Tackling black mesh faces

[Richard-L]

Lahm and I wondered if it wouldn't be worth going after all the erroneous faces in the level meshs, now that there is the injection framework.

He posted these two examples:

There are quite a number of occurrences of these in both the main game and UB.

Questions to discuss:

1. Should these be fixed?
   Personally I would say yes because they're a clear error or oversight, and it would be a nice polish.
2. What would be the best way to go about them?
   Would it be better to try and collaboratively collect as many as possible of them in one single issue, or had every occurrence better be its own separate issue?
   I would estimate almost every other level has one, so in total with UB maybe there would be 15 (?). Would these mean too many inflationary issues if handled individually?
   Or would it be better because it's cleaner, and we'll likely miss some anyway and need to go step by step?
3. What texture would be injected?
   I assume these faces simply have no texture assigned to them, so that there is no trace or indication which one to use, and it would have to be a well intended guess, or something that maintains visual continuity (eg if a repeating wall texture were missing).

Happy for your thoughts.

[lahm86]

Thanks for opening this @Richard-L. I definitely feel too that these are oversights so it would be nice to correct them. I think there are four five categories for this kind of texture issue.

1. Incorrect texture on a face (e.g. Atlantis room 85).
2. Misaligned vertices on a face leading to gaps (such as the Lost Valley example above).
3. Missing face (where no manipulation of vertices would lead to filling the gap e.g. Caves room 10).
4. Incorrect texture, but the intended texture is not a part of the level file (such as the recently fixed Colosseum issue).
5. Wrongly rotated faces (e.g. Atlantis room 5 near the secret corridor).

1, 2 and 5 are easy to fix, 3 is slightly trickier as it involves inserting new data rather than just replacing, so it requires other data in the room mesh to be shifted. But it's doable, this is what the injection framework is about essentially. I don't know of any other instances of type 4, the one in Colosseum may be unique.

My feeling is that we go through each of the levels and find as many as possible, and then see about raising issues/tasks when we have an idea of the volume, and we can perhaps filter ones out that might not be agreed on.

We could potentially use trview's routing function to document the issues. For example, below is a trview route export, so this can be imported via Windows > Route (remove the .txt extension so trview can find it). The waypoints indicate the problems and allow for some notes to be added too.

LEVEL1.tvr.txt

[Richard-L]

Very nice classification Lahm. I like the idea of a collaborative per-level effort. I wonder if we would do a GH discussion per level where everyone can post, and eventually transfer everything over into an issue?

Or perhaps would this be a suitable scenario for discord threads? I don't use them usually, but I'd imagine with some cases there might be several options what to do, and it will probably be helpful to share text or images back and forth quickly to get opinions.

I opened your TRView route. You basically found half of the total cases I estimated for the entire game in just the first level 😂 It's very tidy to save them like that, but I think I'll need to play the game anyway to find the ones I'm remembering. And then a screenshot is probably quicker.

[lahm86]

Maybe keeping the discussion here would be fine for now, and then if we encounter any "dubious" ones we can see what others think on Discord too?

[Richard-L]

Sure, sounds good.

[lahm86]

This is currently everything I'm aware of, but there is bound to be more as some of these face/texture issues can be hard to spot. Credit to Topixtor for finding the majority of these during rando testing.

LEVEL1.tvr.txt
LEVEL2.tvr.txt
LEVEL3A.tvr.txt
LEVEL3B.tvr.txt
LEVEL6.tvr.txt
LEVEL7B.tvr.txt
LEVEL8C.tvr.txt
LEVEL10A.tvr.txt
LEVEL10B.tvr.txt
LEVEL10C.tvr.txt

[aredfan]

All done! Lahm, if you feel any of these proposed changes are beyond the scope of this project then feel free to discard 👍

There was a waypoint from an earlier route file joining the 1st and 2nd rooms in the gym level, I changed my mind on this waypoint and have removed it.

TR1:
CUT4.tvr.txt
GYM.tvr.txt
LEVEL2.tvr.txt
LEVEL4.tvr.txt
LEVEL5.tvr.txt
LEVEL6.tvr.txt
LEVEL8A.tvr.txt
LEVEL10B.tvr.txt
LEVEL10C.tvr.txt

TRUB:
CAT.tvr.txt
EGYPT.tvr.txt
END.tvr.txt
END2.tvr.txt

[lahm86]

Great, thanks for taking the time to go through everything - brilliant help.

