A science experiment.

[Magnolia]

I purchased Silent Hill 3 without even considering the possibility that my video card would not be sufficient. After all, many other games have worked fine, and my understanding was that this box was newer than my older one. After I installed the game, I got this most unpleasant message stating the following: "This game requires a video card with a minimum of 32MB VRAM and programmable Vertex/Pixel Shader support. The application will now close." Blasphemy. After looking at the information on my video card, I found that it is a GeForce2 MX/MX 400.

With over a decade of computer experience, I was not to be deterred by this game and proceeded to download 3d Analyzer, a "graphics card emulator" made by some Italian software group. After some research, I was able to force-boot the game. It was at this point that I became disappointed. When the game booted, it was a deformed monstrosity, like an Elephant Man who had been welded to a half-rotten Capybara, immolated and then drenched in the scent of a skunk. Where do I begin. The screen was black and the menu flickered insanely. The opening video was not there, nor was any form of imagery besides the hallucinogen-induced menu text. A grotesque mouse trail capable of causing seizures developed as I moved the mouse cursor to the "New Game" button. After navigating the resulting graphics LSD trip, I managed to start the game.

At first, I assumed that the black and red glare and suspensive opening sound was normal. When Heather spoke and I learned that her footstep sounds were related to my mouse movement, I figured that the black screen was some kind of puzzle. After attempting to find my way out of the dark abyss for 3 minutes, I decided to simply watch a walkthrough video of the opening. "Oh, so THIS is what it's supposed to look like!"

So, here I am. Having successfully forced a game to run on a card that it was never made to run on, I feel a sense of accomplishment and hope. (To be exact, what I feel is similar to the feeling of facing a big, not so bright, grinning human-horse hybrid creature with an unstable digestive system, then charging it and sticking a steel bar through its gut, then witnessing the violent depressurization of the creature's gastric tract.) Perhaps someone here knows of a way to force-improve the quality (and by that, I mean to make the picture actually be there)? I would be most grateful for any kind of assistance, as there does not appear to be any known solution out there. I will continue researching, but graphics was never my field.

[Uyrikeustek]

Well, if it actually RAN on a card like that, than maybe you can't improve the way the game looks because it's not made for it. Just sayin', but I'm not really that tech-savvy.

[Patman]

I got the same kind of message, my PC was unhappy with the fact that SH3 used particles (for the fog and the flashlight). To my knowledge there' s nothing to do but change the graphic card. Maybe that' s why you play in a black screen ? No particles means black instead of fog and background textures ...

[Magnolia]

I'll just replace the graphics card, yeah. XD I had wanted the pleasure of forcing it to run in spite of the computer's technological insufficiency and playing with a not-so-good picture, but there's literally NO picture. There's sound, but no picture.