TimeGentleman Posted October 21, 2022 Share Posted October 21, 2022 (edited) I've just started a GF replay and decided to try out the remaster rather than playing from disc via SCUMMVM/Residual. The backgrounds didn't look as nice as I remembered. I realised that a lot of that was because they were now being placed next to hi-res character models - as soon as I flipped it back to classic rendering mode, the background looked better again! However, I checked out some comparison videos anyway (I was mostly hoping to find comparisons of the old vs new music, but couldn't immediately find any), and it seem like the backgrounds have been brightened. The two videos I'm looking at are these: The first one claims to be a comparison of the RM vs the original. The second is a playthrough of the original. Now, you can definitely see a difference in backgrounds in the first video: Backed up by the second video (though perhaps a little less so?): The thing that's throwing me off a little here is that it seems the first video is actually just using the Remaster's different rendering modes, judging by the new UI in Don Copley's computer on both: As compared to that in the second video: What's weird is that when I flip between the rendering modes in RM, it doesn't affect the backgrounds at all. This YTer says in the comments that they were playing and capturing on two different laptops simultaneously, so I guess one of them might be outputting different brightness/contrast levels? I hadn't realised that was a thing. Or have they added this extra contrast themselves in post? So, I guess my question is: has anyone noticed the backgrounds in RM being brighter? Or read anything about it? Also, is DREAMM near to supporting GF yet?! I think I'm going to go to the effort of playing from disc, tbh, even though it means missing out on the new music (and maybe that Domino dialogue if SCUMMVM haven't fixed that bug). Edited October 21, 2022 by TimeGentleman 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thrik Posted October 21, 2022 Share Posted October 21, 2022 This is a thing. See below an unmodified screenshot of the original game taken 10+ years ago vs Remastered: The lighting of the 3D models is generally softer too but I think this is preferable, causing characters and objects to blend in better with the environments. There are even fancy reflected lighting effects, such as Manny's green lockers illuminating his face slightly with green. Overall the game looks and sounds better for sure. I suspect there may be a platform aspect to this. The original game shot was taken on a Windows PC, whereas the Remastered shot was taken on a Mac, which to my knowledge uses a higher gamma than Windows across the board. Indeed, the effect is that of increased gamma, as it's primarily the shadows that are affected. Gamma is pretty easy to adjust on any platform so it is possible you could just tweak that and still enjoy the Remastered edition. Similarly, the Xbox is known to use a lower gamma to the PS4, leading to many a 'graphics comparison' where the Xbox version is said to have richer tone. When I played Remastered it was on PS4, and on my TV I use the film reference darker gamma, so that probably masked this issue for me if it was present on the PS4. It is more noticeable on a computer for sure. As for playing the original, I think it still runs on a modern computer but it increasingly became plagued by rendering issues where the graphics technology moved on. For example, anti-aliasing started causing all sorts of bugs, and so really you could only play it by turning the nicer graphical effects off, leaving it looking more like 'Classic' mode in Remastered, even though many people would have played the original game's better-looking hardware-accelerated mode. Unfortunately I think DREAMM is targeting the inferior mode too as I imagine it'd be much more complex to emulate the graphics card, but I may be wrong. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimeGentleman Posted October 21, 2022 Author Share Posted October 21, 2022 Ugh, technology! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laserschwert Posted October 21, 2022 Share Posted October 21, 2022 Is there still no way to swap out the backgrounds in Grim Remastered? They could be upscaled quite well by now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThunderPeel2001 Posted October 21, 2022 Share Posted October 21, 2022 9 minutes ago, Laserschwert said: Is there still no way to swap out the backgrounds in Grim Remastered? They could be upscaled quite well by now. There's quite a few things that could be improved in Grim Remastered (note: whatever issues Remastered has, it's still easily the best version of the game -- the controls and the music are worth it for them alone). Here's a list of improvements I made on my last playthrough of the Remastered (note: a lot of these are in the original)... Year 1 Pigeon shadows next to balloon clown Manny doesn’t smoke after Glottis