HD Sign Textures

[Engineer of Stuff]

I am looking for higher resolution versions of the TF2 signs.

Where could I find a pack of them?

 

[Werewolf]

Which signs in particular?

That said, chances are if you want them in larger resolutions you would have to recreate them them yourself at the resolutions you need.

 

[MOCOLONI]

Although the original files are compressed, you can still get the best of their quality by using VTFEdit, exporting them to a .TGA file and then re-importing them with these settings:

Normal format: BGR888
Alpha format: ABGR8888 (only if the original file has the "Eight-bit Alpha" (or any other Alpha channel) option automatically marked; otherwise leave it at just "BGR888")


Note that those are the un-compressed formats, and will eventually make the files' size bigger.

 

[My bad]

http://tf2tip.maxofs2d.net/

Signs can be found in the folder labeled as such

 

[Werewolf]

Although the original files are compressed, you can still get the best of their quality by using VTFEdit, exporting them to a .TGA file and then re-importing them with these settings:

Normal format: BGR888
Alpha format: ABGR8888 (only if the original file has the "Eight-bit Alpha" (or any other Alpha channel) option automatically marked; otherwise leave it at just "BGR888")


Note that those are the un-compressed formats, and will eventually make the files' size bigger.

That won't increase the resolution. If the original image was 512x512, all your going to do is export a 512x512 .tga and re-import it at 512x512.

And secondly your method isn't going to magically clean up the pixels and make it look nicer.

 

[Lampenpam]

Note that those are the un-compressed formats, and will eventually make the files' size bigger.

The quality will be the same because you exported the already compressed material. The result of the compression can't be reverted.
It's like opening a fragmented JPG in photoshop and exporting it to TGA. The TGA will look 100% identical to the JPG

 

[MOCOLONI]

That won't increase the resolution. If the original image was 512x512, all your going to do is export a 512x512 .tga and re-import it at 512x512.

And secondly your method isn't going to magically clean up the pixels and make it look nicer.

By "resolution" I meant "quality"; here in Spain "resolution" refers to both things, and can be understood when used properly.

The quality will be the same because you exported the already compressed material. The result of the compression can't be reverted.
It's like opening a fragmented JPG in photoshop and exporting it to TGA. The TGA will look 100% identical to the JPG

I like how nobody checks anything before trying to confirm facts. I myself have re-imported 2048x1024 TF2's Building textures to make them look better, epsecially the destroyed gibs. I can make two screenshots of the same frame using different VTFs (original DXT/DXT5 textures and the un-compressed ones mentioned above) just to prove you wrong.


EDIT: here are the screenshots, taken on Medium game-quality settings on purpose:

Teleporter gibs as they look like with the original files:

Teleporter gibs as they look like with BGR888/ABGR8888 formats:

The "fire extinguisher" sign as it looks like with the original file:

The "fire extinguisher" sign as it looks like with BGR888/ABGR8888 formats:

 

[Lampenpam]

wait, why can't you get the same resolution with DXT1/DXT5 format? The compression doesn't changes the resolution of the texture..
So, what's going on with those textures ??

 

[MOCOLONI]

wait, why can't you get the same resolution with DXT1/DXT5 format? The compression doesn't changes the resolution of the texture..
So, what's going on with those textures ??

Again, by "resolution" I meant "quality", not the textures' scale. I think the VTF format not only generates a lower quality texture, but also stores the original data in a compressed way, just like WinRAR, although you don't need to un-compress anything as it can be used directly.

 

[Tumby]

Old textures have shitty mipmaps. That is the only problem and it's completely independent of the compression format.

 

[Coding Ethan]

Would a shitty mipmap correction pack be a good idea?

 

[MOCOLONI]

Old textures have shitty mipmaps. That is the only problem and it's completely independent of the compression format.

Mipmaps do their thing when walking away from the texture, while the compression format manages the quality. I made my own enhanced ÜberCharge textures and they're compressed with DXT1/DXT5 formats, without mipmaps, and they still look blurry. It's not really about that when it comes to being near the textures/decals.

 

[Tumby]

Would a shitty mipmap correction pack be a good idea?

I think I have seen people do that and if I remember correctly, TF2C actually uses that.

Mipmaps do their thing when walking away from the texture, while the compression format manages the quality. I made my own enhanced ÜberCharge textures and they're compressed with DXT1/DXT5 formats, without mipmaps, and they still look blurry. It's not really about that when it comes to being near the textures/decals.

