Brodo Swaggins
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Posts posted by Brodo Swaggins
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On Wednesday we introduced the Wamasu, but that’s not the only ESO news this week!
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Today store.bethsoft.com has a new collection of lithographs commemorating Fallout 3, Oblivion, and Skyrim.
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In a recent vote on the ESO Facebook page, fans made it clear that the newest creature feature on ElderScrollsOnline.com should profile the Wamasu — a powerful creature hailing from the Black Marsh. Making its debut in The Elder Scrolls Online, learn more on the game’s official site.
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By popular demand, today we’re unveiling a new collection of women’s t-shirts on store.bethsoft.com. They include:
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It’s been a loooong time since we did our last modding interview on Bethesda Blog, but I thought it was something that would be fun to bring back. This week we’ve Scott Chaunce (aka Soolie). A college student hailing from Tasmania, Scott’s gotten some attention for his popular Tropical Skyrim mod…
What compelled you to create this project? Do you live in a cold weather area and needed a vacation?
I guess I never really ‘decided’ to create this project, it sort of just happened. Before I started work on it, I had always wanted to play through a tropical/desert climate in an Elder Scrolls game. Because I enjoy creating new environments and landscapes, I decided I might have a go at creating a few small tropical islands and deserts just for fun. However, I started to get a little excited about it, and I wanted to see results before I had even started. So, to satisfy the little part of me that just wanted to know what it would look like. I quickly made up a few desert textures and applied them to the tundra area. I then launched the game, turned the grass off and what I saw surprised me.
What I expected to see was simply “Skyrim with sand”, but what I saw didn’t even look like Skyrim anymore. Then out of curiosity I decided to try some more things. I quickly changed the lighting and some more textures. It really was starting to feel like a different game. It was at this point that I realized that I didn’t actually need to create my own new lands to play in a tropical environment. I realized that I already had a brilliant landscape to work with; a landscape that was already populated with NPC’s and towns, all with their own unique quests and dialogue. Despite being full of snow, ice and towering pines; Skyrim had essentially become an empty canvas for me to work on, with the potential for it to become absolutely anything. This is really the point where I decided to create Tropical Skyrim.
As for the second part of the question; it can occasionally get quite chilly in the area I live, but I wouldn’t say that it was a huge influence on my decision to create this mod. However, it’s funny that you mention needing a vacation. I say this because a few months before starting this project I spent some time in Thailand. Actually, now that I think about it, the Thai landscape was probably one of the strongest inspirations for the creation of this project.
Who helped with the creation of the project? Originally I planned on creating the entire project myself. However I came across a number of assets created by other modders that were perfect for Tropical Skyrim. So rather than re-inventing the wheel I decided to use the content created by others (with permission of course). However, I did end up modifying most of this content to fit the tropical atmosphere.
You can find a complete list of people who contributed to the project on Tropical Skyrims download page. Nevertheless the main contributors were:
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[*]Ga-Knomboe Boy, who created most of the trees that were tweaked to fit Tropical Skyrim.
[*]Tamira, who adapted a number of plants produced by Yughues to be usable in Skyrim.
[*]Muppetpuppet, who allowed me to use some of assets from his Moonpath mod.
[*]lookout21, who retextured some of the wild animals for me.
Any plans to continue updates for the mod? If so, can you give us a sneak peak of what you have in store?
YES, I plan to continue updating this mod until I can show it to the most hardcore Skyrim fans without them recognizing a single thing. As of right now I have changed/added the following things since the previous update.
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[*]Windhelm has been retextured to fit the tropical landscape.
[*]Most of the foliage including trees, bushes and grass has been improved. Rather than the foliage being dense and cluttered, it is now slightly more sparse, but also a greater emphasis has been placed on making it look more tropical and lush.
[*]The Reach has had a complete makeover; it now features dense cypress trees, which gives it more of a sinister feeling than the other areas.
[*]A lot of the meshes and textures have been optimized to improve performance.
[*]Most textures have been modified so that they blend together more realistically.
[*]New high resolution rock textures.
