[Silent Hill 2] Checklist of Remaining/Wishlist Fixes

[Polymega]

(Note: This thread was made a few days before the creation of the SH2 Enhancements Repository)

I'm doing a play through of Silent Hill 2 again for the Enhanced Audio project and I was making mental notes of the remaining "wishlist" fixes and wanted to post them for posterity purposes.

Noted areas for improvement:

Discussion thread

• [ ] Integration of soft shadows
• [ ] Shadows do not cast on dynamic (movable) objects (they do on the console versions) Discussion thread
• [ ] Fix bugged lighting sources for a few areas in the game Video Example 1 | 2 | Discussion thread
• [ ] Increase draw distance for either just Woodside Apt 2F Hallway or whole game FIX IN PROGRESS Video example | Solution
• [ ] Fix "Eddie/Laura bowling scene" black fade out regardless if Fix2D or similar is on/off GIF example
• [ ] Adjust fixed camera angles in several spots to hide camera clipping through wall FIX IN PROGRESS Discussion thread
• [ ] Fix camera stutter in Hospital, 3F, Rm S3 FIX IN PROGRESS Video example | Discussion thread
• [ ] Remove one-frame flicker when an in-game cutscene changes to motion blur. (If not possible then have the option to disable the game's motion blur altogether then in the ini file?)
• [ ] Have the game cursor (used for interacting with full screen images) default to center of the screen each time like the console versions. This is due to the cursor being off-screen whenever Fix2D and FullScreenImages are enabled in the Widescreen Fix. FIX IN PROGRESS Solution
• [ ] Keep hanging meat always "loaded in" during final Eddie confrontation cutscene. Video example | Discussion posts
• [ ] Fix the very silly animation bug for when James gets on the rowboat. FIX IN PROGRESS Video example | Solution
• [ ] Implement language subtitle "packs" for the game? Discussion post
• [ ] Fix loading zone color values for cemetery area to fix environment Quick Save load bug. FIX IN PROGRESS Video example | Solution
• [ ] Fix luminescence of James, dress, and Mannequin in Room 205. A FIX HAS BEEN FOUND Discussion Post | Solution

Fixed!:

• [x] Integration of PS2 quality sound files ("Enhanced Audio" project)
• [X] Game map & save screen fix: Currently, if you're on the streets of Silent Hill during the day time the pillar boxes are grey, not black. This is true for any area where the game has set the time of day to "day" (and not "night"). Image example | Discussion post There has been breakthrough discoveries in implementing high res, widescreen images for the game so this fix will be redundant if a HD image mod comes to fruition.
• [X] Game map & save screen fix: Currently, the markings on the maps and save file's floating, enlarged text are always visible and stay above the pillar boxes. They should be behind the pillar boxes. Video example There has been breakthrough discoveries in implementing high res, widescreen images for the game so this fix will be redundant if a HD image mod comes to fruition.
• [X] Game map fix: There are no pillar boxes at all whenever James transcribes notes onto his own map. (James transcribes notes onto his own map several times throughout the game.) You can see the game environment instead where the pillar boxes should be. Video example There has been breakthrough discoveries in implementing high res, widescreen images for the game so this fix will be redundant if a HD image mod comes to fruition.
• [x] Fix Lying Figure cutscene camera "pop" and looped animation Video example | Discussion thread
• [X] Integration of anti-aliasing (possibly done through SMAA?) Alternate solutions have been found for anti-aliasing which have been reflected in the Installation Guide.
• [x] Integration of WineD3D's fixes without having to use WineD3D (wise to do so?) It is no longer necessary to do this.
• [x] Adjust WSF to accommodate new 16:9 FMVs (currently there are still small pillar boxes when FMVWidescreenEnhancementPackCompatibility is turned on). Discussion thread

[AeroWidescreen]

Adjust WSF to accommodate new 16:9 FMVs (currently there are still small pillar boxes when FMVWidescreenEnhancementPackCompatibility is turned on).

ThirteenAG says he's going to take a look at it, so I'm guessing this should be fixed in the upcoming stable build. I'll let you know otherwise.

16x10FMVWidescreenEnhancementPackCompatibility and 16x9FMVWidescreenEnhancementPackCompatibility in case some people prefer to use the originals still?

The issue with that idea is there are some videos you didn't change at all, so if we were to reduce the width to pillarbox them again (16:10) then those videos would get squished in the process.

Alternatively, we could simply offer different downloads. One for angular_graphics' videos, and another for your edited videos. Then nothing with our scaling would have to be changed.

