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[RELz] Sclero's Farmhouse Kit


Sclerocephalus

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A modders' resource for farmhouses with customizable exteriors and interiors.

 

Includes many new features such as upper floors, side wings, gables, balconies, various fireplace styles and dimensions, real staircases (not just ladders) and walkways that perfectly fit all around.

 

The farmhouses constructed with this kit have non-vanilla dimensions: they are 3 BU wide (BU = Bethesda unit). The slope of the roof is the same as in vanilla meshes, so that the increased width results in an increased height that easily accomodates an upper floor. Nonetheless, the houses are still lower than e.g. a yarl's longhouse, so they won't look out of place when used in a settlement together with vanilla houses.

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So far, the download is still missing a full documentation, so I will post a quick start reference here:

 

(1) Making an exterior

  • First, you have to choose a base mesh. Base meshes are named FarmhouseWxxMain01 or FarmhouseWxxMain02. The xx is the length of the mesh in BU (Bethesda units). So far, I have sets for 4, 5, 6 and 8 BU houses. The Main01 meshes are just the roof and the corners; the Main02 meshes also have a roofed walkway along one side of the house.
  • Once this is done, the 'Wxx' defines which meshes to use next. If you have decided for e.g. a 5 BU house, you should select the front and side meshes only from the W05 set. The point here is that all meshes belonging to one set share the same pivot. That is, you only have to place them at the same coordinates as your main mesh, rotate them in the right position and they will perfectly fit. In fact the W04 front meshes are just the same as the W05, W06 and W08 front meshes; they only have different pivots.
  • Now choose a front mesh from the matching set, place it at the coordinates of the main mesh and rotate it by +90° around the z axis. Then place another front mesh, rotate it by -90° around the z-axis and the front and end walls are done. There are 15 front/end meshes to choose from, so these and the main meshes alone make 1600 different combinations.
  • Now to the side panels: The 4 BU house has one 2BU center panel (note that you have to place two of them, one for either side of the house), the 5BU house has one 3BU center panel, the 6 BU house has two 2BU panels (a left one and a right one) and the 8BU house has three side panels, one 2BU center panel (these panels are the same as those used for the 4BU house, hence the set is named 'W0408'), a 2BU left panel and a 2BU right panel. This is to customize the door positions: there is a maximum of one door per panel and per level, i.e. the 4BU and 5BU houses can have only one door per side and per level, while the 6BU house can have two and the 8BU house can have three. If you don't want a side door, select a NoDoor panel and you're done. If you want a door, you have to place the panel in two parts, a top part and a base part (both come in Door and NoDoor versions). This will be more work than with the front and end walls, but placement is still as simple: place at the same coordinates as the main mesh, then rotate into position.

When this is done, you can add more features:

  • Gables: there are 1BU and 2BU styles. If you place more than one, consider using the pre-assembled meshes with two or four gables at once. I have varied the textures of the gables in the pre-assembled meshes, so they won't look cloned (what they will inevitably do when you place several of them separately).
  • Side wings: There are two styles of side wings, branches and what I have termed 'extended gables'. Simply speaking, branches are halved vanilla houses that are placed as side wings. In my initial concept, short vanilla-style side wings would be used to house staircases, but this didn't work because they are too low. I therefore made a higher version (with a flatter roof) by extending the 2BU gable meshes (hence 'extended gables'). All side wings (except for the short vanilla branches) come in Door and NoDoor versions.
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(2) Making interiors:

 

The procedure is largely the same as with the vanilla farmhouse interiors, by lining up transverse mesh 'slices' and putting a 'front slice' on one end and an 'end slice' on the other end. There are a couple of new features though:

  1. Slices in my kit consist of two parts: (a) a base part with a full basement section, ground floor and walls, and (b) a roof part with a full roof section and (optionally) an upper floor.
  2. Some slices are 2 BU wide. These are used for all large structures that would not fit in a 'standard' 1 BU slice, e.g. side wing connections, wide gables and large fireplaces.

