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About this mod
"plus" stands for "Additions"… I was delighted to roam MERP, but lots weren't there, and LOTS were THERE into the data but unused.
So… I used some of the unused stuff, and added my own "creations".
+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ CHECK THE FORUM THREAD FOR MORE DETAILS! +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+
- Requirements
- Permissions and credits
- Changelogs
--------------0.373-2----------------
MERPPlus 3732
NEW
Now the Brandywine is "Brandy" ;) From out of lake Evendim until the middle of this mouth at the sea.
Just replace the Middleearth.esm (contains the brandy water declarations) and Tharbad.esp (contains the 700+ modified cells…)
PROBLEM is the game engine which had NOT planned such an use for the water definition. The water changes on ENTERING a cell, not on displaying it. So from a distance, NO change :( I had to widen the changing zone, so the Brandywine would appear "Brandy" when viewing it from the ground, and won't turn 'default' as soon as walking one step away from the bank.
Still two points were this will be visible, at lake Evendim and at the mouth. Water change is global, so all the sea will appear Brandy if you are sailing down the Brandywine, then suddenly all the water will turn Default when you'll leave the last Brandy cell :( I can't do anything to fix this. I'll try using a transparent coloured plane, but this is unlikely to work well.
--------------0.373----------------
MERPPlus 373
**********The Tharbad.esp loads right after MERPAdditions.esp*********
I had to keep them separated. No way to merge them properly :(
NEW
- Tharbad. Ruined. The bridge is still useable.
- One house still inhabited, sort of Inn. Some business between Bree and Isengard (pipe-weed…).
- A few underground parts for the forts, still accessible. Bandits in there… and some unfriendly fauna.
- Used a few more nasties from modders resources.
- Added a quest starting in Tharbad Inn. Managed to add dialogues! Not voiced yet, but now it should be possible… if finding a few voice actors.
- Finished the path from the Mitheithel (north of Swan Fleet) to the Moria. Initially it was done on a short distance down the Moria, but there was no way to go up there from Tharbad.
- Carved a path through the cliff on the right bank of the Isen, starting out of Isengard. It goes to Enedwaith, until the lower lands can be accessed easily. No road until Tharbad east.
- Fixed the pigs who won’t oink nor grunt. No sound effect assigned in the NIFs… Did the same for the donkeys :)
TUNING
- Worked some more on the Music Control Script. More Regions recognized. Also it no longer will remain stuck to a prefious region if not recognizing where you are. Soon it will default to Explore.
Also it will work if you added CraftyBits ESM, which previously would shift a number of Regions, making them unrecognizable.
- Generated silent voice files for the new dialogues. Hopefully all I’ll need to do will be to replace them with real voices.
- Had LOTS of trouble with scheduling Ted Ferny and his donkey… it needed a long time to tweak and test. Still problems as you can find Ted and the Donkey inside the Inn…
TWEAKING
-‘Optimized’ a number of NIFs for Minas Tirith and Pelargir, consolidating the textures and the meshes. Does not seem much effective, if any…
- Deleted the previous Erebor Front Gate and the changes to the land, and moved the Gate up to the point planned by the O-MERP Team. Nothing else… the place needs a sound reworking, and some Erebor inside!
FIXING
-Re-generated the land features for the Wold region. Forgot to set the lower limit of the Flora to the water level… Also reduced the probability of Flora and Wildlife, as there was WAY too much animals.
-Fixed (some more, hopefully fully now) the wooden scaffolding down Citirh Ungol Tower. EACH log was a separate mesh, which should kill the framerate. Also they had no collision, and the whole structure was 2 feet above the ground.
-Re-generated the whole LODs for MiddleEarth, with the newer TES4Edit. The older TES4LodGen would no longer work. Still a few things missing… also the LODs for Barad-Dur (in its separate world) are gone (hopefully I’ll get them back from an earlier version - Done, found how to generate them along with the rest).
-Deleted AGAIN that boulder floating over the Isen…
-More bug-hunting, trying to kill some more CTDs. Not much successful.
-Updated a few of the base ESPs (mostly for exterior land features) and also the main ESM (mostly to update creatures).
BUGS & PROBLEMS
- If you encounter systematic CTDs when fast-traveling, consider restarting from an older save :/ CraftyBits isn’t fully debugged, and this does not help. ALSO step down the graphics settings, notably the LOD distance, grass distance and thickness. The graphic settings are a systematic cause of CTDs in my case.
- Loading a cell with LOTS of wildlife can need a few seconds… I am considering another way to handle this, but no idea if it will be faster.
- Sometimes the game engine begins misbehaving with the scripts running in large numbers or frequently, such as the Music Control Script or the wildlife generation. In these cases, the MessageLog (if you installed the OBSE Extension) mentions failed attempts to set variable xx (non-existent because out of defined variables) in some script. No obvious consequences in game, except when the music won’t change when you enter an inn or a house. No idea of the cause, of course. SEEMS FIXED BY STARTING A NEW GAME
- The numerous hostile wildlife won’t attack you immediately… but if you dangle around, they’ll eventually notice you.
---------------0.372c-------------
2021/09/08 7:03 GMT
EVENTUALLY WORKING. TWO PROBLEMS: the upload which was flaky, and the compression used (Win8.1).
MERPPlus 372c
Tuning, tweaking, fixing… Sorry for the size of the update, but just changing ONE digit in one ESP requires to reload it fully :/
-The soundtrack may seem ‘stuck’ if the script won’t recognize the place you are. It will change as soon as you enter a place it does.
-The CS keeps badly messing the MERPCats&Rats.esp :( I had to rebuild it from older parts, and regenerate the IDs. As a consequence, ANYTHING the ESP created (mostly wildlife) and was recorded in your saved game(s) will NOT be displayed. IT IS ADVISED YOU’D ENTER ANY HOUSE AND WAIT 4 DAYS to allow the cells to respawn…
TUNING
-Halved the probability of mudcrabs on the bank of the Pelennor. There was way too much popping around, killing the frame rate. And the game engine ‘ghosted’ those over the MaxFoes threshold so they were not killable. No good when their purpose was to be sparring partners! It is advised to begin at the north end of the right Anduin bank, where the forest ends, and proceed south by handfuls of crabs :)
-Tuned some more the wildlife across the Miniriath and other regions. Halved the probability of Bears, and tuned the Factions so the Boars won’t attack non-dangerous animals. Wolves and Bears still go for the Sheeps :/ The population is now much more realistic (no longer stepping on rabbits all the way) and the frame rate remains fair.
-Fixed and tuned the Factions for the wildlife. A number of them were still using the Vanilla Factions, as a result the Boars would attack the Sheeps, etc.
-Toned down the rabbit/sheep/fox/boar/sheep/wolf/bear probability. It was really overcrowded, by places.
TWEAKING
-Saruman sells Detect Life and Night-Eye spells. Very useful if you found the few filled soul gems and can access the one Enchanting Altar :)
-Added a Merchant Chest to Snorri of the Last Bridge market… I forgot to add it or it was deleted at some point. So he would keep everything you’d sell him, which could head to troubles with the saved games. The Merchant chest respawns -of course- removing anything you sold him. It now offers a good assortment of weapons, armor parts and ammunitions. Also Snorri now trains Armorer up to Master level.
-The smith at Hobbiton will now buy weapons. There are a few to be found in the tunnels under Bag-End, and nobody would accept them in Hobbiton. At least the smith should, if only to turn them into rakes and hoes :) He also sells one bow and some arrows, and more Repair Hammers. Useful if you start a new game at Hobbiton :)
FIXING
-Fixed the Mirkwood Spiders which had lost their leveled list at some point and would not longer be generated. Also added some useful loot in their corpse, a poison.
-Re-enabled Clay Deposits and Mudcrabs (with a lower rate) downstream the Mitheithel. At some point I had disabled the Mudcrabs.
-One kind of error messages disappeared since the last fixes… if starting a new game! Likely something which was in the saved game and I deleted from the data.
BUGS
-Still having a few random CTDs. The wildlife will bloat your saved games… It is very nice to have wildlife instead of empty lands, but it comes with a cost. You can still remove MERPCats&Rats from the loaded data…
-----------0.372---------------
CRITICAL: You MUST update to ‘Enhanced Music and Control 2’ AND delete the previous :
• EMC – Enhanced Music and Control - by HawkleyFox (EMC2 is the new era).
• SoundCommands – by Scanti (integrated in EMC2).
delete their dll from “Data/OBSE/Plugins”
If using CraftyBits, DO NOT craft the boat: it may interfere badly with the sailboats integrated in MERPPlus!
What’s new in this release?
1 The Hall of Kings at Minas Tirith, which I built as close as possible from the movie -within the limitations of time and game engine.
2 A quest starting in the Hall of Kings, to find the Palantir of Annuminas… and have you visiting the Harondor Desert and its flora and fauna ;)
3 The final stage of the quest is inside Annuminas, a good reason to visit it (again if you were there yet) as I fixed it some more and added some life. And lights, and fountains.
4 A private house at a scenic location on the Anfalas (comes as a reward for the quest).
5 More life in the Wild, notably the Gap of Rohan, the Fold (East and West), south of the Shire until the sea, and who knows elsewhere!
6 Full integration with CraftyBits, now allowing LOTS of pleasant activities (other than hacking foes…), adding some ingredients and LOTS of new foods. Several forges were enabled for CraftyBits (when possible). Of course you WILL need CraftyBits for this integration to work. HOWEVER… CraftyBits is beginning to experiment the same troubles I had with TES4File, which randomly misses NIFs and textures :( I notified the guy in charge and we’ll be working at it.
