Final Fantasy VIII - Graphical Update Mod (WIP)

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Wow, your work is really impressive! I played FF8 for the first time all the way through last year, but backgrounds back then were MUCH less impressive. The AI stuff we've seen since the start of 2019 for FF7 and FF8 is incredible! I really hope you don't abandon the project! Cause I'd LOVE to play the game again if you do release a complete version.

One of the things I remember having an issue with for FF8 was the character models (the HD ones you used in your tests) don't quite look right to me. Their faces are pretty different and I often remember feeling like the original character designs were superior when it came to their eyes and faces.

I'd have to see a proper comparison again to see if it's what I remember. If I had any skill with modding things myself I'd LOVE to have an updated HD character set that was a bit more realistic looking with their faces. Honestly, reading through this whole thing took around an hour. And in the last few pages I kinda just started skimming because I wanted to get it finished sooner to get to the end and see if you had finished it or not. That and a LOT of the technical aspects just completely flew right over my head.

I mean, I don't even know what a GAN is xD. I'm assuming it has something to do with AI Neural Networking. But I don't know what. I hope you continue this project because it's honestly amazing what you've accomplished! And in such a short time. It reminds me of this guy Jmp who a few years ago tried to make 3D models for FF7, I read through that thread last night before bed too. The difference is your method is already pretty close to being completed, whereas his method no matter how fast the man was working had only completed like a dozen fields in months.

I think it's safe to say AI Neural Networking is a MUCH more practical solution at this point because it's so automated (compared to just straight up manual work) and allows you to do THOUSANDS of backgrounds in mere hours or days, something which is probably utterly impossible if you'd have done them by hand. I realize it's not perfect, and probably will never look as good as if someone just literally redrew ALL of the backgrounds manually again, but it's a pretty amazing result nonetheless! You should be VERY proud of what you've accomplished! :)
 
Ill glady try this out since im about to start a new run on FF8 where are the files to set-up?
and let me know how I can help do you still need screenshots? How far along are you into the project?
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Hello, sorry I haven't been around much lately. I've clearly sort of put this project to bed atm, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if I eventually come back to it. All the images are completed, however the process didn't catch everything and there were a few oddities here and there. My initial worries regarding the characters are still a thing, as well as some backgrounds having a black checkered pattern on them (which I know how to fix, but I need to locate each screen and then rebuild them seperately for now. First problem is that I don't know which screens these are, and it would be rather time consuming to do them by hand, but not impossible as long as there aren't thousands of them (which there aren't), I'm guessing maybe a 2-3 dozen, but I have no idea.

I probably won't touch this project again until I next get the urge to play the game, which I have no idea how long that would be.

If you'd like to see the project at it's current stage however, it's being provided on the nexus: https://www.nexusmods.com/finalfantasy8/mods/1
 
Wow, your work is really impressive! I played FF8 for the first time all the way through last year, but backgrounds back then were MUCH less impressive. The AI stuff we've seen since the start of 2019 for FF7 and FF8 is incredible! I really hope you don't abandon the project! Cause I'd LOVE to play the game again if you do release a complete version....

One of the things I remember having an issue with for FF8 was the character models (the HD ones you used in your tests) don't quite look right to me. Their faces are pretty different and I often remember feeling like the original character designs were superior when it came to their eyes and faces.

I'd have to see a proper comparison again to see if it's what I remember. If I had any skill with modding things myself I'd LOVE to have an updated HD character set that was a bit more realistic looking with their faces. Honestly, reading through this whole thing took around an hour. And in the last few pages I kinda just started skimming because I wanted to get it finished sooner to get to the end and see if you had finished it or not. That and a LOT of the technical aspects just completely flew right over my head.

I mean, I don't even know what a GAN is xD. I'm assuming it has something to do with AI Neural Networking. But I don't know what. I hope you continue this project because it's honestly amazing what you've accomplished! And in such a short time. It reminds me of this guy Jmp who a few years ago tried to make 3D models for FF7, I read through that thread last night before bed too. The difference is your method is already pretty close to being completed, whereas his method no matter how fast the man was working had only completed like a dozen fields in months.

I think it's safe to say AI Neural Networking is a MUCH more practical solution at this point because it's so automated (compared to just straight up manual work) and allows you to do THOUSANDS of backgrounds in mere hours or days, something which is probably utterly impossible if you'd have done them by hand. I realize it's not perfect, and probably will never look as good as if someone just literally redrew ALL of the backgrounds manually again, but it's a pretty amazing result nonetheless! You should be VERY proud of what you've accomplished! :)
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Thankyou, I'm glad you like it, I certainly spent a lot of time on this last I was working on it. You're right about the character's though, I'm also really not happy with what happens with them. The issue is obvious, my GAN was trained to rebuild backgrounds, not characters. I'd have to make a new GAN just for the characters to get reasonable results, which would take time. Then there would be the issue of merging a background produced image with the character produced image (which would likely have to be done by hand). Personally, I just think getting an artist to rebuild the characters if not even the backgrounds as well would just be a much better method. But this GAN stuff is pretty neat, not gonna lie. It definitely kept me really interested for a while. If someone had the time and knew more about the specifics on do's/don'ts for training GAN's however, I think you could produce whatever you wanted reasonably well, there's just so much potential, and we've only just scratched the surface on this neural networking stuff I think, although it's definitely getting more and more common in ways most people don't even realize yet, which is also kind of scary.
 
