Morrowind

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Pherim

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Pherim

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About this mod

Pluto & Charon Textures for Masser & Secunda

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I've wanted to do this ever since New Horizons sent these awesome photos of Pluto and Charon in 2015. The similarity to Masser and Secunda was striking to me. Finally, in 2018, I got them done!

This Mod is intended for Morrowind, but the Textures should also work with Oblivion and Skyrim if they are put in the right folders. I may release Oblivion and Skyrim versions myself some time in the future.

Known Issues: Some parts of both Moons are never lit, as the original photos are not perfect shots of the planet's/moon's sun-facing hemispheres. Turn New Horizons around, NASA!

Important: Make sure you are using the correct texture sizes for your setup! With too large textures, the moons may end up looking worse! Moon textures are not handled like all the other textures in the game, they are not meant to be scaled and do not use mipmaps, which is why they are scaled by the GPU alone which results in a "shimmering" effect when in motion, if the textures are too big. They look best if the next larger texture size to their actual size on screen in pixels is used. If you really want to know, make a screenshot of both moons and measure their size in a graphics program of your choice. Otherwise, here are a few guidelines, assuming you have not changed the moons' sizes in the ini:

Unless you are playing with a really low (<60) or really high (>110) FOV,
  • with a resolution of 1280x720 or lower, use the 256/128 version.
  • with a resolution of 1920x1080, use the 512/256 version.
  • with 4k resolution, use the 1024/512 version.

If, for whatever reason, you find yourself playing with a really low FOV, choose the next BIGGER pack for your resolution, with a very high FOV, take the next SMALLER one. If you have significantly changed the sizes of the moons, you'll probably have to measure for yourself. You may have to mix textures from two different packs if one moon's size in relation to the other was drastically changed.

Known Issues:
During daytime, if the moons are overlapping, you can see Masser through Secunda, as they become transparent against the blue sky. To my knowledge, nothing can be done about that.

Installation:
Simply extract the "Textures" folder from the mod into your Morrowind\Data Files folder. Or use a mod manager like Wrye Mash, Nexus Mod Manager, Vortex, or Mod Organizer (2).

Credits:
NASA for Pluto and Charon images:
https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/the-rich-color-variations-of-pluto
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/pluto-s-big-moon-charon-reveals-a-colorful-and-violent-history/