Getting 2D elements to look smooth in 3D games

[andykara2003]

Hi all, does anyone know of a way to make 2D elements look smooth and clean in 3D N64 games when emulated?

Examples are the on screen energy meter on Mario 64 or the c-button selection items and map on Ocarina of time.

My hunch is that because these were originally in low res, a completely new graphic would have to be created in the same style at a higher resolution and substituted somehow into the game. I'm wondering if anyone has already done this and if anyone can point me to a resource where I can learn about this.

Cheers

 

[NES_player4LIFE]

Should I tell him???

 

[andykara2003]

Should I tell him???

Not sure what you mean by this but yes, I would be very grateful if you can help me here. I'm ideally looking to avoid texture packs as I'd like to keep it as authentic as possible.

I've seen that GlideN64 has made some progress in better rendering of 2D objects but I'm still not sure if it can cleanly render, say Mario 64's 2D HUD elements (i.e. The power meter, lives count, Lakitu) smoothly at a much higher resolution

So if I were to set Project 64 at 1280x1024, would these 2D elements look sharp and clean enough to blend perfectly with the polygonal graphics without looking out of place?

 

[NES_player4LIFE]

Plugins have filters that will solve this for you. Packs may also be used he have some talented artists that remain true to the feel of the game.
As far as the filters go I prefer to use HQ4x or greater the latest one is 6xBRZ in GlideN64.

 

[andykara2003]

Thanks very for that - I'm not keen on pixel up scaling, so are there texture packs that include replacement 2D bitmap elements for some of these games that are created to be as faithful to the original bitmaps as possible. And if so, is there a way of just using these higher res bitmaps without the rest of the textures in order to keep the overall look as authentic as possible?

So basically run Mario 64/Zelda/Banjo etc. In high res, with original textures but with replaced 2D bitmaps that are as faithful to the original as possible?

 

[NES_player4LIFE]

Something like this?
Old health bar

New Health bar

 

[andykara2003]

Yes! Thanks v. much for doing those screenshots, that does actually look really nice. Can I ask how you did that - are you using HQ4x here?

 

[NES_player4LIFE]

No, that is just upscaled with photozoom pro.
It is a texture replacement. HQ4x and other filters would change all textures shown.

Would you like a small texture pack for the HUD?
If so dump the files with GlideN64, upload them in a new thread. Then I can fix them and send them back.
@CCTEX would you mind helping out?

 

[andykara2003]

That's very kind of you - yes I'd very much like a texture pack for the HUD if you're happy to do so

Apologies, being a noob I'm not sure what you mean by dumping the files with GlideN64? Would you mind letting me know & I'll do that & start a new thread, as you say.




Just for context, I'll go a bit more into what I'm aiming to do with this: The N64 is my favourite console but the graphics have aged & I'd like to be able to see them a little cleaner, but as close an possible to how they looked back in the day as I remember them, hence wanting to keep the original textures. I'm a CRT collector (for retro games up to Gen 6) and have a couple of larger 4:3 CRTs that do 640x480 (and 800x600) in progressive scan, which would be perfect for keeping everything as authentic as possible while running at a higher resolution than the original. I have a Raphnet USB adapler so I can use an original N64 controller & will run it all from a laptop.

To me, if I have the resolution too high, the joins and shapes of the N64's polygons become too apparent & the effect looks a bit odd. I'd like to keep the graphics a bit softer to retain the authentic look so I'm outputting to the CRT at 640x480 using Project64 with the anti aliasing setting (and AF) all the way up. This gives a nice soft, smooth look that's not too sharp, but cleaner than the original. The shadow mask of a real CRT adds to the authentic look as well - the only part of the puzzle so far being left out being these low res 2D elements, which now seems to be solved with your upscale method.

I hadn't considered the possibility of using an upscaling program like Photozoom pro and am really happy to learn that this is an option - so much so that I'm thinking I might get this program to upscale the 2D bitmap HUD elements of other N64 games I love - Conker, Banjo etc.

I have no idea of how to incorporate these upscaled elements back into the game using texture packs but I'd like to hang around here a little bit, do some research & build up the knowledge of how to do so - an perhaps provide a resource of them back to the community in the process..

 

[Mollymutt]

Hint, hint...http://www.emutalk.net/threads/43773-Mollymutt-s-100-finished-Super-Mario-64-pack

 

[andykara2003]

Hint, hint...http://www.emutalk.net/threads/43773-Mollymutt-s-100-finished-Super-Mario-64-pack

Thanks, this looks to be an awesome texture pack but I'm a real stickler for keeping as close as possible to the original look so I definitely want to use the original textures. It's just the 2D elements that I'm looking to upscale so they don't look out of place when the game's running at a higher resolution.

