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DYNAMIC BACKGROUNDS DOCUMENTATION

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✍ August 2023 by "Zoran8844 & King of Worms"

This new part of a DREAM mod adds Dynamic Backgrounds to the paperdoll system.

This covers Interiors (Shops, Temples, Orders, Guilds, Dungeons, Story Dungeons...)
Exteriors (Wilderness, Ocean, Ships)
Towns (Smaller towns u visit ingame)
Capital Towns (Daggerfall, Sentinel etc..)

It consists of 600 various backgrounds including the day/sunset/night/sunrise cycle plus all the
weathers, winter variants and much more.

⚠ This part of a DREAM has its own Mod Settings ⚠

Please read this 1st section to setup the mod & game correctly!

1st enter the Mod settings by clicking “MODS” at the DFU Start menu ->

Than find DREAM-BACKGROUNDS & click it -> click Settings at the right as shown below:

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For most users its best to enable all the settings displayed bellow AND
> Disable "Geographic Backgrounds" in the DFU "Interface" settings
> Set GUI filter in the "Video" to Trilinear. Exactly like this:

▣ DREAM - BACKGROUNDS mod settings:

▣ Ingame "Interface" settings (Start menu > Advanced > INTERFACE)

▣ Texture Filtering for Backgrounds (Start menu > Advanced > VIDEO)

Texture filtering additional info

Dynamic Backgrounds are affected by the Texture Filtering. To change the texture filtering go to the
DFU Start Menu > click "Advanced" and select "Video" > "GUI Filter" slider settings.

 For HD backgrounds set the GUI Filter to "Bilinear" or "Trilinear" for best results
 For vanilla pixel backgrounds or other low resolution backgrounds set this to "Point"

Kudos goes to DFU Interkarma for helping out and making this feature possible!

This concludes the basic settings and you are good to go. For more info on the systems,
please continue reading…

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༺──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────༻
Further bellow we will describe all the options in the order as
they appear in the mod settings & showcase some examples
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▣ DREAM GEO BACKGROUNDS:

This mod setting will overwrite the Daggerfall Unity GeoBG system with its own version of Geographic
Backgrounds that are based on climate zones of the Daggerfall map.

Outside of a town in the wilderness, the background will change based on the climate zone (see the
climate zone map below). All city and wilderness backgrounds have 18 image variants that are based on
ingame weather conditions and day/night cycle.

Technical details
This new DREAM GeoBG system works by tracking the player's current location - when the player enters
a new map location (dots on DF map) it saves that location ID and the ID of the last location where the
player has opened the Inventory or Character Sheet. This was a neccesery code implementation in order
to fix DFU fast travel issue, because the paperdoll backgrounds don't get updated when player performs
a fast travel (this check wasn't needed in the vanilla DFU and became a issue only due to the dynamic
BGs system of DREAM BACKGROUNDS dfmod)

While the vanila GeoBG had a town BG for every settlement, the new DREAM GeoBG will only show town
backgrounds when a player is in a city or a town. "City" is a walled town or a large settlement while
"Town" is considered to be a town without walls or a medium settlement. These locations can be
recognized on ingame map as a light brown (city) or brown (town) dots.

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 Examples of a new DREAM GeoBG system
Climate Zones Outside Town (Race BG) Town BG City BG
=================================================================================
Desert 1 and 2: SCBG01I0.IMG (Redguard) TOWN02.IMG TOWN06.IMG

Subtropical: SCBG06I0.IMG (Khajiit) TOWN14.IMG TOWN15.IMG

Mountains: SCBG02I0.IMG (Nord) TOWN03.IMG TOWN07.IMG

Rainforest: SCBG05I0.IMG (Wood Elf) TOWN04.IMG TOWN08.IMG

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Swamp: SCBG07I0.IMG (Argonian) TOWN04.IMG TOWN08.IMG

Temperate
Woodland: SCBG04I0.IMG (High Elf) TOWN01.IMG TOWN05.IMG

Woodland Hills &

Haunted Woodland:
SCBG00I0.IMG (Breton) TOWN03.IMG TOWN07.IMG

Ephesus wilderness &

Dragontail Mountains:

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Ocean climate
is a special case because it only shows when the player is far from the coast in the middle of Illiac Bay
(OCEAN.IMG). It can also be seen when the player travels some distance from the player owed ship.

Ocean Area
(OCEAN.IMG)

Island regions
Betony, Cybiades and Balfiera have unique wilderness BG to distinguish them from the mainland.

Island Regions
(ISLAND.IMG)

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On the deck of a ship the seperate ship BG (SHIP.IMG for small ship or SHIPBIG.IMG for big ship ) will
be shown instead of Ocean climate background. The player ship interior is controlled by another mod
setting, the "Extra Interiors".

