TSL Textures Remastered

[sELFiNDUCEDcOMA 98]

IIRC; in todays games, they make highpoly models and from those create all kinds of maps. And then apply those maps to a lower poly version of the same model.

But I guess you're not about to remodel everything from the Kotor games to get normal maps

 

Love the video! Really shows the work you put into this!

 

Yeah, game devs use their modelling program along with additional tools to generate a normal map from a high-poly model -- along with the low-poly model itself. Most image editing program plugins use the diffuse texture as a guide for creating them instead as hobbyists that modify games in particular, don't have access to the high-poly model to create new normals from.

 

I guess that would be more ideal, however, in some cases the newer normal maps are better..

 

I really like what you did with the Restoration Zone! Glad you took all of the "peanut butter" off of the Czerka structures. It looks so much nicer now.

 

Thanks. The Czerka structures used a Telos Citadel Station texture which meant you couldn't do much to it without affecting Citadel station.

 

It's nice being able to use textures for purposes other than what they were intended, but at a certain point, it becomes a rather nasty visual limitation; at it's basic everything ends up looking the same, at it's worst it is illogical, like the use of concrete textures for structural supports for Citadel station. You probably could all things considered, use prefab concrete in space construction, but our expectations are that it will be made out of metal or metal-like materials -- like ceramic and other composites. And I really think that even though you can't enter the structures themselves and they're used in only one area, that the base is of such importance that it needs a more distinct memorable appearance.

[LiliArch 115]

I'm working on that. Unfortunately, hex-editing it still won't change the UVW...

 

Also, I ran 221telc through MDLOps, imported it into 3DS, changed the texture and UVW on that one piece.

 

Thing is, KAurora will export to binary the original ascii from MDLOps, but not the Ascii from 3DS. I tried it again just importing and not changing anything, and it still won't go...

Hex edit it to change the texture file, then use Taina's Replacer to change UVW? That seems to be my way of working anyway, as MDLOps seems to mess more things than I first thought... and KAurora doesn't even want to run.

 

Anyway, SiC, thanks for mentioning Audacity. I didn't know about it before, and it seems to be just the program I needed.

[sELFiNDUCEDcOMA 98]

Hex edit it to change the texture file, then use Taina's Replacer to change UVW? That seems to be my way of working anyway, as MDLOps seems to mess more things than I first thought... and KAurora doesn't even want to run.

 

Anyway, SiC, thanks for mentioning Audacity. I didn't know about it before, and it seems to be just the program I needed.

 

Yeah, Audacity isn't all that shabby considering what it does and that it's for free.

 

I don't think it is so much MDLops that is to blame but more the reliance on NWmax to get models in and out of Max. If a model exported out of max is missing elements, then MDLops had no reason to support their functionality when compiling binaries of models. Though, it is a bit perplexing why the update mesh function doesn't work that well, considering it is supposed to just modify an existing binary model, not one that has been decompiled to ASCII text. You'd think it would leave anything it doesn't have to update alone, and make sure to retain as much model info as possible.

 

Anyway, I might give it another shot with Taina's Replacer myself, just to see what difference if any it makes, and to get a bit familiar with the tool considering it's not that easy to find.

 

Someone over at LucasForums should update the list of tools to include ALL tools up to their more update version; either that or one of the moderators should do that here at Deadly Stream for when LF goes down and can't be accessed .

[sELFiNDUCEDcOMA 98]

I woke up to a message telling me that my mod file was broken, on investigation, I found for some reason that as reported, it did indeed redirect to the Deadly Stream homepage. So, I decided that I would do a small update of the mod incorporating some new material and fixes:

 

 

 

 

The Dantooine grass used in Telos station has been updated...

 

 

... because it is also used as the main grass for Dantooine. This was just a quick edit job from me, it seems to work well with the existing Dantooine textures along with the newer ones for Telos.

 

 

The update also has the Ravager Sith Fighters fix -- or the last one I worked on.

 

 

The animated console tex that appears as part of the secret base in the Restoration Zone has been quickly updated to get rid of the test elements. This is a temp fix until I get around tweaking the secret base textures -- I think I will be redoing this and some others from scratch.

