These last two days I had a bit of time for me and put in practice what I had been planning while I was away from the CK. Hence I've figured out how many shelves I would need to host all the books from the TES games, and quickly built a new, smaller library with a cozy atmosphere. I'll probably work on the lighting some more later on, and the blue flame may not make it to the end... I mean, it was too tempting not to put it in the scene but I'm not sure it's necessary to have it there. I'll also try to make the ceiling look a bit better as well. Not sure how yet.
Now I'm facing the issue that I can't get this damn NVIDIA dds plugin to run and so I can't edit textures. Seeing that this library will host about 700 books it would be better if they weren't all the same or so close. So if a kind soul could give me a little help with this tricky matter I would be delighted.
Note that I can edit the diffuse maps myself if I'm provided files Photoshop can read, and send them back for compression... (it sucks, I know)
I would be very glad to also create a set of retextured quills, inkwells and signs to label the various categories of the library.
I'd like to add quests related to the mod as well but details will come in time. One thing after the other =)
I finished the listing and sorting of the books and so it's now time to get back in touch with level design and level building. It should be more pleasant and I hope to advance quite quickly during my available free time.
Yesterday I also did some tests to learn the basics of quest and dialogue design and managed to implement a speaking NPC ingame – see below for the details! =]
Workflow
Listing and sorting all the books in categories and sub-categories -> Done
Planning the spatial organization of the library -> WIP
Building and testing the library cells ->WIP
Adding, placing and compiling all the new books
Test, fixing, test, fixing...
Release
I've started to build the level, Nordic style this time. I'm already getting familiar with the nomenclature after a few hours of work. Here's a screenshot of the current status of level building. It shouldn't be expanded a lot more than this normally, I don't want the place to be too huge since there will be all the navmeshing to do...
Update: now the level building is complete. I admit I expanded a little more than I originally thought I would but whatever, at least there's place for tones of books. So I'm now in the process of placing furniture and decorations.
Actor with voice
Creating dialogs and actors with voice files turned out to be quite simple, if you wish to try I suggest you to jump to this page created by Shawn, it contains all the informations and links you will need to success in your implementation. Below is a short recording of my test. It went nicely so far though you might notice the overlay skin texture of Jobasha's head has gone missing. It's something I still have to understand and fix.
Jobasha's voice actor is Tim Morgan and I must say he did an impressive first take!
Are you creating a quest or follower mod? Do you need voice actors? This post gives a number of tips and links to help you find voice acting talent.
Doing it yourself:
First off, you may simply be able to do it yourself. Now, there's the possibility that your voice may have a different sound or be a different gender than your mod's characters. However, if you voice does fit a character, here are some tips to recording:
Turn off all fans, air conditioners, and cell phones. Get rid of or turn off anything that could add background noise.
Place your microphone at the very least an inch (I suggest 2-3 inches) from your mouth. That is to eliminate the small staticky sounds that may come from a dry mouth or from the mic rubbing against your skin.
Keep a glass of water nearby to make sure that your mouth does not become dry. A dry mouth will make your produce a static-like sound in your recording.
Sit up or stand up. Breathe with deeply, with your stomach expanding rather than your chest. This will provide a good airflow through your vocal chords, and provide your brain with the oxygen it needs.
Sing for a while before recording. It doesn't matter if your singing voice is awful enough to kill cats, sing for a bit. Doing so will loosen your vocal chords and get your lungs moving right for recording.
Download Audacity. It is a free audio editing and recording program that is powerful enough to be used in professional settings. If you want to you can even learn how to add effects to your voices, but that won't be neccesary for simple voice acting.
Along with the recordings for your lines, record a 5-6 seconds long file that is nothing but silence. Make sure that you do this with the same mic and in the same setting that you used for your line recording. This silence sample will be used later with Audacity to remove background static and noise from your audio files.
Record your lines in the .WAV format. This can be done with Audacity. There are only two audio formats that the Creation Kit (for Skyrim) uses, and those are the .WAV and the .XWM formats. If you have the time, I would suggest converting your files to .XWM. They are not as large as .WAV files, but they will work fine. The decreased file space means that you will be more likely to pack your mod into the 100 mb limit of the Steam Workshop. Use this guide to convert the files. As far as I know, this is the only guide in existence that teaches you how to convert .WAV files to .XWM.
Recruiting others:
The Voice Actors' Guild - The VA Guild is a part of the broader Engineering Guild, which is a modding community createed by the modder Giskard, who is well known for his Skyrim, Fallout 3, and Oblivion mods. I have used them before and they are a great group. Very friendly, quick, and professional. While you're there, you can also download some of the fantastic mods that they have produced.
Post a thread in the Skyrim Nexus, Bethesda, or Steam forums asking for a voice actor. You are less likely to get someone with voice acting experience, but they are likely to be more eager to help.
Take a look at the list of voice actors that helped with the Interesting NPCs mod for Skyrim. The mod author supplied links to their Nexus Pages, so you can contact them if you like their voice or are looking for any voice actor. With this specific group, I would suggest going into Skyrim and listening to their voices. That way you can choose the actor you want based upon their voice. Keep in mind, though, that they do not have to work with you if they do not want to. The likely get plenty of requests and do not have time to help everyone.
Once you have the lines:
Even once you have gone through the work to find voice actors, you will need to add them to the game. Below are a number of tutorials for adding voice files to characters in Skyrim.
