6497 réponses à ce sujet

[InBleedingRapture]

I meant I wondered if it'd make a difference if textures were in DXT1/DXT5 .dds format with pre-drawn, embedded mip maps. Although, I must admit, I'm not exactly sure how TexMod processes textures by itself.

[neilthecellist]

You might be onto something. I'm going to try monitoring vRAM usage with MSAA+SGSAA enabled in NVIDIA Inspector, then monitoring vRAM usage again but with no AA whatsoever (not even FXAA).

After calculus class in less than a half hour from now, that is....

[InBleedingRapture]

The only bad thing about DXT1/DXT5 is that I could sit around and eat a sandwich while it compresses...

[Dead_Meat357]

InBleedingRapture wrote...

The only bad thing about DXT1/DXT5 is that I could sit around and eat a sandwich while it compresses...

I've got the plugin for Photoshop, but I am not very good with Photoshop, and the plugin seems limited functionally due to my Photoshop being a very old version. I've done most of what I'm doing in Paint.NET. The only thing I'm actually doing in Photoshop is color correction while creating textures to use as base materials for sections I'm retexturing. It handles hue / color changes FAR better than Paint.NET can.

I get a lot of problems using the .DDS files with Photoshop going beyond that. About half the time the application crashes as a result of me using that.

[InBleedingRapture]

Dead_Meat357 wrote...

I get a lot of problems using the .DDS files with Photoshop going beyond that. About half the time the application crashes as a result of me using that.

Same here. nVidia does have a command-line tool for compressing and it actually runs much faster -- no Photoshop required. It's a little clunky, but if you have a strange nostalgia for MSDOS like I do, it's actually kinda comforting

Because DXT compression can cause artifacts if applied multiple times to the same texture, I do all my changes in .tga format (best image quality, imo), then compress to .dds when I'm done.

[Dead_Meat357]

InBleedingRapture wrote...

Dead_Meat357 wrote...

I get a lot of problems using the .DDS files with Photoshop going beyond that. About half the time the application crashes as a result of me using that.

Same here. nVidia does have a command-line tool for compressing and it actually runs much faster -- no Photoshop required. It's a little clunky, but if you have a strange nostalgia for MSDOS like I do, it's actually kinda comforting

Because DXT compression can cause artifacts if applied multiple times to the same texture, I do all my changes in .tga format (best image quality, imo), then compress to .dds when I'm done.

I'm going to give that a shot once I'm finished with Ashley's textures. I do like my command lines.

Modifié par Dead_Meat357, 10 mai 2012 - 05:58 .

[InBleedingRapture]

Sweet. Yeah, it's just called "nVidia Texture Tools." You can find it right on their website.

Modifié par InBleedingRapture, 10 mai 2012 - 06:02 .

[Dead_Meat357]

InBleedingRapture wrote...

Sweet. Yeah, it's just called "nVidia Texture Tools." You can find it right on their website.

Already downloaded.

[neilthecellist]

InBleedingRapture wrote...

Dead_Meat357 wrote...

I get a lot of problems using the .DDS files with Photoshop going beyond that. About half the time the application crashes as a result of me using that.

Same here. nVidia does have a command-line tool for compressing and it actually runs much faster -- no Photoshop required. It's a little clunky, but if you have a strange nostalgia for MSDOS like I do, it's actually kinda comforting

Because DXT compression can cause artifacts if applied multiple times to the same texture, I do all my changes in .tga format (best image quality, imo), then compress to .dds when I'm done.

Is that why Liara sometimes gets the black gunk over her body sometimes when I apply the high resolution Liara texture in Texmod?

[InBleedingRapture]

neilthecellist wrote...

InBleedingRapture wrote...

Dead_Meat357 wrote...

I get a lot of problems using the .DDS files with Photoshop going beyond that. About half the time the application crashes as a result of me using that.

Same here. nVidia does have a command-line tool for compressing and it actually runs much faster -- no Photoshop required. It's a little clunky, but if you have a strange nostalgia for MSDOS like I do, it's actually kinda comforting

Because DXT compression can cause artifacts if applied multiple times to the same texture, I do all my changes in .tga format (best image quality, imo), then compress to .dds when I'm done.

Is that why Liara sometimes gets the black gunk over her body sometimes when I apply the high resolution Liara texture in Texmod?

Hmm... more likely it's a problem with dynamic shadowing or the normal maps (if that mod replaces the normals). If you notice whenever you load a new save, enter a new area, etc., Shep is usually covered by black gunk. It goes away after you move around a little. I think that has to do with the dynamic shadowing "catching up" to the textured model.

About the normal maps... I've been banging my head against the wall for nearly a month now trying to figure them out. When ripped using TexMod, they look fine, but when put back in the game, you'll see strange dark patches and it doesn't react to lighting the way it should. I've experienced this before in DAO, which also had funky normal maps. It usually indicates a missing channel in the texture.... sigh.... but I can't seem to figure out what's supposed to be in that channel.

[MACharlie1]

The black gunk is a problem with ME3 and TexMod. Most recently, Chakwas was covered in it. I've had Liara, Tali and Grunt all in black gunk. Only one them was running a normal map. It's probably just something to get used to at times. Like how textures will sometimes replace holograms and video feeds...

