ACCEPTED aMidianBorn Caves and Mines (by CaBaL)

[TechAngel85]

Those shots are not my sole basis. They, as you said, were to point out the issues that I was noticing from a further distance away; providing the closeups to simply pinpoint the issues. The mains ones being, embossed (concave) rocks that look unnatural, stretching on these rocks (the other compares solved this by not including larger rocks in there ground textures), the shiny/noise that is noticeable in the ground, and the green shiny plastic-like stuff on the walls.

 

These may in fact be lighting issues with this particular cave, as Aiyen suggests, and so I will test in other caves to see if this issues persist. However, with that said, I'd rather have a texture that works everywhere without "noticeable" issues rather than a texture that might look better; however, has a few noticeable issues in certain lighting conditions. The former would be a better option for STEP rather than the latter because it is "noticeably" bug free whereas the latter is not and this has been the main point I've been trying to make in that BoS is the better option for STEP, atm.

[z929669]

I am not saying that that they are entirely non essential at all. ... /snip

 

Yes I mostly agree with what you're saying. I think we're at a point in this debate where we're nitpicking the words each of us are using to describe the situation. I try very hard to stay away from using subjective terms or absolutes, such as "best", and perhaps Z should have used the word "better" in place "best"..../snip

 

Fair enough. let me rephrase:

 

I think that the "best" way to compare textures (under vanilla lighting and the baseline settings described in the STEP Guide) is to present long-, medium-, and close-up-screens. This allows a comprehensive assessment of the work (also, viewing texture composites close-up around the object model is very different from viewing individual DDS within Gimp, etc.).

 

As I said, close-ups are often the best way to differentiate between "good" and "great" work, because the devil is in the details. The same can be said for any texture-model viewed at any distance, since any given texture composite can look good at any one range and not so good at some other range. The ideal viewing angle, distance and setting will depend on the textures being assessed.

 

For the cave textures (and rocks and vertical-models), I think the close-ups are particularly important, because we often find ourselves very close to said models in-game, and blur/stretching/steepness/topographical-inconsistencies can be masked at a distance.

 

"Nitpicking" is often the only way to differentiate among good work that is otherwise equal, and is thus OK, IMO (i.e., see "rigorous analysis").

 

I for one enjoy just knowing that the model I see looking so good and real in the distance would look just as good and real with my char's face pressed right up against it. For people like me, the substance inherent beneath the surface is just as important as the net manifestation.

 

... I take my red and white wines if different glasses ... same goes for my pilsner and my pale ... and none EVER from a "cup", thank you very much ;)

[Aiyen]

Now you just made me thirsty Z :P

 

And I agree with what you are saying!

[exploiteddna]

... I take my red and white wines if different glasses ... same goes for my pilsner and my pale ... and none EVER from a "cup"' date=' thank you very much ;)[/quote']

not the first metaphor i would have thought to use, but pretty funny. lol.

[z929669]

... I take my red and white wines if different glasses ... same goes for my pilsner and my pale ... and none EVER from a "cup"' date=' thank you very much ;)[/quote']

not the first metaphor i would have thought to use' date=' but pretty funny. lol.[/quote']

It merely illustrates my punctilious and meticulous (aka "anal" nature) :P

[phazer11]

... I take my red and white wines if different glasses ... same goes for my pilsner and my pale ... and none EVER from a "cup"' date=' thank you very much ;)[/quote']

not the first metaphor i would have thought to use' date=' but pretty funny. lol.[/quote']

It merely illustrates my punctilious and meticulous (aka "anal" nature) :P

This thread has brought out my meticulous and anal nature. Texture compare mode initialized!

Sadly I never did get around to that DDSOpt video. My documentary is mostly done I set a deadline for Monday.

 

@Z and slightly off topic how are you and Kelmych coming with the DDSOpt guide.

 

Also wtf is up with my poll results? I didn't vote for BoS - C&M I voted for aMB. 

[exploiteddna]

my poll results show the same thing, but if you click on "Show Results" (at the bottom right of your picture), it will show you that you actually voted for AMB. I believe it has an asterisk next to BoS bc it's reflecting your original vote before AMB was even an option

[z929669]

This still needs fair vanilla representation in the OP. If I had the saves, I would do it myself ...

[TechAngel85]

I didn't realize those textures had been put in the OP. I'll grab the vanilla shots in the next couple of days when time permits.

[TechAngel85]

How in the world did you get all those images in the OP with the "10 images per post" limit? I can't add the vanilla shots. It would be quite helpful, as a Release Coordinator, if I had the ability to pass the default limit for things like this.

[z929669]

How in the world did you get all those images in the OP with the "10 images per post" limit? I can't add the vanilla shots. It would be quite helpful' date=' as a Release Coordinator, if I had the ability to pass the default limit for things like this.[/quote']

I can't pass the limit either. I pasted the source code, so just update your previous post with the image tags/links and then copy/paste them to the respective points in the OP ;)

[TechAngel85]

How in the world did you get all those images in the OP with the "10 images per post" limit? I can't add the vanilla shots. It would be quite helpful' date=' as a Release Coordinator' date=' if I had the ability to pass the default limit for things like this.[/quote'']

I can't pass the limit either. I pasted the source code, so just update your previous post with the image tags/links and then copy/paste them to the respective points in the OP ;)

I tried this with this ( https://forum.step-project.com/showthread.php?tid=3057&pid=46058#pid46058 ) post and it still gave me the message that there are too many images in the post when trying to update the OP.

 

Is this a forum limitation or a limitation that was put in place by you guys via a setting somewhere? I've been here over 6 months and the only time I've even seen this issue pop up is during texture compares. Any spam we get is mainly text and links and I've never seen an user try to abuse it. So if it is a limitation via a forum setting, it would most likely be safe to remove it.

[z929669]

I'll increase the limit to 20 for this forum if possible (otherwise the global limit).

 

EDIT: Actually, I removed the limit for now.

[z929669]

Deleted the poll, as it was not displaying results properly. I will reset once we have all vanilla images incorporated into the OP.

 

Sorry for the inconvenience, but we all get to vote again!

[TechAngel85]

Sweet!

 

I added the vanilla images that I could. I'll try to get that first one working without any textures activated so it'll still be a vanilla texture compare.

 

Thanks for resetting the poll. I was planning on doing that anyone.

 

Note to all,

If you're going to vote on these textures, I highly recommend and prefer you try them out in-game before you vote! This is a requirement for all Mod Testers and should be for Admin as well so a proper analysis is done by the STEP Team. For all other members, this is optional but, again, highly recommend.