How can they solve the massive texture problems?

[Chrząszczyrzewoszyczanin]

Somewhat related Wasteland 2 beta apparently takes 20 GB of space on HDD.

[WorstUsernameEver]

Somewhat related Wasteland 2 beta apparently takes 20 GB of space on HDD.

False. The compressed download barely takes 4 gigs, and after installation it's still under 10 GB.

[samm]

I'm not sure if it's relevant here or not, but I came upon this article the other day that may help them save a ton of space. http://gamingbolt.com/granite-sdk-v2-0-now-available-reduces-ps4-pc-xbox-one-memory-usage-by-75-for-texture-streaming

It is not, even though the article claims reduction in disk file-size as well. That article is about streaming textures, i.e. loading them when needed instead of keeping them in memory from the get-go. File size might be reduced if they do something like creating mip maps when needed from the base textures instead of having them stored along with them in the texture files, but I somehow think that's standard nowadays anyway. P:E however won't be using textures in that sense for the backgrounds so as I said it's not relevant here.

[samm]

Hm... I apologize, Falkon Swiftblade: maybe I was too fast in dismissing a link between developments in texture streaming and file compression. Currently reading through this interesting presentation http://twvideo01.ubm-us.net/o1/vault/gdceurope2013/Presentations/824810SwenVincke.pdf because I'm currently playing Dragon Commander, and starting from page 22, they describe a possibility of image compression that can be handled by the GPU quite efficiently and is very efficient with regards to storage requirements at the same time. Same "Granite" technology described in Falkon Swiftblade's link above. Again, it's a different requirement (texture for real time 3d game), but for P:E using a fixed viewing angle it could actually be even more efficient.

Edited December 22, 2013 by samm

[Hiro Protagonist II]

I want a massive game. 100GB or bust. HDDs are now Terabytes.

[Hiro Protagonist II]

Try TPG I'm on ADSL2+ Unlimited for $69

 

Similar. TPG $49.95 for ADSL2+ unlimited, 15 mbps. old grandfather plan including 500 minutes of free phone calls every month.

[Jumble Murdersense]

Obviously way too late for PE but megatextures is one solution to the thread title's question:

 

http://amplify.pt/unity/amplify-texture/

[Falkon Swiftblade]

that's cool stuff Jumble, reminds me of an artist I saw who created an entire scene in 3d using one 256x256 texture map and he was creative with how he stored it on there. Here's the story http://www.unrealengine.com/showcase/udk/amazing_one_texture_environment/

[Jumble Murdersense]

Yeah I'm actually familiar with Tor Frick's one texture environment; it's very cool but is totally different approach than megatexturing. His environment very cleverly makes use of materials and UV's to have minimal texture usage. This is something that Sci-Fi lends itself to quite well; doing a similar thing with other styles wouldn't be as 'easy' (not that what Tor has done is easy; you have to be quite clever and plan things out).

 

You might also find it interesting to look at some of the ue4 videos that demonstrate the material layering system it has. Instead of painting an asset and doing all the dirt/rust/grime in the one material that is assigned to that object only, you would have a rust material, a grime material, a base metal material etc etc, and then textures that mask these layers. This way you get a more consistent look, you can re-use content more often (which is more efficient in multiple ways), you have a more flexible system (easy to make changes / variations)...