Introduction

 

I will simply start by showing 2 pictures:

Click on the picture to see the actual difference in size and detail, and the difference is huge, i can asure that, and yes, it will show that super high quality ingame if you install the S3TC textures. And the texture shown here is not even a big texture, theres a fair amount of textures that are added with 4 or 16 times the resolution you can see in this example.

Here is a gallery that shows more examples like this one (will be added later on).

 

Here is also a set of screenshots from three widely used and known maps, take a look at all of them, and especially look at the enlargements so you really can see the difference. All the screenshots have been brightened somewhat so they are more easy to view on this website.

As you can see in the examples there is a big difference in the textures while using the S3TC textures. At this moment, not all textures in Unreal are available in S3TC textures, but over the past 2 years, hundreds of brandnew S3TC textures have been added, theres already a few packages that are almost 100% complete.

Specs for your computer to use these textures:

		S3TC Low End	S3TC High End
CPU:		Pentium 2 or Higher	Pentium 4
Videocard Mb:		32Mb, 64 Mb, 128 Mb	256 Mb, 384 Mb, 512 Mb
Videocard Support:		OpenGL and/or D3D8	OpenGL and/or D3D8

The choice between the High resolution or Low Resolution is completelly free and should only be concidered as an advise. At the end, you choose, between quality and good framerates. If you have doubts, download the High Resolution and see if they work for you, if not, than have a go with the Low Resolution versions.

Missing textures

If there are high resolution textures missing in the packages, than unreal simply uses the normal "old'' textures which are still in the packages, if you want to try the S3TC textures for yourself than proceed by clicking on the left menubar where it says Installation guides. If you have any problems, questions or remarks you can post them on the S3TC section on the forums from OldUnreal.

Important notes

One important note, do not use these packages for running a server or building maps, if you use the S3TC textures than you should make a secondary installation containing the normal Unreal textures for that. Regardless if you hear otherwise elswhere, do not use them for servers or mapping!

The Ureal-Retexturing-Project

If you want to know more about S3TC and the S3TC-Unreal-Retexturing-Project than proceed to the next chapter below.

What are S3TC textures?

Simply put, S3TC (S3 Texture Compression) is a technology that the S3 videocard company developed to compress textures in 3d games like Unreal.

Your current Unreal makes use of 256 color textures, in size they vary from 16 x 16 pixels up to 512 x 512 pixels. S3TC textures however are True color (16,777,216 colors) while the texture size Unreal/UT supports can be as high 4096 x 4096 pixels.

Needless to say that S3TC textures are of much higher quality than the normal Unreal textures. But than you will ask, doesn't this lag the game? Not really :), read this again ---> S3TC (S3 Texture Compression)

The fact that the compression can be that high and fast makes it possible to do this without lagging out your videocard. There is another interesting fact, the texture made for this project are the same quality as UT 2004 and on occassion even higher!!!

Below you see a comparising chart of Uncompressed Unreal BMP texture files and Compressed Unreal S3TC texture files.

As you can see above, the size theoretically can be 6 times the original Unreal texture size before video lag occurs. Now that the project progresses we already found out that ingame the textures can be at least 8 times bigger till video lag occurs, and at this moment we are about to go test if the size can be as high as 16 times the original size, because it seems that even that amount is very well possible. But it depends on the size of the viderocard's memory and computer memory iif it will cause video lag.

The missing Textures

As mentioned above, not all textures are in S3TC quality available. And this is where the Unreal - Retexturing - Project comes in. The project has as goal to replace all textures in Unreal for higher resolution versions. The project does not has as goal to change the game itself, we only want to make the textures in higher resolution in 24 bit true color without changing the Unreal atmosphere (or mood if you want). Unreal should feel the same as is was originally intended, just with incredible high detail in the graphics.

Examples of missing high resolution textures

Below are a few examples what happens if an S3TC texture is missing.

Note: All the examples shown here do not excist anymore, over the time they all have been replaced with high resolution version, in addition, all misaligned textures that were present have been replaced and have solved any misalighment. But the examples still serve as a good example, just that and nothing more.

This is a screenshot from DmDeck16, shot is taken by the amno close to the toxpool/flak area, in this shot you can see that the floor is S3TC texture while the wall and the box aren't.
		Click picture to enlarge.
This is a screenshot from DmSinfonia, the shot is taken by the elevator next to the eightball and amno, in this shot you can see that the mainfloor and the texture in the middle of the elevator are S3TC textures while the part around the elevator is an origional Unreal texture.
		Click picture to enlarge.
This is another screenshot from Dmsinfonia, this shot is taken in the room in front of the elevator by the belt. While the mainfloor is an S3TC texture the bloodstain which has the same floor background is an original Unreal texture. This in fact is a good example where it is noticable that theres two different textures running. Overall though i think Sinfonia looks awsome.
		Click picture to enlarge.
This is a screenshot from DmVertical+, the shot is taken by the sniper with sniper/eightball amno. Here you can see that the lower part of the floor which you will find all over Vertical (and where you can get stuck :) has a S3TC texture while the mainfloor isn't.
		Click picture to enlarge.
This last screenshot is also from DmVertical+, this is an ornament in the top part of the mainhall. The ornament itself is an S3TC texture while the side of it is a normal Unreal texture, the light surrounding the ornament and the extruding part of the wall on the right is also S3TC, while the wall itself is a normal Unreal texture.
		Click picture to enlarge.

 

Is it really a problem, yes and no, if you play, there is nothing wrong just that if the S3TC texture is not available it uses the normal Unreal textures, so often you will see a mix from old and new textures. Its just a pitty not all textures are there, so if a map doesn't contain S3TC textures, it simply looks as you are used too.

Server issues ?

Are there server issues?, nope there are not. Just an important remark:

Never, ever, ever, load any S3TC textures in your server !!!

Simply put, if you run a server you don't have to alter anything regarding to S3TC textures, its all done clientsided, not serversided !

Mapping issues ?

Are there mapping issues?, nope there are not. Just an important remark:

Don't install S3TC textures in the Unreal you use for making maps !!!

Also, never add S3TC textures to your maps, you need to use the normal Unreal textures packages for that. If you want to try the textures you have use a second Unreal installation for playing and testing with those textures, it is btw, always advisable to keep Unrealed and Unrealplay seperate !

Another problem that did surface, some mappers made use of the possiblity to embed textures into MyLevel, in normal circumstances this a very cool tool to prevent any mismatches or loss of packages belonging to that map. Regretebly this does not aply for S3TC. If textures are added to MyLevel, there can be no support for S3TC. Both normal and S3TC users are able to play your map normally, the textures just never can be converted to S3TC.............

The Unreal-Retexturing-Project

The Unreal - Retexturing - Project has as goal to create all the missing textures and to set usefull (read workable :) easy protocols and guidelines for everybody that is working on the project but also for mapbuilders that would like to see their maps supported with S3TC textures.

The full name of the project is S3TC Unreal-Retexturing-Project, for short you can also use URP or URProject , just take your pick. Maybe it will also be UR-Project :)

A short list of problems we are working on at this moment:

- We are still unable to replace textures in packages like UnrealShare.u and UnrealI.u which contains the textures used on weapons, skins, plants, etc.
- D3D support for the S3TC textures in Unreal. (should be fixed with the upcomming 227 Patch).
- 256 bit Alpha blending, theoretically it should be possible, tests so far were unsuccesfull.
- Both normal and S3TC Decal support.