[Lizzie]

I'm referring to MGE of course, I don't know where you got the idea that the grass would be static though.

Respectfully this isn't a MGE project. Also the grass is static without MGE.

[Nicholas]

Respectfully this isn't a MGE project. Also the grass is static without MGE.

i.e.- OpenMW and MGE won't ever work together. Two completely different programs that are mutually exclusive.

[rebecca moody]

i.e.- OpenMW and MGE won't ever work together.

And I never said they would.

[Bad News Rogers]

And I never said they would.

Oh, sorry SWG, sometimes I respond to things without looking at who I'm writing to. Of course you already knew that about mge and openmw.

[Benito Martinez]

I think the confusion started when he said we already have grass that moves. OpenMW will have it's own engine so it doesn't have anything yet. It just has options for things.

[Nick Pryce]

I think the confusion started when he said we already have grass that moves. OpenMW will have it's own engine so it doesn't have anything yet. It just has options for things.

It has us, Sky. It has us. :angel:

[Farrah Lee]

It has us, Sky. It has us. :angel:

:celebration: Yes this seems to be what the thread is all about. :foodndrink:

[Trista Jim]

MW nif format supports the following texture maps:

Base Map
Dark Map
Detail Map
Decal Map
Bump Map
Gloss map (so far not working in MW - in the game, TES exporter does the job)
Glow Map
Normal Map (not supported in MW nif format, v.4.0.0.2)
Paralax Map (not supported in MW nif format, v.4.0.0.2)
Shader Textures, array (not supported in MW nif format, v.4.0.0.2)


Can additional mesh texture map (e.g. normal map source file) information be stored/read in/from NiStringExtraData node that is attached to a specific NiTriShape node?

I can be wrong but I think the idea is not to edit Bethesda nif as it may not be legal to include edited meshes in another engine.
So the idea is how to allow openMW engine to add onto the meshes.....If I'm following this right.

[Jarrett Willis]

I can be wrong but I think the idea is not to edit Bethesda nif as it may not be legal to include edited meshes in another engine.
So the idea is how to allow openMW engine to add onto the meshes.....If I'm following this right.

Don't worry, this is being figured out in the mailing list. Though, if you have any suggestions...

[Rik Douglas]

Don't worry, this is being figured out in the mailing list. Though, if you have any suggestions...

Yes I do. The less textures used the less amount of file size used.

A normal map would be the best place to put an alpha channeled parallax. As they are related. two things on one texture.

A base textures can have one of three things on it's alpha channel.

1. anything that needs an black and white or a gradient alpha.

2. If no alpha of that type is needed. Then it can use a spectral on that channel.

3. If no spectral is needed then it can have a reflective map on the alpha channel.

That is a lot of opinions with only two textures need.

[^~LIL B0NE5~^]

I just remembered something. In the game, when the player is hit, the %chance of what location will be damaged (armor) is hardcoded. In other words, 30% will be on the cuirass, 10% everywhere else (Pauldron, Helm, Gauntlet, Greaves, Boots, Shield), or something. Would it be possible to allow users to edit this setting in OpenMW?

-----------------------
As for a wish list... I don't suppose it'd be possible to have locational damage?

[Damien Mulvenna]

I just remembered something. In the game, when the player is hit, the %chance of what location will be damaged (armor) is hardcoded. In other words, 30% will be on the cuirass, 10% everywhere else (Pauldron, Helm, Gauntlet, Greaves, Boots, Shield), or something. Would it be possible to allow users to edit this setting in OpenMW?

-----------------------
As for a wish list... I don't suppose it'd be possible to have locational damage?

I think that this is a good suggestion, as I always felt it odd that my character that had a 100 in block and blocked ~50% of the blows he took, still took more durability loss on my chest than on my shield.

[jadie kell]

Yes I do. The less textures used the less amount of file size used.

A normal map would be the best place to put an alpha channeled parallax. As they are related. two things on one texture.

A base textures can have one of three things on it's alpha channel.

1. anything that needs an black and white or a gradient alpha.

2. If no alpha of that type is needed. Then it can use a spectral on that channel.

3. If no spectral is needed then it can have a reflective map on the alpha channel.

That is a lot of opinions with only two textures need.

It might actually be a good idea to leave off putting anything in the alpha channel of normal maps, and to use either DXT5_nm format or 3DC normal compression. If you do this, you could avoid the worst artefacts (as seen in Oblivion).

[Rich O'Brien]

Nice to see all this progress done. I can't wait for this.

Me and some friends have started fantasizing about this and multiplayer (even if it's just wishful thinking right now).

