Hello, friend! Is this project currently in the works or is it on-hold? There are bugs reported since many months ago that have been acknowledged but the last update dates more than a year and a half back... No pressure, really, we all have life stuff to sort out, just wanted to know since it seems you've been fairly active with other mods. Again, no demands here, nor requests for any ETA, just some feedback would be appreciated so we know what to look forward to. Thanks for all your contributions to this communtiy so far! :)
Let me link ( & quote ) some relevant commentary about what came of the development of this mod. This is all from the DQ Modding Community Discord (invite linked on my bio and on many mod pages here on Nexus)...
Tl;dr there were load of frustrating technical issues I ran into when it came to lightmap UVs that I never really got the help I needed on.
Then there was the simple fact that the workflow I had for porting environmental objects / models wasn't great and simply didn't scale well. I could get maybe 10-20 meshes in a single update, but in all that time, barely made a dent on the thousands of meshes that actually compose the environments. Hence, I mostly focused on the most noticeable elements (things that will be seen frequently & up close) and worked my way from there.
I think it'd be ideal if someone else were to restart the process with a better workflow and who knows how to port the lightmap UVs. As of now, it doesn't seem like it's possible (without the mentioned issues) according to all the documentation I read, without pretty much redoing the lightmap UV for each mesh one by one.
At the end of the day, this mod is pretty much at where it's at and i've mostly moved on to other projects. The hope is that someone else can come in and build off of what's been done, or start from scratch with a better workflow and tackle the issues much better at scale.
Even if I decided to drop everything else that I was working on and come back to just this, I wouldn't be making effective progress or good use of my time at the end of the day without (1) a *real* solution to the Lightmap UV issue, and (2) a better workflow.
Someone who's better with modeling (*cough* *cough* KomodoXeno or Link4565 ) might be able to overcome these 2 things.
It's been a while since I've worked with UE4, or any other game engine for that matter (I've migrated into web, surveillance and AI recognition software development since a few years back. Pays better, it's less frustrating and a whole lot less demanding, with actually achievable milestones that don't trigger episodes of severe caffeine-induced tachycardia and require mind-numbing crunch hours to get done. I adore videogames but Christ alive what an ingrate field to work in... Love for the medium alone couldn't keep me in it any longer, but I digress), let alone ever touch a modding SDK, but if we're talking plain UE4 dev environment, if I recall correctly you shouldn't need to import the lightmap UVs. Instead, the """simpler""" way of doing it would be to open a scene from DE into the map editor (lights included, obviously), then import the high-poly OG models into it, and assign them with the correct IDs so they replace the low-poly ones (checking if the materials are being rendered correctly, most times it's mismatched nametags). All this I imagine you've been doing already. But once all models in the scene are replaced, you set UE4 to auto-generate the lightmaps, (instead of importing them from OG), since the engine versions are different I imagine several parameters have changed between them, so it's just better and easier to batch generate them scene by scene. If an object shares the same ID and is used in multiple scenes, IIRC you shouldn't need to import it twice, but should generate the lightmaps for every completed scene. Since it's an automated process, it should be way less suicide inducing. It might take a while depending on your rig, but that's light baking for ya. Maybe it's easier said than done and I might be oversimplifying and/or missing crucial steps, but the gist of it should be just what I wrote, with maybe a pinch of headbashing against the keyboard and deity cursing. Maybe this specific version the game runs on doesn't have this feature, but last I used UE4 was 2018-19 and DE was released around that time, so I might not be wrong in this, but who knows... Might be worth a try, watching a few tuts... Only if you have the time and patience, of course.
It's been a while since I've worked with UE4, or any other game engine for that matter (I've migrated into web, surveillance and AI recognition software development since a few years back. Pays better, it's less frustrating and a whole lot less demanding, with actually achievable milestones that don't trigger episodes of severe caffeine-induced tachycardia and require mind-numbing crunch hours to get done. I adore videogames but Christ alive what an ingrate field to work in... Love for the medium alone couldn't keep me in it any longer, but I digress)
This is something I came to learn very early on (and I'm talking many years ago now, lol). Software development jobs are universally better in other spaces than entertainment. In fact, when I started down that path, I specifically avoided anything video game related as I just considered it a "trap", and mostly focused on business application development.
Of course, the long arc of the universe pulled be back towards games haha :D
let alone ever touch a modding SDK, but if we're talking plain UE4 dev environment, if I recall correctly you shouldn't need to import the lightmap UVs. Instead, the """simpler""" way of doing it would be to open a scene from DE into the map editor (lights included, obviously), then import the high-poly OG models into it, and assign them with the correct IDs so they replace the low-poly ones (checking if the materials are being rendered correctly, most times it's mismatched nametags).
So, we don't really have a true modding SDK or really anything like that. Most everything is reverse engineering and while we have tools to pull specific assets and import them into a custom Unreal Editor (sometimes requiring some tweaks in blender in-between)...I don't know about an entire scene. Like .umaps or the like...I don't think so (?)
