Playing Tomb Raider III at 4K in 2022

daedrix · 12-09-22, 00:25

I know this is the umpteenth time someone asks about playing TR III on a modern PC, but please bear with me.
While the others in the PS1 series have pretty solid ways to be played nowadays, especially TR I and II, III sticks out like a sore thumb.
I've looked around a bit on the forum, and found a wide array of solutions, none definitive, and the answers I read are all at least 2 years old.
So I created a new thread, to avoid the risk of necroposting, to find out if any new solution to play III has been found that I may be not aware of.

I've been using Arsunt's patch for the past years, which is like a minimal version of his masterpiece, TR2Main.
At 1080p it was enough, but now at 4K fullHD it looks muddy, so I was looking for a way to still have its improved FMV player AND set the rendering res to 2880x2160 (Arsunt didn't patch the resolution; the maximum his exe can go is up to 2048x1536).
To play at 4K I'd need to go the Peixoto or dgVoodoo2 route, but then I'd have to deal with those unwatchable "crt" effect FMVs many game of that era suffered from.
Now, I know I can't mix patches. Arsunt specified it and I tried to mix his patch with dgVoodoo2 because he only mentioned Peixoto's in the readme. The result was that the FMVs would only show a black screen.
So, I wondered if any new patch has been made.
I read about a "TR3Main" project, but that is more like an "OpenLara3" as far as I understand, and it's still in its infancy. I need something for the OG game.
What's the best, bug-free method nowadays to play at 4K while still having watchable FMVs? Just without that "crt" interlace is enough. They don't need to be upscaled because I play the italian version, and afaik only the english FMVs are upscaled.
And last but not least, is there at last a way to upscale the UI and the font? At 4K they are ony like 5x2 pixels xD

Sorry for the text wall, and thanks to anyone who will take their time to read and answer.

TRExpertgamer · 12-09-22, 01:38

Ok. This shows you a tutorial how to get the old games running on 4K ultra HD

**TombHackR** · 12-09-22, 06:13

This probably isn’t the answer you’re looking for, as FMVs will still be interlaced, but you can make the tiny text bigger by selecting a low resolution in-game and 4K resolution in dgVoodoo. The text will scale from its original resolution to fit your screen and all the polygons in the game are still drawn at 4K.

daedrix · 12-09-22, 11:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by TRExpertgamer

Ok. This shows you a tutorial how to get the old games running on 4K ultra HD

Thanks for the answer, even though I already know I can use dgVoodoo2 (or Peixoto) to upscale the resolution.

The thing is, I'd also need a way to deinterlace the FMVs.

daedrix · 12-09-22, 12:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by TombHackR

This probably isn’t the answer you’re looking for, as FMVs will still be interlaced, but you can make the tiny text bigger by selecting a low resolution in-game and 4K resolution in dgVoodoo. The text will scale from its original resolution to fit your screen and all the polygons in the game are still drawn at 4K.

Eh, that is actually a good advice! I seem to remember that I had found out that method while setting up the game years ago... I had since forgotten about it. But thanks for reminding me!

I don't remember though why I went with Arsunt's patch instead. Maybe the double res method had glitches, or given that I could only go up to 1080p I simply preferred to have deinterlaced FMVs in place of properly scaled UI.

Now, if I only could have deinterlaced FMVs... I think Peixoto's does that, but I have to check if the double UI trick works with that too.
All while still mantaining a good antialiasing compatibility (each method has its own)! xD

So there's no new patch, and no way to upscale Arsunt's exe to 4K...

Ok, I'll go check the various methods and see which one sucks less, lol.

BTW, is there a method the community uses that is considered the "best one"?
Or is it just up to preference?

**TombHackR** · 12-09-22, 16:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by daedrix

BTW, is there a method the community uses that is considered the "best one"?
Or is it just up to preference?

You could try asking which method is the ‘best’ but I don’t think anyone would be able to agree on which one it is because everyone does it differently

.

