Oblivion

About this mod

Building on TWMP Skyrim Improved, this mod fills in the province of Skyrim, adding new towns, castles, dungeons and quests.

Requirements
Permissions and credits
Mirrors
Changelogs
This mod fills in the province of Skyrim. This project started because I wanted to replace a few trees!


When events start developing, the hero will have to choose but one path. Make sure you don't miss your chance to choose, or that you don't dismiss the main quest altogether. Your choice will determine your path later on, as the story continues in the future installments. And that includes the lack of choice as well - the Path of the Undecided.





A game in Skyrim
You can play the whole game in Skyrim, starting from level 1. You can go to Cyrodiil at any point and play the Oblivion Main Quest too. It is not necessary to "train up" your character before going to Skyrim. However, Skyrim will generally remain somewhat more challenging than vanilla Cyrodiil. Bring your axe.

Spoiler:  
Show

To play a game in Skyrim, use an alternate start mod - either TWMP Skyrim Arrive by Ship from the Optional Files section on this mod page, or Wolf Alternate Start from its own mod page. Arriving by ship allows you to select your background, but you always start at level 1. The Wolf start allows you to start at any level, but your outfit and spells are based solely on your chosen class. There are other differences too - read the Optional Extras section below for details.

If you are starting at a level below 20, it is highly recommended to make creature spawn leveled with the TWMP Skyrim Less Scary mod from the Optional Files. Otherwise you may be overwhelmed anywhere in the wilderness. Equally, when playing at much higher levels, making creatures leveled would increase overall difficulty of the game and actually make it more scary.

Release 1
Fills in the area just North of the border, building mountain passes and roads to be able to travel from Falkreath to Riften. Adds Riften, Helgenand expands Riverwood. Takes care of roads into Cyrodiil - Skyrim is now properly accessible.

This release is still available for those people who just want to have the "other side" of the Jerall Mountains but don't want to or don't have the capacity to run later releases of TWMP Skyrim Alive.

Release 2
A big release, with new towns, villages, dungeons, castles, etc., and roads! Skyrim becomes a big place indeed. You can now reach every location by road, although teleportation-based guides from eariler releases are still there, if you want them. There are over 120 new dungeons and over 50 small to medium-sized quests dotted all over Skyrim, but no "main quest" or an overarching quest line.

Release 3
This release introduces a Main Quest. It is a brand new story with seven interconnected quest lines that sends you all over Skyrim, giving you some 60 medium to large quests. How many you will find, depends on your choices.

I wrote the story in such a way that it will feed into the stories for future releases. I still plan to build further cities going West, but I decided to push it to releases 4 and 5, as the story continues. Let's fill in the gaps from release 2 first.

Spoiler:  
Show

This release adds an island in the Ghost Sea with a city on it, an outworldly realm, a dozen new castles, several major roads, as well as some caves and dungeons where existing ones could not be used. That's in addition to filling in those interiors that were left unfilled previously: Dragonsreach in Whiterun, Sky Haven Temple and High Hrothgar. Whiterun is completely finished up and filled with NPCs. Ysgramor's Companions also appear, if the player chooses to rescue them from yet another mead sampling expedition gone wrong... or something like that. Whiterun was left largely empty in release 2, and this is used in several quests.

I have been asked to write a walkthrough for the Skyrim Main Quest. There isn’t one really, and I don’t like walkthroughs and avoid them for my own games. I feel they rip the soul out of a story. However, I can give you a few pointers, some checkpoints, some hints to help things along. Here is Skyrim Main Quest not a walkthrough.


Main features
Spoiler:  
Show

Towns and villages from TWMP Skyrim Improved by Haldar: Solitude, Windhelm, Snowhawk, Riverwood, Oakwood, Blackmoor, Granitehall, Laintar Dale, Vernim Wood, Dungar Wall, Greenwall, Nimalten City, Sungard and Riften Watch (the burned down part of Riften). Castles (without interiors yet): High Hrothgar and Sky Haven Temple. There are also a number of caves and mines in the original mod. And Oblivion gates. All this is preserved and unchanged, I am only adding new things to let Skyrim grow.

