Vince

I plan to release a mod shortly that has many new meshes and textures. All together the new material represents many hundreds of hours of my time. I really don't mind someone else using some of these elements in their mod as long as they give a brief credit in the Readme. The question I have is about quantity. For example, if someone wanted to include the privy, fine. Or one of the stoves, fine. But what if they incorporate the privy, stoves, oil lamps, fireplaces, house, pottery, vines, furniture, weapons, and more. Should there be a limit? Maybe I worry too much, but I would like to hear other's views on this.

@Darkrider, I'm glad to here the Alliance's stand on this. However, I do have a question where I would like to get the opinion of other modders. Since the Tavern is designated as the place for community discussions, I'll post a new topic there. Please let me know if it would fit better elsewhere.

Quote Ok, another question.When I add a mesh in blender and apply a sub-surf to it it also applies it to another mesh that I have there. How do I get the sub-surf to apply to only one mesh?You should be in Object mode and have only the mesh you want subsurfed selected. With just that mesh highlighted, go to the Modifiers tab (F9 in Object Mode), click on Add Modifier, and choose Subsurf from the pop-up menu.

As a long time member and supporter of ORE (and a member of the ORE Hall of Modders . I am truly saddened to see Shezrie go. She was more than a modder or forum administrator. Her creation, ORE, was the center of house modding for the Oblivion community. Yes, poolace is an ass, but he is not the only factor in Shezrie's decision. It's a combination of a lot of things. Is her decision partly emotional? Yes. You can't create what she did (ORE, MORE, plus mods) without being emotionally involved; there's no money in it--in fact, just the opposite. I will remember Shezrie as someone who made our community richer because she was part of it for a while. As far as intellectual property goes in the modding arena, there are some, such as poolace, who know what they are doing--they're just plain thieves. Surprisingly, there are others who genuinely don't understand. Some time ago I submitted a greenhouse as a modder's resource to MORE. As most understand, the intent of such a resource is for other modders to incorporate the resource in their own creation, usually with a brief credit in the Readme. I happened to be surfing TES Nexus a few months later and was surprised to see a mod posted that was just my greenhouse with really nothing else! Both I and Shezrie added comments describing the true nature of the "mod", but did not report it. It was clear that the poster really didn't know any better. I had hoped to include the url here, but apparently it has now been removed. I see intent as an important aspect of any inappropriate use of all or part of another's mod. @DarkRider: It seems like a discussion of what is, and is not, an appropriate use of someone else's work might be fruitful here. Rather than hijacking this thread, maybe you could suggest where in the forum it might best be? * I'm starting Humility 101 next week--I promise.

Quote What happens is the player enters the unburned version and see's us as characters inside the tavern. If the player tries to interact with any player, they become ghosts, flames leap around the player. Going outside the burned version of the tavern is there, overgrown with weeds. Inside is a chest with books in it, of the stories we have been writing.Sorry its long, but I thought it was a good idea. And your house models sounded about like what I was looking for..Thanks for reading.I too think it's a good idea, I really do. You ought to work on that.

If you have no experience with 3D modeling but want to learn, the following might be helpful. There are three free modeling programs that can be useful in modding Oblivion. Wing3D is the simplest and most intuitive modeler. With it you can create static and cutter objects and weapons. It does not support animation or rigging of any kind so it's not suitable for armor, clothing, or NPCs. Due to its simple interface and the fact that it's focused on just modeling (including materials and UV mapping) it is, by far, the easiest to learn. You can download it from: Wings3D Download Page. Doing a net search for "Wings3D" will get you to many useful tutorials. For tutorials specific to using Wings3D to create content for Oblivion, see my tutorials: Wings3D for Oblivion. Blender is the most well known modeling program for Oblivion and by far the most difficult to learn of those listed here. Blender is free and will do everything: modeling, animation, rigging, procedural materials and textures, photo-realistic rendering, you-name-it. The fact that it does do everything is a part of what makes it difficult. For a simple model of a dagger, for example, there is a bewildering array of buttons and tabs that must be set correctly in order to successfully export for Oblivion. Another thing that makes Blender more difficult is it is always changing. The most recent updates are great, the UV mapping in particular. The problem is, you may find a tutorial for a particular facet you want to learn, only to find that it was written for a version of a year ago when the interface was a bit different. The bottom line is, it will take time, patience, and a good bit of effort to get comfortable with Blender. Many have given up in frustration. However, if you have the mental power and determination to master it, you will not find a more powerful or versatile free 3D program. You can get Blender at: Get Blender The third program is gmax. Gmax is intermediate in both power and ease of learning between Wings3D and Blender. Gmax is basically a free, stripped-down version of 3ds Max about version 4. The idea was to strip out everything not essential for creating game content. So, things like procedural materials, photo-realistic rendering, and versatile import and export have been removed. All the key modeling stuff is still there. At first, when you notice that it only exports its own .p3d format (which nothing else reads) you may think it's worthless--not so. Since its purpose is to create game content, the idea was game people would write exporters for gmax for their games--and they do. There's Tempest for exporting to Quake and for us, Niftools supports gmax with a .nif exporter. Although I haven't tried exporting complex collision from gmax, apparently it even supports MOPPS collision! There are some tutorials specific to gmax and many for 3ds Max that are useful for gmax. If you think you will eventually graduate to 3ds Max, using gmax now means the transition will be very smooth. You can download gmax and gmax specific tutorials from: Gmax at TurboSquid. You can get the .nif exporter from Niftools 3ds Max and gmax Exporters.

