Assets from Arena?

[Zomgmeister]

How difficult is to:

1. Extract sprites and sounds of creatures from Arena?
2. Convert these to Daggerfall Unity format?
3. Design stats for these creatures, because game systems are pretty different? // I actually can do this, so this is not difficult, just may be unrequired.
4. Put a pack of "new" monsters in game, editing spawn lists etc?

Because most of these creatures, like Wolves and Goblins, will fit perfectly. Obviously mr. Jagar Tharn is unwelcome, and we already have Lich and Orc, but these sprites may be reused for different lore-friendly enemies. This is, probably, the simplest way to add a pack of monsters, because all the other ways are probably harder.

[Deepfighter]

Regardless of possibility, I would see legal issues in some countries by extracting assets of another game into another, even though it's free downloadable. See Skywind and other examples.

[Zomgmeister]

I thought about it, yeah. But:

Daggerfall Unity is freeware, Arena is freeware.
Daggerfall Unity requires Daggerfall. This "expansion", this creature pack may require Arena.
And the next step may be repainting of these assets by volunteer artists (same with sounds). Like Open Transport Tycoon Deluxe did.

So right now I'm more interested if that is possible at all:
- To extract data from Arena, perhaps even to use it as a reference for redoing copyright-free sprites;
- To add a pack of new creatures to the Daggerfall Unity game, integrating it to the spawn lists.

[Zomgmeister]

Stats for supposed Arena creatures pack
I can’t extract assets from Arena, convert these to Daggerfall, and put these in game. I also can’t say anything about legal issues.
But I did what I could, and that is stat allocation, with balance and good distribution of monsters by levels in mind. Also some minor design tweaks were made, more about that later.

Creatures list by levels
First number is a level. Second number is quantity of creatures with that level in Daggerfall. Number in brackets is new quantity, with Arena pack. Monsters from the pack are highlighted with bold font and green color.
1: 1 — Rat
2: 1(3) — Imp, Giant Rat, Goblin
3: 2(4) — Giant Bat, Spriggan, Lizard Man, Wolf
4: 3 — Grizzly Bear, Sabertooth Tiger, Spider
5: 2(3) — Centaur, Orc, Snow Wolf
6: 2(3) — Nymph, Werewolf, Skeleton
7: 2(3) — Slaughterfish, Orc Sergeant, Lesser Zombie
8: 2(3) — Harpy, Wereboar, Giant Spider
9: 1(3) — Skeletal Warrior, Orc Adventurer, Homunculus
10: 2(3) — Giant, Zombie, Lesser Ghost
11: 2(3) — Ghost, Mummy, Hell Hound
12: 1(3) — Giant Scorpion, Minotaur, Ice Golem
13: 1(3) — Orc Shaman, Ghoul, Stone Golem
14: 0(3) — Ogre, Lesser Wraith, Iron Golem
15: 1(2) — Wraith, Lesser Daedroth
16: 8 — Dragonling, Dreugh, Lamia, Orc Warlord, Fire Atronach, Flesh Atronach, Ice Atronach, Iron Atronach
17: 3 — Gargoyle, Fire Daedra, Frost Daedra
18: 1(3) — Daedroth, Medusa, Lesser Vampire
19: 2(3) — Vampire, Daedra Seducer, Lesser Lich
20: 3 — Lich, Vampire Ancient, Dremora Lord
21: 1 — Ancient Lich

Changes to creatures classification
Animal: Any sort of mundane animal, however large it is.
Anthropoid: Humanoid-like creatures of non-playable species, like Orcs and Goblins. Basically this was “Orcs” category, but now it is expanded. Larger humanoid-like creatures, like Minotaurs and Ogres, are now considered to be monsters. All Anthropoids can use weapons to do damage.
Construct: Atronachs, Golems, Dwemer Animunculi. This was “Atronachs” category, but now it includes Golems, and in future can include other artificial creatures.
Undead: Undead of all kinds.
Daedra: Daedra of all kinds.
Monster: Various creatures which do not belong to any other group. Includes Lycanthropes, which may be considered a subgroup of creatures, being different in background lore, but in the game they are just two monsters. In future, if Lycantropes will be expanded, probably making current Werewolf and Wereboar some sort of Lesser Lycantropes, it probably will be worthwhile to make different category, but not now.
Humanoid: Human-like NPCs of various classes. Unchanged.

Only Anthropoids, Undead, Daedra and Humanoids can have magical skills higher than 80. It is said in UESP that only Humanoids can, but this makes little sense considering Daedra and Liches.

For Phobia/Expertise to Hit:
Anthropoids are grouped with Humanoids. They aren't much different.
Constructs are grouped with Daedra. Atronachs are obviously related, and other kinds are foreign/mystical enough. May be argued to be grouped with Undead, I don’t have a strong opinion on this matter.
Monsters are grouped with Animals. This is how it works in classic.