Black backdrop for pillar boxes when James is transcribing notes on his map

Make map markings and save screen wording hide behind pillar boxes (possible?)

I feel like we shouldn't spend time on this kind of stuff when we could be working towards a proper solution instead. In this case, replacing the save screen background with an extended version, and fixing the pillarboxing of the maps. Both easier said than done of course.

Fix "Eddie/Laura bowling scene" black fade out regardless if Fix2D or similar is on/off

I think I understand why the developers did what they did here. I believe the black overlay is used to emphasize Eddie's last bit of dialogue "Nobody will ever forgive me." while the cutscene appears to end. My solution skips the overlay entirely and goes straight into the transition, but that means the subtitles for that last bit are not visible and some of the emphasis is lost. I'll have to find another way.

Fix camera "pop" during "blood on the road" cutscene when ReduceCutsceneFOV is on

You already know what idea I have to fix this, so I'll let you know how it turns out as soon as I have a chance to test it.

[Polymega]

The issue with that idea is there are some videos you didn't change at all, so if we were to reduce the width to pillarbox them again (16:10) then those videos would get squished in the process.

True. But the only ones I didn't change were the bonus trailers for SH2 & 3 not pertaining to the game themselves. However I do see your point. But...

Alternatively, we could simply offer different downloads. One for angular_graphics' videos, and another for your edited videos. Then nothing with our scaling would have to be changed.

Good point. So long as the user's resolution is set for 16:9 then our newly edited videos should play with no black bars anywhere (after ThirteenAG adjusts things) so long as they disable FMVWidescreenEnhancementPackCompatibility. Once we get a little further along I'll update the Installation Guide to offer both video formats and the installation instructions.

I feel like we shouldn't spend time on this kind of stuff when we could be working towards a proper solution instead. In this case, replacing the save screen background with an extended version, and fixing the pillarboxing of the maps. Both easier said than done of course.

I know that it may be nearly impossible to allow for different size/resolution full screen images due to complications you mentioned. That got me wondering about an alternative solution:

Could you combine several of your full screen fixes into one? Basically doing what I did for the 16:9 FMVs? So you'd zoom in on the full screen images as you've done to remove the letter boxing and then stretch the images horizontally ever-so-slightly to remove the pillar boxes. While there would be some image stretching you wouldn't crop off any of the images as what's currently being done to remove the pillar boxes, if that makes sense.

This may also fix the Hotel elevator button dilemma. But on that same note, there's no saying how the interactive full screen images would behave stretching them like that.

I think I understand why the developers did what they did here. I believe the black overlay is used to emphasize Eddie's last bit of dialogue "Nobody will ever forgive me."

You're probably right. Team Silent were masters at this. Notice how, when you first meet Eddie in the apartment bathroom, when he says, "Honest," it's extra loud compared to his other dialog? I always loved that little detail...

[Bigmanjapan]

Game map & save screen fix: Currently, if you're on the streets of Silent Hill during the day time the pillar boxes are grey, not black. This is true for any area where the game has set the time of day to "day" (and not "night"). Image Example.

Since the grey pillar boxes' color is actually a loading zone color, it is possible to change the color manually.

In my sh2pc.exe these three addresses hold RGB values for loading zone color:

sh2pc.exe+542C50 (00942C50) byte = red channel sh2pc.exe+542C51 (00942C51) byte = green channel sh2pc.exe+542C52 (00942C52) byte = blue channel

Setting them to 0 would output pure black loading zone color and therefore black pillars on map and save screen. You could make a function that would store loading zone color values upon opening map / save screen and swap them with zeros to make it black. Then load the stored loading zone color values back upon closing map / save screen. It's not an elegant solution but it could work.

[Bigmanjapan]

I also managed to investigate an issue with James' split animation during boat cutscene.

In my sh2pc.exe file this 4 byte address sh2pc.exe+4BB78C (008BB78C) holds a value of FFFFFFFF (4294967295) before the boat cutscene is triggered for the first time and it gets nullified (value is changed to 00000000) upon triggering the cutscene. It stays nulled afterwards. If you reload and manually change the value back to FFFFFFFF and then trigger the cutscene again — James animation won't be split.

I guess a solution here could be making a function that would do a conditional check of sh2pc.exe+4BB78C being 00000000 and changing it to FFFFFFFF in such case. Since I don't know if that address has any impact on the gameplay somewhere else apart from that boat scene, I would make such function based on current room index or something that could make the check work only in location after Eddie's boss arena and before the actual boat sequence (pier location).

