General Update

Howdy and Shorah!

It's been a long time! I've been busy with work and moving into a new place so I haven't had time to update here, but I have been getting some good work in on the mod. Let's get to it!

Food
 
I've created three Uru themed foods you can create and consume to buff your character. You can only have one Relto food buff active at a time. I have ideas ready to go for other foods as well. The three that are currently in the game (and working!) are:

• Teledahn Flatbread - inspired by the Teledahn Age in Uru. In that lore, the mushrooms of Teledahn were harvested and used to make food; bread made from these mushrooms was considered a delicacy. Various mushrooms found in Skyrim can be used to make a modified version of this mushroom bread.
  

  

  Cooking pot used for screenshot convenience, actually requires oven

  
• Er'Cana Pudding - Er'cana was another Age created mainly for food; grain was produced and harvested there. A themed pudding is available now for Skyrim.
  
  

• Chor Bahk - per the Myst books, chor bahk is some sort of D'ni meatroll, but nothing else is known about it. I interpret it as being similar in appearance to a burrito.

  

  Cooking pot used for screenshot convenience, actually requires oven

   
  
  
  Note that there have been some changes to the ingredients and effects since these images were taken; e.g., I changed the time from one hour to four. I also will change which foods have which effects as I make more foods, and I plan to do some more work on the textures to make them look nicer. I actually plan to remake many of the textures on other things I've worked on as well as I get more practice.

Climate

I figured out how to create weathers and climate for the Relto worldspace! There are currently two weather types, and I may create a few more (though not very many).

• Pleasant - In this weather you can view a yellow sunrise, a blue daytime, a purple sunset, and a darkish night, with a few happy, serene clouds moving across the sky.

  

  Morning

  

  Daytime

  

  Evening

  

  Nighttime

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

• Raining - Rain is rare in Relto, but when it does rain it rains hard and the sky is covered with thick gray clouds. Daytime is rather dark, and rainy nights are almost pitch-black.

  

  Daytime

  

  Nighttime (with extra dark!)

Again, note some changes have been made since those screenshots were taken. For example, I figured out how to create and apply "imagespaces" to give it a little more atmosphere, which might be visible in some of the later images in this post.

Blooper Bonus: I found a setting that said "fog particles." This did not mean what I thought it meant.

D:

Moiety Dagger

The Moiety dagger has been updated; it is now a wieldable, working weapon!

Inventory

First person

Third person

Sheathed

It has some clipping issues when sheathed, so I may look into ways to make that less noticeable. However, other daggers I sheathed had this same clipping issue, so I think it's more of a problem of the vanilla placement of the daggers with certain armors. The hands also clip a little through the torus on the hilt, but it's not noticeable unless you are specifically taking screenshots from certain angles or during certain animations so I probably will leave it as it is.

Also shown in those screenshots: more flora and a new Relto hut! The custom hut I was working on is on the backburner for now... >_>

Storage Room Relto Page
 
I've made a lot of Relto pages for things you can unlock for both the exterior and interior areas. I don't want to post too many spoilers for that, but I will show one of them that I am working on for the interior: a storage room where you can put your trophies and collections on display! I haven't added lights to the room yet, so you'll have to squint a little at the images.

Display shelf

Put unique items from your inventory on display

Take items back from the display when you want them

Displays for Thieves Guild items and Daedric artifacts will be optional, where you can just press a button or something to turn them off if your character isn't into that sort of thing. If you choose this, you'll have regular shelves or more mannequins or something. I haven't worked out the details yet :-P

Miscellaneous
 
Here are a few miscellaneous images for random stuff I added:

A window you can slide open/shut

Firemarbles are now even glowier than before!

A place to clean up a bit

Dovahkiin should bathe daily

Relto Book Quest
 

After some thought, I've decided I want to (at least try to) make a quest you will need to complete to obtain your Relto book. I've put a lot of thought into it, and I think I've come up with a plot that works with both Uru and Skyrim lore, while still leaving it up to the player to choose if it was already their Relto book or not. There will be one large dungeon and one small dungeon (but possibly 5 additional small dungeons if I feel up to it).

There will be enemy NPC's you have to fight that each have their own background story you can learn if you want. They won't be voice acted though, as there are no plans to have the player talk to them; you'll have to read their journals and letters if you want to know their history. I'm hoping I can figure out how to give them their own armor/weapons/spells/abilities, as I want them to each be unique and interesting.

