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The Silent Hill 2, 3 & 4 PC thread - A guide to a better HD Collection

Lime

Member
So I regularly get contacted through PM's or specific threads about how to get the Silent Hill 2, 3, and 4 running on a PC with widescreen and a less amount bugs. Thus, I figured I might as well make a thread as a guide to it, especially when one considers the fact that Konami has completely mishandled the console HD collection with the inexcusable bugs and abhorrent changes to the original material. As such, this is also an attempt at preserving some of the best games of the medium's history. Special thanks go out to all the excellent people who did the various Widescreen hacks, FOV values, and so on (Angular graphics for sh2 fix+corrected fmvs, nemesis2000 for the SH4 fix, emoose for SH2proxy, Squizzy for the original SH2 fix, Rope, whoever made the SH3 FOV tool, etc.).

Where to get these excellent Team Silent games on PC?
Unfortunately Konami lack many standard brain functions and haven't released the PC versions of the games through digital distribution (I could imagine Konami don't want the potential licensing and royalty issues of the voice actors once again by re-releasing the PC versions). This is a shame, as the used copies goes around anything between $20 to $120 on Ebay or Amazon, depending on the quality. However, you might get lucky and get a copy of either game for a lower price.

Guide to the PC versions:
The games are handled differently in how to get a proper non-4:3 aspect with whatever resolution you want. I will go through each game in 3 posts below the OP, in order to make the instructions more readable. If you have any corrections or suggestions, I'll add them whenever I have the time to do so.


Emulating the PS2 versions through PCSX2
Alternatively, if one is completely deterred by the complexities below and lack of port quality from PS2 to PC, then it is also possible to emulate the PS2 versions through PCSX2 and use the FOV hacks, depending on your region. The hacks have to be placed in the cheats folder and you have to remember to Enable Cheats in PCSX2 in order for the FOV hack to work. So far I've only seen FOV hacks for SH2 and SH3 for PAL and NTSC versions, while the Japanese version have FOV hacks for all three PS2 games. However, be aware that emulating them through hardware emulation (i.e. higher resolution than 480p) will cause several glitches, such as missing shadows, unplayable FMVs, and other bugs. Refer to this post for examples.

Custom Steam Icons for use at your leisure
I have also made some Custom steam icons for those who want shortcuts into their Steam library. These are in the game-specific post.

Antialiasing for Nvidia users: Read angular graphics' post

Steam icons by Kohlstream
 

Lime

Member
Silent Hill 2:

The ultimate fix is here - Widescreen Fix + Fog Fix + Wine3D fix + Cutscene fix -> Installation Guide here: http://widescreenfix.townofsilenthill.com/SH2/

Demonstration video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=878F2cbLAXo

Results (no noise filter):
sh2pc2010-09-1818-31-m5klt.png


sh2pc2011-04-2319-33-eaknj.png


sh2pc2011-04-2320-30-9wkn9.png

***UPDATE*** Angular Graphics' widescreen corrected FMVs

Code:
*** Silent Hill 2 [PC] FMV Widescreen Enhancement Pack v1.0 ***
by NeoGAF's angular graphics

Drop the data folder to your C:\Program Files (x86)\Konami\Silent Hill 2 (or equivalent) directory and overwrite. :)

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_HXa9oj31OeWWlXREJOZTZCZFk

Steam icons

Xpadder profile by InfiniteNine

Download link
 

Lime

Member
Silent Hill 3:
  1. Install the game
  2. Download sh3proxy and throw the two files into the main SH3 folder.
  3. Edit the sh3proxy.ini to your liking.
SH3proxy features (wow!):

  • Setting arbitrary video mode without conflict with the game's settings
  • Setting arbitrary horizontal FOV (field-of-view) angle
  • The engine no longer relies on resource paths in Windows registry
  • Silent Hill 2 references can be unlocked without having to complete the game
  • Safe mode warnings are disabled
  • Fixes white border around game window on Windows
  • Disabling Depth of Field effect
  • Disabling black borders during cutscenes
  • Setting arbitrary shadow resolution

Results:
[/QUOTE]

Steam Icons

Xpadder profile by InfiniteNine
Download link
 

Lime

Member
Differences between the original PS2 versions and the ported PC versions:
The Silent Hill PC ports are not incredibly stellar and 4 is probably the worst of them. So this list is only a work-in-progress, as the differences I can remember off the top of my head are thus far:

Silent Hill 2:
Soft shadows
The volumetric fog in the PC version is more simple and less fluid than the PS2 version. Example:

PC fog
sh2_pc_fogj6kj6.gif


PS2 fog (through PCSX2, no FOV hack)
sh2_ps2_fognfjrn.gif

Silent Hill 3:
PC version allows for 4096x4096 internally rendered textures, but I imagine it is only a select few, as many of the textures still are identical to the PS2 version.
Depth of Field effect remains at the original PS2 resolution, thus creating a jaggy DoF effect in the PC version.
Otherwise it's probably the best port.

Silent Hill 4:
Cutscenes run @ 15 frames per second. So far I haven't encountered a solution to this problem.
Post-processing filters, such as the noise-efect or the crackled hair on the camera when encountering a ghost, is missing from the PC version.
Object-blur is bugged and thus creates a hazy look to cutscenes

These bugs are no longer relevant after nemesis2000's SH4 fix. Realtime shadows are pretty bad though
 
Good guide. Should mention that for SH2, you need to set the resolution in the in-game options to 640x480 for the respatch to work.
 