[*]The caves have now been tropicalified (Is this even a word??). They are now a lot more green and mossy. Also, some of the larger trees that block off some sections of the caves have been removed.
[*]The distant trees have been significantly improved, (correct lighting, proper sizes, and they don’t look 2D anymore).
[*]New high res textures for the distant terrain. In some cases, it looks even better than the close up terrain.
[*]A lot of ivy and other small plants have been added to the cliffs and mountains.
Before I release the next update I would also I would also like to replace some of the common sets of armor and weapons found within the game. Let’s be honest… thick fur coats aren’t really the most appropriate apparel for the jungle.
I have also added real 3D clouds to the game which react to the weather and time of the day. Adding a whole new layer of depth and immersion to the world (and also creating some truly majestic views from the mountain tops). It definitely suits the snowy version of Skyrim well, but I’m still thinking about whether it would be as appropriate in a tropical climate. Therefore I will most likely release this as a separate mod
What’s your favorite part of using The Creation Kit?
This is quite a tough question because there are so many different aspects of the Creation Kit which I love. It’s also tough because there are some features that I have only briefly looked at, and haven’t had a proper chance to use yet.
Although this doesn’t directly relate to any of the Creation Kit’s features. I would have to say that my favorite part of using the CK would be the moment when I take a step back and just look at what I’ve created. It really is a great feeling when you can take a break, and just look at what you’ve done, and to also feel proud of yourself for persevering throughout all the crashes and the bug fixing. But an even greater feeling is the one you get when you realized that you are creating content that is going to improve the gaming experience for thousands of players.
But to answer your question in terms of functionality. I would have to say that my favorite feature is the region editor. Ironically I haven’t actually used it a lot for Skyrim; however, it appears to be the same as the one in the Construction Set which I did use extensively for Oblivion.
There are a lot of people who are against the idea of using these sorts of tools to create landscapes; because they think that they produce very generic, repetitive and uncreative results.
I completely disagree. I believe that when using these sorts of tools, the results they give you will only ever be as good as the instructions that you give to them. But I suppose that’s the thing I like the most about the region editor, because it means you can create landscapes as complicated or as simple as you want. For example, you can use it to simply scatter rocks and trees around randomly, which in some cases is all you need. On the other hand, by tweaking only a few parameters you can create some very detailed landscapes. The only limit is your imagination.
Another favorite, which I have only just started scratching the surface of, is Papyrus, the Creation Kit’s scripting language. From what I have seen so far, it seems to be a very powerful and flexible language which can be used to achieve almost anything.
What other modding projects have you worked on?
I haven’t actually released that many mods so far, Tropical Skyrim is the only large scale mod I have ever released. I have also released four mods for Oblivion, the largest being Realistic Water.  However most of them were only very small mods which only took a small amount of time and effort to create. The only other mods I have ever released were a few mods I did back in 2008 for Empire Earth. They weren’t particularly high quality, but then again I was only 12 at the time.
Although that’s just the mod’s that have been released. I do have quite a few Oblivion projects that have been abandoned for various reasons. The biggest by far would be a total conversion mod I was creating, which featured many unique climates and landscapes; unfortunately I had just finished placing objects in the world when I started to run out of time to work on the project. Because I was only able to spend small amounts of time working on it, I started losing interest and the project was never completed.
Any other user mods you recommend using with this project?
Tropical Skyrim has only been available for about 2 months. So consequently there aren’t a lot of mods available that were designed with a tropical climate in mind. However, there are a few mods I would like to talk about that were originally designed for snowy Skyrim, but also fit in with the tropical climate as well. I also expect that as time progresses we will see a lot more tropical based mods.
The mods I recommend using with Tropical Skyrim are:
Prides of Skyrim –Â This mod adds prides of lions, tigers and panthers to the world. Each pride lives in their own den which is often filled with the bones of their prey.
SkyBirds – This mod adds thousands of birds to Skyrim. The great thing about this mod is that these birds don’t just fly around aimlessly. They build nests, eat insects, perch on other objects and even fly away when startled. Essentially they behave just like real world birds.