7 Added the Fellowship Cloaks. The model was there, and partly declared in the CS, but unfinished and not used. Galadriel sells them -for a hefty charge- at the Farewell to Lorien dock. I should make some quest to have them for free, but this is not easy as I don’t master the dialogues. At all…
8 Added a number of Cave Trolls in… the Moria Trollcaves :) They were about empty :/ Also added loot in the large chests.
What changes?
1 Lots of bug hunting and some fixing, seemingly heading to a notably stabler gaming experience (way less CTDs). I played the Hobbit from Hobbiton through Bree, the Last Bridge, Trollshaw, the Goblin Fort and GoblinTown stacking the loot right on the Last Bridge then selling it all, without a single CTD! And going on through the Moria.
2 Worked on the soundtrack-controlling script, which was NOT final from the initial release. You will notice much more changes in the background music, and more consistency (now all the inns will play the merry tunes). Still not final, but much better. You can even customize the soundtrack: SEE HERE
3 Halved the number of foes in the 3rd level of the Tunnels under Bag-End… They had a tendency to gang on the player, which could head to CTD…
4 Tuned the density of wildlife to avoid killing the framerate…
5 Capped the Goblins leveling… as player leveling isn’t optimal in O-MERP, they were too tough too fast. Now capped to lvl 6-10.
6 Tweaked again the Factions for the Black Riders, so they won’t attack on sight any recently added wildlife…
In-game bug fixing:
1 Deleted a huge boulder floating high over the Isen. It came from the Argonath!
2 Deleted an Helm’s Deep landscape poking out of a hill between Edoras and the Deep…
3 Fixed the pathgrid NE from Edoras. It was way OVER the landscape (likely generated before the landscape was carved) and the wildlife generated there tended to pop high up, fall and be killed…
4 Deleted a ceiling (which seems to have reappeared at some point…) in Trollshaw ruins, which prevented to access the Goblin camp I set down there. This may be related with the bug affecting the Moria and described in point 6.
5 As TES4Files proved unable to handle the add-on, I had to check it ALL manually!! I hoped the 0.371 ‘full’ was good, but no. For those who followed MERPPlus since the beginning, it may have been ok, but alone it was missing lots. So I checked manually ALL the Creatures, Apparatuses, Armor, Books, Clothing, Ingredients, Keys, Misc Items, Potions, Sounds, Activators, Containers, Doors, Flora, Furniture, Lights, and most Statics (some were checked cell by cell in the CS, when possible).
6 Deleted a wall in the Moria (Area 2) which blocked the way. Looks like any number of things I deleted could be back! I’ll have to check ALL the Moria!!!
6b Ok… I checked… HUGE problem! A deep mess at some point. Most of my additions are there (could not check them all) but most (if not all) my deletions have been negated! So again the path though Area 3 is blocked, etc. :( All seems good in V0.35b and hopefully more recent but I did not check. Anyway I managed to replace the ‘reverted’ Moria cells by those in V0.35. I connected a handful more doors, added a handful of Cave Trolls in the Moria Trollcaves (they were rather uneventful), fixed the door from Area5 to the Way To The Mines as it would not work in the way back… I checked good Area 3 which was the most critical in terms of bugs. Seems good now.
7 The Balrog at Durin’s Bridge was not always waiting for you after visiting the Mazarbul. Hopefully fixed. You may need to tease him a bit so he would follow you to Durin’s Bridge.
Also played the game from the start at Hobbiton until looting Goblin Town, hauling all the loot to the Last Bridge, and sell it. Going on with visiting parts of the Moria…
Bugs remaining?
0 After finding the Palantir, the quest pointer points to… Dimrill Gate!!! It worked at first, then stuck there, until you fast-travel somewhere north to it, then it points to Annuminas. Don't bother with Dimrill Gate, just fast-travel to Hobbiton :)
1 DO NOT push the graphics settings too high. O-MERP allows to go much farther than Vanilla, until the game crashes. If you experiment sudden CTD in the wild, when loading a cell, your settings are likely too high. A definite symptom is the land suddenly not supporting you or others: you keep ‘jumping’ until being out of the zone. This can EVEN happen if you go back to Tamriel (with the console).
2 The initial sailboat add-on was NOT designed to support more than one ship… I tweaked it (and fixed it some) to allow two, but when switching between them, things will soon turn random. Either one disappears or is replaced by the other :/ Some day I’ll have a closer look at the script. The best is to begin with the swan boat, which will allow you to sail the Anduin from its spring to the Rauros, then use (only) the fisherman boat at Pelargir, which will be able to go down the sea an up ALL the rivers mouthing there, such as the Brandywine and the Mitheithel.
3 I experimented one CTD while waiting at the Last Bridge. Don’t know why… No CTD this time, there were several fixings in between.
4 Still HUGE problems with the voices. I can’t manage to get what I want. Currently, the male Hobbits use a Vanilla Orc voice, the females are ok. Several NPCs may display the ‘I have no greeting’. The cause is they are Imperials or some other Vanilla-specific species… won’t talk to O-MERP specific species. They need to be changed to Gondorian or Man Eriador. No big deal… they have nothing specific to say. This happened only in Bree, for I had not checked all the NPCs there. The houses I did check and fix. The whole Bree would need to be finished, though…
LOAD ORDER
Same as for 0.371. The LandVegLife04.esp goes -of course- after LandVegLife03.esp. It adds a very scenic vegetation to the Northern Ithilien… at the cost of the framerate :/ You can remove it at will.
Oblivion.esm
Middleearth.esm
Eriador.esp
Rohan.esp
Rhovanion.esp
Gondor.esp
Fellowship.esp
DLCShiveringIsles.esp
LandVegLife01.esp (includes Lothlorien, which you can trash now)
LandVegLife02.esp
LandVegLife03.esp
LandVegLife04.esp
GoblinCave.esp
MERPAdditions.esp
Middle Earth Grasses.esp
MERPCats&Rats.esp
The LOAD ORDER with all the extra stuff is HERE.
------0.371------->>> CHECK THE REQUIREMENTS: I added a list of all the tweaks seemingly useful.
I hunted bugs and problems as much as possible. While collaborating with the CraftyBits Team, we found two logging utilities which proved
invaluable for the hunting.
Not always actionable, though, for example when the game engine complains I am trying to add four objects to a non-existent cell, without more details…
Anyway it found a number of problems I could fix, such as one audio file the wrong format, a number of voice files not found, incorrect forms, etc..
STILL PROBLEMS with the voices… I can't understand how the thing works :(
Lots added… mainly world-related:
-Grew ALL Mirkwood forest as it was intended by the O-MERP Team. It covers over 5500 cells, which is likely MORE than the number of cells accessible in Tamriel!
-Regrew Fangorn in order to add wildlife later.
-Added LOTS of wildlife, such as mudcrabs on the lower part of the Mitheithel (also added clay which will be useful with CraftyBits); added rabbits,
foxes, deers, boars and such east from Fangorn until the Anduin; also mudcrabs along the right bank of the Anduin by the Pelennor Fields;
wildlife west of Long Lake, until Mirkwood to the south and the Anduin to the west; wildlife between Weathertop and the Last Bridge (and likely
elsewhere); small packs of deers anywhere there are forests with summer boletes; 6 varieties of Spiders across Mirkwood and the immediate
surroundings; rats which seem to like yellow faxes; cats around the Hobbit holes in Longbottom (and more if time allows to add them); and
more. The additions cover 85092 spawn points (no typo) for the decorative life (rabbits, foxes, sheeps… wolf & bear), 10744 spawn points for the deers, and 5154 spawn points for unfriendly rodents. Plus a few hundred spawnpoints for mudcrabs. I'll go on adding more varieties of wildlife, grew more regions, etc.
-Built the South Road between Minas Tirith and Pelargir, added the South Road Inn with some population… and the same SPA as the Tiber Septim Hotel, and grew some vegetation+forest between Pelargir and the inn. Added the bridge at the Crossings Of Erui.
-Worked on most of the buildings in Pelargir, with some framerate improvement. Never under 9fps now… still way to go :/ Same improvements fir Minas Tirith.
-Added a comfy house by the edge of Mirkwood, on the west bank of the Celduin, south of Long Lake. Some company in there, a shield outside to keep the
Goblins at bay, and useful things around such as milk, eggs and ingredients (to cook tasty stuff with CraftyBits - WIP). If you clear the Goblins, the shield will disappear…
-Fixed when possible the base ESM and ESPs from O-MERP. You MUST download O-MERP Base Files - Fixes and install it separately!!!
Still problems by places in the landscape which I have no idea how to fix. Not impacting the game, but crashing the CS (for example between Troll Glade and the Ford of Bruinen).
-HAD to split the additions in several files. Saving was taking minutes… Here is the load order (set it from MERP Launcher):
Oblivion.esm
Middleearth.esm
Eriador.esp
Rohan.esp
Rhovanion.esp
Gondor.esp
Fellowship.esp
DLCShiveringIsles.esp
LandVegLife01.esp (includes Lothlorien, so remove it from the list)
LandVegLife02.esp
LandVegLife03.esp
GoblinCave.esp
MERPAdditions.esp
Middle Earth Grasses.esp
MERPCats&Rats.esp
I had to MANUALLY build the update file, as TES4Files seems unable to cope with the current size of the data. It is possible I missed some files… PLEASE notify me if you find missing NIFs or textures. The FULL pack of data should have it all.
------0.364c-------CHECK THE REQUIREMENTS: I added a list of all the tweaks seemingly useful.
More fixing… This time I reviewed ALL the scripts, and -as expected- found a score or so which were no longer working properly :( They were using deleted or renamed references, and as such could do whatever in-game. So I fixed them ALL, and also deleted most of the unused scripts.
