I’ve held off on doing the in-game menu because I didn’t feel the necessary inspiration to tackle it yet. For me that texture is the face of the game; the one the player sees most often and serves as a sort of “anchor” for the player. Another factor may have been that I knew I would end up spending several hours on it to get it just right. Going in, I knew I wanted to keep the ARENA word at the top in roughly the same shape but with a much cleaner design and that it needed to be similar to the HUD on the main screen. That covered most of the core design and all I was lacking was gumption.
Once I finally found the urge to tackle it, it didn’t take long for my mojo to kick in. I knew that although I only had 75% of the design mapped out in my head, the other 25% would either come to me while I was editing or result from trial and error (that’s my favorite part anyways). Although I sped this video up twice as fast as the last one, you can still see spots where I paused to consider how to continue and where I changed my mind or adjusted on the fly (very evident with the Save, Load, Quit buttons on the bottom). In the end, I even found room for the project name!
For the HUD (that shows at the bottom of the screen when playing), I fiddled extra long on how to redesign the buttons. I wavered back and forth on keeping the original art or replacing it with words or a different picture. I considered removing or subduing some of the more garish design aspects such as the yellow squares pinning the corners. However, unlike my other projects, ADP is quasi-purist in it’s attempt to keep the “feel” of the original artwork. I ultimately decided to just clean up the buttons but keep the art as close to the original as possible (making minor modifications). The only exception was the USE button; That one was a pain in the butt. Nothing I tried seemed to work well AND convey to the user that it was meant to be the “USE” button. In the end, I settled for a “U”. Not overly inspired but I wasted a lot of time on it and we have to pick our battles sometimes.
Example
You can see above the original HUD and below the new one. I used one sword for attack to keep it simpler and clean and I changed the journal parchment to a book which I feel better conveys it’s purpose while differentiating it from the map directly above.
NOTE: While I did the background around the players head, in game it must use a different texture since it’s the same as the original. Also, I experimented with making the HUD partially transparent but as I suspected, the game doesn’t render below the start of the HUD and it just turned out black.
I try to stick to colors pulled from the original image. This eliminates any guesswork on making sure the colors match the palette file (really only important for older games that use palette files). Once I have a rough idea of what colors to use, I try and gauge what I want the new image to look like. For bricks and stone, I’ll usually try to draw inspiration from what I start with. In that I mean that I will try and mimic the rough shape and design of the original. I do try and give each set of images as unique an appearance as possible while being aesthetically pleasing.
Video
Since one of my main motivators for creating this website was to chronicle my artistic endeavors, I decided to make some time-lapse videos to highlight the process. The first one below demonstrates what I’m talking about for “easy” textures.
Points of interest
A couple of things to point out from the video:
1. I outlined the shapes ahead of time to create a frame when I colored in the shapes.
2. I colored in one image in the SET file to get a good feel of the colors and general appearance that I’m going for.
3. I do a lot of on-the-fly tweaking (and sometimes overhauling). Sometimes what I end up with is nothing like what I started with.
4. I have to check the image in the game in order to see if there are any issues AND to make the final decision on whether I like it or not. In this case, I ended up changing several of the other textures because I didn’t like how they looked. Note in the image below that the city wall and road are different (and in my opinion better) than in the video.
As I have mentioned in previous posts, my experience in working with game art resources has revealed that the game creators often leave behind orphan files that aren’t actually used in the game. It is very frustrating to spend a couple hours on a texture only to not be able to see it in game (as I did many times in for Torchlight texture pack). To combat this waste of time, I have started “marking” texture files so that I can see if they get used in game or not. For example; Arena has SET files (2-6 textures all in one image) and IMG files (single image). I have discovered that many wall and ground sets are repeated in both SET and IMG formats. So a single “Wall” set would have up to 4 IMG files that mirrored that SET file. For any suspect files, I would mark the IMG file and see if it shows in game. Then I could avoid redoing a texture that isn’t even used. In theory, I can save time and shrink the overall pack size by eliminating these orphan files. Lastly, using this process I can find the file in the game to see how it looks when I texture it.