 

 

I've included my Telos station signage textures in the update:

 

 

Along with some additional changes I was working on, like reflective glass:

 

 

Along with updated HK series textures;

 

 

FYI: Still uses initial Telos Restoration Zone textures:

 

 

 

 

 

 

The mod page where you can update the udpate can be found here.

 

If the WIP Alpha 1-1 is still not available, bug one of the moderators, not me .

[milestails 264]

Thanks for the update!

[Hassat Hunter 571]

You should probably refrain from using spaces in your files that you upload. Though it seems to work fine for me ATM.

[sELFiNDUCEDcOMA 98]

You should probably refrain from using spaces in your files that you upload. Though it seems to work fine for me ATM.

 

If you mean why it wouldn't download but redirect to the homepage, my guess is that when I had the mod page open for edit, to at least fix the light grey text on the dark grey background if not update the mod altogether. I believe I ended up having to reboot my system. Not 100% sure how the site really works, but my guess people were being redirected because the site still believed I had the mod page open for editing. It's the only thing that I can account for the download being redirected along with the screenshots for the mod disappearing.

 

BTW: is it too much to ask that the "file reported broken" message displaying at the top of the mod page be removed, as it is clearly no longer the case..?

[Hassat Hunter 571]

Removed the broken a1.0 file you could still select (but was 0kb), so it immediately goes for a1.1, and removed the 'broken' tag...

[sELFiNDUCEDcOMA 98]

Removed the broken a1.0 file you could still select (but was 0kb), so it immediately goes for a1.1, and removed the 'broken' tag...

 

Curious that both the original file and screenshot would become corrupted; doesn't seem like what I suggested would result in that -- I'm sure the site is more resilient than that.

 

Anyway, thanks.

[LiliArch 115]

I don't think it is so much MDLops that is to blame but more the reliance on NWmax to get models in and out of Max. If a model exported out of max is missing elements, then MDLops had no reason to support their functionality when compiling binaries of models. Though, it is a bit perplexing why the update mesh function doesn't work that well, considering it is supposed to just modify an existing binary model, not one that has been decompiled to ASCII text. You'd think it would leave anything it doesn't have to update alone, and make sure to retain as much model info as possible.

 

Anyway, I might give it another shot with Taina's Replacer myself, just to see what difference if any it makes, and to get a bit familiar with the tool considering it's not that easy to find.

If I get problems if I do nothing but decompile the model with MDLOps and then compile it again, it's hard to believe it could be anything other than the MDLOps itself. Not the NWMax anyway, as I haven't even touched it. Of course, maybe the problem is only with head models, I don't know. Body models seem to work fine.

 

Anyway, if you're still searching the Replacer, I think I got it there.

[sELFiNDUCEDcOMA 98]

If I get problems if I do nothing but decompile the model with MDLOps and then compile it again, it's hard to believe it could be anything other than the MDLOps itself. Not the NWMax anyway, as I haven't even touched it. Of course, maybe the problem is only with head models, I don't know. Body models seem to work fine.

 

Anyway, if you're still searching the Replacer, I think I got it there.

 

From looking at the code, there are various lines that have been commented out to do with nodes and such of the model file format. Why they are commented out, I can't be 100% certain of, however, it is likely that certain model info is just not used by NWmax and even including it, makes it go awry. So there is no point in supporting such functionality.

 

Anyway, the real issue is the mesh replacer function, as it should be replacing just the selected mesh data, and leave everything else behind. However, that functionality I believe is reliant on the same binary to ascii reader that the export function uses. Basically, the way it works is fundamentally flawed from what I can gather.

 

To learn anymore, I would have to write a binary to (raw) ascii function -- not what mdlops does, which is more along the lines of interpreting and ignoring what it doesn't need to know. That way I can get a better idea of what mdlops is and isn't exporting. Not that I think that is all that hard to do, but, not sure when I'll get around to doing that .

[LiliArch 115]

That can be pretty time-taking, yes. Of course, you could open the ascii file into a text editor and the binary model in MDLOps's tree view ("view model data" or whatever the button says, something like that) and compare what's in there... it's quite infromative. Though, of course, I'm not sure if it can give all the information you require.

