What sorcery is this, we are on time with the progress report

We bring to you another progress report like usual. Enjoy!

Written by lightningterror and CK1

[Enhancement] GSdx-TC: Performance improvement by using custom container by AlessandroVetere

A massive improvement on GSdx was done in Q2 2017 that we forgot to mention which improves the performance on both hardware and software mode around 1-15% give or take depending on the game and configuration. It's a bit technical so all we can say is that it improves performance but if anyone wishes to read the more technical stuff then it's best to checkout the Pull Request on GitHub.

[Enhancement] GSdx-TC: Load size calculation in target update by ssakash

Akash also updated the texture cache that fixed/improved a few issues as well as solved a couple of regressions. These changes should help with improving emulation accuracy on native and upscaled resolutions.

Fix the load size calculation in target update.

Add an optional macro (ENABLE_ACCURATE_BUFFER_EMULATION) for enabling more accurate emulation of the buffer size.

Fixed a regression that caused many games to crash with custom resolutions (Gran Turismo series, Silent Hill series, Persona series, Metal Gear Solid series and others as well).

Fixed a regression on Beyond Good And Evil that exhibited FMV flickering.

[Enhancement] GSdx: Texture Shuffle port to Direct3D by lightningterror

Previously texture shuffle only worked if CRC hack level was below full since it was in beta stage. lightningterror did the testing, adjusted the code and properly ported it without relying on the CRC hack level. This will fix glitchy graphics (green/brown vertical lines sometimes) on games that make use of the same effect.

The Godfather, Urban Chaos, 50 Cent Bulletproof, Metal Gear solid series,God of War series, Final Fight Streetwise, The Suffering Ties that Bind, Sengoku Basara and many others.



Note that texture shuffle is only supported by Direct3D10/11, however a partial port has been done for Direct3D9 as well. Direct3D 9 will skip some of the bad draw calls but the screen may still look a bit glitchy on some games. I guess better than nothing

Here are some example comparisons on Direct3D11.

1. Sengoku Basara.

2. 50 Cent Bulletproof.

3. The Suffering Ties that Bind.

[Enhancement] GSdx: Channel Shuffle improvements on Direct3D by lightningterror

A small adjustment has been made in the channel shuffle detection on Direct3D, a lot of games should see an improvement where the top left corner issue has been resolved /improved.

Metal Gear Solid series, Urban Chaos, Stolen and possibly other games that use the effect are resolved/improved.

Direct3D still misses the proper shaders to emulate the effect and need to be ported from OpenGL one day but it's a nice improvement for users that don't use OpenGL.

It's worth keeping in mind just like before the channel shuffle effect only skips the bad draw calls so it kinda works like a CRC hack just somewhat better since it only skips the channel shuffle draw calls and not any other post processing effects.

[Enhancement] GSdx: CRC hacks adjustments

People usually say that PCSX2 uses a lot of hacks so we are gonna highlight some changes to CRC hacks

List of purged CRC hacks: Gran Turismo Concept - All hacks removed. #2335 Gran Turismo 3 A spec - All hacks removed. #2335 Gran Turismo 4 - All hacks removed. #2304 Tourist Trophy - All hacks removed. #2304 God Of War 1 - One hack removed. #2350 God Of War 2 - One hack removed. #2350 SSX 3 - All hacks removed. #2259 Tekken 5 - One hack removed. #2205 Final Fight Streetwise - One hack removed. #2343 The Simpsons Game - One hack removed. #2149 Sengoku Basara - All hacks removed. #2357 Naruto - Narutimate Hero 3 - One hack removed. #2361 Naruto Shippuuden: Narutimate Accel - One hack removed. #2361



And since we are mentioning removed we will also mention added CRC hacks. Not much right ?

List of added CRC hacks: Final Fight Streetwise - One hack added. #2343



There have been more changes such as moving some CRC hacks to Aggressive state that can be used as speedhacks, some moved to Direct3D only but the list will be quite big if we include everything, all the other changes can be viewed on GitHub.

The CRC hack code was also cleaned up a bit, many games (prequels/sequels) shared code, which has now been merged making it more compact, readable and cleaner.

[Enhancement] PCSX2-Counters: Fix Hblank calculation for DVD video modes by ssakash

Previously, the DVD variant NTSC/PAL modes used the horizontal blanking interval calculation algorithm used by digital video modes, which shouldn't be used and also the rounding error check was neglected. Added the DVD variant modes to the list in analog video mode finder subroutine. This should impact timing/vertical synchronization in PSX games significantly.

So far the only affected PSX title is Lego Rock Raiders' which has the graphic corruptions resolved.

[Enhancement] GUI Changes and Enhancements

Add configurable Cheats folder to Components Selectors by lightningterror

Add GUI option to Plugins Components Selectors to change the default "Cheats" folder location. Similar to savestates/logs/..etc..

Display the video mode on titlebar option by ssakash

Display current video mode at the title bar. (Useful for debugging purposes and for user feedback at cases when video mode is being changed)

[Enhancement] Other Enhancements

XPad and USBqemu have been moved to Legacy solution/plugins by FlatOut No need to keep old legacy and outdated plugins in the main branch anyway. They also won't be included in the 1.6 release. If people want to use them they can be found on the website.



The PCSX2 code has gone through a lot of cleanup by turtleli, fixing warnings, fixing a lot of annoying bugs and just making things more tidy in general.

SPUX-2 Also received some clean up by FlatOut and MrCK1.

A lot of specific game CRC ID's have been added as well. These are usually needed for CRC hacks to function properly as well as automatic mipmapping detection for games that require it.

Many fixes and patches were added to the GameDB to fix various issues such as the broken graphics in Spongebob: Creature from the Krusty Krab.

Here is an example how the game looks right now:

There are other additions that haven't been mentioned as well but those can be viewed on GitHub and these are just the highlights we thought would be worth mentioning.

Best regards from the PCSX2 Team.