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[Schopenhauerian]

They did that to link it in with Legend, which is still kinda hamfisted but really who cares because she talks for 20 seconds and then you're in a tomb. Actually a little longer because the new first level lets you play the CG sequence that started TR1.

With regard to TR Anniversary specifically, the story/character changes were definitely not a big deal. But I think RagnarokX used this as a representative example of what he saw as an unfortunate change in the Lara Concept, a conceptual shift that persisted in subsequent CD games and finally ended up mattering in a bigger way by the time of TR2013 and RotTR (a point of view described further by Lime and Messofanego). I was hopeful when I started up Blood Ties/Croft Manor in RotTR recently, for example (right after my first playthough of the amazing Gone Home, it should be said) and I found the cringe factor to be pretty high, so I'd tend to agree with their criticisms of the character/conceptual shift; but I do know a lot of folks seem to like the new/CD Lara. And in any case as you pointed out, none of this really matters much with regard to Anniversary specifically (also didn't know that CD made this particular change to ensure consistency with Legend).

 

[Y2Kev]

I love TR so much I actually own a port for the PocketPC. I had a Toshiba e740 which was not supported (I think it was called Tomb Raider Go now that I think about it?). I ended up hacking it onto the machine from some Compaq build or something. God this is ancient history. I remember it had four touch screen buttons. Was so hard to play. And I remember it had dynamic resolution. Pretty much dropped to shit every time you moved.

 

[guybrushfreeman]

Great video, I only recently heard about the Saturn version actually releasing first so a comparison between the two was very interesting. You really need to get a N-Gage though. All the cool kids have one

 

[dark10x]

Dark, after you atone for your sin in not mentioning the HEADSTAND, why do the Saturn JP and Saturn PAL versions have different frame times?

Forgive me master. I am not worthy!

So frame-time variation is due to the fact that it's an analog signal which results in slight inconsistencies when analyzing FPS. Lossless video gives us perfect results. It you need HDMI output for that. Analyzing older consoles is a little trickier. So the results are 99% accurate with a little bit of room for error due to the analog nature of it. It's also impossible to analyze analog footage with tearing in it.

Also, the slight height differences all seem to be due to slight changes in camera positioning and aspect ratio. I used the XRGB's 2x nearest scaling mode. Saturn and PS1 output in a slightly different way, I've found.

I love TR so much I actually own a port for the PocketPC. I had a Toshiba e740 which was not supported (I think it was called Tomb Raider Go now that I think about it?). I ended up hacking it onto the machine from some Compaq build or something. God this is ancient history. I remember it had four touch screen buttons. Was so hard to play. And I remember it had dynamic resolution. Pretty much dropped to shit every time you moved.

I've never even heard of that! What a cool thing.

 

[Neptonic]

It goes to the Steam guides tab, not to the guide itself.
On the other hand, I found out there's a braid mod for TR1 because of that, which is cool.

Well I can't get the link that would work on moblie, so the guide is called "Play without DOSBOX" and is like the first on on their. Doing exactly what it asks will get you what you want. The process looks daunting but is a hell of a lot easier than DMC3 on PC.

 

[5olid_5nake]

Excellent video dark10x, damn good stuff sir. Brings back memories.

Just a quick question, so I was thinking of buying the GOG version of Tomb Raider and I was wondering if it's possible to apply the wrapper and make this version somehow work like your version in the video (the recommended one)?

Thx John!

 

[dark10x]

Excellent video dark10x, damn good stuff sir. Brings back memories.

Just a quick question, so I was thinking of buying the GOG version of Tomb Raider and I was wondering if it's possible to apply the wrapper and make this version somehow work like your version in the video (the recommended one)?

Thx John!

It should work just fine since you just need the data folders to make it work. I copied those folders right off the CD but they will still exist in the GOG version.

 

[ResidentDante]

Nice work dark10x! I tested the Japanese Saturn version up against the PAL version last week in that other TR 20 years thread and found no differences, really interesting to see you confirm and test it out properly! Keep up the excellent work!

 

[MaLDo]

The modded version seen in the video is really just based on the old ATi 3D Rage Pro patch that was originally released in 1997 (I think?) by ATi. I think ATi recompiled the Tomb Raider .EXE (via Core) to run on Windows 95 natively, and it is the only patch that was released back in the day that supported Direct 3D.

