Skywind - The Eternal Project

[kraftcheese]

Skywind FAQ (https://tesrenewal.com/skywind-faq)
Skywind Reddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/skywind/)
TESR Skywind Youtube (https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCwMeA6uYyXr7N11tgBXnn8Q)

Obviously we've already got a TES thread goin' but I really want to talk about the massive mod undertaking that is Skywind; a complete recreation of Morrowind in the Skyrim engine with new assets, voice acting, music, and more!

It's been in development since close after the release of Skyrim, but they've been gradually making progress on a bunch of stuff; I'm excited about it all but it's a simmering excitement as I know it's probably gonna be another few years (at least) till it's out.

A lot of the concept art, models and screenshots of landscaping are up on Reddit and the forums on the TESR page, and there's some great videos on their youtube showing off their progress too. Even some vids that show working quests with voice acting!

If mods reckon this should be merged with the TES thread I'd be happy to copy it across, but I really just wanted to share my admiration and enthusiasm for the project!

[LibraryOgre]

The Mod Wonder: Just input here; you can keep it on its own, or merge it with the general discussion. It's ok as separate, but on it's own, it's more likely to fall into zombie territory.

[Anteros]

I'm typically skeptical of game mods, but Enderal was one of the best games I've played in years and that was a Skyrim mod. So I guess I'm cautiously optimistic about this.

I'm not convinced it will ever be done enough to be worth playing though. It's a pretty huge undertaking.

[Psyren]

After the full recreation of Baldur's Gate in the NWN2 engine I don't put much past dedicated modders anymore. I agree though that this is a lot more work. I kinda wish paid mods had taken off on Steam to incentivize this sort of things (though there's very good reasons why they didn't (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bc7Onhy-WQg)) but I suppose crowdfunding can accomplish much the same objective anyway with fewer thorny issues.

Rambling aside, I guess I'm saying I'm optimistic and will keep an eye on this.

[kraftcheese]

After the full recreation of Baldur's Gate in the NWN2 engine I don't put much past dedicated modders anymore. I agree though that this is a lot more work. I kinda wish paid mods had taken off on Steam to incentivize this sort of things (though there's very good reasons why they didn't (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bc7Onhy-WQg)) but I suppose crowdfunding can accomplish much the same objective anyway with fewer thorny issues.

Rambling aside, I guess I'm saying I'm optimistic and will keep an eye on this.
I think because Bethesda owns the rights to Morrowind and Skyrim they've allowed the Skywind team to keep making the mod as long as they stay away from any money; similar to why they couldn't just port the assets from Morrowind in and work from those.

[Psyren]

Bethesda was one of the main targets for the paid mods idea in the first place, so I'm sure they'd have been on board.

[Rynjin]

Bethesda was one of the main targets for the paid mods idea in the first place, so I'm sure they'd have been on board.

Bethesda even reintroduced their own, even worse version of a paid mods workshop at this year's E3.

They'd be better off doing what Valve has done in the past and actually HIRING talented modders to do their projects when they're on this scale though. Nobody wants to pay for mods (though Patreon is quite popular for those who want to support modDERS they feel deserve it), but I imagine a lot of people would be on board with paying for a full recreation of a wildly popular (and wildly outdated) game.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

Bethesda even reintroduced their own, even worse version of a paid mods workshop at this year's E3.

They'd be better off doing what Valve has done in the past and actually HIRING talented modders to do their projects when they're on this scale though. Nobody wants to pay for mods (though Patreon is quite popular for those who want to support modDERS they feel deserve it), but I imagine a lot of people would be on board with paying for a full recreation of a wildly popular (and wildly outdated) game.

Aye, hiring good modders is a super easy way to a) create great content, b) build trust in the development crew in the community, and c), vice versa, to maintain respect for the community in the dev team.

The issue with Skywind and paid mods isn't so much that Bethesda wouldn't be down, it's that making money off of recreating someone else's IP, using tools from the same body's other IP, is legally shaky. Hell, even non-paid-mod Skywind is legally shaky, Bethesda and the Skywind/Morroblivion/TaleofTwoWastelands etc teams have an 'understanding' that so long as the teams work requires the customer to own both items, they can continue to exist.

[Triaxx]

Though hopefully since so much is scratch made, installing Skywind won't be the pain in the neck (or parts lower) that TTW is.

[Rynjin]

Yeah...I love TTW but every time an update is released for it I cringe a little.

[kraftcheese]

Though hopefully since so much is scratch made, installing Skywind won't be the pain in the neck (or parts lower) that TTW is.
I *think* I read somewhere that they'll be using an installer and launcher, like Enderal.

