I've Created a WC4 HD Video Pack

Hi @YCDTD and @Netsab,

For WC3 that's basically right, yes. There have been some mentions around the forums that someone with the right skill set could potentially modify the Kilrathi Saga executable for WC3 to get the original game files to run as a Windows native application, rather than in DOS emulation - which would then open the possibility of adding in hooks to play modern video formats with modern hardware acceleration. I'm not aware of anyone currently working on this, though.

Until such time as we have that patch, I'm not developing the WC3 HD pack further. Should it ever arise though, I do have some improvements I'll be applying to an "in-game" version of the pack. I have better AI upscaling techniques now, I can interpolate the frame rate up without those blend frames between jump cuts, and I'd probably incorporate all four (so far) language audio streams into the files, so there would be one pack for all (although I'd need to liase with whoever developed the patch to make sure this could work).

The WC4 HD pack has pretty much hit the limit of what the original game is able to play back. Development is ongoing, though, for the WC4 remake project. For that project, I'll be able to use h.265 encoding to get the overall file size down considerably, we'll have optional 60fps HFR playback, the AI upscale is far superior and, once again, all three languages will be streamed into each video. Suffice to say, the video for the remake will be far superior even to the most recent HD pack for the original game - and at close to half the file size.

I'm afraid the playback issues in Prophecy are outside my remit - that's a software issue. Others may very well be working on it, but I'm afraid it's outside my bubble and not something I'd be directly involved with. I know he's not working on it because he has his hands full with the remake, but @Pedro might know if anyone else is :)
 
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YCDTD said:
Hey ODVS, what is the current status of the remasters? Are the download links in this thread the latest versions? Is anyone working on trying to get the WC3 movies integrated into the game? Has anyone been working on the issue of the WCP movies not playing in full screen?

Yeah, that was a lot of questions. ;)
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For WCP movies in full screen I have created this patch:

Hope will be useful.
 

Attachments

I hope that someone from the community knows an experienced programmer who can work on the WC3 exe .. it would be an ultimate WC3 .. maybe this great Forum can start a big request .. to find someone who can work on the wc3exe .. to create a file like the Wc4dvd exe
 
Maze59077 said:
I hope that someone from the community knows an experienced programmer who can work on the WC3 exe .. it would be an ultimate WC3 .. maybe this great Forum can start a big request .. to find someone who can work on the wc3exe .. to create a file like the Wc4dvd exe
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Take present that WC3 engine is very old and while in WCP is possible improve the texture and work with draw/directx in WC3 or WC4 is not possible.

The only hope can be in the future is someone will do a WC3 remake with a new game engine (like in WC4).
 
marco999 said:
Take present that WC3 engine is very old and while in WCP is possible improve the texture and work with draw/directx in WC3 or WC4 is not possible.

The only hope can be in the future is someone will do a WC3 remake with a new game engine (like in WC4).
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it doesn't have to be a new engine .. but it would be good to integrate the HD videos .. like the WC4 DVD
 
Theorically is possible. This need to hook the movies routine with a DLL.

If someone have the skill and time to do it will be possible do it.
 
Hi ODVS, I ask if wpc movies:

Wing Commander CIC

The center of the Wing Commander community features news, information, tech support and conversation about the computer game series.
www.wcnews.com www.wcnews.com

is update recently (last version of topaz) or its a old update ?
 
marco999 said:
is update recently (last version of topaz) or its a old update ?
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Sorry, @marco999, I was in a bit of a rush and only half-read your question.

They are the latest versions of any WCP video packs I've done, but they are using an older version of my workflow and the AI models used on it were from a couple of versions ago. Prophecy's video is a major pain to work with due to the variable frame rates and a few other niggles, so as and when I come to update the packs it's a massive job. They therefore get worked on less frequently, as I have my hands very full with the day job and the WCIV remake project.

I'm currently 4th in the queue for a 3000 series GPU(!) - once that eventually arrives, it'll speed up the processing of AI upscales considerably. I'm currently planning to potentially revisit Prophecy once that's up and running.
 
ODVS said:
Sorry, @marco999, I was in a bit of a rush and only half-read your question.

They are the latest versions of any WCP video packs I've done, but they are using an older version of my workflow and the AI models used on it were from a couple of versions ago. Prophecy's video is a major pain to work with due to the variable frame rates and a few other niggles, so as and when I come to update the packs it's a massive job. They therefore get worked on less frequently, as I have my hands very full with the day job and the WCIV remake project.

I'm currently 4th in the queue for a 3000 series GPU(!) - once that eventually arrives, it'll speed up the processing of AI upscales considerably. I'm currently planning to potentially revisit Prophecy once that's up and running.
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Thank you @ODVS, Please let me known when you have completed the upscale.

