The Unofficial Tamriel Rebuilt thread

[Veck]

If you don't have this mod, I can't recommend getting it enough. I've installed it not long ago, and the feeling of a new but similar world to explore is amazing. So if you have stories to tell, comments about mainland Morrowind, advice or tips, or even questions, you may as well post them here.

I've not managed a thorough exploration of Map 2 yet, but I've done plenty of work for the Telvanni in Map 1. The most striking thing about it is how well their capital has been designed. Port Telvannis is huge, and while it uses the traditional Telvanni architecture of organic buildings and huge branches leading to individual homes and towers, it manages to be very fresh and different from every other Telvanni settlement in the game. Plus in this mod, there's no slacking. The entire world is filled with wildlife and things of interest, just like the vanilla game itself, each settlement has an individual design, characters and quests, factions are fully-functional and somewhat integrated, and so far I've spotted exactly one landscape error (a rock that was half in mid-air) and just two typos in dialogue.

[Dean]

Always thought about trying this mod....problem is I try to stick to Vanilla Morrowind as much as I can. Only mods I really use are the ones that make it look a bit more up to date. I find it weird playing user made content as it never seems, to me, to be close to the original games quality.

I must say that this is the only game I feel it on...back in the days of Neverwinter nights I mod'd the crap out of that one. Maybe I should try this Tamriel Rebuilt mod... I may have to go through the game again though, it's been awhile.

[Veck]

Let me reassure you that it's built to such a high quality that you could quite easily stick it in a vanilla Morrowind release and claim that they were made by the same people.

[Velothi]

Technically Tamriel Rebuilt uses Game of the Year edition textures, so I'm sure you definately need tribunal as they do 'Sacred East' map.

But it is definitely worth it; as the factions are split into a mainland faction and a Vvardenfell faction.

(So yes that means there are "two" leaders for a faction)

It also adds variety (an old Velothian language, converting Tribunal Missions, Telvanni quests which involve you to be against the Temple or be involved in their little civil-wars, etc).

The new enemies are a good addition, just be prepared to get more lost in Tamriel Rebuilt as USEP hasn't set up a "google map" for TR.

So you'll have to be very detailed in the journal readings or be lucky.

[Veck]

Which map are you all looking forward to the most? Even though I'll probably have died of old age when it comes out, I'm really hoping the final map in Dres lands will be good. Based on the tiny bits of information about them, Dres sound like they could topple the Telvanni as my favourite faction, so being able to play as them would just be another experience.

[Velothi]

Well on their site they're saying they may release it in December of 2011 or september.

As they finished the Interior cells of the Sacred East way back in March of 2010.

So we do have to give them credit; they know how to make lore, make it original and even better than Bethseda would have done it.

For me? I'm looking forward to Indoril territory and Redoran. As one is an obscure House, we know little of how it acts in its own territories and how the questing will be like.

For Redoran I hope it'll maintain an 'honor or dishonor' choice in questing as well as showing that Redoran is rather cornered politically. House Hlaalu has some territory in southern District of Velothis.

But, hey, be glad they're doing the 8-Map system.

In previous one they did the Six map (one map for an entire area); which would even take longer. As that'd mean Map 1 and Map 2 would be one entire map, with double the time it took to complete one of those.

Plus you have different dialouges for various factions, side quests, miscellaneous quests, faction quests, landmarks, inventing lore (new shrines you have to go to, officially there are five in the Map 1 + 2 to the original three.) and, of course, making it believable.

EDIT: The wasps those Dres in Port Telvannis ride are..intimidating.

Also, if you haven't noticed, Dres even calls you a False Incarnate if you are the Nerevarine and completed the main quest. (I never kill Vivec)

So Dres are either really conservative more so than Indoril, or just hate new things.

[Veck]

The way I understand it, they put a bit of work into every single one of the maps, but put a certain load of people into one to start with complex things like city design, scripting and quests. I reckon they'll finish, eventually. I'd imagine the core maps themselves are either finished or not too far off finishing at the basic level. And yeah, that's what I think makes the Dres look great. They're clearly very hostile and stubborn, not takin' any o' yo crap about being the Nerevarine even when the facts are thrown in their face. Also, they look kind of Aztec from concept art. Should be an interesting faction to see, even though I doubt they'll get much love.