SET files (multiple images in one)
IMG sets (single images)
The process
The process is fairly simple. After completing some wall SET files for ADP, I tested them. I could see my new textures in-game so I knew these were correct files. But when I did the same for ground SETs, they didn’t show. So I decided to “mark” the IMG files and see if they were used or not.
STEP 1: I loaded about 30 IMG files in GIMP at one time (only the ones I was unsure of). Since they are so small (64 pixels by 64 pixels), GIMP could load them without too much trouble.
STEP 2: One by one, I would draw a symbol (nothing fancy) on the texture. I would use a color that stood out so it would be easy to spot in game. I tended to use the alphabet then numbers then symbols so I could narrow them down easily if needed.
STEP 3: Since I have a fancy Logitech keyboard that supports macros, I created a macro that would overwrite the original file then close the file (about 12 keystrokes each). Then all I had to do was hit the macro key a bunch and it would keep executing the macro; saving and closing each file one by one. I managed to do this all in an hour or so while watching a football game.
STEP 4: I would load the next 30 or so and repeat the process until all the textures in question were marked. In all I ended up marking 150 files (all wall and ground textures).
Results
After a preliminary check, I realized that ground textures seem to favor IMG formats (to allow better mixing and matching in levels?) and walls were almost exclusively SET files except for city walls. Out of 150 textures marked, I have so far only found 3 in game. The caveat on that is that I haven’t explored a lot of the game. I will most likely go ahead and texture all the ground and outer city wall IMG files and then check again. But if even half of those are just junk files, it would well be worth the saved time.
At request of my son, I had resumed working on PinkertonCraft, my Minecraft mod. Although almost all (99%) of the original game textures are complete, I don’t want to release till I complete the art for the mods my sons use. Most of those are complete but a few are quite large. In fact, one mod called Divine RPG has almost 4 times as many textures as the original game. I have used most of my time since August working on it and am about 70% done with that.
One thing I noticed with a lot of mods (and even “vanilla” Minecraft) is that many textures are the same except for the color. For example, all the “rugs” in the Divine RPG mod were just the same bland texture in a different color. Mods are especially bad about this. Divine RPG has many “dimensions” but in the original art set, they were all the same texture but in different colors. I have strived to avoid repeating textures in such a manner unless it made since (i.e. colored wool or glass). So for each of the dimensions, I tried to give them as unique a look as possible. I apply the same principle to the “mobs” (i.e. monsters). If the game has 7 “golems” then I want them all to actually look different and be distinct.
(Click the pictures to see how they look different now)
Arena
I had made a lot of progress before I switched back over to the Minecraft project. I have completed 102 of 184 set files. I should note that like many other resource file packs, Arena is chock full of unused files or files that were started and then switched to another format. I can think of 5 SET files off the top of my head that aren’t actually used. They are all ground files that Bethesda switched to IMG files (that I have already completed). A lot of the remaining SET files are less linear and more organic. Because they are base on 64×64 pixels, they require more creative approaches. I will start planning out how to handle them soon.
Home outside the city
Lake side cottage
I need to fix the grass
More buildings and UI updated (some)
Website
I have been wanting to finish the website. Currently, the only thing linked are pictures. I need to add a Minecraft category and add to all the other categories. My goal is to have the site fleshed out in time to coincide with the release of PinkertonCraft (hopefully in October).
I mentioned that right now I’m “mostly” focusing on doing the easier images in Arena’s SET files. By easier, I mean contain simple angular designs that have minimal curves and diagonals. Why? The reason is that with these extremely low resolution art assets (most tiles are only 64 pixels by 64 pixels), curves and diagonals don’t look like smooth straight lines. With my Minecraft project (PinkertonCraft), I expressedly made almost ALL the art clean linear horizontal and vertical line combinations with no curves even implied.
