Give Feedback
0 of 0
About this mod
This mod that aims to improve both the appearance and performance of the Skyrim mountains and rocks by having a single mountain texture. This makes for better blending in the meshes, and allows you to run higher resolution textures without hurting performance.
- Permissions and credits
- Changelogs
ONE MOUNTAIN - To Rule Them All is a mod that aims to improve both the appearance and performance of the Skyrim mountains and rocks by having a single mountain texture. This makes for better blending in the meshes, and allows you to run higher resolution textures without hurting performance.
UPDATE 4/30/16: Update 2.1 adds the edited mesh for the Nightingale rock entrance door, which was overlooked before due to the fact it's part of the clutter meshes. This is part of the base meshes in the FOMOD installer.
UPDATE 3/18/16:This update is two fold. First, I added a fix for the meshes in the previous update, the Mindflux ENB patch. There was a problem with the one mesh corrupting when it was saved. I also updated this mesh in the main mesh file, so this update applies to all users. Thanks to Burpy for bringing this to my attention, and generously providing screenshots for the next part of the update.
Second, I've added a new set of textures for ONE MOUNTAIN. These are a combination of my work, and 32cm's lovely Tamriel Reloaded mountain textures. Therefore, I'm calling them ONE MOUNTAIN RELOADED I was always a fan of all the tiny details he worked into his textures, but I wanted to bring a more rugged and craggy feel to them. My aim was to impart the weathering of centuries of freezing and thawing in Skyrim. The textures are available in 2k and 4K sizes (for the main mountain textures). The matching LOD textures and the 7000 steps textures are as included.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Sorry, if the following explanation is longwinded, but I feel I need to explain what I did, and why I did it.
This mod was born out of my MOUNTAIN OR MOLEHILL mod. I was frustrated by how bad the blending of the two mountain textures were in the game. It seemed the only way to an avoid ugly patchwork appearance on some of the meshes, was to make the two textures as similar as possible. That made me think... so why have two textures at all? As an experiment, I made the 01 texture solid red to see just how often it was used, and where. What I discovered, was that it was only used about 20% of the time. Despite coming 2nd, mountainslab02 is definitely #1 in the game. It wasn't just that mountainslab01 was used sparingly, but it was stuck in odd places in the meshes. The placement was very crude and often haphazard looking. Having two textures should make for more variety and interest to the mountains and rocks, but in Bethesda's application, they made the landscape look less realistic and disjointed.
So, what I set out to do was to remove all the mountainslab01 references from the game meshes. What was 01, would now be 02. This required a lot of editing, because even though the mountainslab01 textures aren't used as much, they affect a lot of different meshes in the game, including unique architectural meshes (such as Whiterun and Markarth), as well as places like Blackreach, and even effects.
However, I wasn't able to entirely eliminate the mountainslab01 texture from the game, because there's one instance where it is used despite not being directly referenced by a mesh. This stumped me for awhile. There are 5 little rocks in Markarth that I couldn't change, and I didn't know why. I finally figured out the game uses both mountain textures for the rockset normal map texture. I always wondered why there was a normal map for the rockset but no diffuse texture... that's the reason. Since these rocks are quite small, I'm including a 2K version of the mountainslab01 diffuse texture (same as the 02 texture). This is the only place in the game where I found this situation. It shouldn't really affect performance.
Now, on to what you need to make this mod work. The files are broken into two sections... the MESHES (required) and TEXTURES (optional). Why are the textures optional? Though I'm quite happy with how they turned out myself, you may prefer a different style. If you have a current mountain texture that you love, then you just need to download the meshes to make this mod work for you.
INSTALLATION
I wish there was a simpler all-in-one way to do this... and now there is. Thanks to the efforts of keithinhanoi, ONE MOUNTAIN now has an All-In-One FOMOD installer for the meshes. The basic meshes and all the various patches are now contained in one easy to navigate installer. This should help simplify things for people.
UPDATE 03-14-16: Version 1.9 is a minor update that adds an edited mesh for the ENB particle patch. All the other meshes remain unchanged. Only need to update if you're using Mindflux's ENB Particle Patch mod.