The way I do it, is set the game’s resolution to 1280x1024, then dgVoodoo draws everything at 1440x1080, and upscale as the game’s UI to 1440x1080. I don’t use a widescreen patch, so that’s why it’s 1440x1080 (with black bars to reach 1920x1080). I do this because even if you draw the game in widescreen and adjust the UI, the loading screens would be stretched wide as they’re painted for 4:3.

FMVs are still interlaced but you have the advantage of playing them upscaled to 1440x1080. The original exe forces you to output 640x480 no matter what resolution you select, which is annoying because the monitor turns on and off when you change resolution.

daedrix · 12-09-22, 20:52

I've experimented a bit with all the known ways to make it run, and I've concluded that the best way to play both TR III and its expansion is... to just emulate them! XD
At least until some TR messiah comes and fixes the PC versions with a much needed TR3Main for the OG games...

Jokes aside, regarding the PC versions, I tried Peixoto's... and while it fixed the graphics menu crashing the game and the ugly FMVs, the UI, even if at the correct size, is still "interlaced" and semi-transparent (this happens across the board, not only with Peixoto's), and most importantly, the inventory menu doesn't render correctly, being that too transparent and not the correct gray. Looking up on YT videos with more recent versions of the patch, it seems the background breaks completely, showing just a black screen with the items ring.

So I decided to set with dgVoodoo2 for the time being... At least the inventory and the font render correctly.

About the loading screens being stretched in widescreen, I found their widescreen versions floating around in these forums... They're still in low def though, and I can't remember who made them.

For the black screen when the game changes resolution, that actually plagues most, if not all, games before 2010.
I've found that setting dektop resizing to the GPU, ticking "exclude resizing mode set by games and apps", and in case you're on a high refresh monitor, setting the screen to 60hz, gets rid of the problem.

TRExpertgamer · 12-09-22, 22:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by daedrix

Thanks for the answer, even though I already know I can use dgVoodoo2 (or Peixoto) to upscale the resolution.

The thing is, I'd also need a way to deinterlace the FMVs.

I tried to help.

**TombHackR** · 13-09-22, 06:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by daedrix

I've experimented a bit with all the known ways to make it run, and I've concluded that the best way to play both TR III and its expansion is... to just emulate them! XD

Ouch I could never

. I have a RGB SCART cable with Luma sync attached to my PS1, it gives me a super high quality, clear, and colourful picture out of real hardware !

Quote:

Originally Posted by daedrix

Jokes aside, regarding the PC versions, I tried Peixoto's... and while it fixed the graphics menu crashing the game and the ugly FMVs, the UI, even if at the correct size, is still "interlaced" and semi-transparent (this happens across the board, not only with Peixoto's), and most importantly, the inventory menu doesn't render correctly, being that too transparent and not the correct gray. Looking up on YT videos with more recent versions of the patch, it seems the background breaks completely, showing just a black screen with the items ring.

Are you saying the UI looks interlaced ? (As in the health bars and menus have lines going through it ?). I think you might have set the in-game resolution too low for dgVoodoo to upscale well. I think that’s how I settled on the in-game resolution of 1280x1024.

daedrix · 13-09-22, 12:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by TombHackR

Ouch I could never

. I have a RGB SCART cable with Luma sync attached to my PS1, it gives me a super high quality, clear, and colourful picture out of real hardware !

Ah! Good for you! CRT of course? It's always nice to be able to experience the content the way it was meant to be. All my past consoles and physical games are stored in boxes at my parents' house. Besides, I've grown too accustomed playing at high res with razor sharp polygons. Last time I tried to play at native res with something from PS1 to PS3(yeah, I know... even 720p is now too low for me xD ) it was like my screen was smeared with vaseline, lol.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TombHackR

Are you saying the UI looks interlaced ? (As in the health bars and menus have lines going through it ?). I think you might have set the in-game resolution too low for dgVoodoo to upscale well. I think that’s how I settled on the in-game resolution of 1280x1024.

