Meta: GS HW half bottom screen issue

[gregory38]

Let's list all games impacted. This way it would be easier to check any potential implementation.

Games confirmed still have the HW half-bottom screen issue:

• 007: Everything Or Nothing - (weapen select menu, MI6 training)
• Band Hero
• Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 - (everything including FMVs), Fixed in GSdx: WIP half bottom fix (Texture Shuffle Case) #2934
• Charlie's Angels https://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-Pushed-Charlie-s-Angels-SLES-51750
• Crash Twinsanity - Fixed in GSdx: WIP half bottom fix (Texture Shuffle Case) #2934
• Destruction Derby Arenas
• Dropship United Peace Force
• FIFA games - (2006 onwards, though FIFA 11 doesn't seem to have the issue)
• Getaway, The: Black Monday - (cutscene intro)
• Gunfighter 2 - (partially resolved, but another half-screen issue remains)
• Ford Racing 2
• From Russia With Love (see From Russia with love, blue lines #2109)
• Hardware: Online Arena
• Hitman: Contracts
• Killzone - Fixed in GSdx: WIP half bottom fix (Texture Shuffle Case) #2934
• Knights of the Temple II
• Max Payne 2 - (http://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-PCSX2-1-4-0-Crashes)
• Matrix, The: Path Of Neo - Fixed in GSdx: WIP half bottom fix (Texture Shuffle Case) #2934
• Mercenaries - (one half-screen issue resolved, another one remains in the sky)
• Metal Gear Solid 3 - (Codec screen in some versions: PAL, Fixed in GSdx: WIP half bottom fix (Texture Shuffle Case) #2934)
• Need For Speed Hot Pursuit 2 (Issue Hot pursuit 2 strange overlay #2738, Fixed in GSdx: WIP half bottom fix (Texture Shuffle Case) #2934)
• Need For Speed Underground
• Need For Speed Underground 2
• Need For Speed Carbon
• ShellShock - Nam '67 (probably runs on Killzone's engine) - Fixed in GSdx: WIP half bottom fix (Texture Shuffle Case) #2934
• Silent Hill : Shattered Memories
• Sniper Elite - Fixed in GSdx: WIP half bottom fix (Texture Shuffle Case) #2934
• Spiderwick Chronicles - pause screen
• Splinter Cell - (when using the optical cable / night vision)
• Suffering, The: Ties That Bind
• Superman -Shadow of Apokolips (Issue Superman: Shadow of Apokolips blue overlayer  #2811)
• Tekken 5 - (heat effect in burning temple stage)
• Thrillville
• TimeSplitters: Future Perfect - (maybe the first two games too)
• TOCA Race Driver 2 (issue [BUG]: Honda Demo, TOCA Race Driver 2 and 3 #913)
• Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 2 (possibly affects other games in series) - Fixed in GSdx: WIP half bottom fix (Texture Shuffle Case) #2934
• Tony Hawk's American Wasteland
• Total Immersion Racing - (fog in wet races)
• World War Zero: IronStorm - (half-clear issue resolved, half-screen fog remains)
• WRC games - (fog in distance)

Games unconfirmed if recent fix solved the issue:

• Conan: The Dark Axe
• DragonBall Z - Buidokai Tenkaichi 3 - (Transitions)
• King Arthur
• Need For Speed Most Wanted
• Rogue Trooper
• Star Wars - The Force Unleashed
• TOCA Race Driver 3
• Warriors Orochi 2

Games confirmed to be have been resolved:

• Call of Duty World at War: Final Front
• Judge Dredd: Dredd VS Death
• Mercenaries 2
• Simpsons Game, The
• X-Men origins: Wolverine

Extra

• Spinter Cell Chaos theory - Introduced with Black FMV fix Issue Gsdx black fmv #1222
• Getaway, The (need to check my gs dump)
• Timesplitters - http://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-TimeSplitters-Problem
• Digimon Rumble Arena 2 - http://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-Resolved-digimon-rumblearena-2-half-screen
• Black and Bruised - http://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-Black-and-Bruised-SLUS-20506-U--28428
• MLB Baseball Games - Loading Screens in HW mode http://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-MLB-11-The-Show-SLUS-97657-U
• Tales of legendia
• Call of Duty 3 http://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-PCSX2-v1-5-0-New-Build-Problem?pid=533125#pid533125
• Jak X (in split screen mode)

Related #2022

[gregory38]

@refractionpcsx2 @ssakash @FlatOutPS2 @prafullpcsx2
I let's you complete the list 👍

[FlatOutPS2]

The Getaway doesn't have a half-screen bug as far as I know. It did have a fog wall, but it's been fixed.
Black Monday does have a depth issue with sunrays, not sure if it's a half-bottom screen issue.

