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Creating detailed Normal Maps

You need to create a Normal Map first and foremost because if you don't, your texture wouldn't reflect light and therefor appear black ingame. On the other hand, there is an even better reason why you want to do one too. Normal Maps are designed to make an object look much more detailed than it actually is. On basis of the lighting and the stored information of the file a congruous surface is simulated. That means, that you can stay in front of a completely flat stone wall that looks like it has an uneven and rocky surface, just due to the Normal Map.

Not all textures have a Normal Map, just that ones that are rendered ingame such as tables, books, clothes, etc. Icons, book images, menus and whatnot aren't rendered ingame and therefor don't need one. The Normal Map is named like the texture itself, with the exception that _n is attached to its file name.

You can have an endless amount of textures relating to one Normal Map. Example: You have a Normal Map and two textures. The Normal Map is called normal_n.dds and the two texture files normal_tex01.dds and normal_tex02.dds. The game will relate both textures to the correct Normal Map, because the letters behind the underscores will be ignored. That's why you should avoid naming your texture something like my_uber_sword_texture.dds.

And why is the Normal Map's detail important? Because it depends on the Normal Map how uneven and rocky your stone texture looks ingame. Less detail for the Normal Map means less detail for the texture itself.

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