Touching up all rooms before the Castle release (III)

Hello!

Let’s continue with the Pre-castle Release screenshots.

Again, I’ve done lots of lighting edits. Here I’m showing some of them. Even I’m alss doing effect refinements and replacements, I’m not sharing any of them because the differences are barely noticeable in a simple screenshot. So… you’ll have to check them by yourselves when the Castle section is out! 🙂

Have a good weekend!

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74 responses to “Touching up all rooms before the Castle release (III)”

  1. Roman says:

    Exceptional work as always

  2. Engin says:

    Great work, for the past two weeks I find myself visiting this website everyday, I’m getting really impatient about the Castle release, however, one thing gets me worried – the lightning effect edits. Performance wise, how does the game handle it? any increase/decrease in fps? any stutter/drops?

    Also, will you guys be releasing these lightning edits in Village as well?!

    • albert says:

      Hehe good question. No worries! All edits are mostly hex edits that just change the lights behaviour. It’s something similar to “change colour from red to blue” but applied to a lot of other light attributes
      This time we’ll just release the Castle area. But we’ll do the same lighting/effects edits to the entire game

      Thank you for your patience!

  3. Alex says:

    Incredible work! Can’t wait for the castle release 🙂

  4. fifazalata says:

    Fantastic work, Albert
    Any ETA on the Castle Release Date?

  5. Cris Without H says:

    I can’t help but notice that the colour of the walls is completely different.

    • Sergey Tokarev says:

      Yeah, I have the same feeling right now. I don’t think these lighting changes are bad at all, and most of them make sense. But some people will say something like: “it changes the mood of the original work” for sure.
      I’ll just say: “Keep up the good work, Albert. You certainly know what you’re doing” 🙂

      • Frannz says:

        To be fair, it’s not the colour of the walls, its just that the game was pretty inconsistent about when flames would cast light on things, and now they seem to be adding the light effects to those sources to make it consistent.

        • albert says:

          That’s right! The textures are faithful in colour and contrast but I added and edited the lighting sources because of the blue/purple flames and lava

          • sean says:

            i understand why you would add the blue light sources to flames as it is accurate, but it does change the feeling at times. Its obviously not such a big deal when your actually playing but the side by side comparisons really let it stick it out

          • albert says:

            Hehe yes, I know what you mean but some changes are necessary in my opinion. And that’s the point after all: how many of these edits actually would be really noticeable if we haven’t post comparison shots about them?

          • Cris Without H says:

            Still, I think that giving them a slightly warmer shade wouldn’t hurt. Then again, it’s your project, not mine.

          • albert says:

            No worries. We’ve changed a lot of things because of feedback!

            A slightly warmer light… Everything would become grey XD
            The merchant torch cast blue light and the surroundings become more blue. This is exactly the same. Purple flames cast purple light.

            The original is different, you are right. And believe me when I say I understand you perfectly. But the original has also ultra blurred textures, blocky, poorly mapped models and lots of modeling mistakes. And I want to emphasise the word “MISTAKE”. They are not inaccuracies: inverted normals, distorted models by accident, wrong texture applied on the models, etc…

            What I mean is even if we keep sticking to the original as much as possible, I can’t trust blindly any “the original was like this” reasoning at this point because…. the original is quite a mess sometimes… :/

          • Cris Without H says:

            I actually meant giving the TEXTURES a warmer shade, not the lights.

          • albert says:

            The purple tone is only around the torches, the rest of the room keep the original colours and light. If I change the textures colour everything would become warmer-

          • Cris Without H says:

            Okay, I see. I must say, all the environments look really impresive. But I’m very curious how will you handle the characters, especially Leon and Ashley. Not to even mention all sorts of fleshy things, cause looking at references for those will give you nightmares.

          • albert says:

            Thanks!
            Haha yes, I agree. I’ve already seen really disgusting stuff looking for some of those textures.
            I still don’t know what exactly we’ll do with them but they must be really faithful to the original but HD. Simple as that. No space for liberties this time.

        • Cris Without H says:

          I was wondering if you’d go for the hyper realistic look for the characters, but I guess with these models it could be difficult. Still, I’m curious to see what it will look like.

          • albert says:

            I guess the differences won’t be as huge as the stage textures. It will “simply” be the same but they will be detailed even at very close distances 🙂
            We still don’t now if we’ll do some 3D edits to the models but I think they will be minor corrections
            We’ll decide about the details on the go

          • Cris Without H says:

            I see. It will be interesting to see those characters in their HD renditions, since I don’t think Capcom ever did that (except for some Ganado HD textures on PS4 and Xbox One, but they weren’t very faithful). Also, I just wanted to say, I’m really sorry about Cris’ job. You guys mentioned it would be terminated in January. I hope he’ll be able to find a new one.

