Author Topic: [CC:FF7 PSP] Crisis Core UI Upscale Project  (Read 60603 times)

LeonhartGR

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Re: [CC:FF7 PSP] Crisis Core UI Upscale Project
« Reply #25 on: 2019-10-02 19:10:09 »
Well done D! This is awesome. Please share some screens along!

Devina

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Re: [CC:FF7 PSP] Crisis Core UI Upscale Project
« Reply #26 on: 2019-10-31 09:58:51 »
I just realized it's DMW, not DMV (derp, has nothing to do with cars).

I've decided to try painting over the DMW portraits since they are the most important thing that needs to redone in HD, imo.

Here's a little sample of a before and after:



It's been quite a difficult job as I'm not a digital painter.
I figure some people might be displeased with the results, so I plan to release them all in a month, and anyone who wishes to change certain things can paint over them and post them here for improvement. I don't want to hear any ragey disrespectful stuff like (ARGHH, YOU ADDED TOO MUCH COLOR TO AERITH'S EYES, GO DIE IN A FIRE!!!!!11) and stuff like that, I'm doing what I can.

I want to do them and finish them by 2020 to give people 3 months to finish Crisis Core before FF7make.

I haven't been able to do Genesis (I don't have his portrait yet) or the summons, so if anyone wants to rip them and send them to me, that would be nice. But as far as my understanding goes, his portrait rarely appears in the DMW (it's been years since I last properly played through Crisis Core). At the very least, I want to do the six basic main chars (Aerith, Cissnei, Angeal, Tseng, Cloud, Sephiroth) because that's what people will see the most.

LeonhartGR

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Re: [CC:FF7 PSP] Crisis Core UI Upscale Project
« Reply #27 on: 2019-10-31 18:20:02 »
You are awesome Devina!!!

KaosuReido

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Re: [CC:FF7 PSP] Crisis Core UI Upscale Project
« Reply #28 on: 2019-11-04 02:12:01 »
Everything you've done looks great to me. I'm happy there's even more stuff being done on this; I feel like my UI stuff isn't perfect, but seeing people try to improve it is great.

Devina

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Re: [CC:FF7 PSP] Crisis Core UI Upscale Project
« Reply #29 on: 2019-11-13 05:57:57 »
Thanks guys, I decided to post these a little early and you can see all six comparisons:

http://www.framecompare.com/image-compare/screenshotcomparison/DYLPPNNX

http://www.framecompare.com/image-compare/screenshotcomparison/J1B2CNNU

Feel free to suggest improvements and, if anyone wants, try painting over them yourself.

I had to improvise a bit so it's not completely accurate to the original, so I tried my best to make it look more natural.

I'll upload them again in game-ready form once feedback is complete.
« Last Edit: 2019-11-13 06:06:12 by Devina »

KaosuReido

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Re: [CC:FF7 PSP] Crisis Core UI Upscale Project
« Reply #30 on: 2019-11-16 08:37:08 »
I've been thinking at some point I might come back and actually redo the UI itself. The basic UI the game has is kind of cluttered and designed to be seen on a PSP screen, so it takes up a bunch of space. I've been thinking I might try to trim down the effects and stuff a little, streamline it. Not making any promises, of course. I haven't touched this in literally over a year, I'm pretty rusty, and I have fifty other minor projects too.

obesebear

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Re: [CC:FF7 PSP] Crisis Core UI Upscale Project
« Reply #31 on: 2019-11-17 18:22:37 »
I think you've done a really good job!  My one suggestion would be to add some noise or a blur filter over the eyes.  The eyes really stand out as crisp and clear while the rest looks more blurred or fuzzy.

Thank you both for your work on this

Devina

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Re: [CC:FF7 PSP] Crisis Core UI Upscale Project
« Reply #32 on: 2019-11-18 16:10:19 »
I finished for now, made a small tweaks and did a blur filter to make everything look consistent.
Also found Genesis+Summons+Numbers and did a basic filter for them so they aren't pixelated.

You can compare using tabs here:

http://www.framecompare.com/image-compare/screenshotcomparison/J19FJNNU

Download is in my post at the bottom of page 1.
« Last Edit: 2020-04-28 15:19:46 by Devina »

Devina

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Re: [CC:FF7 PSP] Crisis Core UI Upscale Project
« Reply #33 on: 2019-12-28 22:33:58 »
I caved in and did Genesis, download link remains the same, just updated in my post above.
I'm almost done playing through Crisis Core again, and I noticed his portrait appeared more often than I thought it would, so now the quality is better.



