Widescreenfixespack: [SH2] Fog fix/WineD3D/WSF incompatibilities

[seagull]

Hi everyone;
I've been doing a lot of my own research, but I can see I'm clearly in a very good group here, so I hope you'll all be patient with me and help me to work out the best combination of fixes for my device.
I'm running an NVIDIA card, so SMAA shouldn't be an issue, at 1920x1200.
In addition to the standard, boilerplate issues every SH2 fix remedies by now (looping sound, broken saving, single-core affinity, safe mode, screen resolution), here are the issues as I see them:

• Vertex shading.
  -- WineD3D fixes this. By removing the "DISABLE_VERTEX_SHADERS" fix from local.fix (which disables vertex shaders at the expense of FOV and flashlight effects) and running WineD3D, the white textures are gone, and James' flashlight now has a circular shape instead of the ugly blocky one we're all used to. The fix is called D3D8.DLL.
• Fog.
  -- Nemesis2000 has a fog fix out which enables proper volumetric fog as seen in the PS2 version of the title. Its fix is called D3D8.DLL.
• The Map screen.
  -- I've been using sh2fix (https://files.servx.ru/shfix/sh2/) for a while now and it fixes this, I haven't tested with SH2WF recently but the last time I did the map screen had ugly grey borders either side of the screen and the marker overlays displayed where the map didn't. Has this been addressed?
• EXE Versions.
  -- There seems to be a lot of confusion about this; nobody's ever published a table of all the different EXE versions and checksums that work with each individual fix. Nobody uses the original because it needs the ISO loaded.
  If you check the sh2fix link I posted above, in the misc/ folder there's a "compatible_exe" with the MD5 of 3E1D6C76FCFD23925661066893E8EC92. Is the Widescreen Fix known to be directly compatible with this or is there a preferred version? Does SH2WSF include NoCD functionality?

The biggest issue for me is that both WineD3D and the Fog Fix are called D3D8.dll. I tried using ThirteenAG's ultimate ASI loader but only the Fog Fix works with it, WineD3D doesn't – as such, the fix is pointless because it only works when they're running together.
This basically forces users to choose between realistic fog or vertex shading. It's compounded by the fact that the fog fix is closed-source, making it impossible to merge into another project.

Has anyone been able to find a fix for this? I hate disabling my vertex shaders.
Thanks everyone! Great work with this, you're doing a beautiful thing for SH fans.

[AeroWidescreen]

Fog: It's an awkward situation. I could make my own version of this and integrate it with the widescreen fix, because the fog fix has its own problems that I know how to solve, but that would undermine the work Nemesis2000 put into it. @jdkubiak has tried contacting him, but I don't think he ever got a response.

Map: I just tried sh2fix and everything is stretched, so it doesn't fix the map issue unless I'm missing something. The whole point of the widescreen fix is to have everything scale correctly for all resolutions, and right now the side-effect of that are those black bars on the map. A proper solution has yet to be found, but I'm currently experimenting with the idea of modifying the textures themselves.

Exe versions: I don't know about other fixes, but the widescreen fix uses byte patterns so it should work with _any_ exe. That's why the supported exe version is listed as "Any" on the front page. If there's an exe that doesn't work for some reason you can post about it here and we can look into it, but no guarantees can be made if that exe has been heavily modified. 'No cd' exes will work.

[seagull]

Thanks for your reply, Aero.

I too have tried contacting Nemesis but found no response. If you're able to address this, I beg of you to. Doing this will finally permit us to have vertex shaders _and_ fog, which is the last piece of the puzzle as far as I'm concerned.

The mapping is an interesting one, thank you for clarifying. I appreciate stretching the map isn't the goal of the fix, but I wonder if I'd be alone in saying I prefer a fix that breaks the rules a little to improve the experience. Would this ever be something you'd consider adding an option in the INI for?

I appreciate your word in EXE versions, I'll delete my alternate testing EXEs and just use the sh2fix one.
Cheers!

[seagull]

Closing note: depending on your response I'll either edit or close this case.

[AeroWidescreen]

Fog: Interesting. I'll send him an email and see if I get a response at all, and if I don't, then I'll look into this. We're kind of stuck if his work is closed source and he's not responding to anyone.

Map: I could ask ThirteenAG to add an option to disable FixMenus, like he did for SH3. All 2D elements would be stretched, not just the map though.

[seagull]

Both would be immensely appreciated, thank you for your consideration.
I don't know how you guys handle case management; would you like me to edit this case and make a new one, or close it and make two, or just leave things as they are?

[AeroWidescreen]

You can edit this one or make a new one, but if you make a new one then close this one. 😛 It doesn't really matter to me.

[Polymega]

I've found ways to make the Widescreen Fix + WineD3D work to fix all noted Nvidia bugs (along with Xinput Plus and Nemesis' Fog Fix) but doing this creates a new issue in that the Widescreen Fix doesn't work many of the times when you launch the EXE. You typically have to relaunch the game several times over before the fix takes effect. Obviously not the ideal solution.

The Ultimate ASI Loader has a built-in D3D8to9 converter but it creates a very unflattering lighting issues in one of the scenes and turns all FMVs red if using a computer with integrated graphics. If these issues could be resolved then _I believe_ you could drop WineD3D in favor of Ultimate ASI Loader's solution.

@jdkubiak has tried contacting him, but I don't think he ever got a response.

Yup, I've also messaged him twice with no response. Been probably a month or so now.

I could make my own version of this and integrate it with the widescreen fix, because the fog fix has its own problems that I know how to solve, but that would undermine the work Nemesis2000 put into it.

I completely understand the reasoning of your thinking here but I also believe you would not be undermining his work. So long as you don't steal any of his coding, thus writing your own code/solution from scratch/"by hand," I wouldn't see any issue with this. And, as a sign of respect, if you come up with your own solution you can always give a shout-out to Nemesis for being the one to originally find a solution to the fog and inspiration for your continued iteration.

I also beg of you, if you have the knowledge and time, to make the fog fix mostly due to the possibility of disabling it in the tunnel where you meet the first Lying Figure and disabling it for the hallway/room(s) where you meet Eddie for the last time.

Map: I could ask ThirteenAG to add an option to disable FixMenus, like he did for SH3. All 2D elements would be stretched, not just the map though.

This one is a more subjective issue for many as I don't mind your fix for this as-is, am okay with stretching the images if need be, and would absolutely prefer them to be scaled without stretching. However, there's never any harm in giving people the option to stretch the images if that's what they want! Maybe have stretching disabled by default in the INI and users can enable it if they prefer.

[AeroWidescreen]

Well, on second thought making my own fog fix wouldn't solve anything when it comes to using all of this together. It's already possible to do that. What's interesting is dsound.dll used to work in a previous version of the ASI loader... yep, try this: https://www.sendspace.com/file/ybrl9h

Using dsound.dll should allow you to use widescreen fix + fog fix + wineD3D + xinput plus all at the same time!

@ThirteenAG is there a way to get dsound.dll to work again?

@seagull You should be able to use the WineD3D + fog fix + widescreen fix together already. Just place sh2.dll and sh2fog.ini into the scripts folder, and rename sh2.dll to sh2.asi

[Polymega]

Well, on second thought making my own fog fix wouldn't solve anything when it comes to using all of this together. It's already possible to do that.