Roof parts and base parts have the same pivot: just place a roof part at the same x, y and z position as the base part and they will perfectly fit.

 

Apart from a few restrictions, any of the base parts can be combined with any of the roof parts. Since roof parts generally come in three variations with no upper floor, a half width upper floor or a full width upper floor, this allows for full customization of the upper floor appearance: you can choose it per 'slice'. It's also worth mentioning that the 2BU slices do not need to be paired: that is, you can combined two 1BU roof parts with a 2BU base part and vice versa. The only exception here are 2BU base parts with side wing connections (those meshes have 'Branch' or 'Crossing' in their names) as they require a matching roof part.

 

Another new feature is what I termed an 'R' version: almost two thirds of the interior meshes have an 'R' version which is indicated by an 'R' at the end of their names: When you have ever assembled interiors in the CK, you've certainly run into an issue where you needed a mesh with its features arranged in opposite positions, e.g. the door or the fireplace on the other side of the house, but such a mesh was not available (the number of meshes in the vanilla kits is quite limited). Unfortunately, you can't rotate those meshes easily, since the geometries won't fit, and even if they do, the textures don't. This is why I made R versions: meshes that lhave the features (doors, fireplaces, etc.) 'rotated' but the architectural frame (pillars walls, floors) unchanged.

 

(3) Constructing a custom upper floor - finishing touches:

 

When you have assembled the base and roof parts to your liking, you will end up in most cases with open ends on the upper floor parts. To close them, you need specific connectors, and which connector to use in which situation is explained below (connectors have the root name 'FarmInt3Conn', and all but one of the meshes in that set are in fact used on the upper floors):

 

    Floor ends: this refers to all situations where one slice has a half or full width floor and the adjacent slice has no floor at all:

  • For full width floors, use one of the following connectors: FarmInt3ConnFloorA, FarmInt3ConnFloorB, FarmInt3ConnFloorDivA or FarmInt3ConnFloorDivB. The meshes with an 'A' are for the side that faces the front slice, those with a 'B' are for the side that faces the end slice. The 'Div' meshes have a full wall that closes the end up to the roof, the others have a railing.
  • For half width floors, use one of these connectors: FarmInt3ConnHFloorA, FarmInt3ConnHFloorAR, FarmInt3ConnHFloorB or FarmInt3ConnHFloorBR. Again, 'A' and 'B' refer to which end the open side is facing and 'R' denotes the 'R' versions (see the explanation of what an 'R' version is above).

   Floor connections; this refers to all situations where a half width floor slice connects to a full width floor slice (note that stairs meshes

   are handled like half width floor slices). The following subdivision refers to the sequence from the front slice to the end slice:

  • Half width floors following full width floors:  In that case, use the connectors with 'FullHalf' in their name (in the front -> end sequence, there is a full width floor first and then a half width floor, hence 'FullHalf')
  • Full width floors following half width floors:  Likewise, in that case, use the connectors with 'HalfFull' in their name.
  • Special case: Full width floor followed by stairs (i.e. a full width floor slice connecting to a an end slice with stairs): use FarmInt3ConnFloorFullStairs or FarmInt3ConnFloorFullStairsR (compared to the 'FullHalf' connectors, these meshes are missing a support that would clip with the stairs)
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What was just updated?

 

Also, before I start, will you be imposing some sort of usage rules, like the file structure must remain the same?

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What was just updated?

 

I only added a screenshot, but I will add the missing divider meshes later today (version number will go up to 0.92 then).

 

EDIT: This has been done meanwhile. I also added the missing divider versions of two upper floor end connector meshes, so the version number went up to 0.93 instead.

 

Also, before I start, will you be imposing some sort of usage rules, like the file structure must remain the same?

 

I never thought about that.

