[KotOR] Manaan swoop landing retexture

[Salk 374]

Hello!

I personally consider the original graphic/visual of Knights of the Old Republic to be very nice but this one is really making my eyes sore (each time I play this part I tend to think that there is some graphic glitch with my video card).

 

I am showing a picture of the track before the goal line.

 

 

Not bad. I especially like the KotOR textures for water.

 

But this...

 

 

...instead is really bad.

 

I was wondering if there is anyone who might like to do something about it?

 

I don't know what textures in particular would need changing but possibly it is more than one...

 

Thanks for the attention!

[Malkior 476]

Are you referring to the jet stream? It looks like the same texture for both, but altering the landing pad texture might help.

[Salk 374]

No, not at all.

 

I am talking about the landing pad itself, including the sidewalls.

[DarthParametric 3,783]

I don't think the problem is the platform texture per se, it's the fact that there are multiple water planes that overlay and clip through the surface of the pad. Observe:

 

 

Presumably the texture semantics that allow for the water effect have an adverse influence on anything they overlay.

[Salk 374]

Oh I see... Very interesting, DarthParametric!

 

Thank you for showing me.

 

I suppose there is nothing that can be done then?

[DarthParametric 3,783]

Nothing practical I would think. For one thing the textures are generic Manaan ones, (middle strip is LMG_Manwall09, side strips are LMG_Manfloor01, railings are LMG_Manwall15) so you'd have to hex edit the level model to use unique texture names to avoid causing issues elsewhere in that and other Manaan levels. For another, presumably any other textures are going to be similarly affected. It could be a GPU/driver issue perhaps. Do you know if it looks like this for everyone? I don't think I've ever bothered with the swoop races beyond the required one on Taris, so I have no personal experience of it.

 

You could maybe try editing the model to raise the platform slightly so the water is no longer above it, but my previous attempts at that sort of thing haven't gone so hot, so maybe someone more familiar with level editing can chime in. One possibility might be just hiding the platform center sections altogether. That is easy enough to do with a simple hex edit, switching the mesh render flag.

[Salk 374]

Well, thanks again for the precious insight and advice.

 

I do not know whether or not it looks like this for everyone but I am pretty sure that when I played the game years ago I did have less graphic issues than I am experiencing now so I am pretty sure drivers are to blame for some things (no idea if this applies here).

 

Since I know nothing about hex editing and modelling I fear I can do little myself to remedy this situation but your last suggestion is more than intriguing: hiding the platform itself sounds a simple and elegant solution, if it does indeed work.

[DarthParametric 3,783]

Here, extract this into your Override and see what happens: http://dpmods.wheb.org/files/kotor/k1/[K1]_Manaan_Speeder_Track_MDL_Edit.7z

[Salk 374]

Thank you a lot!

 

I will test this very soon and report to you!

[Salk 374]

Here is what happens! ( )

 

 

I am very happy with it. You did say that the texture was used elsewhere though.

 

Having this modification will cause problems elsewhere?

 

Cheers!

[DarthParametric 3,783]

It doesn't affect the textures. All it does is edit the model to change the render flag from 1 to 0 for the four meshes that make up the end platform. They are still there, they just aren't being rendered by the engine. It won't have any affect on the rest of the game.