Hmm... I wonder if it could be due to very high frame rates? Is it less prominent if you set a very high resolution and add a lot of processing in the graphics driver settings?
I assume you don't have anything running that could starve the game of CPU? Maybe it's worth a try using Task Manager to set the priority for the DeusEx2.exe process to "high".
Also, try if using dgVoodoo makes a difference.
Aha. Yes the first suggestion was correct. I turned on a frame-counter and it was showing anything up to thousands of fps in the menus and hundreds in the game. I capped it to 60fps as I have a 60Hz monitor anyway and that seems to have eliminated the issue.
I'm glad it was something so simple. Many thanks.
You're welcome. Porting the frame rate limiter from Thief 3 should be fairly easy (and it's been requested before). Can you test a beta version if I get it out sometime tomorrow?
Yes of course. No problem.
Turns out it's already implemented - but not exposed in the tweak tool.If you don't mind, disable your current fix, go to Start Menu > Deus Ex 2 Visible Upgrade > Options, open VisibleOptions.ini and set MaxFrameRate=90. (That value works for Thief 3.) Then see if this also fixes the issue.
What I thought I had used to limit my frame rate wasn't what limited my frame rate so I don't know if my results are accurate.
I set a frame rate of 60 with Riva tuner, but when I disabled that profile to test your solution it was still showing 60FPS. It seems that earlier as well I had also enabled G-Sync for both full screen + windowed because I noticed that the setting was set to full screen only.
Even though I'm playing only in full screen, with G-Sync set for full screen only, I get frame rates of thousands, but with set to Fullscreen + windowed it limits the frame rate to 60, which is a bit odd. I don't understand why this is.
I set G-sync to fullscreen so that it would then unlock the frames and I edited the INI file to force 90FPS and that was successful as well.
Thanks - I'll make sure to expose that setting in the next version.
What you noticed is not so weird: Windows 10 forces these old games to run in a pseudo fullscreen mode, which is (if I got it right) actually a triple-buffered borderless windowed mode. Triple buffering removes tearing but vsync is broken, so the frame rate is not locked to the refresh rate, as it would be in proper fullscreen. Hence the out-of-control frame rates.
Yes.Originally Posted by snobel
What you noticed is not so weird: Windows 10 forces these old games to run in a pseudo fullscreen mode, which is (if I got it right) actually a triple-buffered borderless windowed mode. Triple buffering removes tearing but vsync is broken, so the frame rate is not locked to the refresh rate, as it would be in proper fullscreen. Hence the out-of-control frame rates.
In old DDRAW (DX5,6,7) games MS locked the framerate to the refresh rate too.
I came back to say that after the previous issue was solved I was able to enjoy the game without a single issue, no crash, no broken objectives, no corrupt saves or anything.
One can see the console influences by it's "simplified" nature and tiny levels in comparison to DX1 but the game isn't as awful as some say, but certainly not close to DX1.
Thanks for the mod allowing me to enjoy it.
Reminder to Snobel to update VU too (obviously when he can)
(Multisample Fix is really important! The game seems read the values totally wrong from the in-game option menu!)
Today "beauty treatment" results
*1920x1080 (but you can of course use DSR / SSAA cranking it up to 4K)
*in-game MSAA 4x / No native Bloom
*Anisotropic Filtering 16x via NVCP
*HBAO+ via NV Profile Inspector (NVidia GPUs only) thanks to the D3D8/9 rendering (it's not possible with dgVoodoo2 wrapping to D3D11)
*ReShade shaders:
-HDR (default settings)
-qUINT Bloom (default settings)
-LumaSharpen (default settings)
Thanks for the patch.
What tools are used for modding the files in this game?
I'm interested in creating a few mods, such as a higher res font, but I'm completely lost as to which files I need to be looking at. Thanks - any help would be greatly appreciated.
Edit: I've managed to convert my .PNG to .DDS, but when I open the game, the font just looks blocky and unreadable now. Is there some setting that needs to be modified to allow a larger sized font to work now? I've tested with 512-4096 px files, and nothing works beyond the default 256 px file.
Last edited by djdarko; 12th Oct 2019 at 02:57.