New towns and villages added by this mod: Riften, Helgen, Whiterun, Morthal, Dawnstar, Winterhold (including the College of Magic housed in an ancient Ayleid city of Sunev), Dragon Bridge, Ivarstead; plus Kogotel and Dunkreath in Morrowind and a whole new island with a city - the Bleak Isle. Riverwood was doubled in size. All towns have their own look and feel (new or retextured models everywhere).

Dungeons: over 100 new multi-level dynamically linked dungeons are dotted all over Skyrim. Forts, caves, mines. Although they are based on vanilla dungeons, they are sufficiently altered to feel different. The deeper you go, the harder it gets. Watch out for curses, too! Another 30 or so custom dungeons are thrown into the mix as well.

Dwemer ruins from David Brasher's mod have been imported from Morrowind and placed in Skyrim, with significant modifications. They will feel sufficiently different to the original, so you can in fact also have David's ruins loaded and not have a sense of deja vu. Dwemer ruins are marked as Ayleid ruins on the map to differentiate them from fort ruins. We have no special marker type for Dwemer ruins, but you can tell what's what from the name.

Castles:A dozen castles appeared in the mountains, all used in quests. Castles are marked as cities to differentiate them from other landmarks.

Local quests: Many cities and villages are getting notice boards that have local quests. No world-shattering quests here, no saving the Empire from the jaws of Oblivion or anything like that. Still nice I hope, and people have been asking for quests. Some are fetch quests, but quite a few have lasting consequences, so Skyrim will be changing through your actions, even if only a little.

Please note that not all NPCs are necessarily nice people... you have to decide for yourself which requests you want to fulfil, and which to refuse.

The Main Quest begins small - don't miss it. It is a Morrowind-style quest line in that it doesn't hold your hands and expects you to go off and do stuff on your own. There are few quest markers, because a search quest is not much of a challenge if you know exactly where to look, for example. Yet all the necessary information is provided and recorded in the journal, so keep your wits about you. If you think a quest is getting stuck or directions are too vague, talk to people, keep your eyes open - another quest may come along and provide clarity. Although there are very few hard dependencies between quests, there are many soft links.

The total number of quests in this mod is over 110. However, none of them will apper in your journal at load time, you have to find them. Some are organised in quest lines, while others are independent. You don't get them all at once.

Companions! There are mercenaries about and some of those people you're doing favours for, might agree to accompany you. They are based on my own Companions system that uses custom companions and therefore does not interfere with anything else - you can use another system alongside it.

Unmarked and unjournalled treasure hunts and surprises are also included. Not all surprises may be pleasant (Skyrim is a wild and dangerous place).

Passes from Morrowind have been added - the Rift Pass and the Dunmereth Pass. These passes have a gate, and you won't be able to cross into Morrowind anywhere else, unless you levitate. Velothi Mountains are very high and rugged, and you really can't cross them just anywhere. Open the gates and enter Morrowind. Install the optional Morroblivion Skyrim Transport ESP to unlock travel to Morrowind from Windhelm, Dunkreath and Kogotel.

Horse sales and coach travel: you can buy a horse or book a coach from all major cities and some prominent coach inns. You cannot go from anywhere to anywhere though, but have to do it in stages. Coach travel takes time, and a single journey cannot be longer than 12 hours or so - the horses have to rest.

Unlike horses in Cyrodiil, Skyrim horses do not feel bound to return to the stables where you bought them. They remain where you dismount, but should you lose them for any reason, the original stable master can usually help to get them back - or sell you another horse, complete with saddlebags.

Long distance travel is usually by ship. Scripting tries to account for sleep and hunger, tested with Bare Necessities. Optional long distance travel to Morrowind uses the same scripts.


Prerequisites and Installation

Spoiler:  
Show

For detailed installation instructions please see How to install TWMP Tamriel. This is particularly important if you don't have TWMP installed yet. The installation must happen in a particular order, and this guide explains how to do it.

To access Skyrim or any area outside of Cyrodiil, you need to turn off borders in Oblivion INI file. See this Wiki page on how to do it.

