[WIP]Oblivion Prelude: Kvatch

[Zenshinzenrei]

Oblivion Prelude: Kvatch is an alternate start mod that aims to modify certain parts of vanilla Oblivion. Instead of starting as a prisoner in the Imperial dungeon, the player will be able to choose from 22 starting locations. The Emperor is still alive and the Dragonfires remain active. The main focus of this mod however, is the re-created city of Kvatch. The player will be able to experience a living, breathing Kvatch, inhabited by newly created NPCs as well as those from the vanilla game.

This mod draws its inspiration from various mods: The living Kvatch concept is made possible by thePOSTALdude's M.O.E. Main Quest Delayer; the alternate start scenario gathers elements from

Alternative Start Arrive by Ship, Alternate Start Revamped, A New Beginning, Who Am I, and Starting Options.

PLANNED FEATURES:

Experience the city of Kvatch, fully re-created with NPCs, shops, guilds, an inn, an arena, and homes.

Purchase a house in Kvatch just like in every other city.

Take part in new quests that revolve around Kvatch and its inhabitants.

Start the game from one of 22 different locations.

Choose a character background that gives the player attribute/skill bonuses and equipment.

Delays the Main Quest and provides new methods to begin the Main Quest.

Witness the Daedric invasion of Kvatch firsthand.

PLOT

====

"The countship of Kvatch is held by Ormellius Goldwine. He was once viewed by many as a just and efficient ruler, able to maintain peace within the walls of Kvatch and provide its citizens a standard of living rivaled only by the city of Skingrad. He was stripped of such honor after the loss of his sons drove him to despair, greatly affecting his ability to rule. Currently no heir has been designated and power-hungry factions attempt to seize power at every turn. The most recent uprising successfully breached the castle walls and left the great halls damaged."

Excerpt from Guide to Kvatch by Alessia Ottus

Excerpt pg. 1, pg. 2

Progress and Release Date:

Orignally I had planned to release OPK in March. Unfortunately, it will be delayed since the mod is nowhere close to completion. I do not have an estimated date of when this will be released.

I've decided to do a milestone system to monitor the mod's progress. The more milestones I complete, the closer OPK gets to release.

MILESTONES

=========

Alternate start scenario - COMPLETE

City:

Kvatch structures (outside city walls)- COMPLETE

Kvatch structures (inside city walls) - COMPLETE

NPCs:

Vanilla NPCs - COMPLETE

OPK NPCs - In Progress

Dungeons:

Mega-dungeon(under Kvatch)

First level North Tunnels - COMPLETE

First level South Tunnels - COMPLETE

Second level East Caverns - COMPLETE

Second level West Caverns -

Third level East Caverns -

Third level West Caverns -

Quests:

Main Quest(order) -

Main Quest(chaos) -

Fighter's Guild -

Mages Guild -

Arena -

Side Quests - In Progress

Kvatch Invasion scenario:

City - In Progress

NPCs -

Creatures- In Progress

Dialogue:

Tweak vanilla dialogue - In Progress

OPK dialogue - In Progress

Voice acting - In Progress

Note: In order for me to even consider releasing the mod at its minimum, the following milestones have to be considered COMPLETE: City(both), Vanilla NPCs, the Mega-dungeon,

Main Quest (order and chaos), Alternate start scenario, and Kvatch invasion scenario. Dialogue and voice acting related to the list above would also be required for release.

VIDEO

SCREENSHOTS

Chorrol architecture with Skingrad textures:

Player Home

Fighter's and Mages Guild

Lupine's Den Inn

Three Regions General Goods

A view of Chapel Way

A view of some houses

More houses

A Kvatch aristocrat's home

Interiors:

Three Regions interior

Residential interior 1

Residential interior 2

Fighter's Guild entrance

Fighter's Guild dining area

Lupine's Den entrance

Lupine's Den lounge

Kvatch Invasion:

Grove/Inn garden on fire

Siege Machine salvo

Grove invaders

Kvatch in a red haze

Siege Machine salvo front view

Carnage, but I forgot to add blood

Castle under bombardment

OPK WIP Albums:

Mega dungeon progress album

Edited June 17, 2010 by Zenshinzenrei

[Zabre]

This idea should have been in Vanilla!!! This also looks likes a very interesting mod, and will be an instant download when its release arrives.

