Splinter Cell: Double Agent resolution scaling not working properly in single player

[ghost]

Title

https://xemu.app/titles/5553005e/#Tom-Clancy-s-Splinter-Cell-Double-Agent

Bug Description

xemu.exe_2022.05.05_-_22.26.00.01_Trim.1.mp4

Setting the resolution scaling to 2x and onward results in a very aliased image. In this video specifically the resolution scaling was set to 4x.

Expected Behavior

Tom_Clancys_Splinter_Cell_Double_Agent_2022-05-06_14-41-26.1.mp4

This is how that same area looks on Xbox One which has a higher res than OG Xbox.

Strangely, this issue is not present in the coop mode as can be seen in these screenshots, where again the game ran at 4x resolution scaling. Nor is it an issue in Chaos Theory despite both games running on the same engine.

Edit: This issue corrects itself whilst using the night vision mode

No night vision: Image appears aliased

Night vision on: The image appears sharp as can be seen by the wall on the right side and by the metal grate at the end of the hall

xemu Version

v0.7.17

System Information

Windows 10
Ryzen 5 3600x
RTX 2060
NVIDIA Driver: 30.0.15.1215

Additional Context

No response

[Joris-truly]

Tested it. As of today, the res not scaling is still an issue.

[JordanLeich]

Tested it. As of today, the res not scaling is still an issue.

I tested as well and same result, resolution scale doesnt really work (makes the game look worse + lots of fps loss) and the game still has the border issue as seen in the screenshot.

[jcolell]

It seems to be the same MLAA issue some games have with the RPCS3 Emulator:

https://illusion0001.com/patches/2021/06/25/t1-ps3-mlaa-fix/
RPCS3/rpcs3#10316
https://www.neogaf.com/threads/rpcs3-mlaa-disabled-4k-exclusives.1568413/

The game had an MLAA for improving image quality in single-player mode. Absent in multiplayer (or in night vision mode) for performance reasons.

So the problem here is the AA and Bloom effect \ shader used in the game.

[xthedom]

why has this never been fixed lmao this emu has slow progression

[BiatuAutMiahn]

why has this never been fixed lmao this emu has slow progression

Lol, you must have never known Cxbx. :P once mborg and team started working on this, OG Xbox was no longer a console that was considered to be impossible to emulate. Like we had working 360 emulation with Xeina, rpcs3 for PS3, cemu etc. for modern consoles.

Whoever thought to use Qemu to literally virtualize the Xbox at the hardware level really hit the nail on the head.

[AbbieDoobie]

Just curious; could the MLAA potentially be disabled with an AR code (or something like that), as a workaround? Or straight up modifying the game itself?

[OneShot95]

Just curious; could the MLAA potentially be disabled with an AR code (or something like that), as a workaround? Or straight up modifying the game itself?

This is something I'm going to look into, there must be a way to do this.

[AbbieDoobie]

There is a workaround using Reshade shader toggles, posted in the Xemu Discord. I am not sure if links are ok, but if so, here is a direct message link.

[QmwJlHuSg9pa]

There is a workaround using Reshade shader toggles, posted in the Xemu Discord. I am not sure if links are ok, but if so, here is a direct message link.

Do you mind attaching a screenshot? I can't access Discord.

[AbbieDoobie]

I pulled the text directly. All credit to 'fellow_demo' on the Xemu discord.

"I injected Reshade with addon support, got Shader Toggler addon and went thru game's shaders and got some results:

1. I found shaders responsible for AA that makes resolution scale look pixelated and turned it off with some good results(there still some areas where it breaks, tho it breaks even for night vision which is usually unaffected by this issue during scaling)
2. found bloom shader that causes green glowing edges and toggle it off (at expanse of bloom obviously, but since reshade already injected, you can add own bloom). one toggle for this shader makes thermal vision partially broken, other toggle breaks night vision, makes shadows pixelated
3. also made some toggles for shader that makes shadows levels brighter, noise for night vision and HUD toggle

Using this can make some loading screens corrupted, but game loads fine.
P.S. Also for this to work between sessions correctly gotta wipe Shaders in AppData/Xemu/xemu/Shaders or/and turn caching off"

Here is the reshade ini they included: ShaderToggler.zip

You will need to use the full install of Reshade, not the standard. You'll know it's the correct version if it has a warning about anticheat. The full version has shadertoggle included.

In my experience this does work, though it is imperfect.

[VinceIP]

Just to add to the above comment - this method works great. Just make sure when you install Reshade, you select the Xemu executable, select the OpenGL API, and select the "Shader Toggle" addon in the extras tab within the installer. Put the ShaderToggler ini file in your Xemu directory. Launch Xemu, press Home to open the Reshade menu, select the addons tab, and explore the Shader Toggle addon. Read the instructions there carefully. Specifically, make sure to toggle the AA and Bloom shaders to be applied on startup and press S to enable them immediately. You'll know it's working when your rendering resolution increases and the bloom border disappears. You'll need to use your numpad controls to cycle through some pixel or vertex shaders. You can easily add Reshade bloom to compensate for the lack of in-game bloom, and in fact, I think it looks better than what is normally there. Same for anti-aliasing.

[jcolell]

I can confirm that the AA and Bloom bug is gone with the Shader Toggle workaround. However, night vision still has some issues (effect missing). I hope the Xemu team injects this workaround in some way into the emulator

[kgalkin92]

@AbbieDoobie I applied what you mentioned here, but I faced this issue with lighting