Silgrad Tower: Oblivion Release Thread

[AnImpatientFan]

Silgrad Tower

Silgrad Tower

Silgrad Tower is the largest Oblivion mod ever made. The size of the world is over 9 times that of Oblivion. Set east of Cyrodiil in mainland Morrowind, Silgrad Tower draws much inspiration from The Elder Scrolls 3.

Visit our forums here.

A Brief History of The Silgrad Tower Team:

The Silgrad Tower project first began in 2002. The team created a mod for Morrowind on which our Oblivion version is based heavily upon.

In 3 years of work the team crafted a vibrant living world that truly lived up to the bar that Bethesda set with their game.

The Morrowind Mod can be downloaded here.

Work on the Morrowind mod still continues to this day. If you are interested please visit our TES3 Forum

The first conception of our Oblivion mod came in 2004 when Bethesda announced The Elder Scrolls 4. Work began even before the games release, with models being created, and texture being drawn. The actual modding process of the mods development began soon after Oblivions release. Over the past four years we have progressed to a stage where the mod is at a satisfactory state, we are very close to having one of our larger cities Soluthis fully completed.

But please note:

The Silgrad Tower v3.0 mod is only in the Beta stage of development, so it is still only a work-in-progress, however enough has been made for an enjoyable playing experience, as the entire landmass has been created, most of the interiors have been completed and there are many fully playable quests ready and waiting for any adventurous player to find and complete. But, since it is far from a final release, there is still very much work to be done, for example in Silgrad City itself and the wilderness and its dungeons and, as always, in the voice acting department.

Silgrad Tower Lore (Morrowind During 343):

Much has changed in the land of the Dunmer (Dark Elves) between Morrowind and Oblivion.

Those who played Morrowind will remember the temple, the fanatic zealous cult who followed the Tribunal. During the events of Morrowind. The blight, the disease that plagued much of Morrowind had a lasting impact on the temple weakening their influence over the province substantially.

However since the player brought the blight to an end during the events of Morrowind, they have been able to recover and stand on their own, to an extent.

The story of Morrowind continued during the expanision pack, Tribunal. A new king of Morrowind, King Helseth has been crowned and he brings new laws to the land. Such as the abolishment of a ancient Dunmer practice, slavery. With the rise of Helseth, the king also brought war between the Kings ruling House, Great House Hlaalu, and their rival group, Great House Redoran. Hlaalu, controlling much of the south-west mainland of Morrowind holds and enclave city inside of Redoran territory called Silgrad Tower.

Although there is no major main quest on that topic as of thus far, the tensions over the ownership of Silgrad City are easily seen through the players eyes.

Another event that greatly changed Morrowind as the Oblivion Crisis. A major Redoran city in Morrowind called Ald 'Rhun was destroyed by the Daedra causing panic across the land.

Buried deep beneath the piles of content in our mod, are story arcs the player really needs to do some digging to find out about. However the player plays, they will find mysterious and intriguing story content to keep them busy.

However important it is, a great story is not the sole reason Oblivion mods are successful. One of the most important things a large mod must have is a place where the player can talk to NPCs and relax in a safe environment. Of course these are citites and towns, and Silgrad Tower brings some mind-numbingly big ones to the table.

Cities have been styled after towns in TES3 such as Balmora, Ald'Rhun and Caldera.

Settlement List:

Ebbedin:

Ebbedin is a small Redoran fishing village situated in the North-East of our Landmass. It is the destination of all prisoners who commit crimes then get caught in the north of our landmass. (Its on an Island in a bay.)

Ebbedin isn't exactly the most well off town in the mod

The residents of the village make a living by catching then selling fish

Soluthis

Soluthis is a huge Redoran city approximately twice the size of the imperial city from Oblivion. In the centre of the city are two huge imperial fortresses called Reich Parkeep. The lower part of Soluthis is the Dark Elf district home to hundreds of new NPCs.

Soluthis stretches on seemingly forever.

The harbor is home to fishermen, sailors and others of many kinds.

The Imperial Districts are a mix of the old... and even older.

Steadhelm

Steadhelm is an Imperial Charter Town styled after many of the cities in oblivion. It is the only true island of homely content in out huge world. The city is approximately slightly large than most of the medium size cities in Oblivion. Contained within the city is an Imperial Fort, the only heavily fortified bastion in the area.

Steadhelm is still pretty big for Oblivion standards

The Dragon attack on Steadhelm left a lasting effect on the locals.

Silgrad City

Silgrad City as a huge (WiP) town situated to the south of our landmass.

The architecture of the city is based of the style of House Hlaau (Think of Balmora from MW) Because of its sheer size (About 4-5 times the size of the Imperial City from Oblivion!) we have had to divide it down into smaller districts that hold a number of buildings. Although not fully complete, the city will be visitable in the next release (Slums and Riverside Districts).

The streets in Silgrad City are quite wide.

