Originally this room has a big inconsistency, which is related to the absence of rain. Both areas that leads here have a very strong rain like a storm, but entering in r119 make it all disappear like magic. Not sure why that decision was made, if was because of hardware limitations or just the direction. The fact is that it really lacks those rain effects and this update comes to bring exactly that.
New raindrops have been added and the sound was also ported from one of the rooms that feature rain. A special touch was made for El Gigante, as it now has a custom specular effect. This is optional and can be disabled but I think it adds a layer of realism. I would like to do the same for Leon but I think is not possible, maybe side-loading a PL .udas pointing to specific textures is a way.
.jpg) |
| Specular Effect in El Gigante |
The three shacks are now inaccessible because of the shelter inconsistency. I've decided to keep them closed, because when El Gigante breaks them the EAR is not aware and keeps the rain effect off, so to avoid that I had to sacrifice the ability to access it, for now until I find some way to get around the issue. I think this lost in functionality worth it, since the new rain effects add a lot for the visuals, and we also enter these shacks during the day.
.jpg) |
| Ground Raindrops Effect |
In the Effect 1 Effect Group 6 of the EFF file, we have a new effect for the ground. It was ported from other rooms (r11b) and it adds more life to the area, it looks good in motion. The downside is that it is vey demanding on the CPU, that's why when this effect is present, there's only one or two around. Here we have four and it really tanks the performance. Should not be an issue with DXVK though.
As the game is now much darker, a new torch was added next to the gate that leads to r11a (Swamp area). It uses less bloom than a traditional ETM torch, because it is in direct contact with the rain. Torches for sheltered areas will have more bloom on it. Besides, when the rain and fog alpha effects get in front of the bloom, it gets more intensity the further we move from it.
.jpg) |
| ET19 Torch with Custom Bloom |
Using effect.conf in Companion DLL to restore the shoulder rain splashes result in a little bug. As soon as we enter the area the effects supposed to only appear when the shacks are destroyed are triggered, it's very strange. I think these are effects are 3 and 4 of Effect 0, but decided to not touch anything, disabling something that may be needed for the area can create new issues.
Overall I'm happy with the results in this area, it's a small area that at night gets easier to edit as it only has a few light sources. Most night areas are better to work with LIT than the bright areas. The more light present, the more imperfections and shading issues are shown. This r119 is an example of how a 2005 game can still hold up ok nowadays, with the right setup.
Images
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)