[IV/REL] Scout UI Remasters

[BS_BlackScout]

Remastered Frontend Radar

 

 

While playing Grand Theft Auto IV on a 1920x1080 monitor I noticed something odd...

 

When the player pauses the game and zooms in into the radar, it takes a couple zoom levels for the game to load the highest quality radar bitmaps.

 

However, for whatever reason, it takes way too many mouse scrolls/button presses for the textures to load up, causing a blurriness issue.

 

Observation: This is not a remaster of the radarXX.wtd, full zoom radar files.

The original map files look far blurrier than they should..

 

So, I decided to grab a higher resolution version of the GTA IV map and scale it down to replace the original Frontend Radar textures, matching a resolution of 2048x2048 . Its original counterpart is 512px.

 

These comparisons may help explain what this modification is about

(1920x1080 downscaled to 1280x720)

 

The result is: A much cleaner and sharper map on the Pause Menu before it's fully zoomed in. It also makes the transition between the Frontend radar and the full zoom radar much more seamless.

 

The textures have been compressed with DDS | DXT5 using OpenIV, having 3 mipmap levels. 2048/1024/512.

 

Download Link:

 

Mediafire http://www.mediafire.com/file/soewsxxlso775oo/Remastered%20Frontend%20Radar%201.1.zip

 

Changelog:

 

V1.1 [05/03/2018]

• Seam problem workaround

 

Higher Resolution Radar Ring for 4K Monitors

For those 4K Monitors/Screens, this mod may help with your OCD. For everyone else it's probably useless...

The original resolution for GTA IV's Radar Ring is 256x256 with a sh*tload of compression. Being not much of a noticeable thing, even for 4K displays, it does sacrifices a bit of sharpness...

 

For a matter of comparison, here is the original radar texture. It's easier to see the artifacts by viewing the bitmap with OpenIV.

I've remade the front and back textures, the back texture is the worst in terms of quality.

 

As you may be able to see (or not), there are some tiny pixel blocks around the edges. That is compression.

To solve that problem, I remade the texture at 512x512. That is, double the resolution, DXT5 compression and 3 mipmaps as to not look aliased in smaller resolutions.

 

Here is a simple in-game comparison:

Screenshot taken at 4K Resolution.

 

It's not much of a difference, but on bigger screens and higher resolution setups, it will help maintain 1:1 sharpness.

 

Download Link:

 

Mediafire http://www.mediafire.com/file/s4kk0f1fqm8wb6k/Improved_Radar_Ring.rar

Edited May 3, 2018 by BlackScout

[Maxxeine]

Great work! I never realized the HUD was that low quality until now.

[BS_BlackScout]

Great work! I never realized the HUD was that low quality until now.

Yeah it's not that perceivable in most screens because of size and resolution. The frontend radar though...

[El Dorado]

I applaud your initiative, however you could take a closer look at the airport runway. I see a small mismatch

 

[BS_BlackScout]

I applaud your initiative, however you could take a closer look at the airport runway. I see a small mismatch

 

I honestly don't know but the game seems to warp the texture in weird ways...

I think I got it fixed somehow. It's not perfect though.

 

 

OP Updated.

Yes it took me almost two years to "fix" this. I am lazy.

Edited May 3, 2018 by BlackScout

[PacketOverload_x64bit]

Nice work. I've noticed the low res since 2013. You a ​

[zanesix]

Are you sure you fixed it? I just downloaded it and still have the mismatch.