Ok. I said earlier that i feel the pack is too light and friendly compared to Skyrim. But that wasn't quite the way i ment it.
Two things about that. First off, to me generally Skyrim feels more contrasted and a bit darker. Something like this:
The second thing is. In Skyrim the nature is very pretty, but it is quite rough. It's far up north and the trees etc. look weathered and a bit beaten up. This also applies to houses, armors and building materials. I think you nailed this on the stone materials, but the wood(not so much the birch log), torch and glass looks a bit too perfect imo. Some screens to show what i mean:
That being said. I would guess it's much harder to make it look good with more "imperfections" in the textures. And the shapes of the wood allready gives me the right feel.
The mossy stone brick looks awesome(Solitude right? ), but it will become dependant on ctm for it to not look too repetitive.
Ok, I will look for more stuff to pick on
I suppose you really only begin to understand the problems with high contrast and grittiness once you start making high contrast, gritty textures. I keep forgetting that some of you guys don't have the same perspective as me on this.
Anyway, musing aside, the simple answer is that it looks bad when your tile size is small. It especially looks bad in minecraft, because you get this graininess that is just awful. Trust me on this-- my first texture attempts for this pack, which none of you have seen, looked fabulous in photoshop, but puke-worthy in the game. They were strange and stark, and overall did not make for a good minecraft experience.
The main translation issue is with the way the textures scale. At long distances, the textures in skyrim are exchanged for low contrast, less-detailed versions. This allows the landscape to look good both up close and far away. Minecraft can't do this, so if you design only for up close, everything at a distance looks terrible. If you want to see what it looks like when a pack takes the same textures used by skyrim and applies them straight to minecraft, go take a look around PMC. (You'll quickly realize that the effect is awful, and not something anyone wants to use).
As for lighting, I do intend to create a custom lightmap. I haven't gotten there yet, but hopefully that will make the experience better for you.
(And the stone brick is actually from Markarth, btw. ;))
I think Steel can fix the issue of being too light with custom lightmaps or whatever they're called. At least I hope she makes a custom one.
edit: Creepers are really tough to think of. On top of my head Magic Anomaly seems closest to exploding suicide monsters. http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Magic_Anomaly
Since transparent mobs are supported by default, you could just make it a floating head texture.
Interesting idea, but magic anomalies just come across as annoying, while creepers are f***ing scary.
Y'know, if you're still accepting beta testers, I'd love to try this out, get some screenshots, etc. After reaching level 46 in Skyrim (And punching Dragons to death. . .) I think I'm at least slightly knowledgeable on the game.
Also, it'd be awesome if pistons could be the Dwemer pistons you see in ruins.
-I'm not sure what you mean by grass blurriness.... pics please?
I was up all night working and my vision went a little blurry sometimes, upon looking at it again I have no complaints.
Oh, some questions/ideas. I assume that some of you may know the map by BlockFortress, and maybe when the pack gets further in development you could contact him to get a compatible link of this pack on the map page. It gets quite a lot of downloads every day despite being a 3-month-old map, so it'd be a good way to spread the word provided you can work something out. I suppose jungle textures could be as simple as the trees from Elsweyr, so not too much different from any other pack. Also, would you consider using CTM to make one of the blocks look like a standing stone when it's a two-high pillar?
And I may as well throw in a screenshot of a house that I've created and modified to not have default textures in it; no fancy editing or shaders.
I think the pack is a bit too saturated just as a first impression, and a bit light although a good lightmap will solve that problem completely while giving it a nicer atmosphere. That being said though, I think the stone textures should be darkened a bit (this is actual stone, not cobble, stonebrick, etc.) because the stone is currently much brighter than the dirt whereas in skyrim the dirt and stone are pretty much equal in terms of how dark they are.
Example of skyrim
Example of your pack - you can see it's currently just a bit too saturated to really bring across that 'skyrim mood' (I think it's mostly the trees)
Anyway, I had more suggestions like the blackreach mushrooms down below and stuff but they've been suggested already...