Games with HW half-bottom screen issue:
Need For Speed Hot Pursuit 2
Killzone
Total Immersion Racing(fog in wet races)
TimeSplitters (Future Perfect, maybe the first two games too)
WRC II Extreme (fog in distance)
Crash Twinsanity

[gregory38]

I need to check my get away dump (or maybe I mix it with another game)

[prafullpcsx2]

Oops. Sorry I directly added few games to the first list. i hope gregory wasn't editing the post at the same time.

[refractionpcsx2]

I added one :P Cant remember many off hand

[pepiczech77]

NFS Underground could be probably added too.

[refractionpcsx2]

Does that have the half screen issue? I've never seen it on that game, probably because it was CRC'd out though :P

I've sorted the list as well, the order was killing me :P

[FlatOutPS2]

I believe most, if not all, PS2 NFS games have the issue. NFS Underground 2 and Most Wanted definitely.

[refractionpcsx2]

Alrighty, added all those to the list.

[pepiczech77]

I think so. Bottom half of the screen is blurred or something and it misses fog.
Probably even NFS Carbon has it, but it is not the only issue there, because the game looks too green in HW mode. I will check those games on real PS2 soon.

[refractionpcsx2]

Yeh carbon had a new engine I believe, so it might be different, need to test it, I have it but haven't touched it in a while

[pepiczech77]

I tested it, bottom half of the screen is rendered differently than the upper half.

[refractionpcsx2]

OK I'll add that one as well then

[refractionpcsx2]

I've also had a scan through the forums to try and find some other games with these issues and added them to the list.

[MarcoEstevez]

Test drive unlimited has that problem also but only under hw custom resolution hw scaled native is not affected

[FlatOutPS2]

More bottom half screen issues:
Judge Dredd: Dredd VS Death
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

[gregory38]

Sigh... The list might be shorter if we list the game that don't have the issue.

[FlatOutPS2]

And what about right(vertical) half screen issues?

[gregory38]

Open a new issue :p do you have lots of them ?

[FlatOutPS2]

No, just two I know of, and a possible third and fourth.

[gregory38]

Ok. Open a new issue with the list of game. Could still be useful one day.

[pepiczech77]

Seems like TOCA Race Driver 3 could be added too.

[refractionpcsx2]

Added, and Judge Dredd, had already done Force Unleashed

Sigh... The list might be shorter if we list the game that don't have the issue.

Told you it was a big problem ;p

[FlatOutPS2]

FIFA 2003 doesn't have the issue, FIFA 2006 does. So it probably only affects FIFA from 2004-2006 and later.

[refractionpcsx2]

Updated that one, thanks :)

[FlatOutPS2]

I meant the issue started in 2004-2006, later games are affect too. So it should be FIFA 2006-FIFA 14(and possibly starting from FIFA 2004 or FIFA 2005, but I can't confirm those).

[refractionpcsx2]

Sorry, fixed :P

okay went through a bunch of my DVD's here's other games i found with the issue plus some other misc bugs which are outside the scope of this PR

Half Screen issues:
Brothers in Arms - Road to Hill 30 - All videos, 2D and 3D
DragonBall Z - Buidokai Tenkaichi 3 - Transitions suffer from half screen issue, rest of game ok.

Other GS Bugs:
Battle Engine Aquila - Flickering Videos with preload frame
Burnout 3 Takedown & Burnout Dominator - Thick bars of light and black sky
DT Racer - Shadows in wrong place in hw and sw

[FlatOutPS2]

The Burnout issues are known, though the thick bars onscreen might have regressed in OpenGL. I think they were fixed for OpenGL in an earlier version.
You didn't even mention the sun shining through objects. :p

[refractionpcsx2]

I didn't play it that much :P I was literally just loading them until they were ingame to see if the issue was there, I went through about 100 games, I wasn't thoroughly testing them xD

[lightningterror]

@atomic76 can you upload a gsdump?
https://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-How-to-create-a-proper-GS-dump

[atomic76]

@lightningterror here is the gsdump. thanks.

gsdx_20191105104227.zip

[brahimakh]

Is this usable?

I have the same issues with pcsx2 1.5.0 dev 3296. Have you find or create the fix for this ? thank you in advance and sorry if I bother you

[lightningterror]

I forgot to mention but most of the Half Screen issues can be resolved with adjusting the Half-screen Fix option in gsdx hw advanced options & hacks. Latest dev build only.

[Start-Cart]

Ran into a screen bug rendering the game unplayable upon booting up stage. The PS2 game is Hasbro Family Game Night (USA)
PCSX2c 1.6.0 Stable. Windows 10. OpenGL.
Half-screen Fix option set to Forced-Enabled or auto did not resolve the issue.

[tadanokojin]

Not a half-bottom screen issue as is being tracked here but a super sampling issue in the cache.
being tracked here: #2289

[coornio]

All testing done on 1.7.2119 -- CRC hacks turned off in graphics settings as instructed. 9 games so far.

