Moguri Mod (FF IX HD) - Version 8.3.0

[ZeP]

Hi,

Version 8.3 is released !

https://www.nexusmods.com/finalfantasy9/mods/32/
or
https://www.moddb.com/mods/moguri-mod/downloads/moguri-mod-83



Official site :
https://sites.google.com/view/moguri-mod/

A flipbook with the process and a selection of background :

http://online.fliphtml5.com/cedno/qvrv/

[KennyBones]

Bought the game on Steam just to try this out :) This must've been like the fifth time i buy this game, on different consoles throughout the years.

Anything special needed to install this thing?

[ZeP]

Backup the existing file (worst case, you can redownload the whole thing), and overwrite the files in your installation folder with the one from the mod.
Be sure to launch the x64 version of the game (the x86 won't work anymore)

[Neko Romancer]

Thank you for this. I just started a new playthrough and can't wait to try out the mod.

[ZeP]

An general issue has been detected in the denoising process : Some grey lines may appears on a lot of background.
This has been fixed in the scripts, next version will be a lot cleaner !

[Terra]

So excited about this.

[Y A Y A]

Hello Ze PilOt. First of all thanks for your work! I've got some questions:

I personally use "Alternate Fantasy" (by Tirlititi) + "HD Background+NPC" (by Fragrosso)
And "FF9 Scaled Battle UI" (by TehMighty) to merge everything easilly and add more nice features like a mini UI/Battle Animation Speed/multiple fix.

Your mod can be used with 'AF' and/or 'Scaled UI' ?

What is the difference between your background and Fragrosso's background?
Especially when he is working on a new one using ESRGAN instead of Waifu2x?

[ZeP]

I have no idea about compatibility between AF and my mod. I'm using Hades Workshop to edit the dll, in order to change the tile size from 32 to 64. As long as you can do that kind of operation with any other modding tool, or merge these modifications with what you want to use you should be good to go.
I know that Memoria mod tool is able to that for exemple.

To be honest, I don't have much time to spend checking compatiblity between mods, but feel free to test, modify my mod and post your results, that would be very nice !

[Zaeldˣˢ]

Wow those screenshots look great. I'll have to try this mod out when I get back to playing this again. If the game looks as good as those screenshots than I have to say that you did a really good job with this.

[Neko Romancer]

What is the best way to give feedback with pictures? I have played today and encountered a few bugs. I say only a few because overall everything looks incredible.

[Jesus vs. Dracula]

Just had a chance to install this and I gotta say, it's amazing. I've been waiting years for there to be a "definitive" modern version of the game (I've never been past the opening hours) and I feel we're closer than ever to having one. When Fraggoso releases his mod I think I'll compare the two and finally take the plunge with whichever's best.

Thanks for your hard work!

[ZeP]

Originally posted by Dugganclock:

What is the best way to give feedback with pictures? I have played today and encountered a few bugs. I say only a few because overall everything looks incredible.

You can post links here, or reply to this twitter thread :
https://twitter.com/Ze_PilOt/status/1085531354996137984

Anything you like :)

If it's about the grey lines that appears on some background, this is already fix (update coming today).

[ZeP]

Originally posted by Jesus vs. Dracula:

Just had a chance to install this and I gotta say, it's amazing. I've been waiting years for there to be a "definitive" modern version of the game (I've never been past the opening hours) and I feel we're closer than ever to having one. When Fraggoso releases his mod I think I'll compare the two and finally take the plunge with whichever's best.

Thanks for your hard work!

My goal is not to release a mod (it's more of a side effect of what I'm doing). It's to document the process so anyone can replicate it from scratch, with a minimal amount of work :
From the extraction of the data to the re-injection, through upscale, everything is automated.
You don't need to open GIMP and manually copy paste layer or anything.
The focus is on the final quality of the background : A appropriately trained GAN and a good denoising & compositing process.

We lost the art of FF IX once because the lack of backup at the time of creation of the game, I don't want to lose it again because the process to get them back is undocumented / too complicated :)

[ZeP]

Originally posted by 紅色の色合い:

what do you mean exactly.

I mean that I'm doing this for educational purpose.
And if someone find this mod 5 years from now and want to try a new technique for upscaling the artwork, he can do it without the hassle of finding how to do it (or doing it manually like Fraggoso did. While it was great, he was crazy to do it by hand :)

Originally posted by 紅色の色合い:

and is this using ESRGAN or some other upscaler? I can't tell a difference from the already waifu2x counterpart.

ESRGAN is a technique, not a software.

You are saying that you can't tell the difference between ESGRAN and WAIFU2X from a technical point, or you can't tell the difference visually ?

[ZeP]

It's a custom trained ESGRAN, using the few FF9 artworks remaining + some artworks that looks like FF9 art (artwork, not ingame) from Witcher 3, Dragon Age, ...

[Jouchebag]

lol yeah, Fraggoso is "crazy" for hand touching each image for utmost quality and consistency.