The 'dead' scripts mainly involved the Last Bridge market.
------0.364b------- TES4Files SCREWED it all for an unknown reason. LOTS of files missing. Here is a pack which *should* contain most files.
IF YOU FIND anything missing, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE notify me! A screenshot would be enough.
GREAT thanks to TheOhioGrassman for the testing and reporting!!!!!!
------0.364------ A lot of experiments, mostly failed due to being too ambitious for my skills or the game engine…
1- Some sort of Caras Galadhon and Farewell to Lorien. The Mallorns are HUGE and kill the framerate :( I had to buy a good video card (Radeon RX580 XFX) and the matching computer, as the CS was at a stall with the usual setting (Radeon HD 5570). Still working in game, down to 15fps. Not much there, except the trees and some sort of Galadriel…
2- The sailboats :) Funny, pretty realistic, and fast. However, the game engine does not like them much… The original script looks fine, but the boats kept disappearing under my very feet. I fixed it somewhat… still problems, but less often. Better NOT saving onboard: park the boat somewhere, disembark, then save. Adapted from CLS Sailboats OBSE by CLShade, with lots of tweaks.
3- A decent (hopefully) Hornburg and Helm's Deep, with underground stables and some sort of Aglarond Caves :) More training for your here, as parts of the caves have not been "cleared" since long and got not-so-friendly inhabitants!
GREAT THANKS to The Last Days for the Deeping Wal, the Hornburg (front part), the rocky cliffs, Theoden's Boots and a handful of clothing for the Rohirrims.
The realistic parts of the Aglarond Caves come from two commercial models, though I had to import them to Oblivion and mess good to simplify them.
4- A totally new set of statues at the Gates of Gondor (in the straight of Argonath), scanned from the model sold with a deluxe edition of the trilogy DVDs.
PROBLEMS - Same as below for the in-game crashes, as MERP Launcher allows for settings the game engine WON'T handle! If you experience such crashes, lower the settings are detailed in https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/images/174536
Also the erratic behavior of the game engine with the sailboats, though it has been improved notably.
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------0.362------ Advancing on the "Three Towers"! Done with Minas Morgul ;)
Based on Minas Morgul https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/29331 by Youpime, with his leave to "use the mods as you wish for your version of MERP."
I mixed his outside with the original setting in O-MERP, but eventually had to put it into a separate Interior cell as the framerate was dropping too much with all the world around.
I kept all his interior cells, but modified them, usually replacing interior teleport doors by normal doors or open passages. I added some rooms, most notably for the Houses of Lamentation, the surface of which increased by 35%.
I populated ALL the interior cells and the outside, which were empty except from the Lich Factory. Now Minas Morgul has guard patrolling the walls and the rooms, Nazguls lurking around, the Witch King inside his lair, Guests and Entertainers for the Houses of Lamentation, etc. ;)
Some loot too, which CANNOT be found anywhere else in O-MERP.
Orthanc offered access to a Spellmaking Altar… in Minas Morgul you'll find an Enchanting Altar! Not much of use in O-MERP, but fun :)
You can reach the "new" Minas Morgul in the same way as the initial one: walking on the bridge. There is a teleport door which will bring you there (and back again).
You ALSO have Barad-Dur from the same Youpime, though I did not finish it yet. It is enriched from the original mod, which had yet a decent population :) You can access it either by walking all the way through Mordor, or from a 'secret' door in Minas Morgul.
The outside is very nice and different from the O-MERP version, and installed into its own separate world. I enriched the "Eye" up there, but you'll need to push the LOD distance to see it from the bridge down there.
Eventually I added 4 Nazguls on horse patrolling the roads between Bree (west), Weathetop and the Last Bridge.
BUG FIX - at some point the Hole for the Harfoot Sisters was deleted… Don't ask how. It is reached through the Blue Round door by the fields at Hobbiton. Also for the 3rd time (at least) the 2nd bench in Bilbo's kitchen had lost its NIF…
PROBLEMS - seemingly solved. I had SEVERE crashes from the CS when trying to make the road from Bree to Weathertop and the Last Bridge. About impossible… the CS crashed as soon as I clicked anywhere in the render window. Eventually I reduced the graphics parameters of the CS (LOD and so on), and it stopped crashing! At least no more than usual.
Also had SEVERE in-game crashes, to the point it was about impossible to use :(( It happened when strolling outside, most notably between Bree and the Last Bridge. Also odd behaviors, such as the land which seemed not to bear the weight of the player, by places.
Eventually I reduced the graphics parameters from MERP Launcher… and it worked!!!!
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------0.361------ Advancing on the "Three Towers"! Done with Orthanc ;)
Based on Saruman's Tower https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/45622 by VincentPacceus.
First I redone the textures to make the look closer to the movie, then I added the Staircase, the Library… and the Uruk-cave ;)
Also added two quests.Now that the whole thing is about as I had intended it, I'll work for it in O-MERP.
Of course I asked him permission to modify his WONDERFUL work, but had no reply. The last time he replied to anything was in mid-2015 :/
The add-on is heavy… I was "a bit" carried away with the Library, heading to 300MB of textures!
--------- WARNING WARNING WARNING ----------
The Library needs several minutes to load… If you get bored, you can go into the folder
textures/update08/orthanc/200317/
create a subfolder and dump there all the xxxx_s.dds textures. These specular textures add a nice effect -at short range-
You can do the same with the xxxx_n.dds, which are the normale textures. At the cost of no more (fake) relief on the related textures.
--------------------------------------------
When compared to the original mod:
*I removed
-The Altars and the Soul Gems in the Study as they are not suited for O-MERP.
-Whatever happening in Tamriel.
-The spelltome giving access to the top of the Tower. It required 50 in some skill, again not suited for O-MERP. Access is given via a teleport pad in the Highest Chamber.
-A number of lights in the Throne level, as they killed the framerate.
*I changed
-The teleport pad between the 1st and 2nd level, replaced with a long staircase.
-The Spellmaking altar, moved in the Highest Chamber.
-All the textures, giving a look MUCH closer to the movie.
*I added
-The long staircase with the Admission Desk and the Elevator.
-Grima now sells (with a hefty commission) the passes to open the doors along the staircase, and use the elevator. Plus a Lifetime Membership which comes with a very useful White-Hand Shirt ;)
-The Library… more fun and troubles for me. Very scenic by night, and a place to advance one of the quests.
-One room with suspicious storage.
-The Highest Chamber, with the Spellmaking altar (and the related quest), plus access to the top of the Tower.
-The Uruk-Cave under Orthanc, directly inspired by the movie. You'll see Saruman patrolling there to overlook the Spawning Pits where more Uruks are raised, and also a good score of full-featured Uruks -who will eat you at any time (except when they sleep)… unless… up to you to find how ;)
6 slaves too, labouring the mud where the Uruks grow. If you are using some "Stark Reality" add-on, you'll have some sight as they are not fully dressed ;)
The 2nd quest is to access this cave.
-Dungeons, but nothing in there. Saruman had no time yet to populate them.
-A cave with more Uruks, heading outside.
ALL the NPCs in there have a specific schedule which can be viewed as a (poor) tentative as a motion picture ;)
So don't be happy with just a quick look! Go back at different times…
------0.35-2a------ Not much but hopefully nice additions :
-Built the High Pass end-to-end (there was nothing so far) along with a path to the Goblin Fort north of Rivendell. Added a huge boulder to fit The Carrock, Beorn in bear shape, and far.nif to The Carrock and Beorn's house, so… REGENERATE THE LODs!
-Of course, had to add Goblin-Town and the "Front Door" trapped cave :) I tried to make some movie-like action along the way.
It goes along with the previous addition, enlarging the "BurraHobbit" game line. I completed Trollshaw which was not finished, and tweaked a bit two merchants on the Last Bridge to accept the loot you'll find along Goblin-Town.
Not difficult… even a plain Level-1 Hobbit could make it -with some tricks from the player of course.
------0.35b------BUG FIX - BUG FIX - BUG FIX - BUG FIX - BUG FIX - Sorry… I inadvertently disconnected the teleport door between the 2nd and 3rd levels of tunnels under Bag-End.When activating the door at the end of the 2nd level, it opened to a … bag end tunnel, literally!No way to enter the 3rd level nor find the "treasure chest" containing the spare key to Bag-End :/
------0.35a------ LOTS of fixes over 0.34… though maybe it worked for you as nobody complained :/
I added lots of NIFs and Textures to build the interiors for the Green Dragon Inn and Bag-End, and wanted to be sure everything has been properly collected for the update, so I started from a fresh install of O-MERP and apple the successive updates to the NIFs and Textures.
Not too bad, just a handful I had missed in Bag-End. BUT…… nosing around I noticed a few textures missing. Exploring some more I found several NIFs missing… checking the Moria (especially the additions from 0.34) uncovered a BAD MESS with lots of NIFs missing or in an older version.
No idea if the update files were messed or if *I* messed the copy to the Data folder, but I HAD to check it all (well, all I had time to). The 0.35 NIFs and Textures update should fix all I found… PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, If you find a missing NIF (a white lozenge with a yellow question mark) or a missing texture (object in plain magenta), PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, get a screenshot and notify me!
------0.34b------Oops… Somehow I badly messed the dialogue with the NPCs. Of course impossible to notice during the 0.34a phase as there is about nobody to talk to in all the Moria!Well, I seem to have fixed it. If not, it will be clear during the current phase, which involves a dozen new NPCs.Sorry…
NO change to the NIFs and Textures fix. You just need the latest ESP, 0.34b.
