The Elder Scrolls III  MORROWIND: 

Castle Vianden Mod VERSION 2.1

by ReflectioN (reflection_nl@yahoo.com)
		
1. The short description
2. Installing the plugin
3. Playing the plugin
4. Save games
5. Credits
6. Contact and information
7. Version History
8. The long description


1. THE SHORT DESCRIPTION

This mod is Version 2.1 of the Castle Vianden mod. It's based on an existing castle in Vianden Luxembourg. The real castle is one of the most magnificent castles in Europe today. This Morrowind version 2 places the Castle Vianden near Sadrith Mora and Wolverine Hall and it contains large, retextured Halls for weapons and armor display, corridors, several rooms that form the "living area" of the castle, A Grand Kitchen with a Well, 2 Chapels, a Defense Way and Defense Wall, an Archaeological Room, 2 Cellars, a Tower and a large courtyard surrounded by a wall structure around the castle. It is best suited for those players who like their castles big with plenty of storage room for weapons and armor.

2. INSTALLING THE PLUGIN

To install the plugin, unzip the files into your Morrowind directory. The ZIP file contains the right directory structure for the Meshes and Textures, so everything should go into its right place. If however this does not work: unzip the Castle Vianden V2.1 zip file onto your desktop or a temporary folder and move the items manually. The Castle Vianden V2.1.esp goes into your Data Files folder and you need to check it when you launch Morrowind. The meshes go into the Meshes\RN\VI2 folder inside the Data Files folder.
The textures go into the Textures\RN\VI2 folder inside your Data Files folder.

This plugin has been tested on both a Morrowind only setup with latest patch 1.20722 applied, and on a Morrowind + Tribunal + Bloodmoon setup with latest patch 1.6.1820 applied.
For playing this plugin only Morrowind is required, no Tribunal or Bloodmoon.
I cleaned this plugin with GMST Cleaner 1.1 to remove the socalled "dirty GMST entries", if you don't know what these are, I would suggest not to worry about them, it's clean!

3. PLAYING THE PLUGIN

From the Morrowind Launcher, select Data Files and check the box next to the Castle Vianden V2.1.esp. This is the regular version with wooden mannequins based on the original Bethesda bodies. I have also included an esp file called Castle Vianden V2.1 NO Mannequins. This one (you guessed it) removes the wooden mannequins from the castle, so as to enable a player to use a mannequin mod of his or her liking.
You can safely use this Version 2 with Version 1 of the Castle Vianden mod. They are located at different places in the gameworld and all the filenames are different and unique. Mind you, version 2.1 is bigger and better...

4. SAVE GAMES

This plugin should not invalidate your old saved games. If you save your game while this plugin is loaded, you may encounter error messages when you reload the saved game without the plugin. Also note that in case you had placed weapons or other stuff in the Castle Vianden, and you reload a savegame without this plugin, this stuff will be gone from your game. But you should be able to continue on with the original game.

Further notes on save games and doubling (copied in part from Phoebe's ReadMe for her mod “ Abu's Retreat”): 
I'd advise people to not save a game until the display cases doors/lids are back in their original closed position. Please note: these are just precautions, I have not had any problem with doubling while testing and playing this mod.
These are certainly many more reasons for doubling and below are 2 sites which explain it more fully & also how to clean a savegame, in which doubling has already occurred.

http://morepumaman.freehomepage.com/support-doubling.html
http://www.angelfire.com/clone2/shadowsong/index.html


5. CREDITS

First of all; Bethesda for the wonderful game.

Then, in random order:

Many textures downloaded from various free Internet sites.

The light grey stone textures on pillars etc. are from Ayse (VisualPack 2.11)

The Window Jambs, piano and music sheets are from Dongle.

The wooden sides and back from the paintings are from Lord Yig and Zuldazug.

Some wooden textures were used from Tommy Khajitt's Make Your Own Painting mod.

The bath, toilet, meat piece, pots, tower with sharp roof, wooden displaycases, and the chain armor in the Knights Study are from Lady Eternity and Proudfoot.

The displaycase with the red fabric is from IndigoRage.

Phoebe, for the idea of the potted plants from her mod “Abu's Retreat”.

The idea for retexturing the cloth (and the texture for the cloth) on the chairs comes from Paschors.