[Velothi]

It does make me wonder, but the concept art for the Slave-hunters is more impressive; reminding me of the predators from the predator series.

Which, probably, they are based off of. (Due to both being "hunters" in some sense)

But the problem is, Dres is VERY secular house. They'll only accept Dunmer (I believe they are the only House that does accept only one race. Indoril maybe accepts different creeds but mainly forces them to be a Temple member), which does hurt alot of love.

Because some people prefer Argonians due to the slave-issue and the fact it'll be a rouge against the world or an Orc whom is a barbarian but an Orc to prove to the Redorans he is honorable and so on.

It dampens alot of peoples role-play and makes Dres seem like a cliche villain (which is VERY odd for Morrowind due to Dagoth Ur's fanbase...DEAR GOD); as they don't accept new ideas, are very stubborn and generally are one of the most disliked Houses out of all.

But that does make ample time for new role-playing experience to justify why Dres is such a D to the I to the C to the K.

And by Dres I mean the actual members; not those plantation owners whom horde wealth even from their own household.

But I think Sacred East and Almalexia maps will be the most complex due to the fact the capital (an inner and outer city) resides there. But if TR succeeds? They'll be one of the best modding communities in the entire Elder Scrolls mod community.

Ecces, Almalexia Surrectum!

[Velothi]

It's okay to admit you have an addiction.

We have it too 8D

[OblivionDuruza]

I love the Mods, but I do prefer Vvardenfell to the mainland added so far, mainly because Beth was able to dedicate time and recourses to making it interesting. Further, I would like to see the Sacred East and Narsis District. Mainly the Indoril and Dres lands in the central plains of Morrowind, and the area around the Thir. Still, two great mods so far, although it'll be years until it's finished, and I always fear they'll give up before they reach that point ...

[Velothi]

The only reason they gave up Hammerfell mod is because one; that was TWO Mods they were working on then.

(Which probably took its stress on the modders)

And because we have little lore on Hammerfell more so than the Houses. We have one game on Hammerfell (Redguard set during the Second Era), which was on a island of Stros M'kai.

Other then that they could infer from Daggerfall's Sentinel (desert lands and such), but you have alot less to work on than Morrowind.

[Veck]

I thought they gave up on Hammerfell because Oblivion was an absolute pain to mod at the same quality of the original game? Not to mention finishing off the whole of Morrowind fits a game called Morrowind far more than creating Hammerfell does for a game about Cyrodiil.

[OblivionDuruza]

Not to mention finishing off the whole of Morrowind fits a game called Morrowind far more than creating Hammerfell does for a game about Cyrodiil.

Very true. My view has always been that Morrowind's mainland was Tamriel Rebuilt's true baby, and that Stirk and Hammerfell were just momentary distractions ...

[Veck]

I think the big new land mod for Oblivion is Elsweyr anyway, which the TR team didn't even build. The project has been going on for Morrowind before Oblivion, so they were always going to stick with their original goal. I think Stirk might have just been their attempt to see if the shiny new toy that was Oblivion could be made to the same quality as their Morrowind work. And due to things like dialogue, it couldn't.

[OblivionDuruza]

Just a quick question, does anyone know why TR redesigned the 'Maps' it had originally planned?

Prior to 2010, Tamriel Rebuilt was billed to divide the mainland of Morrowind into six distinct maps, all of which were be developed separately and sequentially. Due to a re-organization in 2009, the number of six was increased to eight, to increase productivity and general public accessibility.

Although the division between the maps are mostly arbitrary, regions correspond loosely to the areas governed by different Great Houses. Current Maps that are released to the public include Maps 1 ('Telvannis') and Map 2 ('Antediluvian Secrets'), both of which cover the regions ruled by the House Telvanni. As for the rest of the Maps, Map 3 is centered around the cities of House Indoril and Necrom, and Map 4 contains the rest of Indoril's holdings including the capital city of Morrowind, Almalexia. Map 5 covers "a bit of every sort of region Morrowind has to offer", including both Imperial and Hlaalu cities, and Map 6 will contain House Redoran holdings in the Véloth Mountains. The final Maps to be released are scheduled to be Map 7, which is centered around the city of Narsis, capital of House Hlaalu, and Map 8 is set to finish the series by concentrating on the stronghold and setting of House Dres.

