Wall Castle Renaissance Update Thread

[CashBanks]

Dark greetings from the Wall!

From the outset of the Nightfort Server Build, one of the core goals of the project was to see the entirety of the Wall finally completed to current server standards. Once and for all.

Some of the Wall Castles date back to the earliest days of the Server. So, much in the same way we're undertaking a refresh update of Kingslanding to incorporate all our new fancy blocks, the Nightfort Server Build affords us the chance to make targeted, consistent improvements to the completed Wall Castles as well.

The idea here isn't to make any sweeping redesigns to the completed Castles. Unless there's been a major new canon development, there shouldn't be any need to change anything beyond minor cosmetic improvements, fixing errors, adding new blocks and other simple unobtrusive changes.

Update applications are open to anyone.

I'll include an example application post for Stonedoor below to show the format., but the general idea is that you make a post to this thread with an overview/screenshots of the issues/areas of improvement and then detail your proposed fixes. Once you get the greenlight, you can copy the castle to Test at /warp WallUpdate (just the castle, no need for the surrounding terrain or up the Wall) and make the changes for approval before it's then copied back in. Surrounding terra/finishing touches can then be added once copied back.

You can search for references in Fire & Blood here: http://searcherr.work/

Stonedoor copied to WallUpdate


The original builders of the Castles of course have dibs on making the updates (feels like they've had plenty of warning at this stage though).

Castle	Original Builders	Updater
Castle Black	NickShaiB
Deeplake	Barkus	Scubooty | in progress
Eastwatch	DieWurstheke, KDSteele98, Cash	Complete
Greenguard	Veggie, Knight_Krawler	Cash | Complete
Greyguard	Birdman7	Cash | Complete
Hoarfrost Hill	JohanKR850	FD001__ | Complete
Icemark	jmcmarq	jmcmarq | Complete
Longbarrow	Auscarbone	Cash | Complete
Oakenshield	ZeRamenGuy, Steineke	Cash | Complete
Queensgate	JohanKR850, xKrillen43x, Bearic Royce	Cash | in progress
Rimegate	Needs to be built
Sablehall	jMp007	Horsthausen | Complete
Sentinel Stand	jakeyquack	Cash | in progress
Shadowtower	Majic, Endymion	AlexisTragic,Gawain,Endymion | Complete
Stonedoor	herm1456/TurtleSnipesz	Cash | Complete
Torches	carcinogenius	Restop15 | Complete
Westwatch	MDMeaux	Batel and Deiniol| in progress
Woodswatch	Rickard_Karstark	Cash | Complete

 

[CashBanks]

Since this is the first test case for a Wall Castle update, I'm very open to suggestions here but just keep in mind that this isn't supposed to be a remake or a redo. We're just improving what's already there.

Stonedoor Update Application

Canon Issues?
N/A
Stonedoor has minimal canon references, nothing notable added in ADWD or Fire & Blood (though Othell Yarwyck mentioned the woods north of Stonedoor were full of wild boars, suggesting we should add some woods over the Wall from it).

Cosmetic Improvements
Suggest:
- adding snow on top of exposed blocks,
- icicles on the stone door,
- adding the white wood where adjacent to snow
- removing glass from the windows (seems unlikely it would have survived hundreds of years of exposure)
- tidying up the gradient with northern cobble varients
- incorporating MotM pebbles as a gradient between snow and northern pebble
- swapping out slabs for stairs as floorboard rafter supports in tower


Errors
Bronze slabs on one of the stairwells


Structural improvements
N/A
Considered adding some underground "wormwalk" passages to connect the buildings, but the they are already quite close together and it has enclosed above ground passages connecting the buildings.

 

[FD001__]

Hoarfrost Hill Update Application


Canon
No canonical information of note - other than that the castle is located on/beside a hill, and hoarfrost is prevalent enough that the castle is named the way it is.

Cosmetic Improvements
Add snowy weirwood leaves to the weirwood tree:

Add white wood blocks to exposed wood sections:


Update the Wall staircase and add white wood blocks:

Change pebble mix around snow to use MotM pebbles - looks like snowy pebbles providing a better transition (see pebbles around godswood at Nightfort for example):


Errors
No errors after a quick look.

Structural Improvements
Considering changing the stables' roof to snowy dark thatch, to provide distinction between main castle and stables (service vs served). Minor changes to ints as well to improve atmosphere. Also replacing North TS with Eastern + Iron Islands TS around snow.

 

[CashBanks]

Hoarfrost Hill Update Application
View attachment 12744

Canon
No canonical information of note - other than that the castle is located on/beside a hill, and hoarfrost is prevalent enough that the castle is named the way it is.