All the norm maps I've generated with Crazy Bump haven't had any problems other then the effect being too strong. It's easier just to replace the damn thing rather then try and reimport the one ripped.

[Dead_Meat357]

neilthecellist wrote...

InBleedingRapture wrote...

Dead_Meat357 wrote...

I get a lot of problems using the .DDS files with Photoshop going beyond that. About half the time the application crashes as a result of me using that.

Same here. nVidia does have a command-line tool for compressing and it actually runs much faster -- no Photoshop required. It's a little clunky, but if you have a strange nostalgia for MSDOS like I do, it's actually kinda comforting

Because DXT compression can cause artifacts if applied multiple times to the same texture, I do all my changes in .tga format (best image quality, imo), then compress to .dds when I'm done.

Is that why Liara sometimes gets the black gunk over her body sometimes when I apply the high resolution Liara texture in Texmod?

To resolve that, at least in the short term, all you need to do is raise the priority of her texture mod in the list for Texmod. This seems to resolve it each time I do it. Once I get everything setup in the right order I don't have the problem anymore.

[-S-]

If you move Liara and Garrus' textures to the top of the load order, the problem disappears.

As for random textures appearing somewhere in the game, that's present even in ME1. The engine doesn't like texmod forcing the textures in.

[Dead_Meat357]

-S- wrote...

If you move Liara and Garrus' textures to the top of the load order, the problem disappears.

As for random textures appearing somewhere in the game, that's present even in ME1. The engine doesn't like texmod forcing the textures in.

I typically have to put the alliance service uniform textures for both males and females at the top, then Normandy, Citadel and Garrus and Liara's. 

[InBleedingRapture]

MACharlie1 wrote...

The black gunk is a problem with ME3 and TexMod. Most recently, Chakwas was covered in it. I've had Liara, Tali and Grunt all in black gunk. Only one them was running a normal map. It's probably just something to get used to at times. Like how textures will sometimes replace holograms and video feeds...

All the norm maps I've generated with Crazy Bump haven't had any problems other then the effect being too strong. It's easier just to replace the damn thing rather then try and reimport the one ripped.

Hmm... guess I've never seen that gunk before. I do have the occasional problem with textures replacing vids, holos, and sometimes the entire screen, though. Usually, just ALT+TAB'ing a time or two sorts it out.

Regarding normals maps in ME3: I've actually ripped a map from the game, opened it in Photoshop, saved it (in the correct format), reloaded it, and it still looks different. The changes are subtle, and programs like CrazyBump do a pretty good job with displacement and occlusion emulation, but the stock maps were created from the original, high-poly models. I've even tried exporting the models themselves, then creating maps based on those in Max. Close, but it still doesn't quite match up.

Modifié par InBleedingRapture, 10 mai 2012 - 09:20 .

[Fredy AG]

Dead_Meat357 wrote...

I typically have to put the alliance service uniform textures for both males and females at the top, then Normandy, Citadel and Garrus and Liara's. 

Hello,

About these 2 suits, has long I had wanted to repair their imperfections, and I discovered how.


Click the right mouse button and see in new tab, for full resolution:

Actual version.





New Version. 




Men's suit is already done, just I have to move the files at 2 female layers.

I hope this time, not letting the arms burned on women suit. 


Salu2.

//////

Modifié par smarteck, 11 mai 2012 - 01:58 .

[Dead_Meat357]

smarteck wrote...

Dead_Meat357 wrote...

I typically have to put the alliance service uniform textures for both males and females at the top, then Normandy, Citadel and Garrus and Liara's. 

Hello,

About these 2 suits, has long I had wanted to repair their imperfections, and I discovered how.


Click the right mouse button and see in new tab, for full resolution:

Actual version.





New Version. 




Men's suit is already done, just I have to move the files at 2 female layers.

I hope this time, not letting the arms burned on women suit. 


Salu2.

//////

Excellent work as usual. Just while I'm thinking about it, you could probably do the same thing for the Cerberus men and women's standard uniforms. They are just like those, but with differences in colors. Granted that only helps on the few missions where you encounter them. Not a big deal, but probably something you could do really quickly.

Modifié par Dead_Meat357, 11 mai 2012 - 03:30 .

[Fredy AG]

 ///

Added in section 7. Alliance suit standard (staf of normandy) Male-Female High Resolution 4096x4096 (multipurpose):

- New files Male and Female v1.3.

Salu2. 

////// 

[Fredy AG]

@Dead_Meat357

We'll see how to fix it (Cerberus men and women's standard uniforms).

//////

[neilthecellist]

I'm sitting in accounting class right now, but didn't someone post an ME3 file explorer that can decompile the AFC archives located in /PCCookedConsole? Is there a way to just extract textures out of there, edit them, then shove them back in the archive again? Rather than using texmod.

[Fredy AG]

neilthecellist wrote...

I'm sitting in accounting class right now, but didn't someone post an ME3 file explorer that can decompile the AFC archives located in /PCCookedConsole? Is there a way to just extract textures out of there, edit them, then shove them back in the archive again? Rather than using texmod.