Edit: or you could simply NOP the function during initial game launch but again, I don't know if that function is responsible for anything else in the game.

[Polymega]

Mentioning @AeroWidescreen in this discussion.

@Bigmanjapan would you be able to find a way to keep the hanging meat loaded the entire time during this cutscene?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XY5kRFLcYO8

Also, I didn't catch it at the time, but at the 0:35 mark in the video the meat directly behind Eddie also disappears.

[mirh]

Random stupid showerthought (aside of still thinking maybe this kind of stuff should go in the SH enhancement repo): there's a point where rewriting the engine starts to feel easier

[Bigmanjapan]

@jdkubiak what was the internal resolution in the game when you made that video? If I watch the cutscene in 1920x1080p internal resolution, then I won't observe the glitches you had.

https://youtu.be/Vt6zMl8aMJM (I have one glitch on 00:09 but I don't have ones you had)

Also your video is more "zoomed-in" than mine, which, I believe, is directly tied to the "meat" glitches. In SH speedrunning Discord server it was recently discovered that some camera aspects change depending on the resolution (making camera more tilted down if resolution is progressively lowered). I know how to control camera boundary boxes, trigger (switch) areas, projection, various rotations etc but I have no idea what is that dynamic parameter that is changed in accordance to resolution. Will search more.

[Polymega]

The internal resolution is set to 320 x 240 on mine. I believe this is the reason why. This is in reference to how the camera wasn't positioned correctly in certain areas of the game when a higher resolution was used injunction with the Widescreen Fix. Here is one video example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eiq3XdYot14

Edit: Yeah, I see what you mean about my cutscene being more zoomed in now. Must be directly tied to the much smaller resolution.

[AeroWidescreen]

@Bigmanjapan

it was recently discovered that some camera aspects change depending on the resolution (making camera more tilted down if resolution is progressively lowered).

This was changed in the widescreen fix to have the camera always behave the way it does in 640x480. I don't know if that's the cause of this issue though.

@jdkubiak

Edit: Yeah, I see what you mean about my cutscene being more zoomed in now. Must be directly tied to the much smaller resolution.

Are you sure it's not because you have ReduceCutsceneFOV enabled?

[Polymega]

Are you sure it's not because you have ReduceCutsceneFOV enabled?

Ah! So many variables! Yes, that was the issue. When I disabled ReduceCutsceneFOV my camera was zoomed the same as @Bigmanjapan .

More importantly, when ReduceCutsceneFOV was disabled the "meat glitch" didn't happen except for one quick instance that is seen in Bigmanjapan's video at the 0:09 mark: https://youtu.be/Vt6zMl8aMJM

@AeroWidescreen is there a way to disable ReduceCutsceneFOV just for this particular cutscene whether it's enabled or not by the user?

[Polymega]

*I personally think that quick glitch at the 0:09 mark is acceptable to not worry about if ReduceCutsceneFOV can be disabled for the entirety of the cutscene. That particular glitch at 0:09 is so fast, and at the edge of the screen, I wouldn't consider it to have a major impact on the tone/mood of the cutscene. And if advanced fog is enabled it would be even harder to notice.

[Bigmanjapan]

@AeroWidescreen I see, that's interesting. Seems that 640x480 camera fix solves more issues than it creates, so no point in fixing meat glitches by reverting it back to default. I will just in case try to adjust camera angles' values via game files to fix that one gitch at 0:09.

[Bigmanjapan]

Have the cursor (used for interacting with full screen images) default to center of the user's screen/resolution each time

Do you want to mimic a consoles' pointer which is always initially centered?

As far as I can tell on PC version mouse pointer's travel area is limited by 640x480 (512x480 visible area) size regardless of set resolution (pointer area gets "stretched" on screen area created by resolution). I guess it wouldn't be much of a problem to find a check that game engine has on entering 2D events (inventory, map, puzzles etc). Set mouse pointer coordinates to 256x240 each time the check is performed.

sh2pc.exe+541358 (00941358) = pointer horizontal position sh2pc.exe+54135C (0094135C) = pointer vertical position

[Polymega]

Do you want to mimic a consoles' pointer which is always initially centered?

That may be preferable. This fix was suggested because when both Fix2D and FullscreenImages are enabled the cursor is initially completely off screen (this is because the fullscreen images are scaled to crop the letter boxing) during the first interactible fullscreen image.

You have to start moving the cursor around randomly until it comes back into view. But if the cursor was always centered by default you wouldn't have to wonder which direction the cursor is hiding off screen.

