[Lightspeed]

All other of my work is temporarily cancelled, as something of higher priority wants to get done. Yes, it is shinemaps. And another yes, it is not only for FS2 ships as it used to be, but this time for ALL ships there are. And they include environment maps. Hmm...

But after taking a look at the results in-game I wasnt too amazed. I found out the "bug" quite soon. The original textures have a bit of colour lacking artifacts (as they are/were 8-bit). Now, by overlaying them with a lot of different layers (spec, env, etc) you multiply that effect, getting the texture to look worse than ever. Also, some of the sizes are horrible (not 2^n at all) and thus slow down performance. Now, as nearly everyone uses -pcx32 theres no difference at all between the retail PCX and true colour ones, so I thought "why not use the potential?".

So you will not only get 'some shinemaps', but instead a whole package with ship textures, glowmaps, specmaps (with env maps). The original textures are *slightly upgraded* (don't hold your breath) which will actually only be really visible when lighted.

Anyway. I finished the first model today, and it looked so... new, I had to take some FSretail comparison shots. Enjoy.



If you do *not* spot the slight texture upgrade, have a look at this screenshot to get a clue what I'm talking about: Click

However, if you do not use -pcx32 and want to run pcx in 16-bit mode, the shinemaps should work fairly well with the original maps too (but look worse).

Here's the zip containing all you need: Ulysses Maps

Have Fun, hope you like it

[Rictor]

Ooh, that texture looks noticeable sharper. The whole project sounds awesome, though I didn't understand a word of wwhat you just said.

And remember not to overdo the subtelty on the shinemaps & environment maps, the difference should be quite visible IMHO.

[ShadowDrakken]

impressive screenshots... if they look the same in game then they're a damn sight better than the ones in the 3.6 media pack

I also like the less glassy look of the reflections over what's in the media pack

[Fineus]

Christ... it looks so much more detailed! This has real potential

[Lightspeed]

Note it is (nearly) exactly the same texture size. ALL detail is worked in with shine and env maps.

Actually in-game it looks even better!

What I really suggest you to do is, try turning glowmaps off with FRED for a ship and look at it in-game. Or alternatively, click the link to find out about another nice 'new' feature

-edit: just noticed I have only included the maps for the first LOD, i'll go back and put in & upload the rest tomorrow (1:39 AM = no good).

[Turambar]

I figured why I'll never be quite as good as you LS.

ADD

[Langy]

Very cool. Are the glowmaps animated or anything? Animated glowmaps on Shivan ships would be just awesome.

[Jetmech Jr.]

Originally posted by Langy
Very cool. Are the glowmaps animated or anything? Animated glowmaps on Shivan ships would be just awesome.

:drool: i could just imagine it, pulsating red glows on a mara...

[Turambar]

i heard something about using the alpha thread for env-mapping in Bobby's new build.

Keep it in mind LS

(unless, of course, you already are)

[Axem]

Oooooh... very nice. Now if only my system could do shinemaps, I would be in heaven...

[Foxer]

This is very very nice, looks much detailed. I hope that this will give same effect with larger ships Slighting is another thing that make me positive shocked ;D. Keep up tremendous work!

[Foxer]

BTW. Question to SCP masters. Is it possible to do that:

Originally posted by Jetmech Jr.


:drool: i could just imagine it, pulsating red glows on a mara...

... on SF Mara, SB Seraphim or... on SJ Sathanas?

[WMCoolmon]

Shouldn't that red-arrow thingy be a light?

I do see the difference in those pictures, at first I thought you'd magically doubled the size somehow.

[Jetmech Jr.]

Originally posted by Foxer
BTW. Question to SCP masters. Is it possible to do that:



... on SF Mara, SB Seraphim or... on SJ Sathanas?

Any AND all

[Turambar]

I downloaded it.

I bow to thee Lightspeed.

[Rictor]

Which SCP build supports shinemaps again? theres a million and one, and they're not very descripively (sp?) named.

[Bobboau]

virtualy all builds (made in the las 6 months) suport shine maps, only a hand full suport environment mapping, look in the environment mapping thread for it (look twards the end, there is a better build than the one in the front)

LS one thing, I think you should remove the blue and red light bits from the shine map (if you have, nevermind but it looks like it's still there), I have always thought it looked much better when the glowmapped section had no lighting at all

/*edit*/
just looked at the files, you did the exact opposite of what I want (glowy bits are white in the shine map)

[Taristin]

well, that's so if you turn the lights off, the glass where the light was will still reflect. Makes sense to me.

I love his work. I wish he'd do up the Seth for me. *hint hint*

I'll do more work on the Ke****l if you do...

[Rictor]

bobbaou: I hate to be a bother, and this probably ain't the place, but neither of those builds in the evironment mapping thread work for me. What I get is, the screen turns black, then grey, then black, then grey a few times, and it goes right back to desktop.

[Starks]

THIS BETTER BE GOING TO E3!!!!