I've been very aware of that, and so far none of the versions allows you to enter higher resolution textures or heavier than the originals.
I will keep eye on future releases.

Salu2.

//////

[Dead_Meat357]

neilthecellist wrote...

I'm sitting in accounting class right now, but didn't someone post an ME3 file explorer that can decompile the AFC archives located in /PCCookedConsole? Is there a way to just extract textures out of there, edit them, then shove them back in the archive again? Rather than using texmod.

The problem is that developers who use the Unreal Engine these days tend to lock everything down and use various techniques to prevent us from doing things like that. Back in the Unreal Tournament 2003/2004 days, the Unreal Engine tools actually shipped with the collector's editions of the games and we could go in and do virtually anything we wanted.

Now a days they lock out the modding community so the original devs can be the sole content provider in order to reap the sales benefits of DLC content. The marketing departments of EA and BioWare can't seem to grasp that games with stronger modding communities last longer and eventually generate higher revenues than those games that don't. I have, in the past, and I've seen others buy a copy of a base game just for the mods alone. Some games like Morrowind, Oblivion, Counter Strike, CoD4, Unreal Tournament, and many more are still played today, or had strong communities well past their expected market life spans at the very least. Fortunately, Texmod allows us to replace the textures in memory directly rather than modifying the game. It's a bit of a pain to do compared to traditional modding, but it's much harder to lock us out.

But yeah, I wish we could simply upgrade the textures all at once without going through all this hassle. And really, the only reason for the bad textures is coding / developing for aging consoles first, and not bothering to take the time to do it right for the PC platform. If they weren't going to bother developing the game with any care and effort for the platform that they built their success as a company on, then they should at least allow us to do the work for them without shackles.

Modifié par Dead_Meat357, 11 mai 2012 - 03:57 .

[InBleedingRapture]

Just a thought: I find it funny that DAO could be modded down to the engine code, while subsequent releases from BioWare have been more and more difficult to modify at all.

All you have to do is look at the success of franchises like The Elder Scrolls and Fallout 3 to see that making games that can be modded isn't a bad thing... I suppose they could just be succumbing to gripes from console players who think it's unfair. Either that, or they're more interested in trying to make money from DLC.

Still, I don't see what's so horrible (from a business perspective) about allowing us to modify source models and textures. It's easy to prevent modded content from being used in multiplayer, if that's what they're worried about.

[Dead_Meat357]

InBleedingRapture wrote...

Just a thought: I find it funny that DAO could be modded down to the engine code, while subsequent releases from BioWare have been more and more difficult to modify at all.

All you have to do is look at the success of franchises like The Elder Scrolls and Fallout 3 to see that making games that can be modded isn't a bad thing... I suppose they could just be succumbing to gripes from console players who think it's unfair. Either that, or they're more interested in trying to make money from DLC.

Still, I don't see what's so horrible (from a business perspective) about allowing us to modify source models and textures. It's easy to prevent modded content from being used in multiplayer, if that's what they're worried about.

Much of the console community isn't aware of the PC modding community, and if they are, they don't care about it. I don't really hear a lot of complaints from console gamers about us being able to modify our games. I think it's all about control for the purpose of generating revenue through DLC. If the developer is the sole content provider, then they will always see 100% of the profits from anything distributed for their game. Granted you'd think that the two could co-exist, but I don't think that the game developers want to compete with the modding community with regard to content frequency, or even content quality.

There are a lot of talented modders out there. I doubt that BioWare could release a texture pack which could compete with the work we are doing right now. At best they'd give us 2048x2048 textures which would basically be the same as what we have now, just slightly higher resolution. The detail we are adding and attention to minor things wouldn't be there.

For example: I replaced the silver / metallic strap retainer things on Ashley's leg armor with new textures. I redrew all the lines on her boots, and retextured the metal there. I'm even contemplating retexturing the body glove under the armor around the neck line where you can see it. Do you think they'd go to that much trouble or create entirely new textures for just one character? I doubt it. And it would be months worth of work with no real pay off and a lot of money spent for them to do it. For us, all it takes is some free software, a decent computer and some free time. We may not all work fast, but there are at least a few of us doing this work and getting good results. Crap Smartek has been giving us at least one or two texture mods or updates to existing mods every day lately. If we waited on BioWare, it would be weeks or months for half the quality of work. (Assuming we could even get them to do it.) 

They do what they do mostly because of the money. Sure I'm certain many of them truly enjoy working on the games and love them, but they've got overlords which are interested in a paycheck. All we have to push us is the love of the game. Our only reward is some recognition of the community. There is no money, fame or fortune to be earned here. 

As for multiplayer, I don't see the big deal about custom textures. It's one thing if I'm changing files to give me unlimited ammunition, or increase the damage of my weapons. It's another thing if I'm just making the game prettier. That shouldn't hurt anyone. If anything I could potentially hurt myself as I could impact system performance negatively with all my mods which could cost me in multiplayer. I don't know why they'd be concerned about such things.

Modifié par Dead_Meat357, 11 mai 2012 - 05:01 .