How the fuck was this possible? Think about it, they squeezed

By striping the multimedia

>>3775531
They kept the FMV mostly intact without too significant a reduction in quality.

>>3775536
Because it's not FMV.
It's rendered realtime.

>>3775546
Wrong.
http://web.archive.org/web/20080331015735/http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20001004/meynink_01.htm

>>3775546
Stop saying shit you know nothing about.

This game is truly a technical miracle.
One can wonder how would 0 looked in the 64 if completed.

>>3775524
jpeg backgrounds, mp3 audio, mpeg4 video.
There's a reason we used that stuff for years afterwards on the PC no less, the problem is writing realtime decoders from scratch is beyond like 75% of the game developers out there. Most gamedevs are just library whores and it's only got worse thanks to middleware.

Patents are also a problem. PCs used to use Bink because it was a one-time flat fee where mpeg2 required a per unit license fee. Fraunhoffer were a bit dickish with mp3 at first but they mellowed around the time of RE2/Perfect Dark which I assume is why they used it. mpeg4 was more reasonable than mpeg2 and jpeg everyone just ignored and got away with it. I wouldn't be surprised if they snuck under the radar on this release and never paid a dime.

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>>3775546

>>3775524
>How the fuck was this possible

Optimization

When you have no reason to optimize, you don't.

That's why all software and web pages are bloated as fuck and require immense hardware power for barely more functionality.

>>3775524
The question I always wanted answering was why were the PS1 team so inept that they managed to take up 2 discs on this? The thing was a few hundred static backgrounds and about 10 minutes of FMV. The realtime models and textures would have fit in a 10MB zip file.

>>3775604
>When you have no reason to optimize, you don't.
Heh, I read an unsubstantiated rumour that Sony were telling PS3 devs to ram the disc full of bloated crap to fill as much of the 23gig disc as possible to frustrate any early attempts at piracy. But it was probably just lies.

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>>3775546
>real time graphics
is this the average intelligence of this board???????

Is this a decent version of the RE2? I've never played any resident evil games and I was gonna play the 64 port of RE2 after I finish the gamecube remake of RE1.

>>3775524
Look at it like this: every ps1, dreamcast, pc, and gamecube copy of RE2 cost pennies to print. Meanwhile, the N64 cart cost more. oh, plus that special battery it had in it, which cost even.more.
No more than a gew dollars, maybe, but here's the rub. Let's say your game sells a million coppies.
At 10¢ each to print, that run only cost you like a hundred grand to print out. Now let's say it's $2 each to print. That means your run cost you $2million. Granted, you make a lot more than that back, but it's honestly a lot less profit at the end of the day. A LOT.

They could have kept N64 going for a while, sure, but costs made it a stupid move. Gamecube did better and made more profit, mainly because if cut production costs at the factory level.

Why do you think cartriges are basically just flash carts now? It's comperably cheap compared to discs. That's it.

And no, my numbers are not spot in. It was just an example to try to give you an easy to understand picture.

>>3775562
>>3775573
>>3775617
>falling for obvious bait

>>3775619
If you already have it, its fine, it has exclusive extras (that I personally don't care about)

Best version is either Dreamcast or PC

There is also the Sourcenext PC version, but it is on japanesse only with some fan translations around (not so recommended)

>>3775612
They didn't fill up the bluray discs with crap to annoy pirates, they did it so the disc has to spend less time seeking data. If you include, say, your players character models among the data of every level map, then it only needs to load the level map and its done, it does not need to load the level map, seek the laser to the position of the character model, and load the character model.

The bluray discs in the PS3 had huge capacity for the time, but they had much worse read speeds than the X360s plain old DVDs. So they had to "optimize" data loading like that as aggressively as possible. Saving 2-3 extra seeks meant 1-2 seconds shaved off the loading.

They also filled games with 6+ languages worth of dubs, cause they had the space.

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>>3775619
Here anon, found the guide

I'm >>3775628

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>>3775619

>>3775607
Because the Leon game and the Claire game are separate. Being 2 discs is part of driving that home.

>>3775619

emulate the GC version for easy mode if you're a casual

>>3775631
This is quite interesting, and in this case, they have the space so why not use it, they are actually optimizing performance even if it isn't the best method.

Ideally I think it would be better to save those models on cache or something like that.

>>3775654
All have easy mode.

>>3775617
no, this board is dumb as fuck

they have no understanding of how video games work or how the function on a technical level

honestly /a/ and /v/ are the dumbest boards on this site

>>3775619

I consider the N64 version of RE2 to be the definitive version.

>>3775663
And you are retarded for thinking so.

>smaller textures
>inferior FMV and background resolution quality
>no hard mode
>no EX Battle mode

>>3775649
Is there a guide like this for RE3? I understand there probably aren't as many different versions but I'd still like to see the differences

>>3775671
PS1/PC/gamecube/pc-rerelease in 2006

PS1 has the best audio quality, audio was severely downsampled for PC for some dumb reason. PC version has higher res backgrounds and unlocked all costumes and mercs mode from the get go. 2006 rerelease has super high quality FMVs.