Fantasy Music Overhaul – This mod replaces most of Skyrims background music. With about 100 new fantasy themed tracks, the music is now a lot more fitting for a tropical climate (somehow choirs of chanting men just didn’t seem appropriate for the jungle).
101BugsHDÂ – This mod adds 28 new varieties of insects that will randomly spawn across Skyrim. All of these insects can be collected and used as alchemical ingredients. But the main attraction is that it makes wilderness feels a lot more alive and colorful, especially with optional file which increases the spawn rate.
HighAlgoBoost — Â I would recommend this mod to everyone who is having performance issues with Tropical Skyrim. I would love to go into the technical details of this mod. But to keep things simple, it makes the game a lot smoother and responsive while maintaining a minimal loss in visual quality.
What are your favorite mods to use with Skyrim and/or Oblivion/Morrowind?
There are so many different mods I could list here, but I’ll try not to make the list too long. Generally, my favorite mods are always the ones that seamlessly integrate into the game, and that will allow me to “install and forget”. For many mods that add new content such as armor or weapons, the only way to obtain the new items is by use of console commands or by traveling to a specific NPC or location. In my opinion, this can completely ruin mods by making them way too simple and predictable. On the other hand, mods which add weapons/armor that randomly appear in caves or on NPC’s are much more enjoyable. And that’s because of their unpredictability.
I also prefer mods that affect everyone, not just the player. I think there are way too many mods that add spells which are only available to the player. The problem with this is that if I’m playing as a warrior for example, I will most likely never come across the spells in the game. However, if the spells are also used by NPC’s, things get a lot more interesting. Because then I won’t have to be actually using the spells myself to enjoy the mod.
As I said before, there are hundreds of mods that I could list here, but these are the ones that I enjoy the most.
Skyrim Mods
Duel – Combat realism –  This mod enhances the combat in ways that you probably won’t even notice. Mashing the attack button as fast as you can is no longer a successful strategy. This mod forces you to be a lot more tactical with your fighting, by placing a greater emphasis on timing and making the overall ‘flow’ of combat a lot more believable and realistic.
Warzones – Civil Unrest: () This mod causes a lot more random battles to occur across Skyrim, thus making traveling a lot more dangerous, quite a few times I have come across hordes of angry bandits that I couldn’t possibly take on by myself, so I was forced to run away (something that rarely happens in Skyrim). You will also find many more skirmishes between the Storm Cloaks and the Imperial Legion, thus making the civil war more noticeable within the game.
Weapons of the Third Era — Â This mod adds hundreds of new weapons to the game, all of which are seamlessly integrated. You can find them anywhere you would normally expect to see weapons, such as on bandits, in chests or for sale by merchants.
The Dance of Death – A Killmove Mod — This mod unlocks almost all of the kill moves for each type of weapon. It also gives the player a lot more control over the kill move system by allowing them to toggle options such as the removal of the last enemy restriction, and the overall chance of performing a kill move.
Deadly Mutilation – Dismemberment Blood and Gore —  This mod does as It’s title suggests, it adds a lot more violence and gore to the game. You will now see dismemberment, evisceration and even people being cut in half. Now this mod is definitely not suitable for all users, and I would advise younger players NOT to use this mod. However, I do believe this is a great addition to the game.
Thanks for the interview!
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[*]Ga-Knomboe Boy, who created most of the trees that were tweaked to fit Tropical Skyrim.
[*]Tamira, who adapted a number of plants produced by Yughues to be usable in Skyrim.
[*]Muppetpuppet, who allowed me to use some of assets from his Moonpath mod.
[*]lookout21, who retextured some of the wild animals for me.
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ESO creative director Paul Sage describes how you’ll find useful, interesting items in every corner of Tamriel.
For more information about the game, visit http://elderscrollsonline.com. Other site highlights include:
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For Huygens. I got your back, bro.
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Start your weekend off right with an inside look into the creation of the The Evil Within live-action trailer. Creative Agency Prologue talks to Polygon about designing the dark and unsettling trailer for the newly announced Survival Horror game.
