How easy is it to mod BW? I've seen many different mods for it, including that SC2 bw mod that had sc2 units in the game. So it leads me to believe that it can't be that difficult to put in custom sprites.
Then there's that high resolution hack for bw. The one that turns the resolution up(like in the bw editor) letting you see more of the map, making units and buildings smaller. So upping the resolution is also possible.
What I'm not sure if it's possible, is whether or not things such as the selection limit or mechanics can be changed, but that would really be secondary. ---------
Anyways, how possible would it be to make a mod that upped the resolution making everything smaller, but then putting in custom sprites for everything, much better quality and bigger size, so basically leading to having the same proportions as regular bw, but in high resolution with high rez sprites and in proper widescreen proportions? I've never modded bw, and I don't have any real plans to right now. But I've been learning a lot about game development and modeling and coding and all that neat stuff. BW has been the strongest game to influence my life, and I would really love an HD version, which is what this game deserves. If anyone knows about modding bw, it would be nice to hear whether something like this could ever happen, and if it did, if it could ever have a chance to be played multiplayer.
On March 06 2012 12:57 LightAngels wrote: If we scale up the resolution, it will ruin the game. The best part of BW is that you don't have a high resolution UI like SCII
I remember seeing a thread where brood war was cast in HD, it looked kinda funny...everything was so small, I thought it lost some appeal. Especially in big fights, you dont have that massive theatre of war feel, because everything gets squished into one screen.
they have a mod for sc2 that has all the brood war units and modified the play so that it emulates sc:bw. but i imagine that kind of defeats the point.
I think what the OP means is to increase the resolution while keeping the size/aspect the same. The BW HD hack that people are mentioning keeps the same level of detail, but just zooms out until the desired resolution is reached. BW is run in 640x480 resolution, which means that a 1900x1200 monitor could potential display about 3 screen-heights worth, but everything would appear much smaller.
An alternative would be to somehow resample all of the textures and sprites for BW and display it in a higher resolution. I would be curious about this too.
With programs like photoshop CS5 or CS6 now and professional very exspensive video editing programs that should have algorithms to help fill in the gaps. I'm not sure if you could do that to all of the BW textures but it might worth investigating.
On March 06 2012 12:57 LightAngels wrote: If we scale up the resolution, it will ruin the game. The best part of BW is that you don't have a high resolution UI like SCII
That's the best part of BW?
Its much harder to play with the old UI, and people enjoy BW that way
To completely overhaul the system (such as the SC2BW project) just can't work. Not only are the small bugs part of what makes it a great game, but it is also necessary for balance. However, I think that the extended screen that was posted above, or to brush up the sprites/textures would be cool. Here is a reference as to what is possible while still using the engine.
Obviously I'm not suggesting to make the unit's look exactly like that, or that big, but it shows that it is possible to make the sprites look a lot better and still have everything look smooth.
On March 06 2012 12:57 LightAngels wrote: If we scale up the resolution, it will ruin the game. The best part of BW is that you don't have a high resolution UI like SCII
That's the best part of BW?
Its much harder to play with the old UI, and people enjoy BW that way
Changing the resolution doesn't change the UI. SC2 isn't any "harder" on 800x600 than it is on 1920x1080. It just makes the game not look like shit and have giant black bars on the sides and stretching issues on modern equipment. That being said, I think accomplishing what the OP wishes to do would be very difficult and time consuming.
You might as well just do SCII:BW if that's what you want. Also, the crappiness of the graphics allows people to figure out what they actually look like in their head.
well bw could be fine tuned, some things really easily, the unit sprites as mentioned already for example. But i doubt it would be accepted by everyone or help bw in any way. Personally i like bw how it is, but i would probably bite if Blizzard released a money making bw remake with better graphics. And continue playing the old bw after playing around abit.
I am not that interested in playing in HD but I would surely love to watch VODs in HD.
I can imagine in korean proleague where they can show the entire battle in HD and alternate between these wide shots and "close ups," sort of like in physical sports broadcasting.
