Author Topic: Something interesting I found  (Read 4688 times)

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Offline Adam

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Something interesting I found
« on: January 07, 2013, 08:13:33 pm »
pic is self explanatory

BASICALLY,the only reason soldat is rated low is because of Graphics(sad isnt it?). The rest such as gameplay,lifespan, and value  is rated high
just saying how soldat is neglected because of its graphics


and yea...gameplay is rated 9 out of 10
« Last Edit: January 07, 2013, 08:15:33 pm by Adam »

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Offline ginn

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Re: Something interesting I found
« Reply #1 on: January 07, 2013, 10:16:38 pm »
Mhm, I do agree with that there needs to be graphics modifications. Doesn't necessarily need to make it pretty like all the AAA games, just modify the current images so that it doesn't look like puke on the screen.
It is actually rather unplayable because of looks without mods...

I think increasing it from x480 would be too big of a step to get done any time soon.

Offline Bonecrusher

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Re: Something interesting I found
« Reply #2 on: January 08, 2013, 07:06:15 am »
We have to keep in mind there are a lot of soldat players on old pcs/laptops including me and graphic modification might not end well in that case. Majority of players who play this game nowadays do not care about the graphics, its more about gameplay. On the other hand I'd love to see some HD mockups of soldat just out of curiosity.
« Last Edit: January 08, 2013, 07:09:33 am by Bonecrusher »

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Offline Mittsu

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Re: Something interesting I found
« Reply #3 on: January 08, 2013, 07:33:03 am »
I think graphucs can improve visually without them being resource consuming. Soldat's simplicity should remain in gameplay as well as graphics, but even though they should be simple they can still improve in style
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Offline Underworld

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Re: Something interesting I found
« Reply #4 on: January 08, 2013, 08:31:34 am »
grapics is mostly map related ,having ugly and empty maps as defaults is at fault
I don't understand
do you mean that there is a /faceplam commmand ?
and this command should drop a random item ?

Offline Vos

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Re: Something interesting I found
« Reply #5 on: January 08, 2013, 11:39:00 am »
We have to keep in mind there are a lot of soldat players on old pcs/laptops including me and graphic modification might not end well in that case. Majority of players who play this game nowadays do not care about the graphics, its more about gameplay. On the other hand I'd love to see some HD mockups of soldat just out of curiosity.

I dont think there are that many systems around that actually dont meet soldat's requirements, a small graphic upgrade wouldn't be such big impact on the requirements either, after all the game stays 2d.

Also if your system is really that poor, I suggest to upgrade it sometime? you must have a really poor and most likely 10+ years old computer/laptop if u cant meet such requirements :X

also on topic: there aren't many 2d games around like soldat nowadays, but for a 2d game i'd say the graphics should be rated higher.
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Offline Bonecrusher

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Re: Something interesting I found
« Reply #6 on: January 08, 2013, 12:23:04 pm »
Any graphic update may bring new FPS issues which could be devastating when it comes to soldat because of how fast it is.

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Offline ExHunter

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Re: Something interesting I found
« Reply #7 on: January 08, 2013, 03:53:39 pm »
Performance issues won't be a problem when the devs begin to improve the performance of Soldat. Like rendering, etc.

It will give new space for upgrades like graphics. :)

But: It's all about time ;)

Offline 14th_account

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Re: Something interesting I found
« Reply #8 on: January 09, 2013, 04:18:46 am »
The easiest way to improve graphics without affecting performance would be to make another mod default. I assume there are some awesome mods that are somewhat faithful to the existing style (so no rainbow bullets or mech warriors) and doesn't infringe on any copyrights.

It's too late to make it for 1.6.4, but I would like to have some improvements for the version after that. Anyone know any such mods?
« Last Edit: January 09, 2013, 04:22:47 am by 14th_account »

Offline ginn

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Re: Something interesting I found
« Reply #9 on: January 09, 2013, 07:22:12 am »
The easiest way to improve graphics without affecting performance would be to make another mod default. I assume there are some awesome mods that are somewhat faithful to the existing style (so no rainbow bullets or mech warriors) and doesn't infringe on any copyrights.

