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jakub1

Member

HD textures by jakub1 and other quake experiments

HD textures projects
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Hello fellow quakers

This is a chronological compilation of my projects released over the years on quakeone.com forum. However, quakeone seems quite dead recently so I have decided to make a backup here. Why&How I started to make my own textures is described below. Warning - a lot of text and a lot of pictures ahead.

09-05-2021

Almost a year ago, in the middle of the corona situation that turned into complete clusterfuck, at least in Czech Republic, I realized I have an extra free time. With a lock-down in progress and not much else to do I told to myself I should use the time given and learn something new. I opened QC tutorials again, but it didn't take long to find out that coding is really not my thing. It's too abstract for me - pure frustration. I was looking for something else and stumbled across my old RT-lights related thread. With the complete RT-lights for Nehahra the only remaining thing is to compile a coherent Nehahra texture pack. A new one, complete and shiny that would impress all the mankind. The only problem was that I had almost zero experience with graphic editors back then. One thing is to make simple black-and-white cubemaps for RT-lights, something entirely different is to materialize the ideas I had in my head. I decided to start with a smaller project - a training one. I decided to finish Travail texture pack by CV. There are some missing textures in that pack that always frustrated me. Just a few.... easy stuff... My plan was to go through various HD texture packs, find the missing ones or edit existing textures to plug the holes in the CV pack and learn to use graphic editor in process. And then back to Nehahra. Piece of cake, just a few days... but as always, cake is a lie. I was naive.

At first, I stuck to the plan, but before long it was clear that texture-wise Travail is a behemoth. It uses several independent texture sets. Simple comparison - basic Quake uses some 570 textures and these textures usually come in groups. Once you finish one representant of that group it's relatively easy to make the rest of that group 'cause you can re-use material you already have. It applies for Travail as well, however only to some extent. There is a lot of unique textures that are used once and than they are gone. GOOD thing about it is that Travail has a great texture variability, BAD thing was that looking for the missing textures was a real pain. It was a much slower process than I have expected. And then, another problem emerged. The more I learnt GIMP, the less was I satisfied with already existing textures in CV pack. I wrote about texture variability, yes? So the UGLY thing is that existing Travail HD texture pack doesn't reflect that enough. A lot of textures are used repeatedly, some are only looooooosely similar to their low-res versions and some don't fit at all, in my perspective anyway. Some textures are objectively nice and OK, but they just don't play well with the other textures or with the mood of the level itself. For example - almost all o_metalXXX textures in Travail are rusty and decayed, but the existing HD versions are not. Textures that should be seamless with themselves (or with others) are not. It doesn't matter in low-res world because who cares, it's not visible. However, all these little inconsistencies become very noticeable when you switch from 128x128 to 1024x1024. A lot of existing HD textures had very flat and photoshopy look to them. You can easily spot that they were created by simple copy-paste-flipp over the vertical/horizontal axis. I also wanted the textures to have some depth so I changed shading for more 3D look. At some point I even flirted with an idea to make normal maps that would take care of 3D-ness of the textures, but I decided no to. Normal maps are supported only by some engines and to tell the truth I don't like/use them. They create unavoidable artifacts around the brush edges and make every surface look like covered with melted wax. And I also found creating normal maps boring as hell. To sum it up I changed my plan from simple "completing the pack" to "going through all the textures and changing/re-creating anything I don't like".

This pack is a result of almost year worth of learning. It took so much time because when I reached a certain level of skill and looked back on the already finished textures I told to myself "WTF is this shit. I can do better." I threw it away and started over. And it didn't happen only once... I'm still not 100% satisfied with some textures, but I had to draw a red line at some point otherwise I would never release anything. This pack covers:

Travail - all SP and MP levels
Grendel's Keep - Travail addon level

Final statistics

• Number of textures in this pack (Travail+Grendels Keep): 892 (+luma textures). I omitted only textures already present in ID1 pack by QRP and some other - noclip texture, pictures of Travail creators etc... Textures from QRP packs for both MP are included.