Edited February 20, 2010 by Lemon

[Arion]

What a terrific idea.. Best of luck I'm looking forward to it.

[Maxwell the Fool]

I can be of some help with both interior and exterior design, but you should know that I'm a very green modder. This looks like a great project and I would love to be a part of it (at least as a Beta tester).

[Zenshinzenrei]

I am so looking forward for the BTA Guild to test my mod.

[Zenshinzenrei]

Update:

I added a few new NPCs: a drunk beggar, two skooma addicts hiding somewhere in Kvatch, and a shady merchant that sells potions, poisons, and thief related items(like Shady Sam).

Also here is a

of Kvatch vandals in action.

[Zenshinzenrei]

Here's an update!

I've been working on a scenario that may be of interest to some of you.

Here are some CS screenshots:

View of Main Gate

Another view of the Main Gate

Behind Lupine's Den Inn

Grove of Akatosh, on fire

View of the castle under siege

Mages Guild go BOOM! But so does the player-owned house.

View of Main Gate from Chapel Way

View of the Residential Area

I haven't tested them in-game yet, that's why they are all CS shots. I still need to make a portal that leads to there, and that's the next thing I'm gonna be working on. This scenario is nowhere close to completed though. I still need to add more details, such as more rubble, proper collision boxes, creature spawn points, and of course, dead bodies.

[Maxwell the Fool]

Planning on letting us test this? I've been watching this one for a while.... Stumbled on the OF thread a few weeks (months?) ago. Can't wait to test it!

[Zenshinzenrei]

Planning on letting us test this? I've been watching this one for a while.... Stumbled on the OF thread a few weeks (months?) ago. Can't wait to test it!

Oh definitely. It's not even close to finished yet, but once I have something close to release the BTA Guild will be the first to know

[Zenshinzenrei]

Ok, small update. I have created a way to get into the Kvatch invasion world. So that means I have in-game screenshots.

Enjoy!

Grove/Inn garden on fire

Siege Machine salvo

Grove invaders

Kvatch in a red haze

Siege Machine salvo front view

Carnage, but I forgot to add blood

Castle under bombardment

Edited March 31, 2010 by Zenshinzenrei

[DANTE20XX]

Very nice. I shall be looking forward to this....sometime soon I hope

I would not mind testing this either

[Zenshinzenrei]

OK, here's a demo video of the alternate start scenario for OPK. Not my best video, but I hope you enjoy. Please, any comments or feedback would be great.

[Fiore1300]

I thought that the demo video was good. Pretty straight forward and clear. Though I don't think I quite understand what "professions" does. Is that just for role-play, or does it increase stats and/or add items to your inventory?

On another note...I think this mod is amazing. I'm looking forward to possibly matching this with Kvatch Rebuilt. Though I think that mod adds characters, so it would be a little bit of a throw-off. Of course, I can dream in my hearts of hearts that you'd make a sequel...

And was it ever decided how the player would begin the main quest? Oh, never mind. I can see now that it states you have multiple options. Good.

Edited May 2, 2010 by Fiore1300

[Zenshinzenrei]

I thought that the demo video was good. Pretty straight forward and clear. Though I don't think I quite understand what "professions" does. Is that just for role-play, or does it increase stats and/or add items to your inventory?

On another note...I think this mod is amazing. I'm looking forward to possibly matching this with Kvatch Rebuilt. Though I think that mod adds characters, so it would be a little bit of a throw-off. Of course, I can dream in my hearts of hearts that you'd make a sequel...

And was it ever decided how the player would begin the main quest? Oh, never mind. I can see now that it states you have multiple options. Good.

To clarify on "professions": It is indeed a role-play feature for the sake of adding a background for your character. But it also adds items and stats (and in some cases, factions) according to the chosen profession. For example, choosing soldier gives your character iron armor, a small boost in Heavy armor skill, and a weapon depending on which skill (blade or blunt) is higher. Choosing guard on the other hand, is similar except it adds chainmail armor and a boost in Light armor. Choosing Bandit makes you aligned with bandits but Marauders hate your guts, and vice versa.