Other Settlements:

Tel Gavos: A haven for Telvanni exiles.

Veranis Hall: A large town high up in the mountains above Morrowind. (Early WiP)

Ald Nium: Medium sized farming settlement. Produces the food to feed the population of Soluthis.

Along with these settlements there are a countless number of smaller villages and farming communities scattered around our lands.

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Landscape Shots:

North Rocky Region

North East Region. Latrys Island

You will be able to walk directly from Cyrodiil to Morrowind without any loading screens! (NOTE: Won't be working in latest release!)

The Steadhelm bridge. A huge bridge west of Steadhelm

A concept map

Silgrad Hills

Ashunor Valley a relatively pleasant region

Soluthis Grassy Oak Region

Deepen Meadows, safe, cosy woodland

Low levelled adventurers should steer clear of the forgotten forest

The Steadhelm region lays untouched by civilisation, or at least some areas do.

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Dungeons:

Silgrad Tower uses models based on TES3 to build dungeons, the main two dungeon styles, Moldcave and Velothi remain practically as players remember them from Morrowind. Daedric Ruins have also been implemented into the mod. Although very few are scattered around the landmass.

Velothi Tombs

Dwemer Ruins

Daedra Ruins

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Architecutre:

Many styles of architecture have been revived from TES3. Many players will remember Telvanni, Hlaalu, and Redoran style homes.

Redoran

Telvanni

Shack

Imperial Common

Nord Houses are also appearing, along with some ancient Velothi structures such as the Great Gate.

Here is the full gallery including shots of various other regions and locations.

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FAQ:

Q: So, if the Road From Cyrodiil to Morrowind hasn't been Modded Yet How Do I get to Morrowind?

A: If you played our teaser mod entitled The Forgotten Garden you know what to do. Find the travelling merchant in the Imperial City who will sell you teleportation scrolls to Morrowind. Once there you will land on a small isolated island with a small settlement on it. Either investigate... or travel beyond to the main regions of our mod.

Q: What is there to do?

A: Firstly You May Want to investigate the settlement just where you land in Morrowind. There is a large multi-part quest to be played. Next you my want to do some jobs for a guild, I recommend the Morang Tong (Assassins Guild) the Morrowind Fighters Guild or Great House Redoran, the governing body of much of our landmass. Its up to you whether you want to fast travel to a city or walk yourself. I recommend the latter, although you will need to find some time as it is a very long distance between cities.

Other than that... Just Explore, Silgrad Tower certainly is nowhere near finished state but it certainly is rich with content and stuff to do.

Q: There is nothing but floating trees and buildings! What Do I do?

A: There is probably a mod conflict. I suggest reporting issues in our forums

Q: Can I use your Models in my mods?

A: In short no, there are very special exceptions and you can request model usage on our forums or by PM'ing one of our Core Members over our board^.

Breaking our right to exclusivitivity would be a copyright violation and only result in locked threads/deleted uploads for you and tighter privacy arrangements for us. Given that a lot of modellers share their work freely as modders' resources there's no apparent reason why anyone would want to take our stuff; the only reason one can think of is if they are pursuing the same ideas we are - that of recreating the Morrowind Province. They would be welcome to do so, because a little healthy competition is just a good thing, but to try and do so using our own models and textures against us is unfair.

Q: When will this be finished?

A: Silgrad Tower is an ongoing project and we will continue to polish content and add quests and more things to do. Silgrad Tower Oblivion will never truly be completed as such.

Q: Why don't you just use Morrowind models.

A: It is illegal to distribute and optimize Morrowind Models. Doing that would be giving the player something that they didn't pay for. We respect the rights of Bethesda Game studios and regard the etiquette of Oblivion modding with utmost importance.

Q: How do I contribute!

A: It depends on what you are planning to contribute. Whether models textures, voice acting, cartography, or even music, if you want to have your stuff in our mod post a thread in our forum. If we think its cool and appropriate for the mod, it may very well be added to our assets.

If you just want to mod however, and modding is your thing then pick up a modders abbreviation on our forum. From then on you are allowed to claim and complete whatever open jobs we have for you.

Q: I noticed a bug, how do I report it?

A: Please visit our forums. We have plenty of people who work round the clock, modding, fixing and collaborating.

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Looks impressive eh. Then c'mon and join the team. Even if you can't mod concept artists, voice actors and modellers are always needed. Even if you can only playtest the mod, your help would be greatly appreciated.

To get involved, visit our forums.

[Arthmoor]

Thanks for the news. This is one of the big ones I've been keeping an occasional eye on after having sampled a previous beta that had most of the landscape done.

[AnImpatientFan]

It's out!

[Conner]

Gratz! That was fairly quick. :biggrin:

[AnImpatientFan]

V 3.0 v 2 is up.There is a few bug fixes included.Mainly stuff like removal of collision boxes in the wrong place etc. Download