Best :-)
------0.34a------Well guys, there you go with v0.34a :)
Sorry it needed "some" time, but I was carried away…
After adding the Mines of Moria, with a design remembering the movie, I could not help but adding NINE other cells going with the Mines ;)
All the data was available, and it would have been a shame not to add more inhabited parts of the Moria. By Goblins of course, and a few Cave Trolls of course.
LOOT down there too, so those additions should be welcome by those wanting some action… and reward. Not that there are much place to use the money… in the next steps I plan to add merchants, trainers and such, to help the leveling, buying spells, game gear, and spend the money.
V0.34a is a major addition to the Moria as it was initially available. It adds "Mines", the largest being a decent rendering of the movie, with the stairs, the chains, the buckets, the ladders… and the Mithril ore.
-I advise you'd start from a save out of Durin's Gate, to follow the path of the Fellowship (and sneak around… there were some changes).
Oh, and you'd better have a SOUND Sneak (50 is good) and potions to raise your Athletics and Acrobatics. Lots of gaps, holes and pits in the Moria, and I did not fix them all. And a Hobbit will be able to sneak in narrower places… However, a Hobbit can't swim, so get ready some water-walking help!
Here are the changes and additions (LOTS of spoilers):
1- A fully "decorated" West Entrance, with the long staircase mentioned by Tolkien, and barely shown in the movie (absent from the original design). This a fully new cell, so if you left something important inside Durin's Gate, get it bak before installing the v0.34!
2- Up the stairs, you are back to the Area2 mostly as it was before V0.34a. Going ahead will bring you back to where the West Entrance initially headed, and from there you can follow a logical path towards the Mines Of Moria: Area3, WayToMines, Bridges, RedHornMines2, RedHornMinesConnection, and eventually MinesOfMoria.
3- I cleared and fixed good the Area3 which was even buggier than I remembered, and prevented to reach the WayToMines. I had to make a few changes to the gates and paths, so better explore it again. Also I opened a handful of paths which were blocked and prevented access to MORE parts of Area3, so you had better explore it fully :) Nothing to loot in there, and no foe, but lots of nice places.
4- I fixed all the way from Area3 to the MinesOfMoria, as there also were blocking points, usually from messy collision boxes.
5- I fixed a bit Area4, Area5 and the Elevator, to help the way back from the MinesOfMoria.
6-The MinesOfMoria gives access to 8 new cells: MinesShaft2, RedHornMinesUpperDeeps, RedHornMinesLowerDeeps, CloudyheadMinesUpperDeeps, CloudyheadMinesLowerDeeps, SilvertineMinesUpperDeeps, SilvertineMinesLowerDeeps, and the Underdeeps, where a nice prize is waiting for you (along with lots of population…).
7-If you explore good the MinesOfMoria, you'll find yourself at a place with 3 gates opening to dark passages (pretty close to the movie setting), and one of the passages will head you to RedHornLodesLowerLevel, which is part of the initial MERP-Moria. From there, go to the Elevator, then Area5, Area4, Moria101, and the rest of the way out is unchanged until Dimrill Gate.
8-Alternatively, you can go left when up the stairs, and reach a "Fast Track" to the MinesOfMoria… but you'll miss most of the fun!
9-I added Durin's Tower in the grip of the Zirak-Zigil, connected to the Endless Stairs which I enhanced some. You'll now have 7 flights of stairs to run up from the Foundations of Stone. Still WAY to go for the "… many thousands of steps…" Tolkien mentioned ;) But I was not in the mood (nor time) to add the hundreds of flights necessary to reach this threshold!!!!!
10-Fixed and simplified lots of collision boxes which were messy and clogged good the framerate or blocked the path.
11-Made visible the waterfalls under Area3, which were not reachable so far anyway.
Credits for v0.34a:
A number of imports and adaptations from Morrowind and MorrowOblivion.
Lots of parts from the MERP Teams.
A few monsters from FLY_creatures_v32
******************************
V0.33a2 just out… sorry for the late tweaks!
1- added a normal-sized flight of stairs over the Balrog-sized steps down Area9, as a player with low Acrobatics could not go up.
2- the Balrog in Durin's Bridge zone is back to the previous behavior: waiting behind the fire-filled chasm. If you tease it enough, it will jump over the fire and run after you. You'd better be ready with Fortify Speed potions and such ;)
3- removed an extra script on the closed door to the Broken Stairs. I duplicated the "good" door, and forgot to remove the script. No big deal as the door could not be activated, but who knows…
******************************
V0.33a is a major revision of the path from Area9/Mazarbul to Durin's Bridge and towards the exit.
1- the Great Hall is back as it was initially, except I removed the Balrog.
2- the Eastern Rift Abyss and Durin's Bridge were cleared from the numerous duplicated tiles (which clogged the framerate), replaced with large walls (with a more realistic texture).
3- the Mazarbul was soundly cluttered, trying to follow the look of the movie.
4- a tunnel was opened in the wall to the right of the well, heading back to Area9 as in the movie
5- a new door was disposed in the wall ahead, to go out of Area9 while chased by the Balrog. It opens into the Broken Stairs zone.
6- Durin's Bridge was extensively revised to be closer to the movie, and to manage a path consistent with what happens in the movie.
7- Eastern Rift Abyss now opens to a lateral door, heading to a LARGE hall where the Balrog catches on the Fellowship, like in the movie.
8- A small Goblin restaurant was set in a corner of that hall with tall columns, just for the fun.
9- on the east side of the Bridge, two flights of steps now head (as in the movie) to a narrow tunnel, which bypasses several large stairs, halls and rooms, and opens into Moria Old2, close to the exit.
10- set some schedule, basically to avoid the Balrog would go through doors WAY too narrow! As such, the Balrog in Area9 won't appear until a specific action is taken into the Mazarbul. This will also trigger the attack of the pack of Goblins and the Cave Troll. Player is advised to escape via the tunnel into the wall ;)
11- following this schedule, when the player enters the door to the Broken Stairs, the Balrog will be waiting by the fire-filled chasm in the Durin's Bridge zone.
There are TWO ways to deal with the Balrog -but better not try to fight!
*****************************************
Again and again, hats down to the MERP Team, who achieved an INCREDIBLE amount of (well-planned) work!!!!
But nosing into the data showed how much more stuff was there, ready to use… I began messing with it, for my own enjoyment and to practice the CS (of which I just began to understand a few…).
Eventually the whole thing turned like it could be enjoyable for others, so there you have a first draft.
Basically there is NOTHING new -I am unable to build 3D models useable in MERP-, just adding some life, fixing a few bugs, and assembling stuff into the Data.
Here is the list of the Additions (though I may have forgotten some):
======================
- The Main Course is some sort of Dimrill Stairs. Nothing as elaborated as if the MERP Team would have done it, though. To begin with, they would have done it step by step instead of using pre-built flights of stairs as I did. BUT… I disposed 150-200 of these flights, and did not feel up to the task of laying thousands of steps :/
- Added some sort of Argonath… using Vanilla statues. I was unable to find good 3D models on the Web. If someone around have them, I'll be more than happy to integrate them!
- Used the Amon Hen models which were into the data, to build the place. However… no collision box so we can't walk up there. If someone can fit this or point me to a simple tutorial… great thanks again! The same goes for the ferry, which has no collision box.
- Added a number of Map Markers, mostly in the Shire but also at the places I tweaked.
- Added some farm-life around the Shire. For an unknown cause, this happens to spawn an Orc Adventurer… adds some more life.
- Added a few wild-life, mostly harmless, in the Shire, and out of the Dimrill Gate.
- Added one Black horse at Hobbiton and one White horse out of the Dimrill Gate. Handy to roam the places where roads should be but are missing. At any rate, you can ride the donkeys spawning as farm-life :)
- Added a few Fell Beasts, 1 or 2 (don't know where is gone the 2nd) in the Dead Marshes, 1 by Minas Morgul (gone to hell too…) and 1 by the Goblin Fort north of Rivendell in the Misty Mountains. They "fly" like the Imps in Vanilla: barely more than hovering a few feet over the ground, but they will attack you.
- Added 1 "friendly" Fell Beast in front of Bilbo's… trying to turn it into a riddable and flying mount ;) Be careful though, it seems to like horses and cattle -for breakfast-
- Added one outdoors merchant in Bree. It offers lore-specific items and also repair services.
- Tweaked good some of the other merchants at Bree, but there are problems I don't understand…
- Added one Big Spider in Shelob's Lair :) It needs work, though.
- Worked some on the Dead Marshes, with the Fell Beast but also Will-o-Wisps, ghostly mist and normal wild-life.
- Finished the road from the Shire to The Grey Havens, and assembled a few things there as a mock-up for the location.
- Added some sort of "Moria Watcher" close to Durin's Gate. LARGE and nasty, but slow.
And don't forget the MERP Goblin Cave Populated, which will be integrated into this add-on, some day.
Evolutions:
======================
Next, and still to practice the CS, I plan to populate the Moria. NOT to make another Goblin-hacking dungeon, but to make it funnier (and trickier) to explore :)
Requirements:
======================
Oblivion Version 1.2.0416 with Shivering Isles
MERP 0.265 and its own requirements
my own MERP NIF and Textures fix
Installation Instructions
======================
Unzip and drop into the Data Copy contents into your MERP data folder, set the loading order (last) and go.
Uninstallation Instructions
========================
Delete the esp.
Incompatibility
==============
It would conflict with any other add-on changing the same places or people…
Known Issues
============
Sometimes CTD when FIRST entering the cliff door. Restart, reload and wait some more before going in.
Troubleshooting
===============
In case you find a systematic bug, feel free to come to me with questions or issues and I will help as best as I can. That said, please bear in mind that I am a novice modder.
