The Purple People Eater!

Snaaty was doing Gweden Brothel long ago, but a huge glitch occurred in Bravil and I had to cancel his progress. But that was 10 years ago, and I was new to PC gaming. Maybe I did something wrong, who knows? I should give GB another try.

Swanky! I'm not used seeing those colors in Oblivion, but it suits him

Winter Wolf's talk about Anvil made me dig up two favourite pics from the shores of Anvil


Sunset
Nirnroot

It's no joke that Anvil literally has the most stunning sunset! It's gorgeous in remastered!

Here's Jerric in Oblivion Remastered, no mods (yet).

In the sewers

Got the last piece of steel armor from Agnete

Approaching Anvil

Nice! Love the Skingrad night

A Nord in shining armor!

Very cool, Grits. Even in shadow I can tell that's Jerric.

His armor is VERY shiny.

Thanks folks! The light and reflections are beautiful. I spend a lot of time just looking around.

Things have progressed.

Niiiice WOW, look at that determined look on his face.

He does look pretty grim!

I used that screenshot to make a pretend book cover for Jerric's Story: link

As mALX would say. . . Awesome!

He kind of looks like Henry Cavill in that one. Which is a compliment of course...

Thanks, folks!

Wow, there is some Henry Cavill there! I should not be surprised, because now looking at a photo of him those are the sort of square features I was shooting for. Henry Cavill fan here! *raises hand*

I recently began experimenting with Google Gemini, using game screenshots. Nothing fancy. Just telling it to make the image "photorealistic." For Oblivion, I chose an image from my first playthrough, rather than my first (favorite) playthrough or the more extensively graphically enhanced experimental playthrough. The image was captured at Fort Ash, during a road patrol from the Imperial City to Chorrol. My decrepit avatar and Neeshka are seen dismounted, examining a corpse. (I no longer recall why they examine it.)

<link> Here is the Gemini image. <link>

It is indeed visually improved. However, in the original, both my avatar and Neeshka wear helmets. Also, the character seen standing to their right is totally fabricated by Gemini. He does not exist in the original! But you have to admit that he looks natural to the scene. LOL

How nice to see your decrepit avatar here again, Decrepit!

Interesting idea, Decrepit. I may have to try that!

First, corrections to my previous screenshot post. Upon closer scrutiny, I realize that that image is from my first Oblivion playthrough, not the second. My avatar's companion is Neeshka, not Vilja. (Corrections are made to reflect this.)

With that out of the way, I've another Gemini-doctored Oblivion screenshot to display. This one is for sure from my second playthrough, and the companion is definitely Vilja. They are seen relaxing at what I'm pretty sure is Millstone Farm, a mod that provides a player home, a farmstead, and some associated quests.

I'm very pleased with this image. The only real fault I can find with it is that my decrepit avatar's face doesn't look befuddled enough. There are worse sins.

<link> My Decrepit Avatar and Vilja at Millstone Farm, a Gemini-enhanced screenshot <link>

Wow, that one definitely looks pretty 'photorealistic'!

Two more Gemini-enhanced Oblivion screenshots:

<link> Companion Neeska, a first-playthrough image captured while on quest <link>

<link> My decrepit avatar and Vilja shopping in the Imperial City, a second-playthrough image <link>
Gemini AI must be pretty sophisticated. Without me telling it, it knew the game was Oblivion and turned the lady behind the counter into an Argonian. I had to tell it to change her back into a "human."

Also, though not seen in either of these two images, Gemini seems not to like Oblivion's more exotic helms when seen at a distance and either renders them as being more basic or dispenses with them altogether. As image one shows, it leaves them more or less intact when helmet wearers are nearby.

Looks really good, especially at Jensine's.

Yeah, that one and the image from Millstone Farmstead are my two faves thus far.

Decrepit, your Gemini-enhanced Oblivion screenshots turned out great. Really does make me want to try it on my character and his little band of companions. How does it work?

I'm still new to (free tier) Gemini, have much to learn, and therefore can provide no more than the basics. Once on the Gemini page, I load a screenshot via drag-and-drop from my file-manager-of-choice. I then type in something like "Transform this Elder Scrolls Oblivion screenshot into a photorealistic image." Then press the on-screen arrow or just your enter-key. For many screenshots, that's all that's needed for high-quality output (which is seen below the original screenshot). If you don't like the result, either start afresh, giving Gemini more specific instructions, or ask it to alter what you don't like about its initial result but to leave all else in the altered image as is. This hasn't always worked for me, but again, I'm still a novice. Also, the free tier of Gemini is limited to a restricted number of images processed per day, which limits the amount of learning-experimentation we are allowed to do at any one time.

