They do it because they like it, because of the challenge it entails, for the personal satisfaction, … The reasons why a modder engages in the task of modifying and improving a video game can be many, but what is not enough in most of occasions are thanks to their work. Especially when it’s like Albert Marin and his mod for Resident Evil 4 .
A trip around the world to create a mod
The use of mods has been common in the PC world for a few years now. As we have seen in other titles, these not only allow to improve the graphic or sound section with respect to the original proposal, but also to add new ways of playing, settings, etc.
Because at the end of the day, a mod is nothing more than a modification that meets the needs of a person or a group of people who believe they could improve or take advantage of a title to create what they have in their heads. What’s more, if you don’t already know, mods were one of the reasons for DOOM’s success.
Returning to the subject that interests us, there is a project whose objective is to create a high resolution version of Resident Evil 4 and that is not only progressing at a very good pace but also showing that carrying it out is not easy.
Albert Marin, one of those responsible for it, said that in order to improve the graphics of said game, he is not only using software applications and techniques with which to gain definition and detail in certain elements, he is also traveling to different parts of the world with the objective of taking photographs of real elements to use them as textures.
For example, in Wales he visited the Castle of Raglan in order to photograph its walls, in Barcelona he went to the Güell Palace designed by Antonio Gaudí in order to be able to take a photo of its marble floor and have a high resolution image of the betas of its marble and thus with several more destinations that Capcom’s own developers had at the time when they talked about this game that was launched more than 16 years ago.
The graphical difference between Resident Evil 4 vs Resident Evil 4 HD Project
This project, which is still underway and for which there are a few more months of work until it is finished, already shows a good number of images in which you can compare how everything changes graphically between the original version of Resident Evil 4 and this HD Project. What’s more, even with respect to the reissue that Capcom itself carried out there are big changes.
And it is normal that there are these differences because we are talking about more than 15 years of difference between one and the other, but it is also very striking to see how a “simple” change in the files of the image library, textures, etc., makes the game looks so different that it could easily pass for a current title. Of course, the gameplay and other details will be the same, but we do not think it will be a big problem for the fans who liked this game so much.