Optimal texture size and using?
Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2025 9:19 am
I saw in a tutorial video a mapper creating 512x512 textures, packing them in .pk3 with Slade and using in UDB. So I did the same in a test map and found out that a 512x512 texture looks nice enough with a scale factor of ~4.
1. But what is an optimal texture size? I mean, for an average low-budget modern PC (say, with a built-in GPU), not ancient hardware. Are there some rules of thumb? I want the textures to look as hi-res as possible.
2. Should the textures be square? Should they be a power of two (128, 256, 512)?
3. As you see, I use two different textures for the locker: one has a stain, and the other doesn't. The stain now is a layer in Photoshop. How do I use layered textures correctly: a) prepare two large textures in a graphical software or b) make layers in UDM? If the latter, how do I create a layer? Is it the flat object? I read in the UDM manual about the flats, but not sure, whether they are the layers. Anyway, what is the right way of doing layered texturing?
Thank you an advance!
1. But what is an optimal texture size? I mean, for an average low-budget modern PC (say, with a built-in GPU), not ancient hardware. Are there some rules of thumb? I want the textures to look as hi-res as possible.
2. Should the textures be square? Should they be a power of two (128, 256, 512)?
3. As you see, I use two different textures for the locker: one has a stain, and the other doesn't. The stain now is a layer in Photoshop. How do I use layered textures correctly: a) prepare two large textures in a graphical software or b) make layers in UDM? If the latter, how do I create a layer? Is it the flat object? I read in the UDM manual about the flats, but not sure, whether they are the layers. Anyway, what is the right way of doing layered texturing?
Thank you an advance!