There is a mod on moddb that restores ps1 audio quality and fixes some minor bugs on PC versions.

Content-wise they are all the same.

>>3775642
>violence option only for N64
Oh Nintendo, never change.

>>3775669

>no load times
>best graphics (w/ expansion pack)
>best controls
>ex files

>>3775691
>no load times
You cant skip doors on n64.

>best graphics
You do realize that both PC and Dreamcast versions had 480p compared to shitty 480i on n64, and even that 480i was only sporadically allowed?

>ex files
Kek, I'd rather take extra mini games.

>best controls

Tank controls > shitty FPS controls.

>>3775657
>Ideally I think it would be better to save those models on cache or something like that.

I was just using models as an example. The point is that they duplicated content heavily, so it can always be loaded at wherever the laser is currently sitting. That could be models, music, voices, maps, menu graphics, whatever.

>>3775697
>Tank controls > shitty FPS controls.

having both > not having both

>>3775628
>Best version is either Dreamcast or PC
One of my roommates in college played the REmake on GC and wanted to follow it up with RE2, so he asked me if I could acquire it for him. I burned the first disc and popped it into my dreamcast, and we immediately got into a fight about how the graphics were "shit." I told him "everyone knows this is the best version of RE2" and he said he didn't want to play it anymore because it was "so much worse than the first game."

I'm still kinda mad about it. Waste of a disc frankly.

>>3775524
Clever movie compression.

not even my final form

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9va7ugOy5vo

>>3775721
No offense but your roommate is a graphic whore idiot

While I agree the first game is better, it seems he just judged it because of the graphics

Tell him to just wait for REmake 2

>>3775759
You are absolutely right! I think he may have overreacted because he thought I was pushing the dreamcast version on him out of some kind of bias toward sega. I think he assumed the gamecube version would be better, and didn't even know that the one he played had been a remake.

He didn't even make it past the startup screen before we started fighting about it, and at that point the whole experience was tainted and he was going to stand his ground on principle.

The funny thing is that this guy normally actually prefers retro games to modern ones.

I just sent him the RE2 comparison guide from upthread to provoke him but I don't think he'll react.

>>3775772
I also played RE2 after the remake instead of the original, I started it and finished in a weekend because it was so much fun.

Then a little bit more paused RE3 and CV, while Zero having the same graphics than the remake, bored me and could not finish it.

>>3775678
not entirely true

each versions seems to have different additional alt costumes included with the default PS1 lineup

RE1 also has a lot of differences between versions, with the best probably being the PC and DS versions

>>3775524
>How the fuck was this possible?
The whole game is a piece of shit. They could have fit Resi 3 on it too.

>>3775662
>/a/ and /v/ are the dumbest boards on this site

sounds like you've never gone to /x/

/x/ is great i can lern how to becomed a deemin.

>>3775617
That's not FMV though, that's a background.

>>3775958
Of course, it was only 1CD

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>>3775669
N64 version may have smaller textures due to compression, but it has higher polygon character models compared to the PS1 version at least, not sure what character models the other versions use but I'm guessing based on PS1.

>>OP
The real reason RE2 was possible on N64 is because the developers used the GPU's vertex shading capabilities in a GPGPU style way to assist the CPU in decompressing video. It's quite possibly the first game ever (or program even) to use a GPU's T&L hardware for functionality beyond just T&L.

>>3775642
>Gamecube version doesn't have 60fps

???

>>3775524
Because Nintendo & storage technology has so little to do with science most programmers most likely get their visions from ancient Japanese deities.

The Hoenn region in Pokemon SHOULD NOT EXIST hadn't their late boss made a contract with turbosatan to make it work.

>>3775662
/a/ is fine. Or rather, /a/ is self aware.

>>3775662
i thought this board was for people that play games... not make them. is there a /dvr/ board for developers? fuck you.

>>3776595
Nobody expects everyone on /vr/ to know the finer aspects of game design, but spouting bullshit you know nothing about isn't acceptable anywhere.

>>3776615
agreed.

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>>3775524
in order to fit everything on the cartridge the team had to obtain a 165:1 compression ratio with the FMVs. In a modern context the H.265 HVEC codec could make light work of this challenge (as it can scale up to 1000:1 for delivering 4K video), but when the game was being developed in early 1998 this codec wouldn’t be developed for another 15 years. This was an era of MPEG-1.

"To look at this challenge another way, let’s put it into numerical perspective. The original rendered frames of the video sequences were 320×160 pixels at 24-bit color = 153,600 bytes/frame. On the Nintendo 64 Resident Evil 2‘s approximately 15 minutes of 30Hz video make a grand total of 15 x 60 x 30 x 153,600 = 4,147,200,000 bytes of uncompressed data. Our budget on the cartridge was 25,165,824 bytes, so I had to achieve a compression ratio of 165:1. Worse still, I had to share this modicum of cartridge real estate with the movie audio."

These guys now work for Rockstar the did help making Read Dead Redemption.

