Note: 1.0 has released. Check it out.
Field Backgrounds
The field backgrounds are the meat bones of the mod and while most of it is done, there are a few outstanding bugs and imperfections that need fixing. I have been working on those.Battle Backgrounds
While the background textures in the battles weren’t as jarringly low-res as the field backgrounds, improvements can still be made. So I have been running through the battle backgrounds as well.
The biggest challenge will be to have the background textures with transparency look good (think trees, scaffolding, etc.). Upscaling areas with transparency can look weird with any editing, so I have to go through each of those textures manually and make sure everything cuts out nicely.
What I have so far is a start, but I think I can make it look better.
World Textures
I have upscaled the world textures through AI Gigapixel as well and it makes it look a lot crisper.
The task remaining here is checking that textures tile well. As you can see in the second image, the grayish ground texture’s edges don’t blend seamlessly into the next tile. I’m going around FF7’s world and documenting which textures look good and which still need work.
Models
I have decided not to touch the models (characters, enemies, etc.). I like to keep the mod as close to the original as possible. Seeing as the model textures are all flatly shaded, without any texture detail, upscaling these textures is not going to have any noticeable effect.There are many mods out there that change the textures and 3D models of characters, enemies, etc. so there’s enough out there for people to choose from and combine with my mod.
Videos
People have asked me to upscale the in-game videos as well. I have done some tests, one of which you can see below. As you can see, from moment to moment each frame can look quite nice but when played in sequence distortions start to occur (like a moving Van Gogh painting). This is less noticeable on YouTube, but quite noticeable when playing the less compressed version that would be playing in-game.AI Gigapixel and other upscale models work well on static images, but for moving images they are not very suited out of the box. I feel like it's not good enough, but I'm happy to hear your opinion.
After the v1.0 release of the mod, I’ll take another look at the videos and see what advances have been made and what can be done to upscale them in a way that is of a high enough quality throughout the video.
Road map
With the beta release, people have been giving a taste of the mod. The feedback is enough to help me move forward. Since this mod is a multiple GB download and releasing updates takes a lot of work, I won't be doing any further updates until version 1.0. This version will include at least:
- Bug fixes/improvements to field backgrounds
- Upscaled battle backgrounds
- Upscaled world textures
This way all the essential stuff will be in a single, bug-free, download for people to enjoy. Less pressing stuff like upscaled movies (see above) will probably come later, perhaps in time for a second playthrough.
Speaking about a release date, I can only say: When It’s Done, It’s Done™
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