[BUG] GTA Vice City Stories 3D objects disappearing when flying

[properchopsticks]

-PCSX2 version: pcsx2-v1.7.0-dev-803-g4ffc0d224-windows-x86

-PCSX2 options: Defaults, no settings modifications affect the issue

-Plugins used: screenshot

-Plugin settings: Defaults, screenshot. for emulation settings i'm using the default safe preset on all categories.

-Description: this is also referenced in bug #3368. in gta vice city stories when flying around in a helicopter you can often see water and ground 3d objects disappearing in the distance. it's especially visible when looking from one island to the other but it also happens when looking around the same island. also worth mentioning the tiles disappear only when tilting the camera vertically at a certain angle, higher or lower vertical angles make the tiles reappear.

here is a screenshot from the emulator: screenshot

here is a screenshot from gta vcs running on original ps2 hardware (captured using obs + capture card) screenshot

-How to replicate: fly around with a plane/helicopter and look in the distance. i tested this on both pal and ntsc and both have the issue.

-Last known version to work: Never worked

-PC specifications: cpu: intel core i5 7400 3,00 ghz gpu: nvidia geforce 1050 ti 4 gb ram: 32 gb ddr4 os: windows 10

Other comments: i'm not using any hw hacks.

thank you

[ghost]

Does the issue happen when using the software render?

[properchopsticks]

yes, here is a screenshot: screenshot

[ghost]

I actually want to see the window saying it's in software please.

[properchopsticks]

sure, here are 2 more screens in window mode. you can see in the title bar the "SW" between "Limiter" and "640x446". when i select opengl it switches to "OGL". screenshot screenshot

[ghost]

Ok thanks for booth screenshot, now let's try a couple of things, first, try various clamping/round values for booth the EE and VUs.

[properchopsticks]

ok so i tried a couple of combinations by disabling the preset option but none if them seem to make any difference. i also increased the preset to maximum but it still looks the same.

[ghost]

Ok, put this gamedb file into your pcsx2 directory (overwrite the current one with this one) and test the PAL version to see if it's better.

Gamedb.zip

[ghost]

Oh, and before I forget, are you using widescreen patches?

[properchopsticks]

no, not using any patches, hacks or cheats. everything vanilla. the black bars are from setting the window size to 1280x960 but the aspect ratio is set to 16:9, here is a screenshot with the window settings.

and here is a screenshot from the pal version using the new gamedb. unfortunately it still does the glitch.

[Mrlinkwii]

can you post a stave state / GSdump :slightly_smiling_face: @properchopsticks

[ghost]

Please test games using the default preset.

[properchopsticks]

@atomic83GitHub i switched it to safe (default) but it's the same.

@Mrlinkwii here is a gs dump and a save state. they're both for the pal version. gsdx_20210430230744.zip SLES-54622 (B3AD1EA4).00.zip

and also another screenshot from the save state. screenshot

[properchopsticks]

here is a screenshot from the psp version run in emulator (ppsspp). it doesn't seem to have the same issue.

screenshot

[ghost]

I bought the game so I will take a closer look at what is going on there.

[properchopsticks]

thanks for the heads up, let me know if you find anything.

[ghost]

Okay, this seems like a mipmapping issue, this problem was solved with the PR that improves Mipmaps on Parrapa the Rapper 2.

But if you can confirm with the latest build?

[properchopsticks]

from what i could tell it is way better even though there is still some flickering in the far background but it's not as bad. here is a screenshot.

i'm using the v1.7.2281 build from automated pcsx2 builds with all the default settings except for the gamepad where i used a pad file that i made previously.

[refractionpcsx2]

What kind of flickering? That could just be z-fighting, which we can't do anything about.

[properchopsticks]

i mean the disappearing water tiles, you can see in the screenshot that there still are some tiles disappearing in the upper right corner.

[refractionpcsx2]

and that is with Mipmapping set to basic/full ?

[refractionpcsx2]

a GS Dump would be good, if you can

[properchopsticks]

so with mipmapping set to full the disappearing tiles becomes greatly diminished to the point where it's actually hard to capture but it's still there. i took a video capture and took a snapshot out of the video, it basically appears for 1 frame.

gs_20220128180747.zip

[refractionpcsx2]

hmm, the GS Dump looks like a completely different area and I can't see the issue. If this is how it's supposed to look, I'm very suspicious of your GS Settings. Though it looks like you turned around, which is no use to me.

[properchopsticks]

ok so i took a couple more screenshots and gsdumps, some of the gsdumps are captured at the exact frame where the tile disappears. here are some of the screenshots and a zip file with all the gsdumps plus some other screenshots and a save state. 😄

[refractionpcsx2]

so they aren't always invisible? a gsdump is more use to us than a screenshot.

However it's worth also trying messing with VU/EE clamping/rounding modes and maybe the VU XGKick Sync gamefix option

[properchopsticks]

sorry, it took a while to upload the files, here they are.

SLUS-21590 (4F32A11F).00.zip snaps.zip snaps2.zip

no, they are usually visible and sometimes they disappear in a flickering manner. you can see in the save state if you hold X to fly the helicopter to the very top and then let go you'll notice the tiles disappearing and reappearing.

[properchopsticks]

However it's worth also trying messing with VU/EE clamping/rounding modes and maybe the VU XGKick Sync gamefix option

so i tried different values for round mode and clamping mode for VU and EE but i have no xgkick sync option under VU. also they didn't do anything although i didn't try every possible combination.

[refractionpcsx2]

no worries, thanks for trying

[refractionpcsx2]

Alright well this doesn't look necessarily like a GS issue, but a clipping issue, but why it's an issue I do not know.

[MrCK1]

Any update on this issue or can someone provide a memcard save and/or blockdump?

[Mrlinkwii]

is this still an issue on latest nightly ? , As @MrCK1 mentioned a blockdump/memcard would be very helpful