Separate Ways – Chapter 1

Hi!

I’ve been making great progress with inventory-related work over the last 2 weeks (including overcoming the crashing issues when improving Leon’s inventory models), but I still want to polish it up a bit more before sharing the final results. 🙂

So, as a “replacement” post, I’m showing you samples from the entire first chapter of the Separate Ways mini-game. (Chapters 1, 2 and 3 are already finished, but it would be too much for just one post XD)

It may appear to be a simple effort because these locations are rehashed from Leon’s campaign, but it’s not that straightforward. The order of textures, the number and order of stage “bin” files (i.e. the 3D models), lighting and effects, and a large set of technical details that I have no idea how to explain in a comprehensive way made the job not as simple as I thought.

In brief: All textures, 3D improvements, lighting and effect adjustments, and dynamic / breakable objects from Leon’s main game have been ported flawlessly into Ada’s mini-game!

And although the process wasn’t super simple, it was still 1000% faster than a regular Leon stage, that’s for sure…

The area I like the most is the church. I’m quite happy with the results because now it really seems like it’s daytime. The original looks the same as Leon’s nighttime church, but with some blue-ish windows and a cheap bloom effect.

I edited the entire entrance lighting system (the area where all the windows are, and where the candles are out), added new effects, and redid the floor / wall shadows around the windows. Now I’d say it really looks like the indoor and outdoor church areas match pretty well in terms of lighting.

You can also see all the exterior details if you look through the windows to the right!

And finally, I’m leaving you a few comparison shots (as usual), and a video covering the entire first chapter.

I hope you like them and don’t hesitate in posting your thoughts about it!

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65 responses to “Separate Ways – Chapter 1”

  1. NEGAARMAX says:

    Siempre quise ver los objetos destructibles en Separate Ways, se ve tan hermoso ahora que si dan ganas de jugar este modo(una de las razones por lo que casi no lo juego es por lo feo que se ve XD) una pena que no se puedan quitar esas cinemáticas de 320p >:v
    Esperare el siguiente update con ansias y mas el del cap 4 que es donde gran parte del capitulo son mapas nuevos.

  2. NEGAARMAX says:

    Por cierto ¿tambien mejoraron el fuego? en la captura de los lens flare se ve mas definido

    • albert says:

      Le he aplicado algo más de intensidad para compensar un efecto que se perdió durante el paso de Wii a PS3/X360. Hice lo mismo con el escenario de Leon. Aunque de momento las texturas del fuego son las mismas.

  3. Steven says:

    Looking good! I’d imagine this projects getting pretty close to completion now. (Maybe another year lol.)

    Either way, I always look forward to seeing more info from you guys. Thanks for all your hard work!

  4. Michael says:

    Exciting! Awesome!

  5. Johann Paris aka Superbegita says:

    Ah ! There you are ! (Wesker quote) ….hehehe i was expecting the famous new post from you guys. And as usual what to say except very good job ? ^^ I was wondering if you have been made good progression …and yes completely.

    At this rate i think that …toward Christmas you could released another part for sure.

    It’s funny but i am on the Castle and indeed i have really the impression that it’s how the should look like to the beginning.

    It’s when i look from the original one i told me “….what a mess….it’s was really ugly” Wel not that it’s made a bad game …no at all…Just …Capcom….you oculd have done better way than this..

    Ah ! By the way i confirm the game look stunning in 4k the différence is here.

    Keep up the good work guys ! …..the light is coming and is near from us hehe

    • albert says:

      Thank you! It’s good to know our work looks good even at 4K I never played it at more than 1920×1080.
      And yes, going back to the original textures really hurt my eyes too XD

      • Paris Johann aka Superbegita says:

        Hhehhe yes indedd and talking to that i am just arrived to the Island….Wow ! what a change it makes ! I am going to wait the Island release i think for now.

        I have made some very good spare money and i have to say that it’s possible to have the unfinoite rocket launcher and so since the first play.

        I have more than 930000 for now and i am just to the very beginning of the Island.

        And yet i have done nothing than just the first training for shooting (the one with the figurines) …i really think you could make 1 million without to play a second time for that.

        In all cases thanks you very much for the BIG progression.