talks about the “noxious fumes” IT guy’s mouth doesn’t animate (in hallway) IT guy’s lips anti-aliasing is off Bread texture is too low res No suction sound when Manny puts the balloon in the pneumatic tube Eva gets stuck in a pose if you talk to her twice at the LSA Spider show after it runs away from Glottis’s heart Year 2 Manny’s ever glowing cigarette Climbing into Totos Santo’s place, Manny’s animation jumps Pixellated Gold Flakes Gold Flakes bottle rotates when Manny drinks it Gold Flakes is still "Golo Flakes" on the PS4 (most irritating thing ever) Seabee: Terry’s top left arm doesn’t animate Sea animation isn’t smooth looping Hard edged anti-aliasing on the telescope Membrillo - background plants in foreground (dots) Mask clipping on lift (upper level) Mysterious non-objects outside Maximino’s (just across from the folding bridge) Membrillo’s fork when Manny hand’s him the metal detector Nick’s cigarillo case doesn’t quite look right when he dropped the key. They fake front is still visible when he switches it to normal mode Nick just disappears when he goes off to talk to Max Kitty Cat announcer stops running Toto Santos talking on phone drowned out by Naranja’s snoring Naranja’s dogtags don’t match Manny’s description (“Seaman Anselmo Naranja Ensign, Third Class”) Manny’s hand shoots out his back while he’s talking to Charlie about his suitcase Doug’s shirt sleeves are transparent The key uses Nick’s cigarillo box for a texture… including his initials Year 3 Manny smokes underwater… At least on conveyor belt screen (idle animation) Manny can stand on the conveyor belt without being moved by it? Water animation looping issue (as with other screens) Crane sound drops out if you move and stop twice Hair curlers animation loop juddering Ocean horizon is not flat Level animation bad Coral doesn’t glow (the only thing in the game which is described as glowing) Pugsy’s hammer reappears in his hand when he laughs after throwing it at Manny Too loud crying of the Angelitos Meche’s skirt changes as she smokes Chain jammed with curlers are WAY TOO LOUD Animated mask on the chain is off on the conveyor belt Dropping the chain into the open hole doesn’t do anything (can’t see chain — presumably you should) Stockings texture is terrible Bust-all texture is terrible Meche goes through the motions every time Manny enter’s Dom’s office — bug? Wrong flower logo on gun End of video — when Meche gets gun — jumps terribly to back into game No noise when Manny turns safe wheel (fixes when zoomed in once lock is exposed) Manny’s hand goes berserk when he’s turning the wheel with one hand (zoomed in) Year 4 Intro video cuts out as Glottis falls off building (Esta bien becomes Es—) Manny’s arm texture is very blocky in the inventory Shadows are incorrectly visible on the gondola housing room Rubacava: Manny says the bridge “used to” fold out before he’s tried the lever, but doesn’t after he has. Bug? Ship in a bottle texture is crappy Eva’s head is facing the wrong way Bowsley can has glitch on it Sewers: Floor is in foreground Backstage: Manny’s head goes behind background when climbing up ladder Dialogue clipped: “Hey, get lost pal. No auto—“ Grinder disappears when it’s put back in the bigger grinder Bone chipper creates huge shadow on the floor when it is run No shadow on wall when Manny climbs ladder in alligator room The bingo board goes blank on the second question (Casino) Manny’s head goes through his caul when he jumps down off the ledge on the roof No shadow from the headlights in The Meadow 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimeGentleman Posted October 22, 2022 Author Share Posted October 22, 2022 9 hours ago, ThunderPeel2001 said: There's quite a few things that could be improved in Grim Remastered (note: whatever issues Remastered has, it's still easily the best version of the game -- the controls and the music are worth it for them alone). Ha, funnily enough, as well as classic rendering I also switched back to tank controls! I was finding camera-relative too confusing, maybe because I've played this with tank controls so many times before... Does anyone happen to have a good comparison video (or two videos/sound clips that can be compared) for the updated soundtrack? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thrik Posted October 22, 2022 Share Posted October 22, 2022 10 hours ago, Laserschwert said: Is there still no way to swap out the backgrounds in Grim Remastered? They could be upscaled quite well by now. I’ve not heard of anyone getting anywhere in earnest with the updated game, however someone did AI upscale some of the extracted backgrounds and yes it produced promising results. There might be some harder work in the areas where video clips are overlaid upon the backgrounds, as they’d need to be upscaled too in a way that blends. Examples are the mail sorting room, underwater sections, Rubacava’s water, festival, etc. It’s a project I’d love to see happen. 