Island Improvements (Part II) + Assignment Ada (Part II) and more…

Hello everybody!

Let’s continue with the Island / Assignment Ada remastering and refinement process. I’ve just made progress in 3 rooms:

  • Room 307/40b (lab): I’ve polished some textures and 3D models (nothing really major was needed since my first revision). And I also touched up some light positions and intensities here and there.
  • Room 308/40c (freezer): Similarly, just some texture refinement here and there. I gave a lot of extra detail to certain pipes and I relocated most of the main light sources in the room. They made no sense at all. The entire place was lit but there was apparently no flourescents on. So I applied the typical bloom effect on the flourescents and I relocated the light sources to the position of the tubes. (In fact, the original light sources were close to those fluorescents, so I guess the developers were in a rush). I’ve also fixed the darker bands you can see at the right and left of the screen before you deactivate the cooler machine. It seems the cold effect didn’t cover the entire screen and I simply made it slightly bigger.
  • Room 30b/40f (garbage disposal area): Again, just a few texture/model refinements. The “big deal” with this area is that I redid the lower area Leon and Ashley jump into so now it fully matches the stage they arrive at via landing on their butts 😛

By the way, do you remember the infamous reddish filter I’m getting rid of, right? It also affects some explosions like the red metal barrel and the bombs with cables. A reddish filter pops-in and out and it covers the entire screen during the explosion. In the Gamecube version, that filter made the fire more intense and immersive, but it’s broken in the HD ports. I’ve replaced that broken filter with a nice bloom effect that also makes the explosion more intense. You’ll notice the same reddish filter popping in and out when the Ganados throw the dynamite, for example. All of them can be fixed!

BEFORE
Notice the reddish pop-in filter (look at Leon shoulder) and the explosion light lasts just 0,1 sec. (see the door over Leon’s head)

AFTER
Pop-in filter removed. New bloom effect added. The explosion light last longer and it disapears gradually

 

The reason for the slower pace is that I’ve also completed something that theoretically should take weeks or months to do: Replace the entirety of the in-game low-polygonal item models with the high-polygonal examine models for every single room of the game! Now we just need to polish or re-create some item textures and that’s it. 🙂

(New pot model: Courtesy of Son of Persia)

 

Just for the people who are interested in technical details: Every room’s *.udas file contains the same item models repeated again and again… And the same can be said for their textures: Every room’s *.pack file has the same item textures (ammo, herbs, treasures, etc.). These models and textures are used when you pick up an item during the gameplay. (The examine and the inventory/store models and textures are stored in other game folders).

Just imagine the amount of extra disc space needed to remaster a single item texture if it’s repeated in every single area of the game! Well, this is how this game’s file structure was created.

Fortunately, I’ve killed two birds with one stone. Thanks (again) to a new tool by Son of Persia, (our inestimable coder contributor) the item model replacement process was automated. And these new models (even though they are stored in different room *.udas files) will now always call to the same texture.

We decided to store these textures inside the 07000000.pack file. This makes things much easier to mod: if we edit one of these item textures inside the 07000000.pack file, it will affect all stages at once.

Before that, it was necessary to edit or update the same texture as many times as the number of rooms the item appears in. That was crazy!

——————

As usual, I’m posting a few comparison shots of the areas I mentioned here and a video. The video also includes some in-game item comparisons between the original SD textures, the original HD textures, and the RE4 HD project. And now the chest contains actual old Spanish gold coins. 😛

I hope you like it!

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80 responses to “Island Improvements (Part II) + Assignment Ada (Part II) and more…”

  1. Kyle says:

    Superb work as usual. Love how you were able to just use the high poly models already in game and swap them with the lower fidelity ones. Great time saver! Love the updates please keep them coming!

  2. eric says:

    very nice work 😉

  3. Majora says:

    Thanks again so much Albert, Cris, and inestimable coder contributor Son of Persia. Years after years of watching the blog, there’s a part of me that’s afraid I’m enjoying the blog and updates more than the actual game itself. Regardless, carry on brave men! Onward for one of the best fan HD projects of all time…dare I say best?