• Number of new textures: 721. Those 721 textures were done by my. 644 textures are completely new, the rest is based on somebody else's work (mostly QRP textures), but are changed so much that they are practicably new.

• The remaining +/- 180 textures are from Hipnotic/Rogue HD packs or done by other creators - mainly Talisa and CV I guess. Most of them were also altered as described above, but only slightly. Inside the pk3 pack there is an excel file with details. I hope I didn't forgot about somebody and didn't appropriate somebody else's work. However, it could happened due to the extent of the pack and I apologize in advance. if anyone recognize his/her work that is not properly credited contact me and I correct the enclosed excel file.

some examples of texture comparison:

Update 09-28-2023
version 1.3

• Texture pack is updated with new versions of many textures - mostly kgrX series and wooden textures. These textures were already included, but were made by other creators, sometimes edited by me. As I originally wrote I was not 100% OK with these textures, but I was too lazy to make my own versions back then. I have finally made these new textures while working on my "knave" texture pack. This should be the final release.

• Credits entries for all textures have been re-checked and corrected to match all updates. Both Travail and Grendels Keep credits files are now merged into one excel file.

Download version 1.3 here.
Original quakeone.com thread here.

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09-28-2022

It has been more than a year since my Travail facelift and it’s about time for another texture pack. And just like before with a little backstory.

Years ago, around 2015, I made a first custom texture pack. I wanted to create one pack for both Soul of Evil and SoE – Indian Summer. There already were several texture packs, incomplete though. I merged both mods into one with one shared codebase and I wanted one texture pack. I collected textures from various sources, edited only a few of them. That was all I was capable of back then due to my virtually non-existent experience with any graphics editor. A lot of the textures didn’t exactly resembled the original ones, but it looked fine… more or less. It was never released and I gradually lost interest in making textures.

Things changed during corona epidemic as I have already descried in the Travail thread. I took a break after my Travail release, but I wanted to start something new. Initial idea was Nehahra. After all, Nehahra was always my main goal and even Travail should have been just a training ground. Than I found my SoE textures while browsing through my old hard drive and Nehahra was pushed aside one again. The problem was that the whole SoE pack was just a pile of crap. I made textures for Travail because I wasn’t satisfied with existing HD textures. There was no internal cohesion, no unifying vision or style. Just a collection of textures from sources all over the Internet. And my old SoE pack was exactly like that.

Some textures were great, some bad, but the main problem was consistency – or to be precise, the lack of it. There were new textures, others taken from HD pack for other games, some were probably just upscaled with some extra filters applied on the top of them. Even resolution-wise there were no strict standards followed. These things are important and they are the reason why I still think QRP textures are so great. They click together. So I deleted everything and started over. Later on I decided to include other mods&maps by Tronyn. In the end, he used almost exclusively medieval settings. I thought the number of all the textures wouldn’t be that high. That, of course, was naive assumption. Another reason was that I wanted to have one universal texture pack instead of having several ones, each for one mod. I already had way too many texture packs on my disk and it was a mess. So I listed Tronyn's major solo releases and colaborations over the years on quaddicted and this is the result.

Texture pack covers following mods:

    A Roaming Wildebeest In Spain
    A Roman Wilderness of Pain
    Coven Of Ebony
    Arcanum
    Arcanum Bonus Maps
    Dry Sorrow
    Something Wicked This Way Comes
    Nyarlathotep
    Unforgiven
    For My Babies 8
    Night Journey
    Phantasmal Garrison
    Scourge Of Armaggon - A Desert Dusk
    Scourge Of Armaggon - Scorpion Garrison
    Soul Of Evil
    Soul Of Evil - Indian Summer
    The Masque Of The Red Death
    Rapture (v1.1 of the texture pack)

You will need only id1 textures by QRP and my pack. All non-id1 textures are included, even textures for both missions packs by QRP. I didn’t touch id1 textures (with three exceptions, more later), but I included Rogue and Hipnotic HD textures ‘cause I slightly changed several of them. Nothing drastic, but they are a little different now with extra details and fixes here and there. The rest is my work. Well.. not everything. I used other people’s work as little as possible. However, some existing HD textures are so accurate that it would be stupid of me to make them again just so that I could say “I did these”. Another exception was usage of QRP material where appropriate to maintain consistency with id1 pack.

