Image quality (Warning: Large images)

by **Chakan** » 22 Jul 2016, 17:19

This is an issue that's been bugging me basically since I started modding a while back. Any image that I find online to use for artwork always appears, I don't even know how to describe it, sharper than other images? They just stand out a lot like there's some type of filter on it. Back when I first started modding, I used to use a high pass filter in Photoshop to make the image "jump out" a little, but I quickly started to dislike that filter, so I stopped using it, but the images still seem to jump out even without the high pass filter. So I started cropping all pictures to the size the D14 devs used, 512x376, thinking that the size of the images were just too big to display for the game, but I'm still having problems with the cards jumping out. Here are direct images from D14, the CW, and artwork I found online and cropped.

Here are the three cards as they display in game.

As you can tell, the image I got for Thalia jumps out more than artwork from the CW and artwork from the base game. So my question is: Why? Why is the artwork I gathered appearing like this and what can I do to fix it? It may seem like a small detail but it's really bugging me and I'd appreciate some help here.

by **RiiakShiNal** » 23 Jul 2016, 21:47

How exactly are you converting the image to TDX? I ask because there are multiple tools and multiple methods that can convert. My guess is that you are just doing a straight uncompressed TDX conversion using either the Paint.Net TDX plugin or by using the regular Gibbed Tools (or my modded Gibbed Tools, but without the appropriate command line arguments to compress).

The images used in the Community Wad are compressed using the modded Gibbed Tools with compression (probably DXT1, no Alpha) which generates MipMaps (smaller images that get used when the image appears smaller on screen).

by **Chakan** » 31 Jul 2016, 20:33

Yeah, I'm using the modified modified gibbed tools converter, but I usually just drag the image to the shortcut on my desktop. I wasn't aware that the program can be used with arguments to alter the compression. I'll run a couple of tests to see if they turn out more properly.

EDIT
Thanks, RiiakShiNal. I added the "d1" argument at the end of the shortcut and now the images appear correctly in game. I appreciate your help. To avoid making another thread here, is it possible to center text on a card?

by **RiiakShiNal** » 01 Aug 2016, 10:30

Chakan wrote:I appreciate your help. To avoid making another thread here, is it possible to center text on a card?

Not that I am aware of, we have little control over the positioning (of many things not just text) in the DotP engine.