Some Things Refuse to Stay Buried

[KeyofBlueS]

Thank you again, Sho! The repo is up and running! https://github.com/KeyofBlueS/tresceffmpeg

I had a look at the code, really impressive work, seriously. It's more complex than I expected, kudos for putting this together so cleanly in such a short time.

Performance is noticeably better now, which is great. I did still notice the audio/video desync at first, but I was able to fix it on my side in v0.3.0 by adding PTS-based timing, this completely eliminated the drift.

I also re-enabled hardware acceleration in FFmpeg. Out of curiosity, what was the reason for disabling it in the first place?

Anyway, everything looks solid now. Thanks again for open-sourcing this and trusting me with it. Have a great vacation!

- UPDATE -

Let's start releasing something, shall we?

These are the original upscaled cutscenes, now provided as MP4 files (even though they keep the .smk extension). They offer higher quality and significantly smaller file sizes compared to the previous upscaled SMK versions.

Original Cutscenes Upscaled
Original Cutscenes Upscaled with Italian subs

tatu, I think we should remove the older video downloads from the download section, both the AVI and the SMK versions, and replace them with these. The new ones are intended to fully override them.

[tatu]

tatu, I think we should remove the older video downloads from the download section, both the AVI and the SMK versions, and replace them with these. The new ones are intended to fully override them.

Will do, probably during the weekend. Then I can get the tool up as well (or rather link to the GitHub). And make a news post

[Sho]

Hello with massive jetlag from Seoul

Thanks for the repo and the collab, Keys! Nice work on PTS.

Re why I disabled HW accel, I had issues with it crashing on my sys, but in retrospect I think the cause was most likely the stack alignment problem I had that also made me drop SIMD in the first build. I ran out of time to re-test accel after I had fixed that

Very promising that we now have a couple of programmers active in the community again, who knows what else we'll build next!

[KeyofBlueS]

Hello from Isla Sorna!

I hope you're having a great time despite the massive jetlag. I'm sure you're enjoying the trip!

And thanks! The PTS fix is honestly a bit of a dirty patch, but it's doing the job. After getting it working, I actually spent quite a bit of time experimenting with a more advanced implementation. However, I'm somewhat reluctant to publish those changes because the current solution is working well, and the newer version introduces a fair amount of additional complexity.

That said, if anyone is testing the library and notices issues, especially with longer videos, please share your feedback.

On a related note, I'm currently streaming the game, and the new cutscenes are already visible in the first episode over on Twitch. Tomorrow, or the day after at the latest, I expect to finish the playthrough and finally wrap up the series.

Thanks again for kicking all of this off!

[KeyofBlueS]

Fellow survivors,

I've just completed my latest Trespasser playthrough on Twitch. Thank you all for the support.

As promised, the remade cutscenes are now available. If you'd like to watch them, you might want to take a look at my YouTube channel.

For those who want to use them in-game, they can be downloaded at the links in the first post.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed creating them.

[TrespasserGuy]

Damn.. I'm loving these new cutscenes! The opening DreamWorks logo looks so crisp! I caught that Back to the Future reference in Anne's new apartment I also love the extended ending, it really threw me for a loop! I do have to say though.. why use that AI generated picture of Hammond in the magazine when we have the actual still from the movie?

(Click on thumbnail for full size)

Other than that these new cutscenes are awesome! And it's perfect that we can now have higher quality .smks in this game in time for its 30th Anniversary in a couple of years.

[KeyofBlueS]

I'm really happy you liked them!

It might be obvious, but I want to mention anyway that the DreamWorks opening wasn't actually recreated by me. It's an official version that I simply incorporated into the cutscene.

As for the Hammond image, there were a couple of reasons I went that route (and yes, I used the movie frame as a starting point):
1. I really wanted a complete image of Hammond, whereas in the movie scene part of his head is cut off.
2. It felt a bit strange to use an actual frame from the movie inside a magazine that exists within a game based on that same movie. I'm not sure I'm explaining it perfectly, but it kind of breaks the illusion for me. I wanted it to feel more like an in-universe magazine photo rather than a screenshot taken directly from the film.

About the ending, I always felt it was a bit rushed and not entirely satisfying, so I decided to extend it slightly and add a bit of suspense to give it a better sense of closure.

And yes, you caught the Back to the Future reference! And that's not the only easter egg hidden in the intro...

[Revae]

This is dope as hell. Very well done.
I did think the Hammond pic being a little *too* obviously AI'd was jarring. Something about the tone and texture of his skin. Especially considering everything else feels so damn spot-on.
But as it stands It's still great.

Now we just need a modern engine, some smoother models, higher res textures, improved physics... Anyone have Nightdive's number?

[Draconisaurus]

Hmmm I think the AI version of Hammond there looked... not as nice? as we're used to seeing Hammond. Could be neat to see a version where he has yet another different appearance.

