3D Vision feature for PCSX2, the PlayStation 2 emulator (DX11 hardware renderer). It uses a manual shader stereoization method without using physical shader files, for better future compatibility.
UPDATE (2018-09-09): added another preset for the black frame insertion "n" hotkey, so you can choose what frame to turn black (because what the fix detects as the "first frame" is random).
UPDATE (2018-09-08): added the "u" hotkey.
UPDATE (2018-09-04): added one more shader regex to the black frame insertion feature. It's needed for some games, and after a lot of testing I saw that Ratchet & Clank 3 displays a black image with this. Added
3D Vision to anaglyph feature. I have removed manual shaders from the ShaderFixes folder and put them in GameFixes under individual folders, because they were affecting unrelated games. Move those txt files to ShaderFixes if you want to play those specific games, and remove them when you're done.
UPDATE (2018-09-01): added a black frame insertion feature ("n" hotkey), inspired by my RetroArch fix.
IMPORTANT UPDATE (2018-08-28): fix updated with 3Dmigoto 1.3.11. There is now a new folder called "GameFixes", where there are multiple ".ini" files (one per game) with ShaderOverride sections. Now at line 38 of "d3dx.ini" you can load them individually. With this, making fixes for individual games is a lot more easier, and also easier to switch to a different game. Old version
here.
ANOTHER IMPORTANT UPDATE (2018-03-16): updated for 3Dmigoto 1.3.6, now compatible with ReShade without needing extra steps unrelated to ReShade (I've tested it as dxgi.dll. Its ingame interface, shaders and hotkeys were working fine). Also, at some point in time it started triggering 3D without SpecialK (the old "d3d9.dll" and "d3d9.ini"). That means no more booting games in a weird manner! It isn't caused by the new 3Dmigoto. It may have been drivers or Windows updates, I'm not sure.
SBS, TAB and other 3D modes now run flawlessly. Check the updated instructions and delete all you had from the previous fix, except for the workaround to make 3Dmigoto load in Windows 10. Old version
here.
IMPORTANT UPDATE (2018-01-19): fix updated. the new 3Dmigoto 1.2.70 allows me to stereoize render targets automatically. It means that custom resolution tweaks or "Large Framebuffer" aren't needed anymore.
Warning number 1: this isn't as "plug and play" as PC games fixes. It will need user involvement depending on how much you want a perfect experience, because it's impossible to have all games fixed at the same time. It also requires games to be booted a certain way.
Installation
- Get a recent PCSX2 build, equal or newer than "pcsx2-v1.5.0-dev-2515-gd09ac6d58-windows-x86". Download links are
here.
- Configure the graphics plugin (GSdx) to use the DX11 hardware renderer.
- For PCSX2 to be able to see the "d3d11.dll" of the fix on Windows 8.1 or higher, you need to apply
this patch for the moment. If the bat file doesn't work, using the "sdbinst d3d11_fix.sdb" in CMD with admin rights may work.
- Download the fix
here and unzip its contents in your PCSX2 folder.
- If you have Windows 7, chances are that PCSX2 won't trigger 3D Vision. If that's the case, unzip
this there too and follow the old instructions to boot games.
- Open "d3dx.ini" and go to line 36, where it says "List of game fixes.". Uncomment the line for the game you want to play. Don't uncomment more than one at the same time. If you want to create your own overrides, create a new ".ini" file in the "GameFixes" folder and load it the same way as the existing files.
Booting games
Nothing special is needed now. Just make sure you're using DX11 hardware mode and double click the window if you didn't configure PCSX2 to boot games in fullscreen directly. It will automatically use your full resolution and trigger 3D. Switching to other renderers won't crash the emulator anymore. They just won't be 3D.
If you notice strange frame drops to 40fps, try disabling vsync in the drivers.
Old instructions, not needed anymore:
This needs a special procedure. After installing all the needed files, if you try to open the GSdx configuration, the emulator will crash. Follow these steps:
- Open the emulator.
- Choose a game (choosing the ISO from the recent list, or searching one manually...) and boot it.
- After graphics of the game start to appear, or at any moment after that, open the GSdx configuration (you can press escape to close the game or just open the configuration directly), change settings if you want, and then close it. It doesn't matter if you apply changes or not. This action will unlock esclusive fullscreen, needed for the next steps.
- Double click on the game window so it's resized to borderless fullscreen.
- Press alt+enter, and the game should trigger exclusive fullscreen and 3D Vision.
