(New Discoveries) Hacking into Silent hill 2 2001 E3 demo

[PureBlackAura]

Hey everyone, I've started hacking into the SH2 E3 beta so I made this forum post to document all of my findings

I think I will start this thing off with my latest find.While browsing through the beta's inventory I stumbled across several differences in the weapons.
Here is a link to the video showing the differences

Pistol= Pretty close to final.
Wooden plank= Has a different menu model.
Steel pipe=No menu model, more attack frames than the final animation
Shotgun=No menu model, No sound effects
Hunting Rifle=No menu model,Does not use ammo (Unlimited clip,Never reloads), Uses pistol sound effects.
Spray Can(s)=No menu model,Glitched ready stance,No damage frames
Giant Knife=No menu model,Uses shotgun walking animation (New easy to carry version ) , So many more frames in the attack animation it makes the game look like it's lagging, When the knife hits the ground it causes a loud screeching sound to play until the player enters the start menu.

More posts on the way. Thanks for reading!

[Roden]

Great finds, man! I knew I could count on you for SH2

I'd be interested in seeing a video that includes all your finds (such as the new rooms) with comparisons with retail SH2 (my SH2 memory is a little rusty). Was the spray can in SH2 in any form before? Are there any new puzzle items?

[PureBlackAura]

Great finds, man! I knew I could count on you for SH2

I'd be interested in seeing a video that includes all your finds (such as the new rooms) with comparisons with retail SH2 (my SH2 memory is a little rusty). Was the spray can in SH2 in any form before? Are there any new puzzle items?

Yes, the spray can was an extra weapon in the final game it's strength was based on how many stars you earned on your previous play though, As far I can tell the rest of the items are close to retail (well minus no menu models) the only place that has anything but black rooms would be the hospital though most of the rooms are completed they do not have any collision. I will try to make a video showing the various differences between the beta rooms and the final soon.

[PaulSilentin]

Awesome research! I have debug menu full guide and widescreen patch as pnach (directly for E3 version), i will share it later as i get home!

BTW how did you load this location? (roof) not only internal hospital locations in this e3 build? and Unused Hallway?

[PureBlackAura]

Awesome research! I have debug menu full guide and widescreen patch as pnach (directly for E3 version), i will share it later as i get home!

BTW how did you load this location? (roof) not only internal hospital locations in this e3 build? and Unused Hallway?

Oh, cool can't wait to see that guide though I'm figuring it out pretty well myself.

All the rooms in the hospital are available though most don't have collision yet. Also there is only one room outside of the hospital that has anything in it. It's in the apartments. I can't seem to find it again though. It seemed to have a severely disfigured model of pyramid head standing in the middle of a black room with no collision.

[PaulSilentin]

Well, full debug guide will be translated to english a little later, now and here widescreen hack plus extra tips about debug:

widescreen

REVEAL SPOILER

pnach for pcsx2 - tested with pcsx2-v1.2.1-330-gfb5b7a3 fresh revision, made by Dyons

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92327060.pnach

patch=1,EE,002A2150,word,3F28F5C3 //it's just widescreen
patch=1,EE,001A3D04,word,24050000 //this is fix for emulator bug, don't use on real ps2

HEX replace line for real consoles ps2/ps3/etc (with HxD replace function, i guess you know).

Code: Select all

find: ae47613f
replace: c3f5283f

PS2 raw code for things like ARMAX, CodeBreaker and similar:

Code: Select all

202a2150 3f28f5c3

before/after (directx 11, hardware render, 2x-3x native resolution, full speed):


about debug, here some useful options:

REVEAL SPOILER

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controller 2.

padx=5

   click it from safe room close from spawn point:
      hp(hp)
         + D-pad LEFT (2x) + X - unfinished room

padx=2

   - START + R1 - will change global settings to day light (don't try to turn on  your flashlight)

padx=3

   - START + R1 - settings
      - UP, DOWN - noise sensitivity
      - L1, L2 - will change brightness/contrast to extreme light and shine

   - START + L1 - settings 2
      - UP, DOWN - almost same as upper, brightness and similar

[PureBlackAura]

Does the guide say anything about fog and draw distance control?

