Scaler UHD Texture Pack
This is a small texture pack for the game "Scaler", which is a lesser known gem for the GameCube and hopefully my creation of this small texture pack for it will convince some more people they should play it! The production value of this game is very high. The levels are incredible looking and feel like something out of James Cameron's Avatar. Scroll down for install instructions.
How to Install
Click the green download button on GitHub. Put the textures in Dolphin's Load Textures folder. GKU is Scaler's game id.
Windows: C:\Users\UserName\Documents\Dolphin Emulator\Load\Textures\GKU
Linux: ~/.local/share/dolphin-emu/Load/Textures/GKU
macOS: /Users/qashto/Library/Application\ Support/Dolphin/Load/Textures/GKU
Using this pack requires the latest v5.x development build of Dolphin. Check "Enable Cheats" in the General settings of Dolphin. Check "Load Custom Textures" and "Prefetch Custom Textures" in the Advanced tab of the Graphics settings to prevent stuttering.
Info
Something strange I found out while making this texture pack is that all the textures are upside down and mirrored. Which is super weird, I've never seen any other GameCube dump textures like that. Originally I thought it was a bug but Dolphin devs confirmed it wasn't.
I used the waifu2x upscaler on the title and map textures. The upscaled map looks incredible, waifu2x works really well with hand drawn stuff cause that's what it was designed for. As with my other texture packs, I'm not just amaturely batch processing all these textures. The map is split into 8 sections that I had to stitch together, then upscale and then split back.
Many of the character textures hold up when playing at UHD already, the developers of this game really did an amazing job modeling and texturing so many cool characters. However Leon's texture is way too small, so I retextured him. I used the waifu2x upscaler on Reppy which I think works cause I imagine her having smooth wet skin like a salamander.
I also retextured the portals in Medoozum which were super low res. I'd love if their was more to them, such as lightning bolts around the edges and better cloud movement but I think the textures I made make them look much better. I also used waifu2x on the sky and mushroom tops.
I think merely using an upscaling tool like waifu2x on the other textures in the game would be detrimental, causing loss of detail. This game, although cartoony, is not like the other games I've worked on SMS or KAR, the aesthetic of the world is more realistic. Many of these textures are way more detailed than you'd expect for a GameCube title and they still hold up. It'd be tough to improve on and I want people to be able to appreciate them.
I will finish up working on the icons at some point after I've completed the game, which I haven't done yet, so stayed tuned!