Here was the original thread on scaling the fullscreen images: https://github.com/ThirteenAG/WidescreenFixesPack/issues/337

[AeroWidescreen]

@Bigmanjapan By the way, I think the solution you're proposing for the boat animation is great. I gave it a look a few weeks ago, but I had no luck finding anything. If I remember correctly, each cutscene has its own number assigned to it: 00, 01, 02, 03, etc. so changing the value back for that one cutscene should be trivial.

[Polymega]

@AeroWidescreen I may be completely off with my understanding of this but if you'd humor a non-programmer/-modder's thoughts:

So the internal resolution of the game's camera determines how severe the meat glitch is, yes? Meaning, if I were NOT using the WSF, and had the game's resolution set to something very small like 320 x 240, a lot of the hanging meat would disappear because it would be actually be off-camera in that tiny resolution? And so the larger the resolution the more meat will show due to the increase in camera size?

And the way the WSF works is that while the projection I'm seeing is 1920 x 1080 the game is "rendering" the environment under the pretense of 640 x 480? (Apologies for probably grossly minimizing this concept.)

You mentioned how you adjusted this to fix prevalent camera bugs while in-game here.

That fix was to alleviate "live" camera angles; ones that change on-the-fly depending on how you move James. Because the Eddie cutscene uses "pre-made" camera angles (the player can't adjust these) can you tell the WSF to temporarily change the internal resolution from 640 x 480 to something larger while this cutscene plays (by using the cutscene's unique identifier)? Then, when the cutscene ends, the WSF goes back to using 640 x 480 like before?

Again, I may be totally off mark here with all of this but if any of this is remotely how the WSF works/fixes things could that be a possibility to fix the meat glitch?

EDIT: This is all under the notion of a player having ReduceCutsceneFOV activated.

[Bigmanjapan]

By the way it is possible to make SH2 PC builds display Japanese language if you replace .mes files with those from an Xbox original build. Could make it a part of the project.

[mirh]

I don't know a thing about how this game works, but if any the target should just be have independent interface/subtitles/dubbing language.

[Polymega]

By the way it is possible to make SH2 PC display japanese language if you replaced .mes files with those from Xbox ISOs. Could make it a part of the project.

Nice! If you wouldn't mind sharing the .mes file I can add this as an option to the Installation Guide at a later date.

Are there additional language options for the subtitles as well in the Xbox version? (I no longer own an original Xbox to test...) Would the European Xbox releases have more language options than the North American versions?

[Bigmanjapan]

Are there additional language options for the subtitles as well in the Xbox version? (I no longer own an original Xbox to test...) Would the European Xbox releases have more language options than the North American versions?

As far as I remember Xbox versions work just like PS2 versions when it comes to language selection. NTSC-U and NTSC-J versions of both platforms have Japanese and English language available to select in Options menu. PAL versions of both patfroms have English, French, German, Italian, Spanish.

NTSC-U PC version have Japanese language "cut" and only have English available and PC PAL version have English, French, German, Italian, Spanish.

The thing is, these language selection restrictions are artificial. Every region version of every platfrom has all message files in their file structure and it is possible to select any language including Japanese by bypassing language selector restriction via memory editor.

There is an issue with PC build tho. Japanse message files in PC builds are "empty" and render Japanese text to "??? ??? ?????" signs. Transfering Japanese message files from an Xbox build solves this issue.

One additional issue with PC build is that there is no japanese text for PC menu (which appears when you press Esc button during gameplay), since there is no such menu on console versions and PC build was never released in Japan. Someone would have to make translations for menus and find a way to inject them into game's message file structure.

This video shows how easy it is to hack language selector and issues with original Japanese message files (this is done on NTSC-U version which only have English available by default): https://youtu.be/n3W73pCOZIc

Nice! If you wouldn't mind sharing the .mes file I can add this as an option to the Installation Guide at a later date.

Xbox_japanese_mes_files.zip

In conclusion, first step would be unlocking language selector by modyfing sh2pc.exe to provide access to all languages, second step would be adding lacking Japanese texts in the game's message structure.

Language selector address: sh2pc.exe+19BC006 (01DBC006) byte Values are: 0=Japanese, 1=English, 2=French, 3=German, 4=Italian, 5=Spanish

[Polymega]

Thanks for this info! Accessibility to non-English speakers (Japanese in this case) would be very beneficial. With fans all around the world, inclusiveness would be great.

