A juniper notebook to prepare anachronox's bsp files (level files) for use with highres textures. (Has problems use my custom gl_ref.dll instead)
DISCLAIMER:
Using this method to use upscaled textures does only work on some maps. If you are here for upscaled textures use my "Chuncki's 4x AI upscaled Anachronox textures" instead.
You can use the notebook generally to scale all UVs in a level if you need somthing like this or refine it to do other tasks .
Quick rundown on how to easily use unyper notebooks on windows:
- Download and install Anaconda (https://www.anaconda.com)
- Start Anaconda and click on "Junyper Notebook"
- A browser window showing your home folder is opened
- drag and drop the (unzipped) notebock file in the home folder
- klick upload in the top row
- find the uploaded notebook in the folder structure and doubleclick it
- congratulations: the notebook is open and running.
What to do next?
- Change the parameters under "User Input" to the ones fitting your situation.
- Run the notebook by pressing run until all cells are processed.
- Find the new resulting bsp and run arad3 on it to fix lightmaps.
- you are done
About the notebook:
As discussed in this moddb article (Moddb.com) there are hurdles when it comes to using high res textures for Anachronox' level architecture. In short: The game is able to load higher res textures, but doesn't squish them down so they occupy the same space as their low res counterparts.
Three theoretical solutions where proposed to this problem. The one implemented in this notebook is a variation of the first:
The idea is to decompile the original .bsp files back to the .map format used when crafting levels. Then use a level editor to fix all textures by hand and then recomplile to create versions that work with scaled textures instead of the original ones.
Instead of decompiling the bsps, this notebook changes the texture projection data directly in the bsp file. It's the same procedure for every textured face of the level so it can be easily automated.
ATTENTION: A bsp modified by this notebook will have messed up lightmaps. To fix this fetch "arad3.exe" from the official Anachronox modding tools (Moddb.com) and make it rebuild the lightmaps.
SECOND ATTENTION:
In some levels using 4x upscale leads to arad3 producina a MAX_MAP_LIGHTING error. If someone has an idea how to get around this: Im interested.
Until then I'd suggest using up to 3x scaling wich seems to work fine.
Use it with the follwing commandline (where yourfile.bsp is to be substituted with your bsp, duh! :) ) to fix the issue:
arad3 -threads 4 -chop 256 -bounce 0 yourfile.bsp
WARNING!
While this trick works on some maps like "zordos.bsp" it doesn't work on most. There is a much better solution though involving hacking the renderer itself instead of the levels. I am working on it right now and will release it soon as part of a upscale texture pack to be named "Chuncki's 4x AI upscaled Anachronox textures v.0.9". Stay tuned!
WOW!!! ChnuckiErdbeer this is really great work your doing, can,t wait to see a final version of your upscaled textures. Btw if you redone textures + redone sounds & musics + some more difficulty, it will be Anachronox Remake bro ;) great work and keep up coming more ;)
:) Just at this moment I am uploading the first release. And yes I also see it as another step towards a fully enjoable version of the game. I think the elephant in the room would be the battle system. It feels incredibly unfinished. It is probably possible to optimize it so it feels more snappy and less desorientating.
Or.... get done with it, somehow take the (nowadays fixed) sidekick system from daikatana and make the game a shooter. Combined with additional ways to solve puzzles.
That's great news :) btw could you plz write what tools are you using for modding Anachronox? I very love that game and want start mod it too bro ;)