Credits and Thanks
=================
Thanks to:
Bethesda Softworks
The MERP Teams
TES Nexus
NIFSkope, TES4Editor, TES4Gecko, etc.
MERPPlus 3732
NEW
Now the Brandywine is "Brandy" ;) From out of lake Evendim until the middle of this mouth at the sea.
Just replace the Middleearth.esm (contains the brandy water declarations) and Tharbad.esp (contains the 700+ modified cells…)
PROBLEM is the game engine which had NOT planned such an use for the water definition. The water changes on ENTERING a cell, not on displaying it. So from a distance, NO change :( I had to widen the changing zone, so the Brandywine would appear "Brandy" when viewing it from the ground, and won't turn 'default' as soon as walking one step away from the bank.
Still two points were this will be visible, at lake Evendim and at the mouth. Water change is global, so all the sea will appear Brandy if you are sailing down the Brandywine, then suddenly all the water will turn Default when you'll leave the last Brandy cell :( I can't do anything to fix this. I'll try using a transparent coloured plane, but this is unlikely to work well.
--------------0.373----------------
MERPPlus 373
**********The Tharbad.esp loads right after MERPAdditions.esp*********
I had to keep them separated. No way to merge them properly :(
NEW
- Tharbad. Ruined. The bridge is still useable.
- One house still inhabited, sort of Inn. Some business between Bree and Isengard (pipe-weed…).
- A few underground parts for the forts, still accessible. Bandits in there… and some unfriendly fauna.
- Used a few more nasties from modders resources.
- Added a quest starting in Tharbad Inn. Managed to add dialogues! Not voiced yet, but now it should be possible… if finding a few voice actors.
- Finished the path from the Mitheithel (north of Swan Fleet) to the Moria. Initially it was done on a short distance down the Moria, but there was no way to go up there from Tharbad.
- Carved a path through the cliff on the right bank of the Isen, starting out of Isengard. It goes to Enedwaith, until the lower lands can be accessed easily. No road until Tharbad east.
- Fixed the pigs who won’t oink nor grunt. No sound effect assigned in the NIFs… Did the same for the donkeys :)
TUNING
- Worked some more on the Music Control Script. More Regions recognized. Also it no longer will remain stuck to a prefious region if not recognizing where you are. Soon it will default to Explore.
Also it will work if you added CraftyBits ESM, which previously would shift a number of Regions, making them unrecognizable.
- Generated silent voice files for the new dialogues. Hopefully all I’ll need to do will be to replace them with real voices.
- Had LOTS of trouble with scheduling Ted Ferny and his donkey… it needed a long time to tweak and test. Still problems as you can find Ted and the Donkey inside the Inn…
TWEAKING
-‘Optimized’ a number of NIFs for Minas Tirith and Pelargir, consolidating the textures and the meshes. Does not seem much effective, if any…
- Deleted the previous Erebor Front Gate and the changes to the land, and moved the Gate up to the point planned by the O-MERP Team. Nothing else… the place needs a sound reworking, and some Erebor inside!
FIXING
-Re-generated the land features for the Wold region. Forgot to set the lower limit of the Flora to the water level… Also reduced the probability of Flora and Wildlife, as there was WAY too much animals.
-Fixed (some more, hopefully fully now) the wooden scaffolding down Citirh Ungol Tower. EACH log was a separate mesh, which should kill the framerate. Also they had no collision, and the whole structure was 2 feet above the ground.
-Re-generated the whole LODs for MiddleEarth, with the newer TES4Edit. The older TES4LodGen would no longer work. Still a few things missing… also the LODs for Barad-Dur (in its separate world) are gone (hopefully I’ll get them back from an earlier version - Done, found how to generate them along with the rest).
-Deleted AGAIN that boulder floating over the Isen…
-More bug-hunting, trying to kill some more CTDs. Not much successful.
-Updated a few of the base ESPs (mostly for exterior land features) and also the main ESM (mostly to update creatures).
BUGS & PROBLEMS
- If you encounter systematic CTDs when fast-traveling, consider restarting from an older save :/ CraftyBits isn’t fully debugged, and this does not help. ALSO step down the graphics settings, notably the LOD distance, grass distance and thickness. The graphic settings are a systematic cause of CTDs in my case.
- Loading a cell with LOTS of wildlife can need a few seconds… I am considering another way to handle this, but no idea if it will be faster.
- Sometimes the game engine begins misbehaving with the scripts running in large numbers or frequently, such as the Music Control Script or the wildlife generation. In these cases, the MessageLog (if you installed the OBSE Extension) mentions failed attempts to set variable xx (non-existent because out of defined variables) in some script. No obvious consequences in game, except when the music won’t change when you enter an inn or a house. No idea of the cause, of course. SEEMS FIXED BY STARTING A NEW GAME
- The numerous hostile wildlife won’t attack you immediately… but if you dangle around, they’ll eventually notice you.
---------------0.372c-------------
2021/09/08 7:03 GMT
EVENTUALLY WORKING. TWO PROBLEMS: the upload which was flaky, and the compression used (Win8.1).
MERPPlus 372c
Tuning, tweaking, fixing… Sorry for the size of the update, but just changing ONE digit in one ESP requires to reload it fully :/
-The soundtrack may seem ‘stuck’ if the script won’t recognize the place you are. It will change as soon as you enter a place it does.
-The CS keeps badly messing the MERPCats&Rats.esp :( I had to rebuild it from older parts, and regenerate the IDs. As a consequence, ANYTHING the ESP created (mostly wildlife) and was recorded in your saved game(s) will NOT be displayed. IT IS ADVISED YOU’D ENTER ANY HOUSE AND WAIT 4 DAYS to allow the cells to respawn…
TUNING
-Halved the probability of mudcrabs on the bank of the Pelennor. There was way too much popping around, killing the frame rate. And the game engine ‘ghosted’ those over the MaxFoes threshold so they were not killable. No good when their purpose was to be sparring partners! It is advised to begin at the north end of the right Anduin bank, where the forest ends, and proceed south by handfuls of crabs :)
-Tuned some more the wildlife across the Miniriath and other regions. Halved the probability of Bears, and tuned the Factions so the Boars won’t attack non-dangerous animals. Wolves and Bears still go for the Sheeps :/ The population is now much more realistic (no longer stepping on rabbits all the way) and the frame rate remains fair.
-Fixed and tuned the Factions for the wildlife. A number of them were still using the Vanilla Factions, as a result the Boars would attack the Sheeps, etc.
-Toned down the rabbit/sheep/fox/boar/sheep/wolf/bear probability. It was really overcrowded, by places.
TWEAKING
-Saruman sells Detect Life and Night-Eye spells. Very useful if you found the few filled soul gems and can access the one Enchanting Altar :)
-Added a Merchant Chest to Snorri of the Last Bridge market… I forgot to add it or it was deleted at some point. So he would keep everything you’d sell him, which could head to troubles with the saved games. The Merchant chest respawns -of course- removing anything you sold him. It now offers a good assortment of weapons, armor parts and ammunitions. Also Snorri now trains Armorer up to Master level.
-The smith at Hobbiton will now buy weapons. There are a few to be found in the tunnels under Bag-End, and nobody would accept them in Hobbiton. At least the smith should, if only to turn them into rakes and hoes :) He also sells one bow and some arrows, and more Repair Hammers. Useful if you start a new game at Hobbiton :)
FIXING
-Fixed the Mirkwood Spiders which had lost their leveled list at some point and would not longer be generated. Also added some useful loot in their corpse, a poison.
-Re-enabled Clay Deposits and Mudcrabs (with a lower rate) downstream the Mitheithel. At some point I had disabled the Mudcrabs.
-One kind of error messages disappeared since the last fixes… if starting a new game! Likely something which was in the saved game and I deleted from the data.
BUGS
-Still having a few random CTDs. The wildlife will bloat your saved games… It is very nice to have wildlife instead of empty lands, but it comes with a cost. You can still remove MERPCats&Rats from the loaded data…
-----------0.372---------------
CRITICAL: You MUST update to ‘Enhanced Music and Control 2’ AND delete the previous :
• EMC – Enhanced Music and Control - by HawkleyFox (EMC2 is the new era).
• SoundCommands – by Scanti (integrated in EMC2).
delete their dll from “Data/OBSE/Plugins”
If using CraftyBits, DO NOT craft the boat: it may interfere badly with the sailboats integrated in MERPPlus!
What’s new in this release?
1 The Hall of Kings at Minas Tirith, which I built as close as possible from the movie -within the limitations of time and game engine.
2 A quest starting in the Hall of Kings, to find the Palantir of Annuminas… and have you visiting the Harondor Desert and its flora and fauna ;)
3 The final stage of the quest is inside Annuminas, a good reason to visit it (again if you were there yet) as I fixed it some more and added some life. And lights, and fountains.
4 A private house at a scenic location on the Anfalas (comes as a reward for the quest).
5 More life in the Wild, notably the Gap of Rohan, the Fold (East and West), south of the Shire until the sea, and who knows elsewhere!
6 Full integration with CraftyBits, now allowing LOTS of pleasant activities (other than hacking foes…), adding some ingredients and LOTS of new foods. Several forges were enabled for CraftyBits (when possible). Of course you WILL need CraftyBits for this integration to work. HOWEVER… CraftyBits is beginning to experiment the same troubles I had with TES4File, which randomly misses NIFs and textures :( I notified the guy in charge and we’ll be working at it.
7 Added the Fellowship Cloaks. The model was there, and partly declared in the CS, but unfinished and not used. Galadriel sells them -for a hefty charge- at the Farewell to Lorien dock. I should make some quest to have them for free, but this is not easy as I don’t master the dialogues. At all…
8 Added a number of Cave Trolls in… the Moria Trollcaves :) They were about empty :/ Also added loot in the large chests.
