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Final Fantasy 7 => Graphics => Releases => Topic started by: yarLson on 2014-07-04 21:34:28

Title: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: yarLson on 2014-07-04 21:34:28
Release

Download v2.0 Now! (http://www.mediafire.com/download/mi505lgw6z9ffbr/field.rar)
Small Fix for 2.0 (http://www.mediafire.com/download/ylsywlshv9brwsb/tinfix.rar)

or try the...

2.0 Demo (http://www.mediafire.com/download/pm021capcfo4teu/demo.rar)


Compare

Click an image for full size, left half is old and right is new

(http://i.imgur.com/NBYJPhms.png) (http://i.imgur.com/NBYJPhm.png)(http://i.imgur.com/yKpY6Dhs.png) (http://i.imgur.com/yKpY6Dh.png)(http://i.imgur.com/HqSatkUs.png) (http://i.imgur.com/HqSatkU.png)(http://i.imgur.com/vRekUMCs.png) (http://i.imgur.com/vRekUMC.png)
(http://i.imgur.com/TNUM3WSs.png) (http://i.imgur.com/TNUM3WS.png)(http://i.imgur.com/Iu1z94Ms.png) (http://i.imgur.com/Iu1z94M.png)(http://i.imgur.com/YQZPPIEs.png) (http://i.imgur.com/YQZPPIE.png)(http://i.imgur.com/67i8E1Ds.png) (http://i.imgur.com/67i8E1D.png)
(http://i.imgur.com/Ia06i32s.png) (http://i.imgur.com/Ia06i32.png)(http://i.imgur.com/uIBFfPGs.png) (http://i.imgur.com/uIBFfPG.png)(http://i.imgur.com/ffc2cv8s.png) (http://i.imgur.com/ffc2cv8.png)(http://i.imgur.com/PVyGZ2Js.png) (http://i.imgur.com/PVyGZ2J.png)


Learn

What is it?
Re:Sampled is an upscale of Final Fantasy VII's field backgrounds with the intention of keeping them as true to the original as possible.  Spiritual successor to my unfinished Project Blackfan, this new project is not only superior in quality but also 100% complete.

If you use my pack please keep an eye out for any minor imperfections (I got most of the big ones I think), so I can fix them up and make this pack glitch free.  The thumbnails above show a quick preview of the quality difference between mine and the original.  Please note that lighting is an un-fixable issue for now unless aali fixes it in his driver.  Hope you all enjoy it!

Also, The demo includes just the first bombing mission so you can get a feel for the pack before committing to the 4 GB full download.  Cheers!


How to install
Make sure you are using Aali's driver, preferably the latest one.  Simply place the "field" folder from the download into your mod path folder.  So for example if you had Reunion installed it would go in (wherever you installed FF7)/mods/Reunion/.  After that make sure you have the mod path set in your "ff7_opengl.cfg"; the config file that came with Aali's driver.

So in the example above you would make sure the line reads

"mod_path = Reunion"

To install the demo do exactly the same steps above but first rename the folder "demo" to "field". 

Credit:
Very special thanks to Omzy for creating the Facepalmer script without which I may have never attempted to finish what I started (since it does virtually all the work).  Thanks to Aali for both his driver which makes this possible and his Palmer tool which is an essential piece of the puzzle as well.  Also thanks to sl1982 for helping me out in the beginning many years ago.  Also a big loving thanks to my wife for helping fix errors and for her support.  Finally, thanks to Napper for helping me find and debug minor issues, and to anyone else who contributed feedback, encouragement or a helping hand.
Title: Re: Project Re:Sampled [Yet Another Field Upscale]
Post by: EQ2Alyza on 2014-07-05 00:17:03
Looking forward to it :)
Title: Re: Project Re:Sampled [Yet Another Field Upscale]
Post by: Salk on 2014-07-06 09:00:45
Great news!

And welcome back, yarLson!!
Title: Re: Project Re:Sampled [Yet Another Field Upscale]
Post by: yarLson on 2014-07-06 10:19:46
Good news I am 100% done with the first initial release.  Their may be minor bugs or glitches but it should mostly be on par with Omzy's pack in that respect.  As I said I will hand edit as many errors or imperfections as I can find so if anyone finds something please let me know.  I am pretty sure I got everything but there might be a scene or two missing.  Just let me know if you find one.  Also I am aware that lighting layers don't load correctly so I have decided to just leave them out for now until We can get them working properly.

So I am going to compress these overnight with PNGOUT.  Will probably take most of tomorrow too, but as soon as its done, then I will load them up into a nice little installer (hopefully) and release them in as small a package as I can possibly get.  So yeah tomorrow or maybe the next day or two should be the release!
Title: Re: Project Re:Sampled [Yet Another Field Upscale]
Post by: Sonicmfc on 2014-07-06 12:15:16
This look very impressive can't wait to try them out!
Title: Re: [REL] Project Re:Sampled
Post by: yarLson on 2014-07-07 19:43:30
1.0 Released!!!!

Links in first post.
Title: Re: [REL] FF7 Re:Sampled 1.0
Post by: cmh175 on 2014-07-07 20:05:15
The screenshots look good. Trying to download the zipped file version, but stuck trying to connect to peers. I can help provide an alternative download when it's done but it looks like this will take awhile.
Title: Re: [REL] FF7 Re:Sampled 1.0
Post by: yarLson on 2014-07-07 20:09:03
If you mean the torrent I am the only peer for now.  If you wanna try quickly, use the google download [7zip] first since it will take a while to get some peers for the torrent.  Its weird though I don't see anyone connected to the torrent on my end.
Title: Re: [REL] FF7 Re:Sampled 1.0
Post by: cmh175 on 2014-07-07 20:13:59
You mean the one with the exe? Ok doing that one instead. It's working fine, I just don't have the game on this particular pc, but I assume I can just point it to the desktop and it'll be fine. Look forward to testing these out, good work.
Title: Re: [REL] FF7 Re:Sampled 1.0
Post by: DLPB_ on 2014-07-07 20:15:12
I completely agree on Fractals.  I did used to believe that was the best option available, but for game backgrounds rendered at 320*224... it simply isn't imho.  It creates an artificial and unnatural look.
Title: Re: [REL] FF7 Re:Sampled 1.0
Post by: Sonicmfc on 2014-07-07 20:19:13
I hate to be a pain but could you upload this on another site like Mediafire? I only ask because I have pretty bad internet so I normally use a download manager which allows me to resume a download if there's a network problem but google docs doesn't work correctly with download managers so I just know I'll have about 95% downloaded on chrome only to get a network error making me have to restart from scratch :|
Title: Re: [REL] FF7 Re:Sampled 1.0
Post by: yarLson on 2014-07-07 20:23:13
okay torrent won't work for now.  Apparently my port isn't open even though I have it set to be, so avoid it until I figure it out.

 
I completely agree on Fractals.  I did used to believe that was the best option available, but for game backgrounds rendered at 320*224... it simply isn't imho.  It creates an artificial and unnatural look.

Hopefully this will prove a viable alternative.

I hate to be a pain but could you upload this on another site like Mediafire? I only ask because I have pretty bad internet so I normally use a download manager which allows me to resume a download if there's a network problem but google docs doesn't work correctly with download managers so I just know I'll have about 95% downloaded on chrome only to get a network error making me have to restart from scratch :|

Sure if a free mediafire account will allow the bandwidth I'll try right now.  Also try Jdownloader or something similar as a DL manager.
Title: Re: [REL] FF7 Re:Sampled 1.0
Post by: cmh175 on 2014-07-07 20:28:33
the exe version has an issue. "not a valid win32 application". I'll try the torrent again I guess. Is the zipped version on google drive too?

~Mediafire has a 200mb limit for free accounts, so just subdivide the zip file.
Title: Re: [REL] FF7 Re:Sampled 1.0
Post by: yarLson on 2014-07-07 20:35:52
download peazip and try again.  Sorry I didn't think it was required but if that's your message then it must be. 

*update*
What a messed up release apparently the .exe is corrupt, so screw self extracting I am redoing a regular zip file and will reup in a moment.
Title: Re: [REL] FF7 Re:Sampled 1.0
Post by: cmh175 on 2014-07-07 20:42:20
I think it got this now. The executable doesn't open, but I can apparently unzip it with 7zip like a rar file, weird but works.
Title: Re: [REL] FF7 Re:Sampled 1.0
Post by: Sonicmfc on 2014-07-07 20:55:54
the exe version has an issue. "not a valid win32 application". I'll try the torrent again I guess. Is the zipped version on google drive too?

~Mediafire has a 200mb limit for free accounts, so just subdivide the zip file.

I have a free mediafire account and my limit is 3gb? I've used 322mb of it  ???
Title: Re: [REL] FF7 Re:Sampled 1.0
Post by: yarLson on 2014-07-07 20:58:33
okay so yeah am re-upping a new zip and I dunno why my torrent ports won't open everything is set up propper, so might have to take it down.
Title: Re: [REL] FF7 Re:Sampled 1.0
Post by: cmh175 on 2014-07-08 00:03:33
These look pretty good. I used the Facepalmer mixed with the others preset in bootleg. Yours maybe clearer, but the color looks fainter, so the field models stand out more like the environment is just a backdrop. If you're able to punch up the color so it's closer it'll probably be the best upscaled field backgrounds we have. This has massive potential though if you can keep going forward with it.
Title: Re: [REL] FF7 Re:Sampled 1.0
Post by: Napper on 2014-07-08 01:03:34
Great Stuff yarLson! You mentioned you wanted to hear if there were any small discrepancies.

 junair -  The highwind's lights don't fade and emit. [Just need to delete junair_16_00.png]
 gaiafoot - Large black squares present
 trnad_1 - The screen is supposed to transition into a green mist but the screen just goes black instead. You can see the transition here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzWb-zMsjLo&list=PLB3794695EC5A2382#t=3595   [at the 1 hour mark]
 md8_5 - Blue Lines and squares. [This also had to be fixed in Omzy's Field Pack]
 tunnel_5 - Red lights don't fade and emit [tunnel_5_15_00.png]
  ealin_2 - Door on left side stays closed when opened [ealin_2_00_00.png]
 nivinn_2 - Door is both open and closed
Title: Re: [REL] FF7 Re:Sampled 1.0
Post by: yarLson on 2014-07-08 04:46:01
Great Stuff yarLson! You mentioned you wanted to hear if there were any small discrepancies.

 junair -  The highwind's lights don't fade and emit. [Just need to delete junair_16_00.png]
 gaiafoot - Large black squares present
 trnad_1 - The screen is supposed to transition into a green mist but the screen just goes black instead. You can see the transition here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzWb-zMsjLo&list=PLB3794695EC5A2382#t=3595   [at the 1 hour mark]
 md8_5 - Blue Lines and squares. [This also had to be fixed in Omzy's Field Pack]

Thanks so much.  I gotta few days off this week so the more we can find quickly the better.  I'll try to get a fix up for these tomorrow. I was gonna start a new playthrough myself and see if I notice anything but the more we have looking for errors the better.

