Let the community design interiors for locked buildings!

snoozy · January 2020

there are so many locked buildings in the new zones, especially in the cities.
i assume zos didn't have enough time and resources to spend on this, so they left them empty and locked them.

why not let the housing community help?
there are so many amazingly talented and creative interior decorators and builders! i'm sure some of them would love to help with bringing the empty houses to life.

of course there would probably need to be some guidelines about what furnishings can be used, so that the interiors still fit in with lore, the zone they're in and the vision the designers initially had for the zone.
but it would still allow for some creativity and variety.

all in all, i think it would be a great way to involve the community, take some pressure off zos' zone design team (4 releases a year is a lot of work, i don't blame them for not filling all houses...) and bring more life to the zones and cities.

what are your thoughts on this?
any ideas on how it could be implemented?

Dojohoda · January 2020

That'd be cool!

zaria · January 2020

Like the idea a lot, had been cool, and yes an review so fitting stuff was used both for zone and class / wealth of the occupant. Nothing wrong with a souvenir or two and personal touches.

Nefelynx · January 2020

OMG yes! I LOVE that idea!

It would not only - as you mentioned - might take a little load off ZOS‘s design team, to fill practically empty houses, but also would offer a fantastic opportunity for the housing community to participate in.. maybe official contests.. (..within mentioned lore-friendly guidelines..) to actively co-create tiny parts of Tamriel! How awesome would that be?

(..preferably with lots of lootable trunks, wardrobes, etc. to acquire more blueprints?

)

Thevampirenight · January 2020

I do believe the true reason is to keep file size from going to big. In this game what they do is have the interiors set under ground under the world map. Likely to make the interiors less dependent on the world map above it and make it easier to do these interiors thing is to many of them add more data to the game that has to be put into the patch data.That is what I feel is the true reason for locking most of the doors they are conversing space by doing it.
Since the new update is reducing the file size. This could change it so they don't have to limit the data they do put in as much. Even though I don't think they said this anywhere I think its very logical this is the reason. I do think its the reason why they are reworking the game and removing all the data that needs to be removed. The consoles can't handle repeats of data or the massive size of eso like the pc can and that is the goal with the changes.

So they are making the game smaller data wise with the update 25. What this would do is allow them to do more with the areas and maybe less locked doors. I doubt its just because they don't have time. I think its because of resource management and patch size. They have to do it this way so the game doesn't go over say like 100gbs in terms of size which is quite a lot of data. Once they remove most of the unused data the game will be much smaller. I think its almost 80 gbs or even more in size right now. That is quite a lot for an mmo. The reduction will take it down to 30 to forty gbs.

So yes the data has to be taken into consideration along with the patch size. They do have to take into consideration their console players. Which performance is very horrible right now. More data would make it worse. Reduction in data gives them much more room for stuff like this. So hopefully once update 25 goes through they can go back and add less locked doors to the dlc areas. But don't count on them making them like vanilla zones. They will likely still put in less so they don't over do it with the data.

Taleof2Cities · January 2020

Excellent idea, @snoozy!

I would be willing to help with a couple creations.

Not because I have a large housing resume ... because locked doors are one of my largest pet peeves in an otherwise great game we play.

Tigerseye · January 2020

Nice idea.

nafensoriel · January 2020

snoozy wrote: »

/snipsnip

I'm usually the guy who comes into these threads and smashes the concept with doses of reality...

Except for this time, I can't because it's a good idea.
Interior designs are not huge. They do not generally require heaps of tricks to get to render well like outdoor spaces.
Nothing a person does to an "inn" really impacts the game in a negative way and it would be dirt easy to moderate and set limits for creators in what they are allowed to do.

The only downside I can possibly see is that it would pretty much require access to the dev tools to do. This could be very dangerous to the game as a whole. Though it is just about the only truly negative thing I can think of. It would certainly make the thieves guild more interesting!

Now in no way shape or form would anyone ever have total freedom. The lore guys and art guys would basically use anyone who did this as slave labor. I just want to be realistic here.