The original Tomb Raider on DOS is a bit of a mess when it comes to 3D acceleration. It came out during a time when OpenGL didn't really exist on the PC and when Microsoft was trying to establish Direct 3D. So the game has multiple 3D acceleration patches from different video card manufactures. 3DFX, Matrox, S3, PowerVR, ATi and others (though no Nvidia support) all had their own unique drivers and it was a pain in the ass to find these files online (if you were lucky enough to have an internet connection in 1996-97) if you owned one of those cards. The PowerVR patch could support up to 1024x768 resolution, which was pretty impressive for its time.

The original Tomb Raider was a pretty big contributor to the popularity of 3D acceleration back then, before GLQuake hit the scene. .

PowerVR version was the best because can run at 60fps. Unfortunately no powervr PCX2 wrapper yet

 

[Yautja_Warrior]

Loved the PS1 version, I was surprised to see the Saturn version run so poorly, I knew the PS1 version was the better version but didn't think the difference was that big. PS1 was such a great console.

 

[Sho Nuff]

Dark, I wanna see a FMV game comparison next, Saturn vs PSX.

Dare I suggest... D???

 

[Tizoc]

Dark, I wanna see a FMV game comparison next, Saturn vs PSX.

Dare I suggest... D???

D is avilable on pc too

 

[dark10x]

PowerVR version was the best because can run at 60fps. Unfortunately no powervr PCX2 wrapper yet

Can it really? I owned a PowerVR card (Matrox m3d) but did not remember that. Need to track one of those down.

Dark, I wanna see a FMV game comparison next, Saturn vs PSX.

Dare I suggest... D???

That's a fun idea. I have the 3DO version too plus there's PC.

 

[kyser73]

Great segment Dark!

I like both incarnations of Lara TBH.

 

[Bioshocker]

So many fond memories of playing Tomb Raider on my Saturn. I didn't realize the differences to the PS1 version were this noticable. It still looked great on the Saturn back then.

 

[Unai]

I used this guide from the Steam community, god widescreen, music, visual improvements, and Steam still launches it when I click play in my library.
http://steamcommunity.com/app/224960/guides/#scrollTop=100

That link doesn't go to a guide.

Here is the Tomb Raider Forums link for those who are looking for it: http://www.tombraiderforums.com/showthread.php?t=214779

It goes to the Steam guides tab, not to the guide itself.
On the other hand, I found out there's a braid mod for TR1 because of that, which is cool.

The problem with that forum post is that it didn't integrate with Steam. To do that, we need to create a bat file that opens the game, compile it into a .exe, and rename it dosbox.exe. Just renaming the executable to dosbox.exe doesn't work for some reason. I saw the solution in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EWSPwZiYlc

 

[MaLDo]

Can it really? I owned a PowerVR card (Matrox m3d) but did not remember that. Need to track one of those.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=5GMesT4WKzI&t=120

 

[Kresnik258]

I loved this episode. Really interesting stuff. First game that I've grown up with too, so cool to look at again!

I'm gonna buy this on PSN and play it on my Vita as a result of this, I think

 

[Khaz]

For those with the Japanese Tomb Raiders, how does it treats the FMVs? Are they translated, voice over or subtitled? And the in-game sequences?

 

[Jazzem]

This video has me hankering to play Anniversary again. How's the PC version of that game?

I started playing it recently and was shocked at how well optimised it is! Downsampling it at 4k with 4x MSAA on my GTX 960 with no issue, aside from very minor stuttering when entering water the engine is rock solid. Is a nice change after playing a few UE3 games!

Just make sure you force the anti aliasing through NVidia/AMD, as using the in game setting turns off shadows. Also, turn off full screen effects and depth of field, they add lots of unappealing blur that lessens the image quality.

 

[Morfeo]

Another great video from DF Retro, this time about a really great game. Miss when Tomb Raider was this good!

 

[Parsnip]

Is that a big old Soup Reaver tease? Would be sweet to have an in depth video comparing the differences between the PS1, PC and Dreamcast versions of the game. And talk about the overall technical achievement that the game was.

Is Soup Reaver a dark Cooking Mama spin-off?

 

[MaLDo]

Is that a big old Soup Reaver tease? Would be sweet to have an in depth video comparing the differences between the PS1, PC and Dreamcast versions of the game. And talk about the overall technical achievement that the game was.

