[FF7PC] Arks Fields *Beta* (Process Update 26/04/19)

[Manakaiser]

Discontinued in its current form but something else is nonetheless coming =)

[satsuki]

Please add my final pack to your comparing sample ^^
http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=18661.0
here the farm full picture if you need it for comparaison http://wowsatsuki.free.fr/frmin_0_base_0000131.png

[SmallBaguette]

Wow, this looks incredible!! This AI upscaling tech is so exciting.

Sorry for the noob question, I may have misead your post, but is the iro download of your work for the entire game or just 1/3? I currently have remako installed and would like to try yours out instead but just wondering if I should wait.

Thanks!

[satsuki]

Why not try mine, it's complete and is not a beta ^^

[Manakaiser]

Please add my final pack to your comparing sample ^^
http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=18661.0
here the farm full picture if you need it for comparaison http://wowsatsuki.free.fr/frmin_0_base_0000131.png

i wanted to download/test your pack for a while now but mediafire is an extremely slow hoster for me i literally download at 100kb per second; please provide a mega or google drive link. Added the comparision as requested; Check op.

Wow, this looks incredible!! This AI upscaling tech is so exciting.

Sorry for the noob question, I may have misead your post, but is the iro download of your work for the entire game or just 1/3? I currently have remako installed and would like to try yours out instead but just wondering if I should wait.

Thanks!

Its the whole game, but ive already succesfully done significant improvements to my scaling model so the next release will be alot/a bit (depending on the field) better than the current sample screens. I added a quick example to the initial post.

[SmallBaguette]

Why not try mine, it's complete and is not a beta ^^

Sure, I'll get downloading it now. Thanks!

Its the whole game, but ive already succesfully done significant improvements to my scaling model so the next release will be alot/a bit (depending on the field) better than the current sample screens. I added a quick example to the initial post.

Great, looking forward to it. Thanks!

[satsuki]

something bad about the comparison my picture have not the same resolution as the over ones, your are ingame with aali driver filter, mine is simply low quality resized ....
i'll upoad to another place so you can do a real comparison...

[satsuki]

i added a google drive so you can test ingame : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BdD8HvHAxcrrMTKwzS0icznKuVM997zJ/view?usp=sharing

[Manakaiser]

Sigh... No im not ingame which you can tell by the fact that i dont have a sunglare so i dont have aalis driver filter and also mine are same source size/res as the one you linked me at the roughly the same zoom level (which you can tell by the table being roughly the same size and the source images having the same resolution). My model is just extremely sharp especially the newer one which is not to everyones liking anyway.

But look, regardless I really dont care about it in a competitive way and really just want to put out a different type of fields in the best way i can. Ive only been working on this mod for 3 days now. So to ease out of this, there you go: Yours look much better!! And I have removed the Comparision pics altogether too. Hope that helps. 

Nonetheless I apreciate your tool and how it helps the community regarding the fields. And thx for the drive link I might look at them when I catch a free moment.

[Fewtch]

Why not try mine, it's complete and is not a beta ^^

Dont come into somebody else's thread and advertise your own stuff... Whats wrong with you? 

Its using a selftrained FF8 Model of mine and is distinct enough from the previous Ai upscales to warrant a release I think.

Have to say these are a marked improvement over some of the other stuff I've seen, I wonder if its got something to do with it being FF8 trained. Either way, they're gorgeous, my jaw actually dropped for real. Cant wait to see more!

[Kaldarasha]

Dont come into somebody else's thread and advertise your own stuff... Whats wrong with you? 

Uhm, you know on which work this project is based on, don't you? Also this isn't your thread so don't act as if you are a moderator (yes I know the same counts for me). If the OP has a problem with it I think he would say it.

Nevertheless, there is no definitive upscale project and it's very likely, that in the end we will use a mixture of all current upscales. It would be even better if a lot of people would merge the fields by hand with an image editor and work out some details.

[Fewtch]

I don't have to be a moderator to know posting in someones thread and asking others to use your work instead is messed up. Can't believe I have to actually defend myself here. As far as what OP would or wouldnt say, it's pretty obvious to anybody who can read that they're already uncomfortable, but I'm guessing you can't read between the lines. Anyway, that's my final word on that.

[satsuki]

So to ease out of this, there you go: Yours look much better!! And I have removed the Comparision pics altogether too. Hope that helps. 

that's not the point, mine's not the best, only a matter of taste, but you resized my picture to get it to the right size but used a not interpolated resize for this so it looked as a low resolution picture.