    • albert says:

      I’m glad you are enjoying the updates! Since we can’t offer more frequent releases we hope people have a nice time looking at the pictures and videos 🙂

  4. Alex says:

    Sois la leche!

    Estoy asombrado del nivel y del mimo que estáis poniendo en este proyecto.

    Muchísimas gracias.

  5. NEGAARMAX says:

    ” if we edit one of these item textures inside the 07000000.pack file, it will affect all stages at once.
    Before that, it was necessary to edit or update the same texture as many times as the number of rooms the item appears in. That was crazy!”
    Fue lo que hice :,v Como me hubiera servido bastante eso antes, pero bueno si llego a hacer un update de mi mod me servirá bastante, gracias.
    Con respecto a los cambios siempre me han encantado en especial el detalle de las notas, las cuales ahora coinciden con lo que se muestra al tomarlas, esperare el siguiente update.

  6. DarkSteel says:

    Nice to see you gys are progressing fast but can you tone the bloom explosion filter donw a little bit? I find a little overdone.

  7. Marius Johnsen says:

    Is it possible to add that bloom effect as an optional install once you release the full version of your mod ? A fullscreen flash effect like that isn’t epilepsy friendly and it’s one of the types of effects i try to avoid when playing games. I would be really sad if i couldn’t play this mod because of one altered effect.

    As always, i really love the other work you have done. The higher poly models of the pot and gold are really nice looking.

    • albert says:

      FIXED! I agree it was too much. Even there are worse effects in this game (in terms of flashing intensity I mean)
      Now is more subtle and red. 🙂

      Thank you for the feedback!!

  8. Pliskin says:

    Great as always. Lol at the third image, DiGiorno and Campbell Soup…why would they keep food in a room of frozen experimental corpses. For a nitpicker like me, it does look a little out of place, are you sure they’re not supposed to be something else, like medicine? The effect of light from the exploding barrel is also nice, but I do think it should be a warmer glow, more orange than white. It looks more like a camera’s flash than light from an explosion. The item models are very detailed especially the peso case, you can almost read the words on the coin, nice touch. I’ve played this game hundreds of times and it never gets old, I haven’t touched it in a while and won’t until you guys finish this project and I can play it on a true HD experience.

    • albert says:

      Haha I guess they though it was a nice place to use as pantry too because of the cold XD
      And yes, the original textures are food packaging/cans for sure. We probably will change some of them anyway.

      Explosion: FIXED!

      “Peso case” XD It would make sense they are pesos because it matches how the villagers talk, right?

      • Sean says:

        Not to sound negative, your work is all great! but is there any possibility of a lawsuit or something because of the Campbell and Digornio logos? I just thinking if your mod gets like a ton of attention when you finally release it, ya never know… anyway hopefully its nothing major

        • albert says:

          My idea is to edit all offcial logos at some point. f.e SAMSUNG –> SIMZANG or something like that XD a la “Coca-Soda” in RE2

      • Sean says:

        hmmm it seems those are the actual original textures, but you couldnt read them before lol

  9. dollmaster says:

    So, I don’t know if someone asked yet, but what happened to Cris? Isn’t he in the project anymore?

    • Cris says:

      I’m still here! The brief summary is:

      1. Toward the end of 2016 I was told my job was being eliminated.
      2. I scaled back my time on the project due to needing to complete professional certifications and look for a job.
      3. After searching for a few months I instead became the stay at home dad while my wife went back to work
      4. At the same time I took the opportunity to try a business endeavor on the side to generate income
      5. Toward the end of 2017 we realized this business endeavor would likely not succeed in the long run, and so I went back out into the job market (made possible by the fact that the kids are now in school)
      6. Within the next couple of weeks I will be going back to work

      All of this is to say that my time on the project has paled significantly in comparison to Albert’s in 2017. He has done an amazing job of carrying the project forward and making enhancements we couldn’t have imagined in the beginning. He has also been incredibly gracious with my changing circumstances.

      I may make a post to clarify for folks not reading this reply, but in the meantime I hope it gives you the insight you were looking for. I continue to put in time occasionally, and I continue to look forward to when life settles down a bit so I can put in more. I’m working on the title screen now. 🙂

      Thank you!