For those who just want a quick list of prerequisites, here they are:


TWMP Locations or TWMP Skyrim Guard Armors and Shields are not required as masters. However, these mods are highly recommended. Load them before TWMP Skyrim Alive.

NOTE: the stud for TWMP Hammerfell is not fully sufficient for TWMP Locations because Locations makes changes to TWMP Hammerfell and these fall outside the purpose of the stud. If you want to use Locations, you need the full version of TWMP Hammerfell.

This mod does not have any loose files. All the resources, voice files and LOD are packed in BSA archives. LOD is only required if you are not generating your own. Voice files are synthetic, generated with xVAsynth. If you don't want them in your game, do not install the Voices BSA. Note however that you will deprive the population of Skyrim or rumours if you remove the voice files.

If you wish to use any of the optional extras or patches, download the corresponding archives as needed and read the separate sections below.


Updating from release 2
Spoiler:  
Show
Release 3 has fewer masters but instead relies on updated prerequisites. I tried my best to avoid discontinuities, so you should be able to update from release 2 and continue your game. However, in a very small number of cases you may experience glitches or find a few items missing. It could not always be avoided. But it should not cause any crashes or similar catastrophies.

It is best if you start a new game or load this release into a clean save -a save made without TWMP Skyrim Alive. This would mean of course that you lose all quest progress in it, and this may be a problem. You have to decide for yourself what to do.

The following prerequisites need updating for release 3:

- Update Tamriel Resource Pack to version 2.3 - get v2.0 full pack and v2.3 update.

- Update TWMP High Rock to version 2.0 - note a new mod page.
- Delete the old TWMP_HighRock.bsa.

- Update Lena's Companions master files to v3.0.
If you are updating from release 1, carefully review configuration to avoid unwanted surprises.

- Update your map: either the module for the Dynamic Map or a static in-game map.

- Delete LenasTransport.esm as it is no longer used.

- Delete previous TWMP Skyrim Alive ESP and BSAs.

- Delete "TWMP Skyrim Alive creature fix" ESP and BSA.

You may notice that TWMP Hammerfell is no longer a master of TWMP Skyrim Alive. However, you still need it for TWMP Skyrim Improved. If you don't want to have that mod, you can substitute it by a stud from the Miscellaneous section on this page. It has no playable content but provides the resources needed for TWMP Skyrim Improved.


LOD (distant view data)
Spoiler:  
Show

LOD for this mod covers Skyrim and the border regions in Northern Cyrodiil and Eastern Hammerfell and High Rock. This is because Oblivion makes land LOD only in very large chunks. This means that if you have extensive land edits to the Northern areas of Cyrodiil, their LOD will be overwritten by this one. In this case you will need to generate your own LOD for your personal collection of mods, or live with the inconsistencies.

Land LOD covers cells from <-32,32> to <63,159>, while object LOD is more precise and covers cells from <-17,39> to <36,130>. The object LOD was generated with custom hand-placed VWD markers rather than a blanket catch-all method. This gives the most efficient LOD. All custom LOD models are included in the resources BSA. For vanilla models you are welcome to install an LOD optimiser of your choice.

Please see the TWMP Northern Provinces cell spreadsheet in the Miscellaneous Files section. The object LOD covers exactly the cells of Skyrim and Morrowind up to the sea in the East.

The LOD data comes in two BSAs: Tamriel and other worldspaces. Tamriel LOD is straightforward, with default numeric quad file names. LOD for other worldspaces is given in the format introduced by the Engine Bug Fixes OBSE plugin. Make sure you enable TerrainLODLoadPatch option. Read my guide on building your own LOD for more information.

If you find a lot of purple in the LOD, then your game did not load the LOD BSAs correctly. I don't know why it happens, but sometimes it does. In this case unpack the LOD BSAs into your Data folder to solve the problem.


Dialogue and voice files
Spoiler:  
Show
I generated voice files using xVAsynth for all the mods covering the Northern Realms of TWMP Tamriel:
  • TWMP Hammerfell
  • TWMP Skyrim Improved
  • TWMP Locations
  • TWMP Skyrim Alive
These voice files are bundled in two BSAs - one for this mod and the other for Hammerfell and Skyrim Improved. Install as desired.

