Meta: GS HW half bottom screen issue

[gregory38]

Let's list all games impacted. This way it would be easier to check any potential implementation.

Games confirmed still have the HW half-bottom screen issue:

• [ ] 007: Everything Or Nothing - (weapen select menu, MI6 training)
• [ ] Band Hero
• [x] Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 - (everything including FMVs), Fixed in #2934
• [ ] Charlie's Angels https://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-Pushed-Charlie-s-Angels-SLES-51750
• [x] Crash Twinsanity - Fixed in #2934
• [ ] Destruction Derby Arenas
• [ ] Dropship United Peace Force
• [x] FIFA games - (2006 onwards, though FIFA 11 doesn't seem to have the issue)
• [ ] Getaway, The: Black Monday - (cutscene intro)
• [ ] Gunfighter 2 - (partially resolved, but another half-screen issue remains)
• [ ] Ford Racing 2
• [x] From Russia With Love (see #2109)
• [ ] Hardware: Online Arena
• [ ] Hitman: Contracts
• [x] Killzone - Fixed in #2934
• [ ] Knights of the Temple II
• [ ] Max Payne 2 - (http://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-PCSX2-1-4-0-Crashes)
• [x] Matrix, The: Path Of Neo - Fixed in #2934
• [ ] Mercenaries - (one half-screen issue resolved, another one remains in the sky)
• [x] Metal Gear Solid 3 - (Codec screen in some versions: PAL, Fixed in #2934)
• [x] Need For Speed Hot Pursuit 2 (Issue #2738, Fixed in #2934)
• [ ] Need For Speed Underground
• [ ] Need For Speed Underground 2
• [ ] Need For Speed Carbon
• [x] ShellShock - Nam '67 (probably runs on Killzone's engine) - Fixed in #2934
• [ ] Silent Hill : Shattered Memories
• [x] Sniper Elite - Fixed in #2934
• [ ] Spiderwick Chronicles - pause screen
• [x] Splinter Cell - (when using the optical cable / night vision)
• [x] Suffering, The: Ties That Bind
• [x] Superman -Shadow of Apokolips (Issue #2811)
• [ ] Tekken 5 - (heat effect in burning temple stage)
• [x] Thrillville
• [ ] TimeSplitters: Future Perfect - (maybe the first two games too)
• [ ] TOCA Race Driver 2 (issue #913)
• [x] Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 2 (possibly affects other games in series) - Fixed in #2934
• [x] Tony Hawk's American Wasteland
• [ ] Total Immersion Racing - (fog in wet races)
• [ ] World War Zero: IronStorm - (half-clear issue resolved, half-screen fog remains)
• [ ] WRC games - (fog in distance)

Games unconfirmed if recent fix solved the issue:

• [ ] Conan: The Dark Axe
• [x] DragonBall Z - Buidokai Tenkaichi 3 - (Transitions)
• [ ] King Arthur
• [ ] Need For Speed Most Wanted
• [ ] Rogue Trooper
• [ ] Star Wars - The Force Unleashed
• [ ] TOCA Race Driver 3
• [ ] Warriors Orochi 2

Games confirmed to be have been resolved:

• [x] Call of Duty World at War: Final Front
• [x] Judge Dredd: Dredd VS Death
• [x] Mercenaries 2
• [x] Simpsons Game, The
• [x] X-Men origins: Wolverine

Extra

• [ ] Spinter Cell Chaos theory - Introduced with Black FMV fix Issue #1222
• [ ] Getaway, The (need to check my gs dump)
• [ ] Timesplitters - http://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-TimeSplitters-Problem
• [ ] Digimon Rumble Arena 2 - http://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-Resolved-digimon-rumblearena-2-half-screen
• [ ] Black and Bruised - http://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-Black-and-Bruised-SLUS-20506-U--28428
• [ ] MLB Baseball Games - Loading Screens in HW mode http://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-MLB-11-The-Show-SLUS-97657-U
• [x] Tales of legendia
• [ ] Call of Duty 3 http://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-PCSX2-v1-5-0-New-Build-Problem?pid=533125#pid533125
• [ ] Jak X (in split screen mode)

Related #2022

[gregory38]

@refractionpcsx2 @ssakash @FlatOutPS2 @prafullpcsx2 I let's you complete the list :+1:

[FlatOutPS2]

The Getaway doesn't have a half-screen bug as far as I know. It did have a fog wall, but it's been fixed. Black Monday does have a depth issue with sunrays, not sure if it's a half-bottom screen issue.

Games with HW half-bottom screen issue: Need For Speed Hot Pursuit 2 Killzone Total Immersion Racing(fog in wet races) TimeSplitters (Future Perfect, maybe the first two games too) WRC II Extreme (fog in distance) Crash Twinsanity

[gregory38]

I need to check my get away dump (or maybe I mix it with another game)

[prafullpcsx2]

Oops. Sorry I directly added few games to the first list. i hope gregory wasn't editing the post at the same time.

[refractionpcsx2]

I added one :P Cant remember many off hand

[pepiczech77]

NFS Underground could be probably added too.

[refractionpcsx2]

Does that have the half screen issue? I've never seen it on that game, probably because it was CRC'd out though :P

I've sorted the list as well, the order was killing me :P

[FlatOutPS2]

I believe most, if not all, PS2 NFS games have the issue. NFS Underground 2 and Most Wanted definitely.

[refractionpcsx2]

Alrighty, added all those to the list.

[pepiczech77]

I think so. Bottom half of the screen is blurred or something and it misses fog. Probably even NFS Carbon has it, but it is not the only issue there, because the game looks too green in HW mode. I will check those games on real PS2 soon.

[refractionpcsx2]

Yeh carbon had a new engine I believe, so it might be different, need to test it, I have it but haven't touched it in a while

[pepiczech77]

I tested it, bottom half of the screen is rendered differently than the upper half.

