Maken Shao crazy graphics glitches

[synce]

Tested over 5 different versions of gsdx, changed every emulation and gsdx setting, tried all the gsdx hacks, but there's a glitch prevalent in every version - the background graphics go completely crazy when moving around, obscuring the screen.

[attachment=38774]
^ gsdx 5178, hardware

[attachment=38772]
^ gsdx 5178, software

[attachment=38770]
^ gsdx 890, software

The game's been mentioned once on this site, but the user didn't seem to notice the crazy glitches since he only tested for 10 seconds.

I think the background glitch may be fixable by altering the camera zoom via pnach (I'll try later today), but I'm also concerned about the vertical lines in the latest software gsdx. Anyone seen them before? Is a fix possible? The old gsdx doesn't have them but it's also incredibly slow.

[miseru99]

It's not necessary a gsdx bug(especially that it also happen in software), it could be VU fault, try disabling mVU flag hack(which is enabled by default in new svn), try changing VU options or even turning on some manual gamefixes that concern VU(it doesn't seem to have any automatic one currently;p).

[synce]

You've done it again! Disabled mVU flag hack and it's perfect... But while I was trying to fix it manually I stumbled upon some values that when zeroed out remove the hardware mode glitches. I have no idea if they affect anything else ... And of course I had to make it widescreen too

[miseru99]

It's the second game that get's broken by it ever @_@, both japanese. Guess it's a candidate for next GameIndex.dbf update, nice work on fixing and making it WS too;3.

Oh BTW, your fixed something else by patching it's memory? Couse automatic gamefixes CAN also apply patches...

[synce]

It's funny because this team's other game (Digital Devil Saga) also has shadow problems in pcsx2. Asmodean managed to correct the problem in the PAL version via pnach, and the same thing was done here with Maken Shao. I'll see about patching the JP versions later

Below is the patch for Maken Shao (NTSC-J). I played the whole first level and nothing was broken. Of course there's no shadows under the characters, but they're not there in sw mode either...

Code:

patch=1,EE,20DEE11C,extended,00000000
patch=1,EE,20DEE12C,extended,00000000
patch=1,EE,20DEE130,extended,00000000
patch=1,EE,20DEE134,extended,00000000
patch=1,EE,20DEE25C,extended,00000000
patch=1,EE,20DEE26C,extended,00000000
patch=1,EE,20DEE270,extended,00000000
patch=1,EE,20DEE274,extended,00000000
patch=1,EE,20DEE39C,extended,00000000
patch=1,EE,20DEE3AC,extended,00000000
patch=1,EE,20DEE3B0,extended,00000000
patch=1,EE,20DEE3B4,extended,00000000
patch=1,EE,20DEE4DC,extended,00000000
patch=1,EE,20DEE4EC,extended,00000000
patch=1,EE,20DEE4F0,extended,00000000
patch=1,EE,20DEE4F4,extended,00000000
patch=1,EE,20DEE61C,extended,00000000
patch=1,EE,20DEE62C,extended,00000000
patch=1,EE,20DEE630,extended,00000000
patch=1,EE,20DEE634,extended,00000000
patch=1,EE,20DEE75C,extended,00000000
patch=1,EE,20DEE76C,extended,00000000
patch=1,EE,20DEE770,extended,00000000
patch=1,EE,20DEE774,extended,00000000

[rama]

I've put this on my todo list, thanks for investigating.
Can I have a link to that fix for DDS by asmodean btw? Curious what he did there.

[synce]

Here's the link to asmodean's patch. I'm not sure exactly what he did but it probably took some effort - a lot more than what I put into mine below lol

Code:

patch=1,EE,20330230,extended,00000000
patch=1,EE,20330238,extended,00000000
patch=1,EE,20398654,extended,00000000
patch=1,EE,20398658,extended,3f800000
patch=1,EE,20398664,extended,3f800000

This removes the shadows completely (in NTSC-J ver). Using just the first two lines keeps shadows intact and lessens the clipping but does nothing to fix the cutscenes, which I can't confirm if asmodean was able to fix or not. BTW these values change depending on the area - they're both 0.5 in the first area, but not always identical and sometimes negative.

[attachment=38779]
original

[attachment=38778]
partial patch

[attachment=38780]
full patch

[miseru99]

Looking at that I would say it's some deepth "position" of those effects, they're just moved to the back most graphics have it from my mass-changing-game-breaking experiences when seeking WS;D. But for the DDS I think the shadow bug is actually CAUSED by skipdraw "fix", I remember it was correct when skipdraw was disabled when I was looking for ws for ntsc version of it. (it had probably different problems then through;3)

[kamwah99]

It is rather small problem compared to others complain.As the user is still uncomfortable about the performance.The best solution is to play it back from ps2 console.You don't have to worry anymore and being a technican to test which problem for programmers.

[rama]

You've stated this in some other thread before, kamwah. People know games play well on the real console, that's kinda a "duh".

Okay, the shadow fix is indeed just trying to move the bad effect out of view, the initial problem is still there.
We know what causes it btw, the fix is in the works ™.