Worth your consideration to have it toned down in those specific areas?

What's interesting is dsound.dll used to work in a previous version of the ASI loader... yep, try this: https://www.sendspace.com/file/ybrl9h

This is awesome! I can't wait to give this a go then!!

[seagull]

Oh my, this thread is going places fast.
Thanks both, I'll test that fix and report back.

Quick one: the site I grabbed sh2fix from has a "misc" subdirectory – https://files.servx.ru/shfix/sh2/misc/ – wherein various builds of WineD3D can be located. Will 2.6 (the latest there) work, should I use the latest version from WineD3D, or is there a preferred build we're using here?

[Polymega]

There's a lot of versions for WineD3D so I haven't tested them all but, and if memory serves, I did find that if you use the very first version (1.6 I believe) it will not only still fix all the Nvidia bugs but also NOT create the black lines on faces that the latest versions of WineD3D produce. I believe it needs to be used with the ENB Converter for all this to work.

http://downloads.fdossena.com/Projects/WineD3D/Builds/

Also, and again if memory serves (as I've been messing with a ton of different solution combos and they're all getting fuzzy in my mind at this point), Ultimate ASI Loader's built-in D3D8to9 will also fix the Nvidia specific bugs without creating black lines on character faces but you run into the previous issues I mentioned with this route. But worth mentioning this method again as an alternative.

[AeroWidescreen]

Worth your consideration to have it toned down in those specific areas?

Yeah, sure, I still plan on doing what I said. It's just that I wasn't fully awake when I made my initial post, and for some reason I thought that would solve seagull's main problem as well. Sorry for the confusion.

[seagull]

It works!
Thank you both so much for your help with this. I hope someone from PCGamingWiki sees this and adds this to their file, but for reference, I mapped out the file structure (since this can get pretty complicated) and wrote a quick guide for users wanting the total experience.
= = = = = = = = = =
Seagull's Silent Hill 2 installation guide for Modern PCs (June 2017)
EDIT: This is pretty obsolete now, please read through the rest of the thread

• Install Silent Hill 2: Director's Cut. This implies the European release.
• Edit permissions of install directory to make your Windows user an administrator.
  (Or install to somewhere like C:\Games\SH2)
• Run the SH2Patch file included with the installer.
  It installs some ancient device-specific fixes but it's worth doing regardless.
• Replace the EXE with the "compatible EXE" NoCD available at https://files.servx.ru/shfix/sh2/misc/compatible_exe.zip
• (Optional) find and copy over the FMVs from the Silent Hill 2 Widescreen FMV pack.
• Download, but do nothing with, Nemesis 2000's SH2 Fog Fix.
  Get it from here: https://mega.nz/#!O0YTyBRa!NzxBsiPAnsY3IigL0UmiwTtMob-KKCBw44771E_B448. The password is "sh2".
• If you have a file called local.fix, make sure there is no line referring to "DX_CONFIG_USE_VERTEX_SHADERS".
  This is an old fix used to repair white textures on modern devices. It isn't necessary any more with the WineD3D binaries.
  If you're using a pre-existing installation, this will probably be present, so be sure to check for it.
• Download the latest developmental build of the Silent Hill 2 Widescreen Fix from https://ci.appveyor.com/project/ThirteenAG/widescreenfixespack/build/artifacts.
• Download an old build of ASILoader from https://mega.nz/#!ApYjgRbT!A5HEZLcalxyzaPr-c-f9IQiHdRASBVSsbNwQsl2hr4A.
• Download WineD3D 1.6.2 from http://downloads.fdossena.com/Projects/WineD3D/Builds/. (Yes, that's the oldest version.)
• At this point you should have a number of files prepared in addition to your SH2 installation:
  -- The Silent Hill 2 compatible EXE
  -- The Silent Hill 2 Fog Fix
  -- The Silent Hill 2 Widescreen Fix
  -- The old build of ASILoader
  -- WineD3D 1.6.2
• In your Silent Hill 2 installation directory, make a folder called "scripts" and place the Widescreen fix inside it.
  You can edit the .ini file now to configure things like screen resolution.
• Copy the "sh2.dll" and "sh2fog.ini" files into here as well. Re-name "sh2.dll" to "sh2.asi".
• From the WineD3D archive, move the files "d3d8.dll", "libwine.dll" and "wined3d.dll" to the installation folder (not the scripts folder).
• Copy "dsound.dll" into the installation folder. This is the ASI loader that loads the Widescreen and Fog fixes.
• Copy dinput8.dll into the installation folder. This is part of the Widescreen fix.
• You're done! Launch Silent Hill 2 and configure the joypads as you want. If you're using Xpadder, be sure to de-map the joypad buttons. Also make sure to turn Fog to complex, but don't change the resolution settings as the Widescreen Fix handles that.
• If you're using a joypad, install the Lavendy vibration driver from http://stoic.jp/nds/driver/xi/index.html to enable vibration for XInput devices. You'll need to use DS4Windows to make Windows think you're running a 360 pad if you have a DS4 pad.

[AeroWidescreen]

Depending on ThirteenAG's response, using the old ASI loader may only be a temporary solution.

Also, I've sent Nemesis2000 an email with my solution to his 'fog_layer2_size' problem. I'll wait about a week before doing anything. I've already compared my solution to the PS2 version, and I get similar looking results in the Eddie boss fight and Lying Figure encounter.

[seagull]

Thanks for the update. I await the next one.

[ThirteenAG]

I'm sorry, I'm not reading any issues nor will be responding to ones for some time. I don't quite understand what's the problem you have with current asi loader though.

[Brunn0121]

Using the wined3d + wsf fixes the white textures and objects that disappear when too close to the camera, but this is what happens when turning the flashlight on / off

Also, this is not an bug/issue, but is there a way to make the 2d images fit the entire screen? like zooming them to fit the 16:9 aspect ratio? i think this (and the widescreen map screen) is the only thing left to make this game completely widescreen.

[Polymega]

The flashlight bug has been addressed/fixed in the latest development build of the WSF. Be sure to download the dev build version on the downloads page.

[Brunn0121]

It is the latest version, the flashlight problem that illuminates characters behind James is fixed, this bug only happens for a split second when turning it on/off (my video showed this problem clearly), disabling wine3d3 eliminates the problem, but the white textures and objects disappearing when getting too close to the screen gets back.

[Polymega]

I see. I'm not near my PC to try this but try using the ENB Converter and WineD3D but, with using the ENB Converter and its d3d8.dll file, use WineD3D's d3d9.dll instead of its d3d8.

I don't recall have this issue with that setup.

http://enbdev.com/convertor_dx8_dx9_v0035.htm

[AeroWidescreen]

@ThirteenAG

I'm sorry, I'm not reading any issues nor will be responding to ones for some time. I don't quite understand what's the problem you have with current asi loader though.

dsound.dll causes a hang on launch for SH2, even though it works in an older version of ASI loader. It's only an issue for people wanting to use all of these different fixes together, so it really isn't a big deal, but thought I'd bring it to your attention.

Using the older ASI loader is a more than acceptable workaround for this.