  6. Pliskin says:

    Looks great and I know you guys deal more with graphics, models, and lighting but I was wondering if you guys can fix Ada’s dress physics in future updates. If you notice when she drops down in the ps2 version her dress flaps up in a realistic way and in all other versions her dress is static and glued to her legs. I know it’s a small detail but it always bugged me.

    • albert says:

      I don’t have an answer for you right now but we’ll try to make her model better and we’ll take this into consideration too.
      Thanks!

  7. Sergey Tokarev says:

    >All textures, 3D improvements, lighting and effect adjustments, and dynamic / breakable objects from Leon’s main game have been ported flawlessly into Ada’s mini-game!
    That’s a huge improvement!
    I’m curious about chapter 4, though. Is it possible to make the water in shipyard area to look like the water from main campaign?

  8. mofailed says:

    Great work again from this team, thank you for all the efforts with the lighting especially ! The high poly items is a nice bonus for fans also. When can we see the enemies in H.D?

  9. Frank Nitty says:

    Amazing work… Looking forward to the final release and can’t wait to play it

  10. Dan S says:

    I really love the progress! I’m itching to experience more of these updates! I just beat the main story for the first time on PC (if I count PS2 playthroughs, it was probably my 4-5th time). I still have yet to actually play through all of the Village update, only really got play the Castle update! I timed everything wrong so that as you were releasing the Village update, I was entering the Castle!

    I kind of want to play Separate Ways and Assignment Ada again first, before I either go for New Game + or step it up and go for a Professional run. That way I’ll have Ashley in the armor costume to make things easier.

    I would accept whatever you guys are comfortable with releasing right! I would be happy with even just a partial update! I think it would be good to time a release with mid-late October, so that we can experience it in time for Halloween! Then maybe aim for the next update for mid-late December. I have no idea if that is a quick or slow pace for your work, but I figure suggestions wouldn’t hurt. 🙂 Keep up the amazing work, this keeps on getting better and better!

  11. Anas Khalil says:

    Good Job Albert 😀
    Can’t wait to see Ada in True HD ^_^ :O

  12. metroidguy says:

    It’s only amazing how two people can do a better job than most AAA developers

  13. Marcus Albertsson says:

    I asked about the status of Ada’s campaign Separate Ways not too long ago and got an answer. Nice to see that you are tackling it right now! Surprising to hear that the importing of the rehashed invironments was not just a process of copying said assets. But as you wrote in the post it probably went alot smoother this time around! 🙂

    On a curious note, are allcutscenes in the game rendered in real time? With all of your remastered environments and character models, it would be a shame if any pre-rendered cutscenes with old assets were featured in the main campaign or Ada’s bonus content.

    Some sources say that the only pre-rendered cutscene in the game, is the opening sequence? Any way to improve the quality of it?

    Also, is the window on the upper level in the church based of a photograph in real life or created using photoshop? With all of the reference locals you have visited and taken pictures of, it would almost be fun if you were to compile the material and release it in some way or the other. Like a behind the scenes artwork/photo artbook in digital form? I am in no way expecting you guys to do this, even if it would be a cool idea, as long as this project has been going on ^^

    I will continue to be amazed by all the work and talent you guys display with this project. Awesome work! 🙂

    • albert says:

      Hello!
      In Leon’s main game and Assignment Ada mini game they are all realtime but the opening, ending credits and 2 short cutscenes.
      All those cutscenes load all new stage textures and models. But there’s nothing we can do about Separate Ways cutscenes. They’ve been always video files in absolutelly every version of the game (Separate Ways was created for PS2 port of the game)

      About improving video quality… it’s like trying to improve a low-res blurry picture. You can apply endless filters but you never will get new detail in the picture. Anyway, right now ther’es no way of replacing the low-res videos. If we do it, the new video gets zoomed in.

      About that window. I simply found the original source picture Capcom used 🙂 Hehe let’s see if we have some energy left to do some kind of “making of” content when we finish the project XD

      Thank you again!

      • sean says:

        Its going to be hilarious watching the old blurry cutscenes from the ps2 version when playing your finished HD mod. It was bad enough going from xbox360 graphics to the ps2 cutscenes lol. Some of adas stuff is really cool like the hookshot but I wish they could have done things better, like there isnt even any boss fights with ada if I remember correctly

      • Nameless says:

        The Separate Ways cutscenes and Capcom’s attitude have really annoyed me over the years. The Wii version had the same ugly cutscenes, although I’m sure they could have re-rendered them in higher res easily. A lot of laziness on their part, considering how much money RE4 has made for them over the years.