The Medieval armor seen in the Knights Hall comes from Blackrazor.

The script on the Archaeological Room comes from Nigedo.

The script on the Teleport Ring is an adaptation from Emma's Travel Agency mod, thanks to Chia for the tip!

The script on the display cases is from Viking Lord.

The rugs are from Lord Yig.

The red jug and frying pan are from Cali.

The ceramic pots are from Ndib.

The ceramic vases are from Silaria.

The retextured hutch and closet in the Grand Kitchen are from Shannon.

The towel is from TextureFreak.

The ham is from Cait.

The round walls in the towers are from Alcar.

The wooden Armor Mannequins and are an original idea from Chris Janosi? ... bless 'm!

And many persons on the official Elderscrolls Forum for answering my questions, and giving feedback/suggestions on the screenshots and photos I posted there.

-- I hope I didn't forget someone...--


6. CONTACT AND INFORMATION

You can contact me at reflection_nl@yahoo.com, you can also PrivateMail me at the official Elderscrolls forums at http://www.elderscrolls.com/forums/
My user id there is ReflectioN.
Screenshots and info of my mods can be viewed at my freewebs site: http://freewebs.com/reflection_nl/
There are also pictures at http://www.cuneo.us/tesmw/browse.php?dir=ReflectioN
(please note these are free websites, and the contents there can change after a while).
Otherwise, visit the website of the real Castle Vianden that has much information and photos of the real castle at http://www.castle-vianden.lu/english/index.html

If you wish to use this mod, or parts of it, in your own work, please be so kind to contact me first, thanks.

Also check out my Créhange Manor mod at http://www.euro-rpg.com, it's modelled after the castle at Larochette, Luxembourg.

7. VERSION HISTORY
Well, Version 2 was 99,99% OK except I forgot to remove 1 spawn point for a levelled creature. So there is a chance a creature will randomly appaer in the middle of the courtyard. This small issue is fixed in version 2.1.


8. THE LONG DESCRIPTION

The real Castle Vianden in Luxembourg is an astonishing medieval castle, restored to its full glory during the last 25 years. I have visited it during this period a couple of times and each time the castle was looking more glorious. After learning the editor, and finishing my first house/castle mod “ Créhange Manor” , I just wanted to have a go at the Castle at Vianden. It took me a lot of time, a lot of trial and error, retexturing exercises (that can really eat up your time), and trying to match exterior and interior design (I found that many MW meshes are not made for this purpose...)
Anyway, I think I ended up with something worthwhile. It has a good, solid medieval feel to it. Many castles from this period have been build, rebuild, changed, burnt down, rebuild again etc.. and the real castle Vianden is no exception.

The castle is made up of 2 large structures (called the "Large Palace" and the "Little Palace", with a separate House structure (called the House of Nassau) on the side in the middle (look for all the windows). On the left (North in my MW version) is a large plastered tower called "the White Tower". On the right (South in my MW version) is an added semi-octagonal shaped structure to the Little Palace that holds the Lower and Upper Chapel and the Defense Way.
Left and right of the House structure are large terraces called "Inner Courtyards". The entire castle is surrounded by courtyards and defense walls.

The Courtyard

You enter the MW version through 3 gates leading up to a courtyard with a Barracks on the right. Further through you pass a fourth gate leading into the second part of the courtyard. Just after passing the fourth gate you find stairs leading up to the main entrance of the castle; the Arms Hall in the Little Palace.

The Little Palace.

In the Little Palace You first enter the Arms Hall. Here are some wooden mannequins to display your armor.
Right next to the Arms Hall is a small Knights Study with a Knight Statue showing chainmail armor. You can consider this Knights Study a small library. There is a book on the desk giving you some general historic info on the real castle. Don't forget to pick up the Teleport Ring on the desk. It provides quick travel to 3 Vianden locations, Wolverine Hall and the boat travel at Sadrith Mora.

From the Knights Study you can enter the Chapel Corridor which connects to the Lower Chapel and the Ancient Kitchen. These 2 rooms are mainly not furnished to keep the 'look and feel' of the real castle.
The Chapel Corridor has stairs leading up to the Defense Way. But let's not forget the Archaeological Room that can be reached only from the Arms Hall. The Archaeological Room has 11 pictures hanging on the walls showing you various stages in the development of the real castle beginning in the Roman Ages. There's also a book giving you further info on this.