There will definitely be puzzles; I'm trying to find a good balance between fairness and difficulty, but I don't want the easy spoonfeeding baby puzzles that almost every game seems to have now. I really want the player to have to actually use their brain; you might even have to take notes. This will be my first time doing anything like this though, so we'll see how it pans out. I also want the quest to have no quest markers so you have to actually use the information you find to figure out where to go.

Speaking of puzzles, I will say that I plan to add a few secret puzzles on Relto itself. I won't give any more info than this except that I have no idea yet if solving them will unlock anything useful, or just some small aesthetic thing. One puzzle is already in and working. :-)

Happy Exploring!
Katelin

Music Player

Howdy and Shorah,

I finally started work on the music player for Relto. Currently I have the "advanced" music player in an alpha state with a lot of songs. I plan to have the player start with a basic music player that has only a few songs that can be upgraded by finding the Relto Page for the advanced music player.

The music player is currently made up of models available in the Creation Kit, but I might give it its own model in the future.

When you interact with the music player, you are given an options menu where you can select the theme of the music. The current options are Tavern, Town, Explore, Combat, Dungeon, Solstheim, and Misc. You can also choose to stop the play of any music it is currently playing. I put the music into these categories because there are a lot of great songs in the game, so they needed sub-menus to fit them all. A message box can only have up to ten buttons.

After you select the category, you can choose the individual song you wish to hear. The music player will stop any other music it was playing and play the song you chose.

There is still a lot of work to do on the music player. For one, the music you select will keep playing if you leave Relto, so I am trying to figure out a way to force the songs to stop if you aren't on Relto. I have some ideas about it though, so hopefully it won't be too long until that's fixed. Also, the music player currently does not play any of the bard songs (instrumental or vocal), and I'd like to get those in there as well, although it's not priority (as I might just end up making a bard that can be hired instead).

Happy Exploring!
-Katelin

Custom Models/Textures - Safety Cones & Eddie

Howdy and Shorah!

Anyone who has played Uru knows that it's just not complete without safety cones, so I made some for Relto for Skyrim. At first, they were too big!

Too big!

Looks good in the inventory though.

I promptly scaled them to half the original size. I then took a cone into my inventory and attempted to drop it, only to watch it freeze in mid-air. Yikes! I realized what the problem was: when I had converted my Blender file into a .nif, the template I used in NifUtilsSuite was a static object rather that an object that can be taken. I had originally used one of those glazed pots that can't be interacted with in the game, so when I wanted to drop the cone, it had no physics. I re-converted using a basket as the template, and the cones now work more or less the way they are supposed to.

Much better size :)

In addition to the cones, I also created Eddie the Beachball!

Eddie, not in his natural environment

Eddie has a few texture issues, but he's fun to play with!

The cones and Eddie will be available in Relto for Skyrim, but I know that for some people they might be too immersion-breaking, so I'll put them somewhere out of the way (inside a barrel or something).

Happy Exploring!
-Katelin

Moiety Dagger Update

Howdy and Shorah!

I redid the model and texture for the Moiety Dagger, and I think it's looking good! It still cannot be wielded as a weapon, but I plan on getting that figured out eventually.

...well that's all there is to say about it :-P

Happy Exploring!
-Katelin

Custom Models/Textures - Moiety Dagger

Howdy and Shorah,

After much pulling of hair and gnashing of teeth, I was finally able to get a custom model/texture into the creation kit! I'm completely exhausted so I don't have time to test it in-game yet, and I probably won't have time to for a while. Obviously it's still a major work in progress (needs a lot more detail to both the model and the texture, and currently the dagger is not set as a weapon, only a decorative item), but I am super excited that I finally know the process of getting my own meshes into the game. Now I present the very alpha-state Moiety Dagger!

Now I'm off to bed...goodnight all...

Katelin

Interior for Relto

Shorah and howdy!

In what little free time I've had lately, I've been working on an interior area for Relto. It will be accessed through the Relto hut (whenever I finish that; I haven't done any work on it in quite some time). You'll start out with a basic but large room with a few necessities and some decor. However, you can unlock rooms and special items (such as a vampire coffin) by finding the corresponding Relto Pages. An example is shown below (note that nothing is even close to complete yet; I haven't even finished adding ceilings haha).

The "kitchen" area you begin with is just a fireplace with a cooking pot and some decor.

Once you find the Relto Page for the kitchen, the fireplace goes away and is replaced with a door.

The door opens to the kitchen...I won't show detailed images yet because I don't want to spoil it too much, but I may upload some down the road when it's more complete.

There will also be rooms for Enchanting and Alchemy, a master bedroom, an extra bedroom for adopted children etc., and probably some kind of mass storage/display room.

