4x Upscale+ Character Textures & Model Fixes (TSL) 0.52.0

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IF YOU ARE EVER IN ANY DOUBT ABOUT INSTALLING ANY MODS, PLEASE REMEMBER TO ALWAYS BACKUP YOUR FILES BEFORE INSTALLATION, JUST IN CASE.

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Description: 

This mod is more than just a simple process of running all the character textures through an A.I. upscaling program. The purpose is to increase the size and fidelity of the character textures while maintaining the painterly style of the original game artists. This mod does not attempt to create photo realistic textures or add extra detail (like zippers, clothing stitches, fabric patterns, skin pores, etc) that are not already part of the existing style. This mod also fixes many of the UVW mapping errors, lighting errors, and some XYZ errors that the original model .mdl & .mdx files may have had.

The process followed is generally:

1. run texture files through A.I. upscaling program multiple times using different settings. Some settings result in "crunchy" textures (high contrast, sharp edges). Some result in "soft" textures (smooth gradients, lower contrast, blurry edges). Some result in better straight/parallel lines. Early tests used Vance AI; Deep Image; ImageUpscaler; or Let's Enhance. Eventually Topaz Labs' Gigapixel AI was chosen and used on the majority of textures.
2. combine textures in multi layered Photoshop file, using layer masks to isolate the best parts of each upscaled image. This allows for some portions to be smooth (like skin, glass, metal or tubing), others to be sharp (like burlap, skin folds, hair, scratches, etc).
3. touch up by manually painting away errors (such as jaggies due to original low resolution jpeg compression).
4. manually recolor areas that the original artists missed (like commoner clothes where the pants seat do not match the pant leg; or player armors where pouches are inconsistent between male & female; etc).
5. strategically add painted detail (such as highlights and shadows along the shoulders and neck of K1 Player Character soldier's underwear; adding glove details to armors F, G, H, I, J; etc).
6. painting personal choices (like changing K1 P_BastilaBA02 to have different pants and remove wrist & neck restraints than P_BastilaBAS01 slave outfit).
7. recreating entire textures (such as K1 Player Character male scoundrel dark side underwear PMBASD01).
8. fix the models' UVW maps to reduce some texture stretching (like collar of TSL robes I); adjust areas that are poorly mapped to the wrong locations or too large/small (such as Bao Dur's armor C & D chest is mirrored); fix edge seams from one area to another; close gaps (like Mission's arms).
9. manually fix texture seams by copying small areas of the image from one area to another; stretching and scaling them. This should result in model seams that are hidden or difficult to notice. 
10. sometimes the Alpha 1 channel is upscaled, but usually it is recreated directly from the final HD color texture. 
11. personal choice to add punchthrough transparency to the Alpha 1 channels of some female head models' eyelashes (like P_BastilaH04, P_MiraH, P_HandmaidenH & P_AtrisH01).
12. recreate the Normal map (for bumpyshiny effects) from the final HD color texture. These work best when saved as .tpc format

For most models, they only needed to be manipulated in 3DS Max, exported, and then run through Taina's replacer. This is usually sufficient to fix any XYZ and/or UVW coordinates. I prefer Taina's replacer method so that the model retains its smoothing groups data. For some models (like C_RancorS or C_Terantanak), Taina's won't work, so for those files, I had to resort to manually hex editing the binary .mdl & .mdx files. This is a much more labourious process, but in the end I got them to work.

Some models (like P_Kreia1hBB, PFBNM, Twilek_F, N_TwiAssH01) had problems with their self generated lighting: ambient & diffuse were not set to 1 1 1 like most models. This causes the model to appear too dark or off color in-game. To fix this it required hex editing.

A few models (such as P_KreiaBB) required fixing the model weights of individual verticies. This was done to reduce portions of the model clipping through other parts in different animations. Again, this was done by manually hex editing.

For many head models, the UVW coordinates for the tongue and inside of mouth may be moved significantly, especially for the KotOR heads. This is because the originals often map the tongue to a single pixel located in the lips area, which results in almost no detail. By moving the UVW to a free area of the texture, there may be room for painting a detailed tongue.

For the party members that have specific underwear textures and basic clothing textures, there has been an effort to make any skin areas (like hands & arms) match between them. Usually the hand area from the underwear texture is copied to the hand area of the clothes texture. This creates more consistency of the party characters' appearance.

For low resolution versions of models (like C_Gammorean_Low, C_Protocol_Low, N_Swoopgang_low) or placeables (such as PLC_EndPlA, PLC_RakatCrp, PLC_HK50, Stunt_WarDrd01) the original textures were not simply upscaled. Instead, the new versions were actually taken from similar high resolution versions and scaled down. Sometimes the textures were rebuilt from parts of other higher resolution images, with some touch up painting.