DC version is better. PC is the same as PS1 with better resolution.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=q0WsS8R93_Y

 

[Hilbert]

It's CALLED A HANDSTAND and it is the most important difference between the two versions!!!

Also don't count on it but I THINK you also can dive in the PS1 version and can't in the Saturn

You can definitely dive in the Saturn version. It is the only version I played all the way through, and you have to use a dive near the end.

 

[Tain]

which Saturn emulator is that?

 

[Easy_D]

Is Soup Reaver a dark Cooking Mama spin-off?

Yes. Yes it is. Mama has thrown you down the pit and you as a Food-Wraith must get your revenge.

DC version is better. PC is the same as PS1 with better resolution.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=q0WsS8R93_Y

Not quite, the PC version doesn't have the dynamic music present in the PS1 version. Since I'm super anal about shit like that I'd rank 'em Dreamcast > PS1 > PC.

 

[Accoun]

which Saturn emulator is that?

From the comments:

SSF + CEP

Whatever it means (I'm not into Saturn emulation, so I have no idea).

 

[Parsnip]

Yes. Yes it is. Mama has thrown you down the pit and you as a Food-Wraith must get your revenge.

I'd play that game.

 

[Patrick S.]

The ATI wrapper is neat. But the Steam version comes with 3dfx emulation preinstalled,too.

You do have to change the resolution in the glide.ini file, because otherwise the game will run at a very pixelated 640x480 resolution. Widescreen works with this, too.

The gamma might be too low. If that's the case, download and install the free nGlide 3dfx emulator and run its config program, which let's you change the gamma, resolution and a few other things. After doing so, the Steam version of Tomb Raider will look perfect, and it doesn't have slowdowns anymore like previous 3dfx emulators had with the game.

 

[MrCunningham]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=5GMesT4WKzI&t=120

Yeah I almost forgot to mention that the PowerVR patch could run the game at 60FPS, but only at 640x480. 800x600 and 1024x768 are locked at 30.

I also just got the ATi Rage Pro wrapper working with my original disc copy of Tomb Raider, and I am using the sound patch as well as joytokey and the game works very well this way...

 

[Patrick S.]

Yeah I almost forgot to mention that the PowerVR patch could run the game at 60FPS, but only at 640x480. 800x600 and 1024x768 are locked at 30.

I also just got the ATi Rage Pro wrapper working with my original disc copy of Tomb Raider, and I am using the sound patch as well as joytokey and the game works very well this way...

Here's a package for the Steam version which includes the PS1 music, ambient music, and the Unfinished Business expansion. It's very easy; just copy & paste.

 

[yesrushdt]

The ATI wrapper is neat. But the Steam version comes with 3dfx emulation preinstalled,too.

You do have to change the resolution in the glide.ini file, because otherwise the game will run at a very pixelated 640x480 resolution. Widescreen works with this, too.

I imagine the graphics are stretched out though for widescreen in any version that doesn't use the ATI GLRage wrapper.

 

[Patrick S.]

I imagine the graphics are stretched out though for widescreen in any version that doesn't use the ATI GLRage wrapper.

Made this screenshot of the Steam version for you, I think the aspect ratio is fine but I might be mistaken. Anyway, the nGlide configurator has several aspect ratio and screen stretch options.

Edit: Just noticed, the shading on Lara is way nicer here than with the ATI wrapper.

 

[gfxtwin]

I replayed it recently and was taken aback by how even though she was overtly sexualized, Lara Croft as a character was kind of ahead of her time as a strong, smart, female hero, being a female Indiana Jones and Bruce Wayne and whatnot. And the gameplay is a bit rough but something about the atmosphere (environment and sound design?) was really palatable for a PS1 game in a way that games today are not, and I dunno what it is exactly.

 

[yesrushdt]

Made this screenshot of the Steam version for you, I think the aspect ratio is fine but I might be mistaken. Anyway, the nGlide configurator has several aspect ratio and screen stretch options.

Edit: Just noticed, the shading on Lara is way nicer here than with the ATI wrapper.

Yep, that's most definitely stretched out. A comparison screenshot from the widescreen mod with ATI GLRage wrapper:

 

[Patrick S.]