So here's an ingame screenshot from mine then yours (left mine, right yours) :
http://wowsatsuki.free.fr/syark.png (your current farm scene)
http://wowsatsuki.free.fr/sywa2.png (a exemple from game start)
None seems realy better than another, mine seems to my eye more natural, your is sharper but maybe too much, some part seems un-natural to my eye, like in the second exemple, yours have gradiants of colors instead of smooth transitions (i said MY eye, it's not "the" truth, only my opinion).
Seems you have hard time to filter lights (it's an hard part to do and some need boring manual tweaking) feel free to use my light effects in your pack if you wan't, i don't think the light effect can realy be improved and it's realy time consuming to optimise, so better use your time to finaling your pack, it seems realy promising.
If you don't mind to share your gen model, i'd realy like to test it raw/mixed with other models and with some preprocessing ^^

@Fewtch
If i happily share my tools and techniques (and it take me loooooots of time to do them, specialy the 4xcut tool) it's to help anyone to do is own works in ff7, i realy hope one upscaled pack will come out and will be so good that my own pack will look realy bad in front of it, but to point that out we need proper comparison.
If i pointed out my works in this thread, it's because some user don't want to beta test but a finished bug free pack, i pointed my as it is, not to say it's better, only it's a final release.
To my mind, the "ultimate" pack will not be out now, in some month/years maybe,  because the IA gan upscale process is not in its final stage, when a "almost perfect" trained model will be out we can have an ultime uspcale..... before that, it's only as you like, some will like more details/grain, some more smoothed/sharpened, some like false added texture (like in gigapixel soft)....

I'm here for sharing and helping (as i can of course ^^) and comparing as much as possible the differents results realy help in that way

[Manakaiser]

Alright lets get back on track now =)

Yeah I forgot to separate the lights before the first scaling to avoid banding, its already fixed for the next release. Scaling the fields with both new models is also done; Hand selecting will take me a few days though since i cant commit too many hours a day until the weekend. Should be out by Saturday/Sunday.

[satsuki]

Great you already deal with it.
Seems a great gan model i realy would like to test it, if you can share it ^^

[tracido]

Alright lets get back on track now =)

Yeah I forgot to separate the lights before the first scaling to avoid banding, its already fixed for the next release. Scaling the fields with both new models is also done; Hand selecting will take me a few days though since i cant commit too many hours a day until the weekend. Should be out by Saturday/Sunday.

:O I am excited for any collaboration work you all are doing, I have just started playing with ESRGAN, if I get anywhere with it, I'll share as well.  Your file went up on 7th Heaven and it's working so far btw. Looking forward to any updates.

[satsuki]

If it can help you i set up an option to process only the base layers (up to 999) or only the fx layers (1000 and more) in the new version of 4xcut (updated post)

[Manakaiser]

is up to 1000 everything that is non lighting effects? if so that sounds awesome indeed!

[satsuki]

I've mistaken ^^'  need to do a per field list because on some fields like las0_1 some animation are up to 82332 ^^'
(by the way if you can share you models when final, i'd realy like to test them ^^)

[Manakaiser]

Updated the OP with some Previews for the new update; Im revisiting most scenes individually to make it a noticable improvement over the beta so it will take a bit longer; currently at around 800/3.5k.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/400479577186631705/569563998467653643/holu_2_0_base_0000129.png
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/400479577186631705/569564011960729630/holu_1_0_base_0000128.png
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/400479577186631705/569617127183745044/md8_1_0_base_0000516.png
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/400479577186631705/569617148989931550/blin59_0_base_0000129.png
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/400479577186631705/569617155910402050/ancnt4_0_base_0000128.png
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/400479577186631705/569617181873143937/anfrst_5_0_base_0000129.png


@Satsuki: Its constantly iterating and a wip as I go, but Ill share you the Final models once Im done with this update.

[tracido]

^ Wow, really like the work here btw, can't wait for the final version..

[Manakaiser]

Devised a new ESRGAN Prefilter that is less damaging to detail yet smoother than WAIFU prefilter.

After some consideration due to the increase in workload that comes with it I decided to apply it selectively to keep highest possible precision intact for areas that dont need filtering. Its a bit of a slower process but it feels worth it to me.

WiP Comparision Image: https://imgsli.com/MzM4NQ
Affected on this map: bathroom clutter, some walls, couches, pillows/bed headlight, mirror, flower-table corner, bottom end of stairs and large window light

Hope you like it; Ill keep relevant updates coming.
Cheers.

[tracido]

Devised a new ESRGAN Prefilter that is less damaging to detail yet smoother than WAIFU prefilter.

After some consideration due to the increase in workload that comes with it I decided to apply it selectively to keep highest possible precision intact for areas that dont need filtering. Its a bit of a slower process but it feels worth it to me.

Comparision Image: https://imgsli.com/MzM4NQ
Affected on this map: bathroom clutter, some walls, couches, pillows/bed headlight, flower-table corner, bottom end of stairs and large window light

Hope you like it; Ill keep relevant updates coming.
Cheers.

Is the google drive being updated with any ongoing changes, or are you just going to do a final update?

[Manakaiser]

Yeah im going for 1 significant update sorta beta > 1.0; Sorry if you were hoping for small patches. =/

[tracido]

Yeah im going for 1 significant update sorta beta > 1.0; Sorry if you were hoping for small patches. =/

No worries, I just wanted to check. I am currently using a mix around with 4 field maps right now, and leaving Satsuki's /char field edits in for all 4, and even yours works great with it as is.