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XWAU Cutscenes/Cinematics

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2023 3:18 pm
by Feno
Hi everyone.

I'm new here; just registered yesterday! I hadn't played this game in 20+ years and just recently came across this project. All I can say is that I am completely blown away, not only by how amazing this game looks now, but particularly by the amount of hard work and dedication by everyone who has worked on this project. Congratulations and a big thank you to all! I'm looking forward to seeing what comes next!

Speaking of which, I know there have been other threads talking about the Cutscenes and how to make them higher quality, etc., but one of the things that has bothered me most about them is the Aspect Ratio and that you can either have them play in the Original AR or stretched, which distorts the image.

I follow the Star Wars Fan Editing community very closely and I have been dabbling with my own Fan Edits in recent years (not sure if I'll ever finish them!), so I figured that I could use what I've learned from Fan Editing and apply it to the Cutscenes in this game.

To that end, I spent the last couple of days tweaking the Intro Cutscene using the Upscaled and Enhanced version and have successfully added it to my game. My goal was to make it look and feel more cinematic, so I added the 20th Century Intro/Fanfare, updated the Opening Crawl to look like the films, changed the Aspect Ratio to match the films (2.35:1) while not losing the focus of the scenes, as well as other minor edits and tweaks. I'm not sure if anyone is interested, but I figured I would share what I created with you all.

I've uploaded my version of the Opening Cinematic to YouTube:
Version 1: https://youtu.be/uMS2FlKRvoY
Version 2: https://youtu.be/lRgOyoSgwDg

I'll be starting on the other Cutscenes soon just for my own personal use, but if anyone is interested, I'll be more than happy to share the files as I complete them. I am also very open to any critiques/suggestions anyone may have.

Thanks again, everyone!

Re: XWAU Cutscenes/Cinematics

Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2023 12:22 am
by Ace Antilles
Feno wrote:
Thu Feb 02, 2023 3:18 pm
Hi everyone.

I'm new here; just registered yesterday! I hadn't played this game in 20+ years and just recently came across this project. All I can say is that I am completely blown away, not only by how amazing this game looks now, but particularly by the amount of hard work and dedication by everyone who has worked on this project. Congratulations and a big thank you to all! I'm looking forward to seeing what comes next!

Speaking of which, I know there have been other threads talking about the Cutscenes and how to make them higher quality, etc., but one of the things that has bothered me most about them is the Aspect Ratio and that you can either have them play in the Original AR or stretched, which distorts the image.

I follow the Star Wars Fan Editing community very closely and I have been dabbling with my own Fan Edits in recent years (not sure if I'll ever finish them!), so I figured that I could use what I've learned from Fan Editing and apply it to the Cutscenes in this game.

To that end, I spent the last couple of days tweaking the Intro Cutscene using the Upscaled and Enhanced version and have successfully added it to my game. My goal was to make it look and feel more cinematic, so I added the 20th Century Intro/Fanfare, updated the Opening Crawl to look like the films, changed the Aspect Ratio to match the films (2.35:1) while not losing the focus of the scenes, as well as other minor edits and tweaks. I'm not sure if anyone is interested, but I figured I would share what I created with you all.

I've uploaded my version of the Opening Cinematic to YouTube:
https://youtu.be/uMS2FlKRvoY

I'll be starting on the other Cutscenes soon just for my own personal use, but if anyone is interested, I'll be more than happy to share the files as I complete them. I am also very open to any critiques/suggestions anyone may have.

Thanks again, everyone!

Not bad. Have you seen the HD videos I host created by @marcop000 on my website?
They are in the Upgrades section.
https://xwingoutpost.com/

Re: XWAU Cutscenes/Cinematics

Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2023 12:39 am
by Feno
I have not! I'll go check them out now. Thanks!

Re: XWAU Cutscenes/Cinematics

Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2023 1:01 pm
by marcop000
Feno wrote:
Thu Feb 02, 2023 3:18 pm
Hi everyone.

I'm new here; just registered yesterday! I hadn't played this game in 20+ years and just recently came across this project. All I can say is that I am completely blown away, not only by how amazing this game looks now, but particularly by the amount of hard work and dedication by everyone who has worked on this project. Congratulations and a big thank you to all! I'm looking forward to seeing what comes next!

Speaking of which, I know there have been other threads talking about the Cutscenes and how to make them higher quality, etc., but one of the things that has bothered me most about them is the Aspect Ratio and that you can either have them play in the Original AR or stretched, which distorts the image.

I follow the Star Wars Fan Editing community very closely and I have been dabbling with my own Fan Edits in recent years (not sure if I'll ever finish them!), so I figured that I could use what I've learned from Fan Editing and apply it to the Cutscenes in this game.

