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:

Images

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

Image

[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

[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 😄

[aredfan]

Fixed in #831 ✅

[Richard-L]

Some I know of the top of my head:

Palace Midas

Screenshot

Atlantean Stronghold

Screenshot

(top edge of the room under):

Screenshot

Additionally some in Cistern found by @Rapora9

Screenshots

[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.

[aredfan]

Fixed in #831 (first 3 screenshots) ✅

[lahm86]

Image

[aredfan]

Fixed in #831 ✅

[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)

Image

10C:

Image

[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!

[aredfan]

Fixed in #831 ✅

[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]

Image

[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.

[aredfan]

Fixed in #831 ✅

[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?

Screenshot

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.

Screenshots

[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.

Screenshots

[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]

Fixed in #873 ✅

[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.

Image

[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).

[aredfan]

Fixed in #873 ✅

[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).

Screenshot

(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.

[lahm86]

Wrongly rotated quad in Vilcabamba room 73.

Screenshot

[aredfan]

Fixed in #3353 ✅

[lahm86]

Folly room 23 - wrong sized textures compared with neighbours.

Screenshot

[aredfan]

Fixed in #3353 ✅

[aredfan]

A late addition for City of Vilcabamba, but hopefully not too late. The floor under this table is untextured. There's another table like this in room 1 which has a floor texture underneath.

Screenshot

[aredfan]

Fixed in #3353 ✅

[Richard-L]

Thought I'd throw this one in for consideration - Atlantean Stronghold near the first secret.

Screenshot

[aredfan]

Fixed in #3667 ✅

[aredfan]

Just adding a few texture issues I noticed in the last few days for consideration in the future. Most notable is the room above the glass ceiling in Bartoli's Hideout.

Image

Route files.zip

[lahm86]

A few more in Furnace while going through these. They keep showing up!
level3.zip

[lahm86]

A few more in Rig/Diving Area.
routes.zip

[aredfan]

Fixed in #3667 ✅

A few more in Furnace while going through these. They keep showing up! level3.zip

Exactly. Nice catch with the DA green texture. 👍

[lahm86]

Z-fighting here.

Details

[aredfan]

Fixed in #3667 ✅

[aredfan]

In Venice, the static hanging lanterns (ID: 30) only have 2 double-sided textures. I wonder if it should be all double-sided or one-sided, I'm leaning towards the latter.

Screenshots

In Tibetan Foothills, the cabin's static roof ice doesn't quite align with the roof itself, which results in visual gaps.

Screenshot

In The Cold War, the ice cavern with the golden skull has quite a lot of black meshes that are present above, below and between flipmaps. It may need some creative thinking. This affects rooms 80, 81 and 82.

Screenshot

A subtle shade could be added to Obelisk of Khamoon, room 19, so it'll look consistent with other similar areas.

Image

There appear to be inconsistent textures on the rotor part of the plane, when comparing Opera House with Offshore Rig.

Image

The plane rotor is missing a texture face on one side. This issue affects both Opera House and Offshore Rig.

Screenshot

In Opera House, room 105, the dressing room's tables are slightly positioned inside the wall, see the back legs. (ID: 16)

Image

[aredfan]

Re the hanging lanterns in Venice, intriguingly the same static object is reused in It's a Madhouse! level. The object is redesigned but the lantern is largely the same, and only has one-sided textures.

Screenshot

[aredfan]

Transferred to #3854 ➡️

[aredfan]

In Palace Midas, room 69, there are 4 static objects that overlap with one another, which causes flickering (ID 14 & 15).

Screenshot

In the same area, there are pixel-sized holes affecting a number of static objects. See the 5 white arrows pointing to these rogue transparent pixels in the 2 images below.

Image 1

Image 2

This affects the following static IDs: 12, 13, 14, 15, 21, 23, 25, 27.

[aredfan]

Transferred to #3854 ➡️

[aredfan]

In Floating Islands, room 29, there's flat red textures that looks quite odd and unfinished. Perhaps it could be replaced by the texture used by the nearby curtains (Door 8).

1. This flat red texture is one-sided.
2. Another flat red texture.
3. The type Door 8 objects (curtains) are untextured at the bottom.

Screenshot

[aredfan]

Fixed in #3862 ✅

[lahm86]

Deck room 32/36.

Details

[aredfan]

Fixed in #3862 ✅

[walkawayy]

@aredfan is this a new one? Vilcabamba room 88.

Screenshot

[walkawayy]

Vilcabamba room 89. Possibly transparent pixel in the left and right ground texture. (maybe just white?)

Screenshot

[walkawayy]

Lost Valley

Room 41

Screenshot

Possible room 62

Screenshots

Room 61

Screenshot

[aredfan]

Fixed in #3862 ✅

[rondeeno]

There are four squished textures in room 11 of Lara's Home.

Screenshots

[aredfan]

Fixed in #3862 ✅

[lahm86]

Not so much a texture issue but the vertex lighting in Folly room 13/14 is not blended well compared with the flipmap.

Details

[Richard-L]

Omg these can be fixed? 👀

[aredfan]

Fixed in #3862 ✅

[Richard-L]

Screenshot

I was wondering if the discontinuity in the orange wall is something that would be worth looking at.

[aredfan]

Fixed in #3862 ✅

[aredfan]

In Natla's Mines, once the cabin is fully lowered, it appears to have a roof that is visible through the windows. The lower roof is not visible when the cabin is at different heights above the ground.

Screenshot

[lahm86]

Additionally, the hook is the wrong way around once the cabin has lowered.

Details

[aredfan]

Fixed in #3862 ✅