Hey ! :)

What you've done is impressive! Keep it up, i'm sure we can get something out of this ! Right now i don't have much time (Exams you know...) but i should get plenty of time next year! I'll try to do something, learn how to train and use those neural network and try to help you :)
Well... This is Awesome ! Thank you :)

Have a nice day !
 
Thankyou, I'm glad you like it, I certainly spent a lot of time on this last I was working on it. You're right about the character's though, I'm also really not happy with what happens with them. The issue is obvious, my GAN was trained to rebuild backgrounds, not characters. I'd have to make a new GAN just for the characters to get reasonable results, which would take time. Then there would be the issue of merging a background produced image with the character produced image (which would likely have to be done by hand). Personally, I just think getting an artist to rebuild the characters if not even the backgrounds as well would just be a much better method. But this GAN stuff is pretty neat, not gonna lie. It definitely kept me really interested for a while. If someone had the time and knew more about the specifics on do's/don'ts for training GAN's however, I think you could produce whatever you wanted reasonably well, there's just so much potential, and we've only just scratched the surface on this neural networking stuff I think, although it's definitely getting more and more common in ways most people don't even realize yet, which is also kind of scary.
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Actually, what I was referring to about the faces, was the HD character models. They may be higher resolution, but their faces are quite different in style, and I was saying I kinda prefer the original model style. Like, the eyes in particular if I recall correctly looked off to me. I'm not very knowledgeable when it comes to the 2D poorly drawn prerendered background characters. I'm sure you're right, it would be better if someone will skill redrew them. But that might not happen anytime soon. I've been away from Qhimm for a few months again, so I'm replying a bit late, so sorry about that.
 
Wow this mod looks extreamly good compare to others background upgrades.

Why dont you guys combine effort and merge this mod and angle wing mod together? Replace some backgrounds with checkerboard effect with the ones in Angle wing?
 
this looks incredibly promising , to see this game in such beauty, i m excited excellent work!
 
I'm just wondering, is there a possibility for this to be ported to the 'remastered' edition?
 
I think l'll start playing ff 8 again with this mod and taking note of all the problematic background and see if l can replace them manually with some background from angle wings. Hopefully that will work. ;D
 
Replacing the checkered background with its counter part from angle wing is working great!!! l'm replaying this and replacing the checkered backgrounds as l go along. lol
 
If you document which screens need to be updated, I will update them on my end as well, the issue isn't that they can't be fixed (I already figured that out afaik), it's that I (sorry to say), haven't played the game yet myself with the new images to see which screens need to be updated as well. I'm not sure why some of them got messed up, but when I rebuilt them by hand as a test, it fixed the issue. Bottom line, is that I need a list of which screens need to be updated, if I knew what they were, it would be incentive enough to fix the images I uploaded as well so that no one has to deal with this issue. Either way, glad you're enjoying it regardless. :)
 
I'm just wondering, is there a possibility for this to be ported to the 'remastered' edition?
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I haven't look into it, but afaik, the remastered edition lacks the mod used by this mod to update those images (sorry, it's been a while, I forget the name of it - tonberry maybe!?!??). So until someone ports it, or something like it, then I don't think this is possible.
 
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If you document which screens need to be updated, I will update them on my end as well, the issue isn't that they can't be fixed (I already figured that out afaik), it's that I (sorry to say), haven't played the game yet myself with the new images to see which screens need to be updated as well. I'm not sure why some of them got messed up, but when I rebuilt them by hand as a test, it fixed the issue. Bottom line, is that I need a list of which screens need to be updated, if I knew what they were, it would be incentive enough to fix the images I uploaded as well so that no one has to deal with this issue. Either way, glad you're enjoying it regardless. :)
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l'm finishing disk 1 soon , you want the list of the broken screens until the end of disk 1?  l think l put them all in backup folder when l replaced them with angle wings version.
 
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Wow, beautiful work!


I haven't look into it, but afaik, the remastered edition lacks the mod used by this mod to update those images (sorry, it's been a while, I forget the name of it - tonberry maybe!?!??). So until someone ports it, or something like it, then I don't think this is possible.
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I'm hoping someone can crack the backgrounds on the remaster soon. I like the remastered characters and the speed-up option. Except the pretty-boy Squall head. I guess he WAS supposed to be the prettiest one in the room. ;)


l'm finishing disk 1 soon , you want the list of the broken screens until the end of disk 1?  l think l put them all in backup folder when l replaced them with angle wings version.
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I'd like to see your broken screens list as well. I'm looking to mod up my original FF8 and definitely want these wonderful GUMmie backgrounds as the base with a few bits from Angel Wings as back-up while blippyp is working on them.
 
Wow, beautiful work!


I'm hoping someone can crack the backgrounds on the remaster soon. I like the remastered characters and the speed-up option. Except the pretty-boy Squall head. I guess he WAS supposed to be the prettiest one in the room. ;)


I'd like to see your broken screens list as well. I'm looking to mod up my original FF8 and definitely want these wonderful GUMmie backgrounds as the base with a few bits from Angel Wings as back-up while blippyp is working on them.
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l just sent all folders containing the broken scenes in disk 1 to blippyp , maybe he can test if he can fix it. l ma crossing fingers.

l'll keep sending scenes as l finish each disk.
 
Holy cow, this looks AMAZING! It doesn't need to be perfect (the original game certainly wasn't). Any improvement is still an improvement.
 
Simple question, but please answer me because I care about it from the heart.
Can someone explain to me in a few simple steps how to install all in chronological order, thanks.

Sorry for my bad english.
 
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