SKIN:ENDAR SPIRE Complete Overhaul

[Jorak Uln 458]

View File

ENDAR SPIRE Complete Overhaul

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This is the first part of an ongoing series.

The purpose of this mod is to bring the much more up-to-date design choices from SWTOR to Kotor. All textures have been made from scratch; the big animated screen on the bridge comes with whooping 81 pics and 5k resolution for maximum quality.

Update 2.0 brings brand new lighting to the ship, utilising warmer colors like in SWTOR, as well as new polished window frames & a new Planet retexture.

 

Update 3.1 out now!

It brings a lot of visual improvements over previous versions - new doors, animated consoles & more....

 

Video covering mod Showcase (Ver. 1.0) / Installation Process:

 

 

Installation:

 

Download the file, extract its contents with an archive extraction tool such as WinRAR or 7zip, and move the contents to your game's Override directory

 

Compatibility:

 

This mod uses cubemaps, so there could be minor incompatibilites with mods that uses custom cubemaps too. ( but i actually dont know any mod that does that)

Just to be on the safe side, i recommend to install my mod last.

Beside that it should be compatible with everything that doesnt retexture the Endar Spire or the Stars/ Planet Taris outside.

 

Credits:

I want to thank Darth Sapiens for his wonderful Cubemap-Ressource pack, which enabled me to do a lot of things that would otherwise been not possible.

Also a big thanks goes to Xuul for making one of his fantastic videos for this mod.

 

Enjoy!

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• Submitter
  Jorak Uln
• Submitted
  07/03/2015
• Category
  Skins
• K1R Compatible
  No

 

[Kexikus 995]

Great to see the first part of your project released I'll test it later and see what it looks like ingame but judging it's going to be awesome.

 

But you might want to edit your read-me (or atleast the installation instructions here on DeadlyStream) as it says TSL/Override and I somehow doubt that's correct

[Jorak Uln 458]

Great to see the first part of your project released I'll test it later and see what it looks like ingame but judging it's going to be awesome.

 

But you might want to edit your read-me (or atleast the installation instructions here on DeadlyStream) as it says TSL/Override and I somehow doubt that's correct

Nice to hear. And the HowToInstall file is now fixed.

But the mod would be even a step ahead  if i could use my custom animated lightmaps...

[Malkior 476]

Nice to hear. And the HowToInstall file is now fixed.

But the mod would be even a step ahead if i could use my custom animated lightmaps...

Do you have the lightmaps working? I assume they're run through a "procedure cycle" txi?

 

Nvm.. I just read your other topic.

[Jorak Uln 458]

Do you have the lightmaps working? I assume they're run through a "procedure cycle" txi?

 

Nvm.. I just read your other topic.

The lightmaps work perfectly. (via txi with the usual lines cycle, numx y etc). 

The only downside is that stupid timing error... 

[Kexikus 995]

Finally tested your Overhaul and it looked just amazing.

The flickering lights and the damage (on the doors for example) really gave the impression of a ship under attack. The whole design of the ship was really great aswell. It didn't change too much compared to the original but at the same time looked more modern but in line with the Star Wars designs we all know.

And then there's that 100+MB bridge screen texture^^ I personally would have prefered if the screen would show the battle around the Endar Spire but it looks still awesome

 

The only thing I don't like, is what you did with the CM_Baremetal. It's just too shiny now for my taste and looked really out of place in other parts of the game (Sith Troopers on Taris for example). But I simply removed it and now it's perfect

[Jorak Uln 458]

Finally tested your Overhaul and it looked just amazing.

The flickering lights and the damage (on the doors for example) really gave the impression of a ship under attack. The whole design of the ship was really great aswell. It didn't change too much compared to the original but at the same time looked more modern but in line with the Star Wars designs we all know.

And then there's that 100+MB bridge screen texture^^ I personally would have prefered if the screen would show the battle around the Endar Spire but it looks still awesome

 

The only thing I don't like, is what you did with the CM_Baremetal. It's just too shiny now for my taste and looked really out of place in other parts of the game (Sith Troopers on Taris for example). But I simply removed it and now it's perfect

Glad you like it. But i think the Sapiens baremetal shader gives a lot of flair on the walls, tables in the ship. I wouldnt remove it. The better way would be just to download a Taris Trooper reskin - that way you wont see the shine on them at all and have still the full graphical experience off my mod.

