RPCS3
Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time (NPUA80875) Particle Effects Glitching Out Depending on Viewing Angle
Quick summary
There seems to be a problem with certain particle effects in Sly 4, most notably with fire, as of version 0.0.32-16865-3dc75dc3. They are glitching out depending on the viewing angle, so it can also fix itself, but the effect is somewhat intrusive when too many torches are present in an area.
When it happens, the effect seems to be a HOM (Hall of Mirrors). Repositioning the camera fixes the problem, until the next angle makes them bug out again. It looks like the rate of occurence for this bug is especially frequent in the third chapter set in the prehistoric times, but happens later down the road as well. Most curiously, it seems to occur only after playing for some time, it doesn't immediately occur when starting a new session. In fact, I had this happen after at least an hour of gaming.
A few other things I thought I should mention: The wiki page recommends limiting the framerate to 60 to fix infinite loading screens, inconsistent controls, and potentially game-breaking glitches. However, that does NOT seem to do the job, actually. Infinite loading screens, at the very least, still occur when the framerate is capped to 60 in the emulator. That being said, it seems other values do correct this behavior (and likely all the other framerate related issues) and fully fix the infinite loading screens. In my case, just setting the limit to something "safer" like "PS3 Native" permanently fixed it.
Apart from this, I wasn't able to spot any other issues with this game, be they big or minor, other that it has the potential to crash even with "RSX FIFO Accuracy" set to Atomic, but in over 10 hours of gaming, the game only crashed once (the emulator detected the crash correctly, as the message saying that the game has likely stopped working appeared in the corner). I wanted to share that log, but I accidentally restarted the emulator to update, whoops. And I have also not experienced any crashes since - or any other issues apart from those mentioned above.
Details
See previous section.
Attach a log file
Attach capture files for visual issues
System configuration
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X CPU, chipset driver version 6.07.22.037. AMD RX 6700 XT, Adrenaline GPU driver version 24.7.1. 16gb of RAM DDR4 @3600mhz. MSI B550-A Pro motherboard. Windows 11, version 23H2.
Other details
Game is running on the default emulator settings, except for those mentioned on the wiki, with the only notable exception of:
- Framerate limit set to "PS3 Native" rather than 60fps - see above for the rationale.
- Game is upscaled to 150% (1080p), using AMD FSR from the options.
- The game patch to disable MLAA is enabled in "Game Patches" for this game version.
Note that enabling that MLAA patch and Force CPU Blit Emulation does fix this issue. I remember seeing this issue brought up before, but with no ETA on a fix. This definitely goes back hundreds of updates.
Note that enabling that MLAA patch and Force CPU Blit Emulation does fix this issue. I remember seeing this issue brought up before, but with no ETA on a fix. This definitely goes back hundreds of updates.
That's good to know. Unfortunately I already finished the game a while ago and uninstalled it, so I can't see the results for myself. However, if these two settings do fix the problem, perhaps updating the wiki page to include the changes would be worth it, along with changing the framerate cap to something else/lower than 60, as limiting the framerate to 60 does not actually fix issues like infinite loading screens.
"along with changing the framerate cap to something else/lower than 60, as limiting the framerate to 60 does not actually fix issues like infinite loading screens."
THANK YOU, finally someone else experiencing this issue! Framelimit of 30 doesn't even fix it.
"along with changing the framerate cap to something else/lower than 60, as limiting the framerate to 60 does not actually fix issues like infinite loading screens."
THANK YOU, finally someone else experiencing this issue! Framelimit of 30 doesn't even fix it.
I mentioned that in my original post :p.
However, "PS3 Native" absolutely fixes it. Inconsistent controls and infinite loading screens never trigger afterwards.
Also, though unsure if an RPCS3 issue, while I was playing I noticed that the medieval chapter (forgot its name, been a while) suffers from frame drops, especially when looking in the distance.
It's the only chapter to suffer from this, and I suspect the reason for this might be the fact that it's the most graphically intense chapter, where it rains nonstop.
Great to see some similar experiences. ps3 native fixed many issues in this game for me but unfortunately amplified the issue reported here and I saw these kinds of visual glitches much more. I will try the Force CPU Blit Emulation. Really love this game and want to preserve it :)
can confirm that after setting up settings from wiki and then changing to ps3 native frame limit and enabling "Force CPU Blit Emulation" that the game runs perfectly :)
In that case, I suppose it'll be worth reviewing and updating the wiki to reflect these findings, as its 60fps cap recommendation clearly doesn't fix what it's supposed to do, while enabling "Force CPU Blit Emulation" fixes the graphical error I reported entire months ago (damn, can't believe it's been half a year since, thought this report got largely ignored/overlooked).
Really love this game and want to preserve it :)
That makes uh, three of us. Unpopular opinion, but as far as I'm concerned, Sly 4 is the best game in the series to date. Criminal that this franchise has been lying dormant since, despite 4 ending on a cliffhanger...
On the contrary, the idea is to not rely on something in the Debug tab, so Force CPU Blit isn't the solution, it's just something that works.
The glitching flames are rendered offscreen so it should likely be fixed at native res when using RCB/RDB and also WCB/WDB may help. It's been a very long time since I looked at render traces of this game, but I can still remember how it did flames and the distortion shader applied when compositing.