[Velothi]

I suppose because it allows them to work on smaller areas to remain sane, the original idea was to work completely on each of the Houses territories (so Map 1 and 2 would be all one giant map, map 3 and 4 is one giant map and so forth); which when you think about it would be difficult.

It might be due to the new admin wanting to make it easier or focus on less territory to allow more work.

[OblivionDuruza]

But they only changed things slightly, from 6 to 8 maps and after the reorganisation, the work, or at least the releases, have slowed down, rather than sped up. Hmmm, I just wonder sometimes that's all. It's such an ambitious project, that could be truly amazing when it's finished.

[beny15]

I was under the impression that the Hammerfell mod was going to be completed by Lady Nerevar. I seem to remember readin something on the TR site about this.

[Velothi]

Hammerfell is dead, the only mod released was Stirk Island.

But I can say Necrom is finished in external cells and interior cells. They just need to do NPCs and quests.

[OblivionDuruza]

So they may release Sacred East soon(ish - as in within the year)? That is truly great news!

[Veck]

Well, if they're quick that is. They're still in beta for map 2.

[Velothi]

Map 2 will be quested when they release Map 3.

So basically; TR's administration is taking it easy and how it wants.

[OblivionDuruza]

Yeah, that makes sense, they have many modders and different teams for different jobs yeah? So get landscapes done so that quests can be made and the lands can be populated.

Maybe I'm mistaken, but are they working on multiple maps at a time under the new system?

[Velothi]

I think so, some work on NPCs, others on interior cells and others exterior cells, and quests. So on and so on.

But I can't wait for Indoril - the idea of House Indoril reclaiming power makes me smile

But yeah they are done with Interior and exterior in Necrom, and probably the rest of the Sacred East.

They actually have alot of screenshots on some of their done pieces (from the Velothi mountains to Thirr River).

[OblivionDuruza]

I'll have to check it out. I thought they were doing the Thir and Velothis near the end, as part of the 5th and 6th Maps. Although I double checked, and they have screenies from all of the 6 old maps, so maybe they're further along than I first thought (although they've reused a lot of the architecture from the game, rather than create anything new - not that there's anything wrong with that, but that might be why they've been able to finish those areas, seeing as they are still waiting on their Dres moddlers?).

Also, their status report hasn't changed since I last checked ages ago, but hopefully they're close to releasing Sacred East and re-releasing Secrets soon.

This page used to contain real-time data on Tamriel Rebuilt's claims. However, the code broke somewhere in the past and accurately ceased to be accurate. Since then, extra rows had popped up on each graph for various sections, further complicating the mess. As such, we have decided that this relic of the past should be retired. Instead you will find more accurate and more detailed descriptions of TR's work.

Morrowind: On TR's agenda at the moment is a quested (2.0) release of Antediluvian Secrets, and a release of a new area: Sacred East (version 1.0). Due to some nice changes in our release format, Sacred East (and all future "map" publications) will include not only exteriors, interiors, and NPCs, but also miscellaneous quests. Either Sacred East or Antediluvian Secrets could be the next release for TR... that's how close they both are to completion. It is important to note that these will be released as a merge into our "mainland" file, named TR_Mainland. Both of these releases will also contain updates (mostly in the form of bug-fixes) to all the areas that have been previously released.

Oblivion: Work has ceased, forever. Our Hammerfell project has been taken over by Lady Nerevar. A final version of our Isle of Stirk mod was released in 2008.

Also:

Also in the news this year was a complete re-tooling of the "Map 4" region. The content we had originally was too often below our current quality levels, and our exterior modders did a tremendous job of redoing the entire map in several months. This is a huge accomplishment of never-before-seen speed at the project, a speed that will see us working on Dres lands by the end of 2011 if it continues. Additionally, Sacred East and Almalexia detailing was finished and work is now heavily underway on NPCing and Dialogue work.

Work has been started, and continues, on the "Map 5" region, which is also looking at a large re-tooling in the near future. In terms of "Map 3" area content, Old Ebonheart was redone, and is a much better piece of work overall.

[...]

This is a huge accomplishment of never-before-seen speed at the project, a speed that will see us working on Dres lands by the end of 2011 if it continues.