Final Fantasy 8 > WIP
Final Fantasy VIII - Graphical Update Mod (WIP)
blippyp:
Just my current thoughts and a fyi:
I finally got around to extracting all the field mapdata files. I ran them thru Pupu which returned 12,288 images in 925 folders. For a few days I kind of gave up hope on being able to automatically upscale all the images, but feel that I have another option after spending a couple of days going thru the last steps needed to rebuild the screens and add them to the game (the preview test videos I've been making). I am now going to start a database for all of these files and looking them over and cataloging them for which files are required to build 'the background', which files are lighting and other special effects and which files are animations for the backgrounds. As I go thru them I might discover another issue/type of image that will cause this not to work, but once I've completed organizing them all, I should be able to automatically upscale the images to produce a texture pack using whatever type of filtering/upscaling technique I wish to apply to each image.
Any of the textures which include characters though, as I've mentioned in the past, will look horrible, they simply don't upscale well. I'm hoping to find some way to fix this. I've noticed a few of the npc's have had their textures also upgraded by other people and don't have the old nasty textures attached to them, so if I can figure out how to use the models, I might be able to fix some of those, but some will likely need an actual artist to re-draw them. I can probably pull this off to at least be better than it's current state, but to get something that will 'look right' will probably need someone who can actually draw well, and not just 'kind of'.
My automated process is also designed to produce layered GIMP images of the final image so that if I have any desire to go back and alter a few images/layers used by hand after the process, I can easily alter any step used to get it to that point without rebuilding the entire texture pack again, so making minor edits like altering the characters on the screen or masking out some of the 'detail' added by some of the esrgan upscaling can easily be altered. I still certainly need to cleanup my script some more and have a few more changes to make to it, but have enough of it completed at this point that I'm absolutely confident that I can pull everything off, assuming I don't run into any more issues that I'm not already aware of (which still might happen).
blippyp:
It saddens me deeply to say it, but I think I'm putting this project on hold. Possibly indefinitely, I may still find solutions, but for now, I'd say on hold with no expectation of completion at this point.
It's not that I can't complete it per se, so much as I won't be happy with the final product.
I will try to explain.
My process for filtering the images actually uses many layers upon layers, three of those layers are three different AI Neural Networking generated images that everyone is all in hype over these days. My computer spent the past 20'ish hours generating over 40K images so they're created and can be simply merged into my own filtering process at this point. However, to complete the final filtering would take my system well over 2 months according to my math, although there are shortcuts that can be taken that could easily decrease that time down to about a week and most people wouldn't even notice that those shortcuts were used. But would require me cataloging every single file into a database, which would probably take me a few days if not even a dedicated week (and honestly this probably needs to be done any way).
Although this isn't a comforting thought by itself, it's not the problem (there's still a couple others also, but again, they're not what's stopping me).
The heart of the problem, and why I'm putting this project on hold: There are many background images that include npc's standing around. They aren't modeled characters, but part of the background images. These npc's simply do not scale well and really look out of place, even with neural networking, in fact, neural networking makes them look FAR worse. We could simply choose to ignore these handful of screens, but we'd be dealing with the same issues overall that we have now. HD images mixed with low-res or uterly destroyed npc's standing around that look horrible. These graphics require an artists touch. Maybe I'm wrong, but the only way I can see to repair this is to have someone actually redraw them or use those HD models/textures that many of the characters are using in game. I don't know how to work with the models at all right now, so I can't simply position characters with the HD textures that have been made and 'rebuild the scene' with them and take a picture or however it would/should be done. The tools for this might exist and I just haven't noticed or come across them yet, but without doing this (or something similar) to bring these characters up-to-par, there's simply no point in going thru all the effort required to rebuild these screens, at least I don't think it's worth it. I could complete the project regardless and hope that someone would 'fix' these out of place characters at some point, but then their own graphics might not 'fit' with my own and feel out of place yet again, better, but still out of place.
So for now, until I can figure out how to correct the characters in the game to also do the HD upscaling justice, I'm putting this on the back-burner. I will likely keep trying to finish it when I get bored and dig into the character problem as much as I can, but so far I'm not aware of how to fix this.
There aren't many screens like this that I'm aware of, but it simply destroys all the efforts I've been doing. If anyone is aware of what I'm talking about and knows how to fix it and/or is willing to help please pm me. I've never been against working with others on this project, and at this point, it would certainly help speed things along even if the character issue could be resolved just having more people also generating the final images. To help with this task all you would need is GIMP with Python-fu and G'MIC installed. Now that I have a 'mass' storage of files to work with I'm also altering my script to build them all instead of just one at a time, so I'd have to complete that as well as merge a couple scripts into one. I will/could probably have that completed in a few days likely at most, it's what I'm currently working on.
