Jump to content

Higher Quality Intro and Cutscenes


Jimbob
 Share

Recommended Posts

LEGO Rock Raiders' intro video on the PC release is at 320x200 resolution and 15fps, and on PS1 it's 320x240 at 15fps. The extended intro found on promo discs is 320x240 25fps, giving much smoother motion, and seems to be a little less affected by compression artifacts too. A couple of samples to show the frame rate difference:

 

 

Sample 1 (link if embed doesn't load)

wm3O44x.gif

 

 

Sample 2 (link if embed doesn't load)

iIpJOMy.gif

 

 

 

So I pulled all the frames from all three versions and re-edited the Extended version to match the shorter originals. I also took the sound file from the PS1 version as it seemed better quality than the PC one.

 

You can download the recompiled video here

and all the original frames including my cuts and edits here because why not :P

 

 

 

Update 2021-04-23

I've also made some fixes to the other cutscenes using the PS1 release as a source, and upscaled them all with Topaz Video Enhance AI.

 

Sample 1

fS1CweI.jpg

 

Sample 2

xCEs01b.jpg

 

 

Download Links

Uncompressed 320x240 resolution videos:

Edited Intro

Extended Intro

Patched Cutscenes/Outros

 

Low compressed upscales:

Edited Intro, Upscaled

Extended Intro, Upscaled

Patched Cutscenes/Outros, Upscaled

 

 

 

YouTube Playlist

YouTube's compression kinda sucks, but still all the upscaled videos have been uploaded in order for online viewing here:

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

How weird! Mega recently did a mass takedown of files so maybe it got innocently caught in that. I'll try and get it re-uploaded tomorrow, thanks for letting me know :)

Edit: Done!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Damn, you should remove the sentence about this being redundant because this is the best version currently existing! Having dedicated video AI rather than frame-by-frame upscaling also makes the "upscale blur" extremely minimized, and more consistent between frames. You can make out so many details that you couldn't even see in previous upcales. Just amazing, thank you for posting this :D  Any chance we'll see the extended intro upscaled too? (or maybe that would be possible to do myself with a Topaz video enhancer trial...)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you! Yeah I've seen a lot of stuff upscaled with Gigapixel or Waifu2x and there's definitely that wobbling effect in motion, Topaz has done an amazing job with their Video Enhance AI program. It struggles in places with such a low resolution source but as you say it has still produced fantastic results.

 

I'll gladly do an upscale for the extended video as well! I'll need to set aside some time to do that but hopefully I'll have it uploaded by the weekend.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Come on, the compression artefacts were clearly the best thing about the original videos ;)!
Just kidding, it's good that you have done it since the original videos could be quite to hard decipher, if you analysed them closer (I still remember watching those videos over and over again to recreate the spaceship).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can imagine that must have been difficult at such a low resolution! If only a higher resolution encode existed somewhere out there...

 

The extended intro upscale was much faster than I expected and I've updated the topic with it! Next I'm planning on giving the game cutscenes a go, but I'm not sure how well they'll process.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A try to do the same thing with Topaz 2.1.1 and here are some pictures to compare

 

Landslide: 0:20sec

 

Spoiler

Original 320x200

 

 

Topaz 1.2 upscale x4    1280x800

 Topaz 2.1.1 Artemis MQ v12 1920x1080

 

 

 

Intro: 1:55sec

 

Spoiler

Original 15fps 320x200

 

Topaz 2.1.1 Artemis MQ v12  1920x1080

 

Topaz 1.9 Atemis v10  1440x1080  (by JimbobJeffers )

 

 

 

Topaz is very powerful now for upscal low video , ans i don't now if i forget something in parameter but i prefer the version of JimbobJeffers

 

Edit: This is the video of Landslide

 

 

The same video with no "grain"

 

 

Which video is the best?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well part of the issue is that you're upscaling squashed video - the aspect ratio is meant to be 4:3 (1440x1080) and you're stretching it to 16:9 (1920x1080). Otherwise, except for the added film grain, I don't think there's much difference in those screenshots. Nice one!