      • dollmaster says:

        Hey, it’s good to know you’re still here. Thanks a lot for all your efforts and I wish you all the success with your life, with your family and with your job.
        Looking forward your return.

      • Sean says:

        Thank you, I’ve been following you guys for a few years now. Glad to get an update from you 🙂 seems like the project has been moving along decently without you, but can’t wait o see what you can add when your back!

  10. Irvin Smith says:

    Blood is too bright. It look like not realistic. Dark blood always looks more scary.

    • albert says:

      Unfortunatelly, the same blood textures are used in different contexts. Sometimes they look brighter, sometimes they look darker. I’m afraid if we unsaturate/make more dark them they will look too dark sometimes. But we still haven’t remastered the blood, so, I’m not 100% sure about how the remastered blood will look like

  11. metroidguy says:

    Had to see the explosion effect in the video to actually agree with the change lol, it looks epic! Great job guys!

    • albert says:

      It is in the video. The oxygen tank uses the same bloom effect.
      I’ve already touched up that a little and it will look more red/yellow 🙂

      Thanks!

  12. Silver812 says:

    I love you! thx!

  13. Ernesto León says:

    Magnifico trabajo, el area de los regeneradores siempre me parecio una de las más terrorificas! les llegó mi mensaje con las imágenes de los diferentes tipos de munición?

    • albert says:

      Si! Muchas gracias! No recibiste la respuesta??
      En cualquier caso. ya me he organizado toda la información para cuando llegue el momento de hacer los arreglos finales de las armas

  14. MAGG says:

    Increible trabajo. Como siempre, mucho cuidados en los detalles. Solo tengo una nota: La piel en el cuerpo de ISLAND_REV_2_G.jpg se ve algo rara, lleno de lineas que hacen dificil distinguir dicho cuerpo de la cosa que lo envuelve. No estoy seguro si se veria diferente desde otro angulo.

    Saludos!!

    • albert says:

      Gracias!
      Efectivamente, se ve todo muy igualado. Es debido al cadáver sin piel al que le queda todas las fibras musculares a la vista y encima la “cosa” que lo tapa también tiene una textura a rallas… la solución: Añadir un poco de sombras entre ambas superficies o algo así…

  15. BernyMoon says:

    Muy buen trabajo como siempre. Mirad de bajar un poco el efecto “flash blanco” de las explosiones por favor que veo muchas quejas por aquí y es una pena que tape todo lo demás del post. La nueva planta luce de maravilla y tengo muchas ganas de ver los demás objetos mejorados 🙂

    • albert says:

      Ya lo he mejorado :^) Después lo actualizaré
      Gracias!! Ya tenía ganas de rehacer esa planta de una vez por todas hehe

  16. ItchyTasty says:

    The screenshot of the dead guy in the bag with the parasite sticking out could use some polishing up still. There needs to be more contrast between his skin and the bag thing that he’s in. They just blend together right now.

    Also, the regenerators in the background of that same picture look too different from the original. In the original, their skin looked more fleshy with shades of pink. In the update, it looks more like they’re made of stone.

    Besides that, great work as always and I love the explosion effect 🙂

    • albert says:

      Agree about the blending issue! I’ll add some shadows or something I guess

      About the Regenerators. That’s a cheap skin remaster. We’ll do a proper re-texture work for them when we remaster the enemies textures 😉

      Thank you!!

      • E.P.D. Gaffney. says:

        I have to agree, almost everything looks wonderful, but that man in the bag just seems unfinished to me. I actually don’t know what the bag is intended to be made of, and have considered that it’s perhaps a bio-weapon coccoon or something like that.

  17. Sávio Edgard says:

    The job of you at Resident Evil 4… i only have a word to describe it, EXCELLENT! You are amazing!

  18. Max says:

    I have 3 questions
    1.Are those can from real life?
    https://www.re4hd.com/wp-content/gallery2/0143-island-ada-ii/ISLAND_REV_2_D.jpg
    2. If this project is over. Are you going to work on another game that have bad textures like Devil May Cry HD
    Collection?
    3.Do you think that CAPCOM will ever contact you and ask permission to use all of this Textures mods and
    pay you guys royalty and port it to like Playstation 5 in the future?

