Replacing plug units with HD units

[VieForPower]

Loaded a plugin in Oak.

I want to take the sprites, make them HD, and replace them using oak.

Will this work? Is there a limit on how big the sprite files can be?
Like for example say I used 1920x1080 pixel pictures. Can I right-click on the sprite in collections, say "replace", replace with a 1920x1080 hi-res version, hit save and see the effects in game?

[DarthRevan555]

if only

[Pyro]

You can't make something HD by taking the sprites and altering them. Making something HD involves rendering the original stuff in a higher resolution with better textures to give it more detail. It also involves having to fix issues with the models that would become apparent if you render them in a higher resolution. An alternative is to make a new model with more detail if using the original is too much work to deal with or impossible due to it not existing anymore.

If you want to alter the sprites, you can do that just as you said. It would require lots of detail work. If you replace the sprites with bigger ones, you will have to realign them in Oak so they are located in the proper area relative to the reg point (the green dot). Each image would need to be realigned if you replace them with different sized images. You also have to align the red dot to the right areas for projectiles to originate where they normally did before. Since the new larger images and alignments are different, you could still affect gameplay without realizing it. For certain attacks and units it won't matter as much as others. You also would need to make the selection box taller and wider or you will end up with a unit that has a small selection box.

I don't remember if there is a resolution size limit for sprites used for units, but even if there isn't you can't go too big or you will cause massive performance lag on the user. A unit using 1920x1080 images will surely lag hard. No idea on what the ideal size would be as it could depend on how many images the unit uses and how many of those units will be on screen. Even if it works for you without any noticeable performance drop, it could still run poorly for others with different hardware. Everyone in the same game would need this plugin, so anyone who can't run it or don't have it, they can't play with you.

If you do try this, remember that whatever is in your local folder with a few exceptions (formations, camera observer) will be ignored if you are on the metaserver. The local folder is not ignored in single player and in TCP/IP. You would need to make it into a plugin to use it on the metaserver with others.

[vinylrake]

If you are wanting to make the original Myth unit sprites "HD", you might want to take a look at the 'OurFareWell' tagset (I think that's what it was called). It was the only part of a wildly ambitious plan to make a new Myth to actually be released, but it was an attempt at doing exactly what you describe - making the regular Myth 2 units "HD".


Not going to get into a pointless debate, but unless you plan on only having one unit on the screen at a time and the unit is always lying down horizontally, there's little point in making a unit's sprite 1920x1080 because the unit will NEVER be displayed at that resolution on a 1080p monitor. Even on a 4K screen you'd only be able to see 4 units at a time at that resolution - anymore than that or if you aren't zoomed all the way in and the sprite is going to be displayed at less than full resolution. (Also I think there would be an issue with how smoothly the sprites transition when you are at that high res and only 4/8/16 frames per transition - though maybe graphics cards interpolation handles that. Just can't imagine moving sprites are going to look clear if the framerate being displayed is so out of sync with the # of frames in a sequence)