Edited/reworked id1 textures included in this pack:

1. muh_bad, uh_bad

You all know that unfortunate Jesus crucified on the concrete block. It’s included in QRP id1 pack but it doesn’t really fit with the rest of the pack. Resolution is low, hardly high definition at all. So I made a new version. Fun fact: face is based on QRP material while the rest of the body is based on my photo of the wooden statue of Jesus near Smrk (Spruce) – the highest peak of Czech part of the Jizera Mountains on the Czech-Polish border. Nice place to hike if you find yourself around. !!Delete muh_bad_luma.tga from the id1 QRP texture pack. It doesn't fit the shape of this new version.!!

2. crate0_side, crate0_top, crate1_side, crate1_top

Quake features two versions of crates, however Tronyn’s mods contain the third version. I made the new crate, but soon realized it doesn't match with the original ones. However, I liked the new design more so I reworked crate0 and crate1 textures instead.

3. bodies1_3 up to bodiesa3_3
I’ve never realized how brutal and graphic Quake can be. Original low-res pixelated textures don’t tell the whole story, but some of the textures are really scary. QRP team decided to censor these horrorish textures. I wanted to stay as close to the original as possible so be prepared for the extra level of gore. Thanks God there are online databases of various horror props and costumes. I promise nobody got hurt in process. No screens here... no spoilers!

You can copy these updated textures into the id1 QRP pack and use them in basic Quake as well if you like them. Keep in mind that QRR normal textures, if you use them, won’t match with these new versions.

Final statistics (as of version 1.2):
textures included in this pack: 1173
Hipnotic&Rogue QRP textures (some edited): 245
other authors (talisa, CV...) 21
new: 907

769 textures from these 907 are completely new, rest is based mostly on QRP material. Around 400 ID1 textures are not included. Those are covered by ID1 QRP texture pack that you still need. The number of files inside pk3 archive is higher though. There are also luma files and extra level-specific-versions of some textures in separate directories to avoid the most glaring cases of texture misalignment. There is an excel file with details for each texture inside credits directory as well as zip file with the original low-res textures. You can compare HD textures with the original material if you are curious how faithful they are. There is also another directory inside credits with alternative and original versions with extra readme file.

Some more examples:

I didn't paint each and every book precisely 1:1, but still... close enough

used in Arcanum bonus map and Something wicked... bloody mess..

and this is why we no longer have dragons around here...

Based on photo of real relief in Egypt. This thing really exists. According to the archeologists it depicts ritual of animal sacrifice and the whole thing is in much worse shape than my version.

Existing HD version looks OK, but I wasn't satisfied with the wings and I used different brick material to be in line with my other textures. Still, good work whoever did it.

Taken probably from Heretic texture set. Used only once in Arcanum bonus map.

This one is from Q3 if I am not mistaken. Again, used only once in final level of Unforgiven.

Another piece from Arcanum bonus maps. Actually, most of the difficult textures are form Arcanum bonus maps. Those two levels took so much time....

Example of knave texture set

And another one from Heretic. Statue based on model by MinoD, detail in credits excel file.

Scarabaeus is taken from real piece of ancient Egypt jewelry.

Aztec stone relief

Ordinary stone wall.

Probably the first one really complex painting I finished. Almost a week of iteration, reworking and (mostly) deleting. Original looks like angry wolf, mine is more into bear. I don't know how it happened, but I was too tired and convinced myself it's fine the way it looks. Generally, faces are hard.

A window into the better life.

Crates are the building blocks of any good level.

The very last texture I finished. It was a real tough monster to paint.

