Daffie
Dalayan Pious Diety
HAHA, I thought I fixed issues with the PC I use to mod textures, but I was wrong. Need to install the new power supply before I can do any more fun texture stuff
Adventures In Texture Editing
- Thread starter Grinkles
- Start date
HAHA, I thought I fixed issues with the PC I use to mod textures, but I was wrong. Need to install the new power supply before I can do any more fun texture stuff
Trees certainly are a problem, Daffie. Trees from Luclin and beyond are perfectly fine because that was the point at which Sony started rendering the foliage in full 3D with the nicer-looking and more flexible .dds files. The result is that trees in zones from Classic and Kunark (and Velious to a lesser degree) are always going to look crude because the foliage is rendered with such a rudimentary method -- 2D bitmaps that "fake" being 3D by using perpendicular angles. The other problem is that the bitmaps for trees are indeed so unique (i.e. tailor-made specifically for the dimensions of EQ's trees) that they simply cannot be substituted for any old hi-res image of tree leaves or branches or whatever. The only thing I can think of at this point is to try upscaling the image by, say, a factor of 4x and applying a Gaussian blur or something, but the effect would probably not yield much of a net gain in appearance.
The good news, as you point out in your third point, is that trunks are able to be fully customized! Furthermore, there are usually only two or three textures used in a given zone's _obj.s3d file that apply to all trees in a zone, so the task is very easy to undertake. Whether or not you like the resulting contrast between crude branches/leaves and a high-resolution trunk is up to you. Here is a quick before-and-after taken in Athica B (a.k.a. Northern Felwithe) using a 500 x 500 seamless texture yanked from Google Images:
knowom
Dalayan Adventurer
A bunch of new updated screenshots. I think I have the zone basically done at least everything other than the lava and water which I didn't even attempt to redo and trying to add back some of the detailing like signs and stuff that hung on the walls for some of the textures. The size of the .s3d file is enormous in contrast to the default file though 138mb compared to 2.55mb that's without doing over the water or lava mind you which would have probably put it up to about 175mb-200mb.
It seemed like a few various textures within the .s3d weren't used at all I'm guessing developers just didn't sort through deleting some of the the extras after they finalized the look of the zones not sure really that's just my best guess. I should probably comb through them and delete the extras.
Here's the new screenshots you'll notice a lot are pointing at walls that's where signs and other environmental details would have gone normally like skulls, signs, armor, and weapons hanging on walls. Anyways this is the overall looks of how I finalized thing. I tried to highlight some of the changes and differences.
It seemed like a few various textures within the .s3d weren't used at all I'm guessing developers just didn't sort through deleting some of the the extras after they finalized the look of the zones not sure really that's just my best guess. I should probably comb through them and delete the extras.
Here's the new screenshots you'll notice a lot are pointing at walls that's where signs and other environmental details would have gone normally like skulls, signs, armor, and weapons hanging on walls. Anyways this is the overall looks of how I finalized thing. I tried to highlight some of the changes and differences.
You've got Grobb looking great, crazie007! Regarding supposedly unused textures, I too have encountered many of these, but about half the time I end up realizing after the fact that the textures are indeed used in the zone, though in a very particular and easy-to-miss nook. There are several cases where textures genuinely have been orphaned for one reason or another, but be careful to keep backups before deleting something altogether or you may find yourself unable to load the zone due to a "corrupt" .s3d.
Lastly, I would recommend that you not forget that every zone consists of three unique .s3d files, and that the plain zone.s3d only handles actual topography of the zone. All movable and manipulable objects (such as barrels, carts, most lanterns, doors, etc. -- basically, non-unique stock objects that could be placed multiple times and in multiple orientations throughout a zone by developers during the zone's initial creation) are contained within the appropriately named zone_obj.s3d, so don't forget to give some attention to this secondary file if you want to give Grobb the full makeover.
If you find it difficult to locate suitable textures for objects with awkward or very specific designs, such as doors, you might consider looking among the _obj.s3d files among some of other Live zones. They may not be 2k Skyrim textures, but they can do the job in a pinch (even if you end up needing to convert from .dds to .bmp). Hopefully, you'll be able to find good object textures among the Skyrim sets or wherever else you're looking. You'll be surprised what a big difference something as simple as an updated door texture can make!