Lime

Member
Nicely done. SH4 with a proper widescreen solution makes for a compelling replay.

I thought the same thing, until the 15FPS cutscenes made the replay unbearable. Unfortunately I can't play my PS2 copy in widescreen yet, due to lack of a FOV hack.

Good guide. Should mention that for SH2, you need to set the resolution in the in-game options to 640x480 for the respatch to work.

Good suggestion, Faceless007. I remember you telling me about it some months ago, thanks for reminding me again :).
 

Hoplatee

Member
Nice guides! Perfect excuse to replay SH3... Mmmm.

Cutscenes run @ 15 frames per second. So far I haven't encountered a solution to this problem.

Whoa. That seems... weird. I never played the PC version of 4 so I had no idea.
 

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Bookmarked!

Ive got a PC hooked up to a TV. I'll make my own HD collection :p
 

Atolm

Member
Any Xbox 360 Xpadder profile for playing those games? When I tried to play them the key config sucked balls.
 

Oemenia

Banned
Ive played the first game and ive always heard the second and third are masterpieces but have been holding off, seems like with your guide the PC ports are no longer so bad.

With that said, my biggest gripe is gamepad support since games like these are so cinematic.
 

Revoh

Member
I'm bookmarking this because I have never played any Silent Hill before. Yeap, that's right.
I'm planning on playing all of them sometime.
 

Krappadizzle

Gold Member
Thank you so much. My wife and I did a playthrough of SH2 and 3 a few months back, and were looking very much to the HD release as we were hoping to play through again with improvements, only to find out that is was shit. This brings hope. I think her and I may have a game to play this weekend.
 

Tomat

Wanna hear a good joke? Waste your time helping me! LOL!
Great thread! Thanks for posting this. Definitely want to go through the SH series at some point. I really enjoyed Silent Hill Origin on the PSP.
 

Crub

Member
How well will this work with a DS3 if I use MotioninJoy and set it to "Playstation 2 (POV,Joysticks)"? I always have issues with gamepads when it comes to old games.
 

Easy_D

never left the stone age
You say "PC version allows for 4096x4096 textures" but I'm pretty sure that's actually the internal resolution. I notice no difference in textures, but the overall IQ improves the higher it's set.
 

Stallion Free

Cock Encumbered
So I wrapped up a couple of the games I had been working on and set up SH2 again for a replay because of this thread. I really dig my 360 pad setup in Xpadder for the game. I basically just delete all the joystick entries in the game, screenshot the keyboard bindings and then use that screenshot as reference for setting up a profile that I think will work well/is similar to the console bindings. It's a damn shame we will never get "HD" re-releases with this kind of image quality:

ibd5lggRSMzWuS.png


ieg0SuPonuP5d.png


iAOZVEQLC7Yrk.png
 

randomwab

Member
I don't know how I missed this thread. And then I find it, stumble in, and see someone has fixed the FOV for The Room PC!?

omg

So excite. Replay time. Thanks for this fantastic thread, Lime. You've been on my good list ever since you said this about Silent Hill 2...

Thematically it's the Crime & Punishment of the medium. It's impeccable and a hallmark of what digital games are able to achieve artistically.
 

Lime

Member
You're too kind, randomwab. Thanks for making my day even better :)

Remember when playing SH4 that the cutscenes are in 15FPS, the post-processing filter seems to be missing, and the blur in cutscenes is bugged. The PCSX2 version seems to be fine, but (so far) cannot be run in 16:9.

So I wrapped up a couple of the games I had been working on and set up SH2 again for a replay because of this thread. I really dig my 360 pad setup in Xpadder for the game. I basically just delete all the joystick entries in the game, screenshot the keyboard bindings and then use that screenshot as reference for setting up a profile that I think will work well/is similar to the console bindings. It's a damn shame we will never get "HD" re-releases with this kind of image quality:

Stallion Free, do you think you could make your Xpadder profile available (or send it to me)? Then I can include it in the SH2 post.

You say "PC version allows for 4096x4096 textures" but I'm pretty sure that's actually the internal resolution. I notice no difference in textures, but the overall IQ improves the higher it's set.

Like I mentioned, I wasn't saying that the source textures themselves were 4096x4096, but that they were able to be rendered internally in that particular resolution. I apologize if that wasn't clear.
 

SOLDIER

Member
I tried the PC version of SH2 a while back, and the only issue I was having was a 5-10 second transition whenever I opened up the map screen. I was told this was due to the game having to change resolutions every time.

Has this been addressed by now?
 

JRW

Member
Does the res changer and .exe replacement work with the Directors Cut version of Silent Hill 2 PC?
 

Dizzy-4U

Member
Does the res changer and .exe replacement work with the Directors Cut version of Silent Hill 2 PC?
Yes.

The only issue I'm having is that I cannot set AA because it disables advanced filters and lens flare. Tried the workaround and didn't work for me.

Anyways, I also tried the enb mod and I like it. The color saturation was too much for me so instead of 1.5 I changed it to 0.5. Blacks are darker now instead of grey. Looks nice.
 

JRW

Member
Ok Thanks, Now I just have to figure out how to get my 360 controller working with it.
 

JRW

Member
Is there anyway to get SH2 working properly with an Xbox 360 controller? When trying to configure it in SH2 I can't assign anything to the L & R triggers or the d-pad.
 
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