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1537543575-198934561.jpeg[/img][/center]
[b]What other games do you like to play? Do you have a favourite genre?[/b]
I definitely like to explore in games, just give me a big map with interesting things to look at and let me walk through it. Games I've really liked just playing are Oblivion, Red Dead Redemption (aside from exploring I was fairly good in multiplayer), Witcher 3, Prey, and Skyrim.
Oblivion is probably my favourite of all time, but it was before I discovered modding and I had bought it for ps3. In Skyrim I've spent more time testing mods than playing and looking at the vanilla game I'd say I enjoyed Oblivion much more, though I think that also has to do with me changing and not necessarily the game being worse.
The genre I suppose would be RPG open world, but character customization is not a must-have for me. It's also very cool to play a character with a fixed backstory like Geralt from Witcher 3.
[b]Do you have any hobbies outside of gaming and modding? What do you like to do on a sunny day with no work or worries?[/b]
If it's a day without work or worries then I'm definitely procrastinating what I should have done during the week. Now seriously, I watch lots of TV series in marathon mode or just go from one youtube recommendation to the next until I think "Why am I watching a video on string theory?".
[b]You have been a member of Nexus Mods since 2011 now. What makes you want to stick around and continue making mods?[/b]
It's fun and there's a lot to learn, you can always improve your skill set or learn new aspects of modding, you could justify learning programming as part of "modding" for example. It's a really broad subject and that has a lot of appeal to me. So, to answer in one word I'd say: learning.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1537541371-1231888948.jpeg[/img][/center]
[b]Do you have any modding plans for the near future?[/b]
For now, I'm going to keep pushing my two main series, Frankly HD and Artifacts. I've got some stuff in the works for both. And I'm also making some models for Skyblivion, mainly unique weapons. Hopefully, I'll find a balance in all that.
[b]Is there anything else you would like to tell our community?[/b]
Very simply: learn stuff, it's fun.
[line]
A big thank you to FrankFamily for answering our questions. If there's an author or mod project you'd like to know more about, send your suggestions to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/64597][b]BigBizkit[/b][/url] or [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/31179975][b]Pickysaurus[/b][/url].
[b]You are mostly known for your mods that add brand new models of swords, armours, and artifacts to the world of Skyrim. Before we get to your modding work, could you tell us a bit about yourself?[/b]
My name is Borja, I'm from Spain and I'm a student of pharmacy at the moment, finishing the degree this year, hopefully. On a note more related to the topic at hand, I suppose, I've always liked video games, so it definitely makes sense I'd end up doing this stuff. Still, if someone had told me before I started I'd have had strong disbelief, it all started a bit out of the blue.
[b]You have accumulated hundreds of thousands of downloads across your mods for Skyrim and Skyrim Special Edition. How would you personally describe the kind of mods you make?[/b]
I basically have, like, two series of mods: Frankly HD which is retextures and it's what I've been pushing more recently, and artifacts which are a bit of everything.
My main focus is 3D modeling, but it also gives me an opportunity to try other aspects of the game, like quests. The ideal scenario would be making a compelling quest in which you obtain a few unique weapons and armors as a reward, all based on established lore of the game, which is an important aspect for me.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1537541415-424178347.jpeg[/img] [img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1537541404-874458647.jpeg[/img][/center]
[b]Do you still remember the very first mod or model you made for Skyrim? What made you want to start making your own mods in the first place and why did you decide to share them with us all?[/b]
The oldest that is still available is the [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/3087][b]Nightingale Carbon Fiber retexture[/b][/url]. It's my first steps in Photoshop basically. You can see in one of the screenshots there's a bear and an obvious Photoshop lens flare on top... it's pretty awkward in retrospect.
I do seem to recall I started a retexture of steel armor around that time, but not sure if that got anywhere. Even older than the carbon fiber one are my Fallout New Vegas mods, but those are more about playing with the modding tools and some free to use models plus a bit of scripting. I hadn't started delving into 3D modeling at the time. The very first mod I did was putting some aliens in Fallout New Vegas' starting village.
I didn't know modding was a thing until I found the Nexus. Like, you can do anything you want with the game, from your home, and you don't need to know anything about anything to start. Because that's the thing: before I got into modding I didn't know anything related, I have zero programming or 3D modelling or image manipulation background, I draw painfully bad.
And there is even a plethora of easy to use tools and tutorials - that's absolutely amazing. So I downloaded some for Fallout New Vegas and I guess that with some time the question "Can I do that?" arises. I was about 15 or 16 years old, the idea of being able to add stuff to a game I liked was extremely cool. Of course, I started with the most basic stuff, but one thing leads to another.
So, once I started making my own mods, the only reasonable thing to do, for me, was share them and share them on the Nexus of course. And that's what I've kept doing since.
[b]It is apparent that you have come a long way since then, and that you now have an impressive mod portfolio to your name. Do you have a personal favourite among your own mods?[/b]
You wouldn't ask a father to pick a favourite child, would you?
I think I am more attached to the artifacts than the rest, not sure which one I'd pick from those though. Perhaps the one about Boethiah because the result is closer to what I wanted to make from the beginning.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1537541410-1946525558.jpeg[/img] [img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1537541396-1589320421.jpeg[/img][/center]
[b]Most of your mods either overhaul existing Elder Scrolls artifacts, or add entirely new ones to the game. Your artifacts of [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/16199]The Breton Paladin[/url] as well as the various lore-inspired artifacts added in your [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/15264]Tournament of the Ten Bloods[/url] mod stand out as particularly amazing work. Can you tell us a bit about the design and development process for these two mods, and about what inspired you to create them?[/b]
There's heavy inspiration from Oblivion in both, the Knights of the Nine DLC and Boethiah's tournament in particular. To a degree, I play on my own nostalgia which doesn't always result in the best mod for everyone.