- If it doesn't work at first try, double click again until it's borderless fullscreen and try pressing alt+ enter again.
GSdx configuration requirements and recommendations
1- Interlacing: games that shake when the option is set at "None" will most likely be perfect with the "Bob tff" option, and in some rare cases, "Bob bff". Knowing is a game is interlaced (half vertical resolution, which most of these shaky games have) is important for the next steps.
2- Large Framebuffer: it's needed for 3D when you play at 3x native resolution or higher IF the game doesn't have a "progressive scan" mode or cheat code. Warning number 2: this option increases VRAM usage A LOT at 5x-6x native resolutions and higher. Unneeded after the 2018-01-19 fix.
3- Custom resolution: it's needed for 3D IF you are playing an interlaced game (unless you play at native or 2x native) OR IF you really don't want to use "Large Framebuffer". Interlaced games need a higher than normal vertical resolution. Example: Devil May Cry only works in 3D with 3840 horizontal resolution if the vertical resolution is 2879 or higher.
Note: there are ways of forcing 3D via "TextureOverride" in "d3dx.ini". Read the shader overrides explanation. Unneeded after the 2018-01-19 fix.
4- Enable HW Hacks: some games need some of these to render right, especially "Align Sprite" (some Namco games like Soul Calibur 3 or Tekken 5), which demands native resolution multipliers, and "Half-pixel Offset", to have some bloom effects at their correct position. Things not related to 3D.
Use of regex toggles
This fix was done without using physical shader files, for better future compatibility. Instead, it uses a real time "find and replace" function for exactly three shaders that control all geometry in all games.
The problem is that some effects of those shaders need to not be stereoized, like the HUD or some double stereoized effects (sometimes bloom, blur filters, shadows...). The regex function tries to not stereoize things that have a depth value of 0 or 1, and in some games it works (most of the HUD of the Kingdom Hearts games).
The first and most simple solution, which may be partial or fix some things and break others but it's useful many times, is using
three hotkeys I offer to disable stereoization in each of the three shaders that control geometry. They are "j", "k" and "l", and I'll refer to them as "regex 1", "regex 2" and "regex 3". And that's also their order of importance, as you'll almost never have to disable the first one. A lot of times a mix of regex 3 and regex 2 will fix HUD issues, but regex 2 is usually related to other effects. In the "PCSX2_3D_game_database.txt" file I include I made a compilation of results of games I have and when you need to disable regex 2 and/or 3 or none.
Use of shader overrides. Warning number 3: for advanced users and perfectionists
Sometimes, or usually, disabling some of the regex isn't enough to make a game perfect or almost perfect, because you will be disabling more things than needed. Or maybe the HUD is related to regex 1. In these cases, you need to tell the regex to not stereoize a
specific pixel shader. This is where things get more complicated, for these reasons:
1- Future PCSX2 (specifically GSdx) builds may change the hash of the generated shaders, rendering all game specific fixes useless. Still, games don't usually need a lot of these. Most of the affected games need between 1 and 3 in my experience.
2- Fixing something in one game can break something else in another game, or even in the same game in some cases. So fixing all games at the same time is impossible. Even with a small library of 30 something games I found a little more than 10 conflicts between games.
Now about how to do a shader override. The fix includes working examples for games I own, inside the "GameFixes" folder. Check the "d3dx.ini" file, under "Regex vertex shaders". The first elements you will see are:
[ShaderOverrideRegex1VS]
Hash=6d64bfd710f98b05
x3=0
w3=0
w5=ps-t0
;analyse_options=dump_tex jps_dds
[ShaderOverrideRegex2VS]
Hash=0c8511661cbc3936
y3=0
w5=ps-t0
;analyse_options=dump_tex jps_dds
[ShaderOverrideRegex3VS]
Hash=a1f8cd42ceaae9e9
z3=0
w5=ps-t0
;analyse_options=dump_tex jps_dds
Those are the three vertex shaders I stereoize with regexes, and their default values for stereoization. "x3" for regex 1, "y3" for regex 2, and "z3" for regex 3. "w3" is an extra option about the fix I made for the skybox in the Ratchet & Clank saga (it forces the skybox to max depth without breaking other things in those games).
The values after "Hash=" may change with future GSdx versions, but I will be able to recognize them and update the fix.
