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((Thanks for all the comments on my last post, guys! I am currently looking into a solution based on those responses -- it seems Windows 8.1 is to blame -- and I really do appreciate the abundance of feedback. It was a lot more than I initially expected. It warms my heart to see so many people gathered around the prospect of this project's success.))

This is just an announcement that I have decided to continue developing Realms of Arkania for the Oblivion engine. Migrating to the Skyrim engine would have not only meant sacrificing a ton of progress made on Arunor, but it would have made for a much simpler and possibly even smaller map design, since I would have no longer had access to TESAnnwyn -- the program I use to convert heightmaps into usable .esps. More importantly, it would have meant cutting myself off to an amazingly supportive fan base. Ultimately, I decided that no technology, no matter how graphically superior, should drive me to forsake this mod's most vital asset: its supporters. Without you guys, none of this would have been possible.

I'm doing this out of a love for all of the friendships that have been kindled around this ambitious fire. I have turned my back on Skyrim and taken a complete leap of faith,placing all of my trust in the RoA community here. I have done this in the face of great adversity and I am confident that all things, in time, will be made possible through this project's increasingly passionate followers. I would like all of you to realize that, since I am working in a state of reduced functionality, I will be dependent upon your feedback and general aid now more than ever. Yet I have faith in the future of this project as an Oblivion total conversion mod. The show must go on. Broken features such as dialogue will not be in the mod for a long while, I understand, but again, I have faith in the community that they will one day provide what I cannot. And that goes for anything else that I happen to find I am unable to access. Whatever artistic or technical asset I cannot provide, I will place my trust in the community to step forward and fill the gap. Understand that RoA, developed in this state, with the vanilla CS and as a one-man team, will not be perfect. Perfection must be a joint venture. So I am counting on those that would like to see this project succeed to continue lending their support, to continue taking an active hand in discussions on various technical/design/artistic challenges, and to continue spreading the word about this project to the four corners of the Internet. This will be very much a community project and no contribution is too small. I need all the help I can get when it comes to social outreach and man-power. So let's do this.

Currently, I am overseeing the development of Tyrendar -- a city of which many who played the last build will be familiar with. Terrain data was lost during the transfer to the new worldspace, so I am working hard attempting to replicate the missing elevations and textures. Next, hopefully, I will have time to get around to painting roads and marking key dungeon locations for future interior level designers to take command of.

Also, I recently started playing ESO. I was selected as a beta tester way-back-when (funny/tragic story: I never actually got to provide feedback because the machine I had at the time couldn't even run it ;_; ) so I'm in for the Welcome Back Weekend until the 20th of April, and you can find me on the North American server as (easily enough) a white-haired Dunmeri Dragonknight named "Zek'Aonar".  Never truly got the chance to review ESO to any significant depth, so I'm excited to be able to do so now.

Anyway, all that said, I'm off to bed and off to work tomorrow, so I'll check in again later. I'm sure a lot of people will be happy to know I've decided to stay with the Oblivion engine, and I am confident that you guys will be eager to patch up any areas that remain inaccessible or unaddressed, so I'll try not to worry about it so much. This community is worth developing for.