Nether Ores – Original Minecraft 16 x 16
Nether Ores – PinkertonCraft (still 16 x 16)
Unlike that project, in the ADP, I simplified most curves and diagonal lines but did not eliminate them. My goal with this project is cleaner textures but not abstract images.
Palette Files, oh my!
The first thing I do with an “easy” texture is try to picture the rough color scheme that I want to use. Since many of these type of images are brick or stone walls, that means deciding the color of the bricks or walls. I gauge if I am going to want lighter or darker colors from sight and then decide which color(s) already existing in the image to use. I have two reasons for doing this: the first is that it helps maintain a little integrity to the original unmodified image and second, it removes the issue of colors being changed when imported and converted to the original palette colors (the import tool approximates to the closest color if one doesn’t match a color in the palette file).
The base palette of colors most Arena images use. Each image contains a single reference point per pixel to this file rather then the using the standard 3 numbers ranging individually 0 to 256.
NOTE: Arena uses a palette file for images. This means that exact colors for each pixel are found by referencing a separate file (palette). Consider a palette file as a real hand held paint palette: like a painter, Arena draws/paints it’s images using the colors from the palette. The whole reason to do this was to save space on the disk which was a concern in the early 90’s.
I made a lot of progress on the SET files and a few of the image files. However, I have decided to not count the files as often so as not to distract from getting work done. The Surface Pro has really allowed me to capitalize on downtime away from the main computer. So when I just want to sit with the family while they watch a show, I can work on more art files for the game. I’m trying to complete most of the simpler defined (and geometric) sets first since they require less “artistic license” to complete but every now and then I tackle a more difficult one (e.g. sand, gravel, swirly designs, etc.)
Not so easy
Easy
Bookshelf
So far the most involved SET file has been the bookshelf ( actually 4 bookshelves in one SET). The original was awfully blurred and visually unappealing all around up close. It’s one of the more obvious examples of artwork that was created at a higher resolution and then downsized (sampled?) to fit the game engines format and palette. I have been working on it on and off between other images for 2 weeks now and have finally finished. As with all my textures, I hope to retain some of the character while “cleaning” up the image or adding a more artistic appeal (you’ll need to click on the photos for a better view of the difference).
Recently, Hellfire2079 updated his Elder Scrolls 1: Arena modding tools (more like suite). Since I’m about done with the vanilla Minecraft texture pack (and am burning out a little) I decided to test out the new program. Doing so reenergized me to continue on my Arena Depixelization Project (much thanks to Hellfire 2079).
Unfortunately, I soon discovered in the hiatus some of the almost 50 SET files that I had already edited went missing. After a week of scrounging through my various CDs, USB keys, and hard drives, I found all but about 1 or 2 of them (I still haven’t found the one USB key I know I put them on). Since then, I have pressed forward quite a bit and got a lot done. There still a ways to go but I feel good momentum and am able to use some of my “lessons learned” from editing Minecraft on the new textures. Currently, I’m up to 63/184 full set files and 28 (of way too many) IMG files. I added some new screenshots to the ADP screenshot gallery.
Texturing Note: One thing I have noticed about editing texture files is that game makers sometimes leave garbage files in the resource file. Often it’s just abandoned art or in some case images that were make part of a larger image (or visa versa). This strikes me as odd especially with games that originally were on floppy disk since the were space limited in the first place. I have seen it multiple times in modern games too. When I was working on Torchlight I couldn’t for the life of me find several of the textures I had recently finished. I later discovered that they weren’t used at all in game and were likely remnants from early versions.
