I've Created a WC4 HD Video Pack

Thank you @ODVS,

I have followed your suggest and I get a better result:


however still too much aliasing.

Do you have a tip to reduce again the aliasing ?
 

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Thank you @ODVS,

I have followed your suggest and I get a better result:


however still too much aliasing.

Do you have a tip to reduce again the aliasing ?

Hi @marco999,

I think that's about as good as it's going to get. Certainly your settings look about right. Ultimately, there's just a ceiling on how much you can expect from the AI until the next set of models come along - and from that particular source artwork, you're probably just about pushing it to its limits for the moment.
 
As you know, GOG DVD version doesn't have subtitles. I wonder if with HD Video Pack, is there a way to get subtitles turned back on? If not, then I sincerely hope there is a fan remake that will correct this issue someday. I can't play WC4 DVD version, and I have DOS version from GOG, but it doesn't play past mission 5 for whatever reasons.
 
As you know, GOG DVD version doesn't have subtitles. I wonder if with HD Video Pack, is there a way to get subtitles turned back on? If not, then I sincerely hope there is a fan remake that will correct this issue someday. I can't play WC4 DVD version, and I have DOS version from GOG, but it doesn't play past mission 5 for whatever reasons.

I'm glad to be able to let you know that WCIV: Remastered will have subtitles throughout :^)

I'm afraid the HD pack doesn't re-enable subtitles in the base game - they're encoded within game files, rather than the videos themselves. However, if the issue is one of language, the HD packs are available in French and German, if that helps?
 
I'm glad to be able to let you know that WCIV: Remastered will have subtitles throughout :^)

I'm afraid the HD pack doesn't re-enable subtitles in the base game - they're encoded within game files, rather than the videos themselves. However, if the issue is one of language, the HD packs are available in French and German, if that helps?

Unfortunately, my primary language is English. I guess I'll have to wait until the remake is released. I suspect it'll be released next year if ever. That's a long time wait. Oh well.
 
Hello, would it be possible to have your WCV Prophecy HD videos in French? (I didn't see a link on the post on page 1)
 
Hello, would it be possible to have your WCV Prophecy HD videos in French? (I didn't see a link on the post on page 1)
Hi @Dorjé,

I don't think Prophecy was dubbed into other languages like III and IV were - and I'd need a copy of the original game files in order to extract the audio. But if I'm wrong and you have a French copy, I'm more than willing to put a pack together for you if you can send me disc images :^)

I did a quick Google to see if Prophecy was ever released in French and I did find this post from GOG. It doesn't translate the game audio, but it should help you turn on French subtitles at least:

 
some of the german WC4 Videos are out of sync with the Sound 😭, but it's not your fault .. they were out of sync when they were patched for the DVD version
 
some of the german WC4 Videos are out of sync with the Sound 😭, but it's not your fault .. they were out of sync when they were patched for the DVD version
D'oh! 😖

Roughly what percentage of the videos are affected? I don't want to make any promises but, with some help from a native German speaker, it's something I might be able to fix. If anyone feels like volunteering, though, be warned - I'll probably need someone to comb through the videos in something like MPCHC or VLC and figure out how many milliseconds off the audio is. If we're lucky they'll all be offset by the same amount - but if not, that could be a mammoth task...
 
I don't think it'll be a mammoth job .. it's especially this clip (SC_0200A.VOB).. the sound doesn't match the lip syncroneity


i didnt know how much clips exactly but i will check it ..
 
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exactly .. at the end it doesn't fit anymore
Ah - then it's a speed/duration issue. Looks like the video takes slightly longer to play out than the audio. It's probable that it happens in all the videos, but it will only become noticeable in the longers ones, since the longer the duration, the more time there is for the disparity between the audio and video to become apparent.

I can probably write an FFMPEG command to stretch the audio duration to always match the video duration. It would lower the pitch slightly, but I suspect the difference would be so slight that it wouldn't be noticeable. I'll have to do some research and experimentation to figure it out.

Thanks for bringing it to my attention, @Maze59077. If it happens in the DE version of the HD pack, it will definitely also happen in the higher-quality, multi-language versions we have planned for the WCIV remake - so it's something I'd want to fix for that anyway :)
 
Thank you @ODVS,

I have followed your suggest and I get a better result:


however still too much aliasing.

Do you have a tip to reduce again the aliasing ?
I've already streamed the entirety of X-Wing, but if you don't have a video set for the cutscenes, I'll start it up again so you can get some exposure/ promotion for your work on that project. I already did it for @ODVS' WC III, WC IV, and WCP projects, and I don't mind getting your work some exposure!
 
Why don't you offer the videos as torrent? Because you want the server bandwidth to be frequented to the maximum?
That'd be a question for @ChrisReid, @KrisV and the CIC team, really - they generously offered to host the files and I took them up on it :)

If you'd like to seed a torrent and get it out there, @wiese.hano, you have my blessing :) I'm just not sure if there will be enough interest out there to keep the torrent alive/speedy in the long term.
 
