There are a few existing threads on Splinter Cell. It's been a while so my memory is a bit foggy.

I have the CD, GOG and Steam versions, also the Mission CD upgrade disc.

I looked into the EAX issue once, and wrote about it, but try finding that post 😊

PhilsComputerLab wrote:

There are a few existing threads on Splinter Cell. It's been a while so my memory is a bit foggy.

I have the CD, GOG and Steam versions, also the Mission CD upgrade disc.

I looked into the EAX issue once, and wrote about it, but try finding that post 😊

Most of the discussions about Splinter Cell seemed to be focused on getting Pandora Tomorrow working (which I also picked up on DVD) or building a retro PC to play the original, rather than getting it to work on modern hardware/OS.

I bought the DVD version when I saw your posts/videos about EAX not working with the game in the version that GOG/Uplay are distributing, but EAX does actually work in those versions of the game - it's just that you cannot enable EAX 3.

I have a small collection of DLL files that I've isolated which seem to re-enable the EAX 3 option in those versions of the game (which also prevents you from playing the DLC) however I can't find any information on what differences there should be running the game in EAX 3 vs standard EAX (2?) support and I've yet to find anything where I can hear a difference.

Since the DVD version of the game freezes constantly for me - to the point that I can't even load a save game or enter the menus once in-game - I can't really do a proper audio comparison to see if it sounds any different from my modified Uplay version.

This testing might be easier on an old PC? There might be too many other variables in play with modern software and equipment. It seems the GOG version is the way to go then, with your method enable EAX and have the bonus levels.

In this other thread I installed the CD game, then patched it and installed the Mission CDs. But I can't remember if that disabled the EAX option. I tried finding the post, but no luck...

The problem with the shadows is NOT related to GF2 mode but to "ForceShadowMode".
0==projector, 1==buffer

Force 0 there, do not touch "EmulateGF2Mode" 😉

1 (shadowbuffer) must be tested on a GF3/GF4 with 2002 drivers.

lowenz wrote:

The problem with the shadows is NOT related to GF2 mode but to "ForceShadowMode". 0==projector, 1==buffer Force 0 there, do not […]
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The problem with the shadows is NOT related to GF2 mode but to "ForceShadowMode".
0==projector, 1==buffer
Force 0 there, do not touch "EmulateGF2Mode" 😉
1 (shadowbuffer) must be tested on a GF3/GF4 with 2002 drivers.

As I said, it doesn't work on modern hardware. (GTX 960)
You need to use the EmulateGF2Mode option.

The problem is that the old hardware runs the game very poorly, while new hardware gives you high framerates/resolution/image quality (supersampling at 60+ FPS) but you lose the fancy shadows.

For me it does (Radeon 7850, Windows 10 64) with no wrapping at all (dgVoodoo2, etc.)
Projector mode (=low quality shadows) is working.

The same with a GeForce 750 Ti and Win10 64 (lastest Insider Preview)

Could you check the area that I showed in my screenshots?

• ForceShadowMode=0
• EmulateGF2Mode=1

It's the very start of the "Police Station" level. Here is a save file if you need one.
With projector shadows only some of the game's shadows seemed to be rendering at all.
EmulateGF2Mode is lower quality (no projected shadows) but at least displays all the lighting correctly.

I got the correct shadows with Projector Mode / ForceShadowMode=0 - it's the *OLD* technique, despite the name 😉
GF2 emulation is NOT necessary.

Projector Mode (safe, old technique):

Buffer Mode (Erratic Projected-like Shadows technique 😁 )

Do you have any modifications installed?
Most of the shadows just disappear when I set the shadows to Projector Mode.
Even enabling the SetVertexShaderConstantHook option in the widescreen mod doesn't help.

No mod at all.

Here's my .ini:

[D3DDrv.D3DRenderDevice]
Translucency=True
VolumetricLighting=False
ShinySurfaces=True
HighDetailActors=True
UsePrecaching=True
UseMipmapping=True
UseTrilinear=True
UseMultitexture=True
UsePageFlipping=True
UseFullscreen=False
UseGammaCorrection=True
DetailTextures=True
UseTripleBuffering=False
UsePrecache=False
Use32BitTextures=True
HardwareSkinning=True
AdapterNumber=-1
ReduceMouseLag=True
UseTripleBuffering=False
UseVSync=True
; ForceShadowMode flag : 0==projector, 1==buffer, unspecified==auto-detect
ForceShadowMode= 0
EmulateGF2Mode=0

That's exactly the same as mine. Very strange.
What I did find is that launching the game with -shadowmode=projector rather than setting projector shadows via the config file does seem to work, rather than having to force GF2 Emulation.
However I'm not seeing any difference between the two.

• Buffer Shadows 1
• Projector Shadows 1
• EmulateGF2Mode Shadows 1
• Save File

• Buffer Shadows 2
• Projector Shadows 2
• EmulateGF2Mode Shadows 2
• Save File

• Buffer Shadows 3
• Projector Shadows 3
• EmulateGF2Mode Shadows 3
• Save File

Deep Thought wrote:

[*]Projector Shadows 3
[*]EmulateGF2Mode Shadows 3

GeForce 2 one has "less" gate shadow.....

Deep Thought wrote:

That's exactly the same as mine. Very strange.
What I did find is that launching the game with -shadowmode=projector rather than setting projector shadows via the config file does seem to work

Maybe you've set some Windows compatibility modes in the shortcut!

lowenz wrote:

Deep Thought wrote:

[*]Projector Shadows 3
[*]EmulateGF2Mode Shadows 3

GeForce 2 one has "less" gate shadow.....

That shadow moves all over the place so it's just a result of the frames not being identical. Everywhere I've done a comparison, they seem to be identical.
If you compare the left/right edges each screenshot has more visible on one side than the other.

lowenz wrote:

Deep Thought wrote:

That's exactly the same as mine. Very strange.
What I did find is that launching the game with -shadowmode=projector rather than setting projector shadows via the config file does seem to work

Maybe you've set some Windows compatibility modes in the shortcut!

I think it's actually the widescreen mod I had installed.
It seems to force the game into using buffered shadow mode in the config, but setting -shadowmode=projector or enabling GF2 emulation overrides this.

Yes, there's the forcing option in the script

[MAIN]
ResX = 0
ResY = 0
ForceShadowBufferMode = 1 // Use with d3d8 wrapper that comes with this fix or any other that fixes the issue.
HudWidescreenMode = 1 // Makes certain hud elements offset to screen edges.
WidescreenHudOffset = 120.0 // This is the default offset for 16:9. For lower aspect ratios adjusted automatically, for higher you may change it manually.

Ah, I was only looking at the d3d8.ini config not the SplinterCell.WidescreenFix.ini in the scripts folder.
Well that solves that issue.

Still not seeing any difference between projector shadows and the GF2 emulation mode though.
I suspect that only one of them is being used regardless of what is being set, and we'd need someone with the real hardware to do a comparison to show the differences.

The real question is: "Buffer Mode - it was the "next gen" feature back in those days, really a "window on the future" - can work correctly on a GeForce 3/4 with a proper drivers set" ?

Nobody remembers it today, 🤣.