Silent Hill 2 - how to remove film grain?

[9456]

How to remove the film grain in Silent Hill 2? The grain was initially impressive, but without fog (I've reached the apartments) it becomes evident that the effect masks Team Silent's original artwork.

If you know a method for any other PS2 Silent Hill games, feel free to share. I won't play the PC version because it doesn't have original fog and soft shadows (the other missing or incomplete features can apparently be modded in), please don't recommend playing on PC.

[pandubz]

Generally with post processing effects you can try using Skipdraw in the Advanced Hardware Hacks section of GSdx, but that is going to be about all you can do.

On 1.4.0, all draw calls between 1 and the number you specify will be skipped. This can break other things.
On newer 1.5.0 development builds, we added the ability to change the starting point, so you can skip, say, calls 10-25. Much easier to avoid breaking other draws this way.

[kozarovv]

You can use one of patches created by @Maori-Jigglypuff

https://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-Post-you...#pid592598
Disable all patches, excluding "Noise filter off". For other region SH2 patches search thread i linked on Pages 327 - 344.

[9456]

As noted in the Maori-Jigglypuff's patch, there's a native support for disabling film grain in Silent Hill 2 (extra options), but the game must be completed once:

Code:

// "NEW GAME" appears in yellow Letters
// (PS2 thinks that you have beaten a Game)
// AND Unlock "Bullet Adjust" and "Noise Effect"
// in the Extra Options
patch=1,EE,012361E4,short,000001FF

Or alternatively disable the filter without patching the save:

Code:

// Noise Filter Off
// [Not saveable]
patch=1,EE,001a7154,word,24030000
patch=1,EE,0017e7c8,word,24070000
patch=1,EE,001795a0,word,240A0000
patch=1,EE,002382cc,word,24030000
patch=1,EE,001f24e4,word,24030000

[9456]

Disabling the "noise effect" setting unfortunately had no effect on my mid-game save. The noise filter patch (latter) certainly works correctly.