Realistic Normal Maps with Faked Terrain Shadows

Overview

In Oblivion, the mountains and hills do not draw shadows on the surrounding terrain. I found it always very unrealistic, that even the brightness of the deepest valley is calculated only by the angle between the sun and the slope of local terrain.

These normal maps have been tweaked such to compensate for large structures around each landscape point. The local normal vector is consequently changed such, to match a possible shadow cast of neighboring mountains.

I took into account the shadows at dawn, noon, and dusk. The resulting 3 angles have been merged with the normal slopes (2 angles: the north-south slope, and the east-west-slope). Moreover, valleys are now usually darker.

As an overall consequence, the landscape looks more 3-dimensional.

Good to know...

Before installing the new meshes, make a backup of <Oblivion>datatextureslandscapelodgenerated

Installation

Drop the archive into <Oblivion>data

Limitations

This is an approximation. Don't expect wandering shadow peaks. The effect is minor, but already impressible, because many artifacts have been removed.

Credits

Lightwave for Tesannwyn

Permissions

Please do not upload the maps somewhere else without giving credits. If you try to contact me, and I do not respond within 3 weeks, the maps can go to public domain.