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Emulator Issues #12689

closed

Sims 2 Text Lines Problem

Added by ghyujkilop about 3 years ago. Updated 4 months ago.

Status:
Working as intended
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?

Sims 2 & Sims 2: Pets

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

G4ZE69

MD5 Hash? (right click the game in the game list, Properties, Verify tab, Verify Integrity button)

dc5038fa00bcf4a7c507cd6a92fb3429

What's the problem? Describe what went wrong.

https://i.imgur.com/B88VHmE.png - pretty much any text in the Sims 2 games has these nasty lines going through areas. Tested with multiple settings.

What steps will reproduce the problem?

N/A. Always there. Just select any neighbourhood or place where there's a lot of text.

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

Yes / 5.0-15255

Is the issue present in the latest stable version?

Yes / 5.0-15255

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.)

[First broken version number here (if applicable)]

If your issue is a graphical issue, please attach screenshots and record a three frame fifolog of the issue if possible. Screenshots showing what it is supposed to look like from either console or older builds of Dolphin will help too. For more information on how to use the fifoplayer, please check here: https://wiki.dolphin-emu.org/index.php?title=FifoPlayer

https://i.imgur.com/B88VHmE.png - Fifo log attached.

What are your PC specifications? (CPU, GPU, Operating System, more)

i7-9750H CPU @ 2.60GHz, 32GB RAM & RTX 2070, Windows 10 x86.

Is there anything else that can help developers narrow down the issue? (e.g. logs, screenshots,
configuration files, savefiles, savestates)

[Anything else here]


Files

Sims 2.dff (1.38 MB) Sims 2.dff FIFO log ghyujkilop, 10/02/2021 12:32 AM
1_y0_x0.png (71.4 KB) 1_y0_x0.png image from real hardware pokechu22, 02/27/2022 11:27 PM
2.png (606 KB) 2.png 4x IR image from real hardware pokechu22, 02/27/2022 11:27 PM
clipboard-202408200126-hsrxi.png (595 KB) clipboard-202408200126-hsrxi.png ghyujkilop, 08/19/2024 01:26 PM
Actions #1

Updated by ghyujkilop about 3 years ago

An example image from Pets: https://i.imgur.com/qMjTD08.png

Actions #2

Updated by JosJuice about 3 years ago

Does this happen if all graphical enhancements are disabled? (In particular the internal resolution and anti-aliasing)

Actions #3

Updated by ghyujkilop about 3 years ago

JosJuice wrote:

Does this happen if all graphical enhancements are disabled? (In particular the internal resolution and anti-aliasing)

The lines are definitely faded but still there: https://i.imgur.com/IFKq7MF.png & https://i.imgur.com/6gFdpm9.png

https://i.imgur.com/RCt4yER.png

Updated by pokechu22 almost 3 years ago

I'm pretty sure this is how the game works. Dots seem to be present on a video from real hardware, and using the hardware fifoplayer I was able to reproduce the same lines with the fifolog you attached.

Looking into it briefly, it seems like the game's text-drawing code probably has an off-by-1 error and it's cutting into the next character (for instance, "i" picks up a bit of "j" near the bottom, and "o" picks up the entirety of the left side of "p"). It's not always visible because the text isn't rendered at a 1:1 size with the font, meaning the broken row of pixels may not be shown, so at native IR it's mostly invisible, but at higher IRs it becomes more visible. Manual Texture Sampling does not affect it.

Actions #5

Updated by ghyujkilop about 2 years ago

pokechu22 wrote:

I'm pretty sure this is how the game works. Dots seem to be present on a video from real hardware, and using the hardware fifoplayer I was able to reproduce the same lines with the fifolog you attached.

Looking into it briefly, it seems like the game's text-drawing code probably has an off-by-1 error and it's cutting into the next character (for instance, "i" picks up a bit of "j" near the bottom, and "o" picks up the entirety of the left side of "p"). It's not always visible because the text isn't rendered at a 1:1 size with the font, meaning the broken row of pixels may not be shown, so at native IR it's mostly invisible, but at higher IRs it becomes more visible. Manual Texture Sampling does not affect it.

Is there any way for me to fix this on my end?

Actions #6

Updated by pokechu22 about 2 years ago

It might be possible to fix it using texture dumping and dolphin's custom texture functionality (i.e. editing the font so that the issue doesn't happen), but I don't know exactly how you'd do it.

Actions #7

Updated by ghyujkilop over 1 year ago

Can we re-look into this? looking at the latest blog (https://dolphin-emu.org/blog/2023/02/12/dolphin-progress-report-december-2022-january-2023/)

Just checked this now, looks like it's fixed! Can this be updated to fixed? Although you an see small lines, should I make another bug report? https://i.imgur.com/nh37u6q.png

Actions #8

Updated by pokechu22 over 1 year ago

I don't think anything's changed that should have fixed it (apart from maybe you switching to a different GPU or changing the internal resolution or vertex rounding settings).

The small lines are behavior on real hardware based on my previous testing.

Actions #9

Updated by ghyujkilop over 1 year ago

is there no way to fix those lines? even ifd they are on real hardware?

Actions #10

Updated by pokechu22 over 1 year ago

Try graphics -> enhancements -> texture filtering to "force nearest". This should fix the lines, but it'll also make all textures look pixelated.

It'd probably be possible to make a game patch or graphics mod to fix it for only the text, but I don't own the game so I can't help with that.

Actions #11

Updated by ghyujkilop 4 months ago

pokechu22 wrote in #note-10:

Try graphics -> enhancements -> texture filtering to "force nearest". This should fix the lines, but it'll also make all textures look pixelated.

It'd probably be possible to make a game patch or graphics mod to fix it for only the text, but I don't own the game so I can't help with that.

Hey! So I tried Forced Nearest, and it worked! Oh my gosh. Is Forced Nearest typically the best quality? Or what's the difference?

It seems as though after more testing that when using Forced Nearest, it creates a BUNCH of unwanted pixels in the game & other titles.

Apparently this issue can also be referred to as a texture misalignment. Which I'm assuming this bug to be a part of.

Actions #12

Updated by pokechu22 4 months ago

"Nearest" refers to nearest neighbor scaling, which naturally creates the pixelated effect. The other option is bilinear scaling, which smoothly interpolates nearby pixels on both the x and y axes, blurring things slightly (and in this case, grabbing pixels from neighboring letters, which produces those lines). With how the game is made, you'll need to choose between one of those two results.

Actions #13

Updated by ghyujkilop 4 months ago

pokechu22 wrote in #note-12:

"Nearest" refers to nearest neighbor scaling, which naturally creates the pixelated effect. The other option is bilinear scaling, which smoothly interpolates nearby pixels on both the x and y axes, blurring things slightly (and in this case, grabbing pixels from neighboring letters, which produces those lines). With how the game is made, you'll need to choose between one of those two results.

Alright, ty!

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