By the way, a question I absolutely must ask -- just how large has your new-and-improved grobb.s3d become compared to the original (which ordinarily ranges between 1.68 MB and 2.55 MB, depending on the install you're working with).
Lastly, I would recommend that you not forget that every zone consists of three unique .s3d files, and that the plain zone.s3d only handles actual topography of the zone. All movable and manipulable objects (such as barrels, carts, most lanterns, doors, etc. -- basically, non-unique stock objects that could be placed multiple times and in multiple orientations throughout a zone by developers during the zone's initial creation) are contained within the appropriately named zone_obj.s3d, so don't forget to give some attention to this secondary file if you want to give Grobb the full makeover.
If you find it difficult to locate suitable textures for objects with awkward or very specific designs, such as doors, you might consider looking among the _obj.s3d files among some of other Live zones. They may not be 2k Skyrim textures, but they can do the job in a pinch (even if you end up needing to convert from .dds to .bmp). Hopefully, you'll be able to find good object textures among the Skyrim sets or wherever else you're looking. You'll be surprised what a big difference something as simple as an updated door texture can make!
By the way, a question I absolutely must ask -- just how large has your new-and-improved grobb.s3d become compared to the original (which ordinarily ranges between 1.68 MB and 2.55 MB, depending on the install you're working with).
knowom
Dalayan Adventurer
Yeah I've noticed that as well thinking some were unused when in fact they were used, but I'm fairly certain a few are in fact unused. I haven't had issues with loading a zone to do "corrupt" .s3d files thus far. When I've deleted a texture thinking it was unused or by mistake I ended up with this bare white color the game engine seems to automatically assign for the 3D models when no textures been assigned.
Luckily I can use #flymode 1 since I've done all my testing on a EQemu server and can just fly above the zone which makes it a bit easier spotting texture problems.
The size of the file is currently 138MB, but I didn't change the water or lava textures in Grobb so it would probably be about 175MB with those changes roughly maybe less or more of course that's if maintaining the lofty 2048x2048 texture sizes. The size of the .s3d file could be scaled back tremendously by dialing back the resolution sizes used. I think 768x768 resolution would probably be the best middle ground between better resolution sizes than Luclin textures, but keeping file sizes a lot more reasonably in check. To put things in perspective a single 2048x2048 can be as big in file size or even twice as big as the original .s3d file in the case of Grobb at least and these are DXT1 or DXT5 compressed textures as well mind you.
Luckily I can use #flymode 1 since I've done all my testing on a EQemu server and can just fly above the zone which makes it a bit easier spotting texture problems.
The size of the file is currently 138MB, but I didn't change the water or lava textures in Grobb so it would probably be about 175MB with those changes roughly maybe less or more of course that's if maintaining the lofty 2048x2048 texture sizes. The size of the .s3d file could be scaled back tremendously by dialing back the resolution sizes used. I think 768x768 resolution would probably be the best middle ground between better resolution sizes than Luclin textures, but keeping file sizes a lot more reasonably in check. To put things in perspective a single 2048x2048 can be as big in file size or even twice as big as the original .s3d file in the case of Grobb at least and these are DXT1 or DXT5 compressed textures as well mind you.
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knowom
Dalayan Adventurer
Yeah just scale the image to a lower resolution size. You could take a 512x512 Luclin resolution and scale the image down to something smaller like 256x256, 128x128, 64x64, or 32x32 for example. You can also fine tune it too by making it 1/2 again bigger or smaller in size or 1/4, or 1/8 or whatever really to eek out a bit more performance or visual improvements depending on how your trying to tweak it.
knowom
Dalayan Adventurer
In case anyone is curious in trying this I'm adding the texture conversion pack kit excluding S3DSpy to Google Drive that's the only program you'll need. I've included a folder with the appropriately renamed .bmp files that you simply add with S3DSpy to your Grobb.s3d file and a text file sort of explaining what was done exactly to which texture file names.