I will test it and compare with my old movies.
 
ODVS said:
I'm currently 4th in the queue for a 3000 series GPU(!)
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I'm assuming Nvidia RTX 3000 series. Impressive, given the overwhelming demand crypto-currency miners have added to the consumer GPU market. Just wondering - is Topaz optimised for CUDA or will it work with OpenCL as well?

Personally, I don't have a pressing need for new GPUs, but I keep an eye on the market just in case. I'm dismayed to see Radeon VIIs sell for 2.5x their original price in Australia (even 'for parts' listings go for something like 1.5x original price). While Radeon VIIs might not be good value if one is only looking for graphics performance, I find it useful for its memory bandwidth and double-precision performance less crippled than Nvidia's counter-parts. And given the return to focusing on graphics with RDNA architecture, even if supplies were stable I wouldn't go for RX 6000 series over Radeon VII just yet, for my personal needs.
 
Wedge009 said:
I'm assuming Nvidia RTX 3000 series. Impressive, given the overwhelming demand crypto-currency miners have added to the consumer GPU market. Just wondering - is Topaz optimised for CUDA or will it work with OpenCL as well?
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Both - it's optimised for CUDA, but it will work with OpenCL 😝

There are effectively three levels of performance on Topaz VEAI:
  1. Nvidia GPU
  2. Roughly market equivalent AMD GPU
  3. CPU. It'll work, but kiss your life goodbye if you're rendering on the CPU
This tends to be the case with most "AI" applications out there. I appreciate there's almost always a "bang-for-buck" improvement with AMD GPUs (especially for gaming with Big Navi and the direct memory pipelines of recent all-AMD builds) - but sadly my use case extends beyond gaming and there's just no current competition on raw performance for those CUDA and Tensor cores. It's why I always end up going for Titan or equivalent cards.

Also, it's not that impressive. I ordered the damn thing back in September, where I started at 110 in the queue. I've been getting "updates" every Friday. As of last Friday, I'm 4th in the queue... but I have been for four weeks. 😑
 
I considered it impressive given that you're in line for one at all. I thought suppliers were happy to sell in bulk directly to miners because of the huge premium they're paying over the original release price. Granted, a lead time of more than half a year is pretty disappointing regardless.

Thanks for the info. I haven't had much experience with tensor cores but it sounds like it's what's needed for your particular video/NN-based work.
 
Wedge009 said:
Thanks for the info. I haven't had much experience with tensor cores but it sounds like it's what's needed for your particular video/NN-based work.
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Absolutely - they're really geared towards Machine Learning projects. It's one of the reasons I'm expecting massive gains in processing time with the new GPU. I'm currently using a Titan Xp - which is a beefy card, but has no Tensor cores due to its Pascal architecture. Topas VEAI has already been upated to make use of them, so I'm really hopeful the Ampere architecture of the new card will start chewing through those frames :^)
 
I've got the GOG version of WCP. Now I'd like to integrate the hd movies from @ODVS. What do I have to do? There is somewhere a guide buzzing around somewhere here in the forums, but don't know the right keywords to do a search. So please, help me out.
 
wiese.hano said:
I've got the GOG version of WCP. Now I'd like to integrate the hd movies from @ODVS. What do I have to do? There is somewhere a guide buzzing around somewhere here in the forums, but don't know the right keywords to do a search. So please, help me out.
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Hi @wiese.hano - you'll need to install a few fan-made patches from here.

If memory serves, it's a combination of the DVD Movie Upgrade Patch and the OpenGL patch. There is some further tinkering to be done to get everything working smoothly, but I'm afraid it's been a long time since I've tinkered with this myself. I know @marco999 created yet another patch (he mentioned it a few posts above this one), to get the aspect ratio of the videos working properly.

I'd also highly recommend the Model Upgrade Pack, which does wonders for improving the overall look of the in-flight portions of the game.

Can anyone else advise? Did I list the correct patches or miss anything?
 
ODVS said:
I'm currently 4th in the queue for a 3000 series GPU(!) - once that eventually arrives, it'll speed up the processing of AI upscales considerably. I'm currently planning to potentially revisit Prophecy once that's up and running.
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Wedge009 said:
I'm assuming Nvidia RTX 3000 series. Impressive, given the overwhelming demand crypto-currency miners have added to the consumer GPU market.
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Good guess, but it's actually one of these. 333 megatexels/sec!

voodoo3_3000agp_03.JPG
 
I got hold of a Voodoo 3 2000 a long time ago, in an attempt to get 3dfx rendering working with Prophecy but I don't think I succeeded and at any rate, the later OpenGL rendering options did a lot better job, I think.
 
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