These look pretty good. I used the Facepalmer mixed with the others preset in bootleg. Yours maybe clearer, but the color looks fainter, so the field models stand out more like the environment is just a backdrop. If you're able to punch up the color so it's closer it'll probably be the best upscaled field backgrounds we have. This has massive potential though if you can keep going forward with it.


Well thankfully color is something I can easily fix without having to even rewrite the modpath textures (hopefully).  I could just pump up the saturation and vibrance a bit and should fix it.

I also fixed the link and made it a proper zip.  I dunno why the torrent won't work.  So I will remove it for now until I can get my seeds working.  I'll put up a few mirrors in the next few days to give people more options.
Title: Re: [REL] FF7 Re:Sampled 1.0
Post by: Napper on 2014-07-08 05:36:41
I'll just keep adding more that i find to my original post
Title: Re: [REL] FF7 Re:Sampled 1.0
Post by: cmh175 on 2014-07-08 13:35:05
Thanks so much.  I gotta few days off this week so the more we can find quickly the better.  I'll try to get a fix up for these tomorrow. I was gonna start a new playthrough myself and see if I notice anything but the more we have looking for errors the better.


Well thankfully color is something I can easily fix without having to even rewrite the modpath textures (hopefully).  I could just pump up the saturation and vibrance a bit and should fix it.

I also fixed the link and made it a proper zip.  I dunno why the torrent won't work.  So I will remove it for now until I can get my seeds working.  I'll put up a few mirrors in the next few days to give people more options.

Great news man. They currently have a grainy sort of look because of the color but they aren't washy looking at all and look pretty clear. With some cleaning up these would look really good.
Title: Re: [REL] FF7 Re:Sampled 1.0
Post by: yarLson on 2014-07-08 17:42:57
Great news man. They currently have a grainy sort of look because of the color but they aren't washy looking at all and look pretty clear. With some cleaning up these would look really good.

help me out then
https://anonfiles.com/file/9c9b3c8f38cf93b3d4b808f72a4ed50a (https://anonfiles.com/file/9c9b3c8f38cf93b3d4b808f72a4ed50a)
here is an original, show me what you would do to "clean it up" and then send it back and outline the process, if you could.  I have a few ideas, but its always helps to have more than one mind on a problem.  thanks
Title: Re: [REL] FF7 Re:Sampled 1.0
Post by: Sonicmfc on 2014-07-08 18:08:42
Could you post some ingame screenshots so I can see how they currently look? (I know pics never do these things justice but still)
Title: Re: [REL] FF7 Re:Sampled 1.0
Post by: yarLson on 2014-07-10 20:39:09
Could you post some ingame screenshots so I can see how they currently look? (I know pics never do these things justice but still)

I'll try to reorganize the first post with some screens.  Probably not in game shots just comparison images.  I may put together a sampler pack for the first bombing mission that way people can see if they like it before downloading the whole huge thing.

Also I have applied some fixes that Napper has mentioned above so thank you so much for the help.  Please keep um coming.  I have also added some color and vibrance to the images as per cmh175's request so it will require an entire new upload.  Version 1.1 will be up a little later today with the fixes and color changes.
Title: Re: [REL] FF7 Re:Sampled v1.1 [Updated + Demo]
Post by: Kaldarasha on 2014-07-11 04:25:50
Could you make a preview without the noise shader? It doesn't look for me so well.
This is the shader I use for PSX games: https://mega.co.nz/#!DUdEyR5D!PT1ALWV8zor5TMU2Z4utwnblBU6fDRESijZWjL6gf4Y

With the shader (shader level at max):
(http://s7.directupload.net/images/140711/qgc4a26k.jpg)

Without:
(http://s7.directupload.net/images/140711/evgvco4h.jpg)

I don't know if this is any help for you, but currently I tend more to Omzy's Facepalmer even if they loose some picture information.
Title: Re: [REL] FF7 Re:Sampled v1.1 [Updated + Demo]
Post by: yarLson on 2014-07-11 04:33:52
you mean an image without the noise pass?  Here's one.  Click it for full-screen.

(http://i.imgur.com/HFnzCRbl.png) (http://imgur.com/HFnzCRb)
Title: Re: [REL] FF7 Re:Sampled v1.1 [Updated + Demo]
Post by: Kaldarasha on 2014-07-11 05:07:36
Yep, I like it more without noise. Maybe you could try a colorless grey noise. But I prefer it clean, however a fullscreen noise shader for Aali's custom driver would be interesting.
Title: Re: [REL] FF7 Re:Sampled v1.1 [Updated + Demo]
Post by: yarLson on 2014-07-11 05:34:18
That would require me to completely redo it from the beginning.  Which I might do eventually (was already considering it, just to give another option), but I'd rather focus on finding, documenting and fixing the minor imperfections for now; something even Omzy's pack could benefit from since we use the same script. 

The noise is actually already a grey colorless noise.  It is also very light, it was never meant to be noticeable, just to add pseudo-detail and help with blending the sharp contrast in the colors.  I originally preferred no noise as well, I created the re-size algorithm Omzy decided to use (there were a few of us doing similar things, couldn't agree on everything lol) and back then I was heavily against the noise as you can tell.  It doesn't really work with the fractals but with something like this I feel its very nice.  I tested for several days trying to perfect the re-size formula this time around so I wouldn't have to redo it. 

I eventually decided on a very light noise because I felt it looked better in game.  Keep in mind I'm testing it on a big TV from about 7 foot distance, and it is literally impossible to notice this way.  However it brings a certain sharpness to  the image that the other test image didn't.  Up close it might not be so appealing, but I had to choose which viewing distance to optimize for.  I just feel like this game should be played on a TV with a controller probably on a couch or comfortable chair.  Also I am sure that part of it is just my personal preference.

This project is essentially the opposite of what I attempted with Blackfan.  Rather than smoothing and distortion for the sake of aesthetics, I am focused more on accuracy, sharpness and detail.  Since the average user probably wouldn't even notice the noise unless explicitly directed to look I feel it's usage is justified so long as it remains very light and colorless and adds depth, even if its only an illusion.  Some people will undoubtedly prefer the other method and I am all for it!  My hope is that this be added to the bootleg and users can choose for themselves what they prefer.

Actually my true wish is really that all this becomes obsoleted by re-rendered TA backgrounds sooner rather than later, but I've got to be practical.   :P
Title: Re: [REL] FF7 Re:Sampled v1.1 [Updated + Demo]
Post by: Mayo Master on 2014-07-11 15:45:06
Actually my true wish is really that all this becomes obsoleted by re-rendered TA backgrounds sooner rather than later, but I've got to be practical.   :P
Working on it  :P
But, my goodness, it's taking so much time. You can probably be done with reworking all the scenes by the time I complete a single one.  :-o
Title: Re: [REL] FF7 Re:Sampled v1.1 [Updated + Demo]
Post by: yarLson on 2014-07-11 17:08:24
Actually I could probably do it several times lol.  We thank you very much though for your dedication and hard word.  Wish I had the skills to help out.  I got into 3d modeling a little bit ago but I barely have the skills to make a decent looking building for now.
Title: Re: [REL] FF7 Re:Sampled v1.1 [Updated + Demo]
Post by: EQ2Alyza on 2014-07-13 15:15:09
How would you label this filtering method? For Omzy, it's easy to say it was done with fractalization in mind. I only want to know because I'm adding it to my 7th Heaven catalog release, so I want to label it correctly in the description.
Title: Re: [REL] FF7 Re:Sampled v1.1 [Updated + Demo]
Post by: yarLson on 2014-07-13 17:05:36
Well the scaling algorithm is called "Preserve Detail" in Photoshop.  So something like that would probably do.  Also I am gonna be doing another round of this.  Since a lot of people don't like the noise and I found a way to use dithering to get pretty much the same affect without it.  Also found a way to remove pure black in the images to save space (hopefully a dramatic amount of space).  The game fills in transparency with black anyway and this is what the original textures did as well to help save space.  I guess you could say I'll be doing a version 2.0 out soon.   Maybe you wanna wait or you could offer both.  Up to you.
Title: Re: [REL] FF7 Re:Sampled v1.1 [Updated + Demo]
Post by: Kaldarasha on 2014-07-13 17:54:52
Someone else who think that the combo of EQ2Alyza and yarLson Avatars looks sarcastic?  :evil:
Title: Re: [REL] FF7 Re:Sampled v1.1 [Updated + Demo]
Post by: EQ2Alyza on 2014-07-13 18:31:11
LOL Our avatar combo is funny.

I can update the catalog and 7H will download the updates, so it's not a problem waiting or not.
Title: Re: [REL] FF7 Re:Sampled v1.1 [Updated + Demo]
Post by: yarLson on 2014-07-15 07:04:19
So what do you guys think of this?  Click for fullscreen.
(http://i.imgur.com/UQSpr9ml.jpg) (http://i.imgur.com/UQSpr9m.jpg)
Title: Re: [REL] FF7 Re:Sampled v1.1 [Updated + Demo]
Post by: Kaldarasha on 2014-07-15 08:07:29
So what do you guys think of this?

