This "Summer" was supposed to include some new terrain art for the EC..
Summer is almost over, wheres our art?
Summer is almost over, wheres our art?
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EC Love?
- Thread starter Elric_Soban
- Start date
- Watchers 2
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Woodsman
Guest
Cal said at the beginning of July they were splitting their content up into two separate publishes. Pub 71 has came and gone since then and he said after July that we would see the clean up, anniversary and vet items, and some graphics updates to the EC.
I can see the anniversary and vet items being the most important since the anniversary is next month, but if they push back the graphics update, that would not be good. Maybe I've played too many other MMOs and some betas lately, but UO's graphics have really grown old for me lately. When I came back, it was fine, but then they started talking about high resolution graphics, I guess the anticipation really got me going.
I can see the anniversary and vet items being the most important since the anniversary is next month, but if they push back the graphics update, that would not be good. Maybe I've played too many other MMOs and some betas lately, but UO's graphics have really grown old for me lately. When I came back, it was fine, but then they started talking about high resolution graphics, I guess the anticipation really got me going.
well i dont play UO for the graphics, even back in 97 the 2d client was considered a joke graphically, and its only gotten worse.. but any update to the art is exciting to me. hopefully this new one pans out.
P.S. Please put back in high res KR character art. at least on an option somewhere...
P.S. Please put back in high res KR character art. at least on an option somewhere...
...
Back in 97/98, the graphics were still nice mainly because of the SEVERE downgrade in visual quality the jump to polygonal 3d graphics were at the time (which were on par with the early-mid 80s vector graphics, just with a little more color). If you remember at the time you had all of the stretched/deformed faces on people, arms and legs that went wildly out of socket, and all kind of deformities. Beyond character models, plant models were ATROCIOUS looking like cardboard cutouts put into an X pattern to look like it was 3d.
Now that the hardware has caught up with the 3d vision, such features can be done MUCH more realistically. 3d models are now connected, smooth, at a minimum of distortion, and even the lips look and move if not realistically, then at least a LOT better than a lot of hand-made drawn animation.
Beyond that, in the more technical issues, you have the raise in resolution on the average computer monitor (640x480 then, 1920x1080 and higher now) as well as much higher color depth on the internal graphics processors (which by themselves are now more powerful and have more RAM than the entire computer system you needed for UO originally) and MUCH MUCH higher contrast ratio being displayed on the new monitors.
Meanwhile, after trying to compromise with people who were NEVER going to accept it anyway, we ended up using graphics that haven't been updated in over a decade... which I'm pretty sure was one of the main purposes in a new client in the first place (not to mention a HUGE thread on the issue on the UHall called the Pixel Challenge Thread).
So yeah, I'm still waiting on this... but drum-beating does get tiring when nothing happens.
Back in 97/98, the graphics were still nice mainly because of the SEVERE downgrade in visual quality the jump to polygonal 3d graphics were at the time (which were on par with the early-mid 80s vector graphics, just with a little more color). If you remember at the time you had all of the stretched/deformed faces on people, arms and legs that went wildly out of socket, and all kind of deformities. Beyond character models, plant models were ATROCIOUS looking like cardboard cutouts put into an X pattern to look like it was 3d.
Now that the hardware has caught up with the 3d vision, such features can be done MUCH more realistically. 3d models are now connected, smooth, at a minimum of distortion, and even the lips look and move if not realistically, then at least a LOT better than a lot of hand-made drawn animation.
Beyond that, in the more technical issues, you have the raise in resolution on the average computer monitor (640x480 then, 1920x1080 and higher now) as well as much higher color depth on the internal graphics processors (which by themselves are now more powerful and have more RAM than the entire computer system you needed for UO originally) and MUCH MUCH higher contrast ratio being displayed on the new monitors.
Meanwhile, after trying to compromise with people who were NEVER going to accept it anyway, we ended up using graphics that haven't been updated in over a decade... which I'm pretty sure was one of the main purposes in a new client in the first place (not to mention a HUGE thread on the issue on the UHall called the Pixel Challenge Thread).
So yeah, I'm still waiting on this... but drum-beating does get tiring when nothing happens.
Yeah I remember the pixel challenge thread.. and in my opinion, it was completely self defeating. Why would we want a higher resolution version of the exact same UGLY DATED LOW POLYCOUNT art style?
I'm all for remixing the graphics, just the way they did with KR/EC. (I don't understand why they felt the need to HUE Titans/Cyclopses.. they look ********) but that aside, KR looked great. Then "EC" came out, and the resolution the sprites were rendered at was dropped considerably. (why? plz dont say performance.. this is 2011..) but despite that, it still looks infinitely better than 2d.
