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Suggestions Thread: Art Assets (models, textures, images, sounds)

SymphonySymphony Member, Developer Posts: 142
in General Discussions NWN:EE
Hello folks, I'm Symphony.

In order to keep things collated, I'm starting category based suggestion/bug discussions. Please use your best judgement to find which discussion best suits your range of items!

This Suggestions Discussion is for Art Assets. These are the kinds of items considered to be "content" "custom content" "hak resources" made by graphic artists, designers, and modelers, for "modding" the game with Art Asset files placed in hak packages by content creators, the installation's .bif files by the game developers, or the override directories (including /portraits /music and others)

The kinds of file formats expected to be the targets of Art Asset Suggestions would be .tga .dds .mdl .wav .bmu .txi .gui, and a few others!

Feel free to post your suggestions below in a hopefully clean and concise manner, and if you have time, try to read the other suggestions so you don't duplicate any requests.
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Comments

  • Altair_KhalidAltair_Khalid Member Posts: 5
    - HD/Updated Graphics, any improvement to the base models and graphics to make it feel a bit more modern. Higher resolution texture pack support.
  • AncarionAncarion Member Posts: 155
    A couple quick ones - using a texture's alpha channel to calculate shadows, enabling skinmesh to properly receive light, fixing the issue where skinmesh doesn't correctly track with the head when a character does that automatic headturn when focusing on another character.
  • ShadowMShadowM Member Posts: 573
    I know the team said they are not updating any of the current art assets, but I do think they need to at least update the player character models (One of the top requested item from the community over the years) The other art assets have already been upgraded by the community of CC creators. I and oldtimeradio have even done some work on skinmesh versions of the pc and other have start work on higher polycount parts based versions, but to have a professional team doing the work would go faster and smoother.
  • ShadowMShadowM Member Posts: 573
    edited November 2017
    Ancarion said:

    A couple quick ones - using a texture's alpha channel to calculate shadows, enabling skinmesh to properly receive light, fixing the issue where skinmesh doesn't correctly track with the head when a character does that automatic headturn when focusing on another character.

    I have made a few skinmesh models and had no problems with headtracking issue you talking about(unless I misunderstanding the problem you talking about). I agree on the with the shadow issue.
  • AncarionAncarion Member Posts: 155
    Yeah I wasn't very clear with that... I meant mostly robes with hoods that show the underlying head. When the head turned due to that hardcoded autolook feature, the hood wouldn't follow it. Did they fix that? That would be good to know. If so, then disregard that part.
  • 1varangian1varangian Member Posts: 367
    I'd like to see the GUI reskinned and scaled for higher resolutions. There are huge gaps between the windows that used to fill the entire screen back in the day.

    Equipment icons redone for higher resolutions and with an updated, less cartoony style.

    New character portraits. We need new assets too to make the game feel fresh again and these are the easiest.

    Modern 3D character models, environments and particle effects for any future expansions. Truly getting the graphics enhanced is what NWN needs to live on forever.
  • UberKudzuUberKudzu Member Posts: 2
    1varangian said:


    Modern 3D character models, environments and particle effects for any future expansions. Truly getting the graphics enhanced is what NWN needs to live on forever.

    This would be SUPER nice, but I feel like just making it easier for artists to update the content could work well. I'd love to be able to quickly drop in my models and animations without the high risk of breaking things.
  • 1varangian1varangian Member Posts: 367
    And improved lighting. Dynamic lights and shadows are essential in creating a mood and NWN is so.. flat in this regard. Need those torches flickering in the dark.
  • AncarionAncarion Member Posts: 155
    The ability to assign a material type to a placeable's pwk that overrides the underlying tile
  • dafenadafena Member Posts: 74
    Support of PLT for VFXs so we can add a tintable alpha channel and do, for example, hairs.
  • BelleSorciereBelleSorciere Member Posts: 2,108
    1varangian said:


    Modern 3D character models, environments and particle effects for any future expansions. Truly getting the graphics enhanced is what NWN needs to live on forever.

    Graphic enhancement is unlikely, per @TrentOster
  • TheCapuletTheCapulet Member Posts: 43
    What we really need is some of the building assets copied from tileset models to placable models to give us more environmental variety.
  • DaimondheartDaimondheart Member Posts: 5
    While I would love to be able to fully customize the entire body of my characters, I realize that would take a lot of work to update. So it would be nice if we could at least fully customize the heads and hairs of our characters. Being able to adjust the facial structure, eye position, hair style & length, etc. would be a great improvement over the old "lego head" models even if they're sitting on the old body models.
  • TondenTonden Member Posts: 224
    - Higher Polly counts for Tilesets, Creatures, NPC, and Player Character Models.

