Posted December 25, 2015
This is for those, like me, who are really bothered by the black scanlines in the videos.
Of course, the best solution would be to get GOG to release the Windows enhanced version (vote for it: https://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/phantasmagoria_a_puzzle_of_flesh_windows_enhanced_version). But in the meantime, there's the alternative of doing a Dosbox hack to get rid of the black lines, using pixel shaders.
So, given that I'm a programmer and didn't have anything else I felt like doing right now, I made a simple pixel shader that basically does a blur in the vertical direction. This smoothes away the black lines in the videos, but also obviously blurs the game itself slightly. But it still looks plenty good enough, and to me, it was worth it to get rid of the annoying black lines. (Unfortunately, blurring away the black lines also means the videos are a little darker than they ought to be, but I can't fix that without making the game itself look bad.)
If you want to play it the way I did, here's how:
1. Replace the bundled Dosbox with a version that supports pixel shaders. Instructions here: http://www.gog.com/forum/general_archive/beginners_guide_switching_from_the_original_dosbox_to_daum_dosbox (don't bother messing with the config file, just replace Dosbox itself, we'll get to the config in step 3)
2. In the SHADERS directory of Dosbox, install my custom pixel shader (fixvideo.fx). You can get it here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/xoseqh1w8vs2bt3/fixvideo.fx?dl=0
3. Edit the Dosbox config file (dosboxPHANT2.conf). In the [sdl] section, set "output=Direct3D" (assuming you're on Windows), and add a line "pixelshader=fixvideo.fx", to use the pixel shader.
4. Play the game!
(This hack might also work for other FMV games of the era, I suppose.)
Of course, the best solution would be to get GOG to release the Windows enhanced version (vote for it: https://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/phantasmagoria_a_puzzle_of_flesh_windows_enhanced_version). But in the meantime, there's the alternative of doing a Dosbox hack to get rid of the black lines, using pixel shaders.
So, given that I'm a programmer and didn't have anything else I felt like doing right now, I made a simple pixel shader that basically does a blur in the vertical direction. This smoothes away the black lines in the videos, but also obviously blurs the game itself slightly. But it still looks plenty good enough, and to me, it was worth it to get rid of the annoying black lines. (Unfortunately, blurring away the black lines also means the videos are a little darker than they ought to be, but I can't fix that without making the game itself look bad.)
If you want to play it the way I did, here's how:
1. Replace the bundled Dosbox with a version that supports pixel shaders. Instructions here: http://www.gog.com/forum/general_archive/beginners_guide_switching_from_the_original_dosbox_to_daum_dosbox (don't bother messing with the config file, just replace Dosbox itself, we'll get to the config in step 3)
2. In the SHADERS directory of Dosbox, install my custom pixel shader (fixvideo.fx). You can get it here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/xoseqh1w8vs2bt3/fixvideo.fx?dl=0
3. Edit the Dosbox config file (dosboxPHANT2.conf). In the [sdl] section, set "output=Direct3D" (assuming you're on Windows), and add a line "pixelshader=fixvideo.fx", to use the pixel shader.
4. Play the game!
(This hack might also work for other FMV games of the era, I suppose.)
Post edited December 25, 2015 by ovekaaven