Cosmetic Improvements
Add snowy weirwood leaves to the weirwood tree:
View attachment 12745
Add white wood blocks to exposed wood sections:
View attachment 12746
View attachment 12747
Update the Wall staircase and add white wood blocks:
View attachment 12748
Change pebble mix around snow to use MotM pebbles - looks like snowy pebbles providing a better transition (see pebbles around godswood at Nightfort for example):
View attachment 12749

Errors
No errors after a quick look.

Structural Improvements
Considering changing the stables' roof to snowy dark thatch, to provide distinction between main castle and stables (service vs served). Minor changes to ints as well to improve atmosphere. Also replacing North TS with Eastern + Iron Islands TS around snow.

Thanks for the quick interest Finn. Feel free to make start on the update over in Test. JohanKR850 was online not too long ago so we'll give him a chance to chime in before copying the updated version back to the main map when you're done.

 

[Rexstop15]

Torches Update Application:



Canon:
The Torches is a castle along the Wall abandoned by the Night's Watch. It is located between the Long Barrow to the west and Greenguard to the east.

Cosmetic Improvements:

-Fixing the gradient, now it seems very randomly placed.



-Replace wood ruins for stone ones. It seems very unlikely that wooden buildings remain after so many decades being abandoned.




-Fix snow layers near the castle.



-Update the tower top with new blocks.



Errors:
No errors found.

Structural improvements:
New roofing for both towers and update of the supporting walls on the outside.

 

[CashBanks]

Thanks Rex, looks good to copy to test and make a start. Would suggest adding more signs of rubble/collapsed roof to the top of that tower in particular as well.

Once it's ready to paste back in it might be worth adding some more trees nearby to suggest the castle's a useful source of wood for stuff like... torches.

 

[FD001__]

Thanks for the quick interest Finn. Feel free to make start on the update over in Test. JohanKR850 was online not too long ago so we'll give him a chance to chime in before copying the updated version back to the main map when you're done.

Ofc, happy to wait.

I actually already did a test at my plot lol, if anyone wants to check it out feel free @ /warp finn01

 

[jmcmarq]

ICEMARK Update Application:

Helloo ooo oooo!!!,

Icemark was a project done by me, and this way i am very interested on the update of it, overall the project is "updated", but there are serious issued that require to be dated.

Canon:
Icemark is mentioned as being similar to Nightfort, but smaller. Later, there is an intention of reguarnishing this castle, so I suppose it should be relatively intact at least in one building.

Cosmetic Improvements:

This way, i show in the images the parts of the castle that need an update, using the colour code used in King's Landing.



This overpass looks chaotic and clunky as hell, nothing can be saved.



the tower walls are dated because of the usage of logs in corners, but overall the tower roof and shape is OK.



the gallery and the roofs are dated, but the operations can be limited to the removal of logs and a bit more.



The rounded windows are dated, and is better to replan a bit this facade. The overhang on the left building is clunky and redundant, and is better to get rid of it.



This facade and all roofs in the castle need slight updates, but the structure on the tower is odd and is better to redo.



Concerning interiors, I am going to empty the most of the buildigs, by removing wooden slabs, leaving only walls. I think this fits more to both the canon and the current style of the Nightfort.

Hope u like it

Thanks
JMC

 

[Horsthausen]

Sable Hall Update Application:



Canon:
Sable Hall is an abandoned castle between Woodswatch to the West and Rimegate to the East. It is one of the castles Jon Snow regarrisons in ADWD. In 50 AC, during the reign of Jahaerys I, two former Kingsguard members, Ser Olyver Bracken and Ser Raymund Mallery led a rebellion of former Poor Fellow's and Warrior's Sons. The Lord Commander had given them the command to restore the castles Rimegate and Sable Hall - instead Ser Olyver took Rimegate as his seat and Ser Raymund took Sable Hall. Walton Stark, Lord of Winterfell aided the Night's Watch in ending the rebllion. While the men of Rimegate were hanged and their commander Ser Olyver beheaded by Lord Walton, the men of Sable Hall fled north of the Wall. In pursuing them, Lord Walton was slayn by giants in the Haunted forest and half a year later, Ser Raymund's head was delivered to Eastwatch by wildlings.

