

*********************************************************
*	  	 The Elder Scrolls IV							*
*			   OBLIVION									*
*														*
*	 	Natural Environments Mod						*
*	     												*
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Version: 		2.0 (Release Candidate 1)

Release Date: 	23.05.2006

Filenames:		Natural_Weather_by_Max_Tael.esp
				Natural_Water_by_Max_Tael.esp
				Natural_Habitat_by_Max_Tael.esp
				Textures\NaturalEnvironments\*.*
				Meshes\NaturalEnvironments\*.*
				Textures\Menus(also 50, 80)\HUD\  (hud_compass and hud_ribbon files)
				Textures\Sky\	(Masser and Secunda files)

Contact:		Max Tael 
				m_tael@yahoo.com

Table of Contents:

	Description
	Acknowledgements
	Version Changes
	Installation Instructions
	Uninstallation Instructions
	Conflicts and troubleshooting
	FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)	
	Additional Notes
	Copyright terms and conditions
	Liability Disclaimer
	
	
Description:

  Natural Environments is my personal attempt to enhance and improve environmental components of Elder's Scrolls IV: Oblivion. The 2.0 version of the mod introduces dozens of new features, such as seasonal weather patterns, improved visualization of most celestial features found in the game, more than 40 new weather types (the default number is 7), and additional ambient wildlife species, such as birds and insects.  
  The mod also removes several minor annoyances found in the original product, such as opaque water surfaces, muddy underwater vision, visibly pixelated cloud textures, and unrealistic meteoric conditions. Most of the changes are cosmetic and should not affect the game’s performance noticeably. For a more complete and detailed list of this mod's features, please read the Version Changes part of this file. 

Acknowledgements:

I would like to thank the following contributors: 
- Mike Langman, for allowing me to use his excellent bird artwork (http://www.mikelangman.co.uk)
- Artur, for providing me with base drawings of insects (http://www.arthursclipart.com)
- "bloodystump", the author of SeasonalWeather, for providing me with a template for my own seasonal mod development (http://www.tessource.net/files/author.php?id=37213)
- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, for their contributions to the public domain collections (http://www.fws.gov , http://www.archive.org)
- Bethesda Softworks, for their strategic thinking
- Svetlana Tael and all other supporters of the project, for keeping me motivated.

Version Changes:

2.0
Due to enormous amount of changes and modifications introduced with this version, I'll skip the technical details this time, and catalog the main features instead.

Seasonal weather patterns and Climate changes
Each season affects probability factors of different weather types. Winters are characterized by periodic snowfalls and 'colder looking' environments. Summer days look more lively and saturated with vivid colors. Falls and springs are transitional periods characterized by more often occurrences of severe weather conditions, such as rains and thunderstorms. Snow-covered Bruma region is confined to the 'deep winter' weather conditions. In addition, there are some time changes for all in-game sunsets and sunrises that allow them to last longer and look more natural.

Additional weather types
Here's the breakdown on the new types. The total number of possible weather variations went from 7 to 44. There are 31 completely distinctive weather types. Each of the original 7 classes has been completely remade and improved; in total, they contain 7 Clear, 6 Cloudy, 3 Fog, 4 Overcast, 4 Rain, 4 Snow, and 3 Thunderstorm unique weather types. There are 13 additional types that copy cloud formations of the new Clear and Cloudy types mentioned above, but apply paler lighting than their counterparts, which makes their use more suitable in colder regions or during winter months.

Visual Improvements and Fixes
All sky, moon, and stars textures have been replaced with better looking versions. Color and luminescence properties of the sun have been dramatically altered. The nebula has a new high-resolution texture. Moons no longer have unrealistic black borders around them. 

New Precipitation Effects
There are several new subtypes for each precipitation class. Snow and Rain particle emitters now produce more realistic weather effects. Raindrop size varies with each rain subtype, but generally, all of them look thinner, smaller, and more transparent than the original.

