

*************************************************
*	  	 The Elder Scrolls IV			 		*
*	  	      OBLIVION							*			
*												*
*	Natural Environments by Max Tael			*
*	     										*
*************************************************

Version: 		2.1.1

Release Date: 	06.17.2006

Contact:		Max Tael 
				m_tael@yahoo.com

Table of Contents:

	Description
	Release Highlights
	Acknowledgements
	Feature List
	Installation Instructions
	Uninstallation Instructions
	Conflicts and troubleshooting
	FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)	
	Additional Notes
	Copyright terms and conditions
	Liability Disclaimer
	Filenames and Directories
	
	
Description:

  Natural Environments is my personal attempt to enhance and improve environmental components of Elder's Scrolls IV. The 2.1 version of the mod includes dozens of 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.  
  Natural Environments also takes care of several minor annoyances that were present in the original product, such as opaque water surfaces, muddy underwater vision, visibly pixelated cloud textures, unrealistic meteoric conditions, and random weather changes. Most of the changes are cosmetic and should not affect the game’s performance noticeably. 
  
Natural Weather: 	responsible for all meteorological modifications.
Natural Water: 		provides various tweaks for in-game water types.
Natural Habitat:	adds and controls more than 20 different types of birds and insects.
Natural Vegetation: alters scaling characteristics of trees and shrubs. 

Release Highlights:

- Corrected presentation of the new weather types with HDR turned on ('the yellow tint issue') 
- Made nearly a hundred of minor adjustments, tweaks and fixes over the 2.0RC1 version. Oblivion Planes are no longer affected by Natural Water and Natural Weather.
- Rewrote the weather controlling scripts from scratch. Expect multiple climate-related improvements and a possible performance boost. 
- Provided alternative versions of Natural Weather with darker nights.
- Added new species of birds and insects. 
- Included several ambient sounds.
- Created rainbows.
- Added Natural Vegetation.
- Customized snow-covered northern regions.

Acknowledgements:

I would like to thank the following contributors: 
- Michael Frank, for his generous submission of additional audio effects.
- Mike Langman, for allowing me to use some of his excellent bird artwork (http://www.mikelangman.co.uk)
- Artur, for supplying me with base drawings of insects (http://www.arthursclipart.com)
- "bloodystump", the author of SeasonalWeather, for providing me with an initial template for my seasonal weather controller (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)
- Svetlana Tael and all other supporters of the project, for keeping me motivated.


Feature List:

Natural Vegetation 
It is a very simple, yet highly effective modification that completely changes the visual look of the game. It alters several characteristics of trees and shrubs, making them appear much taller and more foliose. The overall effect drastically changes the game environment and adds a great amount of immersion to the gaming process. Proceed with caution: extensive canopy coverage and dense foliage can make it very easy to veer off the path and get lost in the forest. 
Natural Vegetation is the most recent addition to the package that has not been tested properly at the time of release. It should be completely stable, but some minor glitches may occur.
Key facts you need to know about Natural Vegetations:
- This mod won't affect your fps numbers. If it will, the difference should be nearly unnoticeable.
- Natural Vegetation (and all other Natural Environments components as well) can be turned on and off whenever you feel like it.
- If you have any objections to the visual effect it provides, just disable this part of the package. I really like the new look, but everyone is entitled to his or her opinion.

Rainbows
"One of the most spectacular light shows observed on Earth" now can also be observed on your monitors. Rainbow arcs can only be briefly seen immediately after showers, right when the sun comes out. 
Since it's the newest addition to the package, some minor visual glitches may occur. If you choose to provide me with a detailed explanation of the problem, I may take my time to fix the problem. 

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. 

Birds and Insects
More than twenty types of birds and insects now inhabit vast expanses of Cyrodiil's airspace. These winged 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 immersion and realism. Although all aerial wildlife tends to hide from severe weather conditions, individual endurance levels may vary. New creatures are also sensitive to the seasonal climate changes. For example, all insect types hibernate and cannot be seen during winter months, and birds can be observed traveling in flocks during the migration seasons. 

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.

Multiple 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 and the 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.

Natural Water
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 (also in 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 follows all directory paths.
1) Extract the zip into the folder named Data that's located in your Oblivion game folder  (default installation path C:\Program Files\Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion\Data). Press 'yes' to rewrite files from the previous versions.
2) Open OblivionLauncher. 
3) click on 'Data Files'.
4) Enable all Natural_XXXXX_by_Max_Tael.esp files. You can only run one version of Natural Weather at the time (See the note below).
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 Unsupported 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.

Important: Natural Environments 2.1 now includes 4 different versions of Natural Weather (regular, HDR, regular with darker nights, and HDR with darker nights). You can only run one version at the time. If you're not sure if you have HDR enabled, check it through the OblivionLauncher's Options menu. Failure to select the right version will impair the visual qualities of the mod. Darker Night versions are located in Data\Natural Environments Unsupported Extras\

Upgrade from v2.1: The rainbow is only supposed to be seen in certain times and under certain conditions. If you installed v2.1 and keep seeing rainbows all the time, disable Natural Weather, reload the saved game, save it again (without the mod), and then re-enable Natural Weather.
Upgrade from 1.0 or 1.1: Starting from v2.0 Natural Environments uses personal folders for most of its files. If you have an older version of the mod installed, you may want to remove the contents of your \..\Data\Textures\Sky folder before upgrading to this version. Natural Environments 2.0 will have no use any of those files.