Just to clarify, my idea would be to keep the same proportions. Simply by using the resolution hack, but then using much larger and higher quality sprites. I know nothing of modding bw though so I have no idea how reasonable of an idea this would be. It would also require maps to be made many times the size, which I'm not even sure if the game would let you, though the same was thought about the resolution. Anyways, just throwing the idea out there for now.
On March 06 2012 16:12 pzea469 wrote: Just to clarify, my idea would be to keep the same proportions. Simply by using the resolution hack, but then using much larger and higher quality sprites. I know nothing of modding bw though so I have no idea how reasonable of an idea this would be. It would also require maps to be made many times the size, which I'm not even sure if the game would let you, though the same was thought about the resolution. Anyways, just throwing the idea out there for now.
You'd basically be remaking the entire game.
Sure, it's possible, but it's a huge amount of work for very little benefit. You'd basically just be making SC2BW, except it'd take a lot longer and probably not even look all that good unless you had some damn good sprite artists (like, Odin Sphere good).
This thread made me play SC2BW, since it's easier to set up than proper BW, but apparently the AI can't understand the concept of "no automine" and just rallied probes to minerals uselessly, and no one plays SC2BW online anymore. Too bad.
On March 06 2012 16:12 pzea469 wrote: Just to clarify, my idea would be to keep the same proportions. Simply by using the resolution hack, but then using much larger and higher quality sprites. I know nothing of modding bw though so I have no idea how reasonable of an idea this would be. It would also require maps to be made many times the size, which I'm not even sure if the game would let you, though the same was thought about the resolution. Anyways, just throwing the idea out there for now.
You'd basically be remaking the entire game.
Sure, it's possible, but it's a huge amount of work for very little benefit. You'd basically just be making SC2BW, except it'd take a lot longer and probably not even look all that good unless you had some damn good sprite artists (like, Odin Sphere good).
Not really. Assuming that BW was made in an even moderately sane way then the only thing you would need to touch would be the graphics.
If it's at all like SC2 then the unit part at least would be completely trivial - just make new, higher res sprites then slot them in. Map tiles could probably be replaced similarly, though I'm not quite sure. Then have the display at 4:3 ratio at close to monitor size. Even if you can't just do that then you would only have to write something to take unit location/map information and display it with new sprites/tiles then apply things like FOW.
The big issue with it that I can see is that the second kind of mod would use techniques similar to a map-hack so I would be hesitant about playing online unless it was confirmed to be ok.
*Adapting existing sprites into higher res or scalable sprites can be annoying as hell, but doesn't require too much in the way of creativity - you need to be able to see the intention in the low-res then clean it up, rather than make something from scratch.
On March 06 2012 12:57 LightAngels wrote: If we scale up the resolution, it will ruin the game. The best part of BW is that you don't have a high resolution UI like SCII
That's the best part of BW?
This is like saying the best part of SDTV is that it doesn't come in HD... What???? I thought it was the earlier availability and greater value leading to broader audience and subsequently greater breadth in programming. But that's just me.
I would love an option to watch BW if observation options were like this. I never played it, but hearing about it I really feel like I have missed out/ am missing out on something.
The reason I don't is that I find it really hard to figure out what is going on most of the time, thus making my attempts to do so largely frustrating. I find myself squinting at the screen and generally just guessing what buildings are and what units are etc. Maybe its just my eyesight, could need testing, but having become accustomed to SC2 since starting playing that, it is really strange trying to watch BW.
If there was an observer only option like this enabled, I would jump at the chance to watch some of it. I can see why many of the true BW fans would hate a change forced upon them, as nobody likes things that they are used to being fiddled with when they are not broken, but for newbies like me it would be great
Edit - Changed to add 'observer only' to my post. Obviously changing an entire game would be stupid at this point and would basically create a new game for the players... We already have that!
My opinion really is just if it makes the obs view nicer, and that only, then it would be a pretty neat option.
It would be pretty cool since most of us have larger monitors these days but the games fine as it is now, it doesn't need any changes but its never bad to have options. Pretty cool videos too I never have seen those.
I don't know if it is possible from technical pov, but if it is, then its surely hell load of work to do.