        And then even the UHD version had a lot of untouched textures, same crappy SW cutscenes, and even more laziness on their part.

        That being said, THIS PROJECT IS AWESOME AND YOU GUYS’ WORK IS AMAZING! What you’ve done so far is unbelievable and I can’t wait to see the finished work. I thought I was done with this game, having played the main campaign a good 20+ times and Assignment Ada even more on both GC & Wii, and Separate Ways probably 10 or so. But seeing this makes me want to play it again, and I can’t say that about any other game, anywhere anytime. That’s a testimonial to how good your work is.

        HUGE THUMBS UP!

        • albert says:

          Hello!
          Yes it was a great disappointment the Separate Ways cutscenes look as bad as the PS2 version in all the HD versions. It was not noticeable in the Wii version because it still was a SD console. And I bet Capcom (or whoever did the exclusive PS2 cutscenes) lost the original files and they can’t re-render or even compile the needed files in order to include them as realtime cutscenes. And if they realy lost them, they’d need to re-create everything from scratch.

          The sad thing is every new port generates new graphical bugs not present in the previous version. They should have ported the UHD version from the Wii Edition, not the x360 HD port, but the damage is done…

          Thank you for the support!! 😀

  14. sean says:

    really great work, especially how you brought back the destructibles

    question about the candles, in this picture https://www.re4hd.com/wp-content/gallery2/0135-swi/SW1-K.jpg it says the candles are not lit, but only some of them are not lit and most of them are lit, not a big deal though

  15. Leon says:

    Hello.
    Thanks for great work!

    Please fix Style Enemy!
    old enemy is better and more horror! :
    https://pasteboard.co/GJZYiex.jpg

    Why is this change?! :
    https://pasteboard.co/GJZYTdM.jpg

    thanks for all.

    • albert says:

      Hello!
      The enemy model and texture is the same. I just fixed the light system. You can see the face clearly now because there’s a light coming from the ceiling. but it gets darker again when the enemy gets away of that light source.
      The door’s keyhole position is changed because the Ganados open the door during the cutscene and you can clearly see the it’s in the wrong side.

      It all makes more sense when you see it in motion 😉

      Thank you for the comments!

  16. Y.Z. says:

    Some “shadow polygon” and light source mockup suggestions I made for the church area here:

    http://i.imgur.com/T8iMNnc.jpg
    http://i.imgur.com/0pncLcn.jpg

    • albert says:

      Hello again!
      About the first one: We can create shadows but not brightness… And believe me when I say It would take and entire week to generate the perfect light sources for every one of those little windows to get decent results like the one in the picture XD And probably they wouldn’t look as good.

      About the second one, there’s no reason for the light to fade. The light reaches the floor and the entire place. So, why should it be less intense when it reaches the end of the ledge? Quite the contrary, the shadowed area should be the outside because of the window frames.

      But again, we’d be entering that “neverending spiral of perfectionism” I’ve mentioned in the past. If we adjust this details that would imply to do another 1000 extra adjustments everywhere to match that level of detail and there’s a point we must say: “Enough!”

      Anyway, as I also said in the past, don’t hesitate posting your suggestions. If some of them are easy to make or they are clearly inaccuracies we missed and need to be improved, we’ll fix them for sure! 🙂

      Thanks again!

      • Y.Z. says:

        “About the second one, there’s no reason for the light to fade. The light reaches the floor and the entire place. So, why should it be less intense when it reaches the end of the ledge? Quite the contrary, the shadowed area should be the outside because of the window frames.”

        Yeah, I kinda realized too late that they look silly and unrealistic when I made that. There was just something that felt off about how bright (or, in the case of some textures, too dark) the geometry w/ RE4’s shading and lighting in that specific shot looked, but I’m not sure what…

        “believe me when I say It would take and entire week to generate the perfect light sources for every one of those little windows to get decent results like the one in the picture XD And probably they wouldn’t look as good.”

        That’s too bad, but I completely understand.

