SS2 list of broken and lowpoly objects that need fixing

[6737531b7fabcOlfred]

There is no poly missing, it simply is a transparent texture which gives this look when viewed from the side/top.

I'll try getting to it in the next couple of days.

[6737531b7fc4eOlfred]

Sorry it took so long, I'm pretty busy right now.

I've added a new backface to the normal model so it should look a bit better now, but far from good.

Then I've made a solid version of the sight and added it to the model.
Because of the very small texture there is a lot of texture smoothing going on which results in a lot of "transparent holes" on the sight.
I've considered it too much stretching and bending of the UV map and just removed all the pink parts on the texture so it won't happen. So keep in mind to get the texture along with the models.

[6737531b7fdd7voodoo47]

I'll play with everything in a couple of days, thanks.

[6737531b7fecfvoodoo47]

lets try to bump that waste barrel with sloped trash surface.

trash.bin - Waste Barrel (-155)

[6737531b7ffd7Olfred]

Should it be standing like the original model or laying on it's side like the picture?

[6737531b8011bZylonBane]

I'd say it doesn't matter, whatever's easier. It'll be a case-by-case replacement so each object will be getting individually tweaked anyway.

[6737531b802e3voodoo47]

I'm slightly leaning towards not doing anything with the model orientation - hopefully this will allow seamless integration into fixed objects (so just sloping the trash surface exactly as seen on my mspaint masterpiece is enough). this assumes that IG have used pitch to lay down all the flipped barrels in the game, which is probably not the case, but one way or another, I think requiring the mapper to flip the barrel in the editor when building a level is the way to go.


//surprisingly, they almost did - earth 133, many 921, medsci2 2241, command2 695, ops4 1320, rick2 518 use pitch, only rick1 812 and earth 197 use bank. so yeah, including this in fixed objects and dml rigging the maps will be easy.

also, this will probably make things incompatible with the exclusive trash mod.

[6737531b803dbOlfred]

Do you have any new texture for the trash in mind? Currently it's w_head and that's kind of non fitting if you take a closer look.

[6737531b804c6ZylonBane]

The example image above was made using SHTUP's trash texture, trash2.gif. I don't know if it would be appropriate for a spilled-out trash texture though.

[6737531b8063evoodoo47]

it's not spilled out, it's just a bit more gravity-friendly. using the original assets should be fine for just sloping the surface as shown on the picture - basically if the actual new model ends up looking like the fake I posted, we're good.

the original trash texture will still look lowres as hell, and SHTUP texture will still look completely 2D, but that's not something we are fixing here right now.


//ah, I see, SHTUP uses its own bin. lets try to modify that one then. //not quite, it just references different textures. in that case, it doesn't matter which bin gets modified, as long as a trash texture is mapped to the newly sloped surface, things should be ok, as we can hexedit it later if needed.

[6737531b8071cOlfred]

Well, I can just do both.

[6737531b80823voodoo47]

it's up to you really.

[6737531b80945voodoo47]

also, there is this ancient mod where I think an incorrect flag has been set when exporting, resulting in things looking blocky - if fixing this is just setting the flag and exporting again, please do.

[6737531b80ab3Olfred]

Here's the spilled trashcan for now.
If you want anything changed about the spillblob I can easily adjust it.
I thought about choosing the right side for the spilling, but on the earth map alone the trashcans are already flipped over to different sides, so I just picked one by random.
Included is also a shtup version which uses trash3.* as a texture name. (This texture doesn't exist.)
About the ancient mod. It would require more than just hitting the right flag for it to look good.
Sure I could just make everything smoth shaded, but that would ruin the hard edges.
I'll take a look at it when I have more time at my hand.

[6737531b80c18voodoo47]

looks like both models aren't referencing the textures properly anymore (as far as I can tell, SHTUP should reference trash.gif and trash2.gif, the vanilla trash.pcx and w_head.pcx), and the spill should be rotated so that the first earth barrel could be model swapped without touching its position, if possible (the spill is now on the "back" side, instead of the "bottom", almost all topped over barrels use this position).

from what I can tell, the trash glob looks a bit too chunky, maybe trim it down a little?
[slopetrash.jpg expired]

[6737531b80d36Olfred]

My hopes were just too high for you to be satisfied on the first try D:
Here's the bin for now, once everything is good I will include the sources.

I choose trash3.* because trash2 was especially made for the "in bin" purpose and wouldn't beautifully translate over to the spilled version.
I can also include a UV map if wanted.

[6737531b80e70voodoo47]

I see. yeah, that will do ok for the vanilla bin, but as you mentioned, this doesn't play too well with the SHTUP trash surface texture, so ZB will probably have to have a look.

the upper part of the trash is still kind of bulky, but I can live with that.
[shtupnope.jpg expired]

[6737531b80facZylonBane]

Hey Olfred, there was something I'd been meaning to ask you about. The blue nerves in the Body of the Many have these dendrite-looking things coming off them. They've been on my SHTUP to-update list forever, but even if I did update them, they'd still be flat sprites, which have always looked terrible. I was wondering how difficult it would be to 3D-model those things directly into the nerve models. In a more simplified form of course, but still with some depth.

At work right now so can't provide screenshots/specifics.

[6737531b81091voodoo47]

U-Shaped Nerve -3437 nerveU.bin
Straight Nerve -3438 NerveST.bin
[fuglythings.jpg expired]

[6737531b813c2Olfred]

the upper part of the trash is still kind of bulky, but I can live with that.

You have the first model.

About the nerves, sure I can do that. But I would suggest to still keep the plane and just give some of the thicker parts a volume and keep the fine details as flat.
Just need to find some time I currently have nothing off.

[6737531b8152cvoodoo47]

playing around with transparent textures for the wormskin armor, and it seems like it needs the same treatment as vodka bottles - I was calling it "making the model alpha (1.0) friendly", but no idea whether that actually is correct, and whether it will help in this case, but no harm in trying, I suppose - any chance you could have a look in the next couple of days?

attaching the model, including the (partially transparent) texture it's supposed to work with (archetype Worm Skin -84).
[wormskin.7z expired]

[6737531b8162aOlfred]

Currently not at home. Will check the following days.
But basically you will get some sort of fragmented look. I'll try to minimize it but can't fully.

[6737531b81708ZylonBane]

Personally I think just rounding out the sharp corners would be enough.

[6737531b81894voodoo47]

you mean carving the ragged edges into the model instead of messing with transparent edges on the texture? yeah, that might do as well. basically, I'm aiming for something like this;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBOxOgPNctI

this is the vanilla model with the new texture (in my previous post), however to render it properly, alpha test must be forced (mtl), which makes the edges very hard, with pretty much no way of making them softer (adding alpha will not work) - so having a model that would work with alpha (producing soft edges) would be much preferable.