One thing we should do for Decorator's Wishlist/Resource is to have at least an entry, if not a thread, on how to take good screenshot pictures, 'cause the gods know I need all the help I can get. ;-> With that in mind, stay tuned for further pictures, this time of Abe's tank(s) that I've been promising! ;-> Uwk
House: Tanks for the Memories (usually unpublished, since it's a Work In Progress kinda thing, but I try to keep it open for shoppers); 4-room New Halas Glacial Villa (I believe; been so long, can't recall the real name) Server: Test Character: Abrahm Sappy'Yen (and no, I haven't gotten in trouble [yet] for that, but yeah, I did base him off of the character of Abraham Sapien from the Hellboy universe, a sort of very refined, cultured, and civilized "Creature from the Black Lagoon" type. Made him an Erudite Fury for the lack of hair, blue-green skin, and water-breathing spells, then found out 2-3 weeks after I got him his last name that some dev must've seen him on Test, and now all Erudites have the water-breathing ability as a racial thing...not that I could claim credit for that, of course; they might've already had that in the works, but I like to think of it as my small contribution to EQ2!) All righty, here we go with the first one...this is the view from just inside the door, looking west toward the window seat through Abe's "living room" tank. You can see some stuff, chief of which is the spiral staircase I was trying to make into another way to get in and out of this tank, since the walls are all the solid Vampiric Mirrors (I'm planning on making the "roof" or top of the tank out of Wispy Vampirics, if I keep this here). And yeah, that's Abe there in stealth mode, still cluttering up the screen even so. ;-> Let's see how many pictures I can get in this one entry... :-/ This next one is from the northern room, kept dry for the sake of storage and for land visitors. ;-> This is Stealth Abe looking south into the "living room" tank, showing some of the furniture, critters, clutter, and corridor (more on that later). I think I'd best quit while I'm ahead in this entry... ;-> Uwk
More pics! I'll try to keep the yakking down to a minimum, so I can get more shots in. ;-> This is looking in from the window seat to the front door, so looking east through the "living room." Opposite side, sort of, from the northern dry room; this is from near the doorway to the storage room under the stairs: I apologize for the dim lighting; I usually have my Personal Torch turned off in New Halas so I don't get snow-blinded. :-/ The translucent corridor you can see a part of here connects the two tanks, letting water flow between them and keeping the dry areas dry. ;-> This is a view from the bottom of the stairs, looking south along the corridor length to the "bedroom tank," a part of which you can see here. Again, perhaps I'd better stop whilst ahead, and post more pics in another entry. I've been burned before... ::dramatic sigh:: Uwk
Another minute, another entry! Let's see how many I can get in... ;-> This is from up the stairs, looking down into the "living room" tank. Again, if I keep this here (and don't move it all to his Felwithe Mansion, like I'm considering), I'm seriously considering topping it with Wispies, because I don't have nearly enough Steamlord Tapestries. :-/ The Watery Tiles are solid, and leaving gaping open holes for people to get in through would look weird (hmm...maybe Ice Tiles...). :-/ The dark area to the right near corner is a tile used for a "diving platform" access. Another overhead shot, this one from the upper hallway leading to the "dry" bedroom for guests. Again, the dark square is a "diving platform" access into the tank, and a step up to get to it. Ignore that fish-guy behind the Stealth curtain. ;-> This next area is a bit abrupt; my apologies, but I'm kinda new to this "story-telling through screenshots" art. ;-> This is what you'd see after coming into the dry area around his "bedroom tank" by squeezing past the water corridor. Basically, it's the machinery that keeps the tank nice (his pet baby dragon tends to kick up a lot of silt!), and oxygenated. Turning around, with your back to the machinery (don't step back too far!), you can look through Abe's "bedroom tank," taking the long view. Unlike his "living room," this isn't nearly so lived-in yet and is still a bit sparse. A good half of it is still pretty empty, but there's his li'l trouble-maker, shifting about in its sleep. Aw. You can barely see, in the distance, Abe's bed (floating mid-way in the water), his dresser, a lantern, and a privacy screen, for some peculiar reason. I guess he liked the look of it. ;-> The poles will be explained, I promise. ;-> More to come! ;-> Uwk
