i find the ruined towers in BF okay to work with. I've adopted a pretty steady routine with them. One of my fav so far to work with.
I was at one time more intent on the object catalog I am compiling, not so much lately. Most follow a pretty standard pattern. Only the ruined houses are nearly complete. Some towers can be essentially complete, but likely a few blocks will be missing.
If my numbering is correct in mind, the super nice roomy one is Twr Ruin #8. Of the two types that appear in BF. One is supposed to be a house, with 3-4 variants. Then 3ish tower variants. 2-3 based on the simple tall box. And the other is the one with a patio, I like to say. Looks like you could have a BBQ pit out there. I'm not able to run about in the plains yet, So I am alot less familiar with the Fuling camps. As well the swamp huts, and mountain ruins.
But I do have screenshots of essentially all the ruins in meadow or BF. I just haven't taken the time to sort them all.

Originally posted by TheBoot:

Any chance of getting some images showing how they are intended to look if in pristine condition?

Share your SS of the ones you've fixed up.

I don't have any photos on hand, but as Zeppion said,

Originally posted by Zeppion:

There's some videos on Youtube about restoring draugr villages. You might want to check them out.

You will probably find someone has recorded a video of restorations. FireSpark81 does some good work.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2552726554

This was one I used for the forge and workbench by a swamp for iron.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2591921040
This was a place I rather liked. The inside of the tower was mostly just portal but I built up around it and had a nice stairway upstairs to the comfort area above this,

Originally posted by PakaNoHida:

Originally posted by TheBoot:

The big mead halls you find in Draugr villages were usually too badly damaged to repair to their original condition.

Huh? Use the hammer, it takes less than 3 minutes to repair any Draugr village building.

When you get to the plains not all stone structures are broken down to the extent you say.

You've completely missed the point. I am NOT talking about repairing damaged pieces... I'm talking about restoring the parts that are completely missing, which in the case of the Draugr villages is typically the middle roof of the large buildings. I can make it look any way I want, and I have. I was just curious about the complete design the devs had in mind.

Originally posted by Horemvore:

They are static locations, and supposed to be like they are :)

"Ruins"
"Abandoned" etc.

<sigh> I know... You've missed the point.

Restoration projects are a thing nowadays. I even build roads to connect everything if I can. There's some videos on Youtube about restoring draugr villages. You might want to check them out.

Stone towers in Black forest are cramped, But you can fit a portal on one floor, a workbench on another and a bed on another. But most importantly you can build a large platform on top by extending it out with pine. Then you can make an entire base on top, complete with fire.

Originally posted by TheBoot:

The big mead halls you find in Draugr villages were usually too badly damaged to repair to their original condition.

Huh? Use the hammer, it takes less than 3 minutes to repair any Draugr village building.

When you get to the plains not all stone structures are broken down to the extent you say.

I've found some larger ones of the stone towers. Have a stone area around it and covered steps up into them. Stone floor. Set up bases using them when they are in a good spot.
Sometimes you find them with a roof intact or mostly but it is pretty rare. They just have a standard looking angle roof if I remember correctly.

Yeah, the first one you mention is just a tower. It's mostly intact. The bigger towers and one with the raised wooden floor are more the ones I wonder about. I'll rebuild them to my own specs if they're in a good spot but other than the walls, I'd still like to know what they were intended to look like. I actually knock out one of the walls on the bigger ones a build in a hearth. Usually it's the wall opposite the entryway on the medium sized stone buildings. Because of their usefulness, when I set sail to a new place I bring mats for a portal and two iron bars for the Stone Cutter.

They are static locations, and supposed to be like they are :)

"Ruins"
"Abandoned" etc.

"The big mead halls you find in Draugr villages were usually too badly damaged to repair to their original condition."

o.O

How damaged are the cursed villages you're coming across? Because I've completely restored two villages in their entirety. Every one that I've found only have bits of walls or partial roofs gone. Unfortunately they're on a server I no longer have access to so I can't share screenshots but I'm planning on doing it again for my latest local game. Pro-tip, look up historical viking village layouts, you'll find that they've kept fairly close to reality and you can use that to further guide you.

I love finding the larger ruins in the black forest to rebuild too - though it's true the narrow tower ones are harder to work with. I imagine from a building standpoint they were intended to give structural integrity to what was built around/adjoining them.

That's a good idea.
Typically there's what I call a Mead Hall with a throne riser at the far end and what looks to be a crude hearth in the middle. Those are the ones where typically the upper part of the roof in the middle is missing. The other buildings are pretty straight-forward to repair. Tonight was the first "Mead Hall" that had enough of the center section roof to fully restore. It definitely helps to be a bit... careful when clearing out the village. If you rush in there with an Iron Sledge you can destroy the buildings pretty quickly! A more surgical strike makes repairs much easier. :)
As for the stone buildings, the small "watch tower" one is good for getting out of the rain, and not much more. I'll build an external fireplace/chimney for the fire benefit. The stones themselves are always in good condition with a few 2x1 blocks missing. If I'm carrying 2 iron ingots to make a Stone Cutter I'll replace those, otherwise I'll patch the holes with wood and stick a Workbench on the upper floor. The big "mansion" types that often have Vegvisirs in them always have the upper section destroyed. I like the stone buildings between those two types. Straight forward design with three floors. Those are pretty versatile.

The ones in the black forest are usually too cramped to be of much use. I occasionally run into a mostly intact one. They're usually four floors tall with a thatch roof stuck on the top and barely any room to move aside from the stairs/ladders in there.

The ones with the walls knocked out are more useful because then it's easier to expand the second floor into a livable size. They seem to come in three sizes but all three are too small to be comfortable.