The DX2_FONT.dds file has a matching DX2_FONT.cel file, which is a text file specifying the size and placement of the characters within the texture. It contains a string of comma-separated numbers:
- First number is spacing, i.e. number of pixels between characters
- Second number is the row height in pixels
- Subsequent numbers are character widths in pixels, except "-1" entries, which start a new line on the texture. Unused characters have width 0
So you need to match the .cel file to your new texture. (Better start by figuring out how the original .cel and .dds work, until you understand the format.) Unfortunately you may find that you need to keep the original row height, or the text will look weird in-game. Thief 3 has that limitation, which has been worked around in the Sneaky Upgrade, but the VU doesn't have that patch. (Reporting back if it's needed may increase the likelihood of having it added whenever I get around to do a VU update...)
As far as tools, DXTool can be used to extract textures from the .ibd block files. It can be hard to find these days, but I can upload it for you if you need it. For fonts, Font Taffer can be used to generate textures from TrueType fonts.
Most of the mod support for T3 described here should work for DX2 too - except the font height scaling factor, as mentioned.
Edit: If you want to change the font row height and you're OK with making changes in Default.ini, then under [FontMappings], adjust the first number in each font definition accordingly. (Multiply the existing value by either old_height/new_height or new_height/old_height, I don't remember which...) That's what the T3 patch does automatically, IIRC.
Last edited by snobel; 12th Oct 2019 at 06:54.
Thanks for the info.
A few questions:
Deus Ex Invisible war has 2 cel files, "DX2_FONT.cel" and "Fixed.cel". Do both of these need to be modified?
Also, I'm still confused about how the numbers work - because I have drastically increased the size of the font texture, will these numbers also need to be increased drastically?
By my count, there are 189 characters, should that number match the 267 or 170 below?
DX2_FONT.cel: 267 entries (numbers separated by comma)
Fixed.cel: 170 entries (numbers separated by comma)
I tested the Fontaffer file, and the exe closes immediately, are there some special requirements for that program to work? I'm using Windows 10.Code:!"●●●●'()●+,-./0123 456789:;<=>?●ABCDEFG HIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXY Z[■]●_`abcdefghijklmno pqrstuvwxyz{|■˜¡¢£¤● ¦§¨©ª«¬-®¯°±²³´µ●·¸¹º»¼ ◌¾¿ÀÁÂÃÄÅÆÇÈÉÊËÌÍÎÏ ÐÑÒÓÔÕÖ×ØÙÚÛÜÝÞßàáâ ãäåæçèéêëìíîïðñòóõôö÷øù úûüýþÿ
Edit: I got it working and readable! I multiplied all of the numbers (except "0" and "-1") in the DX2_FONT.cel by 16.
I modified Fixed.cel the same way, though I'm still not sure exactly what that file does.
Current Screenshot:
https://ibb.co/QMbMkdN
I'm wondering if there is a setting that would adjust the offset of the Resolution and Multi-sampling text seen here, where they seem slightly too low:
https://ibb.co/8BbyhXc
Also, I'm running into an issue where changing the font size seen in the loading screen text results in other unrelated text being affected, and becoming much too large:
https://ibb.co/Rp4zHyx
Last edited by djdarko; 13th Oct 2019 at 23:42.
The Fixed font is only for debugging, AFAIK, and not used in the game.
As you've found, because the row height and character widths are in pixels, if you upscale the texture you must upscale the character dimensions and padding too.Also, I'm still confused about how the numbers work - because I have drastically increased the size of the font texture, will these numbers also need to be increased drastically?
[...]
I got it working and readable! I multiplied all of the numbers (except "0" and "-1") in the DX2_FONT.cel by 16.
Number of entries in the file should be number of characters + (number of texture lines - 1) + 2. Number of characters includes zero-width chars. There's a max of 256 characters.By my count, there are 189 characters, should that number match the 267 or 170 below?
You ran it by clicking on it in an explorer window? It's a command line tool, so must be run from a powershell or command prompt.I tested the Fontaffer file, and the exe closes immediately, are there some special requirements for that program to work? I'm using Windows 10.