(http://s14.directupload.net/images/140715/tnuow75h.gif)
Do I need to say more?
Title: Re: [REL] FF7 Re:Sampled v1.1 [Updated + Demo]
Post by: KaidenJames on 2014-07-15 10:01:44
You really don't Kal  :) Yarlson, that looks fantastic dude.
Title: Re: [REL] FF7 Re:Sampled v1.1 [Updated + Demo]
Post by: Mayo Master on 2014-07-15 15:31:00
So what do you guys think of this?
Wow. Great job! That certainly raises the bar for what we have to do at TA.
Title: Re: [REL] FF7 Re:Sampled v1.1 [Updated + Demo]
Post by: Sonicmfc on 2014-07-15 15:39:12
Wow really impressive YarLson!
Title: Re: [REL] FF7 Re:Sampled v1.1 [Updated + Demo]
Post by: yarLson on 2014-07-15 15:58:52
Well due to the overwhelmingly positive feedback, I think I'll stick with process.

I'll get to work.  8)
Title: Re: [REL] FF7 Re:Sampled v1.1 [Updated + Demo]
Post by: Kaldarasha on 2014-07-16 14:10:09
Is it possible to use this for the magic effects as well?
But I think we need a tool first, which is able to cut out the effects properly from the texture, connect a composite magic texture (as the lightning texture) and finally repack/rebuilt modified effects in the texture.
Title: Re: [REL] FF7 Re:Sampled v1.1 [Updated + Demo]
Post by: yarLson on 2014-07-16 16:14:20
I believe it would be possible seeing how Grimmy seems to have done something similar except I think it was with fractals.  Maybe he has a script or something, although I dunno if he has been around lately.
Title: Re: [REL] FF7 Re:Sampled v1.1 [Updated + Demo]
Post by: Kaldarasha on 2014-07-16 16:30:19
No, he has only upscaled the texture. For me is there no difference to use his texture pack or the linear filter of the custom driver, except that the upscaled textures wasting memory. I don't think that we have such a tool or script, I also don't know if there is even a logic a tool could use for effects which are built out of multiple textures.
Title: Re: [REL] FF7 Re:Sampled v1.1 [Updated + Demo]
Post by: yarLson on 2014-07-16 16:43:28
Okay I see, its a layering issue then, I haven't looked at the source files before.  I could look into it and see what can be done after the next release.
Title: Re: [REL] FF7 Re:Sampled v1.1 [Updated + Demo]
Post by: Covarr on 2014-07-16 16:43:50
For me is there no difference to use his texture pack or the linear filter of the custom driver, except that the upscaled textures wasting memory.
The upscaling method is different. This creates a sharper image than linear filtering, but at the expense of adding in haloing and screwing with contrast. Some people like this trade-off, others don't, it's all a matter of taste.
Title: Re: [REL] FF7 Re:Sampled v1.1 [Updated + Demo]
Post by: Napper on 2014-07-17 05:47:42
I have found two small transition problems so far.

Here's the first - http://youtu.be/maHkM-zRugg (http://youtu.be/maHkM-zRugg)
The backgrounds it pertains to are md_e1, cosmo2 and (can't find the one with Bugenhagen):(

Here's the second - http://youtu.be/WpSNWQynkjM (http://youtu.be/WpSNWQynkjM)
This background file is bugin1a.

I've nearly gone through the entire game so everything is looking good so far.
I do spot certain backgrounds that stand out a lot more because of their jagged nature - such as http://www.mediafire.com/view/blpdty87swa5lb2/ff7_2014-07-16_16-59-56-62.jpg (http://www.mediafire.com/view/blpdty87swa5lb2/ff7_2014-07-16_16-59-56-62.jpg)

But I haven't been reporting these because I imagine they are unavoidable.
Title: Re: [REL] FF7 Re:Sampled v1.1 [Updated + Demo]
Post by: yarLson on 2014-07-17 05:57:58
I have found two small transition problems so far.

Here's the first - http://youtu.be/maHkM-zRugg (http://youtu.be/maHkM-zRugg)
The backgrounds it pertains to are md_e1, cosmo2 and (can't find the one with Bugenhagen):(

Here's the second - http://youtu.be/WpSNWQynkjM (http://youtu.be/WpSNWQynkjM)
This background file is bugin1a.

I've nearly gone through the entire game so everything is looking good so far.
I do spot certain backgrounds that stand out a lot more because of their jagged nature - such as http://www.mediafire.com/view/blpdty87swa5lb2/ff7_2014-07-16_16-59-56-62.jpg (http://www.mediafire.com/view/blpdty87swa5lb2/ff7_2014-07-16_16-59-56-62.jpg)

But I haven't been reporting these because I imagine they are unavoidable.

Oh man thanks so much for the help.  The transition problems may or may not be fixable on my end.  It might have to do with the fact that aali's driver doesn't handle lighting effects properly for custom field scenes. 

As for that last picture, actually I would like you to report everything like that.  I can easily fix it, it just has to be done by hand, its hard to explain but basically their are different parts on different layers and it would be impossible to automate with a script since you would need a human to deduce what piece belongs on what layer, whereas the script would just put them on top of each other and cover critical pieces.  Also these types tend to confuse Facepalmer into thinking they are a door so the black edges are because they were not rendered into the original background scene but came afterwards. There are only a few scenes like this but they give me the most trouble when I find them.

I remember doing that scene in my first project Blackfan so I know I can fix it for sure.  Please direct me to anything you find of a similar nature.  Seriously though I really appreciate the help!
Title: Re: [REL] FF7 Re:Sampled v1.1 [Updated + Demo]
Post by: Salk on 2014-07-17 06:30:33
Nice to see such passion going into making Sampled better and better, yarLson!

I am looking forward to see nRage come here and provide feedback in the same excellent manner he did for FF8!
Title: Re: [REL] FF7 Re:Sampled v1.1 [Updated + Demo]
Post by: Napper on 2014-07-17 13:18:13
No worries YarLson, glad to help. There isn't anymore real obvious mistakes or errors which is great. So here's a list of minor stuff.

Okay apologies in advance here because some of these are laughably minute in error but I said i'll report them anyway. Some im pretty sure are in all PC versions (the pixel colour errors). Some are possibly not mistakes at all and im just going mad! You can make of them what you will.

ncorel2 -  http://www.mediafire.com/view/o6uwudegbrqsgu5/ncorel2.jpg (http://www.mediafire.com/view/o6uwudegbrqsgu5/ncorel2.jpg)
mogu_1 - http://www.mediafire.com/view/nh2gbso12s5gt18/mogu_1.jpg (http://www.mediafire.com/view/nh2gbso12s5gt18/mogu_1.jpg)
blin1- http://www.mediafire.com/view/1kn5at5gd22o69s/blin1.jpg (http://www.mediafire.com/view/1kn5at5gd22o69s/blin1.jpg)
fship_3 - http://www.mediafire.com/view/tcraa2pnftbgs8h/fship_3.jpg (http://www.mediafire.com/view/tcraa2pnftbgs8h/fship_3.jpg)
fship_2 - http://www.mediafire.com/view/2icu655t2uzedpj/fship_2.jpg (http://www.mediafire.com/view/2icu655t2uzedpj/fship_2.jpg)   (There is some other variation fship backgrounds like this one)
blin2 - http://www.mediafire.com/view/ztijhizkazg29h1/blin2.jpg (http://www.mediafire.com/view/ztijhizkazg29h1/blin2.jpg)
blin68_1 - http://www.mediafire.com/view/jep5a4hcmbdhu7n/blin68_1.jpg (http://www.mediafire.com/view/jep5a4hcmbdhu7n/blin68_1.jpg)
del1 - http://www.mediafire.com/view/offldzkk575yg26/del1.jpg (http://www.mediafire.com/view/offldzkk575yg26/del1.jpg)
junbin21 - http://www.mediafire.com/view/g4kxdc3ltla22ls/junbin21.jpg (http://www.mediafire.com/view/g4kxdc3ltla22ls/junbin21.jpg)
ithill - http://www.mediafire.com/view/j29yrlb12vvcj0p/ithill.jpg (http://www.mediafire.com/view/j29yrlb12vvcj0p/ithill.jpg)
junbin22 - http://www.mediafire.com/view/8bg8tgnb995qqak/junbin22.jpg (http://www.mediafire.com/view/8bg8tgnb995qqak/junbin22.jpg)
crater_1 - http://www.mediafire.com/view/37rici53416llc9/crater_1.jpg (http://www.mediafire.com/view/37rici53416llc9/crater_1.jpg)
delinn - http://www.mediafire.com/view/rgpta06awj2bumq/delinn.jpg (http://www.mediafire.com/view/rgpta06awj2bumq/delinn.jpg)
hyou5_3 - http://www.mediafire.com/view/mn8ls23l3e4vpag/hyou5_3.jpg (http://www.mediafire.com/view/mn8ls23l3e4vpag/hyou5_3.jpg)
fship_1 - http://www.mediafire.com/view/ad3rc34wfmf5z3d/fship_1.jpg (http://www.mediafire.com/view/ad3rc34wfmf5z3d/fship_1.jpg)
trnad_2 - http://www.mediafire.com/view/b00au03vcco847l/trnad_2.jpg (http://www.mediafire.com/view/b00au03vcco847l/trnad_2.jpg)
ghotel - http://www.mediafire.com/view/fcj1fxdbyjn6qpx/ghotel.jpg (http://www.mediafire.com/view/fcj1fxdbyjn6qpx/ghotel.jpg)
hill + hill2 - http://www.mediafire.com/view/mz85m4g1ajfruul/hill_hill2.jpg (http://www.mediafire.com/view/mz85m4g1ajfruul/hill_hill2.jpg)
delmin2 - http://www.mediafire.com/view/399c4bl4bd2i67s/delmin2.jpg (http://www.mediafire.com/view/399c4bl4bd2i67s/delmin2.jpg)
mtcrl_4 - http://www.mediafire.com/view/7nyqohgi7tbnjt7/mtcrl_4.jpg (http://www.mediafire.com/view/7nyqohgi7tbnjt7/mtcrl_4.jpg)
bigwheel - http://www.mediafire.com/view/v1dllxc8x8on8uf/bigwheel.jpg (http://www.mediafire.com/view/v1dllxc8x8on8uf/bigwheel.jpg)
white1 - http://www.mediafire.com/view/dzgv5zu9jhuv4br/white1.jpg (http://www.mediafire.com/view/dzgv5zu9jhuv4br/white1.jpg)
Title: Re: [REL] FF7 Re:Sampled v1.1 [Updated + Demo]
Post by: yarLson on 2014-07-17 16:04:19
Thanks so much Napper, this is exactly what I needed.  Most of this is just stuff that needs to be fixed by hand but is doable.  I'll take care of it all before releasing 2.0.  Don't be shy about posting anything else you find.  I added you to the credits for all your help!
Title: Re: [FF7PC] High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds - Re:Sampled (v1.1)
Post by: yarLson on 2014-07-23 19:32:43
Just a small update, I haven't had a day off in almost two weeks so progress is slow right now.  Also I am working on restoring a few of my old consoles in my spare time so I am split between two projects.  The script has finished its work for the next 2.0 release so now all that's left is to hand edit all the stuff that napper has found; which can take a lot of time in some cases.  But the next release should be relatively soon.  Its taken almost 4 days to compress the source PNG's and I am barely half way so I am also waiting for that to finish as well.  So for those that are anticipating the release I apologize for all these delays but I promise it will be worth it in the end ;D
Title: Re: [FF7PC] High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds - Re:Sampled (v1.1)
Post by: foubou on 2014-07-24 03:49:02
Hi all,