Here is an image from part of the master bedroom:

I'll spoil a little bit more for the Enchanting room; the first image is currently just some decor, the second image is something I'm working on that I might try to make activate-able for some small temporary buffs or somesuch:

And I guess I might as well show the current state of the library area since it will be there by default:

Also a little conceptual update: I will be attempting to add a music player of sorts since Relto in Uru: Ages Beyond Myst had a music player you could add. It will start off with just 3 or so basic songs (I haven't decided yet if I'll use some of the Skyrim bard instrumental music, or if I'll make my own), and I'll add a Relto Page that will replace it with a more advanced music player that has lots of Skyrim music to choose from. I'll probably put one music player in the exterior, and one in the interior location. If I make my own music to put in there, I'll put instructions so that people can easily replace them with their own songs if they wish by simply replacing those sound files with files of identical name and filetype...in theory at least, as I'll have to test to make sure this works.

And as a closing thought that I think needs to be touched on: there is currently a major controversy over the Steam Workshop monetizing mods. I just want to state that Relto for Skyrim will be free, because 1) I never intended to sell it, I am making it for my own fun and for others to have fun; and 2) since a lot of the ideas and names are from Cyan's game Uru: Ages Beyond Myst, it wouldn't be legal for me to make money off of it anyways.

Happy exploring!
Katelin

Relto Hut

I am slowly but surely creating the Relto Hut!

Not an exact replica by any means. I may change the design over time depending on how it looks in Skyrim, but I like this shape as it is in Blender..

The modeling is pretty simple, but in the past I was never able to successfully get models into NifSkope to make them Skyrim compatible. I won't give up though!

Texturing might also be a bit difficult for me, but it will get done after some time. I'll probably have to start off with some really simple placeholder textures though so I can see how everything works.

Happy Exploring!
Katelin

Squabbie and Some New Linking Rules

Howdy and Shorah!

There is now a new resident on Relto Island: Squabbie! Everyone give a warm welcome to Squabbie!

 
Squabbie is intended to reference the Quabs in Uru: Ages Beyond Myst. In Skyrim she is a mudcrab retextured pink. I do hope to someday create a model for her that more closely resembles a Quab, but it will be a long time before that happens, if I ever am able to. She is an animal companion follower that can carry 100 Skyrim Weight Units and will help you fight enemies, although she does not do very much damage.

I have also made a few changes to the script for the portable Relto Linking Book. As before, when you use the book in Tamriel (or any non-Relto location), it will Link you to Relto. Now, it will save that location you Linked from. Then, if you use the book again while in Relto, it will return you to that location. This was done for convenience (so that the player does not have to travel back to where they Linked from upon returning to Skyrim), and also as a safeguard (in case the player Links on accident while in a place they cannot return to normally). Another new rule is that the player will only be Linked to Relto upon reading the book if they have a Relto book in their inventory. This way, if the player accidentally drops the book, they will be able to pick it back up without it linking them away before they can (since Skyrim forces the player to read books that are sitting out in the world).
I'm actually still trying to make a better safeguard for that but I'm not a scripting expert by any means :D

I also have some ideas for little hidden puzzles that might be part of Relto Island, but I won't say anything else about that for now because 1)  I want them to be difficult to discover and 2) I have no idea if I have the ability to do these puzzles the way I envision. So for now, they are entirely conceptual.

Happy Exploring!
Katelin

Relto Pages Video

Here is a video to show how Relto pages work:

I assume the text I put in the video is probably blurred to high heaven so here's the (more detailed) info: I'll be making lots of Relto Pages and hiding them throughout Skyrim. When you read a page for the first time, it adds the items for that page to Relto, which weren't there initially. In the video, the Blacksmithing page adds a forge, smelter, and other items to a previously empty area. You can read it again if you don't like the items to turn them off (not shown in the video); then later if you decide you want them back, you can read it again to turn them back on, and so on. Currently, it's set up so that the Relto Pages cannot be activated while in Relto so that players don't accidentally activate something where they are standing, which might kill them.

Happy Exploring!
Katelin

Relto Pages and Linking Video

 In Uru, there are hidden items you can find called "Relto Pages." Once taken, these pages can be activated/deactivated to turn features on/off in Relto. Today I have successfully added this type of feature to Relto For Skyrim! I'll be using this for Skyrim-specific items for Relto. The easiest to obtain will be the crafting stations, since those are something most players want at their player homes (but they'll still have to find them!). I have lots of ideas for other Relto Pages, but I won't be listing any out here at this time so it doesn't spoil for anyone who wants to find them and be surprised.

