teppe Posted September 30, 2012 Share Posted September 30, 2012 This looks darn good! Keep up the good work! Teppe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeealex Posted September 30, 2012 Author Share Posted September 30, 2012 thanks teppe! In other news: There will be a final testing thread set up soon. in that you will find a (near) complete, working version of Project Novo, all the information you need, screenshots, and known issues. Please, if you could, take the time to test that BETA as it should be the last one before it's release in November and i need to know if there are ANY issues at all. It won't be set up today, I'll wait until all desert siege maps are done, even though I'm sure Wombat50's maps will be in perfect working and looking order, it means you get a fair idea of the map's looks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ApexMods Posted September 30, 2012 Share Posted September 30, 2012 Sorry for being so late with this, but I noticed some things that bother me a little in Project Novo. For example, some of the new ground textures display a distinctive tiling pattern when seen from afar. It is not really noticeable close range, but when you're standing e.g. on a hill top and look down you will see it, especially when there is little to no fog. Then there are modifications to some maps' lighting and ground darkmaps, i.e. desaturation and/or changed brightness, probably to better accommodate the new hires ground detail textures. This leads to noticeable high-contrast borders at the edges of some maps (e.g. check around mission insertion at M01). I think you should do it the other way around and change the new textures to better fit into existing color and light schemes. Lastly, some of the new textures are well out of the exposure range of their surroundings, meaning they appear either far too bright or far too dark. One example of being too bright is a bush in M01, IIRC. Some playing around with brightness, contrast, exposure, and in some cases also saturation should be able to fix this. Hope you don't take this assessment as hostile, just trying to provide honest constructive feedback, because I think all that work you are doing here is just amazing, and I would love to see the best possible outcome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeealex Posted September 30, 2012 Author Share Posted September 30, 2012 haha, no worries Apex, i'd much rather hear it than not. Some ground textures do indeed have a distinct pattern, I'll try to figure out a way of getting them to be seamless without leaving traces in it's wake, the bright bush in mission 1 WAS too dark originally, so i had to change it. i may ask wombat if i can use his tree and vegetation textures actually, make it a bit more uniform as such. i see what you mean about the contrasty areas. i have a few tricks to try first. if they don't work out then i'll start accommodating the ground textures to the darkmaps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ApexMods Posted September 30, 2012 Share Posted September 30, 2012 Sounds good! Wow, nice signature, Alex! Very nice, indeed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeealex Posted September 30, 2012 Author Share Posted September 30, 2012 (edited) thanks Apex tried to keep it simple this time well the idea i had for the darkmaps seems to work okay, I may, however need to add some variation in lighting to break up the flatness, and i've found a new texture that doesn't tile as evidently Edited September 30, 2012 by Zeealex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeealex Posted September 30, 2012 Author Share Posted September 30, 2012 well, the ground texture i had in mind, didn't evidently tile, but it just doesn't look right on the map. the best one i have is the original leaves one, and that one is quite evident. any tips on how to lower the contrast without losing quality? or would it be easier with a fog tweak? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ApexMods Posted September 30, 2012 Share Posted September 30, 2012 If you look at the original RSE textures, e.g. m01_detail.rsb, they are almost greyscale/desaturated, and the actual color is given through the ground darkmap textures. This way the detail.rsb doesn't require much contrast and no colour, so the tiling is less obvious. Maybe try the same or similar with your new hires textures - less saturation, less contrast, less exposure etc. to make them blend a little better. Then use the darkmaps to colorize everything. That's what RSE did to get away with the checkerboard-like tiling of ground textures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wombat50 Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 (edited) Two Desert Siege Maps setup as their own mods for testing: D06 GhostTown: http://www.mediafire...30tns3t9hoxa6z7 D04_Riverbed: http://www.mediafire...w327v6s6cs1i1kv Any suggestions appreciated. I have only tested these on my computer. I do wonder how these re-textured maps would affect online performance for the server and clients. I agree with Apex about methods to produce less noticeable tiling. In addition, blending textures with different adjoining textures can be time consuming but always worth the effort. One