 

The esp file has the setup of all meshes, including the LODs. The idea was that modders should make a copy and use that as a 'sandbox mod' to start with. Once done, copy all you need in your own mod. If done that way, the file structure will be preserved anyway. If not, preserving it is probably a good idea though, as it will prevent needless duplicates from being loaded when you run more than one mod that is using the meshes.

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  • 4 weeks later...

In the end, I made a playable demo after all. The house near Rorikstead (that one in the screenshot) is now fully playable and  populated with NPCs (with new AI packages specifically designed for the house). There are a few finishing touches needed before I'm going to include it in the download, but I already took a few representative in-game screenshots: http://www.afkmods.com/index.php?/gallery/album/97-scleros-farmhouse-kit/

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Sclero, I can't get inside the house, you haven't connected the door. :X

 

The demo was actually not intended to be playable. It only should provide some guidance for assembling the mesh parts. Therefore, the houses in the current demo version are just shells - interiors not connected, no furniture and no navmeshes wahtsoever.

 

As noted earlier though, I changed my mind in the meantime and there will be a playable demo now (that's where the recent screenshots are from), but this is not yet available for download.

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Assembling a central fireplace:

 

The full fireplace consists of three parts: a base part, a roof part and an exterior mesh for the chimney tubes.

 

The structure is overly large and does not fit in a standard 1BU slice, so you will find all base parts in the 2BU mesh sets. In the mesh list, search for the root name "FarmInt3DWall" (the 'D' always denores a double width segment). There you will find 3 sub-sets with central fireplaces:

  • Root name Farmint3DWallCrossingCFireplace: the 'crossing' parts are the hubs for branches on either side
  • Root name Farmint3DWallBranchCFireplace: likewise, the 'branch' parts are the hubs for branches on only one side. There are more meshes here since branch meshes have a wall on one side and thus may hold an extra door.
  • Root name Farmint3DWallCFireplace: With walls on both sides, there are even more variations in respect to the door positions. There's also a specific subset with the root name Farmint3DWallCFireplaceXXDiv whrere the fireplace foundation has a room divider layout (with a doorway on one side).

All central fireplaces meshes come in two versions:

  • meshes with 'CFireplace01' in their names all have the fireplace 'openings' facing the front and end sides of the house
  • meshes with 'CFireplace02' in their names all have the fireplace 'openings' facing the side walls of the house

Choose the mesh you need depending on the layout of the interior (i.e. depending on the door positions and on whether you have side wings planned adjacent to the fireplaces) and drag it in the render window.

 

Now to the roof:

There are a few restrictions here, because of the latge size of the structure at all levels. First, there is no way to combine this fireplace with a half width upper floor mesh. You need a full width upper floor or no upper floor at all. I did invest much time in trying to make half width upper floor meshes that are compatible with this fireplace, but the actual problem was that a half width upper floor just doesn't look right on this fireplace. I mean, it doesn't look like some structure anyone would have constructed on purpose, so I abandoned this project eventually.

 

Let's start with no upper floor at all. First, you should place a matching roof (not the roof part of the fireplace, but the roof of the house: having this in place before adding the roof part of the fireplace makes things somewhat easier). Search for meshes with the root name "FarmInt3DRoof" (denoting. double width roof segments) and keep to the meshes without 'HFloor' (referring to half width upper floors) or 'Floor' (referring to full width upper floors) in their names. There are just a few:

  • FarmInt3DRoofCrossing: this is for vanilla style side wings on both sides
  • FarmInt3DRoofBranch: this is for a vanilla style side wing on one side and has a flat roof without special features on the other side. Note that you can rotate this mesh by 180° if needed.
  • FarmInt3DRoofBranchWGable: for a vanilla style side wing on one side, the other side has a wide gable.
  • FarmInt3DRoofWGable01, FarmInt3DRoofWGable01: wide gables on one or both sides.

