Comments

[ThirteenAG]

https://thirteenag.github.io/wfp#comments

[ThirteenAG]

Disqus comments can be found here.

[Blackbird88]

Hello honorable ThirteenAG-san could you please make widescreen fix for Hidden & Dangerous 2 video game? Is very good game! Thanks!

[AeroWidescreen]

@Jonte999770 Works for me. If I set the value really high then the game won't even detect my left stick input anymore, and if I set it to really low then I get the usual stick drift.

[Storm3000]

@ThirteenAG Hello. Is there any way to make Silent Hill Widescreen Fix compatible with WineD3D? These two tools combined makes the game run great, but when I use the flashlight all objects and enemies turn invisible. Thanks.

[AeroWidescreen]

@Storm3000 Was it working before? If so, have you tried disabling the LightingFix in the config file? Why exactly can't you use them together?

@Jonte999770 Make sure you have the latest official patch for each NFS game and that you're using a no cd exe. If you really think there's something wrong with the feature, then open an issue and I'm sure ThirteenAG will help you.

[Storm3000]

@Aero52 WineD3D For Windows fixes the white textures issue, the temporary freezing that occurs on the transitions at high resolutions, the loss of music randomly and the missing fog at the beginning of the game, the only new issue is that strange black lines may appear on character's face. I used to combine WineD3D For Windows along with sh2fix from Silent Hill 2 PC Gaming Wiki to repair many bugs in-game. But Silent Hill 2 Widescreen Fix works better and has more options than sh2fix. The problem is that combine WineD3D For Windows along with Silent Hill 2 Widescreen Fix with the flashlight solution activated makes the enemies invisible. If I deactivate the flashlight fix, it will illuminate the monsters behind James. The invisible enemies bug never happened to me when I used WineD3D For Windows with the normal game or using sh2fix.

[AeroWidescreen]

@Storm3000 The problem you describe sounds similar to the one currently being discussed here: https://github.com/ThirteenAG/WidescreenFixesPack/issues/244

I plan on uploading an exe with my solution implemented so you guys can see if it works.

[Storm3000]

@Aero52 Thank you very much. The exe it's working great! I have read you are planning to update the ini file. I don't know how, but fortunately the stuttering I was having before with the game has completely disappeared now. I think this fix along with WineD3D it's the best solution for now. I hope there's a way to get rid of those black lines on character's face. The injected SMAA solution doesn't work because it needs ENB dx8to9, and that is incompatible with WineD3D. The problem is that ENB dll doesn't fix the white textures and the missing fog at the beginning.

[Polymega]

@Storm3000 Yup, for Nvidia users the widescreen fix + WineD3D is the way to go at the expense of the black line faces for now.

AMD users would be the widescreen fix + injectSMAA/ENB DX8 to DX9 as AMD users only have the black line face issue (fixed by injectSMAA which also provides anti-aliasing) and not the other problems Nvidia cards have.

I recently purchased a modest AMD PC as a "dedicated SH console" (I really love Silent Hill that much!) to circumvent the Nvidia issues. But I'm hoping that a future WineD3D update will also cure the black line faces so I can continue to play SH2 on my high-end Nvidia tower with no bugs when the feeling arises.

Some Nvidia-specific issues found in the vanilla build of the game:

• White textures (attached below)
• Missing overlays (such as the closet bars when James is looking out of them at RPT in the apartments)
• Missing fog at the beginning

Nvidia-specific issues found with the widescreen fix applied:

• Chunks of the wall missing when a close, fixed camera is at play

WineD3D fixes all of those above for Nvidia users but introduces black lines on character's faces.

[Polymega]

@Storm3000 Found how to resolve the black line face/WineD3D issue for Nvidia users! If you go to WineD3D's site there's a small link to download older versions: https://fdossena.com/?p=wined3d/index.frag

As it says on their site: "(sometimes a game will work on an older build)"

Download the very first version (1.6.2) and use the included d3d9.dll file (and not the d3d8 one): http://downloads.fdossena.com/Projects/WineD3D/Builds/WineD3DForWindows_1.6.2.zip

(A later version of WineD3D could possibly also work but I didn't go through them all to test. I didn't see the need to as this one worked without issue.)

Then, download the ENB converter and place those files in the directory as well: http://enbdev.com/convertor_dx8_dx9_v0035.htm

Also, I haven't gone through the entire game but all issues in my post above are still fixed plus no black lines on the faces for Nvidia users. :)

This revelation has also been reflected on the Gaming Wiki page: https://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Silent_Hill_2:_Director%27s_Cut#.28Using_a_Widescreen_Solution.29_White_textures.2C_missing_fog.2C_black_lines_on_models.2C_and_chunks_of_environments_missing_when_a_camera_is_fixed_close_to_a_wall

Remember to keep the flashlight fix disabled in the .ini file until Aero can update the widescreen fix otherwise your game will crash.

