The Legend of Jiub

Post » Sun May 27, 2012 8:28 pm

Hello, Bethesda forums! Due to lack of response from the Nexus, I am posting this mod and our progress so far here in hopes of finding people interested in contributing. This post is duplicated from the nexus forums. Please view thread there for pictures and links.

The Legend of St. Jiub
In the east of Skyrim, an old, wizardly scholar sits alone, researching and scribing the histories of nations near and far. Not just any history, but the history of the people. The Dovahkiin is invited not only to hear the tale of one such person, but to experience it by their eyes. The scholar allows the Dovahkiin to step 200 years backwards, into the shoes of a Dark Elf whose tale was never told.

After the Nerevarine left for Akavir, and before the Champion of Cyrodiil left the Imperial prison, there was another hero. A hero who served neither kings nor gods, but the people. His people. The people of Vvardenfell. For hundreds of years after, people would celebrate his life and victories, for he was known for vanquishing a most vile foe, and driving them from Vvardenfell forever. Often credited for helping the Nerevarine begin their quest on a prison ship outside Seyda Neen, 3E 427, his greatest accomplishment, his life's purpose, was driving the Cliff Racers from Vvardenfell. That story has never been told, until now. The Legend of Jiub.

Time period:
This mod starts by the player meeting a scholar who tells the tail of Jiub, then allowing the player to magically experience the tale, and is sent back in time to the year 3E 429 to experience it as Jiub, the dark elf.

The mod starts two years after the Nerevarine leaves the prison ship, and as the prison ship left Seyda Neen, Jiub's future was not certain. Through bureaucratic error, Jiub is confined to the ship and not allowed to leave. He befriends the guards and slow gains their trust, becoming a well-respected seafarer. He sails between Seyda Neen and Blacklight, near the border of Skyrim, making the round-trip journey once every 3 months.

He's docked in Khuul for the night with his crew. Suddenly, disaster strikes in the form of huge Cliff Racers, and Jiub is the only one left alive. He swims to shore and vows, just as Cliff Racers took his family and home from him, he would not rest until the Cliff Racers were driven away forever.

Locale:
This mod takes place on the entire island of Vvardenfell, after the Nerevarine has killed Dagoth Ur, the Ghost Gate has been disabled, and the Tribunal is gone.

Imperial influence has begun to grow on Vvardenfell, but also has the prosperity of its people. No longer does the fear of Blight disease or corprus threaten the people. The Great Houses, recently united under the Nerevarine, have an uneasy truce as they vow to not allow the Empire to dominate their influence and culture. Slavery is legal, but starting to cave under the pressure of the Twin Lamps, and Imperial influence. Khajit have become influential members of society, but Argonians seem to be slowly leaving Vvardenfell for Black Marsh, as if called.

Daedra worshippers and wild beasts have flourished without the Blight poisoning the land. Many areas that were formerly ash-covered have slowly begun to show signs of life.

The mainland and island of Solstheim will not be included in the initial release of this mod.

Main Quest:
The Main Quest is Jiub defending the cities of Vvardenfell from Cliff Racer attacks, then seeking out their brood leader and driving them away from Vvardenfell once and for all.

The factions from Morrowind will be present, but Jiub's relationship with them will be very limited. New factions will be present for the player to join.

The player will earn fame primarily from the main quest and miscellaneous quests.

New factions include: Smugglers, Seafarers, Pearl-divers, and most importantly the Pikesmen, a faction devoted to killing Cliff Racers. (suggestions for additional factions include: The Mythic Dawn, the Twin Lamps)

Notes:
Our team is lacking someone with experience making advanced creature models and animations. If you are interested, please contact with examples at legendofjiub@gmail.com

Current team:
Stavius (landform, static placement, writing, voicework, 2D, 3D, papyrus)
Nefnoj (voicework, writing, 3D)

Contributors:
Vurt (trees, giant mushrooms)


Original post hidden, click show to view:
Spoiler

Hello fellow modders!

My team and I were working on a full conversion of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind using the Skyrim engine, but after players and modders alike began to disagree as to the legality of such a mod, and after I was unable to receive comment from Bethesda confirming or denying the legal plausibility of the venture, we decided to put our project on hold until a verdict could be reached. And we have decided!

We are pushing forward to create a version of Morrowind that is faithful to the period 200 years before the events of Skyrim, during the time of the Neravarine, but with a different story in mind: the story of Jiub.