[lahm86]

I've merged all of the routes and added in the additional finds from the screenshots/comments in this discussion. Only Obelisk and cutscenes 1-3 don't contain issues it seems, or any that are visible in-game 😄
TR1TextureIssues.zip

[Richard-L]

Excellent Lahm! 👏
And smart to think of the cutscenes.

[lahm86]

Credit to @aredfan - I hadn't considered cutscenes 😄

[Richard-L]

Some I know of the top of my head:

Palace Midas

Atlantean Stronghold

(top edge of the room under):

Additionally some in Cistern found by @Rapora9

[lahm86]

The ones in Cistern will be somewhat awkward because there aren't existing vertices here we can extend the faces to (specifically, there aren't in all cases), and because of how vertices are shared (e.g. with the floor) it's not just a case of shifting the Y values. It may be possible to come up with something though, so it's one for investigation.

[lahm86]

[aredfan]

Just had a thought as there are 2 versions of Unfinished Business - the vanilla levels and the modded levels with music. If any black meshes are found and fixed in UB, it might be worth checking if the fixes works in both versions.

[Richard-L]

That's a good thought, and possibly a nasty source of duplicating work for Lahm I worry.

I actually believe there are even two fan versions of UB next to the retail release. Will need to check again.

The one bundled with TombATI is by sardoc iirc.

[Richard-L]

Okay I found my own summary here 😛 https://discord.com/channels/218414493355606016/295218582940286990/935516319145676840

@lahm86 @aredfan In fact there thankfully only seems to exist one additional UB version on the PC, the one by sardoc: https://www.tombraiderforums.com/showthread.php?t=213223

The other two are PS1 conversions, so not relevant here I guess.

[aredfan]

Hey guys, sometimes I spot textures with a wrong orientation, I was wondering if these fall within the scope of this project.

10B and 10C: (the below screenshot is the same for both levels)

10C:

[Richard-L]

Interesting finds, and you raise a good point. Like with coliseum already, these are all texture fixes.

[lahm86]

Good finds, and fixable for sure. I've added the extra category above to cover it so if you see any more like this we can add them to the list.

[aredfan]

Thanks! Also thank you for clarifying by creating an extra category.

I'm also planning to do a playthrough and hunt for texture issues in the future, but in the meantime here are the route files related to the screenshots above, and one for the manor:

(I've removed the route files until I finished my playthrough)

@lahm86 I thought it might be best to make new route files instead of editing the ones you've shared, in case you've been updating yours 👍

[lahm86]

That's ideal - we can merge the files at a later date. Thanks!

[Rapora9]

So would all of these texture changes and improvements be optional, or permanent changes? I'm not using the newest release yet but took a peek of it and looks like you could remove/comment out the injections if you don't want them, right?

[lahm86]

I think these texture issues would be classed as bugs, similar to the Colosseum roof, so they would be permanent changes. But yes, you are right, you can comment out the lines in the gameflow; for others, like the braid and Uzi SFX, they are linked to config options so no need to edit the file manually for those.

[Rapora9]

Well, there are multiple bugs fixed that are optional, like QWOP, Pyramid secret, alligator not dealing damage and so on. So I wouldn't be too quick to say "classed as bug -> permanent".

I actually think it is very important that people can (rather easily) get the original look of the game if they so desire.

[lahm86]

I meant more that as the Colosseum fix was already implemented as permanent, these would follow suit. But don't get me wrong, if there is demand for a config option, it can easily be added - the system is flexible enough to do that. I do think it would have to be an all-or-nothing approach with these though (i.e. a single "Fix Room Texture Issues" option), as otherwise it would tend to get overly complicated.

[aredfan]

[Richard-L]

Hah, is that right next to the one I'd posted above? Did not see it 🙂

[aredfan]

Close, it's one floor above and near where the secret is.

[Topixtor]

Hi there! Since I helped Iahm find some missing faces, some time ago he asked me if I wanted to help with this, hence my brand new github account. Did not find anything new until now, but what about this one?

The lever texture on the floor honestly looks like a plain mistake here, and could even mislead new players in thinking it's some sort of trigger pad. Probably a lever to re-open the doors here was planned at some point. Sorry if the screen comes from rando but I'm 99% sure it's there in vanilla too! :)

[lahm86]

This one is added by the rando :) It's a pad to open the doors again so you can return through if you have missed a secret but haven't saved.