Lilith from Rapture pack

Dragon relief from Rapture

Update 1.2 - 28.09.2023
version 1.2

• Tronyn texture pack is updated with new versions of many textures - mostly kgrX series and wooden textures. These textures were already included, but were made by other creators, sometimes edited by me. I have finally made new versions of these textures while working on my "knave" texture pack.

• Some minor bugs here and there are fixed. I also went through credits file and re-checked/corrected many entries to match recent updates.

• Texture pack now works with fixed version of rapture.bsp from Rapture mod. CV fixed the bugged lava polls and also lava drainpipes are now animated. Extra patch with shaders from version 1.1 is no longer needed. Of course you need to replace rapture.bsp in rapture mod pak file with the new fixed version. Link to the rapture fix is here

Download version 1.2 here.
Original quakeone.com thread here.

I also recommend Rapture improved patch. It fixes several bugs and enables particle flames in Darkplaces/Zircon. Made by Seven, but the original link is dead so I re-uploaded it. Hope Seven won't object. Pk3 file goes to the Rapture directory. Download here.

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01-23-2023

HD texture pack for Abyss of Pandemonium. Unlike my previous projects this one is much smaller in scope and file size. There is already AoP HD texture pack, but I wanted to make a new pack that covers all textures and respects some strange AoP quirks, such as:

• there are many textures that have the same names as the ones used in vanila Q1, but the textures are different

• there are several cases of textures having different names in different AoP levels

• there are several cases of different textures from different AoP levels having the same name

• etc....

I don't know if it's a result of troubled and rushed development, but it's quite a mess. All these inconsistencies are the reason why we can't just simply copy HD textures from QRP id1 pack because the names match. Names match, textures themselves do not. You would encounter strange "bugs" like brick texture being used in cave etc... I checked all the above mentioned duplicities and other problematic texture names and made a new pack. And as usually I tried to stay as close to the original as possible. Almost all credits goes to the QRP team.

Final statistics
AoP features 331 textures, however this pack contains only 191 textures, the rest is covered by ID1 QRP texture pack.
completely new made by me are +/- 70 textures.
remaining textures are slightly edited /or renamed/ textures by QRP team

You still need to have ID1 QRP texture pack in id1 directory!

Keep in mind that AoP is not a master piece in any way. It's a product of its' time and HD textures don't make it suddenly 10-out-of-10 experience. It has its' flaws, but i like it and and maybe there are others like me.

some examples in action

Download version 1.0 here
Original quakeone.com thread here.

AoP is seriously unbalanced in the later levels. You can easily run out of ammo, especially on higher difficulties. A few years ago somebody edited entfiles to compensate for the missing ammo, but whoever made it went really overboard with newly added ammunition. It was almost ridiculous - ammo everywhere up to the point where the whole mission pack looses any challenge at all. I have greatly reduced the extra ammo boxes to the level where it's not so hopeless like in the original version, but you will still feel restrained by ammo. It's definitely playable on hard, but saving bullets is still recommended. Extract entfiles from zip file linked below and put them into Quake/AoP/maps directory.

Download entfiles here.

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10-02-2023

Another HD texture pack is ready. Knave is probably my favorite texture set and many "knave" textures were already included in my previous packs. So I wanted to compile a proper HD pack covering wider range of "knave" themed levels. As usually, it all started with the simple idea - use my already finished textures from Tronyn/Travail texture packs, create a (presumably) few missing textures. Easy stuff.... And then it somehow spiraled out of control once again and it took much longer than expected. There were two reasons for that:

• a decision to avoid other people's work led to reworking several textures from my previous packs - for example kgrX_X series is now brand new. Both Travail/Tronyn packs have been also updated with the new versions of these textures.

• knave themed levels rarely use only knave textures. Knave Jam no.9 greatly extended final texture count as well as inclusion of Xala'noth - Part 1 with unique texture set never seen in quake before. Sadly, there is only one proper level (+start map) and the rest of the episode is still in limbo. Maybe some day....