@Brunn0121

It is the latest version, the flashlight problem that illuminates characters behind James is fixed, this bug only happens for a split second when turning it on/off (my video showed this problem clearly), disabling wine3d3 eliminates the problem, but the white textures and objects disappearing when getting too close to the screen gets back.

Well, I only had that problem when I enabled D3D8to9 via global.ini. I don't normally use any of this stuff, so I recommend following jdkubiak's and seagull's advice.

[ThirteenAG]

dsound.dll causes a hang on launch for SH2, even though it works in an older version of ASI loader. It's only an issue for people wanting to use all of these different fixes together, so it really isn't a big deal, but thought I'd bring it to your attention.

Please create a separate issue in UAL's repo about this. Also try to use forceentrypointhook=0 in global.ini, see if it works that way. I don't want there to be any regressions.

[Brunn0121]

It simply doesn't work unfortunately, I don't think I'm doing anything wrong because if I were it wouldn't fix the white textures and the wsf wouldn't work either, the 2 fixes just don't get along with each other, when I get back home I'll try an fresh install from my disc and start this procedure from 0
Thanks for the reply.

[Polymega]

What's interesting is dsound.dll used to work in a previous version of the ASI loader... yep, try this: https://www.sendspace.com/file/ybrl9h

@Aero52 you beautiful person, you. The game boots up with your fix each and every time now along with the other fixes running along with it. Oh the consistency makes me so happy. :)

Using the wined3d + wsf fixes the white textures and objects that disappear when too close to the camera, but this is what happens when turning the flashlight on / off

Hm, @Brunn0121 I ran the game on both my Nvidia and AMD rig and didn't experience this issue. Now, when I turn off the flashlight I noticed Maria stayed lit a second longer than the environment on both GPUs. But doesn't it do that for all versions of the game including consoles? I don't have my PS2 (and sold my Xbox a long time ago) plugged in to test that.

Here's the files that I use, if this may help you:

d3d8.dll (ENB Converter file)
d3d9.dll (WineD3D file)
dinput.dll (Xinput Plus file)
dinput8.dll (Xinput Plus file)
enbconverter.ini (ENB Converter file)
libwine.dll (WineD3D file)
dsound.dll (Ultimate ASI Loader "Older Version" that Aero linked above)
wined3d.dll (WineD3D file)
XInput1_3.dll (Xinput Plus file)
XInputPlus.dll (Xinput Plus file)
\scripts\sh2.asi (Fog Fix file)
\scripts\sh2fog.ini (Fog Fix file)
\scripts\SilentHill2.WidescreenFix.asi (Widescreen Fix file)
\scripts\SilentHill2.WidescreenFix.ini (Widescreen Fix file) 

ENB Converter 0.035: http://enbdev.com/convertor_dx8_dx9_v0035.htm
WineD3D 1.6.2: http://downloads.fdossena.com/Projects/WineD3D/Builds/WineD3DForWindows_1.6.2.zip
Xinput Plus: https://sites.google.com/site/0dd14lab/xinput-plus
Ultimate ASI Loader "Older Version": https://www.sendspace.com/file/ybrl9h

[Brunn0121]

The ps2 doesn't have any issues with the (flashlight)[https://youtu.be/M8pczBiToPQ] at all, it works just fine.
But my sh2 doesn't use the aso loader, I'm using the global.ini method on the scripts folder, I'll install a fresh copy again and make it so it is 1:1 to your version, thanks for all those links you're helping me big time

[Polymega]

Using UAL's global.ini for D3D8to9 creates lighting issues as I mentioned above so there is a chance this lighting issue may also be from that.

Yes, let us know if using the ENB Converter route fixes that. The more knowledge we have with all this the better.

[seagull]

The more knowledge we have with all this the better.

I'll say. I hadn't been using d3d8-to-9 at all; if I can be assured it doesn't create additional problems I will.
What does it add/fix over the bog-standard WineD3D8?

[AeroWidescreen]

I have more good news to share. Nemesis2000 responded to my email and he apparently fixed the problem with the fog size and made some other changes. 😃 Download the latest archive from ps2wide.net and give it a try.

[seagull]

The good news just keeps on coming!

[Polymega]

I have more good news to share. Nemesis2000 responded to my email and he apparently fixed the problem with the fog size and made some other changes. 😃 Download the latest archive from ps2wide.net and give it a try.

The updated fog fix is gorgeous! There's more fog without it being too much and the fog layers warp and distort in the air just like the PS2 version. And--maybe its always done this for the PC version but wasn't as noticeable--the fog gets pushed aside as James runs through it (also like the PS2 version) which is super nice.

The Eddie room looks fantastic now. The room isn't consumed by custom fog anymore but there's more/enough now to really add to the drama of the scene. Absolutely stunning.

The tunnel where you first meet the Lying Figure is still too much but this fix overall is a major, marked improvement. It really makes you appreciate all over again how the fog in the game adds to the atmosphere.

Aero, you seem to have the magic touch with both helping to fix this game and reach out to others. Please be sure to thank Nemesis on all our behalf the next time you get in touch with him!

I'll say. I hadn't been using d3d8-to-9 at all; if I can be assured it doesn't create additional problems I will.
What does it add/fix over the bog-standard WineD3D8

Using WineD3D's d3d8 file will fix all the Nvidia specific bugs but also introduce black lines on character's faces (they're more noticeable the farther they are from James/the camera). Using WineD3D's d3d9 file fixes both the Nvidia bugs and the black lines. But in order to use a d3d9 file for SH2 (which uses DirectX8) you need to use the ENB Converter.

The Ultimate ASI Loader has a built-in D3D8to9 feature but I found this one creates an unflattering lighting issue in one of the final cutscenes for the game and also tints all FMVs completely red for people who are using integrated graphics.

[seagull]

Understood, sounds great.
Quick one – the new fog fix also has a d3d8.dll all of a sudden. Should I move that to /scripts and call it d3d8.asi as well?

[Polymega]

You can ignore Fog Fix's d3d8 file (since we're using other files like WSF, WineD3D, etc). Just place the other two files in the \scripts folder and rename sh2.dll to sh2.asi :)

[AeroWidescreen]

The tunnel where you first meet the Lying Figure is still too much but this fix overall is a major, marked improvement. It really makes you appreciate all over again how the fog in the game adds to the atmosphere.

You sure? I know it may not be 1:1 down to the last pixel, but the PS2 version has a similar amount of fog in the Lying Figure cutscene based on what I've seen. Same with the Eddie room. Might have to make some small adjustments if anything, but it's close.

[Brunn0121]

@jdkubiak YOU ARE THE MAN! I installed a fresh copy from my disc and made my game files 1:1 to yours, turns out that using the asi loader with the global.ini on the scripts folder made that problem I had, now I'm using only the asi loader with the WSF, Fog Fix and wineD3D and now the game is absolutely perfect!

The only thing left is to make the map screen fit the entire screen, oddly enough when you move the map far enough, the James arrow and the door marks are still visible over the empty corners of the screen...