I'm interested in Elder Scrolls lore in general, so I read the wiki pages about the stuff that appeared in Morrowind, but I haven't played it. Nonetheless, it's another source of inspiration. [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/13972][b]The Ice Blade of the Monarch[/b][/url] one is all based on lore from Morrowind for example.
[left]
The general process for artifact mods usually starts here: [url=http://en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Artifacts][b]http://en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Artifacts[/b][/url] - going through the lore pages looking for what to do. [/left]
Once I decide which one I want to focus the mod on, I start modelling, trying to make it somewhat resemble the original design.
Then I think of a quest for it and usually add some other artifacts along the way. If there's going to be an enemy that needs to have something and stuff like that. It's a bit of a mess since I have plenty of models started but unfinished, so I try to find excuses to fit them in the mod I'm working on at the time, instead of starting yet another model.
[b]Other than Skyrim and Skyrim Special Edition, do you make mods or models for other games, or do you have any plans to do so?[/b]
Aside from the ones for Fallout New Vegas I mentioned, I'd like to mod Fallout 4, but I don't know if I'll ever think "I'm done with modding Skyrim, let's move on". There's way more stuff I want to do than time available.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1537543575-198934561.jpeg[/img][/center]
[b]What other games do you like to play? Do you have a favourite genre?[/b]
I definitely like to explore in games, just give me a big map with interesting things to look at and let me walk through it. Games I've really liked just playing are Oblivion, Red Dead Redemption (aside from exploring I was fairly good in multiplayer), Witcher 3, Prey, and Skyrim.
Oblivion is probably my favourite of all time, but it was before I discovered modding and I had bought it for ps3. In Skyrim I've spent more time testing mods than playing and looking at the vanilla game I'd say I enjoyed Oblivion much more, though I think that also has to do with me changing and not necessarily the game being worse.
The genre I suppose would be RPG open world, but character customization is not a must-have for me. It's also very cool to play a character with a fixed backstory like Geralt from Witcher 3.
[b]Do you have any hobbies outside of gaming and modding? What do you like to do on a sunny day with no work or worries?[/b]
If it's a day without work or worries then I'm definitely procrastinating what I should have done during the week. Now seriously, I watch lots of TV series in marathon mode or just go from one youtube recommendation to the next until I think "Why am I watching a video on string theory?".
[b]You have been a member of Nexus Mods since 2011 now. What makes you want to stick around and continue making mods?[/b]
It's fun and there's a lot to learn, you can always improve your skill set or learn new aspects of modding, you could justify learning programming as part of "modding" for example. It's a really broad subject and that has a lot of appeal to me. So, to answer in one word I'd say: learning.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1537541371-1231888948.jpeg[/img][/center]
[b]Do you have any modding plans for the near future?[/b]
For now, I'm going to keep pushing my two main series, Frankly HD and Artifacts. I've got some stuff in the works for both. And I'm also making some models for Skyblivion, mainly unique weapons. Hopefully, I'll find a balance in all that.
[b]Is there anything else you would like to tell our community?[/b]
Very simply: learn stuff, it's fun.
[line]
A big thank you to FrankFamily for answering our questions. If there's an author or mod project you'd like to know more about, send your suggestions to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/64597][b]BigBizkit[/b][/url] or [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/31179975][b]Pickysaurus[/b][/url].
Project Spotlight: Beyond Skyrim - Cyrodiil
If you have played and modded Skyrim for any amount of time, you might have heard of the massive modding project that is [url=https://beyondskyrim.org/]Beyond Skyrim[/url]. This is a multi-team mod project with the goal of expanding the borders of the game world - you guessed it - beyond Skyrim, adding entirely new provinces from Tamriel to Skyrim's game world for you to explore. Today we are talking to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/users/6591482]Bellatrix[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/37646880]MrJGT[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/users/2824244]1shoedpunk[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/565996]1ndajone5[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/users/1746490]Lasur[/url], and [url=https://soundcloud.com/danielran/sets/beyond-skyrim-bruma-ost]Daniel Ran[/url] from the team from [url=https://beyondskyrim.org/projects/cyrodiil/]Beyond Skyrim: Cyrodiil[/url] - creators of [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/84946/]Beyond Skyrim - Bruma[/url] - who have been working on the province known as the heart of the Empire featuring the Imperial City.
[b]Most modding enthusiasts who have been around a while will have heard of Beyond Skyrim. However, for those who are yet unaware, how would you describe what Beyond Skyrim as a whole is and how Beyond Skyrim: Cyrodiil fits into it?
[/b]Bellatrix (project co-lead, dungeons and interiors lead): Beyond Skyrim is a collaboration of modding teams who are aiming to create the lands outside those covered in Bethesda official Skyrim content.
The ultimate goal of all of our teams is to create a single end user experience allowing players to travel around Tamriel in as immersive and seamless a manner as possible. We currently have teams working on the provinces of Cyrodiil, Illiac Bay (High Rock & Hammerfell), Morrowind, Roscrea, Atmora, Elsweyr and Black Marsh.
All the Beyond Skyrim mods are set in the same time frame as the events in Skyrim, so for example, you’ll get to see how the assassination of the Emperor plays out in Cyrodiil, the effects of the Great War, etc.