[PaulSilentin]

full debug guide will be translated to english a little later

done, sorry if possibly "engrish" inside

REVEAL SPOILER: "sh2 full debug guide"

Code: Select all

  _______________________________
/______________________________/|
|    _____    ______   __      ||
|   /____/\  /_____/| /_/|  P  ||
|  / ___ \ \ |_   _|/ | ||  A  ||
| / /|  \_\/   | ||   | ||  V  ||
| | |/____     | ||   | ||  E  ||
| \ \____/\    | ||   | ||  L  ||
|  \____ \ \   | ||   | ||     ||
|  __   \ \/|  | ||   | ||     ||___
| /_/\__| |/  _| ||_  | ||___  |/__/|
| \ \/__/ /  /_| |_/| | |/__/|     ||
|  \_____/   |_____|/ |_____|/ ENT || Sh2 Debug |
|__________________________________|/___________|

* all debug controls based on second controller port, you can also use any non-dualshock playstation gamepad, even like SCPH-1080 model or anything else

* If you see marks like "(?)" or "..." that means this is unknown value or result of this function is not yet researched by me

* Between "PADs" you can change them with SELECT button on second controller

CAUTION: before using debug menu, you need to activate debug menu itself with second controller buttons. You need to push something to enable some strings, when you can select some marks from "-" to "o". And debug menu is in one of the "-" marks, but not all of them we will need to be enabled. Many of this functions will just enable debug screen layout, we don't need this all. (more info inside of "padx=1" string down here)

padx=1/start guide

   START - pause the game
   Х - enable global switches list
   О - enable only one selected
   /\ - enable all of them
   || - disable all of them

   0-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9, A-B-C-D-E-F

      0 - page:

      display this help
         (optional)
      enable pad port for debug
         (main switch of debug for gamepad in port 2)
      display switch indicator not-only port 1 (?)
      display all switch pages (?)
      display RTC
         (display time and date?)
      display file server status (?)
      display load and init command server status (?)
      verbose at command server status (?)

      display all info at pad (0, 0)
      display pad step at pad (0, 0)
      display paddata at pad (0, 0)
         (kinda table from numbers to visualisation/buttons pressed monitoring on first controller)
      display keydata at pad (0, 0)
      display all info at pad (1, 0)
      display pad step at pad (1, 0)
      display paddata at pad (1, 0)
         (same as upper, but for controller 2)
      display keydata at pad (0, 0)

      display special characters (0%20-0%9F)
         (will display ASCII on screen)
      unknown
      unknown
      unknown
      unknown
      unknown
      unknown
      unknown

      unknown
      unknown
      unknown
      unknown
      unknown
      unknown
      unknown
      unknown

* change PADs after enable debug - D-PAD LEFT/RIGHT

padx=2

   - START + R2 -    enable night
   - START + R1 - enable day (will glitch with flashlight)
   - START + L1 - unknown values (?)(controls: d-pad RIGHT - change X axis, UP,DOWN change Z axis)
      - UP, DOWN - change unknown value on Z axis 1204-200 (?)
      - RIGHT - change unknown value on X axis 2000-400 (?)
   - START + L2 - color setting
      - X, /\ = change some values from "Ad" to "As" (?)
      - O, /\, X = change some values like Сs...
      - L1, L2 - change color system RGBA - RGB
      - R2, R2 - change some values MOD - DEC (?)
      - UP, DOWN - change values of color system 0-225

padx=3

   - START + R1 - noise settings
      - UP, DOWN - noise sensitivity 0-255
      - R1, R2 - change some values that close by to noise settings (?)
      - L1, L2 - change brightness/contrast
      - Х - will make screen darker
      - О - will make screen brighter
   - START + R2 - disable noise settings
   - START + L1 - more settings about brightness and colors (CPF)
      - UP, DOWN - brightness/lighting adjustment
      - X, /\ - warm and cold color adjustment
      - RIGHT - change uknown value (?)
      - О - kinda like random lighting effect
      - L1, L2 - color adjustment between red and blue tones
      - R1, R2 - color adjustment between violet and green tones

padx=4

   unknown blue axis, that attached to actors legs (?)

padx=5

   - START
      - push X go movie (?)

