Lyall/MGSHDFix 2.8.0 on GitHub

What's Changed

Created a brand new settings configuration program, dubbed Universal Config Tool, which works on both Windows & Steam Deck.
- This tool makes it so user settings are now fully persistent across MGSHDFix updates. No more manual .INI config file editing!
- For those who still wish to manually edit settings, you can open the .settings file the tool generates with any text editor.
Can be found in the /plugins folder under the name MGSHDFix Config Tool.exe.
This tool features the full feature set you'd expect from a settings config program - i.e. in-depth mouse-over explanations of all the mod's settings, proper keybinding inputs, Mod update alerts, ect.
This tool has been specifically designed to be highly reusable, with a focus on ease of adding new options, and wxWidgets as its only external dependency.
- A standalone GitHub repository for it will be made available in the next few days so that other mod makers can easily integrate it into their own projects! (Lets eliminate those annoying .ini files once and for all haha.)

Added new Grass Render Distance controls, fully togglable in-game via hotkey.
Prevents grass from disappearing at long distances (a leftover PS2 performance optimization that stands out at modern resolutions).
Can be set to always render grass at all distances (default), use a custom distance multiplier for fine-tuned control over the vanilla distances, or completely disable grass rendering (by setting the scaling value to 0.)
- Additional render distance fixes are still in development.

Fixed misaligned/unusable Night Vision Goggles crosshairs in MGS3 (HD Collection bug).

Added an option to only capture MGSHDFix hotkey inputs while the game has focus (ignoring alt-tabbed state).

MGSHDFix now shows a clearer warning in its log file if controller inputs are not properly bound in Steam Input’s user interface.

Added an option to automatically limit CPU cores for users who experience rare cutscene crashes on specific hardware and driver configurations.
For users who experience this issue, it's suggested you also disable hardware acceleration on any web browsers or media players that you typically keep open while the game is running.
This is a rare Windows driver-related issue, but this option provides a limited workaround.
- (I personally experienced this issue for most of 2024 and resolved the issue on my system with a full Windows re-installation.)

Fixed a crash message when exiting the game through the in-game menu with Skip Launcher enabled.
Fixed a potential crash with Stat Persistence if Windows UAC was set to maximum.
Fixed the aim after equip bugfix not applying correctly in MGS2 when weapon switch mode was set to Previous.
Fixed a crash when MGSHDFix checked for updates while a user's firewall blocked internet access to the game.

🚩 If updating from a previous version of MGSHDFix:

Delete d3d11.dll from your game folder.
Delete old MGSHDFix files (e.g., MGSHDFix.ini and MGSHDFix.asi) before installing the update.

Download the file marked MGSHDFix_v2.8.0.zip from the "Assets" section below.
Extract the contents of the release zip into your game folder.
- For example: steamapps\common\MGS2 or steamapps\common\MGS3 for Steam.
Set both "Internal Resolution" & "Internal Upscaling" to Default / Original in the game’s launcher.
- Resolution is entirely handled by MGSHDFix.

🚩 These steps are only needed if you’re on Steam Deck/Linux. Skip if you’re using Windows.

Open the game properties for either MGS2 or MGS3 in Steam and add the following line to the launch options:
```
 `WINEDLLOVERRIDES="wininet,winhttp=n,b" %command%` 
```

See MGSHDFix Config Tool.exe in the /plugins folder to adjust settings for the fix.

If you encounter bugs, need help, or want to suggest improvements, please open an issue on the GitHub repository.