Resident Evil 1 Remastered

[Deathlygasm]

They also admitted in there that aside from the resolution differences that the next gen versions are gonna be visually identical.

Aside from the resolution difference, the versions are essentially identical. We’ll confirm details on the PC version at a later date.

[Undead Sega]

Capcom still won't talk about the backgrounds' resolutions when asked, although they're happy to talk about 're-rendering' later when it comes to discussing the choice to remain at 4:3 for the aspect ration and only zoom in for 16:9.

It's also annoying that Capcom talk as if they're upping the quality of the assets within the backgrounds when it looks like texture sizes and poly counts are identical to the GC original.

But Yoshiaki Hirabayashi kinda did, infact he made it very clear. He said:

For this particular title, we aren’t doing a simple upconvert and calling it a day. We are working with the previous assets and making careful adjustments to resolution. The process is something akin to disassembling a complex wristwatch, polishing and cleaning up each individual piece, and painstakingly putting it all back together.

The original game featured pre-rendered backgrounds, but we’re going over each and every still image individually and making adjustments not just to the resolution but also to post effects. Those elements of the background that are actually rendered as 3D models are being given special attention. They are being refined to match up with the newly refreshed still images to form a cohesive piece. There are some backgrounds that are actually treated as movie files rather than still images and in those cases, we are going through frame by frame to ensure that the resolution and level of detail are where we want them. Of course, the character models and effects have also been adjusted so that they match these new high resolution environments.

I don't know whether to believe him on that or not, still sounds abit like a lazy cop-out, they could still re-render them in 4:3 at a resolution of 1440x1080. I think he's slightly getting caught-up on trying to preserve the game's originality abit too much here.

[anaho]

For Christ´s sake, they rerender nothing, just take a look at any picture available.
They only improve the realtime models and filter the hell out of the backgrounds.

[Grem]

For Christ´s sake, they rerender nothing, just take a look at any picture available.
They only improve the realtime models and filter the hell out of the backgrounds.

That's not true. You can clearly see they redone some of the backgrounds (3D effects mostly). Just look at the picture where Jill is on the balcony where we can find Forest's corpse and compare it to the original game. The plants are different.

[Jimmy_Jazz]

But Yoshiaki Hirabayashi kinda did, infact he made it very clear.

He hasn't made it clear that the backgrounds have been re-rendered at a higher res than the originals. Infact, he seems to skirt around the issue. His explination could cover an upscale and then touchups in photoshop.

Clearly there have been a variety of changes, but until Capcom explains exactly what they're doing and stops pumping out poorly compressed screenshots then pesimism is going to be rife because of their reputation with previous HD remales.

[News Bot]

Hirabayashi is very clear. The backgrounds are being edited and upscaled. Nothing more. They do not have the original textures or 3D assets to work with. The best they can do is draw over them. Re-rendering is what Umbrella Chronicles was forced to do: recreate from scratch.

[Jimmy_Jazz]

Can you confirm that they don't have access to the originals? Devs have been using source control and backing up data on a regular basis for decades. Although I know that Japanese devs have had different approaches to teams and development in the past. I've always wanted to know if the first person backgrounds from RE: DS were rendered from the original RE backgrounds or if the rooms they feature in had to be re-rendered.

Also that's not re-rendering.

[Deathlygasm]

Not all developers use the source codes to develop HD remasters. The people who did the fantastic God of War HD collection and Ico/Shadow of the Colossus said they use retail data. I wouldn't be suprised if the DMC HD collection was retail data since the games look like they're just upscalled with anti-aliasing added in.

[News Bot]

Can you confirm that they don't have access to the originals? Devs have been using source control and backing up data on a regular basis for decades. Although I know that Japanese devs have had different approaches to teams and development in the past. I've always wanted to know if the first person backgrounds from RE: DS were rendered from the original RE backgrounds or if the rooms they feature in had to be re-rendered.

Also that's not re-rendering.

Yes, I can. And CAPCOM is pretty notorious for not backing up source assets. Why do you think BIO2 has never had backgrounds in anything but 320x240? They erased the originals.

It is re-rendering, at least in the manner he used it. They don't have the source assets so they can't exactly re-render those. The only thing they can do is what Cavia did for BIOUC, which was to merely recreate the environments as accurately as they could.

[Undead Sega]

That's quite funny, cause a year later Capcom came out with RE3, and it seems with the 2006 SourceNext release, they seem to have released it with uncompressed 640x480 backgrounds.

[Mikhail]

That's quite funny, cause a year later Capcom came out with RE3, and it seems with the 2006 SourceNext release, they seem to have released it with uncompressed 640x480 backgrounds.

The original 2000 pc and Dreamcast release already had 640x480 backgrounds though, same with dc2.

[Undead Sega]

I am not too sure about the 2000 PC version but all I know is that the Dreamcast was incredibly disappointing when I bought it, thinking it would have been given the same treatment was they did with RE2. The backgrounds were so compressed that even an uncompressed 320x240 would've sufficed.

But my point is, how is it that they retained 640x480 uncompressed renders when RE2 couldn't? especially that they're like a year apart!