Uninstallation Instructions:

  In order to increase compatibility, I placed everything I could into NaturalEnvironments folders. However, some textures seem to be bound to their original locations, so I had to replace them there. Currently this list includes the moon textures, and the new HUD elements. Now, 99% of Natural Environments can be turned off by disabling the .esp files that come with the mod through 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 Vegetation, uncheck Natural_Vegetation_by_Max_Tael.esp in OblivionLauncher
4) To disable Natural Weather, uncheck Natural_Weather_by_Max_Tael.esp (or its variation) in OblivionLauncher. Remove the custom moon textures from \Textures\Sky\
5) To disable the HUD elements, remove all files from \Textures\menus\hud, \Textures\menus50\hud, and \Textures\menus80\hud 
6) 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 (steps 3 and 4).


Conflicts and troubleshooting:

Natural Water will conflict with any mod that modifies default water surfaces (such as Advanced Water or Better Water). 
Natural Weather is quite complex; it will probably be incompatible with most other weather and climate changing mods. Seasonal Weather, More Sky Climates, and Darker Nights are completely incompatible with this product. 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. 
I had to sacrifice some things and unnecessarily complicate others to achieve this, but at this time I'm not aware of any mods that directly conflict with Natural Habitat. 
Natural Vegetation should be very flexible in this regard, but if you plan on trying other forestation/environmental mods, I would suggest you to test them both with and without Natural Vegetation to detect any possible visual anomalies and choose the optimal style that will suit your personal preferences best.

Please use only one version of Natural Weather at once. Don't use the HDR version unless you have HDR turned on. Don't use the regular version with HDR - it'll effect in excessively yellow tinting of sunny weather types.
  
  
FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions):  

Q: Sometimes parts of the moons seem transparent and I can see stars through them. Is there an explanation?
A:   Regrettably, this is how the moons act in the original game. I knew of this issue but didn't have time to retexture the moons without considerably delaying this version's release. I expect to fix this in the next version.  

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: 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 did not encounter a bird in winter. I suppose that's the way it has to be?
A: Some birds can still be seen during winter months. You should check your Object Fade slider that controls the distance at which you can see the aerial wildlife.

Q: It doesn't seem to solve the problem. I stopped seeing Natural Habitat wildlife completely.
A: It may be a savegame-based problem. Disable Natural Habitat in OblivionLauncher. Then load your saved game and save again, all with Natural Habitat disabled. Quit the game and re-enable the mod. It should start functioning properly again.

Q: One of the moons looks like a round black circle. Is this a bug?
A: This has nothing to do with me. When the moons are between the earth and the sun, they appear 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. In Natural Environments v2.1 Natural Water is completely independent, and even though 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: First of all, try adjusting your brightness settings in-game (under video options). Then, I would suggest you to recalibrate your monitor's brightness and contrast preferences. Natural Weather nights are well-calibrated, so there is a good chance that your monitor settings are somewhat unbalanced. If you don't know how to do this, you may find some help here: http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/colorcalibration/a/cal_monitor.htm 
If you still find the nights too bright, there are files named Natural_Weather_with_darker_Nights_by_Max_Tael.esp and Natural_Weather_HDR_with_darker_Nights_by_Max_Tael.esp that can be found in Natural Environments Unsupported Extras. If you think that the nights are too dark, you may want to try enabling Bright_Torches.esp (also in Natural Environments Unsupported Extras) that makes torches emit more light.

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.

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, you can try deactivating Natural Habitat first. Natural Weather alone shouldn't affect your fps noticeably, and Natural Vegetation doesn't affect it at all.

Q: At all?
A: At all.


Additional Notes:

  Because of the unexpected popularity of the project, I decided to take a 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/index.php?showuser=191930).
  
  A special note for other modders. If you have compatibility concerns that need to be addressed, don't hesitate to contact me. I'm trying to create Natural Environments (NE) as compatible as possible, and I wouldn't want to see it competing with other modifications in any way. I believe in collective effort, and I can promise a certain degree of cooperation for any project that has compatibility issues with NE. You may also choose to benefit from various components featured in this mod, such as natural seasons of the year (for example: season-dependent sets of clothing and types of behavior for NPCs, seasonal variations of flora's visual styles and its harvesting settings, even season-based activities of all sorts), or varying weather conditions (possibilities may include temperature or precipitation -based modifications that may implement such effects as frost damage (frostbites/hypothermia from sleeping outside), plant wilting, or animal and NPC reactions to certain weather types). In this case I may be able to assist you with providing more specific details on the mod's existing or upcoming features, and possibly cooperate on your efforts. I already took a number of steps to promote intercompatibility with Natural Environment-dependent modifications, including global declaration of a seasonal variable, and ensuring that all weather changes occur independently from the player's location.
  
  If you're have sufficient experience in 3D modeling, you can contibute to this project by providing me with an improved model of the rainbow (Oblivion-compatible NIF file format only). As usually, your contributions will duly be accredited.   
    
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. Normally, I would see no problems 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.
  
Filenames and Directories:		
Natural_Weather_by_Max_Tael.esp
Natural_Weather_HDR_by_Max_Tael.esp
Natural_Water_by_Max_Tael.esp
Natural_Habitat_by_Max_Tael.esp
Natural_Vegetation_by_Max_Tael.esp
Textures\NaturalEnvironments\*.*
Meshes\NaturalEnvironments\*.*
Natural Environments Unsupported Extras\*.*
Sound\FX\NaturalEnvironments\*.*
Textures\Menus(also 50, 80)\HUD\  (hud_compass and hud_ribbon files)
Textures\Sky\	(Masser and Secunda files)
