Does the rewriting for Dx9 mean that BZ2 can handle larger textures now?

[player5]

Given Title?

I was wondering: if it would be possible for me or someone else to do a texture enhancement mod at this point? Can models be more complex and textures of greater resolution? 

Its been done to very old games such as gothic 2, system shock 2, warzone 2100, which were hard to mod,  (But after some rewriting, see warzone2100 Resurrection, for instance.)

[Warfreak]

Don't even think there was a size limit, however 256x256 is a pretty good size anyway. (Plus the implementation of DirectXTextures(.dxtbz2) a while back makes a texture take up even less room)

If you really want to get more detail in, 512x512 should do the trick.

[GSH]

See http://www.bzuniverse.com/forum/index.php/topic,9307.0.html . In short, DX9 ought to support up to 2048x2048 textures; if you use .dxtbz2 and provide a full mip chain (default), mips larger than a person's HW can support are auto-skipped.

New models would cause bad assets in MP if not everyone has them.

-- GSH

[Warfreak]

Perhaps a HighRes RecyVariant is in order. 

[TheJamsh]

Definately. its still a pity we cant use other texture maps, like normals, occlusives etc.

[Nielk1]

Being able to use though would not only require a big rewrite but also shaft many more systems.

[player5]

It is shame, because zbrush can generate such simple yet high-resolution-looking models with the normal maps it produces. Oh well: doom 3 did pretty well with just bump maps, so there are no real problems.

Speaking of which, I don't have programs to extract the texture/skins from Bz2 models, so if someone can post the all original skins for buildings, terrain, units, etc.,  in any image format, I can try my hand at them given the stock aspect proportions in 1024x1024.  Which is to say, windows will be where they were, but with more detail.

[TheJamsh]

getting the textures is easy, but upscaling them isnt.

In reality, youre only upscaling whats already there and pixelating it at that. If you were to upscale them, you have to add more detail to notice any real difference. THATS the part that requires real artists skill.

[player5]

That what I intend to do--upscale then add lots of detail (more or less redo textures while conforming to previous "design"). However, I mean that the borders of windows, for instance, will be where they were. The new texture will be of the design of the old because I cannot reassign polygons on the UV (well, I can, but zbrush 3 won't produce what BZ2 will use, and then the asset will be different even if it could).

If someone can post a .rar of the images, I can get to work on them, and finish them within about a month or two.

Probably, I'll use the original as a layer upon which to build a vector version of the texture with more detail.

That way everybody can export to the size that fits subjective hardware specs. And everybody can edit them further.

[Nielk1]

Do note it IS NOT easy. I have tried many a time. And I can make textures from scratch.

[GSH]

If someone can post a .rar of the images, I can get to work on them, and finish them within about a month or two.

If you own BZ2, then you already have them. They're in data.pak in what's installed. The .pak explorer is your canopener for that file.

-- GSH

[player5]

Got it. Extracted data.pak.

Edit: corel images. Hmm, will go convert them; will bz2 play back images if I convert .pic to tga, then tga to .pic?

Edit2: mmmm, no programs that I have will open .pic. Any suggestions that will not destroy transparency? Preferably free?

(So far my combination of irfanview, inkscape, paint.net, zbrush, vue, and after effects w/o all other expensive cs4 programs has worked well.)

[GSH]

Use the BZ2 DXT generator (http://www.bzuniverse.com/forum/index.php/topic,6735.0.html) to convert from either .pic/.tga/.bmp/others to .dxtbz2, which is the preferred file format for 1.3. 1.3ta5 ships only .dxtbz2 files.

And, really, you should be reading the modder's forums here. There are free .pic plugins for Photoshop.

-- GSH

[player5]

What do I do with the new .dxtbz2 files? That is to say how do I test them in-game? After all, these are no longer .pic, so I cannot recompile data.pak (or can I)?

Edit: going over to modder's forum now. Sorry for the inconvenience.

[GSH]

1.3ta5 ships only .dxtbz2 files, in patch13.pak. They're read by BZ2. If you have loose .dxtbz2 files, put them under the search hierarchy for BZ2, and they'll be found.

-- GSH