"Speedy, agile, athletic...all good traits for the would-be thief. Some races may be better natural thieves, but not many, and not by much."

"Hmmm, I don't think that's going to work... the shield is held in the left arm, so the horse's head will be off to one side. Plus the shield gets put away when you ready magic, and it's carried at your side when you don't have your weapon drawn. And of course, in third person it won't work at all.
I don't think there's going to be any way to add horses using the editor. There's too much special animation required, as well as too many changes to the code regarding collision, AI, mounted vs unmounted combat, etc. Heck, it's something we're not putting in because it'll have too great an impact on the schedule and budget, so that should give you a clue as to what it would take to do it right.

Sorry I brought up third person. I'm sorry if it annoys you! Personally, I explore and do melee combat in third person, and then switch to first person to do things like shoot projectile weapons & targeted spells, investigate objects, loot corpses, etc. I like the greater field of view third person provides and I like seeing my character.

YMMV, of course.

But even if you stay in first person, I don't think the shield idea will work, because of the way shields work in the game."

"hi and whatnot
you need 3d studio max and a paint program that will save in either bmp or tga format. you wont be able to model in the editor, but all the buildings/dungeons etc are made from multiple pieces that snap together"

"you can rotate objects in the editor on all axis. "

"yes! i am still reading these - i didnt realize i would get such a huge response! you've all got really great ideas, some of which are already being used, to some degree. its always good to hear what the players would like. just a note, the actual spells are already in the game, and have been for quite some time but i will keep checking here as long as you all keep posting. thanks to all!"

"Basically, the limit *is* your hard drive space.
The game will also do it's initial load slower if you add more land.

Some small parts of the land (like the names of cells) also take RAM, but this is relatively small. Other than that, the land isn't loaded when you're not in that area.

Again, keep in mind that landscape takes more data than anything else. This is irrelevant if you want to play by yourself, but can be a problem if you want other people to download your mods."

"I've taken screenshots of just about all these areas. Many of them are being held for print/web articles. A few of the more recent screenshots were taken in dungeons with some creatures. Thanks for the requests. I'll keep checking for more."

"They're not hiding anything that I know of. You won't be able to afford the good stuff, though. At least not at first."

"you fire spells much the same way as you use weapons, except that you wont see them until you click the mouse. then... WHAM! "

"Testing.

Well, mostly testing."

"refining often takes as much time as is available to the artist. once object X is in game, it can be remapped, or even rebuilt without breaking the game (if all goes well!) or something can be recoded to be more efficient. it doesnt mean it wouldnt have worked a month ago, it just means that now it will work/look much better."

"FYI: My computers at home and here at work both have Win2k. Morrowind runs fine if you have Service Pack 2 and an nVidia card.
If you don't have SP2, get SP2.

Historically, only nVidia has released good drivers for non-Win9x users, so if you own such a card, use Win2k at your own risk."

"Sure! Just load one of the many window models from our art pool into the door tab in the editor and viola! You now have a window that acts just like every other door in the game."

"(after thinking it over a bit...)
Yeah, *that's* an informed statement...*rolls eyes*. ;-p Who says it takes any time to debug it at all? Who ever said it even needed debug time? Why would something non-programming related even need debugging? How do you know it's not in the game already? *If* it isn't, how do you know that we didn't try it, and then decide it wasn't a good idea?

I cannot stress this enough...we are all hardcore gamers here at Bethesda. We 110% want all (and many more) of the same things you all want in your favorite games. We work our *butts* off to try and incorporate those things that we love and care about. If we don't put something in, it's not because we don't have the capability or experience or desire...it's simply because of the constraints of money and time. I hate it too, but like it or not, that's how mass market games reach the fans and gamers. We are spending 14+ hours a day trying to complete our schedules which include the things that *absolutely* have to go in the game. It's unfortunate, but that often leaves little leftover time to include the 'wouldn't it be cool if...?' features. As to what qualifies a 'cool' feature and a 'required' feature...well...that's left to people who know better...the people who have made games before and who have seen what does and doesn't work...and those who have an inkling as to how all of these complex sub-systems need to work together in a smoothly flowing interactive narration...not to mention keeping the devs. on the same page. Not someone with a FAQ and a few screenshots as their concrete, evidence against proper game design.

