http://tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=27825

Screenshots:
http://tesnexus.com/downloads/images/27825-1-1256351775.jpg
http://tesnexus.com/downloads/images/27825-2-1256351777.jpg
http://tesnexus.com/downloads/images/27825-1-1275131476.jpg
http://tesnexus.com/downloads/images/27825-2-1275131477.jpg (when illuminated by a Light spell)

Better Silverware and Goldware

by Fearabbit

1. Description "Better Silverware":

A simple texture and mesh replacer for Oblivion's silverware, i.e. all silver dishes (forks, plates, knives, pitchers, ...).
It makes the textures darker and adds a reflection to the mesh to get the effect of a dark, polished material. I think it's very close to the actual look of silver.

2. Description "Better Goldware":

Some mods add golden versions of the silver dishes to the game - one popular example is Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul (OOO). The only difference is that the base texture is yellow, not gray. I'm not a big fan of those, but using my texture replacer for silverware, they look even worse in comparison.
So here's a similar replacer for those. Only use this one if you have OOO or another mod that adds golden dishes, specifically if their meshes can be found in the folder Oblivion\Data\meshes\clutter\FineWare. These are the ones that will be replaced.

One note of warning: The silverware was already difficult to get right, but gold is even worse. It may not look like you would expect (and from the distance, you might not be able to see the difference between golden and silver dishes at first).


3. Installation (for both Better Silverware and Better Goldware):
Extract to Oblivion/Data and overwrite any existing files if necessary.

Credits:
CSWiki for the tutorial on how to create reflective items (based on the findings of VagabondAngel)

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One of those "can't believe it hasn't been done before" replacers. I tried it out with the other shiny material property (duh), but it didn't look as good.
I might reduce the reflection or darken the textures even more some day, but right now I'm quite happy with the result.
Have fun with it!

AmpolX did the silverware in his "Little things" retex, but got a different result.

I'm in the middle of going through all the vanilla retexes, so I downloaded this for comparison purposes.

Looks very good.

Looks good! I'll be using this.

I notice that the reflection map seems to be an outdoor scene, with trees and sky. I don't know much about best practices in texturing 3D models, but since silverware is more often encountered indoors, would an indoor scene make a better reflection map?

wow, those look superb fearabbit ...could some1 post some shots of ampolx's clutter to compare?

AmpolX silverware is a little glowy/shiny, he thought something similar himself and I've been waiting for his update to take care of that. The rest of his package, with earthenware and such are great - I'll just toss this one in there to take away the one thing I think needs changing. Thanks.

Cheers!

Nicely done :goodjob:

I made my own reflection maps for my new textures and updates. Im still workin on a lot of stuff for my new mega clutter overhaul.

OP: Looks good, even if its using oblivions standard reflect, it still looks nice and shiny.

Thanks for the feedback so far!

In my opinion, you don't really notice that it's an outdoor scene that's reflected on the dishes. You don't usually take a close look at your dishes anyway. But like I said, I might reduce the reflectiveness of the silver some more, that might help.

AmpolX, good to hear you're still working on your textures. But how can you use a new reflection map without changing the old one?

I like it but for me, it looks too shiny and new. Unless in a castle, I would think that the people don't polish their silver much.

Just tried it out. I wanted to install it trough OMOD, but there was an error.Anyway, i did manage to install it and try it out. I must say i like it. The silver really feels more special and more realistic. It could be just a bit less shiny, but it's still an improvement. I would like to see a comparison between this and AmpolX'es version.

Recommended!

It's the first thing I noticed, actually. But then, I was taking a close look at some dishes, to see the improvement.

Still looks good though.

http://tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=27825
(Sadly, he doesn't look quite as beautiful as his big brother.)

For people who use OOO or another mod that adds golden dishes to the game, Better Goldware give those dishes a reflection similar to that of Better Silverware. However, golden textures are much more difficult to get right... I'm not quite happy with the result. But anyway, it looks better than the original textures.

Yeah although I really liked the first version of silver that AmpolX did the second version I didn't like - too shiny and smooth like chrome.

These look good though.

Showler - would love to see your links/critique of that and what you are going to include.

I'm thinking of going the way of Arthmoor and repackaging my BSAs with replacers after I re PyFFI the meshes.

Thanks Fearabbit

These look good, Fearabbit. I'll be trying them out. Thanks for your effort.

Better goldware too! WOOT! :celebration:

Thx for the amazing work fearabbit

Things like this are what would REALLY benefit from the expanded material shader functionality in FO3. Can't wait for TES5 solely for that.

In FO3, you could put in your own environmental reflection cube map instead of relying all of two (IIRC) in TES4, and also have a reflection mask map separate from the specular map.

Nice instant download
THANKS! :cookie:

Ah, nice! I've been using the silverware one for several months now, and just this past week I had thought about how ugly the gold was in comparison; the gold retextures will certainly help that

CC

I'm glad to be of service.

Feedback is appreciated, by the way, it's just that I wouldn't know how to improve the golden texture... I once saw a staff that had a golden sphere with reflections on it, and that golden reflection was perfect. If anyone knows which staff I'm talking about, it would be great to point it out to me so that I can take a look at how that's been achieved.

I think the silver looks excellent, but maybe the base texture for the gold should be lighter? A lot of fine gold is not actually that "yellow".

Just a thought, I'll be using this in any case.

I've had a "better silverware" mod for awhile now, though I'm not sure who did it (I zipped all the files together with some other item improver mods in my backup folders to reduce clutter) - might've been you; they look the same. I've been hoping for a "better goldware" mod ever since, because you get this nice shiny silver and then the dull gold. Thanks for this. :thumbsup: