18 replies to this topic

[Vicious Parker]

So... the recent Morrowind sale on steam got me in to wanting to play the game again. Though since I just played through the game again as pretty much the same character I always play, I decided to play as a character I've wanted to do, but never actually played with: the treasure hunter. I wanna collect all of the coolsiest stuff and have it on display in my home. Except...... I hate pretty much every house mod for the game. I have always simply preferred parking my butt in Hlaalo Manor in Balmora.

Hlaalo Manor is near perfect: there's TONS of storage, a bed, bookshelves, and a convenient location. If you feel like really pretending, you can even make believe that the servant is yours once you complete the quest involved with the house (or don't complete it, whatever). But this time, I wanted more. So I... modded it.

First of all, I didn't change anything at all related to the House Hlaalu quest. With the slight exception of having moved the house servant like... two feet from her original position. Here are the changes I've made:

The master bedroom is cleaned up. Stuff is no longer lying about, except for that random key that I never figured out. I added two tables to the bedroom to display and contain unique jewelry items. The dresser and bed obviously still remain.

The servant bedroom has been turned in to an alchemy room. I added a big table to place your equipment on, perfect for a mod such as At Home Alchemy. There are two sacks for ingredients, and two boxes. If that's not enough storage, there's still the massive amount of storage downstairs that was in the house to begin with. I also added a bookshelf for all of your magic related books.

Downstairs looks a little sparse now since I took out most of the misc items and chairs around the tables. I even added another large table in place of one of the benches from the original house. All of the storage containers have been left alone, however. I like them where they are. The purpose of this was that the tables are used for displaying weapons, and the empty space is to be used in conjunction with a mod such as House of Mannequins to display all of that awesome armor and some weapons. It's not as much as a typical housing mod has, but by my guess there seems to be enough space to comfortably fit about 15 mannequins all through the house. I am also working on a version with the mannequins already built in to the house, I just need a day or two off of work to get it going).

If you don't like the servant, you can either kill her, or use a rally humanoid spell and move her somewhere else entirely. The game goes on without her (after you complete the quest, that is).

The house is a little cramped, but from what I've done to it, I personally still prefer this set up to most of the house mods out there. If anybody wants to take a look, give it a download.

http://monkeypro.net...ManorRemade.zip

[Vicious Parker]

Here are some screenies. Since I don't currently have a game going, I downloaded some dudes rather generic unmoded character, so... yeah. His equipment wasn't all that amazing. Also note, the mannequins are from a seperate mod, and none of the items are included in mine. Anyway, here:

A couple of mannequins in the second floor hallway, doing their thing:
 MGE_Screenshot_1.jpg   47.4K   19 downloads

The master bedroom upstairs. Gone is the messiness and clutter, and now there are places to show off your jewelry:
 MGE_Screenshot_2.jpg   42.72K   12 downloads

Formally the servant bedroom, now the alchemy room. This screenshot and the last one make me think that I should add some nice decor and maybe play with the lighting. I think I just might in the future.
 MGE_Screenshot_3.jpg   52.14K   8 downloads

Downstairs. Couple of mannequins and some empty bookshelves. Perfect for Book Jackets and Book Rotate.
 MGE_Screenshot_4.jpg   55.14K   6 downloads

A long view of some mannequins and display tables, with room for more!
 MGE_Screenshot_5.jpg   51.81K   4 downloads

A different angle of the main floor.
 MGE_Screenshot_6.jpg   54.71K   9 downloads

The main storage area, untouched from the original game.
 MGE_Screenshot_7.jpg   45.79K   4 downloads

Yet another angle of the main floor.
 MGE_Screenshot_8.jpg   59.3K   6 downloads

[toysintheattic]

Looks pretty rad. Too bad Morrowind still refuses to work on my computer, cause you reaally make me want to play it.

[Donkeymog]

Hlaalu...?

I've been looking at playing through Morrowind again after I've given up on Oblivion. I'll definitely download this. Though with the mod to make Ralen disappear won't that screw up the quest involving him or have I missed something?

