Senior Technical Artist Ben Cloward Previews the Changes

Whether you currently play Star Wars: The Old Republic or used to, there's no denying that BioWare realized a beautiful, stylized Star Wars universe. Well, that universe is about to get just a little bit more beautiful in Game Update 1.5.

Senior Technical Artist Ben Cloward posted a developer blog in which he details some improvments he's been working on for the appearance of the game. In particular, he's created some new shader routines that allow for translucency on foliage:

"After we shipped the game last year, I started looking for ways to update the shaders to improve the appearance of the game without impacting performance. Several of these updates have already gone in, but one of my favorites is going live with Game Update 1.5 – translucency on foliage."

Cloward posts a series of screenshots, depicting specifically the type of improvments players can expect. And in fact, when you A/B them next to each other, the results are striking. Take a look:

It's nice to see that no part of the game is without critique or room for improvment. 

There are lots more screenshots where those came from, so head on over to the SW:TOR Developer Blog and check 'em all out!

Bill "Lethality" Leonard