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Find pixel artists for upgrading artwork


A lot of UO's graphics were made in 3D software (the characters, monsters, namely) and the overall style isn't that hard to reproduce. UO's art style was a big influence on me when I went into making my own graphics for a living:

Medieval_HighSeas_2.jpg


Screenshot_1.png

Screenshot_6.png


I've got a huge library of graphics, though whether or not they would fit the UO size constraints is another story. I suspect many of them would, but a number would require resizing or alterations. The bigger hurdle, at least for me, would be creating the modular walls and roofs (roofs more so, though there might be some wonky engine thing UO does with roof textures to handle that).

A few more samples:

Medieval_Infernus_3.png

An example of some paperdoll stuff I made (I am big on making modular characters and pieces):
Medieval_Warfare_6.png


Medieval_PB_3.png


Another big thing is that you can't really just replace some of UO's artwork. Either you replace it all or you don't. When you start mix and matching art styles, it creates a visual inconsistency that sucks. Just look at the later stuff that was added to the official UO servers, made by completely different artists and it is obvious (and horrible).

I am not entirely sure what formats the images would need to be in for UO, but I suspect they are .tff images or whatever, so that would mean the graphics would not be able to have an alpha transparency layer (so no shadows, no smooth blending effects around edges, etc), which would pose another obstacle. It would be a very tall order, though not impossible. I am not surprised at all that Andrea would not be interested in tackling it! :)
 

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If I recon right, the UO client renders full black #000000 / white #FFFFFF as alpha

Download UOFiddler, browse the files and see all the images. You should get how the client works pretty fast
 
I love the UO artwork and Outlands has already upgraded some of it, I don't really see why more changes are needed.
 
one of the things is they were devoloped for 640*480. so as monitors advance (1080p, 2k, 4k) u basically get a super zoom version (classic uo).

with high res sprites you could create a higher def pixel sprite and make it continue to feel immersive instead of (birds eye is now helicopter view). also u can add a ton of detail to some areas (foilage/grass) and aging sprites (gazers, birds etc) or make cool sprites even more detailed (liche, drafons)
 
I would love it if we could have some of the amazing custom clothing show up better on the avatar. They look so amazing on the paper doll but then look like a regular robe in the world.
 
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/531582541078069248/555985685656633364/larvavines.PNG

Sentient vines and gazer larva - grainy and sticks out like sore thumb vs classic sprites

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/531582541078069248/555986642859589632/unknown.png

Long legs spider - looks terrible and grainy / unrefined

These are just a couple examples of bad pixie artwork in Outlands. The Necromancers in the newbie dungeon looks really bad come to think of it.

Why have subpar pixies that are obviously made by different artists even exist in game? It ruins the visual environmental experience, and cheapens Outlands as a shard.
 
Kilgu said:
I would love it if we could have some of the amazing custom clothing show up better on the avatar. They look so amazing on the paper doll but then look like a regular robe in the world.
Click to expand...

Agreed, same for the custom hairstyles and colors. Doesn't need to be an exact replica but it would be nice if a look you spent a lot of money on could be seen when you walk around.
 
It is waaaaay more difficult to make the clothing and such appear on the avatar as opposed to the paperdoll. Making the paperdoll stuff is super easy. Making it for the avatar though, you need to make iterations of the same piece many times, for each frame of each direction of each animation. It's not really feasible I think, especially since it would basically be a project of passion that would take hundreds if not thousands of hours of work. Not saying it wouldn't be awesome, but with the amount of work required you might as well just make a new game entirely instead of remastering old artwork from a 20+ year old game.

For the record, I do love the classic style UO artwork. Even with its lack of shadows and such, it is still some pretty fantastic work. That is what makes it more jarring when there are monsters and such incorporated into the world that clearly have a completely different artstyle (a far more obviously 3D rendered look).
 
machine learning could be done in a week (processing wise) but it may or may not look good after updating to 1080p+ (basically increase resolution and upscale a ton). that would be a happy medium for now
 
First of all awesome work some of you guys!

I always thought uo needs less improving and more expandinf in graphics department. For example instead of increasing resolution I would bu much more happier to see more variety in the classic animations, such as lions, rhinos, giraffes on top of bears and crocodiles.

That is easier said than done though. If you do it the original way you'll need to produce animated geometry, extract frames at cprrect perspective and edit to fit color, contrast and edge strokes.

If someone adds a simple donkey to ride, as modest as a llama, he is my hero.
 
It really saddens me, I so want to plasy, but the graphics are hard to see clearly & with a vision probd. I was hoping for somethimg. :( UO Outlands sounds vary cool, but I can not see stuff clearly.
 
@Salohcin try enabling the wheel mouse + ctrl zoom ability to zoom in and out. Also you can stretch the in game screen too

Also some options in the client allow you to zoom in like gump scaling aka backpack

Lastly use discord in guild chat to use voice channels can help
 
@Salohcin

1/ Uncheck this box (For high contrast skills gump)

1711110568554.png


2/ Check this box for easier to view Health Bar
1711110760444.png


3/ Journal (Settings button is in the top right)
1711110903033.png

In Journal Settings (USE these options for high contrast)
1711111048457.png
 
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@Salohcin

Lets do something rather easy with the UI, and not get too carried away or distracted.
The menu is really vital, and if you follow the instructions below, you can make a contrasting menu bar that will look like this


1711112270431.png


Create a folder in your Outlands directory named GumpOverrides

1711112491421.png

The plan is to put some files in that folder which will "override" the Ultima Online "gumps"

But lets just start with something easy before we get carried away with too many things.

Download, extract, copy and paste the files from THIS LINK HERE ON GOOGLE DRIVE

Into the folder called GumpOverrides

POST A SCREENSHOT OF YOUR SCREEN WHEN YOU'VE DONE THAT.
 

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