What is the difference betwen this pack and Omzy's field pack ?
Which one is better ?

 
Title: Re: [FF7PC] High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds - Re:Sampled (v1.1)
Post by: yarLson on 2014-07-24 03:59:38
The difference is the process used.  My new pack tries to maintain an accurate representation of the original images in the following areas: color, sharpness shaping and detail.  Omzy's pack uses fractals which cause a bit of blotched look but are really sharp and almost have a hand painted feel.  Better is a subjective term and obviously different people will have varying opinions.  I have a 2.0 release coming soon which will completely revamp what I have done in 1.1 so it won't really look the same as the current release at all.

One significant difference, once mine is finished, is that I will supply quite a few hand finished fixes which a script alone could never apply.  Therefore mine will hopefully contain a lot less buggy or unsightly layering issues which does harm to the purpose of the project; to make the game look better.  However I will be documenting my fixes so if Omzy's feels the need to do the same to his pack he can.

Its just a matter of taste really.  I'll supply plenty of sample images as well as a new demo when 2.0 is done and Omzy has plenty of samples as well, so whichever you feel looks better you can use.
Title: Re: [FF7PC] High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds - Re:Sampled (v1.1)
Post by: Salk on 2014-07-24 05:37:19
I guess there is no hope to fix the issue with transitions.  :(

I find this to be quite a deterrent in the overall scope of the project.
Title: Re: [FF7PC] High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds - Re:Sampled (v1.1)
Post by: yarLson on 2014-07-24 06:29:21
I guess there is no hope to fix the issue with transitions.  :(

I find this to be quite a deterrent in the overall scope of the project.

What issues exactly?  The ones that napper has posted about or are you speaking of something else?  Anyway, since aali is the only one with the code for his driver, for now, he is the only one who can fix it.  Luckily he is a genius :D

Personally I am more annoyed by the lighting issues myself.  But I trust that one way or another they will eventually be fixed.  Whether in Aali's driver, and unforeseen new driver or Q-gears.  Its beyond the scope of my project to try and fix it myself at this point.  I have a hard enough time just trying to code in python and javascript lol.  Besides I am doing this mostly for myself, and I am not deterred in the least bit  :P

Of course I want it to be as useful as possible to others from a practical standpoint, but I can't force people to accept the trade-offs.  Nor would I want to.  The whole point of this project is to allow people to decide for themselves what they like.  It really does bother me that after all my efforts the textures don't "just work" in all cases.  But I said I was gonna do it.  So I am gonna finish it dammit.  lol

Seriously though its just a fun thing to do in my spare time.  When I even have spare time  :roll:
Title: Re: [FF7PC] High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds - Re:Sampled (v1.1)
Post by: Salk on 2014-07-24 07:28:34
What issues exactly?  The ones that napper has posted about or are you speaking of something else?  Anyway, since aali is the only one with the code for his driver, for now, he is the only one who can fix it.  Luckily he is a genius :D

The issues with the wrong lighting at transitions that Napper posted about (http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=15335.msg215497#msg215497 (http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=15335.msg215497#msg215497)), yes.

And of course I appreciate enormously the work you are putting into Sampled.

I used the word "deterrent" because I personally rather play a game with a general less good looking graphic than one with a nicer looking graphic but with graphical issues.
Title: Re: [FF7PC] High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds - Re:Sampled (v1.1)
Post by: yarLson on 2014-07-24 17:23:24
Well I definitely know what you mean.  Its the very reason I avoid most emulators.  I even have gone so far as to purchase a Framemeister and RGB mod some of my consoles just to get the best possible image without distorting the original intended graphics.  However all games and modifications of games start out buggy at first, so hopefully someday these issues will be resolved.  At least in time for when TA has all their high quality redone backgrounds finished.
Title: Re: [FF7PC] High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds - Re:Sampled (v1.1)
Post by: yarLson on 2014-07-29 06:39:53
*Update*
so I finished all the hand edits, now I just have to deal with palmer and then compress the output.  Should be a release in a day or two
Title: Re: [FF7PC] High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds - Re:Sampled (v1.1)
Post by: Salk on 2014-07-29 07:19:02
Great news, yarLson!

Looking forward to the next version...  ;)
Title: Re: [FF7PC] High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds - Re:Sampled (v1.1)
Post by: EQ2Alyza on 2014-07-29 14:27:43
Cool deal. I have 1.1 in the 7th Heaven catalog atm, but looks like 2.0 will be in time before I release the catalog.
Title: Re: [FF7PC] High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds - Re:Sampled (v1.1)
Post by: paralleluniverse on 2014-07-30 19:15:47
Looking very nice
Title: Re: [FF7PC] High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds - Re:Sampled (v1.1)
Post by: yarLson on 2014-08-01 13:39:06
So I ran into one last minor snag.  The compression ended up removing transparency on many of the small images.  Luckily, my wife fixed them up for me since I was working all day.   Even with all the grief the compression caused with the source images, it was majorly worth it for my sake.  It went from over 70 GB to under 6GB. 

So the palmer conversion is taking place today and its almost done then its one more round of compression (shouldn't break anything this time since the images are more uniform after going through palmer).  And maybe tomorrow or the next day it will finish.

I hate all these delays but its almost ready for you all.
Title: Re: [FF7PC] High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds - Re:Sampled (v1.1)
Post by: Changeling on 2014-08-01 16:27:53
Hello yarLson.

Your Photoshop algorithm..?  Script?  Is awesome man.

I'd like to show my support and am open to offer support in any way that I can.  But my support would be shit, since I don't know shit about graphics.  I've always loved to draw and 3D modeling especially has been grabbing my attention.  So I'd be a very good listener, but until I honed my skills I can't imagine what help I could provide.

Anyway, your mod (from what I've seen - I'll explain) is excellent.  And I was reading the other guys comment, the one who doesn't like the film-grain effect.  I'm the exact opposite, and I couldn't believe everyone agreed.  I think the film grain effect is perfect for upscaling very low resolution renders.  In fact I like it in pretty much everything including video games, like the Silent Hill series.  If Silent Hill 2 didn't have the film grain effect it would be showing its age quite a bit more than it does now.  Even though that game in particular is a bad example because their artists were incredible...
I meant if I could put that film grain effect plus like a minor 2XSAI effect on everything low resolution 2D I would.

Someone also mentioned earlier that the man who came up with the original idea for this preset image filter who is using something like an HQ4X watercolor painting look...yikes.  No disrespect to him it just smudges the backgrounds completely while yours retains a lot of the original.  If it were up to me I'd tone it down even further and add a bit more film grain.  But I guess you can't make everyone happy.

Also, I don't mean to get off topic.  But it has been a very long time since I've been on Qhimm.  For whatever reason I had the desire to play through FFVII, in fact I haven't gotten past disc 2 since the 90s I think.  It always had to be perfect ever since these mods started showing up.  By perfect I mean palatable.  The Windows 95 port is awful and the Playstation version would be fantastic if the geniuses that create these emulators like PCSXR that've added widescreen, filters, internal resolution all that shit if they were able to add a Z-Buffer, then I probably wouldn't have become a lurker on Qhimm.  The distorted models, I don't just mean super deformed, I mean the textures jumping all over the place has always really bothered me.  It sucks that the PSX is my favorite videogame era because most of the good games are 2.5D.  I keep getting further off-topic. 
My point being that now with :
-Filtered Backgrounds
-Filters on the FMVs
-High Resolution
-Battle-Field-model conversion (still can't believe that was never finished)
+I do like that new menu style

+Cool if there is a good difficulty patch

I know this isn't the right place so I apologize.  But I've been at this for hours and I have to say that I'm tired of looking and reading through pages and pages of forum posts for answers...so I thought I'd ask.  It'd be cool if there was a sticky not just for installing this game but for the mods as well.  And I don't mean Tifa's bootleg.  While I managed to get the game and the music installed without a hitch, the movies [cmh175 Remastered FMVs] I had a hard time with.  For whatever reason re-registering Aalli's driver in the registry fixed the problem.  Either that or perhaps it was something else I did.  But the instructions are pretty straight forward when there are instructions. 

