Spring RTS Engine

Out of curiosity: Would those textures really be TA-IP free? I mean he still uses the original one's as a basis (not just in terms of style but technically), runs them through scalers and image manipulators and then retouches them a bit. Does that make them his own?

not much use since texture is still pretty much the same. And the models are still TA IP

A lot of use if they make the game look truly better.
What is better?not ip free ugly textures or not ip free not so ugly textures?
There are many ip free or legal projects using the spring engine.

No, the images are still, at best, a derivative work... so still quite legally gray.