[AeroWidescreen]

@Storm3000 No problem, I'm glad it worked for you. The widescreen fix should be updated either this weekend or on Monday with any luck. You can keep using the modded exe until then, but as I told jdkubiak, once the widescreen fix is updated you'll have to go back to using your original exe.

[Storm3000]

@jdkubiak and @Aero52 Thank you, guys. I'm using WineD3D v2.8 and ENB dx8to9 convertor v0.36 and the game it's working great, so you can use the new version too of both tools. No more black lines on models and no more white textures. You guys are geniuses.

[Polymega]

@Storm3000 Right on! Glad you took this a step further and figured out newer compatible versions with one another.

[Storm3000]

The only problem now is the stuttering. From time to time, during cutscenes, the game suffers small freezing. This causes a desync on audio and voices during all the sequence. It happens with any configuration.

Another problem is the game hangs up at startup. (I'm using Windows 7)

[AeroWidescreen]

@Storm3000 If you're on Windows 7 try disabling SingleCoreAffinity. That's what fixed the startup hang for me when I was testing it on that OS.

[Storm3000]

@Aero52 Well, that did the trick, but the sound freezes after a while if I play without the single core option. Anyway, it's not a big deal. The game normally works after two or three attempts. I'll keep trying what to do with the stuttering, maybe is my computer.

Moreover, I found out how to activate Direct Sound using the Indirect Sound tool. If you hear the sound from one speaker only, open dsound.ini and change the value 128 to 1 in HardwareBufferCount.

[AeroWidescreen]

@Storm3000 You can set an affinity through the task manager. I think there's also a way to set an affinity through the shortcut, but you'll have to look that up yourself.

[Dead-97]

@Aero52

The fix is working really fine!, but i have a doubt...the static images are on 4:3 resolution, not on widescreen, it's that normal? or i'm having a problem?...because with other fixes (.exe(s) that come with different resolutions) the static images are on widescreen...every static image here appears with those black bars on each side of the screen...is there a solution for that? and thanks for making this fix! who needs HD collection after all? haha, cheers! (Sorry for my bad english.)

[AeroWidescreen]

@Dead-97 That's normal. The texture itself has black bars on the top and bottom, so the only way to get rid of it would be to zoom in like we do for the FMVs. I plan on looking into this at some point, but I can't promise that I'll be able to do it.

And the reason why images might appear to be in widescreen for other fixes is because they probably only change the resolution while leaving everything stretched. Circles will look like ovals, squares will look like rectangles, etc.

[Dead-97]

@Aero52 I see, thanks for the answer! Well, the other fixes aren't on real widescreen then haha...i hope you can make them look ''fullscreen'' in the future!. I'm planning to replace some of the sound effects on the game, the PC version has really bad quality audio...so maybe i can replace some inventory, map, footsteps and other sounds with the ones on SH3, or even so the ones of the PS2 Version with PCSX2 (recording the sounds with a program) do you think its possible?...I did a research a there's some tools ( Editor for Silent Hill 2/3 Resources (.mes, msg.arc, .afs, *.aix) that allows you to export sound files and maybe replace them (I didn't test it yet).

[Polymega]

There's the resource editor found here where you may be able to extract/replace audio files: http://alchemillahospital.net/silent-hill-resource-editor/

Recording each individual sound file from your PS2 would not only be extremely difficult but also possibly impossible to do (as you would need to record/account for every individual file without any sounds overlapping each other for a clean recording). Then you would need to edit them to ensure they start/stop at the exact same times as the original files, which would be a humongous task, otherwise the sounds would be out of sync when you play. Lastly, unless you record through/in a lossless format (via something like optical audio to FLAC or WAV format) you will introduce compression which will hurt your goal.

Ideally someone could create a tool to extract sound files from PS2 discs to a standard, lossless audio format which could then be converted and dumped into the PC version's format (through the resource editor or similar). This is also under the assumption the file names/structures would be the same (or near similar) from the PS2 and PC versions for replacement.

Edit: A cursory Google search shows such PS2 audio extractors do exist! I may have to try this out myself sometime in the future!

[Dead-97]

@jdkubiak Yeah, i would like to replace only some of the sound files...the ones that sound really really bad (Inventory, map, footsteps and gate sounds are really awful comparing to the PS2 version) i mean, every sound sounds bad comparing to the PS2 version, but some of them are terrible...as the tool that extracts audio from PS2 Games..i've researched that too, but didn't find anything either.

