Spring RTS Engine

In OTA the arm and core models had certain visual differences.
Arm looked more milky/smooth and core more rigid and dark.
If I examine BA or XTA now that visual distinction is gone.
I was just wondering how it happened.
Did it disappear cause of the slow introduction of new models that were not made by Cavedog?
Are the models used in OTA proper?If I was to convert them and use them in Spring would they look fine or do they have missing faces/other issues?

Did it disappear cause of the slow introduction of new models that were not made by Cavedog?

Largely that. It has changed the texture palette quite a bit.

Fixing that would be a giant project.

the lack of quality control caused the introduction of third-party units that didn't make any attempt to stay consistent with OTA. UH was pretty good being coherent with OTA. AA just shoved random stuff in.

Actually I retexxed a few things to look more like OTA, and the "problem" you're describing really has nothing at all to do with the units themselves or who made them. Virtually all of the units in AA use the same textures as OTA units, so while they might not look as consistent, they have roughly the same typical brighness/contrast.

As someone who's been around so long TRO, I think you realize just how much "crap" is out there. I was very selective in what I added. Only a small percentage of the units in my current (un)working build of AA are non-OTA. Even BA doesn't have very many non-OTA units, and it has more than my current build.

IMO if you perceive the units to be muddy-looking, you are comparing them to what you saw in actual OTA. Like, TA-engine OTA. The textures themselves have not changed, but your means of displaying them has. You were only getting 256 colors in total, meaning there was a TON of artificial contrast on everything and all the maps were tailor-built to make the best use of of the color palette while also strongly contrasting with all the units.

Compare: A very half-assed (BAM!) comparison, but it should give you some idea what I'm talking about. With a smaller palette, there is a lot more easily-perceived detail.

There was also a simpler lighting system that made everything that wasn't part of the map much brighter. Sort of like the way that enemies are easy to see in Doom, but not so much in Doom 3.

I am also working on a side-project to enhance all the OTA textures, which will in part be improving their contrast.

AFAIK someone redid most of the OTA textures for CA, might check there for some newer content.

Otherside wrote:old news CA redid them over a year ago :p

Caydr wrote:Checking CA's folder, they appear to have redone some, but not all. Even the ones they have done are still very low resolution.

It seems they redid some textures for the sake of being able to claim they're GPL, without actually trying to make any improvements. Unless I'm not looking in the right place.

yea, there was virtually nothing useful from UU if you want to make a mod faithful to OTA with new units, which is why I am making my own.