Request Feature/Inquiry (Texture Filtering, Smoothing)
Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2018 3:41 am
Hey all.
For a while I have been struggling to achieve the best (in my opinion/preference) visual aesthetic for Unreal seeing as how it is still my favorite game to this day, though I've hit a bit of a...pseudo-roadblock in making the game resemble the old classic I adore so much, especially when compatibility comes to mind (many mods outright require OpenGL from what I am aware too, so I do not want to utilize Software rendering as that also defeats the purpose of what I am after compat-wise.)
The major issue I have come across is the strange lack of texture filtering options in any given shader, in general. Although I am no Unreal Engine expert (I know my way around variables and commands, but I am not overly familiar with coding) it strikes me as odd that there is currently no option in any of the rendering devices I've used, to enable a more pixel-perfect approach.
I am aware the driver-driven bNoFiltering exists, though the problem with this method is it also effects various shading techniques and, more importantly, makes lighting look like blocky garbage. I speculated perhaps textures were 'baked' in with lightmaps as well...until I discovered something interesting under various D3D renderers:
I was able to achieve a basic look I was after by using Set variables as follows
Set Actor BNoSmooth True
Set Texture BNoSmooth True
This more or less gives what I am after, AND sustains the smooth lightmaps so the game looks crisp as opposed to the worst end of what I could call 'software emulation' which isn't what I am after in the least. The odd thing is under no variant of OpenGL was I able to use this same method reliably. Almost every instance of Set parameters were met with lightmaps also being mucked up-- which brings me to my main point: I'd very much like to see some sort of implementation if possible in the more modernized OpenGL shaders still in the works to allow for non-blurry texture filtering, as it does indeed seem to be possible in some form or another without losing lightmaps, in fact I'd consider it essential for an older era game such as Unreal to have this possibility as I know several friends who also vastly prefer crisp textures as opposed to blurred method. In wake of other classics that come to mind supporting this method overall (even on the fly, ie Quake, Q2, Half-Life.)
Perhaps I am in the minority here with my specific preference, though blurry textures in retro games always leaves a bad taste in my mouth, especially with how lovely the raw filtering method looks with modern shading elements, it is quite beautiful to look at especially when utilizing S3TC textures. Things really stick out in a sense, appear to have more depth.
Perhaps at the very least maybe a mutator would be possibly that'd set these variables on the fly so they stick? (I have noticed, more often in U1 some surfaces/meshes will stick to this setting wheras other weapons and mobs may use blurred until the Set command is used once more. I did not have this occur as often in UT'99 however and am not entirely sure what causes it)
At any rate, thanks for the read! I do hope there is a way to accomplish this sort of thing as I feel it's long overdue by this point.
For a while I have been struggling to achieve the best (in my opinion/preference) visual aesthetic for Unreal seeing as how it is still my favorite game to this day, though I've hit a bit of a...pseudo-roadblock in making the game resemble the old classic I adore so much, especially when compatibility comes to mind (many mods outright require OpenGL from what I am aware too, so I do not want to utilize Software rendering as that also defeats the purpose of what I am after compat-wise.)
The major issue I have come across is the strange lack of texture filtering options in any given shader, in general. Although I am no Unreal Engine expert (I know my way around variables and commands, but I am not overly familiar with coding) it strikes me as odd that there is currently no option in any of the rendering devices I've used, to enable a more pixel-perfect approach.
I am aware the driver-driven bNoFiltering exists, though the problem with this method is it also effects various shading techniques and, more importantly, makes lighting look like blocky garbage. I speculated perhaps textures were 'baked' in with lightmaps as well...until I discovered something interesting under various D3D renderers:
I was able to achieve a basic look I was after by using Set variables as follows
Set Actor BNoSmooth True
Set Texture BNoSmooth True
This more or less gives what I am after, AND sustains the smooth lightmaps so the game looks crisp as opposed to the worst end of what I could call 'software emulation' which isn't what I am after in the least. The odd thing is under no variant of OpenGL was I able to use this same method reliably. Almost every instance of Set parameters were met with lightmaps also being mucked up-- which brings me to my main point: I'd very much like to see some sort of implementation if possible in the more modernized OpenGL shaders still in the works to allow for non-blurry texture filtering, as it does indeed seem to be possible in some form or another without losing lightmaps, in fact I'd consider it essential for an older era game such as Unreal to have this possibility as I know several friends who also vastly prefer crisp textures as opposed to blurred method. In wake of other classics that come to mind supporting this method overall (even on the fly, ie Quake, Q2, Half-Life.)
Perhaps I am in the minority here with my specific preference, though blurry textures in retro games always leaves a bad taste in my mouth, especially with how lovely the raw filtering method looks with modern shading elements, it is quite beautiful to look at especially when utilizing S3TC textures. Things really stick out in a sense, appear to have more depth.
Perhaps at the very least maybe a mutator would be possibly that'd set these variables on the fly so they stick? (I have noticed, more often in U1 some surfaces/meshes will stick to this setting wheras other weapons and mobs may use blurred until the Set command is used once more. I did not have this occur as often in UT'99 however and am not entirely sure what causes it)
At any rate, thanks for the read! I do hope there is a way to accomplish this sort of thing as I feel it's long overdue by this point.