Out of curiosity, how did you generate the heightmap for Mesogea? Did you use an external program (FWE, GC) or the editor in the CS?

I used the construction set, nothing else. Basically you make a map of about 14-16 quads. Save it as a plugin. Then change it to a master file. Load it up and add onto it anothr 10-12 quads, rinse and repeat.

Clever.

How upset will you be if I make adjustments to your heightmap in the cells I'm working on? I'm not talking about completely redoing the considerable amount of work you've already put into it, (and I promise not to touch the heightmap editor at all,) but I think we can add a bit of realism by making some of the hills a little less steep (or if they are steep, more 'rocky'), making some of the river banks a little more gradual in places (fords) and some of the outcroppings a little less 'pointy'. When I work on my own mods, I tend to switch between adding statics and the landscape editor about every 30 seconds. I can play with textures, vertex shading, and static meshes without affecting the heightmap (although LOD will still have to be regenerated if you want the new statics to show up and be 100% accurate) but changing the heightmap itself will have a larger impact and force you to do it. I won't touch it if you don't want to mess with it.

Absolutely fine, you enjoy yourself. Its virgin territory. As long as the heightmap editor isnt used then go for it. I will do a map soon to show where I am working on, what areas have cities and towns etc, will that help?

But certainly make the landscape better, its there to be worked on by others. Ive drawn in a background basically so get out your painting set...

Excellent! I was hoping you'd say that, but, well, never assume, you know...

I downloaded your data files for the architecture and whatnot, but it took me a few minutes to figure out where it went. Are you planning on adding all of the statics to the main .esm or releasing them as a separate file? I'm not sure what manually adding them all to my plugin and creating new editor names for them all will do to the project.

I also noticed some of the textures looked a little off in heavy fog. I'm not a texture artist, so I'm not sure what's causing it, but I'll put up some screenshots when I get a chance. (Can't do it now 'cause I have to be up early for work. )

Sadly I made a daft mistake with the meshes and textures. The files you have do not have any reference to the meshes. My latest master file contains all of the links to meshes so dont make any plugins with them added as they will simply clash. It will be about 8 days before I am back home and able to upload the master file part 2 with all of the links. It was a silly mistake basically on my part.

I made the new master file with all the added meshes etc, then updated the distant land. There were frequent crashes and I had to undo the distant land by deleting all of it, unchecking the palm tree distant models and binning the palmtree_far.nif because it had alpha transparency that caused a distant land crash whenever it was used. Unfortunately I then had an hour left, wife packing the car and two kids tugging at me so I didnt have the three hours or so to upload the new master file and new distant land. Rather than not do anything I uploaded all of the meshes and textures so that they could be looked at, maybe improved, maybe textures reworked by others and in any case available for modders to plan with but not to use. The mammoth is in there too, though I have not made a link yet for it in the master file.

Hey, no problem. Take your time. There's lots of other stuff for us to do, and I'm (probably) going to be incommunicado for about a week myself, starting Saturday. (Although I'm going to try to find some internet access. I think I'll go absolutely crazy without it!)

On a completely unrelated subject: other than your own stuff, of course, are there any books or websites or anything that you recommend we use as a source of ideas and inspiration? The Mesogean time period is not something I'm overly familiar with, so I'm curious to know what inspired you to create in this milieu. Where do you turn for inspiration?

Difficult with books, basically read anything of the era of Troy and so forth. I'm doing a degree (as a 40 year old with a full time job its not easy) in Classical studies and archaeology. At present I am reading the Odyssey and the Illiad.

Reading up on the internet about anything concerning ancient Greece, Etruscans, Persians, Babylon, the Hittites, the Scythians etc will give you a good idea of the time etc. 10,000BC was a nice film but Mesogea has more in kind with Conan than anything. Mix Conan with Rome/10,000BC, 300 and you get a rough idea.

I'm working on my history major myself, so this is just my style.

I've got a couple concept art drawings for you guys.

I'll upload it in a bit.

BTW, Tamriel Rebuilt's stuff is all open source as long as you give credit. All of their hammerfell architecture could come in handy.

Ah, more resources. Perfect. And yes, please post some concept art.