Player Ship Player Big Ship Player Ship Interior Player Big Ship Interior
(SHIP.IMG) (SHIPBIG.IMG) (INTERIOR_SHIP.IMG) (INTERIOR_SHIPBIG.IMG)

Swamp and Rainforest climates

With DREAM GeoBG these BGs will additionally show winter variants. In vanilla DFU, these regions don't
have winter in the original code. New GeoBG system has an extra code to show winter variants
Backgrounds. Nature flats like flora and fauna, don't have winter versions. Instead they will stay in the
summer versions regardless of the year season. On the other hand, terrain textures and town building
textures do have their winter variants, so the overall result looks like a mild winter and is not immersion
breaking, contrary, it adds to the diversity of the game and seasons. Thats how DREAM always worked.

Swamp/Rainforest summer & winter examples:

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Graveyard
DREAM GeoBG has this new background (CEMETERY.IMG) that resembles more the original Daggerfall
background. This change is bundled with a new Geo System and doesn't have a seperate mod setting to
be enabled or disabled. Its always ON.

Old v2022 Cemetery New v2023 Cemetery Vanilla Cemetery

ALL EXTERIOR BACKGROUNDS HAVE FULL NIGHT/DAY CYCLE AND ALL WEATHERS
So they have 18 variants of each BG image
Day (Clear, Fog, Overcast, Rain, Storm)
Sunset/Sundawn (Clear, Fog, Overcast, Rain, Storm)
Night (Clear, Fog, Overcast, Rain, Storm)
Winter (Day, Night, Sunset/Dawn)

Example of 10 out of 18 variants of one BG

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༺──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────༻
▣ CITY BACKGROUNDS: Extension of Dream Geo Backgrounds

Standard towns
Only used when "Dream Geo Backgrounds" is enabled in the mod settings. It can be seen as a extension
of the GeoBG system. It controls city BGs that will be shown when a player enters major settlements.
There are 15 town BG sets - 5 for each climate group and 2 per settlement size (10 sets overall) and 5
sets for the unique cities - they will be in line with town climate textures. Each town BG set has 18
weather variants that will switch based on the ingame weather conditions and game time.

TOWN 01 – 04 & 14 Medium Settlement (town without walls) Brown Dots

TOWN 05 – 08 & 15 Large Settlement (walled town) aka City Light Brown Dots

Unique cities
In addition to the standard city backgrounds, the unique cities in the game will have their own unique
background that's only show when the player is in that specific city.

Daggerfall Sentinel Wayrest Anticlere Glenpoint

(TOWN09) (TOWN10) (TOWN11) (TOWN12) (TOWN13)

TOWN 09 - 13 Unique Cities (each city has its own BG set) Light Brown Dots

(If mod setting "City Background" is enabled but "Dream Geo Backgrounds" is disabled, the script has an
extra code check to ensure that city BGs will not show even if their mod setting is ON. This is due to city
BGs being bundled together with the climate zones code of the new GeoBG system)

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༺──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────༻
▣ EXTRA INTERIORS:
This mod setting will enable or disable extra civil interior backgrounds for some town buildings like
shops, taverns, guilds, knightly orders, player owned ship and houses etc. It will show different BGs for
tavern, palace and player home when the player is in a specific climate zone and it works similar to city
backgrounds in this regard. There are 4 types of climate groups for buildings: Temperate, Desert,
Mountain, and Rainforest. They are based on climate textures same as the 4 city types (see above).

EXAMPLE OF INTERIOR BGs

Player houses
("INTERIOR_HOUSE.IMG")

Temperate Desert Mountain Rainforest

Fighters Guild
utilize "INTERIOR_GUILDHALL.IMG" background

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 10 Knightly Orders
10 various backgrounds with changing banners/carpets depending on the order name
(example of Raven / Dragon / Moon orders )

Thieves Guild & Dark Brotherhood

share the same image "INTERIOR_UNDERWORLD.IMG"

Mages guild
has its own image "INTERIOR_MAGEHALL.IMG".

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 Library and bookseller shops
have the "INTERIOR_LIBRARY.IMG"

Weapon shops along with armor shops

have the "INTERIOR_BLACKSMITH.IMG" image.

