mchlstrt

I gather there wasa thread on this but I haven't been able to find it with a search. The Mac downsamples all/some textures one step automatically? How do Mac Modders deal with this? Work @ hires & hope it looks ok to Winderers when downsampled to standard for them? Have 'The Makers' made any comment on this? Thanks strt [ February 06, 2003, 01:26 PM: Message edited by: mchlstrt ]

How about some kind of 'Mod Techniques' Thread or somesuch, like the FAQ Thread. Or putting EVERTHING Mod related in the BO Forum, with appropriate headers. Or something, anything... strt

I was checking out MikeyD's scratch-built Valentine (very good job) & juju's new Factory (also first-rate+) & it got me thinking about Modding again. What's the Deal w/ downsampleing & such on the Mac, & how do people handle &/or rationalize it? I was well into scratch-building the T-26 line, in double-hi-res as per many suggestions, & all was looking good. I had hit on the 'speckling' idea MikeyD mentioned (this is a Very Good technique, & worthy of it's own discussion) & downsampled to 'Standard' BB res to work on it. The results were so disheartening it knocked me right out of the box (along w/ other RL demands on my time & attention). This was just when the Mac Graphics, er, eccentricities were being recognized. I'm no great loss to Modding (too slow & finicky), but it might be helpful to the Mod Community as a whole to gather this info into one 'as everyone knows' kind of pile. A very high % of our Mod Talent Pool is on that platform. strt

Somebody referred to this already, but I'll bring it up again. Whenever any Graphics Issue comes up re: CM it's important to remember that there is a lot more actually going on in CM than in most games, so the 'Total Graphical Differential' is not as large as it first seems. Also, BXX aims at the average actual installed computer base, as opposed to 'Pushing the Envelope', & I have to agree w/ this, considering how many 'CM is Overworking my System' Threads there are as it is. This is not to say they couldn't squeeze out more HP, or that I might make different compromises, or that we shouldn't discuss it. When the generally intelligent & thoughtful people on this Board take up an issue, within whatever 'Real Life' constraints apply, Very Good Ideas often come out of it. Not that I actually have any. strt

I just got an e-mail from Intrntnl Books saying 'Sorry, it turns out we don't actually have that Book', or something along those lines. So I'm still trying to find something for reference. I'm also bumping this thread up because it's helping a lot. Thanks strt

Digging thru the .BMP Folder I noticed that each type of Track ( there are like six or so shared by all Vehicles) has a clean, snowy, & muddy version included. I don't know what makes the 'muddy' version kick in. strt

I have to say that my tastes run in that direction also. However, as I got into Modding, I became more aware of the sort of things noted above. Check out my 'Grimy JT' in the last CMMOS batch. It's very 'shady', & that's the toned down version. When I was working on it, in a field by itself for quick load times, I had it looking VERY 3d, VERY dramatic, woohoo, I'm GOOD, I'm gonna change EVERYTHING around here. Well, the first problem of course is it doesn't actually spend much time sitting around in a sunny field by itself. Start adding in the other things & I basically spent a lot of time making a Mod that I'm proud of Artistically, but in the end is not actually that Useful (sigh). Regarding Dynamic Lighting, good Modders spend a lot of time making flat planes intersecting at sharp angles appear smooth & rounded. My concern would be that too much DL, at this point in The History of Computer Technology, could actully work against 'realism'. It seems to me the 'Art' is finding ways to push the 3D envelope within the inherent limits of The Game, & I'm very much into pushing this aspect of Modding. strt

So you guys are saying Blue was the 'official' color, but black was used a lot because of availability? strt (BTW, I do enjoy these kind of discussions & think they can be useful. I just find myself more & more concerned at how quickly they can go from Discussion & Debate to Rhetoric & a kind of Absolutism, particularly among the sort of reasonably intelligent & informed demographic represented so well by this Board. a Military book collecting friend of mine bought an old Jr High Public School Book from the '30s, "introduction to Logic". Thinking later about why he was interested enough to pick it up, he realized it was because he had never seen one before. Neither had I. I'd wager neither have most of you, at least in the US. But that's a whole other Topic. Carry on.)