And last question to @Aero52 / @ThirteenAG , is there a way to make the 2D images fit the entire screen? It is letterboxed already by default, so we wouldn't lose that much if we cropped it enough to fit the 16:9 aspect ratio (Rosseter and Fungo commented about this on their HD remaster review), if this doesn't mess with the clickable options while on 2D screens, of course. And the option to crop the FMV to fit the widescreen aspect ratio would be really nice too!

[seagull]

@Brunn0121 That was one of my initial points; Aero has already commented on possibly introducing a feature to stretch 2D assets to stop that from being an issue.

I've noticed the v2 fog fix seriously tones things down in terms of fog quantity, to the point where I initially thought I'd installed it wrong. I'm making a comparison video right now.

[Polymega]

You sure? I know it may not be 1:1 down to the last pixel, but the PS2 version has a similar amount of fog in the Lying Figure cutscene based on what I've seen. Same with the Eddie room. Might have to make some small adjustments if anything, but it's close.

You know, I'm really embarrassed of myself. I love SH2. Like a lot. It's the sole reason I went to college for 3D design/3D environment artist. Made a fan site, collect SH2 items, etc. But it's been so, so many years since I've played the PS2 version (my PS2 has long since been put up in storage) I'm forgetting all these things...

I watched some YouTube videos just now of the PS2 version and, yeah, you're totally right: The fog density in that tunnel looks almost identical. I'm very sorry for my ditsiness with that. And on that note one more time: Nemesis2000, if you're reading this, THANKS!!

turns out that using the asi loader with the global.ini on the scripts folder made that problem I had, now I'm using only the asi loader with the WSF, Fog Fix and wineD3D and now the game is absolutely perfect!

Ah, yup, that'll do it. Sorry I forgot to mention that as I too found that out the hard way.

The only thing left is to make the map screen fit the entire screen, oddly enough when you move the map far enough, the James arrow and the door marks are still visible over the empty corners of the screen...

This has been requested by many and Aero is aware of it. He mentioned he has some ideas as to approach this but it may prove time-consuming. You can read a little more about this here: https://github.com/ThirteenAG/WidescreenFixesPack/issues/236#issuecomment-303605752

I also asked my friends who own influential SH FB sites to ask for additional help/resources. A person who recently graduated college with a software development degree contacted me and said he'd look in to making a new SH Texture Explorer that would allow us to edit/re-upload those 2D images in different resolutions. No promises to that, of course, but I certainly appreciate him taking the time to see what all he can do to help the WSF cause.

I've noticed the v2 fog fix seriously tones things down in terms of fog quantity, to the point where I initially thought I'd installed it wrong. I'm making a comparison video right now.

I thought that too, at first. But I temporarily cranked up the fog settings to be sure. Honestly, I really like the default values set for the new fog fix. It mirrors the PS2 version quite nicely without being overbearing. I say give it a playthrough with those settings first and see if it also grows on you. And you can always adjust these settings to your liking by editing the sh2fog.ini file.

[seagull]

I'm making a comparison video right now.

I decided it wasn't necessary. Turning the fog fix's "fog_layer2_density_mult" from 1.00 up to 1.50 puts the level of fog at roughly the same level seen in the v1 fix, which I had grown used to (and which, personally, I think looks much closer to what I'm seeing on YouTube for PS2 copies of the title.)

[Brunn0121]

@seagull, i have the ps2 version and can confirm that 1.50 is the closest to it.
@jdkubiak You own the "I got a letter" site, right? man what an honor to be talking to you, i got all the different ps2 isos from your site, thanks! And, if someone makes a new texture explorer/extractor/replacer would be really nice, id love to see that!

[Polymega]

Yes sir, I do! I hope one day to revamp the site again with new content/info I've learned about the game over the years. Thanks for the kind words! Although I think you may've gotten the ISOs from another site? I don't remember sharing those files over there?

[seagull]

Sorry for nonsensing up the thread chaps, but could I get some help with the ENB converter?
When I download versions 0.35 and 0.36 and install them (rename WineD3D d3d8.dll to d3d9.dll and place the ENB d3d8.dll in its place alongside the .ini file), it tells me a dynamic link library can't be located in dsound.dll (the ASI loader). Any ideas?

[Polymega]

You're fine. Don't rename WineD3D's d3d8 file to d3d9. Instead, use the actual d3d9 file provided in the WineD3D download. There's d3d8/9/10 files in the WineD3D download.

[Brunn0121]

@jdkubiak I got the information about the existence of those versions through your website, the E3 trial, Japanese trial and last but not least, the 0.10 version (this is the only one i can't find anywhere to download) what a fine find you got there with that golden disc!

@seagull i got that problem too, i just re-installed the game and made it look 1:1 to @jdkubiak version, and it all worked just fine

[Polymega]

Gotcha! Yeah I don't think I will ever get over the fact the the golden disc owner trusted me enough (under the sole condition I don't distribute its file contents online) to mail that disc to me to document for preservation purposes (I sent it back to him afterwards).

My ultimate dream as a SH2 fan/collector is getting some type of copy of the Spring TGS (Tokyo Game Show) 2001 trial disc. That trial has RPT roaming the Blue Creek Apartment hallways.

Anyway, to not veer from the discussion anymore I'm more than happy to continue conversations with anyone about SH2 nerd stuff via email! Just use the form below (not typing out email here to avoid spam bots getting it):
http://www.igotaletter.com/siteinfo/contact/

[seagull]

This is great, everyone. Thanks so much. @jdkubiak - your fix worked perfectly, thank you.
Can I bug you guys with one more thing? This isn't anything to do with the widescreen fix, it's part of a larger guide I'm writing. You can see a version of it above, although I've learnt a lot since I wrote that, so consider it a v1.0. (Or a v0.10, perhaps... COMINGSOON!!)

I notice different EXE files have different title screens.
Here's the screen from the one I'm using, it's the "compatible_exe" file from SH2Fix:
https://i.imgur.com/9E1aiKZ.jpg

I note that @Aero52 posted the EXE they use earlier, however, and it looks different:
https://i.imgur.com/CS9eFMt.jpg
(I also note that the mouse positioning is way off for this versioning, almost as if the game has the buttons in the same place as the first image and the button icons too far down).

Does anyone know which one can be considered more "recent"? If there are bugfixes present in one but not the other? This is a real stretch so I appreciate any help I can get.

[Polymega]

I'm not an authority on this so someone like Aero can chime in with more info if there is any but the different EXE versions don't matter (so long as they're versions supported by the fixes) beside their cosmetic appearances as you've already noted. I personally like the second one you linked*:
https://i.imgur.com/CS9eFMt.jpg

But the one Aero posted some weeks back shouldn't be used anymore as he modified that EXE to temporarily "patch" the lighting fix and may cause issues for you with the latest versions of the WSF. If you want that version of the main menu/EXE you can find it by Google searching "SH2 PC No CD" and going to the first link. I believe one of them is of that EXE (this is where I got it from). And always scan these files before running them just to be safe.

*If we can get a new SH Texture Explorer to upload higher resolution, widescreen version of images I plan to replace that menu screen with something like this one:
http://www.mobygames.com/images/shots/l/741276-silent-hill-hd-collection-playstation-3-screenshot-silent.jpg

I've always liked the colors for this one. I'd just place the "Director's Cut" wording below the SH2 logo.