I also included the used textures files prior to the appropriate file renaming and extension renaming changes just in case anyone wished to scale down the textures to converse disk space. Uncompressed these textures take up a lot of space because they are 2048x2048 textures. I'd recommend copying and pasting a backup of your original Grobb.s3d file to \EverQuest\backup in case you decide you don't care for the texture mod.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1YEgOhikxllOVFnLXdQQWtqZkE/edit?usp=sharing
Feel free to experiment trying it out and enjoy feel free to ruin your Grobb faction and XP killing those troll NPC's Also S3DSpy can be found here. I'd recommend copy Grobb.s3d into the extracted Grobb texture folder then pointing S3Dspy to that adding the texture then taking that modded file and copying back into your EQ directory like I said above though good idea to backup your original Grobb.s3d file some place safe first.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/eqemulator/files/OpenZone/S3DSpy 1.3/S3DSpy_1.3.zip/download
I also included the used textures files prior to the appropriate file renaming and extension renaming changes just in case anyone wished to scale down the textures to converse disk space. Uncompressed these textures take up a lot of space because they are 2048x2048 textures. I'd recommend copying and pasting a backup of your original Grobb.s3d file to \EverQuest\backup in case you decide you don't care for the texture mod.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1YEgOhikxllOVFnLXdQQWtqZkE/edit?usp=sharing
Feel free to experiment trying it out and enjoy feel free to ruin your Grobb faction and XP killing those troll NPC's
Also S3DSpy can be found here. I'd recommend copy Grobb.s3d into the extracted Grobb texture folder then pointing S3Dspy to that adding the texture then taking that modded file and copying back into your EQ directory like I said above though good idea to backup your original Grobb.s3d file some place safe first.http://sourceforge.net/projects/eqemulator/files/OpenZone/S3DSpy 1.3/S3DSpy_1.3.zip/download
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I became curious what the Enchanter's Invisible Man pet would look like if I were to apply an actual texture to it, and the result is predictably bizarre. Firstly, the model itself is given only one blink-and-you-miss-it texture in global_chr.s3d, and it is titled ivmhe0001.bmp. The texture itself is nothing but an 8x8 square of the the previously mentioned magic pink, the color which the EverQuest engine renders as transparent. I palette swapped the pink for a horrible, blinding chartreuse and this is the result:
Interestingly, the wireframe of the body seems to be taken from the Human Male, but the head is distinctly that of a Wood Elf. There even seems to be a strange disconnect between the head and the rest of the model that makes itself apparent when the Invisible Man partakes in any kind of animation, as seen in the second and third shots. When it sits, attacks, or does anything else apart from standard walking/running, its head slides back off its body until the animation is completed! :whoa:
Nothing remotely useful, of course, but maybe some of my fellow Enchanters have also wondered what their pet would look like with some "skin" on it. :keke:
Interestingly, the wireframe of the body seems to be taken from the Human Male, but the head is distinctly that of a Wood Elf. There even seems to be a strange disconnect between the head and the rest of the model that makes itself apparent when the Invisible Man partakes in any kind of animation, as seen in the second and third shots. When it sits, attacks, or does anything else apart from standard walking/running, its head slides back off its body until the animation is completed! :whoa:
Nothing remotely useful, of course, but maybe some of my fellow Enchanters have also wondered what their pet would look like with some "skin" on it. :keke:
I got to thinking recently about how bad the classic trees look and came up with an idea. Given that the tree foliage textures use a heavy amount of transparency, what would happen if I were to replace the image with nothing but a solid block of the the color designated as that texture's transparency? (For some odd reason, some of these very early models don't use the aforementioned magic pink trick for transparency; for these rare textures, the very first color in the color index of the image is marked to render as transparent.)
Anyway, here is the result -- leafless and branchless trees!
I must apologize for the strange lighting and color in these screenshots. The in-game clock was set in the middle of the night and I didn't have the patience to wait until daytime for better lighting. Instead, I just upped the contrast and applied a color correct filter just so everyone could at least get the gist of what's going on in those high-up treetops.
Anyway, this gave me another idea. If a person wanted to do away with the greenery in a zone, the bark textures on these naked trees could easily be replaced with any number of high-quality stone or marble textures to pass the trees off as twisted obelisks. I yanked two marble textures from shadowhaven.s3d, applied them to the two types of tree bark found in crushbone_obj.s3d, and voila:
This isn't a super interesting find, but maybe some dev would like to apply the effect to a new zone. With this and a bit more texture swapping, it's conceivable that a (very patient, hard-working) person could convert even an outdoorsy zone with lots of greenery into a desolate wasteland of black rock and mysterious obelisks...