I listed all "knave" themed maps/episodes in quaddicted database and this is the result. Knave HD pack covers following maps and mods:
ID1 level(s) - A Quick One Before Azathoth Devours Fodrian
ID1 level(s) - Dead But Dreaming
ID1 level(s) - Down the ratbit hole
ID1 level(s) - East Ardougne
ID1 level(s) - Forgotten Tomb
ID1 level(s) - Lairs of Kellephais
ID1 level(s) - Nastrond
ID1 level(s) - Recursion
ID1 level(s) - The Contract
mod/episode - Chthonic Deities
mod/episode - Contract Revoked
mod/episode - The Lost Chapters + extra addon level The Rest Is Silence
AD level(s) - Atrocity Arise
AD level(s) - Castle Karthenfrost
AD level(s) - Xala'noth - Part 1
Quoth level(s) - Are you yet Living
Quoth level(s) - Breakfast at Twilight
Quoth level(s) - Conference of the Shamblers
Quoth level(s) - Gloomier Keep E1M5remix
Quoth level(s) - Pain in the Arch
Quoth level(s) - Red 777
Quoth level(s) - Subterranean Library
Quoth level(s) - Shifting planes of existence
Quoth level(s) - Func MapJam 9

NOT covered by this pack:

• Arcanum by Tronyn - the only one big remaining "knave" release is already covered by my Tronyn HD pack

• Knave level from WarpSpasm - this pack covers roughly 80% of the textures. Whole WarpSpasm/Rubicon texture pack is a story for another day

• Knave level from Smej2 (typical mega monstrosity by Mazu) - same as above

Final statistics

• 1259 - total number of textures used in above listed maps/mods

• 255 - not included textures, ID1 QRP or irrelevant textures (clip textures or textures not used in playable area)

• 815 - new textures made by me, majority is brand new, some based on QRP material

• 189 - remaining textures are mostly renamed QRP textures, some edited by me, but only slightly

Detailed credits file and the original low-res textures for comparison are included.

usage:
Put pk3 file into directory of any above mentioned mods or id1 folder for vanilla id1 levels and play. No other texture pack except for ID1 QRP pack is needed. Using any other texture pack would only create conflicts and is not advisable.

some comparison screens:

Texture used for teleports. There was almost nothing to built upon so I had to be a little more creative. Inspired by the texture name itself... demonica..

Switch texture, used everywhere not only in knave themed maps.

No proper knave level can be without satanic pentagram.

Cobble pavement

May seem like a variant of existing QRP material, but it was easier to make it from scratch than trying to modify existing doors.

Some machinery from Xala'noth, probably evil.

Some piping from Xala'noth, probably also evil.

There already was a version of this texture in my Travail/Tronyn pack but it didn't fit to the pack so I remade it from scratch.

Same as above, whole kgrX series is new now.

Another brick in the wall.

Big brother is watching (with little sisters).

Natural textures are still hard for me.. rock, soil, grass.. just using real photos look out of place in the game. A lot of iteration here.

I see dead people.

Don't know exactly what it is... a wall with jaws?

One from KnaveJam9. Not exactly knave texture but I wanted all textures to be covered by one pack.

Another new version of already existing texture. Previous version from Travail/Tronyn pack was made by talisa and edited by me, but i still wasn't satisfied and made a new one.

Download version 1.0 here
Original quakeone.com thread here.

enjoy
jakub1

Last edited by jakub1 (2023-10-13 15:51:00)

jakub1

Member

Re: HD textures by jakub1 and other quake experiments

RTlights experiments
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Tale of Abbot's Rune
original release date - 10-28-2015

I don't know how many of you here knows Tale of Abbot's Rune, but it's one of my favorite level packs. It contains two medium sized levels + small start map and for me those levels represent the true nature of quake - they are unique, they are weird and they are brutal. The very first enemy you encounter is shambler and then another two of them. It's not for the faint of heart.

