Is it possible to enlarge textures on models ?

[Friendch]

Hi there !

It’s more related to Morrowind in general than OpenMW ; It’s a question I'm a bit afraid to ask, because I suppose that if it's not done already it's probably more because it's impossible, rather than because it was never thought of ^^

There are some models/lands in the game that are hard to make look good, no matter the texture nor its quality ;
because « it’s scaled too small » or something, it repeats itself too much, making very obvious squared patterns…
I don’t know how it’s made for the land, but what about objects ? Can’t the texture be scaled/spread differently on the model ?
I play a bit with NIFscope, alongside Google’s help, but I can’t find ! If it could be spread on the green for example, instead of red :

[FXN55]

From my image editing experience in general, mostly working with .jpgs and .pngs, I know that whenever an image is scaled, there is a resolution loss. By the looks of it, you're talking about scaling it up significantly... like 1000%. I'm unsure of the .dds and .tga format, which are your textures, but I think it would be more practical to just retexture the model with a better version.

But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong.

[Friendch]

Thanks for your answer !

Yes indeed that’s certainly true, makes total sense that enlarging the texture will reduce its quality…
But even with loss resolution, I wonder if it’s not preferable to a very obvious grid, for some specific things.

I’ve been given the procedure on the Nexus Forum, so I only have to make some tries now, I’ll know quickly enough if it was a valid idea or not ! xD
Said steps, thanks to FIMzzZzz : «right click -> texture -> edit uv -> select all -> press 'alt+s' -> enter something below 1.0 (keep uniform enabled)»

[FXN55]

Yeah, I seen that reply over on Nexus. By all means, give that technique a try then come back and let me know if it worked, if you would please. I'd actually like to know.

[Friendch]

Well, I think it does look good for some objects !
I’m making some comparative screenshots I’ll post just here, next answer.

It sure does lower the definition, but even from very close it’s not awful, and on the other hand, from far, I think it’s better, the grid pattern is way less obvious when larger.

For sure, the best thing is still to find a texture with which it’s less obvious, but for some object that’s really hard, a grid is quickly seen anyway.

I wonder how it could be made for the lands too, but I’m afraid this time it’s a matter of overhaul in the creation kit, and not just a mesh retexturing…

[Friendch]

Here’s my first testings, all textures were scaled 1/2 larger.
First screenshots, some rock formations from OAAB / TR, here seen in TOTSP.

It’s more blurry from close, but one formation, strangely enough, stayed very good,
I’m not sure, but it looks like the normal map kept its default size over the texture ! I don’t know why it didn’t for the other, but if it can work like that, that would be a pretty good way to keep a good look for some objects, like it is for this ice !

Then, the vanilla lava mesh with Vurt’s texture.
(I just noticed I screenshotted the wrong nif lol, but it’s the same idea.)

Not as straightforward as the other objects though, since this time the same object is used in grid, it would require adaptations to not create artifacts…

[FXN55]

I see what you mean about the repeating grid pattern, especially with the lava. After the scaling, both the iceberg and the lava look a bit more natural comparatively. If the last image of the iceberg from up close, the fourth one down, is with the scaled texture then it's not bad. Does Nifscope have any sharpening tools? I only use it for assigning and/or reassigning textures so, I'm at a loss here. If it didn't have a way to sharpen, I would go to GIMP and sharpen it, sparingly of course. But that's just me.

One question though: Did you begin scaling at 50% or was it progressive? 10%, 20% and so on.

[Friendch]

To test I directly went for the 2x yes ^^
Maybe more than needed indeed, and maybe each object has its own « golden ratio », it would need some tests.

What makes the iceberg still look that good from that close, is the normal map, I think !
I’m not sure, but maybe it’s keeping its normal scale, no matter what scale the texture take…
And if it is, that’s possibly a good way to keep a pretty good appearance for some of those items.

Yes I also ended playing with Nifscope to assign textures, I don’t know more myself either !
I’m not sure I see what you mean by sharpening ?

[AnyOldName3]

The normal map UVs should be identical to the diffuse ones, and if they aren't, that's a bug we should fix. However, plenty of other texture layers these meshes might plausibly have, have independent UVs, so you might find it's a detail map or a dark map or a glow map.

[FXN55]

I’m not sure I see what you mean by sharpening?

It's simply an enhancement tool provided by most image editors that tweaks the highlights and contrasts, I believe. But what you've done is definitely an improvement.

Cheers!