The difference this mod makes is immense. The barren, bland landscape is actually feeling very much alive. Traversing is much more fun now. Good job modder!
I think it's clear by now that this mod is a compatibility nightmare. This isn't written disparagingly, I really like the premise of this mod and would even dare say it should be considered a standard by which other mods should be made compatible and not the other way around.
That said, I can't think of anyone who is going to install this mod but leave all of the towns it effects vanilla. I would completely remove any stones added into town cells which are inevitably going to be modded and conflict. It's bad enough that compatibility patches available currently remove half of the mod itself.
Now, in all fairness some problems should be expected by the user when installing a mod that covers such a huge area, but there's no reason for it to be this troublesome. There are plenty of other mods out there that also cover massive areas and are nowhere near a chore to get playing nicely with other mods. Really, the only update that seems reasonable for this would be for it to just leave the towns completely alone. That would really help it gain traction and wider acceptance. As for me, I'm on the fence about whether I want to edit it myself so I can retain the rocks north of Balmora, or if it's just not worth it and uninstalling it completely.
I don't have much time for development right now. I had plans to work on the Molag Amur Region and Mount Kand. But other than that, I have a feeling that the West Gash also needs an update. I must admit that I have never seen a serious problem in mod conflicts - perhaps because I have been developing them for many years and it is not difficult for me to make the desired edits in a mod. But perhaps I underestimated the problem that other players have. So, do you think it would be useful to create a version of the mod that simply won't affect any town cells in region? Wouldn't the contrast be too stark?
Hmm... thinking about it you're probably right about the contrast. I think more and more conflicts are manifesting simply because with increased view distances, we're finding all the "faults" in Vvardenfell that were masked by fog. It's all about varying the terrain through modifying actual terrain heights and through adding meshes as RWG does so the world doesn't look so flat. Personally I think your mod does a fantastic job of making the West Gash interesting without being yet another attempt that throws trees in. Too many trees and it's not novel anymore.
I could be (and hopefully am) wrong and it could just be let to sit longer, with more people making patches for all the towns that spread out into where the rocks are or change the terrain height. For whatever it's worth to you and anyone else reading this, it's 100% worth taking the time in the editor to make the full version compatible with whatever mods you're using, having these creep in on the WG towns really helps give them character. It's become a must-have for me, personally.
EDIT: Problem solved. My own carelessness was to blame. Textures are missing. Rocks are all white. Files and esp are all in the right places. Anyone else had this issue?
This is a really well made mod on its own, but I really wish it only affected the West Gash region, as it would have been much easier to patch it, even with the Heart of the Velothi Gnisis patch. But when I'm seeing rocks affecting town and misc mods that I have throughout the map, unfortunately I have to pass on what was otherwise a very creative work of art.
Hey, just wanted to let you know that in the 1.1 version, there are a few missing meshes that are there in the 1.0 version. Just caused a few issues in balmora and gnisis. Nothing absolutely broken but its just very noticeable.
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It is also impossible to exit the river through the sides, you have to swim out the river. This part is just a pet peeve.
That said, I can't think of anyone who is going to install this mod but leave all of the towns it effects vanilla. I would completely remove any stones added into town cells which are inevitably going to be modded and conflict. It's bad enough that compatibility patches available currently remove half of the mod itself.
Now, in all fairness some problems should be expected by the user when installing a mod that covers such a huge area, but there's no reason for it to be this troublesome. There are plenty of other mods out there that also cover massive areas and are nowhere near a chore to get playing nicely with other mods. Really, the only update that seems reasonable for this would be for it to just leave the towns completely alone. That would really help it gain traction and wider acceptance. As for me, I'm on the fence about whether I want to edit it myself so I can retain the rocks north of Balmora, or if it's just not worth it and uninstalling it completely.
But other than that, I have a feeling that the West Gash also needs an update.
I must admit that I have never seen a serious problem in mod conflicts - perhaps because I have been developing them for many years and it is not difficult for me to make the desired edits in a mod. But perhaps I underestimated the problem that other players have.
So, do you think it would be useful to create a version of the mod that simply won't affect any town cells in region?
Wouldn't the contrast be too stark?
I could be (and hopefully am) wrong and it could just be let to sit longer, with more people making patches for all the towns that spread out into where the rocks are or change the terrain height. For whatever it's worth to you and anyone else reading this, it's 100% worth taking the time in the editor to make the full version compatible with whatever mods you're using, having these creep in on the WG towns really helps give them character. It's become a must-have for me, personally.
Textures are missing. Rocks are all white. Files and esp are all in the right places. Anyone else had this issue?