Now that I have (finally) upgraded my PC and have a 22" monitor which supports 1680x1050 resolution I have the capacity to run higher res textures in LFS. Problem is, I have no choice but to sift through lfs-database.com (great website it is) to find third party high res textures.

My improvement suggestion is for the devs to create a high res texture add on pack which can be downloaded in addition to the game (it would be available in the 'Additional downloads' section of the website).

For this to happen, I believe the first step would be for Eric to open the native file of each LFS texture and export them at a higher res. Scawen would then just need to create an exe which prompts the user to select their LFS folder and the improved textures would be installed ala test patches.

Scawen could also add an option within the 'Graphics' menu which allows the user to choose which high res textures to use (eg track, car, driver), or if they don't wish to run the high res textures at all (depending on the track and number of cars in the race and the resulting strain on their machine). This would require that the high res textures are given their own folder, as opposed to overwriting the existing ones.

Please let me know what you think of this idea ..

I voted no simply because 3rd parties have developed high-res packs for LFS (sure, not all textures, but getting there)

I'd rather have the devs put their time into new tracks, new cars, physics improvements, etc, than something to do with graphics. I know the new comps can handle a bunch of eyecandy, but that's not what makes this a successful simulation.

At the same time, I agree with the notion that this sim could look a lot better, but again, I wouldn't want the devs distracted with that 'issue'.

Quote from Slopi :

I voted no simply because 3rd parties have developed high-res packs for LFS (sure, not all textures, but getting there)

I'd rather have the devs put their time into new tracks, new cars, physics improvements, etc, than something to do with graphics. I know the new comps can handle a bunch of eyecandy, but that's not what makes this a successful simulation.

At the same time, I agree with the notion that this sim could look a lot better, but again, I wouldn't want the devs distracted with that 'issue'.

Fair enough point that the devs should put their time into more important aspects of the game, but I doubt this would take more than a day to implement and the advantages of it would be clear to see.

Although there are 3rd party high res packs available, imo only the most dedicated followers of LFS would seek to find them all. Plus a lot of the custom high res textures are different from those in the game. I just think it would be good to have an easily accessible all-in-one pack with all official textures, rather than a bunch of random look-a-likes, which are good but are different nonetheless.

Perhaps this is not an immediate priority, but I reckon this should be done before S2 Beta then full, which is when the reviewers will step in!!

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I just think it would be good to have an easily accessible all-in-one pack with all official textures, rather than random look-a-likes.

I can agree with that.

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Perhaps this is not an immediate priority, but I reckon this should be done before S2 Beta then full, which is when the reviewers will step in!!

This sim has actually been reviewed many times, and those reviewers didn't much seem to mind the DX8 graphics. Granted, more high-end game review sites might nit-pick about this.

Overall, it's not a bad idea to implement higher-res textures into the game, as long as it does stay, as noted, 'low priority'

Something like the music addon pack, might be nice to see LFS' standard textures in high-res done by Eric. I'd rather have him do the car models first though ;p

I spose it would be nice, yes, but I've got so many textures installed that I no longer have a clue what I've got any more, and I don't want to lose them when a new patch comes! They should be an additional download for sure.

Yes Please, I already run all 3rd Party Hi-Res Textures, but I have such a mix & match that I have no idea which texture file comes from which pack. imo Hi-Res textures really improve the look and immersion of LFS and now that we have the ability to have Hi-Res skins then I think it is the next logical graphical improvement, even if it should be low priority.
But I too think it wouldn't take much to add it, the soundpack is proof of that. Maybe "scavier" could employ the current Hi-Res texture makers to help with it's implementation, which then wouldn't take a lot of time away from the LFS Dev's & allows them to continue with their planned updates.

I know Electrik-Kar is planning on releasing all his Hi-Res textures as one big texture pack, maybe he knows something we don't.

Quote from flinty72 :

I know Electrik-Kar is planning on releasing all his Hi-Res textures as one big texture pack, maybe he knows something we don't.

Oooer that would be good !!

Quote from geezer45 :

Oooer that would be good !!

Butters read it here: http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=444140#post444140

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maybe he knows something we don't.

Unfortunately, no.

My intuition tells me that Scavier are probably not really interested in higher-res graphics from the community. Maybe they have a look at things from time to time; I heard Victor had done some testing of higher-res stuff sometime ago.. But that's all I've heard.

When I look at the current default .dds files, I think that with a lot of stuff, there mustn't be higher res versions. So, it would take more than for Eric to simply export those files at higher-res, which doesn't do anything for the texture detail. Maybe he's working on higher res versions now. But then again maybe not (). We may start to get an idea of the bigger picture with Eric's South City update. I also hope there will be a higher-res option once S2 is final, because imo the default textures now are just too low-res for a modern game. They just seem like placeholder textures to me.

Quote from Electrik Kar :

When I look at the current default .dds files, I think that with a lot of stuff, there mustn't be higher res versions. So, it would take more than for Eric to simply export those files at higher-res, which doesn't do anything for the texture detail. Maybe he's working on higher res versions now. But then again maybe not (). We may start to get an idea of the bigger picture with Eric's South City update. I also hope there will be a higher-res option once S2 is final, because imo the default textures now are just too low-res for a modern game. They just seem like placeholder textures to me.

Aah ok I guess I just assumed the native files would have been reasonably high res. I agree that some of the textures look like placeholder graphics, especially the rb4 interior :P LOL it looks horrible on my 22" screen :P

BTW, thanks for the link Flinty