HD Sprite project Attempt #5,912

Sp00kyFox said:

@Death Egg
I found the standalone version, first post on this page:

http://board.byuu.org/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=2248&start=105

Usage: xBR <input png> <output png> [<scale_factor>]
scale_factor: 2x or 3x or 4x. (default: 4x)

btw I'd suggest to use the animation frames from the sprite fixing project by revenant100 which fixes many little issues with the original sprites:

http://www.doomworld.com/vb/wads-mods/62403-doom-2-minor-sprite-fixing-project-v1-2-release-updated-1-1-13/

Hmm, I'm not sure that program works on Windows 7, because I haven't gotten any luck getting it to work so far. I have a .bat file setup with the line "xBR TROOA1.png output.png [2x]" in it but it hasn't resulted in a new sprite, so either I'm attempting to go about this in the completely wrong way or it's having issues getting to work. (Considering this is me we're talking about, both of those have an equal chance of being true. :P)

Also, thanks for pointing out that topic, I'd been thinking about fixing some minor issues like that and it'll help immensely.


On the notes of methods on how to create more frames from scratch... I'll admit, I probably don't have the skill myself to do that. However, I really would like to see that somehow make it in nonetheless, as it is the thing that would certainly help the HD sprites look good animated.

yeah, it's outdated anyway. the newer versions of his filter doesn't even have standalone executables.
maybe you can contact hyllian and ask him to help you using his cg shader on image files.

btw I think the brackets in the usage example are just there to show that it is an optional command, just leav'em away like this:

xBR org.png new.png 2x

...Oh. I should've tried that. That worked, ha. I had a feeling I was doing something stupid.

EDIT: Here's the result:



[Original Sprite/RotSprite upscaling/xBR upscaling/Rotsprite with modifications]

It does look a bit closer to the final product than the current upscaling I use, but the one problem with it is it doesn't stick to the original Doom pallete, which I intend to do.

yeah I tried it myself now to be sure. like some users already mentioned it's not perfect and too bad we cannot try the xbr-hybrid version for now, but it could be a good start:

http://i.imagebanana.com/img/3dptz4gv/imp_xbrcomparison.PNG

on the left side the original sprites, on the right side 2xBR. finally upscaled with pointresize 2x to get a closer look.
notice how the eyes seem to get smaller due to the upscale algorithm.

edit:
too late ;) yeah ok, I see the problem here. didn't thought about the pallete.
you could dither it back to the original pallete, what seems like is what you already did with your first revision of the sprites.

I quite like these sprites. I hope this project continues.

I will say, the results for the larger sprites though are way better:



[Original/RotSprite/xBR]

Also, I converted it back to the original Doom pallete so that's now a non-issue.

looks GREAT if you ask me.

did somebody contaced hyllian (or maybe he was looking into this thread here)?
anyways, he somehow knows about this project and released a standalone executable version of his xbr-hybrid filter (yeah!) and posted some doom examples:

http://minus.com/mbnj1S0HHS1kXE/11
https://anonfiles.com/file/77275405819132ce978b621ee8a46e8b (filter download)

I don't have much experiences with wad editing and such, maybe you Death Egg could release a first prerelease with just pure doom palette dithered 2xBR-hybrid scales of all the sprites.
well, maybe I can read into the subject during the following days and do it myself, we'll see.

Death Egg said:

Here's the result:

Wow, that imp looks really clear. Attempt #5,912 is definitely one of the best attempts so far Death Egg, I hope things keep progressing.

since there were some problems with the xbr-hybrid filter I used the normal one and scaled up all sprites. unfortunately I couldn't use the graphics from the sprite fixed project, since there were some discrepancies between file names. I don't know, couldn't figure it out on time. well, let's start with some screenshots:



and the download link (zdoom is needed):
http://dfiles.eu/files/w6jrhil1z

You know, you can get basically the same effect as these high-quality textures by changing your texture filter mode to "linear," "bilinear," or "trilinear."

not really, otherwise these pixel filter wouldn't exist in the first place.
standard texture filtering just makes everything into a blurry mess and that's exactly what many dommers wanna avoid.

Ideally I'd just like to see more detailed monsters that retain the pixel art look of the original. I think once you pass a certain threshold in fidelity it just feels too disconnected from that particular style where just 2-4 pixels is needed to convey certain details. Doom sprites could probably be 25-50% larger while still retaining their original style.

hyllian fixed the problems with the xBR-hybrid filter.
here are some screenshots of the upscaled sprites ingame:



and the download:
https://anonfiles.com/file/5625d082258818933ebf964ddba95731

interesting, that seems to do a pretty good job - the previous one looked kind of molten and cartoonish, but this one retains a lot of the details. The contrast on some of the spites look a bit washed out when you can see them more clearly, I think thats just a problem with the original colours though.

The mancubus’ mouth is too red and too big.

yeah lol, it looks like if he's wearing lipstick.
but judging from the original sprites it's supposed to be blood. and yeah, the lips there are already that kinda big and red:

That Manc has a sharp ass.

yeah it seems like that but it's more a visual trick since the sprite closed up with the border of the picture. look at the mancubi screenshot I posted before, it actually looks ok.

I should say I probably won't be working on this much for the two weeks or so due to IRL circumstances, but I'll get back to this soon enough.

ok after same problems with understanding how zdoom handles the hires folder and with the editor I finally upscaled all graphics from the doom iwads inlcluding sprites, flats, textures and the menu/hud graphics.
here is the download:
https://anonfiles.com/file/1f778644b517bc4b0a80497359abb14b

including files:

2xBRh.pk3
this is the main one, load this if you wanna play doom with the upscaled graphics.

2xBRh-*.pk3 (where * is d1, plut or tnt)
add this to the one above if you're playing an iwad other than doom2.

sprfix12-2xBRh.pk3 (works also for d1spfx12.wad), pk_anim1-2xBRh.pk3
extra upscales for the sprite fixing projekt by revenant100 and perk smooth weapons enhanced by nightfright.
just load them after the original wads from these threads (also requires 2xBRh.pk3).

feel free to modify the pk3s. every file has an easy folder layout, so if you only wanna have upscaled sprites for example, just delete the other folders.
have fun ;)

Not bad at all. Two things I have noticed by quickly checking it with the Sprite Animation and my PerK Enhanced mod (using Doom 1 as base game):

- The pistol has some glitch on the left side. There is some part sticking out like a thorn or something. Looks like the sprites either didn't get joined perfectly together or the smoothing messed up something.

- BFG idle frame is not changed while firing animations are. This means if you fire, BFG switches to smoothed version, then back to pixellated. I guess you forgot to add one frame or so.

Other than that, this is worth checking out. At least until Death Egg comes up with his own release.

edit:
ah sorry, yeah you're right. I'll fix that with the bfg.
the problem with the pistol on the other hand is probably due to the scaling algorithm. I can fix it manually.
in the original sprite is also some weird pixel on the left side.

ok fixed it. new download link is at the end of this post. the bfg problem was caused by a wrong loading order of the files.
since I wanted to avoid file redundancy I removed all the files which are already there in the main file, this leads to a specific loading order you have to use:

doom2.wad / doom.wad / plutonia.wad / tnt.wad
sprfix12.wad / d1spfx12.wad
pk_anim1.wad
2xBRh.pk3
2xBRh-*.pk3 (if you're using an iwad other than doom2)
sprfix12-2xBRh.pk3
pk_anim1-2xBRh.pk3
some_awesome.wad (of your choice)

download:
https://anonfiles.com/file/e98b7dfb46353a504af4d55a35d1225f