Meta: GS SW issue

[gregory38]

Single issue report to centralize all current issue/limitation with the SW renderer. The trick is to avoid core bug.

Active (as of March 2019):

• [x] 007: Agent Under Fire - Loading screen is corrupt https://github.com/PCSX2/pcsx2/issues/3662
• [x] Arc The Lad: End Of Darkness forum link - text balloon cursor cut-off (depth precision)
• [ ] Beyond Good & Evil #1986 - broken water effects, also broken on Dobiestation
• [x] ~~Burnout 3 - missing national flags~~ They are missing on the real console too
• [x] Destroy All Humans - Globe on main menu exhibits corruption - Quite likely Z-fighting
• [x] Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy in Itadaki Street Special - Missing board, could be core issue. Broken in all renderers + Dobie (Confirmed on hardware as GS issue) Fixed by #7158 (alpha for AA coverage)
• [x] Final Fantasy X #804 - intro cutscene FFX logo top left(sleeve) is distorted (regressed after 0.9.4 after Z24 uploads implemented) potentially a core issue
• [x] Formula One 04 #2271 - missing starting lights (regressed after 0.9.4)
• [ ] Mercenaries - Corruption on main menu
• [x] Network Profile Wizard #287 - could be core issue
• [ ] Pride FC - missing text (could be core issue?) - Confirmed core issue on HW
• [x] Raw Danger - need to bypass float z (rasterizer) and use integer depth for flat elements. It seems to be done for sprite but it need to be done for triangle.
• [x] Silent Hill 3 link - part of arm missing during cutscene, hardware renderers are unaffected.
• [x] Splinter Cell: Double Agent #2006 - gradual environment illumination does not work (HW renderers are not affected)
• [x] Suikoden V link - Black line in text sections, hardware renderers at native are fine, but have white lines around same area when using upscaling. Not a software issue.
• [x] The Suffering: Ties That Bind #1929 Fixed in either #3778 or #3779
• [x] Virtua Fighter 2 forum link - seems to be fixed in SW when running the GS dump
• [x] Zone Of The Enders 2 forum link - dump is useless, it could be a similar thread issue as blood will tell
• [x] Lego Batman - vertical stripes in SW (top half of screen) - Sept 2020, from Discord - Oct 2020 Looks fine in SW mode, tested by @tadanokojin
• [x] Shinseiki Evangelion 2 #4164 - Missing graphics with the software renderer

Resolved before or in 2017:

• [x] Alpine Racer 3
• [x] ATV Quad Power Racing 2 - missing quads
• [x] Berserk - HUD issue (8 bits frame format)
• [x] Blood Will Tell #1691 - thread synchronization issue
• [x] Catwoman - ghosting (auto flush)
• [x] Colin McRae Rally 2005 - auto flush
• [x] Galerians Ash #1684 - float
• [x] Harley davidson #1597 - dual context palette => needs clut_load_before_draw = 1
• [x] Jak 3 forum link - palette copy, bad rounding ST
• [x] Lets Make a J-League Pro Soccer Club #551 - float and unknown issue
• [x] Shadow of the Colossus - GCC 4. 9 AVX2 intrinsic bug
• [x] Smash Court Tennis Pro Tournament - Prize room texture issue (it's fine with HW renderers, float)
• [x] Silent Hill 3 - FMV flickering (needs memory wrapping)
• [x] Thrillville - cutscene issue (needs memory wrapping)
• [x] WWE SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth - HUD special meter issue (8 bits frame format)
• [x] Xenosaga Episode I #83 - gray cutscene issue
• [x] Xenosaga Episode I #1769 - event slot issue

[FlatOutPS2]

Might be core issue, but potentially GSdx issue: http://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-Smackdown-4-Shut-Your-Mouth-special-meter-doesn-t-display-properly

Alpine Racer 3. GSdx issue that also affects SW, there's a CRC hack for HW mode. Without the CRC hack DX11 HW is playable, but DX9 HW, OGL HW and SW modes are covered in black.

Colin McRae Rally 2005: Game looks way too bright in SW mode: https://github.com/PCSX2/pcsx2/issues/1546

[TheLastRar]

Network Profile Wizard (the one built-in with some games), Most text/boxes stuck in top left. I believe this is a GS emulation issue rather than a core issue. https://github.com/PCSX2/pcsx2/issues/287

[FlatOutPS2]

Colin McRae Rally 2005 Software mode issue has been resolved thanks to https://github.com/PCSX2/pcsx2/commit/3994141d4085c6365876efc0c561893cda9aba96

[gregory38]

We need to add the jak issue and the explanation in this report.

[prafullpcsx2]

Although it wasn't mentioned in this thread but I would like to report that software mode ghosting in Catwoman is also fixed by auto flush hack. HW mode ghosting is same as before.

