[PC] Persona 4 Golden: Slightly Enhanced FMV Mod

Share, discover, or contribute to mods for Persona 4 Golden for the PSVita and PC.
User avatar
rudiger__sf
Posts: 21
Joined: Tue Jun 16, 2020 10:17 am
Has liked: 14 posts
Been liked: 31 posts

Fewtch wrote: Thu Jul 02, 2020 9:30 am @pelvisbass
Actually, has anybody actually tested any higher resolution video replacements?
Yes. I've been speaking a little to pelvisbass privately about this. Just yesterday I moved on to testing higher resolutions in-game, different combinations of encoders for video and audio etc. When I've got a more concrete list of what works and what doesn't, I'll probably post here or on the wiki.

I've tried 4K videos, I've tried high frame rate videos. 4K with encoder settings similar to those Atlus have used barely run in VLC let alone in-game. Before I went to sleep I quickly tested a 30fps video (the framerate of Vita FMVs) and it ran like shit. The FMVs on PC are 15 FPS(!)

But take these findings with a big pinch of salt. My first proper tests were yesterday - I've barely started. There's still a lot more testing to be done and I won't be giving up anytime soon.

For the moment I've paused work on this until the update (https://steamdb.info/app/1113000/depots/) comes out. There's a good chance Atlus will be changing the way videos are handled considering how many people have reported issues with stuttering.
User avatar
professorwho
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Jun 29, 2020 9:03 pm
Has liked: 5 posts
Been liked: 4 posts

rudiger__sf wrote: Tue Jun 30, 2020 10:52 amDepending on feedback, perhaps I can update this post with other videos as I get round to them.
As someone who has little experience with modding, but with video compression, I have some feedback to leave.

It's a good start, but FAR from perfect.

The main issue has to do with frame rate. You mention the Vita MP4s are 30 fps, and that makes sense. Anime is always finished at 24 fps to meet the film standard, but because games in NTSC run at 60hZ, even at 30 fps, the video will have to be interpolated to 30 fps to actually match the game standard, so there's already interpolation in the cutscenes as-is. HOWEVER, even though the scenes were composited at 24 fps, that doesn't mean they are native 24 fps. Anime is generally animated on either 2s or 3s, which means frames are doubled or tripped, so either 8 or 12 fps for animation. So, within the 24 fps final composite, we have frames being doubled or tripled to meet 24, then we have interpolation applied to meet the 30 fps requirement for NTSC games, and THEN you decided to interpolated the already interpolated and doubled or tripled video up to 60 fps.

Interpolation to 60 fps drives me crazy, so I personally am not a fan of that choice. Because we have frames being doubled and tripled to 24, which are then interpolated into 30, which is then interpolated into 60, we get bad artifacting like this;
Image
Image

Gallery here;
https://postimg.cc/gallery/ZygmBJn

So please, keep the cutscenes at 30 fps with zero interpolation.

One other critique I have is the use of the H.265/HEVC codec. The Vita cutscenes are MP4s, which use H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, and as such are 8-bit video by nature. HEVC is 10-bit video, which means two extra bits of video meant to better show off colour are being wasted here, and because there is more colour at play in HEVC, the chances for incorrect colour reproduction is higher.

That said, on frames that don't have these issues, it looks great, if a bit smoothened out;
Image

I don't know your waifu2x settings, but I would leave noise reduction to zero, as it causes a smoothing, Q-Tec like smearing effect.

I'm sorry that this is mostly negative, but I see very good potential here in the frames that don't have the issues. If you can leave noise reduction to zero, keep it at 30 fps like it is on Vita, and use MP4s with H.264 like Vita, then you'll be golden (ha, see what I did there?!).
User avatar
rudiger__sf
Posts: 21
Joined: Tue Jun 16, 2020 10:17 am
Has liked: 14 posts
Been liked: 31 posts

professorwho wrote: Thu Jul 02, 2020 3:01 pm I'm sorry that this is mostly negative, but I see very good potential here in the frames that don't have the issues. If you can leave noise reduction to zero, keep it at 30 fps like it is on Vita, and use MP4s with H.264 like Vita, then you'll be golden (ha, see what I did there?!).
Haha, no problem at all. I'm no expert, just a passionate fan with a little experience and a GPU to burn rendering all this stuff. :D

Thank you for responding. Beyond all else, my main objective in posting here is to keep discussion alive and generate some momentum for those of us who want the best experience we can get from the game.

I basically agree with all your points. I won't comment on them all, but I will say this: after testing more I'm definitely not interested in 60fps video so don't worry. It seems unlikely that 60fps video in-game will even be possible anyway, but who knows.

If you (or anyone else) wants to discuss this in more detail without clogging up the thread, feel free to drop me a PM and we can move this to Discord. Always happy to have a chat and share ideas.