You'd basically have to remake whole game, starting from graphic side and ending on balance issues.I don't see the point of doing this though, you already have BroodWar - for competitiveness, strategy depth and perfect balance between each race, and on the other side theres it's sequel - with advanced graphics and tons of $ put into it's promotion. Each thing that might supposedly look BW imperfect and old fashioned, like 1 resolution option, which makes it harder to play, sums up to perfect game as a whole - easiest example - you can't just evacuate workers from your nat by selecting them and clicking on something inside your main immediately, you actually have to scroll/move up there and then click.
please updating the ui for bw is unworkable makes moving Z crack/ultra/defiler ball way too easy bw is an old game the graphics are not modern , just accept that already
if a team had all the cash and time in the world to do it, then it could be a very exciting prospect.
of course all the original mechanics must be kept, but i'm thinking of SF2 HD, although I don't know if that is a carbon copy of the original. i don't know, maybe someone on TL has a dad who is a multi-millionaire, and suppose it is kept non-commercial and blizzard gives their assent...it could reignite interest in BW.
Balance should not be used as an argument. Each race will be able to develop advantages from a different UI and counter-strats to what other races would be able to do better.
I think it would be nice to have HD aspect ratio version, just because almost all contemporary monitors are HD and not 4:3. But even WC3, which is much more modern game and Blizz still publishes patches for it, still doesn't support a real HD version (after a recent patch it supports HD resolutions, but by "stretching" the whole game, which isn't the goal here).
On March 06 2012 12:57 LightAngels wrote: If we scale up the resolution, it will ruin the game. The best part of BW is that you don't have a high resolution UI like SCII
That's the best part of BW?
Its much harder to play with the old UI, and people enjoy BW that way
There is absolutely nothing in SC2's UI that is generally considered to make it easier.
SC2's UI shows what I have hotkeyed to what. I like that quite a bit, but I can just go ctrl+4 44 when hotkeying something to check (and I often do). It also has a little green line showing shift-clicked actions. Both of these are nice, neither make the game much easier.
Unlimited Unit Selection is not "UI". UI is the buttons I press to do things. I put things in a control group the exact same way in SC2 as in BW. That I can put MORE things in a SC2 control group is gameplay, not UI, and certainly not graphics.
On March 06 2012 19:16 figq wrote: Balance should not be used as an argument. Each race will be able to develop advantages from a different UI and counter-strats to what other races would be able to do better.
Likewise, nothing in the UI can mess with balance except different races having different hotkeys for things (0p is a bit more annoying than 4sd, for instance)
On March 06 2012 18:38 iPlaY.NettleS wrote: please updating the ui for bw is unworkable makes moving Z crack/ultra/defiler ball way too easy bw is an old game the graphics are not modern , just accept that already
This makes zero sense. HD BW, if anything, would make micro harder by making the units smaller (unless you resized all the units to take up the same real estate on the screen). Unlimited Unit Selection != HD graphics, and there's NO reason to assume otherwise what the hell. SC2BW is running on the SC2 engine, and it has 12-max control groups and no automine/smartcasting, because those AREN'T THE SAME as graphics.
On March 06 2012 16:12 pzea469 wrote: Just to clarify, my idea would be to keep the same proportions. Simply by using the resolution hack, but then using much larger and higher quality sprites. I know nothing of modding bw though so I have no idea how reasonable of an idea this would be. It would also require maps to be made many times the size, which I'm not even sure if the game would let you, though the same was thought about the resolution. Anyways, just throwing the idea out there for now.
You'd basically be remaking the entire game.
Sure, it's possible, but it's a huge amount of work for very little benefit. You'd basically just be making SC2BW, except it'd take a lot longer and probably not even look all that good unless you had some damn good sprite artists (like, Odin Sphere good).
Not really. Assuming that BW was made in an even moderately sane way then the only thing you would need to touch would be the graphics.
