I will be making one final update to this esp replacer which will consist of slight vanity update to the entrance. That will be the final version of the .esp replacer. If you already have it, the update wont be needed but It wouldnt break your save either. Then I will make a patch version which will also only require Ahbiilok.esp and not MHdunSky001.esp. Why? Because neither mod actually modify the terrain of the cell so I don't have make sure you get the "wrong terrain" on one of the cells. But a patch can be merged into the original ESP and will not need updating unless the author of ahbiilok makes drastic changes. Which means the mod isn't on life support when I am busy incase Ahbiilok does get updated.
Why didn't I do that to begin with? Because I literally started CK the same day I made this ESP replacer and it was my first project and I didn't know about changing ESM flag in TES5Edit to make an esp that requires the mod as a master xD The point is it just works but this new thing should work better.
Since you know how to do this stuff (I'm just a gear modder and a patcher, I know @#$*-all about landscape fixing), a real challenge would be resolving the conflict between Arthmoor's Skyrim Villages and Clockwork AKA Clockwork Castle. Clockwork's Velothi tunnel entrance collides badly with the village of Keld Nar, including landscape rips. If the Velothi tunnel entrance had to be completely relocated, there are lots of places along that mountain range just north or south of Keld Nar that should work, or maybe it could just be moved a little bit, so it sits behind the village instead of smack in the middle of it.
I wish there were a tutorial specifically for fixing landscape conflicts; it seems complicated but some people know how to do it, so it can't be THAT hard to learn.
Nice I might try it out after I fix another conflict I just need to actually edit a navmesh this time.. and it's exterior navmesh so I am trying to work out how to do it with out deleting any triangles because I think that will make an "undeleted nav mesh" which is like the bane of modding. I mean if mods have undeleted navmesh I tend to totally skip on them so I don't want to make a mod with one in it. Maybe with what I am learning I could fix those too. XD Last year I was trying out city expansion mods but they conflicted a lot with Interesting NPCs so I did dream of being able to fix the conflicts and then even the conflicts between various city mods them selves to make the ultimate cities with everything in them xD.
This mod was easy to do because I didn't need to edit the navmesh, just move the cave.
If you wanted to expediate the process, you could get this grid map and tell me the coordinates for it. As I don't have either in my main load order so I don't really know where to look. If I had those numbers I could easily find the location in CK. Even with mods I have and locations I know, before I had the gridmap on a test save I was taking ages, literally an hour or so looking through the records in Tes5Edit and going to those locations in CK to see if it was the right spot. Do you make armour assets? :D
Yeah, used to do that with Morrowind mods, but it was easier, with different tools (and I still tended to have mangled navmesh).
> This mod was easy to do because I didn't need to edit the navmesh, just move the cave.
Probably the same here. The Velothi Mountain Tunnels entrance is just an entrance, which happens to've been planted somewhere that in another mod is also a busy town. The tunnel was formerly a trade route to western continental Morrowind, and being right near the town could even help explain why there's a town there.
> get this grid map and tell me the coordinates for it
Ah, good idea. It's at 39,-2, and is directly between Steamcrag Camp and the Mzulft Aedome, closer to the latter.
Making armor assets: I don't do stuff from scratch in Blender or 3DSMax (yet). Will get my feet wet some time with changing an existing model (a kilt mod that needs more and deeper pleats). If you see my mod list I do a lot of patching, bug fixing, making gear craftable, adjusting things in NIFSkope and Outfit Studio, making some pretty painstaking BodySlides, etc. Comparatively easy stuff.
Nice funny I am currently working on a patch for Nyhus+Immersive Dungeons (Episode 1) and its also on row 39 but at -31
I will also probably make an ESP version of this which will require both the Immersive Dungeons (Episode 1) and Ahbiilok and update this version too so its a bit less hacked for ppl who are too lazy to merge ESPs.
I am so close to finishing the patch Im working on tho luckily I saved and backed up and checked for undeleted navmeshes every time but every time I try and do the last bit I end up with undeleted navmeshes so I fall back to the last back up. Gonna break the area down into steps and make more incremental backups xD
There is no way I am releasing something with undeleted navmeshes :P Great practice though. I feel I'm getting the hang of actually laying it down :D
EDIT: So I have made a functioning version of the mod where both entrances are fully navmeshed but I really wanna pretty up the unavmeshed area around the dungeon entrance so I will do that. Then clockwork/Arthmoor.