As promised, more! ;-> His "floating bed," caught in mid-drift on an accumulating current of bubbles (you can see them gathering under the bed! They're bubbles, I tell you!). Some things are in the tank, including the mailbox; others, like the book stand, are not. Magic is wonderful; it lets you turn the pages of a land book without getting them wet! You can see the entrance of the corridor beyond the treasure chest in the back there; this is looking to the north. Oh, and there's another lantern there I forgot. :-/ Some of the regulating machinery can be seen off to the left as well; the pipes in the far back corner really don't screenshot well and have to be seen in person, but moving to Felwithe could change that. ;-> Ah, yes, the weird poles that seem to have no purpose... ;-> Well, believe it or not, they do; they're a way to get up and into (or out of) the tank without having to need another corridor to use as an airlock. They do look kind of jarring, and don't work terribly well (this tank is roofed with the Mirrors, which are open a bit at the top. It's hard to tell, but take my word for it). I'm thinking of replacing the poles with ramps (maybe of Water Tiles on the inside, so it's not so obvious; I mean, someone swimming wouldn't need one to get out...) or maybe some metal Tinker stairs and rails. Again, this is supposing I'm leaving this set up here, and not shifting it to the Felwithe. ;-> Another, perhaps better, view of the "bedroom" and the sleeping, messy baby, along with the beginning of the bubble cycle in the back. The wooden thing you can vaguely see at the base of the inner access pole is part of a boat no one needed any more. ;-> More bubbles, more silt! Messy baby, hard-pressed equipment. ;-> Here I am, pushing the envelope with a fifth shot; wish me luck... ;-> This is a better view of the door from the "bedroom" to the corridor between the two rooms/tanks and a step up to get to it. Oh, let's go completely mad! Let's try an interior shot, actually inside this blasted corridor...it's a wee bit of a tight fit, since the original doorway is barely wide enough for folks to get past on the outside, dry areas, and barely wide enough to fit through on the inside. Another reason to move... I'd hate to undo all this good work, so I'll leave more pics for another entry. ;-> Uwk the Paranoid
Hopefully, the last entry with pics! ;-> This is from inside the "living room," looking south toward the corridor, past all the critters/etc. I think Abe's getting too influenced by his slob of an Ogre Guardian buddy...the guy with the horns... ;-> Yep, that is a hitching post for the shark. ;-> But seeing how this room doesn't have a lot of silt in it (just a stealthed Fury in the water, blurring everything), maybe there's something to leaving the floor as stone...the plants can get through it to what they need. ;-> And yeah, I know cattails don't grow under water, but at the time, that was the best "straight blade" plants we had available; I'll probably replace them, perhaps move them into a fresh-water area. The furniture that can be seen here near the left edge of the picture is of course the dark green Briarwood set. ;-> I think this is a better shot; closer, so less visual excitement, but also no Abe. ;-> This last shot is a close-up of some of the other furniture in the "living room," this time with our backs to the corridor, looking north: "Furniture" in the loosest sense, since a lot of it is natural, and others are waterproof, including the two books he's got open and the paperwork in and beneath the conch shell to the right. There's a tankard of something in the background (magic drink containers are also wonderful things!) and a very affectionate, very odd...plant? Critter? smiling and making heart kissy faces in the water at the visitor. ;-> Those of you who know what the Felwithe Mansion looks like (those that don't, I'll try to grab a screenshot of a tour and post that), you remember the waterfall in the way back, on the ground level? That's where I'm thinking of giving Abe a much bigger tank set-up, by letting the natural waterfalls fill it (and any overflow just goes into the outer pools, to be taken off somewhere) and avoiding drowning the trees already there by avoiding them with the tank walls. I've already done some preliminary work there with Ice Dividers; they get much bigger than the Mirrors here, so I may move the Mirrors to one of the side water areas for a "hospital zone" in case Abe gets too roughed up out there in the field. ;-> The other area I'll probably leave as a fresh-water region, for the cattails, frog, etc. (which didn't show up well in the pics, but trust me, you'll hear it if you visit!). So, what do y'all think? Should I move? Should I put some sort of soil, sand, etc. in the living room? Should I actually use the Layout Editor to make my spiral staircase (because literally, once you're in the living room, there's no other way out but using the poles in the bedroom, and the spiral stairs don't actually work that well. That may be a design flaw, having not much easy access, but hey, it's his house...)? Should I get him some more bedroom furniture, or at least some more lights? ;-> Uwk open to suggestions...and visitors to Abe's place! ;->
That is very freaking cool! I wish they would let us fill houses with water. Nice detail with the tank, and cool idea using blue sky for stairs!
I think it looks great. I was wondering whether you could put a water tile down then raise it to be the top of the tank? Also, it would look cool to put a pile of gold next to the treasure chest, and maybe a seahorse. And maybe a Halas barrel as a fish food jar. I can't advise you on moving though. I am not familiar with all of the houses. This is the first time I saw this one.