[Topixtor]

Well today I'm clearly and completely confused xD really sorry, didn't remember that.
Hard to keep track of every single change after a while!

[lahm86]

No worries, I'm not surprised that it jumped out at your keen eye!

[mizunosuisei]

I could be wrong- but some of these missing textures may not actually be missing textures. Certain angled slopes against walls, can mismatch wall segments and simply adds an untexturable hole, would probably require geometry changes or post build 3d edit.

[lahm86]

You're right, but we have that covered. We can manipulate the mesh vertices without incurring geometry changes to patch the gaps in most cases. There are a couple of more awkward areas that should technically incur slight geometry changes, but I don't think it is worth it as the issues are on the ceiling and so do not impact gameplay. In these cases, the fixes will be visual only.

[lahm86]

What do you think about this one? I don't think it looks badly out of place, but maybe it should be like the rest of the floor? Interesting texture if you peek inside the pillar too.

[Topixtor]

Would you look at that!
This is so absurd and funny that I wouldn't even fix it, some things need to remain for new generations to find out xD

[aredfan]

A stunning discovery indeed. I've not seen that textured keyhole before in all my playthroughs.
I do agree the texture doesn't look out of place here so I'd vote to leave it alone.

[Richard-L]

Oh I was thinking you meant the heavy distortion of the pillar base texture.
It's a fun discovery. Maybe the devs used this texture as a placeholder to know where the pillars should go.
Feels like we're raiding their tombs :)

[Topixtor]

Went through the list of fixes Lahm wrote before posting this. So, Lost Valley room 9 (iirc): the list mentioned the missing texture, but there are still some "problems".

Outlined in RED: small waterfall textures that aren't animated, even though that's kind of a common occurrance at least in older engines, if that's a known limitation I apologize, I didn't know about it; EDIT outlined one more
GREEN: this animation seemed, technically, going against the tide; in my opinion it's ok, it blends in and probably was intentional;
LIGHT BLUE: this entire section seems kinda random... even so, maybe we should leave it as it is, it could also have been intentional.

Tried to check every other waterfall in the level mainly for reverse waterfalls, luckly I didn't find any more.

[Richard-L]

With some of these, I wonder if #354 enacted would make us want to decide for something different (?).
Also I'm noticing XProger's files are offline, will try to fix.

[aredfan]

This is something I've neglected to mention from my previous playthrough, maybe I shouldn't have?

Outside the scion room, one of the muscular arches does not have animated textures like the other 5 arches. This is the case in both Atlantis and The Great Pyramid levels.

[Topixtor]

There also are a lot more sectors where those textures aren't animated. I don't know if you guys should "fix" those, to me it seems intended in at least a couple of cases (like in the upwards corridor with secret earlier in the level).

[Topixtor]

Remember when I said I checked every waterfall texture in Valley? Well, forgot that secret area. Again, technically this one seems inverted but hell, if it's even hard to notice when explicitely looking for orientation, I don't think it needs a fix (also same argument as my other screens, probalby intentional).

(Valley was randomized but not mirrored so it shouldn't be that)

[Richard-L]

Hmm. I feel it would help to see these as video perhaps in this case. They're small nuances, but who knows.

[Topixtor]

I agree, but I think it's better to see ingame since it's so hard to notice. Anyway I will quickly make a video for the record
Edit: I made, once again, a fool of myself, ignore my last screen, the texture is good. The B&W scheme made me see things. As I said it's pretty hard to be sure, lol.
My other screen remains valid, here is a video (ignore Lara's ponytail, should be my bad):

https://streamable.com/b7yby2

[aredfan]

Lahm's already fixed the static water triangles from your other comment, you can check it out in the latest release 2.15.

[Topixtor]

Eh, mb again, I quickly placed Valley in my first level slot so the fixes were not in place. Now I know! Thought video was required for everything

[Richard-L]

Yeah sorry I wasn't aware this had in fact been included in the recent build.

[Topixtor]

This time I actually found something:

(Pyramid, room 21)

[aredfan]

Just checked and this one is already fixed by Lahm. Good spot btw👍

[aredfan]

Somehow missed this one in Tomb of Tihocan:

[Richard-L]

I'm curious what the reasons for all these were. Maybe just the very limited monitors/resolutions and 3d editor tools they had at the time?

[aredfan]

Yeah I think that's likely to be the case. Draw distance was quite limited too (when testing) which probably led to a few oversights.