I think I worked out what caused the navmesh errors, I think its when I would accidently start a vertices by its self and join it to the nav mesh rather than expand the navmesh.
EDIT EDIT:
So with that mod complete now I can focus on this clockwork village conflict. Anyway I checked the area out and I have to say this Velothi mine entrance seem odd. I cant see a normal entrance, I wonder if its like some sealed entrance until some scripted event? In anycase I feel like maybe repositioning the village to be built around the ruins a bit better as. But its also 3:36 am and my brain has done too much CK so. I will look again tomorrow and devise some sort of plan.
Oh, I bet you are right about it being temporarily hidden. There's some "random chance encounter in the wilderness" you run into at some point and I think some item or dialogue line starts the quest, then the gate becomes visible. I'd never tried to go to it before there was a quest to do so, but that makes sense given what I've read about Clockwork's operation. I have a save from after the quest starts, and I think any save from a new start will be without that quest started.
Clockwork's quest-line will kick off with a random event when your character is at least level 5 and is currently travelling in the Skyrim wilderness. You can also go directly to a certain place to start things off, if you like.
Q) Where do I go to start the Clockwork quest-line without having to wait for the random wilderness event to trigger? (MINOR SPOILER) A) There's a landslide just south-east from Cragwallow Slope in Eastmarch (south by south-east from Windhelm).
Looking at the map again, that seems to be the same location.
Update: I went there in a level-2 save. The easy way is to start the ascent toward Mzulft, through the first few Dwemer arches, then go left toward the village when you can see Keld Nar's guard tower. There's a landslide covering the door of Keld Nar's tavern (The Horny Horker), and otherwise making a mess of things. The highest building in the town is Swiftrunner Manor, reached by going uphill then left from the guard barracks. The Velothi Tunnel entrance is behind and to the left of the manor (when facing the manor's front door). Takes some jumping to get to either door due to the landscape splits. The door is visible at level 2 and without the quest; you trigger the quest as you near it if you didn't have the quest already. If you go right up to the Velothi gate, you get a pop-up notice that the tunnel appears unstable, so there's some kind of proximity trigger here. After you go in, it activates a collapse. When finished with Clockwork (kind of an all-day adventure), if you come back to this area later, you find the Velothi gate replaced by a bunch of rocks from the cave-in. All the landscape fractures and stuff seem to be the same.
So, the Velothi gate doesn't start hidden, it becomes hidden/replaced later.
If the gate were moved a bit, and the landslide reduced in height to sink into the Keld Nar ground, that would probably resolve things, but I don't know landscape fixing so I may be underestimating. It might actually be easier to move Swiftrunner Manor a little, given the complexity of the Velothi gate. But the landscape is a wreck either way.
Im pretty "new" to CK and I just worry there are scripts attached to the thing. I will spend more time researching what everything I see in the area in CK means because I am unfamiliar with the markers in the area with just Clockwork loaded. Like I said I don't want to ruin the thing so I'm making sure everything I do is correct before I do. XD
I'm gonna have to learn a few things to do this right. Scripts, how to work with LODs in CK etc. Good practice for my larger goals though.
7 comments
Why didn't I do that to begin with? Because I literally started CK the same day I made this ESP replacer and it was my first project and I didn't know about changing ESM flag in TES5Edit to make an esp that requires the mod as a master xD The point is it just works but this new thing should work better.
I wish there were a tutorial specifically for fixing landscape conflicts; it seems complicated but some people know how to do it, so it can't be THAT hard to learn.
Nice I might try it out after I fix another conflict I just need to actually edit a navmesh this time.. and it's exterior navmesh so I am trying to work out how to do it with out deleting any triangles because I think that will make an "undeleted nav mesh" which is like the bane of modding. I mean if mods have undeleted navmesh I tend to totally skip on them so I don't want to make a mod with one in it. Maybe with what I am learning I could fix those too. XD Last year I was trying out city expansion mods but they conflicted a lot with Interesting NPCs so I did dream of being able to fix the conflicts and then even the conflicts between various city mods them selves to make the ultimate cities with everything in them xD.