[Brunn0121]

Well my version is either of those 2, because i installed a patch that translates the game to my language, but it is a modified version of your first screenshot, i think that @jdkubiak is right, doesn't matter the version as long as the scripts are loaded properly, and apparently both versions seems to work just fine, just a matter of preference.

Also, has anyone commented on the matter of the soft shadows here yet? is it possible? i mean, i thought the flashlight bug was impossible to fix since it also happens on the xbox 360 retro compatibility.

[AeroWidescreen]

@jdkubiak

I also asked my friends who own influential SH FB sites to ask for additional help/resources. A person who recently graduated college with a software development degree contacted me and said he'd look in to making a new SH Texture Explorer that would allow us to edit/re-upload those 2D images in different resolutions. No promises to that, of course, but I certainly appreciate him taking the time to see what all he can do to help the WSF cause.

Well that's newsworthy. It's perhaps the only thing the HD collection has over any version, so it would be a huge breakthrough. Hell, I wouldn't mind donating if he's serious about it.

@Brunn0121

Also, has anyone commented on the matter of the soft shadows here yet? is it possible? i mean, i thought the flashlight bug was impossible to fix since it also happens on the xbox 360 retro compatibility.

I honestly don't know. I tried changing the shadow res to see how the game would react, but my initial attempt was unsuccessful, so who knows what the reason is.

[Brunn0121]

Well i initially suspected that the shadow softness was tied to the resolution, when using an ps2 emulator the shadows look fine at native 512x512 resolution, but when i bump up the resolution, it gets less soft, the more i raise it, the more blocky it gets..

[Polymega]

the shadows look fine at native 512x512 resolution, but when i bump up the resolution, it gets less soft, the more i raise it, the more blocky it gets..

Yeah, that make sense. The shadow resolution isn't a primary factor in making shadows soft. There can be different names for it but a shadow's filter and size of the shadow itself can be the biggest determining factors for how soft a shadow is.

While the shadow resolution does influence the softness to some degree it mostly makes a soft (or hard) shadow look more or less smooth. So if the shadow is already soft but has a low resolution the transition of the shadow will look very blocky or pixelated. A higher resolution will make for a smoother soft transition to a shadow that's already soft.

I wouldn't have the first clue as to how to create soft shadows in SH2 PC...

[seagull]

While we're talking about various porting issues (since the original issue has long since been closed), has anyone noticed how the PS2 version of Silent Hill 2 has character animations that were left out of the PC version? As far as I know nobody's ever noticed this.
I was watching PS2 plays-through of Silent Hill 2 earlier today to try and find a reference point for the fog and I stumbled across a French let's-play that shows James walking directly into a fence and then _reeling back from it_ as if taken aback. I tried to replicate it on the PC version and couldn't.

Here's the video (adblock advised): http://webm.land/media/1Atl.webm

[Polymega]

I believe that depends on your difficulty. Try playing it on the hardest difficulty and run into something. (Not at home at the moment.)

[seagull]

Well, now I feel dumb. You're absolutely right, he only does it on hard difficulty.

I have something smart to say in order to redeem myself, though – I figured out the difference between the two title screens, and it goes further than the graphics they display!
Please try this yourselves with the version that displays graphics (that you all seem to have) and i's Compatible EXE. I found that the graphical version (I used the one Aero posted before but I reckon they're all the same) – by "graphical version" I mean that it displays graphics on the title screen instead of text – _does not support analogue controls_ for the left stick. With my DS4Windows+Xpadder setup, it was always full-direction or nothing with the left stick, which I left unbound in Xpadder and SH2.
Using the "Compatible EXE" I found 1:1 analogue control works fine!

[Brunn0121]

Thanks for the info, so that's why SH3 shadows gets hard, even being a soft edged shadow, at 2048 resolution on the .ini file, that's why i set it to 512 for that perfect softness.

@seagull Because it's on hard, SH2 and 3 has this, if you shove your face on a wall it will do that animation.
I don't think there is any cut animation/ content on the pc version, only SH3 has cur content, and its only the extra T-shirts

[Polymega]

I have something smart to say in order to redeem myself, though – I figured out the difference between the two title screens, and it goes further than the graphics they display!

What you said is very smart then as I don't think I fully understood it. :) I believe you are saying the "basic" main menu EXE has d-pad support for the menu right out the box? And the "fancy" main menu EXE doesn't? I know the "fancy" version doesn't but this issue can be fixed with Xinput Plus by going to the KeyAssign tab and under the Left Stick dropdown choosing "Multiple Key" and checking both Left Stick and DPAD for it.

Of course, doing this loses your ability to assign actions to the d-pad (as it turns the d-pad into another left stick input) but allows you to navigate menus now using the d-pad (which feels a lot more natural to me). I definitely prefer this as I always used the d-pad to control James in the original Xbox version.

[Brunn0121]

@seagull Mine is the same version as your upload, only its in portuguese, i don't have the graphical version, so it is the same to me, and the analog works just fine, if i tilt it gently, James will walk slower than normal.

Only thing that really pisses me off is that they didn't implemented full 1:1 ps2 controls, so the same analog that makes james walk, is the same that makes his head move when in search mode, this is really annoying, specially when you try to move and look around at the same time, most the time james suddenly stops to look around, rather than walk and look...
Thank god SH3 has no such problems, it has the full ps2 layout (if using xinput plus, of course)

[seagull]

I believe you are saying the "basic" main menu EXE has d-pad support for the menu right out the box? And the "fancy" main menu EXE doesn't?

I believe this to be the case @jdkubiak, yes. I don't use xinput plus because I'm on a DS4; I use an awkward combination of DS4Windows (to spoof my controller as an Xbox 360 input) and Xpadder. I don't map the left stick, however; it's just an analogue stick. The "basic" EXE supports this out-of-the-box – try it!

[Red-Pyramid-Head]

Hey guys,

Really love what you've been doing here, and how everyone is helping in making this happen.

@jdkubiak has pointed me to this GitHub page and I joined hoping to be able to give a hand in this 'project'.

[seagull]

Glad to have you on board.
I know @Aero52 has very kindly agreed to look at the fog situation, but honestly, with the v2 Nemesis2000 posted I have to wonder how necessary it is.
The only real thing that I can think of that keeps this from being picture-perfect is the 2D asset stretching option. If you're able to "give a hand" in that direction, you'd be contributing the last piece of the puzzle.
I've got a little archive consisting of the right fixes and configuration files that anyone should be capable of downloading and pasting over their original installation. I reckon once we have everything where we want it I could release it with a guide to maybe finally put a cap on this.

At least until that mythical texture replacement tool surfaces...

[AeroWidescreen]

@Red-Pyramid-Head
Welcome.

@seagull
I was only going to do something for the fog if Nemesis2000 wasn't responding. He replied to my email and applied the necessary changes, so there's no need for me to do anything now. Saves me time, saves ThirteenAG a headache, and everyone is happy.

The only change I have planned at the moment is to adjust the PS2CameraSpeed values to more closely match the PS2 version.