[gregory38]

Good, I wanted to ask you :+1:

[MonJamp]

@gregory38 The cutscenes in Thrillville are cut off even in SW mode. Can you confirm if this is a core bug? There's a GS dump in this forum thread: http://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-Bug-Report-Thrillville-NTSC-U

[gregory38]

@monsterjamp did you test zerogs? Honestly a partial texture upload is likely a core bug.

[MonJamp]

ZeroGS keeps crashing when it gets to the cutscenes so I can't test it.

There's also another issue but this one is only present is SW mode. In the pause menu, the bottom right of the screen is missing.

Hardware mode:

Software mode:

GS dump: http://www.mediafire.com/file/r9b2xgcypbua50q/gsdx_20161006131227.gs

Maybe I should open up an issue?

[FlatOutPS2]

There's text missing in Pride FC menu's in HW and SW modes. Could be a GSdx issue, here's a GSdump:

Pride FC missing text.zip

[FlatOutPS2]

Burnout 3 still has missing flags in OGL hardware and software modes. The flags can only be seen with the Direct3D HW renderers(see the 3 grey flags in the added screenshot). The flags are not supposed to be grey, but colored American flags.

Burnout 3 missing flags SW and HW.zip

[gregory38]

I just found that GS local memory can wrap around. It explains a bug on Silent Hill 3 FMV. I think it can potentially explain issue on Thrillville. Potentially the end of the FMV is the start of the memory. My guess is that HW will happily overflow the frame buffer whereas SW will hit a wall.

[gregory38]

If you use Linux, you can use the new hidden option wrap_gs_mem = 1 in gsdx.ini. I advice to use it only for the SW renderer.

[gregory38]

I gave a look at Thrillville the issue is very close but my option doesn't fix it. The game does some rendering at 0x3C00 which means only 32 pages remain. The rendering is 320x224 so 5*7 pages. It overflows 3 pages (which are the bottom black area)

Edit: yeah, the framebuffer is good now but it is need to be translated as an input texture which is bad. There are various code that stop at the end of the memory. I removed a couple of them and the FMV start to appear (but color is wrong, so there is likely various bugs).

[gregory38]

@monsterjamp I pushed some fixes for Thrillville, the only requirement is a linux OS.

[gregory38]

@monsterjamp I pushed some improvements that should work on Windows too (without the option)

[FlatOutPS2]

So the option is useless now?

[gregory38]

I keep it for debug purpose but it ought to work without it. The wrapping is limited to a couple of key functions.

[FlatOutPS2]

Yes, the latest master works with SH3 FMV in Software mode with default settings. Now we only need to confirm it works with Thrillville as well.

[gregory38]

#1628 still not clear of the current status

[FlatOutPS2]

In ATV Quad Power Racing 2 AI controlled quads are missing or appear as a bugged texture in Software mode. They're fine in Hardware mode.

GSDump(rename .pdf to .zip) ATV Quad Power Racing 2 - missing AI quads in SW.pdf

[MrCK1]

I finally got Nascar 09 working - it needed EE Cache to boot. There's something going on with the screen height and all 3 renderers crash in SW mode. Would a GSDump in HW renderer be useful?

(The screenshot is too "long" to paste here so here it is :P)

[prafullpcsx2]

@MrCK1 : Can you please check whether it works with eecache before https://github.com/PCSX2/pcsx2/commit/49b80a4916580838375faf4698a336e898648c6b

[MrCK1]

@prafullpcsx2 I just checked and it doesn't work before that point

BTW, it only needed ee cache to boot. After that I can load from a save state/switch to recompiler

[FlatOutPS2]

And another software mode issue: http://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-GSDX-Software-mode-Bug-Report-Arc-The-Lad-End-Of-Darkness-Graphical-glitch

[FlatOutPS2]

Alpine Racer 3 issue has been resolved. Quick test indicates it was fixed by the Berserk 8/4 bits commits.

I believe there's still a CRC hack for this game, which can now also be removed.

[MrCK1]

Quick question - is it normal for FMVs in SW mode to "bleed" at the bottom of the screen? I've noticed a few games have this.

[FlatOutPS2]

No. Is the bottom of the screen black in Hardware mode or does Hardware mode use the full screen?

[MrCK1]

No, hardware mode is fine. In the two cases I tested, they both fill the entire screen.

EDIT: Found the regression. It was introduced in #1683.

Here's a GS Dump as well. (Rename to .7z)

HW:

[FlatOutPS2]

EDIT: Found the regression. It was introduced in #1683.

That makes sense. @ssakash already made a PR to fix these issues: https://github.com/PCSX2/pcsx2/pull/1693 It fixes the dump, but be sure to try the PR with the other games you've noticed have the issue just in case.