That said, we did have someone by the name of RetroRebuild (Polygon Pete) post on the DQ Modding Community Discord quite some time ago and it seemed like they had some tool for doing exactly this. I did chat with them for a little bit (this mod being one topic of conversation), but (as you might expect for a technical artist living in Tokyo, Japan) they were quite busy in general and I didn't want to take too much of their time with our piddly modding nonsense.
I think you are right though, and this is probably the way to go about it. If we had a way to import an entire scene into DQXIS-UE4 (and we might after all, one way or another), it would be a lot faster / more scalable, and probably fix the lightmap UV issue once and for all.
I don't think i'll have the time in the foreseeable future to be the one to do this. But maybe someone will see it, give it a shot and have some success. We'll be cheering for them all the way.
If a new alternative to this PR module pops up, I'll most certainly change the links to point to the new mod as Module 3, as well as put a big note with a link on the description of this mod page as well.
I'm getting massive stutters in the World Map. Any tips of what I should get rid of in the files? I've already extracted it using the Mod Customization tool
Just a simple question from me. To install these, it's just to paste them into the game's pak folder then? Does that mean they override everything in the paks already there?
Last I knew, Link was still working on Module 4 (Mounts and Monsters). Based on previous releases of theirs, I wouldn't be surprised if they were waiting until it was nearly feature complete (i.e. almost every mount/monster in the game) to release it publicly. Another active modder has expressed interest in a couple other areas (weapon models & spell effects)
So, no, it is not dead. Though I am definitely less active on the DQ11 front now as i've pursued new projects more recently:
Sup Mike. I'm new to nexus mods. Currently I want to play DQ11s but I want to use mods that improves the visuals. I saw this one & I love the changes. I also notice that this is one of the parts to your project rebuild. Is there a link were I can download all project rebuild parts that enchance visuals & textures?
A few things like 4k60fps cutscenes is quite a lot extra (18GB), so i'd really only grab that if you absolutely must have the best of the best cinematic experience. (It's honestly a bit overkill imo, lol)
This is giving me Skyrim modding flashbacks , all those mods that improve structures etc lol Also that " that's what i thought, check yoself foo" caption in your pic made me laugh haha nice
Yeah, it is still in 'Alpha'. I know I haven't made any major updates for awhile, and I would like to gain more ground but unfortunately i've gotten tied up with other things in the meantime. I would like to come back and make some more progress at some point.
Unfortunately, my workflow with this hasn't been great so it is quite time-consuming and progress is painfully slow, requiring a lot of things to be done one-at-a-time and then tested in game. Plus, some issues like the lightmap UVs (although they have improved recently) still aren't entirely consistent.
It's possible if the tools and process were improved that it could dramatically cut down on the time it takes for individual assets to be ported (if there was a way it could be almost entirely automated- that'd make it a cinch).
All that said, if someone else wanted to take over (or even just contribute to) the effort of porting world assets. They would be more than welcome. Particularly if it takes me a while to come back around to this- just don't want anyone feeling like they're 'waiting around' on me to make more progress.
I think staircases I will avoid for now. In part because there's not much difference/gain from OG, and it's also a challenge to fix the WalkableSlopeOverride (the collision property that lets the player character just "walk up" it without having to jump) when the asset is put back in game. (see the most recently fixed bugs as an example)
In reference to my last comment, I'm still looking to find the Gallopolis Statue in the game's files. I don't see it listed in any umaps so far, so even my fallback method is failing to help me locate it. I know it can also be found on the racetrack in Gallopolis (although you don't really notice it when riding past on horseback), but neither the umaps for the racetrack nor the desert area surrounding Gallopolis, or even the umap for the cutscene outside Gallopolis (with Farris and Sylvando) seem to list it.
I'll try to get to it soon, but it may or may not be in the next update if I cannot find it. I'm hoping to include it and perhaps any other big statues I might have missed.
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Link 1: https://discord.com/channels/499582383067234305/736008350076240172/1101585204113584182
Link 2: https://discord.com/channels/499582383067234305/736008350076240172/1101587015218233445
At the end of the day, this mod is pretty much at where it's at and i've mostly moved on to other projects. The hope is that someone else can come in and build off of what's been done, or start from scratch with a better workflow and tackle the issues much better at scale.
Even if I decided to drop everything else that I was working on and come back to just this, I wouldn't be making effective progress or good use of my time at the end of the day without (1) a *real* solution to the Lightmap UV issue, and (2) a better workflow.
Someone who's better with modeling (*cough* *cough* KomodoXeno or Link4565 ) might be able to overcome these 2 things.
Instead, the """simpler""" way of doing it would be to open a scene from DE into the map editor (lights included, obviously), then import the high-poly OG models into it, and assign them with the correct IDs so they replace the low-poly ones (checking if the materials are being rendered correctly, most times it's mismatched nametags).
All this I imagine you've been doing already. But once all models in the scene are replaced, you set UE4 to auto-generate the lightmaps, (instead of importing them from OG), since the engine versions are different I imagine several parameters have changed between them, so it's just better and easier to batch generate them scene by scene.
If an object shares the same ID and is used in multiple scenes, IIRC you shouldn't need to import it twice, but should generate the lightmaps for every completed scene. Since it's an automated process, it should be way less suicide inducing. It might take a while depending on your rig, but that's light baking for ya.
