ACCEPTED aMidianBorn Caves and Mines (by CaBaL)

[TechAngel85]

The OP = Opening Post. The first post of a thread.

[rootsrat]

The OP = Opening Post. The first post of a thread.

 

Alternatively: Original Poster, i.e. the author of the opening post.

[z929669]

Interestingly (though I have not looked at all the pictures yet) there is a marked similarity between S&R HD and BoS' date=' very little change between those two and neither is particularly close to vanilla.[/quote']

I noted this too. I think that BoS is using the same texture source as S&R' date=' which makes me question both as being original. This is evident mostly in the ice.

 

PS: Is nobody noticing that the vanilla HRDLC textures are at least as good as the others and in most cases better than all but aMB (which is not in the same style and color range as vanilla)??

 

I just noticed that the new STEP Mandate allows for inclusion into STEP:Extended ... this is fine, so we will consider the winner for either as it applies (and the contenders likewise).

 

EDIT: phazer's compares added to OP, so please review them all before voting. Multiple votes allowed.[/quote']

I'm not sure where you guys are seeing these things. S&R and BoS may look slightly similar (just as S&R is similar to vanilla); however, I see very clear differences. The smoothness of all the textures in BoS is much smoother. The ground is darker and completely different that S&R. Even the color is different. Z92 and all, BoS doesn't cover the majority of the ice textures (a few rocks here and there and some ground). This is why they look nearly the same in some compares. You can confirm this by opening up their respected mod folders. Only 15 textures in BoS for caves vs 34 in S&R, hence the reason I suggested to keep S&R and simply overwrite it with BoS in Extended since I'm voting for BoS. If aMidianborn wins out, there would be not reason to keep either as CaBal has covered even more than S&R with 40 textures for caves.

 

I have noticed Vanilla HRDLC being able to stand on it own though and it's for this reason I think for Core, Vanilla is the best of these options. The winner of this poll should be put in Extended rather than Core. S&R is currently marked as Core; however, I think most Admin would agree that from the results of this testing that it can be dropped from Core and planned for Extended instead (if it or BoS wins out on this thread). If aMidianborn wins out, S&R can be dropped completely and replaced by it.

RE BoS similarity to S&R: I am looking at the vanilla shots in comparison to these two. Since vanilla cave walls are different than these two, then these two are not using vanilla but rather the same textures ... or BoS is overwriting S&R and the latter's cave walls are shining through (which means that the BoS compare is not really BoS).

 

I don't see any reason not to ditch all of these for STEP:Core, since I see no problems whatsoever with the vanilla textures ... and they neither look better nor worse than the others (it is purely subjective, and barring any obvious cheezy vanilla mistakes, vanilla is just as "good" as the others, and vanilla is the closest to vanilla ;) )

 

I like a combo of aMB and Hectrol's for STEP:Extended, since they are the most realistic and "pleasing" IMO. I am not impressed by either BoS or S&R for many reasons, most notably the smearing-painted look of many of the textures (IMO).

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Fixed phazers links in the OP (neglected to copy from source)

[Smile44]

The OP = Opening Post. The first post of a thread.

Gosh! It seems so simple. I've often wondered but not to a great degree, like an annoying mosquito I never bothered to catch it and pull the sucker off it's face. TILL NOW!!

 

:)

 

"I like a combo of aMB and Hectrol's for STEP:Extended, since they are the most realistic and "pleasing" IMO. I am not impressed by either BoS or S&R for many reasons, most notably the smearing-painted look of many of the textures (IMO)."

 

+1

[torminater]

I like stuff from all 4 options. Why not use some textures from all 4 variants and combine them through a batch file like TPC in small?

[z929669]

I like stuff from all 4 options. Why not use some textures from all 4 variants and combine them through a batch file like TPC in small?

That is always a possibility ... let us know when it is ready!

[TechAngel85]

I'll be happy with whatever the mod(s) come out on top at this point. I wasn't before because we didn't have all the information and analysis was posted prematurely. I will have to test the aMb+Hectrol combo to be able to properly commit on that. Which is overwriting which?

 

aMb overwrites Hectrol or vise-versa?

 

Hectrol only has 11 textures, all of which are covered my aMb...so it much be Hectrol overwriting aMb. I'll test this this weekend!

[phazer11]

Yeah I'm partial to aMB and a few from Hectrol with one or two from BoS though aMB wins hands down for me in terms of how it makes the game feel. It give it that more rugged 'I'm in the middle of f'ing nowhere freezing my but off' feel. I think I put likes on my absolute favorites from my galleries at least for most.