    - Support for Gmax and Blender
  • Bluebomber4evrBluebomber4evr Member Posts: 5
    A minor thing, but can we get the original menu music back? I've always preferred it to the menu music from Hordes of the Underdark.
  • BelleSorciereBelleSorciere Member Posts: 2,108
    Tonden said:

    - Higher Polly counts for Tilesets, Creatures, NPC, and Player Character Models.

    This isn't going to happen. It's too expensive and will break compatibility with older mods.
  • Night76Night76 Member Posts: 45
    Hi,

    i know my suggestion is very simple but ... please Beamdog create a new UI interface "optional or DLC" for NW:EE the original is veryyyy GDRless ....

    Thanks.
  • Savant1974Savant1974 Member Posts: 310
    HDR and/or bloom effects would be very nice! Improved lighting effects would be great too, as suggested above. A slew of new portraits would certainly be practical to add. New high-quality spell effects might be within your grasp too, they'd add a nice touch to the EE.
  • tybtyb Member Posts: 4
    They should add SSAO, if they can integrate Depth of Field, they should be able add ssao at least, i've made a quick try with Reshade and the original game toolset :
    http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/124325

    https://imgur.com/a/gybok
  • fkirenicusfkirenicus Member Posts: 331
    Maybe I don't understand what you're asking for 100% here, but I feel that an upgrade of standard models that have seen vast improvements by the community would be nice. E.g., repack the game .bifs with new models for certain humanoids (ogres, orcs, goblins...) and other creatures that the community have done outstanding work in improving. Or offer them as a downloadable override or something.
    Also, more realistic interiors (tiles based on 5'x5' instead of 10'x10'), for example.
  • InflatableFriendInflatableFriend Member Posts: 57
    edited November 2017
    It's great to hear that polycounts / texture size will (or are) be much larger going forward.

    Could we get guidance / docs on the shader system and technical limits?

    Art creation tools,
    In an ideal world I'd love to see the new art import tools embedded into or at least alongside the toolset rather than being separate export plugins for external programs - This would allow users to create across a huge range of packages ready for the toolset to hoover up whatever .fbx you throw at it.

    If there were some way for the art tools to support NWN2, that would be absolutely magical.
    Post edited by InflatableFriend on
  • Unaccounted4Unaccounted4 Member Posts: 2
    Yehoyakin said:

    I have no problem with the cartonish approach they took with the game, but I'd like:
    - Better textures for terrain (No need to remodel them or change the walkmesh).
    - New models with normal hands, feet.
    - Better heads and perhaps with the possibility to change hair styles.
    - Helmets that let you see the character's head inside, instead of making the insides black.
    - Retouch spells and effects, but do not make them overwhelming like in NWN2. In that game 2 buffs and a spell look like a cluster ffff.

    This, I fully support all of those! With extra points thrown to the Hands. It's more jarring to see the blocky hands nowadays, even if it was always a sticking point for me.
  • SarmanosSarmanos Member Posts: 16
    Increased grass draw distance slider for those few tilesets that have it and a slider for depth of field intensity for those of us who might like something more subtle.
  • Savant1974Savant1974 Member Posts: 310
    edited November 2017
    How about a switch in the toolset that shows the skybox for the area you're working in? Also, a lot more skyboxes would be great. Oh, and perhaps the option for higher-quality skyboxes too, making sure the system is still backwards compatible of course!
    Post edited by Savant1974 on
  • PromilusPromilus Member Posts: 23
    BelleSorciere said:

    Tonden said:

    - Higher Polly counts for Tilesets, Creatures, NPC, and Player Character Models.

    This isn't going to happen. It's too expensive and will break compatibility with older mods.
    It is not so expensive plus more detailed character models won't break any compatibility unless mod uses own textures on vanilla models. You can still have vanilla models and made them more detailed using tessellation and mapping per request. Which might allow both vanilla style models, compatibility with some mods and optionally increasing model details using techniques.
  • AllatumAllatum Member Posts: 16
    BelleSorciere said:

    Tonden said:

    - Higher Polly counts for Tilesets, Creatures, NPC, and Player Character Models.

    This isn't going to happen. It's too expensive and will break compatibility with older mods.
    I think the request is more to allow such. Certain things really slowed classic NWN down a lot when they rendered, like the custom Ultraloth model (I think it was from CODI? Unsure but it was used on Gatecrashers and Sigil: Planar Legends.)
  • KenjiKenji Member Posts: 251
    I'm hoping for new and better voice sets for player characters. Is it possible to port some over from Icewind Dale? The voice lines for player characters from IWD is far superior to any of the BG or NWN voice sets.
  • 1varangian1varangian Member Posts: 367
    edited November 2017
    I remember using an NPC voice set for my character on a PW that was much more fitting for him. Perhaps enable those by default even though they might not have all lines? In MP it's much more important to have a unique voice that fits your character than having all voice lines.
  • HarkathHarkath Member Posts: 6
    The community patch added colored eyes and eyebrows. Maybe get that from them?
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