Ultimate Textures complete and FPS.

Magelord648 · Post by **Magelord648** » Sat May 13, 2006 2:21 am

I am planning on downloading ultimate textures. My PC is pretty low standard and I wondering. Does it have an effect on your FPS?
Also, does it replace the sky as well?

timian · Post by **timian** » Sat May 13, 2006 4:07 am

Texture packs are easy to uninstall, so I'd say you should just try and see. New textures really make a difference.

I haven't tried Ultimate Textures, but I've used several other big texture packs like Vibrant Morrowind and Visual pack. My pc is pretty low standard too, and I've never had any problems with texture mods.

fable · Post by **fable** » Sat May 13, 2006 8:32 am

ure packs are easy to uninstall,

I would have to disagree with this, simply because most people don't do backups of their texture subdirectories before installing the mods. Then they find the only way to restore their previous textures is to reinstall the game.

So before you try a massive texture replacement mod, backup that subdirectory.

I've tried several over time. I ended up liking Carmajo's city replacement textures in three different flavors. For non-city landscapes I alternated between two: Qarl's Landscape Remix, which were pretty highend but more realistic, and Brash's Fantasy Color Morrowind, which were less high-end, and very fantasy-oriented. Try here to get a site which lists the world graphics replacer mods currently available, along with some good if short advice.

Greg. · Post by **Greg.** » Sat May 13, 2006 8:55 am

[QUOTE=Magelord648]I am planning on downloading ultimate textures. My PC is pretty low standard and I wondering. Does it have an effect on your FPS?
Also, does it replace the sky as well?[/QUOTE]

FPS actually increased on mine.

The sky remains unchanged - I think. Many of the quests I did were underground just after I installed UT, so I can't be sure. IIRC there are mods that modify the sky. One modifies the werewolf script so it fits in with the bloodmoon's phases...

Magelord648 · Post by **Magelord648** » Sat May 13, 2006 9:26 am

Thanks greg (and fable)
Just incase. What do I back up. (please name folder and location)

timian · Post by **timian** » Sat May 13, 2006 11:16 am

..\Bethesda Softworks\Morrowind\Data Files\Textures

fable · Post by **fable** » Sat May 13, 2006 11:22 am

[QUOTE=Magelord648]Thanks greg.
Just incase. What do I back up. (please name folder and location)[/QUOTE]

I'm not Greg, but as I mentioned above, your texture subdirectory and all its nested directories underneath.

dragon wench · Post by **dragon wench** » Sat May 13, 2006 11:36 am

Since I have an older computer I prefer to be selective about texture replacements rather than installing a complete package.

Currently I am using:
Shannon's Telvanni, Daedric and Velothi textures
Pekka's Redoran textures
Faylynn's Natural Stone Hlaalu textures

They look great, and blend quite nicely into the original game. A lot of the building/city retextures are too shiny new, which don't work very well IMO.

Anyway, more on topic, I also use, better bodies, and retextures for armour, clothing, lanterns, books, coins and probably more that I can't remember.

I have found my FPS behaves surprisingly well, despite the age of my machine.

Greg. · Post by **Greg.** » Sat May 13, 2006 2:06 pm

[QUOTE=fable]I'm not Greg, but as I mentioned above, your texture subdirectory and all its nested directories underneath.

[/QUOTE]

I think he was talking about my comment about the FPS whith Ultimate textures installed.

I didnt back up after I installed a quest mod. Now a texture problem occurs when I cross the river at Balmora going west. I have to use the console to go to the mages guild to cross...

Ultimate textures is good because the new textures are in keeping with the originals. I only got the 'Complete' mod - doesn't include bloodmoon OR clothes and misc items mods. Are the others worth it?

moltovir · Post by **moltovir** » Sat May 13, 2006 4:45 pm

[QUOTE=fable]ure packs are easy to uninstall,

I would have to disagree with this, simply because most people don't do backups of their texture subdirectories before installing the mods. Then they find the only way to restore their previous textures is to reinstall the game.

