Missing packages

Torch

Hey all - was just going throught the Eat3D Intro to UDK DVD (quite an old one now) and a part comes up where I need to access the NEC_Pillars package.

I'm able access it, but when viewing it I don't have the same Pillar Static Mesh's as the instructor available. I'm wondering if the package actually installed with UDK but I just haven't opened it properly? If there's any extra directories I should be looking at, please let me know. Thanks! :thumbup:

EDIT: Aaand a quick look on the Eat3D forums revealed that the DVD's were recorded with older versions of Unreal which could be the reason.

Santewi

The current version probably doesn't have that package. You could try installing an older version of UDK and see if it's there.

Torch

Thanks man! Only getting one other issue now, imported a mesh in UDK with a 512 texture (basic stuff, looks fine in Maya) and seem to be getting some horrible compression, any idea how to change it? When I re-import the texture it looks fine, as soon as I go to save my package it goes back to looking down rezzed (if you look carefully you can see a fair bit of pixellation where the colors in the UDK preview become 'muddied'.) Thanks

Santewi

Yeah the compression for diffuse textures is sometimes pretty horrible, and you can't use an uncompressed format like you can with normalmaps.

When you double click on the texture inside UDK, is the "Filter" set to linear or nearest? Using nearest gives you pixelated textures, and linear blends the pixels together to make them smoother. If that doesn't work you could just try 1024 texture.

And if you can, posting your diffuse texture would help a bit as well.

Torch

Thanks Santewi, I will try it and update the post when I get home today

Torch

So I just tried out a couple of things - it seems everything is fine as long as I have Defer compression on and looks how I want it too. The only issue is as soon as I save the package the assets are in, defer compression is then turned off and it goes back to looking bad. What I'm trying to find out is if there's a way to keep defer compression on after saving the package?

blankslatejoe

That's because defercompression is only meant to defer----until save. It's meant for capturing high res --static-- images for use in cubemaps and render-to-textures and stuff, I believe.

Post your UV layout and we can see if it's just that that's at fault or if it's something else. Unfortunately, you may just be butting up against a DXT compression wall. It can be pretty severe, but is also pretty standard a lot of game engines.

metalliandy

Torch wrote: »

Hey all - was just going throught the Eat3D Intro to UDK DVD (quite an old one now) and a part comes up where I need to access the NEC_Pillars package.

I'm able access it, but when viewing it I don't have the same Pillar Static Mesh's as the instructor available. I'm wondering if the package actually installed with UDK but I just haven't opened it properly? If there's any extra directories I should be looking at, please let me know. Thanks! :thumbup:

EDIT: Aaand a quick look on the Eat3D forums revealed that the DVD's were recorded with older versions of Unreal which could be the reason.

Yea, we use the latest version of UDK at the time of capturing the tutorials where possible but inevitably some assets that were in UDK get removed and replaced with new ones. All the old UDK installers are still available so you can always get them and then append the packages. Not ideal, but it's a good work around.

The pillar asset is the same one used in the tutorial, but you need an older build of UDK to import it correctly. Unfortunately the current UDK is too new and is not backwards compatible with the old GOW packages (it was captured with the Gears of War 1 PC editor), but some of the old UDK versions work perfectly.

Santewi

Torch wrote: »

So I just tried out a couple of things - it seems everything is fine as long as I have Defer compression on and looks how I want it too. The only issue is as soon as I save the package the assets are in, defer compression is then turned off and it goes back to looking bad. What I'm trying to find out is if there's a way to keep defer compression on after saving the package?

Defer compression only prevents the texture getting compressed until you save the package. So your problem is most likely the DXT1 compression. Have you tried using a 1024 or 2048 texture yet? And can you post the UV layout and the actual diffuse texture?