NOTE: Skyrim has its own rumours. If you do not install the voices BSA, you will find most people carry silent conversations.


Maps
Spoiler:  
Show

I offer two types of maps: static and dynamic. Both types require MenuQue.

A static map replaces the in-game Cyrodiil map with one for the entire Tamriel. It has no performance cost and doesn't flicker, but it also does not zoom and the choice of maps is limited. See Tamriel in-game maps in HD.

Dynamic Map is a separate mod that puts together a correct map for your personal collection of mods, with the correct module. It allows to zoom the map but also has a performance cost and sometimes glitches on some hardware. To install it, you need the following:



Optional extras
Spoiler:  
Show

I am including a few optional extras - small mods that are designed to work with TWMP Skyrim Alive. Use at will. Find them in the files tab. Load all additions after TWMP Skyrim Alive.

Game play changes

TWMP Northern Realms Localised makes it so that items introduced by this suite of mods are only available in Hammerfell, High Rock and Skyrim and no where else. You won't be able to buy Nordic armour or Skyrim ingredients in Elsweyr, for example. In addition, items that cannot be found in game are also not included in vendor lists. You cannot get deathbell flower heads if you have no deathbell plants anywhere. Some weapons and armour introduced in TWMP Locations are extremely overpowered - this mod brings them in line with other weapons and armour. Finally, this mod rewrites two scripts from Hammerfell and Locations that run every time you enter any cell - they scan all actors and containers and distribute items to them. These loops have been removed in this mod, improving performance and preventing unexpected items from appearing.

TWMP Skyrim Less Scary reduces the number of monsters being spawned in Skyrim and makes monster spawn leveled. No more level 22 werewolves for a level 1 player character! You'll be just meeting wolves and mudcrabs, and perhaps an occasional ogre or troll. The overall effect is a bit stronger than in Cyrodiil, but not over the top.

TWMP Skyrim Transient Oblivion Gates makes the Oblivion gates in Skyrim and Hammerfell different from the standard Oblivion gates and completely independent from the Main Quest. The Skyrim gates are now transient - they appear and disappear every now and again, and continue doing so until you go in and close them. Once closed, the gate does not reopen, so you can in fact clear them all up! Also, the red sky phenomenon is much more localised with these gates compared to standard. Mehrunes Dagon finally spread himself too thin, it seems...


Transport to other provinces

Morroblivion Skyrim Transport adds travel by ship between Windhelm and Solstheim (Fort Frostmoth), Kogotel and Gnaar Mok, and Dunkreath and Ald Velothi. Tested with Morroblivion v66 but will likely work also with older versions. Compatible with Morroblivion MDP 2016 in Ald Velothi - no patches required.

Gnaar Mok - Skyrim Transport Patch reconciles Morroblivion Skyrim Transport with my Morroblivion Gnaar Mok Expanded Patch which in itself reconciles More Detailed Places (MDP) 2016 and Gnaar Mok Expanded for Morroblivion. The Gnaar Mok - Skyrim Transport Patch is very small, there's just a small land tear and a fix to path grids.


Alternate start mods

Wolf Alternate Start has an option of starting in Skyrim, as well as Hammerfell, High Rock or other provinces, depending on your load order. This mod allows you to start at any level, outfitted with equipment and spells according to your class. You start owning a dwelling in the province of your choice.

TWMP Skyrim Arrive by Ship is an add-on for Alternative Start Arrive by Ship that extends it with three extra choices: start in Solitude, Windhelm or Rihad. As usual, find your traveler's sack somewhere near the spot where you disembark. The other choices are still preserved, and you get to select your background which determines your equipment and spells. However, you always start at level 1 and without a home.

Note that the above file is not mastered on any of the TWMP mods. But if you choose to disembark in Skyrim while Skyrim is not loaded, you will find yourself in the sea or worse - crashed to desktop. Use your common sense. This mod does not check your load order.


Recommended additions
Spoiler:  
Show

If you use any mods that modify the areas of Southern Skyrim or Northern Jeralls near the Skyrim border, generally load them before this mod, otherwise roads will be overwritten.