For those that do not remember, Jiub is the dark elf who woke up the player's character at the beginning of Morrowind. After that, he isn't heard of again until Oblivion, where the players are informed that Jiub is considered a saint who saved Morrowind from the worst of all pestilence: cliff racers.

I now propose that we make an entirely new adventure based on the character of Jiub, who remains prisoner through the storyline of Morrowind, but is released between the events of Morrowind and Oblivion, and begins his journey to become the dark elf who drove the cliff racers out of Morrowind. This adventure will be solely one linear quest set on the island of Vvardenfell, and perhaps Solstheim, with miscellaneous quests from the people living there. We do not yet know if we shall include any factions into this mod, but they may be added later.

In addition to the announcement of this mod, this is also an open call to those who can assist with modelling, world forming, and voice acting. We have a few voice actors, a modeler, a texturer, and someone very familiar with how to use simple scripts and dynamic quest creation within the Creation Kit, but we will need an advanced scripter, someone familiar with animating models and making anything other than basic 3D models, and additional modders who can donate time and talent to truly bring justice to the hero who is Jiub.

Anyone who can, and wants to help, is welcome to contact me at
stavius.dreeg@gmail.com
My primary means of communication are via email and Steam, just search for Stavius Dreeg

Please post your ideas, comments, suggestions, and questions below!

~~~

The island of Vvardenfell will be familiar to those who played Morrowind, but distinct in a few key ways.
The Blight is gone! There's a sudden influx of visitors, trade is booming, and the cities and towns have been flooded with new inhabitants. Some of the original inhabitants will be gone; the Nerevarine has long left, the Tribunal is gone, the temple slowly losing influence. The empire begins to establish a stronger foothold. Strange rumors about a cult of red-robed Daedra-worshippers... but most importantly, the blight being lifted has let the many creatures on Vvardenfell to spread, and reproduce. The worst of these is the Cliff Racers! That's where you, Jiub, the other prisoner, come into play.

Update 3/23/12

I have successfully used TESAnnwyn to import the landform data from Morrowind to Skyrim, which saves me about 6 months of work sculpting it by hand. Thanks Lightwave!
Screenshots:
(click show to view)

Vvardenfell
http://i1150.photobucket.com/albums/o615/staviusdreeg/2012-03-23_00006.jpg
Sheogorad Region:
http://i1150.photobucket.com/albums/o615/staviusdreeg/2012-03-23_00005.jpg
Red Mountain:
http://i1150.photobucket.com/albums/o615/staviusdreeg/2012-03-23_00004.jpg
Path to Dagoth Ur:
http://i1150.photobucket.com/albums/o615/staviusdreeg/2012-03-23_00003.jpg
Seyda Neen:
http://i1150.photobucket.com/albums/o615/staviusdreeg/2012-03-23_00002.jpg

I am currently in the process of creating new and altered textures to depict the ashy, volcanic central area of Vvardenfell. Should take about a month per region, depending on what hurdles I encounter.


Update 3/27/12
It has been confirmed that Vurt will be creating custom models and textures for the trees, mushrooms, and grass for Vvardenfell. Thank you so much, Vurt!

Update 4/13/12
In addition to filling the landform with statics, trees, bridges, and landscape textures, I've also created a few Vvardenfell-specific plants to harvest:
Click show to view

Heather:
http://i1150.photobucket.com/albums/o615/staviusdreeg/TESV2012-04-1316-30-26-47.jpg
Comberry:
http://i1150.photobucket.com/albums/o615/staviusdreeg/TESV2012-04-1316-30-35-10.jpg
Gold Kanet:
http://i1150.photobucket.com/albums/o615/staviusdreeg/TESV2012-04-1316-31-00-90.jpg

Progress on adding objects is going very well; we haven't yet found someone willing to make 3D models for buildings or creatures, so if a few people are willing to donate one or two models each, we would highly appreciate it and that way no one person has to make all the models and it's more of a community effort.

So far we have completed about 4% of the Vvardenfell landform, excluding of course objects for which we do not yet have a 3D model.



Update 5/4/12
In addition to working on the landmass, I have also created my own mushroom trees to populate the island. How do they look?
http://i1150.photobucket.com/albums/o615/staviusdreeg/TESV2012-05-0416-58-37-78.jpg

http://i1150.photobucket.com/albums/o615/staviusdreeg/TESV2012-05-0416-59-35-01.jpg


Update 5/16/12
After futzing with 3DS and NifSkope for a while, I finally got corkbulb to work...
http://i1150.photobucket.com/albums/o615/staviusdreeg/TESV2012-05-1616-23-01-32.jpg
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Elena Alina
 
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Post » Sun May 27, 2012 10:02 pm

Not gonna lie I am interested in this. I liked Jiub's voice acting in Morrowind.
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Chrissie Pillinger
 
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Post » Sun May 27, 2012 9:37 am

Not gonna lie I am interested in this. I liked Jiub's voice acting in Morrowind.

Thanks for the interest!

We're going to choose who voices Jiub very carefully, to try and represent the spirit of Morrowind. He was every player's first encounter with that gruff Dunmer attitude which was an important theme in Morrowind.