  17. Vick S. Bateman says:

    Awesome update, and what a pleasure to see the current version of the village in video form!
    I was able to spot some changes from previous updates that i can’t welcome enough.. like it’s funny how last time, right after you’ve fixed the water pattern, i was wondering if it was worth to point out that i didn’t like the new textures on the watering place’s “structure”, but didn’t want to sound too nitpicking and so i didnt.. but here it is, you’ve changed it anyway and it looks absolutely perfect now.

    https://www.re4hd.com/wp-content/gallery2/0135-swi/SW1-F.jpg

    Keep pushing for this kind of “perfection” Albert, this Project really deserve it.

  18. Blip says:

    Hi!

    Any chance you’ll enhance the character models too (Leon, Ada and enemy textures)?

  19. The_Blog says:

    As always with these great community projects I am afraid that one day updates will be less and less and it gets put on hold mid developement and never get finished. However you guys just seem to release one awesome update after the other. I am really looking forward to play the full game with these awesome improvements. Keep up the good works, because that’s what it is. Darn good work! 🙂

    • E.P.D. Gaffney. says:

      I feel the same way, but this project is the exception. They have been releasing updates like this for years and honestly, at this point, if ever they needed to kill the whole project, simply releasing what they have would be enough for me. Not only that, I think it’s far enough along that some other modders may just finish the job if it ever came to that, which given their track record, I highly doubt Cris and Albert will stop before it’s done. For once, I am not afraid for the fate of a project I really love.

  20. Luigi Impero says:

    The light effects are spectacular, great work

  21. Juliosy says:

    Sigo muy de cerca tu proyecto. Mis felicitaciones amigo!

    Un saludo

  22. E.P.D. Gaffney. says:

    Can you die of joy? I believe I may have died of joy. It’s just too much good stuff all at once.

    Oh, I believe it was Albert whom I was supposed to ask about that water effect in the troughs in the village area. I remember it seemed impossible for it to get to a point where it looked that good, and then it did, seemeingly with a few panning textures. How did you manage that? I thought that was something the engine wasn’t allowing there for some reason.

    • albert says:

      Yeah I really thought that too! XD But it seems there are a lot of factors I’m unaware that make somethings impossible in certain locations but possible in some others! O.o
      Even if it seems we know what we are doing, most times is just a matter of trial-error-good luck 😀
      Of course, there are already a lot of things I know for sure I can do but there are a bigger lot of them that I can’t fully control/understand right now

      Thanks for the comment btw XDD

      • E.P.D. Gaffney. says:

        I must have neglected to set my comment to e-mail me if I got a response.

        I know what you mean about the trial and error. Any time I work on a game or software or code of any kind it’s like that. So often I have these fantastic moments where I finally understand everything and I begin to shape a set of rules that govern what works and what doesn’t. And then five minutes later I try to do something else that at least I find very similar but nothing works and all my rules no longer apply.

        Models and textures however, fortunately, those always seem to work pretty much the same. If I could get by just modelling and texturing, I’d be so happy, you have no idea.

        Cheers. Looking forward to the next update.

  23. Cris Without H says:

    Nice one, Albert.
    You know, my Spanish is really bad (to be honest, most of what I know actually comes from RE4), but let me just say: Hasta Gazpacho and keep up the good work 😀

  24. […] More updates from the Resident Evil 4 retexture project: https://www.re4hd.com/?p=5152 […]

  25. none says:

    Friends, when releasement of Castle updated?

    Thanks for the efforts

  26. Cris Without H says:

    I recently noticed that in the village, the main building (the one every Ganado goes into when the church bell rings) has a window on the inside, but not on the outside. Are you guys aware of such mistakes in the original game and if so, are you going to correct those?

  27. therealest says:

    Hey guys, everything looks beautiful, as always. Here are some small, minor tweaks to consider.
    1. https://www.re4hd.com/wp-content/gallery2/0135-swi/SW1-E2.jpg the keyhole looks lopsided/crooked.
    2. https://www.re4hd.com/wp-content/gallery2/0135-swi/SW1-L.jpg why is that brick on the floor? (I know you do stuff for a reason so I’m just curious as to what that is.)
    3. https://www.re4hd.com/wp-content/gallery2/0135-swi/SW1-B.jpg The handle for the stun grenade is too shiny and pearly, it should look more rugged (not grimy) and steel-like. Like a silver version of this: http://www.nonlethaltechnologies.com/Image2/MP-FBM-225.jpg
    4. https://www.re4hd.com/wp-content/gallery2/0135-swi/SW1-D.jpg I think the plant looks great, it reminds me of jamaican calaloo, lol https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51g1up47tzL._SY300_.jpg butttt, the soil should maybe be a bit more HD, right now it looks kind of cartoonish. The pot looks kind of blurry and cartoonish too. I think they would look better with a more HD look, like how you make the brick walls look photo-real.
    Everything looks amazing regardless. I can’t wait to play. I haven’t played a single release from you guys yet, and I’m happily, patiently waiting for the final one.