I do think yellow flowers should be dragons tongue though (I'll take a nice reference pic in just a bit), it's a unique looking plant but it does look really nice with deathbells (at least in skyrim anyway)
Also, the left hand side of your vines are a bit too straight. Lovely textures themselves for everything though, just needs a bit of tweaking!
I'd like to beta test!
A few reasons why I'd be good? I have a good computer, so I can play with a high-res texture pack and still use the top graphic settings. I will be using MCPatcher. I have a decent few buildings and towns and such on a couple of private servers I use, and so will be able to view the pack in a variety of building styles, and not just natural landscapes.
I think the pack is a bit too saturated just as a first impression, and a bit light although a good lightmap will solve that problem completely while giving it a nicer atmosphere. That being said though, I think the stone textures should be darkened a bit (this is actual stone, not cobble, stonebrick, etc.) because the stone is currently much brighter than the dirt whereas in skyrim the dirt and stone are pretty much equal in terms of how dark they are.
Example of skyrim
Example of your pack - you can see it's currently just a bit too saturated to really bring across that 'skyrim mood' (I think it's mostly the trees)
Anyway, I had more suggestions like the blackreach mushrooms down below and stuff but they've been suggested already...
I do think yellow flowers should be dragons tongue though (I'll take a nice reference pic in just a bit), it's a unique looking plant but it does look really nice with deathbells (at least in skyrim anyway)
Also, the left hand side of your vines are a bit too straight. Lovely textures themselves for everything though, just needs a bit of tweaking!
-I see your point about the saturation. I'll try toning it down and see what happens.
EDIT: How's this?
Before:
After:
-Ditto for stone
-Will fix the vines. Something seemed off, but I couldn't pinpoint what.
-Already planned to make yellow flowers into dragon's tongue.
I was up all night working and my vision went a little blurry sometimes, upon looking at it again I have no complaints.
Oh, some questions/ideas. I assume that some of you may know the map by BlockFortress, and maybe when the pack gets further in development you could contact him to get a compatible link of this pack on the map page. It gets quite a lot of downloads every day despite being a 3-month-old map, so it'd be a good way to spread the word provided you can work something out. I suppose jungle textures could be as simple as the trees from Elsweyr, so not too much different from any other pack. Also, would you consider using CTM to make one of the blocks look like a standing stone when it's a two-high pillar?
And I may as well throw in a screenshot of a house that I've created and modified to not have default textures in it; no fancy editing or shaders.
I'd like to beta test!
A few reasons why I'd be good? I have a good computer, so I can play with a high-res texture pack and still use the top graphic settings. I will be using MCPatcher. I have a decent few buildings and towns and such on a couple of private servers I use, and so will be able to view the pack in a variety of building styles, and not just natural landscapes.
If this pack was a person, I would be a stalker with binoculars and a camera.
It's late so I don't have the capacity to post comments right now, but I shall later!
My first few minutes with the pack: It's kinda hard to test much, because a majority of my buildings use spruce wood, which is still default. However, I think the glass is a bit too perfect. It's all nice, shiny metal. Maybe it should have some browner, less shiny spots? I dunno. The tall grass all being the same image and looking like a bush or whatever makes it look kind of odd. It doesn't blend naturally with the grass, and although an occasional bush would look nice, it doesn't quite fit in plains biomes, where there are bushes everywhere.
Still, it looks really good so far.
Edit: Now I'm not sure about the bushy grass, maybe it does fit. I dunno. :S
As for why I'd be a good tester: I've played a LOT of Skyrim (over 900 hours says steam O_o), and am fairly knowledgeable about Elder Scrolls lore in general. On top of that, I've had some experience with texturing, especially with MCPatcher features, so I could offer some insight there as well.
If this pack was a person, I would be a stalker with binoculars and a camera.
It's late so I don't have the capacity to post comments right now, but I shall later!
My first few minutes with the pack: It's kinda hard to test much, because a majority of my buildings use spruce wood, which is still default. However, I think the glass is a bit too perfect. It's all nice, shiny metal. Maybe it should have some browner, less shiny spots? I dunno. The tall grass all being the same image and looking like a bush or whatever makes it look kind of odd. It doesn't blend naturally with the grass, and although an occasional bush would look nice, it doesn't quite fit in plains biomes, where there are bushes everywhere.