I travel a bit w/ a PowerBook. I loaded it w/ my favorite LR Mods, & if I couldn't find one for something I downsized a good HR Mod. This is for EVERTHING. I was happy enough w/ the results. That is why I say the BB standard res could probably be dropped 75% for EVERYTHING. BTW, because of the way BO handles downsampling, & this effect seems to be improved but not eleminated in BB, it is important to have consistant 'Resolutions' across everything as much as possible, otherwise CM will dwnsample HR to LR while making LR into NoRes, & that is very noticable & distracting. strt

Thanks for the help. I'm tracking down the armada book now. Wol, if I may hang on to your e-mail I might take you up on that when I get enough sorted out to know what I'm really missing (!Send Everything! doesn't seem quite fair). Are any of the Zaloga books particularly good for illustrating differences between Models? Also, if any of you are fairly familiar w/ this line perhaps you could do 'technical beta' for me as I get these done. This will not be in the next couple of minutes. Thanks again strt

If I understand what you're asking about, the 'Gridded Grass' mods are just Grass. Nothing to do w/ Trees & other Terrain elements. strt

I have a technical (Modding) interest in the Finnish swastika. From what I've seen it is always 90degrees, is also clockwise as per the Hakenkruez, is sometimes blue, is 'highlighted' w/ white on bottom & back, & I've seen a reference to the 'short arm' Swastika being regulation. Also, while I'm at it, could the Blue & White bands have shown up on any BB Fin Tanks. And anything else along these lines anyone cares to share. Thanks strt

I can't bring myself to use 'BFC' (I keep thinking fried chicken) instead of 'BTS', so I use that. If you're using Photoshop 5.5 you can set 'Interpolation' to 'Nearest Neighbor' in 'Preferences' for the Pinkie Problem. It has the side effect of sort of 'sharpening' the image, & seems to me to help more often than hurt. I would think most Graphics Prgrms have something similar. strt

Thanks. The closer I look at the pics I have the more I think you're right in the 'slapped on' dept. Probably got Tanks out the door but makes it hard to sort out one model from another w/ a small sample. Does anyone know where I can find Armada books? Seems to be the only 'All T-26 All the Time' kinda book available. I'll just have to learn Russian. strt

Yeah, no Mod forum 5uX dO0D!!! (or however you say it in L33t) When you start really getting into it, several factors complicate this issue (as usual). My take on a couple of key ones: The game engine was designed to render 'simple' 3D images efficiently (we're now up to 16-64X original BO size BMPs). This shows itself as 'wierdness' when one uses black or white gradations, which is exactly what one uses to create shading without the sort of 'cardboard cutout' effect George III ran into when he first got onto this idea. And even more importantly... A Game on CM's scale (at this point in the History of Technology) can't really support Dynamic Lighting, & needs to do as much BMP sharing as possible. This means that, beyond a point, the more Dramatic the shading the more confusing & LESS realistic it seems. Still, if you lined up Mods from The Beginning thru Now, you would find that these ideas have been incorporated more & more by Modders. If you could open any turn & switch this element on & off it might be surprising. strt

I think there's a good idea in here but I've gotten confused? strt

I missed having the BB version of those very recently. Try azulie@earthlink.net. Nice tool, good work. strt

The only way to get a BMP list right now is from one's own BMP Folder. They've said they'll try to get us a complete List, but it will be a while at best, with Patches & such. I'd also ask if BXX can give A Second Opinion Concerning Color DownSampling Affecting Performance? Please keep us informed as to what Performance gains you get from your efforts. Thanks strt

Very nice reply, Mm. strt

I believe, if you have a new OS X Machine, You have to disable some Rave extension (mentioned above?) EVERY TIME you boot into 9.X.X, or set up a seperate partition. I don't have this prob, so somebody doublecheck me. strt

I'm very interested in this issue, & I've been reading the threads. I also got a (edit: Radeon) 7000 (ATF) for BO & while it is a big improvement over stock (what you got) & cheap & works w/ my other Card for Dual Monitors, it ain't quite 'all that' CM wise. I'm not aware of any 'definative answers' yet either. Curious to hear about the nVidia thingie. strt [ October 22, 2002, 11:25 PM: Message edited by: mchlstrt ]

Yes. I've said before it's one of my few regrets re: being a Mac Guy. Gordon Molek (the producer of CMMOS) has said several times he would be happy to work w/ a Mac Programmer on a port. If you know any, work on 'em. strt

RK, I've DL'd your Mods (nice work from the pics, btw) & I haven't actually opened them yet, however, from the size of the File it seems you probably upped the resolution to work on them & then didn't downsize for distribution. Also, are these Winter Mods? or is it a very light Dunkle? Again, I haven't actually looked at the Files themselves, so I could be talking out my !@#. strt

Bump & a Prayer. strt

Can anyone give an overview of 'The State of the 'Net' regarding Sites? I understand that 'Free' space is getting less common while Files are getting larger. What does it take/cost to have an 'unlimited access' Site? Please elaborate. strt