>>3776595
You don't have to be a developer to see the difference between real-time rendered cutscenes and pre-rendered cutscenes.

>>3776869
165:1???? Holy Shiat!

Well by considering the video along with the audio that's damm impressive , The videos may not be just as good as they are in the CD versions but to squeeze all RE2 CGS in 25mb its way beyond my mathematical knowledge, its probably a hell of an algorythm to achieve that back in the day

I'm surprised used copies of this are still reasonably priced.
Is it worth picking up if I already have it on DC? The controls sound like an interesting novelty at least.

back then programmers could do tricks to save resources and fit as much as possible to disk or cartridge. The were full complete games back then all the way up till 2007.
today development tries to rush to meet deadlines with half complete games, required patches, and charging you again with dlc content.

>>3776903
Not really. Even an extremely rudimentary compression algorithm that you could come up with (e.g., if you have 10 pixels in a row that are all the same color 'x', encode it as '10x' rather than 'xxxxxxxxxx') will produce massive savings over representing every pixel in every frame individually. Similarly, pixels in the background of short clips might not change at all, so rather than encoding the same pixel 300 times in a ten second clip, you might be able to imagine coming up with the idea of putting it on the screen once and not changing it after that. Wow! You just achieved a compression ratio of 300 to 1!
(Of course real video compression is quite a bit more clever than this, because it is "lossy," meaning that it is willing to fudge the details a little bit in the service of keeping the picture recognizable as a whole. You can get any compression ratio you want depending on how much quality you are willing to sacrifice. Generally the more complex a codec is, the higher the image quality will be at a given rate of compression.)

"Raw" video isn't really what you should be thinking about. The FMVs on the playstation version certainly aren't stored as a series of completely uncompressed images. Instead, it would be much more informative to discuss how the video compression they had to achieve compared to standard codecs that already existed in the 90s. The "Microsoft Video 1" codec shipped as a standard part of Windows since 1992 (and even to this day), for example. How much better does the RE2 FMV look compared to MS Video 1 at the same bitrate? In fact, perhaps it doesn't even look better! The real innovation might have been pulling off the video decoding (turning the compressed data into a series of images on the screen) with the N64 hardware, which is much weaker in terms of the computations involved than a desktop computer of the same era.

>>3776947
It is, I own every RE2 version and by far the most interesting one is the N64 one, There are extra files, Surround Sound support if you hook up it in a receiver like me, the game runs fast, the door transitions are instant, there are extra files, the itens can be randomized which gives replay value, and although people are going to argue with me, the n64 controls are just better to play it , I can't explain well but I could evade the zombies easier than the other versions. Give it a try before the prices go skyrocketing

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>>3775524
Why no one talks about this, this one has half the RE2 cart in size, 50 missions inclunding the expansion. This is for me as much as an achievement as RE2.

>>3777052
The FMVs in RE2 on N64 have a much higher compression ratio than that of Microsoft Video 1 (50 minutes into 25 MB). Also the quality is much better in RE2 whether you noticed it or not, full 24-bit color was compressed according to devs, compared to 15-bit in Microsoft Video 1.

>the N64 hardware, which is much weaker in terms of the computations involved than a desktop computer of the same era
Actually the N64's CPU is faster than any 486 (which is what people used until 94/95) ever released, but it's slightly slower than the slowest Pentium.

The key to the N64's decompression is that the GPU works in parallel in assisting the CPU.

>>3776947
No, Nintenbabbies are exaggerating the quality over an overall decent port. DC is the definitive version.

>>3777556
>Nintenbabbies

you lose all credibility when you use /v/ tier bantz

>>3776208
was this done using 3D Ripper DX? it can be quite inaccurate at times.

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>>3775669
>falling for such poor bait

>>3775642
>>3775649
i wish they rereleased the dreamcast version to other systems instead of releasing the ps1 version.

>>3777073
They cut music, portrait animations, dialog.

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>>3777670
Indeed they did, but still the main game are all there in a 32mb cart, SCII + Brood War + Extra mission. Maybe if they choose the 64mb cart, they could fit more Cgs and portrait animations.

>>3777085
Slower than 60 Mhz Pentium?

RE2 on N64 is the only RE that you can enjoy in absolute silence. Never thought about it? No CD-drive, no coolers no nothing, just the silent N64 and the game.

That alone makes it superior to all other RE versions.

>>3778448
there goes a comfyaward

>>3777073
Because Command & Conquer 64 was better. It had no FMVs, but retained EVERYTHING ELSE, plus had everything drawn using 3d polygons instead of 2d sprites, even did some cutscenes as 3d animations.
Yes, it had all voices, all music, and even had voiced cutscenes.

That's almost more impressive than the Resident Evil port. The amount of work they had to put into modelling everything would have been insane.

>>3778474

Man I loved playing C&C for N64. We didnt have a PC at the time but a friend did and I played it there. I was so pumped when we got that game, it was exactly the same except not cut scenes, just a static image and a voice over but fuck it, I wasnt there to watch a faggy movie I was there to blow shit up.