Description

The noble night Aegir Brondolf had fallen. For many years his grand castle has remained un-claimed. Are you ready to claim it for your own? This spacious castle is located off the north-east coast of Solstheim. The castle itself offers many living and exploratory areas, including:

-A great hall
-Kitchen
-Servants quarters
-Study
-Dance Hall
-Amory and Training Rooms
-Weapons Display Room
-Imperial Shrine
-Greenhouse
-Laboratory
-Bathroom
-The Lady’s Chambers (complete with room sized closet)
-The Master’s Chambers
-Private Study
-Wine Cellar
-Guest Chambers
-Planetarium
-Summoning Room
-Captain’s Quarters
-Indoor Pool Room
-Trophy Room and Menagerie

There are also other services and excitement to be found within the castle’s grounds or in the neighboring village. One can find such things as:

-A general goods store (Which sells most of the new miscellaneous and food items I have added.)
-A tavern
-A merchant hall
-Guard Quarters
-Fully explore-able castle walls and gate houses.
-There is even a surprise for those characters with an evil side.

So how do you find Solstheim Castle? Travel arrangements can be made from Dagon Fell or Fort Frostmoth. Such expensive living does not come free however! You must complete a short quest in order to obtain the key to entering the castle.

If running a castle or spending time at the local tavern become too much for you, there is also a small forested island and barrow to explore. There are also two small side quests available for those that choose to take them.

Features

*Travel services by ship to and from the castle.

*Fast travel to the castle by a special scroll. This scroll can be activated by equipping it and exiting your inventory.

*Extensive night and day schedules for the castle servants, villagers, and a few of the castle’s pet inhabitants. The merchant doors will even lock at night. A few special surprises await those who take the time to explore both during the day, and during the night.

*Merchants who offer goods and services.

*An alchemy lab with jars and sorting service available for all ingredients from Morrowind, Tribunal, and Bloodmoon.

*The planetarium offers a rotating star dome, with rotating moons. There is also a fully interactive dwemer telescope.

*The laboratory also offers observation of some dwemer inhabitants.

*The wine cellar offers the player the ability to make wine if they have the proper ingredients.

*There is an imperial shrine available, if you need it.

*There are several playable instruments in the castle.

*The castle’s grounds are protected by two fully operational gates.

*The maid will pour you a bath if you ask her. Until you do, the bathtub will remain empty. The bath she pours you has healing effects.

*The butler will offer you a drink of your choice, whenever you like!

*The stable and barnyard are complete with animals such as chickens, cows, pigs, and horses. If you wish to bring your own animals to the stables, the stable offers gates that will open and close.

*The Menagerie offers you the chance to watch Bloodmoon’s creatures in safety.

*The pool room offers you the chance to swim with a multitude of exotic fish.

*3 short quests...including one to obtain the castle itself.

*There is a dance hall with very special and classy ballerinas. The ballerinas have companion share, and will wear whatever outfits you choose for them. Don’t be alarmed if you come back and your ballerina is gone, she is merely in the servants’ quarters, resting her feet! She will back in the morning with your items. One solitary musician plays, so it’s a very quite atmosphere. Several visitors may come to view the show.

*The Master’s chambers features a balcony that looks out onto the great hall.

*The Lady’s chambers features a room sized closet complete with two mannequins, display cases, and plenty of storage.

*22 Male and Female Imperial Mannequins throughout the castle. These mannequins are not made of wood or stone, and if you have a body mod installed, these mannequins will use that body mod. No more wishing your clothing would fit your mannequins correctly!

*Animated practice dummies that will re-spawn.

*Re-locking chests at several lock levels to train your skills.

*There are musicians in the great hall, who will play you a song if you ask them nice enough.

*The cook can offer you a recipe book filled with recipes written by members of the Official Elder Scrolls Forums.

*Be on the look out for abnormal or hidden doors!

*24 display cases

*A pirate themed tavern. This lovely tavern offers services and entertainment such as: buy or sell spirits and food, recruit a companion, request songs from the musicians while you watch the dancers spin, gamble your money away with a game of shells, bet on bar fights, or rent a bed from a drunken pirate!

*A "usable" ballista, although you might not like the reaction to it's use!

*Necessities of Morrowind Compatibility (see proper section below).

 

So What Has Changed Since Version 1?

-A splash screen has been included in the archive.

-An optional esp has been included. This esp will update the face and hair of the male companion if used. He will now be younger, and more attractive. Requires the beauty pack. (More information below)

-Scripts that where attached to attacking NPCs were changed slightly to fix a bug that was causing the NPCs to die suddenly when under attack by high level players.

