Qarl's Texture Pack 2
Created by Qarl

Contents
Description
Requirements
Installation
Credits
Description
The purpose of this package is to make TES IV: Oblivion look even better than when you bought it. To do this I've created new textures and normal maps to replace a large number of those in the game with ones which are higher resolution and more photorealistic, while at the same time, still very close to the original feel of Bethesda's intentions. However, due to the increased resolution, machines with lower-end graphics cards may see a slight decrease in performance, but usually no more than a few frames per second.
Requirements
If you're running Oblivion on the lowest settings this mod is not for you. You're going to need some pretty good hardware to take advantage of this mod.
Installation
Unzip Qarls_Texture_Pack_2.zip to your desktop.
Double-click on Qarls_Texture_Pack_2.exe (a self-extracting 7zip file) and extract it to your Oblivion\Data folder.
Archive Invalidation

Due to a bug in Oblivion, texture replacements such as those included in this mod will not display correctly unless you take some extra steps to force Oblivion to use them. Unfortunately, Oblivion has major problems loading many replacement textures even if you use an ArchiveInvalidation.txt file (which is the current common practice). This topic is far too complex to explain all the whys, hows, and wherefores here, so we'll stick to simple instructions for known solutions that work well at the moment.
The best solution at the moment is to use one of Timeslip's excellent utility programs: Oblivion Mod Manager (OBMM version 0.7.10 or later) or BSA Patcher. What OBMM and BSA Patcher do is to sidestep the ArchiveInvalidation problem by making Oblivion think it never had a copy of the textures you are replacing.
In other words, these utilities edit your BSA archives so that Oblivion cannot find the original version of files you have replaced, thus forcing it to load the replacements instead of the originals.
Download Oblivion Mod Manager
OBMM will keep track of which files have been renamed in your BSAs and provides a Remove BSA edits function to rollback any changes it has made to your BSA just in case you don't like the results. You should probably make a backup of your BSA files if you have the space (or a DVD-burner) just in case, but so far nobody has reported any corruption issues.
OBMM requires .NET 2.0 to work, so if you can't run .NET 2.0 then you'll need to use BSA Patcher instead.
Assuming you have OBMM 0.7.10 or later installed already, and have already installed this mod, the steps you need to take are as follows:
Start OBMM.
Click Utilities.
Select Archive invalidation.
Click Directly Edit BSAs.
Check Textures.
Check Generate archiveinvalidation entries on hash collision.
Click the checkbox for autoupdate on exit and/or click Update Now.
Close the Archive invalidation popup (click the red X in the upper-left corner).
Quit OBMM or click Launch Oblivion.
Here's a screenshot of the exact options to use in OBMM 0.7.11:
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You can try different settings if you want, but these are known to work. You do need to make sure to check the box for Generate archiveinvalidation entries on hash collision, since that setting is critical. Using the above settings in OBMM will take care of everything for you.
Download BSA Patcher
Another solution is Timeslip's BSA Patcher. Unlike OBMM, BSA Patcher is a command-line application, although you can launch it by double-clicking the executable. BSA Patcher doesn't include as many configuration options as OBMM, but it accomplishes the same tasks and it only requires .NET 1.1, which means it will work for anyone who is unwilling or unable to run .NET 2.0. It will also work with mono, an open-source version of .NET 1.1.
The latest version of BSA Patcher (as of this writing) uses the BSA alteration code from OBMM 0.7.10 and, like OBMM, it will automatically generate an ArchiveInvalidation.txt file for you containing only the textures that could not be safely renamed in your BSA files. It includes support for several command-line options, but you can safely ignore them.
To use it, place BSAPatch.exe in your \Oblivion\Data\ folder and double-click it once to rename files in your BSA. Run it again to restore them to their original names.
NOTE: If you use either OBMM or BSA Patcher, you should not manually alter your ArchiveInvalidation.txt file. Let one of these programs do it for you. No other solutions are recommended.
For more information, installation tips, etc., please see the Oblivion Mods FAQ.
Credits
dev_akm - for writing up the intrustructions for the archive invalidation for this readme (and helping me understand the whole thing), and beta testing the mod, and also he fixed Bethesda's cave entrance mesh which is included in this pack, so it's no longer translucent. (For more details, I've included his readme.)
RazorBladder - for teaching me a TON of things about normal mapping!