Overview
A guide for playing the entire mainline franchise on PC for newcomers and returning alike.
The Inevitable Questions
…Why tho?
There are many guides roaming around of how to play this franchise. However, there isn’t one on the Steam hub. So I felt like putting up to the task, considering there is always some new interest.
Why the hell is this on Homecoming’s hub?
Well, call me when Konami publishes the rest on Steam. Sadly the only recent re-release was 4 on GOG. If I want to have a good shared guide for this platform, I’m stuck with this. There are many guides to help other people but I feel one here that can be easily relied for is better for archival and future-proof!
Wouldn’t the original hardware be better for playing this stuff?
Obviously, for many people, these methods are a crutch. If you are lucky enough, do go get them on their intended systems. Many out there sadly have to rely on these measures. Plus archival interest and all that.
Isn’t this uhhhhhhhhh—–yknow?
First, no it’s not illegal. That’s complete lies. But to comply to the TOS, I have to force myself into a corner by doing the following.
- No mentions of the activity in question will ever be made in explicit. Just look around for what you need in the usual places. You should be able to do math, right?
- Any set-up and information regarding “recreation” will be simply not linked to. PC Patches are properly linked to the original authors when done so. This aside, for the rest you have to sadly rely on my “very specific words” to comply with the TOS of this platform. I know this specific point might be a hassle, but it is to not get this guide instantly erased. The sooner you can learn to help yourself find things you want on the internet, the better.
- There is no other reliable way with most of these games because Konami doesn’t care, why in the ever loving damn should you?
F@%# YOU! GET THE WESTERN ONES OUT OF HERE
I wholeheartedly discourage bandwagoning. As much as I personally do not like them as well, I feel, like any game out there, that they deserve critical, fair review rather than a quick “they f#!cking suck”, hence why I am including them. You can always pretend they don’t exist.
I have an issue with this guide
Feel free to leave a comment and I’ll try to reply as quick as I can.
Global recommendations, information and tips
For New Players
- Best played on release order. If for whatever reason you choose to skip entries, know that 3 is a direct sequel to 1, and Origins is a prequel to it. Everything else is minor callbacks or references.
- Highly recommended to choose Normal difficulties.
- Please, avoid spoilers in general as much as possible. You will never again get to experience these games blind.
- These games are fairly short on a replay, consider it for new endings, secrets, different unlockables and the like.
- Have a paper to take down notes. Many of the puzzle elements have hints scattered around.
For Everyone
- For games that use ISO’s for installation, do not use Windows 10’s virtual disc app.
- The age of these games made it so the native PC ports (2-3-4) can easily run on most machines, Shattered Memories and especially Origins shouldn’t be that bad to use on the alternatives. The real ball kicker is Downpour, where we require a more powerful machine due to requirements of the needed software.
- If you’re relying on alternative means to play, a quick Google search can easily hook you with information that can assist working around any issues. Specifically the global and specific wiki are a good place to look. This is a general guide meant to assist as broadly as possible, and thus can’t account niche problems.
- Homecoming and Downpour will not always perform well no matter what you do. This is down to their technical issues.
Silent Hill
Dad of the decade
The one and only. Silent Hill is a Playstation classic. However it does mean no PC port. Thankfully, two decades have blessed us with choices to still play, some better than others.
Mednafe, ePSXe, XEBRA, and PCSX-R-PGXP are the best when it comes to availibility, usage and accuracy to the original plastic. DuckStation is a promising one as well, featuring correction settings for geometry and culling to make it less wobbly, but is still in active development. There are some more alternatives out there, but none come close.
In general, any of these run the game solid enough, accurate enough, with almost zero hassle. You almost need a VERY specific case scenario or go out your way bashing options to even have minor issues.
Mednafen is very popular, having a Libretro Core and being open source, unlike XEBRA, which by iself is also robust.
If you’re using PCSX-R-PGXP or ePSXe, which are plugin-dependant, I recommend using PEOPS OpenGL 1.78’s plugin, which is included in the download on PCSX-R-PGXP’s case.
Due to it’s age, PSX has a lot of documentation, so simply look up the wiki oriented to this stuff to find more information, links and guides to set up and enjoy. They are clean and informative enough that you likely wont have much trouble figuring out what you need.
Key notes.
- Use correction settings to reduce the wobbling of graphics.
- Adjust in-game brightness or the game will likely look absolutely terrible in lit-areas. If you still feel the image is off, a lazy workaround is looking up footage of the original version (like a playthrough) for reference as you adjust the settings.