Edit: Cool man! well, i didn't find the interface sounds or anything i was looking for, only ambience and voices (that are on good quality) sounds...if you can find it, text it here please

[Polymega]

The texture itself has black bars on the top and bottom, so the only way to get rid of it would be to zoom in like we do for the FMVs.

I wondered if there was a universal call sign/identifier for when these static textures come up that you could also use the vert-scaling method for as well? If memory serves, the game always fades to black before fading in/out the static images so the scaling swap could happen between those transitions without any visual funny business going on?

I'm also curious, if a solution is found, if it will also transpose to the Eddie bowling scene fade out:

[Dead-97]

@Aero52 Yeah, almost all of the static images are on 512x512, you can crop the black bars on top and bottom and resize the resolution to 512x512 again, but the bars on the sides will continue...i've tried here with the texture explorer for SH2, i managed to crop the bars, but not the ones of the sides...it seems that the static textures can't go on widescreen :/

[AeroWidescreen]

@Dead-97 The proper solution would be to increase the dimensions to something like 683x512. That would also fix the issues with the map, and that particular cutscene fade out, but it's unfortunately not possible with texture explorer. Same goes for SH3.

Anyway, I know how to make the images fullscreen but it would affect all images, including the map and inventory icons. So I'd have to separate them, which would be really time consuming. I don't feel like doing that right now.

EDIT: Also forgot to mention that even if you crop the top and bottom bars from the images, they won't be 16:9 widescreen, so there will always be black bars on the sides just like the FMVs. They'll just be a lot smaller than before.

@jdkubiak See above.

[Polymega]

The proper solution would be to increase the dimensions to something like 683x512. That would also fix the issues with the map, and that particular cutscene fade out, but it's unfortunately not possible with texture explorer. Same goes for SH3.

Does re-uploading the images via texture explorer at anything other than their default dimensions break/crash the game? I've fiddled with changing textures for the game before but never attempted to change the dimensions.

I don't feel like doing that right now.

If another solution shows its head that involves editing the images (as you mentioned in the first paragraph) let me do the adjustments Aero, please. While I've made it painfully obvious I know near dick-all with these .dll and .ini files my job involves me working every day in Photoshop creating/editing images; that is my domain that I can excel at for you.

I want to contribute back to this great project of yours in a more meaningful way. This would be something I'd love and have an honor doing for the cause.

[Dead-97]

@Aero52 Is there any way to edit directly the .TEX textures? without the need of Texture Explorer?...like another program?

@jdkubiak Yeah, the program (Texture Explorer) doesn't let you replace the texture if it's in another resolution/dimension, that's why I've asked if it is another way to edit those files that doesn't involves using texture explorer.

[AeroWidescreen]

@jdkubiak

Does re-uploading the images via texture explorer at anything other than their default dimensions break/crash the game?

Nope, texture explorer itself just doesn't allow it if I remember correctly. The images have to be the exact same size and format.

If another solution shows its head that involves editing the images (as you mentioned in the first paragraph) let me do the adjustments Aero, please. While I've made it painfully obvious I know near dick-all with these .dll and .ini files my job involves me working every day in Photoshop creating/editing images; that is my domain that I can excel at for you.

I want to contribute back to this great project of yours in a more meaningful way. This would be something I'd love and have an honor doing for the cause.

I appreciate it man, believe me when I say you bringing attention to all of these issues is helpful enough, but not much can be done without the technical knowledge of how the archives work. The creator of texture explorer could probably help, but who knows where that person is now or if they'd even be interested.

@Dead-97

Is there any way to edit directly the .TEX textures? without the need of Texture Explorer?...like another program?

Not that I know of, no. What's interesting is SH3 loads a few textures from the pic folder, and those are simple bitmaps. Easy to edit to any size you want. If something like that could be done to replace the texture archives then maybe.

[Polymega]

Nope, texture explorer itself just doesn't allow it if I remember correctly. The images have to be the exact same size and format.

I wonder if you remove the black bars, resize the height back to 512, then squash the now-wider width back to 512 as well, and set it to stretch in the game? This isn't desirable as you will lose pixel information in the image due to squishing it. I wouldn't entertain going this route due to image quality loss but it was a thought in the back of my mind.

[Dead-97]

@Aero52 I noticed that the textures in SH3 are a little easier to handle...it would be so helpful if texture explorer could replace the size/resolution of the static images, but damn!

[Polymega]

I've downloaded a handful of other .tex explorers for other games in the astronomically slim chance they'd also open SH2's .tex files. There aren't a ton of them out there and naturally they won't open SH2's files. :-/ I'll keep looking around.

[Dead-97]

@jdkubiak I see, well if I find another program that can be able to open SH2 .tex files I'll post it here.

