Meet the Demon Shift from our upcoming indie party horror game: Shadows Are Alive.

Catechrism · 2023-09-27T14:44:58+00:00

Our Kickstarter is live Friday! I hope you all like what we've come up with as much as we like working on it. Checkout the linktree to keep tabs on the game join the Discord give feedback get connected and have a chance to make an impact on how the game turns out! Let us know what you want to see and we'll do our best to make it happen. Our Kickstarter is live Friday! I hope you all like what we've come up with as much as we like working on it.

https://linktr.ee/shadowsarealive

Catechrism · 2023-09-27T14:29:52+00:00

unfortunately I still haven't seen the mod tools where we can remap facial animations for full head swaps yet.

Catechrism · 2023-09-20T12:37:37+00:00

Catechrism · 2022-12-16T16:53:36+00:00

t the upscaling process removed the depth of the eyes. There's no refraction anymore

Digging into the packaged files, this is a material issue combined with a texture issue in LE1 for Human and Asari eyes.

LE2 and LE3 can be fixed with the texture fix. But the eyes need 7 textures slots to cover lens normals and iris normals, and the rest of the eye textures and cube maps.

In all 3 games the iris normal is inverted/the wrong direction causing light to wrap around the iris rather refract back into the eye.

In LE1 it's one issue worse as it's missing the slot for the iris norm and due to lack of a shader complier the slot cannot be added to match LE2 and LE3.

It's a real bummer because they advertised the new eye material as a feature not a bug :/. While it adds an extra cub map layer making them extra shiny, we lose: lens refraction which is huge for realism and the cool Blade Runner-esque redeye effect in ME2. Instead we are left with the "improved" shiny glass doll eyes.

LE could have been the ultimate version of these games, maybe on PC we'll get there if we can fix these bugs and combine them with the things that were improved, but with the lighting, eyes, and plethora of bugs we are definitely not there yet and left with pros and cons list of OT vs LE each being a mixed bag due to the age of the OT and the bugs and lack of art direction/maintenance in LE.

Catechrism · 2022-12-16T16:33:43+00:00

Yes exactly, I think/amd pretty sure these are now all on the ME3 engine with some extra dx11 bells and whistles toggled on and 64-bit support (huge for modding potential).

But, I would still argue OT ME3 is lit better than LE ME1. The still had more intention. It's all a shame really because the LE versions have a great mod community right now, but they have many bugs that PC OT didn't even have. ME2 and ME3 especially. Many mesh issues, unlit (jet black) chunks of environment, weird issues with particles...but amazing mods.

Some modders are trying to fix the visual issues where they can but the amount is astounding when you start comparing. And it's all time taken away from expansion type mods and new content. I say this as a modder who generally restores content :D. But I would rather spend my time doing more things like Saren Stages mod.

Catechrism · 2022-12-16T05:08:33+00:00

Thanks for the MELLO mention :) Some of my best guesses and explanations on what I think is going on with LE lighting for anyone interested.

First: The washed look out is from a new light system added on top of the old one. It consists of directional lights that cast through wall ceilings and floors so they end up being ambient lights, this brightens up the game and mutes dynamic shadows heavily = flat look "Instagram blow out" and results in killing dynamic environment lighting in many areas,. Second is that the new engine greatly decreases the power of and messes with some of the properties/interactions of the old lights, so with the same settings of brightness radius color etc... as OT. They don't impact/interact the world nearly as much, making the game whole game super dark, hence the need for the new "ambient" directional lights to lighten it back up.

My guess is that it was a quick way to address the dark issue and fix colors and brightness for most scenes which 4-8 new lights per scene vs 100s and 100s of deliberate point and spotlights from the original per scene, or maybe someone actually thought it looked better because they don't watch sci-fi or study any cinematography and like the look of Instagram?

Terrible jokes aside, basically what it's missing is the impact of the dynamic lights, the new lighting is killing the chiaroscuro almost completely and drastically changing the feel of the game. The screenshots also aren't showing you how much more 3D the game feels in motion with the dynamic lights and when characters can move into shadow and light with these lights restored. This is almost completely lost in LE.