method I have used to cut down on noticeable pattern with a tile-able texture is to make three layers of the texture in PS(Photoshop). -Use a Gaussian blur of about 30(this can vary) on the middle texture. -Use a high pass filter on the top layer and adjust the amount until the texture comes through with little or no color. -Set the top layer blend mode to one of the following: Multiply, Overlay, Soft light or Hard light. With Multiply a levels adjustment is probably needed to lighten the texture. This method is effective in reducing a noticeable pattern in tiled textures but if it is overdone can ruin the texture too. edit: I do have a liking to desaturate the ground dm but as Apex says this can lead to problems at the edge of the map. I'll go through the maps I have done and make needed adjustments. Edited October 1, 2012 by wombat50 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeealex Posted October 1, 2012 Author Share Posted October 1, 2012 (edited) thanks for the input Apex and Wombat, i'll bear your methods in mind when I get home from college and have another crack at it, in the mean time, feel free to edit and feed back an example if you wish. as for online performance considering the map files are well into the 00's in MBs at times, i can imagine it will cause considerable lag. don't quote me though Edited October 1, 2012 by Zeealex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeealex Posted October 1, 2012 Author Share Posted October 1, 2012 (edited) look mom! no tiles! Bit green for my liking, but that's the darkmap talking and the texture's not the best, but it's not too bad. Gave up on the leafy one, no matter what i did, it stayed the same or looked really bad i like this one though. Edited October 1, 2012 by Zeealex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocky Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 Looks great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeealex Posted October 1, 2012 Author Share Posted October 1, 2012 thanks Rocky! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ApexMods Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 Excellent! Quick question, though - don't you ever enable texture mipmapping? Makes a world of difference, especially for ground textures. Just a thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeealex Posted October 1, 2012 Author Share Posted October 1, 2012 hmm, i may see if that's active thanks for the heads up there Apex. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ApexMods Posted October 6, 2012 Share Posted October 6, 2012 Have you checked texture mipmapping yet, Alex? The visual improvement with mipmapped hires ground textures is truly remarkable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeealex Posted October 6, 2012 Author Share Posted October 6, 2012 Generate Mip mappings was unchecked on the RSB extension export. looks like i've got my weekend sorted then! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ApexMods Posted October 6, 2012 Share Posted October 6, 2012 No, that's not what I meant! All you have to do is enable mipmapping in the game options. Don't worry, no need to export all those RSBs again, LOL! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeealex Posted October 6, 2012 Author Share Posted October 6, 2012 (edited) ooh good. i'll check, deux minutes! No it wasn't checked, is it meant to blur the textures at a distance? Edited October 6, 2012 by Zeealex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeealex Posted October 6, 2012 Author Share Posted October 6, 2012 is there a way of adjusting the strength of the mipmapping? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeealex Posted October 6, 2012 Author Share Posted October 6, 2012 new sky texture for MP04. yay or nay? having a bit of trouble with the UP texture though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ApexMods Posted October 7, 2012 Share Posted October 7, 2012 is there a way of adjusting the strength of the mipmapping? Yes there is, but only through manually editing the options file. I wouldn't go that route to check your textures, as your "customers" for the mod probably wouldn't do that either, so the mod should look good under normal/default mipmap settings. new sky texture for MP04. yay or nay? Yay, but then you need to adjust fog color and density, too. Arrrgh... the work never ends, eh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocky Posted October 7, 2012 Share Posted October 7, 2012 Those skys look amazing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wombat50 Posted October 7, 2012 Share Posted October 7, 2012 (edited) Novo_D05_Aurora http://www.mediafire...hm4903micjdmn7n Setup as a mod for testing. Lightened the foreground a tad. Last map in DS. In the process of deleting unnecessary files and then I will upload the compiled DS maps. Still not satisfied with Riverbed and will change a few textures. Edited October 7, 2012 by wombat50 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ApexMods Posted October 7, 2012 Share Posted October 7, 2012 Damn, that screenshot looks good! Downloading now. Thanks a lot, wombat! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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