Book Jackets: Oblivion
Version: 1.0
Author: Phoenix Amon
| Index | |
| 1. Description | |
| 2. Installation | |
| Basic Installation | |
| Installing Optional Textures | |
| 3. Removal | |
| 4. FAQ & Rambling | |
| 5. Known Issues or Incompatibilities | |
| 6. Usage & Permissions | |
| 7. Credits & Thanks | |
Book Jackets: Oblivion is a basic retexture for all of the stock hardcover books in Oblivion, giving each title a unique texture and matching icon. I wouldn't say it's a "better books" mod because I think Bethesda's books were beautiful to begin with. It's just an immersion mod. So much work went into the stories in the books that I thought they deserved to be as unique on the outside.
Some minor corrections have been made to the book text where there were mistakes and in some cases I've changed the mouseover title to better match the title as printed in the book. It does not add any new books or change the location of books in the game world. I've tried to design the covers to match the books' prices and "damage" them according to where the player finds them. It was designed to be as purist-friendly as I could manage.
Both a high resolution and a standard resolution are available as separate downloads. Standard res is 512x256, which is double the resolution of Bethesda's book textures. High res is 1024x512, which is 4x the size of Bethesda's textures. The textures were created at this resolution and show more detail. I have a middle-of-the-line machine for Oblivion and don't show a decrease in frame rate when using the high res version, but I also am not using many graphics replacers that effect items in interior cells. It's up to you whether the high res version will run smoothly in your setup.
Sorry for the HTML readme, but that was the only way I could think to make this document legible. :)
2. Installation
Book Jackets: Oblivion comes in 2 flavors. One is compatible with and dependent on jepeter and Oblivionmasta's Book Placement mod. I highly recommend it as a utility to help you place books on your own shelves without losing your mind. The second does not require that mod and will not take advantage of its features. Either version will work with ecat's Smart Bookshelf and any future additions to it.
To install either version, extract the 7z file in your Oblivion\Data folder. No files will be overwritten and no Archive Invalidation is required. 2 esp files will be created in your Data folder. Textures and meshes will be created in new folders.
If you want to use the Book Placement compatible version, you should enable only "Book Jackets Oblivion - BP.esp". Also make sure that you have bookplacing.esm running, not bookplacing.esp.
If you do not want to run Book Placement with this mod, you should enable only "Book Jackets.esp".
Whichever flavor you've chosen, you need to enable it when you next launch the game. In the launch window, click "Data Files" and then browse through the list to find the esp you've chosen. Double click on the esp to enable the mod.
For some books I made alternate designs based on requests or my own ideas. For the 5 books that already had unique covers, I made my own versions but am aware that some people will prefer the originals. This list will help you choose and install the versions you like better. If you don't feel like looking through this list, you can of course just do the basic installation.
In all cases, <Oblivion> means the folder where Oblivion is installed
on your computer. If you installed to the default location it is:
C:\Program Files\Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion\
If you don't want to use any of the alternates, you can safely delete the folder "Book Jackets Alternates" which has been added in your <Oblivion>\Data folder.
To remove this mod, delete the esp file. It's called either "Book Jackets Obivion.esp" or "Book Jackets Oblivion - BP.esp" depending on which flavor you installed.
Delete the following folders and all of their contents:
<Oblivion>\Data\Textures\pa\bjob
<Oblivion>\Data\Textures\menus\icons\pa\bjob
<Oblivion>\Data\Textures\menus50\icons\pa\bjob
<Oblivion>\Data\Textures\menus80\icons\pa\bjob
<Oblivion>\Data\Meshes\pa\bjob
<Oblivion>\Data\Book Jackets Alternates
<Oblivion>\Data\Book Jackets Readme
<Oblivion> means the folder where Oblivion is installed on your computer.
If you installed to the default location it is:
C:\Program Files\Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion\
Is this mod compatible with mod X?
If it's not listed in the incompatibilities section, either it is compatible
or I simply don't know. You tell me. :)
Will you update this mod to be compatible with mod X?
Only if it makes changes to the book forms that I consider useful to most players,
such as an improved way of manipulating the book objects in the game world.
I won't update it for compatibility with mods that are more a matter of taste,
such as economy mods that change the prices of books and other items. I will
give full permission for those modders to alter my work themselves, though.
Why can't I read the titles on the covers?
The books display best with texture size set to "Large". At lower
settings they are blurry.
Why don't some books have titles on them?
Personal writings like journals would not have titles printed on them.
I had placed books on shelves at my house. Why are some of them out
of place after installing this mod?
I changed the sizes of a few books so that they would be the same as the rest
of their series. I corrected the placement of those books in the game world,
but where you've placed them in your own house they may float or poke through
shelves. You only need to fix their placement once.
Were any cells or NPCs altered?
No NPCs or lists were changed. A few cells were altered slightly to correct
for where the devs had placed books upside down on shelves.
I like them all except this one and that one.
There are 239 books. They won't all be to everyone's taste. I hope taken as
a whole they add to immersion in the game world. If you don't like a few of
them, maybe you can create a replacement or get someone else to create it for
you. I'll share any files you may need. I've been doing this for 3 months, so
unless you can show me that there's an error in the cover or that it doesn't
fit with the lore, I don't plan to change it.
In some cases the books have ominous-sounding titles, but the text isn't really "dark" in nature. I gave the books' text and context in gameplay more weight than their titles when deciding what the covers should look like.
Will you make new covers for <insert mod name here>?