I ran into this problem while trying to test Arena with some snow ground textures. I replaced the GLOBAL.BSA file (the file containing all the game resources) with my modded version but there would be no change in-game. After a little poking around, I discovered that the ground SET files (3 to 5 image “tiles” in a vertical line) were also IMG files as separate images (so a 3 image SET file would have 3 separate IMG files). I did some copy/paste work in GIMP to transfer each individual texture file to it’s respective IMG file. After loading, it worked as I originally planned (thus meaning the SET file was obsolete). I think they likely changed how they wanted to handle it in game so they could better mix and match ground tiles without overhead needed to load each SET file (remember SET files contain 3 to 5 tiles).
Arena SET file for ground snow
Snow Grass IMG file
Snow Road IMG file
Snow Field IMG file
Snow Bridge
Now the odd part is some of the Wall SET files are the same way in that they have a group SET file then individual IMG files, but in this case the SET files were used instead of the IMG files. For these, I think that they probably realized that the wall tiles for each SET usually were all used together so there wasn’t the need to have the separate IMG files (and may be why they didn’t break all the wall SETs into IMG files). The one IMG file that is an exception to this is the door file for each individual architecture SET as it remained only an IMG file (they have trim around the door matching the architecture style).
For me ,besides geeking out a little, all this leads to having to make sure that the SET files match any duplicate IMG files (annoying but hardly a game breaker). I may eventually release a streamlined GLOBAL.BSA if I every bother to find all the obsolete files (obviously for academic purposes since it’s not exactly a space hog).
First off, the Surface Pro has proven to be a great asset for me with my very busy schedule. I have been able to take advantage of downtime much more efficiently including when away from home. The device is great for artwork on the go and since it’s a full fledged computer in a tablet size, I can run any program that runs on Windows 8 (to include GIMP). On a road trip back from a vacation, I was able to get in over 2 hours of work done on my current project. I would say it has at least doubled if not tripled the amount of time I can spend on my little “hobby”.
Microsoft Surface Pro
Second, I have made much progress on my minecraft art texture pack. I am calling it PinkertonCraft after the long running tradition of naming Minecraft mods…something + Craft. Currently, I have completed all of the terrain blocks, items, and almost all of the monsters (holding off on the dragon till I get inspired on how I want to do it). I have8 of the 12 GUIs textures completed (these are the menus that pop up in the game). Then I only have some icons and status pictures to update and the entire vanilla game experience will be retextured in my mod. On top of that, I have already completed quite a few major mods too so they will blend seamlessly with my texture pack.
Lastly,
Hellfire2079, an another enthusiast, has released his new iteration of his mod tools for The Elder scrolls 1: Arena.
The new program allows seamless unpacking and repacking of the games art content. On top of that, when it “unpacks” the file, it converts the files to PNG for easy editing! His old program allowed for BMP editing (which is what I used for my Arena Depixelation Project) but PNGs work fine too. When his program “repacks” all the files, it converts the PNGs back to the format the game is expecting. This may not seem like much but editing the original files is annoying and took me some time to figure out how to do (it involves opening the files in GIMP in RAW format and then using an offset AND a palette file…ugh). On top of that sound files are converted and INF (dungeon layouts) are converted to an easy .ini style layout. He also created a font editor for the program (hope to get to use that eventually). The new program is much cleaner and effective then the last one (that required importing individual files vs repack them all at once).
All of this has gotten me reenergized toward my Arena project so it’s good that my Minecraft project is nearing release state.
Had quite a few things on the agenda this week. On top of that minecraft has finally descended upon the household. I spent more than a few hours installing all the various mods for my boys. I did find a little time to work on my project. Even though I only got 2 sets done, I picked two more difficult sets.
Usually what I do is load the image up in GIMP and then zoom out. I try to get the feel of texture then I redo it trying to keep a link to the original image. The tricky part of textures in Arena is that they were clearly make at a higher resolution with higher color depth then downsized. The mish mash of pixelation left is barely recognizable as anything. When you add in the very low resolution of the Arena engine, it can be quite hard to look at. This is the whole reason i started this project. I hope by simplifying and redesigning them, the in game experience will be better.
Art In Pinkerton 