    • albert says:

      1. Yes. All textures Capcom did for this game (but the original designs like Illuminados emblems, the enemies paintings, etc.) came from real life pictures. We did it the same. It’a somewhat out of place they are keeeping food in that freezer area but I guess they though: “hey this is also a good place to store food right?” XD

      2. Serry, we have no idea about what we’ll do after this project is over.

      3. We were already in concact with them in the past but everything arrived at an impasse. The ball is in their court.
      If they decide to do a proper remaster of this game, they’ll think (at least) about our project. But Capcom won’t do a proper remaster just because we are doing this project.

  19. Sam says:

    Muy buen trabajo. Estoy deseando que llegue la remasterización de personajes y enemigos.

    Sobre la Llave insignia, he notado que tiene unas partes redondeadas mientras que en la original acaban de forma puntiaguda.
    Y en la Máscara elegante, los adornos puntiagudos que tiene en la parte superior son mas numerosos y mas finos que en la original.

    Tenía curiosidad por saber el motivo de estos cambios, que no digo que estén mal. ¿Es porque los modelos de Examinar son así?
    Si es por eso, ¿vais a unificar las diferentes versiones de los modelos de todos los objetos para que tengan solo una?

    • albert says:

      Gracias!

      Exactamente ese es el motivo.
      La versión “Ingame” de los objetos eran más simplificados por el simple motivo que la Gamecube no podía soportar tantos polígonos a la vez (escenario, enemigos, personajes, objetos, etc…) así que los simplificaron para ese contexto.
      En PC no hay necesidad de dicha simplificación así que simplemente hemos tomado los modelos del modo “examinar” o incluso hemos mejorado algún detalle más.
      La única limitación que hay es en el inventario. Ahí, por cuestiones técnicas que desconocemos, si que hay ciertas limitaciones de polígonos. Aun así se han podio realizar muchísimas mejoras (puede apreciarse en los últimos videos, en las hierbas, granadas, sprays y otros objetos del inventario que ya no tienen ese aspecto tan cuadriculado y falto de detalle 3D que tenían antes) y de hecho no es necesario aplicarles más detalle porque los objetos no se ven de cerca.

  20. Frank Nitty says:

    You guys are truly the real MVP’s. Keep up the great work as usual

  21. Alpha_94 says:

    All of these improvements are amazing, i know you’ve heard it many times, but you guys have my respect. I think i’m waiting for your project more than for RE2 Remake. 🙂
    By the way, when we can expect update with revised enemies?
    Greetings from Poland ^^

  22. Antonio says:

    Estupendo trabajo 😀

  23. NETTLE says:

    I always thought that the leon does the treatment of nettles

  24. togan says:

    Every time I check your website…I’m amazed at the awesome work you guys are doing ^.^

    Regarding the high poly items, are you also going to give the same treatment to the Characters Leon, Ashley and Ada.

    They would look out of place in an HD World using dated PS2 polys and model textures.

    With so much work still left to do, why not recruit more modders to help carry the load ?

    Keep up the great work Albert (Wesker) and Cris (Redfield) !!

  25. Dilapidated says:

    I’ve been following this project for a long while. You and Cris have done an awesome job and its good to see the project still alive years later. I have a few questions, I apologize if some of these may have already been asked.

    1. Concerning effects such as explosions, blood splatter, dust, etc etc… Visually I assume these have all have texture files that can be edited to enhance the look. For example higher resolution smoke textures during an explosion. But outside of textures I’m curious to what extent these effects can be edited? Things like smoke lasting longer on screen after an explosion (perhaps even fire effects added) or better blood splatter effects so it spreads farther or drips. Are these things possible given their file structure?

    2. It was my understanding that cut-scenes were per-rendered videos that are pretty low quality. I see cut-scenes listed in the progress summary on this website under the ‘other’ section and it makes me wonder what you all were planning to do to enhance these? With it being per-rendered I assumed we would be stuck with low quality cut-scenes unless we could somehow re-record these real time with the new models/textures.

