Missing Eyes!!

[ColdDeadFrozen]

So I'm fairly new to the community here, and originally, I was brought here by the sudden disappearance of my actual ps2! So in search of a solution, I very quickly came across PCSX2. As I've looked around for the last little while, I've been rather impressed. Games like Final Fantasy and Shadow  Of The Colossus look great! But unfortunately, I was inevitably disappointed by one of my favourite game trilogy's (if not my favourite) which would be the Jak and Daxter Series. One fellow here on the forums had problems with the game (Jak 2) that seem to be universal and without any fix, he was stuck choosing between shadows or missing eyes. 

You can read about it here: http://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-JAK-2-iss...ws-low-fps

Now, first of all... I can't seem to wrap my head around why the eyes?? Why missing eyes??? Maybe if someone could shed some light on this in as close to layman's terms as possible? I do have a fair technical background but I am by no means a programmer or any kind of expert. And I'm sure anyone else reading this would find a simpler explanation similarly helpful. 

Also, what's stopping us from fixing these issues? Something like missing textures does not seem like an insurmountable challenge, although clearly, it seems to pose one! As far as the shadows are concerned, I'm not even remotely sure what would cause that. My best guess would be scaling?? Since it only happens when running at non-native resolutions. It's really rock and a hard place cuz it's either shadows at high res in hardware mode or at native res in software mode, all the characters look like they're the button-eyes from Caroline. Which reeeally creeps me out!!  

I have a very powerful machine on it's way and I was disappointed by the fact the even with all the power, I'm still gunna have to deal with missing textures and such. Also, I was hoping for this to be the solution to my missing ps2 problem. But I don't see myself playing comfortably with creepy missing eyes or distracting shadows. After all, I'd like to think I'm not spending $1,800 on the new rig for nothing! Any input is more than appreciated!!

[gregory]

The texture aren't missing but the content of some layers of the texture are wrong. It isn't complicated to implement it just takes time and someone to do it.

For the shadows, we need read-write texture. So far most GPUs have read-ONLY texture or write-ONLY texture. (Latest Nvidia GPU support RW texture, but I don't have one in my computer )

[ColdDeadFrozen]

The texture aren't missing but the content of some layers of the texture are wrong. It isn't complicated to implement it just takes time and someone to do it.

For the shadows, we need read-write texture. So far most GPUs have read-ONLY texture or write-ONLY texture. (Latest Nvidia GPU support RW texture, but I don't have one in my computer )

First of all thank you very much for your reply!

So are you saying that it's fixable, but someone just hasn't done it yet? And do you think the gtx970 I have on the way will have that capability/fix the shadow problem?

[refraction]

Buying new hardware will not fix bugs no, but I can tell you from experience that the 970 is plenty for PCSX2 to run without your graphics card slowing you down

[ColdDeadFrozen]

That's good to know lol I'm certainly hoping I won't have to read the "recommended specs" on anything for a while... But in regards to the read-write texture comment gregory made... Is that to imply that having the newest Nvidia GPU will fix the shadow issue as a result of it's read-write texture capability, or am I missing something?

Please excuse my noobish terminology use, I'm not very familiar with how most of this works...

[dogen]

That's good to know lol I'm certainly hoping I won't have to read the "recommended specs" on anything for a while... But in regards to the read-write texture comment gregory made... Is that to imply that having the newest Nvidia GPU will fix the shadow issue as a result of it's read-write texture capability, or am I missing something?

Please excuse my noobish terminology use, I'm not very familiar with how most of this works...

In theory sure, but it has to be implemented into pcsx2.

[ColdDeadFrozen]

Ah I see, and so it just isn't yet? Are we likely to see that change?

[KilledAlive]

Just saying, Jaks 1-3 are one of the more compatible games for PCSX2. The issues with it now, especially the eyes, are rather minor issues compared to others.

Regarding general performance issues/improvements for the Jak series, here are some of my extremely general observations.

For PCSX2 1.3.0:
-All games have strange texture issues regarding LOD's Textures in landscapes when playing in Hardware mode.
-All games have Empty and/or misplaced eyes in Hardware mode.
-Jaks 2 and 3 can be very performance intensive while using vehicles or traveling past walking speeds.
-Jak 1 in Hardware mode occasionally has large vertical bars along the screen, but only appeared from time to time.

Solutions for 1.3.0:
-Jak series is not very compatible with cycle stealing, as it causes screen shake and stuttering throughout the trilogy. Keeping cycle stealing at 1 does not cause much input lag or shaking, and helps prevent extreme visual and audio stuttering.
-Jak series is pretty compatible with EE cycle rate modifications, and really helps with performance. It is best to fine tune to your computer via trial and error.


PCSX2 1.4.0:
-For some reason, nearly all issues regarding broken LOD textures are fixed for all 3 games. long distance textures actually manage to render in the most part. This leaves you with a much improved playing experience! Other than occasional texture flickering on the LOD borders.
-Sadly, the Eye issues persist in the trilogy on 1.4.0.
 
Solutions for 1.4.0
-Most likely due to the LOD textures managing to stream properly, all 3 games have a strange performance hit, but a rather slight one from 1.3. With the option to slow down the EE cyclerate, you can in one way or another, artificially increase your frame rate while keeping the game rather stuttery.
-a bonus tip regarding 1.4.0, Performance is much more responsive to decreasing the internal resolution. 1.3.0 for some strange reason was not very performance responsive to a decrease in internal resolution, but managed to run better at higher resolutions for me. I am really not so sure if these fixes or tips will help, but I sincerely hope that they do.