Mipmaps do much more than just that. They have 3 functions:
1. The user can control the quality of textures do increase performance. This is how the "Texture Quality" setting works in virtually all games.
2. As you have mentioned, lower resolution mipmaps are used when looking at a texture from a distance. This is to reduce rendering artifact and therefore makes the game prettier.
3. Lower resolutions are also used when looking at a surface from a steep angle. This also makes the game prettier as rendering artifact would occur otherwise.
2 and 3 might also affect performance but I don't remember anymore.

The important thing is that mipmaps are stored together with the full resolution texture (which is then called "mipmap 0"). However, mipmaps need to be somehow created first, which requires some form of image filter. The problem that most "original" textures from 2007 have, is that the filter that was used to make these mipmaps is UTTER GARBAGE. As you can see in the screenshots you posted, these mipmaps are blurry as hell and look terrible around edges. Nobody knows what happened there, but some people think it could have something to do with the fact that TF2 didn't only release on PC but also on Playstation and XBox.

 

[iiboharz]

OK so let me explain the mipmap thing with textures from 2007/OB era. VTF version 7.3 (the one introduced with TF2) introduced "resource data" which can be used to define certain settings.
One of these settings is LOD control which tells the game which mipmap should correspond to a "high" texture setting. I presume this was done for console optimization but made its way to the PC version too somehow.
In TF2C one of the team members figured out how to remove this with hex editing and so we had the crispest versions of the textures available.

Exporting and reimporting the textures from DXTn to an uncompressed format basically just does two things:
- removes the LOD control thing which is why it makes the textures crisper
- but you also get a really big VTF file because you removed the fucking compression
- the resolution won't actually get any higher
If I get the time I could probably see if someone on the TF2C team could dig up the corrected VTF files but honestly there's not much point since it would just be a clientside thing that doesn't work on sv_pure servers.

 

[MOCOLONI]

OK so let me explain the mipmap thing with textures from 2007/OB era. VTF version 7.3 (the one introduced with TF2) introduced "resource data" which can be used to define certain settings.
One of these settings is LOD control which tells the game which mipmap should correspond to a "high" texture setting. I presume this was done for console optimization but made its way to the PC version too somehow.
In TF2C one of the team members figured out how to remove this with hex editing and so we had the crispest versions of the textures available.

Exporting and reimporting the textures from DXTn to an uncompressed format basically just does two things:
- removes the LOD control thing which is why it makes the textures crisper
- but you also get a really big VTF file because you removed the fucking compression
- the resolution won't actually get any higher
If I get the time I could probably see if someone on the TF2C team could dig up the corrected VTF files but honestly there's not much point since it would just be a clientside thing that doesn't work on sv_pure servers.

For the third time: by "resolution" I meant "quality", not the texture's scaling. Removing the compression from the VTF is the main point here because OP wants Sign Decals in a better quality, so that's what I suggested.

 

[Pocket]

Well, what you did was to effectively increase the scaling by stripping out the mipmaps and/or the LOD control data that instructed the game to only use smaller images. I'm guessing both, because the other textures in that screenshot look like your texture quality setting is turned down.

 

[henke37]

Something is indeed up with the screenshots, the special screen on the gun is missing.

 

[Werewolf]

Well, what you did was to effectively increase the scaling by stripping out the mipmaps and/or the LOD control data that instructed the game to only use smaller images. I'm guessing both, because the other textures in that screenshot look like your texture quality setting is turned down.

Something is indeed up with the screenshots, the special screen on the gun is missing.

EDIT: here are the screenshots, taken on Medium game-quality settings on purpose:

 

[MOCOLONI]

Well, what you did was to effectively increase the scaling by stripping out the mipmaps and/or the LOD control data that instructed the game to only use smaller images. I'm guessing both, because the other textures in that screenshot look like your texture quality setting is turned down.

In short: I suggested un-compressing the textures since it's a possibility with the original files - no need to download anything from anywhere, except the tools to do the steps. The game was on Medium quality on purpose to make the original textures look bad so we could compare them to un-compressed ones (BGR888/ABGR8888).

Something is indeed up with the screenshots, the special screen on the gun is missing.

Silly Valve thought it was a good idea making the mini-screen paintable and thus broke it (the Diff here; search for "c_tele_shotgun_tv.vmt"). On "High" settings, however, the screen is opaque. Already reported it to the TF Team.