Changes to Daggerfall classic creatures
Rat is renamed to Giant Rat, gets promoted to level 2 with slightly better stats. A Rat from Arena takes her place as a level 1 creature. Daggerfall Rat has more “impressive” sprite, it looks more powerful. Although it is possible just to use Arena Rat as a Giant Rat, but I think that would be not as good.
Zombie is now considered to be Undead, not an Animal. The game listing it as an Animal is probably an oversight.
Daedra Lord is renamed to Dremora Lord, while we’re at it, to make a better foundation for the future. I thought about naming these “Valkynaz” or something, but it is useless in absence of other kyn, and majority of the Iliac Bay dwellers are probably not that versed in daedric lore. That last point may be used in arguing for keeping “Daedra Lord” name, but I don’t think that many people will argue for that.
No other changes. This pack is supposed to add new monsters, not to change existing ones. Although this may be a good idea, because there are some strange stuff going on, but I digress.

Introduction of Arena monsters
A Rat from Arena takes over a slot of a classic Rat, while that one is being promoted to a Giant Rat.
NB: Probably a good idea is to spawn Rats (and Giant Rats, and Goblins, and some other weaker creatures) in groups as a variant of stronger, high-level enemy. But I don’t know if it is possible.
Goblin is a weakest Anthropoid, which means he can use a weapon to do damage. Sure, in the future it is possible to expand on these like Oblivion did, with Goblin Warlords and whatnot, but this is outside of the scope of this project.
Lizard Man is another weak Anthropoid. To make it more interesting, instead of Paralysis, he now can cast Toxic Cloud, just as an Imp in classic, so this does not makes him very powerful. Just a bit dangerous.
Wolf is basically a weaker Grizzly Bear. Yet another creature which can look great in packs.
Snow Wolf is stronger than Grizzly Bear, with an Ice Bolt to make things interesting. Should only appear in the wilderness when there’s snowy winter, so Hammerfell is a no go.
Skeleton is a weaker version of our favorite Skeletal Warrior. Similar in most regards.
Lesser Zombie is what it is. Same spawning rules as a normal Zombie, but weaker, lower level and different appearance. This happens to several other creatures: Ghost, Wraith, Fire Daemon (Lesser Daedroth now), Vampire and Lich. Won’t mention these creatures again, because all is already said.
I don’t have a strong opinion on “Lesser” in names, maybe it’s better just to call these exactly like their classic, stronger brethren are named. This may add some mystery for inexperienced players: “oh, I already saw a Zombie, but that one looks different, is he stronger or not?” But I don’t know, maybe this is impossible, because each creature should have a unique name or something.
Giant Spider is a Spider from Arena. Average in strength between normal Spider and Giant Scorpion.
Orc Adventurer is an Orc from Arena. Stronger than Orc Sergeant. Can cast Fireball, like most adventurers do. Should be put into all orc spawning lists.
NB: All Orcs probably should have higher chance of spawning with Orcish weapons/armor, if encountered on the legal level. Makes sense, and feels like a nice reward.
Homunculus is a Homonculus from Arena. This name is not registered as a typo anymore. Basically a more powerful version of an Imp.
Hell Hound is a nice flaming dog. Probably should only appear in the wilderness during nights, and maybe never, being exclusive to dungeons. Resistance to Fire, can cast Fireball, kinda obvious abilities.
Minotaur is a humanoid-like Monster, who does not counts as an Anthropoid. He resists all sorts of magic damage.
Ice Golem is a Construct. He is weaker than an Atronach, as all Golems are, and not that impressive. Easily dispatched by Fire.
NB: Golems are supposed to be some sort of magical Constructs, which do not exploit neither Necromancy nor Daedric magic, at least not much. So, they are not very powerful, but can be used to guard something by crafter mages.
Ghoul is a version of higher-level Zombie, but he is not really much more powerful. Is kinda faster, though.
Stone Golem is a Construct. He is stronger than his Ice relative, has resistance to sharp weapons and can only be hit by Elven or higher. But, again, not really that great, because all Golems are less powerful than Atronachs, and Atronachs have weak damage, which is only slightly balanced by their abilities, some of which do not work anyway.
Ogre is a Troll from Arena. He does not looks like a Troll from later games, but can go for an Ogre. Still kept his Regeneration though, it won’t save him from the burst anyway.
Iron Golem is a Construct. He is the strongest Golem, but still weaker than Atronachs. Immune to Fire, Poison and Cold, but has low tolerance to Shock. Resists sharp weapons.
Medusa is a creature that should spawn in the water, but with possibility to swim/walk out of the water (or climb, or levitate) to pursue the victim. In Arena it has a ranged Paralysis attack, and some sort of Paralysis probably should remain.

Certain creatures become weaker or, rarely, stronger than their position in Arena, for the sake of better leves distribution or other reasons. Stats were tweaked around to fit Daggerfall style better. For example, Ghoul is basically a stronger Zombie, but Arena Ghoul had way lower stats than Daggerfall Zombie, and this is changed.

Link to the Google Spreadsheet. A page "Combined" is what is it about. "Data" is technical, and "Arena" and "Daggerfall" are just default stats, taken from UESP.