Raising the guild gallery and filling the empty walls

Looking around the guild again, two things bugged me. The second-floor gallery above the counter was too low, and the walls (especially the south wall) were too empty. I decided to raise the gallery to open up the space above the counter and fill the bare walls.

What I built

I raised the gallery floor from 2.4 m (the height of the first stone tier) to 3.6 m (+50%). I extended the two stairs by 1.8 m each to connect them and added brackets on both sides at the foot of the posts. The props on the gallery and the paintings, shields and antlers on the gallery wall moved up too, hung at 4.2 m, between the gallery floor and the tier crossbeam (4.8 m).

On the wall behind the counter (under the gallery), I added antlers and 2 wall lanterns, and raised the counter light to 2.4 m.

On the plaster of the second tier (2.4–4.8 m), I set diagonal boards on both sides of each post, mirrored, to make ∧-shaped half-timber braces. That's 8 sections on the south wall, the east wall up to the gallery, and the west wall up to where the stairs reach. Above the door I hung a guild crest, a big shield (3×) with two crossed swords, and moved the antlers that used to be there to the west wall.

On the second tier I hung 6 paintings (2 each on the south, east and west walls) and wall lanterns in 7 spots (a lantern on a small shelf + a 0.9 light, no shadows). On the west side of the south wall there's a weapon rack with a spear, an axe, a hammer and a sword laid across it, and on the east side a chest of drawers and a cupboard.

Paths connect from the arrival point to the talk spot and the door, and the [F] Talk prompt shows up properly in front of the counter. This felt good enough, so the guild interior is final as is.

Things I thought about

• The cupboard gets hidden with the south wall. From the entry view, the camera is outside the south wall, so the back of the cupboard was blocking the front of the screen. So I put every decoration attached to a wall into that wall's group, so it hides along with the wall. In the starting view the south wall (cupboard included) is hidden, and facing south, the north wall and gallery are hidden.
• Left the third tier empty. It has a lot of window sections, so no braces there.

Next up

• The third tier (4.8–7.2 m), where the windows are, has only windows and posts
• The north gallery wall decorations are behind the railing, so only part of them shows from below