-The script attached to the Captain was modified, so if at any time his health reaches 0 you will receive a journal entry, thus allowing you to finish the quest. I do not recommend killing him before the quest, and I do not offer support if this action is taken.

-Dialogue was added to the night versions of the Pawnbroker and Armorer. If you are undergoing their quest, they will now acknowledge it at night...however, you may find they do not wish to speak of it at night.

-A missing dialogue filter was added to avoid the armorer constantly giving you the reward at the end of the quest.

-The dancers throughout the castle had a few stat changes: The ballerinas had their unarmored skills adjusted to 20. The Master's Dancer had her armor skills set to 100.

-North Markers in the village homes where adjusted.

-The water fall in Ripplewood Grove was adjusted. Apparently, a video card issue causes some people to see the waterfall uphill, and some as it flowing down hill. However, my new video card showed it as flowing uphill, so I have adjusted the water fall.

-A few statics where moved, I won't bore you with the list, but if you really want to know what ones I moved...feel free to email me!

-During the mod creation process I had accidently renamed the light "light_com_candle_07_77" to "zz". This was causing a few people to receive error messages. I have renamed the light to it's original name. No lights have been deleted from existing cells.

-The study has received more lighting.

-I fixed a problem with a pig that was making some un-pig-like noises.

-I readjusted a gaurd on one of the village boats so he no longer floated over the boat.

 

Recommended Settings

Solstheim castle uses some exterior lighting. However, there is a problem with the default Morrowind lighting. To compensate, I have adjusted my .ini (Morrowind Configurations file) settings. It is not required, but I would like to recommend the .ini light settings used. I have adjusted the castle’s ambient lightings to compensate, and have spent many long hours creating the ambient effects within the castle. Also, if the .ini settings are left as default, there will be some exterior lighting glitches at night. I will not respond to inquiries or complaints about lighting if the default settings are in use, as there is no way I can fix them without deleting the exterior lights. The recommended lighting setting will increase your FPS slightly in game, and also improves (in my opinion) the look of the game’s lighting in general.

Here is the original section for lighting in the Morrowind.ini file:

UseLinear=1
LinearMethod=1
LinearValue=3.0
LinearRadiusMult=1.0
;
UseQuadratic=0
QuadraticMethod=2
QuadraticValue=16.0
QuadraticRadiusMult=1.0

Here are my recommended settings for the castle:

UseLinear=0
LinearMethod=1
LinearValue=3.0
LinearRadiusMult=1.0
;
UseQuadratic=1
QuadraticMethod=2
QuadraticValue=16.0
QuadraticRadiusMult=1.4

If you want your game to be lighter or darker, feel free to adjust this line to your desire:

QuadraticRadiusMult=1.4

 

Installation

If You are using the full version (single download):

"Solstheim_Castle_v1.exe" (47mb)

This is the combined set of files for the castle. Place the archive in your Morrowind directory before extracting. Double click on the archive,
or right click and select "extract here". The files will self install into the
proper folders within your Data Files directory.

After installing make sure to enable the plugin in the Morrowind Launcer/Data Files menu.

If you are using the segmented versions (multiple downloads):

Please make sure you download all of the following:

"Solstheim_Castle_Meshes.exe" (11mb)
"Solstheim_Castle_Textures.exe" (14mb)
"Solstheim_Castle_Music_Sound.exe" (22mb)
"Solstheim_Castle_Icons.exe" (121kb)
"Solstheim_Castle_Esps.exe" (516kb)

Extract the files for each archive into your Morrowind/Data Files directory.

The mod will be missing files and may not load correctly if you do not download and install all 5 sections. A copy of this readme is included in each archive.

After installing make sure to enable the plugin in the Morrowind Launcer/Data Files menu.

An optional esp has been included. This esp (Clean_SCastle_Halvart_Beauty.esp) will update the face and hair of the male companion if used. He will now be younger, and more attractive. Requires the beauty pack. This esp needs to load after the castle esp, or the new face and hair will not show. I have also removed his bear helm. (The companion may be found in the village bar.)

A patch has been included for use with both Solstheim Castle and the White Wolf of LoKKen Mtn, by Emma. Please do not use the Scastle_LoKKen Patch without running both of these mods!

Please do not attempt to use the patch for v1 with the v1.1 esp.
Known Issues & Comments

*There may be some FPS hits in the outside cells, and some interiors, depending on the level of machine you are playing the game on. The reason for this is that there are a lot of items in these cells, some of them rather large. I will not redesign the castle to accommodate for those having FPS problems. I recommend optimizing your game if you have a problem with FPS in some spots. I apologize for the inconvenience, but please do not contact me regarding FPS problems.

