Released! Find them on the Nexus, http://oblivion.nexusmods.com/mods/44033//?.

Screenshots:

http://static1.nexusmods.com/101/mods/images/44033-4-1377776966.jpg | http://static1.nexusmods.com/101/mods/images/44033-1-1377777060.jpg

http://static1.nexusmods.com/101/mods/images/44033-5-1377776982.jpg | http://static1.nexusmods.com/101/mods/images/44033-2-1377776965.jpg

http://static1.nexusmods.com/101/mods/images/44033-1-1377777011.jpg | http://static1.nexusmods.com/101/mods/images/44033-3-1377776966.jpg

Original Post below:

Hello! I finally decided to try my hand at modding and learn how to texture. I guarantee I'll make a lot of mistakes, but it should be fun to learn

I'm keeping it simple for my first attempt, and retexturing some of the assets from Elsweyr: Deserts of Anequina. As much as I adore the mod, some of those textures really don't blend well with QTP3. So, I'm tackling the roadsigns first, since that's a regular texture I get up close to as I navigate the province.

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc212/darkstorne/Oblivion2013-05-1410-25-35-94_zps79075b99.jpg of how they look by default. And http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc212/darkstorne/Oblivion2013-05-1511-55-45-93_zpse76a5832.jpg my http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc212/darkstorne/Oblivion2013-05-1511-55-18-70_zpsfc3f9c31.jpg at retexturing the sign post and one of the signs.

Do you think this is a good direction so far? I'm a little concerned about the font (Papyrus), since it's a commonly overused font. I think it fits quite well, but then, I don't really work with fonts much, and if it creates the same first impression with people as Comic Sans does... yeah, I'll definitely want to change it!

I'd also like to make each sign unique, like they are in vanilla. So that it's not just the same exact wood texture for each town. Kvatch has that http://oblivion.nexusmods.com/mods/images/25429-1-1246075448.jpg for example.

Already made some changes

I realized the paint needs to be white, for readability, like all the other signs. I also added some more texture to the wood. New images:

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc212/darkstorne/Oblivion2013-05-1512-37-49-33_zps4ca806a2.jpg

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc212/darkstorne/Oblivion2013-05-1512-38-01-82_zps855003a6.jpg

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc212/darkstorne/Oblivion2013-05-1512-38-21-35_zpsab80ae06.jpg

I like it (though I almost prefer the unpainted version better). It's about time someone took this on. Those low-res rocks have been bugging me for years.

Thanks! I prefer it unpainted too, but only from up-close. At more than 10 yards away it becomes quite difficult to read, so I can see why Bethesda went for white characters on all their signs.

Torval and Senchal are done Everything is subject to change, since by the time I've worked through all of the signs I might have learned enough to want to redo the earlier ones. Maybe. I honestly have no idea

Anyway, http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc212/darkstorne/Oblivion2013-05-1522-32-53-84_zps6e6d3b41.jpg of the two new signs together, and http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc212/darkstorne/Oblivion2013-05-1521-03-14-94_zpsb11e740b.jpg of the new Torval sign and the old Senchal sign so you can easily see the resolution increase.

They're now more than double the resolution - 1024x512, instead of 512x128. I have no idea why the original signs were 512x128 instead of 512x256 - it made them really stretched vertically, which may be why they stood out so much as low resolution textures. Probably a simple mistake on the team's part.

The textures look fantastic, but I do think you should reconsider your choice of font. Papyrus is too identifiable and overused (as you said), and you could easily get a hold of free alternatives.

Thanks for the feedback! I've tried out a new font for my first pass on the Leyawiin sign, and went crazy with some burnt wood textures to make it a little more unique. The font is called Aquifer, and is free for commercial use too which is nifty. I quite like it - it still has that rough look to it that Papyrus has. Think this is a better choice of font?

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc212/darkstorne/Oblivion2013-05-1617-38-45-48_zpsda30283a.jpg

EDIT: Also, http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc212/darkstorne/Oblivion2013-05-1618-29-49-35_zps31616756.jpg - again using the Aquifer font as a base.