It's too late to make it for 1.6.4, but I would like to have some improvements for the version after that. Anyone know any such mods?
Well, I made a modpack sometime ago, "easy and perfect" for grenade explosion and also sfx, SK cell shaded for gostek, weapon gfx and most of the scenery, "warm texture pack" (found form syvax, not sure who made them) for warmer more pleasant textures, and then I've made some modifications myself. Though, the sfx I think is from CS, and I put in q3 chaingun hit sound as hit sound and also jump sounds... So you'd probably need to either skip them. Chainsaw gfx would need resize, but that's quite easy to fix...
http://forums.soldat.pl/index.php?topic=41845.msg505574#msg505574
« Last Edit: January 09, 2013, 07:24:05 am by ginn »

Offline L[0ne]R

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Re: Something interesting I found
« Reply #10 on: January 09, 2013, 02:00:26 pm »
Those dark, simple and clear outlines like in cell-shaded mods and the one ginn just linked to look really nice. I think they should be included in most, if not all default maps. They look nice AND they help separate polygons from scenery.

Soldat Enhanced has really nice weapon graphics (both for weapon-gfx and weapon menu) and fits perfectly into "close to original, but higher quality" category. Default interface is also a bit nicer, though crosshair is harder to see. There's other nice bits here and there, like the glow around the flags which now has a more interesting shape as opposed to just circle, and nice explosion and smoke particles.

Also, I suggest that we look into the sounds too, because in many reviews I've seen sound was another thing that didn't receive much praise. Personally, I really liked Ruger, Spas and LAW sounds in Soldat Enhanced, and M79 sound has some nice touches. Though I don't know if there's any copyrights behind the sounds. :S



I'll try to do some more work on some of my inf map remakes, and hopefully they'll finally be accepted as defaults.

Offline Dusty

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Re: Something interesting I found
« Reply #11 on: January 09, 2013, 02:47:32 pm »
Something the graphics need is a somewhat coherent style. Currently the game is just a mess of styles that have nothing to do with each other. That's also why I think combining something as detailed as the mentioned Soldat Enhanced with cartoon-ish, cell-shaded gosteks.

Soldat is a simple game and there's no point making the graphics overly complicated either. One can make very pretty things with fairly simple graphics, see Super Meat Boy or even Team Fortress 2 for example. Personally I think pursuing realism regarding the graphics is the wrong way to go and many of the modern maps with realistic sceneries and textures look really out of place.

Soldat feels rather cheap and flimsy whereas SMB for example feels solid and well constructed - that's something that Soldat should aim for aswell.
« Last Edit: January 09, 2013, 02:58:16 pm by Dusty »

Offline Mittsu

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Re: Something interesting I found
« Reply #12 on: January 09, 2013, 03:16:32 pm »
another one worth checking out: http://forums.soldat.pl/index.php?topic=30826.0
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Offline L[0ne]R

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Re: Something interesting I found
« Reply #13 on: January 09, 2013, 03:43:35 pm »
Something the graphics need is a somewhat coherent style. Currently the game is just a mess of styles that have nothing to do with each other. That's also why I think combining something as detailed as the mentioned Soldat Enhanced with cartoon-ish, cell-shaded gosteks.

Soldat is a simple game and there's no point making the graphics overly complicated either. One can make very pretty things with fairly simple graphics, see Super Meat Boy or even Team Fortress 2 for example. Personally I think pursuing realism regarding the graphics is the wrong way to go and many of the modern maps with realistic sceneries and textures look really out of place.

Soldat feels rather cheap and flimsy whereas SMB for example feels solid and well constructed - that's something that Soldat should aim for aswell.
I wouldn't call "Soldat Enhanced" detailed and realistic. They're more detailed and realistic than vanilla icons (which are just bad, not "stylish"), but overall they're still varied and colorful enough to not appear too realistic and "serious".

Offline Dusty

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Re: Something interesting I found
« Reply #14 on: January 09, 2013, 04:11:39 pm »
I wouldn't call "Soldat Enhanced" detailed and realistic. They're more detailed and realistic than vanilla icons (which are just bad, not "stylish"), but overall they're still varied and colorful enough to not appear too realistic and "serious".

Can't really argue on this cause it's such a subjective issue.

Offline Underworld

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Re: Something interesting I found
« Reply #15 on: January 09, 2013, 04:15:37 pm »
Something the graphics need is a somewhat coherent style. Currently the game is just a mess of styles that have nothing to do with each other. That's also why I think combining something as detailed as the mentioned Soldat Enhanced with cartoon-ish, cell-shaded gosteks.

Soldat is a simple game and there's no point making the graphics overly complicated either. One can make very pretty things with fairly simple graphics, see Super Meat Boy or even Team Fortress 2 for example. Personally I think pursuing realism regarding the graphics is the wrong way to go and many of the modern maps with realistic sceneries and textures look really out of place.

Soldat feels rather cheap and flimsy whereas SMB for example feels solid and well constructed - that's something that Soldat should aim for aswell.

