Its not something we've really given much thought to yet to be honest. However if normal maps are going in there is no real reason not to support bump maps too.
I thought it was already planned to one day implement normal maps. You hadn't given it much thought? That kind of confuses me. Surely you had given it thought. Or maybe you are referring to grey scale bump maps?
Normal maps and bump maps are pretty much essential components of modern 3D graphics, so I would say they will definitely be implemented in the new renderer. What DaniJ was referring to is that beyond the rough schedule outlined in the roadmap, we haven't decided on concrete steps to implement anything regarding the new renderer.
The current roadmap says that the initial work to build the new renderer starts around 1.9.10 and finishes sometime after 2.1. During this transition period I expect that the current renderer will remain available and unchanged, but there will be a separate, alternative, half-finished renderer that is gradually built up to support all the engine's feature, release by release. It's too big to finish up in one release.
Duke Nukem Forever used plain 'bump' maps here and there. The results are kinda strange. I would say it would be great for simple details like engraving and scratches, but generally, you would just be better baking all that into one normal map along with basic form details.
Ambient occlusion isn't really needed in Doomsday because we already do that kind of thing with Fakeradio (which was implemented long before the rendering technique which bore the name became so widespread).
When we come to rewrite the map renderer we intend to look at possible alternatives to Fakeradio which do not require precomputed shadow geometry. A generic full-scene Ambient Occlusion implementation will likely be considered at this time.
Answer was a no brainer for me. I see little use in spending time developing additional graphical effects and multi-mod support if the core engine contains bugs, or isn't optimised. Concentrate on the basics first, and once it's perfect, then pay attention to other areas.
Agreed, and I hope after the engine is more perfected and optimized, they will not stop there and will take the time to upgrade the graphics and mod support. We can only hope.
Simple normal maps + specular maps (or even just one or the other) can give really good results if used properly. You just can't do like they did with Oblivion and generate them from the textures... At least that's what it seemed like they did, anyway!
Comments
The current roadmap says that the initial work to build the new renderer starts around 1.9.10 and finishes sometime after 2.1. During this transition period I expect that the current renderer will remain available and unchanged, but there will be a separate, alternative, half-finished renderer that is gradually built up to support all the engine's feature, release by release. It's too big to finish up in one release.
When we come to rewrite the map renderer we intend to look at possible alternatives to Fakeradio which do not require precomputed shadow geometry. A generic full-scene Ambient Occlusion implementation will likely be considered at this time.