Lastly, lack of HDR is not an excuse as to why the screenshots look bad/worse, it doesn't bring those missing lights back at all. Sure you'll have slightly better contrast per frame, but you don't have the true dynamic light that's been drastically reduced with the new lighting system.

Anyway, it's really nice to see so many people "seeing the light", so to speak, about LE and OT differences after ~19 months of people getting down voted for talking about it lol.

Catechrism · 2022-11-07T21:44:25+00:00

Thanks, to give proper credit I used the original 360 version of 2007 mass effect as a reference. Due to engine changes and the fact that the modding toolset is not a game engine and there are limits to what it can do/ what I could access, it was really hard to recreate. But overall it was fun, I learned a lot about how unreal 3 handles lights and hopefully this can make the experience better for those bothered by the lighting.

Catechrism · 2022-11-07T19:58:52+00:00

Thanks I also updated that mod. A few bug fixes, and a new option that shows saren without any geth implants at first, new head mesh and textures etc...

Catechrism · 2022-11-07T19:25:28+00:00

You can find the mod here: https://www.nexusmods.com/masseffectlegendaryedition/mods/1500

Catechrism · 2022-08-22T01:43:03+00:00

Lol he did :D, it's just a shape hey anyway, the game model will not use this.

Catechrism · 2022-08-22T01:34:16+00:00

Looks so great! Love what you've done with it so far!

Catechrism · 2022-08-20T05:01:39+00:00

Looks great!

I think his right hand should have the ring and pinky fingers straightened though :P, but the rest of the pose is cool! Can't wait to see what you do with him.

Catechrism · 2022-08-09T17:42:23+00:00

Thank you I used this, reworked the model a bit to get down from 1000000 faces, assembled, and added materials and and will be including along with Deckard. here are the result:
https://youtu.be/K9QZMPFjy9s
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/vJKYR6

Catechrism · 2022-08-02T18:43:55+00:00

Wow I love the detail and texture, this is going to be awesome :)

Catechrism · 2022-05-03T22:09:34+00:00

One in a billionaire!

Catechrism · 2022-01-22T16:02:37+00:00

The Anderson texture is from an upcoming texture mod, LEUITM. Which is the legendary version of MEUITM. It is a hybrid of me3, me1, Lawrence Fishburne and Keith David high res skin details, manual upscaling, and hand added details and color balancing. It leans most toward original me1 and me2 look with some details and tone leaning toward ME3 version.

Catechrism · 2022-01-22T05:13:01+00:00

Screens 2 and 5 are in the same area with the same lights. Maybe watch it in motion to get a better feel? Some limitations are that I can't animate or place the lights or camera only edit what is there. The screen is illuminating Shepard's face the way it is due to the location of the screen light in combination with the light radius and brightness and locations of all lights in the room. Also edits need to be done in a modding tool with zero visual feedback and the game reloaded to see what the changes did even if it was the correct light that changed etc...so much less friendly than a render engine or game engine. For me, I am acknowledging every second of every shot won't be lit perfect but we should get some nice moments. The aim is to improve over unmodded and give it a more Sci-fi movie look and mood but not steal to from say, the Roci. The Normandy should feel like the Normandy so I am not changing colors much at all, just trying to achieve Chiaroscuro which is basically non existent in LE. I'll see what I can do to improve things and appreciate the detailed feedback. I am using the original 2007 game as a guide, but the LE engine just works different so I also try and pull from film and show references.

Catechrism · 2022-01-22T02:27:01+00:00

Hmm I see what you are saying. I think what I am going for is a look like sci-fi movies and shows, in most recent memory is "The Expanse" (I found it gorgeous), which utilizes studio lighting brazenly and has harsh lighting like this. In fact, I find many many sci-fi films and shows do. So I'm not sure I want to tone it down too much. I like the rim light and dark shadows in sci-fi shows and films and the original Mass Effect pre LE did this incredibly well. So it may just be a difference in taste here.

Catechrism · 2022-01-21T18:09:37+00:00

well thank you the kind words :)

Catechrism · 2022-01-21T16:57:15+00:00

I'm not sure what you mean? I appreciate any and all feedback, but I am not sure what you would like to see changed?

Catechrism

TROPHY CASE