In conclusion, first step would be unlocking language selector by modyfing sh2pc.exe to provide access to all languages

So if this can be unlocked could users simply click the < and > arrows beside the language choice to switch? (The same as adjusting other options.) Theoretically it wouldn't crash the game or anything?

second step would be adding lacking Japanese texts in the game's message structure.

Would that be as simple as dropping the Japanese message files back into the PC game's directory? Or would there be more steps involved?

I understand now. I just saw all the different language .mes files under /data/etc/message/ . Each file ends in e (English), f (French), g (German), i (Italian), and j (Japanese).

[Bigmanjapan]

So if this can be unlocked could users simply click the < and > arrows beside the language choice to switch? (The same as adjusting other options.) Theoretically it wouldn't crash the game or anything?

In theory, yes. Languages should be switchable via game's own "<" and ">" buttons without any crashes. I do that in the video via memory scanner and game doesn't crash, no reason why it would crash once language selector is "unbound".

Would that be as simple as dropping the Japanese message files back into the PC game's directory? Or would there be more steps involved?

I don't know yet. I (or someone else) would have to see from what files menu polls it's text data and try to change it as an experiment.

To confirm: Your title screen shows "Director's Cut" on the logo. Do you mean that you are using NTSC .exe with a PAL install of the game?

I always thought that if there is an aura around texts in main menu, then it is an NTSC build, if there is a plain text, then it's a PAL build.

Either way, my build have only English available by default, so it should be NTSC one regardless of logo in the main menu.

[Polymega]

I always thought that if there is an aura around texts in main menu, then it is an NTSC build, if there is a plain text, then it's a PAL build.

I believe you are correct. But if you install the PAL version then swap out the .exe with the NTSC version you will keep the PAL menu background image but have the NTSC "fat" menu font. But the "fat" menu font is the only true menu font for this game. :)

@AeroWidescreen if this can be looked in to and patched in the WSF (or patching the actual .exe? But that would require people using only the .exe provided) I can include the corrected Japanese message files (after they've been tested) as a packaged download with the .exe on the Installation Guide no-CD step.

[Bigmanjapan]

More importantly, when ReduceCutsceneFOV was disabled the "meat glitch" didn't happen except for one quick instance that is seen in Bigmanjapan's video at the 0:09 mark:

What about increasing FOV slightly for that cutscene? Seems to solve the issue entirely: https://youtu.be/3z_9o7atcFc

It is probably possible to increase FOV even less (to stay closer to the original) than I did to solve the issue.

@jdkubiak @AeroWidescreen

[Polymega]

Nice! How much could the FOV be decreased (to stay closer to the original) while preserving all the hanging meat? Is there a set threshold/limit?

[Bigmanjapan]

In my tests the minimum amount of change needed for the meat to be loaded in fast enough is 12%.

Original FOV is 1.147019982. New FOV is 1.147019982 * 0.88 =1,00937758416

[AeroWidescreen]

So for the cursor starting position, how about we modify the vertical boundaries so that it can't go off-screen to begin with? I was hesitant to do it before because I wasn't able to fix the other mouse problems until now.

Original value = 240 New value = 190

Vert Mouse Boundary (fullscreen images) 006B2210 43340000 // 190.0f 004A2D6C 000000B4 // 190 integer

Vert Gamepad Boundary (fullscreen images) 006B001C C3340000 // -190.0f 004A314F C3340000 // -190.0f 004A2DD2 C3340000 // -190.0f

@Bigmanjapan

In my tests the minimum amount of change needed for the meat to be loaded in fast enough is 12%.

Original FOV is 1.147019982. New FOV is 1.147019982 * 0.88 =1,00937758416

Sorry, I forgot all about this. Too many topics right now. I'll see about this soon.

[Polymega]

how about we modify the vertical boundaries so that it can't go off-screen to begin with?

The primary purpose of centering the cursor was to help players if their cursor stayed off-screen from a previous puzzle, so if you can prevent it from going off screen to begin with then that would be an even better solution to the issue!

Never realized that could've been a solution; nice one, Aero.

[Polymega]

I'm recording footage for the upcoming, updated demonstration trailer showcasing more of the game's fixes and am currently capturing how ReduceCutsceneFOV benefits the game. It especially helps with most of the ending cutscenes.

Anyways, while recording, I think I found the true monster of Silent Hill 2, lol! Pay attention to Jame's jaw, or lack thereof: https://youtu.be/8cxeUV1ianQ ^ Ending spoilers in the video

Just sharing for laughs. :)

[Bigmanjapan]

Never seen body parts disappear like that but I gotta tell you, once you skin Eddie's textures on James model — that is also a worthy nightmare material.