In the ".ini" files inside "GameFixes" there are shader overrides with comments saying what they fix (sometimes). They contain the hash of the pixel shader, and the value they pass to their parent vertex shader. If you write for example "z3=1", it means that regex 3 won't stereoize that specific pixel shader. If it's "y3=0", it means it will stereoize it, the same as not writing the shader override at all. Useful if you want to enable/disable game fixes break effects in other games.
New: setting them to "=1" now assumes that they are HUD shaders, so they'll be affected by the HUD hotkeys. Set them to "=2" to not stereoize them but not making them count as HUD.
How to get the pixel shader hashes? Search the "hunting=0" line and change it to "hunting=2".
Warning number 4: this will make games less stable when switching out of fullscreen, and VRAM usage will be higher.
After that, run the emulator and play the game you want. Press "0" in the numpad and you will see a green overlay. Numpad keys 1 and 2 will cycle through the available pixel shaders, disabling the current one. Numpad key 3 will dump the shader inside the "ShaderFixes" folder. Get the hash (filename part before "-ps_replace.txt"), open the "ShaderUsage.txt" file that will appear in the emulator folder and search that hash. Example of a random pixel shader:
<PixelShader hash="07ee058e5bed1e6b">
<ParentVertexShaders>6d64bfd710f98b05 </ParentVertexShaders>
The pixel shader "07ee058e5bed1e6b" is related to vertex shader "6d64bfd710f98b05". If you look a few paragraphs above in this post, you will see that it's regex 1. If you want to not stereoize that effect, write this in the appropriate ".ini" game file (you can create new empty files and then include them in "d3dx.ini" like the existing examples), below other shader overrides if there are any:
[ShaderOverride_TotallyUniqueNameOrElseError]
Hash=07ee058e5bed1e6b
x3=1
Then you can go back ingame without closing it, make the game 3D with the explained method, and press F10. Changes should be applied instantly (it will also reset the state of all hotkeys).
When you are done, close the game and set "hunting" to 0 again. And you can delete your dumped shaders that are inside "ShaderFixes".
Texture overrides
With this, you can force games to be 3D that you want to play with native resolution multipliers, without needing "Large Framebuffer" or custom resolutions, for games without progressive scan mode. Dump any pixel shader, as previously explained. Check "ShaderUsage.txt" and go to lines starting with "<RenderTarget orig_hash=". Get the hash of all render targets there and write it like this Devil May cry example in "d3dx.ini":
;Stereoization of 3840x2160 in DMC.
[TextureOverride1]
Hash = c742d5b7
StereoMode = 1
[TextureOverride2]
Hash = 3e068917
StereoMode = 1
[TextureOverride3]
Hash = afead9ca
StereoMode = 1
[TextureOverride4]
Hash = 98dd53df
StereoMode = 1
After reloading with F10 or running the game again, it should be 3D. However, every resolution has different hashes. Remember to disable hunting mode.
Unneeded after the 2018-01-19 fix.
Hotkeys
You will probably need at least some of these hotkeys (which you can configure in "d3dx.ini") when playing:
-
v: it changes the type of stereoscopic cameras. By default, both eyes get a modified view for 3D. With one click, the right eye will have the same camera angle as 2D and the left eye will do all the 3D work. One more click, and the opposite will happen. And the last preset returns it to normal. It can be useful for games that stereoize the HUD, making it invisible at normal convergence modes. With the dominant eye you will see all game effects normally.
-
b: toggle to unstretch 4:3 games from 16:9. It will be buggy depending on the game, and the sides will flicker. Avoid using this if possible.
-
j: regex 1 stereoization toggle.
-
k: regex 2 stereoization toggle.
-
l: regex 3 stereoization toggle.
-
h: convergence presets. Different games may need wildly different convergence levels. I tried to cover as many cases as I could.
-
g: multiple God of War 1 and 2 separation and convergence combination presets, from higher to lower. These games present geometry with very compressed depth. This is a workaround that makes them normal. Each preset was carefully crafted, so don't touch your Nvidia convergence hotkey or convergence presets. The Nvidia separation hotkey or wheel is OK to use. Don't use this hotkey with other games unless you find another like them.
-
f: toggle for moderately higher max separation. Some games like Soul Calibur 3, Tekken 5, Ys IV and Ys V use a lower separation than the rest of games. 5.6cm instead of 7cm in my monitor. This hotkey makes them have the same depth as the other games. Don't use it with unaffected games unless you know you want it.
-
o: HUD depth, for elements that have 0 depth or have a "=1" shader override. Regex 2 excluded for image quality reasons.
