HD Collection's 1.01 patch didn't do anything and Pyarmid Head's cutscene is edited?!

[Mrox2]

WHERE THE FUK ARE THESE PATCHES ? They Lied ! >_>

[Rombie]

I gave up on waiting for Downpours because I figured I could get through the frame rate because others said it wasn't too bad, and sure enough it was passable. I mean that would be nice to not be there but it wasn't a deal breaker, especially when Downpour turned out to be such a terrific game.

HD collection on the other hand, I platinumed SH2 but SH3 was just unplayable. Not because of the crippled frame rate, though that was bad enough, but more that I was lucky to even keep the game running. Locked up on me all the time. I don't think I'll be able to play it again without a patch.

[shanemurphy]

Silent Hill HD Collection was ported from incomplete code, Konami has revealed.

Developer Hyjinx was forced to work with buggy code because Konami lost the final release version of the game, senior associate producer Tomm Hulett told 1up.

"We got all the source code that Konami had on file - which it turns out wasn't the final release version of the games!

"During debug we didn't just have to deal with the expected 'porting' bugs, but also had to squash some bugs that the original team obviously removed prior to release, but we'd never seen before."

He added: "I think at one point [Silent Hill 3 protagonist] Heather was blue."

Hulett blamed poor archiving for this impediment. "10 years ago, a lot of game companies assumed the games were 'done' once development finished, and that they wouldn't need to use that data ever again.

"Now it's clear that having all that data in an easy-to-manage format is important."

Due to the rough state of the source material's code, it took Hyjinx more than two years to develop Silent Hill HD Collection. "That's how long it took to make Silent Hill 2 in the first place," Hulett noted.

He stated that while Silent Hill HD Collection has numerous issues, there are plenty of enhancements he's proud of in the new version.

"There are a ton of details in the textures of SH2 and 3 that are impossible to see on the console originals, so the artists at Hijinx took extra time looking at every texture and making sure these details stand out. They range from puzzle clues written on objects to odd scratches covering a wall. It's great finally being able to see all these things that the original team included but have never been seen by a lot of gamers." We assume he's not referring to telephone wires that end in midair.

Despite this, Hulett is not happy with the final conversion, and is working closely with Hyjinx to release updates to address the numerous complaints made by fans.

"After our initial patch, I played through Silent Hill HD Collection armed with righteous indignation and internet complaint threads. I made a list of every issue I could find. Hijinx is hard at work addressing as many of those issues as is feasible given our resources." these days, most problems can be fixed with a patch download.

I just post this from Gametrailers forums, if true? then this is giving serious stick to the wrong developers.

[shanemurphy]

I really don't get this, if I remember right it happened with the original Wipeout code. If you make a project would you not keep it backed up on an external device? they should have completed code to give over to this company. Try giving an early Resident Evil 2 code to a new generation of developers and see how they work with it as an example.

[Darkmoon]

Maybe I'm just being dumb...but couldn't someone from Konami walk down to a second hand shop, buy a used disc, and yank the code off?

[shanemurphy]

Nope, source code is on a database that is compiled into what we get on the CD/DVD/Blu Ray, I'm just amazed at why they would not back this source code up? I mean you pay employees great money to programme this code, why would you not back it up on a company server? external hard drive, ANYTHING!!

[Rombie]

You should read the whole original 1up article shane - Smiley already posted it in this thread on THIA a short while ago.

The most interesting thing, aside from the further info on why SHHD was a mess, is the fact that Bluepoint - who are regarded as doing an amazing job - do it differently by doing exactly what Darkmoon said, taking a copy of the finished PS2 product and then reverse engineering it with only going to original source code or source materials when really needed.

Looks like aside from not having to deal with the bugs from normal source code plus the extra ones from unfinished work, Konami/Hijinx would have made it easier for themselves doing just that.

[Carnivol]

Reverse engineering a compiled piece of data isn't exactly some cakewalk and you can bet your ass off that despite doing it that way, they've probably still got access to many of the original assets and use those for reference to fill in a lot of blanks and aid them along the way.

Besides having done first-party conversion jobs for Sony, which totally gained them some benefits in terms of what type of documentation and software they've got access to on the PS2 dev front, Bluepoint's also run by Andy O'Neil, who was some sort of Tech Wizard on Metroid Prime - a game that pulls so many tricks out of its ass.


Anyway, bottom line is; as far as I'm concerned - Konami fucked up with Silent Hill HD Collection, not Hulett, not Hijinx, but Konami. Their approach, choice of studio, delivery of assets (or lack of), etc. was just another fine example of Japanese management at the worst.

[Smiley]

Hulett still gets some blame in my opinion. He produced the game and despite the fact that Konami pushed forward without all their ducks in a row it was ultimately Hulett who went on the forums trying to boast about his product when it clearly wasn't all there.

It's one thing to represent his company. I know he likes his job. But he told me directly that the first patch fixed the sync issues when I brought them up as a problem. Not only was he wrong but an official statement was made saying the latest patch will still fix this issue.

To me, this is a problem. His duties as a Konami representative and Silent Hill producer aren't working out. I'm sure he's done some good for the series, but as a producer he still has to take some responsibility for his product when it's released in a poor state.

[Rombie]

Trust me Carn, I'm not saying it's an easy road eitherway. But considering the consistant success Bluepoint has had by doing it that way, it shows it makes things easier to deal with. They fully admit in the interview they will go back to source when needed to, but they cite the original GOW that the only time they needed to was the cutscenes. Thats some good work if true. I think that shows some quality work ethic towards creating an HD version that should be at least like the PS2 original by starting with that exact version.

[Carnivol]

Trust me Carn, I'm not saying it's an easy road eitherway. But considering the consistant success Bluepoint has had by doing it that way, it shows it makes things easier to deal with.

Again; if you have the right tools, experience and talent, sure. But for a studio that's likely not as well equipped on that front (as there's really no market reason for them to've been), there's really no reason to expect them to take that approach, especially when they had source code and such available (but which for typical Konami reasons were a complete mess and not even final).

Reverse engineering something isn't really as simple as it sounds. (The concept is, but the execution is not.)

Why on earth communication between Hijinx and Bluepoint was not established is however a more important question; at least when considering the quality difference between the projects Konami handed to each.