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Did they find the original Artworks?

TimTim Member Posts: 38
in Archive (General Discussion)
Hey,

on the new BG2EE Homepage there is: "Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition features full widescreen support, remastered area artwork from original renders, and a host of other interface and gameplay improvements."

Does that mean that they found the original graphic files to fiddle with? Or do they mean the "original" renders out of BG2?

Cheers
Tim

Comments

  • AranthysAranthys Member Posts: 722
    No, but they found the 32 bits renders of the areas, rather than the 256 colors that were shipped with the game, hence remastered areas.
  • karl_maulderkarl_maulder Member Posts: 133
    edited September 2013
    they found the 24 bit hi-res rendered source images, which has replaced the old ones.
  • TimTim Member Posts: 38
    Ah. Great :) Thanks
  • QuartzQuartz Member Posts: 3,853
    So. Not ideal, but better than what they did with BG:EE then, I take it?
  • MornmagorMornmagor Member Posts: 1,160
    edited September 2013
    I have a question about this.

    Some day in the past year, and when asked about not improving the sprites, Trent said that, they cannot just touch the sprites and leave areas alone, due to the visual inconsistency this would create. Which of course, makes sense. You either do everything or nothing.

    Considering the fact that the backrounds are already better looking than the pixelated sprites, if the backrounds are of better quality, won't the sprites look even worse compared? The resolution of the sprites will be abysmal compared to the backrounds now.

    Obviously they did good in upgrading the backround look, since they had the ability, but, what about visual consistency now?

    I'd like some clarification about this if possible. Are the devs considering this an issue? Or it's not?
  • TorinTorin Member Posts: 229
    Ah, this actually sounds like 1st real upgrade for BG2EE. I hope we get some pictures of the new look of areas and some comparisons.
  • mylegbigmylegbig Member Posts: 292
    karl_maulder said:

    they found the 24 bit hi-res rendered source images, which has replaced the old ones.

    Nice

  • Blakes7Blakes7 Member Posts: 83
    Hopefully this means Beamdog will update the sprites as well.
  • ShinShin Member Posts: 2,344
    Trent talks a bit about this at a PAX panel, http://www.twitch.tv/pax2/b/453941143. Starting at around 28 minutes in iirc.
  • bdeonovicbdeonovic Member Posts: 86
    Mornmagor said:

    I have a question about this.

    Some day in the past year, and when asked about not improving the sprites, Trent said that, they cannot just touch the sprites and leave areas alone, due to the visual inconsistency this would create. Which of course, makes sense. You either do everything or nothing.

    Considering the fact that the backrounds are already better looking than the pixelated sprites, if the backrounds are of better quality, won't the sprites look even worse compared? The resolution of the sprites will be abysmal compared to the backrounds now.

    Obviously they did good in upgrading the backround look, since they had the ability, but, what about visual consistency now?

    I'd like some clarification about this if possible. Are the devs considering this an issue? Or it's not?

    I think the hi-res source images they found just enable them to be stored in a more compact format. The backgrounds won't look any different then they did in BG:EE, or BG2. I read that from some dev post somewhere on this forum.
  • DeeDee Member Posts: 10,447
    They do look a bit better, actually. Because we had the original 24-bit renders, we were able to compress them using more modern methods, which allows us to retain a lot more of the original artwork's detail and quality.

    At some point we'll need to post some side-by-side screenshots so that you can see the difference, but it is noticeable. The comparison Trent showed at PAX was great, although the thing I think most people noticed was probably that we flipped the Radiant Heart around, not the higher fidelity of the render.
  • PalanthisPalanthis Member Posts: 283
    Mornmagor said:



    Obviously they did good in upgrading the backround look, since they had the ability, but, what about visual consistency now?

    This.

    Are the sprites going to be upgraded at some point, to match the uprgraded backgrounds ?
  • BerconBercon Member Posts: 485
    If they had higher version sprites, they probably would have included them. And redoing the sprites would mean redoing 3D models of everything etc., so that's a no go.

    In short, they wont upgrade the sprites, ever.
  • trinittrinit Member Posts: 705
    edited September 2013
    wrong thread, disregard this... :P
  • StaglordStaglord Member Posts: 27
    I would love for a"hi res" comparison between the two so you could see the difference
  • ShinShin Member Posts: 2,344
    I'd also agree it looks better in the BG2EE beta, more noticeably so while inside the game than on screenshots, but obviously it's a subjective thing.
  • MornmagorMornmagor Member Posts: 1,160
    The thing is, since the backrounds look better, aren't the sprites looking out of place and pixelated compared to the whole image?

    The sprites are never going to be upgraded, i can tell you that much.

    It just hit me that the talk about visual consistency that happened back then, seems moot all of a sudden.
  • ChildofBhaal599ChildofBhaal599 Member Posts: 1,781
    We could maybe get a modder or group of them to update the sprites. We will see what the future holds I guess
  • CaptRoryCaptRory Member Posts: 1,660
    I've always thought that the backgrounds, especially the sweeping outdoor zones, have always held up extremely well, even when I was just playing the original version of the first game. It was always the 3d elements that look dated like the movies and the avatars and such.
  • reedmilfamreedmilfam Member Posts: 2,808
    Agree. The sprites are the weak link in the multimedia event that is BG (speaking of presentation only, of course).
  • SchopenhauerSchopenhauer Member Posts: 36
    edited September 2013
    Any chance you guys found the 24bit renderers for BG I ? That would be so lovely!

    Oh, never mind :(

    Messi: "Anyway my question is that is there any possibility to enhance BGEE graphics like you did with BG2EE renders?"

    Dee: "Not without the original renders, which unfortunately we don't have. "
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