What changes?
1 Lots of bug hunting and some fixing, seemingly heading to a notably stabler gaming experience (way less CTDs). I played the Hobbit from Hobbiton through Bree, the Last Bridge, Trollshaw, the Goblin Fort and GoblinTown stacking the loot right on the Last Bridge then selling it all, without a single CTD! And going on through the Moria.
2 Worked on the soundtrack-controlling script, which was NOT final from the initial release. You will notice much more changes in the background music, and more consistency (now all the inns will play the merry tunes). Still not final, but much better. You can even customize the soundtrack: SEE HERE
3 Halved the number of foes in the 3rd level of the Tunnels under Bag-End… They had a tendency to gang on the player, which could head to CTD…
4 Tuned the density of wildlife to avoid killing the framerate…
5 Capped the Goblins leveling… as player leveling isn’t optimal in O-MERP, they were too tough too fast. Now capped to lvl 6-10.
6 Tweaked again the Factions for the Black Riders, so they won’t attack on sight any recently added wildlife…
In-game bug fixing:
1 Deleted a huge boulder floating high over the Isen. It came from the Argonath!
2 Deleted an Helm’s Deep landscape poking out of a hill between Edoras and the Deep…
3 Fixed the pathgrid NE from Edoras. It was way OVER the landscape (likely generated before the landscape was carved) and the wildlife generated there tended to pop high up, fall and be killed…
4 Deleted a ceiling (which seems to have reappeared at some point…) in Trollshaw ruins, which prevented to access the Goblin camp I set down there. This may be related with the bug affecting the Moria and described in point 6.
5 As TES4Files proved unable to handle the add-on, I had to check it ALL manually!! I hoped the 0.371 ‘full’ was good, but no. For those who followed MERPPlus since the beginning, it may have been ok, but alone it was missing lots. So I checked manually ALL the Creatures, Apparatuses, Armor, Books, Clothing, Ingredients, Keys, Misc Items, Potions, Sounds, Activators, Containers, Doors, Flora, Furniture, Lights, and most Statics (some were checked cell by cell in the CS, when possible).
6 Deleted a wall in the Moria (Area 2) which blocked the way. Looks like any number of things I deleted could be back! I’ll have to check ALL the Moria!!!
6b Ok… I checked… HUGE problem! A deep mess at some point. Most of my additions are there (could not check them all) but most (if not all) my deletions have been negated! So again the path though Area 3 is blocked, etc. :( All seems good in V0.35b and hopefully more recent but I did not check. Anyway I managed to replace the ‘reverted’ Moria cells by those in V0.35. I connected a handful more doors, added a handful of Cave Trolls in the Moria Trollcaves (they were rather uneventful), fixed the door from Area5 to the Way To The Mines as it would not work in the way back… I checked good Area 3 which was the most critical in terms of bugs. Seems good now.
7 The Balrog at Durin’s Bridge was not always waiting for you after visiting the Mazarbul. Hopefully fixed. You may need to tease him a bit so he would follow you to Durin’s Bridge.
Also played the game from the start at Hobbiton until looting Goblin Town, hauling all the loot to the Last Bridge, and sell it. Going on with visiting parts of the Moria…
Bugs remaining?
0 After finding the Palantir, the quest pointer points to… Dimrill Gate!!! It worked at first, then stuck there, until you fast-travel somewhere north to it, then it points to Annuminas. Don't bother with Dimrill Gate, just fast-travel to Hobbiton :)
1 DO NOT push the graphics settings too high. O-MERP allows to go much farther than Vanilla, until the game crashes. If you experiment sudden CTD in the wild, when loading a cell, your settings are likely too high. A definite symptom is the land suddenly not supporting you or others: you keep ‘jumping’ until being out of the zone. This can EVEN happen if you go back to Tamriel (with the console).
2 The initial sailboat add-on was NOT designed to support more than one ship… I tweaked it (and fixed it some) to allow two, but when switching between them, things will soon turn random. Either one disappears or is replaced by the other :/ Some day I’ll have a closer look at the script. The best is to begin with the swan boat, which will allow you to sail the Anduin from its spring to the Rauros, then use (only) the fisherman boat at Pelargir, which will be able to go down the sea an up ALL the rivers mouthing there, such as the Brandywine and the Mitheithel.
3 I experimented one CTD while waiting at the Last Bridge. Don’t know why… No CTD this time, there were several fixings in between.
4 Still HUGE problems with the voices. I can’t manage to get what I want. Currently, the male Hobbits use a Vanilla Orc voice, the females are ok. Several NPCs may display the ‘I have no greeting’. The cause is they are Imperials or some other Vanilla-specific species… won’t talk to O-MERP specific species. They need to be changed to Gondorian or Man Eriador. No big deal… they have nothing specific to say. This happened only in Bree, for I had not checked all the NPCs there. The houses I did check and fix. The whole Bree would need to be finished, though…
LOAD ORDER
Same as for 0.371. The LandVegLife04.esp goes -of course- after LandVegLife03.esp. It adds a very scenic vegetation to the Northern Ithilien… at the cost of the framerate :/ You can remove it at will.
Oblivion.esm
Middleearth.esm
Eriador.esp
Rohan.esp
Rhovanion.esp
Gondor.esp
Fellowship.esp
DLCShiveringIsles.esp
LandVegLife01.esp (includes Lothlorien, which you can trash now)
LandVegLife02.esp
LandVegLife03.esp
LandVegLife04.esp
GoblinCave.esp
MERPAdditions.esp
Middle Earth Grasses.esp
MERPCats&Rats.esp
The LOAD ORDER with all the extra stuff is HERE.
------0.371------->>> CHECK THE REQUIREMENTS: I added a list of all the tweaks seemingly useful.
I hunted bugs and problems as much as possible. While collaborating with the CraftyBits Team, we found two logging utilities which proved
invaluable for the hunting.
Not always actionable, though, for example when the game engine complains I am trying to add four objects to a non-existent cell, without more details…
Anyway it found a number of problems I could fix, such as one audio file the wrong format, a number of voice files not found, incorrect forms, etc..
STILL PROBLEMS with the voices… I can't understand how the thing works :(
Lots added… mainly world-related:
-Grew ALL Mirkwood forest as it was intended by the O-MERP Team. It covers over 5500 cells, which is likely MORE than the number of cells accessible in Tamriel!
-Regrew Fangorn in order to add wildlife later.
-Added LOTS of wildlife, such as mudcrabs on the lower part of the Mitheithel (also added clay which will be useful with CraftyBits); added rabbits,
foxes, deers, boars and such east from Fangorn until the Anduin; also mudcrabs along the right bank of the Anduin by the Pelennor Fields;
wildlife west of Long Lake, until Mirkwood to the south and the Anduin to the west; wildlife between Weathertop and the Last Bridge (and likely
elsewhere); small packs of deers anywhere there are forests with summer boletes; 6 varieties of Spiders across Mirkwood and the immediate
surroundings; rats which seem to like yellow faxes; cats around the Hobbit holes in Longbottom (and more if time allows to add them); and
more. The additions cover 85092 spawn points (no typo) for the decorative life (rabbits, foxes, sheeps… wolf & bear), 10744 spawn points for the deers, and 5154 spawn points for unfriendly rodents. Plus a few hundred spawnpoints for mudcrabs. I'll go on adding more varieties of wildlife, grew more regions, etc.
-Built the South Road between Minas Tirith and Pelargir, added the South Road Inn with some population… and the same SPA as the Tiber Septim Hotel, and grew some vegetation+forest between Pelargir and the inn. Added the bridge at the Crossings Of Erui.
-Worked on most of the buildings in Pelargir, with some framerate improvement. Never under 9fps now… still way to go :/ Same improvements fir Minas Tirith.
-Added a comfy house by the edge of Mirkwood, on the west bank of the Celduin, south of Long Lake. Some company in there, a shield outside to keep the
Goblins at bay, and useful things around such as milk, eggs and ingredients (to cook tasty stuff with CraftyBits - WIP). If you clear the Goblins, the shield will disappear…
-Fixed when possible the base ESM and ESPs from O-MERP. You MUST download O-MERP Base Files - Fixes and install it separately!!!
Still problems by places in the landscape which I have no idea how to fix. Not impacting the game, but crashing the CS (for example between Troll Glade and the Ford of Bruinen).
-HAD to split the additions in several files. Saving was taking minutes… Here is the load order (set it from MERP Launcher):
Oblivion.esm
Middleearth.esm
Eriador.esp
Rohan.esp
Rhovanion.esp
Gondor.esp
Fellowship.esp
DLCShiveringIsles.esp
LandVegLife01.esp (includes Lothlorien, so remove it from the list)
LandVegLife02.esp
LandVegLife03.esp
GoblinCave.esp
MERPAdditions.esp
Middle Earth Grasses.esp
MERPCats&Rats.esp
I had to MANUALLY build the update file, as TES4Files seems unable to cope with the current size of the data. It is possible I missed some files… PLEASE notify me if you find missing NIFs or textures. The FULL pack of data should have it all.
------0.364c-------CHECK THE REQUIREMENTS: I added a list of all the tweaks seemingly useful.
More fixing… This time I reviewed ALL the scripts, and -as expected- found a score or so which were no longer working properly :( They were using deleted or renamed references, and as such could do whatever in-game. So I fixed them ALL, and also deleted most of the unused scripts.
The 'dead' scripts mainly involved the Last Bridge market.
------0.364b------- TES4Files SCREWED it all for an unknown reason. LOTS of files missing. Here is a pack which *should* contain most files.
