Project Tamriel & Tamriel Rebuilt - Morrowind modders keep chugging along

[thesecret1]

It's worth noting that some of it HAS been remade (Embers of the Empire)

Eh, kinda. The towns got remade and some quests added, but the landscape is still using vanilla assets; it wasn't a "full" redo, like what Sundered Scar is getting, for example. The entire region is scheduled to be remade at some point in the future, along with the redo of Telvanni lands.

The exteriors, both urban and environmental, of the Redoran-controlled territories in northwestern Morrowind were already completed when I tested out Tamriel Rebuilt in 2015, but it seems little has been implemented since then.

Redoran lands will get made after Hlaalu is done.

 

[Funposter]

the time has come and so have i

 

[Nikanuur]

I want this to come out just a few days before Elder Scrolls VI comes out.

 

[None]

Tamriel Rebuilt - 23.10 Release​

Submitted by Sultan of Rum on Tue, 2023-10-31 11:13


Dive into Andaram, the 7th expansion from The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind modding project Tamriel Rebuilt that aims to add the mainland of Morrowind to the original game. The expansion is centered on the middle Thirr River, and the dark secrets which lie under its waters.
Download Tamriel Rebuilt 23.10: Main Mirror | Morrowind Nexus | Morrowind Modding Hall [pending]

• CRC-32: a3cb6bcb
• SHA-256: 2ada479cffb877e48d0c601a7642841221a607915250231c03c92638b0bef097
• MD5: ffd016bb0e8ee2b969682d4350a15167

The newly released area of the mod is highlighted. Blue overlay marks the Aanthirin region, yellow is the Coronati Basin, and mauve is the Othreleth Woods.
The villainous Camonna Tong rules the port town of Hlan Oek while its Hlaalu governor has his mind on other matters. The great Temple city of Almas Thirr, first released in 2019’s Aanthirin release, has been expanded and updated and is now open to Imperial influence from the Fighters, Mages, and Thieves Guilds. Even the sleepy fishing village of Idathren has secrets to uncover. Meanwhile, the Dreugh Queen Paruddma broods in her Citadel deep beneath Lake Andaram’s placid waters.

Left to right: the new town of Hlan Oek, the revamped Almas Thirr temple-city, and the small Hlaalu Ferry on the south bank of Lake Andaram. See more on the website gallery.

Next (non-redo) release will push further south. IIRC, most of the exterior and interior work was either done or largely underway, leaving quests/npcs/etc.

 

[ironmask]

This gives me another excuse to play TR again. I didn't really get to explore the dominions of dust expansion that much, since I had MW fatigued when it came out.

 

[unseeingeye]

This gives me another excuse to play TR again. I didn't really get to explore the dominions of dust expansion that much, since I had MW fatigued when it came out.

Same, though I'm not sure I'm ready to go back to it just yet I'll definitely be updating it and fixing up my modlist accordingly for when I am.

The update with Ebonheart was the last one I really "played", though I've kept up and looked at the subsequent release prior to this one. Hopefully my annual Morrowind enthusiasm returns soon.

 

[thesecret1]

Currently discussed plans for future development. Note the added landmass for Redoran lands, and the changes to Telvanni islands.

 

[Leviticus]

This thing is 20 years out from completion minimum. Take thesecret's map for instance, it takes everything made post-2018 as the 'current' map and everything outside of it needs to be made or redone. They have taken six years since Old Ebonheart to release the river below it and the region to it's west and redo some of the Telvanni coastline(mainly just remaking the imperial cities there). Even if they release all of the Narsis stuff and the small stretch of R3/Poison Song next year, that's still seven years to release around five regions of about twenty-two that they reportedly want to make up all of Morrowind. So after they release those next year then they'll only be about 20% done their stated goals.

If you extrapolate that then it'll take AT LEAST twenty years to get the province done at their current pace. Remember that they want to create Almalexia as the last step which will only happen after all the slated redos. Even if you think the redo's will take less time, the Dres lands and Redoran lands+unfinished Indoril and Hlaalu territory make up 40% of the territory. They've barely finished 60% of the entire province, and they want to REMAKE all of House Telvanni's lands as well as the Indoril stuff they've already done.

This all goes without saying that they'll eventually just want to remake the areas they have already done as well. There's already plenty of talk redoing the Old Ebonheart area entirely (remaking the city from the ground up) and other shit. There's no process of locking anything in and the new crop of devs will just inevitably see the shit the old ones made and want to rewrite it. That's modding in a nutshell though, and honestly? I can't exactly blame them. Just look at what the current team's plans are:

Hlaalu have by far the most development, and despite their gimmick being mercantilism they have been adapted into by far the most dominant house to an insane degree. Part of this was spurred on by the original design documents that had Hlaalu quite strong on the continent, but if you actually played Tribunal you would understand that Helseth is a complete puppet that a being like Almalexia doesn't even consider worth her time or attention. Their temporal power on Vvardenfell wasn't flattening either, Redoran were in a fine position on the island. They are also the empire's brown-nosers despite the entire point of the Hlaalu internal leadership is that they don't give a fuck about the Empire and want to betray them as soon as the need arises., they are the closest associated with the Camonna Tong ffs.

