============================================================================

Qarl's Texture Pack III Full Version 1.3 OMOD

OMOD by BangsBoomstik
Kick Ass Texture Pack by Qarl

Description-
This is a full version of Qarl's Texture Pack III, with patch v1.3 already
installed, and then created into an OMOD. I did no work with the actual textures,
all I did was combine Qarl's TP3 with the newest 1.3 patch, and then made it into
an OMOD. I found this very helpful, because it is much easier than manually
uninstalling and installing all those different textures and meshes, with the OMOD,
all you have to do is activate or deactivate the mod, and Oblivion Mod Manager
takes care of the rest.

Requirements-
This mod greatly enhances the graphic detail of Oblivion. Therefore, you should
probably only install this if you have a farily high-end system. I am currently
running an 8800GT with 1280x1024 resolution, 4x anti-aliasing, and max graphics,
and with this mod installed I average around 45fps.

Installation-
Extract the OMOD to your C:...\Oblivion\obmm\mods folder. Then, start up OBMM, and
double click on the mod to activate it. After you have activated it, click on
Utilities then Archive Invalidation. Click the bubble for BSA alteration, check
mark the box for Textures, and check mark the box for Generate archiveinvalidation
entries on hash collision. If you want to know why you did all that, scroll down
to number 4 in Qarl's Installation section in his readme, and he explains it a
little more. NOTE: The mod might take a while to install, this is normal, and its
just because this is such a big file.

Other Handy Mods-

Also, if you have Shivering Isles, keep an eye out for my Bomret's Shivering Isles
Texture Pack OMOD, which I will be working on.

Credit-
All the credit for creating this amazing texture pack goes to Qarl. If you modify
this OMOD in any way, all I ask is that you give me credit, thanks.

HAVE FUN :D!

BELOW IS THE ORIGINAL README FOR QARL'S TP3.

============================================================================

Qarl's Texture Pack III for TES IV: Oblivion

Created by Qarl

Contents

Description
Installation
Usage
Contact Me
Issues
Version History
Credits

Description
 The purpose of this package is to make TES IV: Oblivion look even better than
when you bought it. To do this I've created new textures, normal maps, specular and
parallax maps to replace a large number of those in the game with ones which are
higher resolution and more photorealistic, while at the same time still very close
to the original feel of Bethesda's intentions. Replacement meshes are also included
to use parallax mapping. However, due to the increased resolution, machines with
lower-end graphics cards may see severe slow-down with this mod.

Features:

* Most textures are 4 times the size of the originals. Some, even more.
This makes things seem much clearer and sharper in-game.
* A large number of meshes have been altered to take advantage of the game
engine's parallax shader.
* Only parts of the mesh which NEED parallaxing have the parallax flag
enabled. This removes unwanted artifacts parallaxing can cause around corners.
* Textures which use the parallax shader have been altered at the mipmap
level so that things look very 3D from a distance but do not get the soupy
artifacts associated with the parallax effect when viewed close-up.
* Advanced normal map techniques used to make landscape textures seem very
3D.
* Landscape color maps and normal maps edited at the mipmap level to reduce
the tiling effect in the distance.
* Mesh fixes from the Unofficial Oblivion Patch are included.

Things retextured:

* Architecture
* Landscape
* Rocks
* Dungeons
* Blood splatters, falling snowflakes, butterflies
* Furniture, and other medium-sized clutter

Things NOT retextured:

* Clothes, armor, weapons, creatures, NPCs

* Foliage, the sky
* Kvatch, the Arena, and the Oblivion realm

Installation

1. Unzip QarlTP3.zip to your desktop.

2. Double-click on QarlTP3.exe (a self-extracting 7zip file) and extract it to
your Oblivion\Data folder.
3. If you have either QTP3 beta or a mod which adds parallax meshes to your
game, please read below!
* Due to unfortunate artifacts which surface from meshes which have the
parallax flag enable on surfaces where it's not needed or desired, I've
painstakingly gone through all the meshes included in this pack and enabled the
parallax flag for ONLY those parts of the mesh which require it.
* If you have QTP3 beta installed, or have a mod like "Parallaxed Qarl"
or one of the other parallax mods, you're going to want to remove the meshes
installed by those mods because there are a good number of meshes which they
deposit, that don't need to be there -and by being there, they cause the
aforementioned parallax artifacts.
* The best way to remove the previous parallax mods is with OBMM. If you
have them installed with an omod, you can just uninstall them. Or if you don't you
could make an omod of them, and then uninstall them.
 * If you don't want to go the omod route, you can manually delete the
folders of meshes below. Warning: If you have another mod installed that puts
custom meshes in any of these folders, you will be removing the mesh it needs and
will get big exclamation points in your game unless you reinstall the mod which
needs those meshes. Here are the folders to delete:
o meshes\architecture
o meshes\rocks
o meshes\dungeons
4.
Archive Invalidation
1. Due to a bug in Oblivion, texture replacements such as those included
in this mod will not display correctly unless you take some extra steps to force
Oblivion to use them. Unfortunately, Oblivion has major problems loading many
replacement textures even if you use an ArchiveInvalidation.txt file (which is the
current common practice). This topic is far too complex to explain all the whys,
hows, and wherefores here, so we'll stick to simple instructions for known
solutions that work well at the moment.
2. The best solution at the moment is to use one of Timeslip's excellent
utility programs: Oblivion Mod Manager (OBMM version 0.7.10 or later) or BSA
Patcher. What OBMM and BSA Patcher do is to sidestep the ArchiveInvalidation
problem by making Oblivion think it never had a copy of the textures you are
replacing.
3. In other words, these utilities edit your BSA archives so that Oblivion
cannot find the original version of files you have replaced, thus forcing it to
load the replacements instead of the originals.
4. Download Oblivion Mod Manager
5. OBMM will keep track of which files have been renamed in your BSAs and
provides a Remove BSA edits function to rollback any changes it has made to your
BSA just in case you don't like the results. You should probably make a backup of
your BSA files if you have the space (or a DVD-burner) just in case, but so far
nobody has reported any corruption issues.
6. OBMM requires .NET 2.0 to work, so if you can't run .NET 2.0 then
you'll need to use BSA Patcher instead.
7. Assuming you have OBMM 0.7.10 or later installed already, and have
already installed this mod, the steps you need to take are as follows:
1. Start OBMM.
2. Click Utilities.
3. Select Archive invalidation.
4. Click Directly Edit BSAs.
5. Check Textures.
6. Check Generate archiveinvalidation entries on hash collision.
7. Click the checkbox for autoupdate on exit and/or click Update
Now.
8. Close the Archive invalidation popup (click the red X in the
upper-left corner).
9. Quit OBMM or click Launch Oblivion.
8. Here's a screenshot of the exact options to use in OBMM 0.7.11:
9.
10. You can try different settings if you want, but these are known to
work. You do need to make sure to check the box for Generate archiveinvalidation
entries on hash collision, since that setting is critical. Using the above settings
in OBMM will take care of everything for you.
11. Download BSA Patcher
12. Another solution is Timeslip's BSA Patcher. Unlike OBMM, BSA Patcher is
a command-line application, although you can launch it by double-clicking the
executable. BSA Patcher doesn't include as many configuration options as OBMM, but
it accomplishes the same tasks and it only requires .NET 1.1, which means it will
work for anyone who is unwilling or unable to run .NET 2.0. It will also work with
mono, an open-source version of .NET 1.1.
 13. The latest version of BSA Patcher (as of this writing) uses the BSA
alteration code from OBMM 0.7.10 and, like OBMM, it will automatically generate an
ArchiveInvalidation.txt file for you containing only the textures that could not be
safely renamed in your BSA files. It includes support for several command-line
options, but you can safely ignore them.
14. To use it, place BSAPatch.exe in your \Oblivion\Data\ folder and
double-click it once to rename files in your BSA. Run it again to restore them to
their original names.
15. NOTE: If you use either OBMM or BSA Patcher, you should not manually
alter your ArchiveInvalidation.txt file. Let one of these programs do it for you.
No other solutions are recommended.
5. For more information, installation tips, etc., please see the Oblivion Mods
FAQ.

Usage

If you intend to use my texture for anything, please contact me first for
approval. Do not repackage or redistribute this mod without contacting me first.

Contact Me

Feel free to email me at: qarl@earthlink.net.

For problems with the mod, questions, or comments, the easy way to contact me
is Canadian Ice's Forum. Look for my post about this mod in the Oblivion Release
Announcements section.

Issues

* Some video cards may not be able to render the 2 textures I put in the game
with 1024x4096 resolution. If you see black pillars or other black areas in the
Imperial City, your video cards is one of these. You'll need to remove the
following files:
o textures\architecture\imperialcity\iccol01.dds
o textures\architecture\imperialcity\ichcol01.dds

Version History:

1.3
* Added parallax mapping to Bruma roofs
* Enhanced a couple normal maps of landscape textures
* Fixed unsightly seams in chargen area
* Added parallaxing to a cave exterior (thanks tro dev_akm!)

1.2
* Fixed normal map error on Fort Ruins interior ceiling which caused an unsightly
seam.

1.1
* Added snowflakes
* Fixed Haunted Mansion Anvil mesh.

Credits

1. blade9722 for many of the advanced
altering things at the mipmap level.
2. Mikal33 for some of the non-tiling
Better Tiling Qarl mod.
3. Dev_akm for a lot of helpful ideas
4. andreasgr for a lot of great input
ideas used in this mod, like
mipmaps used from Blade and his
and input.
both during beta testing and even
before that.
5. Pekka for just being an all-around good participator in the WIP forum
discussion.
6. Princess_stomper for being Princess!
7. The Unofficial Oblivion Patch team for their excellent mod. Some meshes
from the mod were used, either as-is or slightly altered.
8. Many very helpful people on Canadian Ice's forum for great input during
the beta test.
9. The NIFTools team for their wonderful NIFSkope program.