HQ AI-Enhanced card pictures for Forge

[necxelos]

Here's fourth update to pictures, all Draft Innovation sets are now processed and ready to use.

Image comparison (remastered to the left vs scans to the right):

"Danitha Capashen, Paragon" | Open

"Radiant Epicure" | Open

"Nimbus Champion" | Open

"Nantuko Cultivator" | Open

"Goblin Shortcutter" | Open

You can download sets here:
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/try7mk ... ation_Sets - Draft Innovation

[necxelos]

Here's fourth update to pictures, a very big one this time. All of the Starter and Masters sets are now processed and ready to use.

Image comparison (remastered to the left vs scans to the right):

"Danitha Capashen, Paragon" | Open

"Mind Shatter" | Open

"Ancestral Recall" | Open

"Moon Sprite" | Open

"Lightning Axe" | Open

"Azorius Charm" | Open

"Expedition Map" | Open

"Urza's Power Plant" | Open

You can download sets here:
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/iah7q9 ... sters_Sets - Masters
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/eo1p4m ... arter_Sets - Starter

[BlackLotus82]

Outstanding work, really. Two months ago I began cleaning & upscaling Modern cards by myself, but eventually dropped since results didn't match the time investment. So, your effort is absolutely encomiable!

[Tapio]

Thanks, have replaced all cards with the ones I didn't do. Huge improvement over cards with scan lines and dots. Best cards we ever had. Playing is so much fun again. Don't forget playing!

[AStrangerIsHere]

I just noticed some cards are missing in Invasion, the last ones, up from Shivan Zombie.

Edit: or not, it might have been an error when I've downloaded the zip. I downloaded it a second time and all the cards are present.

[necxelos]

Here's the fifth update to HQ pics, big one once again. All Box and Funny sets are now processed and ready to use.

Image comparison (remastered to the left vs scans to the right):

"Gideon Blackblade" | Open

"Death Spark" | Open

"Clockwork Beast" | Open

"Plains" | Open

"Mountain" | Open

"Swamp" | Open

You can download sets here:
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/9q7c6h2jybfhu/Box_Sets - Box
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/xrwu3k ... Funny_Sets - Funny

[AStrangerIsHere]

By the way, I think the link for Shadowmoor is dead because each time I try to download, this message appears:

Generating new download key

We are generating a new download key for this file. Click the button below to continue.

So I click but nothing changes, it's impossible to download it.

[Agetian]

I can confirm that both SHM and V17 links are dead, tried a few times over several days and also got that error mentioned above.

- Agetian

[necxelos]

Ladies and Gentleman...
I give to You A MASSIVE UPDATE to HQ AI-Enhanced card pictures for Forge!
Scenic announcement aside, update really is massive...

For starters, main download link for all files is now:
http://download.austeregrim.net/xlhq_remaster/
...or (for those who start from index page, it's under Lord Xelos' xlhq Remaster section). For simplicity of use (since most actual users don't care about Scryfall-inspired subdirectory structure) there are now just two directories:
- Sets in Forge/
- Sets NOT YET in Forge/
...while the most important is the Forge one, I am planning (with some help) to introduce some of the other sets to Forge, starting with gold-bordered Championship set series. For that purpose I am also posting all of the sets not yet in Forge - some of them will eventually be added.

Also, big thanks to austergrim who created and is paying for the download server!

Next, I added Memorabilia type of sets. Those are:
- OLGC,
- OVNT,
- PHEL,
- PPC1.

I also added Kamigawa Neon Dynasty set (majority of scans are now available so I decided to process them now, but expect update to this set once 100% of scans are available). You need to download:
- NEO.

And finally, the most important part: countless fixes and improvements to previously made sets. This took a lot of time, since majority of those fixes couldn't be programmed and needed to be done manually. Sets that were affected by those fixes (and should be downloaded again while deleting old ones):
- KHM,
- BOK, C18, CHK, CM2, COM, FMB1, MB1, PLIST, SOK,
- TD0, TD1,
- SLD,
- WAR,
- 6E, 7E, 8E, US,
- PT,
- VAN,
- and for those who download "Sets NOT YET in Forge" right away, PHUK and PSAL were also updated.

IMPORTANT: Do not use Mediafire links for now. Apparently they become dead if too many people download them and need to be reuploaded from scratch. I'll get to it (eventually) but for now simply use the (better) alternative, which is austergrim's website.

[Huggybaby]

Indeed, Mediafire is not reliable. My first HQ pics archive was hosted there and they nuked the whole account. IP harassment was worse then than today, but still they're not to be trusted.

I'm also yet to see a private host that can withstand the bandwidth needed for serving HQ pics. It's amazing how many people will download an entire multi gigabyte collection every time a single new set comes out, so good luck to austeregrim.

[necxelos]

Indeed, Mediafire is not reliable. My first HQ pics archive was hosted there and they nuked the whole account. IP harassment was worse then than today, but still they're not to be trusted.

I'm also yet to see a private host that can withstand the bandwidth needed for serving HQ pics. It's amazing how many people will download an entire multi gigabyte collection every time a single new set comes out, so good luck to austeregrim.

Yeah, I was surprised Mediafire works this way. I thought the only limitation is space (as described) but apparently too many downloads lead to dead links (I googled several complaints about it). File-sharing-service my a..!

As for people argument, it's one of the reasons I intentionally provide one-ZIP-per-set. It's easy to just download the updated set this way. If I was to provide one big download it would indeed lead to clogging the bandwidth.

[Huggybaby]

I sure hope you're right.

We've had three different downloader softwares that would get single sets but people always used the "download everything" option, and whatever websites were hosting stopped after a month. More than once have I heard an intrepid volunteer say "I have unlimited bandwidth". ha

So we don't use those softwares any more, although they still work.

The most robust distribution method is a well-seeded torrent, and I don't think one exists today, but the dream lives on.

[AStrangerIsHere]

I sure hope you're right.

We've had three different downloader softwares that would get single sets but people always used the "download everything" option, and whatever websites were hosting stopped after a month. More than once have I heard an intrepid volunteer say "I have unlimited bandwidth". ha

So we don't use those softwares any more, although they still work.

The most robust distribution method is a well-seeded torrent, and I don't think one exists today, but the dream lives on.

Yeah about that, a torrent should be a good idea.

[necxelos]

Yeah about that, a torrent should be a good idea.

Sadly, it's a terrible idea. Torrents are static, once they're out there they cannot be modified, as in: there is no way to add or replace files. And this is exactly what I'm doing here: adding new things or changing old ones. There's also problem of seeding: I can't do that.

Of course once I'm done with all sets released up-to-date, there will be less meddling in old sets, but it would still need to be seeded by someone else. And of course new sets would be released outside torrent, since it cannot be modified (and adding new stuff is modifying).

[Huggybaby]

When you get to the point that typos have been reported and errors all corrected etc. we can discuss it. Nobody expects you to seed, the community can handle that.