http://www.half-life2.com/secret/strider.jpg

Status
Not open for further replies.
FictiousWill said:
So you make it a 1024x1024 texture. Honestly, badboy is right. The texture on the strider is horribly low-res, and the model looks very very plain.

"But they're concentrating on the game, not the graphics!"

That's a pathetic comment. They could have some peon intern paint them a strider texture, scan it in at 2048x2048 and remap the model in under 24 hrs. HL2's big selling point is setting a standard in terms of gaming visuals. UT2k4 uses 1024x1024 detail textures all over the freaking place. The least valve could do is add some detail textures or a normal map of a high-poly version (if there is a high poly version). That model has NO detail textures or decent normal mapping. Concentration on gameplay is good - but there's no excuse for a model mapped like that.

They blurred the texture

No, that's the renderer interpolating between texels to smooth out pixels. Similar thing happens when you play HL1 in software vs. opengl (for those of you who don't render stuff often). The texture is not blurred in the sense that detail is lost. The difference is obvious to those who are familiar with texturemapping, AA and rendering.

It will be better when the game comes out.

It could. It certainly could. As I said above, it would take very little for them to add detail textures and normal mapping (as well as specular maps etc etc) to the model. If they really dragged along, they could do it within a week or two. Here's the question though: Will they do it? I doubt it. I would not be surprised if that's the exact strider you'll be firing rockets at this christmas.


Don't be in denial folks. The render is less than stellar, BadBoy is right.
said it better than i did lol.
This guy speaks the truth!!! :E
 
maybe i'm just not critical enough but i love the look of the thing, if that's what i am shooting at 'this Christmas' then yay for me. :)
 
Fictious unless you haven't noticed Halflife 2 is made so it will run on DX6-7 cards. Think about that.
 
I am familiar with texture-mapping, skinning and rendering :)

I made two pictures illustrating my point, but now I just can't be arsed if people don't understand, it's tough ^^

Suffice to say, if people think they know anything about computer graphics and they can't make a high res picture that looks the same quality as that strider's leg, they shouln't be talking here.

The textures for Half-Life 2 can be 2048 x 2048. Why would they use crappy low res textures if this is the case, especially considering they make higher quality art and then convert it to a format that is useful for a computer game?

The fact is it looks fine. It's organic! It's something organic, of course it's going to look like that.

You people have no idea how that picture was made, so stop speculating. People always like to put a dampener on things for some reason. There is this theory it's because they are... hmm never mind.

Anyway, my first reaction was "that is NOT going to look so good in the game" because it looks so nice. I think that says something about how it looks.
 
The Mullinator said:
People are wondering why alot of games are no longer original and fun? Look no further than this thread, customers constantly complain about graphics (even though they look just fine) so developers are forced to spend more time with the graphics and less on where it really matters. Of course this insn't the biggest reason why games have been lacking in originality but it certainly seems like a big reason.

Thats my opinion anyway.


Very very good point and I agree 100%.

Maybe it's my age, but I'll never ever understand why better looking graphics=better game. Same with women/men....just because they are the best/hottest in the world...doesn't make them the best girlfriends/boyfriends. They very well could be the dumbest, meanest, most boring people in the world instead.

Bah...give me a game which looks like HL1 but has a great story and is actually FUN rather than just pretty and I'd be very happy.
 
I'm going to play Half-Life 2 with minimum settings and 640x480 resolution just to spite you all.

And I'm going to enjoy it.
 
Yeah, I always sneak about these threads hoping nobody from valve is around, because if they listen to some of these retards they'll get depressed and the game will never come out! :LOL: ^^
 
Whoop-de-frikkin-doo.


I have a ti4200. yay. People with the higher cards see full details. People with lower comps see reduced details. What's your point? If anything it's easier for game devs to produce super-high quality models because they don't have to worry much about tech limitations. They can then cut it down for the lower comps.

Ut2k4 uses 1024x1024 textures on character's faces. Why? It's not to make the lower comps feel better, it's to future-proof the game. The point is, it's so easy to make a larger more detailed texture, they might as well do it, and they get the benefits of looking fantastic and ensuring the longevity of the game at the same time.
 
Ffs... look at the G-Man's face and then look at the faces in UT2k4.. there is no comparison.
 