Anyway, whatever. Maybe the new art will breathe new life. But i doubt it. Sounds like it's just terrain art (and the terrain looks good to me atm. so i dunno).
/rant
I'm all for remixing the graphics, just the way they did with KR/EC. (I don't understand why they felt the need to HUE Titans/Cyclopses.. they look ********) but that aside, KR looked great. Then "EC" came out, and the resolution the sprites were rendered at was dropped considerably. (why? plz dont say performance.. this is 2011..) but despite that, it still looks infinitely better than 2d.
Anyway, whatever. Maybe the new art will breathe new life. But i doubt it. Sounds like it's just terrain art (and the terrain looks good to me atm. so i dunno).
/rant
GrimOmen is welcome to drop in and drop tidbits, hints, or bombs as may be applicable. Some of us have been waiting for quite a while. While yer at it any word on:
Crimson Metal dyes
Thongs on Avatars
Figure heads on High Seas Ships
?
Thanks and have an awesome day.
Crimson Metal dyes
Thongs on Avatars
Figure heads on High Seas Ships
?
Thanks and have an awesome day.
...
The cut on the EC women's underwear is pretty close to a thong, and I want non-decaying lanterns on High Seas ships!
The cut on the EC women's underwear is pretty close to a thong, and I want non-decaying lanterns on High Seas ships!
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Woodsman
Guest
I think new graphics can bring some people back and bring new players in. At the end of the day, a lot of newer MMOs are progression-style MMOs and there comes a point at which people progress as far as they can and get bored. It happened with Warcraft - a lot of vets were blowing through Cataclysm pretty fast and ran out of things to do and started looking around at other games and left, more so than past Warcraft expansions, and Blizzard even admits it. UO on the other hand is much more of a long-term game with a lot more variety and depth, but the problem is that too many people won't even consider it in the first place without an update that takes advantage of modern computers. Even my $400 netbook is more powerful and has a higher resolution display than the computer I used for UO for my first 6 or 7 years.
As for the upgrades, they said the terrain is just the first batch of graphics updates - it won't be the only. Think about it, having high resolution terrain and low-resolution avatars and monsters would be worse than not offering any high resolution graphics. The terrain is probably the easiest update to get out and get into testing as well. Avatars have a lot of different styles, clothing, weapons, armor, items, etc. that would need to be converted.
Pub 72 announced with NO art updates after patching... Except for SHEEP... *coughs*
Another broken promise.
Another broken promise.
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Woodsman
Guest
It's not just sheep, it looks like they brought a lot of animals in from KR.
Kind of weird that they talk about terrain updates and then give us animals. They seem to animate smoothly though.
Kind of weird that they talk about terrain updates and then give us animals. They seem to animate smoothly though.
What other animals have you noticed? I agree that the sheep is different, but thats all I've seen...
Someone said they thought Cu Sidhe's heads looked "more detailed," but im skeptical of this claim.
Someone said they thought Cu Sidhe's heads looked "more detailed," but im skeptical of this claim.
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I've only noticed the sheep being different in 2d, everything else looks the same as EC models ARE KR models, just downgraded in resolution. They MIGHT have done a slight resolution tweak/raise, but I'm not seeing much of a difference on my system.
I've only noticed the sheep being different in 2d, everything else looks the same as EC models ARE KR models, just downgraded in resolution. They MIGHT have done a slight resolution tweak/raise, but I'm not seeing much of a difference on my system.
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Woodsman
Guest
Okay so I'm seeing the sheared sheep difference in the EC.
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yep just checked it out here too... it's a change that makes more sense and probably a quick one that they did to both clients, thus why the new models entirely for 2d.
yep just checked it out here too... it's a change that makes more sense and probably a quick one that they did to both clients, thus why the new models entirely for 2d.
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Woodsman
Guest
Do you get the sense that they are doing trial runs on certain things?
It kind of reminds me of Virtuebane, although the artwork for him was a lot more complex/nicer looking. He was incredibly sharp and I wondered if they were testing resolutions.
It kind of reminds me of Virtuebane, although the artwork for him was a lot more complex/nicer looking. He was incredibly sharp and I wondered if they were testing resolutions.
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Woodsman
Guest
So the sheep in the CC was an accident according to the sheep thread in uhall.
Still interesting that they are testing some things out.
Still interesting that they are testing some things out.
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And like clockwork, the past-dwellers had a nervous breakdown at the change in graphics of ONE creature... no wonder it's been such a pain in the ass to get this game updated graphically, and again just cements further in my mind who's fault that is.
And like clockwork, the past-dwellers had a nervous breakdown at the change in graphics of ONE creature... no wonder it's been such a pain in the ass to get this game updated graphically, and again just cements further in my mind who's fault that is.