PCSX2 - Widescreen Game Patches

[dlanor]

I have only recently started playing with PCSX2 in earnest, after finally acquiring a PC with the necessary specs for good PS2 emulation results. And it is only a few days ago that I became aware of the widescreen patches available here. I have tried to read up on the subject as far as possible in so little time, but I may have missed some things of importance, causing part of my submission here to be in error. If so, please don't hesitate to tell me so, so that I can redirect my efforts accordingly.

One thing that struck me as surprising is that many of the posts I've read so far refer to elf-patching as being somehow in conflict with the patching of variables via pnach files, and also with the automatic game fixes applied by the emulator (or by its plugins). The conflict admittedly exists for elf-patching done by modifying a game ISO, since that will modify the CRC used to identify a game, for application of both pnach files and automatic game fixes. But there are other methods of elf-patching which do not cause such CRC failures.

One such alternate way of patching the elf files is to use a normal cheat engine to patch the elf in its runtime RAM addresses in PS2 EE RAM. This is in fact a rather common way to implement game cheats of many kinds. So this method works fine even on a physical console.

A related way of elf-patching without using any separate cheat engine, is to instead use the pnach patch features of PCSX2 to do the elf patching. This works fine and without any CRC conflicts, simply because the pnach file is never applied until after the CRC calculation is done, which only happens once per game run (or so I think anyway).

I suppose additional master code or conditional code usage may be needed for cases of multi-elf games (as different elfs may re-use the same addresses), but for the cases I've tried so far I've had no such problems.

As 'proof-of-concept' I'm attaching a few elf-patching pnach files I've made and used without problems. Note that these are all based on information gathered from older posts in this thread, so I claim no credit for discovering what to patch or the values to use. All I've done is to re-implement the elf patching into pnach form.

0643F90C.pnach == Rogue Galaxy (US) == SCUS_974.90
  0643F90C.pnach (Size: 124 bytes / Downloads: 694)

CBB4B383.pnach == Rogue Galaxy (EU) == SCES_545.52
  CBB4B383.pnach (Size: 122 bytes / Downloads: 494)

3866CA7E.pnach == FFX International (Ko) == SLPM_675.13
  3866CA7E.pnach (Size: 766 bytes / Downloads: 667)

Btw:
I did try the FFX patch through normal cheat engines too, on a physical PS2, and this worked fine with both SM3coder and CodeBreaker v10 to do the patching. But just as I had suspected beforehand, the result was not really satisfactory, as we can not change the internal rendering resolution of a game on a physical console, like we can change the internal 3D rendering resolution in PCSX2 GPU plugins. So rendering a wider 3D area into the same physical PS2 resolution inevitably means that each object is rendered with fewer pixels, resulting in a rougher appearance, just as if we had just lowered the resolution of the game.

So this kind of widescreen patch is really worthwhile only on a PC, where we can raise the internal rendering resolutions to match (or exceed) the increased width to be rendered.

Best regards: dlanor

[pgert]

@dlanor:
You have three consoles? Wow!

[dlanor]

@dlanor:
You have three consoles? Wow!

No. In fact I have several more.

But that is really not a requirement for testing the games I mentioned, since games imported from other regions can also be tested on modded consoles, or by using an ESR-patched DVD-R backup of the original game on any normal PS2 console with homebrewing ability to run the ESR driver.

In any case, what consoles I have and how I use them in testing is not really on-topic here. So let's try here to stick to discussing the widescreen patches that this thread is dedicated to. Other topics are better handled in other threads or possibly PM.

Best regards: dlanor

[No.47]

Hej dlanor, long time no see... nice to see you here. I hope all is well with you?

Btw:
I did try the FFX patch through normal cheat engines too, on a physical PS2, and this worked fine with both SM3coder and CodeBreaker v10 to do the patching. But just as I had suspected beforehand, the result was not really satisfactory, as we can not change the internal rendering resolution of a game on a physical console, like we can change the internal 3D rendering resolution in PCSX2 GPU plugins. So rendering a wider 3D area into the same physical PS2 resolution inevitably means that each object is rendered with fewer pixels, resulting in a rougher appearance, just as if we had just lowered the resolution of the game.

So this kind of widescreen patch is really worthwhile only on a PC, where we can raise the internal rendering resolutions to match (or exceed) the increased width to be rendered.

Here I have to disagree. Of course it's true that we're reducing the horizontal pixel density on the screen with these widescreen hacks, but that's also the case with PS2 games that offer a built-in widescreen mode. With your logic you should never use widescreen modes for any console which isn't exclusively designed for widescreen (PS2, DC, GC, Xbox, Wii and older consoles).
IMO the difference in image quality is much less visible than you might think. Also it is in fact possible to change the used internal resolution by using memory/ELF hacks, if you think it's worth the trouble (which I don't ).

[Hyperspeed]

Anyone has a widescreen pnach or elf widescreen for OKAMI & DRAGON BALL Z BUDOKAI 3?

Done by Nemesis2000

Okami (SLUS-20811)


value 1

initial value
889E438C 809E84C4 20218046 2044013C

changed to
889E438C 809E84C4 20218046 5544013C

More elf and pnach here -> http://ps2wide.net/

[Goshorai]

Hello everyone. I was reading the thread and was amazed by the results of this hacks, I tried Persona 4's Hack, and the game looked gorgeous! Too bad the 2D stuff gets stretched.

Anyway, since I've been seeing everyone creating new hacks pretty much daily, I considered giving it a shot!.

