My result after giving RTWC 2001 some highres texture packs & handy patches!

  • Hey all :)

    Here something I have been doing the past few weeks, was trying to find the correct and stable working high res texture pack and widescreen update for Return To Castle Wolfenstein from id software which was released in 2001.

    It's as if this game got totally revamped and in some cases you don't even notice the Q3A style textures, not all maps used the High Res Textures take Wolfensburg as example, the walls are pretty much the original texture palettes but better compressed here and there floor & inside textures are greatly improved as well as lanterns for example

    The zoomed in shots are to show how well the Super Sampled FSAA image quality is on RX Vega, it's really not as bad as I thought it would be, ATI/AMD like 3dfxall use the Rotated Grid Super Sampled FSAA method which gives the best results I used Vega's FSAA x8 Extra Quality setting even up close when zoomed in the edges are jaggy free.

    FSAA has improved a lot over the years especially when using high resolutions and then zooming in on to such area's, New gen GPU's have advanced shaders which also helps greatly for such things.

    What 3dfx had back in 2000 was remarkable image quality wise when it came to FSAA, mainly because they took use of the rotated grid Super Sampled FSAA method like AMD & NVIDIA still do today.

    So yeah modern hardware does give you the advantage of the extra needed horsepower to run old games with high res texture packs with max FSAA & AF settings at high and very acceptable frame rates without any frame dips, that to which is an amazing way to make old games look great again.

    Enjoy the screenshots, this was a worthy experiment, and this is still the best Wolfenstein game ever made since the originals :)

    First patch your RTCW with 1.4

    https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%…v1bKNC5RRfvrWUM

    then to 1.4.1:

    https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%…-fFp_3W3ixqKZGo

    Then install this widescreen patch:


    Widescreen Upgrade V.1:

    https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%…0psh4ySUz3hi0HU

    And then the HD Upgrade Pack 0.0.3 for the high res textures upgrade:

    https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%…nf9xWT4uu_Y-DDV

    Here the pics:







    At first I accidently had low res skies enabled I did disabled this after entering the Wolfensburg village xD


    Characters looked a bit retro, the packs I used made the game look neater but they didn't remove the game's original classic looking feel it still felt as if these were original patches in ways:

    Here the low res sky disabled and there ya go rainy clouds :)



    Wine cellars also looked far improved:

    An other shot of the sky in the normal state it should be over some gray mass:

    Here you can see the image quality of the RX Vega 64's Anisotropic Filtering quality it was set at AF x16:

    Here zoomed in and image remains it's sharpness

    Here from the other side:

    Then I focused on them crates to show you the Rotated Grid Super Sampled FSAA x8EQ quality:

    Far:

    Zoomed Halfway in:

    Full zoom:

    The same with the lantern opposite of them wooden crates:

    Zoomed out:


    Zoomed in:



    Trees also looked nice:


    Anyways this was about 4 weeks ago during the first two weeks

    3 Mal editiert, zuletzt von Gold Leader (15. August 2019 um 22:00)

  • The other two weeks I tested other maps mainly Church, Forest, Airbase & X-Labs, Here the pics of those two weeks:

    Church:

    Much better light illumination effects and better high res textures with the walls ceilings windows and floors:

    Forest:

    You had to sneak past 67 guards without being seen :topmodel: the patches have improved the AI by a large margin which made this mission a true pain rofl :topmodel:
    Sten sub machinegun & Snoooper Sniper Rifle came in great handy though, as well as the dagger for them daring kills.

    The goal was to sneak aboard this truck from behind, so it would take you in to the V2 Rocket base.

    Oooiiiyyy I did it yaays xD

    I didn't make any pics of the V2 rocket base sadly, so here some pics of the Airbase where I had to sneak in and hijack a rocket plane.

    Airbase:

    Here the Snooper Rifle, when you zoom in it shows everything in Infra Red mod even during daylight, but it does one shot kill any target :)

    Here I switched to my Scoped Mauser Sniper Rifle to zoom in on that German Stealth fighter down there:

    Here one of those stealth fighters that I took pics of in this hangar same one from the take off screenshots:

    And the bigger bomber like version standing outside:

    Here that stealth fighter from the take off screenshots flying over the base:

    Some sewer, the light illumination was also spot on plus the textures of the walls floors & water was improved:

    Sub Pen:


    Here I went for a dive to see where the Sub went and yeaps there it went in to it's hidey hole lol xD

    Norway:


    I went in Stealth mode used Sten & Snooper for the most of it, love making kills in Stealth mode this game brings that feeling to it's rights:

    And here the greatly improved X-Labs, love this map:

    Much better use of multi texturing, the high res textures made it more lifelike yet the old original feel did remain:

    Above water:



    Under water:


    Lightning Gun is greatly improved this is a burst shot killed all those guys well zapped em for sure :topmodel:

    And then the light blue hue's didn't work here;
    so dunno why of that tho, a bug most likely:


    After completing this mission the enemy took a run for it in his own rocket plane, it has a name kind of forgot it, there are like 40 mini rockets in the nose.


    Anyways what these updates do is inprove the textures and lighting effects multi texturing is improved, AI & weapons are improved sounds are improved resolution support for traditional 4:3, & 5:4 as well as widescreen 16:9 & 16:10 :)

    The game is much harder to play after these updates, but that makes this game even more fun than the newer ones :)

    I hope this was helpful for some here :)

    3 Mal editiert, zuletzt von Gold Leader (15. August 2019 um 22:18)

  • In some areas the high res textures look actually quite nice.

