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The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Dark UI 2.40  (includes BT Mod version 2.30 and DarN-ified Configs as of 06/22)
6/22/2006
by Darkbirdy	
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***IMPORTANT!***  This isn't an optional Readme.  Please read the text below - nine out of ten problems people have with this mod are the result of not following the two inches of text in the install section!  Note that there is also a FAQ section further down.


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1.ABOUT
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I'm a bit photosensitive - bright light hurts my eyes.  The only real problem I had with Oblivion was the brightness of the interface screens.  Opening and closing inventory, magic, and loot windows repeatedly during a fight was like someone flashing a spotlight in my face, causing me splitting headaches after an hour or so.  That's why I decided to make some of the menus darker.

This mod replaces the textures all of the primary (and some secondary) interface windows with a new, dark leather texture.  It also changes the colors of the fonts to cream and gold, which provides good contrast against the dark background.

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2.Associated and Recommended Mods
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Note:  These aren't just 'my favorite' mods, they are mods that match the style and mission statement of Dark UI, and that work together well with it.

Associated Mods (included with Dark UI):

BT Mod (by Beider and Tikigod):  BT Mod was the first full redesign of the Oblivion interface.  It increases the number of items in the inventory, magic, and other similar menus, and allows HUD elements to be moved around. BT Mod, version 2.30, is now fully a part of Dark UI, and they are automatically installed together.

DarNified UI (by DarN):  DarN has made his own custom modifications to BT mod, greatly increasing the number of items in most of the menus to take full advantage of the high resolutions PCs are capable of.  Optional Dark UI versions of DarN's custom config files have been included with this version of Dark UI.

Recommended Mods (download seperately):

Immersive Interface (by Harfleur):  This is one of the most thorough reworkings of the Oblivion HUD (those elements present on the screen while all  menus are closed.)  It is highly configurable, and keeps the onscreen clutter to a minimum.  It works great with Dark UI as long as you install it last.  It is my own choice for a HUD.  The one thing it changes is the background at the very bottom of the menus.  To fix it, install Immersive Interface, then open up Data\menus\prefabs\ui_config\humainmenu_config.xml in notepad.  Find the line that reads: Menus\HUD\hud_back.dds and change it to: Textures\Darkui\Menus\HUD\hud_backdui.dds .  Get it from Harfleur's latest thread:  http://www.elderscrolls.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=457095

Dark UI Loading Screens (by me):  Kept seperate to let people install it without installing Dark UI, Dark UI Loading Screens retextures all of the Oblivion's loading screens using the Dark UI style.  Get it here:  http://www.elderscrolls.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=437381

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3.INSTALLATION
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1. Copy the 'Textures' and 'menus' folders to your \Oblivion\Data directory.  This is the complete default installation.

2. (OPTIONAL) There are three sets of optional components included, one set for additional BT Mod (IE - default Dark UI install) setups, one set for extra Dark UI options, and one set based on the DarN UI.  Look in the 'DarNified Configs (Optional)', 'Dark UI Extras (Optional)', and 'BTMod Extras' folders for descriptions and screenshots of these options, and in the root folder for a comparison of Dark UI and DarN methods.  Think of these as optional add-ons for the default installation, above.

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4. PLAYING
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Nothing else is required.

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5. KNOWN ISSUES
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I have tested this mod with a vanilla Oblivion install in a variety of resolution, texture, bloom, HDR, and AA combinations without issues, other than those listed below:

~If you have skill percentages enabled, you will sometimes get an odd number (like -255%).  This is a function of Oblivion, not an issue with Dark UI or its associated mods. (May have been fixed in the beta patch.)

~Some people have issues getting to map to scroll to the bottom edge with BT Mod.  The BT team is aware of this.  It doesn't cause any gameplay issues.

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6. VERSION HISTORY
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2.40
- Replaced the container menu (merchants, loot) texture and tweaked the menu to show the popup properly and to neaten the lines.
- Retextured the book and scroll backgrounds.  They are a little less bright, but it is a very, very subtle change.  The book texture is also much cleaner (less blotchy) than Bethesda's.
- Retextured Spellmaking and Enchantment menus.
- Added DarNified files for Spellmaking and Enchantment menus.
- Retextured all of the menu icons (those that are part of the interface, not the ones for individual items.)
- Merged the Chargen w/ Numbers mod with Dark UI, allowing you to see numbers on the character generation sliders.
- Added FAQ item to deal with the unusual 'a' popping up in the middle of the screen (due to an error in a different mod)
- Repaired the BT Mod arrow key functionality for confirmations which I inadvertantly overwrote in 2.30.
- Fixed a very early version oversight that removed the icons from the stats page (although, interestingly, not one person reported it.)
- Replaced the book buttons ('exit' etc.) with new ones that don't clash with the light background like the regular Dark UI buttons did.
- Altered both Dark UI and the DarNified configs to remove a conflict with HUD elements from Natural Environments, and added another item to the Dark UI Extras folder for those that DO want their bar textures changed.
- Recolored the stats popup images, as the red in the old version clashed badly with Dark UI.
- Added a 'Complete DarN' install.

2.30 - Cleaned up the small shared decorative element.
- Replaced the focus box (the mouseover box.)
- Retextured all of the buttons.
- Changed the equipped item marker.
- Fixed a Bethesda bug that made the device choice in the control options menu disappear when moused over.
- Added a new Dark UI option - light main menu text.
- Replaced the magic popup menu (the inventory info pop-up.)  The border is a little less, er, flat.
- Added the following DarN configs:  Smaller Buttons, Training Menu, Lockpick Menu, Persuasion menu.
- Fixed a Dark UI bug in the DarN Spell Purchase menu that made the vertical borders appear black.
- Added Antiquated Map 1.1 as an optional component.
- Updated DarN's font packs.
- Implemented a new map_template.xml made by Valik that fixes out of place icons at alternate zooms and fixes a Bethesda bug that made the player position arrow rotate incorrectly.