If you want just a plain roof, you have to place two single unit meshes (i.e. FarmInt3Roof) in a row. Keep in mind that I made the double unit segments only for structures that are too large to fir in a single unit mesh. That is, you won't find any double unit meshes with 'small structures' only (i.e. there are no double unit base segment meshes with only doors and/or vanilla style fireplaces, etc.).  If you need them in double width, assemble them from two single unit meshes. That having said, there are a few more options to construct a roof with no upper floor above your fireplace, by combining any two of the following meshes:  FarmInt3Roof, FarmInt3RoofGable01 (may be rotated by 180°, if needed), FarmInt3RoofGable02. Make sure however that the interior matches your exterior, i.e. if you don't want any gables on the outside, you shouldn't use them at the corresponding interior position.

 

Once you have found a matching roof, drag it in the render window and line it up:

  • The pivots of all double width segments are the same. Thus, if you have chosen a double width roof segment, move it to the same x, y, and z position as your base part and it will perfectly fit.
  • The pivots of all double width segments are centered on the first segment. Thus, if you have decided for two single width segments, move the first one at x, y, z,, and the second one at  x + 256, y, z  (where x, y, and z are the coordinates of the base part).

Now you're ready for the roof part of your fireplace. There are only 3 meshes to choose from:

  • FarmInt3DWallCFireplace02Chimney: This fits to all CFireplace02 meshes.
  • FarmInt3DWallCFireplace01Chimney_a, FarmInt3DWallCFireplace01Chimney_b: These are for combination with the CFireplace01 meshes. The difference between the a and b meshes is the geometry of the small wooden panel that has been placed where the tubes protrude into the roof. Depending on which roof you have mounted on your house, only one of the two will fit. This is why you should have mounted the roof first. If you have not done this yet, you may find out later that you have to swap the a mesh for the b mesh or vice versa.

Pivots of the chimney meshes are the same as those of the CFireplace base parts. Just move them to the same x, y and z positions and they will fit. All chimney meshes may be rotated by 180°, if needed. but this requires to update the x and y positions afterwards (due to the asymmetric placement of the pivot in regard to the meshes' layouts).

 

Now let's do the same with a full width upper floor. There are further restrictions here: because of its size, the chimney part wil block the upper floor on almost its full width. Thus, you need a wide gable (or an extended wide gable style branch) on at least one side of the house to make sure that there will be enough space to navigate around it. This restricts the selection to meshes with the root name 'FarmInt3DRoofFloor' and a 'WGable' in their names:

  • All meshes with the root name 'FarmInt3DRoofFloorWGable01': they have a wide gable on one side.
  • All meshes with the root name 'FarmInt3DRoofFloorWGable02': they have wide gables on both side.

Choose one and place it in the render window. Now, the first thing you'll notice is that all these meshes have a big hole where the floor is supposed to be. WTF ?!? Now, this has been made to make them compatible with large structures in the house's center. At the time being, there only are the central fireplaces that have to fit in there, but if I ever get my spiral staircase done, I 'll need it too.

 

It's probably worth noting here what to do if you don't have a fireplace underneath and simply want your floor back. In that case, plug the hole with one of the following meshes:

  • FarmInt3DRoofWGable01Floor01, FarmInt3DRoofWGable01Floor01R: the plain floors for meshes with a wide gable on one side
  • FarmInt3DRoofWGable02Floor01: the plain floor for all meshes with a wide gable on both sides
  • FarmInt3DRoofWGable02Floor02: if you have wide gables on both sides, you may alternatively use this mesh which leaves the hole in place but adds a railing all around of it.