  6. Jonatan P. Oliveira says:

    Great work as always.
    And nice weekend to you too!

  7. eric says:

    GREAT WORK !!!!

  8. Michael says:

    Delicious.

  9. Alvare says:

    Absolutely great job. Couple of remarks:

    -Ashley looks way better on the 2nd screen, original one looks like 3ds max’s default scanline render lighting.
    -Screen 4 love that blue wall strip in contrast to the orange light from the lava.
    -Screen 8 Lacks 3d depth in hd quality. In next revision I suggest you try modeling the depth of the texture.
    -Screen 10 That door.. looks great. Don’t touch that texture.
    -Screen 12 Insanely great looking. The head on the far right looks really flat. How many of these are in the room?
    -Screen 14 and 16. Light edit is cool. I don’t like the look of the design of the original. The texture looks like it repeats too much and it reminds me of a barrel. It also lacks the depth the texture’s indicating.

    I’m going to donate 20 bucks to you now.

    • Alvare says:

      I know you can’t 3D edit everything, easier said than done, of course.
      You can decide which one you agree with and which one don’t and leave it be.
      Because I know these kind of nitpicky edits are tiresome.

    • albert says:

      Thank you again for your support Alv! 😀
      Screen 8: Everything was shining when I took the screenshot because of the new specular effect I added. Maybe that’s the reason it looks that flat? And, of couse the missing light. It makes the scene more contrasted but it was a mistake. It’s better in motion hehe
      And I’m also working on the best mipmaping config. I’m trying everything looks more sharp at the distance 😉
      Screen 12: Do you mean the 3D model or the texture? The texture looks like this because of the intense lighting and bloom effect. I think that’s quite natural and normal. And about the 3D model, I’ve seen in real life some 6-sided models like this. It’s not suposed to be round
      https://treneando.files.wordpress.com/2016/07/farola-estacion-neomudejar-toledo.jpg
      Screen 14-16: I’d like to change the entire design of the ceiling but it would be too much XD I never liked this area. IMO it was a rushed room plenty of questionable design decisions and this “tunnel” was completelly recycled from 1st Ashley room.

      • Alvare says:

        Anisotropic mipmapping?! 😀
        That’d be great. I love sharpness of textures in distance.

        “Screen 12: Do you mean the 3D model or the texture?”
        https://www.re4hd.com/wp-content/gallery2/0124-preparing-castle-iii/CR306B.jpg
        The face on the wall to the right, next to the lamp. (In the texture) Should pop a little from the wall.

        “Screen 8: Everything was shining when I took the screenshot because of the new specular effect I added. Maybe that’s the reason it looks that flat?”
        Yes. It’s the columns, sword and shield that look flat. If the specular/bump map has no depth or correct relation to the diffuse texture it will mess up it’s contrast and lose it’s depth.

        The missing light fix in the first two screens is perfect. It sort of looks like Ashley’s skin has sub surface scattering, even tho it’s non-existent.

        “Screen 14-16”
        Yeah, but the structure looks weird this time. Maybe you could add some wood support beans and planks to make it a little more interesting. Recycling from other previous rooms and adding it to it’s current design will make it look more nicer.

        • albert says:

          Hhaha I misread that Screen 12 comment XD. Yes. there are a looot of faces all arond the room
          Screen 8: It was an unfortunate screenshot. Anyway, I contrasted even more the specular map used and the results are better. I’ve also added shadows behind the swords and shields 😉
          14-16 I’ll think about something that doesn’t deviate too much from the original!

  10. Boris says:

    The giant insignia torch in the second screen still looks like it clips with the little supporting column. Can it be moved a little to the side? Screens 7 and 8 are interesting as well. While your textures are certainly an improvement in resolution, the textures of the swords, shields and the square pattern behind fall a little flat somehow. As the other poster mentioned, the original seems to have more 3d depth. The shield seems to have a nice gleam as well that the new texture doesn’t.

    Nitpicks aside, great work as usual.

    • albert says:

      Hi! and thaks again for the feedback.
      Do you mean the handrail? I didn’t notice that! Good eye
      7-8: I think that’s because of the specular effect. I took the screenshot just at the moment the shields are shinning. And the original textures had that effect “printed” on the picture.
      In brief: It’s better in motion 😛

      • Toni says:

        I know what he means with the shields. The originals have a 2D border/a black outline. The edited ones look flat – they appear properly rounded but with the thickness of a piece of paper. A simple bevel effect would improve this. In Photoshop or similiar you can set the light direction for the bevel. When matching this with the postion of the light source in the game, it should look quite realistic.
        Just don’t make the bevel too thick. Just a few pixels.

