Sunday 18 March 2018

The Caldera Concept.

18th March 2018

Amazingly enough calling the last post "My big black cock" really made a difference when it comes to traffic. So firstly, welcome to everyone that visited expecting something other than a weather vein.

Caldera took a nice turn yesterday with the completion of the Mages Guild tower and I also managed to remake Shenk's shovel to look something like the style of concept I had in mind.


This was the pub (a local pub called the Old Wellington. Ever in Manchester I suggest you try a swift one in here) I wanted but due to restrictions in the game (size/ doorways etc) I ended up with this;


This isn't completely finished yet as I would like a similar texture on the apex as the one in the real pub and of course I will be adding more windows to the model itself.

Ghorak Manor or the Governors Mansion? That is the question and this is the concept art I have for... one of them.







Not even sure if this would make sense in Caldera but then again nothing else does anyway. The governors mansion appears to be a random throwing together of blocks mixed with Imperial models and the rest of the time is a mixture of Nord and common houses. Thatched roofs appear next to fully tiles ones and fireplaces are present without chimneys or the other way around.

.

Friday 16 March 2018

My Big Black Cock.

16th March 2018

So. Caldera. Still plugging away at it and finally have some models in place. Not finished the shading yet as I haven't decided on how dark the timber should be.

On a bright note I did add a weather cock to the scene.


This is just in the editor of course and hopefully the game will look a damn site better. At least I got you wondering :D

Back still hurts like hell. Physio on Monday but I did manage to get my old glasses fixed so at least I can see the damn screen now! 

Spec Savers managed to fook up my new ones by putting my reading and seeing lenses in upside down. Have a wait another week before I can see bus numbers!


Wednesday 14 March 2018

Stephen Hawkings Day.

14th March 2018

In the early hours of this morning a great man passed away. A man that over come a terrible disease that took away all the things we take for granted. A real man of the people.  

If you haven't already seen the film of his life then I strongly suggest you do. The theory of everything, starring Eddie Redmayne was fantastic. British stiff upper lip and that carry on regardless thing we have, really shines through.

All his great achievements in science aside I personally think his ability to retain a sense of humour and laugh in the face of adversity was his most outstanding achievement of all.

Rather than me (big) banging on about him, here are a few video's instead;










A truly amazing man of our time. Rest in peace Stephen Hawkings. Mankind will miss you.


Monday 12 March 2018

12th March 2018

Tried work on Friday. Not a great move. Spent the weekend reading my Kindle, not being able to sit at my precious at all. Finished Sharpe's Tiger though so not all bad and halfway through Sharpe's Triumph.

Alas today I woke feeling much better after the rest.It appears that my physio appointment should turn up as my neck is better... typical.

Managed to do a bit on my beloved Caldera which always make me happy. 




These models are much harder than you think!

Tried my hand (I say me but really I mean BadLuckBurt and myself) at making some new textures but as ever I'm hopeless at it. BLB did give me the base designs I wanted but overlaying them on a make shift stucco I made didn't turn out 100% as I wanted.




It looks better on the model. Honestly. Although of course it will have to be made properly. Hopefully by someone else. Any takers?

Enough of my Caldera. Now I must mention some really important stuff I've just been chatting to Melchior with on his wonderful Discord channel Lyithdonea.

Waffles. What can be more important than waffles? I'll tell you. Placing them in a gun and firing them at people and creatures. Awesome. Check this out and see just how twisted he really is.

Waffle Warfare



This man needs therapy :D











Wednesday 7 March 2018

7th March 2018, Already...

Alright. What happened to February? It was right here when I went to bed and now it's gone. I can't remember it doing that so much when I was younger. 

The last few months have been hell on Earth for me. Started with the flue just before Xmas which prevented me drinking copious amounts of alcoholic beverages and stuffing my face. I know I don't believe in the whole Xmas spirit and all that but the wife loves it. Lucky for me the kids hate it as well and we enter the period with all the lustre of a man walking the green mile.

This year was slightly different. My first Xmas as a Grandfather and my first Xmas actually married to my long suffering "woman in the wings". Even with those things in place to ramp up the Xmas cheer and the fact my son had bought me the only Xmas present I actually wanted, Christmas RAM, I still couldn't find any enthusiasm to listen to Wham and send pieces of cardboard with Robins printed on them to my neighbours.

