Firsthold Work in Progress

This is the start of the work. So i am up for any honest comments.
We need this to be right so i know what to do.
I am going to build the walls like a "U" shape

Oh man!Im very,very,very Happy! Beautifull Work Bud!

Great start!

Exellent.
Before i continue here is another small update.
The Purple line is my guidline, this will guid me on how the building should turn out.
The Yellow line is where i stop building the walls and build the docks and ships.
But first, what perspective am i making here? Is this the exterior model, the model you see outside this place?
Should i also do the "Inner Town" interior too? where you can see all the houses where you viste them etc.
If i am doing the exterior, this means i'am going to have to make many sperate models. The exterior will have the walls and if you hover above it you can see a low poly render of this town.
When you enter the gate you will see houses, shops etc, like any other place.
So Right now im making the exterior model, correct?
I will also do the interior and the houses shopes etc shouldn't be much of a problem.
[PLEA] If anyone can model, can you help me out doing the inner town, so thats the houses shopes, misc etc. So that i dont have to do it and give me a lighter load. Once you have done it, send it over and i will add it in.
NOTE: This is my first time doing an exterior/interior models, they may come out how i want it in max, but it will be way different in the game in terms of exterior and interior. So im learning as i go.

I'd help you if I knew how, but I'm afraid that at the moment you're our only active modeler, so all I can offer you is encouragement - sorry! This looks a very promising start - are you going to add crenelations on the top of the walls, like in the concept art?

So you're doing the entire city wall as a single mesh, not as tiles that can be fitted together like the vanilla cities?

But I don't quite understand what you're trying to say about interior buildings. Isn't it the same mesh anyway, just with a lower resolution texture on it and no detailing when you see it from the outside of the city?

We could always disable levitation spells near the city, which would avoid the problem entirely.

It looks amazing!

Sad,but you are our only modeller.And we really glad to have you.
I have to try some modeller,but its hard..

Once more,im really happy to have you.

EDIT: Hopefully when we release our alpha with new cool models,then some people from Bethesda Forums maybe join for us.Im sure.

ok, sure no problem....
advance me to Head of 3D











Just kiddin' No seriorsly. Or should you?


Ok, ive got another idea, its a long shot though. How about we do this morrowind style, instead of having an interior town. For example all of the houses and building are inside of the walls and all you have to do is just walk in and since there is a portcullis i can easily rigg it and give it an opening door animation that goes up and everything is there, just like morrowind.

But, i have a concern that it may be too much for a computer to handle.
Should i try both and state a result?

Deeza wrote:

are you going to add crenelations on the top of the walls, like in the concept art?

Yes, i allready planned that out. If you can see on my top view port in the max scene you can see 4 edges on top of my wall. All i have to do is push up the middle two and a little chamfer and voila you got crenelations.

Deeza wrote:

So you're doing the entire city wall as a single mesh, not as tiles that can be fitted together like the vanilla cities?

Which do you prefere? I can do it both ways, atm its a single mesh. I can easily split it up into tiles and you can build it in via the CS etc etc. I'll probably do something about that.

Deeza wrote:

But I don't quite understand what you're trying to say about interior buildings. Isn't it the same mesh anyway, just with a lower resolution texture on it and no detailing when you see it from the outside of the city?

Look im not too sure, i struggled to say something reasonable there, the fact is that i dont know how to plan this out in game. I will see how the vanilla OB done there towns and i will simply copy there results but, what you said might be right.

BusterWolF wrote:

ok, sure no problem....
advance me to Head of 3D

Granted

By the way i have some news.

Im pmed for Shewter and Llamaranger from Silgrad,they'r modellers both.

Yet i got from Shewter a pm.
He maybe can model some stuff.

So yet im waiting for llamarangers answer.
Talk we later.

I have been snooping around firsthold thread, and it looks like ive dived in this matter before i even knew it. First of all i have questions,

Q.1) Where will this city be placed?
Q.2) Will this be a heavily populated area?
Q.3) If not heavily populated, is it a lush garden worthy place?
Q.4) Since there is a river running along in the middle, should i make bridges? If so, what kind? Rope,Stone,Wood,Enforced Harnesses,steel?

I need this to be answered before i can make further progress, especially Q.2, I keep scaling the object larger because im thinking alot of people will be living here.

EDIT: Oh thanks very much on the promotion, appreciat it. I wasn't really serious but its a good gesture and title to hold. Thank you agian.
I will do my best to get this right i asure you.

I can't answer for all question.

But i'll try

So..

Q.1) The city is in the Eastern Isle,the northest and Oldest(in Summerset) city.
Q.2)Cause its a Big City,yeah the city have a big populate. <- But im not sure,Skorm or Deeza know that better than me.
Q.3)I dunno
Q.4)If im right yes it have a river.I dont have idea about material.

So,Deeza and Skorm know those things.

Whoops, I didn't notice the extra vertices. Good job! I think it would be better if you made the walls as tiles, because then we could re-use it for other locations to make smaller castles, etc.

To answer your questions, here is a map of Summerset on the first post of this thread:

https://thesummersetisles.forumotion.com/other-f57/ideas-for-the-first-public-alpha-t57.htm

As you can see Firsthold is on the north tip of the smaller, east island.