Does anyone here possess a physical SH2 PC NTSC copy? I mean a yellow box version, either small or big one (http://crimson-ceremony.net/lostreleases/item.php?id=shgame_sh2dc-pc-usa1 / http://crimson-ceremony.net/lostreleases/item.php?id=shgame_sh2dc-pc-usa2)

[Polymega]

Does anyone here possess a physical SH2 PC NTSC copy?

I own a copy. Do you need an unmodified copy of the NTSC's .exe? Or other files from it? Just let me know.

[Bigmanjapan]

I need images of all 3 CDs made via Alcohol120% with "Securom NEW 4/5/7" Datatype option selected.

[AeroWidescreen]

Anyways, while recording, I think I found the true monster of Silent Hill 2, lol! Pay attention to Jame's jaw, or lack thereof:

Still not as nightmare inducing as Maria's eye teeth from the HD collection. ugh

[Polymega]

@Bigmanjapan send me a message through this contact form: http://www.igotaletter.com/siteinfo/contact/

Still not as nightmare inducing as Maria's eye teeth from the HD collection. ugh

lol! Indeed! One day I want to catalog all the weird, dumb, and overall stupid things the HD Collection did to SH2 & 3 in website article form.

[elishacloud]

In case you missed it, we put a fix into d3d8to9 for the red tint issue in the FMVs when using Intel GPUs.

[Polymega]

Nice! And my apologies: I know the lighting issue was fixed for that one scene but didn't realize the red tinting was also addressed. Thank you Elisha; and crosire!

I'll also add this improvement to the next, upcoming demonstration trailer. :)

[elishacloud]

@jdkubiak, the red tint issue is just fixed in the source code. We still need @AeroWidescreen to pull the latest d3d8to9 source code and create an updated Widescreen Fix before someone can use this.

[Polymega]

Hi @AeroWidescreen ,

I come bearing reports:

Increased draw distance:

Everything seemed to play correctly. I saw no visual oddities and no game crashes from this mod!

Rowboat animation fix:

I re-loaded the shipping dock save point probably 10 times in a row and the animation bug never occured. However, it seems to negatively affect James' rowboat animation (once he starts rowing). I'll try to explain: If you hold down just the right or left arrow James will only row with that corresponding paddle. Then, once you press up again (or right + up or left + up) he will start to use both paddles again. It seems, with this mod in effect, he doesn't switch paddles when changing directions. Or, if he does, it takes him an unusually long time to do so.

Please refer to this YouTube video: https://youtu.be/HhMznTfYYPk

In the first game load I'm not using your modified .exe. So when I get in the rowboat I immediately steer right towards the light then press up on the keyboard to start going forward. Notice how when I stop turning right James begins to use both paddles?

Then, on the second game load I'm using your modified .exe. I steer right to center myself on the light and, once centered to that light, start to row forward. But notice how James only continues to use the one paddle. Even if I change directions he'll only use that one paddle in his animation. After a good, long while he'll begin to use both again (or the other if I start to steer the other direction then) but by that point you're already half way across the lake.

Edit (forgot to add): In addition to that, it feels like the turning is more "wide" or "loose." I feel like I have to hold down a direction significantly longer before James gets to the direction that I'm trying to steer him towards. Whereas, in the first game load on that YouTube clip his steering is much more quick and snappy.

In my sh2pc.exe file this 4 byte address sh2pc.exe+4BB78C (008BB78C) holds a value of FFFFFFFF (4294967295) before the boat cutscene is triggered for the first time and it gets nullified (value is changed to 00000000) upon triggering the cutscene. It stays nulled afterwards.

Aero, to confirm with your mod fix, does this value return to 00000000 upon cutscene end? Or does it stay as FFFFFFFF now even past the cutscene end? That perhaps may be the issue at play if so.

[Bigmanjapan]

I can replicate your issues with rowing animation by freezing FFFFFFFF value on the address. Don't know what fix Aero has applied to sh2pc.exe but the value should only be set to FFFFFFFF one time before the boat cutscene.

[AeroWidescreen]

Aero, to confirm with your mod fix, does this value return to 00000000 upon cutscene end? Or does it stay as FFFFFFFF now even past the cutscene end? That perhaps may be the issue at play if so.

I can replicate your issues with rowing animation by freezing FFFFFFFF value on the address. Don't know what fix Aero has applied to sh2pc.exe but the value should only be set to FFFFFFFF one time before the boat cutscene.

