Silent Hill 2 PC - Adding DX9 effects/features soon

Post by **headkickrodeo** » 23 Jan 2009

Working on a mod for the Windows version of SH2 by modifying the Grand Theft Auto: Vice City ENBSeries patch, with the DX8 to DX9 converter (so fucking neat..). So far, I've got Bloom working, which not only makes the flashlight beam look better, but it also blends the textures a lot better in the areas with ambient light. Bloom only really effects indoor locations significantly...so I'm trying to find a way to improve the outdoor visuals, since it's all indirect light. I'm sure FSAA will help there. I also hope to add HDR sometime, for people with newer cards...but, I think it'd be overkill for a dark game like SH2. HDR is best with outdoor daylight scenes...but, I'm for sure going to try to get FSAA, ambient occlusion, etc, etc working.

You can turn the bloom down whenever I post the patch, but the current setting adds a faint glow-like quality to brighter areas (mainly where your flashlight is shining), which kind of adds to the delusional/dream-like atmosphere (I think I'm gonna try my hand at SH4 next...that game already is so dream-like visually). The only problem is I can't get the bloom to ignore the noise filter...no big deal, just makes the game a little brighter overall (nothing adjusting the brightness down won't fix.)

I'll start posting comparison screenshots next week, I need to tweak the settings a lot more (some of the settings completely fuck up the rendering if enabled). Hopefully I'll have the patch ready by then, too. God bless that Russian bastard who came up with ENBSeries...

Oh, yeah...does anyone know what filters are built into the game? I know the noise filter, and sometimes motion blur...but it mentions "advanced filters" in the Display options...any ideas?

Post by **Lost?!** » 24 Jan 2009

Wow. You're awesome! I can't wait!

Post by **Ratiocinator** » 20 Feb 2009

This sounds very interesting! Coding is beyond my knowledge but for anyone to take the time and try to enhance SH2 in such regards is boss in my book. I'm guessing you've been busy since it's been a month and there's no comparison pics but I might as well revitalize the thread in asking: Have you made any more progress? Can we still expect some screen shots?

Good luck with this--hope it all works out!