Is it possible tio make high res map texture's? because all of the pretty new and highr res weapon models and animations are great but a more refined enviroment would look great with Extreme high res textures for wall and floors etc....

I mean just as an option for those who have comps that can handle it.

HL2 engine: yes
HL1 engine: no

dang I have photoshop and I was considering (after a long time of thought:p ) that I was gonna make high-res texture replacements or try for some of the main texture's. Ohh well I just hope old hl mods such as dod will be compatible with hl2 so we can add uber feature's :D

re placing a texture with a higher res version in HL would be a fruitless enterprise.

1- The HL engine wouldn't take textures much larger than current ones if any at all
2- HL2 is plenty pretty enough and we can just wait for it instead of fixing whats left with HL
3- Every single last map would have to be redone to take into account the new texture sizes.

but wouldn't it be a worthy enterprise to convert the maps to play dod and keep it alive and better? I think so and we can add more features.

4- it would be yet another fps drop for the lower end machines anyway.

Higher res textures? Shaper textures? Here are some methods in HL1:

Scale textures by 0.5x or less.

You'll get sharper textures.

dod_CR44 uses this method of scaling textures down by 0.5x. However, in many cases, it doubles your polycount by decreasing chop dimensions from 240x240 to 120x120, thus mroe chops = more polies. That's why cr44 has pretty high wpoly count. You should only use this on small dimension surfaces like 64x64 crates or 120x120 crates when you know reducing the chop size as a result of scaling down textures won't increase the polycount. That's why some crates you see in Dod look extremely sharp. Of course, ensure you are using base 2 dimension textures (that is another important factor in maintaining texture sharpness)...

The problem with this method? You visilibly get more tiles as well if you are working on large surfaces. A tile per 256x256 area. But now, you'll get a tile per 128x128 area. Make sure your area size for textures is not more than 256x256=65536. I dun think HL currently accepts a higher texture size dimension. (perhaps Condition Zero might change this..i hope).

Make a map model .mdl.
Use 512x512 hunked size textures. Scale it down onto tiny surfaces of the .mdl. Get uber sharp textures!

Disadvantage? .mdls don't get lit well. THey dont get affected by having per-poly lighting. So, the .mdls can stand out like a sore thumb if u r not careful, and can easily appear full bright!

You can use 512x512 textures (and above?) in Half Life, its just not officially supported, since 1) it uses up twice the texture memory 2) older graphics cards dont support such large textures, so you would get a wall of mirrors effect (ie. looking into the void).

Originally posted by Instacrome
You can use 512x512 textures (and above?) in Half Life, its just not officially supported, since 1) it uses up twice the texture memory 2) older graphics cards dont support such large textures, so you would get a wall of mirrors effect (ie. looking into the void).

yup

oh and the actual term used is HOM (Hall Of Mirrors) just a little technical thingy :P

Okay I'll keep that in mind. Im glad the mapper's and texture artists for dod have such good info :D

Thanks for all your reply's more than most on some area's of the forums

512x512 hunk textures only work well on models.

BUt you dun need sharp textures to have a good model/map. YOu need good/suitable textures. You need good lighting. Most importantly, good design and atmosphere. CR44 textures may be sharper, but that doesn't mean it looks or feels as good compared to the likes of dod_flugplatz or others...

Sharper textures? A waste of time kinda. You dun really need to.

iirc, Source can handle 1024 x 1024 textures.

I think the old cr44 tex. are very oversharped

the hl1 engine onl;y supports up to like 512x512 textures i believe, hl2 supports up to 2kx2k

The new material and overlay system is sweet, i just wish you could use more then 2 materials per displacement map like in UED

Bear in mind HL can only take about 4mb of textures... so big textures mean less variety in your maps.

I've started using models in my map now, higher res textures, but again, the lighting problems.

You can up the texture memory to around 8 mb (I think), although, again, older cards dont support this.

anybody using anything older than a tnt2 should be lined up and shot.

(on the man)

Originally posted by kleinluka
anybody using anything older than a tnt2 should be lined up and shot.

few, cos i got a Tnt 2 :p

tho i will soon have a Geforce FX 5600se 256mb :D (any good?)

You can double the hl texture memory to 8mb using a compile peram

Originally posted by 2ltben
iirc, Source can handle 1024 x 1024 textures.
HL2 supports up to a maximum of 2048 x 2048 textures. Uber sharp rez :D

wow I didn't think my post would gain so much attention.... :p

well maybe i will try (given i have never done anything like texturing before) after hl2 comes out. The onlty thing I have done is a explosion sprite an I am working on a skin for Trigger's new carbine model, the wip's in the work in progress section if you wanna look.

Heck it looks like im not the only one who wants HR textures in games..... :)

After using the hl2 build of hammer i dont think i can go back to the hl1 build

Originally posted by NC17
After using the hl2 build of hammer i dont think i can go back to the hl1 build

You really wanted to say that here at Valve owned message boards to all gamers?

Originally posted by TheNomad
4- it would be yet another fps drop for the lower end machines anyway.

Good God.. please.. NO HIGH RES TEXTURES.

Since 3.1 --> 1.1, I've lost a good 30FPS.

No more "pretty stuff". Just let me play, jyeesh.

Originally posted by Krieg
Good God.. please.. NO HIGH RES TEXTURES.

Since 3.1 --> 1.1, I've lost a good 30FPS.

No more "pretty stuff". Just let me play, jyeesh.

For that what I know, texture resolution didnt change in b3.1 -> 1.1.

Its the same 256x256 stuff as usual.

engineer: (train)
NC17: duh
skdr: correct

skdr, for maps, correct! But for models...NO!!!

Look at the amount of texture MBs the Nerbwefer in dod_escape uses. Look at the high res models used in DoD now.

The amount of polies used in a faraway para-drop men model in dod_flugplatz! You could optimise that model's polies using MS3d or any program with Optimise filter. After all, you are viewing the darn paratrooper from sooo far away...why need so many polies? And you could further reduce the texture size of the models. Yea, i know these are stock models used in b3.1.......

Texture memory also includes all the textures of the .mdls preloaded before the map starts. It doesn't just include the textures found in map's brushwork.

And variety of textures is limiting. Someone once posted "why not have many differnet variety of wallpapers instead of the same old wallpapers?" 256x256 wallpapers result in a lot of memory. However, if you used 128x128 textures for wallpapers or 64x64 textures for wallpapers (instead of the typical 256x256 version), you could afford to have 4x or 8x more variety of wallpapepers.

except they would look like crap and wouldn't be worth the work.

Well, there'll be more visible tiling repeats, of course! It wont' look like crap, but it may look repetitive. But for mechanical/uniform patterns (eg. simple clean wallpaper, crates, simple clean brick, etc.) then it's very suitable. However, DoD environments (which are WW2 environments) tend to be very dirty/large so such walls can have peelings and grounds occupy large spaces....as a result using the 256x256 dimensions is a necessity.

Originally posted by TheNomad
i will soon have a Geforce FX 5600se 256mb :D (any good?) = no.

lol, yea i posted that on the general gaming forum too and got the same reply, so im gonna get a Radeon 9600 256mb instead, which will do for now.