Repack assets.isoa to drop the unused square biome textures (land/*_sq) #167

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opened 2026-07-23 19:11:45 +02:00 by panda · 0 comments

panda commented

2026-07-23 19:11:45 +02:00

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The committed pack grew from ~15 MB to 18.1 MB in #155. The masks it gained are small; the bulk
is 10 unused square biome textures — land/<biome>_sq (grass, marsh, dry_grassland,
northern_grassland, tundra, desert_sand, salt_plain, rocky_ground, harsh_mountain_rock,
volcanic_ground), 256 px square each.

They were generated for a texture-splatting approach that was abandoned in favour of the
dual-grid + bitmask solution (#162, Marco's suggestion). No code references them — the ground now
uses land/<landArt>_0..3 (per-cell variants) + mask/dualgrid_00..15 (corner masks).

Why this needs its own change

The extractor's own-art command only adds/overrides entries on the existing pack; it cannot
remove them. Dropping the _sq entries needs a full rebuild:

just pack "<UO client path>"
dotnet run --project tools/IsoMmo.AssetExtractor -- own-art

which requires the classic .mul UO client (the owner's Windows install) — not reachable from the
box where the pack was last rebuilt, so it has to happen on a machine that has it.

Scope

Full just pack from the UO client, then re-apply own-art (re-bakes the authored biome ground
art + the dual-grid corner masks).
Decide whether to also delete the art/land/*_sq.png sources — they are valid square biome
textures, so keep them if a future splatting/other use is wanted; they just shouldn't ship.

Definition of Done (delta)

assets.isoa contains no land/*_sq entries and is back to roughly its previous size (~15 MB).
The ground renders identically in-client (dual-grid borders + per-cell variants unchanged).

The committed pack grew from ~15 MB to **18.1 MB** in #155. The masks it gained are small; the bulk is **10 unused square biome textures** — `land/<biome>_sq` (grass, marsh, dry_grassland, northern_grassland, tundra, desert_sand, salt_plain, rocky_ground, harsh_mountain_rock, volcanic_ground), 256 px square each. They were generated for a **texture-splatting** approach that was abandoned in favour of the dual-grid + bitmask solution (#162, Marco's suggestion). **No code references them** — the ground now uses `land/<landArt>_0..3` (per-cell variants) + `mask/dualgrid_00..15` (corner masks). ## Why this needs its own change The extractor's `own-art` command only **adds/overrides** entries on the existing pack; it cannot remove them. Dropping the `_sq` entries needs a full rebuild: just pack "<UO client path>" dotnet run --project tools/IsoMmo.AssetExtractor -- own-art which requires the classic `.mul` UO client (the owner's Windows install) — not reachable from the box where the pack was last rebuilt, so it has to happen on a machine that has it. ## Scope - Full `just pack` from the UO client, then re-apply `own-art` (re-bakes the authored biome ground art + the dual-grid corner masks). - Decide whether to also delete the `art/land/*_sq.png` sources — they are valid square biome textures, so keep them if a future splatting/other use is wanted; they just shouldn't ship. ## Definition of Done (delta) - `assets.isoa` contains **no** `land/*_sq` entries and is back to roughly its previous size (~15 MB). - The ground renders identically in-client (dual-grid borders + per-cell variants unchanged).