UPDATE 11-9-14: Version 1.8 gathers all the prior updates into one easy FOMOD installer. All the meshes you need are contained here. You will still need to install the textures separately. It seemed best to keep the two parts independent, because many people are using other mountain textures, and it keeps the file size much more manageable.
UPDATE 11-7-14: Version 1.7 fixes 3 more meshes. These had duplicate entries (NifSkope error). The duplicated entires bloated the file size of the meshes, and had duplicate references to the textures. Thanks to Burpy for finding these errors.
UPDATE 11-7-14: Version 1.6.1 corrects one mesh in the basic required pack. The prior mesh had apparently been a parallax mesh originally, so it could cause the texture to shift in the game. The correct Better UV Tweak mesh is now in its place.
UPDATE 10-23-14: Version 1.6 adds three meshes that were overlooked previously. Two mill rocks meshes in Markarth, and one mountain mesh in Sovengarde.
UPDATE 10-21-14: Vivid Landscapes patch updated to add one missing rock mesh, and correct one rock mesh that still had a mountainslab01 reference.
UPDATE 10-20-14: I've made all the Unofficial Skyrim Patch edits part of the main meshes in version 1.5, so a patch is no longer needed.
UPDATE 10-19-14: I received permission from bwhy12 to incorporate the Better UV Tweak meshes into the main file.
There is no longer a need for a UKSP patch. The basic required meshes now have both langely02's No Stretching mountain/rock meshes, as well as bhwy12's Better UV Tweak mountain/rock meshes. This should simplify things a little, and make for a better appearance at the start.
For those who want to know exactly which meshes are affected by which mod, here's a handy spreadsheet compiled by keithinhanoi, who's working on a FOMOD installer:
One Mountain Mesh Matrix spreadsheet
MESH PATCHES
Animated Clutter Patch - Edited Skyforge mesh for the immersive Animated Clutter mod by jackmorris21.
Better Rocks and Mountains UV Tweak Patch - This patch edits the relevant meshes from Four Leaf Clover's bwhy12 original (and still popular) mountain and rock UV improvement mod (no longer necessary).
EFLX Exteriors Patch - Edited meshes for the extremely popular lighting mod by anamorfus. Exterior option only.
ENB Particle Patch Patch - Edited meshes for Mindflux's ENB Particle Patch.
Enhanced Wetness and Puddles Patch - Edited meshes for the popular mod by anamorfus that adds better wetness effects to rocks around water sources.
Moss Rocks Patch - Mesh edits for the regular version of the immersive and popular Moss Rocks mod by Sparrowprince.
Moss Rocks SMIM Patch - Edits the SMIM meshes that were edited for Moss Rocks.
Project Parallax Remastered Patch - Edited architecture meshes for the popular Project Parallax Remastered mod by osmosis.
Realistic Waters Two Patch - Edited meshes for the popular water enhancement mod by isoku.
Static Mesh Improvement Mod Patch - For users of the wildly popular SMIM mod by Brumbek. This patch edits the affected mountain and rock meshes, including the Blackreach area.
Tamriel Reloaded Patch - Mesh edits for the popular Tamriel Reloaded - Textures and Parallax mod for ENB by 32cm.
Unofficial Skyrim Patch Patch - Edited meshes for the ever popular Skyrim mesh and texture fix mod.
Vivid Landscapes Patch - Edited parallax meshes for the popular landscape mod by Hein84.
Vivid landscapes Moss Rocks Patch - Edited meshes for the Vivid Landscapes patch for Moss Rocks.
W.A.T.E.R. Patch - Edited meshes for the popular water enhancement mod by Sparrowprince. Two versions of patch. One for the core mod, and the second with the core mod edits plus the Extra Wet Rocks edits. Choose one or the other, not both.
NOTE REGARDING PATCHES: While I made the edits to make the above mods work with my ONE MOUNTAIN texture changes, there will inevitably be conflicts between the individual mods, since there is some overlap.
Example: The Skyforge mesh is altered in a number of the mods listed. Animated Clutter adds an animated entrance to the Underforge. Tamriel Reloaded adds parallax to the Skyforge, and Enhanced Lights & FX Exteriors changes the lighting of the Skyforge. Which aspect is most important to you, is something you'll have to decide.