46 minutes ago, TimeGentleman said: Ha, funnily enough, as well as classic rendering I also switched back to tank controls! I was finding camera-relative too confusing, maybe because I've played this with tank controls so many times before... Does anyone happen to have a good comparison video (or two videos/sound clips that can be compared) for the updated soundtrack? I found the camera-relative controls worked great on the PlayStation controller, however point ‘n’ click or tank are my favoured on computer. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThunderPeel2001 Posted October 22, 2022 Share Posted October 22, 2022 2 hours ago, TimeGentleman said: Does anyone happen to have a good comparison video (or two videos/sound clips that can be compared) for the updated soundtrack? Don't have a comparison, but you can see they got a real orchestra to record parts of it... 1 hour ago, Thrik said: I’ve not heard of anyone getting anywhere in earnest with the updated game, however someone did AI upscale some of the extracted backgrounds and yes it produced promising results. AI upscaled and widescreened: http://www.grimwidescreen.com/ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimeGentleman Posted October 22, 2022 Author Share Posted October 22, 2022 Used this video to compare the music in the opening cutscene, alongside that playthrough vid of the original I posted above. I had felt it was a little overbearing when I started playing a few days ago, and listening now they do seem to have overcooked it in places. They maybe could have compensated for that by having the voices a bit louder; unfortunately the player can't change that with their settings, it's just one overall volume bar for cutscenes rather than the discrete voice/sfx/music ones. (I always found Lucasarts games to have the music set too loud, it always need to come down by about 30%, so at least this fits tradition!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thrik Posted October 22, 2022 Share Posted October 22, 2022 4 hours ago, ThunderPeel2001 said: AI upscaled and widescreened: http://www.grimwidescreen.com/ This seems interesting. I’m not sure how I’ve never come across this! Unless it’s what the upscaled BGs I’d seen turned into. The site seems to be in a wonky state — the menu has dead links and the videos are gone too. I can’t really get a feel for what this thing is actually going to look like, so there’s no alternative, I’ll have to give it a go tonight. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huz Posted November 7, 2022 Share Posted November 7, 2022 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThunderPeel2001 Posted November 7, 2022 Share Posted November 7, 2022 (edited) On 10/22/2022 at 12:03 PM, TimeGentleman said: Used this video to compare the music in the opening cutscene, alongside that playthrough vid of the original I posted above. I don't think you can use a video to compare. There's so many things between the original recording and you playing that video that could interfere, including your own browser/OS settings. Edited November 7, 2022 by ThunderPeel2001 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimeGentleman Posted May 19 Author Share Posted May 19 As reported on this here site, a new HD mod has entered the arena, this one providing upscaled 4:3 backgrounds and (reportedly) working with the Steam version. https://hexagon.codes/grimhd 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThunderPeel2001 Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 Very very nice. I took a look at the images and they're 99.9% amazing from what I can see. There's even some .mkv files so it looks like the animated sections have been upscaled, too. A huge amount of work! Can't wait to see it in action. There's a few minor niggles that an eagle-eyed fan like myself would spot, but otherwise this genuinely looks really exciting! Kudos to the mysterious Hexgon Codes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThunderPeel2001 Posted May 30 Share Posted May 30 This is 9 years old but I don't recall ever seeing it before? A very interesting interpretation. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thrik Posted May 31 Share Posted May 31 Bloody hell. Nice. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThunderPeel2001 Posted May 31 Share Posted May 31 The amount of work is insane. I can't imagine how long it took. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lagomorph01 Posted June 3 Share Posted June 3 Quite a bit of foreshadowing, the picture of Manny and Glottis at the piano on Eva's desk! But very nice work! Of course there are some bits and niggles, but for a fan effort this looks utterly amazing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThunderPeel2001 Posted June 3 Share Posted June 3 I can't believe it's 9 years old. You can see the guy's portfolio here: https://willms.artstation.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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