So before you try a massive texture replacement mod, backup that subdirectory.

[/QUOTE]

It's pretty easy actually, if you keep a backup of the original rar/zip file of the texture mod. Simply unzip it again, copy the textures to your textures folder, and click yes to all. After they're copied the textures will all be selected so you can simply press the delete button to remove them all. Doing it this way requires less precious hard drive space, especially if you've got 200+ mods installed.

fable · Post by **fable** » Sat May 13, 2006 7:16 pm

[QUOTE=moltovir]It's pretty easy actually, if you keep a backup of the original rar/zip file of the texture mod. Simply unzip it again, copy the textures to your textures folder, and click yes to all. After they're copied the textures will all be selected so you can simply press the delete button to remove them all. Doing it this way requires less precious hard drive space, especially if you've got 200+ mods installed.

[/QUOTE]

I'm afraid you leave me confused. If you click to dearchive a world replacer textures archive, the textures in it copy over the ones in your textures subdirectory. Those originals were placed there were you installed the game. As I wrote earlier, after having replaced those originals, going back to them would seem to be something of a chore, unless you first backed up that textures subdirectory, preferrably in a handy archive you've created. So what am I missing that you've written?

timian · Post by **timian** » Sat May 13, 2006 7:31 pm

Moltovir's method is the one I would use

When you install a texture pack, it does not replace any files, unless you already used a different texture mod. The original textures are actually not in the Textures folder, but in the .bsa archives. By deleting the modded textures, the game will go back to reading the files in the archive.

fable · Post by **fable** » Sat May 13, 2006 7:44 pm

[QUOTE=timian]Moltovir's method is the one I would use

When you install a texture pack, it does not replace any files, unless you already used a different texture mod. The original textures are actually not in the Textures folder, but in the .bsa archives. By deleting the modded textures, the game will go back to reading the files in the archive.[/QUOTE]

Only many of the newly dearchived textures are simply dropped into standard subdirectories labeled textures/a, textures/b, etc. So removing the specific textures in such a way that they don't affect textures added for other mods, can be a problem, unless the modder has applied a standardized filename to all their textures. Unfortunately, that's not always the case.

Magelord648 · Post by **Magelord648** » Mon May 15, 2006 5:53 am

I've installed it and it is awsome:speech:
Does anyone know of a texture replacer for weapons, armor, misc items ect. And one for creatures. Everything that hasn't been retextured looks strange.
[QUOTE=Timian]Moltovir's method is the one I would use

When you install a texture pack, it does not replace any files, unless you already used a different texture mod. The original textures are actually not in the Textures folder, but in the .bsa archives. By deleting the modded textures, the game will go back to reading the files in the archive.

[/QUOTE]

Ultimate textures replaces the names so you have to do backups. I don't think I'll ever have reason for going back though.

Greg. · Post by **Greg.** » Mon May 15, 2006 5:57 am

[QUOTE=Magelord648]I've installed it and it is awsome:speech:
Does anyone know of a texture replacer for weapons, armor, misc items ect. And one for creatures. Everything that hasn't been retextured looks strange.
[/QUOTE]

Look for 'Ultimate textures' on Summit.

I believe there are more replacers...

timian · Post by **timian** » Mon May 15, 2006 6:07 am

Replaces the names

Unless a texture replacer comes with an .esp or .esm it should be save to simply delete the modded textures.

