Graphics Improvements

[markthema3]

I just recently found my copy of RA2 in a box, and have become re-addicted to it. I love the game, but the one thing it lacks (other than physics accuracy) is graphical quality. The game is built on DirectX 8.1 (11.5 years old), and I've begun diving into the deep dark depths of screwing with the EXE of a game known to be finicky and temperamental at best. I'd like to upgrade it to take advantage of DX9, because there is no real need to go past that (I don't really need it to look like Crysis, though that in itself looks nearly as good in DX9 as it does in DX10). If anyone would like to join me in my quest for eye-candy, feel free to reply or shoot me a pm. I hope this doesn't fall under "Do not post about making RA3 or another new game", as that is not my goal, I just want to have a better looking RA2.

[Thyrus]

hey welcome to GTM! Nice to see new people who want to change the game itself. I like your idea very much and it sounds as you know what you are talking about but sadly I have no skills in stuff like that

[markthema3]

Thanks!

Good to know I'm not the only one who likes a bit of eye candy. I've seen so many "mods" that are truly just messing with the Python scripts and the GMF files, nothing that I've seen truly stands out as a game changer (though the current feature list of DSL3 puts it squarely in the game changer category). Not to rip on the people who do that, they have made some incredible stuff, but I think there's a lot of potential in improving on the game itself.

[Thyrus]

people would`ve done more to this game but the source code for this thing is missing... at least I think it was the source code

[markthema3]

Unfortunately, in 2003, the only people who ever open-sourced games was id Software (whom I love for that). In fact, I think they still are the only big game company to open source their old games. This is unfortunately going to be a process of reverse engineering first, adding features second, but I think it will be an interesting one. Maybe I can fix Havok bugs on hazards 

[Naryar]

Go talk to Serge, he's our greatest (and pretty much only active, so it's no difficulty there) EXE modder.

[Thyrus]

I already like this guy :)

[markthema3]

Just for the record, the Hex-Rays Decompiler plugin for IDA disassembler is flipping amazing.

Go talk to Serge, he's our greatest (and pretty much only active, so it's no difficulty there) EXE modder.

Will do.

[Sol Vector]

Hmm... A long time ago (in a galaxy far far away...) I did some messing with MGS2 for PCs graphics which was also DX8. Perhaps I can dig up something helpful in my archives. most of what I did was resolution overides and HDR/Bloom stuff...

Edit:
Were you possibly leaning towards this kind of stuff? Lighting Shaders Etc?

Original:

Modified


Lighting/Shaders can be modified relatively easily

[Celestial Panda]

What does the code when tinkering with an exe look like?

[powerrave]

That looks pretty nice IMO.

[Mr. AS]

Hmm... A long time ago (in a galaxy far far away...) I did some messing with MGS2 for PCs graphics which was also DX8. Perhaps I can dig up something helpful in my archives. most of what I did was resolution overides and HDR/Bloom stuff...

Edit:
Were you possibly leaning towards this kind of stuff? Lighting Shaders Etc?

Original:
(Image removed from quote.)
Modified
(Image removed from quote.)

Lighting/Shaders can be modified relatively easily

hi juggernaut mk 3 guy

[Sol Vector]

What does the code when tinkering with an exe look like?

Well I guess that would depend on how you look at it... If you decompile it it looks like code in whatever language it is. I generally just play with a hex editor/inject stuff without decompiling...

hi juggernaut mk 3 guy

Hello?


While thinking of graphics improvements and Serge, whatever became of this? https://gametechmods.com/forums/index.php/topic,1199.0.html

[Trovaner]

Due to time constraints, Serge put his high resolution skins on the back burner. Once that thread got buried, I decided to make my own but I only did half of the components. Looking back, I would have to say that mine look pretty amateur compared to his but I'm sure I could do better now if I had the time/motivation to do so.

As for the screenies, isn't that a setting in the CFG? I know there is at least something similar there. Personally, I think it looks over-saturated and you lose the finer details of the arena's skin but it does come down to personal preference.

Its cool that your diving into the dark depths of the EXE and hopefully you have more success than the rest of us.

[Badger]

Hmm... A long time ago (in a galaxy far far away...) I did some messing with MGS2 for PCs graphics which was also DX8. Perhaps I can dig up something helpful in my archives. most of what I did was resolution overides and HDR/Bloom stuff...

Edit:
Were you possibly leaning towards this kind of stuff? Lighting Shaders Etc?

Original:
(Image removed from quote.)
Modified
(Image removed from quote.)

Lighting/Shaders can be modified relatively easily

I don't see any difference in those two pics...

[Mecha]

At first i didn't either, but look at Big E, he has glow.

[Sol Vector]

Hmm... A long time ago (in a galaxy far far away...) I did some messing with MGS2 for PCs graphics which was also DX8. Perhaps I can dig up something helpful in my archives. most of what I did was resolution overides and HDR/Bloom stuff...

Edit:
Were you possibly leaning towards this kind of stuff? Lighting Shaders Etc?

Original:
(Image removed from quote.)
Modified
(Image removed from quote.)

Lighting/Shaders can be modified relatively easily

I don't see any difference in those two pics...

Note the bloom effects on the bots as Mechadino pointed out, and the fact that the shadows aren't just a grey rectangle (Actually using shaders...) and the components in the lights actually take on the color of the lights. Also the reflections are a bit better off the glass and theres AA and motion blur which screen caps really don't show. Unfortunately a lot of the limitations are still the textures (I've been meaning to redo those too...). And like I said, I haven't played with the .exe much, I've just been overriding the dx8 data with modified data to force it render differently...

[Badger]

Oooh, so how can you do this?