- use sampler objects to avoid creating up to 4 different system textures for one game texture just because of different clamping settings.
- avoids flushing all textures for change of texture filter mode.
- separate sprite and regular dimensions on the material level to have better control over which one gets used. It's now an explicit parameter of ValidateTexture. The main reason for this change is better handling of wall sprites which may not be subjected to such handling.
- create mipmaps based on use case, not texture type.
- allows removal of FCloneTexture hack for proper sharing of the same sprite for decals and other purposes.
- better precaching of skyboxes.
- reactivate alpha testing per fixed function pipeline
- use the 'modern' way to define clip planes (GL_CLIP_DISTANCE). This is far more portable than the old glClipPlane method and a lot more robust than checking this in the fragment shader.
After thinking about it for a day or so I believe it's the best option to remove all compatibility code because it's a major obstacle for a transition to a core profile.
Turns out that the name doesn't accurately describe what it does.
It is correct for images that come with their own palette or are true color.
But for images using the game palette it doesn't use the red channel to determine translucency but the palette index! Ugh...
This means it cannot be done with a simple operation in the shader because it won't get a proper source image. The only solution is to create a separate texture.