If you'd like to seed a torrent and get it out there, @wiese.hano, you have my blessing :) I'm just not sure if there will be enough interest out there to keep the torrent alive/speedy in the long term.
Oh, I definitively would create and share a torrent, but you might be right: If there's not enough participants this will be useless/senseless. That's why I'm putting this up here for consideration.
 
I'm not sure if there would be a benefit to a torrent. That seems like what you would do if you didn't have a centralized dedicated server like we do. We have a gigabit uplink with many terabytes of allowable transfer bandwidth, so we don't see a reason to do anything but just host the file.
 
Edit - 10th October 2020:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WING COMMANDER CIC!


To celebrate, I have new versions of all my HD Packs and a whole host of funky new trailers!

All of these got their official premieres during the CIC Birthday party, but I thought I'd add them here for reference or for anyone who couldn't make it to the party.


Wing Commander IV HD Pack V5.0 - Definitive Edition

  • All FMV footage remastered to 1080p Full HD using Machine Learning AI (highest quality yet!)
  • Low frame rate sequences remastered to full 30fps using Machine Learning AI
  • Aspect ratio of all footage fixed to standard 16:9
  • Missing audio from various DVD-version sequences restored (in full Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound where possible)
  • French and German packs available (Stereo audio only)
  • Custom batch file launcher for French and German packs (wc4dvd_FR.bat and wc4dvd_DE.bat respectively) included. Use these to launch the game with French or German UI enabled (tool tips, mission briefings, pilot bios, ship loadouts etc.)
  • Release notes document included (NEW!)
English

Deutsche

Français

Many thanks to Rufus Shinra and @wiese.hano for providing French and German translations of the release notes!


Wing Commander III HD Pack V2.0
  • All FMV footage remastered to 1080p Full HD using Machine Learning AI (highest quality yet!)
  • 15fps frame rate remastered to full 30fps using Machine Learning AI throughout
  • Improved contrast balance in all footage
  • Video compression optimised (now a single 3.8GB zip file)
  • German, French and Japanese packs available
English

Deutsche

Français

日本語



Wing Commander Prophecy HD Pack V4.0
  • All FMV footage remastered to 1080p Full HD using Machine Learning AI (highest quality yet!)
  • DVD Interlacing removed from all footage
  • Missing scenes restored and remastered from CD-ROM edition
  • English and German packs available
English

Deutsche


I also re-rendered the official WCIV Theatrical Trailer using the new HD Pack V5.0 footage:


So again, HAPPY BIRTHDAY WING COMMANDER CIC and HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY WING COMMANDER FRANCHISE! Here's to many more decades of fun times with this vibrant community 😄


Edit - 27th April 2020:
Massive thanks to @ChrisReid for officially hosting the HD video packs on WCNews! I'm updating the links throughout this thread to ease the burden on my poor GDrive and 1Drive 😝

ORIGINAL POST:
Hello all,

Total Newbie here - my name's Owen. First of all, thank you to everyone in this community - although I've only just joined, I have fond childhood memories of WC and I've called by WCNews occasionally over the years to make use of assets, patches and all the other wonderful things this community has come up with.

The reason I set up an account is I think I might actually have something to share. Having bought WC4 in the recent GOG sale, I decided to see if I could improve the DVD video. I set about using Machine Learning/AI to remaster the FMV footage in HD.

I've upscaled it to native 1080p Full HD (not just a scalar/smoothing solution - extra image data is actually added to create "true" HD footage) as well as removing the DVD interlacing, cleaning up the MPEG compression artefacts and remastering the colour of all footage. If you'd like to see the results, I put together a short comparison video which you can view on YouTube here.

Dank der wunderbaren Arbeit, die zuvor geleistet wurde, um das DVD-Material in die GOG-Veröffentlichung zu bringen, war es überraschend einfach, das remasterte HD-Material im Spiel zum Laufen zu bringen. Wenn also jemand interessiert ist, lassen Sie es mich wissen und ich werde mich darum kümmern, das remasterte Filmmaterial mit jedem zu teilen, der es möchte - alles, was Sie tun müssen, ist, Ihren ursprünglichen VOB-Ordner in Ihrer Wing4-Installation zu sichern und meine Ersatzvideodateien hineinzulegen Ort.

Wir freuen uns über jedes Feedback!

Grüße,

Owen

PS: Sehen Sie sich das YouTube-Video ganz an – die Komprimierungsalgorithmen von YouTube haben tatsächlich die Qualität des remasterten HD-Materials verringert, und Sie bekommen eine bessere Vorstellung von den Verbesserungen, wenn Sie sich alle Beispiele ansehen – aber die Versionen, die ich im Spiel gelöscht habe, sind tatsächlich höher Qualität als YouTube-Anzeigen.