[lahm86]

Found by @Richard-L - patterned ceiling is out of place in this cave, plus IMO the green triangle on the right seems off.

[Richard-L]

Ah sorry I'd missed to add this to the discussion. Also a good thought about the right triangle.

[aredfan]

Welcome back @lahm86! I got these new texture issues I've been collecting over the last few months. Many of these might be considered subjective so I'm happy to leave it to you to decide where to draw the line. 👍

Edit: Updated to correct a typo.

TR1.zip

---

BTW something to consider for later - do you think #348 could be brought under this group? I think having a single texture on the top and 4 sides of pushable blocks would help to solve the seams issue.

[lahm86]

Thanks. Yes, no concerns with discussing the pushblocks here too, but will tackle it under that issue rather than the latest #1231. I think it will be a bit more involved as it will need texture stitching, plus some code to manipulate the meshes (I don't think the injection framework would currently cater for that).

[lahm86]

Something I think we should consider too is the inconsistency here between Atlantis, the cutscene and The Great Pyramid. The door disappears in the cutscene after Atlantis and then returns as a different type in The Great Pyramid. The other "secret" door on the right disappears too in the cutscene, leaving a gap.

We can make it consistent throughout, so plugging the secret door gap in the cutscene and using the same door model for the other in all three cases. The question is though, which door model should it be?

[Topixtor]

Playing the remasters made me notice some new stuff, but damn never payed attention at the door being different lol. There are some other texture and geometry inconsistencies between those 2(+1) levels, in the ceiling above the giant egg for example. In the cutscene, that blocky thing above the Scion is also missing.

As for the door model my 2 cents are, maybe go with the muscle/tissue one as it blends better? The secret door missing in pyramid is ok to me, looks like we are in an everchanging, growing, living building and it isn't that different anyway

[lahm86]

I've just realised the door is missing in the cutscene before Atlantis too. I initially felt the muscle/tissue door would be best as it's the first one you see in Atlantis, but in the same breath I think the green door is the one people remember most as it's what you see in the Torso fight. So I'm not sure which is best.

[aredfan]

I'm leaning towards the 3rd (pattern) door because that's the door Lara is facing at the beginning of the boss fight. I do agree the muscle door blends into the environment well so it could work. I'm happy with either.

When playing CUT4 in the original 4:3 resolution, we couldn't see the 'backdoor' hole as it would've been cropped out on the right side of the screen. I think it makes sense to restore the backdoor because people are more likely to use widescreens nowadays.

Topixtor mentioned that the small gold box above the Scion altar in 10C is missing in all other instances. I agree it should be made consistent across the board. 👍

[aredfan]

Texture overlap in Atlantis - this isn't a new find but rather one that was difficult for Lahm to resolve. I thought it's best to put the issue here so it's documented for the future.

[Richard-L]

Sorry if these in Cistern had been logged already, but thought I'd post them:

[Richard-L]

Maybe this one in City could be an additional candidate

[Richard-L]

Two more in Natla's mines that could be considered, in fact both in the same spot and opposite to one another:

[Richard-L]

Natla's Mines has lots of possible candidates:

[aredfan]

It seems the altar stretched texture keeps coming back to haunt us imao. Pay attention to the triangle when the lightning appears.

Video.2.mp4

I also put together a few more texture issues for consideration in the future, which also includes the Colosseum texture issue mentioned by Gσиzαlσ on discord.

TR1.zip

[aredfan]

Colosseum, room 83. The texture to the left of Lara is upside down.

[aredfan]

I've never really thought about this until recently - I think the stray transparent pixels (pictured below) are dev oversights.

These pixel-sized holes are more apparent when bilinear filter is enabled - because the filter darkens internal edges. This issue affects 2 different textures which are used in the following levels:

• City of Khamoon
• Obelisk of Khamoon
• Return to Egypt
• Temple of the Cat

[Richard-L]

I always wondered about these. Looking at the texture, they do seem to be oversights.

[Richard-L]

This one just struck me: compare the top and second step front facing texture here in Folly.

[aredfan]

Making a note here that we have new transparency issues come to light while testing an upcoming feature.

The wolf eyes are transparent in levels 1 through 4.

The bat eyes are transparent too in the first 2 levels, but the bats in levels 5-7 are unaffected.

---

In Obelisk, the senet table has a hole at the top left.

This texture is also present in the following levels:

• City of Kahmoon
• Obelisk of Khamoon
• Return to Egypt
• Temple of the Cat