*I've received a few reports of the gates sinking into the ground. The scripts have been examined, and at this point we do not know what is causing this to happen, and we cannot reproduce it. To get the gate working correctly again, try opening the console, clicking on the gate & typing "setatstart"

*The ballerinas in the dance hall might bump into the walls on occasion. It is an occasional animation glitch, and we've done our best to accommodate.

*One tester had some occasional crashing when asking the bar musicians to play. We cannot seem to reproduce the problem, so the cause is unknown. The bar musicians should work fine for 99.9% of players.

*Once out of literally 100 times testing it a display case lid rose up when entering the weapons display room. This happened one time for one tester as well. The cause is unknown.

*The music that the castle musicians play is really quiet. This was intentional, and will not be fixed so that they are like the bar musicians, so please do not ask. They will not physically play their instruments until asked to do so.

*Future quests are in planning for the village.

*As mentioned in the changes made to v1.1, the downhill steams/watefalls have been a source of debate. Some people say they are flowing uphill, others say that they are flowing downhill. A forum member did some research for me involving different video cards, and has informed me he most likely thinks the problem relates to the type of video card you use.

*The day and night versions of the NPCs are actually two seperate NPCs, and in a few cases multiple NPCs. Please be advised if you kill any of them, their other versions will still be alive and will be enabled during their proper schedules.

*There is a dock conflict issue with Suran Underworld. This is because the dock was moved outward for Suran Underworld. The esp is now available on the download page. Please carefully read both included readmes, as it is only a replacement esp for Suran Underworld.

*Part of Ripple Wood Grove does not show on the world map. This is because the island is so far north.

So far, I have not come across any mod that is incompatible...but there are alot of mods out there! The following mods have had special effort taken to ensure compatibility:

Necessities of Morrowind:

The castle’s kitchen serves several of Necessities of Morrowind’s food. The kitchen ovens, kitchen cauldrons, water barrels, and wells can also offer you the benefits of Necessities of Morrowind. The village merchant’s also offer Necessities of Morrowind food. In order to reap the benefits of the compatibility, the esp for Necessities of Morrowind needs to be loaded AFTER the Solstheim Castle esp. The easiest way to do this is to open up the Construction Set, select the Necessities of Morrowind esp as the active file, and save without making any changes to the esp file.

There are a few food items in Solstheim castle that look like they should be useable with NOM, but in fact they are not. The following NOM foods have been included (Pay attention to the names):

-Apple
-Orange
-Pear
-Tomatoes
-Camlorn Cheese
-Chicken Leg
-Chicken Egg
-Apple Pie
-Orange Pie
-Onion

The following foods are similar to the NOM food in appearance, but will NOT satisfy the NOM hunger:

-Fresh Chicken Egg
-Thawed Chicken Leg
-Macintosh Apple

The White Wolf of LoKKen Mountain:

Solstheim castle and the while wolf of LoKKen mountain are only a short swim away from each other. However, without a patch, the two mods are incompatible. If you choose to use both mods, the patch (included with these files) needs to be loaded AFTER both The White Wolf of LoKKen Mountain esp and the Solstheim Castle esp. All three esps will need to be enabled in the Morrowind Launcher before playing. As an added bonus for using both mods, I have included two new NPCs that can offer travel from one island to the other.

However, if you use "Inn of the whispering wood" you cannot use the White Wolf of LoKKen. The castle is indeed compatible with the Inn of the whispering wood, as it takes up the same location as a section of the White Wolf of LoKKen. The player can swim to a landmass from the Inn of the whispering wood from the village docks.

!! Do not use the LoKKen Patch esp if you are not running the White Wolf of LoKKen!!!

Vampire Embrace:

Solstheim Castle has a global variable added from the mod Vampire Embrace. The use of this variable ensures that several dialogue greetings are compatible with Vampire Embrace, and that the quests may be playable by vampire characters. However, no lore characters may have a "." a line above their greeting when using Vampire Embrace.