[refractionpcsx2]

OK I'll add that one as well then

[refractionpcsx2]

I've also had a scan through the forums to try and find some other games with these issues and added them to the list.

[MarcoEstevez]

Test drive unlimited has that problem also but only under hw custom resolution hw scaled native is not affected

[FlatOutPS2]

More bottom half screen issues: Judge Dredd: Dredd VS Death Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

[gregory38]

Sigh... The list might be shorter if we list the game that don't have the issue.

[FlatOutPS2]

And what about right(vertical) half screen issues?

[gregory38]

Open a new issue :p do you have lots of them ?

[FlatOutPS2]

No, just two I know of, and a possible third and fourth.

[gregory38]

Ok. Open a new issue with the list of game. Could still be useful one day.

[pepiczech77]

Seems like TOCA Race Driver 3 could be added too.

[refractionpcsx2]

Added, and Judge Dredd, had already done Force Unleashed

Sigh... The list might be shorter if we list the game that don't have the issue.

Told you it was a big problem ;p

[FlatOutPS2]

FIFA 2003 doesn't have the issue, FIFA 2006 does. So it probably only affects FIFA from 2004-2006 and later.

[refractionpcsx2]

Updated that one, thanks :)

[FlatOutPS2]

I meant the issue started in 2004-2006, later games are affect too. So it should be FIFA 2006-FIFA 14(and possibly starting from FIFA 2004 or FIFA 2005, but I can't confirm those).

[refractionpcsx2]

Sorry, fixed :P

okay went through a bunch of my DVD's here's other games i found with the issue plus some other misc bugs which are outside the scope of this PR

Half Screen issues: Brothers in Arms - Road to Hill 30 - All videos, 2D and 3D DragonBall Z - Buidokai Tenkaichi 3 - Transitions suffer from half screen issue, rest of game ok.

Other GS Bugs: Battle Engine Aquila - Flickering Videos with preload frame Burnout 3 Takedown & Burnout Dominator - Thick bars of light and black sky DT Racer - Shadows in wrong place in hw and sw

[FlatOutPS2]

The Burnout issues are known, though the thick bars onscreen might have regressed in OpenGL. I think they were fixed for OpenGL in an earlier version. You didn't even mention the sun shining through objects. :p

[refractionpcsx2]

I didn't play it that much :P I was literally just loading them until they were ingame to see if the issue was there, I went through about 100 games, I wasn't thoroughly testing them xD

[gregory38]

Burnout depends on the preload option. But the game is globally broken anyway. Generally speaking the texture cache doesn't support texture/framebuffer offset.

On the SW renderer, it is easy you just allocate all the memory and you handle manually the dynamic width. On the HW it is awful. First there is upscaling and then you can't reconfigure the width on the fly. So the trick is to detect that address X is included in buffer Y and not the start of a new buffer Z. Intially I wanted to use the size of the draw, if the game draw into a 640x480 rectangle, you can guess the size of the buffer. I was naive, you have some 64x2500 draw sometimes....

[refractionpcsx2]

Sounds horrible :(

[gregory38]

The GS memory is awful. Everything is allowed. The only limitation is that Color/Depth buffer must be aligned on a page boundary and the remaining (texture/clut) must be aligned on a block boundary. Otherwise the rule is "there is no rule" ;)

[refractionpcsx2]

Well I suppose that makes sense, considering the limitations of the GS, the developers needed free reign to come up with clever tricks :P

[FlatOutPS2]

The FIFA games affected are from 2006 onwards. 2004 doesn't have it and highely likely 2005 doesn't either, as the next engine upgrade was 2006 and that engine was used on all subsequent PS2 FIFA games(and thus all have the same issue).

[refractionpcsx2]

Ok thanks, updated again.

[FlatOutPS2]

Just stumbled on another game with this issue: Ford Racing 2

This game actually has several graphical issues in hardware mode. One I hadn't seen before was the car shadows in hardware mode aren't black, but instead reflect the sky. :D

[refractionpcsx2]

One I hadn't seen before was the car shadows in hardware mode aren't black, but instead reflect the sky. :D

How weird! :P

Added to the list :)

[prafullpcsx2]

x-men origins - wolverine added to the list.

[MrCK1]

Add Band Hero to the list - I'm making the compatibility report right now ;)

[refractionpcsx2]

added :)

[MrCK1]

Here's my report for Band Hero

Seems like a can of worms :P

[0neshotJonny]

Call of duty World at War : Final Front

Same issue

[refractionpcsx2]

Added, thanks :)

[FlatOutPS2]

Added Matrix: Path Of Neo, post on the forum showed the game having this issue.

[refractionpcsx2]

added Rogue Trooper to the list http://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-Probelm-in-Game-ROGUE-TROOPER?pid=523600#pid523600

[FlatOutPS2]

Added 007: Everything Or Nothing.

[AmbientMalice]

Out of curiosity, what is the root cause of half screen issues in PS2 emulation? They seem very common.

[gregory38]

There are 2 bugs but globally main issue is that GPU texture/framebuffer has a constant origin. Pixel 0,0 is always a top left corner (or bottom left corner depends on the API).

This assertion isn't true on the GS. The pixel 0,0 could be located anywhere, and here it is located in the middle of the framebuffer. The extra difficulty is framebuffer doesn't have any size, only a max size of 2048x2048. So you can't detect easily a half-screen issue.

[AmbientMalice]

@gregory38 Thanks.

[MrCK1]

I almost forgot about this - you can add Jonny Moseley Mad Trix

http://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-Jonny-Moseley-Mad-Trix-SLUS-20229-U--28361

edit (sept 5th) ignore this - options screen text is OK now; the game is no longer affected