    • albert says:

      Thank you for the feedback and good questions (and good eyes again)!

      1. Yep, I did it on purpose XD Another sign of a decadent place. It’s quite usual this kind of “rotation” in old locks (I’ve seen this lots of times in my life there’s even crooked locke one like that in the building I life :P)
      2. The entire room structure is now ported directly from the Leon’s main game. This brick was there when you play as Leon but it seems they used the PS2 lower poly version of the room in this area.
      PS2 port simplified some geometry and also remove some details like debris and small pieces of “broken things” here and there. That brick is one of the things they removed. But now they are back… my poor little missing bricks XD
      3. Yep I agree, the specular effect in this game is quite tricky and hard to control. It not always work in a natural way unless it’s used in really metallic/refined/jewell surfaces. But it can look better for sure! We’ll try to calibrate that specular effect 😉
      4. Hehe yes, that texture is WIP. I want to make it look much better. Also, I want to remove the specular effect of the ground (which makes no sense) and make it more subtle when it’s applied in the pot.

      Greetings!

  28. isaac pavon says:

    keep up the good work boys!!
    also, I am pleased to announce that I am gay.

    Have a nice day!

  29. ChrisJ says:

    Wonderful work as always guys! I noticed that in the first picture, (Leon´s Campaign + Separate Ways) the building you enter has a little window with a 3D texture of Village behind it, the window is right above the Typewriter, but if you check the building from outside, there is no window, so I wanted to ask if youre going to fix these little mistakes, and also if youre going to remake the 3D textures that are used behind windows, maps etc. Also, right at the start of Leon´s campaign when the Villagers push the 2 cops into the river with their car, there is just a 2D effect of the fire coming from the Villagers truck + the catapults used by the Castle Ganados which shoot the fiery rocks are having 2D effect too, the Bella Sisters with chainsaws have a 2D blood effect coming out of their mouths, so I thought that normal 3D high res fire effect would be great. Sorry to post this under Separate Ways post! (By the way, there is a note flying in the air outside the Church interior when you encounter Saddler after rescueing Ashley, the note is just flying outside, might be a note that no one has ever read! I didnt find a way to get to it but its interesting, like the Ada´s shotgun you can obtain using the famous bug, the bug is fixed now but I think the Ada´s shotgun is still there, and if you pick it up, it looks like Ada´s shotgun, but in inventory and when equipped it looks just like the normal shotgun Leon has at the start of the game, could you make it so the shotgun looks like Ada´s shotgun having Leon use Ada´s stance when equipped?)

    • albert says:

      Thanks!

      Hehe I think it’s the thrid time someone asked about this window this week XD
      We already fixed that, it was posted months ago in one of those “back to the village” posts 🙂 So, no worries about that!

      “and also if youre going to remake the 3D textures that are used behind windows, maps etc”
      Sorry, I don’t understand this. Could you upload some picture showing them?

      “Villagers truck + the catapults used by the Castle Ganados which shoot the fiery rocks are having 2D effect too, the Bella Sisters with chainsaws have a 2D blood effect coming out of their mouths, so I thought that normal 3D high res fire effect would be great.”
      Again, I’m not sure if I understood you. Do you mean fire and blood are 2D textures and are you asking if it’s possible to make them 3D? If this is what you are asking for, that’s impossible. Fire, blood, smoke, etc are all floating 2D textures effects.

      About the other findings (note and shotgun). I didn’t check the church note but I’ll do it! And Leon can’t use Ada’s shotgun unless the Leon’s shotgun model is edited somehow but then Leon would always use Ada’s weapon even if he equips his own shotgun.

      Greetings!

  30. Jalapeno says:

    Hello! Wonderful work as always, I wanted to ask if youre going to make the water inside+outside the stage on Waterworld even better. When I was a kid and played RE4 I was always amazed by its graphics, but the water in Waterworld stage was always kind of, triggering me 😀