My latest S3TC high end texture collection

[Hermskii]

I had a some time last night and discovered a 1/2 done project of mine. It was an attempt to have a single file of all of the newest/tested best S3TC textures in a single file with a complete description of where they came from.

It wasn't done so I went ahead and updated it and completed it. It is 4.5 gigs of UT textures.

Now I'm going to make up a quick install guide. I'll need to upload the package to my web server so that I can give the link to those who want it.

The correct process of gathering, installing, maintaining and successfully using S3TC textures over a long duration of time was nearly impossible to most and deemed to be not worth the effort though everyone loves the result when they first use them. Sadly they are real easy to break and then most would just have to reinstall their UT. I have a better way!

The problem is really that the textures themselves had major issues in the beginning. Then the video cards that ran them needed to be of a certain high quality. Lastly, the game and the video card had to be properly configured for any chance of success. I almost forgot to mention all of the newer special renderers that come along and sometimes don't work well with these textures.

I'm going to create an easy to follow guide to install these textures and explain a process to easily maintain them over long durations of time even when additional changes like mods and such are done to the system. I'll also produce a back-out plan that will restore anybody's system to pre-S3TC status should this fail for them in any way. I can't think of anything else I could do to make it to where people can nearly easily use the special UT textures. I hope whoever uses them enjoys them!

[a nameless entity]

Hey Herm that's really great of you.

You've already made a basic UT99 installation guide, and now with this guide and texture pack players should be able to make UT99 into a game that is a rival of later FPS games.

Tweaking UT99 to get it just right is a lot of work, especially if you want to add voice packs, custom skins, and etc. But the end result was always worth it, especially if you have an older PC that would struggle with the later FPS games. For you would end up with a game that looked good, worked fine, and was a lot of fun to play. And of course you would meet lots of good people on the servers.
And they might lead you to a really great UT mod that is easy to install. (Such as: Monster Hunt! )

To get back on topic let me just say that I have used that huge texture pack, and while it does eat up a lot of hard drive space, it is also very awesome indeed. I promise that anyone who goes to the trouble of installing it will be very impressed. I would often be running down a corridor and would spot a texture from the pack that I had not noticed before, stop to admire it, and promptly get myself killed for my distractedness. But it was worth it every time!

[Dr.Flay]

Aha ! Now I understand your comment at UT99.org

I also started making self-extracting RARs from the Texture project.
1 for each version. I only got as far as making 3.
I used the original documentation for the install info (with a few tweaks), and included all the individual txt files.

UT_S3TC_LowEnd_Texture_Package.exe (633 MB)
Unreal_S3TC_LowEnd_Texture_Package.exe (517 MB)
Unreal_S3TC_HighEnd_Texture_Package.exe (900 MB)

S3TC.png

Posting Magnet links will help people distribute large files (I should sort some for the files I've done).
If your uploaded files can be hot-linked, the URL can be included in a Magnet.
(Don't worry, I can provide easy links if I have the files or hash-keys)
Posting the MD5 or SHA-1 hash with large files can also help (Look at Linux distro sites) to avoid corrupt DLs.
Here's an online hasher.
http://onlinemd5.com

Think about using a split multi-archive, if you intend to put the lot in 1 installer.
700 MB chunks will archive nicely onto blank CDs.
I favour capping the chunks at 1GB. Failed DLs can be a pain with huge files (especially when most UK ISPs have such a small monthly limit).

Choice of archive format.
7zip may be the smallest, but the added protection available with "Recovery Records" in RAR, is always worth it.
I did many tests on various file-types a few years ago, and found that on average a recovery record of 3% will still create a file smaller than a ZIP.
"Solid Archive" option also helps to create a smaller file.

Whatever you make, it would be useful to put it in a folder that Shareaza can see.
GEx, Carbon and me can help spread the load, as we regularly use Shareaza.
If it slips out in conversation anywhere within ear-shot of Medor, then you can bet he will also be grabbing a copy

*EDIT*
I just updated this resource with more hashers (stand-alone, shell-integrated, and online)
http://my.opera.com/dr-flay/blog/file-hosting

[Hermskii]

Coolness. iwill need some help here because I had not considered many of the transport and storage and failsafe transfers you mentioned.

I did not do this with each of the texture packs. I went with original, then added while overwriting some on a 2nd UT CD DIEHARD had that mine didn't. Then I added and over wrote the high end textures from his pack and finished up and adding and overwriting with the extreme end textures.

I also have written a install process for a required OpenGL Renderer with a back out process and the modifications required to utilize S3TC with said OpenGL renderer. There is more stuff too but I don't want to get ahead of myself. I really do want it all to be a single huge download though. But maybe you are right. Maybe I will break it up. Luckily, I did break it up already when I started the process.

[Hermskii]

Yours is all pretty. Mine is text and files. That is it. No pictures. The instructions still seem huge to me though they only half apply depending on what you already have or not. I finished the whole thing a minute ago and now I have 4.56gb of S3Tc stuff ready to upload somewhere. Now I need my FTP software installed again so I can start. I think I'll do this from work though to speed up the process.

Everything is in one folder. It is basically:

A giant texture folder.
A original UT CD#1 textures folder.
A OpenGL Renderer.
A text file of directions

I'm glad it is done for now. I'll re-approach it again next year and overwrite files with newer better versions.

[Hermskii]

OK. It is all done ( I think ). Who dares to give it a try? I offered the zipped up package to a regular here via PM that I thought would be interested but never got a response.

[Dr.Flay]

I just used the SFX options in WinRAR to archive the folder of textures and docs.
No clever installers. I just tweaked one of the existing docs for the SFX window, and used a mini UT logo for the picture space on the left.
If your UT is installed elsewhere, you have to browse to the correct folder.
It is set to ask the user to confirm the replacement of the files, so you can see the size and date info on each file.

Note: FAT32 formated USB sticks, will not be able to handle a file that big (again why I recommend capping at 1GB chunks).
Using an archiver (RAR, ZIP etc.) to make a standard multi-part archive will allow you to open them as a single file (you don't need to join them to use it).

Using RAR or 7zip for multimedia distros makes a huge impact on file-size as they both use algorithms for bitmap data (WinZIP has never developed internally as they only hold a licence).
S3TC textures are already compressed so we don't see the same compression ratios as normal textures.

Until web-hosted, as you have it in 1 folder, you can easily serve-up the folder as a magnet or torrent using Shareaza.
It may be worth talking to FreakinMeany at Mapraider about copying it onto his server as the file or folder.
Either way it would get multiple mirrors.
Serving the folder, will mean that people that already have certain files, don't need to DL them again as they will be mapped-in at the users end.

BTW. As an ATI user the GL renderer is not much use to me.
ATI and intel graphics users need to use the D3D9 to run at full speed.

....Yuck what a boring post.
Haven't had any rum pass these dry lips for 2 weeks.
Hot and tired, head is frierd.
off to bed...