I'm sure Bootleg covers alot of the fans, but I just want the game the way that it was meant to be.  Not some sort of 2014 Advent Children style remake.  When the original Battle to field model patch came out I was ecstatic even though the models were too big because I had always wondered why Squaresoft didn't do that in the first place.  Then that project was scrapped and the PRP was born.  That patch was almost finished and bam, progress on that came to a screeching halt when the Advent Children models had began to take their place.  I think they are horribly ugly.  I wish I wasn't so particular.
A long time ago before my computer crashed I asked someone on Qhimm, I believe the creator of the PRP made me an original cloud field model without the sword.  How cool is that?  I suppose I prefer that model for nostalgic reasons.

Well, after the long story, I'll also include the short :)

I've put yarLsons mod under mods/textures, mods/field, mods/a - z and it will not work.  So I figured it had to be done the old school way by extracting the LGP, but when that's done the files don't have extensions they're just blank, they aren't PNG files or anything.  I also tried that Direct method that is in Aali's driver, nope. (<---Bravo by the way.  The man, if you are reading this, have you considered an add-on to your patch that stretches the field screen a little bit then center it so the screen doesn't seem as if it's Windowed?)
Sorry, again I can't find out what the the hell I'm doing wrong.  I've been backwards and forwards with it.  I typically NEVER ask for help or even post on a forum.  A lurker.  Don't forget yarLson, there are a lot of us out there, a lot more of us than the ones that actually post I'm sure that are crazy about your work.

So, any ideas?

Also, does anyone on these forums happen to have that particular Cloud model?  I mean just the regular battle Cloud model - imported to the field - resized perfectly - No sword <--?

One last for those of you that have been patient enough to read my very long run on sentence, could you make some suggestions for an FFVII that is basically like FFVIII (by that I mean no legos but in the original style as if they were created by Squaresoft in '97) and maybe a good difficulty patch?

I remember seeing some on Bootleg a long time ago on a youtube video.  They looked like the type of models I'm looking for but made some odd choices like camouflage for the Avalanche team?  And of course, higher resolution cloud with the giant sword on his back.

Thank you so much for your time and if my long post has gotten in the way or anything feel free to delete it or ban me or something.  Thanks again!!!!!!
Title: Re: [FF7PC] High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds - Re:Sampled (v1.1)
Post by: Kaldarasha on 2014-08-01 17:00:46
Quote
And I was reading the other guys comment, the one who doesn't like the film-grain effect.

It's not I don't like it, but it looks wrong to see crystal clear character models above a background with a 'film-grain effect' (more precisely it's a static noise effect) on it or switching from a clean FMV to the backgrounds. The rule is everything or nothing. So if someone would make a noise shader I would probably use it.

Write in Aali's driver config after modpath = textures (the name doesn't really matter but it's better to call it this way for the future). Now create in the mod folder another folder called textures. And in this you place the field folder with all it's content in it.
Title: Re: [FF7PC] High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds - Re:Sampled (v1.1)
Post by: Changeling on 2014-08-01 17:08:05
It's not I don't like it, but it looks wrong to see crystal clear character models above a background with a 'film-grain effect' (more precisely it's a static noise effect) on it or switching from a clean FMV to the backgrounds. The rule is everything or nothing. So if someone would make a noise shader I would probably use it.

I understand what you're saying.  But no matter what the models are going to overshadow the backgrounds unless that amazing background project is going to be finished in the year 2035 and by then we'll probably be dead so to each his own right?

I just played through the end of the first bombing to that guys special place where he's always taking a leak and I don't think Squaresoft meant for all of their NPCs to look like lego Blowup dolls they had to have been placeholders and the executives were like Enough, we've spent enough money on this f*ck the models just do release it.  And congratulations on cmh175 Remastered FMVs -----holy sh*t man, without a background filter your FMVs are more beautiful than the rest of the game I love them.  The only thing is the colors/brightness something seems to change from background-->FMV.  But that doesn't kill it for me.  I love your work man!  It makes me want to see Yarlsons backgrounds that much more.

It's crazy to see these projects slowly but surely evolve into what they were set out to be, and most importantly, 100% complete.  We love you guys, keep it going.

EDIT:  So Kaldarasha...any theories on why this mod doesn't work for me?  I'm using the original release and I'm not a stranger to modification or computers for that matter.

EDIT #2:  My new hero.  I apologize I posted at the same time you did.  Thank you so much!  I kept putting mod/textures/ as the directory, instead of just modpath = textures

Because it's laid out like this!  subdirectroy of mods/ where textures will be loaded from
mod_path = none
See that mods/ I don't know...my brain is fried.  Thank you Kaldarasha you are awesome, really for taking the time man that was quick too.  I see what you mean now about the backgrounds, how it kind of makes everything POP.  I don't know if that's the same for...I can't remember his name but those backgrounds were kind of fugly from the screenshots but in-game there is a difference.  I'd say that yarLsons retains more of the detail though and I do love the film-grain.  It's too bad you can't put it over everything including the 3-D.  Like if Aali came up with a way to sort of blur the two together.
Title: Re: [FF7PC] High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds - Re:Sampled (v1.1)
Post by: Kaldarasha on 2014-08-01 17:15:15
I'm not ready, but I need time to read the wall of text....  :-D

Quote
Then that project was scrapped and the PRP was born.  That patch was almost finished and bam

http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=13960.0
You will need to install the Reunion to cover all NPC. I will change this after the next update of the Reunion mod. It's mostly a fix of the PRP project and a compromise between the original style and high quality models You also need 7th Heaven to bring it to work. Alyza is releasing soon a tutorial and a catalog for it.
Title: Re: [FF7PC] High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds - Re:Sampled (v1.1)
Post by: yarLson on 2014-08-01 17:30:40
Thanks for the support bro.  Glad to see some old fans passionate enough to come out from the shadows and comment.  I really recommend 2.0 when its released, even though its lacking the grain, it looks spectacular.  As far as not being able to get this working; just set the modpath in the config to whatever you want.  I use reunion r01 so my modpath is named "reunion"

modpath = reunion

in the ff7 config file.  Now in the "mods" folder make sure you have a folder named whatever you just put in your config file and then put the field folder in that folder.  So the path should like "(ff7 install dir)/mods/reunion/field" in this example.  Should work
Title: Re: [FF7PC] High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds - Re:Sampled (v1.1)
Post by: Changeling on 2014-08-01 17:34:38
You know I've seen those before and I said damn those look pretty good but I've been stubborn in my 'keep it original' mindset.  Maybe it'll look different in-game but this was one of my favorites as a kid, this and Resident Evil 2, Silent Hill.

Anyway unless you grew up at the same time I did you can imagine wanting that small upgrade, having them look the same because that obvious flaw is there for a reason you can tell the developers didn't have enough time to finish.  Half of the FMVs they're full size, why compromise with models that ugly on such a big budget project?
Title: Re: [FF7PC] High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds - Re:Sampled (v1.1)
Post by: Changeling on 2014-08-01 17:37:55
The artist himself, Kaldarasha beat you to it but thank you for taking the time!  He's saying to wait for his models which look pretty damn amazing, but I also like those models that...I think his name was Ice Cold was working on and someone either finished their work or combined a bunch of models to look like them anyway

Also Kal, you mentioned consistency, your models are bound to look different than the enemies, wouldn't they?  Whereas if it were more of a battle-field style like before, everything would fit together, except for those FMVs in which all of the people are blocky.

EDIT:  I hate when artists or administrators are just like 2+2 is 4 you idiot after spending hours trying to troubleshoot something that was right in front of your face, well this was even worse.  Kal had already made a recommendation beforehand, we keep commenting at the same time!

EDIT2: Except for this -->Both of you, or anyone at all, in my novel I wrote about that Cloud model do either of you have it?<--

EDIT3: Kal, do you have a version of your Cloud without a sword?  You probably already do, and I'm asking my third stupid question.
Title: Re: [FF7PC] High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds - Re:Sampled (v1.1)
Post by: yarLson on 2014-08-01 17:46:14
No sorry man I honestly prefer the chibi's.  I really would want Team Avalance to do a complete chibi overhaul.  That would be my ideal remake.  The scale and sizing of the fields just looks and feels weird to me with full-size models.  And I just love chibi's anyway, never understood why they don't get more love. 

Actually I have been thinking and I want to refine my modeling skills to the point of being able to do them myself and join TA since I really feel like no-one else is going to bother for a long time.  I love the the integrity of TA, the fact that they stick to the original artwork and yet add artistic depth and detail is really as professional as I can imagine a good quality remake should be.  Even better that any remake Square would ever do, if they ever do.
Title: Re: [FF7PC] High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds - Re:Sampled (v1.1)
Post by: Changeling on 2014-08-01 17:49:37
No sorry man I honestly prefer the chibi's.  I really would want Team Avalance to do a complete chibi overhaul.  That would be my ideal remake.  The scale and sizing of the fields just looks and feels weird to me with full-size models.  And I just love chibi's anyway, never understood why they don't get more love. 

Actually I have been thinking and I want to refine my modeling skills to the point of being able to do them myself and join TA since I really feel like no-one else is going to bother for a long time.  I love the the integrity of TA, the fact that they stick to the original artwork and yet add artistic depth and detail is really as professional as I can imagine a good quality remake should be.  Even better that any remake Square would ever do, if they ever do.

