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I just wanted to mention that I've gone ahead and uploaded a slightly enhanced version of my cutscene mod. In case you are unfamiliar with it, I made this many years ago to upscale the video clips included in SS2 from the archaic 320x240 cell-phone size that they were originally encoded in. There is another version of mine out there, but this version has slight better cutscenes, since I compressed the older ones a bit more to save on space.

Since the closing credits of SS2 were 640x480, I used that as a common resolution for all of them. The cutscenes that I upscaled were CS1 (opening game movie), CS2 (intro after completing training) and CS3 (final closing scene before credits). While some may think that a simple upscale can't improve the quality, I assure you - it can. The way this game upscales the video isn't nearly as efficient, not to mention I extensively processed and cleaned up the original files.

Anyway, the files are just a tad under 200MEG. Not tiny, but not unreasonable by today's standards. They are simple to install, especially if you have SStools installed. Instructions are inside the archive, compressed with 7Zip.

As an example for quality, here are a few screencaps from CS1. I tried to get them as close as possible(time point) to one another, but I was using fraps since I wanted to capture the cutscene as it was rendered in the program. (playing them outside SS2 is not proper test.) So they may not be perfectly identical, but you can see the differences.

Image 1: Look at the definition in Shodan's face, the nose, the roundness of the eyes, the forehead
Image 2: Look at the definition in the letter 'R', and the spotlight circle smoothness
Image 3: Look at the very bottom, the blue on the left side, and the blue at the top left

Existing cutscene
Image 1
Image 2
Image 3

Upscaled cutscene
Image 1
Image 2
Image 3

So not earth shattering, but a mild improvement.

Package download:
Uploaded.net
Rapidgator
Hotfile

Do you need these cutscenes to enjoy the game? No, not at all. They only represent a small aspect of the game, and it is something you don't even interact with. However, since so many others have improved SS2 in some way, I wanted to do my small part and add to that.

So if you are someone who wants every possible improvement in SS2, then this mod is for you. :)
Post edited March 04, 2013 by Savant99
avatar
Savant99: I just wanted to mention that I've gone ahead and uploaded a slightly enhanced version of my cutscene mod. In case you are unfamiliar with it, I made this many years ago to upscale the video clips included in SS2 from the archaic 320x240 cell-phone size that they were originally encoded in. There is another version of mine out there, but this version has slight better cutscenes, since I compressed the older ones a bit more to save on space.

Since the closing credits of SS2 were 640x480, I used that as a common resolution for all of them. The cutscenes that I upscaled were CS1 (opening game movie), CS2 (intro after completing training) and CS3 (final closing scene before credits). While some may think that a simple upscale can't improve the quality, I assure you - it can. The way this game upscales the video isn't nearly as efficient, not to mention I extensively processed and cleaned up the original files.

Anyway, the files are just a tad under 200MEG. Not tiny, but not unreasonable by today's standards. They are simple to install, especially if you have SStools installed. Instructions are inside the archive, compressed with 7Zip.

As an example for quality, here are a few screencaps from CS1. I tried to get them as close as possible(time point) to one another, but I was using fraps since I wanted to capture the cutscene as it was rendered in the program. (playing them outside SS2 is not proper test.) So they may not be perfectly identical, but you can see the differences.

Image 1: Look at the definition in Shodan's face, the nose, the roundness of the eyes, the forehead
Image 2: Look at the definition in the letter 'R', and the spotlight circle smoothness
Image 3: Look at the very bottom, the blue on the left side, and the blue at the top left

Existing cutscene
Image 1
Image 2
Image 3

Upscaled cutscene
Image 1
Image 2
Image 3

So not earth shattering, but a mild improvement.

Package download:
Uploaded.net
Rapidgator
Hotfile

Do you need these cutscenes to enjoy the game? No, not at all. They only represent a small aspect of the game, and it is something you don't even interact with. However, since so many others have improved SS2 in some way, I wanted to do my small part and add to that.

So if you are someone who wants every possible improvement in SS2, then this mod is for you. :)
I did this already earlier here. You and me according to peeps at systemshock.org deserve to be banned because sposedly Upscaling videos doesnt makem better in their reality.

But in normal reality, you and I probly understand the significance of upscaling.

BTW my upscaling versions which you may find here: http://www.gog.com/forum/system_shock_2/cgi_videos_in_hd/post1

Arent jest upscaled to be 1920x1080, I didnt even adjest or mess with the aspect ratio so it is the same. I also rendered them instead of being the default I think it was 15 frames per a second to 60 frames per a second as it helped smooth out its overall animations and what not.
yeah, and I'll repeat what has been said before - unless you are a Hollywood level video editor, the results will be either negligible or even negative - in your case, distorting the aspect ratio.
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voodoo47: yeah, and I'll repeat what has been said before - unless you are a Hollywood level video editor, the results will be either negligible or even negative - in your case, distorting the aspect ratio.
Goto my post and watch the original vids I uploaded and linked to and comparem to my HD versions. Guarantee you if you hold them side by side like I am in my browser now youll see the HD version is much better in detail and what not. If you even listen to the original and compare the sound quality to my HD version youll be able to even hear it is better too in my HD version.
Post edited March 04, 2013 by Stixsmaster
While the software I used to process the video didn't cost $10K, it did cost $500 when I bought it years ago for a program I was working on. I also had to purchase the codec so I could encode the files. This isn't something I knocked off with some freeware. Some of the files I broke into pieces so I could manually process different segments in the video - after which I spliced it all back together. While I have a different career now, I used to work at a television studio.

