SKYRIMLE Rock Mod Technical-ish Comparison

[Guest]

I have no idea if there is a better place for this, but I couldn't find another suitable forum. 

 

Anyway I quickly made some high-quality gifs  of various rock mods on the Nexus typing in "Mountain" and "Rock" (all 2k versions). I was totally overwhelmed and had 45 minutes to spare so I just downloaded a bunch and compared them within GIMP with a 5x zoom. Now this was completely awkward for me because it is really hard being critical of other author's work, especially when I talk to them and get on with most of them myself. I don't want people to hate me for this or feel that I am bragging about anything at all.

 

I have said on here before that I think you guys should perhaps look further and look at how much work has been put into the mods on another level (I know that is hard though). Whatever anyone thinks, Bethesda have really good 2D artists so it may sometimes be hard to replicate or do a better job than someone who gets paid to do so.  I don't mind people improving on Bethesda's work as long as it's done properly, not stretching textures, normals smoothed before adding detail ect.

 

I thought this could be useful for future references and of course I did want to know how everything stands in the world of rocks. There are some really detailed textures in there, and some which are not. I'm not saying anything though!  Well... bar the "Notes.txt" I included. I probably should have said mine was a bit grainy, but I put in something else. There is a desaturated version too if you are a bit colour-biased. Please note that most of these mods have at least two colours available. I just chose one from each.

 

Stuff is here:

 

Rock Mod Technical Comparisons by SP

 

Update 1:

 

Rock Mod Test Textures

 

All the textures for testing in-game.

 

Update 2:

 

Rock Mod 20k x 2k Comparison Slide

 

20k x 2k side-by-side comparison. No GiF.

 

Update 3:

 

Rock Mod High Quaility Renders

 

 

High quality 1080p renders with normal maps (mountainslab02.dds and _n.dds).

 

So far I would say:

 

- A lot of upscaled vanilla overlays (80% at least).

- Most can be blurry at 2k resolution, these mods offering 4k may just be upscaled 2k with a noise filter. I can only confirm though that mine at least were made at 4k downwards obviously.

- Lots of vanilla normal maps were re-used, I am not surprised however as they are very good.

Edited June 7, 2014 by Guest

[phazer11]

Hey mate, thanks for the gifs. Could I impose upon you do do the same compares but with maybe a Vanilla added in using your same comparison gif's and/or individual pictures of the textures? There were a few spots where I'd wanted to go back and look at a previous image but would have to wait for it to restart again.

[Guest]

Yeah, I am open to suggestions, which is why I was cautiously waiting for a reply. I saw Ess and you in here, but then you both vanished which made me wonder if this was a stupid post or not. I was just about to go to sleep here, so I will take a look tomorrow. I was going to include separate images initially. I could perhaps make a cube, apply it to that, then render it up close for each one. I could also apply normal maps to that too so that might be the best bet. If anyone would like anything else then I will try my best. I have been wanting to do this for a while and it is the main reason why I made my own mod - I had no idea what was the most detailed. I am not personally bothered about a realistic aesthetic, but I know most around here are.

[EssArrBee]

Beth does have good 2D artists, but their meshes can be hit or miss. When the meshes are correct, the vanilla texture look very good.

 

I'm bias toward the textures with bigger features, so they look smoother in game. That is what I would expect from that type of wet region like Skyrim. Also, I tend to like them on the lighter side of the grey scale. It reminds me more of Limestone.

 

I am very picky about my mountains though since I've lived in the mountains most my life.

[phryxolydian]

Excellent SPdawg, I was planning on doing an in-game comparison of various rock and mountain mods for my own but now when I do I'll post 'em up for you folks. Maybe I should make them gifs as well, a lot less cluttering that way. 

 

Or would in-game comparison defeat the "technical" bit of this thread? Your call. 

[Guest]

Yo PDawg, let's cook!

 

You can if you want, would help out if we got another perspective. I'll have some more out of game stuff up soon.

 

Edit: Updated the main post with the textures for testing. For the purpose of this I would not use parallax enabled rocks for a level playing field. 

 

- Ess

 

Yeah, but that detail can be achieved by normal maps. I like a smooth look from far away, but then I also love to see the fine detail when up close.

Edited June 7, 2014 by Guest

[EssArrBee]

I like fine detail from far away but that doesn't mean I like it to be jagged. There is a disconnect between the size of features on the textures and the size they up as in game. Limestone smooth, sandstone smooth, granite choppy, dyorite choppy. Geology learned.

[Guest]

Agreed, but I found with these rocks you need to make the textures as generic as possible and even them out, otherwise tiling is prevalent. I found a smooth normal map is fine because the texture gives it rough details anyway. If you apply a dapple effect to the rock it looks just like black spots are layered over everything because the pixels are too small for the nomals to achieve enough detail. This certainly won't be as noticeable in my renders I just made, but more so in-game with the lesser lighting and poorly mapped rocks. I'm not disagreeing with you at all.

[EssArrBee]

Then you still have worry about the meshes.

[phryxolydian]

Yo PDawg, let's cook!

Aight homes, let's get this party rolling! 

 

I've downloaded your second link. Will try 'em out in-game and post some shots later. I'll set FixParralaxBugs to false, as requested.

[alt3rn1ty]

Current favourite of mine is Gamwich Mountain or Molehill

 

Files include custom LOD textures to match the main textures :

 

mountainslab01_n.dds, mountainslab01.dds, mountainslab02_n.dds, and mountainslab02.dds.

 

mountainpeak01lod_n.dds, and mountainpeak01lod.dds, mountainslablod_n.dds, mountainslablod.dds, mountaintrimalphalod_n.dds, mountaintrimalphalod.dds, mtncliff01lod.dds, mtncliff02lod.dds, mtncliff03lod.dds, mtncliff04lod.dds, mtncliffsm01lod.dds, mtnpeak02lod.dds, mtnridge01lod.dds, mtnridge02lod.dds, mtnridge03lod.dds, and mtnrtrimslabod.dds files.

[phryxolydian]

Here it is peeps: https://imgur.com/a/hVK2H#0

 

Order is: Alternate Rocks and Mountains > AOF Detailed Mountains > Bigger and Boulder > Brown Mountains and Rocks > HD Mountains and Rocks New Textures > Improved Rocks and Mountains > Improved Vanilla Mountains HD > Skyrim Realistic Texture Overhaul Mountains > Superior Rock Textures > Vivid Landscapes Rocking Stones and Mountains Two

 

NO PARALLAX! 

[Aiyen]

Parallax or do not pass start and do not collect 2000$ and a place in my list! :) 

 

My general opinion about rock textures are that most of what is said is most likely true, however they are among the textures that really do benefit from parallax vs a good normal map. If one should speculate on why it has not been more implemented then I guess it would be somewhere between time constraint, and the effect not really benefiting/being possible on the console versions. 

 

When I do any modding these days it is mainly to just fix something or another in a specific location. 

In relation to this then I really think brown mountain textures look really epic in the volcanic tundra region, while they look entirely off in any winter setting. Eventually I will get around to giving the meshes there unique names and unique texture paths instead of just using the same all over. 

 

But first many other projects await! 

[Guest]

Thank Phry. I think the bigger detail ones look a bit too much for me, while the mid-size ones look pretty good. The darker ones too do not suit it. What I can say though is that most of them are similar because of the vanilla upscale I mentioned in the main post. Mine... I am shocked. Have the normals run away? Damn catch 22 with the tiling, but I will need to fix it for different lighting.

Edited June 7, 2014 by Guest

[phryxolydian]

I really have no idea why they look like that in-game, Sparrow. The normals look pretty neat under the microscope.