TEXTURES
This part is optional. I made new mountain/rock textures to have enough variety of color and detail to work well as a single texture. There are cracks and crevices, as well as mineral veins. The main color is grey as Bethesda intended, but there's more variation of color, and earth-tone accent colors to give more variety and interest. I wanted to create textures that would change color with changing lighting conditions, so they would always blend well with the landscape. I likewise redid all the mountain LOD textures to match. A 2K rockset_n.dds texture is also included in the pack.
Here, it's a matter of personal choice and performance. Since one set of mountain textures is basically eliminated, you now have the option of using a higher resolution texture without hurting your performance. For example: If you are a standard user, that was running 2K diffuse mountains with 1K normal maps, you can now decide whether you want to keep the same performance and improve the appearance (2K diffuse + 2K normal), or improve performance further by staying with your original 2K/1K size. The same applies to the bigger sizes, if you have been running hi-res textures.
TEXTURE OPTIONS:
ULTRA - 4K diffuse texture and 4K normal map texture with matching mountain LOD textures. For people with hi-end rigs, or people who REALLY love mountains.
HIGH - 4K diffuse texture and 2K normal map texture with matching mountain LOD textures. For people with 2GB VRAM or more.
REGULAR - 2K diffuse texture and 2K normal map texture with matching mountain LOD textures. For most people, 1GB VRAM is recommended.
PERFORMANCE - 2K diffuse texture and 1K normal map texture with matching mountain LOD textures. For people with lower-end rigs, or those who want maximum performance.
Pick your poison.
Update 11-6-14 - Added matching textures for the 7000 Steps to High Hrothgar.
I never understood why the step textures looked nothing like the original mountain textures. To me, it seemed obvious that the steps would not have been made out of imported stone, but carved out of the mountain itself. So, I made the 7000 steps match the mountain textures so they bend naturally with their surroundings.
CREDITS
langley02 for allowing me to incorporate her No Stretching mountain and rock meshes into the basic mesh pack.
bwhy12 for the Better Rocks and Mountains UV Tweak meshes.
Brumbek for giving permission to edit his Static Mesh Improvement Mod meshes.
Sparrowprince for his Moss Rocks meshes, and the SMIM versions too.
anamorfus for his Enhanced Wetness and Puddles meshes.
Hein84 for his Vivid Landscapes parallax meshes.
isoku for his Realistic Waters Two meshes.
Mindflux for the ENB Particle Patch meshes.
QuarnAndKivan, Arthmoor,and the USKP team for their meshes.
UPDATE 4/30/16: Update 2.1 adds the edited mesh for the Nightingale rock entrance door, which was overlooked before due to the fact it's part of the clutter meshes. This is part of the base meshes in the FOMOD installer.
UPDATE 3/18/16:This update is two fold. First, I added a fix for the meshes in the previous update, the Mindflux ENB patch. There was a problem with the one mesh corrupting when it was saved. I also updated this mesh in the main mesh file, so this update applies to all users. Thanks to Burpy for bringing this to my attention, and generously providing screenshots for the next part of the update.
Second, I've added a new set of textures for ONE MOUNTAIN. These are a combination of my work, and 32cm's lovely Tamriel Reloaded mountain textures. Therefore, I'm calling them ONE MOUNTAIN RELOADED I was always a fan of all the tiny details he worked into his textures, but I wanted to bring a more rugged and craggy feel to them. My aim was to impart the weathering of centuries of freezing and thawing in Skyrim. The textures are available in 2k and 4K sizes (for the main mountain textures). The matching LOD textures and the 7000 steps textures are as included.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Sorry, if the following explanation is longwinded, but I feel I need to explain what I did, and why I did it.
This mod was born out of my MOUNTAIN OR MOLEHILL mod. I was frustrated by how bad the blending of the two mountain textures were in the game. It seemed the only way to an avoid ugly patchwork appearance on some of the meshes, was to make the two textures as similar as possible. That made me think... so why have two textures at all? As an experiment, I made the 01 texture solid red to see just how often it was used, and where. What I discovered, was that it was only used about 20% of the time. Despite coming 2nd, mountainslab02 is definitely #1 in the game. It wasn't just that mountainslab01 was used sparingly, but it was stuck in odd places in the meshes. The placement was very crude and often haphazard looking. Having two textures should make for more variety and interest to the mountains and rocks, but in Bethesda's application, they made the landscape look less realistic and disjointed.
