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Using Deep AI to Retexture Sacred 2


Flix

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2 hours ago, Flix said:

The "Default" texture setting would be appropriate for you then, I think.  If you're zoomed that far out then you'd likely be seeing the lower resolution DDS mipmaps anyway.

I did not notice any impact on the performance and on occasion I still can notice the difference(decors above the doors, etc.), so I am keeping elite on, but, actually yes, I do not see any huge jump in the quality between original and expansion(in theory it should be noticeable, since there is no elite textures for ice& blood), well, poor dragon mage is an exception:lol:

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Alright here is the infamous white shield with the AI upscaled diffuse map but the original normal map. It's more blurry and jagged but at least it has its original volume.

Also I added a shader to the blue orbs which makes them shift and swirl instead of a solid color so that's part of the difference.

Bl0v3X0.jpg

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6 hours ago, Flix said:

Also I added a shader to the blue orbs which makes them shift and swirl instead of a solid color so that's part of the difference.

Fantastic!:resp:

But since it's a normal map to blame, I wonder was this ai able to manage correctly normal maps in other cases?!

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16 hours ago, lacr said:

But since it's a normal map to blame, I wonder was this ai able to manage correctly normal maps in other cases?!

So far every normal map I've tried to upscale has turned the item black in-game.  But this has also happened with any original normal map that I've tried to edit and re-save, even without upscaling.  It's probably worth spending more time trying to perfect.

==============================

I've come around full circle now. I used the upscaling as an opportunity to retexture my original 3 Dragon Mage sets.  This was my very first mod project ever, and back then I was inexperienced and unskilled at texture work, so there's a lot of issues with the original maps.  I didn't make use of layers and I had a bad habit of saving a compressed DDS file then opening it again to re-edit, repeatedly.  This resulted in a lot of artifacts, similar to a JPG saved too many times.

Therefore I retextured from scratch, then upscaled, then touched up a few things like saturation and glow.

CM 1.50 Originals <------------> AI Upscaled Retex

f6pmptY.jpg    9n1GPTp.jpg

yMOwI7i.jpg    r3ra5GH.jpg

Gun9PIY.jpg    jKKMWYA.jpg

vwTCJe0.jpg    HBqDC5Q.jpg

X9toFOn.jpg    Hrziri4.jpg

LUU20Ny.jpg    AyElc93.jpg

I looked at other Dragon Mage armor but honestly it wasn't too bad.  I upscaled the base robe/boots/braces, as well as the "Magic" set of standard armor which seemed the worst of the lot.  This included the Christmas set.  And while it was improvement, the difference was minimal so I decided to leave the rest of the DM gear alone.

Ub79w7Q.jpg    fR9326I.jpg    REObRY0.jpg

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There was a comment that the new Dragon Mage armors may have lost some "dirt" and therefore some texture, looking less worn in.

That was pretty much the intent.  What may look like dirt is really the result of terrible texture editing techniques.  I hope this demonstrates:

The original is full of blocky artifacts because instead of pulling out elements that I wanted to recolor and darken (the green), I just applied changes to the whole thing.  So various pixels get darker and recolored, making the white part look all uneven and muddy.  Also I saved in compressed format and then reopened to edit again and again, which causes colored pixels to spontaneously appear all over the more you do it.

WKWVeHK.jpg

With the retex I started from scratch, recoloring, then upscaling, then tweaking hue, contrast, and saturation.  The mutation sets are supposed to look pristine IMO.

nlccp6X.jpg

 

It's a similar story with the other set textures.  They were never meant to look sprayed with filth.  I just had no idea how to work with layers.

okbqGPm.jpg

DjT3sMS.jpg

 

79BXO92.jpg

n7CYe3r.jpg

 

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intereseting... this is making me actually rethink what could be worse or better?

vinyl or cd?

to each his own?

I'm excited and fear for, at the same time , all art history in games, paintings and movies... 

:cool:

gogo

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1 hour ago, gogoblender said:

vinyl or cd?

Actually, in this particular case there is no choice:lol:

The style is defined by art designers from the developer team and should be followed by in most scenarios:dntknw:

Mods like "realistic grass", could end up in a "realistic roads, realistic water, realistic skin, realistic buildings, realistic weapons, realistic trees, realistic sky" and completely unrealistic skyrim:D

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7 hours ago, Flix said:

Uh oh.  Am I unwittingly following in the footsteps of the failed art restoration projects?

Many modders are trying to go in the reversal direction, they do,however, not consider 2 facts:

1) if several pictures will be looking like 1st one and all others still remain like the third - it will be like having milk with pickles for a dessert

2) most of artist can draw a more realistic picture than, say "Portrait of Madame Ginoux", still nobody will appreciate swapping one of their picture with a Van Gogh's in a museum

So, it's a good thing that you was able to get rid of unintended artifacts and your new retex is closer to the original:resp:

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I'm not sure how much the changes can be appreciated if you're not on 2k or 4k resolutions... but here is a good comparison of Blood Forest retextures.  I didn't go nuts and do the whole region.  Mainly I just focused on the vegetation and architecture.  It's most obvious if you look at the broken tower directly behind the Dragon Mage, or the platform he's standing on.  Close-ups would also show a big difference.  I'll see if I can't make some more comparisons this week.

Before:

jIT8GXf.jpg

After:

rUGR45z.jpg

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On 12/7/2020 at 8:53 AM, Flix said:

I'm not sure how much the changes can be appreciated if you're not on 2k or 4k resolutions.

I am pretty sure I ll easily notice bricks even at HD, vegetation, though, will require quite a close look, probably...

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  • 1 month later...
13 hours ago, nimpo said:

Will be awesome if the entire game could get an HD texture rework, although elite textures exist but it don't cover all.

 

 

And a hearty welcome to the forums nimpo... enjoy Flix's briliant mod... AI is here!

:superman:

 

gogo

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@Flix I've ran the entirety of mq files released after the original Elite Textures through Topaz Ggapixel AI. While the diffuse textures react well, all processed normal textures give erroneous glow patches. The ones recreated from the processed diffuse textures are fine.

However, I'm beginning to question the value of upgraded normal textures versus better conforming to the 400 MB texture cache limit. Are the upgraded normal textures actually worth it? Unlike the upgraded diffuse textures they don't seem to be an eye-candy enough, while taking up a lot of valuable space.

 

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47 minutes ago, dimitrius154 said:

Are the upgraded normal textures actually worth it?

Probably not. I may have added 1 new normal map for every 10 diffuse textures.  I just picked the most egregiously poor maps to upgrade. You'd just have to look at them and use your best judgment.

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