[Mikhail]

I am not too sure about the 2000 PC version but all I know is that the Dreamcast was incredibly disappointing when I bought it, thinking it would have been given the same treatment was they did with RE2. The backgrounds were so compressed that even an uncompressed 320x240 would've sufficed.

But my point is, how is it that they retained 640x480 uncompressed renders when RE2 couldn't? especially that they're like a year apart!

Probably because re2 was made on a 96/97 gpu where as re3 was made on a 98 gpu, it was more than likely only ever rendered at 320x240.
The Dreamcast being one of the first vga compatible consoles in 98 everybody before that was using either shitty composite, s-video or even worse RF, I know us europeans only really upgraded to rgb-scart to play imports in colour on the earlier modchips, the quality bump from RF to rgb-scart was a added bonus.

[Jimmy_Jazz]

Not all developers use the source codes to develop HD remasters. The people who did the fantastic God of War HD collection and Ico/Shadow of the Colossus said they use retail data

If you are asked to remake / port a game and aren't given the source code and assets then it's because someone has seriously fucked up at the publisher / original developer side. You only have to look at the pain that Team IGAS are going through trying to reconstruct Resident Evil 1.5 to know how painful recreating parts of a game without access to original source code and assets can be (or the mess of the Silent Hill HD Collection where an earlier version of the source code was used). As a result, no publisher nowadays would waste money on giving a developer the time and money to create HD versions of PS2 era games from scratch.

Now the following two articles with Bluepoint games (ported GoW & Ico / SOTC) to PS3 are clear that they used / had acces to the games' original code & assets.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/god-of-war-collection-article

http://www.edge-online.com/news/bluepoint-hd-remakes-you-make-one-mistake-and-it-kills-it/

Also, the term 'retail' data could be misleading (depending on its usage). Generally when you submit a game on console to checks you not only submit it to the working game, but all code and assets. Now the PS3 SOTC had Colossi in it that were original cut from the PS2 version from before release which also reinforces the idea that Bluepoint games had access to more than just retail data (be it final code & assets or just a copy of the game on a disc).

As for DMC HD, some of the assets (such as textures & models, but not code) have been reworked. The game isn't upscaled, it is being rendered at a higher resolution that the original. Upscaling is when you take something that has already been rendered at one resolution and then stretch the image (and potentially perform other techniques to it) to fit a larger resolution.

It is re-rendering, at least in the manner he used it. They don't have the source assets so they can't exactly re-render those. The only thing they can do is what Cavia did for BIOUC, which was to merely recreate the environments as accurately as they could

Hopefully we'll find out if he is using or misuing that term before the game is released. However, regardless of the word in that article, you stated that rebuilding the environment was re-rendering it and that my interpretation is wrong. However that is all wrong, especially with the case of Umbrella Chronicles. Rendering is the process of taking the environment and all its assets (textures, lighting, post-process etc) and then turning that into a 2D image. If you rebuild a scene then you still have to re-render it. Now since UC runs in realtime, they haven't had to re-render anything, they create the geometry and the console you're playing it on renders it every frame.

And CAPCOM is pretty notorious for not backing up source assets.

Unfortunately I've heard this too, but when it came to rebuilding environments for UC I've heard they still had access to the REMake rooms, which is why I'm probing deeper. Whilst it could be understandable that in the 90s developers were losing or throwing away large amounts of finished data, it really would be insane for that to have happened again to the REMake backgrounds between 2002 & 2006.

As for RE2, that's not a great example because from what the public have seen alone, it's not possible to know what happened to the original files. Some assets from RE2 were also used in RE3 (such as the large blue barriers). I also don't know how the RE2 environments were re-constructed in Outbreak (did they use RE2 models as the source, or were they built from scratch after looking at images of & backgrounds from RE2) and I don't think Capcom were vocal about this during development. Whilst the PC, DC & GC version backgrounds were 640x480, I've not played them and from screen-caps on the net they look like the original PS backgrounds upscaled to a higher res. Are there any good comparison shots to prove they were re-rendered at 480?

Now there is another side to all of this for RE2&3, it could just be that Capcom didn't want to spend the funds on getting the backgrounds re-rendered.

And to come full circle, we also see new first person renderings of the RE1 backgrounds in RE: DS. As I said earlier, it's not possible from them alone to conclude whether those environments were rendered from the original model data or if they were modelled from scratch.

But ultimately this all boils down to the fact that we want Capcom to give the REMaster the treatment it deserves for both veterans of the series and new comers across all formats. We're skeptical about their ability to do this from Capcom's past with HD updates and because the images and interviews released so far do clarify things, leaving us to play detective and argument over semantics until we can confirm.

It's a testiment to the series, which has changed and varied in quality alot over the past 18 years (we're going to need to do something for the 20th anniversary!!!), that it still has such a passionate and loyal fanbase. This forum and everyone within has reinvigorated my love for it. We're nit picking because we love it and have been starved of love back from Capcom.

Roll on the REMaster, RE1.5 and RE:BTM!!!

[Deathlygasm]

I was so drunk one time that I thought Operation Raccoon City was gonna be a good game.