Texture pack "must-haves"

[40oz]

Let's say I'm creating a completely original texture pack from scratch. I'd like to know what kinds of textures mappers are most comfortable mapping with.

I have a general idea of what a texture pack should definitely contain, but for future reference, I'd like to get an idea of what general shapes and patterns for textures people are looking for when they use a texture pack for the first time. This will be a sort of checklist to keep in mind when making texture packs in the future.

Am I missing anything important to mappers?

---TEXTURES---

1. Doors

128x128 (BIGDOOR2)
64x128 (SPCDOOR1)

2. Doortracks

8x128 (DOORTRAK)

3. Supports

8x128 (repeats vertically) (DOORSTOP)
16x128 (repeats vertically) (PANBORD1)
24x128 (repeats vertically) (SUPPORT3)
32x128 (repeats vertically) (WOOD6)

4. Switches

(various)

5. Steps

64x8 (STEP4)
64x16 (STEPLAD1)

6. Bricks

various brick patterns:
8 high (BRICK1)
16 high (BRICK6)
32 high (BIGBRIK1)
64 high

7. Walls

Random patterns:
(ASHWALL2)
(TEKWALL4)
(STONE4)
(ZIMMER1)
(METAL1)
(PIPE2)

Repeats horizontally:
(PIPEWAL2)
(BROWN96)

Repeats vertically:
(SUPPORT3)
(SKSPINE1)

8. Occupied Space

(Things like marble faces, computer walls, poison signs, and other decorative things that are placed on a wall)

128x128
64x128
64x64
32x32

9. Rock Walls for outdoor areas

128x128 (SP_ROCK)
64x128 (ZIMMER)

10. Lights

8x128 (LITEBLU1)
8x64 (LITEBLU1)
16x128
16x64
16x16
32x128
64x64
64x16
64x8

11. Middle

Fences/Vines, etc.

MIDGRATE
MIDSPACE
MIDBARS1

---FLATS---

1. Ceiling lights

64x64
32x32
16x16

2. Square Tiles

64x64
32x32
16x16

3. Floors

Basic floors that match the materials of common surrounding floors

4. Liquids

64x64

5. Teleporters

64x64

[scifista42]

To me, "must-have" textures are:

- Variety of both tiling and non-tiling "raw material" textures (bricks, metal, wood...), usable for both wallpapers and little details.
- Variety of obviously switch textures, each switch in several variants on different background textures.
- Variety of obviously door textures.
- Colored door trims for locked doors.
- Variety of window or fence-like midtextures.
- Variety of wall lights.
- Computer screens, signs or pictures as decorative textures.
- Liquid falls.
- Variety of "raw material" textures with details on them, such as glassed windows on a bricky wall, panels on a metallic wall, shelves on a wooden wall.
- Textures conveying vegetation, wires, spiderwebs, or similar things that can be used to cover other structures while adding to detail and realism.
- Textures conveying soil and rocks in natural outdoor areas.
- Textures specifically for steps of staircases.
- Recognizable textures for an exit door, an exit sign, and a never-openable door near the map's start place.

[Use]

A sky texture that tiles horizontally and vertically may also be useful for certain effects.

In addition to the ones above, earthen/soil/rock or stone textures with a trim of vegetation on the top are very convincing. If working on vanilla, a couple 'blended' textures that transition into another material in varying sizes might also be handy for simplifying geometry.

[dt_]

Might be good to have some of the aforementioned textures with some lighting effects built into them, and some good quality crate textures- the stock doom ones stick out like a sore thumb against some of the more modern texture packs, unless this is some attempt to dissuade mappers from overusing crates. Offset flats are useful aswell if making rooms that can't align to a 64x64 grid

[MrGlide]

all of the things you listed in multible themes/color scheames and contrasting flats in positive tones and negative eg light/dark that fit the themes.

[illuknisaa]

How about you ignore everybody else and make texture pack filled with ICKWALL variants?

[Fonze]

I agree 100% that's it's a smart idea to have textures measured out to various, common dimensions, like 8, 12, 16, 24, and 32. Especially for supports and other texture-breakers.

As mentioned already, it's great to have multiple varieties of different materials (stone/wood/metal/tech). I think it's also important to note color schemes; sometimes I go into an area with not much more after "general color for the area" in mind, so having varieties of colors for each of the materials is a great thing. You did a good job of this for Mutiny. But to take that a step further, one of my biggest "wants" for a generic texture pack is flats that match textures and vice versa. It's important to have matching textures/flats (no, I'm not saying "matching" as in 1:1 replica sized differently, but just as a general "this" looks good with "that" as a solid 3D object). So for example, I make a little sector and say, raise its floor. Well in a way it's already a 3D object, but in a way it can appear to not be if the texturing doesn't reflect a solid, 3D object. A great, real-world ("real" in the sense it happened, but let's face it, it happened on a computer so maybe I should call it an E-real-world example, if that's not too edgy, heh) example would be while making a area of map for the THT project, I textured a wall green and went to look for an appropriate flat. Turns out there were no green flats to match; so I needed to either make one or grumble and accept the harsh reality that it'd need to be retextured (and future green "solid 3D objects" would not be possible). I made one, quick and easy; it worked like a charm and my partner wound up using it in multiple spots around the map as he detailed. This, I think, isn't so much a testament that I did a good job so much as proof that a proper green flat was sorely needed for the resource pack.

Organization is another thing that's important to note. You know what I'd rather have than any combination of textures and flats? The ability to find them quickly and intuitively. Now, of course while we may set up our favorite texture pack we use all the time to be properly indexed/categorized in DB's list, chances are nobody will do that for every new resource pack they use. So the naming and organization of textures within resource packs is absolutely critical and can make either 2k textures easy to use or 100 complicated and stressful.

[Arctangent]

Don't forget:

Flats for basically every texture.

Doesn't have to have a flat per texture or anything like that, but just having something of appropriate color and such for cuts in the wall or walls that can be gone over or under is a massive boon for keeping texturing consistent. It's always frustrating to use, say, BROWNGRN or whatever and not actually having a good flat to go with it.

[scifista42]

40oz said:

Am I missing anything important to mappers?

1) Colored locked door trims and 2) sky textures.

[CrazyDoomguy]

-

[scifista42]

yaqxsw said:

-

"-" is definitely the most "must-have" texture.