I also made a mod for the most important thing of all... giving Zack nipples and a navel.
His lack of them is oddly strange and makes him look alien, and I hated it.
Even Cissnei in the same scene has a navel, so it just looks weird.
So while this beach scene is only like, 5 mins long, if you want people to not be weirded out, hey, this mod is for you.




http://www.mediafire.com/file/uam6oe3oomihp5x/Beach_Zack.rar

Gensoul

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Re: [CC:FF7 PSP] Crisis Core UI Upscale Project
« Reply #34 on: 2020-01-17 21:47:31 »
Those do look nice... but does your mama know you are drawing nipples? :evil:

eqprog

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Re: [CC:FF7 PSP] Crisis Core UI Upscale Project
« Reply #35 on: 2020-05-05 23:20:03 »
Thank you KaosuReido and Devina for this mod! I decided to finally play this game after FF7R was released. The UI upscale has helped keep me sane as I play through the game on my 55in 4K screen.

I realize I am necromancing this thread big time but this is where google searching inevitably leads people, and y’all seem like good folk. Your work has inspired me to attempt a texture mod using ESRGAN to automate up scaling the textures. I’ve had varying degrees of success so far, it handles certain textures very well and others... well they need a bit more of a human touch to really pull it off (mostly the strictly 2d elements such as text or foliage)

I don’t have a pack prepared yet, but I’m going to share some screens here and see where it goes. Hope that’s ok.

https://imgur.com/gallery/IsVd90t

 

KaosuReido

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Re: [CC:FF7 PSP] Crisis Core UI Upscale Project
« Reply #36 on: 2020-05-06 02:21:05 »
Thanks for the kind words, and it's cool to see what you're doing. If I could give some advice, I'd tone down whatever it is that looks like it abnormally boosts the sharpness and contrast on the textures. It might seem like it makes them look clearer, but what it really does is make them look artificial.

With a little tweaking of the settings, though, this would be very cool to see in motion.

Also though, try not to boost the textures needlessly huge. 4K everything SOUNDS cool, but can put a lot more pressure on the video card than is necessary for almost no gain. I mean, they're PSP textures, so it's probably fine, just something to think about.

eqprog

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Re: [CC:FF7 PSP] Crisis Core UI Upscale Project
« Reply #37 on: 2020-05-06 04:24:59 »
You're welcome. I'm still experimenting with the process. ESRGAN wasn't really meant for upscaling images so it has been a (long) process. I agree with you on the sharpness of the textures - they are results of the model I was using to upscale the textures. I'll put some of them through some different models tonight and upload them here.  Good to have feedback.

Devina

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Re: [CC:FF7 PSP] Crisis Core UI Upscale Project
« Reply #38 on: 2020-05-06 06:16:05 »
You're also welcome, I updated my post at the bottom of page 1 with a few extras (which I'm done updating now), trying to combine everything into a single pack. I'd say the game's HUD is pretty much done now, I don't know what else could be improved UI-wise.

If you need help with making an HD texture pack for the whole game, you have my permission to use my work. I can also help you out with making 2D elements like text, I'm pretty good with that sort of stuff.

I'm a bit disappointed because vierock (the maker of the other HD texture pack) just seems to have disappeared, and their work has a few errors/iffy design choices. For example, an enemy's hair texture has messed up transparency, some plants are completely different, the Shinra Building looks dirty with grime, many textures are unchanged so you have high-res textures next to low-res ones, etc.

I like the idea of a completely faithful upscale without changing the artistic direction. It would be awesome to have a definitive pack, as well as an active modder.