Birds and Insects
More than a dozen of new creatures now inhabit vast expanses of Cyrodiil's airspace. These creatures are subjects of numerous limitations, they can't be killed or interacted with in any way, and they serve no other purpose but to provide players with additional levels of in-game immersion and realism.  Although all aerial creatures tend to hide from severe weather conditions, their individual endurance levels may vary. All new creatures are sensitive to the seasonal climate changes. For example, all insect types hibernate and cannot be seen during winter months, and some birds can be observed traveling in flocks during the spring and fall migration seasons. Natural Habitat is the most recent addition to the package, and, although it's stable and safe to install, it has not been tested properly at the time of release. If you notice any severe abnormalities in the birds' behavior, please contact me though the mod's official forum thread or email me. 

Natural Water
General description: this part of the package adds transparency to default opaque water surfaces, changes underwater visibility settings, and considerably improves quality of water reflections. 

HUD Elements and Extras
There are new visual styles included for the health/mana/fatigue bars and for the compass. Those who want to try an alternative visual style for the in-game Breathmeter, may find it in Extras. 
There is also a file named Bright_Torches.esp (Extras) that makes torches emit twice the light. If you find the nights too dark, you may want to try to enable this mod.


Installation Instructions (please read thoroughly before emailing me for help):

  Before the actual instructions, here's a little note on Natural Habitat: you can control the distance at which all birds and insects are visible by adjusting the "Object Fade" slider (In-game: Options -> Video). 

  The zip already contains all correct directories paths, so you can just extract it into your Oblivion game folder (default installation path C:\Program Files\Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion\), press 'yes' to rewrite the previous versions if any, and set up the mod files by opening your OblivionLauncher, clicking on 'Data Files', and enabling all Natural_XXXXX_by_Max_Tael.esp files.  
If you experience any problems (such as purple texturing or inability to see new meshes/textures in the game) with running this or other mods, please try a method of validating new files by using the Oblivion Content Validator utility that comes with this mod (you may find it in Natural_Environments_Extras). However, Natural Environments is developed this way that it doesn't need any lines in Archiveinvalidation.txt since it uses personal folders for its components.
  Attention: Starting from 2.0, Natural Environments will be using personal folders for most of its files. If you have an old version of the mod installed, you may want to remove the content of your \..\Data\Textures\Sky folder before upgrading to this version. Natural Environments 2.0 will no use any of those files, but be advised that it still needs to put new moon textures into the folder, so you better do the cleaning before you install this version.


Uninstallation Instructions:

  In order to avoid rewriting other mod's textures, I grouped everything I could into NaturalEnvironments folders. Some textures seemed to be bound to their original locations, so I left them at their original locations. Currently this list includes the moon textures (\textures\sky\), and the new HUD elements (\Textures\menus\hud, \Textures\menus50\hud, and \Textures\menus80\hud ). 
  99% of Natural Environments can be turned off by disabling the .esp files that come with the mod in OblivionLauncher. 
1) To disable Natural Water, uncheck Natural_Water_by_Max_Tael.esp in OblivionLauncher
2) To disable Natural Habitat, uncheck Natural_Habitat_by_Max_Tael.esp in OblivionLauncher
3) To disable Natural Weather, uncheck Natural_Weather_by_Max_Tael.esp in OblivionLauncher. Remove the custom moon textures from \Textures\Sky
4) To disable the HUD elements, remove all files from \Textures\menus\hud, \Textures\menus50\hud, and \Textures\menus80\hud 
5) To completely delete Natural Environments from your computer, remove all folders named NaturalEnvironments from your Oblivion\Data directory and all its subdirectories, remove all "by_Max_Tael.esp" files, and delete all custom moon and HUD textures from steps 3 and 4.

Conflicts and troubleshooting:

  You may pick up possible conflicts from the file names. Natural Water will conflict with any other mods that modify water surfaces, such as Advanced Water and Better Water. Natural Weather is quite complex; it will probably be incompatible with most other weather and climates changing mods. I had to sacrifice some things and unnecessarily complicate others to achieve this, but, as a result, at the time of this release I'm not aware of any mods that directly conflict with Natural Habitat. Seasonal Weather, More Sky Climates and Darker Nights are completely incompatible with Natural Environments. Natural Environments has its own seasonal weather controller and additional 37 weather types that cannot be seen by these mods, so please disable them before activating this one.


  
FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)  

Q: Does this mod affect lighting conditions in dungeons ?
A: This mod doesn't affect lighting conditions in dungeons.