At the very least, you'd also have to redo all the pathfinding because the screen size is totally different than what it was written for and the unit size in pixels is all what the fuck now. Also, BW has a limit on how much it can display at a time (which is why Valkyries misfire and why my "Fortress surrounded by 50,000 mines and turrets" custom map never got made). Pixels are objects. You are vastly increasing the amount of resources BW is putting into graphics. And yeah, we all have fast computers now, but that's not really the point. The BW code was not designed for that, and it's probably written to efficiently use the resources it was expected to have. You can't just go "More power, Mr Scott".
This is kind of why the HD mod shows more screen space and makes things smaller.
If it's at all like SC2 then the unit part at least would be completely trivial - just make new, higher res sprites then slot them in.
Except SC2's map editor was built for that kind of thing, whereas doing it in BW gets hacky. And getting too fancy with SC2 can indeed cause weirdness (this is why Blizzard maps are so bland. The fancy ESV and GSL maps cause performance issues on lower-end machines).
Even if you can't just do that then you would only have to write something to take unit location/map information and display it with new sprites/tiles then apply things like FOW.
The sprites are going to be 'bigger" than the old sprites in terms of pixels. You know how the dragoon AI is retarded? That's because it uses the hydralisk AI, but is bigger than a hydra.
*Adapting existing sprites into higher res or scalable sprites can be annoying as hell, but doesn't require too much in the way of creativity - you need to be able to see the intention in the low-res then clean it up, rather than make something from scratch.
Simple ideas can actually be pretty hard to do, when dealing with decades-old code. Especially since BW is unstable as hell on modern systems to begin with.
@Ribbon Im not saying its easy but sprites doesnt = unit size, generally you have a something else then the actual sprite as the space the unit/npc/whatever occupies. Especialy in games that emulates a third dimention with essentialy 2d graphics.
On March 06 2012 18:33 Itachii wrote: I don't know if it is possible from technical pov, but if it is, then its surely hell load of work to do.
You'd basically have to remake whole game, starting from graphic side and ending on balance issues.I don't see the point of doing this though, you already have BroodWar - for competitiveness, strategy depth and perfect balance between each race, and on the other side theres it's sequel - with advanced graphics and tons of $ put into it's promotion. Each thing that might supposedly look BW imperfect and old fashioned, like 1 resolution option, which makes it harder to play, sums up to perfect game as a whole - easiest example - you can't just evacuate workers from your nat by selecting them and clicking on something inside your main immediately, you actually have to scroll/move up there and then click.
He's only talking of overworking the sprites...
Anyways, I think it is definitely possible, but it's still alot of work to do.
On March 06 2012 14:25 Antisocialmunky wrote: You might as well just do SCII:BW if that's what you want. Also, the crappiness of the graphics allows people to figure out what they actually look like in their head.
The only thing that really annoys me is playing Brood War on newer larger monitors, where everything is all stretched out. Watching it as a spectator is fine and dandy for me though.
On March 06 2012 19:16 figq wrote: Balance should not be used as an argument. Each race will be able to develop advantages from a different UI and counter-strats to what other races would be able to do better.
Likewise, nothing in the UI can mess with balance except different races having different hotkeys for things (0p is a bit more annoying than 4sd, for instance)
Having more horizontal vision will change a lot of the gameplay, and that's part of the UI. But as I said, I don't see this as a problem, people will find ways to balance out whatever is changed.
On March 06 2012 21:30 Meteora.GB wrote: The only thing that really annoys me is playing Brood War on newer larger monitors, where everything is all stretched out. Watching it as a spectator is fine and dandy for me though.
You can set your graphics card to keep the aspect ratio and not stretch. The main downside is just that BW never fully utilizes HD monitors and is only 4:3 in the middle.
I think this would be quite fantastic if it could be done and I really don't understand all the nay-sayers. Sure I love the game the way it is as much as you guys, but imagine if an HD remake of BW could bring in more people to enjoy the game. The fact stands that most gamers today are way too concerned about modern graphics to give BW a try if they're not already convinced by this point.