Yep, that's most definitely stretched out. A comparison screenshot from the widescreen mod with ATI GLRage wrapper:

Dang, you're right. Well, one could use a custom 16:10 resolution to eliminate stretching, but at that point it really is easier to just use that ATI wrapper.

 

[Mman235]

The fact there's an official 60FPS version of the game is some mind blown shit for me. Too bad there's apparently no real way to try it on modern hardware. Tomb Raider 4 (the easiest to modify) has had some FPS unlock experiments, but it doesn't really work because the higher FPS messes up a bunch of stuff, so it's interesting that TR1 apparently works (unless PowerVR changed up the engine a bunch or something)?

 

[Cow Mengde]

Wow, I never knew the Saturn version came out first. I always thought both versions came out at the same time. Very interesting.

 

[Minamu]

Has anyone here played the original recently? As someone who never completed it without cheats as a kid, I'm kinda scared to go back, because I remember the puzzles and environments being super obscure and difficult. On the other hand, I now have over 20 years of gaming experience.

I gotta check if my PSP battery is still alive. Can those be bought someplace still?

 

[gelf]

Has anyone here played the original recently? As someone who never completed it without cheats as a kid, I'm kinda scared to go back, because I remember the puzzles and environments being super obscure and difficult. On the other hand, I now have over 20 years of gaming experience.

I gotta check if my PSP battery is still alive. Can those be bought someplace still?

I played through it on PC recently and found it much easier then when I played it as a teen. My directional sense must have improved and I'm more patient and observant with scoping out the environment now.

 

[Minamu]

I played through it on PC recently and found it much easier then when I played it as a teen. My directional sense must have improved and I'm more patient and observant with scoping out the environment now.

What did you think of the item placement, and resource management by today's standards? I think it was my first game where I had to manage health packs.

 

[Bloodporne]

Currently playing through the PSX version on the PCSXR and I absolutely love it and appreciate it even more this time around.

Upscaled graphics can look quite beautiful in their sheer size of some of the locations, the atmosphere is incredibly thick and desolate, exploration is exciting and I've always really enjoyed the controls and traversal to a great degree.

The only downside is the combat really as many have said in here. The human enemies in particular actually, the animals don't bother me much and present a nice distraction as to not let it sink into monotony. The fact that you essentially just have to heal your way out of a human encounter is some pretty crude/shitty design. If there's a way to NOT to get hit when attempting to fight a human enemy, let me know.

Anyway, it's a Puzzle Platformer at heart and I think it's one of the best to this day and it's sad to see the reboots in their current state when the originals were very much unique in their approaches and still would be. Instead I suppose we had to get a me-too TPS with Lara Croft that really has nothing to do with the actual GAME that was Tomb Raider.

 

[gelf]

What did you think of the item placement, and resource management by today's standards? I think it was my first game where I had to manage health packs.

I ended up with something like 30 health packs spare but in TR1 I suffer more from insta deaths from falls and traps so I'm reloading the game more then actually using the health pick ups. In the later games that contain more enemies that shoot at you I'd probably use more.

I am a hoarder type of player though so maybe I'm not the best person to ask.

 

[alf717]

For those with the Japanese Tomb Raiders, how does it treats the FMVs? Are they translated, voice over or subtitled? And the in-game sequences?

All the audio and FMV videos are in Japanese. I also spotted a few difference in the options menu. In the US version current position is labeled data load and the brightness options is named gamma

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYqyPaTrrXw

Spotted this in the comments of this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5aoqD0padw

Yes you right. I have the PAL version too, so I can confirm. there is some changes with the japanese version (released one year later).
On the Japanese version, the switch is in the same place as in PlayStation and PC versions. But in the American, European and Australian versions, the switch is in a different place.

Not sure which switch is being references though.

 

[Darkangel]

Great video!

I wonder what the game would have been like on the N64?

Forgive me master. I am not worthy!

So frame-time variation is due to the fact that it's an analog signal which results in slight inconsistencies when analyzing FPS. Lossless video gives us perfect results. It you need HDMI output for that. Analyzing older consoles is a little trickier. So the results are 99% accurate with a little bit of room for error due to the analog nature of it. It's also impossible to analyze analog footage with tearing in it.

Also, the slight height differences all seem to be due to slight changes in camera positioning and aspect ratio. I used the XRGB's 2x nearest scaling mode. Saturn and PS1 output in a slightly different way, I've found.


