Understanding maps in Skyrim
polycounter lvl 14
Hi a guy extracted some maps in skyrim for ice glaciers and here is the result
http://www.skyrimnexus.com/imageshare/images/209926-1322221562.jpg
He wrote the names of the maps on them but , from what I am used to ( at least with cryengine ) the parallax map is a black and white heightmap combined with normal map that gives the parallax offset ingame , why is this a color version is a different thing or a different technique?
also what about the subsurface? also there I tought it was b and white ..
is there any good tutorial on how to make good maps relative to those types?
also he found an alpha map the black and white one that seems not clear what is it for since the glaciers aren't transparent I guess....
http://www.skyrimnexus.com/imageshare/images/209926-1322221562.jpg
He wrote the names of the maps on them but , from what I am used to ( at least with cryengine ) the parallax map is a black and white heightmap combined with normal map that gives the parallax offset ingame , why is this a color version is a different thing or a different technique?
also what about the subsurface? also there I tought it was b and white ..
is there any good tutorial on how to make good maps relative to those types?
also he found an alpha map the black and white one that seems not clear what is it for since the glaciers aren't transparent I guess....
Replies
Subsurface can be colored, just like specular maps can be.
The alpha map is used in combination with the specular/normal/diffuse to simulate the 'front' layer I mentioned above.
Does that make sense or should I explain more deeply?
http://media.pcgamer.com/files/2011/11/Skyrim-screenshots-09.jpg
Anyway those textures are for glaciers not rocks with a white shader for snow over it ...
I mean there are often times in games these days an overload of texture maps and tech and some sub par execution.
its probably given some sort of z offset in the shader so it looks like the texture is behind a layer of ice.
do you have any pics of the effect?
The parallax seems to be a image reflected and seen trhouth the surface of the mesh
the alpha in the diffuse setting of the texture base seem seems to allow more or less transparency to the first diffuse layer , the subsurface3 I am not actually sure what it does but I added red stripes on the texture to see what it shows up ... and the Ciao text is instead on the parallax , what you think??
Iaered the normakl maps of the texture to result in more dramatic highlights and cracks ...
Anyway what about the pic above?
Which map did you add the red stripes to?
thank you, this made my day!
new engine!
http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/114/1144412p1.html
i shit you not
its strange how similar it is to gamebryo, as if they copy pasted all the code into a new folder and called it a new engine.
Yes, it's legal. You'll need a .bsa unpacker, i used fallout mod manager, but I think a new tool for skyrim might have been released.
For the models, NifSkope, but overwrite it's nif.xml with my updated copy until it's merged into an official build.
well skyrim has shadows, and as we all know Gamebryo cant do shadows
It just the gamebryo... but heavily modified.
And I'm using a flat normal and nearly black specular.
This particular model isn't set to use an external parallax map, only the diffuse alpha, so it might be different from the glacier. The valleys move with the camera, creating a sense of depth. I made more variations since this screenshot, but the shader seems to use some kind of nearest neighbor-ish approach. In the above shot, the valleys move along those vertical bars, but not across them unless I added some horizontal ones.
I believe the company which owns and developed gamebryo went bankrupt a year ago or so.
'built from Gamebryo' makes 'all new' sound rather a lot like bullshit, doesn't it?
Well, everything I've seen in skyrim and this thread makes me think that it definitely isn't based on gamebryo :P
i had the same issues in skyrim when i approached whiterun, which i had downloaded a texture mod for.
would definatly speak for a changed engine, not a new one.
AFAIK Gamebryo doesn't ship with any tools besides some sample shaders and exporters, so I can see why UDK and Crytek would look better since you don't have to have a dedicated tools programmer to make all of your editors.
Same way all companies do it?
There aren't that many game engines in the market as people believe.
totally fucking badass.
I believe that in the next project they will jump onto an other engine.
The images are *.dds which already compresses quite a bit. I guess the original pre-compression images are only available over at the Bethesda offices.
For example the frospider image is 1024x1024 but looking at some of the noise, you can tell it's been resized so I guess they were also compressed?
And i could get the game for cheap!
Cheers for the heads up about viewing gir :thumbup:
FO3 archive tool, to open the .BSA files inside "skyrim/data/", can extract the .nif and .dds files from inside
this release of nifskope to open .nif files and export to .obj
Why? What's a megatexture workflow?
@Naima, it's the workflow used on Rage and one of the main features of idtech5. Look up some of the Rage art dumps here if you want to learn some more about it.
Gamebase bought Emergent & Gamebryo - studios are still using it, the latest version is branded as Gamebryo Lightspeed - Rocksmith shipped on that. I'm currently working on a game using Gamebryo - it's still pretty popular in the MMO industry. Hero engine was supposed to be a challenger but I've been hearing it's pretty shit.
Btw did anyone look at the streams in skyrim ? they look pretty nice altough to me seems like a mesh that has some tornsion in the shape , then the texture scrolls in it giving the streamy look , but I am pretty shure is not that simple , there must be some kind of shader involved , anyone knows how could be replicated something similar in another engine or the like?