On a side note, I work as a game artist and I'd love to help out with remaking sprites if some smart programmer sorts out the technical stuff. It's a lot of work yes, but by no means impossible (speaking of the graphics). You would build all the units and animations in a 3d program (technically SC2 units could be used for this too - although there is a risk it would look more like a 2d SC2 than an HD BW), and render out isometric sprites from 16 or 32 angles most likely. The map sprites might require more hands-on pixel work, depending on how you approach it. On the other hand, the whole system used for maps could perhaps be over-hauled with much bigger sprites and of course built in support for things such as bottom-to-top pointing ramps and wide bridges. Todays maps could most likely be accurately reproduced.
All this is of course assuming it is actually possible to mod BW like this. Also I'm not sure about Blizzard's policies on these things, even as a non-profit project.
On March 06 2012 12:57 LightAngels wrote: If we scale up the resolution, it will ruin the game. The best part of BW is that you don't have a high resolution UI like SCII
The graphics are the worst part of BW. BW is good because of the strategic depth and the skill required to play not because of outdated graphics. If BW would have been done in a SC 2 engine (With the same AI) it would be a lot more spectator friendly.
On March 06 2012 12:57 LightAngels wrote: If we scale up the resolution, it will ruin the game. The best part of BW is that you don't have a high resolution UI like SCII
The graphics are the worst part of BW. BW is good because of the strategic depth and the skill required to play not because of outdated graphics. If BW would have been done in a SC 2 engine (With the same AI) it would be a lot more spectator friendly.
I personally completely disagree I feel like SCBW's simple graphics and wonderful color pallets set a much better atmosphere and is generally more immersive than sc2. Not only that but identifying units and their actions in higher scale battles is much easier where sc2's units in general are more clumped up and I guess the only way to describe it is a clusterfuck of a battle, also as an observer the only things you need to understand to enjoy battles are Basic matchup and unit knowledge to really enjoy whats happening.
But then again it is all a matter of opinion, to each their own.
I don't think sprite graphics and polygon graphics are really comparable the way you want them to be, thezanursic. They are essentially two different mediums, as different as pencil drawings and clay models. You would have to compare it to another sprite based game. However, as far as polygon art goes, I find SC2 really oppressively dark and small. It's hard to see projectiles, so it's hard to know when a players unit is even attacking (mutas chasing something down look like they're just moving, not move attacking). Then an observer will look to something under fog of war to point something out and you can't see anything... In general the game is just a lot less clear about anything that's happening. It would be a huge downgrade for BW to look like that. This is like comparing a great pencil drawing to a really mediocre clay sculpture and saying the clay sculpture is better because it's 3d.
In general, I don't really think an RTS benefits from being 3D. It's an RTS! It's meant to be played top bottom. The novelty of being able to move the camera down only lasts so long.
As far as the actual thread and updating the graphics to be HD... You know, people talk about wanting that for 'BW Gold' for a long time. It's one of those unnecessary but kinda neat things. New tilesets, ladder matchmaking, etc. It's not a new idea, so you should have something to show/some ability to do it if you want it. I honestly thought this thread would be about up scaling videos, which would be more interesting to me for extra special good games, but I'm pretty sure upscaling doesn't work that well... was hoping to read more about it regardless. It wouldn't be better res while playing, but it would be more doable.
It is possible to increase the quality of the sprites, but it would require extensive work (there are limitations hardcoded into the game that would have to be bypassed).
On March 06 2012 13:02 dartoo wrote: I remember seeing a thread where brood war was cast in HD, it looked kinda funny...everything was so small, I thought it lost some appeal. Especially in big fights, you dont have that massive theatre of war feel, because everything gets squished into one screen.
Thats the cast thread...but someone below found an actual mod...
Pretty much this :/. Let's keep BW the same, if anything needs to be changed, i think its the Menu's for the game, but nothing in-game. Making sprites look better might be cool though.
if a enhanced graphics mod ONLY changed the graphics and nothing with the gameplay, zoom level, etc, I would buy it/play the shit out of it. but like people say, changing every damn sprite in the game seems difficult. hopefully one day someone will do it and forever receive free e-cookies.
So if in some parallel universe Blizzard is enhancing BW graphics then I wish they keep the same mature-looking style of BW rather than the 'hey lego-blocks WoW-like childish characters' from SC2.