    In the labs and village for instance.

    The weapons turned out pretty cool looking.

    Maybe a bit too high res compared to the rest.

    Overall high res maps on low res geo makes a game most of the time look a bit weird in my opinion :/

    Texture cuts are more obvious, tiling is more visible (on the runway where the jet takes off) etc.

    Inside one of the hangars the detail scale seems too large in relation to the scale of the fp hands and the rest of the objects in the scene.

    Whoever put this mod together could've tiled the floor a bit more or chosen a different map.

    However just nitpicking here 8o

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  • Yeah I too found it kind of a shame not all textures were redone, I guess it was more like a half time job in ways, or the project just died and this is all what was of it.

    But overall it was fun replaying this classic again it's still one of my faved Wolfenstein games that with Wolfenstein: The New Order, the ones that followed were less grand tbh.

  • It looks a little bit empty and in my opinion way too clean.

    I didn't knew, that there are texture mods for RTCW.

    "Du bist und bleibst a Mensch und du kannst eben net deine menschlichkeit überwinden."

    Dennis_50300

  • Yeah well this is a game from 2001 so don't expect Crysis like graphics haha , but agree it is somewhat empty looking but this is how this game was back then all the texture packs do is offer all monitor screen aspect ratios & resolutions 4:3, 5:4, 16:19 & 16:10 whihc is really nice and the base textures are sharpened up more not so the original feel remains in game.

    So it's to me merely lightly adjusted but still maintaining it's original feel, but I do wish grass sprites were available and flower patches in the grass etc, such things would make it lots more enjoyable I think.

    CryptonNite

    Th e same here I found this per accident xD Whaps right I was like wtf why didn't I find this earlier, RTWC is a game that deserves a redux texture wise graphical improvements are always welcome for any old game, just as long the original feel isn't removed it's cool :)

  • It's technically not impossible to replace some polygon meshes, depending on how easily moddable the engine is. But that's always a problem with old games, if you tune one aspect of the engine too much, it can kinda look "out of place". I had the same experience with 3D models in the old Doom, Heretic & Hexen games. You know, with the Doomsday Engine project.

    No way, it has to be 2D sprites! ;)

    Still, just bumping up the texture resolution can give some good results here and there, it also shows in some of your screenshots. I like the "bathroom" (?) ones, with the white and blue tiles.

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  • As said previously in some areas the game looks quite cool with the new textures and in some areas not. The "bathrrom" is an underground facilitiy called X-Labs where they create these "Ubersoldiers" and other crazy monsters. Actually a quite thrilling level.;)

    RTCW is one of my most favourite games EVER and I like it the way it was released, even if the textures are not that good. Anyway nice modding.

    Just some advice: Since we still have problems in Germany showing swastikas in games (forbidden by the law! - there is not a problem showing them in movies:rolleyes:), please remove the screens showing them. Could be an issue for ernie.

  • Der Badzimmer mit DJ Paul Elstak Junge! :spitze:

    Hah I wish right :topmodel:

    And yeah that are the X-Labs, not your friendliest of bathrooms, I ran across a lot of weird but dangerous things down dere man, aaaa aaa a xD
    Oh sure will do Voodoo_Freak :)

    Edit:

    There all done :) also edited the last three with the Lightning Gun :)

    2 Mal editiert, zuletzt von Gold Leader (15. August 2019 um 22:14)

  • Hahaha yaaaaaas xD because it just works :topmodel: leeeeeeeeeeel :spitze:


    But nah I don't want this place get in to issue due to some screenshots from a well known PC Game, here in NL it's legal and it is everywhere else, such things should be left behind imo German or not should not have to matter anymore.

  • Es gibt Diskussionen zu dem Thema, und die Schrauben werden langsam gelockert, was das Zeigen der Symbole in Kunstwerken wie Literatur (Fotografien) oder Filme anbelangt, solange sie den Nationalsozialistischen Faschismus nicht anpreisen. Daher konnte der Deutsche Release von New Kids Turbo Hakenkreuze offen zeigen. Soweit ich mich erinnern kann gelten Videospiele in Deutschland aber nicht als Kunstform (man korrigiere mich, wenn ich falsch läge, und daher ist es auf selbige nicht anwendbar.


    There are discussions about just that, and the screws are being loosened in terms of showing the symbols in works of art, such as literature (photographs) or movies, as long as they don't promote national socialist facism. That's how the German release of New Kids Turbo could show swastikas openly. However, as far as I can remember, video games are not considered a form of art in Germany (correct me if I'm wrong), and that's why it doesn't apply to them.

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  • @GAT
    Da hast soweit ich weiß schon Recht. Videospiele sind (noch) nicht als Kunstform oder als Mittel zur Aufklärung anerkannt. Gibt aber immer wieder Vorstöße in die Richtung.
    Mal sehen, wie das sich entwickeln wird.

    If I'm not mistaken you're actually quite right. Video games are still not accepted as a form of art in Germany. There are efforts to push into that direction though.
    Let's see where this is going.

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    Offenbar ein rechtlicher Zwischenzustand mit großer Verunsicherung.

  • I don't get this:

    The game is much harder to play after these updates, but that makes this game even more fun than the newer ones :)

    The game became harder by installing high-res textures?

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