 The old ball and chain was all excited about it though and had me embarking on the yearly excursion from the attic to the living room with all manor of green, red and gold tensely things and plastic snowmen and the like.

New Year came and went and I got colic. Not for a day, oh no. For the entire month of January rendering me irritable, grumpy and short tempered. Or as my son would say. Normal. Again I was off the beer before I could even get a sniff in after my bout of Christmas flue. Terrific.

As the colic left me I returned to work, taking on the small and simple job of a bit of plastering in a pub. Sounds better than it was. Yes I had the keys to a pub. Yes I could get in the beer cellar but wait, no beer, no pumps, no heavily bosom-ed bar maids and did I mention no beer? Needless to say I soldiered through the misery and finished the job, only to wake up to the back from hell. Normally a job that leaves me with a bit of an achy shoulder left me almost incapable of movement. Tore the muscles in the back of my neck I did. Don't advise it if anyone is considering it. It fookin' hurts.

The flue, the colic, yes they were horrible but at least they allowed me to sit right here and mod the wonderful game which is Morrowind. The neck thing, not so much. 10 minutes of sitting made me feel like I had been beaten with a stick. Not just any stick either but a big fook off stick.

I'm hoping, touch wood, that the rest of the year will vastly improve and I can get back to work and modding. This sucks. 2018. Fook off! 

Anyway. Still can't get back into the Dwemer Rebirth Project and I'm currently playing with ideas for a better Caldera. Mostly because I remember growing up in a village that reminded me of it.




In fact the entire place had a feel of Morrowind. This ruin is just behind that row of shops




And of course, no self respecting English village would be complete without a castle.




Along with the forests, woods, steams and rivers, the old Tudor buildings, the ruins of an Abbey, the Norman castle and later of course the English country pubs we had witches.

Not just any witches. Pendle witches. The ones where all the stories come from and the ones where we get the insult "nutter" (Alice Nutter was one of the witches tried and executed).

To further push my reasoning for loving Caldera and indeed Morrowind itself, this place was less than a mile away from my front door;





Does that scream Morrowind or what? 

Enough ramblings for now. I have no idea how I went from my Christmas woes to my wonderful childhood but there you go. Say what you're thinking I guess. Till next time. 






Friday 2 March 2018

2nd March 2018

Yesterday was St. David's day. A day people will only know because Google told them. How sad. 

No Welsh flags flying outside the pubs, No giant leeks made out of canvas and stuffed with fluff in a sweat shop in China and certainly no Welsh beer on. Not a mention of how the Welsh longbows kicked the Frenches arses on many a battlefield and definitely no daffodils in peoples lapels.

Yet. In a couple of weeks it will be St. Patrick's day. The pubs will be green with flags, Guinness and Murphy's will flow from the pumps like water and everyone will dress up in oversized leprechaun hats and silly ginger wigs. The worst part about this entire fiasco is the fact that most of these people will be English. Wankers.

The Paddy's have done nothing but fight against England since day one, even though their island is only still afloat because of them. Wales supplied the coal for the industrial revolution, the iron for the machinery, the timber for the buildings. It's been a test ground for nuclear plants and many other demented government plans. Also let us not forget Terry Jones, Richard Burton and Sir Anthony Hopkins to name but a few.

In short. Why the fook do we care so much about St. Paddy's day anyway? They can kiss my blarney stone.

Well that's my take/ rant about the fact no one seems to care about Wales or the Welsh. I feel the need now to complain about my back, or, as the doctors tell me, my neck. Inflamed muscles they say. Can't sit at my precious computer and moan for very long or make models or even mod my beautiful Morrowind.

Saying that. I am in the middle of making a Tudor house in ten minute spurts then back to lying flat on my back and reading my books. May just have to make this one on Twitch. Simple though they are to make, I suppose they can be interesting and it gives me a sense of purpose.

Right I'm off. Have to get my back flat and read my Sharpe books for a bit.



I've neglected Morrowind once again! The neck went wonky and I couldn't sit here wasting my life but...I did get a chance to finish ...