[Polymega]

@Red-Pyramid-Head
Awesome, thanks for signing up here! @Aero52 this is the man who said he'd take a look into making a new-and-improved SH Texture Explorer for us. With technical-minded people here (users and lurkers alike) I figured it can't hurt to have as much public correspondence over a potential new texture explorer.

Thanks again for joining us here, RPH!

[AeroWidescreen]

@jdkubiak I see.

@Red-Pyramid-Head Your help is greatly appreciated!
I suggest starting with Silent Hill 2, because its textures are accessible in \data\pics. No archive to worry about. It's just a matter of converting images to that weird tex format I think.

This might help: TextureFinder

[Red-Pyramid-Head]

Thank you all for the warm welcome.

@Aero52 Currently I'm at work, but will definitely check this out as soon as I get home tonight. Taking an optimistic view/approach: if the issue is just to convert those images to a specific format, I believe it shouldn't be much of a problem. What would worry me, and this I have mentioned to @jdkubiak, is that for some reason the game itself would default its texture values. But that is just me being negative.

I will try to test some stuff tonight and post back on what I hopefully manage to find out.

On that note, I apologize if I am missing some things you guys might have already went over, I have been trying to read all posts from the various sources to try to get up-to-date on this project.

[Red-Pyramid-Head]

@seagull Thank you. Again, I might be missing something or maybe I have the wrong idea. I do believe the issue with stretching the assets was causing the problem in the first place? Could it be that the way they were being stretched was being proportional or reducing the quality of the image?

[seagull]

I actually deleted my response because I'm not 100% sure where we are any more. If you're taking a look at the 2D asset stretching as I initially suspected, then possibly – sh2fix (which I'd recommend installing just to see how it does it) seems to scale things elegantly enough so that things like the save screen and the map aren't bordered on either side, but I'm not exactly sure how it does it or whether it's a method we'd seek to copy.

[Polymega]

I actually deleted my response because I'm not 100% sure where we are any more.

I haven't tried the "sh2fix" so I don't know how it does it but we're trying to get the static, 2D images _properly_ scaled to a widescreen format with no stretching. This means opening/editing the original, full screen images and adjusting/cropping them for widescreen boundaries (so, changing their resolutions accordingly) without any distortion to them.

As Aero said, it's the biggest and probably only thing the HD Collection has over any other version of the game.

[seagull]

Right, I'm with you. So this will require its own asset pack. So be it.

[Polymega]

I reckon once we have everything where we want it I could release it with a guide to maybe finally put a cap on this.

Oh, I forgot to mention this. I had this same idea a few months back but with all the changes that have been occurring recently ("old" ASI loader as a temporary fix, new fog fix, etc.) I've held off mentioning this out loud but I guess I'll share:
http://widescreenfix.townofsilenthill.com/SH2/

This is very much a work in progress. I still want to style/"pretty it up" and also add images and comparison shots/videos of before/after with the fixes in place. But I figured it's a good start for now.

The only thing that's currently majorly inaccurate is installing the Widescreen Fix because, as of the moment, we need to use the "old" ASI loader. I didn't mention this in the guide as I figure ThirteenAG will fix it sooner or later and this link is only being shared within this support community for the time being.

[seagull]

Wow. Really nice work.
The only thing I'd add would be the Lavendy Xi driver because it adds vibration support.

[AeroWidescreen]

@Red-Pyramid-Head

What would worry me, and this I have mentioned to jdkubiak, is that for some reason the game itself would default its texture values. But that is just me being negative.

If you're talking about resolution, then I wouldn't worry about it. In Silent Hill 3 the splash screen images are rendered in 512x512 regardless of their size, but I'm able to increase that to whatever I want in the game's code. So even if we run into a similar problem in Silent Hill 2, then I should be able to fix that, but I doubt we will.

If you're talking about aspect ratio, then that's something we know how to control already and should be a non-issue.

[Red-Pyramid-Head]

@jdkubiak That looks like a nice guide to have published eventually! Great job! :)

@Aero52 Well, that is definitely a few less things to worry about. I have messed a bit with that TextureFinder application you have provided me with, and I guess I get a better idea of what is going on. Correct me if I am wrong, is the plan to convert edited texture back to .tex format and swap it with the original texture?

[Polymega]

Wow. Really nice work.
The only thing I'd add would be the Lavendy Xi driver because it adds vibration support.

Thank you.
Question @seagull : How did you get the driver to work? I downloaded the English one corresponding to my OS and installed the MSI then... nothing. Is there another step I'm missing?

[AeroWidescreen]

@Red-Pyramid-Head That's exactly the plan. Edit the existing textures and replace.

jdkubiak brought up an interesting idea about using the textures from the HD collection, since those have extra details drawn for 16:9 support, but someone would need a PS3/Xbox360 along with a good capture device to get them. I have neither, so I can't help in that department.

[Polymega]

jdkubiak brought up an interesting idea about using the textures from the HD collection, since those have extra details drawn for 16:9 support, but someone would need a PS3/Xbox360 along with a good capture device to get them. I have neither, so I can't help in that department.

I wouldn't be opposed to going that route (I'd just need to buy a quality capture card) but I'd prefer to use the files found already within the PC version as they'll all be accounted for there. Otherwise I'd be scared I'd miss over X amount of 2D images and having to go back-and-forth within the game itself to trigger them for capture. This also doesn't factor matching them up with the PC file's naming structures.

I was mostly thinking of just stealing the HD Collection's intro screen as that's the only re-designed graphic they did well.

[Brunn0121]

Wow this project is looking good, so much options to approach this!
But not every image on the HD edition looks enhanced, the apartment clock puzzle in SH2 is just awful, they added so much stuff to their sides that ended up hurting the original art.

[seagull]

jdkubiak brought up an interesting idea about using the textures from the HD collection

As previously stated, inadvisable. The HD collection wasn't reverse-engineered from release code (like all good remasters) and instead was cobbled together from beta code Konami had hanging around the office because they'd lost all the final build stuff. That Comic Sans sign is the tip of the iceberg; the whole thing is unsightly and unfinished.

How did you get the driver to work?

I don't use Xinput plus because I have a DS4. I use DS4Windows to make the pad think it's an Xbox 360 controller and then funnel this through XPadder. Try doing that (even if only in a rudimentary capacity) to see if it works for you. Don't forget to enable rumble in the options menu.

[Red-Pyramid-Head]

@Aero52 Thank you for confirming that. No matter which way we use, we still have to finally be able to convert those textures back to .tex format. I have been currently trying to look around for any possible information while also trying to examine the TextureFinder and SHTextureExplorer. I am literally going through multiple websites at the moment to find any information about this god damn .tex format. lol

[Polymega]

As previously stated, inadvisable.

True story: I was so utterly appalled playing the HD Collection I stopped playing it once I reached the hospital in SH2 and never even finished the mall level in SH3. I quite literally remember near-nothing about the details of this release... and I'm happy to know so many of my brain cells have been spared retaining memory of this abomination of a re-release.

Long story short: @seagull is right; we should avoid using assets from the HD Collection at all costs.