That spiral staircase looks really cool! I'm not familiar with the Felwithe Mansion, is that a prestige home?
Yeah, it is; one of those times when they were on sale, I toured one, just out of nosiness, and immediately got one for Abe, since he was my only Fury at the time (nature priest, lots of water things, figured it'd work ;->). I'll post screenshots of a tour model, before me or anyone else gets ahold of the decorating materials... ;-> Thanks for everyone's kind comments! I didn't post pics of everything in that house, just the tanks and associated stuff; most of the rest is still packed away, actually. ;-> Debating about entering some of this stuff into the "items we've made" thread... ;-> Uwk
Halas barrel? Which one...there are a few. Maybe the icy one...hmm... Uwk also pondering about shifting everything down to a break-out dock and giving folks lots of Totems of the Otter... ;->
Awesome Uwk! Loved your idea to make the tank the entire room. Yes I think you should add a sea floor to the tank. It would give it a much better feel. If you want to go with a total tank feel you could even cover the New Halas walls later. The sky is the limit my friend. Your idea for the tank in the Felwithe is really cool, go with it. I toured one a few months ago and it blew me away. I have not had the pleasure to build one yet. I will be building mine in the Thurgadin Grand Hall. Can't wait. Need that darn smoky mirror! Kindest Regards ~
Thanks so much for the kind comments, everyone! If I do move out completely into the Felwithe place (and I will post pictures of that here later, for those unfamiliar with it), I'll probably turn the 4-room into a "cover entrance"...anyone familiar with the Hellboy live-action movie universe, especially the first one (the second one's security for a "secret installation" was disastrous), will hopefully get a kick out of it. For those unfamiliar, Hellboy is a comic book published by Dark Horse, whose titular character is a big half-demon super hero, who really can't have much of a "secret identity" (the hooves, tail, sawed-off horns, and big asymmetrical 4-fingered right hand [made of stone? ;->] are kind of problematic). He first showed up on Earth as a baby during WWII, when the N@zis (and their...compatriots) summoned up something that would help them win the war. The N@zis were less than impressed, especially since in the comics universe, they thought their compatriots had failed (the baby was found by the Allies, luckily ["Your God chooses to remain silent." Doesn't mean He doesn't exist... ;->])... After the war, the good guys who found the kid (and named him "Hellboy," which stuck even after he grew up, poor sod) were tripping over other occult stuff here and there (including critters like Abraham Sapien, an Icthyo sapiens [amphibious humanoid] example, that was found and taken in), so they got formed into a government department, the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (BPRD). In the live-action movie universe, it was a sub-section of the FBI, and kept fighting the war underground in secret, because apparently Hitler had survived in some form, and they didn't get him until 1958 when the Cold War was in full swing, so they were still on a "war" footing and had to keep secret. By the time that mess was over, the Bureau was so used to lying to the American public about it all, it was just sort of a habit. ;-> In the comics (and presumably in the animated movie universe, since it's very similar [very good! Two movies, Sword of Storms and Blood and Iron. Highly recommend them!]), WWII ended when it should have, and after only 8 years on Earth as a baby, HB had grown into an apparent adult, looking about 18. After being studied for like every minute of those 8 years, after the U.N. made an official ruling in 1952 proclaiming publicly that he was to be considered an adult human being, with all rights and privileges, presumably, HB told the Bureau that week he was tired of being a lab rat and wanted to be a field agent instead. They agreed, and he'd been in the field most of the time for the next 50 years, pretty much. He's a "blue-collar," action-oriented kinda guy, and the initial comics had him doing an internal monologue straight out of the pulp detective stories, complete with trench coat. I think he and The Thing from the Fantastic Four would get along well and probably share case stories while pounding back a number of brewskis. ;-> As far as Abe goes, he's very much like a cultured, refined (physically and otherwise), erudite (pardon the pun) version of the Creature from the Black Lagoon: visible gill slits, webbed hands and feet, no body hair, etc. In the comics and animated movies, he doesn't need to be in water all the time, just prefers it, rather like a frog. In the live-action movie universe, he has to wear a re-breather thingee over his gills when he's not in his tank (rather like a water salamander), so I put the Armor of the Reasoned collar thingee on my version as a "helmet." ;-> Uwk EDIT: do you know the filter will eliminate the word @$$ociates (I can't spell it properly, or it'll get nuked) and N@zis as swearing? "Compatriots" wasn't what I was going for, but oh well. :-/