Delve even further into The Evil Within’s terrifying world. Shinji Mikami and the team at Tango talks to Famitsu (via Polygon) about their game. “I want users to get so scared that their hands are in a cold sweat on the controller.”
Youtube user and Bethblog familiar Tyrannicon has put Ironman and Skyrim together. The results are pretty much epic.
Gamespot’s Cam Robinson and Seb Ford discuss their Top Five Skyrim Mods of the Week. Speaking of mods, ever see a Mudcrab and think, “Wow, I wish that was the size of a mountain?†Well, wish granted. Enjoy the enemies of Skyrim in Giant form.
Minecraft and Wolfenstein go hand in hand thanks to Youtube user thornofnight’s recreation.
And finally, Senior Designer Joel Burgess and Senior Environment Artist Nathan Purkeypile explain in depth the modular approach to level design.
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Infinitely better than the old name.
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Last week we opened the doors of Oblivion to the plane of Coldharbour, the realm of Molag Bal;Â but even more events are happening within the ever growing world of ESO.
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We’re not working on a DOOM/Elder Scrolls crossover project, but you can always pretend while playing with our ever-growing collection of Bethesda figures.
In the imgur slideshow above, check out Symbiote’s newest additions, including:
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To order any of these, plus the original Dragonborn figure, visit SymbioteStudios.com.
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Molag Bal, the God of Schemes, threatens all of Tamriel in The Elder Scrolls Online. Watch this new video to visit his Oblivion plane of Coldharbour and learn more about his plans.
We’re taking you straight to Molag Bal’s realm in this new video. Watch it to get a glimpse of Coldharbour and some of its inhabitants and to learn more about this malevolent Daedric Prince’s plans for Tamriel—and your soul.
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Flying cars? Not yet. However, to hold you over until they arrive, we can show you how cool 3D printers are – and give us a glimpse into how amazing this technology is.
BGS character artist, Dennis Mejillones has one of these newfangled devices, and he was nice enough to capture footage of his Zbrush design for Dawnguard’s Vampire Lord being brought to life.
Watch the video above and check out more pics, including his printout of a Daedric Dagger, below…
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Expand your Bethesda art gallery with our newest limited edition lithographs for Skyrim, The Elder Scrolls Online, and Fallout 3. Previous lithographs for these titles have sold out quickly, so order these (limited to 300 each) before they become rare art.
Visit store.bethsoft.com to order.
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Today we’re happy to announce plans to release the complete Skyrim collection with The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim® Legendary Edition.
Coming to Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC on June 4th for $59.99 (European territories will see its release on June 7th), this package includes the most up-to-date version of the original game (employing the 1.9 title update),as well as the game’s three add-ons: Dawnguard, Hearthfire, and Dragonborn.
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The latest update to store.bethsoft.com includes an all-new Skyrim Imperial t-shirt — available in both men’s and women’s sizes.
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Recently the ESO team worked with
for an original track inspired by The Elder Scrolls Online. The song name, “Beauty of Dawn”, is derived from the lore translation for the word “Tamriel”.View Original ArticleTo download the track and learn the song’s lyrics, visit ElderScrollsOnline.com.
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Alright, it's back up. Really rare footage.
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Watch it soon, because I'm sure YouTube will take it down fast.
EDIT: YouTube has removed the video.
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Skyrim has been a labor of love for us since we started designing it in 2006. We never imagined it would become the phenomenon it has. And that is because of you, the fans. It was all of you who made it a success. We can’t thank you enough for embracing the game, spreading the word, and making it your own.
For the last year and a half we’ve been working on new content for Skyrim; from the game updates, Creation Kit, Steam Workshop, Kinect support, to DLCs. Parts of our team have also been in pre-production on our next major project, and that game is at the point where it requires the studio’s full attention to make it our biggest and best work yet.
Even though we’re moving on, we’ll still have minor updates to Skyrim as needed. We’ve invested so much of ourselves into Skyrim and will never truly say goodbye to it.
We loved hearing your stories, your in-game triumphs, and your suggestions. One thing stuck out to us through those emails, letters, and postings. And that is – video games matter. They’re as important to you as they are to us. It’s not just about entertainment, it’s about your time. And you chose to spend it with our game.