[center][youtube]k969fu_l9DY[/youtube][/center]
[b]From snow-covered mountains, and the seat of the Empire, to the gold coast, Cyrodiil is a quite diverse province. What would you say are the most stand out aspects, environments, and locations in your version of Cyrodiil?
[/b]MrJGT (exteriors lead): That’s really difficult to answer as A: we don’t have the whole province landscaped yet and B: we are constantly working to improve areas (with our current focus being Colovia) we have done, although I do have a few favourites. I love how the Great Forest is turning out, Firenight (the landscaper working there) is doing an amazing job with it and it looks seriously spectacular and I can’t wait to see players get lost in it. The Gold Coast, landscaped by [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/users/1957324]Nafnaf[/url], also looks amazing and has a wonderful Mediterranean feel to it that really makes you feel you aren’t in Skyrim anymore. I’m also loving the cities that we have already got in game and am really excited to show them off in the future. I do have a bit of soft spot for Bravil though (little biased there as I worked on it) but it has a really dingy, slummy feel to it that reminds me a lot of its Oblivion counterpart.
[b]Cyrodiil was the setting for the events that unfolded during the main story of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. For those who have played Oblivion: what will it be like to revisit the province now that 200 years have passed since then? [/b]
MrJGT: The Cyrodiil in the Fourth Era is a Cyrodiil that has suffered. Since Oblivion things have gone downhill, the Empire has crumbled leaving it with only half the provinces it had at the time of Oblivion, the Dominion has risen and sacked half of Cyrodiil before being fought to a stalemate in the Great War. This event has probably influenced our Cyrodiil the most leaving scars on not just the landscape but also on the psyche of the people. [b]
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1539610252-581412320.jpeg[/img] [img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1539610257-1471385847.jpeg[/img][/center]
The heart of the Empire lies within Cyrodiil, but given what we know from Skyrim's lore, their power is waning during this era. How does this inform your design decisions? Can you give us a bit of an insight into the story you will be telling (without spoiling anything)?
[/b]1shoedpunk (project co-lead): The Empire is still an empire but it’s definitely losing its influence. With over half of the provinces either under Aldmeri Dominion influence or completely outside of the Empire, Cyrodiil is one of the last true bastions of Imperial Society. We’ve tried to look at real-world examples of empires losing influence as well as historical examples of what has happened in Tamriel when there hasn’t been a clear united leadership.
Cyrodiil is a generation removed from the Great War, so you see a lot of factions who are trying to exploit nostalgia for a united Empire as well as factions who want to try building something new and different. There is a bit of meta-commentary in there - with us building the province to be recognizeable but also wanting to leave our own mark on it.
[b]What new factions can we expect to see and interact with in Beyond Skyrim: Cyrodiil? How are they different from the ones we know from Skyrim?[/b]
MrJGT: There will be some of the classic factions we have seen in other games like the Fighter’s Guild and the Knight’s of the Nine as well as factions that replace those seen in previous games like the Synod and College of Whispers that formed out of the dissolution of the Mage’s Guild. We have also introduced our own factions the player can join like the Resistance, a sneaky underground movement bent on removing Thalmor influence from Cyrodiil by any means necessary. The Thieves Guild will also be making a return in a novel way that we hope players will enjoy.
Lasur (quest design director): To add onto what MrJGT said, we're putting a lot of effort into our faction questlines. They're (as with almost all of our quests) going through a long phase of 'paper' design/writing and peer review before implementation to ensure that the narrative and quest design we're providing is as strong as it can possibly be. And in terms of length, we're aiming for something closer to the lengthy questlines The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion provided rather than the comparatively short storylines of Skyrim. We also have some plans to use Radiant quest technology in more creative and novel ways to really sell the fantasy of, for example, being a mercenary in the Fighters Guild - while also not shortchanging the handcrafted/narrative-heavy questing experience.
[b]Maintaining a consistent and convincing conversation experience must be difficult given the disparate nature of the team. How have you all handled these challenges?[/b]
1shoedpunk: Lasur Arkinshade has been heavily involved in working directly with the actors, so he tries to give the voice actors as much context as possible for their lines and how the player will hear them. Since many of our actors are familiar with Skyrim, they have a good idea of how the end result will play in-game.
Lasur: Voice acting is a challenging part of game development, even for AAA game developers. For modding, obviously, it's even harder, since we aren't able to pay actors for their time and we don't have access to third-party casting agencies. In that regard, I think we've been quite lucky - when we first put out a casting call for Bruma in 2014, we had a lot of extremely high calibre and experienced actors approach us. I think that, as well as the release of Bruma, triggered something of a snowball effect - our credibility increased, and so did our ability to attract high-quality talent.
The other side of it is direction, and in that regard, I do my best. We try to annotate our scripts with as many contextual notes as possible to ensure that the actors understand the context and are able to deliver an informed performance. We try to avoid micromanaging, though, and trust their judgement - creating a character isn't just the writer or voice director's job, it's also the actor's, and each actor definitely brings something unique to their roles when well-cast.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1539610265-1982299579.jpeg[/img] [img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1539610273-124867098.png[/img][/center]
It's an organisational challenge, given that the cast is scattered across the world, and I'll admit that I've made my share of mistakes during the learning curve associated with taking this on for Bruma, but the cast and I tried our best, and I hope that effort shows in the performances that can be found in Bruma. We're doing our best to top this for the rest of Cyrodiil, and have cast some great (and surprising) talent, but as always, the audience will be the judge when we release.