Could I have upscaled the videos higher? Yeah. Problem is that the video codec used in the original game is a lot more fussy, so people with the original SS2 likely wouldn't be able to use them. My intent was to keep the videos as 'true' to the original as possible. (which is why I retained the aspect ratio)

I keep getting people who say that the images won't be any better, yet none of them ever actually LOOK at the video. I posted screencaps that clearly show the difference. I suggest to anyone who wants to profess to be an expert in video to actually view the files before judging them. Or at least view the screencaps.

Honestly, it's really inconsiderate to simply trash my efforts without even having had the courtesy to look at the files.
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Savant99: My intent was to keep the videos as 'true' to the original as possible. (which is why I retained the aspect ratio)
Changing the aspect ratio of an image is almost always the wrong thing to do. Intent doesn't even enter into it.
I was referring mainly to those distorted horrible things I've seen on youtube a couple of days ago. and yeah, I did not actually download your batch so point taken - will do as soon as time permits.
I'll be interested to hear from anyone who actually looks at it.
Post edited March 04, 2013 by Savant99
Sorry Savant, I wanted it to look better so bad. Unfortunately it didn't for me. Perhaps just my system and worth it for others to see for themselves. I still appreciate the effort you went through and putting it up for us to try.
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Boilpoint: Sorry Savant, I wanted it to look better so bad. Unfortunately it didn't for me. Perhaps just my system and worth it for others to see for themselves. I still appreciate the effort you went through and putting it up for us to try.
How high of a resolution are you running at? If it's excessive then it's possible you may not see a difference. But check out the screencaps, especially image 2, and you can see how it is less blocky around the letters and such. Examine those two images at full resolution, look at the letter R and the spotlight circle.

edit: one more thing, it's possible there may be a conflict with another mod if you placed the files in the 'mod' folder. You can try using the second set of install instructions to replace the files directly which will assure you are not just seeing the same old files.
Post edited March 05, 2013 by Savant99
Hey there, could you, please, upload bits of the 'original' and 'upscaled' vids on youtube, for the sake of comparison? Screenshots are cool and all, but not quite sufficient.
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Savant99: edit: one more thing, it's possible there may be a conflict with another mod if you placed the files in the 'mod' folder. You can try using the second set of install instructions to replace the files directly which will assure you are not just seeing the same old files.
In all honesty, it looked worse. I was kinda dancing around it because it might be my system, and I know you've put in some work on these. I only checked cs3 and cs1. Cs3 may have had some artifact improvements, but then the black levels were off. It was very noticeable in fade-to-black moments when I could still see a pattern on the screen. Cs1 was a little worse, where it seemed there was alot of smearing, especially with the fog in the city, and on the trioptimum symbol that rotates.

I am using 1680x1050 resolution, and the crop movies option is commented out in cam_ext.cfg (I'd rather just see them with borders than stretched too much). Perhaps some combination of these settings contributed.
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Fenixp: Hey there, could you, please, upload bits of the 'original' and 'upscaled' vids on youtube, for the sake of comparison? Screenshots are cool and all, but not quite sufficient.
I considered that but the problem is that when you upload the format is converted and there are totally different compression levels. They would be totally different files.

What I think might be at play here (with some people not noticing a difference) is that 'newdark' might be working in a way that isn't as friendly to the way in which the videos were originally encoded. If that's the case then it is possible only those with the older version will notice a difference. Yet I'm using the newdark version too.

What I do know is that I can notice a difference, and I know these cutscenes were highly sought after in the past. At that link, you can see the cutscenes were downloaded over a hundred times and got a perfect 10 star rating.

So it's a bit perplexing to say the least.
placebo effect. they don't really have to be better, all that's needed is that people will believe they are better.
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voodoo47: placebo effect. they don't really have to be better, all that's needed is that people will believe they are better.
Actually I had modders who did some of the graphic mods compliment the improvement. (There are threads dating back to 2004 when I did the original change) These aren't people with a lazy eye.. I got rave reviews back then. Although to be fair, I can still see a difference now, although I think people may be expecting too much. This was never meant to turn a 320x240 video into something graphically spectacular at 1920x1080. The improvement was meant to put the 3 cutscenes on par with the other cutscenes.

If anything though this response is fascinating. I'm almost tempted to do a 'fresh' version that will work with Newdark. I'll have to do some tests and see what I can get it to do.