---

1. 007: From Russia With Love -- Game works/looks flawless, but explosions have some effect that causes an odd, transparent screen corruption as seen in picture (can't be fixed, needs SW rendering). No other issue noticed.

---

2. Dropship: United Peace Force -- Still broken as always, top half of screen is fine but the bottom is broken (can't be fixed, needs SW rendering). Ground textures still stretchy outside of InstantVU1.

---

3. Need For Speed: Underground -- Perfect, no issues.

---

4. Need For Speed: Underground 2 -- Perfect, though color blending is whack when driving around. Happens on accuracy level High and above.

---

5. Need For Speed: Most Wanted -- Perfect, no issues.

---

6. Need For Speed: Carbon -- Perfect, though it has vertical lines on screen (needs Merge Sprite) and the pause menu has inaccurate blur blending (can't be fixed).

---

7. Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory -- Perfect, no issues. Note: does not like EE overclock.

---

8. WRC 3: Has rendering issues on intro FMV when upscaled, horizontal lines (can't be fixed). No issues in actual gameplay, seems to work flawlessly when tested in a couple of quick races. Text is, unfortunately, rendered offset in native resolution with hardware rendering. Needs Round Sprite (Half or Full) to display properly, which in turn requires upscaling. See picture.
   

---

9. Ford Racing 2: Perfect, no issues, though it does have broken car shadows in hardware rendering (can't be fixed), and the fog in certain levels has a border on its intersection with the ground which needs Half-Pixel Offset (Texture) to fix.

[nf6429]

Tested on 1.7-2216.
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed - doesn't seem to have any any half screen issues, the menu's don't cut off like before either. This was with half screen fix disabled and enabled, CRC set to "none".


TOCA 3 - confirmed to still have issue.

[refractionpcsx2]

people when you're testing these issues, please make sure you have CRC level set to "none" as a lot of these have effects skipped to remove the half screen problem.

[nf6429]

Sorry bout that, Should've specified that I already had CRC to none. Ill edit the posts.

[coornio]

Amended my test results as well, caught a few mistakes in WRC 3, oops.

@refractionpcsx2 - are all the games in this list actually using some CRC hack to amend half-screen issues? From the log I'm not seeing anything particular about them. I'm also guessing there's nothing specific about region, otherwise they'd be listed above right?

[refractionpcsx2]

@coornio I couldn't tell you, sorry, possibly some of them at least, maybe not all thought

[coornio]

Added Ford Racing 2 in my initial message.

[coornio]

The original Splinter Cell (SLUS 20652) appears to have a half-screen issue on the bottom half when using the night vision goggles, only apparent when one force-disables the Half-Screen Fix hack. It's not on the list here, maybe we should add it.

Also, nothing fixes it aside from that particular hack no matter what I try so there's that.

[seta-san]

i can find no problems in max payne 2. i even tried it in 1.4 and there seems to be no half screen problems.

[seta-san]

same with need for speed underground. no half screen issue

[refractionpcsx2]

Spiderwick Chronicles pause screen has a half bottom problem

[Biscuits25]

Dropship united peace force still has this issue. Not sure if its still possible to disable CRC, or at least I can't find it in graphical settings. Only on hardware though, software renderer works fine. Really wish there was a fix since you can't do higher resolution with software.

[TheTechnician27]

@gregory38 I've found that Thrillville's splitscreen works as intended. I've tested both the FPS minigames as well as the racing ones. I think this one can safely be checked off. Do you suppose it's also worth testing Off the Rails? I have both.
Thrillville_SLUS-21413_20240106055505.zip

[refractionpcsx2]

Gregory isn't really around anymore, but I will check it off. Thanks for letting us know

[jk7gr]

it seems all Hasbro games have a similar issue where only part of the screen is rendered properly and the rest is not.
Example1: Family Game Night

The areas highlighted are mostly visible but in general the left side is rendered properly and the right side not.
Example2: Monopoly

The left top corner seems to be rendered properly while not the rest of the screen (zooming in will make it more obvious)

Example 3: Trivial Pursuit

Exactly as in Monopoly.
I am proficient with PCSX2 and I have spend a couple of days reading and testing all possible settings both on the stable but also on the nightly build (v2.1.109) in Windows and Linux with all different rendering options. The issue exists only when using hardware rendering (software rendering works fine). The samples are taken with Internal Resolution set to 3x Native where is most obvious.

[refractionpcsx2]

The Hasbro games download each quadrant back to the core in order to move it (or some weird move, for some reason) which means 3/4 of the screen will only render at native resolution, the top left corner is the only part which will render correctly

[jk7gr]

The Hasbro games download each quadrant back to the core in order to move it (or some weird move, for some reason) which means 3/4 of the screen will only render at native resolution, the top left corner is the only part which will render correctly

I guess this means it is a known issue then. I also guess the only workaround is to use software rendering?