ACCEPTED aMidianBorn Whiterun (by CaBaL)

[EssArrBee]

Discussion thread:
aMidianBorn Whiterun by CaBaL
Wiki Link

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Just gonna throw this up here since it's probably going to be essential soon enough. The pictures look ridiculous, as good as the work Neil MC did FNV.

EDIT: Forgot to mention they are 1k textures.

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Accepted for 2.2.9 Extended

[torminater]

Jeez. As soon as boris gets his mem fix stable and i come around to reinstall my setup i'll add open cities to my install. If cabal ever finishes the major cities the game will be so awesome!

[rootsrat]

Wow. Cabal is as tireless as I am speechless :)

[TechAngel85]

Okay... I'll be the "scrooge" in the bunch as the admins often have to be. :) In all honesty, I'm unsure/undecided about the textures. They look great...even amazing, but do they fit in with the rest of the world around them?? I'm not so sure. I seen multiple issues where the textures didn't flow will objects around them; making the objects stand out and look out of place. Point being, they might be too good to flow easily into the Skyrim world. I would most definitely have to run around in-game for a while before making any final remarks about these textures.

[torminater]

Yeah well, the good thing is: as soon as cabal has covered every single texture we won't have this problem anymore...

For me at least the whiterun package is ok, because the textures are used mostly there and not in other places where the contrast between good and bad textures would be too great. Even if you'ld stumble upon a really good beside a really bad texture, just think about this: it's civil war in skyrim. All building materials are first priority goods for the troops and fortifications as well as most builders will be occupied with repairing damage by assaults from enemy troops, bandits and dragons alike. A bad texture for example a door would just be a old poorly handcrafted door, which got used because good doors were not affordable for the owner at the moment. Even in a jarl's stronghold not all items were of the same quality.

 

For me(!) using this pack or others techangel might subject against due to quality difderences isn't a problem.

[rootsrat]

Okay... I'll be the "scrooge" in the bunch as the admins often have to be. :) In all honesty, I'm unsure/undecided about the textures. They look great...even amazing, but do they fit in with the rest of the world around them?? I'm not so sure. I seen multiple issues where the textures didn't flow will objects around them; making the objects stand out and look out of place. Point being, they might be too good to flow easily into the Skyrim world. I would most definitely have to run around in-game for a while before making any final remarks about these textures.

 

That is a ver valid point Techangel, totally agree. That was the exact reason I've stopped using Beautiful Whiterun (and similar) long time ago.

 

Nevertheless, I've installed this mod and had a quick look. First thing that came into sight were windows - Visible Windows Currently in STEP is still better IMHO. Also Better Shadowmarks stand out too much with Cabal's Whiterun - although this may be my ENB, I will have to have a closer look.

[CaBaL]

at least these are retextures.... new ones... not a resize of vanilla ones+photo overlay

[exploiteddna]

Okay... I'll be the "scrooge" in the bunch as the admins often have to be. :) In all honesty' date=' I'm unsure/undecided about the textures. They look great...even amazing, but do they fit in with the rest of the world around them?? I'm not so sure. I seen multiple issues where the textures didn't flow will objects around them; making the objects stand out and look out of place. Point being, they might be [i']too good[/i] to flow easily into the Skyrim world. I would most definitely have to run around in-game for a while before making any final remarks about these textures.

darn, you beat me too it (being the scrooge) :) jk

 

but yeah, umm.. after flipping through all the colors, normals, and alphas in PS it looks to be a good piece of work that, as it usually is with this author, made "from scratch" (i.e. stock textures/photos from somewhere non-bethesda).  The first things I always look at when im viewing a texture pack for whiterun is the grass. Whiterun grass, to me, seems to be the one texture that can make or break a pack.  Unfortunately, I don't think im going to like this grass texture. Its very non-detailed and looks a lot like mush/slush without any real 'blades' of grass.  Who knows, maybe once its rendered in-game it will look fabulous.. but generally i can get a pretty good idea from looking in PS. Ok, so that being said, I think the pack is very nice and flavorful. It adds a little more color to some of the wood pieces and seems to do so in an (semi) integrated way. If nothing else, I may use this pack and then overwrite with a different wrfieldgrass texture.

 

Great work though, CaBaL, as always.

[phazer11]

Everything looks nice (as always Cabal) but as tech said some of the textures look too new to be allowed. For instance if this were to ever be considered for core we'd likely have to nix the wood textures in favor of another so it looks more weathered.

[exploiteddna]

yeah i tend to agree.. but of course its a balance.. its nice to have textures that add some spice but its also important to keep true to bethesda's intent

[EssArrBee]

I was using this last night with the vanilla textures and just a bout everything he hasn't done was not sticking out in any way. You can tell the difference with the walls right away ans the stones are smaller, but they don't look like they are a different art style. The interior of Dragonsreach is a bit different though, the wood is a richer brown color and it looks amazing, much more so than SHD, and the colors pop even better than SRO. I'd hesitate to say that overall it is far from the artistic style of the vanilla game, but of course it has a darker look as most of Cabal's work does. As for the roofs, house exteriors, and stone paths, I don't think there may be a better option.

 

I imagine with something like TPC this Whiterun would just look amazing.