...but I missed said shot.

The game I was trying to patch was JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken Ougon no Kaze (The emu shows it as JoJo's Bizarre Adventure 5)
I messed around some time with CE, and found some freaky results, had some funs, an yeah etc...
At the end I found the adresses for both Hor and Vert FOVs.

So I modified them . Everything going cool here...Except that game got messed up, there was an actual increase in the FOV, but the character models got messed up! They were, sorta, "2D while being 3D"

   

Weird stuff.

And when the fight starts, the FOV reverts back to its original 4:3, though the Value doesn't change in CE, and models get EVEN MORE messed up, Like this:

   

Notice how the 2D Also gets deformed.

So it's still glitchy as hell, If someone has some heads up about this, please let me know, I wanna complete this patch! I'm a total n00b but Ill keep at it

[dlanor]

Hej dlanor, long time no see... nice to see you here. I hope all is well with you?

I'm reasonably well now, though I do have some problems.

Not least of those is the way I gained weight since I quit smoking (soon 10 years ago), reaching 109 Kg some time ago, when I finally decided to do something about it. So now I spend a lot of time each day on an exercise bike, though I've only reduced my weight to 105 Kg at present. But at least it's going in the right direction now...

-----re: reduced quality with forced widescreen mode on real PS2

Here I have to disagree. Of course it's true that we're reducing the horizontal pixel density on the screen with these widescreen hacks, but that's also the case with PS2 games that offer a built-in widescreen mode.

That is correct, but for those games the game designers have had a chance to tweak their graphics for best effect in both modes, which is what is missing from those games where we enforce a widescreen mode never intended by the game designers.

With your logic you should never use widescreen modes for any console which isn't exclusively designed for widescreen (PS2, DC, GC, Xbox, Wii and older consoles).

Not at all. There is no reason for any modern console to be considered exclusive for any specific video mode, and the PS2 hardware is definitely designed for widescreen support since nearly all PS2 models support both 480p and 1080i (though only a few models support 576p and 720p). But even in the normal NTSC and PAL resolutions, widescreen games can look very nice, provided that the game graphics are designed for it.

The problem lies not so much in the console design as in the design of most games.

IMO the difference in image quality is much less visible than you might think.

That will of course vary between games and TV sets used (an old CRT adds so much fuzziness of its own that the difference due to widescreen mode might be invisible). But most importantly, it is also a matter of personal taste.

Also it is in fact possible to change the used internal resolution by using memory/ELF hacks, if you think it's worth the trouble (which I don't ).

I'm not sure what hacks you refer to here, but to actually make the individual game engines use a much higher resolution than they were designed for would most likely cause CPU overload, except for games which natively use a lower resolution than normal. (eg: Some Nippon Ichi RPGs use 320x224, simply upscaled to the normal 640x448 NTSC.)

Best regards: dlanor

[wcamicase]

Hi guys, I'm quite a newb relating these kind of this, most of the times I only use what you guys make but there are two games that I can't find on the list and since making these patches does not seem to be that easy, if I somehow could lend a hand I would like to.
The two games I would like to ask are, Final Fantasy X-2 International and Kingdom Hearts Final Mix

Also another question, in the widescreen program I find Kingdom Hearts BBS, I suppose that means Birth By Sleep, a game only available for PSP, don't you guys mean Re: Chain of Memories? I dunno, though I should ask as it might create confusion

[nemesis2000]

Final Fight: Streetwise (SLES-53853)





73C560BA.pnach

[No.47]

I'm reasonably well now, though I do have some problems.

Not least of those is the way I gained weight since I quit smoking (soon 10 years ago), reaching 109 Kg some time ago, when I finally decided to do something about it. So now I spend a lot of time each day on an exercise bike, though I've only reduced my weight to 105 Kg at present. But at least it's going in the right direction now...

Well, every beginning is hard. I wish you good luck!

That is correct, but for those games the game designers have had a chance to tweak their graphics for best effect in both modes [...]

That's pretty optimistic of you, especially considering that most devs didn't bother to implement a proper 16:9 mode (2D elements are almost always stretched, often vert- instead of hor+ widescreen, etc.pp.). I agree with you in theory, but in practice our widescreen hacks are often better than what the devs gave us.
It would be different, if the hacks had a big impact on the framerate (since the render area is increased), but that doesn't seem to be the case. I'm sure it would be if we had to increase the internal resolution for the widescreen hacks though.

The problem lies not so much in the console design as in the design of most games.

Yes, sure. Unfortunately there are barely any PS2 games designed for 16:9, including those that offer a built-in 16:9 mode. For example consider the God of War and the Yakuza games: These are late-gen AAA titles with great production values and still their widescreen modes are poor. You can see in-game that they were designed for 4:3. The only PS2 games I would consider "designed for 16:9" are the PSP to PS2 ports and even those don't always have an 16:9 mode

That will of course vary between games and TV sets used (an old CRT adds so much fuzziness of its own that the difference due to widescreen mode might be invisible). But most importantly, it is also a matter of personal taste.

Agreed. (I'm only expressing my personal opinion )

I'm not sure what hacks you refer to here, but to actually make the individual game engines use a much higher resolution than they were designed for would most likely cause CPU overload

Or at least you get a framerate drop. Of course it always depends on the game and how much you increase the resolution. nemesis2000 did such hacks to get a fullscreen 480p mode for games with less than 640x448 framebuffer size.

Regards!