Thank you again for all your support. We hope you stay engaged in the gaming community here and elsewhere. Keep spreading the word. Games are the world’s best entertainment because they can do what other forms cannot – fill you with the wonder of exploration and the pride of accomplishment. We look forward to sharing our next adventure with you.
Until next time,
Bethesda Game Studios
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As you enjoy your weekend, don’t forget to check out this week’s highlights from ElderScrollsOnline.com!
Longtime fans of TES will remember the Ogrim from Morrowind. These Daedra return in ESO, and the embed above give you a first look at their return. To learn more how ZeniMax Online Studios brought this memorable monster back to life, read the feature here.
Additional highlights this week include:
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Beginning today Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 players will have access to Skyrim’s 1.9 title updates by way of an automatic title update. Just be sure to have your console connected online to receive the title update.
In addition to adding Legendary Skills and the new Legendary difficult setting, the update adds a number of bug fixes. Full details below…
Skyrim 1.9Â
View Original ArticleNEW FEATURES
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[*]Legendary difficulty setting
[*]Legendary Skills – Skills of 100 can be made Legendary. This will reset the skill to 15, return its Perks and allow the skill to affect leveling again. This effectively removes the overall level cap.
Bug fixes after the break…
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[*]General memory and stability improvements
[*]Fixed issue with quest scripts that were not shutting down properly
[*]Companions will equip better weapons and armor if given to them
[*]Fixed rare issue where player is unable to learn the Clear Skies shout during “The Throat of the World”
[*]Fixed rare instance where Alduin would become invincible during “Alduin’s Bane”
[*]Fixed a rare issue where player could become stuck in Night Mother’s coffin during “Death Incarnate”
[*]Fixed rare issue where protected companions could be killed from poison damage
[*]Fixed rare issue with certain ash piles left from resurrected NPCs not clearing properly
[*]Fixed rare issue with NPCs and creatures respawning improperly after player fast travels
[*]Fixed rare crash when entering Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary
[*]Fixed rare crash when entering a player owned home
[*]Random dragon attacks will no longer occur during “Battle for Whiterun”
[*]Fixed a rare crash when attempting to save your game during “Waking Nightmare”
[*]Fixed issue where “Glory of the Undead” would not start properly if player is in combat with Eorlund Gray-Mane
[*]The white phial is no longer consumed if given to a follower
[*]If player marries Aela, the “Totem of Hircine” quest will be available
[*]Unused briar hearts can be dropped after finishing “The White Phial”
[*]Fixed issue with paying off a crime against the Companions that prevented player from getting Companions quests properly
[*]Thieves Guild caches are now properly enabled in the appropriate cities
[*]The Dragon Infusion perk now works properly when taking Esbern’s Potion
[*]Cragslane Cave properly resets if player receives a radiant quest to clear it out
[*]Fixed rare issue with bounty quest objectives not properly clearing after completion
[*]Gallus’ Encoded Journal is no longer a quest item after completing the Thieves Guild
[*]In “No Stone Unturned” Vex will now accept Unusual Gems if you’ve collected them all before starting the quest
[*]Vekel the Man now gives rewards for completing “Toying with The Dead”
[*]Fixed rare issue with being unable to turn in stolen items in “The Litany of Larceny”
[*]Fixed issue with followers becoming over-encumbered after being repeatedly rehired
[*]Fixed rare issue with visiting Kynesgrove on horseback not progressing “A Blade in the Dark” properly
[*]Fixed issue with receiving a duplicate radiant quest from a Jarl
[*]Fixed conflict with clearing Driftshade Sanctuary before starting “Trouble in Skyrim”
[*]Fixed issue with using shouts while in jail and having guards unlock the jail cell
[*]Fixed rare issue with quest NPCs not properly moving to quest locations
[*]Fixed issue with NPCs not selling master level spells