Cireous · January 2020

I have fantasized about asking them if I could fill emptyish and locked homes all across Tamriel, slowly, over time, at no cost to them, completely within their rules and limitations. Like an imaginary work-from-home internship.

snoozy · January 2020

thx for the nice replies guys

glad to see others supporting this idea and interested in contributing!

does anyone know who from zos best to tag so they see this idea?

nafensoriel wrote: »

snoozy wrote: »

/snipsnip

Now in no way shape or form would anyone ever have total freedom. The lore guys and art guys would basically use anyone who did this as slave labor. I just want to be realistic here.

true, but the people who would sign up for this likely spend lots of time on housing anyway... and contributing to the world, leaving your mark with a unique creation would be reward enough in itself to many i imagine

Cireous wrote: »

I have fantasized about asking them if I could fill emptyish and locked homes all across Tamriel, slowly, over time, at no cost to them, completely within their rules and limitations. Like an imaginary work-from-home internship.

same

Nefelynx wrote: »

OMG yes! I LOVE that idea!
(..preferably with lots of lootable trunks, wardrobes, etc. to acquire more blueprints? )

YES

*insert thief rub hands emote*

peacenote · January 2020

Thevampirenight wrote: »

...I think its because of resource management and patch size. ...

I suspect that Thevampirenight is on the right track here. Buildings with locked doors are locked because they want the buildings to graphically fill out the "world" but they don't necessarily want the additional overhead in the servers for these spaces to be generated when entered.

Potential performance issues aside, though, I think this would be a nice idea. A while back, I typed up some thoughts HERE which detail a related idea to allow players to show off their player housing decorations to the public by rotating player designs for player housing when the general public enters the door of a home through the world.

Basically, it would be great if there could be some mechanism in ESO where players who design housing can show off their work in the world via another mechanism besides someone traveling to their instanced home. It would be great if we could stumble upon a location, and say "wow this looks cool," and then find out it was designed by the community. I definitely support any ideas in this vein!

amapola76 · January 2020

Leaving aside for the moment the question of whether it would be technically feasible-- because I honestly have no idea-- IF it were, it could be fun to have something like this tied to another community event/anniversary event, perhaps even another charitable event (as with the cats and dragons).

For example, they could open it up to everyone to submit design ideas/sketches + their choice of a charity to support, the devs could narrow it down to the top ten or so that are most appropriate*, and then the community could vote for a winner? Then a donation is made to the winner's charity of choice.

*Factoring in both the appropriateness of the designs for lore-friendliness as well as appropriateness of the charities to make sure nothing too controversial is selected.

nafensoriel · January 2020

peacenote wrote: »

Thevampirenight wrote: »

...I think its because of resource management and patch size. ...

I suspect that Thevampirenight is on the right track here. Buildings with locked doors are locked because they want the buildings to graphically fill out the "world" but they don't necessarily want the additional overhead in the servers for these spaces to be generated when entered.

Potential performance issues aside, though, I think this would be a nice idea. A while back, I typed up some thoughts HERE which detail a related idea to allow players to show off their player housing decorations to the public by rotating player designs for player housing when the general public enters the door of a home through the world.

Basically, it would be great if there could be some mechanism in ESO where players who design housing can show off their work in the world via another mechanism besides someone traveling to their instanced home. It would be great if we could stumble upon a location, and say "wow this looks cool," and then find out it was designed by the community. I definitely support any ideas in this vein!

It depends entirely on where the door goes. Remember a door in a game is either a script to move the character or an object.
If it was an object then anything inside is also part of that map. If it teleports you to another map however all bets are off. There are plenty of ways to mitigate the extra strain any additional spaces would cause without much difficulty.

rpa · January 2020

Here's an monetization idea. For each Crown Store cycle turn few locked entrances to empty houses to non-instanced doors to player housing and sell em to players. Let the door owner assign which one of their houses it leads. I'm sure people with more money than sense would pay totally ridiculous whale prices for that.

Edit: Seriously, assuming a working door does not put huge stain to server, that's how I use the empty world doors. As fixed entry/exit to player housing. The sarcasm is just how I expect doors would be distributed to players, but I'm not infallible in my expectations, fortunately.

Maxx7410 · January 2020

Thevampirenight wrote: »

I do believe the true reason is to keep file size from going to big. In this game what they do is have the interiors set under ground under the world map. Likely to make the interiors less dependent on the world map above it and make it easier to do these interiors thing is to many of them add more data to the game that has to be put into the patch data.That is what I feel is the true reason for locking most of the doors they are conversing space by doing it.
Since the new update is reducing the file size. This could change it so they don't have to limit the data they do put in as much. Even though I don't think they said this anywhere I think its very logical this is the reason. I do think its the reason why they are reworking the game and removing all the data that needs to be removed. The consoles can't handle repeats of data or the massive size of eso like the pc can and that is the goal with the changes.