[b]Music team: Oblivion's soundtrack has had a deep impact on many of us, myself included. What can we expect from the new score?[/b]
Daniel Ran (lead composer): The Bruma soundtrack, which will play in Cyrodiil, did a lot to blend the styles of Skyrim and Oblivion, particularly by including themes from the latter. We have another two hours of music planned for the entire province but my primary goal now is to portray our own take on the various places in Cyrodiil, particularly its cities, and to enhance the stories we're going to tell.
The style should still be instantly familiar to players but it has a wider scope of instrumentation and expression, and since the tracks are smaller in focus, they have more freedom to be unusual or just individual, especially when compared to music that has to work for a very wide range of areas and situations, like exploration tracks.
I'm already well into composing the new themes and I'm excited to see where our incarnation of Cyrodiil will take me. There's always going to be some overlap between my style and Soule's, I think, since we have such similar influences, but now I think it's important that Cyrodiil gets its own identity.
[b]From cliff racers to horkers - wildlife has always played a huge role in defining the setting of the various Elder Scrolls titles. Are there any plans to revisit familiar flora and fauna from Oblivion? Can we expect some surprises?[/b]
1shoedpunk: We're making an effort to bring back equivalents for all of the animals and plants present in Oblivion, plus a bit extra.
For the plants and ingredients, we've tried to create new recipes and new alchemical properties to complement and enhance the existing system in Skyrim. We've reintroduced alchemical properties such as Feather and Burden, as well as adding back in Water Walking as a property the player can add to potions. Many of our new recipes (along with new food models) are present in Bruma, but expect to find many more in the full mod.
[center] [/center]With a system for dogs present in Skyrim, we have a couple new breeds that the player can adopt. There's also plenty of different farm animals like sheep and cows that we've added in to make farms feel a bit more alive. As we work people get ideas about what new animals might make sense for the climate, so the current population isn't set in stone.
1ndajone5 (arts lead): One thing we’re not planning to add is Shivering Isles ingredients and plants. But you will have the opportunity to meet again one of its monsters.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1539610277-188961248.jpeg[/img] [img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1539610291-145255965.jpeg[/img][/center]
[b]Is optimisation a concern? Obviously, it's early, but are you shooting for a particular goal regarding system requirements?
[/b]MrJGT: We are aiming for the same requirements for the Special Edition version of Skyrim on the PC. Unfortunately, due to space limitations on consoles, we won’t be able to bring the whole of Cyrodiil to either the Xbox One or PS4.
[b]Such huge projects with myriads of volunteers must be particularly difficult to manage. That being said, how do you guys organise development? [/b]
Bellatrix: We have a roadmap for what we need to do to finish Cyrodiil, but as it’s a volunteer project it needs to be quite flexible to accommodate having more or less help than we’d anticipated. Once we have concept art for a town, we will start the 3D modelling as soon as we have someone free to work on it. Writing and exterior design follow on after that and once the exterior and inhabitants are finalised, interiors get to work. Quest/NPC implementation is the final stage and then we start to playtest / bugfix. Now that Bruma is out and the team has grown, we’re able to develop several areas in parallel.
For organisation we largely use Trello boards to track progress and discord for communication (and some amazing WIP eye-candy). The great thing about the team is we’re all in different time zones so there's always someone around if you need a hand.
[b]What would you say have been the most valuable lessons you have learned during the entire development process so far?[/b]
MrJGT: It’s something we joke about now but we’ve learnt to be very careful with release dates after originally announcing Bruma for a Summer 2014 release. I know we got a lot of hate from fans for doing that and not releasing for another 3 years but now Bruma is out and if you look at how it was in Summer 2014 people would be glad we did put the extra time in to make it better.
Bellatrix: That navmeshing takes a lot longer than you think!
1shoedpunk: Early on in the project, when it was still in a formative stage, I managed pretty much all the departments. There was a pretty good idea of the scope and scale of what we were doing that hasn’t changed much since then, but with a much smaller team, it was easier for one person to manage everything. As we grew, it was clear that that wouldn’t work for a project of this scope and that it would only be successful with a strong management team. Finding leaders in the project who were able to keep things in scope and who could run their respective departments way better than I could was difficult but necessary.
Lasur: Take nothing and no one for granted, trust in others' judgement, and manage scope very carefully. More than that, though, Bruma was essentially a vertical cliff face of a learning curve, but having ascended it we're now in a much better position to work efficiently. We know what needs to be done, and we have a working content pipeline. Tools like Git for version control, Trello for issue tracking and management and others have been invaluable in helping us to hone those workflows. But it's also little things, like figuring out workflows for the creation of VA scripts, effective ways of formatting branching dialogue in a text document, and learning what is possible/impossible, advisable/inadvisable, and easy/hard in the engine have allowed us to become much better at creating content rapidly and minimising last-minute cuts and reworks/wasted effort.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1539611018-1159934795.png[/img][/center]
[b]Can people still join the project? If so, what would be the best way of going about it?[/b]
Bellatrix: Absolutely! If you’d like to join Cyrodiil specifically, please sign up at [url=https://beyondskyrim.org/projects/cyrodiil/]https://beyondskyrim.org/projects/cyrodiil/[/url]. We’ll review all applications, but we’d especially love to hear from any navmeshers or people who are familiar with quest implementation/scripting as they’re currently bottlenecks for us.
