Colonel's Bequest high resolution mod

For a while, something pretty amazing has been cooking with ScummVM. An amazing person called Myles Johnston has been implementing features to ScummVM that allow the use of high-resolution graphics in old Sierra games. These graphics can be either newly drawn or upscaled with AI tools like ESRGAN, but the end result is the same: by using ScummVMX, you can play the old Sierra games with graphics 4x higher resolution than they were originally made in. Of course, this is still in development and doesn't always quite work, but the results are already amazing.

For example, here's a try I did with the Dagger of Amon Ra:

But, this is not about the Dagger of Amon Ra, the sequel to Colonel's Bequest, as ScummVMX also works on older Sierra games as well. Here is a small mod I've been tinkering for the first Laura Bow title. Now, I'm not claiming these ESRGAN upscaled images look better than the original graphics. The original is one of the best looking EGA-Sierra titles after all. But I do hope this does provide some inkling on what might be possible in the future, especially if someone would go all in and actually re-do all the graphics (a huge task, all in all, especially considering how many animation frames there is in the game). And, on a side note, Myles is also implementing features for changing the music as well as making it possible to add voice acting on games that previously had none.

So, if you do want to play an HR mod for Colonel's Bequest, you'll need ScummVMX. You also need to have a copy of Colonel's Bequest. Any version that works in ScummVM should be fine, so either an original disk version or a modern digital copy from GOG or Steam will do. 

Then, you'll obviously need the HR files so that ScummVMX can utilize them. You can download the needed folder from my Google Drive. It should be virus clean. The next step is to extract the zip file to your Colonel's Bequest folder. You should have a folder called "Extra" in the game folder now. It has all the upscaled backgrounds, priority maps as well as animation "views". 

Next, you'll want to launch ScummVMX and link the game to it. Modify the game config by pointing the extras-path to the Extra folder with the files. Then turn on the RBG-rendering mode from the game engine settings. Now, when you launch the game through ScummVMX, you should be able to see the HR graphics.

There are some things that don't quite work. On some screens, the priority maps don't seem to work correctly. This seems to happen especially on some of the screens outside near the iron fence surrounding the mansion. In Fifi's room, the transition from the stairway to Fifi's room doesn't seem to work properly. There are probably other glitches as well. But other than that, have fun.

By the way, if you don't want upscaled character models for example, just delete the character animation based view files from the Extra folder. But as many of the other objects, such as furniture, are views as well, you can't delete all of them if you want to keep upscaled looks for the backgrounds. 

if you want to give upscaling a go yourself, you'll need ESRGAN or some other upscaling tool. Cupscale is easy to use ESRGAN tool and it's free. You'll also need SCICompantionX, a version of SCICompanion Myles did for easier extraction of game files. You'll also want ArcadaAccordion, a tool Myles did for the easier compilation of high-resolution priority maps for the scenes.

And with that, have fun.