Quote Do you do requests for models? LOL, just asking!Not usually. It turns out that I've spent most of the last year creating inside-out or "exterior" homes that will never be distributed. The problem is, exterior houses (where the "inside" is actually part of the exterior cell) are very hard to create that have an acceptable FPS with a modest video card. The problem is the video processor has to process all the external stuff (the exterior of the house, trees, grass, rocks, lakes, deer, etc.) plus the interior of the house and all the lights and clutter in it. 'Bottom line, most of the last year hasn't been very productive but I've learned a lot. Now that I finally have a project that I do expect to post, I'm eager to get it out. I'm both excited and frustrated at the same time. I've finished the weapon and, as you will be able to verify for yourself eventually, there's never been anything like it in Oblivion. One of the biggest problems has been how to keep it from ruining the game. If it were not limited in some way, the game would become pointless. At one point while testing it out, I was attacked simultaneously be two grizzly bears, an ogre, a minotaur. a troll, and a Will-O-The-Wisp (I'm not making this up). Whammy, whammy there were all dead! I have devised a way to limit it that is believeable and still lets you have a little fun. The fustration is due to the huge about of work still to do. It will take at least another week or more to finish "abandoning" the exterior of the house--and there's a lot more after that. You wouldn't want to just walk up and pickup or buy a weapon like this. With what I'm working on, by the time you get it, you will definitely feel you have earned it. I don't know why I'm babbling away like this when I should be making vines. So back to the vine factory.

Hi! I'm Vince. I'm a modeler mostly. I've created a few house mods including the first exterior (inside-out) house, Top of the World. I also wrote a 3-part tutorial on 3D modeling using Wings3D. My mods are posted at TES Nexus and ORE. Right now I'm completing a rather unusual mod, the Abandoned Mountain Shack. The idea is, well, the shack is abandoned. So, it's overgrown with weeds and vines. Inside all the candles, lamps, stoves, and fireplace burned out long ago. There are spider webs all over. The windows are so dirty you can hardly see out, there's a big hole in the floor--well, you get the idea. So, anyone can claim the shack, but they will need to fix it up to live there. All the tools and resources needed are in the shack or nearby. For example, the lamp hanging over the dining table is burned out. So, you need to find some lamp fuel and put it in the lamp. The house and all the insides are complete. I'm making the vines now. Since each vine follows the contours of the shack, porch, or privy, etc., each one has to be created from scratch--a bit tedious. I know a bit about modeling, texturing, and non-quest scripts and will help out if I can. I mostly model with Blender, gmax, and Modo and do most texturing with Paint.Net, DXTBmp, and Nvidia's Texture Tools 2.

If I understand you question correctly, the "line thingy" is a straight line indicating the direction of extrusion. When you say "extract", I'm guessing you ment extrusion. Usually, the default direction of extrusion is along the normal to the surface you are extruding. If you still have a problem, just note the details a bit more. I should be able to help.

If you're still using Blender and you want to join two meshes, just switch to Object mode, select both meshes (so they both have pink outlines), then click on Object on the task bar and choose "Join Objects". 'Hope this helps.