        Another reason why this deosn’t look natural are the missing shadows. Every layer needs to cast a shadow on the layer below. Shadows are quite sensitive – tiny chages can already have a great impact in depth appearance.

        Ist this whole thing a single element? This would make it easy to add shadows. Wouldn’t know how to do it if they are single objects though…

        • albert says:

          The problem is the same shieds are located at different locations. But anyway, tha screenshot was unfortunate because the new specular effect was at its maximun from that angle. That’s why they look weird and plain. You see what I mean when you have the chance of see it in motion 😉
          Oh. I’ve just added a shadow layer behind everything 2 hours ago 😛 Thanks for the feedback!

      • therealest says:

        He means how the torch’s base is the base of one of the columns of the railing. That’s how it is in the original as well, so you changing it isn’t a big deal. The square base of the torch lines up with the angle of the railing’s bottom, so it may have been a very intentional design.

  11. Frannz says:

    Really in doubt if I should just play this part or should I wait you guys release the full thing with those changes in the village area…
    Amazing job!

    • Frannz says:

      Just a little doubt that came up…
      You consider the castle levels really complete after releasing, or you think it will be like the village (not really complete, since some edits discoveries came after the release)?

      • albert says:

        I’d say they are almost finished. We’ll listen to all feedback, of course. And the last 7 rooms still need the second texture/3D revision (but they’ll include the lighting/effect revision)

  12. Frank Nitty says:

    Looking forward to the castle area

  13. DarkSamus says:

    Fantastic work as always Albert, can’t wait to take some 4K screenshots in the Castle section.

  14. NEGAARMAX says:

    Es tan hermoso, una duda ¿vendrán primeo las correcciones en la iluminación a la isla o en la versión 2 de la villa?

    • albert says:

      Gracias!
      Mmm buena pregunta. Aun no nos lo hemos planteado XD Supongo que iremos alternando. Aunque yo soy partidario de que la próxima “entrega” sea la Isla

  15. Vick S. Bateman says:

    This is amazing..
    So glad that from the latest revision you’ve also fixed the stretched texture of the wall near the stairs in the area of pic 1 and 2.
    Mind blowing stuff anyway, you’re an hero man

    • albert says:

      Thanks! Haha I didn’t notice that the stairs area was visible from that angle. But yes, it semms I’m not the only one who dislike those weird distortions 😉

  16. Toni says:

    It’s hard to believe how bad the original graphics actually were. Don’t remember them to be *that* bad.
    Some parts are acceptable, but some are just unbearable. Especially stone walls. (second picture for example). It almost hurts in the eyes. The graininess, the bad contrast… it’s hard to recognise the shapes properly. Definitely will do another playthrough when this awesome project is finished.

  17. metroidguy says:

    fucking beautiful

  18. Nelson says:

    Albert, q tal, una pregunta o petición, en las imágenes q muestras los errores corregidos de iluminación, cada fuente de luz en la version de GC almenos servia? o los errores de iluminacion solo son parte de los posteriores porteos q al final dañaron estos efectos en la version de Steam? y si es posible y no es mucha molestia, en algunas escenas q comparas la ilumacion de Steam original con la corregida, en las q sea mas evidente el arreglo del efecto de luz, crees poder mostrar tb un pantallazo de la version de GC o Wii con emu? solo si no es molestia.

    Un saludo y gran trabajo como siempre con todo este proyecto, lo dice un fan mas esperando volver a tener la oportunidad de jugar o revivir lo que fue la version de GC pero con las mejoras actuales de este proyecto, sigue adelante! ? ??

    • albert says:

      Hola Nelson! Gracias por el comentario y la pregunta, que nosotros damos por sentado pero que no tiene porque ser tan obvio.

      La iluminación de Steam es exacta a la de GC/Wii. Cero diferencias.
      En las versiones HD de RE4 solo se vieron afectados algunos efectos, y también el que algunas salas se ven más rojas y sobreexpuestas que en GC/Wii. Hemos podido arreglar alguno de los efectos o al menos disimularlos. Y también hemos podido eliminar ese tono rojo en todas las salas, devolviendo así el color original.