The other Beyond Skyrim provinces are also always on the lookout for new recruits. You can find more information on the various projects at [url=https://beyondskyrim.org/]https://beyondskyrim.org/[/url]
And finally, if you’d love to help out but have no previous modding experience, Beyond Skyrim also has the Arcane University where you can learn the basics of level design, 3D modelling, implementation etc. If you’re interested please drop into the AU Discord and say hello! ([url=https://discordapp.com/invite/h4XEk6t]https://discordapp.com/invite/h4XEk6t[/url])
Lasur: Adding onto this, while we get a lot of applications for writing and VA, we're always looking for new writers and to expand our voice cast. Just be sure to include samples of prior work!
[line]
A big thank you to the Beyond Skyrim: Cyrodiil team for taking the time to talk to us. As always, if there's an author or mod project you'd like to know more about, send your suggestions to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/64597]BigBizkit[/url] or [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/31179975]Pickysaurus[/url].
[b]Most modding enthusiasts who have been around a while will have heard of Beyond Skyrim. However, for those who are yet unaware, how would you describe what Beyond Skyrim as a whole is and how Beyond Skyrim: Cyrodiil fits into it?
[/b]Bellatrix (project co-lead, dungeons and interiors lead): Beyond Skyrim is a collaboration of modding teams who are aiming to create the lands outside those covered in Bethesda official Skyrim content.
The ultimate goal of all of our teams is to create a single end user experience allowing players to travel around Tamriel in as immersive and seamless a manner as possible. We currently have teams working on the provinces of Cyrodiil, Illiac Bay (High Rock & Hammerfell), Morrowind, Roscrea, Atmora, Elsweyr and Black Marsh.
All the Beyond Skyrim mods are set in the same time frame as the events in Skyrim, so for example, you’ll get to see how the assassination of the Emperor plays out in Cyrodiil, the effects of the Great War, etc.
[center][youtube]k969fu_l9DY[/youtube][/center]
[b]From snow-covered mountains, and the seat of the Empire, to the gold coast, Cyrodiil is a quite diverse province. What would you say are the most stand out aspects, environments, and locations in your version of Cyrodiil?
[/b]MrJGT (exteriors lead): That’s really difficult to answer as A: we don’t have the whole province landscaped yet and B: we are constantly working to improve areas (with our current focus being Colovia) we have done, although I do have a few favourites. I love how the Great Forest is turning out, Firenight (the landscaper working there) is doing an amazing job with it and it looks seriously spectacular and I can’t wait to see players get lost in it. The Gold Coast, landscaped by [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/users/1957324]Nafnaf[/url], also looks amazing and has a wonderful Mediterranean feel to it that really makes you feel you aren’t in Skyrim anymore. I’m also loving the cities that we have already got in game and am really excited to show them off in the future. I do have a bit of soft spot for Bravil though (little biased there as I worked on it) but it has a really dingy, slummy feel to it that reminds me a lot of its Oblivion counterpart.
[b]Cyrodiil was the setting for the events that unfolded during the main story of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. For those who have played Oblivion: what will it be like to revisit the province now that 200 years have passed since then? [/b]
MrJGT: The Cyrodiil in the Fourth Era is a Cyrodiil that has suffered. Since Oblivion things have gone downhill, the Empire has crumbled leaving it with only half the provinces it had at the time of Oblivion, the Dominion has risen and sacked half of Cyrodiil before being fought to a stalemate in the Great War. This event has probably influenced our Cyrodiil the most leaving scars on not just the landscape but also on the psyche of the people. [b]
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1539610252-581412320.jpeg[/img] [img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1539610257-1471385847.jpeg[/img][/center]
The heart of the Empire lies within Cyrodiil, but given what we know from Skyrim's lore, their power is waning during this era. How does this inform your design decisions? Can you give us a bit of an insight into the story you will be telling (without spoiling anything)?
[/b]1shoedpunk (project co-lead): The Empire is still an empire but it’s definitely losing its influence. With over half of the provinces either under Aldmeri Dominion influence or completely outside of the Empire, Cyrodiil is one of the last true bastions of Imperial Society. We’ve tried to look at real-world examples of empires losing influence as well as historical examples of what has happened in Tamriel when there hasn’t been a clear united leadership.
Cyrodiil is a generation removed from the Great War, so you see a lot of factions who are trying to exploit nostalgia for a united Empire as well as factions who want to try building something new and different. There is a bit of meta-commentary in there - with us building the province to be recognizeable but also wanting to leave our own mark on it.
[b]What new factions can we expect to see and interact with in Beyond Skyrim: Cyrodiil? How are they different from the ones we know from Skyrim?[/b]
MrJGT: There will be some of the classic factions we have seen in other games like the Fighter’s Guild and the Knight’s of the Nine as well as factions that replace those seen in previous games like the Synod and College of Whispers that formed out of the dissolution of the Mage’s Guild. We have also introduced our own factions the player can join like the Resistance, a sneaky underground movement bent on removing Thalmor influence from Cyrodiil by any means necessary. The Thieves Guild will also be making a return in a novel way that we hope players will enjoy.
Lasur (quest design director): To add onto what MrJGT said, we're putting a lot of effort into our faction questlines. They're (as with almost all of our quests) going through a long phase of 'paper' design/writing and peer review before implementation to ensure that the narrative and quest design we're providing is as strong as it can possibly be. And in terms of length, we're aiming for something closer to the lengthy questlines The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion provided rather than the comparatively short storylines of Skyrim. We also have some plans to use Radiant quest technology in more creative and novel ways to really sell the fantasy of, for example, being a mercenary in the Fighters Guild - while also not shortchanging the handcrafted/narrative-heavy questing experience.