Indoril is another big let down. The Ordinators don't fuck around, but the Indoril do apparently, despite being presented in the game as being one and the same. The Indoril are completely irrelevant as a 'house' and really just a bunch of squabbling lords who are completely forgettable in the grand scheme of things. This is a "hlaalu wins" story, their rivalry is completely one-sided and the Indoril are so impotent that several lands and territories that they held for thousands of years are taken by the Hlaalu in the timespan of around 300 years (the timespan of a normal dunmer's life) and no one cares or mentions this fact outside of some books. Entire populations wiped out and loyalties changed and not a single dissident or objection to the whole takeover. Indoril had the entire dunmer society built off their backs and I get that modern Morrowind is meant to be everything turned upside down by the Empire's arrival, but if you were to play this mod you would be under the impression that the status quo of today is practically what it was in time immemorial and no one even remembers what it was like before. Add onto this that for some reason they're leaderless and feckless and seemingly have no actual outward temple connection at all more than the other houses do and you have a meaningless faction.

Telvanni are a bunch of sperglords like seen in that trailer. Lolbergs that your average redditor would aspire to be like. Probably why they were made first and are altogether detached from the rest.

Dres and Redoran both aren't fleshed out in the mod yet, but rest assured they'll be toothless from their depictions and inspirations. Cunning slave masters that oversee the heart of Morrowind? More like imperial lapdogs on a short leash that fall over to slave rebellions and are unable to look out for their own territory.
Proud warriors with time honoured traditions, rivalries with the ordinators and aspiration to heroism?
More like gullible goody-two-shoes that get taken advantage of by every faction there is. Nords. Imperials. Hlaalu. They all dominate Redoran and they will practically be a joke in-setting.

Altogether I'm unhappy with these depictions as most of them bend to the will of the Empire and don't actually attempt to demonstrate what Dunmer society is actually like, which was what the original mod claimed to want to do. Apparently the conditions on Vvardenfell weren't unique, Hlaalu are even more powerful on the mainland. Indoril are just as non-existent as they are on Vvardenfell. Telvanni are even bigger neckbeards. Dres are retards high on copium. Redoran are idiots. Just a sad state to see it go this way.
The only silver lining is that it will inevitably fail and most people can take what they want from Morrowind without too much outside influence.

 

[HoboForEternity]

How are the quests in these game? What do they do to the progression system? Since you are exploring huge amount of landmass, you're gonna hit the high level very quick.

How about itemization and item progresssion?

 

[thesecret1]

How are the quests in these game?

Great, better than vanilla.

What do they do to the progression system?

Nothing, kept vanilla.

Since you are exploring huge amount of landmass, you're gonna hit the high level very quick.

Yep.

 

[Tenebris]

How are the quests in these game? What do they do to the progression system? Since you are exploring huge amount of landmass, you're gonna hit the high level very quick.

How about itemization and item progresssion?

The quests are way better than vanilla, though some of them aren't written very well the things you have to do to complete the quests are great. TR doesn't do a thing to the progression system so I highly recommend you use a mod that slows down your leveling. If you're using OpenMW I recommend "Natural Character Growth and Decay". It's highly customizable and having it set to slow leveling helps you not be ridiculously high for when you decide to go through the main quest.

 

[None]

I still don't entirely understand this concern with seeing TR or its sister projects become "complete". This isn't a product, no main quest exists that requires an endpoint, no gameplay mechanics that await untouched. It sounds, to me, similar to someone saying they are waiting for the Forgotten Realms to be finished. Everyone involved already understands that reaching the finish line is just an aspiration, they're all mostly there because they're autists who enjoy world building or modding for the sake of it.

 

[deuxhero]

How are the quests in these game? What do they do to the progression system? Since you are exploring huge amount of landmass, you're gonna hit the high level very quick.

How about itemization and item progresssion?

The quests are way better than vanilla, though some of them aren't written very well the things you have to do to complete the quests are great. TR doesn't do a thing to the progression system so I highly recommend you use a mod that slows down your leveling. If you're using OpenMW I recommend "Natural Character Growth and Decay". It's highly customizable and having it set to slow leveling helps you not be ridiculously high for when you decide to go through the main quest.

You could also use normal/fast and just make new characters for different sections of content (especially with help of an alternate start mod so you can avoid Vvardenfell altogether). Current playthrough is a mage who has just done guild quests and general exploration in the south.

