Thanks for the compliments! I think you guys will really enjoy the demo mod.
Will you include heightmaps in your demoMOD as well? Tickable?
@VMBlast:
Heightmaps will be in the included materials, but I'm not sure what you mean by "tickable." I do intend to later release a version of the mod that's just the upscaled textures (Albedo) without all the other advanced texture maps to better cater to the tastes of the purists out there, but you could get basically the same effect by just installing Freak2121's upscaled texture pack (featured on the first page of this thread). My albedo textures generally use his upscales as a starting point. Some of them are slightly enhanced by blending the results with my ESRGAN and/or SFTGAN results. Some textures I've enhanced further by including detail textures to help restore detail when viewed up close.
I will publish the raw GIMP files when the project is closer to being complete so anyone can make edits. Don't worry, I'm going to keep them backed up on an external disk drive in the meantime so there's no risk of them getting lost!
Alternatively, if I get burnt out and I decide to take a break or an extended hiatus from the project, then I'll release what I have so others may pick up the torch and carry on.
Slightly unrelated, but I think I'm going to approach this the way KoW has and release the mods in a modular fashion where the textures are one mod, MOBs are another, Sprites/Flats/NPCs, etc.. I won't make any UI mods since I believe the KoW version is darn near perfect (we just need to fix the map
).
@KoW:
I've spent too much time on my project . . .
I know the feeling already, and I've only done a tiny fraction of all the textures. I understand better than most the dedication that you've brought to DFU, and I thank you for it!
I think both mods have their place... always good to have more options!
I agree completely. I'd say these textures
tend to be closer to vanilla DF, but they can't compete with your remaster in terms of resolution. I think I would recommend your mod to people who started playing the Elder Scrolls series at Oblivion or Skyrim.