Improved physics? As for Nightdive, they are awesome, I'm not aware of them being able to copywrite a remaster of JP2.

[KeyofBlueS]

Thanks a lot, folks, really glad you liked it, overall

Just to clarify a bit about the magazine, the final image isn't just a raw AI output. I did quite a bit of manual work on it afterwards, the background, colors, big and small details to make it fit my view of it.

About Hammond's skin (and possibly the beard too), I think I understand the issue, the image was also upscaled to 4K because the magazine appears very close to the camera, and I wanted to avoid it looking too pixelated.
The final result is pretty much what I was aiming for, but I'm still open to feedback, as long as the critique isn't just based on the fact that an AI tool was part of the process.

On a different note, thanks to Nick's feedback, I've already updated the eggs scene in the intro as well. The background now matches the original a bit more closely... The updated links are available in the first post.

And regarding a modern engine... honestly, that's a dream many of us share, myself included. In my head I already have a "perfect" version of a Trespasser remake. For now though, I guess we'll have to settle for The Lost Wild

- UPDATE -

Hey everyone,

I quickly put together two different versions of the magazine cover.
Here's the current one
Variant 1
Variant 2

Personally, I'm leaning more toward the second variant, but I'd really like to hear your thoughts. Which one do you think works better?

Also, I originally thought the rotating background behind the magazine was amber, which is what I used for my version.
However, Nick mentioned it might actually be a desk... and now I'm not entirely sure anymore. I still really like the amber look though

[Nick3069]

Personally, I'm leaning more toward the second variant, but I'd really like to hear your thoughts. Which one do you think works better?

I agree, Version 2 looks better, but still a bit off. Maybe a bit of color correction is needed; Hammond looks very tanned in that photo, so I shifted the hue towards red, reduced the saturation to 60%, and increased the brightness a little bit and I think he looks more natural now.

hammondPale2.png (4.96 MiB) Viewed 103 times

Of course, all the other elements would need to be re-adjusted. This is just a quick mock-up.

[TheIdiot]

I have yet to see the final cutscene but if the opening ones are any indication of its quality, I think this is a good sign.

I agree, these cutscenes are awesome but AI Hammond is giving me that "ick" feeling. Could you perhaps use the AI to generate the missing part of the image (his forehead and chest) and keep the photograph part, make some sort of hybrid that looks more like a real picture? I know it's obvious to us that it's a screenshot from the movie, but I think we'd all rather have the real thing than any obviously AI generated gunk in this otherwise high-quality rendition. The AI version has that very distinct fake look to it which makes it feel out-of-place.

[Draconisaurus]

Hmmm I think Nick3069's edited rendition has a nice particular art style going.

[Revae]

I was playing around with it a bit before bed just now. I noticed the cane was sort of made of metal, instead of the bone-looking wood it was in the movie. Was missing a vertebrae.
Then I overlayed a half-tone version on top. To make it feel like a print magazine. I dunno. Just screwing around.
Might be worth brightening it up a little further with the half tone, but since it'd be scaling and moving on screen you might run into moire eels (patterns).

[KeyofBlueS]

Alright people, I really like Nick's edit, maybe it's a little too red, but it's definitely heading in a good direction. And Revae, the fix you made to the cane is awesome!

I'm still not convinced about the halftone effect, though. I actually experimented with it myself early on, but ended up discarding it because it didn't look particularly good in the final render. Besides, this is "Science America" we're talking about! They print their covers in high quality. They spare no expense!

Look, here's my Variant 2 image without the magazine overlay. I think it's a good starting point, so if anyone feels like making/re-applying adjustments or trying out ideas, feel free. Maybe together we can end up with the definitive version.

I have yet to see the final cutscene but if the opening ones are any indication of its quality, I think this is a good sign.

I agree, these cutscenes are awesome but AI Hammond is giving me that "ick" feeling. Could you perhaps use the AI to generate the missing part of the image (his forehead and chest) and keep the photograph part, make some sort of hybrid that looks more like a real picture? I know it's obvious to us that it's a screenshot from the movie, but I think we'd all rather have the real thing than any obviously AI generated gunk in this otherwise high-quality rendition. The AI version has that very distinct fake look to it which makes it feel out-of-place.

Thank you! And if you haven't watched the ending cutscene yet because you're waiting to experience it by actually finishing the game, then I'm genuinely happy to hear that. Honestly, that's exactly how I'd want people to see it for the first time.

As for the magazine discussion, yes, what you're suggesting could absolutely be done. That said, as you mentioned, it still leaves me with the same little issue: at the end of the day it's still a frame taken directly from the movie, and that's the part I've always been a bit unsure about. You know what this is starting to remind me of? The "Version 4.4" chapter in the Jurassic Park novel