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Silent Hill 3

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Revision as of 22:32, 8 January 2021 by Jigen123 (talk | contribs) (Undo revision 1021451 by 45.132.115.66 (talk))
Silent Hill 3
Silent Hill 3 cover
Developers
Team Silent
Publishers
Konami
Release dates
Windows October 31, 2003
Reception
Metacritic 72
IGDB 88
Silent Hill 3 on IGDB
Silent Hill 3 on MobyGames
Silent Hill 3 on Wikipedia
Silent Hill
Silent Hill 2: Director's Cut 2002
Silent Hill 3 2003
Silent Hill 4: The Room 2004
Silent Hill: Homecoming 2008
Silent Hill 2 2024

Key points

The PC version adds improved flashlight lighting, 60 FPS gameplay, and the ability to save at any time during the game.
All fourteen of Heather's promotional outfits from the PlayStation 2 version are not present in the PC release.[1]

General information

Silent Hill Wiki - A wiki for the series
Silent Hill Memories - Informative website

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
Disc check (requires the CD/DVD in the drive to play)
SecuROM 4 DRM.
Includes the CD soundtrack.
Windows
The North American physical release had 5 CDs, while the European PC physical release features just one DVD.
This game is not available digitally.

Essential improvements

Silent Hill 3 with corrected FOV
Silent Hill 3 with corrected FOV

Silent Hill 3 PC Fix by Steam006

Adds all the fixes and features from Widescreen fix by ThirteenAG.
Adds Manual FOV control, borderless mode, window positioning and ability to force Vsync.
  1. Copy all the files to <path-to-game>
  2. Configure the width and height and other options in Silent_Hill_3_PC_Fix.ini.
  3. Start the game with DLLInjector.exe.
  4. Note: This fix doesn't work if the game isn't installed in the developer intended install location. It must be installed in Program Files (x86)\KONAMI\SILENT HILL 3. If it's not installed there you will get an error that says the game isn't installed correctly. Alternatively, you may go into Silent_Hill_3_PC_Fix.ini and change all of the directories under [Registry] to reflect your game's installation directory.

Silent Hill 3 Widescreen Fix by ThirteenAG

A D3D8 wrapper which adds some fixes and new features:
  • Widescreen support (With proper Vert- scaling to hide off-screen characters in certain cutscenes)
  • Disable cutscene letterboxing
  • Native single core affinity
  • Removes the fps fluctuation between 30 and 60 fps
  • Correct the UI/ HUD width in widescreen (Through pillar-boxing)
  • Removes the safe mode warning when closing the game through Alt-F4
  • Fixes image deformation when rendering the game at higher resolutions
  • Ability to change the status screen resolution
  • Ability to change the depth of field resolution
  • Ability to change the real time shadows resolution
  • Ability to change the fog complexity
  • Enables several SH2 references for new saves, a feature from sh3proxy

Nemesis2000's Widescreen fix for Silent Hill 3

A D3D8 wrapper which adds enhanced fog effects (similar to Nemesis2000's SH2 fog fix), along with most fixes from the widescreen patch above.
Not all fixes from the above patch seem to be included, eg. the UI/FPS fixes & SH2 references. (needs testing to be sure!)

SH3PC Sound Fixer by Psycho-A

Original PS2 SH3 sound files were converted incorrectly and PC sounds play at a lower frequency and, as a result, at a lower tone. This small patch fixes the issue.
Normalizes the pitch, speed and sample rate of in-game sound effects.
  1. Extract both files to <path-to-game>
  2. Launch fixwavs.bat

Silent Hill 3 HD Collection Voice Pack

Ports voices from the 2012 HD port to the PC Version.[2]
Uses Psycho-A's sound fix for further improvements.
Requires Reloaded II mod loader to function.

Skip intro videos

Delete data from files[3]
  1. Go to <path-to-game>\data\movie\.
  2. Open op.000 with a text editor.
  3. Delete all contents and save the file.
  4. Go to <path-to-game>\data\pic\.
  5. Open kcet.bmp and konami.bmp with a text editor.
  6. Delete all contents and save the files.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\savedata\[Note 1]

Save game data location

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\savedata\[Note 1]

Video

Graphics feature State WSGF Notes
Widescreen resolution
Use Widescreen Fix or sh3proxy.
Multi-monitor
Use Widescreen Fix or sh3proxy.
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Use Widescreen Fix.
Field of view (FOV)
See Field of view (FOV).
Windowed
Can also toggle with Alt+ Enter.
Borderless fullscreen windowed
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Can't be forced.
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Forced post-process AA only (FXAA, MLAA)
Vertical sync (Vsync)
Disabled by default. See Force Vsync.
60 FPS
Frame rate may fluctuate between 30 and 60 FPS. See Issues fixed.
120+ FPS
Frame rate is capped at 60 FPS. Increases the game speed when uncapped.
Rendering resolution is actually internal framebuffer resolution. Use Widescreen Fix to customize.
It is highly recommended to set the Brightness Level in-game to 5 to get the most contrast.

Field of view (FOV)

Use FOV Hack[4]
  1. Download and extract Silent Hill 3 FOV Hack.
  2. Run the program alongside the game. If the program fails to run, install the Visual Basic 6 Runtime. If running the game as admin, also run the program as admin.
  3. Edit FOV options as needed. If using Widescreen Fix, simply decreasing Width FOV value is recommended.
  4. Press Numpad * to enable new FOV settings; Numpad / sets defaults. If needed, use the On-Screen Keyboard program built into Windows.

Notes

If your only intent is to run the game in widescreen, it's recommended to use the Silent Hill 3 Widescreen Fix instead, since it also corrects all the 2D items/assets/menus width.