[Vicious Parker]

It is Hlaalo, for the record. Ralen Hlaalo is a member of House Hlaalu but uh... not because of name. I suppose. It's goofy.

Being able to remove the corpse won't ruin the quest. The quest can be added one of two ways: 1) If you're a member of Hlaalu, you can keep doing quests up until you are asked to solve the murder. 2) If you enter the house, you are given the quest, even if you are not a member of house hlaalu. You don't need his body, but you do need to talk to the servant.

Though, as Stars informed me many many moons ago, some people like to keep the corpse of Ralen around, because it's a bit of a cheat that gives you a limitless container right in the house itself.

The only reason it is separate here is because I created the NoRalen mod a million years ago, before even thinking about doing this. I figured it made sense to put it with this mod.

[Vicious Parker]

So I'm making what I think are some pretty neat updates to this mod, so that should be cool. Also, I just found out that there's a little hidden chest in the manor that I never, ever knew about! Wow. I do still like this house, even without the mod.

[Stars]

Ha, I completely forgot about that.

I'd like to play Morrowind again sometime in the near-ish future. (I think I even still have your Happy Style Edits mod, which is very nice.) There are just too many other things on my list of bought-but-never-played-much games that I feel obligated to go through first.

[Vicious Parker]

Ok, I uploaded a finished version if anybody does want it. Made some nice changes for happy times.

[Donkeymog]

You should make more mods in the time it takes me to finish up with Oblivion. DF once said that there the problem with mods is that you run the risk of some jerk ruining the careful balancing needed to maintain the suspension of disbelief. But there's no one I trust more ensure that Morrowind's special character is enriched rather than sullied.

You could even do script a quest to obtain the deed to the house that functions to explain hlaalo's name as part of the lore.

[Vicious Parker]

I could probably figure out the scripting if I really wanted to... But I wouldn't know what to do with it.

I did, however, add a couple of notes that tie in to the questline. They give a very unnoficial kind of explanation for the murder, and also half-ass-explain why the servants room is now used for alchemy.

[Donkeymog]

I did, however, add a couple of notes that tie in to the questline. They give a very unnoficial kind of explanation for the murder, and also half-ass-explain why the servants room is now used for alchemy.

Cool, can't wait to read them.

[toysintheattic]

I think my problem with house mods is that it's usually just simply a little too big and lavish. I prefer something a little seedier, since I usually play some kind of stealthy thief guy, and it kind of doesn't get seedier than stealing some dead guy's house. So, I approve of this.

[Monkeydog]

You are making me want to play Morrowind and I hate you.

[Donkeymog]

This mod convinced me to reinstall Morrowind. I've given up on Oblivion. Morrowind is just so much more intriguing as a setting.

Mad props on the mod, Invince. Nicely implemented and it will make things a lot easier to have a storage space in Balmora.

I've also got the game looking very pretty. So pretty, in fact, that I might have to post some screenshots.

[toysintheattic]

I almost considered buying Morrowind for the xbox, since it's like 10 dollars and there's no computer I own that I can play it on.

I'm still wondering if this is such a terrible idea. Of course, then I could never use your mod, and it would be the third time I've bought this game in my life. :P

[eyre]

I almost considered buying Morrowind for the xbox, since it's like 10 dollars and there's no computer I own that I can play it on.

I'm still wondering if this is such a terrible idea. Of course, then I could never use your mod, and it would be the third time I've bought this game in my life. :P

I like the PC version better just because of the wide array of mods and graphics stuff you can do. I'm actually playing it on xbox right now after reading this post. Still a great game regardless of the lack of mods.

I always did like Hlaalo Manor. Balmora is one of my favorite cities :P

[Donkeymog]

I don't think I could stand to play Morrowind without the mods these days. I'm far too dependent on them.

[toysintheattic]

I usually didn't play with mods that did anything major to the game. Mostly just the official mods and better bodies and mods that fixed little things. My computer can't handle most graphics mods (although, I could up the view distance and that was nice). The construction set definitely adds a whole layer of fun to the game, but sometimes I think I spent more time looking for mods than I did actually playing.

[kspr]

So would you say that your manor has improved?