4096x4096 Textures in A3

[j0zh94 73]

So i'm curious if anyone knows if using 4096x4096 textures in ARMA 3 is a viable option and won't produce problems compared to 2048x2048?

Thanks

[PuFu 4599]

it's possible to use 4k maps, yes. The game engine will use a lower mip map if the gfx card cannot handle it, or if the settings are set to anything but ultra (IRC).

[Amit 17]

I have already seen 4096x4096 textures in some mods already. However, the 2048x2048 resolution still looks incredibly good.

[Raid 18]

To be honest I feel there is no reason to use 4k maps unless you are working on a very large object that will be using a single map.

[IanSky 29]

I'm using 4K maps in my add-on, I don't think it's a terrible idea - of-course in the end it's better to just make sure you don't have any wasted space in your UVs but considering the engine down-scales the texture quality anyway, the only person really being affected is the player pilot view. I think with most people nowadays it's not so much of a concern, however there will be those people who still use fossilized computers. To them I can only suggest optionally offering a lower texture quality that runs under the pilot view.

In the end, you just have to try it to see if it works. Sure 4K is pretty large, especially when you consider than an uncompressed .TGA jumps from 16mb at 2K to 64mb at 4K.

[da12thMonkey 1943]

considering the engine down-scales the texture quality anyway, the only person really being affected is the player pilot view. I think with most people nowadays it's not so much of a concern, however there will be those people who still use fossilized computers. To them I can only suggest optionally offering a lower texture quality that runs under the pilot view.

This is exactly my experience of making objects with 4k textures - they get mip-mapped down below even 2k quality in the pilot view a lot more readily than if I simply use 2k textures to begin with.

Certainly if you're using 4k textures for the Specular, Normal and AO as well - that's 5 textures accounting for a fair bit of memory that the game may just decide it wants to reallocate to texturing another object in the environment.