CB | Para said:
Nonsense. Absolute nonsense.

wtf - at least counter me somehow. If all of a sudden every computer on the planet could handle 2048x2048 textures, game developers wouldn't all say in unison "Oh noes, how will we find the time to work on gameplay?!". They'd be extatic because they weren't limited by technology any more.

But wait! In actuality, they aren't limited by tech. For all intents and purposes, game devs can make that assumption, because all they have to do is add functonality for lower spec machines to use scaled-down versions of the hi-res textures.

Once again, there's no excuse for low-res textures.
 
Are you ppl actually arguing about the textures in that Strider?

Ir looks good to me....
 
Sure, it looks good. But it would take so little to make it look great. It's a pity.
 
denial lol. :D

dont worry about them sgt. its obvious they are easily satisfied by low res textures. :upstare:
 
FictiousWill said:
But wait! In actuality, they aren't limited by tech..

Are you stupid? they may not be "limited by tech" but the customers are. Do you understand that?
 
Chances are you won't be getting too close to these anyways so why argue about it? Jeebus.
 
Aww jeez. The only argument you could possibly make is for the HD space of customers. Games load all texture information into ram for quick retreival. If a comp is lower spec, the texture loaded into ram is a mip-image of the big high-res one. It's that simple. Please don't resort to verbal abuse.


eidt: Won't get close enough? In most of the vids we've seen the striders walk right over you. They don't move very fast. I can understand lower-res for maybe a skybox or something, but on an in-game dynamic enemy? You guys really are in denial.
 
Heck, I just don't reckon it's low res. My idea of low res is different. Looks great to me.

Y'know, now that I come to think of it, I'm pretty sure I remember something in the VALVe Info thread about them releasing a higher definition texture pack if and when advances warranted. Go check it if you've got a spare six hours.
 
Oh yeah I forgot, video cards and cpus go idle when you play games... we should all get 500GB HDDs!
 
Okay, you two doodle heads. Here is something to chew on. Game developing is constant saving of resources. If there is a shortcut, it will be taken, if there is easier and faster way, it will be taken. Now, you wonder why HL2 cuts on textures, because big textures take a lot of memory space. Also, you would think, why in the hell would Valve cut on texture? Physics engine, yes you heard me right, math once again outweighs pretty pictures. Oh you wonder why? Because at least physics HELP gameplay in significant way, super high-res textures make your e-pines bigger. Plus, as said by many, this is strider, he is moving, when he is on screan, hell brakes lose, you won’t be freezing him up and looking on two inches of texture, you will look at his fantastic animation (which everybody can agree on).

It will be awhile when you see GOOD physics engine, GOOD lighting system. HIGH poly models and HIGH-RES textures all mixed together.
 
Realisitcally everyone just needs to stop nit picking this poor game. Its not the game of the gods. Now Imagine if they applied the same thought process you are talking about to every item in the game. We probably wouldnt have it for annother year, and the ammount of space it would take up would be astronomical.
Half-Life 2 isnt perfect people. Its just suppsoed to be better than the norm. Now cut poor Valve some slack.
I belive its about time a mod closed this anyways. Its starting to turn into flamebait.
 
Mr.Reak said:
It will be awhile when you see GOOD physics engine, GOOD lighting system. HIGH poly models and HIGH-RES textures all mixed together.

...you are completely right. it will be years before we get that :upstare:
 
"awhile" in the computer world is far different from "awhile" in something else. One year in real life is sometimes about 5 years in gaming life. So yes it will be "awhile".

I think alot of that can be contributed to gamers being impatient too. ;)
 
is'nt doom 3 going to have a good physics engine? good lighting/shadows system? high poly models? ...not sure about the high res textures as they do use normal mapping alot.

theres really no excuses these days for low res textures at full settings.

and i dont see why you guys say we are nitpicking, its not nitpicking. its just a raw fact that that specific strider image is obvisouly using a low res texture. im pretty sure it wont look like that in the final at full settings so dont fret guys.

denial isnt easy to hide now is it? ;)
 
x84D80Yx said:
is'nt doom 3 going to have a good physics engine? good lighting/shadows system? high poly models? ...not sure about the high res textures as they do use normal mapping alot.