Maybe it's easier said than done and I might be oversimplifying and/or missing crucial steps, but the gist of it should be just what I wrote, with maybe a pinch of headbashing against the keyboard and deity cursing. Maybe this specific version the game runs on doesn't have this feature, but last I used UE4 was 2018-19 and DE was released around that time, so I might not be wrong in this, but who knows... Might be worth a try, watching a few tuts... Only if you have the time and patience, of course.
This is something I came to learn very early on (and I'm talking many years ago now, lol). Software development jobs are universally better in other spaces than entertainment. In fact, when I started down that path, I specifically avoided anything video game related as I just considered it a "trap", and mostly focused on business application development.
Of course, the long arc of the universe pulled be back towards games haha :D
So, we don't really have a true modding SDK or really anything like that. Most everything is reverse engineering and while we have tools to pull specific assets and import them into a custom Unreal Editor (sometimes requiring some tweaks in blender in-between)...I don't know about an entire scene. Like .umaps or the like...I don't think so (?)
That said, we did have someone by the name of RetroRebuild (Polygon Pete) post on the DQ Modding Community Discord quite some time ago and it seemed like they had some tool for doing exactly this. I did chat with them for a little bit (this mod being one topic of conversation), but (as you might expect for a technical artist living in Tokyo, Japan) they were quite busy in general and I didn't want to take too much of their time with our piddly modding nonsense.
I think you are right though, and this is probably the way to go about it. If we had a way to import an entire scene into DQXIS-UE4 (and we might after all, one way or another), it would be a lot faster / more scalable, and probably fix the lightmap UV issue once and for all.
I don't think i'll have the time in the foreseeable future to be the one to do this. But maybe someone will see it, give it a shot and have some success. We'll be cheering for them all the way.
If a new alternative to this PR module pops up, I'll most certainly change the links to point to the new mod as Module 3, as well as put a big note with a link on the description of this mod page as well.
BTW, just to be sure that you know: DQXI-S is leaving gamepass in 2 weeks (on December 15th, 2022)
-----------------
If you want to continue playing after the free-to-play deadline ends, the game will be going on sale within a week after (probably starting sometime between 12/16/22 and 12/22/22). We also have a guide on how to transfer your saves over to Steam.
2. It will not automatically override "everything", only other mods which contain the same files. These are determined by naming order.
AFAIK, there are no conflicting mods with this one. If unsure, you can always check this using the Mod Troubleshooting Tools
So is the project now?
Also no1 worked with the animals and mounts as of today?
Just replacing the low poly horse is fine :(
So, no, it is not dead. Though I am definitely less active on the DQ11 front now as i've pursued new projects more recently:
Speaking of: https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonquestxisdefinitiveedition/mods/146
1. There is a collection here on NexusMods -- https://next.nexusmods.com/dragonquestxisdefinitiveedition/collections/1imtz2 . This may be a nice option if you use Vortex as it will just download and install each one.
2. There is also a page on the DQXI Modding Resources site -- https://sites.google.com/view/dqxi-commands/faqs/about-project-rebuild . This just puts them all together on one page. You'd still have to download from each link, but it shouldn't be too hard to follow.
A few things like 4k60fps cutscenes is quite a lot extra (18GB), so i'd really only grab that if you absolutely must have the best of the best cinematic experience. (It's honestly a bit overkill imo, lol)
Also that " that's what i thought, check yoself foo" caption in your pic made me laugh haha nice
I mean this page in particular in fact: https://sites.google.com/view/dqxi-commands/faqs/about-project-rebuild
Unfortunately, my workflow with this hasn't been great so it is quite time-consuming and progress is painfully slow, requiring a lot of things to be done one-at-a-time and then tested in game. Plus, some issues like the lightmap UVs (although they have improved recently) still aren't entirely consistent.
It's possible if the tools and process were improved that it could dramatically cut down on the time it takes for individual assets to be ported (if there was a way it could be almost entirely automated- that'd make it a cinch).
All that said, if someone else wanted to take over (or even just contribute to) the effort of porting world assets. They would be more than welcome. Particularly if it takes me a while to come back around to this- just don't want anyone feeling like they're 'waiting around' on me to make more progress.
Looks like a lightmap UV bug. Added this to a new bug report (click "Open Bug Report" in top right).
Edit: Fixed in the latest update (0.1.3)https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bbDnP5-8HZqL5prKGKRYh4vtEnfGO0zT/view?usp=sharing
In reference to my last comment, I'm still looking to find the Gallopolis Statue in the game's files. I don't see it listed in any umaps so far, so even my fallback method is failing to help me locate it. I know it can also be found on the racetrack in Gallopolis (although you don't really notice it when riding past on horseback), but neither the umaps for the racetrack nor the desert area surrounding Gallopolis, or even the umap for the cutscene outside Gallopolis (with Farris and Sylvando) seem to list it.
I'll try to get to it soon, but it may or may not be in the next update if I cannot find it. I'm hoping to include it and perhaps any other big statues I might have missed.