That does look pretty good.Current Screenshot:
https://ibb.co/QMbMkdN
It's possible that a less drastic upscale (e.g. x4) would have a smaller offset. You may also be able to find and adjust relevant Pos_Y entries in DX2UI.ini.I'm wondering if there is a setting that would adjust the offset of the Resolution and Multi-sampling text seen here, where they seem slightly too low:
https://ibb.co/8BbyhXc
Adjusting those values in Default.ini mentioned in my last post may help here.Also, I'm running into an issue where changing the font size seen in the loading screen text results in other unrelated text being affected, and becoming much too large:
https://ibb.co/Rp4zHyx
Thanks for all the info and help, I went through the Default.ini, and the DX2UI.ini, I got everything adjusted and looking pretty good, but I still can't seem to get the small loading screen help/tips text to resize. I went through every Font= entry in DX2UI.ini trying to pinpoint which one affected it, but either I overlooked it, or it's not in there.The Fixed font is only for debugging, AFAIK, and not used in the game.
As you've found, because the row height and character widths are in pixels, if you upscale the texture you must upscale the character dimensions and padding too.
Number of entries in the file should be number of characters + (number of texture lines - 1) + 2. Number of characters includes zero-width chars. There's a max of 256 characters.
You ran it by clicking on it in an explorer window? It's a command line tool, so must be run from a powershell or command prompt.
That does look pretty good.
It's possible that a less drastic upscale (e.g. x4) would have a smaller offset. You may also be able to find and adjust relevant Pos_Y entries in DX2UI.ini.
Adjusting those values in Default.ini mentioned in my last post may help here.
Not sure what's going on, but I checked the SU code and for the loading screen text size tweak a patch in the exe was needed. So it's likely that the same will be the case for DX2.
So I'm not going to lie: I always figured the Visible Upgrade was something that I would never bother with. But as it turns out, installing it was the only way I could get IW to run on my new Win10 PC - so thank you very much!
Unfortunately, I get the ominous "black screen" bug when loading a save game, or starting a new game as well. Tried a couple of things already: Installing via Steam, installing via my DVD copy, turning off Nvida Shadowplay overlay, closing the Logitech gaming software, deactivating Steam overlay... the only thing which works for me is running IW in windowed mode. I hope there'll be a fix for that. I remember I used to be able to play it with the visible upgrade in fullscreen, maybe some of the recent Windows updates broke something.
Could it be that this could be caused by not adhering to this step during the installation/preparation?
After installation, run the game once and select your preferred resolution in the Options screen. (The patched game uses a private setting for the resolution)
Last edited by chk772; 21st Dec 2019 at 13:10.
If you can get to the main menu, then the resolution setting should be fine.
Try the DX wrappers that lowenz mention here. If you happen to have Thief 3 + the newest SU then you can copy the local d3d8.dll from there for a quick test. (That's the Crosire DLL btw.)
Thanks for the tip. Unfortunately, when I use the d3d8.dll from T3 Gold (I have the latest version installed), I not only get a black screen when I start a new game, or load the game now, but, also the cutscenes stay black now, and I only hear the sound... I will stick to the windowed mode for now.
Edit: Oh, and the game doesn't shut down properly as well. It hangs with "Window doesn't respond", and a white screen, and I always have to kill the 3 processes via the task manager to shut down the game...
Last edited by chk772; 22nd Dec 2019 at 06:14.
Better try dgVoodoo as well, as it wraps to D3D11 and is generally the most advanced option.
When shutting down you should have, depending on how the game is started, DeusEx2.exe (edit: or DX2Main.exe if it's the Steam version, IIRC) and maybe DX2.exe - but what's the third?
I assume you do not have the same issues running T3? What about the unpatched DX2 (which you can run from the DX2 Visible Upgrade start menu group)?
I think it actually only happens when I've played for a while that a couple of those processes show up in the task manager. It's the task as shown in the screenshot below. Sometimes there's 3 of them, but I also had like 5 or 6 of them I had to close.
I have no such issues with Thief 3 Gold/Sneaky Upgrade.
I'll try dgVoodoo, thanks again.
Screenshot?
Btw. since you don't mention it explicitly: did you try disabling your virus checker? (Not sure it's a prime suspect here, but still...)
Sorry, stupid me forgot to attach the screen shot. Here it is. https://imgur.com/a/b8PduGm
I'll also try to exclude IW from virus/task checking.
Looks like porting the borderless windowed mode from the SU to the VU should be easy, so I'll have a go at that now. It's not proper fullscreen but much better than window-with-borders mode.
Last edited by snobel; 23rd Dec 2019 at 04:19.
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