To that end, I spent the last couple of days tweaking the Intro Cutscene using the Upscaled and Enhanced version and have successfully added it to my game. My goal was to make it look and feel more cinematic, so I added the 20th Century Intro/Fanfare, updated the Opening Crawl to look like the films, changed the Aspect Ratio to match the films (2.35:1) while not losing the focus of the scenes, as well as other minor edits and tweaks. I'm not sure if anyone is interested, but I figured I would share what I created with you all.

I've uploaded my version of the Opening Cinematic to YouTube:
https://youtu.be/uMS2FlKRvoY

I'll be starting on the other Cutscenes soon just for my own personal use, but if anyone is interested, I'll be more than happy to share the files as I complete them. I am also very open to any critiques/suggestions anyone may have.

Thanks again, everyone!
Compliments !! your work is excellent !

While I have only upscaled with topaz video enhance ai, you have re-editing the videos a I suppose with big effort because need a lot of manual work ...

Re: XWAU Cutscenes/Cinematics

Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2023 1:23 pm
by MechDonald
I would like to completely remade these video sequences, but i'm currently occupied with remake the concourse atm. But after that, i would like to remake all the sequences.

Re: XWAU Cutscenes/Cinematics

Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2023 6:54 pm
by marcop000
MechDonald wrote:
Fri Feb 03, 2023 1:23 pm
I would like to completely remade these video sequences, but i'm currently occupied with remake the concourse atm. But after that, i would like to remake all the sequences.
This is a very good news !!

Please share the progress of your work when you start.

Re: XWAU Cutscenes/Cinematics

Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2023 11:58 pm
by Feno
Thanks, Marco! I downloaded your versions and they look SO much better! Nice work! I'm working on Version 2 now. I'll let you all know when it's done.

I definitely agree that all of the sequences need to be redone. I know this was made in 1999 and all, but more than a couple of them look like pre-viz animatics. Especially the ones with the Imperial Officers (I cringe every time I see them). I have a feeling LucasFilm pulled all of their best animators from LucasArts to work on Episode I. They probably had more people working on Jar Jar's left ear than on this whole game.

The only sequences that really don't need anything are Battles7a-d. You just need to replace them with the exact sequences from ROTJ (which I already did...).

Re: XWAU Cutscenes/Cinematics

Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2023 12:29 am
by Ace Antilles
Feno wrote:
Fri Feb 03, 2023 11:58 pm
Thanks, Marco! I downloaded your versions and they look SO much better! Nice work! I'm working on Version 2 now. I'll let you all know when it's done.

I definitely agree that all of the sequences need to be redone. I know this was made in 1999 and all, but more than a couple of them look like pre-viz animatics. Especially the ones with the Imperial Officers (I cringe every time I see them). I have a feeling LucasFilm pulled all of their best animators from LucasArts to work on Episode I. They probably had more people working on Jar Jar's left ear than on this whole game.

The only sequences that really don't need anything are Battles7a-d. You just need to replace them with the exact sequences from ROTJ (which I already did...).
I've made videos for battle 7 which I will release in the future. Eventually lol

Re: XWAU Cutscenes/Cinematics

Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2023 11:38 pm
by Feno
I finished Version 2 using marcop000's versions. I may keep playing with it, but hopefully this looks better!

https://youtu.be/lRgOyoSgwDg (also added to OP).

Re: XWAU Cutscenes/Cinematics

Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2023 11:15 am
by marcop000
Feno wrote:
Sat Feb 04, 2023 11:38 pm
I finished Version 2 using marcop000's versions. I may keep playing with it, but hopefully this looks better!

https://youtu.be/lRgOyoSgwDg (also added to OP).
Good job !!

Re: XWAU Cutscenes/Cinematics

Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2023 4:14 pm
by Forceflow
Feno wrote:
Sat Feb 04, 2023 11:38 pm
I finished Version 2 using marcop000's versions. I may keep playing with it, but hopefully this looks better!

https://youtu.be/lRgOyoSgwDg (also added to OP).
Very impressive work, incredible how much can be done with the crappy low-res videos. The 20th Century Fox intro is a bit problematic to include in a mod (because it could be interpreted as it being authorize or endorsed by them) but of course for personal use and sharing that doesn't matter.

I think short of actually re-creating the whole thing that might be the best you can get out of the original!

Re: XWAU Cutscenes/Cinematics

Posted: Sun Mar 19, 2023 12:05 am
by LPhoenix
I'd like to chime in to the cutscene topic with my addition to it.

I always missed the subtitles from cutscenes in X-wing vs. TIE Fighter and X-wing Alliance, as for me they are integral part of them in X-wing and TIE Fighter. In the end I created proper subtitles for the intro which can be played by the vanilla game as it actually supports a specific .SUB format. This is how it looks like ingame: https://youtu.be/KGBABD20RAE

I personally, no offense, don't really like the AI upscaled version from marcop000. The artifacts are too distracting for me. But I completely understand that the process can be adjusted to somehow eliminate the artifacts ;)