    3. This is something that’s more outside the scope of the mod but do you plan to add any extra features? If you do I truly hope that you’ll consider having Son of Persia or someone that codes add a first person perspective camera. Being able to see close up the textures you’ve done and viewing the world from that perspective would just add to everything you’ve done. For example watch this https://youtu.be/F4LRjq5Z6Ng but imagine it with all the textures/models you’ve edited. I want this so bad lol.

  26. Alireza says:

    Hello.
    Nice job with new effects.
    Something came to my mind that maybe others want to ask too.
    In mercenaries minigame weskers character has a handgun with a silencer.
    Do you think its possible to put it in campain mode for pistols or even other guns???!!!
    I know it is a wierd question but wanted to know your idea about it…

  27. Kanas6950 says:

    Wow… The Herb Model is So Beautiful
    01 – But I think the Herb Branches should be crooked like the original
    I don’t mean low poly, I mean make them rounded and crooked
    Look at your version… it looks straight (the branches)
    https://www.re4hd.com/wp-content/gallery2/0143-island-ada-ii/ISLAND_REV_2_I.jpg
    02 – And the photos on the bed are not the same as the original
    https://www.re4hd.com/wp-content/gallery2/0143-island-ada-ii/ISLAND_REV_2_A.jpg
    03 – The blood color is not as realistic as the original, Maybe reduce the saturation and change the hue to warmer color? https://www.re4hd.com/wp-content/gallery2/0143-island-ada-ii/ISLAND_REV_2_E.jpg
    Thank you Albert & Cris for this Amazing Project <3

    • albert says:

      Thank you! I’m quite proud of the new leaf texture 🙂

      About the branches, they are more crooked than what you see in the picture (see video). Although it’s true the original low poly is even more crooked, the new model is based on the examine view model which means this new model is also faithful to the original… to the original examine model of course hehe

      Photos in the bed: Yep. that was on purpose. The pictures in the original are random pictures and they don’t match at all with the pictures you see when you take the file:
      https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/residentevil/images/1/11/Luis_memo_3_%28re4_danskyl7%29_%284%29.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20141215012731

      Blood: Yep! I have to desaturate it a little or something else. Since we don’t know if it’s suposed to be fresh or dry blood, I’ll simply try to make its colour as close to the original as possible.

      Thank you for the feedback!!

  28. Y.Z. says:

    Regarding the fire explosions, I’m wondering:

    1. Whether it’s possible to extend how long the light source for the explosion lasts to be as long as the explosion’s animation, and maybe even fade the light source out as the animation’s “flames” die out,
    2. If number 1 is possible, would it ALSO be possible to add “moving”/”interactive” light sources to enemies that have, for example, torches and ignited arrows?

    I think they’d look more realistic that way.

    • albert says:

      1. It should be possible. That’s a good idea and I think it worths trying it. (it just a matter of editing a few bytes and see if the results look ok)

      2. It should be possible but there’s a problem: The models have a maximum ammount of light sources they can be reached by at the same time (I think it’s 4-6 lights).
      I’m thinking about the areas with multiple ganados with tocrches. There would be a lot of pop-in and pop-out light issues. If a model (stage, character, enemy or whatever) is reached, for example, by 5 lights and a 6th light appears on scene it will make one of the other 5 lights is deactivated. Just imagine if there are more than one ganado casting extra lights simultaneously.

      This is just my theory. I didn’t try it yet. I’m sure about the light limitations though and I’m just assuming the lights comming from the enemies would act/react just like any other light in the game. But I’ll do some testing when the enemies remaster process arrives. Fortunately, I already know where the enemies effects are stored in and they have the same structure the stage effects have and they are editables, too.
      It’s somewhat confusing but now I’m talking about the effects because there’s a kind of effect that act as a light, so there’s still hope because maybe the game doesn’t count these kind light/effect as simple light sources.

      In other words, we have regular light sources in one hand (stored in LIT files and they are 95% of the lights in the game) and one kind of effect that also cast light in the other hand, but this one has a completely different bytes structure compared with the regular lights. The explosions and gun shots, for example, use the effect one.