[b]Maintaining a consistent and convincing conversation experience must be difficult given the disparate nature of the team. How have you all handled these challenges?[/b]
1shoedpunk: Lasur Arkinshade has been heavily involved in working directly with the actors, so he tries to give the voice actors as much context as possible for their lines and how the player will hear them. Since many of our actors are familiar with Skyrim, they have a good idea of how the end result will play in-game.
Lasur: Voice acting is a challenging part of game development, even for AAA game developers. For modding, obviously, it's even harder, since we aren't able to pay actors for their time and we don't have access to third-party casting agencies. In that regard, I think we've been quite lucky - when we first put out a casting call for Bruma in 2014, we had a lot of extremely high calibre and experienced actors approach us. I think that, as well as the release of Bruma, triggered something of a snowball effect - our credibility increased, and so did our ability to attract high-quality talent.
The other side of it is direction, and in that regard, I do my best. We try to annotate our scripts with as many contextual notes as possible to ensure that the actors understand the context and are able to deliver an informed performance. We try to avoid micromanaging, though, and trust their judgement - creating a character isn't just the writer or voice director's job, it's also the actor's, and each actor definitely brings something unique to their roles when well-cast.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1539610265-1982299579.jpeg[/img] [img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1539610273-124867098.png[/img][/center]
It's an organisational challenge, given that the cast is scattered across the world, and I'll admit that I've made my share of mistakes during the learning curve associated with taking this on for Bruma, but the cast and I tried our best, and I hope that effort shows in the performances that can be found in Bruma. We're doing our best to top this for the rest of Cyrodiil, and have cast some great (and surprising) talent, but as always, the audience will be the judge when we release.
[b]Music team: Oblivion's soundtrack has had a deep impact on many of us, myself included. What can we expect from the new score?[/b]
Daniel Ran (lead composer): The Bruma soundtrack, which will play in Cyrodiil, did a lot to blend the styles of Skyrim and Oblivion, particularly by including themes from the latter. We have another two hours of music planned for the entire province but my primary goal now is to portray our own take on the various places in Cyrodiil, particularly its cities, and to enhance the stories we're going to tell.
The style should still be instantly familiar to players but it has a wider scope of instrumentation and expression, and since the tracks are smaller in focus, they have more freedom to be unusual or just individual, especially when compared to music that has to work for a very wide range of areas and situations, like exploration tracks.
I'm already well into composing the new themes and I'm excited to see where our incarnation of Cyrodiil will take me. There's always going to be some overlap between my style and Soule's, I think, since we have such similar influences, but now I think it's important that Cyrodiil gets its own identity.
[b]From cliff racers to horkers - wildlife has always played a huge role in defining the setting of the various Elder Scrolls titles. Are there any plans to revisit familiar flora and fauna from Oblivion? Can we expect some surprises?[/b]
1shoedpunk: We're making an effort to bring back equivalents for all of the animals and plants present in Oblivion, plus a bit extra.
For the plants and ingredients, we've tried to create new recipes and new alchemical properties to complement and enhance the existing system in Skyrim. We've reintroduced alchemical properties such as Feather and Burden, as well as adding back in Water Walking as a property the player can add to potions. Many of our new recipes (along with new food models) are present in Bruma, but expect to find many more in the full mod.
[center] [/center]With a system for dogs present in Skyrim, we have a couple new breeds that the player can adopt. There's also plenty of different farm animals like sheep and cows that we've added in to make farms feel a bit more alive. As we work people get ideas about what new animals might make sense for the climate, so the current population isn't set in stone.
1ndajone5 (arts lead): One thing we’re not planning to add is Shivering Isles ingredients and plants. But you will have the opportunity to meet again one of its monsters.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1539610277-188961248.jpeg[/img] [img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1539610291-145255965.jpeg[/img][/center]
[b]Is optimisation a concern? Obviously, it's early, but are you shooting for a particular goal regarding system requirements?
[/b]MrJGT: We are aiming for the same requirements for the Special Edition version of Skyrim on the PC. Unfortunately, due to space limitations on consoles, we won’t be able to bring the whole of Cyrodiil to either the Xbox One or PS4.
[b]Such huge projects with myriads of volunteers must be particularly difficult to manage. That being said, how do you guys organise development? [/b]
Bellatrix: We have a roadmap for what we need to do to finish Cyrodiil, but as it’s a volunteer project it needs to be quite flexible to accommodate having more or less help than we’d anticipated. Once we have concept art for a town, we will start the 3D modelling as soon as we have someone free to work on it. Writing and exterior design follow on after that and once the exterior and inhabitants are finalised, interiors get to work. Quest/NPC implementation is the final stage and then we start to playtest / bugfix. Now that Bruma is out and the team has grown, we’re able to develop several areas in parallel.
For organisation we largely use Trello boards to track progress and discord for communication (and some amazing WIP eye-candy). The great thing about the team is we’re all in different time zones so there's always someone around if you need a hand.
[b]What would you say have been the most valuable lessons you have learned during the entire development process so far?[/b]
MrJGT: It’s something we joke about now but we’ve learnt to be very careful with release dates after originally announcing Bruma for a Summer 2014 release. I know we got a lot of hate from fans for doing that and not releasing for another 3 years but now Bruma is out and if you look at how it was in Summer 2014 people would be glad we did put the extra time in to make it better.
Bellatrix: That navmeshing takes a lot longer than you think!