It's hard to tell from the YouTube videos though as the compression kinda ruins it, which is why I've also been sharing direct downloads.

 

 

---

 

 

Final (hopefully) update to this topic! I've added all the cutscenes, both patched versions of the 320x240 resolution ones and upscaled versions.

 

Regarding patching:

The videos are 15fps, but for some reason the bats and outro cutscenes contain doubles every 15 frames. This means there's a drastic jump from the 13th to the 14th/15th frame every second of the cutscene. To fix this I interpolated the 13th and 15th frames to get a proper 14th one in between, making for a smoother motion.

 

I didn't interpolate all the videos from 15fps to 30fps though because I couldn't get any consistently decent results. It seems interpolation software hasn't come as far as upscaling yet with CG stuff and is still mainly suited to live action. This really sucks because they're clearly meant to be around 25fps - if you go through frame-by-frame you'll see motion constantly be faster and slower every other frame or two.

 

A couple of fixes were made to other cutscenes to remove extraneous blank frames from the PS1 version which de-synced the audio. Also the audio is better quality on the PS1 cutscenes, but unfortunately the end of each clip abruptly cuts or fades out slightly earlier than the PC versions. Still I went with PS1 as the audio and video source for the overall cleaner sound and higher resolution video.

 

Upscaling:

I upscaled using the same method as the intros, but overall the quality isn't great on these cutscenes due to all the wide shots and fast motion. Still it should be less painful on the eyes to see some painted-looking blobbiness instead of blurring and pixellation! Enjoy

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, JimbobJeffers said:

Well part of the issue is that you're upscaling squashed video - the aspect ratio is meant to be 4:3 (1440x1080) and you're stretching it to 16:9 (1920x1080). Otherwise, except for the added film grain, I don't think there's much difference in those screenshots. Nice one!

It's hard to tell from the YouTube videos though as the compression kinda ruins it, which is why I've also been sharing direct downloads.

 

 

 

 

If I’m not mistaken, as you can see in the image, moving up the resolution to 1920x1080 does not stretch the image but cuts up and down to adjust to the basic resolution.

After removing the grain the quality is acceptable.

You also did a very good job of mixing different versions of the videos to get a result close to the original
 
?
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Compare the screenshot of Chief you posted with mine - yours is stretched horizontally. You've upscaled the PC version which is squished to 320x200 (16:10 aspect ratio) for rendering at 320x240 (4:3, or 16:12 for comparison), and by cropping off the top and bottom too you've removed detail as well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, JimbobJeffers said:

Compare the screenshot of Chief you posted with mine - yours is stretched horizontally. You've upscaled the PC version which is squished to 320x200 (16:10 aspect ratio) for rendering at 320x240 (4:3, or 16:12 for comparison), and by cropping off the top and bottom too you've removed detail as well.

 

Oh my God, you’re all right, I didn’t see it that way. But tell me, why did you choose the 1440x1080 and not the 1440x900 to keep the same 320x200 ratio?
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Because it's not intended to be displayed at 320x200. The PS1 versions of the videos (which I used as the source for the cutscene upscales) are 320x240, but the PC versions are exactly the same video squashed to 320x200 to save disc/hard drive space, and the game stretches it back up to 320x240. So keeping the same 16:10 aspect ratio of the 320x200 video would be incorrect, as it is authored for viewing at 4:3.

 

If it's easier to see for yourself, download the patched PS1 cutscene videos I linked in the main post, and compare it with your PC videos. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I now better understand the difference between our two versions
The only downside, all Playstation videos are in 15 fps but the image quality is better
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh damn you're right, how did I miss that? I just assumed that with the PC intro being 15fps, all the other cutscenes would be the same, but nope...

 

Not sure I can be bothered to upscale all the PC versions now and compare the difference haha

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, JimbobJeffers said:

Oh damn you're right, how did I miss that? I just assumed that with the PC intro being 15fps, all the other cutscenes would be the same, but nope...