Other nice replacers are:

Qarl's Bottle, Flask and Misc Item replacers
Schwaa's Potion and Scroll replacer
GhostNull's weapon enhancers and Silverware Enhancer

Magelord648 · Post by **Magelord648** » Mon May 15, 2006 6:18 am

No esps or esms.

fable · Post by **fable** » Mon May 15, 2006 7:16 am

I just read this about Ultimate Textures, from one of the authors (Korana) of some of the texture files in it--who was not asked about their use:

Ultimate Textures is a mod that I can honestly say I'd be just as happy if my textures weren't inlcuded. Why? The version I checked had some of my Imperial textures mixed in with other textures...so only part of my textures where used. I spent weeks deciding what textures to use and arranging them to compliment each other. I still think my Imperial textures are my best set yet. To take part of them and mix them with another set and then not credit the authors in the readme seems like an attempt to pass them off as their own..."maybe no one will recognize them if the whole set's not here."On top of that, usually all I ask for is that a quick note in the readme's credit section is given. Is that so much to ask...really??!! Plus, I found the mix of my textures with someone elses a distasteful combination. Now keep in mind here I'm not saying the other person's textures were bad...they where quite nice. However, the arrangement themselves I did not like. Neither set of textures were meant to go with one another. It was almost insulting.That all said, I'm not going to go through the huffing and puffing of tracking down the Ultimate Textures "author"...but if they read this: At least fix the readme....or remove my textures. You don't have to "rearrange" the combination, but for future reference if you're going to use one of my texture sets then use them all for coherence.

I hadn't been aware that UT was actually assembling the textures of others, rather than one person behind the whole thing. And I certainly wasn't aware that it was doing so without notifying the persons who spent time working on those textures, or crediting them for the results. Definitely bad form, in my book. You do work, you deserve to be asked if it's going to be used by somebody else, and you deserve the credit for all the effort. One other modder whose work was taken for UT without giving credit has referred to UT in this thread as Best mod that everyone but the maker ever made.

On other matters: concerning FPS, I've been seeing both positive and negative comments about UT's affect on the game. Clearly, a lot has to do with the video card and the RAM a computer has. Many of the textures UT "borrows" are high end; others are not. So I would expect some variation in performance, depending on where you are, if your system isn't the kind to breeze through everything without a hiccup.

timian · Post by **timian** » Mon May 15, 2006 8:02 am

I've read that thread before. I agree, it's very rude to not only use other people's textures, but not even crediting them. The readme on the "creator's" site lists some original creators, but most likely not even half of them

I doubt this would stop me from using it if I liked the mod, however the way I see it, in each texture pack the textures are made to fit together. As Korana said, this mod mixes textures that did not belong together. Therefor original texture replacers are more appealing to me. Not necessarily complete world replacers; I use several smaller mods that only replace one type of architecture or one region.

On FPS, I've read that sometimes replacers can improve it, because many replacers uses compressed files (.dds), while the original textures are uncompressed .bmp and .tga files. I doubt UT's textures have smaller filesize than the originals, though, even if they're compressed.

fable · Post by **fable** » Mon May 15, 2006 8:10 am

timian wrote:I've read that thread before. I agree, it's very rude to not only use other people's textures, but not even crediting them. The readme on the "creator's" site lists some original creators, but most likely not even half of them

I was honestly thinking of using it on my next Morrowind run-through (which, I suspect, will be very soon), but after reading that, I've abandoned the idea. Just me, I guess, though I'm not surprised to find that the mod maven Telephoros fails to even give UT a mention. Each to their own.

I doubt this would stop me from using it if I liked the mod, however the way I see it, in each texture pack the textures are made to fit together. As Korana said, this mod mixes textures that did not belong together. Therefor original texture replacers are more appealing to me. Not necessarily complete world replacers; I use several smaller mods that only replace one type of architecture or one region.

Pretty much what I'll do, too. I suspect I'll go back to Qarl's Landscape Remix along with Carmajo's city textures, or mix in some of Korana's with the latter.

On FPS, I've read that sometimes replacers can improve it, because many replacers uses compressed files (.dds), while the original textures are uncompressed .bmp and .tga files. I doubt UT's textures have smaller filesize than the originals, though, even if they're compressed.

Qarl's aren't small, either, but being made by one modder, they are consistent in size and appearance. The UT textures are not consistent in appearance, and might be inconsistent in size, though I haven't looked at them to see.