Oblivion: Retextured – TES:IV Oblivion Mini Mod released

Hi! I have recently released this mini project of mine. Oblivion Retextured!

This mod aims to replace certain textures of oblivion with higher resolution versions as well as recolor some of the them to resonate better with the look of the other elder scrolls games. My aim is to remove the blurry and plastic look from the game. This mod assumes that you already have qarls texture pack III aswell as a face and body replacer installed. It will tackle the textures these mods have not touched. Especially the clothes and armor aswell as the realms of oblivion.

Below is an archive of development articles!

Introduction:

A wise man once said that no one reads the introduction. Well, you seem to be the exception of the rule then 😉 Oblivion is among my favorite games…it has a sense of depth and maturity lacking from Skyrim (brilliant game aswell, don’t get me wrong.) What has always rubbed me wrong however, was the visual style of the game.

Everything looked washed out, blurry and the colors often seemed out of place. This was especially true with the higher level weapon and armor design. A lot of it just looked like plastic or otherwise odd.

While the modding community has done great improvements to oblivion already not everything has yet been done or done to my taste which is why I started this modding project. Textures go a long way and can give a game new live (thinking about the great Thief 3 texture mod here.) I hope that these textures will be part of many players future elder scrolls experiences and add to an already fantastic game.

This mod assumes that you have qarls texture pack 3 and some kind of head/body replacer installed and will not touch the material already modified by these mods. It will tackle anything not yet improved/changed instead.

What is planned:

NPC Clothing will be slightly improved and recolored so it fits in the TES universe and no longer is looking ridiculous or shining like a Christmas tree when HDR is turned on. Some color combinations are changed.

Armor will be retextured to look more used and worn. It will also be adjusted visually so you can wear parts of different sets without them looking out of place. I will also add higher-resolution versions where needed (especially gloves, as these are seen in first person). Some armor might have less of a “knight in shining armor” flair when I’m done with it which is why this mod might not be for everyone.

Weapons will get higher resolution textures and recolors. They should look less like toys once I’m done with them…especially the glass and steel set.

Creatures will get higher resolution textures and will be adjusted to look less like cartoons. In the original games creatures like the ogre or xivilai looked very non-threatening…I aim to change that. Making things look more “visceral”, vicious and organic.

Clutter, Items and architecture will be adjusted where needed.

Oblivion (the realm) will get a new and more somber look. I try to stray away from the pastel colors it is held in now and cover it more in rust and ashes.

Part I : The empires new clothes

I started with the clothes, doing quick fixes and changes, especially the colors as seen above. I also had to learn how the oblivion engine renders the normalmaps so some mistakes are still present. Here are a few screenshots:

Hello community!

I’m happy to see that the initial responses to the mod where positive 🙂 I was able to get some more work done on the textures. So far I have replaced 90% of the interior textures for the plains of oblivion. The new textures are only slightly different in design…they look a little more organic for the energy membranes and otherwise more like volcanic stone/cold lava which is prevalent in oblivion. (assuming the daedra actually build their architecture like we do and not just will them into existence.)

While I often increased resolution and detail of the textures up to 2048² the results where less visible than I hoped. The reason for this is that the normalmaps have a pretty strong effect in oblivions engine so I have to replace them aswell. So far I have refused doing so because the way the gamebryo engine requires these maps is a chore to do. I have to save the specular map in the normalmaps alphachannel (at least that is how it looks) and this is the exact kind of fiddlework I had to do for an earlier version of Shavra. I hated it then and I still hate it now.

Either way, I believe the results are at least servicable and oblivion does look more hellish now than in vanilla:

A lot of textures look crisp and detailed even when standing right in front of them.

This diffuse map has a resolution of 2048²…the normalmapping does obscure this.

Darker and more infernal oblivion interiors.

I’ll get back to working on the realm of oblivion soon and comments as well as suggestions are welcome.

Below is a simple retexture of the scamp. As they stroll the dark planes of oblivion rather casually which is literally surrounded by lavalstreams, I figured that having them look greyish and burnt would be more suitable:

The Dwarven Armor and Weapon Set

Lorewise, the dwarven equipment should look like bronze…however, it has always been displayed looking more like pale gold. I always liked the look in both Morrowind and Skyrim…in oblivion however they looked as if they where made from solid gold, polished gold at that and very recently. Dwarven equipment is supposed to be ancient. I have increased the resolution of the textures, added some small ornaments and changed the colors to at least look more like in the other games as well as blend better with other sets.

My character is wearing leather greaves as the game refused to take the texture for the dwarven one. An issue I’ll solve soon, I’m sure.

High resolution and adapted colors.

Thank you for reading, please leave some comments below if you’re already here and you’ll hear from me next time.

Hello and welcome to a small update!

I’m done with the realms of oblivion! However, there is some tweaking that still needs doing so you’ll see screenshots of the oblivion plains in the next update. This update will focus on the caves. I gave them darker, more broody textures so they have the appearance of volcanic rock which seems most appropriate. Lit section glow in dark red and you might need a torch for the unlit sections. All in all I’m happy with how it turned out, but lets take a look at minor tweaks first:

Minor Tweaks

I have adjusted the leather shield to go better with the regular leather armor. The stark color difference was because there is another leather armor set in the files that seems to be unused in oblivion. (its active in some mods) The shield belongs to this set. The actual leather armor as seen on this screenshot was originally intended to be used as the thieves guild armor (at least so it seems). The new shield has higher resolution and detailed as well as darker leather.

Here you see the amelion-gloves with high-res chainmail aswell as a dirty Kvatch armor. Seeing how Kvatch was reduced to nothing but rubble, it felt appropriate to add some dirt and blood on the guard armor, seeing how they likely fought very hard before the players arrival at the scene.

I gave the palace guards armor a more metallic and less glittery appearance.

Mithril Armor

The Mithril armor needed only minor tweaks, in my opinion:

The new texture mostly differs in tone. Its less affected by the HDR rendering and goes better with the new chainmail, elven and glass sets. It also looks more like armor made of shiny metal rather than some kinda synthetic fiber. (the original always had that vibe for me).

Other tweaks include:

* High-res steel arrow quiver that fits better with most armor sets!

* No more neon-yellow Bruma guards

* Starting a mod to replace vanilla paintings with higher resolution, more alluring yet still lore friendlly paintings