As far as I am aware multi texturing is still possible for dynamic objects just as it always was, if its out for now then I am sure it will go back in, making it a non issue for weapons, characters etc. It must still be in there or your weapons from older packs wouldn't be working and I have seen a few of these around.
For static entity's you don't want to be using too many textures for performance reasons alone, same for any engine, I can see the point with some effects you might want to achieve but breaking up a model to do this works fine for me when it comes to props.
It's a balancing act and if you want multi textures on singular objects then simply make them dynamic,not an issue with dynamic shadows now, only problem is collision you won't be entering any buildings you make dynamic. You don't want to be using multi texture technique all over your level, static or dynamic, performance is King and that goes for media and level designers too. In fact most good game designers know how to bundle all textures into a single Atlas to save on draw calls, meaning they go in the completely opposite direction. They avoid using multi textures at all if they can help it.
Some games use very low resolution textures and rely on the shaders for quality and these can look very good indeed, if done well you dont need much more than colour info in a diffuse, again there is no point in high res for objects that the player never gets close to, closest model to the player is the weapon, everything else is dispensible, this doean't mean resolution isn't important but high res over everything really isn't necessary. For performance it's in fact undesirable.
Using UV space correctly is the key, you don't need that pouch to have the same res as the face in a character model and the player isn't going to notice if you used a tiny strip to texture the rust all over that iron gate.. For weapons multi texturing is kind of inevitable if you use a set of hands across a set of guns.
I don't know why your losing as much as 75% in texture quality, unless using zbrush where subdivision poly count must be high enough to output matching polypaint to texture, again if you uv map all sub parts and collapse to single mesh it shouldn't be a problem with resolution. Whatever modeling program your using to sculpt with, of course your not going to get the level of detail into your diffuse alone when baking from high poly, that's what the normal and spec is for.
If your diffuse is not as high as you would like then make it 2048 and reduce normal and spec to 512 to balance it out, will work this way just as well. The point is that multi texturing for dynamic entiy's such as weapons and characters is already there as far as I know, for static prop entity's its a waste of resources and learning to uv map properly is the way to go if you want to design game assets, there is simply no need for it.
Even now if it isn't there how difficult is it for you as a modeler to bundle two separate textures into a single and offset the uv's to suit. 2048x1024 will work as well as its still a power of two and actually a minimal form of Atlas map so will improve performance in the long run compared to two separate textures. Actually 3 to 6 since they need spec and normal too.
If your not a modeler then it's something your not dealing with anyhow and if I were buying media I would like to know it was as optimised as possible before I go putting a lot of it into a level.
As a game designer I wouldn't want some artists aesthetic preferences taking precedence over my levels need to run a little faster than treacle. As an artist I need to be very aware of this, particularly when other artists get same results using less.
Users want both, well detailed and optimal performance, the demands on artists are high I know, but it's up to us to work within the limitations and produce what users need, not what we want, at least when it comes down to performance. This all still applies even if your only creating for your own game.
For those who need the proof to be in the pudding take a closer look at the models in Reloaded, these were created by bond1 among others, and don't look at all low quality to me. I assure you they didn't struggle at all for lack of multi texturing to create these they are simply good game media designers.
I don't need multi texturing for the same reason I wouldn't create a pack with a bundled Atlas, due to the nature of this product it would mean a user loading a single entity from the pack and at the same time loading a massive texture that isn't required. We need to balance it out somewhere. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few in this case.
As for these forums, not enough people to justify a chat board, it wouldn't be used since most seem to prefer hanging here in the product board. Still, it's ironic the only active board over there anymore seems to be geek chat, some of 'em live for that board and it's their personal playground
Just like any gang you enter their territory with an attitude at your peril (they are a nice bunch all the same), used to love going in there and yanking chains, most memorable to me now was our ' Artists wanted for upcoming project' spoof thread. The initial reaction to it was priceless and we were lucky the mods saw the humour in it and joined in
http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=187660&b=2
Yes, it's true even though I am a serious grumpy old beggar I hate the monotony of that, I like to have some fun as well. I will mess with
all your heads sooner or later, beware of mods who will mess with you as well. They got powers you don't even comprehend yet.
Lee-"...and before you know it you're a shader coder!"
rolfy-"Coding...To me this is the Dark Arts..don't blame me when something Evil comes to claim y'all if I dabble in it"