[seagull]

@Red-Pyramid-Head is this of any use to you?
https://github.com/HandsomeMatt/dont-starve-tools/releases

[AeroWidescreen]

@Red-Pyramid-Head Maybe these people can help you? I think they might know how to load SH3's tex files, so perhaps they could shed some light on this issue:

https://github.com/Palm-Studios/sh3redux
https://github.com/Palm-Studios/sh3tools

@jdkubiak @seagull Okay, fair enough. That comic sans sign is hilarious and depressing at the same time.

[Polymega]

If you guys can think of any common troubleshoot questions (and their answers) please let me know:
http://widescreenfix.townofsilenthill.com/SH2/#troubleshooting

[AeroWidescreen]

@Red-Pyramid-Head I think the tex files, at least for the maps, are simply DXT3 textures with a custom header. I edited one of the maps in Photoshop and saved it in the DXT3 format using NVIDIA's texture tools. Then I used a hex editor to replace the original texture data with the edited version, while keeping the original header, and...

Success! We still need to know how the tex header works though.

[Polymega]

PROGRESS!

[AeroWidescreen]

Well, I have good news and bad news to share. I was able to change the texture dimensions, but I think the game has a memory limitation. Increasing the texture size too much crashes the game, and increasing it marginally will work but corrupt other textures in the process.

I don't know too much about file formats, so maybe I'm just doing something wrong. I'll leave the rest for Red-Pyramid-Head.

[Red-Pyramid-Head]

@Aero52 Damn, you have posted so much in the past few hours! That is awesome! Also thank you for those links you have sent. I will be checking them out. Love your progress but ... upset you encountered the 'memory limitation' :'(

What I had been trying to do is to convert those .tex textures to .tga, which I could easily open in Photoshop. But as of yet I was not able to convert them back to .tex formats. I almost thought I could, but for some (still unknown) reasons it was failing to convert. The only other thing I 'found' out that I think .tex files are an extension from Corel PaintShop Pro, but I did not confirm that yet. That being said, I am not sure how we can counter the memory limitation issue, will have to dig deeper for that.

Are you able to physically share the file you have edited for the apartments map? Thanks!

[AeroWidescreen]

Absolutely.
map texture.zip

[AeroWidescreen]

I made a wiki for all of the Silent Hill (and Need for Speed) widescreen fixes here. It's not meant to replace jdkubiak's SH2 installation guide. It's more for people who want a better understanding of what each widescreen fix does. What is this feature for? How does it work? Why can't I do this? Why isn't it working? etc.

[Polymega]

^ That is awesome and a much welcomed addition to your's/ThirteenAG's WSF work. And I'm absolutely going to link your Wiki settings explanations in the guide I made. Edit: Updated. :)

Any possibility to add revision numbers to the WSF releases as well to help with future troubleshooting? Maybe include the number in the .ini as a comment or something?

[AeroWidescreen]

Any possibility to add revision numbers to the WSF releases as well to help with future troubleshooting? Maybe include the number in the .ini as a comment or something?

I always wanted something like that, but I'm not sure how it would be handled. You have to ask ThirteenAG about it.

Also, not to nitpick, but I prefer going by "Aero_", not "Aero52". The numbers for my Github username was completely random since "Aero" was already taken.

[Polymega]

Also, not to nitpick, but I prefer going by "Aero_", not "Aero52". The numbers for my Github username was completely random since "Aero" was already taken.

Not nitpicking at all. Consider it done. The guide/video will go live tonight.

[Quaker762]

Hey guys, sorry I haven't checked in on issue tracking for a while. Did you need any help with anything @Aero52 ?

@Red-Pyramid-Head We can decode every text format in the SH3Redux repo (look in texture.cpp). For the most part the textures are just raw RGB(A), however, the 8-bit textures are rather tricky. They're swizzled in the same way the Playstation 2 would expect them to be (as they just ripped the assets right from what I assume was the actual PS2 TEAM SILENT dev team). The format of the 8-bit texture is as follows (off the top of my head):

|                            Header                          |
----------------------------------------------
|                                                                 |
|                                                                 |
|                        Data                                 |
|                                                                 |
|                                                                 |
|                                                                 |
|                                                                 |
---------------------------------------------
|                            Palette                          |
----------------------------------------------
|                                                                 |
----------------------------------------------

I can (try) field anymore questions if you have any more :)

[Red-Pyramid-Head]

@Aero52 Thank you for your help and providing the resource!

@Quaker762 Hey! Thank you for your assistance.
Yes, that would be a great idea. I am still trying to mess with what @Aero52 had provided.
I still cannot figure much about this .tex file format, definitely found out it is quite archaic though...
I am also still wondering how we will be able to accomplish this would having the game crash or corrupt textures. I will have to definitely go into the SH3Redux repo and examine further...

[Polymega]

I have a friend who is extremely skilled with coding in various languages and whose also dabbled a little in Unity/game work and asked him about the static 2D images and soft shadows for SH2 PC:

Ok, here goes:

This falls pretty far outside my area of knowledge. While it does involve game development on the surface, this sort of programming is basically reverse engineering like you would do with virus scanners. Basically what the wide screen fix does is inject itself in the game’s exe or DLL and redirect or tweak the code in memory. This sort of thing is SUPER impressive and something I’ve only dabbled in very lightly.

Also based on the research I’ve done, and backed by things you told me, the issue with the textures isn’t so much that the file is corrupt but that the game has memory constraints or some other limiting factor. My guess would be an internal fixed size memory pool. Console game development is quite different than PC, and was even more so back in the PS1/2 era. As these games tending to be console based, I would guess a lot of the code is still designed that way.

Shadows. I know almost nothing about DirectX 8. I didn’t tinker with Direct X at all until DX 9. One of the major differences that I am aware of is that DX 9 introduced shaders, which allowed programmers to write code directly for the GPU. Before shaders, this was all done with raw API calls and extensions. However, my first thought on this is that on the PC the shadows are rendered with a NEAREST type filter as opposed to linear filtering. If this was Directx 9, it would be a matter of intercepting or replacing the shader code & changing the filter type, however, for DX 8, I have no idea how that’s done. Basically, for the shadow stuff, I have no idea how to even go about investigating how this could be changed.

Long story short, there’s really not a lot I can do to help with any of the things you’re looking to do. Sorry man. I wish I could help, but this is SOO far outside my area of expertise, that it would take me months just to learn enough to talk intelligently about this stuff.

While this falls outside of his realm of expertise I thought the info he found may help with leading us/others in a better direction.

[AeroWidescreen]

Do any of you guys know if the Xbox version suffers from the same reduction in sound quality?

@jdkubiak It at least increases the credibility of what we've been speculating.

@Red-Pyramid-Head The thing is, even if we can't increase the texture size it would still be helpful to have a new texture replacement tool in general. It might not be the most important thing now though.

@Quaker762 Not at all, I'm just trying to send Red-Pyramid-Head in the right direction. Thanks for replying.

[seagull]

@Aero52 – I think this video is what you're looking for,

[Polymega]

From the video:

• Only PS2 version has best audio, FMVs, and fog.*
• PS2 & Xbox have best shadows.
• Xbox & PC have best flashlights.

*Not factoring the PC fixes for the FMVs and fog.

[seagull]

PC has the best torchlight only once the WineD3D binaries have been applied. With vertex shaders off to stave off the black texture issue, the torchlight is a real ugly mess.