Maybe. I don't plan to do hundreds more books. I haven't even finished the game
yet, and I want to. If nobody else takes them on, I will probably start working
on covers for the Morrowind and Daggerfall books added by MrDarkSim. But I'm
not in a hurry and I'm not laying claim. I'd be very happy if someone else decided
to work on those. I may try to make new meshes for the Morrowind books so that
I can reuse the covers I've already done for those books, but I don't know if
that will work.
I haven't purchased any of the official DLC mods, so I will not be making new covers for any books in those. My templates are available as a modder's resource for anyone who might want to.
Will you be doing any translations of this mod?
Not by myself. A German translation is already near completion.
If there are going to be any other translations I will need people with non-English versions to work on this. I'll need someone who can do Photoshop work and someone who is comfortable enough with the CS to assign the new book meshes and icons from the list included in this document. If you're playing a non-English version of the game and are interested in working on a translation, please send me a PM.
Will you release a modder's resource of all the source files?
I'm happy to share any part of my work if it'll help someone out. If you only
want templates to make your own books, I've released a modder's resource of
my templates here.
If you want Photoshop files for specific covers, send
me a PM on the Elder Scrolls official forum and I'll post them on a public
server or email them to you. If you want them all to work on a translation,
I've already posted them to a web server. Send
me a PM for the address.
I used Photoshop CS2 and saved with "Maximize Compatibility" turned on. I'm not entirely sure which versions of Photoshop can read my files.
Why aren't the books authentically medieval looking?
Because Nirn is not medieval Earth. There are far more differences than similarities.
On Nirn, strong protective armor can be made of glass. Ebony is a metal rather
than wood. Dreugh roam about killing people. Clothes can be purchased off-the-rack
rather than being handmade for individuals. And that's even before you get to
the magic.
On Earth during medieval times, books could not be mass produced. There was no printing press. Monks spent their whole lives copying out books by hand. Most people were illiterate, and only the very rich and the church itself owned books of any kind. On Nirn, most people are literate (they write notes and shopping lists) and even the poor own books. Shelves are lined with them. They aren't rare at all, and most are very inexpensive. This leads me to believe that on Nirn, books are mass produced. Perhaps this is done by magical means rather than technological ones. I don't know. I only know that there's nothing medieval about Nirn's literary culture.
5. Known Issues or Incompatibilities
So far I don't know of any mods that are incompatible with Book Jackets. A mod will be incompatible with it if the other mod edits the original book records, for example to change the price or weight of the books. It is fully compatible with Book Placement as long as you use "bookplacing.esm" and my file "Book Jackets Oblivion - BP.esp" together.
The only issue I know of is that if you've placed books on your own shelves in your home, you may find that some books have moved slightly when you first install Book Jackets. That is because I changed the sizes of a few books so that they'd match the rest of their series. I corrected for the new sizes in the books' default locations in the world, but I can't correct the ones you've placed yourself. You'll only need to fix them once.
The meshes included in this mod are Bethesda Softworks originals, and are bound by the licensing agreement for Oblivion and its assets. If you don't want to read this whole section, it basically says "Yes, you can do that, as long as you include the original credits where appropriate and aren't breaking Bethesda's license."
Redistribution or repackaging:
You are welcome to redistribute this mod in its original form through any means
as long as it remains free of charge. I normally post mods to PlanetElderScrolls,
TESSource and ElricM. Those are the only sites on which I'll be posting updates
if there are any. You are welcome to repackage the mod for distribution as long
as you do not remove any part of the original archive. Please identify yourself
in some way in the repackaged archive so that you can be contacted by anyone
needing extraction or installation support. I can't help people use programs
that I don't have. :) As far as I'm concerned, modpacks fall under the redistribution
category.
Mod compilations:
You are welcome to include this mod in a larger compilation of mods. You don't
need to notify me, but I hope you will just so that I can enjoy what you've
done with it. Please include the original list of credits, since I have in some
cases used the work of others.
Mod resource:
You are welcome to use this mod or any of its assets as a resource in creating
your own mod. This list
should be all you need to quickly locate the correct mesh and texture for each
book. Credit will be grinned at, but isn't required. If you want to make your
own unique books for a mod, I've also shared the templates I used to create
this mod. You can get that modder's
resource here. If you want the Photoshop file I used to make one of the
books included in this mod, send
me a PM on the Elder Scrolls official forum.
Translations:
Since there's no way I can do translations of this mod myself, I welcome anyone
who wants to work on them. Please send
me a PM on the TES forums and I'll send you links to the source files.
Expansion or Alteration:
You are welcome to expand upon this mod or to alter some parts of it to your
own taste and share them freely. I'd love to see what you come up with.
Original line art for "Children of the Sky" by Lisa Laughy, designed on request. Thank you!
Art by Bethesda Softworks used by permission on the following:
Oblivion concept art used on "Brenus Astis' Journal"
Symbols used for "Mythic Dawn Commentaries on the Mysterium Xarxes"
and "Origin of the Mages Guild"
Design concept for "Mysterium Xarxes"
All other textures by Phoenix Amon, with the help of a lot of collected cloth
scans, clipart and Photoshop brushes.
Meshes by Bethesda Softworks, with UV mapping tweaked by me.
Many thanks to:
throttlekitty for helping me so much in learning to work with Oblivion's meshes
and textures.
Everyone at NifTools. Without their work, I couldn't have done this mod at all.
Everyone who made suggestions or just comments to keep me going on my WIP threads.
Very very helpful stuff.
Bethesda, for taking the extra time to create a world so rich in lore when most
game companies don't bother.