[*]Fixed rare issue where player gets control locked outside the Thalmor Embassy at the start of “Diplomatic Immunity”
[*]Fixed rare issue with disappearing containers after upgrades in player owned house
[*]Fixed issue with being erroneously attacked while as a werewolf during “Ill Met By Moonlight”
[*]The Ebony Blade is now only improved by two handed perks
[*]Locked door to Proudspire Manor can now be unlocked by proper key
[*]Fixed issue with merchants not receiving the proper additional gold with the Investor perk
[*]Fixed a rare issue where the player would be unable to learn a word after leaving for several days during “The Way of The Voice”
[*]The Nord Hero Bow can now be improved
[*]The Purity perk no longer requires the Experimenter perk
[*]Fixed rare instance where Lovers Comfort would not be applied properly
[*]If you approach Frostmere Crypt from the north, “The Pale Lady” will start properly
[*]Fixed rare issue where player could be prevented from speaking with Atub to start “The Cursed Tribe”
[*]Fixed rare issue where a dragon could appear in the Mind of a Madman realm and kill the player
[*]Fixed instance where player could get stuck in Japhet’s Folly
[*]Fixed rare instances where Arngeir would not teach Whirlwind Sprint
[*]Fixed issue with “Ill Met By Moonlight” if Sinding dies before the quest starts
[*]Gharol can now properly train up to level 75
[*]Fixed conflict with visiting The Karthspire before starting “Alduin’s Wall”
[*]Reduced the instance of random dragon attacks after fast traveling post main quest
[*]Recruited Blades now have appropriate dialogue while at Sky Haven Temple
[*]Fixed rare issue where an incorrect dungeon could appear as a location during “Totems of Hircine”
[*]Fixed rare instance in “Fetch me that Book” where books found before getting the quest would not be properly recognized
[*]Fixed rare issue with traveling to Thalmor Embassy with companions during “Diplomatic Immunity”
[*]Fixed issues with Matching Set perk not working properly with certain pieces of armor
[*]Fixed issues with Custom Fit perk not working properly with certain pieces of armor
[*]Fixed issue with NPC dying in a bear trap blocking progress in “Time of My Need”
[*]Fixed rare issue with swinging door becoming stuck and blocking an entrance in Volunruud
[*]Imperial Light Armor can now be crafted
[*]Fixed issue with “Vald’s Debt” where Vald was not leveled properly
[*]Fixed issue with Vilkas not giving proper greeting after completing “Battle for Whiterun”
[*]Fixed issue with respawning actors that were raised by using the Ritual Stone power
[*]Fixed issue with the Ancient Knowledge perk not calculating properly
[*]The Palace of Kings now has patrolling guards on upper floors
[*]Reduce percentage chance of getting a werewolf loading screen while player is a werewolf
[*]Pantea’s flute is no longer a quest item after completing “Pantea’s Flute”
[*]Placing an unread Oghma Infinium on a bookshelf in the player’s house no longer allows the book to be reused again
[*]Adjusted dialogue priority to improve chances of hearing more combat dialogue from certain NPC enemies
[*]Fixed issue with falling damage on high difficulty levels
[*]Fixed bad collision on certain clutter objects
[*]Fixed rare instance of couriers who would appear only dressed in a hat
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[*]Legendary difficulty setting
[*]Legendary Skills – Skills of 100 can be made Legendary. This will reset the skill to 15, return its Perks and allow the skill to affect leveling again. This effectively removes the overall level cap.
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Beginning on our merch store, you can order our latest Skyrim gear — a black hoodie featuring Skyrim’s take on the Imperial logo. A raw-edge hoodie, the design is ideal for Skyrim-like climate or long nights of game playing.
View Original Article
Legendary Q&A at Raptr.com
in Skyrim News
Posted
Outside of our office, there’s probably no one that knows the ins and outs of Skyrim better than David Hodgson — the co-author of the game’s official game guide. Today on Raptr.com, he’ll be answering questions about the game from 1-9 PM EST.
David’s latest work has been finalizing the Legendary Edition of the Skyrim Game Guide — available in original and collector’s edition flavors. We just received copies of the guide this week, and at over 1,100 pages, it’s a beast.