Texture Guidelines: Difference between revisions

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This should be a rough guideline for choosing the correct dimensions and format for your custom TDM texture.


== Texture Guidlines FAQ: ==
== 2.08 update (2020) ==
The guidance is for standard tiling textures. A single large texture with a unique pattern shouldn't cause too much harm, especially if it is used sparingly. The other consideration is whether this "beautiful" texture matches the pixel density of other textures at natural scale.


You may be admiring your great new texture but players will be looking at TDM textures next to it and thinking "why is everything except the wall so blurry"? To which the answer will not be "OK, we are going to increase all the texture resolutions and make the game unplayable except for high-end hardware from 2016+". Doom 3 \ TDM is more texture heavy than many other engines since it relies on normal maps for most detail so you have to budget textures differently than an engine where half of the detail is baked into the diffuse because of baked lighting. The limit is there to act as a sane guideline.


Q:   What is the darkmod_hires CVS directory for?
Forum discussion link: https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/topic/9082-newbie-darkradiant-questions/&do=findComment&comment=445922
A:   To help us maintain our high and low res textures, we have had to setup a darkmod_hires repository on CVS. It will contain map, object and character hi_res textures that will later be released as a self installing upgrade package.


[color=#FF0000]Q: When do I upload to the darkmod_hires repository?[/color]
== Dimensions ==
[color=#3333FF]A: Anytime an original texture exceeds the texture specifications listed below[/color].
* Diffusemap: '''max. 1024 pixels''' (when used for smaller areas: 512)
* Normalmap: '''max. 1024 pixels'''
* Specular: '''max. 512 pixels'''
* Editor image: '''max. 256 pixels'''


[color=#FF0000]Q: What if the texture does not exceed the texture specifications?[/color]
== Compression Standards ==
[color=#3366FF]A: Then upload directly to the regular 'darkmod' directory. No hires copy is needed.[/color]
* Diffusemaps: DDS (DXT1/DXT3)
* Normalmap: TGA (uncompressed, no RLE)
* Specularmap: DDS
* Editor Image: JPG (medium quality (e.g. 85 in Photoshop), not over-compressed)


[color=#FF0000]Q: I have uploaded my hires textures, now what?[/color]
* If the texture is to be included in TDM : A high res copy of the diffusemap (can be RLE)
[color=#3366FF]A:  Switch back to the regular 'darkmod' mod directory and upload the low res textures.[/color]


[color=#FF0000]Q: How do I download the hires textures?[/color]
== Naming Conventions ==
[color=#3366FF]A: In the same way you download the rest of the mod. The only exception is that you have to change the file path while using the darkmod_hires directory. [/color]
Assuming your texture is named '''rough_grey_dirty''', the names are
* Diffusemap: '''rough_grey_dirty.dds'''
* Normalmap: '''rough_grey_dirty_local.tga'''
* Specularmap: '''rough_grey_dirty_s.dds'''
* Editor Image: '''rough_grey_dirty_ed.jpg'''


[color=#FF0000]Q: What is the reason for having these texture guidelines?[/color]
* Nontiling textures have the '''_nontiling_''' part in their name: '''rough_grey_dirty_nontiling_local.tga'''
[color=#3366FF]A: There are several.
* Textures tiling into one dimension only get the '''_tiling1d_''' part added: '''rough_grey_dirty_tiling1d_local.tga'''


1.  To make downloading the mod easier for our members who are on dialup.
* Heightmaps: '''rough_grey_dirty_h.tga'''
2. To prevent the mod from ballooning into a huge monster.  Uncompressed TGA's add up quickly.
* Alphamaps: '''rough_grey_dirty_a.tga'''
3. To make the mod accessible to members and eventually players who will not have high end computers that are capable of handling the textures.
* Occlusion maps: '''rough_grey_dirty_occ.tga'''
[/color]


== Exceptions ==
* Skyboxes: Doom can't handle DDS for Skyboxes, so uncompressed TGA should be used here. If the dimensions of your skybox textures exceed 1024 Pixels, JPEG compression on maximum quality should be applied. (Uncompressed TGA on six 2048 x 2048 textures would result in 72 MB altogether, which is definitely too much and the high resolution will compensate the anyway negligible JPEG artifacts.)


Here is the basic setup for uploading and downloading from this repository.
== Material File Conventions ==
[img]http://208.49.149.118/TheDarkMod/screenshots/hires.jpg[/img]
See here: [[Material File Naming Convention]]


Remember: Do keep a backup of the ultra hi-res versions of your work as well as your working files (photoshop, gimp files). These should be added to the '''texture_src''' repository, which keeps all the "working" or "source files".