theres really no excuses these days for low res textures at full settings.

and i dont see why you guys say we are nitpicking, its not nitpicking. its just a raw fact that that specific strider image is obvisouly using a low res texture. im pretty sure it wont look like that in the final at full settings so dont fret guys.

denial isnt easy to hide now is it? ;)
Do you even know if the details are set to the max? Besides I feel sorry for people who can't stand a game if the graphics aren't the absolute maximum they could be. Your missing out on alot, I don't care if the graphics aren't going to cause my graphics card to completely melt down when I try to run the game, I really don't. Too me good graphics are simply a bonus, I don't need amazing graphics to like a game, and it opens up a much wider range of games for me to like.

Also how can you say that there is no excuse? Have you ever worked on making a major game before? Are people going to start hating Valve now because the graphics that they showed you (that are still well above the current norm) aren't going to make your computer cry out for mercy? Unfortunately it seems yes.

Besides what good is all of this complaining doing? They aren't going to change it, they aren't going to say "Oh all of these people are whining that our graphics aren't like Doom 3, I guess we better redo all of our models, and textures. After all, we don't want anyone else to be able to enjoy this game except for the 5% of gamers that have the latest hardware."
 
The quality of Doom3's physics engine remains to be seen.

The lighting/shadows seem quite good, but in implementing that unified lighting system of theirs, they seem to have made a couple of concessions, which probably won't be noticed due to the type of game Doom3 is, and the sort of things they're doing with the system.

The models are actually rather low poly (id have been accused of using normal mapping as a substitute for detail, because of this), unless it's the models for in-game cinematics, which can be higher detail, as there will most likely be far fewer of them on-screen at once.

And the textures do look rather low-resolution in some spots. The normal mapping seems to help, but not always IMHO.

Doom3 looks good, HL2 looks good. 's all I can say.
 
x84D80Yx said:
is'nt doom 3 going to have a good physics engine? good lighting/shadows system? high poly models? ...not sure about the high res textures as they do use normal mapping alot.

theres really no excuses these days for low res textures at full settings.

and i dont see why you guys say we are nitpicking, its not nitpicking. its just a raw fact that that specific strider image is obvisouly using a low res texture. im pretty sure it wont look like that in the final at full settings so dont fret guys.

denial isnt easy to hide now is it? ;)

Denial of what? I am sorry my friend, but no, Doom III won’t use the physics the same way HL2 uses them. I actually never seen any other games using it so nicely as HL2. Sure Doom III will have physics, but it will not be as intensive as HL2 physics, because they need some space for lightings. Because of Doom III being basically corridor-crawling experience, they can bump up bit of polys there and here, and make low res environment, because most of it will be hidden in the shadows anyway. As I said before, if you understood a thing about game development, you would know that developers focus on things that matter the most.
 
Anyways, i'm gonna play HL² on a crappy system,,, 1,25 ghz AMD, radeon 9200, 256 mb sdr (ram) so i might get lower quality than this sshot...

But couldn't they have bumpmapped the bolt on the foot?
 
No! They're focusing on gameplay, it takes too much processing power away from physics, and besides, you won't notice anyway... even though you did.
 
FictiousWill said:
No! They're focusing on gameplay, it takes too much processing power away from physics, and besides, you won't notice anyway... even though you did.

This is like talking to the wall. Still picture versus being in the game, where there are another 100 things going on the screen. Then again, common sense is not strongest point of this forum, or HL2 community in general.
 
FFs.. you have no idea what-so-ever of where this shot is from or the situation it was taken in... it might not even be in game.. so please refrain from moaning about amazing looking pictures until the game is released..
 
x84D80Yx said:
is'nt doom 3 going to have a good physics engine? good lighting/shadows system? high poly models? ...not sure about the high res textures as they do use normal mapping alot.

theres really no excuses these days for low res textures at full settings.

and i dont see why you guys say we are nitpicking, its not nitpicking. its just a raw fact that that specific strider image is obvisouly using a low res texture. im pretty sure it wont look like that in the final at full settings so dont fret guys.

denial isnt easy to hide now is it? ;)
Hate to break it to you, but pointing out small details that arent perfect and making a big deal about them is called nitpicking.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top