I agree and I see their screenshots, also videos of people working with Blender then importing their models into 7, but not just for this for anything but I think one would have to get a drawing pad right?  Or a really expensive stylus and a tablet?  Not for the basics but to actually dive in and get into the whole realm of digital art.  And yes I do the same thing, I bounce back and fourth but if someone was to really do it justice, to really make the models right I think you might change your mind.  Everything would feel more cohesive.  Although, over time the super deformed models have become a style all their own.  I liked that one mod that put their little hands on instead of big blocks
Title: Re: [FF7PC] High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds - Re:Sampled (v1.1)
Post by: yarLson on 2014-08-01 18:02:08
The only reason I wouldn't change my mind is because the scale is off.  That really can't be fixed either.  I enjoyed ff8's style a lot too and if the scale was right I'd like something like that in 7 but its not, and it would take an unreasonable amount of work with the backgrounds to make it work.  As well as unreasonable amount of editing for model animations.  And I still wouldn't like in unless the models were redone and textured like they are in ff8.  When one could simply remake the chibi models with more detail, import and done.  Still a lot of work but at least plausible.

As for a digital drawing pad.  I already have one myself and have access to quite a few more so no problems there.  Might need it for texturing but most of the modeling with be done with a good old fashioned keyboard n mouse.  I just need to improve my skills and decide what suite I like most.

I HATE blender.  To this day I have no idea how to even approach that program.  I love 3ds max it 's the only program I can actually use and make decent stuff in, but I am considering maybe switching to z-brush in the future.
Title: Re: [FF7PC] High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds - Re:Sampled (v1.1)
Post by: Changeling on 2014-08-01 18:18:29
The only reason I wouldn't change my mind is because the scale is off.  That really can't be fixed either.  I enjoyed ff8's style a lot too and if the scale was right I'd like something like that in 7 but its not, and it would take an unreasonable amount of work with the backgrounds to make it work.  As well as unreasonable amount of editing for model animations.  And I still wouldn't like in unless the models were redone and textured like they are in ff8.  When one could simply remake the chibi models with more detail, import and done.  Still a lot of work but at least plausible.

As for a digital drawing pad.  I already have one myself and have access to quite a few more so no problems there.  Might need it for texturing but most of the modeling with be done with a good old fashioned keyboard n mouse.  I just need to improve my skills and decide what suite I like most.

I HATE blender.  To this day I have no idea how to even approach that program.  I love 3ds max it 's the only program I can actually use and make decent stuff in, but I am considering maybe switching to z-brush in the future.

Funny thing is even though it's one of the thing is on my jack of all trades list, I have 3DS Max, Maya, Z-Brush, Unity3D but right now I'm more into making the switch from acoustic to digital.  Piano and guitar to Synthesizer/electric.  It's crazy man I just got this setup and an electric guitar http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMLcM5xVies
Now this isn't the greatest setup on the planet but hooked up into a computer it's brilliant, you can make anything sound like anything if that makes sense.  One set of keys or strings can sound like ANYTHING

EDIT:  Anyway, like I said I have the toolset if you need an extra set of hands, even though those hands have never held a digital paint brush or 3D pencil except in CAD.
Title: Re: [FF7PC] High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds - Re:Sampled (v1.1)
Post by: yarLson on 2014-08-01 18:35:54
You could help with tedious stuff that I will probably be fixing.  Its pretty easy but there is a lot of it.  Like doors for example.  A lot of the door layers are cut short, hardly noticeable but annoying none the less.  All you need is a few photoshop automations to fix it up but in bulk it takes a lot of time.

Also we definitely agree on one thing for sure.  AC models do not belong in this game, AT ALL.  The movie was, meh.  Kinda hard to follow in english, maybe itd be better with a better translation.  But I hate the way how that one stupid movie basically made Cloud the poster child for all things "emo" in video games.  Not that I have a problem with anything "emo" except for maybe the self mutilation.

Its just Clouds original character had a lot more depth I felt.  In the movie he kinda felt like a different guy altogether.  Kinda wish they never made it.  Also I hate his design.  His hair looks more like a woman's hair and I don't like how they toned down the massive spike in front.  That was awesome man.  TA's battle cloud is my favorite for this reason.  Its the only one based on original artwork rather than the new canon "girly man" Cloud.
Title: Re: [FF7PC] High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds - Re:Sampled (v1.1)
Post by: EQ2Alyza on 2014-08-01 22:58:31
If you prefer Chibi style, I've always thought of using the HRC_resizer tool and resizing Kaldarasha's models to a certain scale.
Title: Re: [FF7PC] High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds - Re:Sampled (v1.1)
Post by: Kaldarasha on 2014-08-02 06:25:58
I had reworked some chibis.
https://mega.co.nz/#!rV8gAaTB!H_h0zCI07K8wVyR22zyGVgErANuyxQTkaYsezEzTVfs
Title: Re: [FF7PC] High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds - Re:Sampled (v1.1)
Post by: yarLson on 2014-08-02 14:36:30
That is killer man, got any screens?
Title: Re: [FF7PC] High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds - Re:Sampled (v2.0)
Post by: yarLson on 2014-08-02 17:54:48
2.0 is live!  The new demo is also live as well as some new comparison images all on first post.  I used the same images that Omzy used so it is easier to compare our two projects. 

*off topic*
Also Kal do you have any plans on finishing these chibis?  I love them :D
*/off topic*

I hope you all like it and as always please mention any minor imperfections if you find any.  Also could we move this to the released board?
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds - Re:Sampled (v2.0)
Post by: dkma841 on 2014-08-02 18:05:19
.
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds - Re:Sampled (v2.0)
Post by: yarLson on 2014-08-02 18:12:09
Thanks a lot man.  I also forgot to mention that I kept the lighting layers in this time.  I like it better this way even with the glitches.  I am sure aali will figure it out someday anyway.
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds - Re:Sampled (v2.0)
Post by: obesebear on 2014-08-02 18:17:49
I really didn't expect much  because of the source material you had to work with.  But that being considered these look extremely good.  Well done.
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds - Re:Sampled (v2.0)
Post by: yarLson on 2014-08-02 19:27:42
Thank you.  Glad it wasn't a complete waste.  I just found a few transparency errors that I missed so I uploaded a small fix for the two scenes.  Download it in the first post and replace to two folders in the field folder with the new ones to fix a white block that shows up around the door way in the train.
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds - Re:Sampled (v2.0)
Post by: Napper on 2014-08-03 02:32:58
Absolutely great work. Big thanks for all your efforts. This is the definitive collection of backgrounds no doubt.

Not to be a pain but I found a small background problem.

nivl_b22 + nivl_b2 - http://www.mediafire.com/view/07ugx3lf16jlw4f/nivl_b22_b2.jpg (http://www.mediafire.com/view/07ugx3lf16jlw4f/nivl_b22_b2.jpg)

I'll try to get through most of the game again and see if i can spot anything to report back to you.
I love those highwind alterations  8-)
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds - Re:Sampled (v2.0)
Post by: yarLson on 2014-08-03 04:23:12
Yeah I figured there would still be a few of those left thanks for pointing it out.  I'll probably pump out a small fix in the morning.  I am tired and need to sleep.
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: yarLson on 2014-08-03 16:17:44
fix is live
Title: Re: [FF7PC] High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds - Re:Sampled (v1.1)
Post by: Salk on 2014-08-04 05:09:56
I had reworked some chibis.
https://mega.co.nz/#!rV8gAaTB!H_h0zCI07K8wVyR22zyGVgErANuyxQTkaYsezEzTVfs

Wow!

My philosophy about graphical improvements is identical to yarLson's! So I'd love to see such a project completed.
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: Salk on 2014-08-04 05:12:09
Great job on this update, yarLson!

Many thanks to your wife too!  ;D
Title: Re: [FF7PC] High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds - Re:Sampled (v2.0)
Post by: Kaldarasha on 2014-08-04 05:45:58

*off topic*
Also Kal do you have any plans on finishing these chibis?  I love them :D
*/off topic*


Wow!

My philosophy about graphical improvements is identical to yarLson's! So I'd love to see such a project completed.

I won't do more to this. They do look cute, but in the end I would work so much on them that they won't look like the chibis anymore. I really had to hold me back with Cloud. I think they are a good practice to learn to work with Kimera. Actually all what the chibis need are new arms and some fine work on the parts if polygons are missing.
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: Kaldarasha on 2014-08-06 23:38:21
mkt_w
(http://s7.directupload.net/images/140807/2zqfsr3k.jpg)

Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: yarLson on 2014-08-08 16:08:49
try removing the lighting texture and let me know if that fixes it.
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: Kaldarasha on 2014-08-09 07:55:55
Yes, it was a light layer (I have no idea what the use of the layer is). ancnt2 is also buggy.

Edit
Also ztruck has a problem, one of the moving background layer is entirely black.
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: Kaldarasha on 2014-08-10 11:32:06
The propeller on the well isn't right animated in nivl.
(http://s1.directupload.net/images/140810/7a79ol3r.png)
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: yarLson on 2014-08-16 21:40:27
Sorry its taking so long to release a fix.  I have been extremely busy these last few weeks but I will get on it soon hopefully.
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: yarLson on 2014-08-24 21:12:27
Okay fix for nivl is live sorry it took so long. On the first post.
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: Salk on 2014-08-28 08:45:22
Great, thanks!  :-)
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: Salk on 2014-09-21 04:57:07
We haven't heard from you here for some days, yarLson.

May I ask what your next steps about Sampled are going to be? Is there space for further improvements? Have you more ideas?

Thanks!  ;)
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: Mkilbride2599 on 2014-10-15 18:45:06
I'm wondering if there is something wrong with my browser...

But these look even blurrier than the originals / less detail? 

I mean the ones you showed in your other thread, your previous project looked much, much better to me.

Maybe some comparisons between the current High Res  Pre-rendered backrounds and these?

I've made some

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/96505

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/96506

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/96508

It really seems like a combination of the two would be ideal, some of Omzy's are better, and some of Re:Sampled's are better.
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: Salk on 2014-10-23 04:23:30
Thanks for the screenshots comparison.

I agree with you.
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: ete on 2014-11-02 00:15:04
I just hope the package gets better compression rate , if that possible...
Thanks for the great works !
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: yarLson on 2014-11-02 19:08:01
I compressed the png's using the most extreme settings on PNGout so they are not getting any smaller.  As for the comparisons.  Yeah, they might seem a bit sharper but in reality that sharpness is just an illusion made by photoshop with its sharpening tools.  In the end, I arrived where I did because I achieved a ratio of least distortion vs least blur.  Over sharpening just creates visual artifacts. 