 

[The Jester]

I still don't entirely understand this concern with seeing TR or its sister projects become "complete". This isn't a product, no main quest exists that requires an endpoint, no gameplay mechanics that await untouched. It sounds, to me, similar to someone saying they are waiting for the Forgotten Realms to be finished. Everyone involved already understands that reaching the finish line is just an aspiration, they're all mostly there because they're autists who enjoy world building or modding for the sake of it.

Autism, I refuse to play an unfinished map

 

[thesecret1]

Hlaalu have by far the most development, and despite their gimmick being mercantilism they have been adapted into by far the most dominant house to an insane degree. Part of this was spurred on by the original design documents that had Hlaalu quite strong on the continent, but if you actually played Tribunal you would understand that Helseth is a complete puppet that a being like Almalexia doesn't even consider worth her time or attention. Their temporal power on Vvardenfell wasn't flattening either, Redoran were in a fine position on the island. They are also the empire's brown-nosers despite the entire point of the Hlaalu internal leadership is that they don't give a fuck about the Empire and want to betray them as soon as the need arises., they are the closest associated with the Camonna Tong ffs.

Being the most powerful house and Almalexia not giving a shit about Helseth aren't necessarily contradictory. Hlaalu aren't "dominant to an insane degree" either, according the planned development – they only seem that way right now because they're the only house getting (modern) development done. If you check the map I posted above, you can see Telvanni getting buffed a lot compared to the current implementation, and when considering the Indoril, looking just at their color is misleading – they're meant to essentially be feudals living separate from their subjects, and the colors are meant to signify that. All those grey towns you see there "belong" to the Indoril.

Redoran has a good position on Vvanderfel because the whole house is going all in on fighting Dagoth Ur, hence throwing a larger share of its power onto Vvanderfel than other houses. As for their relations with the Empire, the design for Hlaalu is actually exactly what you said it should be: https://wiki.project-tamriel.com/wiki/House_Hlaalu

As for the rest of the post, Indoril and Telvanni are both meant to go through a complete overhaul, while Redoran and Dres don't even really exist yet, so calling it a "Hlaalu wins story" is rather premature.

You are right that it's gonna take like 20 years to finish though, lol.

 

[Tenebris]

I still don't entirely understand this concern with seeing TR or its sister projects become "complete". This isn't a product, no main quest exists that requires an endpoint, no gameplay mechanics that await untouched. It sounds, to me, similar to someone saying they are waiting for the Forgotten Realms to be finished. Everyone involved already understands that reaching the finish line is just an aspiration, they're all mostly there because they're autists who enjoy world building or modding for the sake of it.

Autism, I refuse to play an unfinished map

Hope you enjoy playing it during your retirement then.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

To satisfy your autism think of it as verifying their progress by inspecting the current version to see if it's adequate for a future release.

 

[Konjad]

I still don't entirely understand this concern with seeing TR or its sister projects become "complete". This isn't a product, no main quest exists that requires an endpoint, no gameplay mechanics that await untouched. It sounds, to me, similar to someone saying they are waiting for the Forgotten Realms to be finished. Everyone involved already understands that reaching the finish line is just an aspiration, they're all mostly there because they're autists who enjoy world building or modding for the sake of it.

Autism, I refuse to play an unfinished map

Hope you enjoy playing it during your retirement then.

That's exactly my plan.

 

[Robber Baron]

This thing is 20 years out from completion minimum.

20 more years of Morrowind content minimum
yes perfect

 

[GentlemanCthulhu]

I still don't entirely understand this concern with seeing TR or its sister projects become "complete". This isn't a product, no main quest exists that requires an endpoint, no gameplay mechanics that await untouched. It sounds, to me, similar to someone saying they are waiting for the Forgotten Realms to be finished. Everyone involved already understands that reaching the finish line is just an aspiration, they're all mostly there because they're autists who enjoy world building or modding for the sake of it.

I just started my first run of TR a few days ago. It's an unrivaled amount of excellent content and no one could probably see all of it in one run. You are better off having it permanently installed and interact with it as it fits your playthroughs. I'm not sure if a complete tour of all the content is even possible considering mutually exclusive quests and outcomes, etc., but even if it is, by the time you "finish" seeing everything, there's going to be 3-4 new releases. I think the best time to start experiencing TR is right now.

 

[ds]

I took me over 100 hours to thoroughly explore the TR two years ago and do all the quests I could find. And that was with an OP char after completing the main game and expansions as well as superspeed levitation from the potion exploit. Shit's huge and filled with content. Going to be something playing though it normally once its even more complete.