I don't know if the update's out yet. But I'll take another look at this soon.
Jerison
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Jul 03, 2020 12:44 pm

Well for me the intro scene is wrong, it is showing them saying goodbye to each other and when it tries to load April 15th the game crashes. So I would not recommend using this.
User avatar
pelvisbass
Posts: 10
Joined: Wed Feb 26, 2020 8:53 pm
Has liked: 9 posts
Been liked: 15 posts
Contact:

Sorry guys I have been super busy with real life stuff so I have not been able to keep up with everything and have not really been updating much. About
Jerison wrote: Fri Jul 03, 2020 2:14 pm Well for me the intro scene is wrong, it is showing them saying goodbye to each other and when it tries to load April 15th the game crashes. So I would not recommend using this.
That is really strange as all the files are good on my end. Which intro scene do you mean because from my testing in game at least every fmv from the start works perfect... the only thing I could see maybe causing an issue is if you are using a language other than English as I did not bother encoding the Japanese, Korean, or Chinese version of the fmvs.
Jerison
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Jul 03, 2020 12:44 pm

pelvisbass wrote: Fri Jul 03, 2020 4:21 pm Sorry guys I have been super busy with real life stuff so I have not been able to keep up with everything and have not really been updating much. About
Jerison wrote: Fri Jul 03, 2020 2:14 pm Well for me the intro scene is wrong, it is showing them saying goodbye to each other and when it tries to load April 15th the game crashes. So I would not recommend using this.
That is really strange as all the files are good on my end. Which intro scene do you mean because from my testing in game at least every fmv from the start works perfect... the only thing I could see maybe causing an issue is if you are using a language other than English as I did not bother encoding the Japanese, Korean, or Chinese version of the fmvs.
Yes it does seems strange, I am using English.
User avatar
rudiger__sf
Posts: 21
Joined: Tue Jun 16, 2020 10:17 am
Has liked: 14 posts
Been liked: 31 posts

professorwho wrote: Thu Jul 02, 2020 3:01 pm I don't know your waifu2x settings, but I would leave noise reduction to zero, as it causes a smoothing, Q-Tec like smearing effect.

I'm sorry that this is mostly negative, but I see very good potential here in the frames that don't have the issues. If you can leave noise reduction to zero, keep it at 30 fps like it is on Vita, and use MP4s with H.264 like Vita, then you'll be golden (ha, see what I did there?!).
See my preview (click on the picture to switch between comparison images):
https://slow.pics/c/fdJrJpon

I'm finally getting somewhere. These screenshots were taken in-game.
I went back, reviewed my process and tried to address your criticisms. What do you think?

- Waifu2x noise reduction is now 1. I tested every level of noise reduction but found level 1 to be the sweet-spot over zero. It was 3 in the ending/credits footage you critiqued.
- Footage is now native 29.97 FPS (matching the Vita source exactly). A noticeable improvement over the PC version's 15 FPS.
- Footage is now back in its native aspect ratio, unlike the original PC FMVs. For the PC version Atlus chose to just stretch the Vita footage to fill the screen, distorting the image. I hope you'll agree that my scaled solution looks better.
- Video codec is now wmv3 over the older wmv2 that the original PC FMVs use. It HAS to be some type of wmv unfortunately, but I've found wmv3 to be an improvement.
- For this particular scene, I've redrawn the opening text ("Characters, art and storylines in this game are purely the work of fiction...") so it's native 1080p.

The hardest part was getting it to work in-game without stuttering constantly but I think I've worked through all the codec issues now.
I'll test 4K footage in-game next. Probably tomorrow. I'll try to upload some more test files soon, too so you can see it in motion.
User avatar
professorwho
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Jun 29, 2020 9:03 pm
Has liked: 5 posts
Been liked: 4 posts

rudiger__sf wrote: Sat Jul 04, 2020 1:46 pmI'm finally getting somewhere. These screenshots were taken in-game.
I went back, reviewed my process and tried to address your criticisms. What do you think?
Looks pretty good! It's both a major improvement over your initial tests, and an insane improvement over the PC version's cutscenes. I mean, it's obviously not 100% perfect, but for the situation that we're in, it probably can't look much better than what you've shown off. Very impressed!
User avatar
rudiger__sf
Posts: 21
Joined: Tue Jun 16, 2020 10:17 am
Has liked: 14 posts
Been liked: 31 posts

I'm looking for a volunteer.
Anyone in this thread having issues with stuttering in cutscenes? I'd like to test my FMVs with someone in that category if possible. See how the new files behave for them.
This is for the normal, current Steam version. Not the Denuvo-less version and not for people on Hotfix 01A (for now).

Thanks

EDIT: Managed to recreate the issue myself by reinstalling the game. Applying the 4GB Patch (https://steamcommunity.com/app/1113000/ ... 669109244/) and setting the game to fullscreen instead of windowed fixed all the stuttering issues. My remastered FMV mods play perfectly. Phew.

EDIT 2: My own mod is now up for anyone interested - viewtopic.php?f=19&t=478
Post Reply
cron

ShrineFox 2020 - 2023
Support | Progress | Labs | Privacy | Terms
This site is NOT affiliated, associated, authorized, endorsed by, or in any way officially connected with Atlus Co., Ltd, Atlus U.S.A., Inc. or Sega Games Co., Ltd, or any of its subsidiaries or its affiliates.