So, what I set out to do was to remove all the mountainslab01 references from the game meshes. What was 01, would now be 02. This required a lot of editing, because even though the mountainslab01 textures aren't used as much, they affect a lot of different meshes in the game, including unique architectural meshes (such as Whiterun and Markarth), as well as places like Blackreach, and even effects.
However, I wasn't able to entirely eliminate the mountainslab01 texture from the game, because there's one instance where it is used despite not being directly referenced by a mesh. This stumped me for awhile. There are 5 little rocks in Markarth that I couldn't change, and I didn't know why. I finally figured out the game uses both mountain textures for the rockset normal map texture. I always wondered why there was a normal map for the rockset but no diffuse texture... that's the reason. Since these rocks are quite small, I'm including a 2K version of the mountainslab01 diffuse texture (same as the 02 texture). This is the only place in the game where I found this situation. It shouldn't really affect performance.
Now, on to what you need to make this mod work. The files are broken into two sections... the MESHES (required) and TEXTURES (optional). Why are the textures optional? Though I'm quite happy with how they turned out myself, you may prefer a different style. If you have a current mountain texture that you love, then you just need to download the meshes to make this mod work for you.
INSTALLATION
I wish there was a simpler all-in-one way to do this... and now there is. Thanks to the efforts of keithinhanoi, ONE MOUNTAIN now has an All-In-One FOMOD installer for the meshes. The basic meshes and all the various patches are now contained in one easy to navigate installer. This should help simplify things for people.
UPDATE 03-14-16: Version 1.9 is a minor update that adds an edited mesh for the ENB particle patch. All the other meshes remain unchanged. Only need to update if you're using Mindflux's ENB Particle Patch mod.
UPDATE 11-9-14: Version 1.8 gathers all the prior updates into one easy FOMOD installer. All the meshes you need are contained here. You will still need to install the textures separately. It seemed best to keep the two parts independent, because many people are using other mountain textures, and it keeps the file size much more manageable.
UPDATE 11-7-14: Version 1.7 fixes 3 more meshes. These had duplicate entries (NifSkope error). The duplicated entires bloated the file size of the meshes, and had duplicate references to the textures. Thanks to Burpy for finding these errors.
UPDATE 11-7-14: Version 1.6.1 corrects one mesh in the basic required pack. The prior mesh had apparently been a parallax mesh originally, so it could cause the texture to shift in the game. The correct Better UV Tweak mesh is now in its place.
UPDATE 10-23-14: Version 1.6 adds three meshes that were overlooked previously. Two mill rocks meshes in Markarth, and one mountain mesh in Sovengarde.
UPDATE 10-21-14: Vivid Landscapes patch updated to add one missing rock mesh, and correct one rock mesh that still had a mountainslab01 reference.
UPDATE 10-20-14: I've made all the Unofficial Skyrim Patch edits part of the main meshes in version 1.5, so a patch is no longer needed.
UPDATE 10-19-14: I received permission from bwhy12 to incorporate the Better UV Tweak meshes into the main file.
There is no longer a need for a UKSP patch. The basic required meshes now have both langely02's No Stretching mountain/rock meshes, as well as bhwy12's Better UV Tweak mountain/rock meshes. This should simplify things a little, and make for a better appearance at the start.
For those who want to know exactly which meshes are affected by which mod, here's a handy spreadsheet compiled by keithinhanoi, who's working on a FOMOD installer:
One Mountain Mesh Matrix spreadsheet
MESH PATCHES
Animated Clutter Patch - Edited Skyforge mesh for the immersive Animated Clutter mod by jackmorris21.
Better Rocks and Mountains UV Tweak Patch - This patch edits the relevant meshes from Four Leaf Clover's bwhy12 original (and still popular) mountain and rock UV improvement mod (no longer necessary).
EFLX Exteriors Patch - Edited meshes for the extremely popular lighting mod by anamorfus. Exterior option only.
ENB Particle Patch Patch - Edited meshes for Mindflux's ENB Particle Patch.
Enhanced Wetness and Puddles Patch - Edited meshes for the popular mod by anamorfus that adds better wetness effects to rocks around water sources.
Moss Rocks Patch - Mesh edits for the regular version of the immersive and popular Moss Rocks mod by Sparrowprince.