Here are some suggestions for the area - mods that work well with this mod and TWMP in general (I have them in my game):
  • Skyrim Observatory - North-East from the Dive Rock. Causes minor land tears near Aerin's camp.
  • HESU Mod Collection - Skyrim Temple - West from the shrine of Azura.
  • The Ancient Dwemer Ruins - sits right on the road. Conflicts with UL Jerall Glacier - choose either one or the other. Load before Skyrim Alive - the landscape in Skyrim Alive has been altered to match that of the Ruins, so no compatibility patches are needed. See also my patch for the Dwemer Ruins to fix automatic doors - this is a fix for the mod, not a compatibility patch, it does not edit the landscape. Load the fix right after the Dwemer Ruins mod. Load the Ruins after the HESU Skyrim Temple to avoid land tears.
  • Ancient Dwemer Ruin Vornhuzduc - in Cyrodiil West of Bruma.
  • Pinevale - in the Jeralls West of Bruma. There is a pass from below.
  • Ghastley's Falkreath from his own website.
  • Nordinkarst- Nordic Meadhall - in the Jeralls West of Pinevale. Easy access from Falkreath! Use this patch with TWMP. Load the main mod and the patch after TWMP Skyrim Alive.
  • Red Mead Hall - just West of the shrine of Hermaeus Mora. Load this after TWMP Skyrim Alive. No patches required.
  • Sutch Village - in the Mouth of the Brena river, connects nicely with the road from Hammerfell. Use this patch for TWMP Hammerfell to reconcile them, or get this patch from the Files tab on this mod page - it is the same file.


Conflicts and patches
Spoiler:  
Show

Incompatibility

Users reported a possible incompatibility with Oblivion Character Overhaul (OCO v2) leading to game crashes. The problem seems to reside with OCO though, please use OCO Compatibility Edition as a solution.


Mods to remove

Skyrim Alive by braveheart101 is integrated into this mod with author's permission. Please remove the original Skyrim Alive.

Skyrim Nord Tombs is integrated into TWMP Locations (a recommended mod by Haldar). Please remove the original Skyrim Nord Tombs if using TWMP Locations.

Jerall Home Remastered has been incorporated into this mod, with modifications. Please remove the original Jerall Home.

The Crystal Chasm by twoshedzzz and my Patch for Red Mead Hall and Crystal Chasm are now both integrated into this mod. Please remove the originals. If you are using the Red Mead Hall, you no longer need the patch with it.


Patches

Please find these patches in the Miscellaneous section on the Files tab.

If you are using Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul, please use my patch for Crystal Chasm and OOO to save those bandits from falling into the chasm.

Nordinkarst- Nordic Meadhall fits nicely with Skyrim, but please use my patch for it to smooth over land tears.

Sutch Village - in the Mouth of the Brena river, connects nicely with the road from Hammerfell. Use my patch for TWMP Hammerfell to reconcile them. A different patch for the same conflict is available with TWMP Hammerfell. Obviously, choose only one of them!

This mod conflicts with Unique Landscapes Snowdale and Jerall Glacier. Please download patches from the Unique Landscapes Compatibility Patches page. Patches for Snowdale come in two versions: ULE is for TWMP Skyrim Alive release 1, while ULM and ULS are for TWMP Skyrim Alive release 2. The ULM and ULS Snowdale patches are also available from this mod page.

If you are using The Ancient Dwemer Ruins and UL Jerall Glacier, download a 3-way patch from the files section here. Both ULM and ULS versions are available. This patch works for all releases of TWMP Skyrim Alive.


Known bugs
Spoiler:  
Show

Please see the top sticky in the comments section for a list of recently discovered bugs that I aim to fix in the near future (or at least try to fix).


Acknowledgements and Permissions

Spoiler:  
Show

A project of this size would have never been possible to do from start to finish by just one person (myself). I used a large number of resources created by model and animation makers, and I copied and modified castles, manor houses or even a whole island, all offered for free reuse by their respective authors. Plus, of course, I used resources contained in the mods on which this one is mastered - Tamriel Resource Pack (TamRes) and TWMP Skyrim Improved. Below is a list of resources in no particular order. Many of them are already listed in the credits to TamRes too.

