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Old 04-06-21, 15:53   #21
Jathom95
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Late, I got to thinking that the only other thing I can think of beneficial to add to Rescued at the moment are the settings from Maverin's "Best Settings" thread. I think some of them are in About.txt but not the ones regarding graphics quality. Since the launcher settings are difficult to get just right for maximum graphical quality, I figured that would be something good to add so that people can have the best looking AOD possible.

If I can make that into an easy to digest readme for users, would you be interested in adding that?

Last edited by Jathom95; 04-06-21 at 15:56.
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Old 04-06-21, 18:10   #22
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Ash did some just a little while back, they're over on AOD's page at Core Design and on YT. They're definitely an improvement, but you still run into a fair amount of artifacting because, as you said, the FMV's are so terribly compressed.

The only real way to fix those would be to recreate each of them from scratch.
Yeah, I'd like to use the upscaled ones in-game but Ash only has them on YouTube. I could reach out to him but I don't know if he'd be willing to share.

Actually, as impressive as Ash's work is, I think it looks like he used the PC FMVs as a base and not PS2 like Rewak/LoreTheGamer did. I'm not willing to ask Ash make an entirely new pack, either...

Edit - Ash gave me the go-ahead, but I don't know if I'm going to do this

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You could probably use AI upscaled ones in the game, you would just have to transcode them into a format the game is happy to play back (most likely MPEG only). I made the pack before AI upscaling was even a thing so it's pretty old I don't know how well it would play back something at resolutions above standard def though, or if it would even do that at all.
Wow, rewak themself comes out of the woodwork! Thanks so much for your hard work. Like I told Jathom, even that fan page doesn't have a download link, just YouTube links. And I'd need to append nakamichi's credits onto the ending FMV.

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Originally Posted by Jathom95 View Post
Late, I got to thinking that the only other thing I can think of beneficial to add to Rescued at the moment are the settings from Maverin's "Best Settings" thread. I think some of them are in About.txt but not the ones regarding graphics quality. Since the launcher settings are difficult to get just right for maximum graphical quality, I figured that would be something good to add so that people can have the best looking AOD possible.

If I can make that into an easy to digest readme for users, would you be interested in adding that?
Yes, I'd be very appreciative. Please be sure to merge the instructions in About with your readme, if you wouldn't mind?

Last edited by LateRaider; 04-06-21 at 21:30.
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Old 04-06-21, 18:57   #23
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Late, I got to thinking that the only other thing I can think of beneficial to add to Rescued at the moment are the settings from Maverin's "Best Settings" thread. I think some of them are in About.txt but not the ones regarding graphics quality. Since the launcher settings are difficult to get just right for maximum graphical quality, I figured that would be something good to add so that people can have the best looking AOD possible.

If I can make that into an easy to digest readme for users, would you be interested in adding that?
This is an awesome idea, yes the optimal settings definitely need to be included. I have it as a big image of the right selected settings on my PC. I think in that form it's the most convenient. You can then literally match the settings to what you see on the image
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Old 04-06-21, 22:00   #24
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- Increases running speed
- Player limps when low on health
- Screen darkens and blurs when very low on health
- Player guards their face when running into a wall

I don't know about you guys, but I think these really ruin the game.

I've seen new players struggle with the controls even more with these, and they've told me that the game felt better after removing these patches when I suggested that they do.
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Old 04-06-21, 22:13   #25
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On the other hand, I've played without Sasho's patch and I feel like it's a nightmare. Ideally I'd rather have gone with the PS2-style controls but stealth stance and walking up stairs both don't work with that patch. That and it's not keyboard friendly at all.

Luckily, since this is a modpack and not an installer (Even if I had the skill to make an installer, I'd still have preferred the modpack just for customization's sake) if people want to remove something, they can just delete it before they drag and drop over the new files.

Edit - IDK if anyone saw my edit above, but I can't use Ash's Eidos logo because the first few seconds are cut off.

I also don't know if I can do this at all; I don't know what to use or how to convert these to MPG.

