[Utility] Image Resizer

Talk about the mods you'd like to see in Daggerfall Unity. Give mod creators some ideas!
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NikitaTheTanner
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Joined: Sun Oct 18, 2015 7:57 pm

[Utility] Image Resizer

Post by NikitaTheTanner »

While there have been some proposals to use algorithms to upgrade Daggerfall's textures, I haven't seen any progress done so far. I personally think that it could be a first step to upgrading Daggerfalls graphics, which requires relatively low effort compared to other means. (I still hope to see full 3D game one day 8-) )

There are two options: upgrade all the textures with the utility or use ingame filters to upgrade textures on the go. Since the latter is much more performance heavy, I personally prefer the use of utility.

Here are a few examples of upgraded textures, using XBR 4x Method:
Spoiler!
Image--------->Image
Image--------->Image
Image--------->Image
Image--------->Image
Image--------->Image
Utility can be downloaded here:
https://code.google.com/archive/p/2dima ... /downloads

If you like the results, I might take some of my personal time and do an upgrade for all vanilla textures. Some need slight editing, though, but overall it is an easy task IMO. Just time consuming.

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Xaphir
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Joined: Sat Jul 16, 2016 12:55 pm

Re: [Utility] Image Resizer

Post by Xaphir »

NikitaTheTanner wrote:While there have been some proposals to use algorithms to upgrade Daggerfall's textures, I haven't seen any progress done so far. I personally think that it could be a first step to upgrading Daggerfalls graphics, which requires relatively low effort compared to other means. (I still hope to see full 3D game one day 8-) )

If you like the results, I might take some of my personal time and do an upgrade for all vanilla textures. Some need slight editing, though, but overall it is an easy task IMO. Just time consuming.
Nikita, I like these results; this of course is much preferable to the blocky constructs in the game. I'm very excited about this! Because I think it will be quite a while before we go to 3d npc's. I have Daggerfall running under openSUSE right now courtesy of Gavin, I might as well be running tests with better sprites. So I'm interested in the vanilla textures offer!

I'll download the utility and see how far I can get here.

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NikitaTheTanner
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Re: [Utility] Image Resizer

Post by NikitaTheTanner »

I'll download the utility and see how far I can get here.
No worries, I already started converting textures from the game with the help of Daggerfall imaging.

The only thing is, I am doing it manually, so it will take some time. There seems to be a script option in the program, but I am not sure how to utilize it properly yet. I might wanna look into it later on.

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Xaphir
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Re: [Utility] Image Resizer

Post by Xaphir »

NikitaTheTanner wrote:
I'll download the utility and see how far I can get here.
No worries, I already started converting textures from the game with the help of Daggerfall imaging.
That is very kind of you. Thank you

NikitaTheTanner wrote:
The only thing is, I am doing it manually, so it will take some time. There seems to be a script option in the program, but I am not sure how to utilize it properly yet. I might wanna look into it later on.
How long do you think it will be before you have a texture upgrade pack available?

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Xaphir
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Re: [Utility] Image Resizer

Post by Xaphir »

To tell you the truth, it wouldn't really even need to be comprehensive. I'd be happy testing with just the npc sprites upgraded.

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Interkarma
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Re: [Utility] Image Resizer

Post by Interkarma »

Hey guys,

Just some information for you before diving too deeply into things.
  • There are some higher resolution sprites for key figures in TEXTURE.185 and TEXTURE.186. These might be a good starting point for upgrading these assets.
  • The TEXTURE.* files also contain some metadata not being exported by Daggerfall Imaging that is essential for rendering sprites correctly in world. Most notably are Size and Scale which work together to ensure sprites will be positioned correctly (feet on ground for example). You can see a full example of the sort of metadata I need to track in DaggerfallUnityStructs.GetTextureResults struct. If the size of sprites change, this metadata will have to be correctly passed back into engine by mod or sprite will be rendered at wrong size or position.
  • Billboard sprites are atlased into a single material by archive (e.g. TEXTURE.210 will be packed into a single material for all lights). Packing is done by Unity's own Texture2D.PackTextures() helper. Keep in mind the maximum texture size is 4096*4096, so all upgraded textures from a single archive will need to be packable into these dimensions. Don't go too large.
I strongly recommend getting a coder on board to help build the texture replacement mod. The coder is necessary to handle things like hooking into TextureReader, injecting custom textures, and handing correct metadata back to engine for material system. I can offer guidance and would be happy to help with this - but my priority is gameplay systems and time is limited. I'll do what I can though if nobody else steps up to the plate.

It's also a good idea to start small and get a couple of key sprites working first to test the process. I'd hate for you to spend a lot of time scaling out sprites without a clear idea of how they are to be used. Build > Test > Improve > Repeat. Keep on iterating through to completion.

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NikitaTheTanner
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Re: [Utility] Image Resizer

Post by NikitaTheTanner »

Interkarma's words are wise and reasonable. I would have to agree with the fact that prior testing is preferrable. I will try to get at least a few sprites into the world on my own and later see what can be done with all the rest.

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Xaphir
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Re: [Utility] Image Resizer

Post by Xaphir »

Interkarma wrote:Hey guys,

Just some information for you before diving too deeply into things.

(revelation of multiple technical approaches and conundrums)..
HOLY MAC DADDY!!

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