I have included many of my self-made resources into the Tamriel Resource Pack library. Those are free to use. The other resources that are only included in this mod, are not free to use. Please contact me first if you wish to use any of my own resources found in TWMP Skyrim Alive BSA.

Models and textures - buildings:

Models and textures - ships:

Models and textures - objects and clutter:

Books:

Creatures:

NPC animations:

Clothing, weapons and armour:

Dungeons and caves:
  • Crystal Chasm by twoshedzzz - incorporates this mod in its original location
  • Dwemer Ruins by David Brasher - imported, modified and used in Skyrim
  • Skyrim Nord Tombs by David Brasher - resources used to make new tombs

Castles and manor houses - imported, modified and placed in Skyrim:
Islands and cities - imported, modified, completed and placed in Skyrim:
Voice files were generated with xVAsynth.

This mod has been tested and cleaned with TES4Edit.

Many thanks to starlessmao81ac for explaining things about the order of masters to me.
Many thanks to Haldar1248 for testing and discussions.
Many thanks to AllisterHenderson for feedback and quest ideas.
Many thanks to Ghastley, Acadian, macole and chambcra for the discussions, feedback and encouragement.
Many thanks to Clayton1015 for testing release 3 preview and giving a very helpful report.
Many thanks to LordPalpatine2020 for a steady stream of bug reports! Much appreciated.
Many thanks to everyone who posted constructive comments and reported bugs!


But what about... - FAQ
Spoiler:  
Show

But there aren't any quests...
Actually, there are over 110 quests. None of them will appear in your journal at load time though - you have to find them. Hint: read books, scrolls and notes lying around!

Does it crash a lot?
No, not in my game. I've had it in for over two years now - literally, and all the while I've been changing this mod, going back and forth, reloading old saves (a big no-no), so some confusion did occur, but no crashes. Seems to be stable. My big thanks for that go to everyone who worked on the TWMP mods on which this one is based.

Do I need a new game for this?

No. I loaded the whole TWMP suite at 800 hours into a game - and it went without a hitch. It is probably a good idea though to load it while your hero is located outside of the affected area, just to be on the safe side.

Can I use it with Valenwood and Elsweyr?

Yes. This mod itself only modifies Skyrim, but TWMP mods do work with Elsweyr, as well as with Morroblivion, and there is a TWMP version of Valenwood Improved. See my TWMP installation guide for the entire Tamriel.

Why don't you merge all TWMP mods together so it would be easier to install?
Because they are not my mods. Because not everyone wants to have every province of Tamriel. Because that is likely to blow up your Oblivion. Because the merged file will greatly exceed 2GB and will be impossible to load - Oblivion is still a 32-bit application. Because I would never be able to work on such a huge file. Because I would not be able to upload it here over our slow and unstable internet connection. Is that enough?

Why don't you pack all parts of this mod into one file? I don't want to make so many mouse clicks!
RSI is of course a concern, but I have to publish this mod in several separate files because of their size. My upload speeds are around 200MB per hour, which means that uploading a 300MB file takes an hour and a half. That is assuming that the upload does not get interrupted, which it often does. Then I have to restart from scratch. In practice it takes a day or two to get all parts of this mod uploaded, so I am not keen on doing it for every little change. Hence it is split up so as to keep it manageable.

I want more pictures!

For a look behind the scenes and the "making of" of this mod, see this thread on Chorrol forums - I'm posting updates there as I go along.

Where do the stories in the fiction books come from?

"I am Lena Wolf" at Chorrol.com. Not all of the book stories have made it into the main narrative yet - some are just glimpses of the future.

But I don't want the rest of TWMP!
Then you cannot use this mod. Sorry.


What's in the future?


The Reach: Markarth, Karthwasten and Dragonstar. The Reach is mostly inspired by Arena rather than TES5, so Karthwasten will be rather more than just a two-house mining hovel. Markarth is inspired by TES5 though with distinct buildings and layout. Dragonstar is based on Arena again. Plus one brand new city as a surprise, almost a fable.

You can follow the development on this thread on Chorrol forums.