[sELFiNDUCEDcOMA 98]

That can be pretty time-taking, yes. Of course, you could open the ascii file into a text editor and the binary model in MDLOps's tree view ("view model data" or whatever the button says, something like that) and compare what's in there... it's quite infromative. Though, of course, I'm not sure if it can give all the information you require.

 

I'm pretty sure that the "View model data" button is referring to the translated binary, not the raw data -- from what I gather looking at the Perl script. So, it's gonna have areas that are missing. And yeah, I've already done those things .

[Vriff 21]

Is it just like a document of binary code that you're needing translated to ASCII or what?

[LiliArch 115]

It shows to me a 3-4-framed view, where left is the tree view, second from the left is hex, third from the left is the... um, char data of the hex? and the rightmost view is the translated data. Does it show something different to you? Still, the "translated" data is mostly numbers anyway, and even if you don't know if they are translated correctly or not, you can try to guess what they stand for... not that what I say would do any good anyway. I don't know too much about 3D.

[sELFiNDUCEDcOMA 98]

It shows to me a 3-4-framed view, where left is the tree view, second from the left is hex, third from the left is the... um, char data of the hex? and the rightmost view is the translated data. Does it show something different to you? Still, the "translated" data is mostly numbers anyway, and even if you don't know if they are translated correctly or not, you can try to guess what they stand for... not that what I say would do any good anyway. I don't know too much about 3D.

 

Yep. I'm interested in what MDLops is possibly NOT translating or interpreting. When the program loads a model, it reads in the binary info and builds the data for it via variables it creates and assigns to. That view shows you what is in those variables. If the program is not parsing certain elements into variables, as it is set to ignore it, then you get an unclear picture. Especially if you then create an ASCII output file that then gets read in and edited via another program, and then has to be loaded back into the original program. Data gets lost along the way.

 

Is it just like a document of binary code that you're needing translated to ASCII or what?

 

Not quite.

[Squall Lionhart 81]

Dare I say, is this project dead or on hold?

[sELFiNDUCEDcOMA 98]

Dare I say, is this project dead or on hold?

 

Well, I started a new job a while back so my time is a bit limited; I also started a short-course in 3D modelling and animation. So, any free time I have usually goes to completing the course.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I guess it is on hold for the immediate future, and whether I have to cut the scope back or just release what I have at the moment. I'll decide when things are a bit clearer on my end .

[Sith Holocron 2,478]

Thanks for the update!

[Squall Lionhart 81]

I understand that completely, thanks for the update, hope all goes well with this course.

[alinadem 11]

I feel the same, i tried tor and it felt lacking in everyway. Something about kotor 1 and kotor 2 that had me hooked in terms of the pace and gameplay. I'm new to texture modding but I definitely have this need to restore this game and beautify it as much as possible. The guys behind tslrcm have really made me keep coming back to the series. 

[Kexikus 995]

Since this mod is currently on hold, I was wondering if you considered releasing another preview version including what you have already completed.

And if you don't want to do that (which would be perfectly understandable), could you maybe release your Coruscant skybox as a seperate download?

[sELFiNDUCEDcOMA 98]

Well, posted this already in this thread but thought it's worth posting here as well:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kind of replacing the specular effect I was using/developing for characters with a bump/specular effect. This was a quick test to see what I could do with it -- once a few hiccups were overcome .

 

I also found some better ways of upscaling existing textures; if only I had discovered them earlier...

[Xedii 17]

Looks good bringing more features out however, i think re-skinning the texture then applying a bump texture would also do wonders. 

[sELFiNDUCEDcOMA 98]

Looks good bringing more features out however, i think re-skinning the texture then applying a bump texture would also do wonders. 

 

Feel free to re-skin all the textures of the game; I however, have better things to do than create everything from scratch, especially for a texture that is only used TWICE in TSL as far as I can tell .

 

My final work on the texture below, the bump/specular effect is more subtle as anything stronger looks weird when seen in-game and animated. Like a lot of things, what you can do is limited unless you want everything to look like glossy plastic.