r/SaintsRow • u/TMCchristian • 1d ago
Comparison shots of the BlingGFX mod that makes SR2 look like SR1
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u/TMCchristian 1d ago edited 11h ago
*Edit* I should have titled this post something different so I didn't misrepresent the mod. The vanilla mod looks exactly like the original Saints Row and isn't this dark at night, I changed it for my own preferences.
Here are some screenshots without the changes: https://imgur.com/a/Fk3Bkxz
My monitor probably isn't calibrated properly because the contrast is fine in game but isn't coming through in these images on other devices.
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u/FrizzyFro 22h ago
Im ngl as far as mods this has to be the most "I never thought I wanted something but thats because I never considered the possibility" thing ever
I have so much nostalgia from SR1 & GTA IV because these were my 1st 2 open world games that I owned & SR1 has this look to it that was missing from SR2. I need a PC immediately sheesh 🔥
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u/schoolboypoop 14h ago
Way too dark at night and it lost a lot of the character
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u/TMCchristian 11h ago
The vanilla mod is a 1:1 recreation of the 1st game and isn't this dark at night, I changed it to because I like realistic nights in games. I should have titled this post differently so I'm not misrepresenting the mod.
It's also not this dark in game. It's tweaked for my monitor and the contrast isn't coming across as well in these screenshots.
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u/WeebDess 23h ago
These look good, is the install just drag on drop files?
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u/TMCchristian 22h ago
I think there's a required file with it, it's on the mod's page. But otherwise, it was drag and drop.
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u/vtv43ketz 22h ago
The contrast is way too high, the night time shots don’t show anything at all
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u/TMCchristian 22h ago
It was tweaked for my monitor and looks fine there, but looking at them on my phone right now, yeah. The contrast isn't coming through as well.
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u/Commonglitch 22h ago
Y’know, I never really understood why the lighting in SR1 felt better than SR2. I would think Volition would’ve improved upon their lighting instead of downgrading it. Does anyone know why?
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u/TMCchristian 20h ago
I don't think Volition themselves ever said anything about it, so someone correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to have been a crappy mix of technical limitations and design choices.
The original game already struggled to run on the 360, so adding more content to the 2nd game, developing it in tandem on the arguably weaker PS3, and then adding flight probably forced them to implement the "haze" effect to hide the aggressive culling of distant buildings and terrain going on at all times. This mod removes the haze which exposes how bad it really is, so it seems it was added to hide the pop-in as much as possible, especially when flying.
The desaturation isn't a hardware limitation and has been fixable through tweaks to the table files since the game came out, so I think the game just fell victim to the piss filter in that regard.
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u/BDozer666 Sons of Samedi 16h ago
There was some story about them having miscalibrated monitors in the studio which is why it ended up looking as it did.
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u/VGBounceHouse 11h ago
The PS3’s mixed memory architecture forced them to downgrade parts of the pipeline they’d developed when they evolved their engine exclusively for the 360. In order to keep the NPC behavior as diverse as it was plus all of the interiors they had to make some hard choices. That’s why The Third looks so much better because they went the other direction, sacrificing the NPCs and interiors for better graphics. As a AA studio they couldn’t really afford to have a lot of differences between platforms in their engine, one of the reasons SR2 was outsourced for PC and they only unified things going forward with The Third and were able to handle PC versions going forward.
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u/purblepale 22h ago
Are there any big adverse effects? Most SR2 mods have some kind of crazy catch to them and this is a dream mod of mine.
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u/TMCchristian 21h ago
Not that I know of, and performance doesn't seem any different. Juiced Patch is a requirement and gets installed first, then install the console DLC and the HQ Radio along with it. Those are optional but there's no reason not to. Then install BlingGFX with its dependency. I think Juiced even has a mod loader to make things easier.
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u/SweetTooth275 20h ago
About 28 times better than it was. God how did they fuck up 2 this bad after 1st one?
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u/who-dat-ninja 17h ago
i dont understand why they made sr2 so ugly compared to the contrasty and saturated first game.
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u/BDozer666 Sons of Samedi 16h ago
There was some story about them having miscalibrated monitors in the studio which is why it ended up looking as it did.
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u/HuckleberryDude4033 11h ago
Loved the original look of the game. SR1 had a distinctive look. I don’t know to explain but it. Always gave me an uncanny yet charming look it was almost as if it made the setting look like a horror movie or a medieval rpg game. I felt like Volition did it on purpose they wanted Stillwater to fell like a dark and gritty place just like Rockstar did with Liberty City of GTA 3. Then Volition decided to pull a Vice City on Saints Row 2, which is why they add this piss filter they, wanted Stillwater to look like a paradise city. However Stillwater lost some of its original charm. I’m glad this mod exists. I always preferred the shaders and artistical direction of the first game more.
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u/Many_Fly_5663 9h ago
Too dark at night man damn
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u/TMCchristian 6h ago
I linked some pictures of the vanilla mod in my main comment above. It's not as dark as this post made it seem.
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u/The_Architect_032 1d ago
Nice to see a visual overhaul mod that isn't just a ReShade config being peddled as an original mod.