[WIP] Book Covers Enderal

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DanielCoffey
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Having really enjoyed my first steps into Enderal, I am happy to announce that I have been inspired to start work on a Book Covers mod for Enderal. It will be very similar in structure and appearance to Book Covers Skyrim and will inherit a lot of the textures from that mod but will still have to obey the same constraints that were only relieved when Skyrim Special Edition came out such as true double-sided notes and better support of Texture Sets.

The Enderal Bugs team have already been given some initial bug reports to do with Books but these were only intended to set the groundwork for this mod and to ensure that Book Covers Enderal made minimal edits to the existing content. As I discover spelling, formatting and grammar corrections I will submit those separately.


IN SCOPE

It is my intention to provide replacement covers for every regular book that can be put in the inventory, every journal and almost all of the notes. I also intend to try to provide "Book Covers" style images for any maps or pictures in books depending on how intricate they are.

I will be making textures for the mod in English and German providing I can get the necessary help with translation issues for the words on the covers.

Book and Journal textures and their normal maps will be in 1024x512px resolution. Notes and their normal maps will be in 2048x1024 (double sided).


OUT OF SCOPE

There will be only one "saturation" version of the mod. Enderal is a more colourful place than Skyrim and includes its own ENB so I will not be releasing a "desaturated" version of the mod.

I will not be touching the open books that are used as decorative objects because their covers are not visible. I will not be touching the open notes that use the "torn page" model because Enderal uses those for notices that tend to be nailed to doors and have Havok turned off.

I will not release a Weightless Cheat version, a Sorting Mod version or any compatibility patches for existing book mods.

Players in languages other than German or English will have to ask their own Localization teams to translate the textures on the covers. I will be happy to offer advice on how to go about this and how to create the Normal Maps.


TIME SCALE

Even though Enderal has a much smaller set of books than Skyrim, this is still a large project and I do have other personal commitments. I would estimate that there are (at least) several months of work in this mod and I do not intend to give detailed progress reports. As the old saying goes... "When'em's black, em's done!" If I ever get into problems and struggle to complete the mod, I will release it and all its source files on the Nexus for public completion.

I will not be making frequent updates to the mod once complete as I am on a very restricted rural broadband connection.


PERMISSIONS

I am happy for anyone to do anything with the mod (including bundling it with others into a Compilation) providing it is always FREE. There are stocks used in the mod that have "Non-Commercial" as strict usage rules. I am happy for the Enderal team to eventually merge the mod into the main game if they wish to do so.

I will make the Photoshop PSD Source Files freely available for this purpose.

I may occasionally post design queries in this thread if I am wondering if a particular group or individual would have a custom Note or Journal design. I will also need help with translation decisions when I am changing the English words on the covers to German so will look forward to poking you all at the appropriate time.

EDIT : I am investigating the "open book" models as they are often able to be picked up and therefore may need covers.
Zuletzt geändert von DanielCoffey am 01.11.2017 16:00, insgesamt 1-mal geändert.
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That is a wonderful idea in my opinion! The book covers would be a cool addition to the game and I'm sure that we would merge it when it is finished :)
If I had known of your project, I would have fixed the bounds for the books already. Will do so for the next patch. :)
DanielCoffey
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I am glad you are interested. When it is close to being complete I can make it available for review if you want.

That was why I put in so many of the book bug reports so we could start with a solid foundation. There are plenty of minor issues that are easy to address but some of the bugs are more subjective so I indicated those separately. Spelling, formatting and grammar will follow later as I get the books ready.
Nicolas Samuel
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Wow, this is beautiful indeed. I can't wait to see it finished! :)
DanielCoffey
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This is the sort of cover that we can look forward to...
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I have spotted an issue with the "open tome" books that I think will need to be discussed. Take the copy of "About Whispertrees" that you can find fairly early on. It is an open tome resting on a table somewhere (can't remember but I got it before I arrived in Riverville). It is probably intended as a scenery object you cannot pick up but may read. The issue is that you CAN pick it up and walk off with it. This means that while in your inventory it looks like a generic skyrim closed book but the moment you drop it, it reverts to its "open tome" mesh and hangs in mid air since havok is off for it. What did you intend this book to behave like? Is it supposed to be "cannot loot" or is it supposed to have havok? There are many scenery books such as the open copies of The Path that you find in many homes that are done in the same way.

