Question about textures/Really AEVWD 1.5

[Extacide]

edit#1: fixed my own qarls problem; also added screen shots of LOD :D

 

I have about 100 mods (majority being graphics) that I'm going to try to cram through, so I'll probably update this thread as I progress (i.e. f*** up.) I'll start with by mentioning that I'm running with a dual core 4800 AMD processor, 4gb of DDR2 RAM, and a GeForce 9800GTX+. Every graphic setting in oblivion are cranked to max. Anisotropic filtering in GFX set to 16x.

 

The only mods/textures I'm running (and installed in the order listed):

 

SI

Unofficial Oblivion patch

Unofficial SI patch

Streamline

Screen Effects

Qarl's Texture Pack III

SI Texture Pack

Qarls Normal LOD 4096

Kaldorn's Noise Replacer

Realistic Lava

Really AEVWD 1.5

 

All mods other than patches/streamline/Screen Effects installed with OMOD.

 

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The main mod I'm having trouble with, and also failing to understand is Qarl's NormalLOD textures, and LOD textures in general. The folder it told me to install them in was non-existent, and the actual graphics look terrible; nothing like the screen shots showed. On top of the LOD textures, I also installed Kaldorn's Noise Replacer, which I can visibly see, but not Qarl's. And with that said, is there anything I should know about LOD textures? I'm aiming for the absolute most overkill graphics, so are there other textures for LOD that I should get in conjunction with these, or would anyone recommend something better? I read a guide mentioning LOD textures, normal maps/color maps etc, and all it did was confuse me. ._.

 

edit: I uninstalled the LOD textures, and took screen shots of what it looked like with and without the textures; they both were 100% the same, so I obviously am retarded when it comes to installing these.

 

The final mod is really AEVWD 1.5. I installed via OMOD and ran the tes4LOD gen. I see most structures, but they're either very low quality looking, or I actually can't even see some of them. It doesn't look NEARLY as good as it did in the preview screen shots though.

 

http://screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/lar...4e754807a2a.jpg

http://screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/lar...4157d1da796.jpg

http://screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/lar...f92dfcae89a.jpg

 

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And on that note, I appreciate anything someone can help me with, as I'm not entirely savvy with texture mods. I have a BUNCH of other hi-res textures to install, but if anyone wants to suggest other mods to overkill the graphics with, I would greatly appreciate them! Barely an FPS drop currently with Qarls, and the full RAEVWD.

[malonn]

The difference with LOD mods will be subtle, but there. Try THIS guide to offer more options, if you haven't read it already. As far as RAEVWD goes, the textures will be of lesser quality because of issues with performance and such. That's to be expected. I will say that there are several texture pack options on the download site. Be sure you grab QTPIII textures since you are running QTPIII.

[Extacide]

Yeah, that was the exact guide I read and it only confused me. 99% of the other stuff it had was helpful, but the LOD textures section confused me to no end. As for the QTP textures, I did not see those. I thank you for pointing out that obvious fact. ._.

[Extacide]

bump

 

A more direct explanation of LOD textures and what to install to maximize them would be great. >_<

 

Kudos to anyone who does. =(

[XJDHDR]

I had a bit of trouble understanding what was written there as well but I think it basically says that you should download these two mods:

Better Tiling textures for Qarl pack (download the 4th file in the list)

Qarl's LOD normals 4096 compressed

 

If you game starts stuttering after you install these two mods, rather visit this page and download the reduced versions of the two replacers above.

 

I hope this is what you are looking for.

[Extacide]

Oh, I'm sorry for the misunderstanding. I appreciate your response though, +kudos. :D

 

Alright, the first mod you mentioned I'm downloading now and I'll try installing. My issue with the other one was that when I installed it, there was no difference in the looks. I thought perhaps it had something to do with the fact that the folder it told me to install it in didn't exist, and that it might have been something I did wrong to install it correctly. I was also wondering if there were any other files pertaining to improving the looks of LOD that I could also install, as the guide on LOD textures confused me to no end with it's mention of normal maps, color maps, tiling, noise replacers, etc. I have a firm grasp on everything else except the subject of LOD. =(

 

Oh, and don't worry about stuttering. My PC is quite able to handle it! :D I just want the best graphic mods possible to make use of my new GFX card.

 

Thanks for bearing with me. ._.

[mimada]

I'll attempt an explanation. The Oblivion engine uses three different sets of textures and meshes to draw what you see on your screen. Most people are familiar with the high resolution meshes and textures that the player can interact with. These objects are close to the player and need to be as detailed as possible to be convincing. The next set of textures and meshes are drawn for objects that are a medium distance away from the player. The meshes have fewer polygons and the textures are not as detailed to speed up rendering. The third set has the fewest polygons and the least detailed textures for the farthest land and objects. LOD refers to the meshes and textures that are used in the medium and long distance.

 

Not every object has medium or long distance meshes or textures. You can see the effect in vanilla Oblivion where ruins and forts are not visible from a distance. This was purposely done for framerates. Even with replacement LODs you will find that a lot of rocks and things will pop into view as you approach them.

 

As computers and graphics cards became more powerful, modders have created replacement LOD meshes and textures. These replacers have meshes and textures for things that were not included in the original game. One LOD replacer allows you to generate low res models for practically everything in the game, however, it makes the game unplayable even on a powerful system.

 

Texture replacers such as Quarl's only replace textures that are close to the player. That's why there are QT files for LOD.

 

If you played the original, unpatched version of Oblivion you would notice that landscape textures seen from a distance would have a distinct pattern. "Noise" refers to a process that breaks ups these patterns.

[XJDHDR]

@mimada

Your explanation was much easier to understand than Dev-Akm's guide. Thank you!

 

@Extacide

If the folder you need to put the files in doesn't exist, just create the folders you require. Are you using any mod managers? For texture replacers like this, my favourite would be Wrye Bash.

 

When you open the archive, do you see a "textures" folder or something else? I ask this because some mod creaters don't package the mod properly and so just extracting the mod into your data folder doesn't install it properly. If you still can't get Quarl's normal map mod installed properly, maybe you could give me a detailed breakdown of how you installed it.

 

As far as I can see from the guide, all you need to improve your LOD is a noise replacer and the two mods I mentioned in my previous post.

 

BTW, as a point of interest, how much RAM does the 9800+ have?

[Extacide]

Thanks for the explanation, makes much more sense.

 

I use OBMM. I made an OMOD of the LOD textures that placed it into the directory the readme said. It didn't exist, and there were no files to replace obviously. Activated it, and then utter disappointment. The mod files were in the primary directory of the archive. The readme, quoted says:

 

Extract to your Data\textures\landscapelod\generated folder, overwriting any already there.

 

9800+ has 512mb, has been able to handle walking around in tlc looking down upon the world with no stutter at all.

[mimada]

In OBMM, click on the Utilities button and update your Archive invalidation.

 

Oblivion by default, looks for its resource files in the BSA (Bethesda Softworks Archive) files that ship with the game. When you add replacers, the game checks a file called archiveinvalidation.txt. Well, archiveinvalidation.txt is buggy so the creators of OBMM added a utility (mentioned above) that replaced the archiveinvalidation.txt file.

 

Another thing is that your screenshots are somewhat low res. Have you tried upping your screen resolution?