PPS Wenn sich das als beliebt erweist, mache ich das vielleicht auch für Prophecy :^)



Edit - 10th October 2020:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WING COMMANDER CIC!


To celebrate, I have new versions of all my HD Packs and a whole host of funky new trailers!

All of these got their official premieres during the CIC Birthday party, but I thought I'd add them here for reference or for anyone who couldn't make it to the party.


Wing Commander IV HD Pack V5.0 - Definitive Edition

  • All FMV footage remastered to 1080p Full HD using Machine Learning AI (highest quality yet!)
  • Low frame rate sequences remastered to full 30fps using Machine Learning AI
  • Aspect ratio of all footage fixed to standard 16:9
  • Missing audio from various DVD-version sequences restored (in full Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound where possible)
  • French and German packs available (Stereo audio only)
  • Custom batch file launcher for French and German packs (wc4dvd_FR.bat and wc4dvd_DE.bat respectively) included. Use these to launch the game with French or German UI enabled (tool tips, mission briefings, pilot bios, ship loadouts etc.)
  • Release notes document included (NEW!)
English

Deutsche

Français

Many thanks to Rufus Shinra and @wiese.hano for providing French and German translations of the release notes!


Wing Commander III HD Pack V2.0
  • All FMV footage remastered to 1080p Full HD using Machine Learning AI (highest quality yet!)
  • 15fps frame rate remastered to full 30fps using Machine Learning AI throughout
  • Improved contrast balance in all footage
  • Video compression optimised (now a single 3.8GB zip file)
  • German, French and Japanese packs available
English

Deutsche

Français

日本語



Wing Commander Prophecy HD Pack V4.0
  • All FMV footage remastered to 1080p Full HD using Machine Learning AI (highest quality yet!)
  • DVD Interlacing removed from all footage
  • Missing scenes restored and remastered from CD-ROM edition
  • English and German packs available
English

Deutsche


I also re-rendered the official WCIV Theatrical Trailer using the new HD Pack V5.0 footage:


So again, HAPPY BIRTHDAY WING COMMANDER CIC and HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY WING COMMANDER FRANCHISE! Here's to many more decades of fun times with this vibrant community 😄


Edit - 27th April 2020:
Massive thanks to @ChrisReid for officially hosting the HD video packs on WCNews! I'm updating the links throughout this thread to ease the burden on my poor GDrive and 1Drive 😝

ORIGINAL POST:
Hello all,

Total Newbie here - my name's Owen. First of all, thank you to everyone in this community - although I've only just joined, I have fond childhood memories of WC and I've called by WCNews occasionally over the years to make use of assets, patches and all the other wonderful things this community has come up with.

The reason I set up an account is I think I might actually have something to share. Having bought WC4 in the recent GOG sale, I decided to see if I could improve the DVD video. I set about using Machine Learning/AI to remaster the FMV footage in HD.

I've upscaled it to native 1080p Full HD (not just a scalar/smoothing solution - extra image data is actually added to create "true" HD footage) as well as removing the DVD interlacing, cleaning up the MPEG compression artefacts and remastering the colour of all footage. If you'd like to see the results, I put together a short comparison video which you can view on YouTube here.

Dank der wunderbaren Arbeit, die zuvor geleistet wurde, um das DVD-Material in die GOG-Veröffentlichung zu bringen, war es überraschend einfach, das remasterte HD-Material im Spiel zum Laufen zu bringen. Wenn also jemand interessiert ist, lassen Sie es mich wissen und ich werde mich darum kümmern, das remasterte Filmmaterial mit jedem zu teilen, der es möchte - alles, was Sie tun müssen, ist, Ihren ursprünglichen VOB-Ordner in Ihrer Wing4-Installation zu sichern und meine Ersatzvideodateien hineinzulegen Ort.

Wir freuen uns über jedes Feedback!

Grüße,

Owen

PS: Sehen Sie sich das YouTube-Video ganz an – die Komprimierungsalgorithmen von YouTube haben tatsächlich die Qualität des remasterten HD-Materials verringert, und Sie bekommen eine bessere Vorstellung von den Verbesserungen, wenn Sie sich alle Beispiele ansehen – aber die Versionen, die ich im Spiel gelöscht habe, sind tatsächlich höher Qualität als YouTube-Anzeigen.

PPS Wenn sich das als beliebt erweist, mache ich das vielleicht auch für Prophecy :^)


Einfach phänomenal!! Ein riesiges Kompliment! 😃👍Vor allem, dass du auch die deutsche Tonspur extrahiert hast. Endlich wird ein Traum wahr. Inzwischen habe ich aber überlegt, die betreffenden Szenen nicht als Spielfilm zu bearbeiten, sondern eine Mini-TV-Serie daraus zu machen
 
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