As a UGC creator, I find it frustrating that I am unable to freely fix issues I notice after publishing items, especially ones I notice after making multiple variants of them. I am aware I can just “reupload them all” but I don’t find this fair on my customers who bought them needing to buy the updated version, nor is it fair on my wallet; publishing accessories en masse, let alone AGAIN to fix them is costly. (I am also aware I can be more cautious, but I think this is a necessary feature we need as a whole)
We should be able to fix the:
- Model (fix up inverted normals, displaced faces and UVs)
- Textures (swap/update textures that have issues, or update them to the newer 2k limit for older items)
- Caging (general 3d clothing caging issues missed)
- Positions (fix accessory offsets)
- Group ownership (uploading to the wrong group should not require a whole new reupload. If we can do this with games, we should be able to do so on avatar items)
Below are some examples of accessory issues I wish to update, but am unable to since we lack the ability to.
If anyone else has their own examples they wish to share, please share them below.
Castle Golem- Chestplate Model
I noticed this about 2-3 months after publishing all the versions of this set. This issue is present because I had to tweak the proportions a bit because it was too bulky- I didn’t consider that some of the underside didn’t get affected by the proportional editing. This one is only noticeable when you really look for it, but once you notice it you can’t not notice it.
This is present on all non-PBR versions of the set. I know this isn’t much of an issue really but it really bothers me.
Castle Golem & Heavy Knight- Overall UVs and Texture Tweaks
With the texture limit going from 1k to 2k, I don’t need to mirror objects to get higher texture fidelity, and would like to update the model UVs (remove the mirroring) and textures to improve their overall quality.
An example of the UV changes are below, showing the Castle Golem 1.0 vs the 2.0 helmet UVs (“Sandstone” variant texture, but look at the UV density differences mainly and imagine the 2.0 texture is twice as big)
The Rook (Castle Golem 2.0)- Texture Update
I know there are issues when using procedural textures when you aren’t paying attention, but I noticed a direct looping(?) area near the rounded parts (this is a tri-planar mapping thing) and the fix is very easy. Luckily I noticed this before making the colour variants, so I won’t need to worry about fixing the future colour variants later down the line (but the error is already published for the base version). Before and after below.
Castle Golem (Basalt)- Group Switch
In hindsight, a black version of the armour set isn’t really “experimental”; it isn’t super funky like an ice or a magmatic variant. It is also fitting to have the Basalt and White Granite variants in the same group because they look like black and white rook pieces. Being able to change the group its in from my experimental version to the main version would be nice.
I overall think being able to update published (or even just uploaded) avatar items would benefit creators massively because it loosens the tension when publishing items as a whole. You won’t need to triple check the model, texture, and group before publishing. You can publish when satisfied, and if you notice something wrong in post with fresh eyes after a few days or months you can FOR FREE fix it, and everyone who owns your item(s) gets the update(s) also FOR FREE.