Various shop types example

Alchemy Clothing Gemstore Pawnshop

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 Temple example
There are 8 temple backgrounds, with lore specific statues and color schemes
(INTERIOR_TEMPLE_*****.IMG)

There are lots of various civil interior backgrounds in the game now.
Full filenames of the Interior BGs and their assigned locations are in the list below.
Complete list of BGs u can find in the separate file “2023 - Dream BG FileNames.txt”

Filename: Description:

GENERAL:
INTERIOR_BUILDING.IMG Used for all misc buildings (residences)
INTERIOR_CASTLE.IMG Unique Palaces (unused if "MStory Dun" is ON)
INTERIOR_CITYWALL.IMG When inside City Walls (TOWN23)

GUILDS:
INTERIOR_GUILDHALL.IMG Fighters Guild
INTERIOR_GUILDMOD1.IMG Mod BG for Archaeologists Guild
INTERIOR_GUILDMOD2.IMG Mod BG for The Red Lantern Guild
INTERIOR_GUILDMOD3.IMG ModBG for The Bards Guild
INTERIOR_MAGEHALL.IMG Unique BG for Mages Guild
INTERIOR_UNDERWORLD.IMG Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood BG

PLAYER HOUSES:
INTERIOR_HOUSE.IMG Temperate climate player owned house
INTERIOR_HOUSE2.IMG Deserts & Subtropical player owned house
INTERIOR_HOUSE3.IMG Mountains & Hills player owned house
INTERIOR_HOUSE4.IMG Rainforest & Swamp player owned house
INTERIOR_HIDEOUT.IMG Unique Player house BG when PC is a vampire

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KNIGHT ORDERS:
INTERIOR_KNIGHT_DRAGON.IMG Order of the Dragon
INTERIOR_KNIGHT_FLAME.IMG Order of the Flame
INTERIOR_KNIGHT_HAWK.IMG Order of the Hawk
INTERIOR_KNIGHT_HORN.IMG Order of the Horn
INTERIOR_KNIGHT_MOON.IMG Order of the Moon
INTERIOR_KNIGHT_OWL.IMG Order of the Owl
INTERIOR_KNIGHT_RAVEN.IMG Order of the Raven
INTERIOR_KNIGHT_ROSE.IMG Order of the Rose
INTERIOR_KNIGHT_SCARAB.IMG Order of the Scarab
INTERIOR_KNIGHT_WHEEL.IMG Order of the Wheel

SHOPS:
INTERIOR_ALCHEMIST.IMG Alchemy Shops
INTERIOR_BANK.IMG Used for all the Banks in the map
INTERIOR_BLACKSMITH.IMG Weaponsmith & Armorer Shops
INTERIOR_CLOTHINGSHOP.IMG Clothing Shops
INTERIOR_GEMSHOP.IMG Gem Shops
INTERIOR_OPENSHOP.IMG General Stores
INTERIOR_PAWNSHOP.IMG Pawn Shops
INTERIOR_LOCKED.IMG When inside closed shops (burglary)
INTERIOR_FURNITURE.IMG Reserved for unused Furniture Shops
INTERIOR_LIBRARY.IMG Shared between Library and Book Shops

PALACES:
INTERIOR_PALACE.IMG Temperate standard city Palace
INTERIOR_PALACE2.IMG Deserts & Subtropical standard city Palace
INTERIOR_PALACE3.IMG Mountains & Hills standard city Palace
INTERIOR_PALACE4.IMG Rainforest & Swamp standard city Palace
SHIPS:
INTERIOR_SHIP.IMG For the player owned ship interior (type 0)
INTERIOR_SHIPBIG.IMG For the player owned big ship interior (type 1)
INTERIOR_SUBMERGED.IMG When a player is underwater inside dungeons
TAVERNS:
INTERIOR_TAVERN.IMG Temperate Tavern
INTERIOR_TAVERN2.IMG Deserts & Subtropical Tavern
INTERIOR_TAVERN3.IMG Mountains & Hills Tavern
INTERIOR_TAVERN4.IMG Rainforest & Swamp Tavern
TEMPLES:
INTERIOR_TEMPLE_AKATOSH.IMG Temple of Akatosh
INTERIOR_TEMPLE_ARKAY.IMG Temple of Arkay
INTERIOR_TEMPLE_DIBELLA.IMG Temple of Dibella
INTERIOR_TEMPLE_JULIANOS.IMG Temple of Julianos
INTERIOR_TEMPLE_KYNARETH.IMG Temple of Kynareth
INTERIOR_TEMPLE_MARA.IMG Temple of Mara
INTERIOR_TEMPLE_STENDARR.IMG Temple of Stendarr
INTERIOR_TEMPLE_ZENITHAR.IMG Temple of Zenithar

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▣ MAIN STORY DUNGEONS:
Example:

When enabled, all the main story dungeons in the game will have their own background. Privateer's
Hold (starting dungeon) uses the old 2022 dungeon background despite it being Human Stronghold as a
dungeon type. This is deliberate in order to keep the vanilla felling when starting the new game. This
mod setting only effects dungeons and is not dependent on any other settings.