[Polymega]

The flashlight has per pixel in the vanilla build for PC if you turn on Advance Filters.

[seagull]

There's an "Advanced Filters" setting?!
And it was turned OFF for me?!

That's it, I'm playing through the campaign again. This is BS.
[EDIT: So that's where those DoF effects I heard so much about went!]

[Polymega]

:) But if you've disabled vertex shaders (HACK DX_CONFIG_USE_VERTEX_SHADERS 0) in the device.fix file then the flashlight will remain "PS2 quality" even with Advance Filters on.

[seagull]

I don't honestly believe the two are linked. I got a lovely round torchlight effect even with Advanced Filters turned off (apparently), unless the advanced filters enhance it even further. The shape of it seems to be affected more by vertex shaders than anything else.

[Polymega]

You may be right. I'm at work and am going off memory and if one thing has been certain these past months discussing the fixes with you all here is that my memory can be shoddy. The flashlight may be sexy-round right out the gate as you said. I'll definitely take your word on it!

[Quaker762]

@Red-Pyramid-Head

definitely found out it is quite archaic though...
Sort of. It's basically just flat RGB(A) image data with no compression. You might want to look here to see how it's done:

https://github.com/Quaker762/sh3redux/blob/master/source/SH3/graphics/texture.cpp

You need to look at the header to examine what type of pixel format has been used (RGBA5551, BGR, BGRA, RGBA, RGB or 8-bit indexed like a Microsoft BMP). Everything that _isn't_ an indexed texture can be converted from a TGA back to .TEX by performing the appropriate translation. To convert a TGA back to an 8-bit indexed image, I'd go with the following route (at least a rough idea):

1. First pass; walk the image and gather all colours used. Create some kind of index table.
2. Rearrange colour table in reverse of what is in texture.cpp:197
3. In the data area, write convert all pixels in the image to indexes.
4. Copy rearranged palette to the palette area (at the end of the file).

Another interesting fact (and as @seagull 's video explains) is that the texture files are _still_ in their Playstation 2 format. If you look at this paper you'll notice that if you load up the raw image data from SH2/3, they look identical to the ones seen on page 3.

Slightly more on topic, does anyone here know any more about fog? I assume it's textured and multi layered (i.e viewing frustum limit, distant fog and then animated texture fog), but we're a bit lost. (we desperately need more programmers/people reverse engineering haha).

[Polymega]

I'm not an authority for this but I believe the fog in SH2 are poly planes with alpha textures on them that float, squash, and stretch in the air.

SH3 it seems like they used some type of shader algorithm to make the fog?

[Red-Pyramid-Head]

@Quaker762

Thank you so much for compiling that detailed list (Also thanks @Aero52 ! I really appreciate both of you putting me in the right direction and in more clear ways I should focus rather than experimenting with the vast area). Apologies for being quite quiet, hopefully I will be able to return with some good results soon enough. This is 'fun' but at the same time... frustrating .. hah I find myself looping through nothingness sometimes... @_@

[CHNSK]

@Aero52 I have more good news to share. Nemesis2000 responded to my email and he apparently fixed the problem with the fog size and made some other changes. 😃 Download the latest archive from ps2wide.net and give it a try.

Just noticed. There are more settings. Is it possible to slow down the speed of the fog? I feel it's kinda fast, or it's just me?

[seagull]

It's Nemesis' fix, you'd need to ask him.

[CHNSK]

Nah, when I was very desperate to find something for the SH2 fog and first discovered his testing, I've insist too much for the release and been very 'spammy' about it on his channel and profile. He finally released it and replied to me he doesn't work on this kind of work anymore and moved on and that was long ago. Now that he recently updated the fix, I'd rather not to annoy him any further about this. So a lil 'windy' it is.

[seagull]

Everyone;
The fix available from AppVeyor currently adds a setting for "Fix2D". Disabling it stretches the 2D assets, removing the grey bars from the map/save screen and, thusly, killing the final issue I had with the PC port.
They've done it! Silent Hill 2 on PC is now as good as I reckon it can ever get.
(I don't consider soft shadows to be within the remit of a widescreen fix.)
I've donated a few bucks to the project. I hope it gets divided amongst whoever helped make this a reality.
Silent Hill was an immensely important part of my youth and today I can finally say it's been done justice on modern devices.
Thank you so much everyone who got involved, shared knowledge, etc.
This is a huge day for me.

[Polymega]

Thank you for this notification. I'll also update the Widescreen Installation guide to address this in its FAQ. Any other noteworthy changes for SH2WF over the past month or so?

[AeroWidescreen]

We added SteamCrashFix. That's it I think.

[Polymega]

Thank you, sir.

Also, ThirteenAG implemented the revised ReShade code so ASI's built-in D3D8to9 works correctly with SH2 which means we can drop the ENB Converter from the installation steps.

(Also revising the Widescreen Installation guide for this as well.)

[seagull]

I'll be keeping a close eye on your new guide, @jdkubiak, so I don't mess it up. Fewer components means fewer links in the chain, but I'm terrified of removing something like the ENB converter and then finding that it breaks some tiny thing six months down the line.

I also think you should drop a variation of the heading "mating room lolr" in there.

[Polymega]

The guide has been updated. For your records @seagull (assuming you've followed the guide's steps) to update the files without doing a fresh install of everything:

• Ensure you are using the latest version of the Widescreen Fix.
• Remove "d3d8.dll" and "enbconverter.ini" from the game's directory.
• Rename Widescreen Fix's "dinput8.dll" (or "dsound.dll" if you're also using Xinput Plus) to "d3d8.dll"
• Create a file named "global.ini" in the "scripts" folder with the following content:

[GlobalSets] 
UseD3D8to9=1

• Enjoy!

[seagull]

Thank you!
Can you think of any quick way off the top of your head to make sure it's working properly?

[Polymega]

I can! Any spot where you know black lines on faces can appear is an easy way to check. If they're not there then it's working.

Also, if you're an Nvidia user: Go the beginning of the game or to Woodside Apt, 2F, Rm 209. If the white shaders are fixed then it's working:
https://youtu.be/878F2cbLAXo?t=2m39s

[Polymega]

Oh, and of course make sure you're still using WineD3D For Windows' files.

[seagull]

OK, I think it worked. I went to the beginning and couldn't see any white shaders or black lines.
Nice one, much obliged.

[AeroWidescreen]

Sorry guys, I was busy earlier so I only glanced at each thread. Everything has been added to the stable release, so no need to use AppVeyor (dev build) to get these changes. Modupdater should take care of it for you, assuming you have it installed.

(Also revising the Widescreen Installation guide for this as well.)

I updated the wiki as well. Not much needed to be changed for Silent Hill 2, mostly Silent Hill 3.

Also forgot to mention: there seems to be a misunderstanding regarding donations. I don't get any money from those Patreon or PayPal links, which is fine, but I wanted to clarify so you know where your money is going.

[seagull]

Hi guys, just wanted to quickly say I made a short video showing off all the new features.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQ1WGBk_obs
Let me know what you think!

[Polymega]

Nice!!

[Polymega]

I've just made a directory tree listing all the fix files to help others:
http://widescreenfix.townofsilenthill.com/SH2/#directorytree