In all honesty, I've rarely seen (although this trend is changing for the better) developers such as the ones here at Bethesda that give as much as they do to their fans. I completely feel that we've been more than fair and open in sharing the development process with you all. It really discourages that communication and sharing when the response is one of insult and pointless blind accusation and negativity.

Just my $0.02. Of course, these are forums...say whatever you want, however you want (within certain reason). Just stop and think a bit about the view from the other side of the opinion. That alone helps a great deal in shaping Morrowind into a beautiful, immersive, and fun RPG worthy of the Elder Scrolls name."

"You won't be able to create new script commands. And it has nothing to do with NetImmerse -- in fact, most of the game has nothing to do with NetImmerse. NI is used as the graphics engine, but while many of the game systems may touch upon that, for the most part the game systems are independent of the graphics engine.
You would have to have the source code to the game in order to add new script commands. It would be very similar in concept if not execution to adding new reserved words to C++. But hopefully you'll be able to do everything you want to do with the script commands we provide. "

"Depends on what the script command does. If there's already functionality in the game to do what the script command is gonna do, it's pretty easy to add new commands. Otherwise, the more new functionality required, obviously the longer it'll take to add."

"Just a clarification/reminder, we're looking for visual effects, not new spell effects. We've already got all the spells the game is going to have (don't worry, there's a lot of them, and a single spell can have up to 8 spell effects!)
Here's the terminology we're using just to clarify things a little further:

spell effect: modifies an attribute or skill, summons a weapon or creature, casts light, etc. There are LOTS of spell effects in the game, but that number is fixed and cannot be modified. The spell effects are divided into the six schools of magic: Conjuration, Destruction, Restoration, Illusion, Alteration and Mysticism.

spell: a spell is a combination of 1 to 8 spell effects. Spells can be cast by magic users who "know" the spell. They can also be cast from scrolls, enchanted items, or by consuming potions. There are hundreds of spells in the game and you can easily add new ones using the editor. Also, spells, scrolls, enchantments and potions can be created in-game if you have the skills (and you can buy scrolls, enchanted items and potions).

visual effects: Each spell effect has up to four standard visual effects: Cast (plays around the spell caster), Hit (plays around the spell target), Bolt (if it's a ranged spell, this is the "fireball") and Area (if the spell encompasses an area, this effect plays over that area). In addition, some spell effects have "special" visual effects, such as soul trap & the summon creature spell effects, due to the unique nature of those spell effects. This is the area we're currently revamping.

So there you have it. We're looking for ideas for the visuals. Great stuff so far!"

"Just for the record, it's not because it's "too difficult" that mounts aren't in the game. When you design a game (or any software for that matter), trade-offs have to be made balancing features, budget and schedule. You simply cannot have unlimited features, unless you have an unlimited budget and an unlimited amount of time to implement them. Morrowind has many, many features that make it an amazing game. Would mounts have been nice to have? Of course! But it would have added a significant amount of time to the schedule and money to the budget. Or we would have had to sacrifice some other feature (or set of features) in order to fit mounts in. And so a decision was made, very early in development, not to include that particular feature.

We have a really amazing team here, one that is more than capable of implementing mounts (or anything else, for that matter) in the game. But these things take time and money, and the development schedule and budget were not put together with mounts in mind. So, no mounts in Morrowind.

Besides, I'm sure you want to see Morrowind in the Spring like we've announced."

"Actually, they have .mp3s. But they still have non-voice dialogue. Lip-synching is automatic. You don't need special animations if just want them to talk.
You can check if you have a soulgem with a specific creature or type of creature, but it requires scripting. Ditto on adding or removing soulgems with specific creatures from the player's inventory.

And the other feature you requested is called a "journal." Press the "J" key. It has a cool feature which is very useful andI can't talk about even now.

Most quests have no deadline.

P.S. Juuragrix actually follow the rules for Daedric names."

"no tracking missles, sorry. but since we've got some extra time here, feel free to post any ideas for visual fx
/commence imagining"

"im taking advantage of the delay to revamp some of the spell fx. ive posted a request for ideas in the other thread, but i thought id repeat it here, also. no promises to implement anything, but id like to hear your thoughts on the visual fx youd like to see. two parameters: you have to see through it in first person mode, and it has to look good in mid-air as well as on the ground.
happy thinking!"

