How does "updating visuals and art assets" affect housing items that are already in the game?

Lugaldu · December 19

I'm really looking forward to the base game zones being visually improved, but as a housing enthusiast I'm wondering what exactly will be changed. Will the existing buildings be equipped with additional furniture or will the original furniture (and architecture) be changed? If the latter is the case, then that automatically changes all furnished player houses too? And even more: many housing fans also use objects "in a different way" - e.g. a table not as a table, but as a wall panel. If these original items are visually changed, then the entire design in our houses changes?

SeaGtGruff · December 19

We don't know anything yet about what kinds of updates are being planned, but I was under the impression that this was more about surface textures, such as used for natural objects (ground, trees, rocks, etc.) in the outdoors. I might be totally wrong about that, and I admit that my only basis for that impression are the occasional threads I've seen in the forums where some people have been asking for the older base-game zones to be brought up to the same standards as used in newer zones.

UNSeki · December 19

They are most likely talking about improving textures and meshes. I don't think they're going to change the design of anything significantly, but rather will make them more in accordance to more recent standards of image quality.

As for the zones, I do think they're implying some changes in decoration. That would include adding or removing a few tiles like rocks, grass, trees etc., adding extra details to give more areas a hand-crafted feel, make some forgotten areas more presentable etc.

tomofhyrule · December 19

I'm mostly wondering about this for the Fashion Scrolls side.

They said a while ago that they didn't want to change old assets because of the whole Redguard Armor debacle. But now, it's "we're going to change the old stuff." Will this be just making the meshes and textures better, or will this also include 'fixes' we don't need?

Case in point: Yes, a lot of the old stuff looks painted-on. Even the very detailed Emperor costume has boots that are just painted on instead of actual modelled shoes. I'm 100% on board with upscaling the textures and making better meshes there. What I am not on board with is changing the look of something because "the moral guardians will think this is too sexy, so cover it up!" like they did changing the old Redguard light top into a weirdly modern-looking t-shirt.

Now I am okay with one of the old changes they did (the boob window in the Orcish armor made no sense from a lore point, since Orcs are not known for showing off their body, there has never been any indication of that style in any previous game, and it makes no design sense in the first place). But the old Redguard one gave "Aladdin's vest" vibes and therefore fit perfectly with the look and the other Redguard costumes in game, so that was definitely a step backwards when they changed it.

I've seen people excited that "updating assets" could mean that the Timbercrow diaper is going away. But that's a newer costume - it could just as easily mean that older things that are now considered "too sexy" get a Timbercrow diaper instead to appease some 'stop-making-characters-sexy' group of people. We don't know. That's what makes me nervous.

(also just the fact that I don't like the idea of trading "get new stuff" for "yeah, we'll just spend the time making the old stuff better instead because who needs new content amirite?")

PrincessOfThieves · December 19

As someone who mostly plays ESO for housing, I think it's a good idea to update old assets. Some of them, especially the old Khajiti stuff, just don't mix very well with newer items and houses due to blurry/pixelated textures and simpler meshes.
Having to re-do some parts of old builds is a small price to pay for better visual quality.

CalamityCat · December 19

At a guess, I'd say the texture resolution could be improved or more detail added. I know there are graphical tools that are getting better at doing that, so it would be feasible to make that work.

There might also be improvements to some underlying 3D models/meshes so instead of a texture being shaded and detailed to look like the item has a surface texture or carving, they could create new meshes that have those details in 3D. Or simply re-bake higher res textures with better lighting.

Lugaldu · December 19

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

We don't know anything yet about what kinds of updates are being planned, but I was under the impression that this was more about surface textures, such as used for natural objects (ground, trees, rocks, etc.) in the outdoors. I might be totally wrong about that, and I admit that my only basis for that impression are the occasional threads I've seen in the forums where some people have been asking for the older base-game zones to be brought up to the same standards as used in newer zones.

Ah, okay, I did not related the update on art assets to the environment, but that makes sense of course. However, I am still curious if they will also add more detail (more/new objects) to the outside and interior of the base game cities and villages. It would make it interesting to revisit old places.

Zodiarkslayer · December 20

The only way this makes is to upscales textures. That is fairly simple, because you only need to create new ones and replace the older ones.

Meshes will not be touched for the reason that any changed object will have to be integrated everywhere again. Meaning not only scale will have to be adjusted in every worldspace that any object is used in, but also collision, placement of activators and such.

Imagine wanting to play a quest, only to find that you cannot open the chest or the bag, because the activators are now below the surface.
Or when you need to read a letter, only to find has been swallowed by the recently upascaled Breton desk.
I dont think they will open that particular can of worms.

Northwold · December 20

I imagine they're aware of the impact any changes would have on housing (the changes made to the rock walls of Earthtear Cavern years ago attracted a huge amount of criticism for wrecking people's builds, for example) and would be mindful of that.

Also, my understanding from various developer comments over the years was that many of the housing assets are actually distinct to the assets used elsewhere in the game, even when they look similar, so I'm not sure to what extent alterations can be made to housing assets "by accident" when updating the game world.