Also, this isn't new, but here is a video to show Linking in action:

Happy Exploring!
Katelin

Overview

Introduction

Relto For Skyrim is a player home mod for Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. It is a tribute to Relto Island from Cyan Entertainment's Uru: Ages Beyond Myst. The premise is that the player owns a book that, when interacted with, acts as a portal that sends the player to an island home.

I am a huge fan of Uru, and I especially love the concept of Relto Island. I also love to play Skyrim, and for a long time I wished to roleplay my Uru persona in Skyrim. I felt that the closest way of doing that (aside from pure imagination) was to have access to Relto from Skyrim, so I decided to make a mod that does just that. By no means will it be an exact replica of Cyan's Relto Island; the final product will be a mix of my own interpretation of how my Relto would look, and what I am actually capable of producing from scratch and from what's available in the official Skyrim modding tools.

With Relto For Skyrim, players can roleplay that their Uru persona is now exploring Skyrim; maybe Yeesha requested it, maybe they wrote Nirn themselves, maybe they just found the linking book somewhere in D'ni. Alternatively, players can roleplay that their Skyrim persona discovered a mysterious book that takes them to an unknown, abandoned island in the sky.

Relto For Skyrim is a portable player home mod. The Relto linking book is carried in the inventory, so the player always has a teleport to their home island, which will contain all the amenities that a true Skyrim adventurer needs. However, in the spirit of exploration, many of the features will need to be discovered in the form of Relto pages, which can be found throughout Skyrim and other locations in the vanilla game.

Current State of the Mod

Relto For Skyrim is still in an early alpha state, meaning I won't even make it available for testing for quite some time. Everything currently in the mod may change drastically before it even reaches beta, so don't worry too much if something is not that good of quality yet or missing (but please feed free to give feedback/criticism/suggestions, because I may very well overlook things, and there are plenty of creative ideas that I won't think of on my own).

The following sections detail the current development stage of various aspects of the mod. 

Complete

These items are 100% complete and working as intended after testing. No other changes are planned or expected.

• None yet.

In Testing

These items are complete and working as intended for the most part, but changes are planned or expected as testing commences.

• None yet.

Incomplete

These items are still in development and have many changes planned before they are released for testing.

• Relto Island: the main landmass is in, but it will change drastically as I add more to the island. The areas with the most work done are the mountain/pool area and the docks. The mountain/pool area is coming along well. The dock area I am unsure what to do with to make it more interesting. There is one weird bug where giant squares of LOD water are loading in the distance behind the island (although it might not matter once I figure out how to add a fog under/around the island).
• Portable Relto linking book: currently, this teleports the player from their current location to the 0, 0 coordinates on Relto when the book is opened/read. It includes a linking sound, a fade to black when linking out, and a fade in from black when linking in. I might add a message box asking if the player wishes to link or not, but only if people tend to open it on accident. I might also add a script to save the player's current location when not in Relto, so that when the book is used in Relto the player is returned to that previous location instead of re-linking in Relto (the Black Books in the Dragonborn DLC have this function somewhere in their script). The portable Relto linking book is working wonderfully so far, but there are many scenarios yet to be tested; for example, I haven't yet tested to see if followers will link with the player or not.
• Static linking books: links between Relto and Skyrim are working great. I plan to retexture the book models and move their locations. I would like to place one Skyrim-to-Relto static linking book somewhere inconspicuous (as it is only intended to be used in case some issue arises with the portable Relto book, so that players can get their stuff from Relto without worrying about console commands). The Relto-to-Skyrim linking book is currently on a table at the docks, but I'll eventually move it to a pedestal, probably inside the Relto hut (once the hut is made).
• Firemarbles: firemarbles are textured with a color that matches the color of light they cast. Currently available colors are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, and white. Firemarbles held by the player cast the correct color light, but the model loads at the player's feet rather than in the hand, so I will be looking into this to see how to fix it. Firemarbles that load with the world cast the correct color light, but when picked up and dropped they sometimes lose the light, although it seems to return upon reloading the area (this may be an issue with the Skyrim engine that I have no control over).
• Kadish butterflies: a Skyrim Monarch butterfly is retextured to resemble the Kadish butterflies in Uru. They can be captured for their wings for use in alchemy. I haven't decided yet on the four alchemy traits; currently they are Resist Magic and Fortify Heath/Magicka/Stamina. One suggested alchemy trait is Waterbreathing instead of Resist Magic. (Now that I'm typing this, I think maybe I should use mercantile/speech related effects.) Bethesda chose an interesting way to do their butterflies/moths. It seems that the Luna Moth model/texture is used as a base for the two butterflies, but the Monarch leaves off the tail on the live model but keeps it for the wings in the inventory. And for some reason, the texture is flipped upside-down on the live model. So, I think I'm going to re-do it and use the Blue Butterfly as the base texture, instead of the Monarch, and just let the Kadish butterfly have a tail.

