Huge bump, holy necropost, yadda yadda yadda, I know I know. Now, to business...
How, if possible, can I make the warp-in model to have glow and shinemaps? I'd like to experiment with them just to see what they would look like, but the model doesn't seem to use textures exactly the same way the actual models in the game do.
My line of reasoning: It's a model (despite being used as effect). So by all standards of FS2_Open, it *should* be able to use glow and shinemaps just like any other model. Only thing is, if I copy-paste and rename the effect files to include the -glow or -shine ending (before the EFF index number of course), it doesn't seem to do anything.
The model itself seems to use texture "Warpmap", plain and simple with no numbers... but the actual textures are either warpmap01 or warpmap02 (knossos portal effect). So... when the effect code makes the model use either warpmap01 or warpmap02, does it also prevent it from using glow/shinemaps?
A slightly blurred glowmap could be cool looking if it would work. And shinemap could likewise provide...interesting effects to say the least.
...another thing is that the DDS compression in these images seems to be substantial, resulting in noticeable pixelation when the maps are scaled up. I suppose that's because there are so much gradients in the maps and DDS compression doesn't seem to be at it's best with gradients... I edited them for my own use with selective gaussian blur, and the effect was immensely better, so I for one am ready to sacrifice some memory for that much better subspace warp effects. However, editing once compressed maps definitely eats a little detail away from the maps, so if there are any high-res uncompressed originals, perhaps release them for people to use and play with, if their system can handle them?
Here's how the selectively blurred TGA warp maps look like up close. I'm sure you all have noticed the pixelation that plagues the warp effect when it's big and close - do you see any here?
</necromancer chant>