Several characters lost their baremetal shine in TSL (like the Mandalorians or SwoopGang). This is due to their model's default bitmap being set to "NULL" instead of their default texture's name. I was not able to repair the file to its K1 state, so a workaround was used instead. The word "NULL" was replaced with a shortened name, then a .txi file was created with the short name (for example "N_Ma" instead of "N_Mandalorian02"; or "N_Sw" instead of "N_Swoopgang01"). This allows for the envmaptexture CM_Baremetal to be used without the need to edit the appearance.2da file.

Included is a spreadsheet labelled "KotOR upscale completed list v0_52.xlsx" which has more detailed information as to what files were changed, and in what ways. As of this update, 52.71% of the texture files that I intend to upscale have been completed. As such, this mod should be considered a beta test. The percentage is calculated for both games together, however the mod is released with files separated for K1 & TSL. The spreadsheet was created with Google Sheets and exported as .xlsx, so hopefully the formatting remains correct. I have also attached a copy of the spreadsheet to this mod thread.

There will be three versions of this mod to choose to download:

1. 4x .tga version. Highest resolution, the typical texture is now 2048x2048 pixels which = 16MB. This version is a total 7GB, hopefully it isn't too large or cause problems for some PCs. This version is also the best choice to use as a modder's resource.
2. 4x .tpc version. CCreated by running full size .tgas through tga2tpc program which compresses a 2048x2048 pixel file to 5.5MB. This version is a total of 2.4GB, so it should be easier on PC systems, with no noticeable loss of visual fidelity.
3. 2x .tpc version. Created by reducing full size .tgas by half in Photoshop, then running them through tga2tpc which further compresses them to 1.4MB. This version is a total of 700MB, which should be much easier on PC systems.

All versions include the same .mdl & .mdx files.

I have tested the .tga version exclusively, but have not tested the .tpc versions in-game. Please let me know if there are any issues. My computer doesn't seem to render some of the CM shader effects properly (especially the bumpyshinytexture CM_SpecMap always seems too strong on my computer). I would appreciate any in-game screen shots that you take of characters like Hutts, Rakghouls, Rakata, or Selkath so that I can compare how other computers render their shader. 

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Compatiblity: 

For best results, the model and texture files included with this mod should be used together. In most cases, the models can be mixed and matched with textures from other mods, but results will vary. For instance, the other textures won't be as perfect along the seams. Some other photo realistic HD texture mods may have been created using the original model's UVW layout, which will not perfectly line up with this mod's corrected UVW maps.

Conflicts may also occur if there is another mod uses a .tpc file with the same name as one of this mod's .tga files (or vice versa if you install one of the .tpc versions).

I would suggest installing other large mods (such as "TSL Restored Content Mod") first, then this one. 

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Installation: 

Copy and paste the desired model and texture files into TSL's Override folder. You may need to over write any existing files, so always have a backup. An effort was made that these textures and models require no 2da editing. 

The folder marked "Reference Normal Map" is not required to be copied to the Override forlder. These .tga files are simply a modders' resource. The normal maps seem to work best if they are saved in .tpc format. The "Copy contents to Override" folder should already have .tpc files in it for the normal maps.

The folder marked "Optional Kreia model" includes models that change the diffuse & ambient lighting settings. More info in the additional read-me file.

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Uninstall: 

Delete unwanted files from the game's Override folder.

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Thanks for modding tools:

KOTOR Tool – Fred Tetra
mdlops (used version 7a2) - cchargin, JdNoa
NWMax – Joco
Replacer - Taina
tga2tpc - ndix UR
KotOR/KotOR2 Savegame Editor v3.3.2 - tk102, Fair Strides 
Hex-editor XVI32 2.55 - Christian Maas

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Permission:

Consider this as a modder's resource. I give permission to any modder to use these files as a base for their own creations; as long as their creation remains free to use (not for profit); and credit is given to me as the source of any modded files. Please include a statement that specifies this mod's title and version.

The original credit of course goes to the talented artists who worked on the original games for BioWare and Obsidian. Without their work, none of this would have been possible. I have tried my best to maintain the artistic style that they created long ago.

This mod may NOT be uploaded or redistributed, in whole or in part, to any mod hosting site without my explicit permission.

As always, this mod is free for your non-commercial/personal use. There should never be a requirement to pay for it. If you like the work I do, and would like to encourage me to create more, you can always donate to my tip jar at https://buymeacoffee.com/redrob416 where the funds collected will be used towards additional graphics tools and software.

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THIS MODIFICATION IS PROVIDED AS-IS AND IS NOT SUPPORTED BY BIOWARE CORP/OBSIDIAN ENTERTAINMENT OR LUCASARTS OR ANY LICENSERS/SPONSORS OF THE AFOREMENTIONED COMPANIES. USE OF THIS FILE IS AT YOUR OWN RISK AND THE AFOREMENTIONED COMPANIES OR THE AUTHORS ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE CAUSED TO YOUR COMPUTER FOR THE USAGE OF THIS FILE.

KotOR upscale completed list v0_52.xlsx