Early Development

Some work has begun on these items, but they are still mostly conceptual. Significant changes are expected.

• Firemarble fabricator: a firemarble crafting device. The player places raw materials into a feed box. Specific recipes yield a corresponding color of firemarble, which can be taken from a product box. I am still working on the design, but it will consist mostly of existing Skyrim Dwemer items (I do quite like those animated gears). I am still determining what the recipes should be for each color of firemarble. I haven't yet looked into how to make a new type of crafting station (although I might be able to modify the Spider-Scroll crafting station from the Dragonborn DLC...boy that DLC is full of useful stuff :-D), so I'm sure I'll run into days of hair-pulling frustration once I do.
• Relto hut: I have created a basic model in Blender, but I am still learning how to texture it and export it to NifScope etc. to get it into the Creation Kit. I will need many chocolates before this is all over.

No Work Started

These items are concepts that are planned to be in the mod, but no work has begun yet.

• Catherine's robes: retexture an existing Skyrim robe model to resemble Catherine's robes. Still debating on potential enchantment/trait.
• Kadish robes: retexture an existing Skyrim robe model. Still debating on potential enchantment/trait (probably mercantile in nature).
•  Rivenese dagger: make a new model and texture for a dagger than can be used as a weapon. Still debating on potential enchantment/trait.
• Squabbie the pink Mudcrab (Quab) follower: retexture a Mudcrab to be pink and  set as an essential animal follower that can do a little bit of damage to enemies and carry some items for the player. I have successfully created this for fun in the past so I know I can recreate it. I'll probably make a standalone mod for Squabbie as well. If I am capable, I would like to one day make a an actual quab-like model.
• Custom Relto climate/sky: create a new climate and sky specifically for Relto. Day, night, and possibly rain; I want to keep it simple. It currently is using the Sovengarde climate.
• Fog/clouds and forced teleport:: keep the mystery of Relto by adding clouds/fog below/around the island so that the player cannot see below, and force a teleport back onto the island if trying to jump off.
• Hawks: add a couple of default Skyrim hawks circling in the sky. Maybe include a nest atop the mountain for anyone who can climb it.
• Firemarble lanterns: lanterns on Relto with firemarbles as light sources (new meshes/textures).
• Relto pages: Hide various Relto pages throughout Skyrim, Soltheim, etc. that add Tamriel-specific things to Relto. Best use would be for adding crafting areas (blacksmithing, enchanting, alchemy, maybe also the firemarble fabricator since it will be made of Dwemer items).
• Continued overall improvements to Relto: continue to add foliage, more finalized landscaping, static items, storage, etc. Add some of the "plantable" locations a la Hearthfire where you can plant flora to harvest. Add a more "liveable" area, probably below the Relto hut accessible via trapdoor, with beds, dressers, etc., with room for spouse, adopted children, and followers.

On Hold

These items were in a higher phase of development but have been put on hold indefinitely.

• None yet.

Scrapped

These items were in a higher phase of development but are no longer being considered for the mod.

• None yet.

Suggestions

Following are suggestions given for the mod which are up for consideration:

• Dwemer style boat at the Relto docks as a method of travel between Relto and Skyrim.
• Waterbreathing alchemy trait for Kadish Butterfly Wings.

Screenshots

Portable Relto linking book

Firemarbles

 

Firemarbles in inventory

Kadish Butterfly

Kadish Butterfly Wings in inventory

Mountain/pool area

Dock area

Squabbie! (old image, I have to re-make her)

Closing Thoughts

Updates and mod progress will be slow, but hopefully steady, as I do work a full-time job and adamantly refuse to miss out on daily exercise time (among other things), so this is entirely done with what little free time I have. However, I am quite determined to finish this mod, and so far I am loving working on it. I hope other Uru players who also play Skyrim will enjoy this, and I also hope that it can bring in some interest to Uru (and MOUL) from people who haven't played it before.

Again: suggestions, feedback, and criticisms are welcome and encouraged! And remember: "The ending has not yet been written."

Regards,
Katelin