 

Not sure I can be bothered to upscale all the PC versions now and compare the difference haha

On pc , only intro is 15fps and all other are in 25 fps

 

But, with the magic of artificial intelligences there is a solution, here is your video in 1440x1080 in 15 Fps I then increased to 30 Fps then 60 Fps

 

Slugs2 15 FPS (by JimbobJeffers with Playstation version)

 

Spoiler

 

 

Slugs2 30 FPS

 

Spoiler

 

 

Slugs2 60 Fps

Spoiler

 

 

After comparison I think that the format 30 Fps is more than enough.
in 60 fps transitions between multiple scenes are poorly managed . Of course it is possible to change the sensitivity in the settings but with my computer it took me 1h15min to go to 60 Fps, I do not have the courage to try with different settings.
 
If you want to try it yourself, I used this new and free software. (I had to disable my antivirus to use it)
 
For more information:
 
FlowframesApp1.23.4
Spoiler

 

 

 
For direct download
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The 30FPS is stellar! Are you going to do the rest?

Not sure if someone has done this already, but I tried converting the intro to .avi, just to make sure it plays fine in game. Sure enough, it does, and it looks great.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Haz said:

The 30FPS is stellar! Are you going to do the rest?

Not sure if someone has done this already, but I tried converting the intro to .avi, just to make sure it plays fine in game. Sure enough, it does, and it looks great.

 

Yup , it's incomming soon, it's took lot of time to convert video with old computer

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As I said in my earlier post, I did try interpolating the 15fps videos, using Flowframes. But the added frames look really poor, presumably because the AI is trained for live action stuff, and I actually prefer the almost stop-motion look at 15fps compared to the severely artifacted interpolated version :P For those who aren't as fickle as me though it's nice to have them interpolated

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I understand and for my part I have a great preference for the 30 Fps for fluidity .
I finished converting all the videos, they will be available very soon.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

11 hours ago, JimbobJeffers said:

As I said in my earlier post, I did try interpolating the 15fps videos, using Flowframes. But the added frames look really poor, presumably because the AI is trained for live action stuff, and I actually prefer the almost stop-motion look at 15fps compared to the severely artifacted interpolated version :P For those who aren't as fickle as me though it's nice to have them interpolated

It'll be interesting to see! I think phenix's slug video was, for the most part, an improvement in 30fps, but I think the quirks of the intro in 30fps are too distracting. I know that part of a higher quality cutscene was found (but damaged) on a recovered DDI drive. I wonder if 15 fps was the original intent or based on a limitation.

EDIT: Rereading through this thread, I see you pointed out that the originals were meant to be 25fps. That makes sense.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 6 months later...

I just tried to replace the original AVIs with the upscaled videos.


Sadly the game just skips them due to being MP4

Is there a way to convert them to AVI or to give the LRR game the capability to play MP4 as well?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can't remember why I uploaded it in MP4, probably because AVI would have been far worse compressed or something for an HD video.

If you don't have a problem with cmd programs you could try FFmpeg? Or maybe something like Handbrake, although I haven't used it in years so I'm not sure if it can do that.

 

Most conversions will have a loss in quality, but with FFmpeg you may be able to get away with a lossless copy by using this:

 

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v copy -c:a copy output.avi

However I don't know if LRR will support playing it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 10/28/2021 at 9:28 AM, Lego Rockfox said:

I just tried to replace the original AVIs with the upscaled videos.


Sadly the game just skips them due to being MP4

Is there a way to convert them to AVI or to give the LRR game the capability to play MP4 as well?

 

You can rename the video's in ".avi" (not sure it's done)

Or you can use my Version of the game "Rock Raiders United" with native HD video , news special mission and more

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 minutes ago, phenix8fr said:

 

You can rename the video's in ".avi" (not sure it's done)

Or you can use my Version of the game "Rock Raiders United" with native HD video , news special mission and more

 

 

 

hm, renaming it to AVI did worked. ^^ Thanks a lot

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.