Still, it looks really good so far.
Edit: Now I'm not sure about the bushy grass, maybe it does fit. I dunno. :S
It's supposed to be tufts of grass, not bushes, fyi.
As for why I'd be a good tester: I've played a LOT of Skyrim (over 900 hours says steam O_o), and am fairly knowledgeable about Elder Scrolls lore in general. On top of that, I've had some experience with texturing, especially with MCPatcher features, so I could offer some insight there as well.
Hi Steel, had a quick play but will take a proper look with feedback over the weekend, family, CH, work getting me tied down
Some very nice texture work going on, and a few areas here and there I can bring to your attention while some have already been pointed out by others.
One area i do look forward to is when you get onto the weapons with all those great designs/ref from the game you are going to have a field day getting your mouse/tablet into those
I was doing some testing to see what might work best as a standing stone, and in the process I came up with this:
Unfortunately, pistons seem to be the only 'solid' block that beacon light can pass through aside from glass. It's pretty cool how you can set this up to give a boost to the player while nearby, and it lights up the area too! Also, a bug with the stone bricks:
I'd just shade that area a bit or merge it with the grout. Nice work on the planks!
I was thinking stone tools could be falmer-themed, since they're both primitive. It depends on how much you care that stone turning in to chaurus stuff for tools doesn't make sense.
I was thinking stone tools could be falmer-themed, since they're both primitive. It depends on how much you care that stone turning in to chaurus stuff for tools doesn't make sense.
I was doing some testing to see what might work best as a standing stone, and in the process I came up with this:
Unfortunately, pistons seem to be the only 'solid' block that beacon light can pass through aside from glass. It's pretty cool how you can set this up to give a boost to the player while nearby, and it lights up the area too! Also, a bug with the stone bricks:
I'd just shade that area a bit or merge it with the grout. Nice work on the planks!
That's not a bug, that's the highlight on the edge of the stone. Unless you're referring to the darker region to the left of it, in which case that's the edge of the brick, which is partially visible.
Hi Steel, had a quick play but will take a proper look with feedback over the weekend, family, CH, work getting me tied down
Some very nice texture work going on, and a few areas here and there I can bring to your attention while some have already been pointed out by others.
One area i do look forward to is when you get onto the weapons with all those great designs/ref from the game you are going to have a field day getting your mouse/tablet into those
That's not a bug, that's the highlight on the edge of the stone. Unless you're referring to the darker region to the left of it, in which case that's the edge of the brick, which is partially visible.
I'll elaborate; the 'edge' just seems too flat when it's right next to that brighter area where the highlight is. It's just fine when used on the opposite side where it's darker, but I feel like something similar to these sloppy one-minute edits would work better:
Maybe it's just me, so I'd understand if you didn't feel the need to change it.
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Retired StaffI suppose you really only begin to understand the problems with high contrast and grittiness once you start making high contrast, gritty textures. I keep forgetting that some of you guys don't have the same perspective as me on this.
Anyway, musing aside, the simple answer is that it looks bad when your tile size is small. It especially looks bad in minecraft, because you get this graininess that is just awful. Trust me on this-- my first texture attempts for this pack, which none of you have seen, looked fabulous in photoshop, but puke-worthy in the game. They were strange and stark, and overall did not make for a good minecraft experience.
The main translation issue is with the way the textures scale. At long distances, the textures in skyrim are exchanged for low contrast, less-detailed versions. This allows the landscape to look good both up close and far away. Minecraft can't do this, so if you design only for up close, everything at a distance looks terrible. If you want to see what it looks like when a pack takes the same textures used by skyrim and applies them straight to minecraft, go take a look around PMC. (You'll quickly realize that the effect is awful, and not something anyone wants to use).
As for lighting, I do intend to create a custom lightmap. I haven't gotten there yet, but hopefully that will make the experience better for you.
(And the stone brick is actually from Markarth, btw. ;))
Interesting idea, but magic anomalies just come across as annoying, while creepers are f***ing scary.
Also, it'd be awesome if pistons could be the Dwemer pistons you see in ruins.