My only complaint with BW graphics is the probe on certain tilesets contrast that sometimes bothers me and when I play vs brown opponents on jungle/dirty tileset, but this last one is easily half-fixable with shift-tab.
On March 06 2012 20:29 Mooneyes wrote: @Ribbon Im not saying its easy but sprites doesnt = unit size, generally you have a something else then the actual sprite as the space the unit/npc/whatever occupies. Especialy in games that emulates a third dimention with essentialy 2d graphics.
HD sprites = More pixels = Different unit size in pixels, which matters for a 2D game.
On March 06 2012 14:25 Antisocialmunky wrote: You might as well just do SCII:BW if that's what you want. Also, the crappiness of the graphics allows people to figure out what they actually look like in their head.
I like you!
So many people do not appreciate that point.
I suddenly want to remake BW using ASCII graphics.
ZZZ ZMZ ZZZ
Actually, that'd be kinda neat.
On March 07 2012 03:38 Golgotha wrote: if a enhanced graphics mod ONLY changed the graphics and nothing with the gameplay, zoom level, etc, I would buy it/play the shit out of it. but like people say, changing every damn sprite in the game seems difficult. hopefully one day someone will do it and forever receive free e-cookies.
edit: lol corrupter
SC2 Zerg on BW creep is weird looking.
On March 07 2012 03:56 fabiano wrote: I dont like the art direction they took in SC2.
So if in some parallel universe Blizzard is enhancing BW graphics then I wish they keep the same mature-looking style of BW rather than the 'hey lego-blocks WoW-like childish characters' from SC2.
It's really only Terran, and specifically Terran bio, that has that WoW look in SC2. Protoss and especially Zerg are fine, graphic design wise. I actually really love the creep spread mechanic in SC2 for aethestic reasons (and because it adds some needed mechanical stuff), because it's cool-looking and makes it easy to tell what the Zerg's "territory" is just by looking at the minimap, which is neat.
I feel like if we took the "12-limit control group" "no automine", "no smartcasting", and "no MBS" from SC2BW and applied it to SC2 vanilla, the game would actually look better, because units wouldn't be in perfect sync and wouldn't clump as much. How a game looks is based on many factors, not just the sprites.
From what I remember from experimenting with BWAPI, positions in the game engine are actually specified in terms of pixels--the same pixels as are shown on the screen. That means if you're trying to, for example, double the resolution of the graphics without changing what the game engine is doing, then you're trying to do something the game fundamentally wasn't designed to do. Possible? Probably, but maybe also hard.
Hmmm, I think it might be interesting to look at this when considering BW HD:
The first build of SC2 that they showed in that video is rather rough, but it is very much reminiscent of BW in terms of graphics despite mainly being a primitive mock-up.
And it's funny to see really shitty 3D models of Protoss and Zerg stuff that they used as temporary placeholders, though those models are surprisingly accurate to their BW counterparts.
Well, theoretically, one would only need to hijack the graphics system of the game, with 1280x960 resolution, the game engine could remain unchanged, only the drawing coordinates would need to be multiplied by 2. (Omg, this would lead sprites moving by a minimum of 2 pixels, but I don't think that would ruin the animation.) (And redrawing thousands of bitmaps....as I guess automatic rescaling of the bitmaps wouldnt really look good.) (No to mention the missing 3d Studio models used for unit and building bitmaps.)
Guys what you're asking for is not possible without getting the source code from Blizzard. Modern computers can display millions of colors however because of the 1990s technology they had available, Starcraft could only display up to 256 colors at once. Basically you need to rewrite the code to make it be able to utilize new formats such as using .bmp pictures for high quality models instead of the old .pcx and use .avi for videos like unit portraits instead of .smk format. Then you need to redesign the pictures and such for it to look good at a higher resolution.
