ShizCalev/MGSHDFix 2.5.0

2.5.0 - Bugfixes, compatibility checks, and general housekeeping!

on GitHub

What's Changed

New Features / New Fixes:

• Added a LauncherJumpStart option, which skips all the splash screens & the main menu of the games' launcher app.
• Added a warning when the game is muted on startup.
  • (Accidentally muting the game via the launcher is a pretty common troubleshooting mistake.)
• Added the ability to disable the game's pause on focus loss / alt-tab. #95
  • This means the MGSAltTabPatch mod is no longer required, as its functionality is now included in MGSHDFix.
• Added the ability to force stereo audio output.
  • This corrects the infamous "Rain audio is significantly louder than codec conversations & other game sounds" issue.
  • This is a symptom of a hardware configuration issue and not an issue inherent to the game. If your Windows audio output device is incorrectly set to output 5.1/7.1 audio to headphones/speakers with only two physical speakers, the game will try to output sounds to audio channels that do not exist.
  • This issue also affects other games and even VLC, but it often goes unnoticed until you're presented with actual surround sound capable media; so it's best to fix your hardware configuration issue instead if possible.
• Added support for custom PS2 controller glyphs, just put them in textures\flatlist\ovr_stm\ctrltype_ps2 and switch CtrlType in the ini. (Textures not supplied. This is just support for modmakers to make more mods!)
• Fixed the Steam cloud related "DAMAGED SAVE"/"CORRUPT SAVE" bug.
  • This issue is usually caused by closing the game quickly after saving, which results in Steam Cloud failing to sync the new save data & restoring an old file the next time you start the game.
  • The outdated save data will now be moved to (GAME DIRECTORY)\(GAME)_savedata_win\(YOUR STEAM ID)\Outdated Saves
• Fixed a bug caused by alt-tabbing while cutscenes are active which could result in animations and audio getting out of sync, sometimes crashing the game.
  • This bug could also cause trigger-zones to not load in properly, and in some cases resulted in the game becoming soft-locked as the trigger-zones behind doors (to load the next room) were not spawned in.
  • This fix can be toggled on/off in the config, since speed-runners utilize it to skip some forced codec calls.
• Fixed a handful of visual effects that were running at double-speed in MGS2, resulting in them ending earlier than intended / appearing to be missing. They are now much closer to their PS2 durations (utilizing Real Time Clock timesteps to make them fully independent of framerate where possible to accurately simulate framerate slowdowns during intense scenes that were present on the original PS2 hardware.)
  • There are still plenty more effects that need adjusting - if you notice something that needs to be corrected, please do tell us on our GitHub repo here.
  • Effect timings are being based off the original PS2 versions using real hardware, as PCSX2's effect durations also run at incorrect speeds (as the emulator does not 100% accurately emulate the framerate slowdowns present on real hardware.)
    • As a result, some effects in the Master Collection are now more faithful to the original PS2 hardware than even PCSX2. :3

Sanity Checks:

• Added a warning if multiple/outdated copies of ASI Loader are detected (i.e., outdated versions such as d3d11.dll - which is provided with the MGS3 Crouch Walking mod, and dxgi.dll - which is provided with the MGS2 HF Blade mod.)
• Added a warning if more than one copy of MGSHDFix is installed.
• Added a warning if ReShade is detected to be an outdated version known to cause crashing in MGS2 & MGS3. #91
• Added automatic detection if the MGS2 HF Blade Mod is incorrectly installed as MGS2HFBladeMod.dll instead of MGS2HFBladeMod.asi, and renames it to the correct file extension to fix ASI Loader compatibility.

Improvements:

• Added GPU, CPU, and RAM to the log file to expedite troubleshooting people's issues.
• Config / MGSHDFix.ini options are no longer case sensitive.
• Revised log warning when MGS2/MGS3's built in FSR upscaling is enabled to make it more obvious that you shouldn't be using the launcher's FSR/Internal Upscaling functionality.
• Added initialization time logging for all of MGSHDFix's submodules during startup. I've reduced MGSHDFix's startup time by over half.
• Reduced the amount of logging messages during startup. There's now a new config variable, “Verbose Logging”, that turns on more debugging/development oriented output.
• Refactored the line scaling fix to use the proper D3D11 headers, hardening it against future game updates.
• You can now use the proper \plugins & \scripts subdirectory for the MGSHDFix ASI modfiles.
  • Other ASI mods will have to update on their own to add similar support.
• Updated Zydis / Safetyhook, Windows 7 is now technically supported by MGSHDFix. (No clue about the game itself though.)
• Added an automatic version checker which will now provide a notice on game startup when MGSHDFix updates are available.

Full Changelog: 2.4.1...2.5.0

Installation

🚩 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.

Steps:

1. Download the file marked MGSHDFix_v2.5.0.zip from the "Assets" section below.
2. Extract the contents of the release zip into your game folder.
   • (e.g., steamapps\common\MGS2 or steamapps\common\MGS3 for Steam.)
3. Set both "Internal Resolution" & "Internal Upscaling" to Default / Original in the game's launcher. (Resolution is entirely handled by MGSHDFix.)

Steam Deck/Linux Additional Instructions

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

• Open up the game properties of either MGS2/MGS3 in Steam and add the following line to the launch options:

   `WINEDLLOVERRIDES="wininet,winhttp=n,b" %command%` 
  

Configuration

• See MGSHDFix.ini in the /plugins folder to adjust settings for the fix.

Feedback & Support

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