Odd Things Happening to Spell Effects in Ogre Battle

[ChthonVII]

(I'm using the retroarch core of bsnes-hd. Not sure if this is the right place for such bug reports.)

BSNES-HD does some weird things to the spell effects in Ogre Battle.

1. The effect for the "nitemare" spell (used by many units, including the stock wizard available 5 minutes into the game) is supposed to be partially transparent, but bsnes-hd is rendering a solid grey blob.
2. The overlay effect used by numerous spells (the basic healing spell is the first example encountered in game) are supposed to be shown only on the unit targeted by the spell, but bsnes-hd is also partially displaying them on opposing units to the extent their vertical positions overlap. (Example: If Unit A and Unit B are on opposing sides, and Unit B's knees are level with the top of Unit A's head, and a healing spell is cast on Unit A, then bsnes-hd will also display the overlay for the healing spell on Unit B from the knees down.)

[DerKoun]

Thanks for reporting. Please see your other issue first for some general stuff.

The descriptions remind me of issues solved in the latest version (please try the standalone version to be sure, if you can). If they are not, I'll need screenshots to try to identify them, and save-games for further analysis. It may still be issues already reported, but I'd have to see it for a more educated guess.

[ChthonVII]

I downloaded bsnes_hd_beta_10_3_linux.zip and here are the results:

1. The transparency issue IS fixed.
2. The spell overlay effects in wrong places issue IS NOT fixed. Later I'll try to wrestle with the RNG to get a save state right before the bug manifests.
3. New issue specific to the standalone emulator: Setting the widescreen mode to "none" doesn't work -- it still displays the widescreen areas.

Aside: The mode 7 enhancements make Ogre Battle look incredible! It's like this game was made for bsnes-hd.

Aside: It may take me awhile to get back to the other issue since I'm going to need to find time to recompile retroarch. Off the top of my head, I'm wondering if maybe it's due to having two different settings trying to crop the overscan (one in the core, plus retroarch's generic "crop overscan" feature).

[DerKoun]

I downloaded bsnes_hd_beta_10_3_linux.zip and here are the results:

Thanks for the further tests.

1. The transparency issue IS fixed.

Great.

2. The spell overlay effects in wrong places issue IS NOT fixed. Later I'll try to wrestle with the RNG to get a save state right before the bug manifests.

I'll put it on the to-do pile when I have the save. I'm quite curious if this will turn out to be a unique issue or just a different manifestation of another one already reported.

3. New issue specific to the standalone emulator: Setting the widescreen mode to "none" doesn't work -- it still displays the widescreen areas.

I'll look into that. It would not be the first time I hooked up a setting in the wrong way... In general I will have to reevaluate the structure of the settings at some point.

Aside: The mode 7 enhancements make Ogre Battle look incredible! It's like this game was made for bsnes-hd.

Would be great if you could post some screenshots of the best scenes. I'll have to collect some from allover and put together a gallery sooner or later.

Aside: It may take me awhile to get back to the other issue since I'm going to need to find time to recompile retroarch. Off the top of my head, I'm wondering if maybe it's due to having two different settings trying to crop the overscan (one in the core, plus retroarch's generic "crop overscan" feature).

No rush, update it when you're ready.

[ChthonVII]

Alrighty, here's a save state and screenshot. If you load the save state and let the battle run 3 turns, the monk (back center) will cast a healing spell on her front left knight and the spell's sparkly overlay effect will also be visible on the feet of the opposing fighter standing opposite him (I put a red box around this). It's not super visible in this screenshot, but it's tremendously obvious when animated.

Ogre Battle - The March of the Black Queen (U) [!].zip

I've also uploaded some sample screenshots:
This is aspect correction OFF + supersample OFF
This is aspect correction auto/wide + 8 supersample
This is aspect correction auto/wide + 8 supersample + shaders
A couple disclaimers here: (1) This isn't one of the game's best scenes; rather it's just the second level. I haven't played this game in a while and I have no idea where my save file has gotten off to. (2) A static screenshot really doesn't do justice to the enhancements. Being able to pan around the maps without the terrain "wiggling" due to mode 7 errors is a huge improvement too.

[ChthonVII]

Tested this again with beta 10.6, and the spell overlay issue might maybe be fixed.
With the default settings, the original problem (overlays appearing in places they shouldn't) appears to be gone, but there's a new problem: Overlays sometimes don't appear where they should. E.g., the overlay from a healing spell might only appear on a character's legs instead of their whole sprite. However, setting IgnoreWindow=none seems to fix that, and it doesn't seem to be reintroducing the old problem either. Needs more testing than I have time for right now, but it tentatively appears to be fixed.

[DerKoun]

Interesting. Thanks for the update.
Could you provide a state again?
Ignore Window probably needs another mode or two and a new default.

[ChthonVII]

Seems like the save state format changed. I'll need to play through to the same spot. May be a few days before I have time for that.

[DerKoun]

No rush. Thanks for the help.