*Lingarn- Interior Landscaping land mesh, kneeling pray animation, sitting on ground animation (for the males)

*Acid Basick-Ballista (model only..I have retextured), animated practice dummies

*Lady E- display case, flag (Retextured), cats (retextured), Drunken Pirate, Sitting Ladies 1 & 2, "Sitting Slut", Musicians, butterflies, orange, apple, pear, tomatoes

*Necessities of Morrowind- Compatibility scripts, Onion, and the pies

*Barabus- chimney pot, fireplaces, blue cheese, brass kettle, copper kettle, saucepan

*Calishan- silver saucer, silver sugar, silver teacup, silver teapot

*Texture Freak- Pillows 10 (Bear Fur), 12 (red wolf), 13 (white wolf)

*Killgore’s Home Furnishings- Shiny Globe (by Killgore Killack)

*Dongle- galleon, dome, Lilly pad, water barrels, wells, stream/pond meshes, windows, window jams, instruments, display case, cauldron, bed meshes,

*Starcon 5- Bookcases, Treasure chests (Reflection mapped by Max aka Nobody with Qarl's gold texture)

*RX31- Ballerina Animation, Cradle Dance Animation, sitting women animations, sexy dance animations.

*Qarl for having the hiccups! (Sound added to a male voice greeting)

*Alcar- Imperial meshes pack, Modified his windows ( I have glow mapped and retextured them however)

*Mighty Joe Young: furniture meshes (retextured), scale, Gate, moon mesh

* Mighty Joe Young and Kagz- Frog (I have retextured one for this project)

*Tommy Khajitt- Make Your Own Paintings Kit, silver planters, Make Your Own Tapestry kit

*AnOldFriend- tree bridge

*Robearberbil-: star dome, star walls, telescope, bathtub, bathtub water, Aegir's Corpses, Heimdall's Head

*Rhedd- Aegir's head/hair, dark elf head mesh

*Cait- fish, bunnies, chickens, chicks, roosters, cows, goats, horses, dogs, pigs, eggs, chicken legs

*SiriusSnape- The sofa meshes

*Various Freeware sites (authors unknown)- buck, crates, weathervane

*Kwishipman- shelves, tables

*Hurdy Gurdy- HG Robe Set 4 mesh(retextured)

*Zyndaar- Freedom Keep Meshes. For more information on Freedom Keep please visit:

http://rethan-manor.net/phpBB2/login.php?redirect=viewtopic.php&p=0&start=0

*ThreadWhisperer: Redoran to Imperial set (I have reassigned a few to use Morrowind's textures, the have "new" in their ID)

*Zyndaar & ThreadWhisperer's Modular Set

*Psychopie, (aka my_name_was_already_taken)-Kitchen ware (cast iron pan, pan shield,cleaver)

*Ki Shin Ju-the stand up mirror

*Jakethesnake-Alchemy jars (Morrowind only)

Script Help:

-Emmanshera: Bathtub
-Shannon: Wine Making Script
-Palinurus for the COUNTLESS scripts he has written for this project
-Qarl for the help with the drinking woman's script
-Kwishipman's Alchemy Sorting Resource
-Dongle display case script
-Mental Elf Night Door Lock Scripts
-Heph for the mannequin scripts
-Jog Telescope Script idea
-Grumpy's companion Scripts

Special Thanks:

*Palinurus. Without you this mod would still be halfway unfinished, not as fun, and my brain would have exploded by now! Thank you for the hours spent scripting and testing!

*Threadwhisper for teaching me some valuable tips and tricks

*Robearberbil for going out of his way on so many projects for me!

*DMKW, Princess_Stomper, Cenobite, The_inwah, Hellwolve, Palinurus, and Nimrod_Flamehair for beta testing!

*Special thanks to Cenobite for going over the castle with a fine tooth comb!

Sounds:
-Lady E (Cat, Dragon's Breech monastery sound)
-Cait (animal noises EXCEPT FOR "Corax", "KO_Frogs")
-Dongle (harpsichord, gong, harp)
-All others unknown

Music:
-Brian Higgins for the Breton jig
-Yarmouth Shanty men for their version of "Drunken Sailor"
-All others unknown.

No known copyright information could be obtained for the two listed above. Please contact me if you know differently. Thank you.

Please seek the original downloads or contact me and the original creators of the files regarding any usage of files in the mod not made by myself or Robearberbil, as he has made his files specifically for this mod. Some files may be updated by the original creators in their original downloads, and I do ask that you redownload them to receive the updated version of the files.

If you are interested in using the building meshes for the exterior of Solstheim Castle, please do not use the ones from this download. Please download the Freedom Keep files directly from Zyndaar's forum. Registration is free, and takes only a few minutes. The set is amazing, and I promise it's worth the registration!

http://rethan-manor.net/phpBB2/login.php?redirect=viewtopic.php&p=0&start=0

Please do not use the music without directly asking, as new information regarding any possible copyrights may be known by that time. Thank you.