Blair Witch 1 Rustin Parr - LOD modification file

INTRODUCTION

Originally the game would use the highest quality 3D models only in cutscenes and when a conversation is triggered. Also during the gameplay the game would switch between lower and higher quality 3D models depending on the distance from the camera.

COMPARISON

Notice how the secretary has more detailed left hand and more rounded breasts compared to before.

INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS

Extract the archive and copy all the files (except the comparison images and the README file) into the game installation directory.

Notes:
- When starting a new game instead of "The Rustin Parr Investigation" story, you will get three options. Select "hq-bw1" to start from beginning.
- When starting a new game the difficulty selection screen will not appear:
--- either change the setting before applying this mod
--- or go to game installation folder, open SYSTEM folder, then open nocturne.ini file with a text editor and change combatDifficultyMode and puzzleDifficultyMode values; 0 is for normal, 1 is for hard difficulty. Save the file.

HOW IT WAS MADE

First I used the Nocturne Editor to extract all files from BLAIRENEMY.POD, BLAIRHERO.POD and BLAIRNPC.POD, then I unloaded them ("unload" means the game should look for files in folders inside the game directory instead in POD archives).

DFM files inside MODELS folder contain 3D model info. Models for characters have up to 5 LODs and with the shadowOnlyFlag the lowest quality model is set to be used only for shadow rendering.

So, what I did is I just turned on the shadowOnlyFlag for all the lower quality models, and left only the highest quality model to be used for normal rendering.

RANDOM INFO

Nocturne and other Blair Witch games seem to use the highest quality models all the time by default, so it is strange that this one was different.

Svetlana is by far the most detailed character in the game made of 1028 vertices (compared to Doc with only 598 and Stranger with 696 vertices) and has higher resolution textures. That model was probably already been used in early prototypes of Bloodrayne, before this game was even finished.