- If you want the easiest, most annoyance-free, even-a-child-can-do-it experience for playing and sharing the game (streaming, screenshot, file sharing), then good news, you can use Retroarch Playtest on Steam for free!
- Obviously don’t bring up that you’re using RetroArch as some will call you a weenie for it.
Silent Hill 2
Jaaaaaaaaaaaaaaames
Do you like Silent Hill 2? You’re in luck! Many do too! So much they made the best playable version of this franchise!
Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition is a collaborative work which aside of fixing the PC version, aims to improve the game to a huge extent. While you could use PCSX2 for the closest thing to the authentic experience, Enhanced Edition is the better, most reliable way to enjoy this game.
After installing your copy (European and North American version are fine) refer to the site here [enhanced.townofsilenthill.com] for a guided installation. Follow everything slowly and you should have zero issues, it’s genuinely impossible to mess it up.
Key notes.
- Don’t forget to use the American executable. Link here[enhanced.townofsilenthill.com].
- To use a controller, first turn it on, then launch the game.
- Just refer here[enhanced.townofsilenthill.com] for anything else, these guys are walking legends and have any fix you could need for this game.
Silent Hill 3
She cute
Silent Hill 3 differs from 2 by having a way more neglected PC port. Not only does the port lack support to this extent, it’s somewhat “gimped” of content by lacking some promotional items, consisting of just unlockable outfits. However it natively has 60 FPS and patching it is quite easy to boot.
For PC, we have Thirteenag’s widescreen patch here[thirteenag.github.io], with a slightly enhanced version by Steam006 available here[community.pcgamingwiki.com]. Aside of making it compatible to current screens, it adds a metric ton of customization via ini tweaking. Install it on the directory, set things to your liking in the Silent_Hill_3_PC_Fix.ini and boot it with the DLLInjector.
If you’re lazy you can rely on PCSX2. Good performance but you may find some minor visual bugs.
Key notes.
- If the patch isn’t installed in the dev-intended location (eg. Program Files (x86)KONAMISILENT HILL 3) this patch will not work. If you messed this up, just open Silent_Hill_3_PC_Fix.ini and correct the registry to the install location.
- For PCSX2, use openGL to fix misaligned shadows and if the cutscenes are a black void for you or have a nasty grid obstructing, go on Game Fixes tab, click “enable manual game fixes” and enable the “Switch to GSdx Software rendering when an FMV plays”.
- If you have stuff like effects, shadows, grain filter, and blur beings all messed up on PCSX2, change accuracy level from Hardware mode.
Silent Hill 4 : The Room
Our guy
This is a special one, as Silent Hill 4 : The Room was re-released GOG again for some reason recently. Not that I am complaining, as the original version of 4 for PC was a literal god forsaken nightmare to work with with Windows 7, let alone 10.
Anyway, a fair warning against the PC version, there is missing content, and unlike 3, it’s somewhat more significant as they are six missing “hauntings” out of fourteen. Essentially actual gameplay content. If this is enough deterrance to just pick up PCSX2 due to a need of authenticity, then I won’t blame you.
GOG‘s version is already fixed, but to go a step above, you can use Nemesis’s patch here [community.pcgamingwiki.com] or ThirteenAG’s patch here[thirteenag.github.io] to up the ante. Both correct notable issues, like disabling cutscene letterboxing and setting cutscene framerate from 15 to 30.
On PCSX2‘s side, we have a working game with very minor bugs thankfully, but it’s still PCSX2 so you make the judgement call.
Key notes.
- Nemesis patch allows a 60 FPS mode, but it is not recommended at all. Not only can you not finish the game due to serious bug at the end but it also causes Henry to be completely unable to move at all while helding an attack stance.
- To disable the blur, you can open the sh4w.ini file from Nemesis patch, find the blur values and change them all from -1.0 to 0.0.
Silent Hill : Origins
There was an attempt
Originally haha a PSP exclusive, Silent Hill Origins later was ported to Playstation 2. However, as we all know, PSP has the excellent PPSSPP to compensate the lack of a PC port. There is by basic fact the option to use PCSX2 but I completely discourage it due to the objective superiority of PPSSPP in the technical side.
Honestly I wish I had anything to complain about, Origins runs perfectly fine and is playable from start to finish in my experience for the most part on my machine. Now, that said, the game might drop frames with the flashlight on, see below for a potential solution.