For Oblivion, I notice that Gemini tends to alter character armor, especially exotic armor, more so at a distance than nearby. I've not yet found a fully reliable way to correct this, either with my initial statement or corrective statements. The same can occur with races, though this is more easily/reliably correct.

In any case, give it a try. Being free, there's nothing to lose.

Oblivion Gemini enhanced screenshot

<link> On break at the Imperial Bridge Inn, a second playthrough image <link>

Here we see my avatar relaxing between Gate closures during the Crisis. He is joined by a mod-added on-break group of patrolling legionnaires. Gemini did a fine job with one of my favorite captures. Davela looks a bit pale, certainly paler than in the original, but I think she's simply been bleached by the lighting. The orc sitting next to my avatar looks a bit too handsome, but there are worse sins.

To me it kinda looks like normal Oblivion, perhaps with a graphics mod. Still a great shot.

Yeah, Gemini's nighttime and indoor enhancements tend to be less transformative than outdoor images (as to image quality), though there are exceptions.

Yes, the sunlight coming through that window looks incredible. It would also be interesting to see what the same picture looks like unenhanced.

Which image? The one at Millstone Farm or the one in the Imperial City?

Um, this one. Firstly, I've seen that mod which adds actual windows to interiors. I forget its name, but the one I'm thinking of allows us to view a sort of "mock" exterior which is not the actual outside world. Never seen sunlight stream so beautifully into an interior though, even with all the All Natural options toggled on.

<link> Here be the original Millstone Farmhouse interior screenshot <link>
It's not bad at all, but no match for the quality of the Gemini-enhanced image. I remember the Oblivion window mod you refer to. I wanted it badly. But...it had a known incompatibility with the mod that gave my avatar his road patrol and tax collecting assignments. No way was I going to give those up, see-through windows or no see-through windows.

And now for something not completely different: an Oblivion ruin-crawl combat image, captured during my first playthrough, in which companion Neeshky bites off more than she can chew, being mobbed by a trio of baddies.

<link> original screenshot <link>
It's an OK image. Quality-wise it's nothing special. Only its subject matter makes it memorable.

<link> Here's the Gemini Enhanced image <iink>
When I first saw the results, my jaw dropped. I think it not necessarily photorealistic but rather reproduction art quality, something that might grace a book cover. Well, except that the pixel count is a bit too low for that, but still...

Wow, that last pic was truly amazing! Although I don't know why mr Gemini decided to give the Spriggan wings

Yeah, Gemini has a habit of altering things beyond simply making them "photorealistic." I thought about asking it to remove those wings but alter nothing else. After more thought, I decided I like those wings, accurate or not. Besides, who knows what additional things Gemini might decide need changing should I ask it to reprocess an already exceptional image? It's best to let sleeping dogs lie. And again, I'm more than satisfied with the image as is.

Well, I guess it did that because the Spriggan is in the air (since she's jumping) so in a way it makes sense.

Mirocu is right! That Gemini-altered Neeshka shot is fantastic!

There is much to like in the Gemini photos, but they do need a little tweaking. For instance, the way Gemini corrected the shadows in the Millstone Farmhouse is great, but Vilja appears to much older in the face.

The Ayleid ruin Gemini photo, good as it is, takes a lot of liberties with Neeshka, the Spriggan, adding glyphs and glowing runes to the walls, and an added rose window as a light source.

I do like that Ayleid ruin scene, though. That flying demon could be my Daedra Seducer companion.

This morning's Gemini-enhanced Oblivion screenshot, "the gang" travelling through an Elsweyr city during a sandstorm, is an image whose original I came close to deleting long ago. Only its composition, plus forgetting it existed, kept me from pulling the switch. It is one of the first screenshots I asked Gemini to enhance. That early attempt ended in total failure. My avatar, Vilja, and their mounts totally vanished. Groucho (mule) and the dog (whose name I have sadly forgotten) remained, though Gemini turned Groucho to face toward the camera rather than away from it. However, I quite liked how Gemini rendered the landscape and sandy atmosphere.

Last night, I resolved to give Gemini another chance, using this command:

"Transform this Elder Scrolls Oblivion Elsweyr sandstorm screenshot into a photorealistic image. Do not remove, reposition, or change the attire of the two mounted characters; just make them look photorealistic."

This did the trick. Yes, the armor is not quite right, but it's not far off either. Landscape and sandy atmosphere remain strong. It also corrects graphical anomalies in Arrowspeed's "horse blanket" and tree leaves/branches. I don't know how it picked out, or knew to pick out, the vaguely seen large entrance structure seen at distance, but it's pretty much as I remember it. It even spells the Inn sign correctly, never a given.

<link> "The Gang" travelling through an Elsweyr city during a sandstorm - ORIGINAL SCREENSHOT <link>

<link> Gemini-enhanced version of the above <link>

Following this success, I attempted two further screenshot enhancements. Both ended in failure.