Now back to our fireplaces. The fireplace parts to put in the 'floor holes' are using the same root name as the plain floors:

  • FarmInt3DRoofWGable01FloorChimney01, FarmInt3DRoofWGable01FloorChimney01R: chimneys for meshes with a wide gable on one side
  • FarmInt3DRoofWGable01FloorChimney01Fireplace, FarmInt3DRoofWGable01FloorChimney01FireplaceR: same as before, but with an upper floor fireplace in addition
  • FarmInt3DRoofWGable02FloorChimney01, FarmInt3DRoofWGable02FloorChimney01R, FarmInt3DRoofWGable02FloorChimney02, FarmInt3DRoofWGable02FloorChimney02R: chimneys for meshes with a wide gable on both sides. The 02 versions have the chimneys rotated by 90° (not possible with a wide gable on only one side due to space restrictions)
  • FarmInt3DRoofWGable02FloorChimney01Fireplace, FarmInt3DRoofWGable02FloorChimney01FireplaceR, FarmInt3DRoofWGable02FloorChimney02Fireplace, FarmInt3DRoofWGable02FloorChimney02FireplaceR: same as before, but with an upper floor fireplace in addition

Last but not least: don't forget to place a chimney on the outside. The mesh name is FarmhouseChimney02 (in the 'Exterior' folder). This mesh has the same pivot as the exterior main mesh of your house. Just place it in the same position, then adjust the x and y coordinates to move it to the right place.

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  • 5 months later...

Version 1.20 is live now, with tons of new meshes:

Made numerous corrections to the existimg meshes to bring the mod to v1.0:

  • Modified many walkway meshes to eliminate clipping issues (most of them on the lower level walkways)
  • Redid the vertex colours on all basement dividers (they never were intended to be that dark)
  • Lowered the door bars on all doorway versions of the basement divider meshes to eliminate a narrow gap that remained when doors were placed in the doorways.
  • Improved the collision on most of the interior stairs meshes.
  • Fixed several minor UV issues on various meshes.

Added numerous new meshes, so we are at v1.20 now:

  • Added full mesh sets for houses wth 2, 3 and 7 units length (so you can now select from any length between 2 and 8)
  • Added 10 new exterior front meshes, featuring full size stone chimneys (two variants) and large porches with full stone foundations (similar to the vanilla blacksmith mesh)
  • Added new walkway meshes to be used with the new chimneys (the existing ones would clip)
  • Added walkway parts and a new walkway stairs variant to be used in combination with the new large porches
  • Added interior front and end meshes with large fireplaces (to be used in combination with the new exterior chimney meshes)
  • Added full roof versions of the side wing balconies
  • Added new meshes for the basement rooms below the new porches. As a result of doing this, the basement wall of all interior front and end segments meshes had to be split (as there would have to be too many mesh variants to be made otherwise to account for the door options at the basement level). There are now two sets of basement wall front and end meshes (one for the front/end segments with the new chimneys, one for all others) with a multitude of door options to chose from.
  • Added spiral staircases

Finally, the demo has been removed from the download.  This will be published on a later date as a separate playable mod (with additional content selected from the tons of stuff I made during the last three years).

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  • 7 months later...

Version 1.30 is live now.

Mesh fixes:

  •  Plugged holes in the collision meshes of several roof segments with extended gables
  •  Modified the wooden posts on all interior gable meshes to eliminate a minor clipping issue
  •  Fixed an issue where the texture on the central posts of all wide gable roof segments did not properly align with the texture on the corresponding posts in the basis segments.
  • Plugged small holes on the underside of several roofed walkways

New meshes:

  • Added a full set of interior roof segments with normal gables opposite to wide gables and/or branches
  • Added roof segments with gable-mounted spiral stairs for upper floor access
  • Also added connector-version spiral stairs meshes to be added to floor end pieces
  • Added room dividers for the main house (ground floor, upper floor or both)
  • Added 9 vanilla style farmhouse meshes with branches
  • Added new vanilla farmhouse interior meshes to make full use of the branches
  • Also added 12 new 'wall slices' (with all potentially useful door and fireplace positions and combinations) forvanilla farmhouse interiors

The most important new addition however is a manual with detailed instructions for the use of all exterior meshes.

An equivalent for the interior meshes is currently in preparation and will be added in a couple of days.

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