This is a tremendous undertaking for just one man. All I ask is for your kind patience._______________________________________________________________
Mission:The basic idea is to upscale the field backgrounds from Final Fantasy VII by a factor of 4 using Perfect Resize 7.1, and to maintain them as close to the original images as possible. Therefore imaging effects are kept to a minimum and are only applied to sharpen detail, add detail and correct color distortion that is caused by the resize. I am constantly experimenting and rechecking to reach the highest quality possible for this project.
Feedback is always appreciated_______________________________________________________________
Releases:Note: Installation instructions are at the bottomV0.35 Torrent [
uncompressed] [215 backgrounds complete] [1.25gb]
http://www.mediafire.com/?o32ac3cv6nvj8kkI am seeding this one pretty much constantly and Aali is also helping to seed at amazing speeds so it should be no problem
MegaUpload
Installer [
uncompressed] [854mb]
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=HJJMHNHPNote: Thanks to Kranmer for making this installerMediaFire
Another Installer [
compressed] 7 part download
http://www.mediafire.com/?hrv9b6cxcxnd8Note: Thanks to Vgr255 for making this installer for the compressed versionLaunch the executable and select your modpath directory (under the mods\ folder)
Google
Mirror [
compressed] [991mb]
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B3FK0dqybqUCYTYzODQxZDktNzk5Yi00YjNiLTk5ZTYtZDM1ODhmYmYzZTFm&hl=enMegaUpload
Mirror [
compressed] [991mb]
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=NBKYFPYQplease inform me of a dead link!Enjoy!Note: there is no visible difference between the compressed and uncompressed versions, although some of the images may have been reduced from 32bit depth to 24bit depth so I have decided to include both. The compressed version should load faster in game but I haven't tested this yet*
Attention!*
V0.35 SourcePart I [700mb]:
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B3FK0dqybqUCZTQ5NmZhNzAtZjg4Zi00NmJlLTkzZGItNWY2NmJlOWRmOWJm&hl=enPart II [648mb] :
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B3FK0dqybqUCNDIyNTZjMTItZWVhMC00OTZiLWEyNTYtNTY0ZGZlMjBiZTRh&hl=enThe source version is available for those of you who would like to make changes, would like to filter them in a different style, or would just like to take a look at what the layers look like before they are converted using Palmer. If you make a change or a correction that you think might benefit my pack, and you would like to share it with me, just send me the source layers with your modifications and I'll check it out.
_______________________________________________________________
Important:Note: Some of the scenes cause glitch errors due to palette changes. I have included the files anyways for those that wish to use them. If you want to get rid of the errors just delete the PNG that has the 15 in it. IE tin_1_15_00.png
Please if you find any problems be descriptive and post a picture if possibleI am spending a lot of time going over these images and correcting any errors I find but when your working with thousands upon thousands of images it is perfectly normal to miss something so please do not hesitate to post your issues!
_______________________________________________________________
News:[
03/29/2011]
I am slowly pumping out new backgrounds but I am still more focused on cleaning up the ones that are already finished.
my main focus right now is smoothing, check this thread for the details
http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=11596.0and in this file is a perfect example of the drastic difference between smoothed and unsmoothed layers
http://www.mediafire.com/?cwm5kmz08tcf5xx[
04/06/2011]
I have found a new plugin for Photoshop called Perfectum which allows me to make all of these photos look even better and more detailed when combined with a new technique I have developed. I will be applying this to all the images which are already finished as well as whats to come in the future. I am really excited about this! Check out the full, in game, comparison here!
http://www.mediafire.com/?2kbecfc817f8bu4[
04/09/2011]
1.epic problem that has been stalling progress for almost two weeks has finally been solved! Read about it here!
http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=11663.0Thanks to this new solution, progress can once again resume at a steady pace. However do not expect a full release as quickly as the last one. Due to the high amount of errors in my first release I am testing much more thoroughly for each image. Plus the smoothing process, which I am happy to report is finally moving along at a consistent and reasonable pace, still adds a decent amount of time to the workload so it will be a while.
2.I did say above not to expect a FULL release. I consider a full release to be a version upgrade, this will not happen until I have smoothed the layers in all of the existing images from v0.35 and added a decent chunk of new backgrounds on top of that. However stay posted because I have decided to release smaller separate packs from the new areas I am working on. First up will be
Gold Saucer! probably in about a week or two as long as my schedule stays the way it is now. The main purpose of this new release schedule is two fold: to give you guys something new to experience without having to wait for the next full version release, and second, to demonstrate smoothed layers and the Perfectum filter in action!
All of this careful attention will help result in a much cleaner final product. I will not allow myself to be rushed._______________________________________________________________
Screenshots:Here are some
screens. I would recommend you open them up to full size in order to see them clearly. Hope you all enjoy them!
http://img41.imageshack.us/g/zz4000000000.jpg/I converted them to jpeg so that I could upload them, so you may find some small artifacts. Don't worry about them if you do, they won't be there in the release.
Please note that these images have not been updated using my new Perfectum method, I will update these screenshots once I have finished cleaning up much more of the backgrounds_______________________________________________________________
Progress:
Finished:The Northern Cave
Return to Midgar Mission at the end disc 2
The Entire Shinra Building [
Smoothed]
The Highwind
Rocket Town and the inside of the rocket
The Ancient Forest [
Smoothed] [
Updated]
The materia caves, Lucretia cave, chocobo sage house, sleeping man's cave, and blacksmiths house
The Forgotten City [
Smoothed] [
Updated]
Cosmo Canyon
Underwater Reactor and Sub
Galnika
the sequence with cloud and tifa in the lifestream
Mideel
clouds end of game flash back with zack
In progress:The Gold Saucer
_______________________________________________________________
Installation:Requirements:Final Fantasy VII for PC
1.02 Official Patch
Aali's Custom Graphics Driver
http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=8306.msg156782#msg156782to install just place the field folder in your mod path "mods/(mod path)/"
for example if your using the Team Avalanche Graphical Overhaul then you would place it in "mods/avalanche"
to reiterate: place the
field folder inside the mod path, not the
folder tree inside of the field folder or it won't work!
additionally, if you are downloading the torrent, you can just tell your torrent client to save the field folder in the mod path and it will download everything exactly where it needs to bealso make sure you have the mod path set up and activated in Aali's config file
for example
mod_path = avalanche
_______________________________________________________________
Thank you!