My best advice is you tinker with settings to your liking.
I’ll leave the settings I used long ago, inspired from a community post, but you should try your own.
Key notes.
- If you experience severe FPS drops due to the flashlight, try disabling Stencil Test in “hack settings”. Please note this might cause other issues.
Silent Hill : Homecoming
God I don’t like this game much
Homecoming was released in Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. As we all know, we can thank some stupid idiot on Reddit for making the 360 version useless for PC users. So, what about the PS3 release? I mean this game is infamously crap on PC.
Usually when facing a bad PC port you’d usually prefer the console version, but sadly it’s not an option worth considering, as the game is just as poor on actual PS3. And expect a freeze fest and prone to crashes in RPCS3. So unless you are fine with eating that bullet, we are stuck fixing the PC version.
We depend on UnknownProject’s patch, who is the saviour of this story. You first go to his site, link here [unknownproject.github.io]. Alternatively a direct link here [github.com] for the executable patch. There is a pdf explaining how to use the patch with the version sold on Steam here[github.com]
Patching is as easy as downloading and installing as instructed. For the most part you should have zero hassles, follow the instructions on the .txt and you’re good to go.
Key notes.
- Don’t mess with pc_mjs.cfg. Unless you know what to rebind, or are sure by following the patch’s instructions, it is not recommended to touch it.
- Due to enemy count limits, after exiting the Sewers, you might have a crash. To avoid this, make sure you kill all the enemies during the Sewers arena to prevent this. Alternatively just try again and pray.
- Other collission/camara bugs can only be worked around by reloading a save.
- Alt-Tabbing is a no-no. Game’s that busted.
- Due to many issues with this flimsy port, I heavily encourage you to play with a mouse and keyboard at a resolution of 1920×1080 or lower. That aside you do you.
Silent Hill : Shattered Memories
Real men get the bad ending
Remember that one time the Nintendo Wii decided to try sheding the stereotype of a glorified break-your-tv Fisher Price and had a bunch of M+17 rated games out of nowhere? Madworld and No More Heroes are pretty cool. Shame I can’t say the same for Shattered Memories.
Dolphin is our friend in this case. A widely used and very good piece of software. The game will definitely run more than adequately in a decent rig, but start to push the fidelity at your own risk.
Setting up Mouse and Keyboard or controller is equally viable, just follow the prompts and you should be good in minutes. Now, there is the alternative of PCSX2 and PPSSPP but they don’t come close, and I don’t recommend them at all when you have a way better alternative.
Key notes.
- The snow particles can sometimes not work correctly due to a slew of reasons. This can be corrected by disabling “Store EFB Copies to Texture Only”.
- If you want a higher resolution without the flashlight being broken, set Vertex Rounding to “On”.
- Unless your PC is a beast, don’t tinker with Internal Resolution and Anti-Aliasing.
- Using Hybrid ubershaders is recomended. If there is any stuttering, this should fix most of it.
Silent Hill : Downpour
This game deserves an outdated format.
Downpour, like Shattered Memories or Homecoming, never had a PC port. However we luckly have a PS3 version, so we can rely on our friend RPCS3.
The game is certified playable from start to finish with very little issues. Any problems steem from the game itself.
There is a patch for unlocking the framerate, obviously you might have some issues with this but it’s not like the game is normally any better.
To add it manually, do as follow;
- Open your preferred text editor (e.g: VSCode, Sublime, Notepad++,).
- Add the line Version: 1.2 to the top of the file. Do not paste anything else on this line. Hit Enter and move to the next line.
- Paste as follow. Please ensure that the formatting is as shown here, as otherwise the game will ignore the patch if it detects any formatting deficiencies or mistakes.
- Click Save and name the file imported_patch.yml. Do NOT change the capitalization or use any other name and whatever else, RPCS3 will not be able to apply the patches if anything is out of the ordinary.
- Save the file in the specified location:
Windows: patches
Linux: ~/.config/rpcs3/patches/
- Navigate to the Patch Manager as mentioned before and tick the checkbox corresponding to the patch you wish to apply.
Key notes.
- Some freezing can occur, but rare.
- What isn’t rare is bad AI, visual bugs, crap framerate and god awful textures. That’s just the game. Have fun with the chase sequences.
Conclusion
And that’s it!
Hopefully this can help you or someone else out there to enjoy what the series has to offer. If you have any questions, complaints or suggestions comment ahead and I’ll try to reach as quick as I can.