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[DanielCoffey]

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.

[stuemper]

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]

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]

Wow, this is beautiful indeed. I can't wait to see it finished!

[DanielCoffey]

This is the sort of cover that we can look forward to...


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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

[stuemper]

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

These books have similar contents ... We will check if one of them was created by mistake.

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?

It's Castle Golden Ford. Thanks for pointing out the inconsistency of the name, I noted it in the bug tracker

[DanielCoffey]

Many thanks, Stuemper - I will make the Golden Ford change in my ESP.

While you are thinking about it, is the Journal of the Apothecarii (00132DC1 _00E_NQ22DiaryApothekari) supposed to have the model of a book or a journal? It is the one with the large group of torn out pages. At the moment it is a book but it could easily be changed into a journal. I do have some Diary type book covers because vanilla Skyrim had a couple of "Journal of..." or "Diary of..." books in it but have a lot of unused journals ready to be used too.

[stuemper]

Should be a diary or journal., if it can't have a "lose page" model in the inventory!

[DanielCoffey]

There appears to be an actual book and seven loose pages as part of that quest... assuming the book itself is actually used. The loose pages are certainly different text to the book itself.

If there is enough of it to be written in and then have a decent chunk of pages torn out and scattered, it probably should remain as a book. The seven loose pages of course would all be of the same paper type - that is easy to do.

[DanielCoffey]

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

These books have similar contents ... We will check if one of them was created by mistake.

I have had a look at this in the CK and there is a duplication issue... the first book is in three world cells to be discovered and the second book is in one.

I would advise making the first book the real one and making all four instances that book. I will assume "Glimmerdust and Its Application" is the correct title for the cover.

======

EDIT : I have found some more unused items that may want their EditorID to be altered to end in _Unused as I believe they may be unused.

000151BD _00E_BookFill01 "Empty Book"
00106763 _00E_BookFill03 "Empty Book"
0003807C _00E_NQ03_Clue01Note "First Hint"
00038077 _00E_NQ03_Clue02Note "Second Hint"

I am also unsure if the following Journal is supposed to be in the game world but one copy exists...

0002B3EE _00E_TagebuchBergpass "Journal"

I will make a cover for it anyway but while I know the reference it is making, I was unsure if its placement was intentional.

[stuemper]

I have had a look at this in the CK and there is a duplication issue... the first book is in three world cells to be discovered and the second book is in one.

I would advise making the first book the real one and making all four instances that book. I will assume "Glimmerdust and Its Application" is the correct title for the cover.

I know, but it may have been duplicated and slightly altered intentionally. As I am not the book / lore expert I've forwarded it, so I have to wait for a response myself.

Edit:
So, they are intentionally very similar written and we will expand them.
_00E_BookDrugs was written by wildmages / rhalâta (Undercity cult), so it maybe a dirty model would fit and the title will be: "Glimmerkappenstaub - Mixturen und Rezepte" / "Glimmercap Dust - Mixtures and Recipes".

_00E_BookGlimmerstaubrezepte was written by alchemists of the order, so a clean model would fit. The title will be changed to "Glimmerkappenstaub - Anwendung und Gefahren" / "Glimmercap Dust - Applications and Dangers".

000151BD _00E_BookFill01 "Empty Book"
00106763 _00E_BookFill03 "Empty Book"
0003807C _00E_NQ03_Clue01Note "First Hint"
00038077 _00E_NQ03_Clue02Note "Second Hint"

I've deleted this books for the next patch, they are indeed unused. Thanks

0002B3EE _00E_TagebuchBergpass "Journal"

The placement of this one is intentional. But i think they is no special cover needed, it's just an "Easter Egg"

[DanielCoffey]

I thought I would resist the temptation to do anything too similar to the Argonian Maid covers for this one. Since King Lewd is a very common book, I opted for a cloth cover...

[DanielCoffey]

Stuemper - I have spotted an other oddity...

0004BBE7 _00E_NQ05_Map "Map of the Bandit Lairs" has an unresolved FormID for a quest. Is this an unused item?

[stuemper]

The cover looks great

The funny thing about 0004BBE7 ist, that it's not in our internal .esm file anymore, so it already got removed because it was unused

[DanielCoffey]

I have just done the Map that we find in Jespar's box for MQ11b and it got me thinking about Localization...

1. What languages is Enderal officially distributed in? Is it German and English or are there others?

2. What languages does Enderal have fan translations for?

3. For the official Enderal release, can the BSA files (specifically EEN - Textures2.bsa) be localized for German and English as well as the voice acting and the ESP?

The reason I ask is that the Book Covers will have writing on the textures (in EEN - Textures2.bsa) that will need localizing for distribution so I would like to start planning this in advance.

On the subject of Jespar's Map, I hope you like the increase in texture detail that I have managed to achieve. By following the technique I used in the Skyrim Treasure Maps, I have a full 850x1000px for the picture on the map rather than the current 290x389px that is just stretched to fit.

SPOILER : Main Quest Map

[+] Main Quest Map

I should explain that the current map is a simple Note with an IMAGE tag superimposed and stretched onto it linking to the textures/enderal/books/MQ11b/Schatzkarte.png whereas the one I have done for the mod is drawn directly onto the Note texture itself and can take advantage of Photoshop blend modes.