Shadow of the Colossus
Developer(s): Team Ico
Publisher(s): SCEA (US), SCEI (JP, KO), SCE Korea (KO), SCE Australia (AU), SCEE (EU)
Genre: Action, Adventure
Wikipedia: Link
Game review links: Metacritic: 91/100
Game description: Players take the role of a young man seeking the truth of an ancient tale of power hidden in a mystical land. Shadow of the Colossus is a majestic journey through ancient lands to seek out and destroy gigantic mythical beasts. With a trusty horse at your side, players explore the spacious lands and unearth each towering Colossus creature. The uneasy task of defeating a Colossus relies on intelligent puzzle solving and action oriented gameplay. Armed with strong wits, a mystical sword and a sturdy bow, players use cunning and strategy to topple each behemoth.
Test configurations on Windows:
Environment | Configurations | Comments | Tester | ||||
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Region | OS | CPU/GPU | Revision | Graphics | Sound/Pad | ||
NTSC-U | ? |
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0.9.7 (r3113) | GSdx 0.1.16 |
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? | 99.230.227.175 |
NTSC-U/J | ? |
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0.9.8 | GSdx r4600 |
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BIOS: USA v2.00, PAL last tested with PCSX2 0.9.4 with complains of broken 3D, probably playable with 0.9.8. Needed VU Cycle Stealing 3, works fine at 2-3x native res. | Machina |
? | ? |
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1.1.0 | GSdx SSE41 r5622 |
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BIOS: USA v2.20, HACKS: Aggressive-CRC, Half-pixel Offset, D3D11, EE Cycles=2, VU Cycles=2, MTVU=DISABLE, Rest as default. Because of not very good CPU & GPU (Notebook), I've had to use some VU & EE improvements. | ZiZU4851 |
NTSC-J | Windows |
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1.1.0.5649 SVN | GSdx |
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Europe v02.00(14/06/2004), EE/VU Rounding: None/None, 1 - EE's cyclerate by DEFULT, The game running fine without any problem. | |
NTSC-J | Windows |
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1.1.0 r5726 | GSdx 5726 SSE41 |
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Still playable., Some rendering bugs (shadows & blur) with hardware mode... Software is OK. | |
NTSC | Windows 8.1 |
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1.2.1 |
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BIOS USA 2.20, EE=3, VU=0, MTVU OFF, Round Mode to Nearest and Clamping Mode to None on both EE/IOP and VUs. HW Hacks: Alpha, Half-Pixel Offset, Sprite, Aggressive-CRC and Alpha Stencil. Native Resolution 3x, Texture Filtering and Allow 8-bit. Game runs perfectly fine. | LeTeTeuX |
NTSC-U | Windows 7 |
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1.2.1 |
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Speedhacks: None
Completely playable, intro FPS sags 5 FPS when at 4.0 GHz, and 10FPS when at 3.5 GHz, but gameplay is always 60 regardless. Turning on progressive scan ingame, got me an extra 3 FPS average for some reason. |
Roa |
Trivia
- Original names: ワンダと巨像 (SCPS-15097), ワンダと巨像 PlayStation®2 the Best (SCPS-19320) & (SCPS-19335), 汪達與巨像 (SCAJ-20146), 완다와 거상 (SCKA-20061)
- Also known as Wang Da Yu Ju Xiang (AS), Wander to Kyozou (JP, KO)
- Shadow of the Colossus is one of PCSX2's most popular games, but it is one of the most complicated to emulate due to the fact that the original PlayStation 2 release pushed the limits of the console and often suffered from frame-rate losses. This game is very CPU intensive, even for PCSX2.
- This game is extremely CPU and GPU intensive. It was running between 20 and 30 FPS even on the original Playstation 2. If you do experience slowdowns while playing this on PCSX2, setting VU Cycle Stealing to 2 or even 3 helps the game tremendously.
CPU Requirements
The game's performance varies significantly depending on the CPU being used to run it. PCSX2 runs better on Intel CPUs than their AMD equivalents, and so does Shadow of the Colossus. Recommended: Intel Haswell or Broadwell CPUs at 3.0 GHz and higher.
Standards for Maximum Performance
To achieve 60 frames-per-second, your CPU must meet all of the following requirements and have the necessary speedhacks enabled:
- The CPU must be an Intel-brand; not AMD
- Due to architectural improvements, the CPU should utilize the latest microarchitecture available
- The clock speed must be over 4.0 GHz (The only Intel CPU with a base clock this high is the i7-4790K. Most other CPUs will need an overclock).
- VU Cycle Stealing should be set to level 1 or 2
Known Issues
Over-bloom
- Status: Active
- Type: Major
- Description: An emulation error causes the bloom lighting too be high, making it difficult to see much of the screen when out in bright locations.
- Workaround: Enable the "Aggressive CRC" hack in the GSdx plugin settings. This will significantly reduce the amount of bloom.
Alternatively use Software Rendering mode for perfect fix.
Texture Misalignment
- Status: Active
- Type: Minor
- Description: Raising the internal resolution causes certain textures to become misaligned. This largely consists of the bloom on Shadow Creatures, Pigeons, Wander's Sword, and Mono's Dress to be placed to the upper-left of their proper position. (does not occur in software Mode)
- Workaround: Enable the "Half-Pixel Offset" hack in the GSdx plugins menu. This will re-align the texture. (No longer working in r5875 USE 4x native for 1080p monitors)
Alternatively use Native Resolution
Flickering Borders
- Type: Not an issue
- Description: Enabling the "Half-Pixel Offset" hack to realign the textures results in flickering white lines along the top and left borders of the screen.
- Workaround: Adjust the Zoom in the main emulation settings to 102.60%, and set the screen display to "Fit to Screen/Window". This will cause the game to take up the full computer screen with just enough zoom to bypass the flickering borders. You can then adjust the display in-game in the options menu to your liking (4:3 or 16:9).
Audio/Video Mis-Synchronization
- Type: Not an issue
- Description: In this case, scenes within the Shrine of Worship don't emulate at full speed, and as a result, the audio/video during the ending cutscenes (which mostly take place within the Shrine) become unsynchronized by several seconds because the video is unable to keep up with the audio.
- Workaround: This problem only occurs if your CPU is not efficient enough at Floating-point operations to run the scenes at full speed, even with the appropriate Speedhacks enabled. This happened to me when I was using an AMD FX-8120 due to its clock rate and mediocre FPU efficiency. As a result, the solution to this problem is to have either of the recommended CPUs above, or to have a CPU with the sufficient architecture and clock rate for decent emulation.
Ghosting Effect
- Type: Not an issue
- Description: This is a side effect of VU Cycle Stealing. It basically causes an effect where certain textures become translucent, especially when viewed from a distance.
- Workaround: There is unfortunately no solution to this problem right now, as VU Cycle Stealing is necessary to make the game run at full speed.
Fixed Issues
Weird Shadows
- Status: Fixed
- Type: Minor
- Description: All characters in the game, including Agro cast bizarre, outlined shadows.
- Workaround: Update to the latest nightly version of PCSX2.
Gallery
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Shadow of the Colossus (SCPS 15097)
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Shadow of the Colossus (SCES 53326)
- Offical PCSX2 1.1.0 gameplay video: Link
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