This mod was easy to do because I didn't need to edit the navmesh, just move the cave.
If you wanted to expediate the process, you could get this grid map and tell me the coordinates for it. As I don't have either in my main load order so I don't really know where to look. If I had those numbers I could easily find the location in CK. Even with mods I have and locations I know, before I had the gridmap on a test save I was taking ages, literally an hour or so looking through the records in Tes5Edit and going to those locations in CK to see if it was the right spot.
Do you make armour assets? :D
Yeah, used to do that with Morrowind mods, but it was easier, with different tools (and I still tended to have mangled navmesh).
> This mod was easy to do because I didn't need to edit the navmesh, just move the cave.
Probably the same here. The Velothi Mountain Tunnels entrance is just an entrance, which happens to've been planted somewhere that in another mod is also a busy town. The tunnel was formerly a trade route to western continental Morrowind, and being right near the town could even help explain why there's a town there.
> get this grid map and tell me the coordinates for it
Ah, good idea. It's at 39,-2, and is directly between Steamcrag Camp and the Mzulft Aedome, closer to the latter.
Making armor assets: I don't do stuff from scratch in Blender or 3DSMax (yet). Will get my feet wet some time with changing an existing model (a kilt mod that needs more and deeper pleats). If you see my mod list I do a lot of patching, bug fixing, making gear craftable, adjusting things in NIFSkope and Outfit Studio, making some pretty painstaking BodySlides, etc. Comparatively easy stuff.
I will also probably make an ESP version of this which will require both the Immersive Dungeons (Episode 1) and Ahbiilok and update this version too so its a bit less hacked for ppl who are too lazy to merge ESPs.
I am so close to finishing the patch Im working on tho luckily I saved and backed up and checked for undeleted navmeshes every time but every time I try and do the last bit I end up with undeleted navmeshes so I fall back to the last back up. Gonna break the area down into steps and make more incremental backups xD
There is no way I am releasing something with undeleted navmeshes :P Great practice though. I feel I'm getting the hang of actually laying it down :D
EDIT:
So I have made a functioning version of the mod where both entrances are fully navmeshed but I really wanna pretty up the unavmeshed area around the dungeon entrance so I will do that. Then clockwork/Arthmoor.
I think I worked out what caused the navmesh errors, I think its when I would accidently start a vertices by its self and join it to the nav mesh rather than expand the navmesh.
EDIT EDIT:
So with that mod complete now I can focus on this clockwork village conflict. Anyway I checked the area out and I have to say this Velothi mine entrance seem odd. I cant see a normal entrance, I wonder if its like some sealed entrance until some scripted event? In anycase I feel like maybe repositioning the village to be built around the ruins a bit better as. But its also 3:36 am and my brain has done too much CK so. I will look again tomorrow and devise some sort of plan.
Update: I went there in a level-2 save. The easy way is to start the ascent toward Mzulft, through the first few Dwemer arches, then go left toward the village when you can see Keld Nar's guard tower. There's a landslide covering the door of Keld Nar's tavern (The Horny Horker), and otherwise making a mess of things. The highest building in the town is Swiftrunner Manor, reached by going uphill then left from the guard barracks. The Velothi Tunnel entrance is behind and to the left of the manor (when facing the manor's front door). Takes some jumping to get to either door due to the landscape splits. The door is visible at level 2 and without the quest; you trigger the quest as you near it if you didn't have the quest already. If you go right up to the Velothi gate, you get a pop-up notice that the tunnel appears unstable, so there's some kind of proximity trigger here. After you go in, it activates a collapse. When finished with Clockwork (kind of an all-day adventure), if you come back to this area later, you find the Velothi gate replaced by a bunch of rocks from the cave-in. All the landscape fractures and stuff seem to be the same.
So, the Velothi gate doesn't start hidden, it becomes hidden/replaced later.
If the gate were moved a bit, and the landslide reduced in height to sink into the Keld Nar ground, that would probably resolve things, but I don't know landscape fixing so I may be underestimating. It might actually be easier to move Swiftrunner Manor a little, given the complexity of the Velothi gate. But the landscape is a wreck either way.
I'm gonna have to learn a few things to do this right. Scripts, how to work with LODs in CK etc. Good practice for my larger goals though.