[Triaxx]

Awesome to hear that.

[Anteros]

What in the world is TTW? Google is returning Tale of Two Wastelands, but that wasn't very difficult to install at all...although I admit I don't bother keeping it patched up to date.

My fear with paid modders is that it will eventually end like Valve outsourcing their hat creation. It starts off as a decent way to keep the community involved, create good content, and skilled people can make a living at it. Over time it evolved into what we have now. The quality is crap, everything costs an arm and a leg, it completely killed the free marketplace, and Valve has continually cut the share that the artists receive until it's almost nothing.

[Rynjin]

What in the world is TTW? Google is returning Tale of Two Wastelands, but that wasn't very difficult to install at all...although I admit I don't bother keeping it patched up to date.

Patching it basically requires a full uninstall and then reinstall of the new version, which can take up to a couple of hours on my computer the way it runs its install process.

[Triaxx]

Yeah, it's Tale but it's annoying to type on the phone. It's not difficult persay, but if you don't pay close attention, it's easy to mess up.

I suspect what Bethesda is aiming for is to farm new talent for themselves. Get the cash hook in, learn what they can do and then give them an offer.

[Anteros]

That does sound like a pain. I was extremely impressed with Enderal's installer, so if Skywind has something similar I'd love it.

[wobner]

I really hope they can pull this off. I keep reinstalling my Morrowind, Bloodmoon, etc. only to lose interest because of the interface, lack of storage(I'm a collector/hoarder), merchants, combat and magic design choices, etc. It was a great game for its time, now I'm too spoiled. It has, in my opinion, the best story of the three I have played(though I've read up on all of them)Objectively it made the most sense too. It just suffered from clunky mechanics, a lack of direction, and some serious and aggravating errors with the subtleties of the English language(when they weren't flat out wrong). and now dated graphics

Morrowind is the game that made me realize waypoints were absolutely a necessary thing. Its just too easy, and too common, to screw directions up when dealing with the sheer volume you get in an open ended game, especially one of this size, and especially with multiple contributors so that you can't even zero in on the persons style and failures.

Also, if they could tone down the cliff racers that would be a plus. Again, that was partly an interface issue, but those things were so darn obnoxious. Like slaughterfish in skyrim, they are just a pain.

[veti]

I'm - not optimistic. I think there's a reason why there's whole threads full of praise for Enderal, but no-one ever talks about Morroblivion.

If it were reasonably possible to create a game with the freedom and depth of Morrowind in the highly-scripted and quest-driven engine of Skyrim - I like to think that Bethesda could have done it themselves. But they didn't, they created a flailing mess of railroaded plotlines and minimally-interactive "scenes". I think that trying to create Morrowind with those tools must be a bit like trying to build a boat out of bricks.

[Triaxx]

I'm always vexed at the unpleasability between people upset at the minimal nature of storytelling, and those who bellyache if you're not 100% in control of your character 110% of the time.

[wobner]

I'm - not optimistic. I think there's a reason why there's whole threads full of praise for Enderal, but no-one ever talks about Morroblivion.

If it were reasonably possible to create a game with the freedom and depth of Morrowind in the highly-scripted and quest-driven engine of Skyrim - I like to think that Bethesda could have done it themselves. But they didn't, they created a flailing mess of railroaded plotlines and minimally-interactive "scenes". I think that trying to create Morrowind with those tools must be a bit like trying to build a boat out of bricks.

Progress seems slow but steady. They already seem to have gotten a lot of the models, animations and terrain down which I would have thought the hardest part, just finding people with the skill who were willing to commit. At the very least some of the modders have done some pretty amazing things with quests, and there has to be a lot of expertise just from the unofficial patchers. I am cautiously optimistic they can jury rig something with all the mod tools that are out.

[Herought]

I just hope it will be successful like endereal mod. However, I don't really expect much from it but I would still play it for nostalgia purposes. What I really wanted is for bethesda to create elder scrolls VI but it's kinda far from happening right now.... I've been stuck playing skyrim for 3 years and the only thing that keeps me from playing it are the mods. It always feels like a new game because of mods.

[Anteros]

Well it has been 6 years since Skyrim and they supposedly haven't even started on the next game. I don't think we'll see another game from them until they need the money.

[kraftcheese]

The whole twitch vid is worth a watch just to see how far they've come with questing, landscaping and populating the world, but here's (http://www.twitch.tv/tesr_skywind/v/165278748?sr=a&t=6000s) a section where you can see they've got Levitation working!

Here's (https://youtu.be/kqg8b97_djQ) the same video on Youtube.