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Retired StaffExcellent idea! I was wondering what to do about pistons.
I shall also send you a beta test link. Welcome to the club.
I was up all night working and my vision went a little blurry sometimes, upon looking at it again I have no complaints.
Oh, some questions/ideas. I assume that some of you may know the map by BlockFortress, and maybe when the pack gets further in development you could contact him to get a compatible link of this pack on the map page. It gets quite a lot of downloads every day despite being a 3-month-old map, so it'd be a good way to spread the word provided you can work something out. I suppose jungle textures could be as simple as the trees from Elsweyr, so not too much different from any other pack. Also, would you consider using CTM to make one of the blocks look like a standing stone when it's a two-high pillar?
And I may as well throw in a screenshot of a house that I've created and modified to not have default textures in it; no fancy editing or shaders.
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Curse PremiumExample of skyrim
Example of your pack - you can see it's currently just a bit too saturated to really bring across that 'skyrim mood' (I think it's mostly the trees)
Anyway, I had more suggestions like the blackreach mushrooms down below and stuff but they've been suggested already...
I do think yellow flowers should be dragons tongue though (I'll take a nice reference pic in just a bit), it's a unique looking plant but it does look really nice with deathbells (at least in skyrim anyway)
Also, the left hand side of your vines are a bit too straight. Lovely textures themselves for everything though, just needs a bit of tweaking!
A few reasons why I'd be good? I have a good computer, so I can play with a high-res texture pack and still use the top graphic settings. I will be using MCPatcher. I have a decent few buildings and towns and such on a couple of private servers I use, and so will be able to view the pack in a variety of building styles, and not just natural landscapes.
(Plus I just really wanna use this pack.)
There's yet more to come!
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Retired Staff-I see your point about the saturation. I'll try toning it down and see what happens.
EDIT: How's this?
Before:
After:
-Ditto for stone
-Will fix the vines. Something seemed off, but I couldn't pinpoint what.
-Already planned to make yellow flowers into dragon's tongue.
Take your time. But no longer than 3 minutes. :3
Nice screenshot!
Doooo eeeet.
Okay, you've convinced me.
Link incoming.
It's late so I don't have the capacity to post comments right now, but I shall later!
Twitter: @Levaunt
Still, it looks really good so far.
Edit: Now I'm not sure about the bushy grass, maybe it does fit. I dunno. :S
There's yet more to come!
As for why I'd be a good tester: I've played a LOT of Skyrim (over 900 hours says steam O_o), and am fairly knowledgeable about Elder Scrolls lore in general. On top of that, I've had some experience with texturing, especially with MCPatcher features, so I could offer some insight there as well.
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Retired StaffLooking forward to it!
It's supposed to be tufts of grass, not bushes, fyi.
You've been linked.
Some very nice texture work going on, and a few areas here and there I can bring to your attention while some have already been pointed out by others.
One area i do look forward to is when you get onto the weapons with all those great designs/ref from the game you are going to have a field day getting your mouse/tablet into those
Maybe it just looks "wrong" to me because I'm used to tall grass just being slightly taller grass, rather than tufts like this.
There's yet more to come!
Unfortunately, pistons seem to be the only 'solid' block that beacon light can pass through aside from glass. It's pretty cool how you can set this up to give a boost to the player while nearby, and it lights up the area too! Also, a bug with the stone bricks:
I'd just shade that area a bit or merge it with the grout. Nice work on the planks!
There's yet more to come!
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Retired StaffExcellent idea.
I think you're right. A dark/broody sky = instant atmosphere
That's not a bug, that's the highlight on the edge of the stone. Unless you're referring to the darker region to the left of it, in which case that's the edge of the brick, which is partially visible.
Comes from almost 2 years of hard work building a reputation.
Or maybe people just think I'm amusing and humor me, who knows.
Looking forward to your full review.
Also, could I get in on the beta test?
I'll elaborate; the 'edge' just seems too flat when it's right next to that brighter area where the highlight is. It's just fine when used on the opposite side where it's darker, but I feel like something similar to these sloppy one-minute edits would work better:
Maybe it's just me, so I'd understand if you didn't feel the need to change it.