2: Firsthold isn't the biggest city in Summerset, but its reasonably large. About the same size as Chorrol or one of the smaller cities in Cyrodiil. But the population of Summerset is much smaller than the other provinces, because the Altmer live for centuries and they're considered young even if they are about 100 years old, so there aren't a lot of Altmer kids (!)

3: Firsthold has two large public parks, one around the castle and the other in the town centre, but the rest is made of densely packed houses. Senten is our landscaper and will take care of the parks and vegetation for you I'm sure.

4: There will be three bridges across the river, and the concept was that they would be made of stone. Jachyr drew a concept for the three bridges here:

https://servimg.com/view/12852173/21

It's the bottom left drawing. You could also re-use the mesh for the bridges to make that dock pier on the same page (the arches supporting it would be the same, you'd just have to take the decoration off the top) - that way you can make two meshes in one.

Excellent so far. I apologise for not being more active recently, but I'm caught up in first year university. Its great to see some concepts coming alive.

Jachyr_Eins.
You must be the person behind the paper, nice to meet you.
Personally these are great artwork which establishes many variables.
Though i have to see past through you 1 sided perspective though. Its going well never the less.

Here's a different perspective on the main gates he drew a while ago (top right):

https://servimg.com/view/12852173/20

Should help you a lot with the detailing.

ahh shit. Well thats what you get. i did dive into this project to soon w/out looking at its background. Ok, next update will be definitly delayed, im gonna need to make the changes.

Ok. I got something. I found out how the game did its walls and they didn't do it like mine thats for sure. What they did was piece em up with vital blocks like the corner walls, straight walls and pillers, everything seperated and they build the whole city in CS like an rts game. Well gives me a good ease because now what i can do is build the whole thing, give you guys an idea how it turned up, i will then piece the vital meshes and send them over so you can then place it in the game.

I got a Question
How do the textues look like?

Give me your idea.

If not, i made some textures that might work. Yes, i make textures too

Well,i don't have idea about textures really..

But i know the city is very old,so the textures need to be old.

If Deeza or Skorm too do not have idea,you can make your own textures.
I know you can make a fantastic texture for your great models.

EDIT:But what about Black and Green colors for the citys?

Greenish windows,lights etc..

Just an idea.

ok, for the walls, weak you say? how about this?


Here is an update.


SORRY ABOUT THE MASSIVE PREVIEW, I SEEM TO FORGET SOMETIMES TO ADJUST IT.

Great work on the walls and gates Busterwolf.
Its coming along nicely.

As for the texture, as previously mentioned by Senten, the city is very old, it being the first city established in Summerset. So, the textures would include some erosion (sp?) [decomposing] of some kind. The stone would be white limestone with a mix of some grey stone here and there (for the illusion of it being stone of quite some age [being exposed to the elements for many years]). Also, gold would be used quite a bit, as a frame to hold the stone (top of the walls, around the gates, etc.)

EDIT: Just saw your texture, and that looks good. Just try to make it whiter if possible. Best that I could explain myself. Also, will the stone be just added to the walls, or will it have some brick built to it?

Alternative idea for some of the buildings:

Because the city is so old, I thought it should look a bit worn and faded. Here are some possible building and wall textures:

http://www.tradeinteriorsdirect.com/cheltenham/images/Sandstone.jpg
http://www.chinagranite.us/stones/Sandstone/Yunan%20Yellow%20Sandstone_S.jpg
http://www.castiastone.com/colors/images/Sandstone.jpg

It would look like they started off white, but have long ago dirtied and faded.

All of the walls will be made out of stone, but I had an idea that the roofs would all be made out of copper.

http://www.crystal-fox.com/webart/products_large/6430.jpg
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/510YQDZCVYL._SL500_AA280_.jpg

If you wanted, the roofs of some of the houses could be corroded, so that they look greenish (a bit like the roofs in this picture, but I think that looks too much like the Imperial city, and we want this to be more unique, so I think plain copper is the way to go).

http://www.thecopperstar.com/sup/TH/thecopperstar/images/copper_roof.jpg

I think the windows should be a variety of different colours of glass - red, green, blue etc. Because the city walls will be faded colours, I think it would look awesome if the doors and windows were brightly coloured.

Damn!Beautifull! The models are really STUNNING!

Excellent work BusterWolf,im very happy.

I like your textures really!Keep it up the good work!

Fantastic work! Really fast, too! Can we see a close-up of some of the buildings inside?

Could you make some guard towers for the city walls (there is a concept for them here - one on each side of the main castle):

https://servimg.com/view/12852173/25

ahh allright, a little bit of glossiness then ay. Ok, good.
Allright, uh for the wall, i was thinking of making the normals do most of the work.
here is a preview.

This is cracked.

no crack.

Then it should give you an authentic look

Deeza wrote:

Fantastic work! Really fast, too! Can we see a close-up of some of the buildings inside?

Could you make some guard towers for the city walls (there is a concept for them here - one on each side of the main castle):

https://servimg.com/view/12852173/25

umm. the buildings here are just placeholder for me so i know where everything is, the huge building in the left is just the mages tower, the houses are chedinhal houses.

Cool normal map,can't wait to see the finished textures.