[Smile44]

I'll be happy with whatever the mod(s) come out on top at this point. I wasn't before because we didn't have all the information and analysis was posted prematurely. I will have to test the aMb+Hectrol combo to be able to properly commit on that. Which is overwriting which?

 

aMb overwrites Hectrol or vise-versa?

 

Hectrol only has 11 textures, all of which are covered my aMb...so it much be Hectrol overwriting aMb. I'll test this this weekend!

Hectrol's caverocks01.dds is not overwritten by amb. But all else is. It might well be worth comparing those 10 other textures

 

 

 

cavebasewall01.dds

cavebasewall01_n.dds

cavebasewall02.dds

cavebasewall02_n.dds

cavebasewall03.dds

cavebasewall03_n.dds

cavebasewall04.dds

cavebasewall04_n.dds

cavebasewall05.dds

cavebasewall05_n.dds

 

 

 

See which look best. Between the two they overwrite all of BoS. and Re-defined dungeons and probably all of S&R (cave sections of course)

 

:)

 

Edit: Had a quick look in Gimp and prefer Hectrol's for cavebasewall01*, *02* and *04* and AMB for everything else. In the game it looks good but not sure if I prefer it to pure amb (big picture). Of course this is utterly subjective, some of amb's textures look less sharp and well defined - of course there is a ton of this stuff that I do not know about but certainly worth a look.

[Eliian]

I mostly agree with the everyone. I think Vanilla HD looks just fine on it's own. Even better in a few instances when compared to S&R HD and BOS. There are some aMB that I love too, just for STEP:Extended as mentioned.

[exploiteddna]

I'll be happy with whatever the mod(s) come out on top at this point. I wasn't before because we didn't have all the information and analysis was posted prematurely. I will have to test the aMb+Hectrol combo to be able to properly commit on that. Which is overwriting which?

 

aMb overwrites Hectrol or vise-versa?

 

Hectrol only has 11 textures, all of which are covered my aMb...so it much be Hectrol overwriting aMb. I'll test this this weekend!

Hectrol's caverocks01.dds is not overwritten by amb. But all else is. It might well be worth comparing those 10 other textures

 

 

 

 

actually cabal made a mistake with that file. the caverocks.dds from AMB needs to be renamed caverocks01.dds (obviously do the same for the normal map caverocks_n.dds). There is no caverocks.dds in skyrim.

 

On a different but not unrelated note, the hectrol set does not include the normal map for caverocks .. this means if you have some other mod with that file, you will be using a normal map made for a different diffuse map which could give some really undesirable results. theres a possibility that it could look ok, but it all depends on which normal map it is.

[exploiteddna]

cabal just released a pretty significant update for this.. the changes look to be major based on the screenshots. will test it in-game soon.

 

edit: and the wrong filename for caverocks01 is now fixed

 

-also i just looked at everything in PS and looks nice so far :)

[TechAngel85]

Wow...looks like he might have actually fixed some of the issues that were brought up. Downloading now to test.

 

EDIT: The upkeep on this thread is becoming a bit of a nightmare. In all honestly, another poll reset should be done. The recent update completely changed the look of aMidianborn so much so that the shots in the OP aren't even close anymore. CaBal fixed the ground texture issues. There is no more concave rocks, no more noise, no more bright sparkles. He also completely redid the walls. They're still a bit blurry up close, but there are fewer hard seams and they no longer sparkle due to too much reflection. The ice caves didn't change to much, but he might have turned down the reflectivity of the ice a bit. It would seem most all of the issues that any user brought up has been corrected.

 

I'll be grabbing new shots from aMidianborn later today and will post them.

[phazer11]

I'll re-do my shots I guess (for aMB). It'll take forever to replace them all on the image host so it might be a few days, I'm feeling somewhat off and under the weather.

[TechAngel85]

OP has been updated with the new version of aMidianborn (my shots only until Phazer is about to update his). I've posted a compare of V1 and V2 below for those that are interested in the direct change.

 

aMidianborn Caves V1  >>  aMidianborn Caves V2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don't think the poll will be reset; however, if anyone wants their votes changed and are unable to do so themselves please post here (very clearly) what your vote is and I or a moderator will get the poll updated. There should be a link right above the poll to "[undo vote]". From the results, it seems members are voting for the one they like best and not the one that fits the mandate for Core (perhaps the mandate isn't understood?) https://wiki.step-project.com/STEP:Mandate#STEP:Core