Setting up Windows version: Difference between revisions

Here you are able to choose between None, Auto and 6 other interlacing techniques, which are used to remove the screen "shaking" or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interlaced_video interlacing effects]. '''We recommend leaving this on Auto for all but some picky games.'''

{{Tip|You can cycle through the interlacing modes when running a game by pressing the F5 key.}}

'''Scaling Subsection (D3D internal resolution)'''

Only available if a Hardware Renderer has been selected above. Here you can improve the visual quality of your games by increasing the resolution at which the textures are rendered. Do keep in mind that changing the native resolution of games can cause various glitches (from the usual very minor glitches to more serious ones in rare cases). On the other hand for many games (especially for 3D ones) increasing internal resolution will improve the graphics dramatically.  

*''D3D internal resolution'': Here you can specify the exact resolution you want textures to be rendered at. This way, if your PC is powerful enough (mainly your graphics card), you can play your favorite ps2 games in much higher resolutions making the graphics crisp and more detailed. Note that the higher resolution means more work for your video card, thus slowing down rendering process.

*''Original PS2 Resolution - Native'': If you check this box, the plugin will render in the original resolution of the game you are emulating (that is why Custom Resolution and Scaling get grayed out).  

 

'''Shaders subsection'''

*''Enable Shade Boost'': This option will help you to adjust saturation, brightness and contrast to your liking. You can click the reset button on the lower left to set the sliders to their initial positions.

*''Enable FXAA'': GSdx will apply the FXAA anti-aliasing algorithm to improve the visual quality of your games with a (usually) minor speed hit. You can also toggle FXAA on and off ''in-game'' by pressing the PageUp key.

*''Enable FX Shader'': Since version 1.2.0, PCSX2 is able to use [[external shaders]] to add various effects and visual improvements. By default, PCSX2 comes with 4 simple scanline shaders (which you can cycle through with F7 ''even while you're in game''). For a huge set of shader effects which include UHQ FXAA, Bilinear FS Filtering, Bicubic FS Filtering, Gaussian FS Filtering, High Quality Blended Bloom, Per-Channel Gamma Correction, Scene Tone Mapping, RGB Colour Correction, S-Curve Contrast Enhancement, Texture, Sharpening, Pixel Vibrance, Post-Complement Colour Grading, Cel Shading, Scanline Emulation, Vignette and Subpixel Dithering you can download Asmodean's shader file [http://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-Custom-Shaders-for-GSdx?pid=334766#pid334766 from the PCSX2 forums]. Open the zip file and extract the PCSX2Fx_Settings.txt and shader.fx files in the same directory the main ''pcsx2.exe'' is located. You can change some shaders' settings by editing the PCSX2Fx_Settings.txt (the file contains all the needed instructions). External shaders should be used with caution because some of them may have an enormous impact on speed. Note that you can '''use''' external shaders even with a GSdx '''software''' renderer, which is the best way to get higher visual quality with this rendering mode.  

{{Tip|You can toggle the use of external shaders on and off by pressing the '''Home''' button ''while playing'' a game.

}}

This set of options is available only if you have selected Hardware Renderer. You can tune some settings for extra performance or video quality here.

*''Texture filtering'': Enables linear texture filtering when they need to be resized. '''Checked''' option will ensures filtering in any case but '''grayed''' will only use filters for 3D textures (this may help with some 2D games that will look weird otherwise).

*''Logarithmic Z'': Changes the way the third (depth) coordinate is treated (logatithmic or linear). This option should be left ON unless you experience some weirdness in the objects (like seeing through them). This options is enabled only for graphics cards that do NOT support a 32bit Z-buffer.

{{Warning|Use this settings only in case you absolutely sure they are needed for your game to function.<br />

These settings can and WILL cause serious graphical glitches if used in certain games.}}

This check-box will enable HW hacks that can be configured further using ''Configure'' button.

*''MSAA'': This option is used to activate multisample anti-aliasing mode. This may dramatically improve the quality of visuals but requires some additional processing power from your video card and is highly video card memory demanding and might crash PCSX2 if there's not enough RAM. You can set this to 2,4,8 or 16. The plugin will automatically choose and use only the supported mode. For more information read the description at the right panel.

*''Skipdraw'': Skips drawing some surfaces altogether, based on how likely they are to cause issues. Specify how many surfaces should get skipped after the first problematic one is found. Try lower values first like 1-3 then use higher ones (this will also increases the chance of broken/missing graphics and effects). This hack may cause random performance boosts as well!

*''Sprite'': Gets rid of black inner lines in 2D sprites. Half option is recommended.  

*''WildArmsOffset'': Lowers GS precision to avoid gaps in pixels when upscaling. Known to help with upscaling problems for some of 2D games. Read the description at the right panel for more information.

*''Alpha Stencil'': Improves shadows which are normally overdrawn in parts. This setting will disable partial transparency or prevent drawing some elements altogether. Read the description at the right panel for more information.

*''Nvidia Hack'': Fixes odd stretching issues in recent NVIDIA drivers when upscaling (using DirectX 11). Try not to use this unless your game Videos or 2D screens are stretching outside the frame.  

*''Disable CRCs'': For testing purposes only! The option will disable all the GSdx hacks. This will break many games; but for certain games like Shadow of the Colossus, you might like the result better.

*''TC Offset X/Y'': These settings can help fix some misaligned textures when using upscaling. They will correct textures in some games, including Persona 3, Haunting Ground and Xenosaga.

This set of options will work only if you have selected Software Renderer. You can tune some settings for extra performance or video quality here. The options will not gray-out even when you select hardware renderer so you'll be able to configure both hardware and software mode. Some games may require switching between those modes (F9) in game so you might need to prepare everything beforehand.

*''Extra Rendering threads'': This option determines how many threads GSdx will use while rendering to take advantage of all the vacant cores your CPU may have (note that will only be useable for software rendering). For example set it to 3 for quad core processors (1 for PCSX2 and 3 for GSDX software rendering). This may boost speed significantly in multi-core systems.

This feature will only work while you are in game. By pressing F12 a message box for video capture will appear. You'll need to specify the place where to store video, processing codec (like for ex. [http://sourceforge.net/projects/x264vfw/ x264vfw], note you'll be only able to use already installed codecs) and picture resolution. Please be aware that lossless or uncompressed video may produce a VERY large file so your HDD must have enough free space to contain it. <br/>

Press F12 the second time to stop capturing. The result video will be automatically speed up to 100%. If you use SPU2-X as audio plugin the audio file named ''recording.wav'' will be saved as alongside with the video file.