Using ps3 native and RCB/RDB and also WCB/WDB seems to also fix the issue for me but I'll need to play longer to be sure.
If it holds, try playing around with the options to figure out the minimal config that works. My guess would be RCB alone fixing the issue.
On the contrary, the idea is to not rely on something in the Debug tab, so Force CPU Blit isn't the solution, it's just something that works.
Perhaps. My point was just that listing it as well was better than nothing, since ideal or not, it did get the job done, so that newcomers know that there's a working workaround to the problem.
It was only after I reported the bug that I learned it is actually a very old issue, but the wiki made no mention of it at all. The wiki only mentions the framerate cap to 60fps to fix inconsistent controls, which has no effect.
The wiki has been updated to compensate for all the issues in this thread ;) https://wiki.rpcs3.net/index.php?title=Sly_Cooper:_Thieves_in_Time
Enabling Read color buffers does not fix this issue unfortunately https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UhaUdBoKETIsCC8X8HOmraiwWHAnDbg9/view?usp=sharing
Enabling Read color buffers does not fix this issue unfortunately https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UhaUdBoKETIsCC8X8HOmraiwWHAnDbg9/view?usp=sharing
Have you tried with both RCB/WCB and/or RDB/WDB? And how about Force CPU Blit Emulation?
In my tests RCB was enough, but its always nice with another angle ;)
After some testing it seems that Write Color Buffers does fix the issue. If not try with both Read and Write Color Buffers. This does take a toll on performance tho.
I now use the updated settings from the wiki: https://wiki.rpcs3.net/index.php?title=Sly_Cooper:_Thieves_in_Time
PS3 Native can fix some bugs, but it does affect the performance, therefore 60 fps framelimit is still superior imo.
Unless there have been changes since I filed this report (it has, admittedly, been quite some time), I fail to see that.
The 60fps cap was meant to solve a bunch of gameplay-related issues, like inconsistent controls, or infinite loading screens, which it failed to do...
PS3 Native can fix some bugs, but it does affect the performance, therefore 60 fps framelimit is still superior imo.
Unless there have been changes since I filed this report (it has, admittedly, been quite some time), I fail to see that.
The 60fps cap was meant to solve a bunch of gameplay-related issues, like inconsistent controls, or infinite loading screens, which it failed to do...
I have over 20 hours in the game now with 60fps cap, and have never experienced these issues. The infinite loading screen has occurred once because I started another pc game while in the loading screen.
I also tried with PS3 Native and got a lot of stuttering, but I have mentioned PS3 Native as a possible solution in the wiki page aswell ;)
I tried to do a playthrough with the 60 FPS limit and every 3rd loading screen was infinite. PS3 Native made it rarer but every 5th loading screen was infinite, so it could've made no difference. This game is so poorly optimized on real hardware that I wouldn't be surprised if the game's own devs knew of the lag and worked through it, the stuttering caused by PS3 Native being hardware-accurate.
I tried to do a playthrough with the 60 FPS limit and every 3rd loading screen was infinite. PS3 Native made it rarer but every 5th loading screen was infinite, so it could've made no difference. This game is so poorly optimized on real hardware that I wouldn't be surprised if the game's own devs knew of the lag and worked through it, the stuttering caused by PS3 Native being hardware-accurate.
Oh this is very interesting, it CAN occur even with PS3 Native? Fascinating, for me it was rock solid at the time. Could it perhaps be a regression in some way?
Regardless of this, yeah, the performance in some chapters is mediocre. I forgot its name, but that medieval-looking episode featuring rain?
Even with the performance tweaks recommended on the wiki, it felt jittery, so this confirms that that was a game issue and not RPCS3.
I tried to do a playthrough with the 60 FPS limit and every 3rd loading screen was infinite. PS3 Native made it rarer but every 5th loading screen was infinite, so it could've made no difference. This game is so poorly optimized on real hardware that I wouldn't be surprised if the game's own devs knew of the lag and worked through it, the stuttering caused by PS3 Native being hardware-accurate.
Can I ask if you have removed the sanzaru file and added the mlaa patch?
I tried to do a playthrough with the 60 FPS limit and every 3rd loading screen was infinite. PS3 Native made it rarer but every 5th loading screen was infinite, so it could've made no difference. This game is so poorly optimized on real hardware that I wouldn't be surprised if the game's own devs knew of the lag and worked through it, the stuttering caused by PS3 Native being hardware-accurate.
Oh this is very interesting, it CAN occur even with PS3 Native? Fascinating, for me it was rock solid at the time. Could it perhaps be a regression in some way?
Regardless of this, yeah, the performance in some chapters is mediocre. I forgot its name, but that medieval-looking episode featuring rain?
Even with the performance tweaks recommended on the wiki, it felt jittery, so this confirms that that was a game issue and not RPCS3.
I used to have the same performance issues in the medieval area. But after the new tweaks it's a constant 60 fps on a ryzen 7 5700x and rtx 2060
Removing the Sanzaru logo video isn't necessary anymore, as all that did is temporarily prevent MLAA from activating. The MLAA patch does the same and permanently, so you can keep the video in place.
Replaying the game again and unfortunately RCB/WCB RDB/WCB can all be on and while it does reduce the occurence of the issue it doesn't prevent it in my testing.
I'm back to force cpu blit emulation and that seems to be a complete fix.