Hi all,


Thinking of getting this remaster by NightDive, but would like to enjoy the game in its most "vanilla" (original) form (minus the bugs and the inferior controls).

So first things first:

- I know there was an original PC port back in the day (and it sucked, except for the OST)

- can one play the remaster with a resolution that respects the original aspect ratio? (like 1280 x 1024?) I have a dedicated screen for retrogaming and want no widescreen for this one.

- the omnipresent fog: I want it like it's 1997! I suppose I can have that by going into the remaster's game settings? I want to preserve the original draw distance because I believe original design decisions were built around that.

- new effects, bloom, reflections on water etc.: I want none of that. Can all graphical enhancements be turned off?

- I know one can choose between N64 and PC music in the remaster: supposedly the N64 OST is more dynamic (underwater track?) and certainly is longer, but the PC music is higher quality; now I have played many N64 games before incl. GoldenEye 007 and I never had complaints about the "technical" quality of the cartridge-based tunes, however, has anyone got a fair argument in favour of using the PC audio over the N64 OST in this case?

- I know about the remaster's subtle changes to the level design (item placement, geometry modifications/additions): I don't want them, even if they make sense. Can I play the campaign with the original maps?

- So upon checking the remaster's review by GmanLives I found a comment by some old timer claiming some of the bosses incl. the final boss have been resized in the remaster, and specifically made smaller compared to how they appear in the original release! Again, if at all possible, I would like to play with the boss creatures at their original sizes - is this possible? Or is this resizing just false info to begin with? (I do not want to check Youtube videos because I want no spoilers)

Many thanks for any answers!
Cheers

There's options to disable a lot of the post-processing effects. You're probably not going to hit the exact same look you hope to achieve by turning all of them off, but you can disable or adjust most of them.

There's a mod (among others uploaded by another user here on GOG's forum that were shuffled over from the game's Steam Workshop uploads) for the game that allows you to play the unaltered levels (with the noted warning that the draw distance should be turned off when you do so the fog covers up the... imperfections).

Good to know! Thank you for the info :)

Extended view distance can be disabled in the Gameplay menu. Bloom, light scatter, water reflection/refraction, and saturation can all be disabled in the Graphics menu.

I just checked a video of the N64 version of the final boss, and it's the same size. The default FOV is higher than the N64 though, so maybe that was throwing that person off? You can turn it back down to the original 47.5 in the Graphics menu, if you really want to.

4:3 ratios are supported. 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x1024 are all in the Video menu. They don't squish a 16:9 image down to 4:3 or have letterboxes; they're proper 4:3.

The remaster plays the N64 underwater music even if you set the soundtrack to PC. The PC tracks have more differences than just audio fidelity. I think they sound weird, but everyone has their own preferences.

Like TheMonk said, Night Dive released the original levels as a mod. Most of the changes were to accommodate the extended view distance, but there are also a few fairly significant changes including a pretty big aesthetic change early in level 3 and a layout change on level 4 that imo goes too far in addressing an arguably too obscure key by essentially serving it to you on a silver platter.

Thanks for the reply! In light of all this I went ahead and bought this remaster :)

And yes I had guessed the different FOV might have tricked that person... good to know there's no size difference there!

Also about the original levels: turns out they are included in the GOG download of the game! a ReadMe even tells you to create a "mods" folder and to turn off extended view distance in order to play these levels.

A quick test playing both versions of the first level (up to the first save point) showed a significant change around the area with the level's second key: objectively the remastered version is better, I think (the added set-piece with the little temple and more enemies works well, even if the key is more easy to find), but I am glad I can experience the original level design so for the rest of the campaign I'll stick to the original levels.

One thing pissed me off though: there is no sun lens flare effect in the remastered version! Is there a mod for this? The N64 version has this neat lens flare when looking up at the sun, only Mupen64 Plus Next with the latest GlideN64 graphics plugin can emulate this but I cannot properly set it up on my end.

I understand NightDive probably figured everyone would be happy with the modern light scattering, crepuscular sun rays filtering through the vegetation, but I am still surprised that they completely overlooked the original lens flare effect for those who would forego the modern enhancements.

Is there a mod restoring the sun lens flare effect? that would make things perfect...

The music and sound fx in general has a few issues, like waterfalls having different sound volumes from silent or quiet when close up, to super loud when at a distance, and some music for other areas can sometimes play when steping in shallow water, then theres the gun sounds that can sometimes seem too quiet