Considering the scope of this project trying to use per scene editing would be impossibly inefficient and the gains would be minimal at best.  So yeah Omzy's pack might look better in some scenes and mine in others.  But my over all goal was reached and most of the fixable bugs (because lighting is not fixable right now) have been worked out by hand.  Anything than can be fixed in the future will be, but for the most part this project is complete.  I hope you enjoy it.
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: SegataSanshiro on 2014-12-16 05:17:02
Hi there,

This mod looks amazing, it's pretty much exactly what I want because I feel that the pre-rendered backgrounds are the part of the game which has aged worst (just a shame they lost the hi-res originals).

I'm a bit of a noob at this whole modding thing, so had a question: why is it necessary to install a new graphics driver to run this mod?

I'm running upgraded character models just fine through the Steam version and was wondering why I can't just drag and drop files with this one too so I don't lose achievements and cloud saves. I understand there's probably technical reasons, but was wondering if it would even be possible to do with a few workarounds.
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: Kaldarasha on 2014-12-16 06:17:30
The game expects an exact size of the textures for the background to cut it properly. DotEmu didn't implement an external texture path when they have made the directx9 driver. It might be possible to use hashcodes but that's not an easy workaround, if you have followed ff8 moding lately.
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: SegataSanshiro on 2014-12-16 17:26:34
Ok, that makes sense. I guess I'm just coming to terms with the fact that I blew money on something which has no real improvement to its predecessors. I was expecting for the backgrounds to look like the ones YarLson has made, but the only new things on there are lost if I want the game to look any better.

In any case, thanks for the work YarLson, they backgrounds look really great and I'll use them next time I play through the game :)
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: quequotion on 2014-12-31 03:18:23
Just checking, but are these textures subject to the same problem with (8-bit palleted? or was it pallet animated?) textures as FacePalmer (http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=12896.msg179477#msg179477)'s?
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: Kaldarasha on 2015-03-19 10:01:26
Hey yarLson have you checked out Blow up from Alien Skin?
http://www.alienskin.com/blowup/
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: Rufus on 2015-04-29 00:52:39
I have found a bug:

yarlsons & omzys backgrounds screw up the whirlwind maze, you can’t tell when to cross through the waves.

If the bug cannot be fixed I would suggest updating the texture pack to have the original backgrounds for these scenes until a fix has been made.

I do not see the bug being mentioned on the main page of this thread so I can only assume it has not been reported as a known issue.

I was using 7th heaven to load the textures if that helps.
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: EQ2Alyza on 2015-05-02 16:11:52
The whirlwind maze problem has more to do with Aali's Driver, not the textures.
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: Rufus on 2015-05-03 00:38:17
oh, really, well in either case do you think yarsons and omzys pack should be replaced with the vanilla whirlwind maze textures until Aalis drivers get a fix for this.
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: hihi on 2015-05-07 09:26:41
Wow this one looks amazing too.

Thanks :)
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: phantom-lord on 2015-07-12 19:09:08
Hi !
Thank you very much for your work yarLson.
:)
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: satsuki on 2015-07-19 10:52:43
Thanks for your work.

Have you tried waifux2 ? it's a new resizer used for anime and computer graphics resize.
It's realy slow (a fast cuda gpu version exist but not as good output as this gpu version) but provide wonderfull results on ff7 fields files.
You can find the package here (gui + cli) : http://inatsuka.com/extra/koroshell/ (http://inatsuka.com/extra/koroshell/)

Her'es the result on ff7 field files (command used : waifu2x-converter_x64.exe" -i "d:\source\md1_1_0_00000000.png" --scale_ratio 4 -m scale -o "d:\4x\md1_1_0_00000000.png"):
(http://yatoshi.com/ff/wx4.jpg)
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: Bukharin377 on 2015-07-19 16:21:57
Woah that looks so so good crazy how it came out like that  ;D
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: EQ2Alyza on 2015-07-19 17:47:13
Thanks for your work.

Have you tried waifux2 ? it's a new resizer used for anime and computer graphics resize.
It's realy slow (a fast cuda gpu version exist but not as good output as this gpu version) but provide wonderfull results on ff7 fields files.
You can find the package here (gui + cli) : http://inatsuka.com/extra/koroshell/ (http://inatsuka.com/extra/koroshell/)

Her'es the result on ff7 field files (command used : waifu2x-converter_x64.exe" -i "d:\source\md1_1_0_00000000.png" --scale_ratio 4 -m scale -o "d:\4x\md1_1_0_00000000.png"):
(http://yatoshi.com/ff/wx4.jpg)

That IS pretty amazing results. How long did the process take for that one field? We need to get this done to all fields :)
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: EQ2Alyza on 2015-07-19 17:55:27
Give us a guide on your method, and we can do it as a community ;)
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: yarLson on 2015-07-19 17:59:15
It's not simple process my friend.  I am on my phone right now so I'll take a closer look at it when I get on a bigger screen but first impression is that it seems similar to fractals.  so I will play around with it myself to see if I can come up with something market fly improved from my current pack.  I still have my old script and a some documentation for manual edits so if I like it I can probably make a new pack fairly simply. Especially with my beefy new desktop.  Of course this is only if I find the results significantly improved and if I can get this program to work nicely with the existing photoshop script, otherwise it's too much work
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: satsuki on 2015-07-19 18:05:02
About 15s for one png file with my [email protected].
As it's usable in commandline, you can easily make a batch file for it and let your computer do the job.
Waifu doesn't seem to use png transparency so you have to edit the waifu resized files to restore transparency (gimp for exemple) and it can take some time
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: Kaldarasha on 2015-07-19 18:16:01
It's not simple process my friend.  I am on my phone right now so I'll take a closer look at it when I get on a bigger screen but first impression is that it seems similar to fractals.  so I will play around with it myself to see if I can come up with something market fly improved from my current pack.  I still have my old script and a some documentation for manual edits so if I like it I can probably make a new pack fairly simply. Especially with my beefy new desktop.  off course this is only if I find the results significantly improved and if I can get this program to work nicely with the existing photoshop script, otherwise it's too much work

By the way if you would make some new backgrounds with this, leave the noise filter out. I have found a tool (to be more correct it was Tawm who has found it) which is able to add posteffects like filmgrain to OpenGL based games.
http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=12260.msg229776#msg229776
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: yarLson on 2015-07-19 18:20:07
About 15s for one png file with my [email protected].
As it's usable in commandline, you can easily make a batch file for it and let your computer do the job.
Waifu doesn't seem to use png transparency so you have to edit the waifu resized files to restore transparency (gimp for exemple) and it can take some time


I understand that, but thats the easy part the script takes care of all the layer editing which is a pain in the arse to do by hand, and to modify the script to work with an outside program may or may not be a simple process.  I could also batch process using this new program and modify the script to remove all the resizing and only handle layer edits but again we are getting into the area of "too much effort for the reward" area.

In any case I moved to my desktop now so I will try to play around with it for just a few moments before I have to leave.
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: yarLson on 2015-07-19 18:45:48
wow you weren't kidding when you said it was slow, I have a 4960K and a gtx 970 and the damn thing took at least 6 minutes to process.  The cuda assisted version would be preferable; and on that note an implementation with english documentation would be supremely helpful so I could actually mess around with the perimeters a bit more.  I am interest by the "neural network" technology involved but overall I feel the results are very much akin to perfect resize; an extremely smudged look. 

I am sure if the source material were at least double the size this tech could work wonders but the limitation here is the fact that we are working with images of extremely low resolution and no matter how "intelligent" the algorithm even a human being has to add in details from his own imagination in order to make these scenes work in a higher resolution, because here the details are simply not present.  We are attempting to add something that is just not there with a computerized equation, and this algorithm though making a valiant effort seems to fall short of amazing me or completely blowing my expectations out of the water.

I may run some in game tests to see what it would actually look like in action however I can't say I am too motivated to continue with a whole new iteration of this project with these current results I am getting.
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: satsuki on 2015-07-19 20:45:35
Here's the gpu version (less accurate to my mind but way faster, include a readme.en ^^) : http://int.main.jp/files/waifu2x-converter_x86_0619_03.zip (http://int.main.jp/files/waifu2x-converter_x86_0619_03.zip)
Here's some information in english about waifu and softs and usage : http://forum.videohelp.com/threads/372157-New-upscaling-algorithm-waifu2x (http://forum.videohelp.com/threads/372157-New-upscaling-algorithm-waifu2x)
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: yarLson on 2015-07-19 21:16:54
About 15s for one png file with my [email protected].
As it's usable in commandline, you can easily make a batch file for it and let your computer do the job.
Waifu doesn't seem to use png transparency so you have to edit the waifu resized files to restore transparency (gimp for exemple) and it can take some time
I didn't notice that last bit until just now. If this algorithm can't preserve transparency thankfully that is not too much of an issue since all layers have to be merged into a black background before resize anyhow and then cut out automatically by the script using some clever masking and resizing tricks. Looking at the options for noise reduction seems to give significantly less smudge however I am away from my desktop again so I have no means of testing that right now. Hoping it works better
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: yarLson on 2015-07-19 21:18:28
I don't mind playing around with the script. I just haven't yet fully understood how the internals of the fields work. I can extract the backgrounds manually using Makou Reactor but without some automation to do that for all fields x all parameters x all states I'm going nowhere.
Use Palmer to work with fields makou reactor is not required and I am not even sure it can do the job properly
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: EQ2Alyza on 2015-07-19 21:21:26
Use Palmer to work with fields makou reactor is not required and I am not even sure it can do the job properly

Do you have a copy of Palmer 0.8b that you can upload for us? Aali's link is not working in the Palmer thread.
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: satsuki on 2015-07-19 21:40:08
For transparency i was speacking for cpu version only, waifu gpu has this version witch keep transparency (the only one that i found for transparency): https://github.com/lltcggie/waifu2x-caffe/releases/download/1.6.0.1/waifu2x-caffe.zip (https://github.com/lltcggie/waifu2x-caffe/releases/download/1.6.0.1/waifu2x-caffe.zip)
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: yarLson on 2015-07-19 22:03:26
Do you have a copy of Palmer 0.8b that you can upload for us? Aali's link is not working in the Palmer thread.
crud that's not good i probably don't have it anymore I may have it in a very messy folder that contains some of my old work I'll have to sift through it when I have more time.
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: Kaldarasha on 2015-07-20 15:58:16
Do you have a copy of Palmer 0.8b that you can upload for us? Aali's link is not working in the Palmer thread.
http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=8450.msg230309#msg230309

I have tested waifu, too. It gives nearly the same result as Blow Up 3 and that for free (on the other hand it needs much longer for a 4x upscale). I would like to see how some fields would look with it in game.
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: yarLson on 2015-07-20 17:42:05
http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=8450.msg230309#msg230309

I have tested waifu, too. It gives nearly the same result as Blow Up 3 and that for free (on the other hand it needs much longer for a 4x upscale). I would like to see how some fields would look with it in game.
After reviewing the test samples (I always use the same two images) and comparing to literally every other algorithm I have gotten my hands on since the original project began over five years ago the results are far any away sharper than anything else available.