Yeah, that's definitely my mistake. I think my method locks it at FFFFFFFF during that cutscene until something else in the game overwrites it. I'll upload another exe for you guys to test later.

[Polymega]

Ladies and gentlemen of the modding community,

Gaming horror news site Rely on Horror just published a story about the Silent Hill HD Collection where they anonymously interviewed a member of Hijinx Studios (the dev team who was in charge of and failed at remastering the games). It's an important read to those involved with modding the PC game or have any sort of general interest in the Silent Hill series as a whole.

Upon reading that article, I want to thank each and every one of you again for what you are doing here; improving the PC version as you are.

I can't tell you how disheartening it is to go on the Silent Hill subreddit and see countless posts along the lines of, "Just beat Silent Hill 1 (from the PS Classics digital store)! Really loved it and will get the SH HD Collection next to play SH2 and 3 because I don't have an original PS2 anymore." Or even people who opt to play the original SH2 Xbox disc on their 360 because they don't have an original Xbox anymore (the 360's backwards emulation utterly ruins the game with a staggering amount of bugs and glitches).

This is all because people want to play this beloved game on newer platforms/displays but their choices in doing so are limited and they're completely unaware of how bugged playing the game on newer consoles truly is. It breaks my heart a little thinking that people's first-time experience with SH2 may be done in a bug-riddled environment through consoles and that will be how they think SH2 normally should play.

But upon the next updated demonstration trailer I'll release I plan to push that video (showcasing many of your, the modders', improvements) hard to as many outlets as I feasibly can. The PC version is fast becoming the go-to choice (due to reasonable PC requirements and ease of use) to play this game that many people may have not considered as a choice previously.

So I'd like to give my heart-felt thanks to you all once more. It truly warms my heart seeing all you talented people coming from different ends of the Earth for the common goal of giving this special game the HD treatment it truly deserved. Silent Hill 2 is loved by so many and there are many new-comers wanting to see what the buzz was all about with this game each and every day. The vast majority of these people are silent or simply unaware of the hazards in playing this game on consoles besides PS2/Xbox. You all are helping so many others out with the time and talent you're putting towards these mod improvements.

You all are rock stars. :)

[AeroWidescreen]

@jdkubiak @Bigmanjapan Okay guys, try this:

Boat Animation Fix v2

1. Backup your sh2pc.exe and replace it with the one provided in the download.
2. Launch the game.
3. Run "Test v2.exe" and press 1 to enable the fix.

The exe is simply a generic trainer generated by Cheat Engine. I only did it this way so I didn't have to waste time looking for a code cave and modding sh2pc.exe.

@elishacloud Done.

@jdkubiak

I can't tell you how disheartening it is to go on the Silent Hill subreddit and see countless posts along the lines of, "Just beat Silent Hill 1 (from the PS Classics digital store)! Really loved it and will get the SH HD Collection next to play SH2 and 3 because I don't have an original PS2 anymore." Or even people who opt to play the original SH2 Xbox disc on their 360 because they don't have an original Xbox anymore (the 360's backwards emulation utterly ruins the game with a staggering amount of bugs and glitches).

Yeah, I've mostly seen people recommend the PS2 version of SH2 as the best way to play, and I can't blame them when it's the easiest choice, but it's not an option for everyone. The PC version is old enough that anyone with a laptop made within the past 10 years should be able to run it, and going forward it might be our only choice since the original PS2 release still isn't available on PS4. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[Polymega]

Okay guys, try this:

Unfortunately, it did not work for me. I tried it both ways: Pressing "1" one time (upon game load) and re-loading the "shipping dock" save multiple times and also pressing "1" off/on again between each re-load. James' animation was still wonky as he entered the boat upon every subsequent load.

I've mostly seen people recommend the PS2 version of SH2

Yeah, but the issue is it's easy to recommend that but hard for many of those asking because they never kept their older consoles (such as the PS2 or Xbox). Because of that, this is a duty I feel obligated to perform whenever I come across such a situation.

the original PS2 release still isn't available on PS4. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Correct, and it probably never will be due to Konami's gross disinterest in preserving its gaming legacies. Funny enough, it was me giving up on PS4 releasing SH2 in their PS2 library that ultimately led me to looking for improvements with the PC version which led me to you guys. It was the best thing Sony could not have done, if you ask me. :)

[AeroWidescreen]

Unfortunately, it did not work for me. I tried it both ways: Pressing "1" one time (upon game load) and re-loading the "shipping dock" save multiple times and also pressing "1" off/on again between each re-load. James' animation was still wonky as he entered the boat upon every subsequent load.

