Samurai Legend Musashi - Lighting and Smoke graphical glitches

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1) Did the game ever work correctly (i.e. not have this problem) on the
Official PCSX2 build or an earlier version of PCSX2 playground?
No, from what I have seen and read, the problem has existed for quite awhile, I 
just have never seen it reported.

2) What steps will reproduce the problem?
1. Running Samurai Legend Musashi, the game is stable enough to play fully, it 
just has some extreme graphical glitches that can make it harder to play.

3) What exactly happens when you experience this issue (listing any console
errors or screen output you receive)?
No console errors occur, the problem is only graphical.  A lot of the effects 
are done with scaling planes with textures applied to them.  This includes 
complex lighting effects, dust trails, impact effects, and eye glow.  If there 
is a lot of effects that are drawn like this, the game will slow down 
tremendously.  It can be seen in better detail in this video 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiznQHKuNjk

4) What version of PCSX2 are you using? On what operating system? Plugins?
I am using r4982 with the plugins included in that build from the build bot.  I 
have tried both ZeroGS and GSdX 9&10 with both software and hardware rendering.

5) Please provide any additional information below.
I have not fiddled around with things like changing clamping modes for the mVU 
and such, I have messed around with speed hack, all resulting in no differences.

Original issue reported on code.google.com by n_hyd...@comcast.net on 4 Dec 2011 at 4:51

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Sorry, I meant r4962

Original comment by n_hyd...@comcast.net on 4 Dec 2011 at 4:52

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How are the graphics on this these days?

Original comment by refraction on 5 Apr 2013 at 4:05

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They seem to still suffer, at least in the first case the video gives: 
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1811521/ms2.jpg
using r5604, dx11 software mode. haven't tested the other situations from that 
video.

Original comment by Wareya@gmail.com on 5 Apr 2013 at 11:21

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Thanks for the reply. Can you try all clamping modes for EE and VU and possibly 
try most (if not all) the game fixes. XG Kick and EE Timing Fix are usually 
good suspects to try.

Original comment by refraction on 5 Apr 2013 at 11:27

• Changed state: Accepted

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Thanks to you too. I tried different each clamping mode (making sure to do 
"full" and "extra + preserve sign" together once), and each game fix, and every 
game fix at once, and just the two you mentioned alone -- nothing seemed to 
change with the trashed lighting effect. Here's a screenshot with both bottom 
clamping modes and both the mentioned game fixes at once just for completeness: 
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1811521/ms2_2.jpg

Original comment by Wareya@gmail.com on 5 Apr 2013 at 11:34

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ouch that looks worse :/ okay how about no clamping? lol

Original comment by refraction on 5 Apr 2013 at 11:36

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oh and try changing the rounding modes too, that may help.

Original comment by refraction on 5 Apr 2013 at 11:36

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It looks worse, but that's because it seems to change randomly with the camera 
position. Different artifacts and depth and intensity.

Changing the VU rounding mode to anything other than "Chop/Zero", *and* setting 
the VU clamping mode to either "Normal" or "None" seems to get rid of most of 
the foreground trash ("None" seems to get rid of more), but the background 
still flickers and flashes unreasonably (in phases?). Here's an edited 
screenshot to show the flashing for comparison: 
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1811521/ms2_3.jpg

I'm not sure what the game does on real hardware, it would be useful for a 
video to get dug up.

Original comment by Wareya@gmail.com on 5 Apr 2013 at 11:44

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okay so that clamping setup and Software mode on GSDX, how does it look?

this game is annoying ;p

Original comment by refraction on 5 Apr 2013 at 11:52

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Sorry for the confusion! I'm already using software mode in that screenshot, I 
figured it was better in the first place accuracy wise.

Original comment by Wareya@gmail.com on 5 Apr 2013 at 11:54

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You thought right xD okay thanks for the assistance!

Original comment by refraction on 5 Apr 2013 at 11:55

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I managed to take a look at this. If you set your VU rounding to "Nearest" and 
the Clamping to "None" it seems to sort the lighting problems out completely 
for me!

Original comment by refraction on 8 Apr 2013 at 10:17

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Yep, that's right. There's still the flicker/flashing problems with fog, 
though, which seems to get worse when the camera can see further in the 
distance. I found a Let's Play of the game that seems to be done on real 
hardware, so you can compare the screenshots from above to this: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeTvLTZ9bYc&t=7m30s

Original comment by Wareya@gmail.com on 9 Apr 2013 at 1:58

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I haven't played the game since I made that original video, so my save data is 
in the same spot.  I can confirm that not much has actually changed at all.

I switched the VU to Nearest and None and while it did help some of the 
lighting at certain angles, particle effects are still violently bright and 
huge.  On top of that, but rooms that have lighting but you can't change the 
camera, such as the Mayor's office, still suffer badly.

http://puu.sh/2ECQI/7aaca60f23.jpg
http://puu.sh/2ECR3/1a8960333c.jpg
http://puu.sh/2ECRD/62457259eb.jpg
http://puu.sh/2ECTA/3112ab0671.jpg
http://puu.sh/2ECTX/d67ac6f72c.jpg
http://puu.sh/2ECU1/66a47aa684.jpg

Original comment by nhyd...@gmail.com on 21 Apr 2013 at 11:14

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Anyone else found any fix for these? It's barely playable when the Lighting and 
fogs comes up.

Original comment by EliteZSo...@gmail.com on 28 Aug 2013 at 11:37

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the fix explained by refraction on post #12 doesnt change anything for me ):

Original comment by penpal...@hotmail.com on 6 Oct 2013 at 2:04

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Make sure you are using a recent SVN build also.

Original comment by refraction on 6 Oct 2013 at 2:05

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it is possible it doesn't fix everything though. not sure what to suggest.

Original comment by refraction on 6 Oct 2013 at 2:06

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it is possible it doesn't fix everything though. not sure what to suggest.

Original comment by refraction on 6 Oct 2013 at 2:06

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I would like to say that even the PS3 slim (Non BC) shows this problem.

Original comment by woodpeck...@gmail.com on 16 Nov 2013 at 6:37

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So there's nothing we can do about it?

Original comment by Jack.Rec...@gmail.com on 12 Dec 2013 at 12:30

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Not currently

Original comment by refraction on 12 Dec 2013 at 12:31