Apparently some enterprising modders have been using AI to upscale the textures of old games and the results are pretty amazing. They are using a new technique called Enhanced Super Resolution Generative Adversarial Network (ESRGAN) - which to me sounds like something Batman would use in his batcave :)
Here’s a whole bunch of links if anyone is interested:
https://www.dsogaming.com/?s=ESRGAN
Here’s the DOOM mod that I took the image from.
Damn. I always blink when they take a picture.
Truth be told, this looks fascinating. Thanks for this.
Got a laugh out of me. :-)
I’m always skeptical of upsampling using algorithms. It’s kind of in the same category as procedural generation. A lot of the time it sucks, but sometimes it is done well (or only applied where you’re not likely to notice the difference).
But those DOOM graphics look really good! And I used a graphics mod that “improved” FF9 background art such that, while very flawed, it was still better than the original PS1 graphics.
Can someone explain why this is called AI? Isn’t it just an algorithm with specific set of instructions?
I’m just a layman so please forgive any inaccuracies. If anyone is more knowledgable in this area please chime in :)
I think there are several different techniques. Using a “trained” neural network to insert new image data to fill in the gaps. I believe another is to give the neural network a reference image and have it perform many iterations of upscaling, keeping the version it believes is best.
“The tool is powered by a deep learning neural network, which is the most common way of training a computer to do a task intelligently without user input. The software behind the service has been fed literally millions of images, a tactic normally used to train self-driving cars and object-recognising robots. From this, it learns how different shapes and colours interact with each other and can intelligently fill in the missing pixels of an image, producing an outcome four times the size of the original.”
Thanks, pretty good breakdown.
We call it AI instead of just an algorithm because algorithm assumes some set of commands that we know work in a specific way.
If you EXTREMELY simplify neural networks it means that we have some sort of set of input conditions - like a number, or set of numbers, and anything can be converted into a set of numbers. Then there neural networks itself is a set of huge equations with values and coefficients and whatnot. In the end we get a set of other numbers. We call them neural because it sorta looks like a set of neurons that transports numbers further down the net after some operations and applying coefficients.
The point is how we get this set of equations. We do it by experimenting with those equations. We send some input data, get a result and we evaluate whether we like the result. Then we mess with equations some more and see if we like the result. And then we do it ten billion more times using all sorts of algorithms that compare, mix and -mutate all those equations - and yes, those are called evolutionary algorithms. In the end no human can tell you how exactly the neural net works. It gets numbers, does a lot of stuff with it and gives you some result. So you sorta get an AI - not in a sense how it’s usually use, as in human mind replacement, but a truly artificial mind aimed at a single task.
That sounds eerily similar to what I read about Dominions’ development process.
Jesting aside, thank you for the explanation.
GANs are really fascinating . What’s really cool is that you can use them to produce different art styles, depending on what kind of reference images the adversarial network is judging the results on.
They’re like photoshop filters on steroids!
An algorithm is usually considered a little more bare bones than this, but the demarcation is not clear cut. ‘AI’ right now is a buzzword, not an indication of the encroaching singularity.
And once again, I am tempted to reinstall Morrowind, just to try the ESRGAN mod referenced in that article.
Cool tech!
Keep us updated if you do. I wanted to play the game with the Overhaul mod but I was getting atrocious fps - 30-40 at times. I don’t even know if there’s a way around it because the engine only utilizes a very small % of modern hardware.
This is reminiscent of a longstanding debate with gamers vs purists in emulation on whether the ‘enhancement’ (2x eagle, supersai etc.) filters applied to 2D pixel games is good or bad.
Okay, but the point here is that the results are good enough to interest the purists who wouldn’t be caught dead using filters.
That is amazing.
Some time ago someone made a watercolored mod for Morrowind. It was just basic Morrowind textures upscaled and applied watercolor Photoshop filter and it was great. Unlike your usual texture mods that are usually inconsistent and sometimes change too much this felt like Morrowind as you remember it.
Trying to play Fallout New Vegas with updated textures felt like that too, with those new fancy filters. Someone made road texture very detailed but also very noticeably repeatable over and over again. And some textures remained unchanged and stuck out greatly.
I found a good technical article today on this :)
