Texture Reorg Progress

[sparhawk]

How is the reorg progress of the textures coming along? Can we meet the deadline for 18th?

[Gildoran]

I've just gotten out of school, and whenever I'm not doing chores I'll be spending my time on TDM. I should be able to make a lot of progress by the 18th, (I'll get a lot of the stone/tile textures moved) though I'm doubtful everything will be complete by then.

[sparhawk]

Hmmm... Well, I hope you can finish it as soon as possible, because it doesn't really make sense to release in the middle of it, right? Or should we release and put this in next time?

[Dram]

Or should we release and put this in next time?

 

Definately a bad idea, they'd have to replace texture -again- and it would make them very unhappy. I was thinking more a separate "patch" which puts them in etc.

[sparhawk]

That's IMO just as bad, because it is the same as putting it in the next release.

[SneaksieDave]

Suggestion: Just delay until this is ready. I'm sure it won't be much longer. Yes it's "oh noes another delay!" but it's the best option, and this is a pretty important thing.

[sparhawk]

That was the plan. IMO the reorg should definitely be finished before we release. That was the major reason why we waited until now.

[Dram]

Fair enough. I just thought you did'nt want to re-dalay it or whatnot.

[sparhawk]

You are right. I did not want to. But we have not much choice IMO.

[Springheel]

Gil, can you delegate any of this or do you have to do it yourself?

[Gildoran]

Hmm... I may need to try delegating some of the work; for me the hardest part is deciding what kinds of materials things should really be. I'm still having some trouble with stone vs. tile; SneaksieDave submitted a wonderful tile texture, though according to our standards it's not tile.

[Springheel]

Then don't classify it as 'tile'. Those definitions are only for sound purposes. I don't see why it's still so confusing.

[SneaksieDave]

It sure is shiny and fancy though...

 

/monkeywrench

[Gildoran]

The reason it's tricky is because it affects the texture's name (which category the mapper looks for the texture under). Anyway, I've been doing a lot of chores, but I have a day off today, so I'll see what I can get done.

[sparhawk]

Can you give us a date when you are finished with this? The release is just waiting for that, so I would like to have an idea when to expect it.

[Springheel]

The reason it's tricky is because it affects the texture's name

 

Well, that might make it tricky for the mapper to find a particular 'look' for their floor, but it's better they know what kind of sound it will make for the player.

 

Anyway, just let me know if you want any help.

[Gildoran]

I just wanted to say that the texture reorg is pretty much done. There's a few textures I haven't moved:

• The two pagan decal textures.
  
• The sfx textures.
  
• Most importantly, the window textures.
  

I haven't yet moved the window textures because I'd like to spend time researching different ways of doing windows to get a feel for what looks best. I'd like to suggest that we don't move the windows for the update, and tell mappers that we reserve the right to alter how windows are done in a future release, so they should only use current windows for placeholder purposes.

 

Eek... I just remembered, I need to add Sneaksie Dave's textures before the update... I'll get that done now.

[sparhawk]

Hmmm... If the windows also need to be changed, it's better now than later. I can understand that mappers get frustrated if we constantly break their maps. Such things should be decided as early as possible to avoid this.

 

Or at least, we can deliver it now as it is, and make a new update shortly after which does the windows. Would this be ok?

[Gildoran]

I suppose so... I just want some time to play around and see what sorts of window effects I can come up with.

 

At the very least, I don't like how we use different source images for different colored windows. (I feel that it's wasteful of memory and file sizes) I'd like to try to design a window texture that can be given any arbitrary color. I also have some ideas with using light spectrums to target specific parts of windows so that the frames and window-panes are hit by different lights, which could allow for better flexibility and nicer looking windows.

[sparhawk]

Well, I think we should fix this then within the next month. The longer we wait, the more annoying it will get.

[Gildoran]

I think a month should be more than enough time.

[sparhawk]

Cool! Did you also take into account that it's vacation time now? Are you going somewhere for your holidays or such?

[Gildoran]

I'm probably not going anywhere for summer vacation, so I'll hopefully have plenty of time.

[sparhawk]

Good.

[SneaksieDave]

Are the textures themselves actually moving (or becoming DDS or are old folders being purged, etc.)? I just sync'd up and only got MTR changes. Maybe it's not up yet...

 

*patient*