Moss Rocks SMIM Patch - Edits the SMIM meshes that were edited for Moss Rocks.
Project Parallax Remastered Patch - Edited architecture meshes for the popular Project Parallax Remastered mod by osmosis.
Realistic Waters Two Patch - Edited meshes for the popular water enhancement mod by isoku.
Static Mesh Improvement Mod Patch - For users of the wildly popular SMIM mod by Brumbek. This patch edits the affected mountain and rock meshes, including the Blackreach area.
Tamriel Reloaded Patch - Mesh edits for the popular Tamriel Reloaded - Textures and Parallax mod for ENB by 32cm.
Unofficial Skyrim Patch Patch - Edited meshes for the ever popular Skyrim mesh and texture fix mod.
Vivid Landscapes Patch - Edited parallax meshes for the popular landscape mod by Hein84.
Vivid landscapes Moss Rocks Patch - Edited meshes for the Vivid Landscapes patch for Moss Rocks.
W.A.T.E.R. Patch - Edited meshes for the popular water enhancement mod by Sparrowprince. Two versions of patch. One for the core mod, and the second with the core mod edits plus the Extra Wet Rocks edits. Choose one or the other, not both.
NOTE REGARDING PATCHES: While I made the edits to make the above mods work with my ONE MOUNTAIN texture changes, there will inevitably be conflicts between the individual mods, since there is some overlap.
Example: The Skyforge mesh is altered in a number of the mods listed. Animated Clutter adds an animated entrance to the Underforge. Tamriel Reloaded adds parallax to the Skyforge, and Enhanced Lights & FX Exteriors changes the lighting of the Skyforge. Which aspect is most important to you, is something you'll have to decide.
TEXTURES
This part is optional. I made new mountain/rock textures to have enough variety of color and detail to work well as a single texture. There are cracks and crevices, as well as mineral veins. The main color is grey as Bethesda intended, but there's more variation of color, and earth-tone accent colors to give more variety and interest. I wanted to create textures that would change color with changing lighting conditions, so they would always blend well with the landscape. I likewise redid all the mountain LOD textures to match. A 2K rockset_n.dds texture is also included in the pack.
Here, it's a matter of personal choice and performance. Since one set of mountain textures is basically eliminated, you now have the option of using a higher resolution texture without hurting your performance. For example: If you are a standard user, that was running 2K diffuse mountains with 1K normal maps, you can now decide whether you want to keep the same performance and improve the appearance (2K diffuse + 2K normal), or improve performance further by staying with your original 2K/1K size. The same applies to the bigger sizes, if you have been running hi-res textures.
TEXTURE OPTIONS:
ULTRA - 4K diffuse texture and 4K normal map texture with matching mountain LOD textures. For people with hi-end rigs, or people who REALLY love mountains.
HIGH - 4K diffuse texture and 2K normal map texture with matching mountain LOD textures. For people with 2GB VRAM or more.
REGULAR - 2K diffuse texture and 2K normal map texture with matching mountain LOD textures. For most people, 1GB VRAM is recommended.
PERFORMANCE - 2K diffuse texture and 1K normal map texture with matching mountain LOD textures. For people with lower-end rigs, or those who want maximum performance.
Pick your poison.
Update 11-6-14 - Added matching textures for the 7000 Steps to High Hrothgar.
I never understood why the step textures looked nothing like the original mountain textures. To me, it seemed obvious that the steps would not have been made out of imported stone, but carved out of the mountain itself. So, I made the 7000 steps match the mountain textures so they bend naturally with their surroundings.
CREDITS
langley02 for allowing me to incorporate her No Stretching mountain and rock meshes into the basic mesh pack.
bwhy12 for the Better Rocks and Mountains UV Tweak meshes.
Brumbek for giving permission to edit his Static Mesh Improvement Mod meshes.
Sparrowprince for his Moss Rocks meshes, and the SMIM versions too.
anamorfus for his Enhanced Wetness and Puddles meshes.
Hein84 for his Vivid Landscapes parallax meshes.
isoku for his Realistic Waters Two meshes.
Mindflux for the ENB Particle Patch meshes.
QuarnAndKivan, Arthmoor,and the USKP team for their meshes.
