ob5idian

Much as I'd like to pay $20 for UC, I must say that I agree with your actions here. Good luck.

Much as I'd like to pay $20 for UC, I must say that I agree with your actions here. Good luck.

Reported.

GRS-Black Dahlia, For a Mk. II. The Black Dahlia was the nickname of Elizabeth Short, a woman who lived in LA trying to make it as an actress. In 1947 she was murdered, her body left in a field in several pieces. I thought the name sounded cool, and had intimidation value befitting the imposing Mk-II.

Yeah, I use a Saitek Cyborg 3d Gold too, but that's mostly because I'm left-handed.

Damn, and here I thought this whole deal was pretty much dead. Well, apparently not. If anybody's donwloaded the textures, please do tell me how you liked (or didn't like) them. I still toy around with this whole deal every once-in-a-while, but if nobody's interested I won't bother to release the changes. Any input is still welcome. Also, if Fractux would be so kind as to tell me how many downloads he's gotten, that'd be nice.

And many thanks to Fractux for hosting them.

Well, thank God. I was wondering if anybody was going to pitch in.

I touched up every single texture there is. Even the dinky ones.

See, now, that's all that I'm asking.

Okay, I know that some people have downloaded the packs. At least 20, as far as I know. And I haven't gotten a single response. Please, please, please, give me your opinions. Good or bad, I don't care, just something. The packs are easy to install, extremely safe, and all changes are very easy to undo. So please, give the packs a try. At worst, you uninstall them and move on. But no matter what, please give me you input. On that note, thanks to all that have tried the packs already. Fractux has the FPS pack, with the new character skins. He'll likely put them up sometime soon. Again, please, please do give me your input. Thanks again.

Thank you, Tyrn, for remedying that problem. I was unaware that the GBS forum applied to all mods, and for lack of a better place I stuck this topic in "General". Please accept my apologies. Now that that's done with, the last part of the new ship textures is going to Fractux right now. Again, please do tell me your impressions. If you've the time, please download at least one of the parts of the set and give them a look. It only takes a minute, and is easily reversible. I appreciate all the attention this topic has been getting, but the lack of feedback (positive or negative) is a bit discouraging. So, please do throw in your oar. I'm listening.

Well, I like pie too. But, the real question is, do you like the new skins?

There's some pics on the first page of this thread, but they're pics of older versions. The new skins are much cleaner. Try the demo skin, if you're feeling hesitant. I'll put up new demo pics soon, but it's so easy to intall the skin pack (and, if need be, reverse the install) that you really shouldn't hesitate to try them. If you don't like the skins, it's just a matter of cut and pasting the old ones back in. Easy as pie. [ 05-15-2003, 01:20 AM: Message edited by: ob5idian ]

Sorry. Sending now. Give it a few minutes.

Okay, I've sent the second part on its way. Special thanks to Fractux and $ilk for hosting. If you've downloaded and tried the new skins, please do me the small favor of telling me what you think. Thanks again.

Okay, Fractux now has at least the first third of the new ship textures. It's all up to him now... Happy downloading!

Sorry, things've been a bit crazy over here. My email was shut off today for God-knows-what reason, so please be patient. Trust me, it's worth it.

I just got back. Sorry, I still can't access the FTP, so I'm going to email the packages to Toxic Frog tomorrow. As for the planetary textures, I'm working on it as we (I) speak. Just keep your pants on. Toxic From, please private message me you email address so I can send the zip to you. I also may try Fractux. Thank you all for your patience.

Sorry. That one's my little secret. BTW, if anybody can be emailed a ~23 meg file in the next hour or so, tell me here and I might be able to email the pack to you. Then, if you could, you could try and upload it to $ilk's FTP while I'm gone. Sorry to be a drag.

I'm afraid that I'm having trouble uploading. I'd try and fix it, but I have to leave in about an hour, and I'll be gone until tomorrow night. The packs are done, however, so just sit tight. Until tomorrow. [ 05-09-2003, 04:37 PM: Message edited by: ob5idian ]

You can try out the demo skin now, if you'd like. It's the same as the one in the full ship pack, and if it works the rest will too. Thanks for the offer. By the way, I've finished packing the character model/building skins. They haven't really changes since that earlier pic of the marine, so you know what to expect this time. This zip is about 9 meg, so if $ilk is willing to host this one too, I'd be happy to send him one. Not that this package only includes character model skins and new textures for planetary buildings. It can be used with or without the ship skins (and vice versa). I think you'll enjoy these as well. [ 05-09-2003, 01:13 AM: Message edited by: ob5idian ]

Bad news, then. It's about 23 megs. Just tell me when you're ready, and I'll send it over.

Okay, some people have been asking me how this is done, so I'll try to explain it simply. First, I take the original texture. I then replicate the original image and layer it on top of the original. I isolate and delete from the top layer all light sources, glass or otherwise smooth sections, and anything that shouldn't be given depth. I then isolate the red spectrum of the top layer, and exclude it. I then apply a wide-angle omnidirectional light and gloss layer, for a metallic look. I the reapply the red spectrum. Since the red has not been highlighted, it naturally looks shadowed, as if it were on a lower level than the other parts. The overall effect of this is that the top level looks as if the darker areas are deeper into the image. This also creates a bumpy texture on flat surfaces, where subtle color differences result in small, gradual highlighting. After the top layer has been processed thus, I use a filter to sharpen it. This increased the sense of depth even more. I then make the altered top layer half translucent. This allows the sharper bottom layer to blend with the slightly blurred top layer. This makes the image clearer (a major problem with earlier versions) and the lines more defined. The parts of the top layer that were deleted show through from the bottom layer brightly, giving them the appearance of being immaterial, much as real-life lighting flares are. I then replace the original BCM texture bmp file with the new version, increasing the resolution to 32 bit color. The game then simply applies the skin to the model ingame the same as before, since it can't tell that the texture is different. That's it. Simple as pie.

Okay, they're ready! $ilk, just tell me where to send them, and the pack is all yours. Same for Epsilon 5. [ 05-08-2003, 12:20 AM: Message edited by: ob5idian ]