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natalie mccormick
 
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Post » Sun May 27, 2012 7:12 pm

A very interesting project, but...
I have successfully used TESAnnwyn to import the landform data from Morrowind to Skyrim, which saves me about 6 months of work sculpting it by hand. Thanks Lightwave!
Are you sure that's legal?
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evelina c
 
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Post » Sun May 27, 2012 1:07 pm

A very interesting project, but... Are you sure that's legal?
Yes, as it was generated from a heightmap which was edited, scaled, and tweaked, and not an original asset from Morrowind. It is fundamentally impossible to for me to just copy the landform data directly into Skyrim, which would be a violation.

All models and statics are adapted from Skyrim or built from scratch, so no infringing assets will be included in this mod whatsoever.
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Emmi Coolahan
 
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Post » Sun May 27, 2012 6:04 pm

Alright then! Good luck :V

I'm anticipating the screenshots.
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Nathan Barker
 
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Post » Sun May 27, 2012 12:03 pm

Alright then! Good luck :V

I'm anticipating the screenshots.

Just added links to screenshots. I'll be posting more later today.
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Javier Borjas
 
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Post » Sun May 27, 2012 11:55 am

So odd that Skyrim's 'neutral' look is foggy and desaturated. It's like I'm viewing Vvardenfell through a cheap pair of sunglasses.
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Siidney
 
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Post » Sun May 27, 2012 8:45 pm

Interesting. I'm the lead for http://www.darkcreations.org/forums/forum/142-return-to-morrowind/, a http://www.darkcreations.org/forums/forum/119-beyond-skyrim/ affiliated mod group that is working on an updated version of Vvardenfell. We'll be doing quite a few custom tilesets, models, and other assets for the mod, which will be released under Creative Commons: Attribution. You're welcome to use our assets. I, personally, am working on buildings right now - which I'm a little behind on at the moment, but I'm a bit new to the modding scene and had a bit of trial & error to figure out the right way build this stuff. Morcroft is still http://www.darkcreations.org/forums/topic/806-common-worldspace-heightmap/, but we've got a lot of stuff to do making assets, so it's not an issue at the moment.
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Samantha Pattison
 
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Post » Sun May 27, 2012 12:41 pm

Interesting. I'm the lead for Return to Morrowind, a Beyond Skyrim affiliated mod group that is working on an updated version of Vvardenfell. We'll be doing quite a few custom tilesets, models, and other assets for the mod, which will be released under Creative Commons: Attribution. You're welcome to use our assets. I, personally, am working on buildings right now - which I'm a little behind on at the moment, but I'm a bit new to the modding scene and had a bit of trial & error to figure out the right way build this stuff. Morcroft is still working on our heightmap, but we've got a lot of stuff to do making assets, so it's not an issue at the moment.

I've read about this mod, it sounds incredible! I am more than happy to share any assets but I doubt anything I make will be superior to what your team is constructing. So far I've made a few custom tilesets and many custom plant textures.

I definitely feel like many assets would be constructed of the same statics, such as architecture and creatures, so I would be very grateful to use objects created for your mod. I've also run into the problem of being unable to find anyone who can help with modeling and animating creatures, which would be a big part of both our projects.

Vurt is onboard to make trees and giant mushrooms for our mod, and I'll ask his permission before distributing his models, but I'm sure he would be more than happy to contribute the assets to Return to Morrowind as well.

Please email me at stavius.dreeg@gmail.com so we can swap ideas and assets. I think we can work together to make both our projects amazing!
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ANaIs GRelot
 
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Post » Sun May 27, 2012 2:08 pm

Do you have a site set up? Right now, we're hosted on Dark Creations and they do http://www.darkcreations.org/#get-hosted. Download areas, forums, wiki, and now they have a Wordpressed based front page. I'm pretty easy going with letting people in - Sandor, for instance, is doing his own thing with Silgrad Tower, but I had the admins extend "team member" status to him so he could pop in, keep track of what we are doing, and voice his opinion. I can hook you up as well. He's given us access to the assets from Silgrad Tower's Oblivion mod, and sooner or later I really need to get around to 'porting the plants (and a few other things) over, then see what textures need updating for Skyrim.
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Kara Payne
 
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Post » Sun May 27, 2012 2:29 pm