The Defense Way surrounds the South part of the semi-octagonal structure and leads into the Inner Courtyard (also named Prince's Courtyard). This is a large, raised courtyard overlooking the South and West parts of the surrounding walls. From the Inner Courtyard you can re-enter the Defense Way and immediately on your right enter the Upper Chapel. This room has been fully restored in the real castle and I tried to give it some splendour in my MW version. It's made of retextured Redoran meshes and high, white plastered walls.
Back to the Defense Way (which acts as a corridor of its own) and straight into the Byzantine Gallery. This is in effect the first level of the Little Palace. It's a large room with many windows. I only furnished it lightly to preserve the look of the real thing.
From the Byzantine Gallery you can enter the Small Corridor on your left, and straight through you can enter the Nassau Corridor which leads on the left to the Nassau House, and on the right to the second level of the Little Palace. This second level is made up of the Jean Pierre Koltz Hall which has many display cases and some original photos of the real castle in its un-restored state. Through the Jean Pierre Koltz Hall you can reach the Charles Arendt Hall which is located above the Upper Chapel. In this room are some wooden mannequins.

Worth noting is that there is a small angle difference between the Large and Little Palace. In my MW version I used an angle difference of 10 degrees. This is also the reason you will find some doors and walls with an angle difference of 10 degrees in various places.

The Large Palace.

The Large Palace has three large halls. The Cellar is only reachable by a door from the Courtyard. I left the Cellar empty (except for 1 storage chest), because that's how it is in real life, and you can always put in stuff yourself when playing MW.
The Knights Hall can be reached through the Arms Hall or the Grand Kitchen. It's a wide and deep Hall with stone tiles on the floor and plastered walls and ceilings. Also note the two Knight Statues with 16th century armor.The Knights Hall is made with resized and retextured Imperial meshes. In the far North West corner of the Knights Hall is a door leading to a small Cellar (called Juliette Cellar). This cellar exits to the Courtyard near the White Tower.
The Festivity Hall is located exactly above the Knights Hall. It can only be reached by the Central Corridor. The Festivity Hall contains around 850 objects, including a beautiful retextured piano. I hope it's playable on slower computers. I'm sorry but I didn't feel like compromising when building it.

The Nassau House.

Let's visit the House structure (called the Nassau House) which is the living area of the castle. On the first floor You find a Bed Room, a Banqueting Room and a Geneaology Room. I build these rooms with many separate meshes so that the walls are as “ pillar-less” as possible. The ceilings I made from a large number of wooden poles.
The Genealogy Room has some pictures of historic people who have actually played a part in the Castle's history.
From the Genealogy Room you can exit to the Small Inner Courtyard , and from there enter the Bath Room. In reality this is where the toilets for the visitors are, so I thought it appropriate to turn this into the Bath Room.
Leaving the first floor of the Nassau House you can go back downstairs through the Central Corridor to the ground floor of the Nassau House which is centrally occupied by The Grand Kitchen. I tried to give this kitchen a “working-and-using” look by littering it up with many small objects.
Through the Grand Kitchen you enter the Dining Room , and on the other side of the Grand Kitchen you can enter the small Kitchen Storage. There are also exits to the Knights Hall and the Small Corridor.

The White Tower and Black Tower.

The White Tower catches the eye when you approach the castle from Sadrith Mora. It can be entered through the Courtyard and has in the top a small room. The real White Tower is covered in lightgrey plaster, hence the name. I textured it with light plaster on the outside and white plaster on the inside.
The Black Tower is on the North East corner of the surrounding wall. Why it is called Black Tower I don't know, but I used dark stone texures on the inside to give it it's own look. In the top room are some wooden mannequins with soft red light.

Throughout the Castle you can find Storage Chests that have a capacity of 25000. This should be sufficient for the players who like to collect everything available in the game.

Also worth mentioning is that some rooms have tapestries hanging on their walls. These are the same as are hanging in the real castle (oh, the joy of digital photography!)

That's it, this gives you a good impression of the Castle Vianden. I think it has a nice medieval feeling to it, and all the retexturing makes it stand out from the standard MW Imperial castles.

Enjoy, and feedback is always welcome.
