Before i start to explain what S3TC textures are, i made some comparising screenshots in Unreal with and without S3TC textures.

I took screenshots from three widely used and known maps, take a look at all of them, and especially look at the enlargements so you really can see the difference. All the screenshots have been brightened somewhat so they are more easy to view on this website.

As you can see there is a big difference in the textures while using the S3TC textures. At this moment, not all textures in Unreal are available in S3TC textures, however you already can use the textures that are available.

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The textures can be used with Unreal V224, Unreal 226F and Unreal Gold, but only if your videocard supports OpenGL, on a sidenote, these textures also work in UT and therefore also if you use UToldschool to play Unreal, in that case you need D3D support for your UT.

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If you are playing and there is a missing texture, than unreal simply uses the normal "old'' textures, if you want to try the S3TC textures for yourself than proceed by clicking on the left menubar where it says S3TC installation. If you have any problems, questions or remarks you can post them on the S3TC section on the forums from OldUnreal.

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However if you want to know more about S3TC and the S3TC-Unreal-Retexturing-Project than proceed to the next chapter below.

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Simply put, S3TC (S3 Texture Compression) is a technology that S3 developed to compress textures in 3d games like Unreal.

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Your current Unreal makes use of 256 color textures, in size they vary from 16 x 16 pixels up to 512 x 512 pixels. S3TC textures however are True color (16,777,216 colors) while the texture size Unreal supports can be as high 4096 x 4096 pixels.

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Needless to say that S3TC textures are of much higher quality than the normal Unreal textures. But than you will ask, doesn't this lag the game? Not really :), read this again ---> S3TC (S3 Texture Compression)

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The fact that the compression can be that high and fast makes it possible to do this without lagging your videocard. There is another interesting fact, these texture are the same quality as UT 2003 and UT 2004 !!!

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Below you see a few examples of Uncompressed current Unreal BMP texture files and Compressed S3TC texture files.

As you can see above, the size theoretically can be 6 times the original Unreal texture size before lag could occur. Now that the project progresses we already found out that ingame the textures can be at least 8 times bigger till lag orrurs, and at this moment we are about to go test if the size can be as high as 16 times the original size, because it seems that even that amount is very well possible.

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As i already told above, not all textures are in S3TC quality available. In DmDeck16 there is a fair share of S3SC textures available, while in DmVertical+ only the ornaments and the ditches in the floor are S3TC, DmSinfonia however by accident has almost all S3TC textures, but than agian, DmSinfonia also contains allota S3TC textures that belong to UT and not Unreal.

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The story behind this, is that the S3TC textures were made for UT, that means they cover all the normal UT maps. The textures used here are converted from UT to Unreal, but not all Unreal textures are used in UT. This means theres a big part of the textures missing. And this is where the S3TC Unreal-Retexturing-Project comes in, for short URP, URProject or URP project, just take your pick.

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Below are a few examples what happens if an S3TC texture is missing.

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This is a screenshot from DmDeck16, shot is taken by the amno close to the toxpool/flak area, in this shot you can see that the floor is S3TC texture while the wall and the box aren't.

This is a screenshot from DmSinfonia, the shot is taken by the elevator next to the eightball and amno, in this shot you can see that the mainfloor and the texture in the middle of the elevator are S3TC textures while the part around the elevator is an origional Unreal texture.

This is another screenshot from Dmsinfonia, this shot is taken in the room in front of the elevator by the belt. While the mainfloor is a S3TC texture the bloodstain which has the same floor background is an original Unreal texture. This in fact is a good example where it is noticable that theres two different textures running. Overall though i think Sinfonia looks awsome.

This is a screenshot from DmVertical+, the shot is taken by the sniper with sniper/eightball amno. Here you can see that the lower part of the floor which you will find all over Vertical (and where you can get stuck :) has a S3TC texture while the mainfloor isn't.

This last screenshot is also from DmVertical+, this is an ornament in the top part of the mainhall. The ornament itself is an S3TC texture while the side of it is a normal Unreal texture, the light surrounding the ornament and the extruding part of the wall on the right is also S3TC, while the wall itself is a normal Unreal texture.

Is it really a problem, yes and no, if you play, there is nothing wrong just that if the S3TC texture is not available it uses the normal Unreal textures, so most of the time you will see a mix from old and new textures. Its just a pitty not all textures are there, so if a map doesn't contain S3TC textures, it simply looks as you are used too.

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Are there server issues?, yes there are :)

First of, never ever ever load any S3TC texture in your server !!!

Simply put, if you run a server you don't have to alter anything regarding S3TC textures, its all done clientsided, not serversided !

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This all, and more is explained in the section S3TS and Servers which you find in the menubar on the left.

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Yes there are also some mapping issues.

Here too, a warning is on its place. Don't install S3TC textures in the Unreal you use for making maps !!!, with the tools available you can load textures in the editor safelly, but only for creating packages, never add an S3TC texture to any of your maps, you need to use the normal Unreal textures for that. So if you want to try the textures you have to use a second Unreal installation for playing with those textures, it is btw, always advisable to keep Unrealed and Unrealplay seperate !

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Another problem that did surface, some mappers made use of the possiblity to imbed textures into MyLevel, in normal circumstances this a very cool tool to prevent any mismatches or loss of packages belonging to that map. Regretebly this does not aply for S3TC. If textures are added to MyLevel, there can be no support for S3TC. Both normal and S3TC users are able to play your map normally, the textures just never can be converted to S3TC.

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How to solve the problem mentioned above and how to make a map both a normal and S3TC map is explained in the section S3TC and Mapping which you also can find in the left menu.

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The Unreal-Retexturing-Project has as goal to create all the missing textures and to set usefull (read workable :) easy protocols and guidelines for everybody that is working on the project but also for mapbuilders that would like to see their maps supported with S3TC textures.

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The full name of the project is S3TC Unreal-Retexturing-Project, for short you can also use URP, URProject URP projector UR-Project, just take your pick. Maybe it will also be UR-Project :)

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A short list of problems we are working on at this moment:

- Alpha textures are supported by Unreal, but still we have problems adding them without major errors.

- The package created by us can only be used for single playing, they are not networkcompatible, meaning if you enter a server with the new textures, you will get a version missmatch. Thgis only aplies to the textutres we made !! The textures that are here for download do NOT have that problem and can be used safelly online.

- The possibility to replace a texture without re-doing all the settings for all textures in that package.

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In the menubar on the left you will find a variety of sections that are related to the project.

For the Users:

S3TC Texture Downloads: All the current S3TC textures, and hopefully soon the first updates.
S3TC Installation: A guide how to install the S3TC textures in your Unreal, UnrealGold, or UT Classic :)
OpenGL Installation: All the patches for OpenGL you need for the S3TC textures.

For Admins and Mappers:

S3TC and Mapping: All the info that mappers need to add S3TC textures next to the normal Unreal textures.
S3TC and Servers: All the info for serveradmins and how to deal with S3TC textures and antibot settings.


For the Members of Project itself.

URProject: Further explanation about the project and its goals.
URP Protocols: All the protocols to create textures, utx files. Also how to put them into new maps.
OldUnreal S3TC Forum: The direct link to the S3TC section of the forum hosted by the good old OldUnreal.


For everyone participating in this project creating new textures.

Creating S3TC Textures: A guideline on how to create textures.
Creating S3TC utx Files: A guideline on how to convert the textures into a utx package.
S3TC Tools Downloads: All the tools you need to create, mod, work with S3TC textures, including the how

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We are working very hard to update these pages to offer a little better service as they do now.

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