[statmonster]

yeah i tend to agree.. but of course its a balance.. its nice to have textures that add some spice but its also important to keep true to bethesda's intent

I don't think I agree.  The important point is not whether it's true to Bethesda's intent or not but rather whether the result (in context in game) is better or worse at conveying the style the user wants.  If I want a shiny clean high fantasy look and these textures provide it then I should use it no matter what Bethesda's intent was, similarly if i want a dark brooding decrepit look and the textures provide that.  Of course users all have different desires, so to be effective a mod review should point out how well the mod goes in achieving a particular atmosphere, not just how true to to Bethesda's original intent a mod it.  (Remember if reviews for mods for consideration in SR and SEP packs are to be included here then judging how well a mod fits to the most restrictive definition of STEP is not the principal point of mod reviews here.)

[exploiteddna]

yeah i tend to agree.. but of course its a balance.. its nice to have textures that add some spice but its also important to keep true to bethesda's intent

I don't think I agree.  The important point is not whether it's true to Bethesda's intent or not but rather whether the result (in context in game) is better or worse at conveying the style the user wants.  If I want a shiny clean high fantasy look and these textures provide it then I should use it no matter what Bethesda's intent was, similarly if i want a dark brooding decrepit look and the textures provide that.  Of course users all have different desires, so to be effective a mod review should point out how well the mod goes in achieving a particular atmosphere, not just how true to to Bethesda's original intent a mod it.  (Remember if reviews for mods for consideration in SR and SEP packs are to be included here then judging how well a mod fits to the most restrictive definition of STEP is not the principal point of mod reviews here.)

right, but im not talking about any user, im talking about STEP. I thought ive read many times how STEP is about enhancing the game without deviating too far from the game's original intent. perhaps i misinterpreted the goals. I only can give my 2 cents as a 'member' of this community.. whether or not my opinion is considered by those in charge is up to them

 

EDIT: and by no means was i suggesting that this mod was too far from vanilla. i was merely pointing out that, in general, we try to find a balance, thats all. And in fact, if anything i was advocating FOR this pack in response to the post before mine that was indicating the textures looked too 'new looking' or something along those lines

[TechAngel85]

 

yeah i tend to agree.. but of course its a balance.. its nice to have textures that add some spice but its also important to keep true to bethesda's intent

I don't think I agree.  The important point is not whether it's true to Bethesda's intent or not but rather whether the result (in context in game) is better or worse at conveying the style the user wants.  If I want a shiny clean high fantasy look and these textures provide it then I should use it no matter what Bethesda's intent was, similarly if i want a dark brooding decrepit look and the textures provide that.  Of course users all have different desires, so to be effective a mod review should point out how well the mod goes in achieving a particular atmosphere, not just how true to to Bethesda's original intent a mod it.  (Remember if reviews for mods for consideration in SR and SEP packs are to be included here then judging how well a mod fits to the most restrictive definition of STEP is not the principal point of mod reviews here.)

right, but im not talking about any user, im talking about STEP. I thought ive read many times how STEP is about enhancing the game without deviating too far from the game's original intent. perhaps i misinterpreted the goals. I only can give my 2 cents as a 'member' of this community.. whether or not my opinion is considered by those in charge is up to them

 

EDIT: and by no means was i suggesting that this mod was too far from vanilla. i was merely pointing out that, in general, we try to find a balance, thats all. And in fact, if anything i was advocating FOR this pack in response to the post before mine that was indicating the textures looked too 'new looking' or something along those lines

Michaelrw is right in this case. STEP is about enhancing vanilla Skyrim and that means that staying as true to the "vanilla style" in all aspects is one of the main goals for STEP. Therefore, you can expect to see most reviews by the official STEP Team to be geared toward this direction and not towards any other "user style" other than vanilla Skyrim.

 

However, that doesn't mean you won't find reviews geared towards other directions by non-team members or even STEP Team members. This is the great thing about the STEP forums. They're open to all public and community review. Any member can gear their review how they wish. I just wanted to simply point out that when you see a review by one of the official STEP Team members it will generally take into consideration the needs and requirements of STEP and not much more.

[EssArrBee]

 

yeah i tend to agree.. but of course its a balance.. its nice to have textures that add some spice but its also important to keep true to bethesda's intent

I don't think I agree.  The important point is not whether it's true to Bethesda's intent or not but rather whether the result (in context in game) is better or worse at conveying the style the user wants.  If I want a shiny clean high fantasy look and these textures provide it then I should use it no matter what Bethesda's intent was, similarly if i want a dark brooding decrepit look and the textures provide that.  Of course users all have different desires, so to be effective a mod review should point out how well the mod goes in achieving a particular atmosphere, not just how true to to Bethesda's original intent a mod it.  (Remember if reviews for mods for consideration in SR and SEP packs are to be included here then judging how well a mod fits to the most restrictive definition of STEP is not the principal point of mod reviews here.)

right, but im not talking about any user, im talking about STEP. I thought ive read many times how STEP is about enhancing the game without deviating too far from the game's original intent. perhaps i misinterpreted the goals. I only can give my 2 cents as a 'member' of this community.. whether or not my opinion is considered by those in charge is up to them

 

EDIT: and by no means was i suggesting that this mod was too far from vanilla. i was merely pointing out that, in general, we try to find a balance, thats all. And in fact, if anything i was advocating FOR this pack in response to the post before mine that was indicating the textures looked too 'new looking' or something along those lines

Looks like we might have to throw up a bunch of compares to start really getting a sense of what this mod really changes. I feel like the certain areas are spot on for what STEP advocates at enhancing the vanilla feel of the game, even more so than say SHD. That being the Whiterun houses and Jorvaskar too (which is really well done, just look at it from the Skyforge). Maybe a couple other parts are a bit outside that STEP definition like the interior of Dragonsreach and maybe the stone paths change the colors a bit to much.

 

It'd be hard to just leave this mod out as long as SRO is without a host site.