Uploaded May 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
I uploaded this earlier (12 years ago...), but this time it's upscaled! Here's the original description:
"This is the opening to the RPG, Brave Soul. A retro RPG for the PC...
It was surprisingly good! The dungeon crawling might not be your thing though. It was a bit generic and slow at first. Still, it kept me playing till the end! (played on Hard mode)
It has some 18+ scenes, but the game does not focus on them. Most of the cutscenes play out like an anime scenerio instead."
Again testing out techniques and such. This took way too long... And I'm not terribly pleased with the noisy sections. I was attempting to "remake" parts of the video in After Effects, but I couldn't find a way to isolate the parts I wanted to keep. Like the first scene with the dragon that moves around... If I could find a way to automatically isolate him, I could place him in front of a perfectly clean background; noise-free. Alas, everything I tried, color tracking; AI tracking; tracker stuff meant for non-animation; and even photoshop... couldn't do a good enough job. So, I just used a slow deflicker/noise removal instead...
Anyway, the process went like this: take the original 480x360 video, then use Topaz Gigapixel 1x, low res, auto, no gamma correction; (cleaned up the image a bit, fixed some artifacts etc.); then use 4x realESRGAN x4plus anime 6B and 8x NMKD-Typescale 175k together to create the clean anime characters you see.
... At least I think that's what I used. I have notes where I tried waifugan, a SwinIR L x4, Topaz Denoise, 4x realistic rescaler, 4x ultramix restore, and some others. Think I used the others in some select selections, trying to get a better result.
Oh and yes, 60 FPS once more. I don't think it's distracting. I picked and chose from various methods of interpolation. FILM, RIFE, maybe some of SVP's, and some parts are just untouched (double the frames). Original file was 30 fps, now it's 60.
Overall, pretty decent result for the anime characters. The background stuff needs help, and the final scene definitely could use pure stable diffusion or if I could find the original images... but I think I spent enough time on this little project. Other stuff beckons!
Enjoy!
I uploaded this earlier (12 years ago...), but this time it's upscaled! Here's the original description:
"This is the opening to the RPG, Brave Soul. A retro RPG for the PC...
It was surprisingly good! The dungeon crawling might not be your thing though. It was a bit generic and slow at first. Still, it kept me playing till the end! (played on Hard mode)
It has some 18+ scenes, but the game does not focus on them. Most of the cutscenes play out like an anime scenerio instead."
Again testing out techniques and such. This took way too long... And I'm not terribly pleased with the noisy sections. I was attempting to "remake" parts of the video in After Effects, but I couldn't find a way to isolate the parts I wanted to keep. Like the first scene with the dragon that moves around... If I could find a way to automatically isolate him, I could place him in front of a perfectly clean background; noise-free. Alas, everything I tried, color tracking; AI tracking; tracker stuff meant for non-animation; and even photoshop... couldn't do a good enough job. So, I just used a slow deflicker/noise removal instead...
Anyway, the process went like this: take the original 480x360 video, then use Topaz Gigapixel 1x, low res, auto, no gamma correction; (cleaned up the image a bit, fixed some artifacts etc.); then use 4x realESRGAN x4plus anime 6B and 8x NMKD-Typescale 175k together to create the clean anime characters you see.
... At least I think that's what I used. I have notes where I tried waifugan, a SwinIR L x4, Topaz Denoise, 4x realistic rescaler, 4x ultramix restore, and some others. Think I used the others in some select selections, trying to get a better result.
Oh and yes, 60 FPS once more. I don't think it's distracting. I picked and chose from various methods of interpolation. FILM, RIFE, maybe some of SVP's, and some parts are just untouched (double the frames). Original file was 30 fps, now it's 60.
Overall, pretty decent result for the anime characters. The background stuff needs help, and the final scene definitely could use pure stable diffusion or if I could find the original images... but I think I spent enough time on this little project. Other stuff beckons!
Enjoy!
![Baldurs Gate II (Ghaleon sorcerer mod) [unfinished]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/eE1iNQvqDOE/mqdefault.jpg "Baldurs Gate II (Ghaleon sorcerer mod) [unfinished]
These are screenshots taken back in the early 2000s of a mod I was working on... I lost most of it when my PC broke, but I always wanted to use what I had left to complete a mod for BGII...
The mod in the shots, was basically a super player character; with each letter on the keyboard being a different epic level spell. And being a sorcerer he eventually found a way to increase his power, by drawing on the bhaalspawn soul within. (A key could remap the spells, according to the amount of soul Ghaleon had access to... (something like 0%, 25%, 50%, and max bhaalspawn soul)
Anyways I wish I had videos to show of it, as the screenshots just dont do it justice.
As for what I wanted to do with the mod eventually :
*spoiler aheadddd for BGII ToB*
I always thought Melissan was kind of a lousy final boss... If I had the patience to make it I wanted to create a mod to offer a different ending...
I loveeee Ghaleon, and wanted to make him into a joinable NPC for BG1. A fellow bhaalspawn (unbeknowst to you) that your decisions can affect the continutation of the mod in BGII.
The climatic end however, will end with either Melissan [if Ghaleon is dead or if he stays with your party]; or Ghaleon [two different possibilities assuming you dont somehow kill Ghaleon at misc encounters] (one possibility was the demon Ghaleon final battle (huge creature bhaalspawn/bhaal ressurection version) (other possiblity was the properly ascending Ghaleon as a super being [similar to what Melissan was up to])
The final possiblity was to be dependent on a certain mod called Imoen Romance ToB... Ghaleon would continue what Irenicus started...
In the words of Ghaleons voice actor :
Behold the Ruler you must serve... Oh yes... you got what you wanted... but not in the way you imagined....
Kneel before the Black Goddess....
Kneel and submit to her dark desires... for though I shall perish, I go knowing that I succeded in tearing your one true love eternally... and blackened this pathetic world... forever....
And thus the final battle would be a troubling final fight.
I had everything in much more detail written somewhere... hmmm where was it...")