Yes, exactly. Not the menus though (those have just the classic vertical line on the right), just the on-screen meters. I tried every resolution, but for me the pixels were still too separate till 1920x1440, where the gaps between them became so negligible that the bars started to appear solid.
But at that point they become microscopic again

12-09-22, 00:25	#1
daedrix Hobbyist Join Date: Feb 2021 Posts: 17	Playing Tomb Raider III at 4K in 2022 I know this is the umpteenth time someone asks about playing TR III on a modern PC, but please bear with me. While the others in the PS1 series have pretty solid ways to be played nowadays, especially TR I and II, III sticks out like a sore thumb. I've looked around a bit on the forum, and found a wide array of solutions, none definitive, and the answers I read are all at least 2 years old. So I created a new thread, to avoid the risk of necroposting, to find out if any new solution to play III has been found that I may be not aware of. I've been using Arsunt's patch for the past years, which is like a minimal version of his masterpiece, TR2Main. At 1080p it was enough, but now at 4K fullHD it looks muddy, so I was looking for a way to still have its improved FMV player AND set the rendering res to 2880x2160 (Arsunt didn't patch the resolution; the maximum his exe can go is up to 2048x1536). To play at 4K I'd need to go the Peixoto or dgVoodoo2 route, but then I'd have to deal with those unwatchable "crt" effect FMVs many game of that era suffered from. Now, I know I can't mix patches. Arsunt specified it and I tried to mix his patch with dgVoodoo2 because he only mentioned Peixoto's in the readme. The result was that the FMVs would only show a black screen. So, I wondered if any new patch has been made. I read about a "TR3Main" project, but that is more like an "OpenLara3" as far as I understand, and it's still in its infancy. I need something for the OG game. What's the best, bug-free method nowadays to play at 4K while still having watchable FMVs? Just without that "crt" interlace is enough. They don't need to be upscaled because I play the italian version, and afaik only the english FMVs are upscaled. And last but not least, is there at last a way to upscale the UI and the font? At 4K they are ony like 5x2 pixels xD Sorry for the text wall, and thanks to anyone who will take their time to read and answer.

12-09-22, 20:52	#7
daedrix Hobbyist Join Date: Feb 2021 Posts: 17	I've experimented a bit with all the known ways to make it run, and I've concluded that the best way to play both TR III and its expansion is... to just emulate them! XD At least until some TR messiah comes and fixes the PC versions with a much needed TR3Main for the OG games... Jokes aside, regarding the PC versions, I tried Peixoto's... and while it fixed the graphics menu crashing the game and the ugly FMVs, the UI, even if at the correct size, is still "interlaced" and semi-transparent (this happens across the board, not only with Peixoto's), and most importantly, the inventory menu doesn't render correctly, being that too transparent and not the correct gray. Looking up on YT videos with more recent versions of the patch, it seems the background breaks completely, showing just a black screen with the items ring. So I decided to set with dgVoodoo2 for the time being... At least the inventory and the font render correctly. About the loading screens being stretched in widescreen, I found their widescreen versions floating around in these forums... They're still in low def though, and I can't remember who made them. For the black screen when the game changes resolution, that actually plagues most, if not all, games before 2010. I've found that setting dektop resizing to the GPU, ticking "exclude resizing mode set by games and apps", and in case you're on a high refresh monitor, setting the screen to 60hz, gets rid of the problem. Last edited by daedrix; 12-09-22 at 20:54.

12-09-22, 01:38	#2
TRExpertgamer Inactive Join Date: Mar 2018 Location: Home Posts: 1,453	Ok. This shows you a tutorial how to get the old games running on 4K ultra HD

12-09-22, 06:13	#3
TombHackR Golden Join Date: Apr 2013 Posts: 1,382	This probably isn’t the answer you’re looking for, as FMVs will still be interlaced, but you can make the tiny text bigger by selecting a low resolution in-game and 4K resolution in dgVoodoo. The text will scale from its original resolution to fit your screen and all the polygons in the game are still drawn at 4K.