Retextured all of the following:
- Training Menu
- All character generation menus
- Quest popups
- Skill perk popups
- Pause menu
- All options menus
- Load and save menus
- Level-up menu
- Popup messages menu
- Negotiate menu (haggle menu)
- Quantity menu ('how many' menu)
- Sleep/wait menu

2.20 
- Retextured the Alchemy, Recharge, and Repair menus.
- Altered a setting to show more of the container menu texture that was cut off at the bottom (thanks, ACIDter.)
- Updated the following DarN configs:  Container Menu to 1.2, Dialog Menu to 1.2, Spell Purchase Menu to 1.3.
- Added DarNified Alchemy, Recharge, and Repair menus.
- Added DarN's fonts fix for the beta patch.
- Fixed the DarN recharge icon mouseover text being the wrong color.

2.10 
- Now includes a full set of Dark UI DarNified config files, minus the Repair/Alchemy Menus, which are under way for a future release.
- Subtitles and onscreen info (when you put the cursor on something) are now recolored.
- The spell purchase menu is now retextured.
- The optional Darker Map Background should now work for everybody.
- There is no longer a space in the middle of the lines in the inventory or container menus.
- The magic menu lines will no longer overlap haphazardly.
- Repaired a missing tab selector image in the stats menu left over from the original Beth menus.


2.01 
- Fixed two small bugs with the HUD frame when run at lower resolutions.

2.0 
- Dark UI is now a full BT Mod skin, requiring BT Mod to run, and including BT Mod in its distribution.
- All primary menus are now skinned.
- Switched the primary text colors to make it less garish.
- The focus box (highlighted mouseover selector) is now skinned.
- Info popups are now skinned
- New installation method: All Dark UI image files now have their own subdirectory, making for easy installation/uninstallation/switching.  This is the first step toward a skinning standard. (Dark Frame and Darker Map Background don't use this subdirectory yet.)

1.10 
- Added Method B in cooperation with the BT Mod team.  
- Changed the header font color to gold rather than neon yellow.  
- Re-designed and replaced all textures with much higher-quality versions.
- Fixed a problem with the dds compression that caused menu corruption when using Oblivion's medium or small texture option.

1.01 
- A crash resulted in a typo in the manual instructions being uploaded, with all of the texture files ending in .tga instead of .dds.  

1.0 
- Original


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7. CREDITS
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www.octopusoverlords.com for moral support ;)

Beider & Tikigod for BT Mod.

DarN for himselfifying the code so professionally.

Xythen for the Antiquated Map

Valik for his map_template.xml fixes

Rick for permission to merge his Chargen with Numbers mod into Dark UI


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8. FAQ
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Q:  I use the DarN configs and my fonts are all wrong - I have the handwriting font in my menus!
A:  You didn't install the font packs.  See the DarN readme.

Q:  I use the DarN configs and my fonts are misaligned vertically.
A:  Make sure you are using the font pack for your patch version.

Q:  My menus are transparent!
A:  You put the textures folder in the wrong place.

Q:  Is there a OBMM version of this mod?
A:  Dark UI isn't well suited to OBMM.  There are more than 30 optional elements leading to literally thousands of possible installation combinations.

Q:  ?
A:  !

Q:  I installed it, but nothing changed!
A:  You installed it wrong.

Q:  I installed Natural Environments and don't see the NE status bars.
A:  NE broke the background slider textures on all Dark UI, DarNified, and BT Mod installs, so I had to override them completely to avoid compatibility issues.

Q:  Can you retexture the Quick-Keys menu?
A:  It'll be a while, if at all - there is very little that would need redone (the insides of the little circles), and the quick-keys menu is a .nif rather than a regular texture.

Q:  I'm getting a funny looking 'a' in the middle of my screen when I load new areas.
A:  That's an issue with the NoMoreAnnoyingMessages mod which uses that character for some reason.  Maximus sent out a repaired version, available here:  http://www.tessource.net/files/cache/4988.html

Q:  I'm using some DarN configs, and the text isn't lining up with the buttons.
A:  You're using one of the menus DarN designed around his Smaller Buttons config.  Install Smaller Buttons.

Q:  Does this work with (Immersive Interface, Happy Map, etc.)
A:  Dark UI doens't change the map image, so any third party maps work just fine.  Any other interface mods will work together as they simply overwrite each other.  Each page (map, inventory, stats, HUD, etc) are all essentially seperate - install Dark UI and someone else's HUD and you'll have all Dark UI menus with the third-party HUD.

Q:  I have another question...
A:  Look for me (Darkbirdy) on the official Oblivion forums.  I answer questions in the release threads (currently http://www.elderscrolls.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=409847 When the thread changes, I'll change the first post to point to the new thread.)  I can also be found on the forums at www.octopusoverlords.com as Blackhawk (and, to be honest, I'm usually much easier to find on the second site.  I'm staff there, so I check it frequently.)

Q:  How do YOU run Dark UI?  Which options do you use?
A:  I used the default install, plus all DarN configs except for the HUD and info menu, visible tumblers in the lockpicking menu, and the normal fonts.  Light Menu Text, Antiquated map with Beth's icons, and Darker Map Background.  I turn percentages on for skills, and off for everything else. I use Immersive Interface for the HUD.


