Graphics experts, help?

[sandman2575]

Not a big deal but this does irk me and I'd love to get to the bottom of it.

 

I notice vehicle skins 'shift' at different magnifications. For example below, the Sdkfz 251 at one distance shows the "714" decal. If I zoom a bit it, the skin suddenly shifts and shows a "1224" decal (also the Balkenkreuz on the back is now off-kilter?)

 

Is there something in my gfx settings I should do to prevent this? I'm using Aris's skins, which I know have multiple variants for the Sdkfz 251 ausf. D -- what seems to be happening is one variant is being used at one magnification, then another gets 'shifted to' at another...

 

 

[Bulletpoint]

I'm no expert, but I know that many games have various versions of each texture, to be used at various distances (since you can't see small details from afar anyway, it shifts down the detail level to save resources).

 

So I'd say either there's an issue with Aris' skin pack, or you mixed up two files when installing it. Maybe you should have chosen which files to copy to your folder, rather than copying everything? Just a guess.

[agusto]

That must be an issue with Aris' skin pack. Possibly an incorrect numbering of the texture files.

[sandman2575]

Appreciate the feedback. Although still can't tell what's wrong. In Aris's skin pack for the sdkfz 251_1, there are fourteen (!) different hull textures, from "sdkfz251d-hull.bmp" to "sdkfz251d-hull 14.bmp".  In the case I described above, the texture with the "714" decal is the "hull 10.bmp" texture, and this is getting swapped when I zoom in for the "hull 13.bmp" texture (which has the "1224" decal). There doesn't seem to be anything amiss with the file names or number sequencing. All seems in good order.

 

But I can't fathom why the game is 'selecting' the "hull 10.bmp" at one distance and then swapping it for the "hull 13.bmp" texture at another distance?

 

Sorry for the technicalities. But if anyone else is experiencing anything like this and has an idea what's up, I'd love to know. 

[Kieme(ITA)]

I am not 100% sure. But when there's more than 1 option of a texture for a vehicle the game will pick one and keep with that for the closer (best) LOD model, that is one of the 3d models available for the vehicle (there are 3 to 5 in total for each IIRC), while it will randomly pick another from the batch for the other LODs.

 

Take this example:

 

this mod randomply adds desert yellow boxes to the ERA setup, after loading the game will pick a selection and show it on the closest LOD model:

 

Now, if you increase distance another LOD model is used, but it also picks another random choice for the texture:

 

 

A note: this happens only during a battle, if you look at this in the scenario editor this problem does not show up.

 

So, for some reason, the game re-selects a texture from the available sets if a new LOD model is used, but it will remember which is the original selection for the first LOD model (the closer one).

Edited July 9, 2015 by Kieme(ITA)

[sandman2575]

Thanks Kieme. That makes sense. Interesting that the problem doesn't show up when using the scenario editor. Wish that were the case during actual gameplay as well.

Do you know what gfx setting determines LOD textures? 3D Model Quality, or 3D Texture Quality? I can never keep those 2 straight.

Edited July 9, 2015 by sandman2575

[Wodin]

I had the same issue and reported in the support forum *Skin Odditity.."..but got no reply.

Edited July 10, 2015 by Wodin

[c3k]

That's a very interesting observation. Thanks.

 

First...I'll deflate your expectations and say that you only get this with mods. Caveat Emptor...or Caveat Modder.

 

Second...I'll state that it's a case of LODs, as mentioned, not correlating with one another. Unmodded it works: modded it doesn't?

 

Third...I'll see if I can post a report to BFC about this. I'll link (internally) back to this thread. So, post PICTURES! The more, the better. (And if you have a link to the SPECIFIC mod you've used, please post that link in this thread, too.)

 

Fourth...I'll tell you that there can be no promises. This is an issue with mods, not the released version of the game.

 

Fifth...Well, fifth, I'll have another sip of my beverage of choice and go back to my secret beta testing.

 

Ken

[Kieme(ITA)]

Well, it's foundamentally a mod-related problem because the vanilla games Always use 1 texture for 1 vehicle. But the game is made so it can recognize as many textures per vehicle / object and mixes them randomly.

 

Looks like that in the process the game remembers what textures it picked from the available lot but it picks them again whenever it has to switch to another LOD model.

Edited July 10, 2015 by Kieme(ITA)