SS2 Vurt's Hi-Res Space Textures

[674f3428a9a61vurt]

Tags: °texture °SS2

Here's a new version of my hi-res space textures for SS2. Now in .dds format for use with the new Dark Engine patch.

Edit: New version as of 2024

[674f3428a9c8fCabron]

Oh my soo nice Vurt I didnt know you also did stuff for SS2...so happy and hope to see more from you

[674f3428a9eddvoodoo47]

are they modified/improved in any way or it's just the new format?

[674f3428aa008vurt]

They're modified, most of all it has more stars.

[674f3428aa381unn_atropos]

Always wondered if this is a reference to THX 1138

[674f3428aa53aZylonBane]

I still wish the nebulas didn't look so obviously fractal.

[674f3428aa954RocketMan]

A little late but here are some screens I took for you.  The software isn't set up properly to take skybox shots... it uses a cylindrical camera system, so I had one bitch of a time figuring out the view angles from altitude and azimuth to 90 degree spherical rots.  The angles are not perfect and the seams are not perfect but give or take about 10%, these are the "actual" real views from Tau Ceti.  This is EXACTLY what you would see if you were there.  There's a bit of a "fish eye" effect going on so although the images are rectangular the distortion from the center of the image outward is spherical, making the seams abruptly change angle at the borders.  I made the view such that the vantage point is in high orbit around Tau Ceti V.  The red dot in "North" is the sun.  I would recommend pasting over both the sun and the planet with better resolution suns and planets from internet images but to keep the proportions the same.  You'd also have to jazz it up in terms of colour and HDR stuff if it's too bland as is.  The modest resolution, I'm afraid, could not be helped but with stars you don't lose much as they're only dots.

Oh and for those wondering, that fuzzy band in the background of 4 of the images is not a nebula.  It's the milky way viewed from our vantage point, inside of it.

[674f3428aaaacvurt]

Nice, i'll take a look

[674f3428aabc8krist2]

thanks alot for the update

[674f3428aadafvoodoo47]

in case those textures will be used to make a "realistic" tau ceti hires space (would be awesome, btw), the same thing could be done for the earth space on station.mis - uploading and linking the earth image I've used before I lose it (again).

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B6HbtMBk0pYzM0lpaTZpeXFWZ0k (hires, 16MB 7zipped)

[674f3428aaea6RocketMan]

That's one hell of an image...

[674f3428aaff0voodoo47]

is it only me, or do some stars and other objects (in the dds version) look a bit sharper (sort of cardboard cutout look) than they really should be? hmm, might be just the old x1950 not supporting some smoothing feature, will investigate.

//ok, so it definitely looks a bit off on the x1950. will try some more modern card and see whether it goes away.

//nope, looks the same on dx10+ class hw as well.

[674f3428ab161carlos]

i dont speak english, and i dont understand it so much. but i need help, Wich programs do i need to run this space mod?, i just have sstools and  the game System shock 2. how can i install this mod?

[674f3428ab262voodoo47]

run the ss2tool, and patch your game with it. extract the the space textures archive into the DataPermMods folder. done.

[674f3428ab361carlos]

It works, thanks a lot, you reply very fast, thank again for help a noob player...
PD: Space looks cool now. Nice work

[674f3428ab45cakumaKAERU]

Great space Vurt!

What glass texture do I need to use to see them clearly ingame? When I use the mod I can see the space but it's heavily obscured by the glass...

[674f3428ab79aMarvin]

All windows have a blueish tint. DDS is not some magical file format, you know, just open it with IrfanView (for example).

[674f3428ab8cbakumaKAERU]

Sorry Marvin. I probably did not explain myself properly and have not provided a screenshot (which I intend to do now that I know how to take them ingame).

It is possible that I'm using an older computer with an older Intel graphics chip and the game is not rendering as clearly as it should. I was assuming that I had to replace the "glass" texture used in the windows to see more clearly.

[674f3428ab9b4someone]

what about source material? is it photoshop or is it Real space shots from NASA ?
if its not real, can you do it too plz?

[674f3428abad8vurt]

You can't just take someones photos and turn them into textures and then spread it, there's something called "copyright". The textures were made in a program called Spacescape.

However, if i ever go to space i will bring my Canon 500D with me, i promise

[674f3428abeccKolya]

Yes, there is something like copyright, but NASA specifically disclaims it. They're good people, these spacefarers.

NASA still images; audio files; video; and computer files used in the rendition of 3-dimensional models, such as texture maps and polygon data in any format, generally are not copyrighted. You may use NASA imagery, video, audio, and data files used for the rendition of 3-dimensional models for educational or informational purposes, including photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits, computer graphical simulations and Internet Web pages. This general permission extends to personal Web pages.

[674f3428ac074Join2]

 

Real space textures!

Would be great if they varied also, two or three. Example: first half of the game is a normal anomaly-free space, just stars or whatever, which can also be used for the space station at the beginning of the game along with the earth tex. Later on the Von Braun/Rickenbacker ends up in Vurt's current nebula texture or something different borrowed off of NASA. 

I've requested this before I think, but it would be great.

[674f3428ac191voodoo47]

you know what I would like to see at the station map? an authentic, fully dynamic space with blinking stars and everything, plus earth that would fully rotate after 24 ingame hours.

crazy? well, it's not like I have any real plans for the next 50 years or so..

[674f3428ac2afZylonBane]

Stars in space don't blink. That's an artifact of atmospheric distortion.

The rotating Earth we can do though. Just need an animated skybox with 99 frames and a really low frame rate.