Game Skyrim Forum

[WIP] Extended Sheathing (generic title subject to change)

This project will attempt to implement in Morrowind the visible sheathing mechanics seen in more modern games such as Oblivion and Skyrim.

The main goal here is to be as seamless as possible, to such an extent that a new player using the mod wouldn't even know Morrowind actually lacked such a feature.
Going on this idea, I've tried to accomplish the task in the most comprehensive and unobtrusive manner that I could devise with current scripting possibilities.

Planned Features

Visual sheathing for all vanilla quivers, shields, and weapons. http://gfycat.com/DirectAnimatedFish
(Note: Example is just a script demonstration, new models aren't included and positioning is off.)

All new lore-friendly sheath/quiver models for vanilla equipment.
(Generously contributed by various community members! See below for more info.)

Will work for both the player and other NPCs, including those added by other mods.
(NPC features will be optional for people with low end computers.)

Includes optional support for visually sheathing "off-hand" or "parry" weapons.
(Additional optional plugin for people whom use such mods)

No scripts attached to any vanilla items or NPCs.
(Compatiblity with other mods that do so, such as weapon rotate.)

No visible dummy items or other inventory weirdness.
(Engine limitations mean new slots cannot be created. Instead sheaths are dynamically "merged" with your currently equipped items.)

No "overwriting" of any current equipment's body parts.
(You won't lose your shirt/glove/pauldrons/etc as you did in older implementations.)

No loss of enchantments or other item data.
(Your enchantments and item conditions will be retained unlike previous similar mods.)

Mesh Progress

Thanks to the generosity of some of our most esteemed community members, this mod will attempt to provide new sheath and quiver meshes for all vanilla equipment!

However, there are a lot of weapons in the game, so any additional help would be greatly appreciated. If you want to help out, just make a post here saying which you'd like to claim.

There are only two basic requirements that I request for those whom want to contribute:

1. Try to stick to vanilla Morrowind's aesthetics, including using vanilla textures if possible.

2. Allow free permission to other users to redistribute your meshes in their own compatibility patches.

Below are a list of weapon sets followed by the name of user whom has volunteered to help create them:

Note: Some item sets contain many more meshes than others. See UESP "Base Weapon" pages on http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Base_Weapons, http://http//www.uesp.net/wiki/Tribunal:Base_Weapons, or http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Bloodmoon:Base_Weapons for more information.
Note2: If you plan to make a quiver mesh, please hold off for now until a base arrow-grouping mesh can be provided to be used as reference for consistent quiver dimensions.

Other than the material sets, there are still a few other models that will be needed as well. For now I'll just list the bladed artifacts:

Requirements:

MGE XE or MWSE standalone
(Either one is fine but you will need the latest (alpha) MWSE.dll developed by Merzasphor.)

Better Bodies or Roberts Bodies
(This mod makes use of the additional body parts provided by these new skeleton meshes.)

Better Armor and Better Clothes
(Probably not required in the final release, but they are recommended!)

Compatibility

By default the mod will work with all vanilla equipment including those added by the 'Tribunal' and 'Bloodmoon' expansions, or those from the 'Morrowind Patch Project'.

The mod doesn't change any item stats or IDs, but it does flag certain vanilla items so that the script will know which sheaths to use for them. If using other mods that
change item records it's recommended to use a merged objects plugin.

No scripting knowledge will be needed to create patches for other mods. The scripts included are dynamic and will automatically support additional mods/models if properly
flagged in the CS.

Any mods that add items which use vanilla models can be made compatible with a simple patch, likely in a single click from a tes3cmd batch file.

Mods that add items with new models must have their meshes manually repositioned to be compatible, just entering in a few coordinates into your editors transform/rotation
field should do the trick.

Mods that add items which already have sheaths will work fine. Extended Sheathing will simply ignore them by default and let them display their own scabbards.

I will try to provide compatibility patches on release for any requested mods/replacers (where permission is granted). Popular projects such as MGSO and Tamriel Rebuilt will
be the initial priority.

A guide will also be included to help other modders/users make their own patches.

Since this mod makes use of MWSE scripting capabilities it will not be compatible with current versions of OpenMW. With that said, as OpenMW nears release and with the assets
already completed, creating an alternate version shouldn't be a major hurdle.

Other thoughts/discussions

Alright, so when I originally posted this I was mainly just hoping for a handful of quiver models. I hadn't expected people would actually be interested in modeling
sheaths as well. Unfortunately that means everything wasn't really planned out in detail just yet, so there's a few things I'd like to have some input on from the
artists and other players as well.

1. What are your thoughts on harnesses/straps/whatever for non-bladed weapons? Specifically axes, hammers and the like. I'm not too familiar with them and I don't know if it
would be worth modelling them as well, though I suspect they would be a bit easier in that department than actual scabbards. I suppose these things may be generic enough to
be reused throughout multiple different material types if they are made.

2. Animations/Orientation. As I'm sure most players are aware, the default animation draws all weapons (except bows) from the players hip. This means two-handed weapons that
are positioned on the back won't mesh perfectly with said animation. I'm not sure if it's possible to have the game use the correct animation depending on the weapon equipped,
but I'll look into that. Assuming for now that that turns out to be impossible (likely), I can see two possible options:

1. Place all sheathed weapons on the players back and always use the appropriate animation for that. Daggers wouldn't look very good in this case though, but logically having
   them be considered "concealed" makes sense and they could just not be shown or put on the hip anyways regardless of the animation.
   
2. Just leave it as is and don't bother with animations. Two-Handed weapons are the minority, so it may be fine to ignore the minor animation issue in favor of not forcing the
   players to worry about animation files and their inherent compatibility issues.

3. Quiver implementation. Originally I had thought that forcing the quiver style to always match the bow and only having the arrow fletching reflect your equipped arrows might be
worth considering. This was mainly from an aesthetic point of view as often the player will be using low quality arrows with higher quality armor/weapons. Seeing an iron quiver on
your back next to all your daedric/ebony/glass/etc items looks a bit out of place. After hearing theinkbunny's thoughts on this I'm leaning toward the standard OB/Sky implementation
of just having the quiver style always match the arrows you have equipped. It does give a more visual sense of what type of arrows you're using, since the fletching might not be
so obvious. If anyone has opinions on the matter I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Ah yes, I forgot about the unique weapons... I'll have to take a stab at making one of those scabbards once I'm done with the Daedric set. Should be fun.

1. I think we can save a lot of time by just using and reusing a fairly generic leather strap for most blunt and axe weapons. Probably most staves and spears as well... honestly only the blades really need their own thing and even those can just be resized and retextured most of the time especially for the lower quality stuff. Chitin can just be in guar leather sheaths, iron and steel would most likely be in similar sheaths to one another. I would recommend that once you've completed a model, you either upload the model or at least post a picture in case it can be used somewhere else. The higher end stuff like Daedric, Ebony, and Glass may be less reusable, but otherwise there is a lot of opportunity to recycle things and save time...

2. I'm personally less sensitive to the animation discrepancy. So my vote would be to just take the simplest route and not touch it (unless there is a way to make 2-handed weapons use the bow animation - possibly with the AnimKit's animation unpacker feature where it breaks an animation down into component pieces - and then packing it back up). But I would ALSO vote for keeping 1-handed weapons on the hip. It just looks neater and people do like their photo-opportunities with their characters.

3. My vote is to make the quivers match the arrow-type. It's a good visual cue.

I wholeheartedly agree with everything MD wrote above! And as I said before, you can count me in to create sheaths.

most eagerly anticipated mod of the year