 

[Funposter]

I still don't entirely understand this concern with seeing TR or its sister projects become "complete". This isn't a product, no main quest exists that requires an endpoint, no gameplay mechanics that await untouched. It sounds, to me, similar to someone saying they are waiting for the Forgotten Realms to be finished. Everyone involved already understands that reaching the finish line is just an aspiration, they're all mostly there because they're autists who enjoy world building or modding for the sake of it.

I just started my first run of TR a few days ago. It's an unrivaled amount of excellent content and no one could probably see all of it in one run. You are better off having it permanently installed and interact with it as it fits your playthroughs. I'm not sure if a complete tour of all the content is even possible considering mutually exclusive quests and outcomes, etc., but even if it is, by the time you "finish" seeing everything, there's going to be 3-4 new releases. I think the best time to start experiencing TR is right now.

Yep. Enjoy the content that TR has to offer with characters that it supports. House Hlaalu has a lot of content (good, because in vanilla they're the most boring Great House imo), as does the Tribunal Temple. The Almas Thirr Tribunal Temple questline is, as I have stated in other Morrowind threads before, an absolute favourite of mine and the highlight of Tamriel Rebuilt so far. The Imperial guilds are all well represented - enough content to hit Level 20 simply by doing the TR+vanilla faction content for one guild and pretty much nothing else. I haven't touched anything outside of Old Ebonheart for the Imperial Legion (and that was a couple of years ago), but it now looks to have quite a bit of extra content, which is good because it was one of the most bare factions in vanilla. And finally, the Imperial Cult looks to finally have a substantial amount of content with the Firewatch rework in Embers of Empire, although it's worth noting that two of the "quests" in Old Ebonheart are just boring fetch quest garbage.

So there you go. You've got enough content for 100% House Hlaalu, Tribunal Temple, Mages Guild, Fighters Guild and Thieves Guild playthroughs, and maybe the Imperial legion is included there? The Imperial Cult now has enough content to at least offset the weird difficulty spike that it experiences in vanilla when you start taking quests from Lalatia Varian at like Level 5.

 

[Dwemer Puzzle Box]

Honestly, I'm a bit on the fence about Almas Thirr's imperial Guilds (Fighters, Mages, and Thieves). Not because they're bad (although TG certainly is bare bones, FG and MG somewhat less so), but the city, imo, should have just two factions: The Temple and the Morag Tong. It just doesn't really make sense in my mind to make Almas Thirr into something that isn't a smaller version of Necrom: a Dunmer-exclusive, holy city that's mired in politics and religion. Don't remove them, just move them somewhere with a smaller scale, like Hlan Oek, Teyn, or anything that makes sense for a fresh off the boat character to see.
On the other hand, Andothren's Thieves Guild is... surprisingly okay. I was a bit worried about "rebuilding the guild" questline, but it's always fun to subjugate Camonna Tong.

Spoiler

Also: Hlaalu wank is getting tiresome.

 

[Tenebris]

Honestly, I'm a bit on the fence about Almas Thirr's imperial Guilds (Fighters, Mages, and Thieves). Not because they're bad (although TG certainly is bare bones, FG and MG somewhat less so), but the city, imo, should have just two factions: The Temple and the Morag Tong. It just doesn't really make sense in my mind to make Almas Thirr into something that isn't a smaller version of Necrom: a Dunmer-exclusive, holy city that's mired in politics and religion. Don't remove them, just move them somewhere with a smaller scale, like Hlan Oek, Teyn, or anything that makes sense for a fresh off the boat character to see.
On the other hand, Andothren's Thieves Guild is... surprisingly okay. I was a bit worried about "rebuilding the guild" questline, but it's always fun to subjugate Camonna Tong.

Spoiler

Also: Hlaalu wank is getting tiresome.

For whatever reason the devs love to stuff in the Imperial Guilds everywhere over the Dunmer equivalents. They plan to do it for Narsis too.

 

[Dwemer Puzzle Box]

For whatever reason the devs love to stuff in the Imperial Guilds everywhere over the Dunmer equivalents. They plan to do it for Narsis too.

That actually makes sense, what with Narsis being the capital of (officially) Empire-aligned Hlaalu and probably the most business-oriented city in this part of Morrowind. I don't have any issue with imperial guilds having a presence in Hlaalu settlements, hell, even an EEC office wouldn't be that out of place. What really rustles my jimmies is seeing them in traditionally Temple- and Indoril-controlled areas. Out of the three I mentioned, I can only see Fighters Guild somewhat working, providing mercenary service to ruling powers, in exchange of upholding local principles. But Mages Guild and, Seht forbid, Thieves Guild should be treated with borderline-open hostility. I had the same problem with Mages Guild operating in Sadrith Mora; like Telvanni would ever allow it What's next, imperial guilds operating in Tear?

Or maybe I'm just overthinking it due to Morrowind-induced