[Marilú]

It might actually be a good idea to leave off putting anything in the alpha channel of normal maps, and to use either DXT5_nm format or 3DC normal compression. If you do this, you could avoid the worst artefacts (as seen in Oblivion).

Sorry but I'm not following your reasoning on this.

Dxt5_nm can have an alpha channel. Dxt5_nm is the standard the industry uses for normals. So I'm not clear on what your saying. Oblivion used spec in the alpha channel. They put a parallax in the alpha channel ( which didn't make it a true parallax map) on their base texture when needed. Also adding to this Replacement textures sometimes didn't use a mipmap or edited the mipmap which can produce sparkling effects. This is what cased a lot of problems. A parallax is an extension of a normal map. So that is the very best place to put it. Putting it anywhere else is just asking for problems.

[Aman Bhattal]

A parallax is an extension of a normal map. So that is the very best place to put it. Putting it anywhere else is just asking for problems.

What about instead of having it in the Normal map's alphamap spot, it's it's own file?

[Lauren Denman]

Sorry but I'm not following your reasoning on this.

Dxt5_nm can have an alpha channel. Dxt5_nm is the standard the industry uses for normals. So I'm not clear on what your saying. Oblivion used spec in the alpha channel. They put a parallax in the alpha channel ( which didn't make it a true parallax map) on their base texture when needed. Also adding to this Replacement textures sometimes didn't use a mipmap or edited the mipmap which can produce sparkling effects. This is what cased a lot of problems. A parallax is an extension of a normal map. So that is the very best place to put it. Putting it anywhere else is just asking for problems.

Well, if you use the DXT5_nm, then the X-component of the normal map goes in the alpha channel of the normal map (Y-component goes in green channel), so alpha is not available for other things. Oblivion used DXT1 (or DXT5 with height in alpha), which is what gives the horrible blockiness that often turns up. There is (admittedly, probably quite dull) article here: http://developer.nvidia.com/object/real-time-normal-map-dxt-compression.html that shows what I'm talking about.

[Nathan Hunter]

Well, if you use the DXT5_nm, then the X-component of the normal map goes in the alpha channel of the normal map (Y-component goes in green channel), so alpha is not available for other things. Oblivion used DXT1 (or DXT5 with height in alpha), which is what gives the horrible blockiness that often turns up. There is (admittedly, probably quite dull) article here: http://developer.nvidia.com/object/real-time-normal-map-dxt-compression.html that shows what I'm talking about.

You know what, your right. I had not thought of that. Thanks for pointing that out. :foodndrink:

DXt5 with a height alpha makes more sense. I just assumed the textured I referred to that the Dxt5_nm had a height map, But because not everything looks good with a parallax I just checked and the sources I sited didn't use a parallax.

[Jade MacSpade]

Looking great!
Will Ambient Occlusion be added also? It would be great improvement

[flora]

Looking great!
Will Ambient Occlusion be added also? It would be great improvement

I agree that would help a lot.

[Beulah Bell]

Are you concerned with the file size?

[mishionary]

Are you concerned with the file size?

Let's say a texture is 1024 x 1024. Take that texture size and apply it to every single map. Your total texture size may end up being 4096 or 8192. That's a lot just for two texture. By putting them in an alpha channel the size with be bigger With the alpha channel but not as big as everything being separate. Because an alpha channel only needs to be 4 bits. That and also the mipmap may work easier.

This is just my thinking. Nothing more. Ideas are just suggestions.

[Mackenzie]

Let's say a texture is 1024 x 1024. Take that texture size and apply it to every single map. Your total texture size may end up being 4096 or 8192. That's a lot just for two texture. By putting them in an alpha channel the size with be bigger With the alpha channel but not as big as everything being separate. Because an alpha channel only needs to be 4 bits. That and also the mipmap may work easier.

This is just my thinking. Nothing more. Ideas are just suggestions.

Using mipmaps to store alpha, normals, parralax is an interesting concept. However I know of no function to make use of it in programming.

You know Skydye, some engines today don't really care; some of them make a huge lookup textures which is like packing all textures into one huge file, and have lookup codes to see what to load from the file and where. many do this. One very early example is quake.

For my engine, for my old project we were going to do this per "cell" in game. We'd have something like 128 or so per cell and would preload it into memory once you get close to another cell. With good memory management it could be really effective.

[Dezzeh]

Are new animations within the scope of this project? Or would that have to be something done as a fan project?

[bonita mathews]

Are new animations within the scope of this project? Or would that have to be something done as a fan project?

Animation replacers are just like textures and meshes, they are made by animators, so to answer your question, nope. It's not really in the scope of a bunch of programmers.