1shoedpunk: Early on in the project, when it was still in a formative stage, I managed pretty much all the departments. There was a pretty good idea of the scope and scale of what we were doing that hasn’t changed much since then, but with a much smaller team, it was easier for one person to manage everything. As we grew, it was clear that that wouldn’t work for a project of this scope and that it would only be successful with a strong management team. Finding leaders in the project who were able to keep things in scope and who could run their respective departments way better than I could was difficult but necessary.
Lasur: Take nothing and no one for granted, trust in others' judgement, and manage scope very carefully. More than that, though, Bruma was essentially a vertical cliff face of a learning curve, but having ascended it we're now in a much better position to work efficiently. We know what needs to be done, and we have a working content pipeline. Tools like Git for version control, Trello for issue tracking and management and others have been invaluable in helping us to hone those workflows. But it's also little things, like figuring out workflows for the creation of VA scripts, effective ways of formatting branching dialogue in a text document, and learning what is possible/impossible, advisable/inadvisable, and easy/hard in the engine have allowed us to become much better at creating content rapidly and minimising last-minute cuts and reworks/wasted effort.
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1539611018-1159934795.png[/img][/center]
[b]Can people still join the project? If so, what would be the best way of going about it?[/b]
Bellatrix: Absolutely! If you’d like to join Cyrodiil specifically, please sign up at [url=https://beyondskyrim.org/projects/cyrodiil/]https://beyondskyrim.org/projects/cyrodiil/[/url]. We’ll review all applications, but we’d especially love to hear from any navmeshers or people who are familiar with quest implementation/scripting as they’re currently bottlenecks for us.
The other Beyond Skyrim provinces are also always on the lookout for new recruits. You can find more information on the various projects at [url=https://beyondskyrim.org/]https://beyondskyrim.org/[/url]
And finally, if you’d love to help out but have no previous modding experience, Beyond Skyrim also has the Arcane University where you can learn the basics of level design, 3D modelling, implementation etc. If you’re interested please drop into the AU Discord and say hello! ([url=https://discordapp.com/invite/h4XEk6t]https://discordapp.com/invite/h4XEk6t[/url])
Lasur: Adding onto this, while we get a lot of applications for writing and VA, we're always looking for new writers and to expand our voice cast. Just be sure to include samples of prior work!
[line]
A big thank you to the Beyond Skyrim: Cyrodiil team for taking the time to talk to us. As always, if there's an author or mod project you'd like to know more about, send your suggestions to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/64597]BigBizkit[/url] or [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/31179975]Pickysaurus[/url].
We're Hiring: Front End Designer/Developer Position
As part of our ongoing efforts to expand our development team we’re looking for a front end developer/designer to join us. In the long term you'll be a major creative driving force behind Nexus Mods, shaping how our entire brand looks and feels for millions of users. This position is based in our offices in Exeter in the UK, it is not a remote working position and we cannot sponsor VISA applications so you will need a right to work in the UK or EU.
We always post our job openings up on the site before passing on the requirements to local recruiters. We'd rather recruit from within the community if we can and we've been very lucky thus far finding staff who know and use Nexus Mods.
[b][size=3]The Role[/size][/b]
We're looking for a senior designer / front end developer to join our team at our office in Exeter, UK. The ideal candidate will have a strong design background with experience working with HTML/CSS/JS and be technically proficient enough to integrate directly into our projects to implement design changes directly, so a working knowledge of at least one javascript framework as well as working knowledge of version control is what we’re looking for.
If you’re the kind of person who likes implementing cool new features, understands responsive web design, loves making sleek user interfaces and wants to showcase your work to a large and engaging audience then this is the job for you!
We work as closely as possible to an agile project management scheme and every team member's input is highly valued - we're looking for people who can constructively discuss and present new ideas in our meetings.
Ultimately, we're looking for people who are keen to learn and flexible in their approach with a strong background in website design.
[size=3][b]Your Background[/b][/size]
[list]
[*]You'll need production experience with HTML/CSS/JS and be comfortable with all related technologies such as the frameworks for each.
[*]Any experience with HTML/CSS/JS in a desktop environment such as Electron would be a plus, but isn’t essential.
[*]Experience creating and maintaining single page applications would also be a plus.
[/list]
[size=3][b]Responsibilities[/b][/size]
[list]
[*]Working with our web team to design new features and functionality for the Nexus Mods website.
[*]Working as part of the Vortex team and helping with UI and UX.
[*]Occasionally helping out the community team with imagery for site content.
[*]Participating in team meetings, keeping track of your workflow using project management tools.
[*]Working with everyone at Nexus Mods to shape the future of our platform.
[/list]
[size=3][b]Requirements and Skills[/b][/size]
[list]
[*]HTML/CSS.
[*]Javascript and its frameworks (React / Node / Vue / etc.).
[*]Strong design background (Photoshop, etc.).
[*]Strong communication skills both verbally and written (English).
[*]Right to work in the UK.
[/list]
[b][size=3]Bonus Skills[/size][/b]
[list]
[*]Electron or any other desktop applications that use web front ends.
[*]Experience integrating with Ruby on Rails/PHP.
[*]Experience with code testing.
[*]An understanding of games modding and knowledge of Nexus Mods.
[*]A sense of humour.
[*]A love of computer games.
[/list]
[b][size=3]Other Information[/size][/b]
[list]
[*]This is a full-time office-based position from our offices in Exeter, UK.
[*]We will offer a competitive market-rate salary dependent on your level.
[*]We will provide high spec hardware for you to work from in the office.
[*]For the right candidates, we may be able to assist with relocation expenses and logistics.