Ah, finally! As promised, for those who don't know what the Felwithe Mansion looks like in the "raw," here are some pics... First off, right as you get in the door: Yes, that huge expanse you can begin to see is serious. It's about 2-3 times bigger than a Mistmoore Crags Estate (think TALL ceilings, HUGE...tracts of land/floor space, etc.), with about as much in the way of item count = not nearly enough. :-/ This next one is more from the center area; I sort of glossed over the area between the front door and here, but there's a nice "lobby" in between. Sorry for the omission! :-( This is the area under the main dome. Yep, HUGE. The level with the purple stained glass "windows" and pointy gold/brass arches does have a narrow balcony that you can put stuff on, but the primary building surface above the ground is up those two staircases. I apologize for the dimness, but this place uses "natural lighting" for a lot, as you might expect, and it was night time there. Even with a Personal Torch on, it doesn't carry far in here. View up at the top of the dome: Guess that's supposed to be moonlight streaming in, or at least starlight. Yep, there are more branches overhanging the dome out there (there are breakout points in other threads; interesting experience!), and lots of trees and low ground cover in the building itself. Here's one of the side water areas, about on a West-East level with the staircase base: The purple stuff on the mound you can barely see (again, apologies; didn't realize my Personal Torch was off until I'd way too many screenshots) is like really low little wildflowers in a knoll. There's another, smaller dome in there to let in natural light for the tree, and the waterfall level can be reached by placing a teleport pad high up vertically (or a lot of ramps, etc.). There's actually quite a bit of room back in those alcoves. ;-> This next one is looking back at the front door from between the "arms" of the staircase: You can see the side planters, or at least the trees in them; they're near the area of the side water features. Think I'd best knock it off for this entry, for the sake of those with computers that may gack at the number of shots...I know the feeling, or did. :-/ Uwk
More Felwithe entries! One of the numerous omissions I had with these screenshots is that there's an arcade/tunnel sort of structure beyond the inner pillars that runs along the innermost walls at ground level; lots of folks use that area to make shops, art galleries, etc. This is where that "tunnel" is breached for the back patio entrance at ground level. You can just see the entrance to the patio and the view to the "tunnel" through an archway that leads from between the staircase "arms" (not visible here, but if you get the chance to Tour one of these, you'll recognize this area, hopefully ;->). This next one offers a tantalizing glimpse of what looks like another building up on the cliff overlooking the back patio, its waterfalls, trees, etc. And yes, using breakout coordinates, you can get up there, and there's sort a building facade up there! And a bit of lawn, rocks, streams that become the waterfalls, and so on. Really quite a lovely spot, and they don't give us nearly enough item count to do this justice. :-/ Another view from the back to the front door area, this time from the very back, almost in the waterfall: That upper arched balcony you might see up there, at about the tree canopy level, can be reached by going up the staircase. It's got a great "speech to the masses" stage up there! This one is looking at the left-hand waterfalls from the right. Still on the back patio. And yes, it is possible to breakout up onto those cliffs, too. It's almost impossible to "fall through the world," even if you want to; it is possible to get stuck up there, so be careful. This is sort of looking at the main falls from the left, looking right, all about center-ish. Can't see the patio itself 'cause I'm standing on it looking up (though one of the lights is a little visible, lower right; you also can't see the upper "building" from this angle). This last one is looking at the right-hand falls from the left. Nice view of the patio, the trees, and the speechifyin' balcony. ;-> There's a lot more to this place; I strongly recommend Touring one (Qeynos or Freeport) just to get an idea of what all can be done...most of the features, if not all of them, can be gotten to relatively easy with breakouts and teleport pads; I haven't found one "weak" area yet, but I haven't walked everything, either. My hat's off to the folks who can really do these up proud and stay within house item limits (and Expanded ones!); I'm seriously considering doing this one up as a Norrathian homage to the BPRD headquarters from the live-action movie universe, complete with critter "holding rooms" in the tunnel (the side water areas could be used for a "hospital wing" for Abe in one and maybe a "cool down" room for any visiting pyrokinetic in the other...HB fans will get it ;->). The back patio waterfalls are what I had in mind as Abe's new tank area. ;-> Uwk
Nope, anyone can get 'em during City Festivals and/or by saving up enough City Tokens during the rest of the month doing writs, city quests, etc. They're considered more "generic" than the special city-specific items, but it takes 20 City Tokens per pair of them, and you can only have up to 4 in a regular house (Guild Halls can have more, and usually are considered amenities). If you only do stuff during the City Festivals, do the "make stuff for the staff to eat and drink" quest 5 times and you'll have enough for a set. Uwk
So glad you decided to share some pics! Cute ideas like connecting two larger tanks with a corridor for expanded aquatic living space and especially how the bubbles are lifting the bed up
