You could try adding the scale look back in with a texture filter.
@MrFlibble:
I'm not familiar with texture filters, but it sounds like a "texture mask" or "detail texture," in this case, using a color as a mask, then filling it with a pattern. Looks like in his example the scaly pattern bled into the armor in a few places, but looks really good on the skin.
My only reservation about this how it might handle animations. It looks great on the single image, but once it's animated I anticipate that the scaly pattern will look inconsistent from frame-to-frame. It's worth testing on at least a walking animation to see. But I think this technique will work great on static sprites. I've actually been using a similar technique on upscaling some textures.
Speaking of which, I'm working on finishing upscales on all the textures in Privateers Hold (a rather arbitrary starting point). I'm using Freak2121's GigaPixel upscales as a base; I attempt to upscale using our methods, and blend the results if it helps to enhance the details some. I then upscale to a more appropriate resolution (i.e. 1024 vertical resolution for wall textures) using the new "NoHalo" interpolation in Gimp2.10. I attempt to use some basic image filters to enhance slightly if it helps. I repair the seams for textures that need to tile. Then in many cases I'll add a detail texture which sounds a lot like what you've described above. Often it's just a rough or dirty pattern overlaid with high transparency to just add some slight detail.
What I'm working on now is generating advanced materials and packaging it as a mod for download. They look great with normal, metallic, and heightmaps. I'll try to post some screenshots tonight and release the mod sometime this week. I'll need feedback on the materials: they will need some tweaking to make sure they aren't too dark, shiny, or too embellished on the normal and heightmaps. Once we reach a consensus, I can proceed to expand the finished texture/material set.
I really like packaging this as a mod since it gives me full control over the materials. I can save quite a bit of memory by sharing normal and heightmaps between similar textures (like those that are just simple recolored variations of each other). Also, I can use secondary maps to draw out fine detail like a cloth texture on the flag/banners with a very small 128x128 normal map which makes them look great up close with just a
tiny cost of VRAM.
Guys, just a note, the travel map can now be upscaled and injected into the game... can we get some decent results on this image pls?
It would be great to have it, as we spend a lot of time on this screen. 1920x1200 reso would be nice.
But I have a feeling this one will be complicated
@KoW:
I've made a few attempts at this before when I was upscaling the UI panels for you, but the map portion just really didn't work well at all. I may try to attempt this again soon, but I want to finish the Privateer's Hold textures first.