Last edited by LateRaider; 04-06-21 at 22:23.
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Old 04-06-21, 22:36   #26
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I can see both sides. AOD was built for PS2 analog controls, so the PC controls are never going to feel as fluid as they could. The vanilla running speed is one of the worst aspects of the default controls imo. I also don't like the rigidness of tank controls, it just gets impossible to play when you get to levels like Boaz Returns. On the other hand, Sasho's patch does do more than altering controls, and I feel that's a big part of why people can do without it. I understand Sasho had to basically jury rig all of the features in by hex editing, but honestly some of the features just feel unpolished or unfinished. The limping animations have no transition states, they just *poof* in and out. The improvised poison effect used for low health also just kind of shows up on the screen out of nowhere.

I personally play with it because the benefits outweigh the negatives. But as I said, I can understand both positions.

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I also don't know if I can do this at all; I don't know what to use or how to convert these to MPG.
There might be some converters online you could use to transfer it from YT to MPEG. There's several free ones online. Just input a link and it transfers it to the desired format. Not sure if it'd work with the game straight up, but AOD's FMVs are just standard MPEG1 I believe so I don't see why not.

Last edited by Jathom95; 04-06-21 at 22:38.
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Old 05-06-21, 02:03   #27
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that'd probably kill the quality unfortunately

also i wanted to point out the face-guard when running into a wall comes from the ps2 ver so thats just a restoration, not a mod

edit - I just tried Boaz Returns a few times and I managed a strategy for Pod Boaz with Sasho's controls. This doesn't use healing items if you're methodical about it. I can't imagine they're too different between tank controls, camera-relative controls, and Sasho's hybrid controls.

1. Approach Boaz's face (in the middle of her front). Shoot her twice, then backflip as she readies her descent attack. Repeat this once more. (You'll know if your shots are landing if green blood spurts out)

2. Boaz will begin spewing poison from one of her sides. Side flip and press Draw Weapon to holster Kurtis' gun.

3. Head to the side Boaz is spewing from, avoiding the poison. Press Draw Weapon again. Press Roll to ensure Kurtis is locked onto the correct target. 2 shots should be enough to destroy the scale over one of the poison sacs.

4. Repeat thrice more. If she does her large poison breath attack, begin backflipping away as much as possible. This usually happens after destroying a scale.

Last edited by LateRaider; 15-07-21 at 02:19.
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Old 05-06-21, 02:14   #28
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that'd probably kill the quality unfortunately

also i wanted to point out the face-guard when running into a wall comes from the ps2 ver so thats just a restoration, not a mod
Yeah, good point.

I played the PS2 version for a long time years ago. I remember Lara doing some kind of reaction when she ran into something, but I don't remember it being the face guard specifically. I remember it being more of a quick hit against the wall sort of thing. Maybe I'm just misremembering.
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Old 05-06-21, 07:53   #29
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The hit wall animation is not present on PS2 from the videos I watched, she only slows down and stops, like PC (I only played PC so please correct me if I'm wrong). It was in the classics though. But unlike the classics, in AOD it's slightly longer to finish, and it always turns Lara to face the wall she hit, so yo have to turn all the way to a different direction again. In the classics her direction didn't change so it just stopped you but wasn't too annoying.

And the running speed has to be faster but not too much, because of how many small spaces there are in this game (in all the other TR games environments are usually bigger). The running speed while aiming at an enemy is fine I think.
I don't like very much the other changes sasho's patch brought too, the ideas are nice, but it feels unpolished so it kinda breaks the purpose of patching the game.
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Old 05-06-21, 09:29   #30
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Sasho's patch is a hit and miss to be entirely honest. The increased speed is truly a godsend, additional fullscreen effects are great, but the wall hit animation, turning around instead of stepping backwards and limping are destroying the experience for me personally. I can totally see why some people would not want it in their game.

Personally I wish there was a patch that had some of Sasho's great features:
- Increased running speed
- Fullscreen effects while health is low
- Stand-to-run instead of Stand-to-walk-to-run fix

But also had:
- No wall-hit animation or run-to-walk animation on wall hit. Instead Lara should just continue running TRL style.
- Either vanilla walk backwards animation or hopping back animation (although I think either nakamichi or sasho mentioned that the hop back animation is very broken).
- And maybe reversed controls while walking back so it was more like TR1-5+TRLE.

I believe this would honestly be the best way to make controls much more responsive without making them entirely different.
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