It’s wonderful to see the ingenuity of passionate fans as they take on ambitious projects without any thoughts of compensation. And this new mod for the Steam version of Final Fantasy IX, which uses an AI to upscale textures from old games, absolutely falls into that category.
Dedicated Final Fantasy IX fans created Moguri Mod, a deep learning AI mod that beautifully upscales graphics for the PC version.
Moguri Mod, according to the official website, “is a total revamping of the PC port of Final Fantasy IX through Deep Learning techniques.” This mod’s most drastic changes are in the background arts that are now more detailed, cleaner, and have a higher resolution. Moguri Mod also includes a custom implementation of Memoria Mod, which offers more customization and options than the original PC port.
Check out this twitter post showing the difference between the original PlayStation version, the recent PC port, and the PC mod version. And of course some lovely screenshots of the PC mod version below that:
People have figured out a way to use deep learning AI to enhance images beyond what their original resolution was and are using it to upscale textures from old games. One of the most impressive versions of this is an ongoing Final Fantasy 9 mod.
Final Fantasy 7 Mod Pack
PSX vs PC vs PC mod pic.twitter.com/ohp9VmZX0i
— E's Laf 2 combo bot (@HBJohnXuandou) April 19, 2019
You can also check out this handy tabbed image here, which lets you more directly compare the three versions and see just how phenomenal the updated graphics are. And if you’re interested in the full process of how the people behind Moguri Mod created and implemented this massive upscaling of FFIX, there’s a really cool flipbook that shows off that and more screenshots.
There’s also a stream replay of an early alpha version of the mod, explaining how it was done (it’s in French, but non-speakers can still enjoy the visuals):
Of course the remastering doesn’t stop at the graphics — there’s 15 orchestrated tracks made by composer Pontus Hultgren, which you can check out below. You can also support his Patreon if you like his work:
If you’re interested in downloading the full Moguri Mod, you can find it here. You need to have purchased the Steam version of FFIX first, which is the only version the mod works for.
Final Fantasy IX came out for PC two years ago. If you want a general review of the game and well it holds up, check out our take on the title here. Recently some lovely Bring Arts figurines of Zidane and Garnet were revealed as well (available for preorder now), proving how still beloved this game is to this day.
One of the biggest shames in modern gaming is how badly Square Enix mangled its ports of Final Fantasy V and Final Fantasy VI to the PC. Fortunately, modders are still working overtime to try to fix them.
“A World Reborn,” for example, is an in-progress mod by ESN23 that adds more character to the pallid sprites of Square’s FFVI port. When combined with a font mod (by kvg88) that adds kerning and makes everything seem a little less flat, this mod makes the PC version of Final Fantasy VI a little less.. torturous on the eyes.
I’m also partial to kvg88’s mod that changes the game’s font from Arial to Chicago, although it’s hard to get around how ugly the menus are. Since Square simply ported the mobile version rather than revamping the user interface for PC, everything looks like it’s meant for a touchscreen. Here are some shots of the Chicago-font mod:
But at least it’s a start? Until Square just re-releases the GBA version—come on already—we’ll have to rely on modders to correct the company’s heinous mistakes.
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