I would recommend making everything 4x the original. My mod pack and Kaosu's was designed for 4x in mind (for example, a 128x128 image becomes 512x512). Anything more sounds like it could be overkill and some players might not be able to play the game without lag.

eqprog

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Re: [CC:FF7 PSP] Crisis Core UI Upscale Project
« Reply #39 on: 2020-05-06 19:16:27 »
To clarify, my monitor is 4K but I wasn’t planning on upscaling everything to 4Kx4K textures. The examples I posted before are a 4x upscale using the 4xBox ESRGAN model so 256x256 textures end up being 1024x1024. I’ve dumped about 1200 textures (after deleting duplicate hashes)  However, I’m thinking 4x might be a little much because the way some of textures work. Blinking animations aren’t a decal applied to the model, for example, but rather each frame of the animation is the entire character skin with a different eye. The majority of the 1024x1024 textures are around 2.2MB each and at this point, even with a GTX1080, I’ve noticed some significant frame dips.

Besides, I think 4xESRGAN doesn’t know how to handle such small original files. For example, the model I used has issues with smoothing out some of the jaggies (look at the shoulder guard of Arachno - it actually looks more pixelated along the edges). I ran the textures I have through a 2x model last night which is meant not to stylize the original too much. I have a feeling doing this 2x upscale initially will give ESRGAN or other modders more to work with and will help to maintain the overall art style if any more upscaling is applied.  Unfortunately I still have to work during this pandemic so any additional testing or screenshots will have to wait until later this evening (CST).

Once a consistent style is established then work on it will go much faster I think.

eqprog

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Re: [CC:FF7 PSP] Crisis Core UI Upscale Project
« Reply #40 on: 2020-05-07 03:53:14 »








This is with a pretty faithful 4x scale, 2d elements in textures still need work. I'm not sure what I think, myself.
(PS Ignore bad UI elements... I have gone through and deleted the UI textures from my files yet)

eqprog

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Re: [CC:FF7 PSP] Crisis Core UI Upscale Project
« Reply #41 on: 2020-05-10 08:24:12 »
A little update: I've been refining my approach, but obviously some of these textures are going to need a good amount of love applied to their rough edges.

https://imgur.com/a/6c7aTGN

LeonhartGR

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Re: [CC:FF7 PSP] Crisis Core UI Upscale Project
« Reply #42 on: 2020-05-10 15:19:03 »
Some models look darker. Are those the modified ones with the refined rough edges? If yes, I prefer the brighter ones. ;)

eqprog

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Re: [CC:FF7 PSP] Crisis Core UI Upscale Project
« Reply #43 on: 2020-05-10 18:48:08 »
Thanks for the feedback, it is something I am aware of. The benefit of using ESRGAN is automation - bear in mind that so far I’ve upscaled nearly 1300 textures and I am only at the part of the game where Zack meets with Lazard in his office for the first time. It’s a lot to go through - the way PPSSPP dumps the textures results in many duplicate files (sometimes 5x+) that need to be removed. What I’m trying to do now is refine the workflow. Redrawing everything by hand is simply too big of a project for one person to do, especially for free.

The downside is that no one has trained an ESRGAN model for upscaling for a project like this. Most ESRGAN models are trained by starting with high resolution images, downscaling the images to 4x lower resolution then  reupscaling them to their original resolution and comparing the results to the original files. In this case, the files we are upscaling are very pixelated from the get go. At this point I’ve tried every ESRGAN model I can find and each one has done a very good job at keeping the hard pixel edges from the originals which actually makes the edges on some textures more apparent than their originals.

All this is to say that there are several textures that are going to need to be refined manually - especially those featuring 2D text elements such as the numbering of the item boxes or floor labels, or lines bordering transparencies. Many curved areas need to be smoothed out by hand.

I haven’t been totally satisfied with the ESRGAN results either because of the issues above. 

My current plan is
  • Manually adjust/refine at least one hundred images to create a training dataset
  • Use dataset to train an ESRGAN model more appropriate for this project. Multiple models will likely be needed for different categories or “types” of textures (character models, foliage, text/ui, etc)
  • Dump all original textures and sort them by type
  • Upscale and test.
The number of textures is kind of overwhelming at my skill level. I am not the best artist, nor the fastest. I am nearing the point where I am prepared to ask for assistance completing part 1 if anyone is willing to help. What I will do is sort out the textures I do have into categories and share them here so any interested parties can contribute.

LeonhartGR

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Re: [CC:FF7 PSP] Crisis Core UI Upscale Project
« Reply #44 on: 2020-05-10 21:07:28 »
Thanks for explaining in detail! It's highly appreciated! The whole process seems quite amazing. Is this ESRGAN tool a neural network based AI upscaling engine? I apologise for my post being shown a little shallow for such a complicated and hard process, hehe... Your persistence in such detail is what's gonna bring perfection to the final result of course!