Anyway, here is the result -- leafless and branchless trees!
I must apologize for the strange lighting and color in these screenshots. The in-game clock was set in the middle of the night and I didn't have the patience to wait until daytime for better lighting. Instead, I just upped the contrast and applied a color correct filter just so everyone could at least get the gist of what's going on in those high-up treetops.
Anyway, this gave me another idea. If a person wanted to do away with the greenery in a zone, the bark textures on these naked trees could easily be replaced with any number of high-quality stone or marble textures to pass the trees off as twisted obelisks. I yanked two marble textures from shadowhaven.s3d, applied them to the two types of tree bark found in crushbone_obj.s3d, and voila:
This isn't a super interesting find, but maybe some dev would like to apply the effect to a new zone. With this and a bit more texture swapping, it's conceivable that a (very patient, hard-working) person could convert even an outdoorsy zone with lots of greenery into a desolate wasteland of black rock and mysterious obelisks...
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Found this while looking through old screenshots and figured I might as well share. Not sure where I was going with this texture job originally. I think I had pulled the male Barbarian chest texture and airbrushed out all the blue tatts. The abs were also lost as a result, but be honest -- you still mirin'.
If Gnomes could be Monks...
If Gnomes could be Monks...
I thought I'd try my hand at matching various Undead textures with playable models just to see what the results would look like. First up is a Ghoul / Male Ogre hybrid, which looks like a lazy, obese version of the Ghoul we're so used to:
Next is a Mummy / Female Dwarf hybrid. Unfortunately, I neglected to realize that the head texture for the Mummy was not aligned the same way the Dwarf head was, and the result is that she unfortunately only has one eye, and a slightly misplaced one at that:
Up last is a Spectral Iksar / Male Iksar hybrid. I was mainly curious how these textures would look without the transparency and goofy animations of the Spectral Iksar, and the result is pretty slick:
Next is a Mummy / Female Dwarf hybrid. Unfortunately, I neglected to realize that the head texture for the Mummy was not aligned the same way the Dwarf head was, and the result is that she unfortunately only has one eye, and a slightly misplaced one at that:
Up last is a Spectral Iksar / Male Iksar hybrid. I was mainly curious how these textures would look without the transparency and goofy animations of the Spectral Iksar, and the result is pretty slick:
That OgreGhoul and Iksar look amazing! Perfect for a mixed-race undead horde if there's some way to call those models without changing all the player-race models whole-cloth.
The dwarf mummy also looks pretty cool, even with the problems noted. Seems like a crazy, twisted abomination!
The dwarf mummy also looks pretty cool, even with the problems noted. Seems like a crazy, twisted abomination!
Hello SoD. After dabbling a little with texture editing, i stumbled on this thread. i play a little on p99, i wanted to do somthing cool for my dark elf neco. i use the luclin models so i found some textures in globaldaf_chr.
i would like to find all the pieces for the base texture of the advisor robe my char is wearing. i see a couple in the same globaldaf_chr. i just dont know where the rest is hiding.
so heres the skull face paint i did, since the face textures are easy to find.
i would like to find all the pieces for the base texture of the advisor robe my char is wearing. i see a couple in the same globaldaf_chr. i just dont know where the rest is hiding.
so heres the skull face paint i did, since the face textures are easy to find.
Sorry for the belated reply, but did you ever find the rest of those Advisor Robe textures? I have almost no experience in working with the playable Luclin models, otherwise I might've been able to help. I'm a Classic model purist. :toot: I hope you were able to achieve the result you wanted in the end.
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On an unrelated note, I apparently did this several months ago and had completely forgotten about it. I was pleasantly surprised when I zoned into Spires of Saitha for the first time in months to find the browns had given way to purples and greens! Some guildmates requested screenshots, so here they are:
Now I have a blue Tur`ruj and a green/purple Spires. Kaezul's taste for foul browns shall eventually be stricken from my SoD experience altogether! :dance:
