2/16/16: No real update, just finding a place to upload pics showing Climates of Tamriel with its Winter Edition, which makes all of Skyrim snow country. Also with Wet & Cold. I don't know if I'll go back to "summer", especially since now using Frostfall. Skyrim never ends: FTW!



==========================
UPDATE: 1/13/16

-Turned two NPC's that came with mod into merchants: General and Blacksmith.
-Navmeshed inside the tower. The NPC Wodon will now use bed top floor and additional markers I placed. Followers may also use.
-Added a total of four bedrolls on walkway over gate. These beds seem very popular.
-Added sleep package to original guards so they now may sleep. EXCEPTION: Martha, the outside blacksmith. She still did not sleep.

TOWER NAVMESH NOTE: I still cannot cross the exterior cell divide between the main property and the tower, so followers may get stuck on tower walkway. They may pop-over after a bit, but fast-traveling to Fort location is the most reliable way of getting them out of the tower area. Getting followers into the tower can be problematic, and I'm not really sure how they sometimes get into tower area. Too bad about the tower, as if the navmesh were working properly I think that all beds in the tower area could get used.

Few other minor tweaks including turning chest around under worktable, putting end tables under enchanting/alchemy.

See pics, latest pics up front. (one day I'll get to deleting some old pics of the build progress.)

UPGRADE: Got into god mode, gather loot and hard save.

==========================
12/19/15

EXCITEMENT! Just uploaded first youtube vid and showing mounted combat from common Whiterun horse. Bandits are a set that spawn from fort mod. Vid cut off before killing bandit chief and panoramic view of battlefield and Fort. Key is to not get mobbed; use the horse and speed to string-out opponents and hit and dash.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tmdH_zdDm8&feature=youtu.be

NOTE: When fighting wolves or perhaps a single close-in opponent, put horse in walk mode so you don't run around in large circles.

==========================

UPDATE 12/18/15: 1.5C3

Uploaded a new file without the numbers "-1.5c3" at the end as an optional file. Had report that numbers were causing a problem/CTD.

In the future, I may no longer put the version number in the file name itself on the esp. I think that nexusmods indicates the file version for us in the download. I hope that this way we will not have to keep gathering items for the new updates. We'll see.

Sorry if anyone else has a problem. I'm still relatively new at this.

==========================

UPDATE 12/18/15: 1.5c3

- MAIN FIX: Now enter/exit stables from any stall. I lowered the stone floor.
- Removed beds from stalls and put beds in wall towers. Followers may use; haven't seen mod's NPC's use them yet.
- Put a single weapon rack in smithing area.
- Replaced the Jarl's chair with a regular chair at dining table.
- Replaced green banner near dining table with a pelt. Could not stand the wind blowing and noise inside house. Hope to find something better.

See pics.

I experimented with gates on the stable stalls, but seemed more trouble than they were worth. Didn't really contain the horses, anyway.

FUTURE: Would like to make the two mod NPC's - the lady steward in the house and the lady stormcloak tinkering in the smithing area - into merchants: general and blacksmith, respectively. When learn how.

Also thinking of making the outside wall tower nearest the smithing area into an outdoor armory of sorts. Don't think NPC's really use that tower, due to navmesh issue.

=========================

EDIT 12/15/15: 1.5c2

Decided to continue with and go back to the original 1.5c series with the original long dining table (it looks best) and the Whiterun stables (very tidy). The stables are very tricky to learn to place horses (entering and dismounting), but can be done. See pic.

Also fixed (I hope) navmesh so followers/horses can exit the fort gate. They were getting hung-up after my beautiful exterior navmesh around the fort house. Should go in and out now. But having followers with horses (my own horses, no horse mod) complicates things.

I think this will be it for awhile as to modding this. Want to try extensively playing with it to enjoy...and perhaps shake out some more bugs.

=========================

UPDATE 12/13/15: 1.5d

- New interior; no longer run into a too long table upon entering. New upstairs cupboard, table, chairs.
- Replaced Whiterun stable with an Imperial stable. Not sure if it's facing correct way, but I think it is the way it looks best. Opens place up and can get on and off horses.
- More outside navmesh. Still having trouble navmeshing into tower, but without navmeshing tower (just using original navmesh in game ?) NPC's seem to work better - at least on the little walkway.
- More outside idle markers here and there (warm hands; lean)
-Falkreath Hall of Dead missing center fixed.

See latest pics
=========================

UPDATE 12/6/15:

- More outside navmesh, followers now use beds in stable and the walkway above main gate.
- Added warm hands idle markers here and there near fires. May still need tweaking for right distance.
- Put weapon rack end caps on racks in basement, think even large battle axes now work fine.

See pics.

FUTURE: Although it looks nice, I think that the dining table is too large for the place and not enough NPC's can sit there (4 max.)  Also contributes to a choke-point between bar and fireplace chair. So may look for something else.

Needs more navmesh outside, but I think that your NPC's will now act a little less crazy.

INSTALLATION: Best to gather loot, followers and your own horses and go to Rorikstead before installing.

=========================

UPDATE 12/4/15: Got original weapon plaques behind jarl's chair and racks on either side of the door working. Added 5 more racks on basement hallway wall. A bit more outside navmesh, this time heading toward woodcutting block and apiary. But NPC's do run around some, apparently using the original game ground navmesh before the mod. It goes under things such as the stable, probably why NPC's run into things and moon-walk. I am trying to delete some of that old navmesh.

BYO weapons for racks & plaques.

Also added open crate in smithing area. Want to learn - and encourage others - to manually place items, instead of relying on containers and even auto-sorting. It will take some skill. But will not be able to hoard, which is probably good since I collect much more smithing material then I ever use or need. I left some interior shelves clear just for that notion. Also the silver platter on table. Why not let us try decorating them ourselves? I find that 1st person in walk mode works best.

Decided to try moving this mod to simply player abodes category. It isn't much of a castle, and I notice that other castles and places larger than this are there.

See pics.

Oh: When I installed the last update, over JK's Rorikstead, I noticed that his apple orchard in my driveway was now gone. So there might be a slight overlap which I did not notice before. I prefer the orchard gone, when using JK's mod. As I recall, the Rorikstead from ET&C did not expand out as much.

INSTALLATION: Best to gather loot, followers and your own horses and go to Rorikstead before installing.

FUTURE: Intend to try more outside navmesh. Also, replace weapon plaques behind Jarl's chair with shield and crossed swords (coat of arms.) May take some learning.

=========================

UPDATE 12/3/15: I think I improperly navmeshed basement stairs. Tried again, this time trying to mimick my farm house (Alvor's house). Hope it's better. Also, did a bit of navmesh on front porch and in yard near cooking/smithing areas. Also added benches on porch and bedrolls inside house. See pics.

INSTALLATION: This is a completely renamed file upload so if you are using this mod you should gather your loot and any followers and go to Rorikstead, then install. May also have a new bandit attack.

=========================

UPDATE 12/3/15: Updated new file replacing first file. Navmeshed house interior. Probably not perfect but npc's move around better and are using the beds (see latest pics). Also swimming bug is fixed: thanks to aenid at comments section!

Next will probably look at house interior décor. Dining table is nice looking, but for its size only sits four at the two benches. So I may swap it for another. Also want to fix weapon plaques/racks.

=========================

EDIT 12/2/15: Was surprised to see followers and house npc's moving around, since I've only navmeshed by door and door-side of table. See pics. (BTW, carpet under table is jacked-up to ceiling for navmesh, if anyone notices it's missing.) Although npcs apparently move around inside the house, I think performance of all will improve with navmesh. Or perhaps just leave things as is for now? They may be using original ground navmesh, although I thought I removed at least most of that under the house. Maybe not. Or did the place come with navmesh I didn't see?

Also added pic with swimming effect showing that it does look like being in a barrel or well.

EDIT 12/1/15: Progress. A bit of navmesh work and followers now enter house and bard performs. I think that lack of navmesh was prohibiting both. Have to navmesh entire house inside. No file update just yet. See latest pic. (PS: Am thinking of swapping out the dinning table for another one or something else.)

EDIT 12/1/15: Was thinking of using top two floors of tower as alchemy and enchanting stations, since didn't believe that NPC's used tower. Went to look tower over and was surprised to see the fort guard, Wodon, on second floor sitting in a chair and drinking. Surprised because I have not yet touched any navmesh issues. May have to re-think tower idea.

See latest two pics.