      Así pues, si tomamos una captura de Steam (una vez eliminado el tono rojo), y tomamos otra del mismo sitio mediante emulador de GC/Wii, las capturas serán idénticas prácticamente 😉

      • Nelson says:

        Perfecto, gracias por responder estimado, no es necesario entonces poner imágenes de GC, me alegra saber que las mejoras van por buen camino, será interesante probar las secciones del castillo con las mejoras, gracias por este enorme trabajo tanto tuyo como de Cris en su momento ??

  19. BG says:

    I’m curious about the unlit candles. Is there evidence they were intended to be lit, but weren’t due to oversights? I’m guessing so, based on CR308A.

    The chairs in CR305B seem a little flat. Maybe raise the cushion part up a bit?

    Also maybe it’s me, but the stones in the water in CR309A seem more “realistic” than the HD ones in CR309B. Maybe it’s the lighting, I dunno.

    Also wow @ the texture mapping to the left of Leon’s head in CR399A. I have no idea what they were trying to do there lol.

    • albert says:

      I’m sure that was an oversight. There are only 2 sconces in this room and the light sources are there. There are several slip-ups regarding candles all over the game. For example, in CR305B (the one with the chairs) the candles were also unlit (BTW Maybe I’ll do something to those chairs… ;))
      The stones in 9A are now illuminated by the new blue light. I guess that’s what make the difference.

      Thank you for the feedback! :))

  20. therealest says:

    #1 Albert, what made you change the plaga symbol torch to have it with the symbol jutting out of the circle https://www.re4hd.com/wp-content/gallery2/0124-preparing-castle-iii/CR303B.jpg? I like it like that, it reminds me of some stuff in the game I can’t remember exactly.

    #2 The brick template looks a little too repetitive (the browning of the beige bricks), to the point that it stands out as a pattern. Could you maybe dull it/wash it out a little bit to be more like the original, and so it isn’t so obviously a pattern, like in https://www.re4hd.com/wp-content/gallery2/0124-preparing-castle-iii/CR307A.jpg?

    #3 The sword handle with the stripes look fashionable but don’t resemble the original. It’d be more faithful to the original vision to make the handle black, with a simple, small metal line going through the middle. With the bottom of the handle being metal too. https://www.re4hd.com/wp-content/gallery2/0124-preparing-castle-iii/CR304A.jpg https://www.re4hd.com/wp-content/gallery2/0124-preparing-castle-iii/CR304B.jpg

    #4 The bats in the game look like paper cut out bats, if there is a bat template could you maybe put in a new skin for the bats? If you’d have to manually add it for every single bat then forget it. (https://www.re4hd.com/wp-content/gallery2/0124-preparing-castle-iii/CR309B.jpg)

    All in all, I think everything looks phenomenal, as usual.

    • albert says:

      Hello again!
      #1 It’s like this in other areas of the game. Otherwise, the Iluminados emblem would be incomplete. That’s why Cris brough back the sign to its “complete version”
      #2 I did several changes to the entire corridor. Let’s see if you like the results when the Castle section is out 😉
      #3 I’m taking note of this detail. But… I like the HD version the most XD. Sometimes we simply take some small liberties for our own pleasure. As a kind of auto-reward for all the hard work haha
      #4 We still haven’t reskin any enemy/animal/character But I don’t think a HD texture for those bats will make a big difference because they move really fast! Maybe the problem is the animation/3D model. Anyway, we’ll try to get the best look for them as possible when the time arrives 🙂
      Thank you again!

      Thank you

  21. hunk...er mimo de siempre says:

    A todo esto, me ha surgido una duda, cuando saqueis la parte del castillo a que zonas del juego os referiis exactamente?.Es decir la remasterizacion solo cubre todo lo que esta relacionado con el castillo, o directamente cubre toda la etapa del castillo y sus exteriores hasta que terminamos yendo a la isla?.Si esto ultimo fuese asi, eso quiere decir que la parte que hay para descargar actualmente, no solo remasteriza el pueblo, si no tambien todo el recorrido hasta que llegamos al castillo no?.Otra duda que me ha surgido es si todas esas mejoras que habeis hecho en iluminacion y otros detalles vais incluyendola en la descarga de la villa que hay de momento, es decir, actualizais esa descarga cada cierto tiempo para incluir las mejoras que habeis estado haciendo a las zonas del pueblo y todo lo relacionado con este?

    • albert says:

      La parte del castillo incluirá desde que Leon cruza la puerta azul de escaneado de retina hasta que Leon sube a la barca con Ada 🙂
      La descarga del Pueblo se queda tal y como está, de otro modo sería un problema y una gran cantidad de tiempo la que tendríamos que dedicar a actualizarla cada tanto.
      Aun no sabemos si sacaremos otra actualización del pueblo antes de la versión final y completa. Yo creo que no, que daremos prioridad a sacar la parte de la isla y después ya el pack final completo. Pero todo so suposiciones…
      Saludos!