Filename: Description: (Location):

INTERIOR_BLADES.IMG Castle Llugwych (Ykalon)

INTERIOR_CRUX.IMG Mantellan Crux (High Rock sea coast)
INTERIOR_DAGGERFALL.IMG Daggerfall Castle (Daggerfall)
INTERIOR_DUNGEON.IMG Privateer's Hold (Daggerfall)
INTERIOR_NECRO.IMG Castle Necromoghan (Daggerfall)
INTERIOR_ORSINIUM.IMG Orsinium Castle (Orsinium Area)
INTERIOR_SBARROW.IMG Scourg Barrow (Dragontail Mountains)
INTERIOR_SENTINEL.IMG Sentinel Castle (Sentinel)
INTERIOR_SHEDUNGENT.IMG Shedungent (Wrothgarian Mountains)
INTERIOR_TOMB.IMG Lysandus' Tomb (Menevia)
INTERIOR_TOWER.IMG Direnni Tower (Isle of Balfiera)
INTERIOR_TRISTORE.IMG Tristore Laboratory (Betony)
INTERIOR_WAYREST.IMG Wayrest Castle (Wayrest)
INTERIOR_WOODBORNE.IMG Woodborne Hall (Wayrest)

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▣ DUNGEON TYPES:
Example:

All Daggerfall dungeons have their type. When enabled - this mod setting will assign a different
background for each of these types. The dungeon type determines which enemies will be spawned and
what shapes the dungeon is made of.

More about dungeon types can be found here:

https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Dungeons_(Daggerfall)

Filename: Dungeon Type (Description):

INTERIOR_BARBARIAN.IMG Barbarian Stronghold

INTERIOR_CAVE.IMG Natural Cave
INTERIOR_CEMETERY.IMG Cemetery (inside Cemeteries - Red map dots)
INTERIOR_COVEN.IMG Coven
INTERIOR_DRAGON.IMG Dragon's Den
INTERIOR_DTEMPLE.IMG Desecrated Temple
INTERIOR_DUNGEON.IMG Crypt (shared with Privateer's Hold)
INTERIOR_GIANT.IMG Giant Stronghold
INTERIOR_HARPY.IMG Harpy Nest
INTERIOR_HUMAN.IMG Human Stronghold
INTERIOR_LABORATORY.IMG Laboratory (castle with mage type enemies)
INTERIOR_MINE.IMG Mine
INTERIOR_ORC.IMG Orc Stronghold
INTERIOR_PRISON.IMG Prison
INTERIOR_RCASTLE.IMG Ruined Castle
INTERIOR_SCORPION.IMG Scorpion Nest
INTERIOR_SPIDER.IMG Spider Nest
INTERIOR_VAMPIRE.IMG Vampire Haunt
INTERIOR_VOLCANIC.IMG Volcanic Caves

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▣ DYNAMIC SKIES TWILIGHT:

Extra setting for a better compatibility between the twilight backgrounds and Dynamic Skies mod.

When enabled it will change the time check for the twilight backgrounds plus/minus one hour so that
they better match the Dynamic Skies mod atmosphere around dawn or dusk.

When disabled the twilight backgrounds will use the vanilla default time for the dawn/dusk time check.

Dawn ☀ Sunraise: 6am Dusk ☀ Sunset: 6pm (18h)

☑ ENABLED: 6am → 7am 5pm → 7pm For Dynamic Skies Mod

☐ DISABLED: 6am → 8am 5pm → 6pm For DFU Vanilla Skies

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▣ UNDERWATER BACKGROUNDS:

Shows underwater BG when the player is submerged (Doesn't apply when swimming outside, only when
the player is fully underwater - breath meter needs to be on the HUD).

Currently only the Dungeon BG is used due to inability to dive in the sea. Exterior BGs are reserved in a
case that some future mod adds underwater ocean exploration. It that case the script will automatically
recognize that the player is submerged in an exterior map and apply the new underwater BGs with their
day, night and twilight weather variants.

Dungeon Underwater (Interior) Ocean Underwater (Exterior)

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⚠ MOD Fix & Backwards Compatibility:
If you encounter problems with the BGs, please disable all "DREAM - Backgrounds" mod settings, to
maximize compatibility - as shown in the image below:

Running "DREAM - Backgrounds" with all its mod settings disabled will turn back to the v2022 version,
except for the added compatibility for other mods and extra twilight backgrounds.

That way, the user can revert to the old version if desired, with increased compatibility as a bonus. If
the entire mod is disabled in DFU then the game will use its standard (low resolution, pixelated)
paperdoll backgrounds.

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Background Replacement - Loose Files:
To replace the existing backgrounds make a new 24-bit depth PNG file with the 624 x 988 size
dimensions and without transparency. Put the new background file in the:

"...\Daggerfall Unity\DaggerfallUnity_Data\StreamingAssets\Textures\Img\"
(If "Img" folder is not there - create it)

Enable "Asset Injection" setting in the: Start menu > Advanced > Enhancements

The loose files in the Textures folder will overwrite the assets from dfmod.
For the list of all background file names check the "Dream BG FileNames" txt file.

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Zoran8844 & King of Worms

A
Auugguusstt 22002233
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