Suggested Canonical and Cosmetic Improvements:
- refurnish the tower to make small space for commander's quarters that Ser Mallery would have used

- reworking the ceilings in the tower to stairs

- give the stables a stone foundation and make the wooden parts more ruined (a wooden structure would not have stayed this intact), also changing full wooden planks to slabs to avoid edges

- add some rafters as support for the big roof to the great hall, some of them fallen down
- possibly add some ornamentation on the side of the hall where sables could have been lined up as the name of the castle suggests

- make this extension to the hall which seems to be a food storage a little bit larger, so that it can contain a small food preparation area and storage (maybe underground)

- slight improvements on the facedes
- adding white wood where exposed to snow

Errors:
Not found

Structural Improvements:
None planned other than the above

 

[CashBanks]

Great to see you returning to Icemark jmc! Please go ahead and make a start in Test. That overpass you flagged for removal could be replaced with stone, or you potentially try a completely collapsed wooden version.

Really like your ideas for Sablehall too Horthausen, happy for you to make a start in Test.

FYI to all updaters, I’m overseas for the next week so will have limited time to take review in game til then, but encourage you to take a look at each others work and make any suggestions to add for consistency.

 

[Rexstop15]

Hi Cash, I believe the Torches update is now finished. We can check it out whenever you want.

 

[CashBanks]

Thanks for the work so far everyone, looks like everyone's made good progress. Before doing final sign off I've just got some general notes worth keeping in mind that I didn't include in the original post.
- It looks good to use snow layers to indicate where wooden rooflines/planks are sagging down/collapsing.

- When the Nightswatch abandoned the castles, they probably would have tried to lock them up/secure them as much as possible. You can show this by adding shutters/wooden planks to the inside of windows.

You can also add some small details like snow spilling into a room through an open window where the shutter/planks have fallen down, e.g.

- More piles of northern pebble rubble the better, in piles below collapsing stone and/or in accumulating in corners.

- It can be tricky but try to add snow to the top layer of structures exposed to air, e.g:

 

[Scubooty]

Here is my application for the Deeplake Redo, any feedback is appreciated!
-Scubooty

 

[CashBanks]

Looks good Scub! I think it makes sense to make the keep seem a little more polished/modern given it's the most recent Wall castle built and they had the cash to do it nicely.

Seems logical too that some kind of engineering flawd motivated them to choose Castle Black over Deep Lake as the headquarters (though maybe that was just plot convenience because it's half way between Shadow Tower/Eastwatch).

Anyway, feel free to drop current Deep Lake castle somewhere in old builds and move your progress over to its position on the Wall and we can discuss the rest in game.

 

[CashBanks]

Confirming the first 4 Wall castles have now completed their updates, Stonedoor, Torches, Hoarfrost Hill and Longbarrow have now had their updates completed. Thanks to Rex, Finn and Auscarbone!

 

[Rexstop15]

Can't wait to see all of them finished!!

 

[jmcmarq]

Icemarq is finished!, just remains to adjust a bit the terraforming and to put the water!

 

[Scubooty]

Hey, there's still plenty of open buildings at Deeplake for builders to apply for! I've done some work on them to give everyone a base to work from. I encourage any tests for them and don't be afraid of the snow.

 

[Batelgause]

Westwatch update(or redo ?) application by batelgause and deiniol :



Canon : Westwatch-by-the-Bridge is the westernmost castle of the Night's Watch, located near the Gorge and the Bridge of Skulls.[1] East of the abandoned castle is the Shadow Tower, the westernmost of the inhabited castles of the Watch.[2] - asoiaf wiki

Cosmetic improvements :
- Add white wood blocks to exposed wood sections
- update the palette
- Add pebble mix around snow to use MotM pebbles - looks like snowy pebbles providing a better transition
- new roofing for the towers and halls
- updating interiors
- updating the portculis and the gate

Structural improvements :
- moving the big tower closer to the hall and adding a new barracks building to the castle(shown with a map below)
- adding some underground rooms and tunnels

Errors :

no errors found

Map of our plans :


Red : mostly collapsed or ruined
Yellow : moderately damaged
Green : partially/lightly damaged

Last words : We are not sure wheter this should be classified as an update or a redo but we aim to build the castle first then ruin it by staying loyal to the original layout and only adding some new additions . Thank y'all for reading.(we tried to undo the bold effect but it didnt work sry :/ )

 

[CashBanks]

Hey Batel and Deiniol, this is awesome thanks for applying!

Happy for you to make a start, so far we've been copying the castles across to /warp WallUpdate, making the changes then copying them back when completed. So feel free to copy Westwatch across, let me know if there's not enough space.

I'd also be open to hearing ideas for updating the Bridge of Skulls too if you had any thoughts on that one. We could possibly widen the gorge to make room for a longer bridge if you had an interesting design in mind.