Cool. I'll be watching this one.
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krystal sowten
 
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Post » Sun May 27, 2012 5:44 pm

..but, there is one they fear, in their tongue his name Jiub, Cliff-Racerborn!
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George PUluse
 
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Post » Mon May 28, 2012 12:31 am

I've made retextured version of Skyrim ingredients to represent almost every ingredient from Morrowind, if they'd be useful.
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Isabella X
 
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Post » Sun May 27, 2012 3:34 pm

I've made retextured version of Skyrim ingredients to represent almost every ingredient from Morrowind, if they'd be useful.
That would be VERY useful! Could you link to it? Post some pictures?
I'll have the team compare what you've made and what we've made to decide the best fit, but we've only made a few so anything helps!
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asako
 
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Post » Sun May 27, 2012 10:12 am

..but, there is one they fear, in their tongue his name Jiub, Cliff-Racerborn!
The Legend of Jiub: A Scroll to the Past

The Legend of Jiub: Skyrim Sword

The Legend of Jiub: Zainab Thong of Time

The Legend of Jiub: M'aiq's Mask

The Legend of Jiub: The Water Walker

The Legend of Jiub: Tribunal of Seasons

The Legend of Jiub: Twilight Godess

The Legend of Jiub: Fargoth's Awakening
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Brandon Wilson
 
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Post » Sun May 27, 2012 8:42 am

The Legend of Jiub: A Scroll to the Past

The Legend of Jiub: Skyrim Sword

The Legend of Jiub: Zainab Thong of Time

The Legend of Jiub: M'aiq's Mask

The Legend of Jiub: The Water Walker

The Legend of Jiub: Tribunal of Seasons

The Legend of Jiub: Twilight Godess

The Legend of Jiub: Fargoth's Awakening
Oh geez... I lost it at Fargoth's Awakening.

Rest assured, we'll be putting that little [censored] somewhere ;)
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Guinevere Wood
 
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Post » Sun May 27, 2012 5:56 pm

They are part of my 'Ingredients of Tamriel' WIP ( http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1365169-wip-ingredients-of-tamriel/page__fromsearch__1 ). I'll message you a link to the WIP file. All the textures are already there, I'm just faffing with normal maps and alchemical effects ATM.

There is a huge resource there. Feel free to include any and all you want - even the stuff from other provinces. I assume there is the odd trader who travels to foreign parts...
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james tait
 
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Post » Sun May 27, 2012 11:16 pm

They are part of my 'Ingredients of Tamriel' WIP ( http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1365169-wip-ingredients-of-tamriel/page__fromsearch__1 ). I'll message you a link to the WIP file. All the textures are already there, I'm just faffing with normal maps and alchemical effects ATM.

There is a huge resource there. Feel free to include any and all you want - even the stuff from other provinces. I assume there is the odd trader who travels to foreign parts...
That sounds excellent. And since the Blight and Corprus have been eradicated from Morrowind, trade will definitely have opened up to include strange and rare ingredients from other provinces!

And as for normal maps, I highly recommend two resources:

1) this article: http://www.katsbits.com/tutorials/textures/how-not-to-make-normal-maps-from-photos-or-images.php
It explains the why and how of Normal maps, and it teaches that sometimes you gotta make a normal map from scratch using simple black, white, and grey shapes.

2) http://www.crazybump.com/. You will never use the nVidia tool in Photoshop after using this. It is nothing short of incredible.
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no_excuse
 
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Post » Sun May 27, 2012 1:13 pm

Update 5/4/12

I created mushroom trees with original textures.
View the links at the bottom of the top post to check them out, tell me how they look!
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Chloe Mayo
 
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Post » Sun May 27, 2012 6:27 pm

Looks great! I cant wait for this!
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sara OMAR
 
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Post » Sun May 27, 2012 10:38 am

St. Jiub is the man
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Erich Lendermon
 
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Post » Sun May 27, 2012 8:12 am

Update 5/16/12

Finally got corkbulb working! See top post!
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MatthewJontully
 
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Post » Sun May 27, 2012 2:29 pm

Looking good!
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Nina Mccormick
 
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Post » Sun May 27, 2012 7:01 pm

This mod sounds awesome! Definitely something I'll look forward to.
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Darrell Fawcett
 
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