Channel Update - September 2021 | Next video details (Patreon)

Hello there! Let’s start this post with some fresh news.

~~GTA SA - Why PlayStation 2 version is better (WIP name)

I think some of you may already know that the PS2 version is the most polished version, not to mention that it looks quite different and has lots of exclusive features, which are missing everywhere else. The most obvious thing that is different is the color filter.

PC/Xbox:

PS2:

As you can see, the PS2 version has warm colors and looks, in my opinion, more appealing than the PC or Xbox version. This is something that GTA modders tried to restore for ages by editing the “timecycle” file…

...but, in my opinion, they never succeeded much. The reason for that is quite simple, it has nothing to do with the “timecycle” file. It is just a different rendering algorithm.

Moreover, lots of effects look much better exactly on PS2. The famous one are various sun effects, which look gorgeous on PS2, but not so astonishing on PC/Xbox.

And the list goes on and on...

Another disappointing thing are the missing features which remain exclusive only to the PS2 platform. For instance, it is the unique look of the grass .

You will be surprised, but the PS2 grass doesn’t use different textures or something similar to it. It is a special effect that was not ported from the PS2 version with many other things too.

But the most stupid thing are countless broken features in the port. The great example would be the broken moon phases. The code from this feature is still there, but it simply doesn’t work and I know the reason why.

But what about removed features? Well, it can be the removed props in Las Venturas.

In other words, the PC version looks much worse than the PS2 version and this is something I want to talk about in this video. I know a lot of other examples and possible answers why it was done in this way. All of this was made possible thanks to aap and Silent, who told me a lot about these differences. aap reverse engineered a lot of PS2 code and implemented it on PC. And Silent fixed tons of bugs in his Silentpatch on PC. These fellas know a lot and I am very grateful for their support! :)

This video can be considered a completely overhauled version of my old “PC Vs PS2” video but going much deeper and showing new information. At this time I will slightly cover the Xbox version too. Mainly because PC and Xbox versions are almost identical, but at the same time the Xbox version is less broken than the PC version.

Right now I am collecting facts, writing the script (more like a draft now), filming the footage and questioning aap and Silent. To this date I’ve made some significant progress, however I have some troubles with the video.

Some of you may remember that I was working on this video back in 2018 and very shortly I abandoned it. The reason was quite simple. I had no idea how to make it interesting. Sure, the topic might sound interesting, but it contains lots of minor differences I had to show, lots of strange terminology I had to explain, and on top of that I had no idea how to structure the video. I just didn’t see the whole picture in my head. I had lots of facts that I couldn't merge in one video. The video was abandoned in the early stage of the development.

After three years I decided to return to this topic again. I opened my notes I wrote in 2018. With a fresh mind I began to work from where I left. The sad thing is, I am slowly losing interest to continue working on this video again. The more I work on it, the more complex it becomes. It is flooded with weird terminology and very minor differences. If in 2018 these were just my thoughts, then today it became a reality and a problem.

For instance, there is no blinding sun effect on PC and Xbox.

This is what it should look like.

The reason for that is because coronas' have a Z test forced all the time now. Just re-read it again... “coronas' have a Z test forced”. Do you know what the “corona” is in GTA terminology? Do you know what “Z test” is and what “forced” actually means? If I had to say it very simply, I would say that if there is something between the sun and the player, the game won’t render the effect. Sounds more understandable, isn't it?

But there is some terminology I can’t explain like that… at least not in a simple form like that. Some terminology take a lot of time while the difference will be shown for less than 5 seconds. There is even something that I still don’t understand. Every single time I have to ask aap or Silent to explain to me what an “x” thing means and, I think, I bother them too much.

In my opinion the video feels "too heavy" for an average user and this is something that bothers me a lot right now. I still have no freaking clue how to structure the video and how to make it interesting. Right now the script features lots of differences I tried to explain, but there is absolutely no story behind them. This is what I am trying to fix right now. It makes me depressed, stressed and angry.

This is all what I have for you for today. Thank you for supporting me and, I hope, I will find the solution soon.