IF YOU FIND anything missing, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE notify me! A screenshot would be enough.
GREAT thanks to TheOhioGrassman for the testing and reporting!!!!!!
------0.364------ A lot of experiments, mostly failed due to being too ambitious for my skills or the game engine…
1- Some sort of Caras Galadhon and Farewell to Lorien. The Mallorns are HUGE and kill the framerate :( I had to buy a good video card (Radeon RX580 XFX) and the matching computer, as the CS was at a stall with the usual setting (Radeon HD 5570). Still working in game, down to 15fps. Not much there, except the trees and some sort of Galadriel…
2- The sailboats :) Funny, pretty realistic, and fast. However, the game engine does not like them much… The original script looks fine, but the boats kept disappearing under my very feet. I fixed it somewhat… still problems, but less often. Better NOT saving onboard: park the boat somewhere, disembark, then save. Adapted from CLS Sailboats OBSE by CLShade, with lots of tweaks.
3- A decent (hopefully) Hornburg and Helm's Deep, with underground stables and some sort of Aglarond Caves :) More training for your here, as parts of the caves have not been "cleared" since long and got not-so-friendly inhabitants!
GREAT THANKS to The Last Days for the Deeping Wal, the Hornburg (front part), the rocky cliffs, Theoden's Boots and a handful of clothing for the Rohirrims.
The realistic parts of the Aglarond Caves come from two commercial models, though I had to import them to Oblivion and mess good to simplify them.
4- A totally new set of statues at the Gates of Gondor (in the straight of Argonath), scanned from the model sold with a deluxe edition of the trilogy DVDs.
PROBLEMS - Same as below for the in-game crashes, as MERP Launcher allows for settings the game engine WON'T handle! If you experience such crashes, lower the settings are detailed in https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/images/174536
Also the erratic behavior of the game engine with the sailboats, though it has been improved notably.
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------0.362------ Advancing on the "Three Towers"! Done with Minas Morgul ;)
Based on Minas Morgul https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/29331 by Youpime, with his leave to "use the mods as you wish for your version of MERP."
I mixed his outside with the original setting in O-MERP, but eventually had to put it into a separate Interior cell as the framerate was dropping too much with all the world around.
I kept all his interior cells, but modified them, usually replacing interior teleport doors by normal doors or open passages. I added some rooms, most notably for the Houses of Lamentation, the surface of which increased by 35%.
I populated ALL the interior cells and the outside, which were empty except from the Lich Factory. Now Minas Morgul has guard patrolling the walls and the rooms, Nazguls lurking around, the Witch King inside his lair, Guests and Entertainers for the Houses of Lamentation, etc. ;)
Some loot too, which CANNOT be found anywhere else in O-MERP.
Orthanc offered access to a Spellmaking Altar… in Minas Morgul you'll find an Enchanting Altar! Not much of use in O-MERP, but fun :)
You can reach the "new" Minas Morgul in the same way as the initial one: walking on the bridge. There is a teleport door which will bring you there (and back again).
You ALSO have Barad-Dur from the same Youpime, though I did not finish it yet. It is enriched from the original mod, which had yet a decent population :) You can access it either by walking all the way through Mordor, or from a 'secret' door in Minas Morgul.
The outside is very nice and different from the O-MERP version, and installed into its own separate world. I enriched the "Eye" up there, but you'll need to push the LOD distance to see it from the bridge down there.
Eventually I added 4 Nazguls on horse patrolling the roads between Bree (west), Weathetop and the Last Bridge.
BUG FIX - at some point the Hole for the Harfoot Sisters was deleted… Don't ask how. It is reached through the Blue Round door by the fields at Hobbiton. Also for the 3rd time (at least) the 2nd bench in Bilbo's kitchen had lost its NIF…
PROBLEMS - seemingly solved. I had SEVERE crashes from the CS when trying to make the road from Bree to Weathertop and the Last Bridge. About impossible… the CS crashed as soon as I clicked anywhere in the render window. Eventually I reduced the graphics parameters of the CS (LOD and so on), and it stopped crashing! At least no more than usual.
Also had SEVERE in-game crashes, to the point it was about impossible to use :(( It happened when strolling outside, most notably between Bree and the Last Bridge. Also odd behaviors, such as the land which seemed not to bear the weight of the player, by places.
Eventually I reduced the graphics parameters from MERP Launcher… and it worked!!!!
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------0.361------ Advancing on the "Three Towers"! Done with Orthanc ;)
Based on Saruman's Tower https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/45622 by VincentPacceus.
First I redone the textures to make the look closer to the movie, then I added the Staircase, the Library… and the Uruk-cave ;)
Also added two quests.Now that the whole thing is about as I had intended it, I'll work for it in O-MERP.
Of course I asked him permission to modify his WONDERFUL work, but had no reply. The last time he replied to anything was in mid-2015 :/
The add-on is heavy… I was "a bit" carried away with the Library, heading to 300MB of textures!
--------- WARNING WARNING WARNING ----------
The Library needs several minutes to load… If you get bored, you can go into the folder
textures/update08/orthanc/200317/
create a subfolder and dump there all the xxxx_s.dds textures. These specular textures add a nice effect -at short range-
You can do the same with the xxxx_n.dds, which are the normale textures. At the cost of no more (fake) relief on the related textures.
--------------------------------------------
When compared to the original mod:
*I removed
-The Altars and the Soul Gems in the Study as they are not suited for O-MERP.
-Whatever happening in Tamriel.
-The spelltome giving access to the top of the Tower. It required 50 in some skill, again not suited for O-MERP. Access is given via a teleport pad in the Highest Chamber.
-A number of lights in the Throne level, as they killed the framerate.
*I changed
-The teleport pad between the 1st and 2nd level, replaced with a long staircase.
-The Spellmaking altar, moved in the Highest Chamber.
-All the textures, giving a look MUCH closer to the movie.
*I added
-The long staircase with the Admission Desk and the Elevator.
-Grima now sells (with a hefty commission) the passes to open the doors along the staircase, and use the elevator. Plus a Lifetime Membership which comes with a very useful White-Hand Shirt ;)
-The Library… more fun and troubles for me. Very scenic by night, and a place to advance one of the quests.
-One room with suspicious storage.
-The Highest Chamber, with the Spellmaking altar (and the related quest), plus access to the top of the Tower.
-The Uruk-Cave under Orthanc, directly inspired by the movie. You'll see Saruman patrolling there to overlook the Spawning Pits where more Uruks are raised, and also a good score of full-featured Uruks -who will eat you at any time (except when they sleep)… unless… up to you to find how ;)
6 slaves too, labouring the mud where the Uruks grow. If you are using some "Stark Reality" add-on, you'll have some sight as they are not fully dressed ;)
The 2nd quest is to access this cave.
-Dungeons, but nothing in there. Saruman had no time yet to populate them.
-A cave with more Uruks, heading outside.
ALL the NPCs in there have a specific schedule which can be viewed as a (poor) tentative as a motion picture ;)
So don't be happy with just a quick look! Go back at different times…
------0.35-2a------ Not much but hopefully nice additions :
-Built the High Pass end-to-end (there was nothing so far) along with a path to the Goblin Fort north of Rivendell. Added a huge boulder to fit The Carrock, Beorn in bear shape, and far.nif to The Carrock and Beorn's house, so… REGENERATE THE LODs!
-Of course, had to add Goblin-Town and the "Front Door" trapped cave :) I tried to make some movie-like action along the way.
It goes along with the previous addition, enlarging the "BurraHobbit" game line. I completed Trollshaw which was not finished, and tweaked a bit two merchants on the Last Bridge to accept the loot you'll find along Goblin-Town.
Not difficult… even a plain Level-1 Hobbit could make it -with some tricks from the player of course.
------0.35b------BUG FIX - BUG FIX - BUG FIX - BUG FIX - BUG FIX - Sorry… I inadvertently disconnected the teleport door between the 2nd and 3rd levels of tunnels under Bag-End.When activating the door at the end of the 2nd level, it opened to a … bag end tunnel, literally!No way to enter the 3rd level nor find the "treasure chest" containing the spare key to Bag-End :/
------0.35a------ LOTS of fixes over 0.34… though maybe it worked for you as nobody complained :/
I added lots of NIFs and Textures to build the interiors for the Green Dragon Inn and Bag-End, and wanted to be sure everything has been properly collected for the update, so I started from a fresh install of O-MERP and apple the successive updates to the NIFs and Textures.
Not too bad, just a handful I had missed in Bag-End. BUT…… nosing around I noticed a few textures missing. Exploring some more I found several NIFs missing… checking the Moria (especially the additions from 0.34) uncovered a BAD MESS with lots of NIFs missing or in an older version.
No idea if the update files were messed or if *I* messed the copy to the Data folder, but I HAD to check it all (well, all I had time to). The 0.35 NIFs and Textures update should fix all I found… PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, If you find a missing NIF (a white lozenge with a yellow question mark) or a missing texture (object in plain magenta), PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, get a screenshot and notify me!
------0.34b------Oops… Somehow I badly messed the dialogue with the NPCs. Of course impossible to notice during the 0.34a phase as there is about nobody to talk to in all the Moria!Well, I seem to have fixed it. If not, it will be clear during the current phase, which involves a dozen new NPCs.Sorry…
NO change to the NIFs and Textures fix. You just need the latest ESP, 0.34b.
Best :-)
------0.34a------Well guys, there you go with v0.34a :)
Sorry it needed "some" time, but I was carried away…
After adding the Mines of Moria, with a design remembering the movie, I could not help but adding NINE other cells going with the Mines ;)
All the data was available, and it would have been a shame not to add more inhabited parts of the Moria. By Goblins of course, and a few Cave Trolls of course.