As I've always said over and over what really matter is in game tests.  The scaling and proportion of the scenes in game is handled a bit differently than just looking at the plain image and we need something that conforms to that scaling nicely. 

Personally I never liked the results I got with Blow Up 3 and wouldn't reccomend it.  That said  I haven't gotten a chance to test this waifu2x in game yet so anything can happen.  Just because it produces ecxeptionally sharp results doesn't mean it's going to look decent in game but having gotten familiar with the command line tool I am fairly optimistic. 

I'd say the best chance for success us going to be with a level one noise removal. Level two removes too much detail and no noise removal is far too noisy and a smudgey.
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: Salk on 2015-07-22 03:58:14
I sincerely hope you can get a nice in game result with this new method, yarLson. And welcome back!
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: yarLson on 2015-07-22 15:29:54
I'll do my best but I have been extremely busy and my wife has been using our desktop a lot lately for several projects she has going on so I still haven't gotten a chance but I will.
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: Salk on 2015-07-23 07:25:44
yarLson,

considering the limitations of Aali's driver, I was wondering if it'd not be best to leave out from the package those screens with lighting issues at transition?

I am so looking forward to a new version of Sampled! :)

Thanks!
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: yarLson on 2015-07-24 19:33:01
Here's my old method
(http://i.imgur.com/45cixyc.png)

And the new waifu2x
(http://i.imgur.com/EDe82kY.png)

So what does everyone think?
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: Covarr on 2015-07-24 19:58:27
They each have their pros and cons, but I think Waifu looks better. If nothing else, it does MUCH better with sharp edges.
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: EQ2Alyza on 2015-07-24 20:43:17
Waifu is easier on my eyes. I like it best.
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: Kaldarasha on 2015-07-24 20:55:15
Please make a demo to See how it looks in game.
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: obesebear on 2015-07-24 21:16:44
I agree the new one is better.  But what ever happened to a post processing shader
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: yarLson on 2015-07-24 23:16:03
To respond to all three of you. One a demo would be kinda a pain in the ass right now since I haven't figured out how to fit this into the script yet. Although I will upgrade this scene later so you can test it.  Also post processing shaders turned out to be a nightmare withaali's driver however you can do some pretty awesome stuff with reshade if you haven't tried it yet.  Finally I agree I ended up deciding that no noise reduction is best and that is exactly what your seeing in the samples above.
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: olearyf2525 on 2015-07-25 04:57:34
Here's my old method
(http://i.imgur.com/45cixyc.png)

And the new waifu2x
(http://i.imgur.com/EDe82kY.png)

So what does everyone think?

Wow look at the doors to the right of 1-Ob. Huge improvement there, and minor improvements everywhere else. A lot more detail on the train, a lot sharper.
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: Luigi Brosse on 2015-07-27 10:50:16
I also prefer the new version :)
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: satsuki on 2015-08-04 19:01:35
Hello.
I'm working in field upscale with waifu but have a bug to re-import some field in palmer, they are giving me a "parallax background layer" error

Any idea ?

thanks
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: yarLson on 2015-08-04 19:36:31
Yeah I used to know exactly what that meant I'll have to review my documentation to refresh my memory and I'll report back how are you doing this project with omzys script?
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: satsuki on 2015-08-04 19:46:39
Thanks!
No not from omzy, i'm doing everything from scratch in vb6 + waifu + imagemagick (+gimp for some extra filtering if neeeded).
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: satsuki on 2015-08-04 22:02:03
Hum, think i spotted it.
In some fields folder's there is more than one layer group, so i have to works on then as spares scenes or it'll end as resize error....
Need to works more on my automation soft ^^
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: yarLson on 2015-08-04 22:20:22
Well good luck with that coming up with an algorithm that cuts smooth layers was kinda a pain but maybe you have more experience than I do.  If you dump everything from Palmer it should dump all scene layers just do a batch dump for everything.  If you have any samples id like to check them out
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: satsuki on 2015-08-04 22:43:08
Here's a sample from start to the 1 boss (scorpion): http://www.multiup.org/fr/download/97a5de2bc4142ba0b7783935db8e5bab/field.waifu.7z (http://www.multiup.org/fr/download/97a5de2bc4142ba0b7783935db8e5bab/field.waifu.7z)
It's about 100% automatised (need to use palmer frontend to extract and import fields).
it's not perfect right now (layers cut is not resized so when you are behind an object it's overcuted):
(http://yatoshi.com/ff/sample.png)
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: yarLson on 2015-08-05 03:40:37
yeah the layers look a little blocky right now.  That's the hardest problem to solve if you can figure something novel that would be awesome good luck
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: satsuki on 2015-08-05 06:38:42
Yes i need to solve that but i'll release a beta pack once all will be generated for testing purposes.(my corei7 working 24/24 from about 7 days now and not finished with waifu cpu resize ^^' (not using the gpu version because the resulting image is not as accurate than with the cpu version))
So while i'll work to solve the blocky layers edges someone could find some scenes bug (as it's automatised i'm sure that it'll have bugs in special cases fields i haven't spotted).
I also need to resize some scenes with waifu N1 filter because waifu unfiltered is realy crappy (in shinra building for exemple):

Unfiltered waifu 4x:
(http://yatoshi.com/ff/filtw.jpg)
N1 filtered waifu 4x + some gimp filter:
(http://yatoshi.com/ff/filt2.jpg)

Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: satsuki on 2015-08-05 17:30:43
Hello, i found this waifu version : http://int.main.jp/files/waifu2x-converter_x64_20150616_02.exe (http://int.main.jp/files/waifu2x-converter_x64_20150616_02.exe).
You need to use it in the waifu koroshell folder (juste rename it waifu2x-converter_x64.exe and overwrite the existing file ^^) , it's using the same command line argument, provide the same detail level but can use the cpu or the gpu ^^, so it take about 8x or 9x less time to resize than the cpu version (geforce gtx 960 vs [email protected]).
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: KaidenJames on 2015-08-05 18:10:12
Damn, that looks really good!
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: Salk on 2015-08-06 12:13:35
Pretty impressive. By pooling together your talents I believe you can really recreate fantastic 2D screens.
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: satsuki on 2015-08-06 17:59:27
I might have found a way to  smoother layers cuts (not perfect with all layers - need to solve ^^')
Before:
(http://yatoshi.com/ff/sample.png)

after:
(http://yatoshi.com/ff/sample2.png)
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: yarLson on 2015-08-08 02:30:17
You may want to borrow from omzys work if possible his later cutting work was the best that's been done so far at least in an automated script
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: satsuki on 2015-08-08 08:01:55
It would be great but i 'm not familiar with the javascript langage and don't own photoshop.
But i'll try to transpose it if i can't do it with my method.
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: satsuki on 2015-08-08 12:57:29
I found a way to do a correct edge cut with imagemagick, it's about the same result than with omzy (not 100% perfect, it's impossible to automate when screen have barriers or small part) but it's correcting some omzy edge cut bug too (the "warning" plaque in the 3° game screen have a back dot with omzi for exemple).
I think the main engine of my software is ready now so I'm runing a complete field pack generation (will take some time) so i can test it and check lots of special case.
So you have a list of buggy field witch need some manual traitment so i can test and correct them if needed.
Thanks
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: yarLson on 2015-08-08 19:05:20
Yeah I can get that to you. I'm still in the middle of something now but I have some time tomorrow to collect the info and I'll post it up
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: satsuki on 2015-08-09 07:35:31
thanks
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: satsuki on 2015-08-09 15:56:29
I've found in omzy javascript some spécial fields traitment andhave added them to my soft (for some of them it was already good) so i you have some special fied cases witch are not in omzy's facepalmer

thanks again
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: satsuki on 2015-09-26 10:30:00
Hello.
I've generated all once again to avoid missing pixel and i'm playing the whole game again to spot bug.
I'm after the livestream and so far the only field i can't get works properly is :
(http://yatoshi.com/ff/foots.jpg)

As you have take it to you patch i gess you found a way to get it works ^^, so if you can share it, thanks


I have another screen i can't get works as i want but don't know if you have found a way for this one (get the cabin filtered but cant get the black bug out):
(http://yatoshi.com/ff/sc.jpg)
Title: Re: [FF7PC-98] Re:Sampled - High Resolution Pre-Rendered Backgrounds (v2.0)
Post by: yarLson on 2015-10-11 19:36:49
the layering on that first screen just needs to be adjusted I might be able to get to it as for the second one that is unfortunately unfixable really since a portion of that scene is actually hidden in a 3d model file and it is beyond my skill to fix