I've never even heard of that! What a cool thing.

This might be useful if you ever need to capture N64 footage.

 

[Minamu]

I ended up with something like 30 health packs spare but in TR1 I suffer more from insta deaths from falls and traps so I'm reloading the game more then actually using the health pick ups. In the later games that contain more enemies that shoot at you I'd probably use more.

I am a hoarder type of player though so maybe I'm not the best person to ask.

I'm like you so that sounds good

 

[adamsapple]

I actually had no idea TR was on Saturn *before* the PlayStation, you learn something new every day.

 

[gfxtwin]

Has anyone here played the original recently? As someone who never completed it without cheats as a kid, I'm kinda scared to go back, because I remember the puzzles and environments being super obscure and difficult. On the other hand, I now have over 20 years of gaming experience.

I gotta check if my PSP battery is still alive. Can those be bought someplace still?

I thought it was actually less challenging than when I originally played it. The hardest part was getting used to the controls, but the item placement, level design and puzzles aren't super difficult, though I thought they would be too at first, but they are fair IMO.

 

[MrCunningham]

Has anyone here played the original recently? As someone who never completed it without cheats as a kid, I'm kinda scared to go back, because I remember the puzzles and environments being super obscure and difficult. On the other hand, I now have over 20 years of gaming experience.

I gotta check if my PSP battery is still alive. Can those be bought someplace still?

I replayed through the entire original Sega Saturn game just so I could get some screenshots for this thread. The Saturn version has a lower framerate, lower screen resolution and is a little harder to play because of that. But, I still managed to complete the game.

There is a bit of a learning curve on the controls, because this game was designed for a digital "d-pad" and analog control sticks were not really an option for the developers. Lara moves like she is on a square grid (to some degree) and you really have to measure a lot of jumps using the walk button. To be honest, the levels are designed really well around Lara's control mechanics.

The levels do not hold your hand in this game, and sometimes puzzles can be a bit obtuse. But for the most part they revolve around simple things like pushing/ pulling blocks, finding objects and performing well timed jumps. The levels can be pretty big in size (especially the later ones) and can take well over an hour to explore each one if you don't know what you are doing. But if you're well aware of the map layouts, you can play through the later levels at about 30 minutes or so (non speed running).

Enemies are all brain dead and just rush at you on sight. Most of the time they are easy to take out as Lara just auto aims. You can camp in hard to reach areas and just fire away. But there really isn't much emphasis on combat in the original game. Enemies are just obstacles for the most part.

Honestly, Tomb Raider II is generally a harder game. But this one still has a challenge to it.

 

[Schopenhauerian]

...The modded version seen in the video is really just based on the old ATi 3D Rage Pro patch that was originally released in 1997 (I think?) by ATi... So the game has multiple 3D acceleration patches from different video card manufactures. 3DFX, Matrox, S3, PowerVR, ATi and others (though no Nvidia support) all had their own unique drivers...

I imagine the graphics are stretched out though for widescreen in any version that doesn't use the ATI GLRage wrapper.

Yeah, it looks like the GliDOS wrapper (Glide API), for instance, only does 4:3. But this custom solution by 'Tomb Raider Expert' displays in 16:9, and is somehow also compatible with the Xtra/GliDOS texture pack. Not sure if this person has published their solution anywhere, though.

I think it would be great in these videos to talk about how emulation improves original console release, for example with Tomb Raider where dancing textures and unstable polygons are all over the place...

Got the PS1 version running beautifully on PCSXR-PGXP. The only issue I still have is missing save crystals...I have to say that the game is quite beautiful with a nice resolution and smoother textures, especially the large open areas had me quite in awe even now. When you first enter the colosseum in level 6, it's really beautiful and quite reminiscent of Team ICO games. The relative emptiness really suits the desolate and tranquil atmosphere.

Currently playing through the PSX version on the PCSXR and I absolutely love it and appreciate it even more this time around. Upscaled graphics can look quite beautiful in their sheer size of some of the locations, the atmosphere is incredibly thick and desolate, exploration is exciting and I've always really enjoyed the controls and traversal to a great degree...

A split-screen, Digital Foundry-style comparison video posted by the PGXP author earlier today: PS2 vs. PCSXR vs. PCSXR-PGXP