That font looks a lot better. Great job!

Thanks

Two more signs - http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc212/darkstorne/Oblivion2013-05-1714-46-52-88_zpscb1116ff.jpg. I'll restart the earlier signs from scratch, because I'm learning more about texture variety now and want to change more than just the fonts.

Very cool. Keep up the good work.

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc212/darkstorne/Oblivion2013-05-1808-05-01-95_zpsc849341e.jpg completed - and http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc212/darkstorne/Oblivion2013-05-1808-06-04-08_zps45be78d2.jpg (though I will be going back over the top signs).

A quick question: Is there a way to check whether a texture is being used in-game? The Elsweyr folder contains low res textures for Rimmen and Bravil signs too, but I can't recall seeing them in-game. If they aren't used, there's no sense in me re-texturing them. The folder also contains two variations on each sign (named, for example, Corinthesign01.dds and Corinthesign02.dds) - the second of which is just a darker variant of the first. I'm also not convinced these second variants are actually used. Hopefully I can check through the CK or something?

Looking good, a little clean though, bit of dirt here and there might work well

IS is right - the wood looks a little too.... new. Maybe add a little weathering to it?

Thanks guys. I'm not sure dirt would look right in the desert, but I'll definitely look into sand erosion and other wear and tear. You absolutely right that some of them look too clean at the moment

Well, I took forever to get back on board with this

I think it's ready to go though! Signs are now more weathered, looking sand blasted and scratched from all those sand storms. I raised the contrast to help them stand out more too. Think these are good enough quality? I'm open to working on them some more if anyone has critique

http://70.38.64.76/h/1/ac89f505-cce7-47e5-802f-5187c4612a94.jpg | http://70.38.64.76/h/1/4f1a4d0e-e5fa-49b9-98ea-67eab8a3d72c.jpg

http://70.38.64.76/h/1/a3b1490a-1a9d-4978-b1ed-6e6bbb1deee7.jpg | http://70.38.64.76/h/1/3eec3df3-9da5-410d-9ac7-cbd4709f489b.jpg

http://70.38.64.76/h/1/a134d4e8-ea85-4721-b850-ceeb4790505d.jpg | http://70.38.64.76/h/1/582f9b68-5533-4f3f-beb5-1168a5b3fdd5.jpg

They certainly look like something that is polished and release worthy.

Since you asked for feedback, my only question is why the person who painted the Orcrest and Riverhold signs was such a bad painter. I personally don't care for the dripped paint look on those two signs (I'd think the sign lettering would have been painted before the sign was nailed to the post, so it wouldn't have dripped that way), but that's just a matter of personal preference.

Thanks

Regarding the sloppy paint work - I figured signs really weren't important in Elsweyr. None of the roads are paved, or patrolled, like they are in Cyrodiil. They're just well-trodden tracks through the wilderness, connecting important places together. There's very little evidence of maintenance and upkeep on the roads, so I built the signs to match. The dripping paint on those two signs is one indication, and there's plenty of cracking, sun-warped wood on other signs. Some if it's burnt too. I figured since signs are a low priority, they'd prefer not to use their best wood for them, but whatever odd pieces they have lying around, and then make them last as long as possible before replacing them

I'll see if I can upload them to the Nexus today. No idea how to go about doing that, so I'll start reading up!

http://oblivion.nexusmods.com/mods/44033//?

I hope it's all been uploaded correctly. I followed guides for folder order to ensure it works correctly (fingers crossed) with NMM. If anyone could be kind enough to check it out for me, I'd really appreciate it! It's a little scary when it's all new, even though I'm sure it's simple when you're used to it

Thanks for all the help and feedback getting me here!

It uploaded fine and it looks great. Thank you for doing this!

Downloaded! I'll check it out this weekend and let you know how it goes.

Thanks guys

Is there a way to change the topic title to [RELz], or do we just start a new topic for that? I don't think some obscure road signs are worth starting a new topic over, but it will be good to know for the future

Just contact a mod and ask them to fix it for you.