EDIT : All books have two models - the one that is visible in the world and the one that is visible in the inventory. The "open tome" books have openbook06.nif (or similar) in the world and currently HighPolyBook06.nif (or similar) in the inventory. They display as the correct open tome in the world and cannot be nudged about but can be read and taken. Once in the inventory they appear as a closed book based on the inventory model. They can be stored in boxes and read at any time and will always appear as the inventory model until actually dropped in the world where they will revert to the open tome model and freeze in mid-air.

This means that I should give them covers for the time that they are in the inventory or chest. You just need to decide if they are to have havok on or not. About Whispertrees is a good example of this.
Stefanie
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Havok is not possible in the current form, because otherwise there could be positioning errors.

Either they stay that way or it should be scripted?
For example:
by pick up-> give another model with Havok "after" inclusion in the inventory?
The other possibility: just read, not to take, depending on the situation and content?

(just my mind, I'm not an Enderal builder and sorry my english)
DanielCoffey
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From an art point of view it is not an issue - I can design a cover and tell the ESP to use my cover for the Inventory model but keep the open tome for the world model. That way the player will see an open tome, read it, pick it up and have a copy of the book as usual.

If they store it in a chest, they will never know it was once an open tome and it is always available to read with the new cover.

Then, if they ever want to display it in a home on a surface they will quickly find it reverts to the open tome and sticks where they place it. If they are fussy, they could use the Storage Helpers mod to position it exactly where they want it and keep it on display.

EDIT : Here is what I think I should do for the "open tome" books...

Where there is both an open scenery version and a closed version of a book (such as The Path), I will make a texture, a world mesh and an inventory mesh. The open version will be given the inventory mesh and texture but keep the open world model. The closed version will be given both the inventory mesh and world mesh with the new texture.

Where there is only an open scenery version of the book (such as About Whispertrees), I will make a texture, a world mesh and an inventory mesh. We will retain the open world model but use my new texture and inventory mesh. If you ever decide to make a second version of the book which can be found in loot or on a vendor, the newly textured world mesh will be ready and waiting to be used.

The unused world mesh which would be sitting unused until needed is only about 60Kb in size and there are only a very small number of them anyway.
Dehne
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The texture looks great, especially the new "The Path" covers. I realy like the emblem of the Holy Order.

Looking forward to see the final modification.
DanielCoffey
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Huge thanks to the folks who worked on all the Book Bugs that I sent in recently - it is really appreciated. I have spotted the new patch and seen the vast majority of the issues with books and notes are cleared up nicely.
DanielCoffey
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Right - I have some book-related queries so rather than creating a bunch of separate posts int eh Questions forum, I thought I would post them all here for peer review. All these issues are from the English version of the game.

=== COPY from Questions sub-forum ===

While working my way through the books in preparation for Book Covers Enderal, I came across what appears to be a duplicate book in TES5EDIT and I would appreciate knowing which was the "real" one.

Both books have the same contents (the properties of Glimmerdust in the Alchemy tables)...

0007B899 _00E_BookDrugs "Glimmerdust and Its Application"
0011C4CB _00E_BookGlimmerstaubrezepte "Glimmerdust Recipes"

Are they supposed to be two different books or is it a case of a duplication error?

======

Inconsistency of location name - Castle Goldenford or Castle Golden Ford

According to the wiki, the region called Goldenford is home to Castle Golden Ford... or possibly Castle Goldenford or even Castle Goldford. Which is it?

There are a couple of books which contradict each other too. The Chronicles of Goldenford refer to the castle as Guldfurt which is just a mis-translation from the German. The Golden Ford Inventory ledger also refers to Goldfurt.
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