      • hunk...er mimo de siempre says:

        Ok, estare esperando la descarga, gracias por la aclaracion…aunque yo continuare esperando a que saqueis el pack completo XDDDD

  22. mofailed says:

    It never ceases to amaze me how much people want this game to look or “feel” like the original. All I can say is lol at the original graphics, this project hasn’t shown a single improvement that wasn’t needed. My favourite image is cr306b, the lamp holder shows beautiful details now ! Nice work Cris n Albert. I think cr308a is a problem that happens else where in this castle as well, Its like crapcom just forgot to light the candles in some places & others there are a light without lanterns or candles. Last time I noticed this it was the area where Salazar has cut scene where he tells Leon his age.

  23. Jim says:

    It’s look incredible. What an great job.

  24. Alvare says:

    Guys, just finished Resident Evil 7 on ps4 playing non-stop for two days. Absolutely great game and I recommend you to play it. It’s a kind of original formula for the franchise but it worked pretty well in my opinion. Let me explain the difference from the previous titles:

    -More serious and darker tone. Humor is existent but different.
    Mostly through achievements and some of the quotes from antagonists and protagonist.
    -Physiological horror elements
    -Flashback story elements with really good plot twist you won’t see coming, especially if you don’t read all papers and logs.
    -Three very scary antagonists on same level of Re4’s chief Mendez
    -Suspense and unexpected jump scares. Love them, if you do too, you’re up for a great time. xD
    -Interesting npc characters you’ll encounter.

    I’m not going to spoil so that’s all. 😛

    • albert says:

      Thanks for the review! I also read some other no-spoiler reviews and it seems Capcom did a good job! I’ll give a try when I have the time… in 2018 maybe XD

      • Alvare says:

        Haha, forgot you’re quite busy. xD
        Anyway I recommend you to not watch dem Youtube video’s and you’ll be fine. I watched some reviews after playing the game and figured they do spoil a lot. I’m so glad I fully experienced the game without knowing anything coming.

  25. Michael Howe says:

    Perfect work!!

    Will you guys (re)touching up the lighting on the Village areas?

    Capcom should employ you guys. =O
    Thanks for this exceptional work!

  26. Alvare says:

    “I guess the differences won’t be as huge as the stage textures. It will “simply” be the same but they will be detailed even at very close distances ?
    We still don’t now if we’ll do some 3D edits to the models but I think they will be minor corrections
    We’ll decide about the details on the go”
    Hm.. Hope you guys are able to pull off to get cutscene Leon and Ashley to replace the in game one.
    Leon’s ear looks really low poly judging from the screenshot.

  27. febio says:

    albert sorry for my english…i’m new in this site, my question is…more time passes and more better is your job, after that the village is very good i think you can try to look one more time and not only the light. Your skill improved a lot 🙂

    • albert says:

      Hello!
      The released Village pack only contains texture improvements and very few 3D edits. So, the final version will look considerably better with some re-revised textures loooots of 3D edits and all kind of ligting edits here and there 🙂

  28. Doc Revelator says:

    Can I just thank you for the phenomenal work you are doing?

    Resident Evil 4 is one of my favourite games of all time and you’re giving it a whole new lease of life. I’m utterly gobsmacked by the work you’ve done and just how incredible it looks.

    I will donate continuously when I can afford it to support your efforts. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

    • albert says:

      Hello! You are welcome!x3 😛
      And thank you for your support. We are really enjoying this remastering experience and all feedback in any form is really encouraging.
      And we hope you enjoy our future releases as much as we do while we create them!

  29. Lemonade says:

    Hi, Albert!

    First, congratulations for the project! You guys are doing the work that a whole art team did at Capcom for the original game again, but with only two guys! Amazing! Oo

    I have a little technical curiosity. I work with games and game engines and I was wondering… the lighting in the game isn’t baked? Because as far as I know, if you change the models, you can’t reuse baked light data because the UVs are too different. Are you baking the scenes again?

    • albert says:

      Hehe thanks!
      About the lighting. The only “baked” things are some shines on certain textures but that’s it. And then we have the shadows on the floor and other surfaces. They are simply black textures with an alpha channel mapped over a 3D mesh floating at 1 cm over the floor/wall/etc… Everything else is realtime 🙂

  30. Przemek says:

    Amazing job pal.