[Polymega]

I've requested fellow friends who are top-tier SH influencers to make a call-to-action. Fingers crossed!

https://www.facebook.com/SilentHillParadise/photos/a.220334311353561.57133.217156185004707/1322219041165077/?type=3

http://alchemillahospital.net/are-you-a-silent-hill-fan-and-software-developer-we-need-you/

https://www.facebook.com/silenthillhistoricalsociety/photos/a.258313404215515.59612.198854206828102/1473941095986067/?type=3&theater

[Dead-97]

@jdkubiak Sweeeet! well, fingers crossed(2) It could be a way to program the Tex. Explorer to accept different resolutions/dimensions for the textures and replace them, but I'm not a genius when it comes to programming.

[MaxHeat]

Just wanted to update an old issue I've reported on Max Payne 2 about the skybox, it's still stretched even on Windows 10 just like Windows 7.

[ThirteenAG]

@MaxHeat I looked into it a while back, but did not find a suitable solution. The problem is not windows related I think, just how the game works. Both Max Payne games are very hard to fix and even small changes in the code break the game completely sometimes.

[Storm3000]

Is there any way to modify the same sh2pc.exe file used on sh2fix to make it run with Silent Hill 2 Widescreen Fix and fix the crash at startup? I mean, when I use sh2fix (you can find it on Silent Hill 2 PCGamingWiki), the .exe included fixes the crash at startup, but it doesn't work with Widescreen Fix. I don't know what changes have been made on that .exe file to fix that issue, but it seems to work, but only with the sh2fix files.

[AeroWidescreen]

@Storm3000 I can take a look but probably not. From my understanding, the only reason the widescreen fix works for different exes is because it uses byte patterns. If the exe has been modified then there's no guarantee it'll work because the byte patterns have been changed.

[AeroWidescreen]

@Storm3000 The exe I tried worked fine for me. If you could give me a link to the exact one you're using that might help.

[ghost]

Is there, like, a documentation for the WFP for NFS MW? I was trying to use it to get good shadows, but my resolution is 1280x1024, so I don't need widescreen. The starting "Press ok" screen is like zoomed in very much.

[ThirteenAG]

@pajeet1 simply set all options that have "widescreen" in the name to 0 in the ini file.

[ghost]

@ThirteenAG still no change. Let me explain more clearly:

This is the stock game for me at 1280 x 1024 -

This is after appyling latest WFP for NFS MW (2005) -

There is no change even if I set all options to 0 (except shadows). Keep in mind this is not a major problem for me, all other things are displayed properly(intro psa, movie, racing mode, etc)

Also, thanks for the gamepad icons, its amazing the amount of work and dedication you put in these WFP.

[ThirteenAG]

@pajeet1 Try to download latest dev build from here: https://ci.appveyor.com/project/ThirteenAG/widescreenfixespack/build/artifacts

[ghost]

@ThirteenAG Works perfectly with the dev build from above link. :+1: Thanks. I am trying to love those 4K shadows on my Geforce 210 :)

[Paul464ever]

Hi there @ThirteenAG I would like to congratulate you for the hard work that you made on this games to make us play them on our resolution. I came today to this site to do a request: recently I did buy myself a fresh copy of Conflict Global Storm, one of the first & the best shooter games I've ever played, but my problem is that the game has only 3 resolutions & the biggest one is 1024x768 and my laptop has 1366x768 resolution and it looks like crap. I did some research about how to make it work perfect to my resolution but none of the solutions worked for me, so if you have time can you please make a custom fix pack for me and all the guys that can't play this game on our native resolution? Thank you in advance, Paul 46

[RobikV3]

Hey guys Im trying to run MW with texmod in HD but as soon as I put that widescreen fix the game crashes instantly, it works fine without it any ideas?

[AeroWidescreen]

@RobikV3 Sounds like you're not using the official 1.3 patch. Install that first, and if you still have trouble then make a new issue: https://github.com/ThirteenAG/WidescreenFixesPack/issues

I know it says any exe is supported, but I think it must be a v1.3 exe for it to work. And to be fair, there shouldn't be any reason to use an older version.

[RobikV3]

I am using 1.3 it says that in bottom right corner, also mod loader works with only 1.3 anyway.

Maybe im missing some windows components like the visual c++, is any specific required?

[alphayellow1]

If you could do a widescreen fix for The Da Vinci Code game that'd be awesome

[lokasz]

So, i wanted to make nostalgic travel to rockprot. Game is pirated because I borrowed game (about 7 years ago) to my friend and he didn't give me it back. Game cashes after all startup cutscenes and ending in this ridiculous high fov image. I want to avoid buing used, orginal game because prices are really high now. [note: game runs good without widescreen fix.]