 

About the screen - its a great idea! Honestly there r a lot of things i would love to see ingame, but its still a matter of ressources and time.

The big screen already has a Resolution of 5400x5400 and the animation lasts only few sec, so for a proper cinematic space battle i need at least 15 sec. but ideally up to 40 sec. The REAL epicness would be some things like shown in this trailer (the western music is really crazy, actually...)

 

http://www.pcgameshardware.de/Mass-Effect-Andromeda-PC-256389/Specials/Gameplay-Release-Trailer-1163218/

 

but currently thats only wishful thinking...

[milestails 264]

Congratulations on the release!

[exocron 3]

I do not understand the XNView part, and why you need to do this with mods. ;P

[Jorak Uln 458]

I do not understand the XNView part, and why you need to do this with mods. ;P

Watch the video above, Xuul explains the installation process exactly.

Installation via Xnview is important, because without it (=manual install)due to a bug in K1 engine they end up awkwardly. 

[exocron 3]

Watch the video above, Xuul explains the installation process exactly.

Installation via Xnview is important, because without it (=manual install)due to a bug in K1 engine they end up awkwardly. 

 

I watched video already, still doesn't entirely make sense to why I need to download, and use this program. It looks like all that the program is doing is just moving the files into the Override folder, I do not understand what it's doing exactly, is it converting the files or something, I don't get it.

 

Your mod is the first that I've come across that requires this program, I am just going to avoid for now, as I use other texture mods for Taris, and other worlds without any issue, without needing this program.

Edited July 17, 2015 by exocron

[Sith Holocron 2,480]

Xedii's later mods require that program's use too.

[Kexikus 995]

I've watched the video as well and I have no issues with installing the mod using XnView. But to be honest, I still have no clue why that's necessary.

Could you just explain what happens if you don't use XnView. Will the animations be messed up or are there any other issues?

[Jorak Uln 458]

I've watched the video as well and I have no issues with installing the mod using XnView. But to be honest, I still have no clue why that's necessary.

Could you just explain what happens if you don't use XnView. Will the animations be messed up or are there any other issues?

Well, Xuul and some others have reported experiencing the "upside down" bug when installing the files manually. 

Since my mod contains a lot of txi based files like animations etc. it seems the Kotor engine doesnt recognize the files correctly when extracted per hand.

 

Theoretically, all my textures are flipped already and should be displayed correctly when extracted directly into Override - but somehow too many users have reported this bug - ive experienced it myself:

 

All of a sudden the animation was stuttering & gone backwards, textures were upside down  - but interestingly that happened not with all textures nor was it reproducible either - and with a XnView install it was instantly gone - 

 

So to make 100% sure that everything's working a XnView install is necessary.

[Kexikus 995]

Well, Xuul and some others have reported experiencing the "upside down" bug when installing the files manually.

 

Since my mod contains a lot of txi based files like animations etc. it seems the Kotor engine doesnt recognize the files correctly when extracted per hand.

 

 

Theoretically, all my textures are flipped already and should be displayed correctly when extracted directly into Override - but somehow too many users have reported this bug - ive experienced it myself:

 

 

All of a sudden the animation was stuttering & gone backwards, textures were upside down - but interestingly that happened not with all textures nor was it reproducible either - and with a XnView install it was instantly gone -

 

 

So to make 100% sure that everything's working a XnView install is necessary.

 

Ah okay. Good to know and thanks for the answer

The funny thing is that I had the exact opposite problem with my animation. It worked when I simply dropped the file into the Override and didn't when I used XnView^^ But as long as every mod works in some way, that's fine I guess.

[exocron 3]

Well, Xuul and some others have reported experiencing the "upside down" bug when installing the files manually. 

Since my mod contains a lot of txi based files like animations etc. it seems the Kotor engine doesnt recognize the files correctly when extracted per hand.

 

Theoretically, all my textures are flipped already and should be displayed correctly when extracted directly into Override - but somehow too many users have reported this bug - ive experienced it myself:

 

All of a sudden the animation was stuttering & gone backwards, textures were upside down  - but interestingly that happened not with all textures nor was it reproducible either - and with a XnView install it was instantly gone - 

 

So to make 100% sure that everything's working a XnView install is necessary.