Input

Keyboard and mouse State Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Strong negative mouse acceleration by default.
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
DirectInput only. For XInput controllers, see Controller support.
Full controller support
Controller remapping
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion
Controller types
XInput-compatible controllers
See Controller support.
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger vibration
PlayStation controllers
PlayStation button prompts
Recognizes every button natively while playing. However, both SH3Config.exe and built-in button config do not detect L2/R2.
Light bar support
Adaptive trigger support
DualSense haptic feedback support
Connection modes Wireless (Bluetooth)
Generic/other controllers
Button prompts Input settings icon - Generic Controller.svg
Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
Can be set between Soft, Normal, Hard, or Off. For XInput controllers, see Controller support.
Digital movement supported
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Controller support

A fix is required for the game to recognize XInput Right Stick, LT/RT, LS/RS and D-pad when assigning controls.
Force feedback emulation can also be enabled for XInput controllers.
Use XInput Plus[5][6]
  1. If using Silent Hill 3 Widescreen Fix, rename dinput8.dll to d3d8.dll.
  2. Download and run XInput Plus.
  3. Set the Target Program to sh3.exe.
  4. Go to DirectInput and check Enable DirectInput Output.
  5. Assign Right Stick to Z Axis/Z Rot.
  6. Assign LT/RT to Button 11/12.
  7. Assign DPAD to Button 13-16.
  8. Click OK and Apply.
Use Steam Input to bind the triggers to keyboard presses.[7][8]
  1. Add the sh3.exe to Steam as a non-steam game.
  2. Run Steam in big-picture mode, and navigate to the added SH3 shortcut.
  3. Select the shortcut, select "Manage Shortcut", and choose the "Controller Configuration" option.
  4. For both triggers, click the selection for the trigger, and click on the box underneath "Full Pull Action"
  5. In the "Select Binding" window that appears, select the keyboard binding for the action you want to perform in-game.
  6. Once both triggers have been bound, go back to the SH3 shortcut, and select "Controller Options"
  7. Make sure the "Steam Input Per-Game Setting" option is set to "Forced On"
  8. Run the game through Steam big-picture mode, and if Steam Input was applied successfully a dialog box should appear on one of the corners of the screen.
The game will need to be ran through Steam big-picture mode each time you want to use the triggers in-game.
Sadly this method won't work with Steam006's fix, as that requires a separate admin-required injector to be used, which unfortunately Steam can't apply Steam Input to.

Audio

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
BGM and SE
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
See Mute on focus lost.

Mute on focus lost

Set mute in background[citation needed]
  1. Download d3d8to9.
  2. Copy d3d8.dll to the installation folder.
  3. Download Special K.
  4. Copy SpecialK32.dll to the installation folder.
  5. Rename SpecialK32.dll to d3d9.dll.
  6. Run the game and exit.
  7. Edit d3d9.ini in the installation folder.
  8. Find [Window.System].
  9. Change MuteInBackground=false to MuteInBackground=true.

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
Simplified Chinese
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Polish
Fan translation, download.
Brazilian Portuguese
Fan translation, download.
Spanish
Russian
Retail only. Patch for digital release here.

Issues unresolved

Forcing anti-aliasing

If using anti-aliasing (MSAA, at least), the Depth of Field effect becomes corrupted (halos around objects).[citation needed]
Post-process AA (FXAA, MLAA) works as intended (best compatibility in conjunction with the D3D9-11 wrappers).

Issues fixed

Motion trails

The light sources affected by bloom leaves long dark motion trails on screen when camera is moving.
Turn off the fullscreen smoothing filter[citation needed]
  • Go to the ingame "Extra Optons" (second options tab) and set the "Display Mode" to "Sharp".

Notes

Disabling the smoothing filter leads to more pronounced aliasing.

Frame rate fluctuation

Frame rate may fluctuate between 30 and 60 FPS.
Both solutions won't work properly with low FPS. Minimal FPS must be at least 50+.[9]
FPS fluctuation fix[citation needed]

Game freezes on options menu

Force single core affinity[citation needed]

Low resolution Depth of Field

Custom DOF resolution[citation needed]
  1. Install Widescreen Fix or sh3proxy.
  2. Adjust DOFRes value.

Low resolution Shadows

Custom shadows resolution[citation needed]
  1. Install Widescreen Fix or sh3proxy.
  2. Adjust ShadowRes value.

Windows 10 white border

Fix fullscreen issues[citation needed]

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 8
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 98, 2000, ME, XP
Processor (CPU) Intel Pentium III or AMD Athlon 1 GHz
System memory (RAM) 256 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 4.7 GB
Video card (GPU) Nvidia GeForce3 Ti
AMD Radeon 8500
Sound (audio device) DirectX compatible sound card


Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).

References

  1. Silent Hill 3 Costumes - Silent Hill Memories
  2. Voice Comparison
  3. Verified by User:AmethystViper on 2020-02-22
    Can confirm this fix is able to skip the intro splash screens and videos without crashing the game.
  4. Racer_S Hacks | WSGF
  5. [REQ] Provide Controller config for Silent hill 2+3 · Issue #191 · ThirteenAG/WidescreenFixesPack - last accessed on 2017-01-21
  6. Verified by User:SavvyKat on 2018-10-13
    Tested options for the Right Stick to fix issues regarding the need to use the mouse to use search mode to its full potential.
  7. If you add SH3 as a non-steam game on steam you can just bind the keyboard keys onto the triggers... - last accessed on 2020-02-19
  8. Verified by User:Infogram on 2020-02-19
    XInput Plus had no effect for me, but adding SH3 to steam and binding the triggers to keyboard bindings allowed me to use them in-game.
  9. New features · Issue #1 · 07151129/sh3proxy