Exortation to modders about retaining better content than can currently be used

[SigniferOne]

There's a lot of very good content being produced in the RTW modding community, including much highly-original stuff, such as unique soldier models, new building models and new respective building icons, and even stuff like the ancilliary portraits that are being produced for EB (here).

Now that we know what the next game in the Total War series is going to be, we can start planning on re-creating RTW upon that newer and better M2:TW engine (those of us that are interested in doing such a thing, as I am for example). The ideal place to start that process is by using all of the wealth of content that has been created for RTW. However, I'm concerned that since a lot of the created content is being cut down to the parameters of the current RTW engine, that the higher quality originals may be discarded as unusable, and that therefore may be unavailable when M2:TW comes around.

For example, we have no idea what dimensions for ancilliary portraits will be in M2:TW, so that if we cut down current high-res versions to work with today's RTW, what will we do when we find out that a bigger size or a higher resolution could be used in M2:TW? Or similarly, if people have a very high-res soldier model or a building model, and cut it down to feasibly work in the current RTW engine, what will we do when a higher poly-count model will be feasible in M2:TW? Re-make the model again?

So my whole point is: if you have a very high-res piece of content that you intend to use in RTW by toning it down to RTW measurements -- retain the original, so that it can easily be imported into M2:TW without a lot of repeated and unnecessary exertion on the part of the modders. To make a list out of it:

-- if you have a high-poly model of anything, be it a soldier, a horse, a building, or a ship, keep it and don't throw it out even if the number of vertices has to be reduced for current RTW

-- Similar point for skins: if you have a very high-res skin that you'll have to tone down for RTW, keep the original high-res copy to be used in M2:TW.

-- if you have any high-res icons of soldiers or buildings, keep them, even if they'll have to be shrunk for RTW, because we don't know what size unit icons will be in M2:TW

-- if you have high-quality 2d graphics of any kind (such as the wonderful ancilliary portraits EB is making), be sure that the high-res originals are kept so that they can be shrunk down according to M2:TW standards (possibly shrunk to a lesser degree, and thus retaining more of their quality).

All this so that when M2:TW comes around, we'll have instant access to a large amount of already created high-quality content, that can be instantly available for use.

[Halie Satanus]

important points, should be stickyed here and in the mtw forum

[Lusted]

Agree stickied.

[PROMETHEUS ts]

Have you seen this Signifer?

here

I am all for reconstructing Rtw as it should have been with the MTW2 game .....

[SigniferOne]

Yep, I have. For now I'm just waiting to see more information on what M2:TW will offer, but in the meantime I want to be pre-emptive in making sure that valuable content does not go to waste, while we all wait for more information to come out.

[PROMETHEUS ts]

Just to know what we will face lets analize all the informations we can take out from the new MTW2 units to guess what's the level of details , in order to make also the highe level lods for it and be ready to make a good work.... remember that is pretty easy to create lower lod levels from a high one , more long is instead the time needed to create more detailed lods.... as I see it may be they could use 5 lod levels , the second higest possible detail could be close to wath what we see from MTW2 while the tird with the ones from RTW .... the higest can be our versions , we could go even more for sure....

so can be like

unit_ultra.cas around 1100 polys

unit_veryhigh.cas around 800 polys
unit_high.cas around 700 polys
unit_med.cas around 600 polys
unit_low.cas around 450 polys
unit_lowest.cas around 300 polys

As I see it they are just making more detailed models and more realistic textures , something we moders are doing already .... here is a picture I think can show what I mean ....but are still quite far from beeing better than some of our units I think ....





u notice anything weird ....?

the necks look to be a little bit offsetted by the body , may be is this the trick they are using to cause variations in the units , tough I hope they will fix those little spaces and so that the unit wont look like a patchwoork but a full element....

[deLancey]

Probably similar to the old Rogue Spear FPS - they have a bunch of heads and arms and bodies that they mix and match. My worry is how will the game know that these skins or that a specific skin goes together.

Harlechman

[Virgil]

they will probably use a folder type system - all the assorted textures for this unit go in this folder, differnet folder for that unit - etc etc.

[Snevets]

From what I see on it most of the stuff will be one higher res textures so I imagine there would be plenty of room to use the same texture while swapping. It's also not too difficult to make a helmet look totally different using the same texture but a different model shape. About the annicilaries, I wouldn't worry about it too much. First they're currently a good size so there's no reason for them to get bigger. Second you can always enlarge and enhance them in photoshop if necessary. It will be a bit painstaking but then what mod can call itself a mod that doesn't shed some blood, sweat and tears eh?