 

Thank you, that's the type of explanation I was looking for.

[ChrisC26 12]

I'll definitely be giving your mods ago on my next playthrough. Do you plan to do the same for TSL?

[Sith Holocron 2,480]

Probably not until he's done with K1 though.

[Jorak Uln 458]

I'll definitely be giving your mods ago on my next playthrough. Do you plan to do the same for TSL?

Maybe. As SH said, i likely will finish k1 first - unlike TSL the textures in K1 are much less "patchworked" - in TSL you have the same texture like in 5 different sizes at 5 different planets - if you take into account that every planet should have a totally different design style - it makes things far less enjoyable...

[ChrisC26 12]

It would be cool if you did. I myself and I'm sure others would love to see your versions of TSL's much more gloomy and gritty atmosphere. 

I've noticed that for the most part, KotOR has environments set during the day as where TSL has most environments set during night.

[l2daorch 19]

I completetly agree with ChrisC26. However, it's already really nice that you are doing this for k1 and you are doing such a fantastic job. I already finished my annual k1 playthrough, but I might just do a second one when all of these are released. I love Xedii's work, both OTE and overhaul, but I feel like what you are doing is a mix of both. It's not as different as his overhaul, but also not as close to the original as his ote's. Can't wait to see the rest of these. tsl would be great, but don't feel pressured to do so, getting these for k1 is already awesome enough.

[agris 0]

FYI, the contents of part 1 to part 5 can be compresses to 50.6 MB using 7zip's default file compression into a .7z file. Similar size decreases (below 80 MB, into a single file) can be had for ALL of Jorak Uln's multi-part downloads.

 

 

edit: the sith base overhaul compresses into a 102 MB file, not sure if that's within DS's single file download limit. Either way, Dead Stream could be saving themselves a lot of bandwidth by using the right compression.

[Jorak Uln 458]

FYI, the contents of part 1 to part 5 can be compresses to 50.6 MB using 7zip's default file compression into a .7z file. Similar size decreases (below 80 MB, into a single file) can be had for ALL of Jorak Uln's multi-part downloads.

 

 

edit: the sith base overhaul compresses into a 102 MB file, not sure if that's within DS's single file download limit. Either way, Dead Stream could be saving themselves a lot of bandwidth by using the right compression.

Dont compress the files!

 

I made the overhaul to ensure no less than maximum graphics quality for K1, I tried a compressed variant already and its utterly underwhelming - the textures just don't look as crisp and without depth as before.

 

There's a reason why the file size is that big and I never will compress any of my mods - I made my mods with very careful attention to the details, designs & animation

and also techniques like SSAO so believe me, you guys won't do yourself a favour if you change them in any way.

[agris 0]

Hey Jorak,

 

Maybe I wasn't clear. I'm talking about compressing the files into a 7zip library so that they can be uncompressed and installed. This has no bearing on the actual file quality. Modern compression software like 7zip uses lossless compression, so once the files are uncompressed they are the exact same. No loss of quality. That's why DS would save a lot of bandwidth by distributing your mods in a 7zip file, you keep all the quality of the originals while trasferring a much smaller package.

[Jorak Uln 458]

Hey Jorak,

 

Maybe I wasn't clear. I'm talking about compressing the files into a 7zip library so that they can be uncompressed and installed. This has no bearing on the actual file quality. Modern compression software like 7zip uses lossless compression, so once the files are uncompressed they are the exact same. No loss of quality. That's why DS would save a lot of bandwidth by distributing your mods in a 7zip file, you keep all the quality of the originals while trasferring a much smaller package.

Well i use winrar and when i packed the file, i tried "normal compression" and ended up with an archive much smaller in size, but when i extracted/installed them, the visual quality ingame was greatly decreased.

So to prevent that, i always "save" the files as they are in winrar, without compression. 

 

Im not into file compression, and as long as i dont know what the compression really does, i prefer to leave it that way, also because i believe 

that the change of the filesize (in compressed state) comes with a prize - loss of information, and especially on complex textures with depth it will affect the lighting most likely...