What I actually meant by posting is that until the process is finally completed just keep a link with the brighter textures as well that don't lose too much of a detail as an option if possible ;). I'm personally one of the users that could do without refined rough edges if the whole process is so demanding but of course the final result is going to be devine!

Good luck with the rest of the work needed! Looking forward for the completed project!
« Last Edit: 2020-05-10 21:18:30 by LeonhartGR »

eqprog

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Re: [CC:FF7 PSP] Crisis Core UI Upscale Project
« Reply #45 on: 2020-05-10 22:51:08 »
No worries, I didn’t take your comment as disparaging. I do appreciate the feedback as honestly I am newer to the game and Long-time fans of the game will be able to have a better perspective than myself. Thank you for the encouraging words.

Yes ESRGAN is AI neural network... training and processing is going to take some time. Also I am a busy person (I’m at work while posting this) so please be patient! (To be honest a lot of the ESRGAN work has just been waiting around  8))
« Last Edit: 2020-05-11 19:02:44 by eqprog »

eqprog

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Re: [CC:FF7 PSP] Crisis Core UI Upscale Project
« Reply #46 on: 2020-05-13 03:40:57 »
I had the day off of work today. My CPU spent most of the day being occupied with training an upscale model... mixed results so far. But, I finally had a chance to upload the textures I have already. I think tomorrow I will dedicate time to playing through the game to get a more complete texture dump. I also updated textures.ini to match the established wildcard. Sorry about some of the filenames, btw! Since I haven't played all the way through the game I don't know what everything is called yet.

There are some issues I've noticed - I didn't have dumps of some of the animations for Zack with his soldier 1st class uniform, nor do I have any upscaled textures from the initial training mission. (If anyone has a *complete* set of textures please share!).

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1w1j1hAG5JNzfNoS7CXi6yDN1xBnrO_N3

If you take a look, you can see what I'm talking about with some of the edges. I'm actually ordering a tablet/stylus for this project because editing with a mouse will just be too frustrating. If anyone wants to take a stab at it however, be my guest.
« Last Edit: 2020-05-13 03:43:02 by eqprog »

Devina

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Re: [CC:FF7 PSP] Crisis Core UI Upscale Project
« Reply #47 on: 2020-05-15 08:31:50 »
Maybe you should just focus on environments for now since yeah, the hair and transparency looks off when done by AI, and it will be a pain in the butt to do all those individual masks.

I think vierock already did most of the characters anyway, and they all look good (altho Cissnei's/Hermione's eyes are too bright imo).

LeonhartGR

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Re: [CC:FF7 PSP] Crisis Core UI Upscale Project
« Reply #48 on: 2020-05-15 09:36:52 »
I would love to watch the final result of this project with the character's fixed though since they will resemble the original models... :)

eqprog

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Re: [CC:FF7 PSP] Crisis Core UI Upscale Project
« Reply #49 on: 2020-05-15 22:14:14 »
Maybe you should just focus on environments for now since yeah, the hair and transparency looks off when done by AI, and it will be a pain in the butt to do all those individual masks.

I think vierock already did most of the characters anyway, and they all look good (altho Cissnei's/Hermione's eyes are too bright imo).

I agree to be honest... it will be too much work for me to realistically do the character textures. I’ve got to hand it to Vierock because did a really great job. Right now I’m actually just playing the game whenever I have spare time so I can get all of the textures. I also developed some scripts (in Python) to automatically remove duplicated texture dumps, rename them to account for the texture wildcard and generate a list to add for textures.ini. I’ll share them whenever I release something next. They’ll be useful to future projects anyone may do using ppssp.

It would be really great if we could inject the textures back into the iso. I was able to dump them directly however (as of yet) I don’t know how to put them back in. It would make the work much easier because the textures are actually stored differently. For instance, instead of a separate character texture for each facial animation frame, there is a texture with just the base face design and a separate texture containing all the different facial expressions in a single file. Being able to copy this structure would help with memory use (enabling higher resolution) and also file size for the final release. It’s something I’m looking into at least.





This is how the textures actually appear on the ISO.
« Last Edit: 2020-05-16 05:22:01 by eqprog »