 _   _  ______ __          __    __      __ _____   _____  _____  ____   _   _ 
| \ | ||  ____|\ \        / /    \ \    / /|_   _| / ____||_   _|/ __ \ | \ | |
|  \| || |__    \ \  /\  / /      \ \  / /   | |  | (___    | | | |  | ||  \| |
| . ` ||  __|    \ \/  \/ /        \ \/ /    | |   \___ \   | | | |  | || . ` |
| |\  || |____    \  /\  /          \  /    _| |_  ____) | _| |_| |__| || |\  |
|_| \_||______|    \/  \/            \/    |_____||_____/ |_____|\____/ |_| \_|

For Deus Ex  - Version 2.0a
==========================
Beta Upscaled Textures


What is this?
-------------
New Vision 2.0 is an attempt to use AI Upscaling techniques to increase the visual fidelity of the world, character, and item textures in Deus Ex. It is a more comprehensive project than New Vision 1.5, as it covers more than just world textures, but with more modest end-goals.

Unlike earlier releases of New Vision, 2.0 is intended as a standalone release that does not require any other mods such as HDTP. In fact it specifically CANNOT work with other graphical mods like HDTP, and requires an otherwise 'clean' installation.

The result provides a slightly sharper look to Deus Ex, especially at 4k resolution, while maintaining the original art style and direction. The result is subtle, but particularly noticable on character models.


How do I install this?
-----------------------
First, uninstall any other texture mods such as New Vision 1.5 or HDTP. It's probably easier to create a clean Deus Ex install to test this out.

Second, grab Kentie's Direct X 10 renderer from here: http://www.kentie.net/article/d3d10drv/page1.htm

Optionally, grab Kentie's launcher from here so you can make sure you launch the game with the right settings: http://www.kentie.net/article/dxguide/index.htm

Third, copy the contents of 'Textures' into your 'Deus Ex\Textures' folder. You should now have a bunch of folders matching the original .UTX files.

As long as you launch the game with D3D10, it should pick up the override and you'll have shiny new textures.


How do I uninstall this?
------------------------
Just delete the folders in 'Deus Ex\Textures'.


Can I run this alongside HDTP?
------------------------------
I haven't tested this, so the short answer is no. However if you deleted the 'DeusExCharacters', 'DeusExDeco', and 'DeusExItems' folders, there shoudn't be any conflict. You could leave DeusExCharacters alone IF you disable all HDTP characters.


Known Issues
-------------
Some textures actually look worse than the originals, particularly some small item textures like the cigarettes. For now I've upscaled everything and only added a few manually created textures.

Because of the method this pack uses to load textures (which is different to New Vision 1.5), you may experience slight stutter during gameplay. This is simply textures being loaded in sub-optimally but shouldn't impact gameplay too much. It should be possible to compile textures in the correct format, which would also make this compatible with more renderers like OpenGL, but for now this method was the simplest way to get the pack 'out there' and working. If you want to give this a try, check out the New Vision SDK.


What are the limitations of AI?
-------------------------------
AI can only upscale what it can see: the more clarity in the original texture, the better job it can do. Unfortunately most textures in Deus Ex are quite low resolution (128x128) or are so generic that the AI has trouble upscaling them with accuracy. It also struggles with low resolution text, and some textures in this pack may actually look slightly worse when run through the AI than they would otherwise.

Specifically, New Vision 2.0 is using Topaz A.I. Gigapixel, which is a commercial application for this purpose. Other techniques like ESRGAN could be used instead but in my tests, Topaz produced better results.

As people test out and create new AI models trained on game textures, I would expect the results to improve.

So is it better than New Vision 1.5?
------------------------------------
Well, that's a bit subjective.

If you want a truly more 'modern' look with sharp textures and an extra grungy aesthetic, New Vision 1.5 is probably what you're after. If you want the vanilla Deus Ex experience with modest texture improvements, 2.0 is for you.