 

[NES_player4LIFE]

Not sure how these will look on CRT. But we can always try.
Photozoom is expensive but worth it. They do offer a trial version but it watermarks the file until activated. The Pro version is the only one that will batch command. A must for large projects.

Dumping images/ textures
First: Plugin arrangement.
Download GlideN64 unzip and place the contents of zilamar into plugin directory in Project64 1.6. For 2.x place into Plugin/GFX.
Set emulator to use GlideN64 as the video plugin.
Once you are sure that you are using GlideN64 of Glide64 select Texture options in the GFX plugin options.
Select Texture loading and Texture dumping. Start the game and be sure it is a Good rom version, not a hack or odd ball mod.
Play the game until you reach a spot where you can see all the images that you wish to edit.
Tap "D" on your keyboard and it will dump everything from that frame on.
(Do not do this on an SSD as you will have thousands of writes!)

Dumping location is Plugin/texture_dump/gamename.
Find the file for the HUD and copy them to a new folder called HUD placed into a folder named "SUPER MARIO 64". Simple right?
Anyhow do this to for all types of textures that you want to edit.

Once you dumped the textures Use 7zip and upload them in you project thread.

 

[andykara2003]

Thanks v. much for that - I'll get onto that & get the thread up asap. I plugged the CRT into the laptop today & got Mario 64 running - apart from the HUD elements, it looked amazing in 640x480 with full AA - really vibrant, smooth and clean. The only other issue was the background to the Mario's head at the title screen which looked a bit pixelated. I think I'm right in saying that the GlideN64 plugin should fix this with it's new approach to 2D..

Am I right in saying that I'll need to capture all the states of each HUD element - i.e. the power meter in all stages - full, 1 quadrant lost, 2 lost etc. etc. And the lives meter at 1 life, 2 lives etc. or should I just do the full meter, Lakitu and one life counter state for now to get the basic idea?

 

[NES_player4LIFE]

You will need to dump each image as it loads. To capture all the numbers use the debug cheat code.

I tried to dump them earilerbut my pc crashed.

Dump them upload them I'll process them and reupload.

 

[NES_player4LIFE]

Had some time to compile a test pack for you.
Use Alpha channel must be on.
Place zip file in Project64 main folder and unzip.

 

[andykara2003]

Thanks very much for doing this - I tried to get it working but couldn't as of now. Would you mind if we put it on hold for a bit? I so appreciate your help and am keen to see the results but am having a bit of a rough time recovering from an operation I had last week. Nothing super serious but am having some stomach problems that are getting distracting. Would it be OK to get back to you on this at a later date?

 

[NES_player4LIFE]

Man, I hope you are alright. I could put it on hold but I think I may pick this project up as a pet.
Send feedback at your leisure if you think something should change in the pack let me know.

 

[andykara2003]

That's great to hear - I really appreciate that you'd be willing to take the project on & that really takes the pressure off having to concentrate on it when I need to let things go for a bit. The op's not too serious, it just corrects a reflux problem that I've had for a long time so it's good to finally get it done - but there's a 6 week recovery time & I have to take it easy.

In fact being able to test it & give feedback would be great! I'll follow this closely & every time things progress, I'll plug the laptop into the CRT & let you know how it turns out

 

[NES_player4LIFE]

Have you yet loaded the pack that I made?

 

[andykara2003]

Hi - Sorry not to get back sooner - yes, I gave it a go but couldn't get it to work for some reason. I had a look around to see what I was doing wrong but I'm not very experienced and couldn't work it out.

If I list my actions in attempting to do this, would you mind pointing out where I went wrong?

1: Downloaded a fresh version of Project64 (2.2)
2: Downloaded GlideN64 (release 1.2)
3: Put the contents of GLideN64_Public_Release_1.2/bin/Win32/Zilmar-specs into the folder C:/Program Files (x86)/Project64 2.2/Plugin/GFX
4: Downloaded Nesplayer SM64 hud Up.7z from this page
5: Placed that zip file in C:/Program Files (x86)/Project64 2.2
6: I have 7zip installed, so right clicked Nesplayer SM64 hud Up.7z, selected the 'extract files' option, but got the message "Access is denied"
7: Tried the 'extract files here' option, just to see if I'd tried the wrong option previously, but just got a list of "can not open output file C:\Program files (x86)\ etc.etc errors.

This is as far as I've got. I'm sure I'm doing some really basic error here but can't work out what :/