LOOT down there too, so those additions should be welcome by those wanting some action… and reward. Not that there are much place to use the money… in the next steps I plan to add merchants, trainers and such, to help the leveling, buying spells, game gear, and spend the money.
V0.34a is a major addition to the Moria as it was initially available. It adds "Mines", the largest being a decent rendering of the movie, with the stairs, the chains, the buckets, the ladders… and the Mithril ore.
-I advise you'd start from a save out of Durin's Gate, to follow the path of the Fellowship (and sneak around… there were some changes).
Oh, and you'd better have a SOUND Sneak (50 is good) and potions to raise your Athletics and Acrobatics. Lots of gaps, holes and pits in the Moria, and I did not fix them all. And a Hobbit will be able to sneak in narrower places… However, a Hobbit can't swim, so get ready some water-walking help!
Here are the changes and additions (LOTS of spoilers):
1- A fully "decorated" West Entrance, with the long staircase mentioned by Tolkien, and barely shown in the movie (absent from the original design). This a fully new cell, so if you left something important inside Durin's Gate, get it bak before installing the v0.34!
2- Up the stairs, you are back to the Area2 mostly as it was before V0.34a. Going ahead will bring you back to where the West Entrance initially headed, and from there you can follow a logical path towards the Mines Of Moria: Area3, WayToMines, Bridges, RedHornMines2, RedHornMinesConnection, and eventually MinesOfMoria.
3- I cleared and fixed good the Area3 which was even buggier than I remembered, and prevented to reach the WayToMines. I had to make a few changes to the gates and paths, so better explore it again. Also I opened a handful of paths which were blocked and prevented access to MORE parts of Area3, so you had better explore it fully :) Nothing to loot in there, and no foe, but lots of nice places.
4- I fixed all the way from Area3 to the MinesOfMoria, as there also were blocking points, usually from messy collision boxes.
5- I fixed a bit Area4, Area5 and the Elevator, to help the way back from the MinesOfMoria.
6-The MinesOfMoria gives access to 8 new cells: MinesShaft2, RedHornMinesUpperDeeps, RedHornMinesLowerDeeps, CloudyheadMinesUpperDeeps, CloudyheadMinesLowerDeeps, SilvertineMinesUpperDeeps, SilvertineMinesLowerDeeps, and the Underdeeps, where a nice prize is waiting for you (along with lots of population…).
7-If you explore good the MinesOfMoria, you'll find yourself at a place with 3 gates opening to dark passages (pretty close to the movie setting), and one of the passages will head you to RedHornLodesLowerLevel, which is part of the initial MERP-Moria. From there, go to the Elevator, then Area5, Area4, Moria101, and the rest of the way out is unchanged until Dimrill Gate.
8-Alternatively, you can go left when up the stairs, and reach a "Fast Track" to the MinesOfMoria… but you'll miss most of the fun!
9-I added Durin's Tower in the grip of the Zirak-Zigil, connected to the Endless Stairs which I enhanced some. You'll now have 7 flights of stairs to run up from the Foundations of Stone. Still WAY to go for the "… many thousands of steps…" Tolkien mentioned ;) But I was not in the mood (nor time) to add the hundreds of flights necessary to reach this threshold!!!!!
10-Fixed and simplified lots of collision boxes which were messy and clogged good the framerate or blocked the path.
11-Made visible the waterfalls under Area3, which were not reachable so far anyway.
Credits for v0.34a:
A number of imports and adaptations from Morrowind and MorrowOblivion.
Lots of parts from the MERP Teams.
A few monsters from FLY_creatures_v32
******************************
V0.33a2 just out… sorry for the late tweaks!
1- added a normal-sized flight of stairs over the Balrog-sized steps down Area9, as a player with low Acrobatics could not go up.
2- the Balrog in Durin's Bridge zone is back to the previous behavior: waiting behind the fire-filled chasm. If you tease it enough, it will jump over the fire and run after you. You'd better be ready with Fortify Speed potions and such ;)
3- removed an extra script on the closed door to the Broken Stairs. I duplicated the "good" door, and forgot to remove the script. No big deal as the door could not be activated, but who knows…
******************************
V0.33a is a major revision of the path from Area9/Mazarbul to Durin's Bridge and towards the exit.
1- the Great Hall is back as it was initially, except I removed the Balrog.
2- the Eastern Rift Abyss and Durin's Bridge were cleared from the numerous duplicated tiles (which clogged the framerate), replaced with large walls (with a more realistic texture).
3- the Mazarbul was soundly cluttered, trying to follow the look of the movie.
4- a tunnel was opened in the wall to the right of the well, heading back to Area9 as in the movie
5- a new door was disposed in the wall ahead, to go out of Area9 while chased by the Balrog. It opens into the Broken Stairs zone.
6- Durin's Bridge was extensively revised to be closer to the movie, and to manage a path consistent with what happens in the movie.
7- Eastern Rift Abyss now opens to a lateral door, heading to a LARGE hall where the Balrog catches on the Fellowship, like in the movie.
8- A small Goblin restaurant was set in a corner of that hall with tall columns, just for the fun.
9- on the east side of the Bridge, two flights of steps now head (as in the movie) to a narrow tunnel, which bypasses several large stairs, halls and rooms, and opens into Moria Old2, close to the exit.
10- set some schedule, basically to avoid the Balrog would go through doors WAY too narrow! As such, the Balrog in Area9 won't appear until a specific action is taken into the Mazarbul. This will also trigger the attack of the pack of Goblins and the Cave Troll. Player is advised to escape via the tunnel into the wall ;)
11- following this schedule, when the player enters the door to the Broken Stairs, the Balrog will be waiting by the fire-filled chasm in the Durin's Bridge zone.
There are TWO ways to deal with the Balrog -but better not try to fight!
*****************************************
Again and again, hats down to the MERP Team, who achieved an INCREDIBLE amount of (well-planned) work!!!!
But nosing into the data showed how much more stuff was there, ready to use… I began messing with it, for my own enjoyment and to practice the CS (of which I just began to understand a few…).
Eventually the whole thing turned like it could be enjoyable for others, so there you have a first draft.
Basically there is NOTHING new -I am unable to build 3D models useable in MERP-, just adding some life, fixing a few bugs, and assembling stuff into the Data.
Here is the list of the Additions (though I may have forgotten some):
======================
- The Main Course is some sort of Dimrill Stairs. Nothing as elaborated as if the MERP Team would have done it, though. To begin with, they would have done it step by step instead of using pre-built flights of stairs as I did. BUT… I disposed 150-200 of these flights, and did not feel up to the task of laying thousands of steps :/
- Added some sort of Argonath… using Vanilla statues. I was unable to find good 3D models on the Web. If someone around have them, I'll be more than happy to integrate them!
- Used the Amon Hen models which were into the data, to build the place. However… no collision box so we can't walk up there. If someone can fit this or point me to a simple tutorial… great thanks again! The same goes for the ferry, which has no collision box.
- Added a number of Map Markers, mostly in the Shire but also at the places I tweaked.
- Added some farm-life around the Shire. For an unknown cause, this happens to spawn an Orc Adventurer… adds some more life.
- Added a few wild-life, mostly harmless, in the Shire, and out of the Dimrill Gate.
- Added one Black horse at Hobbiton and one White horse out of the Dimrill Gate. Handy to roam the places where roads should be but are missing. At any rate, you can ride the donkeys spawning as farm-life :)
- Added a few Fell Beasts, 1 or 2 (don't know where is gone the 2nd) in the Dead Marshes, 1 by Minas Morgul (gone to hell too…) and 1 by the Goblin Fort north of Rivendell in the Misty Mountains. They "fly" like the Imps in Vanilla: barely more than hovering a few feet over the ground, but they will attack you.
- Added 1 "friendly" Fell Beast in front of Bilbo's… trying to turn it into a riddable and flying mount ;) Be careful though, it seems to like horses and cattle -for breakfast-
- Added one outdoors merchant in Bree. It offers lore-specific items and also repair services.
- Tweaked good some of the other merchants at Bree, but there are problems I don't understand…
- Added one Big Spider in Shelob's Lair :) It needs work, though.
- Worked some on the Dead Marshes, with the Fell Beast but also Will-o-Wisps, ghostly mist and normal wild-life.
- Finished the road from the Shire to The Grey Havens, and assembled a few things there as a mock-up for the location.
- Added some sort of "Moria Watcher" close to Durin's Gate. LARGE and nasty, but slow.
And don't forget the MERP Goblin Cave Populated, which will be integrated into this add-on, some day.
Evolutions:
======================
Next, and still to practice the CS, I plan to populate the Moria. NOT to make another Goblin-hacking dungeon, but to make it funnier (and trickier) to explore :)
Requirements:
======================
Oblivion Version 1.2.0416 with Shivering Isles
MERP 0.265 and its own requirements
my own MERP NIF and Textures fix
Installation Instructions
======================
Unzip and drop into the Data Copy contents into your MERP data folder, set the loading order (last) and go.
Uninstallation Instructions
========================
Delete the esp.
Incompatibility
==============
It would conflict with any other add-on changing the same places or people…
Known Issues
============
Sometimes CTD when FIRST entering the cliff door. Restart, reload and wait some more before going in.
Troubleshooting
===============
In case you find a systematic bug, feel free to come to me with questions or issues and I will help as best as I can. That said, please bear in mind that I am a novice modder.
Credits and Thanks
=================
Thanks to:
Bethesda Softworks
The MERP Teams
TES Nexus
NIFSkope, TES4Editor, TES4Gecko, etc.