Tale of Abbot's Rune is an oldschool gem. It was created back in 98 and unfortunately there are no other levels made by it's creator. It uses standard quake texture set so hi-res textures have been available for a long time. I used this map pack as a kind of testing ground - I wanted to learn how to use darkplaces built-in RTlights editor, how to make cubemaps and how to edit levels via ent files. This is the result. Maybe somebody will be interested in it.

changes I've made:

• Levels are set mostly in the underground, but they feature some surface sections. I've never liked those parts and they didn't work quite well with the RTlights. I've made pitch-dark skybox and altered the ent files so that now all the levels load it automatically.

• Levels contain small water areas so I've included revised bsp files.

• I wanted to avoid lights without actual light source so I added some torches here and there via ent files.

• The final section of the last level doesn't work quite well with darkplaces engine. It is possible to finish the level, but the rune doesn't spawn where is supposed to so I've changed the final area a little.

• I've added some new particle effects, particle flame torches mostly + some extra fancy stuff.

These changes I've made have a consequence - unlike the original version this release needs custom progs.dat. You have two choices:

1. If you use smc then copy maps, cubemaps and gfx directories into id1 and start the leves as usually. Seven has already included all the necessary qc changes into smc progs dat.

2. If you don't wanna use smc than put the whole abbot directory in quake installation and use it as any other mod - start the the map pack with console command -game abbot +map sgodrune. Included custom progs.dat enables particle based torches as well as the additional models and particle effects stated in ent files.

In both cases you need to add the new effects from new_effect.txt into the effectinfo.txt in id1 directory.

credits:
qc needed for basic particle flame torches is taken from seven's smc source code.
qc needed for additional particle effects is also taken from seven's smc source code.
qc needed for additional model support was written by nahuel.

and finally pictures:

download

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Nehahra
original release date - 01-17-2016

Nehahra rtlights are finally ready. Unlike in previous release, this time I didn't touch the source code for the extra models or particle effects. There are two reasons for that:

1. I didn't have to add any additional torch/fire model because there were always enough existing light sources.

2. Even if I wanted to, I simply couldn't because Nehahra source code is not exactly pure QC. I tried to implement the necessary code needed for the external models and particle entities compatibility, but I failed. Coding is not my area of expertise.  Luckily, I didn't need them at all.

what does this release contain:

• RTlights for all Nehahra levels, both playable and cinematic /not for Seal of Nehahra/.
  -

• ent files for minor changes, e.g. fog tweaks in some levels, I disabled the particle effect surrounding the start areas in some levels because they look really strange with particle font from smc etc... small things like that, no gameplay changes.
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• modified barrel.mdl because the original Nehahra barrels emit green light and it really doesn't work well with RTlights, especially when there are more barrels together in one place. Edited version doesn't emit any light at all. If you wanna those green glowing ugly things back just delete barrel.mdl from progs folder inside pk3 file.
  -

• some of the Nehahra levels didn't support transparent water. I added the revised versions of said levels into maps folder and you can replace the original ones inside Nehahra pak2.pak file. Revised levels are - neh1m4, neh1m6, neh1m7, neh1m8, neh2m5. neh2m6. However, Nehahra works in mysterious ways, even if level supports transparent water, I had to always re-adjust transparency level in menu after loading each map. It was annoying so I added the transparency settings into the entfiles.
  -

• I addedd my autoexec and config files. The overall result depends heavily on your gamma/brightness setting so... you can look inside those files and check my settings. I also use quite low brightness/contrast settings on my lcd so if you find the RTlights too bright or washed-out, lower your gamma even more.

and finally pictures:

download

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I Pity Thee Not & Dorghael Arhlannen
original release date - October-2016

Last RTlights I've finished so far. Two nice levels with interesting architecture style that emphasizes light&shadows defined by RTlights.

links to quaddicted database:
I Pity Thee Not
Dorghael Arhlannen

links to RTlights download:
Dorghael Arhlannen
I Pity Thee Not

and finally pictures:

Last edited by jakub1 (2023-10-08 19:59:48)