The sandstorm one came out well in the final try.

Indeed; that shot came out great!

Having diligently searched through thousands of TES: Oblivion screenshots, scattered across multiple directories, I must, with some amazement and great sorrow, admit to myself that no screenshot of Vilja in combat exists. Neeshka, yes. I've more than plenty of those, though only a relatively small number are worthy of enhancement.

Be that as it may, today's Gemini-enhanced image finds my avatar in Ayleid Ruin Vanua, gazing upon the Helm of the Crusader, on his way to becoming an avatar of the Nine, in which guise he tackled the Oblivion Crisis during my second playthrough.

<link> The Helm of the Crusader, a Gemini-enhanced second-playthrough image <link>

Gemini gave me trouble with this one. First, for some unfathomable reason, it added a second character screen left of my avatar. I told Gemini to remove that character; it didn't. I told it to again; it did but then added a free-standing stone arch screen left of my avatar. I told it to remove the arch; it did. I left things alone at that point. What I should have done, and am tempted to do, is tell it to add a soft glow to the Crusader's Helm, in keeping with the original. But who knows what that might lead to?

Today's Gemini-enhanced Oblivion screenshot is a winner in all but one regard: my avatar's chest covering. When I first enhanced this image, it nailed that covering but got the helmet wrong. Several corrective attempts failed to fix this. I deleted everything and started afresh. This time it nailed the helmet but failed to give the chest covering its correct Castle Seaview (mod) design. This also I can't correct. I like the image well enough to let things stand as is...for now.

<link> Gemini-enhance Oblivion image—Battle on the Bridge, a first playthrough capture <link>

Oooh, Hamfat and his horse have matching headgear!

Yeah. I was then, and remain, a fan of the Castle Seaview (mod) quest armor and horse. It was my avatar's armor of choice throughout much of my first playthrough. My avatar's focus changed in my second playthrough, from being a questing adventurer to becoming a servant of the Nine and the Empire. In more practical terms, the mod that assigns him road patrols and tax gatherings requires that he wear a limited number of authorized armors, the Oblivion Crisis reward armor being amongst them.

In today's Gemini-enhanced Oblivion screenshot, we witness combat within ruins as Neeshka distracts their Trollish adversary, allowing my avatar, attacking from the side, to plunge his sword into the beast's chest.

<link> Ruins Troll combat with Neeshka and my avatar, a Gemini-enhanced first playthrough image <link>

Gemini's first stab at following my instructions was pretty spot-on. Neeshka and my avatar look like themselves, armor and all, other than Neeshka's skin being not quite blue enough. I had Gemini correct this during its second pass. I consider this image more an "improved screenshot" than either "artwork" or "photorealistic." (Yes, I told Gemini to add the blood.)

Today's Gemini-enhanced Oblivion image is a second playthrough <link> Leyawiin evening street scene. <link>

Both those shots look really good!

Today's Gemini-enhanced Oblivion screenshot captures first-playthrough nighttime road combat with my avatar and Neeshka versus a Khajiit...hopefully no-one we know.

<link> Nighttime road combat, a first-playthrough Gemini-enhanced image <link>

Nice effects on that sword!

Oh, so it's like you're manally altering these images thru the Gemini program? Wow.

Yep. I select a screenshot that looks worthy of enhancement or is of special significance to me, paste it in Gemini, tell Gemini what I want altered and what I want left alone, press the enter key, and hope for the best. My goal is, normally, to make it look as close to the original as possible, only photorealistic/artistic.

I do ask Gemini to alter some things; add reins to horses that are held by the rider, change a horse's legs to make it look like it is traveling forward, make a weapon stab through or cut into an opponent, and so on and so forth. In other words, if it's not in the original screenshot because of game limitations, I'll attempt to remedy the lack.

Now, these past couple of days I've sometimes told Gemini to go above and beyond, such as with iny second-playthrough capture of the battle between a transformed Martin Septim and Mehrunes Dagon at the climax of the Oblivion Crisis. The screenshot itself is an incomprehensible mess, not worthy of posting. Following my instructions, Gemini transformed it into a lovely piece of artwork. Could it be further improved? Possibly. But I find drawing from the well too often can sometimes cause more harm than good. Plus, sometimes Gemini simply won't produce the results I want, regardless of what I tell it.

Some things it's simply bad at, like keeping my characters' faces as is (but photorealistic), except up close. Nor does it understand Vilja's hairstyle at a distance.

<link> [b]Here's a link to Free Tier Gemini[/b] <link>
Drop in a screenshot. Give it as detailed instructions as you feel necessary. If the first pass doesn't work out, try again. Being free, no harm is done.