=========================


While looking at Rorikstead town improvements to go with my Rorikstead farmhouse I eventually came across Draig77's "Angle Saxon or Norman Bailey Hill Fort", which I recall visiting some time back. Draig77 recently put his mod up for adoption by anyone (see my last pic and his latest update at his mod site):

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/55802/?

I thought it looked very nice in conjunction with my farmhouse mod.

But it had - and still has - some bugs, which one can catch-up on at his original link and comments section.

I deleted Sophie and Alesan (sp) from the fort. It was reported that Sophie could wander all over Skyrim, which I didn't mind. But a fast-travel to Windhelm found two Sophies side-by-side speaking in unison. So she (and he) had to go from the fort, but another fast-travel showed one Sophie still in Windhelm.

It was reported that the fort guards travel to Whiterun (Dragon's Reach) and the fort can pull guards from Whiterun. I have not yet seen Whiterun guards at the fort, but see pics showing fort guards in Whiterun. I don't necessarily consider this a bug as traveling back and forth could make things more interesting. I understand from the original comments that one theory is that the lack of good navmesh leading to their beds at the fort makes the guards behave like Lydia.

Navmesh. Hope to get to that, although I'm still working on that at my farmhouse exterior.

BANDIT VERSION

This is (or should be) Draig77's "Bandit Version" of his mod. Bandits have spawned to the west (in or around my crop area at my farm!) as well as to the east. Has made for some VERY interesting and exciting battles!

First Battle: In the front yard of my farm (out of crop area). Three Legionnaires on the road in front of my farm joined in on that one.

Second Battle: Literally at my crop area. Bandits in the crops, my crew and I on the other side of the fence. All swinging swords over the fence.

Third Battle: Crew and I held back as bandits in farmhouse front yard to see what happened. Fort guards showed up and dispatched them. Don't know if this was their programmed response, or if they were just on their way to Whiterun for a meal and bed.

Fourth Battle: At fort, bandits this time spawning from east. I tried fighting from the wall with bow and arrow, but definitely need more practice on that.

Note here that the fort battle brought a big hit on my computer performance. Not long ago I built a "cheap" $350  AMD machine using the APU chip. No independent graphics card. Built just for Skyrim and the game set itself at "high" settings. But this battle slowed down my machine like I've never seen. I should look into a "real" graphics card (there-by effectively having two) but it will depend on how your machine specs are.

Water Bug: An older version of this mod had a well that was apparently moved slightly to introduce an upgraded house. But in the area where the woodcutting block is now one will encounter a swimming effect. See pics. Original comment speculation was that a water/rain barrel stuck in house wall caused it. But I suspect the old well. Anyway, I deleted the current well and any solution would be appreciated.

Falkreath Hall of the Dead: The inside center of the hall of the dead is missing. See pic. Speculation was that the house door caused it. Any solution would be appreciated, thanks.

Original weapon racks and plaques do not work. Will take some CK learning on my part to fix.

I may update as other issues, thoughts come to mind.

I must say that this Saxon Norman Fort in conjunction with my Rorikstead Farmhouse and JK's Rorikstead really transforms Rorikstead from a small, non-descript town in the middle of nowhere into something like the agricultural and industrial (smithing) capital of Skyrim!

Oh, one more thing for now. Not long ago I came across theories that the great soil in Rorikstead is because of Daedric worship and fertile-female sacrifice. Was well presented and sounded convincing. If you are into theories then this could make Rorikstead the most interesting town in Skyrim (and actually one of the oldest, despite what you might hear from Rorik).

REQUIREMENTS:

Possibly Dawnguard, Hearthfire and Dragonborn, because that is what comes up in the Creation Kit. Not sure, though. Probably wouldn't hurt to try it anyway.

EDIT: Yes, all three required. See this from original site:

Requirements:
"Hearthfires, Dragonborn and Dawnguard DLCs required"

CREDITS:

Thanks to Draig77 for his excellent mod which he placed for adoption. (See the authorization in my pics)

Thanks to all who commented at the original mod looking for bugs and suggesting solutions.
_____________________________My Stuff:Cracked Tusk Keep Tweaked: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/71322
Ruined Whiterun Farmhouse Tweaked: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/68392
SPH1's Rorikstead Farm House: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/68880
SPH1's Saxon Norman Rorikstead Fort: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/71690
Helgen House WIP: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/72123
L-shape Whiterun Farm House: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/72368Youtube:Mounted Horse Combat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tmdH_zdDm8&feature=youtu.be