How modders rebuilt Resident Evil 4 graphics from scratch

Albert Marin took a very specific vacation. In Wales, he visited Raglan Castle to take pictures of its stone wall. At the Palau Güell in Barcelona, ​​he took meticulous photos, not of the building itself, but of the marble floor and its unique veins.

His travels followed in the footsteps of Capcom, which placed pieces of real-world architecture found across Europe in resident Evil 4, which was originally released over 16 years ago. “I collected a large number of locations that game developers use as source material,” said Marin The Verge.

Advance to 2021 and Marin is now seven years old on a remastering project resident Evil 4The blurry graphics of the GameCube era in crisp HD, in part using high-resolution photos that he took of everything from surfaces and doors to general architecture that seemed to have entered the original game. Even though Capcom published its own PC remastering in 2014, it wasn’t Marin’s idea of ​​a true HD version of the game, so he and a small team have been analyzing the game’s files to faithfully update each texture.

In some cases, they work with what Capcom has already done, enhancing images with a mix of ready-to-use applications and custom tools. Other times, Marin is making handmade textures based on high-resolution stock photos or photos he took himself. If you have the Ultimate HD version of the game on Steam, you can actually try an ongoing version of the texture pack now. Eventually, each stone, wall, button and dial will have been touched up by this small team of modders.

Fan-financed resident Evil 4 The HD Project is almost at the finish line and should be completed later in 2021. Marin says he has accumulated more than 4,500 files in Photoshop and dedicated more than 9,000 hours of work (only on his part) to reach this point.

I spoke to Marin via email about his experience in dealing with a project of this scale, balancing the expectations of fans who are equally passionate about the game, how the team was able to deconstruct the game files and more.

How exactly do you remaster the look? Do you redraw textures from scratch or do you have a specialized way to increase the resolution of the original without degrading its quality?

Most textures are recreated from scratch using some images from the texture library as a basis. The original textures need to be analyzed several times to ensure that the new source images match in terms of color, lighting and even the material.

For example, a rock texture: it may seem like an easy challenge, and it is, if you don’t have an original texture that you need to be faithful to. You cannot imagine how complicated it can be to find a rocky surface that corresponds to the original among the hundreds of different types of rocks that nature has to offer!

What kind of application and technology do you use to achieve your goals with this project?

A talented modder and coder, “Son of Persia”, helped us a lot: he developed most of the tools I use to edit 3D models, lights, effects, crash data and more. I found out how some files work, but I needed to edit in a hex editor manually. This means that a single light / effect would take hours to edit.

“Son of Persia” took all of my findings about these files and generated automated tools that would do this job manner easier. He also deciphered how other files in the game work and what they do, and generated the tools needed to edit those types of files as well.

We also used Photoshop, 3ds Max and dozens of custom tools, courtesy of “Son of Persia” and other modders. These tools unzip and convert all game files into editable data (mainly understandable .txt files and 3D files that can be opened with most 3D editors). Once the data is edited, it can be repackaged again with the same tools. But I have to admit that sometimes I edit some things manually in a hex editor as well.

Is it intimidating to make certain adjustments to a game that has such a passionate fan base or are you confident in your changes?

We are on the safe side because one of the main objectives of this project is to be faithful to the original. And this is where subjectivity plays an important role: Low-resolution textures leave a lot to the imagination, and you know … each person’s imagination is different!

Sometimes we receive complaints even when we use exactly the same texture, but in HD resolutions, because the low-resolution textures seemed to be more dirty or muddy or something. But the recreation of the HD looked very clean in comparison, depending on what the person interpreted when looking at the low-resolution surface.

And then we have all the changes in lighting and effects that I made. Most of them are well received, but I am aware that my personal taste is playing a role to some degree, so I am always open to comments and that is why I post all those comparative videos and images.

I changed one much of things because of the feedback we get!

What are some of the biggest and smallest changes your team has made in the RE4 during this project?

The biggest change, by far, is an entire area created from scratch in the Separate Ways minigame. The transition from one room to another made no sense. I combined the 3D structure of the connection areas and found that part of the path was missing.

The smallest changes are any small texture and small 3D improvement made here and there. In fact, there are hundreds of small edits that I’m sure most people will never notice.

As an example, I remember some design changes in certain ammo boxes. This PC port has an HD texture option. HD textures are 95 percent an improved, filtered version of the original [GameCube] textures, but some of the textures have been redone or slightly adjusted.

Image: Albert Marin

In the image (above) you can see how they changed the design of the TMP ammunition box. The “J” and the drawing of the wolf on the side are different. So, while I was improving that texture, I took the opportunity to restore the original design of the previous versions of the game.

What were your favorite sections of the game to improve textures?

The castle area, by far, because I used a lot of photos I took during the trips I took in Spain and Wales. It was very gratifying to identify and improve all those architectural surfaces!

Which sections of the game required the most work to be remastered?

The laboratory and factory areas on the island are probably the most time consuming in terms of texture and 3D retouching, because there are tons of strange and blurry control panels, medical and military devices and cables. Any small inaccuracy becomes really apparent, unlike the organic textures of the village or the ancient architectural surfaces of the castle.

Is your HD project focused strictly on visuals or has there been any work on sound quality and other parts of the game?

Unfortunately, I don’t have enough sound knowledge to remaster the game’s audio. Although I fixed some bugs, mostly related to the wrong sounds playing at the wrong time or low quality sounds during the Separate Ways campaign (sent as part of the PS2 port and all subsequent ports).

I also fixed some stage collision problems here and there.

Image: Albert Marin

You currently accept donations to help finance the RE4 HD project, but do you plan to sell the completed project as soon as it is released?

No, it will be free. Modifying and remastering this game is also a game for me.

What kind of reception did you get from this project, and who do you hope to reach with it?

It surpasses anything I imagined. I think some people, websites and communities have spread their existence. But after all, resident Evil has a huge fan base, so I think it’s perfectly understandable that a few thousand of that fan base are interested in the process of remastering one of the best games in history.

About our target audience, I would say, everyone who likes remasters for visual pleasure; or playing your favorite game without a trace of blurring, or simply people who like this type of fan project, but don’t like the game at all!

Because this project is more about the journey than the end result. After all, it can’t compete with any next generation game in terms of visuals, no matter how sharp the textures are or how round the models look.

Image: Albert Marin

Have you ever worked in a role with Capcom (or any of its current or former employees) on this project?

No. We were in contact with them at the beginning. Someone at Capcom was interested in our project and it took a while to send a planning document, but I think the other people at Capcom in Japan were not interested because the communication ended there. Other than that, there was no help to do the project.

Since Capcom recently launched the RE3 remake, it is likely that a RE4 remake is in development. Does your team worry that Capcom will eventually steal your thunder, so to speak, with an improved version of the game?

No, remakes are really different games. Even now, the original Resident Evil 2 and 3 receive their own mods and visual improvements (Resident Evil 2 and 3 HD Seamless Project) These are different and complementary experiences. Just think of any Hollywood remake. Most of them do not detract from the original film and are alternative views of the old title.