Q: I'm getting very weird looking oblivion gates with pink things flying around them. What's the source of the problem ?
A: Pink textures around Oblivion Gates are caused by extra lines in your Archiveinvalidation.txt. I'm guessing it's \Textures\Sky\s or Textures\Sky\Rainsheet.dds. Again, NE2 doesn't need any invalidation lines since it uses personal folders for its components.

Q: I did not encounter a bird in winter, I suppose that's the way it has to be ?
A: Birds are rarely seen during winter months, but you should also check your Object Fade slider that controls the distance at which you can see the aerial Wildlife.

Q: It was the birds and insects that really grabbed my attention, but I've only seen 4 or 5 birds, and 1 swarm of insects - and they are all still at the same spot where I first activated the mod. There is nothing anywhere else on the map. Should they spawn randomly or have you manually placed them at certain points?
A: There will be more of them. You have to realize that birds and insects are to add atmosphere to the game. You shouldn't see a hawk flying in two feet from your face every 10 seconds. Start playing, and soon you'll have as many as 100 creatures swarming around you, disappearing and reappearing in completely different places.

Q: I cant see the moon on the clear superb night. I only see a round black texture.
A: This has nothing to do with me. When the moon is between the earth and the sun, it appears dark, a phase known as "new moon". This phenomenon can also be observed without Natural Environments, and it's completely natural.

Q: Does the mod not work without these new interface elements? I don't want my HUD to change.
A: Again, you can easily uninstall them by removing all(!) files from \Textures\menus\hud, \Textures\menus50\hud, and \Textures\menus80\hud

Q: I don't like one of the mods that compose the package. Can I play without it or replace it wit a mod of my choice ?
A: You can always see the mod's dependencies when you activate/deactivate them through OblivionLauncher. To save you some time, at the time of v2.0 release Natural Water is completely independent, and while Natural Habitat and Natural Weather partially benefit from each other, they still can be used as standalone products.

Q: The nights are too bright or too dark for my taste. Is there a different version of Natural Environments that makes them lighter/darker ?
A: This is a very sensitive subject. I received a lot of criticism for releasing brighter nights in the previous version, so I decided to go with realism this time. If there are many complaints, I'll definitely think of something in the next version. Meanwhile, the oppressed minority can either adjust their brightness sliders or use the augmented torches (Bright_Torches.esp, found in Extras) to find their way around.

Q: How does Natural Environments affect FPS ?
A: So far it seems that the fps hit is very tolerable for most users. However, if you want to improve your fps without completely disabling Natural Environments, I suggest you to see what happens if you only deactivate Natural Habitat, which is probably the main cause of strain on your hardware. Natural Weather alone shouldn't affect your fps noticeably. 

Q: I'm using a calendar mod that changes days and months into standard english - would this affect it?
A: Not at all. Seasons change according to the calendar.

Additional Notes:

  Due to unexpected popularity of the project, I decided to start treating it accordingly and took more professional approach to its development. I will continue supporting it for the time being, and I am grateful for any feedback and assistance you provide. For those who wish to integrate their resources (such as textures, scripts, sounds, and etc.) into this project: in order for any external materials to be included into the future versions, they must be able to blend in and make a positive impact on the overall quality of the mod. I will not accept any copyrighted and proprietary materials without their legal owners' clearly expressed consent. Any contributions will be attributed in a clear and succinct manner. If you have any questions, you can contact me through m_tael@yahoo.com or the Elder Scrolls forums (http://www.elderscrolls.com/forums).

Copyright terms and conditions:

  Be advised that some of the replacement textures I used were based on original artwork that belongs to several different individuals and organizations, including (but not limited to) Bethesda Softworks, Mike Langman, and Arthur's Clipart. These affiliated groups own all rights to redistribution of their artwork outside of the Natural Environments project space. You are free to copy, distribute and display the work, but you are denied to make any commercial use of it. Due to abovementioned copyright issues, you need to contact me or the copyright owners if you're planning on updating, modifying, or creating any derivative works based upon this whole mod or any parts of it. I see no problem with your use of components that constitute my personal intellectual property in any kind of future developments. You can obtain my explicit permission to do so by contacting me at m_tael@yahoo.com. Generally, I would prefer to receive some sort of attribution of credit.

Liability Disclaimer:

  Use at your own risk. This data is being given to you gratuitously, and I do not warrant or assume any legal liability or responsibility for your use of it.
