Hi there. Love the looks of this mod.
Citizen86 brought it to my attention, over at gamerswithjobs.com and convinced me to take a look and help out with the fun. So I'd like to help in any way I can.
I am probably not going to be much use on the programming side as writing code has never been something I'm good at. But what I am good at is graphics. I am a Graphics Designer with illustration skills and a moderate level of 3D modeling skills. I haven't really worked on any mods before, well that's not really accurate... I have tried starting several mods, but never made any real headway. So no real mod experience. I guess that's not really selling myself that well...
Basically what I would be most interested in helping out with would be concept art, I know you are pretty far along and might not need much in the way of concepts for characters/clothing/whatnot, but I'd love to take a hack at whatever you might need visualized. Like I said I'm a Graphic Designer, so anything that needs layout/typography/design I can probably work up a good looking design. I'm just not sure if I could figure out how to make it work in the game. But I can try!
I am kind of an art/architecture history geek(could have got my degree in art history but decided to go the design route since it's nice to get paid,) and I have a penchant for ancient arms and armour so if anyone needs a reference on buildings, weapons, clothing, etc. I'd probably be a good resource.

A couple quick questions I had about the mod.
1. Enemies. I have yet to run into any bad guys, don't know if there are any in yet or if I just haven't seen any, but are you planning on having humans be the only enemies or were you planning on having mythical creatures roaming around as baddies? Maybe I could work up some sketches for creatures in keeping with the theme.
2. I haven't been to all the locations marked on the map yet, but I got to Illusidum and I didn't see the stuff from the videos posted. I just saw a bridge and some big yellow triangle with exclamation marks. Am I missing some of the resources or something? Or is that just the "Work In Progress" marker?

I'm looking forward to getting involved!

Hey Rob_Anybody,

I'll let Valisarius handle all the project distributing and everything, but I just wanted to say hello and welcome. And answer your questions.

1. There aren't suppose to be any NPCs or animals in the landmass packet. So far, we do have some animals, like spiders, pigs, different wolves, elephants, etc.

2. They should be there. Make sure the meshes and textures are in the right place.

Anyway, welcome again!

Kroot

Hey Rob, thanks for stopping by!

The Illusidum you see is not the updated version. The Agraria that Valisarius has been working on isn't released yet. I think I mentioned it in my post over at GWJ but in the current release right now there aren't any actual NPC's or many creatures placed yet. We're working on another updated "Modder's Resource" to be released in a couple weeks. It will have the Agraria available so there will be some NPC's walking around. I don't think Vali has made any quests yet for them though.

Also, enemies, there are going to be some mythical creatures in the game like Oblivion, but they are not going to be as common. (I believe I read this, correct me if I'm wrong). Most enemies will be humans though. A lot of it for the beginning will most likely be faction battles, as in fights between different groups within and around cities.

Rob, have you had any experience using Blender? Or another 3D tool? Basically with a program like Blender you can import and export meshes that you can use in Oblivion. I don't know if there is a polygon count that you shouldn't exceed or anything like that, but I assume there would be something to try and keep FPS manageable. If you have used Blender or 3DS Max, something like that, that would be great.

Thanks for the warm welcome guys. As far as 3d tools go I primarily use Carrara and Hexagon by Daz3D. I've used 3Ds Max a bit, but can't really afford a legit copy and prefer to stay legal in my software on my machine. I've tried Blender and found it to be...obtuse. But if it comes to it I could figure out how to transfer them from Carrara to Blender and then to whatever format works (thats if Carrara doesn't already export to that format already.)

Just for fun, and because I love the attention, here's a couple of my drawings/paintings in various stages of unfinishedness. You can get a feel for my art style and where my art style leans, and maybe get an idea for where I could help out most.



Also here's a model I did for one of the creatures up there. It's the only one I could find screens of, I've got others...somewhere. These are screens from hexagon where I built the model. Always meant to animate it, but had some trouble when I went to skin and bump map it. Not really a game model, but it is 3D.

Pretty cool, Rob. I'm not sure where to look, but if those programs can export to Gamebryo .nif files, then that's what Oblivion uses. I'm sure if you wanted to make some new creatures we could use them. In fact, the whole Oblivion community would probably appreciate it.

Take a look around the forums at NPC types, there are a few that probably need to be made. The Skaya are a big tough looking group of Barbarian type dudes. If you could find out how to import maybe the Nord's from Oblivion and buff them up a bit, that would probably make some pretty good looking guys.
the-skaya-t74.html

Just one idea. I guess the first step would be seeing if your programs actually work with Oblivion files...

Rob, brilliant work. You are going to be an absolute asset here. Bear with the mod at the moment. Ive dont years of work but work full time and I'm studying for a degree that is extremely absorbing at the moment, but will shortly be back at this Mod in the usual intensity.

Citizen is correct about the NPC's. Also with the yellow triangles, make sure you are using both Oblivion and Shivering Isles ticked as in use with the Data. The triangles are resources from Shivering isles and the addon needs to be ticked in the Data load screen. If youre using the CS and see those yellow triangles then you need to update your Oblivion construction kit .ini to use Shivering isles content. Bethesda forum can help with that, Ive forgot how.

At present I am adding a little more content (Mr Sikas camels etc) and adding to the world map so that citizen can update it. I'm also working on parts of the capital city so it can be hived off into sections for people to work on. Also fixed a few sections where buildings were not fitting properly etc.

So far as world creatures are concerned, the world is mostly human, its very much like Conan or the Lord of the Rings, though the Skaya would owing to their breeding by the Vandur appear humanoid, kind of like a cross between Orcs and Vikings. There is room for many a strange creature, there's no reason we cant make use of Norse Mythology and have Trolls and Ogres etc. Roman and Greek mythology could be a good one too, maybe harpies, manticore etc. The desert presents all kinds of possibilities of Egyptian and Persian mythology.

Then there are the Vandur (demonic beings) and the uniforms and equipment of the Holorian military, Karithian desert people and so forth. Absolutely loads of stuff possible.

Thanks for the kind words guys! I really like the idea of a world that's primarily human with a few mythological beings scattered around. Kind of makes it more special when you finally do run into some crazy magic creature, instead of an "Oh great, another demon/dragon/sprite/whatever." Makes going up against that kind of thing a real event!
I'm already formulating some ideas in the back of my brain for costume ideas and creature designs. I actually haven't been this excited to see how my own ideas come out in a long time! I'm going to have a bit more of a poke around first and make sure what's forming in my mind matches up with what's already in place.

I'm so stoked!

I'll check on the construction kit thing. I actually went and bought the Game of the Year edition at Bestbuy because I had everything but the Shivering Isles expansion and it was the same price for just the expansion as the GOTY edition, and I can't find my original disks for some reason. They probably got stashed somewhere last time I moved and I just never unpacked that box. I'll get it sorted out.

Glad you're excited about it Rob. After you get it installed, I would suggest finding out if your 3D programs can read the .nif files from Oblivion, then opening some of them up and seeing what they are like. Might give you an idea of how to model your own creations for the game.

Did you find out if Carrara or Hexagon can read Gamebryo files?

Say if you need help working things out at any point. Right back to the capital city.