-
p: HUD toggle or its aspect ratio. Same as above for the conditions. The first press changes the aspect ratio of the HUD from 4:3 stretched to 16:9. The second press disables the HUD. The third press restores it.
-
n: black frame insertion, intended for 30fps games. Three presets (disable one frame, the other, and disabled), and it's disabled by default. This is possible because PCSX2 outputs 60fps no matter the internal fps. Don't use in 60fps games. And
beware of the nasty 30Hz flickering, if you are sensitive to it.
This black frame insertion mode doesn't know what frame is the original and what frame is the duplicate, so input lag may vary because it's chosen at random (loading savestates may change it too).
And that's why there are two presets that choose a different frame to turn black. If you care enough about it, run from side to side and choose the preset that shows you the frame that is is more ahead in time. For example, if buildings are moving to the left, choose the frame that moves them clearly more to the left.
If you are crazy and want 20Hz flickering (is there any PS2 game that runs at constant 20fps?), go to the bottom of "d3dx.ini" and change "y4 = (y4 + 1) % 2" to "y4 = (y4 + 1) % 3".
An alternative this hotkey is using ReShade with
this shader, if you find games that don't work correctly with mine.
-
i: 3D Vision to anaglyph conversion presets (normal, reversed, disabled). Disabled by default. Why use this when you have 3D Vision Discover for anaglyph? Two reasons. One:
it allows two or more people to use 3D Vision and anaglyph glasses at the same time, at the cost of some color quality for the 3D Vision glasses users compared to not using anaglyph. Two: for this emulator, it's better to get 60Hz + 60fps per eye than 120Hz + 60fps per eye. Better vsync, low motion blur, etc.
-
u: black frame insertion in 2D, made for 60fps at 120Hz. It's mandatory to have 3D Vision enabled. This hotkey is a quick toggle that disables stereoization for all regexes and blacks out the image of the right eye. The result is that at 120Hz you receive 60 games frames and 60 black frames. It can be combined with the "n" hotkey for 30fps games. This doesn't reduce GPU usage in any way. It's the same as if you were playing in 3D. Unless you comment or delete the "[TextureOverride3DRenderTarget]" block in "d3dx.ini", which is necessary to be there for 3D. That way, you'll get 2D performance with black frame insertion.
Fix updates
I will probably keep updating this if PCSX2 changes the regex shaders. Also, exclusive fullscreen may be an official feature in the future, which will make the included "d3d9.dll" and "d3d9.ini" unnecessary. And it will also make the game booting process simpler and more stable.
I also keep the "d3dx.ini" file in my github account. If the date of that file is newer on github, use it instead of the one that comes with the fix, because it may contain small fixes. Outdated.
User contributions for shader overrides are welcome. Just know the risk of them becoming obsolete in future PCSX2 updates. The fix was first done using "pcsx2-v1.5.0-dev-2249-g49cd6bc78-windows-x86", and I can confirm a build few versions newer than this, used by a different person with different drivers, was compatible with all shader overrides.
Side By Side / Top And Bottom / Interlaced compatibility
Uncomment the ";run = CustomShader3DVision2SBS" line in "d3dx.ini" and then press F11 ingame (once it triggers 3D) until you have your desired mode.
This below was for the old version of the fix and it's unneeded now (I'm keeping it just in case):
Normally you would have to uncomment the ";run = CustomShader3DVision2SBS" line in "d3dx.ini" and then press F11 ingame (once it triggers 3D) until you have your desired mode. However, the game window stays black when you try to do it.
The workaround is not enabling that line, starting the booting process until after you have "unlocked" the exclusive fullscreen possibility, uncommenting the ";run = CustomShader3DVision2SBS" line, saving changes, going ingame in fullscreen mode, pressing F10 to reload the configuration, and then pressing F11 until your 3D mode is selected.
Painful, I know. I don't know a way to fix this completely. But the workaround works.
Special thanks
- All 3Dmigoto developers and contributors (bo3b, DarkStarSword, Flugan...).
- All PCSX2 developers and contributors. Without them, we wouldn't be able to even play these games in 2D.
- Kaldaien, for the specific SpecialK build I used in older fix versions to force exclusive fullscreen (0.7.0).
- RibShark, the one who made the compatibility patch to make 3Dmigoto work with PCSX2 on Windows 10.
- Kaimasta, for helping with testing and giving good ideas and inspiration, like the God of War hotkey.
If you liked this and want to contribute for more future fixes, you can donate to this PayPal account:
masterotakusuko@gmail.com