"And not only that, the popup does not appear if you're in combat with an NPC or creature. It appears only if you can "activate" the item -- such as opening a door, looting a corpse, examining the contents of a container, picking up an item, or striking up a conversation with an NPC. And since NPC's and creatures you're in combat with are not interested in discussion and are not dead, no popups appear.
The popups work quite well in the game. If you don't like them, do as Nonsanity says -- turn the delay way up. The option window is only a couple clicks away, so it's not like you have to quit the game to adjust it."

"most clothes are. you can take all the clothes off your character and still not be completly nekkid. sorry boys "

"interiors are loaded separately. you could use a teleport door to go to the next lowest level of your dungeon. if you create a different cell for each level of dungeon, you could have different water levels from just puddles to completely submerged. also you can adjust the lighting separately. doing it that way, as opposed to creating all the levels in one cell, will also allow you to use more polygons and have a greater degree of control over the environment. it really is quite easy to figure out how to do what you want once you have the editor in front of you.
as for terrain, there is no desert, but there is a wasteland. a desert region wouldnt be difficult to make in the editor, however. just load your custom sand, rock whatever texture in the editor, and simply paint it on the terrain. if you know how to use Max, simply create your own plantlife and export, or use some of ours."

"Any other reactions on that screen-shot?
I don't want to give things away but I'm always interested in reactions, even if what you are reacting to isn't what we have right now. Gut feedback is helpful for interface design.

I will say that the map doesn't look like that anymore. "

"There are 7 total videos that were included in the Art of Magic game, Morrowind Video Preview CD. These are the movies that are now appearing each week on the Elder Scrolls website.

4 Movies are about the Morrowind game itself, the other 3 are related to the TES Construction Set."

"all i can say for certain is that my work computer is a p2-600 with a gf2 and 256 ram running win2k, plus a nice fat hd. if you have less than this i cant help you "

"And my card isn't even as good as smudgy's, and the game still looks purty."

"You can't get spells to trigger scripts. You CAN get scripts to trigger spells, though."

"Let me clarify a bit... You can't make a spell that triggers a script...

But you can make a script that reacts to spellcasting.

Suppose Bob has a horrible disease. You are given a quest to cure Bob. You can make a script that does something as soon as Bob no longer has a disease (i.e. the player cast a cure spell on Bob).

code:
-----------------
if ( GetSpell "horrible disease" == 0 )
   ;since the disease lasts forever, we assume the player cured him...
   Do stuff here
endif
-----------------
You could do something like the old Daggerfall "Do you know the first circinate spell sleep? _Noble hasn't been able to sleep for six days." You have to cast a sleep spell on her...

But Morrowind's version would work better in that she would actually fall down (not "She is so tired she falls asleep on her feet!"), and you could check several conditions to determine if the quest succeeds... Like "GetSpellEffects" for drain fatigue or damage fatigue... Or if you wanted to be able to knock her unconscious and still succeed at the quest, just check if her Fatigue drops below 1."

"magic is being overhauled, so chances are you wont see it for awhile."

"I don't know if you can turn them off completely or not. They are on a time-delay like windows help pop-ups, so if you don't like them, you could set the delay high...
They are sometimes intrusive, but often useful. We're still arguing occationally over what should and should not be in the pop-up."

"I don't want to give away too much on what role the various Daedra Princes will be playing in Morrowind. They have a presence, and there will be some interesting and rewarding interaction for the intrepid adventurer. After all, there's gotta be a way to pick up some of those sweet artifacts. "

"not necessarily. todd has said that there may or may not be a public beta. we have a company lined up to test for us, and of course theres always internal testing. no point in stopping the sucking up, though "

"No new wallpaper this week. I'm looking to change them up and do a new "theme" for them, hopefully starting next week
I deleted your double post for you Hungry Donner.

All of the mirror sites should have the new video up any minute. I gave it to them in advance to get it ready, since you guys slammed the servers last week. I hope the smaller WMV file let's more people get it."