I hope that clears the confusion up a bit. That's why I thought the demo video wasn't too great because the alt-start scenario has a lot of content that I couldn't cover in one video. It would be easier IMO to describe professions in a readme file or something similar. I'll get to that soon enough though.

[Zenshinzenrei]

Alright, update time!

So I finally finished creating the characters for OPK's Elder Council. I created the council mainly for aesthetic purposes. The characters do have simple schedules but they do nothing else but sit around and wander, no quests involved. Maybe as an add-on in the future, but not now.

Here are some screenshots of the Council:

Emperor, Chancellor and Blades

Emperor

Crown Prince

Prince Enman

Prince Ebel

General Warhaft

Caius Cosades, yes, THE Caius Cosades

Duke Dren

Lady Brisienna

Lady Brisienna's connection to the TES universe

Canctunian Ponius of East Empire Company

IC Throne Room

Please check out my album for more screenshots

Edited May 5, 2010 by Zenshinzenrei

[DANTE20XX]

Really looking forward to this!

[spicydeath82]

you are shiney golden daedra among pleebs...... lol

i can't wait for this. i liked the immersive char gen mod for morrowind and i have a feeling i'm gonna like this one too

[Zenshinzenrei]

Alrighty, update time!

Edited OP. Added a link to the Alternate start demo video. It's not new, but I just forgot to add it before. Also added a new WIP album for the mega dungeon. Took out the links to the old albums because I'm going to organize and update them.

So I've finished half of the second dungeon level, the East cavern area. They're mostly tight and winding claustrophobic tunnels that lead to a cavern. The cavern consists of many deep chasms, where one fall could mean death to anyone and anything (yes, even essential characters). Next up on my plate: tweaking a bit of the city interiors then it's on to the West cavern, which will be even bigger than the East cavern. Expect Ayleid ruins on both sides, and a major questline involving such ruins. I've planned to tie in the existence of the ruins to the main Kvatch quests as well. Will explain a small plotline when I finish the West caverns.

So for now, screenshots!

Cavern entrance

Another entrance to the caverns

Are you brave enough to climb down?

It's a long way up (or down depending on your direction)

No need for doors to pass through sections of these caverns

Doors? What doors?

Arachnophobic? Don't click then

Corpse harvest

Dark caverns

Feeling acrobatic?

Chasms

Ruins

you are shiney golden daedra among pleebs...... lol

i can't wait for this. i liked the immersive char gen mod for morrowind and i have a feeling i'm gonna like this one too

Thank you I do hope you'll have a blast once I'm finished.

[grond]

This effort looks fantastic, Zen. Congratulations on the tone of every message box I've seen in your vids. You've got a fine writing style.

The char gen system (look up look down) is brilliant!

I'm heading up a TESA Community mod that's a neighbor of Kvatch. There's also a new village that's being developed nearby called Wellspring Vale, by our dear Whoguru. I can't wait to put my patching skills to work.

I'm busy, but I can do model edits in Blender. If there's anything I can do to help you, just ask, neighbor.

[Zenshinzenrei]

This effort looks fantastic, Zen. Congratulations on the tone of every message box I've seen in your vids. You've got a fine writing style.

The char gen system (look up look down) is brilliant!

I'm heading up a TESA Community mod that's a neighbor of Kvatch. There's also a new village that's being developed nearby called Wellspring Vale, by our dear Whoguru. I can't wait to put my patching skills to work.

I'm busy, but I can do model edits in Blender. If there's anything I can do to help you, just ask, neighbor.

Thank you. I try to keep this project as professional as possible. I guess its because I do want to use this as a game design portfolio project. Hopefully it pays off in the future.

I may need your help with model edits soon. I just found out the limitations of NifSkope when trying to remove certain blocks of objects from models. Sometimes they remove parts I don't intend to remove, unfortunately. Thanks for the offer!

[Fiore1300]

Haven't heard anything in a while about this mod. Bumping to show there is still some interest!