Ugh, my mistake again. Same steps as before:

Download

[Polymega]

Beautiful. Worked like a charm this time, Aero!

[Polymega]

@AeroWidescreen @elishacloud @Nisto @ThirteenAG @Bigmanjapan

I made a post on the Silent Hill subreddit basically reminding folks of how awesome the PC version of the game has now become: https://www.reddit.com/r/silenthill/comments/8k7oe0/experience_silent_hill_2_on_pc_in_widescreen_hd/

And there's one comment in particular over there so far I'd like to share with you, the modders, here. I think it's well written, heartfelt, and nice to read considering this person seems to be in the PS2 camp for the game:

Clearly you guys are still hard at work in making the PC port one of the best ways to experience the game. While I first played the game on the PS2 back when it first came out (all the way back to when I was still in Elementary school. I feel old), the only physical copy for consoles that I have of the game is for the original Xbox. IMO, it's the second best version of the game you can play, right behind the Greatest Hits edition of the original PS2 game, the one that comes with the "Born from a Wish" scenario and other additional content that got added to the Xbox version and every future edition of the game onward while still maintaining the best visuals and performance out of all the other versions. If you've got a decent PC to play games on, I'd recommend that you just try emulating the Greatest Hits PS2 edition of the game if you want the completely original experience of the game but with all the extra content of later ports, but I'll be happy to see the PC port modded to where it could be a viable alternative to just emulating the PS2 Greatest Hits edition of the game since it wouldn't require more beefy hardware like you would if you wanted to emulate it upscaled and modded/hacked.

The only problem with playing a modded version of the PC port, as has been already pointed out by other users, is getting your hands on an actual copy of that version of the game. I wanted to try and buy a copy of the PC port at one point before I saw how limited in quantity they seemed to be (while I was looking for them, anyway), and they were pretty expensive on average - for me it was difficult to find a copy in good condition that was under $100 and had more than just the disc. If getting your hands on a PC port of the game wasn't this much of a hassle, then I'd say go right ahead and grab yourself copy and try out all the mods that have been made for it, because going by everything listed on this post alone it sounds like the PC port is already a pretty good option for players to look into, and is only going to get better as time goes on. Being able to play an upscaled version of SH2 with PS2-style visuals/performance with minimal hardware requirements would honestly be a pretty killer deal, IMO.

Anyway, I will finish this post of mine by congratulating all the people who're hard at work at making all these mods to the PC port of SH2 - you guys are wizards creating something possibly truly magical among all the various ports of the game that are out there. It's guys like you who help keep the legacy of the original, superior version(s) of the game alive, unlike that abortion of an HD remaster that was the Silent Hill: HD Collection. I'll keep cheering for you guys as you continue the work you've set out to do - good luck!

https://www.reddit.com/r/silenthill/comments/8k7oe0/comment/dz7xxee

[mirh]

And that's why, with such amount of brokenness and changes, I don't see how you wouldn't have a batter time just rewriting the engine altogether. Can't you jump onto the sh3redux train?

[Polymega]

Why bring down the mood now, namely after all these new recent fixes? You have people leaving comments and praise elsewhere (such as on Reddit) to all the modders here doing all this good work and it feels like you're completely ignoring what they've already done.

The improvements to this game have come a significantly long way and seemingly have no signs of stopping. And for stubborn problems you have the modders inching closer to a solution every day. So I ask: What's the issue with the fixes they're doing that are proven to work?

Why ask to remake a game engine from the ground up when there's a high chance those folks don't have that type of experience to do so when they can mod the game using tools/experience they're already familiar with?

You've mentioned remaking SH2's engine before but, judging by the lack of responses the last times, I'd have to imagine that being a more monumental affair than what's realized. And it still goes back to my question: What these talented folks are doing works so why completely negate all the hard work and time they've already put into this?

I'm not arguing remaking the engine from scratch could have benefits but why do so when the groundwork has already been laid and you have the architects (the modders) doing what they do best and expanding upon the foundation to create beautiful work?

[mirh]

I mentioned it exactly because the mood was high and a very lot of people seemed to care, thus justifying it Sorry... bye.

[Polymega]

Don't leave, mirh. It's just, I can't recall any particular posts within these SH2 mod fixes over the past 6-9 months where you congratulated or encouraged the modder's work; only mentioning how the time/work that's already been done could have been better suited through other avenues for the game.