   - L1, L2 - change location globally

      hp - most of existing locations is here only
      ps
      rr
      ru
      qp
      ca
      cb
      cc
      cd
      ob
      ar
      bw
      th
      ap

   - /\ - return to the zero spawn point
   
      placeholder
   
         + LEFT (x) -
         + RIGHT (x) -

      click it after entering inside of reception office:
      hp(hp)
         + LEFT (2x) - unfinished room
         + LEFT (2x) - NOTHING
         + LEFT (2x) - second floor, women's locker room
         + LEFT (2x) - second floor, hallway
         + LEFT (2x) - FREEZE
         + LEFT (1x) - NOTHING
         ----------
         + RIGHT (1x) - NOTHING
         + RIGHT (2x) - NOTHING

      click it after entering into closet of reception office:
      hp(hp)

         + LEFT (2x) - elevator
         + LEFT (2x) - hospital room without collisions
         + LEFT (2x) - NOTHING
         + LEFT (2x) - FREEZE
         ----------
         + RIGHT (2x) - Doctor's lounge
         + RIGHT (1x) - hospital roof, no collisions
         + RIGHT (2x) - NOTHING

padx=6 - direction of head and eyes of James

   - if press R2 - will show up green cube
   (cube controls: D-pad UP/DOWN - X axis, D-pad LEFT/RIGHT - axis)

padx=7

   ...

padx=8

   - R1+L1+START will raise rain force (R2 to turn off the rain)
   - R2 turn on collision cylinder
      - /\ - on/off collision display of geometry
      - /\ - collision adjustment too
      - || - raise collision cylinder
      - О - disease collision cylinder

padx=9

   - Now, compile not to use sound tool   (?)

padx=10

   - L2 - camera adjustment
      - О - enable polygon backlight
      - L1 - change type and navigation mode of camera
         - CYLINDER FOR DEBUG
            - o - rotate on actor to right side
            - || - rotate on actor to left side
            - /\ - rotate on actor to up side
            - X - rotate on actor to down side
            - R1 - zoom in on actor
            - R2 - zoom out from actor
         - FREE FOR DEBUG
            - D-PAD UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT - camera navigation
            - Hold O button + D-pad to control free camera view
            - О + /\ - move camera forward
            - О + X - move camera backward

   - START - Current nearest road data
      - X - move down to the list
      - || - move up to the list
      - /\, О - change selected value
         - Road flags - ...    (?)
         - Area size - change the style of camera
         - Road type - ...   (?)
         - Move Y type - ladder type camera
         - Road dir - ...    (?)
         - Ofs watch Y - incline of camera
         - Projection - FOV-like adjustment
         - Сam mv type - ...   (?)

   - START (2x) - Switch area
      - X, || - navigation between coordinates
      - О, /\ - change the values

   - START - Player chara pos
      - D-pad - fast walking plus walking through walls

padx=11

   ...

also, maybe anyone can help me with understanding of unknown values from my list. Plus teleport list is not finished, but i can't find more spawn points. And i have found coordinates of hospital roof too. I hope debug menu can be enabled in sh2 JAP demo/sh2 retail version too, like it was done here:
http://www.assemblergames.com/forums/sh ... abled-Demo
(also i think content transfer is possible between several versions of sh2, since i can rebuild ps2 iso with new files bigger than original)

edit: here download of SH2 E3 version DVD converted version + widescreen hack build-in iso for playing on OPL PS2 or from DVD on mod chipped console:
https://www.mediafire.com/?ozcizoiwijvbqln
packed with 7-zip 9.20, LZMA, 237 MB / 1.8 GB

[PureBlackAura]

I hope debug menu can be enabled in sh2 JAP demo/sh2 retail version too, like it was done here:
http://www.assemblergames.com/forums/sh ... abled-Demo
(also i think content transfer is possible between several versions of sh2, since i can rebuild ps2 iso with new files bigger than original)

This may be very possible if I could find someway to extract the contents of .MGF from the E3 beta.

But so far I've gotten nowhere, the only lead I got from google was from a website that got taken down in 2006. I've tried used archive.org to retrieve it but it has been deleted from the servers completely.

Also thanks for that Debug guide I needed it pretty badly.