      • Y.Z. says:

        Interesting… I can only assume the main light source limitations are an intentional, hardcoded feature of the RE4 engine to cut down on the resources/RAM/etc. used, seeing as RE4 was originally on the GameCube and all that. I hope the alternate “gunshots/explosions” light sources work out for the torches and such.

  29. [ROLO] says:

    I see many people already posted about this
    https://www.re4hd.com/wp-content/gallery2/0143-island-ada-ii/ISLAND_REV_2_G.jpg

    but still, I wanted to comment. In the original the stuff surrounding the body has like a cloth (or a sack) texture, while in the remaster it looks as if it was one of the cave textures just stretched out.

    Just out of curosity:
    https://www.re4hd.com/wp-content/gallery2/0143-island-ada-ii/ISLAND_REV_2_B.jpg
    why does the original is wearing a shoe and in the remaster it isn’t? lol

    Awesome job with the new explosion both on lighting and the exploding fire texture itself.

    • albert says:

      Thanks!

      1. When I compare both low-res and HD textures it looks quite faithfull but maybe the mapping is somewhat cheap or it just need some kind of fabric texture layer or something… It’s not clear what material the original texture is but the new one it’s some kind of stretched and tensed 50% plastic 50% fabric bandage that covers the entire corpse just like a mummy

      2. I thought that shoe was ridiculous. All hanging corpses are nude and that body has all torso nude aswell. Besides, that shoe texture is… one of the medicine bottles texture! XD

      • [ROLO] says:

        Haha they really went cheap on that shoe. I also think it looks better without it. Great work as always, keep it up you guys 🙂

  30. Leon says:

    Hello.
    thanks for good work!
    please remastered paper(note file) Similar to the original paper in original version of game!!
    https://www.re4hd.com/wp-content/gallery2/0143-island-ada-ii/ISLAND_REV_2_A.jpg

    thanks.

  31. terminento says:

    ¡Qué bien! ¡Ahora los cofres están llenos de “patacos” de Alfonso XII!

  32. Max says:

    Hey Albert it me again. I was wondering since i’m going to learn about game design and programming and reading some of the comment, what are bump and bumpmap and bump mapping? i don’t understand the meaning at all

    • E.P.D. Gaffney. says:

      Hi Max. Bump maps are like normal maps, if you’ve heard of those. Normal maps are basically the successor to bump maps and will be used in any modern game design, whereas bump maps used to be used when we didn’t have the technology to give every object the more complex and more realistic-looking normal map.

      Though normal maps and bump maps do this in different ways, the general goal is the same, which is to simulate 3D depth on a 2D texture. It can’t do a huge amount and look realistic, but to add some realism to the a rough surface like concrete or a cloth, you’d use a bump or normal map so that the light interacts with the 2D image as though its tiny bumps and depressions had been modelled in 3D (which they would never be in just about any game, not yet anyway, though you can look into baked normals for the closest thing that’s common).

      Best thing you can do is to look here and then click on the linked articles as well, especially the one on normal maps:
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bump_mapping

      What are you going to do in this field? Any idea? Are you planning on going to school for it? Just a hobby? Trying to join a company?

      Game development is a huge thing with many specialities. There are a few general ones that all branch off into much smaller stuff. Cris and Albert do models and textures, mostly, but the graphic side of things has a fair few other things in it, and you could always go into programming if you wanted, among other things. Programming and animation tend to be in higher demand in my experience rarely being able to find people that do either one, so you may want to consider those if you’re undecided as yet.

      • Max says:

        Hi thank you, i am planning to move to LA once i’m done with my studies and join Either Naughty dogs or Square enix and maybe i make my own video game called GRAPHIX. A game that combine PONG,NES 8-bit RPG,SNES-16 bit, PS2 fixed camera angles, PS2 dynamic camera and OTS, and ps3 and ps4 and so on and so on, and transition from 2-D to 3-D with different polygon.

  33. Mehrab says:

    GREAT !

  34. Mehrab says:

    So cool !!! 🙂