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Emulator Issues #12238

P.N.03 Banding

Added by kolano 5 months ago. Updated 5 months ago.

Status:
New
Priority:
Normal
Assignee:
-
% Done:

0%

Operating system:
N/A
Issue type:
Bug
Milestone:
Regression:
No
Relates to usability:
No
Relates to performance:
No
Easy:
No
Relates to maintainability:
No
Regression start:
Fixed in:

Description

Game Name?

P.N.03

Game ID? (right click the game in the game list, Properties, Info tab)

GPNP08, GPNE08, GPNJ08

What's the problem? Describe what went wrong.

Since 4.0-1192 title has shown significant odd color banding. Refer: https://wiki.dolphin-emu.org/index.php?title=File:Pn03_banding.png

This may have been reduced in recent builds 5.0-12511 shows:
https://wiki.dolphin-emu.org/index.php?title=File:Pn03_nobandingSep2020.png

Appropriate emulation should look like:
https://wiki.dolphin-emu.org/index.php?title=File:Pn03_no_banding.png

But, I'm unclear if the 5.0-12511 image has "Force 24b Rendering" enabled or not, which if disabled might explain the residual banding.

Needs review to determine if this is still an issue.

What steps will reproduce the problem?

Start game, view initial rooms. (I think)

Is the issue present in the latest development version? For future reference, please also write down the version number of the latest development version.

Possibly depending on the settings the image for 5.0-12511 was taken with.

Is the issue present in the latest stable version?

Yes

If the issue isn't present in the latest stable version, which is the first broken version? (You can find the first broken version by bisecting. Windows users can use the tool https://forums.dolphin-emu.org/Thread-green-notice-development-thread-unofficial-dolphin-bisection-tool-for-finding-broken-builds and anyone who is building Dolphin on their own can use git bisect.)

4.0-1192

pn03.png (593 KB) pn03.png JMC4789, 09/13/2020 04:50 AM
pn03console.png (3.17 MB) pn03console.png JMC4789, 09/13/2020 05:02 AM
pn03angle2.png (4.23 MB) pn03angle2.png JMC4789, 09/13/2020 05:17 AM
7988
7989
7990

History

#1 Updated by Techjar 5 months ago

Do we know what it's actually supposed to look like? A screenshot from actual hardware would be helpful here.

#2 Updated by kolano 5 months ago

Conceivably the no_banding image is how it "should" look. Though I'm unclear if that's what it should look like on hardware, or is a result of using 24b rendering in a version prior to 4.0-1192.

#3 Updated by kolano 5 months ago

These videos seem to show minimal banding on hardware...
https://youtu.be/B3ARK18UV78?t=379
https://youtu.be/pN5veQjVbcA?t=306
https://youtu.be/1AN-gt3nCSo?t=206
...I can see minimal banding in some paused spots, but it's unclear if that if that's due to the compression used or not.

#4 Updated by kolano 5 months ago

Moby games shots seem to show banding, but again JPG compressed so source is unclear...
https://www.mobygames.com/game/gamecube/pn03/screenshots/gameShotId,51981/

#5 Updated by Techjar 5 months ago

Hmm, yeah the videos look much smoother than current Dolphin rendering, and appear to be legitimate console footage. I guess we can call this valid then. Very strange issue...

#6 Updated by Techjar 5 months ago

Can you mess with various settings and see if anything else affects or even fixes it?

#7 Updated by JMC4789 5 months ago

Try disabling EFB2VRAM copies in the Advanced Section. Changes banding in other games.

#8 Updated by kolano 5 months ago

The only option that seemed to have any effect on it was Per-pixel Lighting, which didn't fix the banding just made the bands more smoothly circular.

#9 Updated by JMC4789 5 months ago

I'll order the game and check it out if I remember. I have a feeling about this.

Edit: Apparently I picked up the Japanese version of this game at some point. Will investigate.

#10 Updated by JMC4789 5 months ago

7988

This is pretty visible in the software renderer. Will check on console next.

#11 Updated by kolano 5 months ago

Yeah, I hadn't tried the different rendering backends earlier. All but software rendered are the same. Something noticeable in the software rendering is that there seems to be some sort of dithering going on, where every other verticle line is a different color.

#12 Updated by kolano 5 months ago

kolano wrote:

Yeah, I hadn't tried the different rendering backends earlier. All but software rendered are the same. Something noticeable in the software rendering is that there seems to be some sort of dithering going on, where every other verticle line is a different color.

kolano wrote:

Yeah, I hadn't tried the different rendering backends earlier. All but software rendered are the same. Something noticeable in the software rendering is that there seems to be some sort of dithering going on, where every other verticle line is a different color, which might make the banding less visable.

#13 Updated by JMC4789 5 months ago

7989

This is visible on console imo. Got with a component cable and it's very visible.

#14 Updated by kolano 5 months ago

Yeah, I hadn't tried the different rendering backends earlier. All but software rendered are the same. Something noticeable in the software rendering is that there seems to be some sort of dithering going on, where every other verticle line is a different color, which might make the banding less visable.

#15 Updated by kolano 5 months ago

Ug, sorry, what I thought was an edit button for former comments was a reply.

#16 Updated by JMC4789 5 months ago

You're fine.

I'm leaning toward the banding being correct emulation and older builds being inaccurate though. If you turn on all the accuracy options in Dolphin, it sort of muddies it, but the component signal from my Wii makes it even muddier. It's still there though.

#17 Updated by JMC4789 5 months ago

Here is another comparison shot closer to my shot on console.

#18 Updated by JMC4789 5 months ago

7990

#19 Updated by Techjar 5 months ago

Oh yeah, that comparison looks pretty definitive to me. I see all the same banding and weird discoloration.

#20 Updated by kolano 5 months ago

The banding does still seem to be there in the console shot, but the dithering makes it significantly less visible. I think the lack of the dithering on the HW backends explains what's going on; unclear if there is any mechanism to emulate such more accurately; we at least seem to get it right on the software backend.

#21 Updated by Techjar 5 months ago

Yeah, the game clearly just wasn't made with high resolutions on mind (duh, the console is only 480p at best). It's just going to look weird at high resolutions, there's not really anything we can do about that. If we blur it enough to mask the crappy lighting like the console does, then we're just back to native resolution anyways. With that said, running at native resolution with the copy filter on might be enough to mask it.

#22 Updated by Techjar 5 months ago

I misread JMC's comment and though that last image was from console (stupid me didn't pay attention to the fps counter in the corner), so I'm once again not entirely certain. Still leaning towards this just being how the game is though.

#23 Updated by JosJuice 5 months ago

You can get dithering in the hardware backends by disabling the enhancement "Force 24-Bit Color".

#24 Updated by kolano 5 months ago

JosJuice wrote:

You can get dithering in the hardware backends by disabling the enhancement "Force 24-Bit Color".

That's what I initially thought, but it doesn't seem to make any difference here.

#25 Updated by Bionic.Catbus 5 months ago

It's neat to see people talking about this. My observations:

  • Force 24-Bit Color removes the dithering but not the banding. It's a shame this option doesn't fully solve things
  • I imagine the dithering, copy filter/deflicker, and composite signal mask most of the banding on original hardware, but it also just seems less intense in general than it does here no matter what settings are used
  • This might be the change that ushered in all the banding: https://github.com/dolphin-emu/dolphin/pull/68

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