Also if someone is familiar with the naming convention with Pupu for identifying the files, I believe there is a structure there that can be used to help assist with automating rebuilding the backgrounds, but still haven't quite figured it out - any information regarding that would be very helpful and could save me from having to go over each file and catalogue what type of file it is. The Deling program also autobuilds the files as well from what I just noticed and am now using that as a base for my backgrounds, but it requires manually opening each background and saving them, and even then, there are a few that need to be placed in a 'fix' folder for further review before running thru my filter.
Either way, I think I need a break for a bit from this project regardless. I'd love to see this completed and can now see what needs to be done for the most part. There are shortcuts, but I'd rather do it right and complete it with something I'd be happy to play with, otherwise, I think I'd rather just play the game as it was originally designed tbh.
I'm sure I'll keep working on this project regardless, but I want to do it right and slow and steady wins the race. I really would like to see this project at least come to fruition to the point where I could run around even at the start of the game with all updated graphics just to say I could see it. But those npc characters, like I said, imo, destroys any hope of a fully fleshed-out final product imo, it's not impossible to fix, I simply don't believe I have the artist skills to do it, or the modeling knowledge required to rebuild them.
kennybones:
How about you put the work you've already done into a repo, and let other's have a go?
My thoughts on the backgrounds which have NPCs around, the best thing would probably be for someone to extract the 3d models of those characters and manually put them into the scene.
I feel it's a shame to put the entire project on hold just because of these scenes. I get it that you don't feel it's up to par (and it's not), but other's may have some ideas on how to solve the problem :)
blippyp:
--- Quote from: kennybones on 2019-01-05 13:06:16 ---My thoughts on the backgrounds which have NPCs around, the best thing would probably be for someone to extract the 3d models of those characters and manually put them into the scene.
--- End quote ---
I also agree that using the 3D models when possible is certainly the best method for screens like my previous post where I believe it's likely, but there are screens of npc's which I'm pretty sure have no models in the game like the one in this post. I'm pretty sure that having access to both the models as well as an actual artist is basically necessary, or at least an artist. They wouldn't even have to be super awesome, but good enough to redraw and color these characters in these scenes so they dont' look like a deformed mess. Another option I might have for the moment that would still kind of suck, but would very likely at least make them turn out better is not using the neural networking techniques on the characters and simply resizing them using normal methods and filtering them the same as everything else. They would be blockier than desired I'm sure and would still look out of place, but at least they'd kind of feel like they belong more and wouldn't appear horribly deformed. And in the future someone can always simply replace just those images as a side project.
--- Quote from: kennybones on 2019-01-05 13:06:16 ---How about you put the work you've already done into a repo, and let other's have a go?
--- End quote ---
If I actually do drop this project (which I haven't yet, just not expecting to release anything soon due to these problems, and am just letting you all know that), I'm not against posting what I've done if anyone is interested in using it as a base or to learn from or whatever. But I'd need a very large storage location. My project folder is already over 25GB's in size and will likely grow well past 30-40GB's before I finally 'toss in the towel'. I think Mega has a 50GB limit, so that might be an option assuming my source files don't grow past that. Either way, I'm sure there are options but I'm not ready to go that far just yet. I'm hoping someone will have a solution for the modeled characters, and if I looked hard enough and bugged enough people I could probably get some artist willing to help out somewhere online for the rest of the images.
--- Quote from: kennybones on 2019-01-05 13:06:16 ---I feel it's a shame to put the entire project on hold just because of these scenes.
--- End quote ---
I haven't given up, just don't see a solution at this point, and to complete this project properly I'm pretty sure I need to go over and catalogue many of the images, and there are a lot, almost 13,000 and many of the backgrounds (approximately 1K of them) actually have more than one associated with it and also needs to be documented. Initially, I felt this would be simpler, ie: extract the images, filter them, maybe apply some alpha's and be done with it, but this project is much bigger than I anticipated. I might even go so far as to dig into the Deling code to see how the creator of that is re-creating the backgrounds, whoever did that seems to have a pretty good handle on them, although even that isn't perfect. Who knows, in a month there might be a ESRGAN 2 released that will keep the alpha layering (that would be awesome), but somehow I doubt it.
Currently I'm just very discouraged, as I was hoping for something much more complete than what I'm currently looking at being able to provide, and I also thought I'd have it produced far sooner as well. I wasn't counting on my own filter process taking so long in the end either, I hadn't even considered it until I ran the AI filtering, but the math says it will take a long time.
I might just take a step back, take a deep breath and begin the long haul and instead produce the project in 'sections', like to start off, try to produce a demo area to check out like the garden and balamb that people can roam around in. That might generate interest and cause an artist or two to flock this way and be willing to help out with the screens I lack the skills to complete properly on my own, I don't believe there is a lot of them, and I'm not exactly a horrible artist either myself, so I suppose I could do them if need be, but even a 'hobbyist' artist would be far better than myself for such a task.
--- Quote from: kennybones on 2019-01-05 13:06:16 ---other's may have some ideas on how to solve the problem :)
--- End quote ---
Well, that was my primary reason for my previous post tbh, I was asking for help from anyone who might know how to do that. :P
LeonhartGR:
I believe in you mate! Go on! :mrgreen:
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