On April 01 2012 14:50 xboi209 wrote: Guys what you're asking for is not possible without getting the source code from Blizzard. Modern computers can display millions of colors however because of the 1990s technology they had available, Starcraft could only display up to 256 colors at once. Basically you need to rewrite the code to make it be able to utilize new formats such as using .bmp pictures for high quality models instead of the old .pcx and use .avi for videos like unit portraits instead of .smk format. Then you need to redesign the pictures and such for it to look good at a higher resolution.
one day I hope blizzard will make a gfx update for BW. keep everything the same but just make the sprites look cleaner. but i am dreaming.
If you really wanted to improve the graphics, play BW as a sc2 mod - the current sc2bw maps, most of them aren't the best but it's completely possible to make the game exactly like bw, which would automaticly improve the observer UI etc. aswell
On April 01 2012 15:09 Cinim wrote: If you really wanted to improve the graphics, play BW as a sc2 mod - the current sc2bw maps, most of them aren't the best but it's completely possible to make the game exactly like bw, which would automaticly improve the observer UI etc. aswell
no this isnt just about gfx. sc2bw mod changes the gameplay and the quirks of bw waaaay too much. definitely not the same game.
On March 07 2012 11:36 Xeln4g4 wrote: wow this video will become a masterpiece of SC2 history in 15 years when SC2 will be as old as BW!
Assuming people still play SC2 in 15 years.
Legacy of the Void will probably be in beta by then.
And there will still be no word of Half Life 2: Episode 3.
yeah, about that..
where the fuck is that game ?!?!?! -.-
also - I really prefer a mature 2D look of the game instead of shiny lazersssinurface 3D engines (some of them are actually beautiful but most of them.. definitely too shiny)
The first build of SC2 that they showed in that video is rather rough, but it is very much reminiscent of BW in terms of graphics despite mainly being a primitive mock-up.
And it's funny to see really shitty 3D models of Protoss and Zerg stuff that they used as temporary placeholders, though those models are surprisingly accurate to their BW counterparts.
Just food for thought.
eh, this actually looks pretty good. if only, if only...
On March 06 2012 12:57 LightAngels wrote: If we scale up the resolution, it will ruin the game. The best part of BW is that you don't have a high resolution UI like SCII
Do you really believe what you just said? I think the best part is the underlying game.
Using a higher resolution is possible already as demonstrated by at least one mod. Lets skip this discussion with all its balancing and style aspects. Making a real High-Res BW with larger and more datailed sprites is an interesting idea, but it will take a lot of effort that might not be worth the outcome. I see two major issues that would need to be solved:
1.) the sprites It is not possible to blow up the original sprites in a way that they look good. They can be upscaled to prevent a pixelated look. Thats it. But not more. Your monitors are doing this already by hardware while you are playing BW. You can not recover image information that does not exist. If you think so... believe me... CSI is jerking around with you. Math is stronger than this stupid series. So there are basically two ways to solve this issue. For certain the StarCraft sprites have not been painted from scratch. They are screen captures of animated 3D models. So the easiest way - but only from a technical point of view - is to ask Blizzard to provide these original models to capture them in higher resolution. Let´s asume that this will never happen... The other way would be to create new models for all units, building, etc... interesting project for a 3D designer... but this will take man-years.
2.) the engine The StarCraft engine is based on a lot of hard-coded values. Some are tile-based, some are pixel-based. Believe me... you don´t want to mess arround with these. You would have to butcher the game memory to solve all this problems. Starcraft modding can achieve a lot, but fucking around with the most fundamental engine properties is realy tough. Creating the game from scratch will be less work for sure.
On March 06 2012 12:57 LightAngels wrote: If we scale up the resolution, it will ruin the game. The best part of BW is that you don't have a high resolution UI like SCII
That's the best part of BW?
Its much harder to play with the old UI, and people enjoy BW that way
He wants to make the graphics better... this has nothing to do with the UI.
BW HD! - WC3 level of B.Net competance - SC2 level of editor amazingness - So true to the original gameplay engine that you can load up saved games, custom maps, and replays from the original and they work in BW HD - LAN - Watch replays online with others - Wide screen support, with option to force 4:3 without it stretching - $15 for the original and the HD version as a package deal on Battle.net
EPT
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/TCIC3.jpg)
lol corrupter