This.

I don't understand
do you mean that there is a /faceplam commmand ?
and this command should drop a random item ?

Offline Furai

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Re: Something interesting I found
« Reply #16 on: January 09, 2013, 04:49:17 pm »
Worth mentioning is that with current DX8, soldat can't really achieve any "bells and whistles" in terms of graphics. We really need to find something lightweight and fitting into it. I felt that those mods with cartoonish style fitted soldat most. I'm speaking here about simplified textures like in cell shaded mod. (I think it was that, though I'm not sure.)
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Offline homerofgods

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Re: Something interesting I found
« Reply #17 on: January 11, 2013, 02:56:57 pm »
If we're gonna update the visuals, we might aswell get some new sounds to go with that.
I tried this modern sounds: http://forums.soldat.pl/index.php?topic=40111.msg492743#msg492743
My thoughts are that it sounds good, but it doesn't match what I see. We need to upgrade the looks of soldat before we can put modern soundeffects on top of it. Or at the same time.

I think it will be difficult to find a perfect look and sound for soldat, but how many do we have to choose from?
Maybe someone who has experience with moddong both sound and visuals can make an overview of our options?

Offline DutchFlame

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Re: Something interesting I found
« Reply #18 on: January 12, 2013, 08:38:27 pm »
Those dark, simple and clear outlines like in cell-shaded mods and the one ginn just linked to look really nice. I think they should be included in most, if not all default maps. They look nice AND they help separate polygons from scenery.

Soldat Enhanced has really nice weapon graphics (both for weapon-gfx and weapon menu) and fits perfectly into "close to original, but higher quality" category. Default interface is also a bit nicer, though crosshair is harder to see. There's other nice bits here and there, like the glow around the flags which now has a more interesting shape as opposed to just circle, and nice explosion and smoke particles.

Also, I suggest that we look into the sounds too, because in many reviews I've seen sound was another thing that didn't receive much praise. Personally, I really liked Ruger, Spas and LAW sounds in Soldat Enhanced, and M79 sound has some nice touches. Though I don't know if there's any copyrights behind the sounds. :S



I'll try to do some more work on some of my inf map remakes, and hopefully they'll finally be accepted as defaults.

+1

Offline Vos

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Re: Something interesting I found
« Reply #19 on: January 14, 2013, 11:48:39 am »
lets all just buy a intel i7 processor with a nice ssd drive and a hd 7970 graphics card and we will all be happy until the end of time

Why dont you just stop spamming? jeez...

We have to keep in mind there are a lot of soldat players on old pcs/laptops including me and graphic modification might not end well in that case. Majority of players who play this game nowadays do not care about the graphics, its more about gameplay. On the other hand I'd love to see some HD mockups of soldat just out of curiosity.

If your system can play a medium quality video then HD Soldat graphics will be smooth. Or if you can run Half Life 1, then you can easily do HD Soldat. This is my opinion anyway. When I first played Soldat in 2002, I was running Windows 98SE on a Celeron 386 system with 64mb ram and like an 8mb integrated video card. I'm sure the majority of players have computers at least 6x as powerful (cpu-wise) with over 1gb of ram at absolute minimum.

This is exactly what I meant with my previous post! very well explained!
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Offline Tehbugerz0r

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Re: Something interesting I found
« Reply #20 on: January 15, 2013, 02:37:28 am »
I think the graphics should be updated, but Soldat should stay usable at full speed to a broad range of users, desktops up to 8 years old, laptops for however long they can last,  linux or mac users through wine(I'd like to note weather effects currently lag in this case), etc.

Offline Shoozza

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Re: Something interesting I found
« Reply #21 on: February 16, 2013, 03:12:23 am »
I think we need to make sure Soldat works well with higher resolutions.
I was thinking about how to make Soldat future proof (gfx wise) and I'm not sure if there is another option than Vector style gfx.
The question is if that is a style which fits Soldat.

About fps: I think soldat isn't really optimized (we didn't look a lot into the rendering code - its ugly). Newer DX versions could help (or a general cleanup of the code).
I have a 4+ year old laptop which I don't plan to replace soon so if it will work on a core2duo 2.2 ghz (because it's my dev computer).
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Offline KYnetiK

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Re: Something interesting I found
« Reply #22 on: February 17, 2013, 09:42:07 am »
Give the Soldat engine Vector GFX and you can have my babies.
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Re: Something interesting I found
« Reply #23 on: February 17, 2013, 10:14:29 am »
The biggest part of visuals are the maps. Improve the maps, improve the visuals.