[size=4]TEXTURE GUIDELINES:[/size]
== See also ==
Texture groups should attempt to stay within the following standards.
* [[DDS creation]]
[b]
* [[How to add Textures to The Dark Mod]]
Format:  TGA with RLE 24 bit Lossless Compression.[/b]


Renz and I tried to create a priority based forumla for different entities within the game.  With this formula,the largest TGA textures (512x512) weigh in at roughly [b]700 kb[/b] with 24 Bit, RLE lossless compression.
{{tutorial-textures}}
 
[color=blue][i]Do keep a backup of the ultra hi-res versions of your work.  Try not to forget that you must upload a high res and low res version to their respective repositories.[/i][/color]
 
[size=5][b]Tiled textures- Walls, Floors, Ceiling, Doors...ect -[/b]
[color=red]Diffuse: [ Min/Max: 512 x 512] Normal: [ Min/Max: 512 x 512]
Specular: [ Min/Max: 256 x 256][/size]
 
[b]Large objects- Beds, barrels, chairs, bookshelves-[/b]
[color=red]Diffuse: [ Min/Max:  512 x 512] Normal: [ Min/Max: 256x256]
Specular: [ Min/Max: 128 x 128][/color]
 
[b]Small objects- Keys, books, goblets, utensils-[/b]
[color=red]Diffuse: [ Min/Max: 256 x 256] Normal: [ Min/Max: 128 x 128]
Specular: [ Min/Max: 128x128][/color]
 
[b]AI: All characters-[/b]
[color=red]Diffuse: [ Min/Max: 512 x 512] Normal: [ Min/Max: 512 x 512]
Other: [ Min/Max: 256x256][/color][/color]
 
 
By following this formula on the models/props/textures folder, I was able to reduce its size to under [b]30 megs[/b],  from over [b]70 megs[/b].  That's a considerable difference at no discernable cost to quality.
 
What's great about this is that is doesn't require using lossy compression.  We retain high quality looks, but only at slightly reduced resolution.

Latest revision as of 20:20, 16 June 2024

This should be a rough guideline for choosing the correct dimensions and format for your custom TDM texture.

2.08 update (2020)

The guidance is for standard tiling textures. A single large texture with a unique pattern shouldn't cause too much harm, especially if it is used sparingly. The other consideration is whether this "beautiful" texture matches the pixel density of other textures at natural scale.

You may be admiring your great new texture but players will be looking at TDM textures next to it and thinking "why is everything except the wall so blurry"? To which the answer will not be "OK, we are going to increase all the texture resolutions and make the game unplayable except for high-end hardware from 2016+". Doom 3 \ TDM is more texture heavy than many other engines since it relies on normal maps for most detail so you have to budget textures differently than an engine where half of the detail is baked into the diffuse because of baked lighting. The limit is there to act as a sane guideline.

Forum discussion link: https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/topic/9082-newbie-darkradiant-questions/&do=findComment&comment=445922

Dimensions

  • Diffusemap: max. 1024 pixels (when used for smaller areas: 512)
  • Normalmap: max. 1024 pixels
  • Specular: max. 512 pixels
  • Editor image: max. 256 pixels

Compression Standards

  • Diffusemaps: DDS (DXT1/DXT3)
  • Normalmap: TGA (uncompressed, no RLE)
  • Specularmap: DDS
  • Editor Image: JPG (medium quality (e.g. 85 in Photoshop), not over-compressed)
  • If the texture is to be included in TDM : A high res copy of the diffusemap (can be RLE)

Naming Conventions

Assuming your texture is named rough_grey_dirty, the names are

  • Diffusemap: rough_grey_dirty.dds
  • Normalmap: rough_grey_dirty_local.tga
  • Specularmap: rough_grey_dirty_s.dds
  • Editor Image: rough_grey_dirty_ed.jpg
  • Nontiling textures have the _nontiling_ part in their name: rough_grey_dirty_nontiling_local.tga
  • Textures tiling into one dimension only get the _tiling1d_ part added: rough_grey_dirty_tiling1d_local.tga
  • Heightmaps: rough_grey_dirty_h.tga
  • Alphamaps: rough_grey_dirty_a.tga
  • Occlusion maps: rough_grey_dirty_occ.tga

Exceptions

  • Skyboxes: Doom can't handle DDS for Skyboxes, so uncompressed TGA should be used here. If the dimensions of your skybox textures exceed 1024 Pixels, JPEG compression on maximum quality should be applied. (Uncompressed TGA on six 2048 x 2048 textures would result in 72 MB altogether, which is definitely too much and the high resolution will compensate the anyway negligible JPEG artifacts.)

Material File Conventions

See here: Material File Naming Convention

Remember: Do keep a backup of the ultra hi-res versions of your work as well as your working files (photoshop, gimp files). These should be added to the texture_src repository, which keeps all the "working" or "source files".

See also

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