oceanclub on 30/12/2023 at 13:29
Does the Thief HDMod work with The Black Parade? I installed as follows:
1. Thief Gold from GOG
2. TFix_1.27.28.exe
3. Thief_1_HDMod_1.2.exe
4. TheBlackParade_1.0.1.7z
Everything works fine, but all the textures don't appear to be hirez. (Perhaps my expectations are too much!) Or does TBP use its own low-rez textures? Is there any way to verify things are working as expected?
Thanks in advance,
P.
Aemanyl on 30/12/2023 at 14:29
HD Mod is incompatible with The Black Parade. Don't use it.
ZylonBane on 30/12/2023 at 23:47
Even if it was compatible... don't use it.
mikjames on 10/1/2024 at 14:53
Quote Posted by ZylonBane
Even if it was compatible... don't use it.
Not everyone wants to game like it's 1999, get over it.
The HD Mod creator might have his eye on this already. They did Thief 2X already so this would probably be high on the priority list if they're still active.
Alternatively anyone could create high res ai upscales and release them to the community, so I'd expect those to drop first.
We should also be able to get the object improvements from the Enhancement Pack/HD Mod working even if we don't use the textures. I'd settle for torches that actually look like torches, furniture that looks like a human might use it, etc.
Curiously even the HD water mod seems to have issues. Flashing between custom water textures and the new HD textures every second or so. Probably something they did with texture swaps in combination with original water textures that is breaking it. HD Skies seems to work just fine, they get replaced properly for the 1 or 2 missions that use a custom skybox.
It's not just that the textures are low res though, it's the inept attempt at shadows/lighting in the original games.
From what I understood, shadow/lighting data is baked into the textures, with swaps used to imitate lighting. So why is there so much stair stepping/false contouring/noise in the original shadows/lighting?
I'm not one to have a huge problem with blurry textures, but the way they're done here where I can see the individual pixels (no blending at all), combined with the gameplay detriments of the original lighting/shadows.
It just reminds me why I hated the 90's for gaming. I'd probably have to buy a CRT just to make this look "ok" again. I've become so used to HD Mod's accurate lighting and shadows, I don't even use the light gem anymore.
HD Mod and OLED also go together perfectly, with OLED capturing all that fine detail in a way CRT's are incapable of doing.
Random_Taffer on 10/1/2024 at 17:58
LOL
Renault on 10/1/2024 at 18:40
Hey dude, I don't think you're the target audience for Black Parade, or Thief for that matter. Maybe try something else.
Twist on 10/1/2024 at 18:54
:erm:
mikjames on 11/1/2024 at 17:25
Quote Posted by Renault
Hey dude, I don't think you're the target audience for Black Parade, or Thief for that matter. Maybe try something else.
What're you on about? Everyone can enjoy the masterpiece of gameplay that is the Thief series, whether HD or standard if you prefer the old asthetic.
The world of Thief has expanded well beyond this forum of mostly purists, like it or not it's pretty mainstream these days.
I was captivated by Thief back in the early 2000's like most everyone else around here, started out on a CRT and thought it was the best thing since sliced bread, but everything changes.
If the average person didn't want better graphics, we wouldn't have bothered improving graphics cards over the years.
So yes I can understand the perspective of the average Gen X/Boomer gaming on your CRT's with your Radeon HD 4870's or even Nvidia Riva TNT2 systems (where I started),
but you have to have your head firmly supplanted in your rectum to think the Thief series hasn't reached well beyond your particular sub group :rolleyes:
I will admit most of the shadowing isn't as bad as I remembered. The stair step garbagey shadows I mentioned are rare in TBP compared to the original campaign.
Or perhaps new dark has mostly solved that problem. Either way, the tendency for the original textures to turn sewer green in darker areas is why HD Mod was invented.
You can defend it subjectively (and I defend your right to a rose/puke tint), but I'll take high res textures any day.
mikjames on 11/1/2024 at 17:32
This campaign is fantastic btw, still suffering through it regardless of texturing, but I am looking forward to the day when people have a CHOICE in the matter, rather than being forced to experience it the way we did back in 99.
And don't even try defending CRT in the modern day. The input lag difference isn't even measurable these days, and contrast arguments go right out the window when you have a real image on the screen.
Crt's absolutely suck at rendering scenes with high contrast fine details. This is known as ANSI contrast, represented by a black/white checkerboard pattern.
Crt's have better absolute/dynamic contrast, but get some mixed scenes on there and the brighter areas will wash out shadow detail. Not to mention phosphor decay ghosting.
And sometimes, when no one is looking, I even enable software mode in Thief 1, and set the res to 400x300. Just so I can remember what it was like gaming on an AMD K6 system without a dedicated 3d accelerator :eek:
My Viewsonic "Professional" 19" still rests in storage, after I got tired of the literal headache, lots of fond memories there.
marbleman on 11/1/2024 at 18:05
Quote Posted by mikjames
Not everyone wants to game like it's 1999, get over it.The HD Mod creator might have his eye on this already.
We never gave anyone permission to retexture the campaign and will oppose any attempts at doing so.