[*]You'll want to hone your skills in "Golf with Your Friends" before joining us.
[/list]
[b][size=3]To Apply[/size][/b]
Please be aware that we do not have the ability to sponsor visas and so all applicants must have the right to work in the UK.
In order to apply, please send an email to jobs@nexusmods.com with your CV and why you’d be suitable for this role.
We always post our job openings up on the site before passing on the requirements to local recruiters. We'd rather recruit from within the community if we can and we've been very lucky thus far finding staff who know and use Nexus Mods.
[b][size=3]The Role[/size][/b]
We're looking for a senior designer / front end developer to join our team at our office in Exeter, UK. The ideal candidate will have a strong design background with experience working with HTML/CSS/JS and be technically proficient enough to integrate directly into our projects to implement design changes directly, so a working knowledge of at least one javascript framework as well as working knowledge of version control is what we’re looking for.
If you’re the kind of person who likes implementing cool new features, understands responsive web design, loves making sleek user interfaces and wants to showcase your work to a large and engaging audience then this is the job for you!
We work as closely as possible to an agile project management scheme and every team member's input is highly valued - we're looking for people who can constructively discuss and present new ideas in our meetings.
Ultimately, we're looking for people who are keen to learn and flexible in their approach with a strong background in website design.
[size=3][b]Your Background[/b][/size]
[list]
[*]You'll need production experience with HTML/CSS/JS and be comfortable with all related technologies such as the frameworks for each.
[*]Any experience with HTML/CSS/JS in a desktop environment such as Electron would be a plus, but isn’t essential.
[*]Experience creating and maintaining single page applications would also be a plus.
[/list]
[size=3][b]Responsibilities[/b][/size]
[list]
[*]Working with our web team to design new features and functionality for the Nexus Mods website.
[*]Working as part of the Vortex team and helping with UI and UX.
[*]Occasionally helping out the community team with imagery for site content.
[*]Participating in team meetings, keeping track of your workflow using project management tools.
[*]Working with everyone at Nexus Mods to shape the future of our platform.
[/list]
[size=3][b]Requirements and Skills[/b][/size]
[list]
[*]HTML/CSS.
[*]Javascript and its frameworks (React / Node / Vue / etc.).
[*]Strong design background (Photoshop, etc.).
[*]Strong communication skills both verbally and written (English).
[*]Right to work in the UK.
[/list]
[b][size=3]Bonus Skills[/size][/b]
[list]
[*]Electron or any other desktop applications that use web front ends.
[*]Experience integrating with Ruby on Rails/PHP.
[*]Experience with code testing.
[*]An understanding of games modding and knowledge of Nexus Mods.
[*]A sense of humour.
[*]A love of computer games.
[/list]
[b][size=3]Other Information[/size][/b]
[list]
[*]This is a full-time office-based position from our offices in Exeter, UK.
[*]We will offer a competitive market-rate salary dependent on your level.
[*]We will provide high spec hardware for you to work from in the office.
[*]For the right candidates, we may be able to assist with relocation expenses and logistics.
[*]You'll want to hone your skills in "Golf with Your Friends" before joining us.
[/list]
[b][size=3]To Apply[/size][/b]
Please be aware that we do not have the ability to sponsor visas and so all applicants must have the right to work in the UK.
In order to apply, please send an email to jobs@nexusmods.com with your CV and why you’d be suitable for this role.
Nexus Mods Giveaway #17
It's time for another giveaway!
We are giving out one Steam Gift Card worth £35 (~$46, depending on daily exchange rates) again.
To participate and to not screw up your chances of winning, pay attention to the entry rules below:
In order to make sure that the winner comes from the Nexus Mods community, there are some mandatory steps for ensuring your eligibility.
1. Leave a comment on this article. You can say anything you want. (The site rules still apply!)
2. Log into the contest entry form with your preferred method.
3. Click the second entry action that says "Leave a comment on Nexus Mods"
4. Enter your Nexus Mods username into the text field.
[i](If you didn't leave a comment here before going to the contest entry form, be sure to follow the link back here and do that.)[/i]
No comment or valid username = no Steam Gift Card for you.
[size=3][url=https://gleam.io/RzDqD/nexus-mods-giveaway-17]Click here to enter for your chance to win a £35 Steam Gift Card![/url]
[/size][i][size=1](Entry period ends on Friday, 19th October at 11:59 pm GMT)
[/size][/i][size=1]You can read more about why we do monthly giveaways for our social media [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/news/13406]here[/url].[/size]
We are giving out one Steam Gift Card worth £35 (~$46, depending on daily exchange rates) again.
To participate and to not screw up your chances of winning, pay attention to the entry rules below:
In order to make sure that the winner comes from the Nexus Mods community, there are some mandatory steps for ensuring your eligibility.
1. Leave a comment on this article. You can say anything you want. (The site rules still apply!)
2. Log into the contest entry form with your preferred method.
3. Click the second entry action that says "Leave a comment on Nexus Mods"
4. Enter your Nexus Mods username into the text field.
[i](If you didn't leave a comment here before going to the contest entry form, be sure to follow the link back here and do that.)[/i]
No comment or valid username = no Steam Gift Card for you.
[size=3][url=https://gleam.io/RzDqD/nexus-mods-giveaway-17]Click here to enter for your chance to win a £35 Steam Gift Card![/url]
[/size][i][size=1](Entry period ends on Friday, 19th October at 11:59 pm GMT)
[/size][/i][size=1]You can read more about why we do monthly giveaways for our social media [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/news/13406]here[/url].[/size]
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