So they are making the game smaller data wise with the update 25. What this would do is allow them to do more with the areas and maybe less locked doors. I doubt its just because they don't have time. I think its because of resource management and patch size. They have to do it this way so the game doesn't go over say like 100gbs in terms of size which is quite a lot of data. Once they remove most of the unused data the game will be much smaller. I think its almost 80 gbs or even more in size right now. That is quite a lot for an mmo. The reduction will take it down to 30 to forty gbs.

So yes the data has to be taken into consideration along with the patch size. They do have to take into consideration their console players. Which performance is very horrible right now. More data would make it worse. Reduction in data gives them much more room for stuff like this. So hopefully once update 25 goes through they can go back and add less locked doors to the dlc areas. But don't count on them making them like vanilla zones. They will likely still put in less so they don't over do it with the data.

For me the game is 102 gb with all chapters and dlc

FierceSam · January 2020

Great idea.

I’m sure there’s a whole hassle of process and other hoopage that would have to be dealt with, but what an excellent way of involving a part of the ESO community that feels it gets little real attention and what a great way to open out some of the pitifully small playable parts of some towns to encourage more time spent there.

Even if it were as basic as having a competition to design a single house in a zone, it would allow some of the really talented interior designers to show off their skills.

I could see this working really well with just a little push from ZOS. And given it might help shift some bigger houses, it could have a high RoI... so joy all round

Sengra · January 2020

Thevampirenight wrote: »

I do believe the true reason is to keep file size from going to big. (...)

I have an idea: Remove half of those weird rocks that clutter the landscape and it will free a loooot of space and probably boost performance.

zaria · January 2020

nafensoriel wrote: »

peacenote wrote: »

Thevampirenight wrote: »

...I think its because of resource management and patch size. ...

I suspect that Thevampirenight is on the right track here. Buildings with locked doors are locked because they want the buildings to graphically fill out the "world" but they don't necessarily want the additional overhead in the servers for these spaces to be generated when entered.

Potential performance issues aside, though, I think this would be a nice idea. A while back, I typed up some thoughts HERE which detail a related idea to allow players to show off their player housing decorations to the public by rotating player designs for player housing when the general public enters the door of a home through the world.

Basically, it would be great if there could be some mechanism in ESO where players who design housing can show off their work in the world via another mechanism besides someone traveling to their instanced home. It would be great if we could stumble upon a location, and say "wow this looks cool," and then find out it was designed by the community. I definitely support any ideas in this vein!

It depends entirely on where the door goes. Remember a door in a game is either a script to move the character or an object.
If it was an object then anything inside is also part of that map. If it teleports you to another map however all bets are off. There are plenty of ways to mitigate the extra strain any additional spaces would cause without much difficulty.

As some say the rooms are underground, this sounds plausible to me as they will not be rendered while still so close they are loaded.

And no this should not give lots of performance problems at least is number of new item types is kept limited.
So if all the closed rooms in Vivec only has items used in Vivec it should have minimal impact.
Yes the number of items in zone goes up some, however looking at number of objects outdoor this should not increase the number much.
Remember items is just an list of item ID position and rotation.

Geekgirl · January 2020

I suggest the following:

Each month (quarter?) ZOS releases a "test house" that is open to all accounts.

For a set amount of time all accounts are able (but not required to) furnish the house in a certain style aka "Housing Writs".

Once the homes have been furnished/time frame is up staff eyeballs the houses and selects x amount of them to be represented in game in a certain area/neighborhood.

There are closed up/unfurnished homes EVERYWHERE. This could so be a thing.

xxthir13enxx · January 2020

I could see this as a one time only potential competition to decorate and winning the addition of of a design into the game

But as thevampirenight said...unfortunately all those buildings are empty for a reason

January1171 · January 2020

I love the idea of easier access to see community creations, but I don't think we'll get that by filling locked houses

The problem is that it just looks like they're locked houses. In (game) reality, they're not even empty houses- the interiors just don't exist. So it would mean adding more to the map, and then adding guidelines for what can go in the house, and then more guidelines for who is eligible to design it.