Issues with Silent Hill games on the PS3

[Dr-G0nz0]

Ok, so I've been rather bugged by what happens when I play the Silent Hill games on my PS3: I decided a month or so ago to play all the Silent Hill games in order. I couldn't be bothered digging out my PS2, so I decided to use my PS3 (which is the 60gb PS3 which has PS1, PS2 compatibility.) to play them.

Now down to my point. With each game I've played so far (I'm currently on SH3) there has been a malfunction of some sort: Silent Hill 1 had a faint grid showing up on my T.V screen. Plausible, due to the game being 11 years old on a 15 year old console, so I understand that one. Overall the game ran pretty well. The worst one was
Silent Hill 2. To be honest it nearly derailed the entire exprience of nostalgia for me; When you didn't move James, his right leg would disappear, or you'd get a pretty bad jump with a black screen. There was overall alot of inconsistencies, that hindered the games tense atmosphere.
Silent Hill 3 has stood as solid as Silent Hill 1 has, the only problem I've come across so far is Douglas's beard looks stuck on -like a novelty beard you can buy. lol
I'm unsure on Silent Hill 4, as i haven't got to that one yet, but I can imagine it won't come out 100% perfect.

Basically, I'm just wondering if anyone else has had the same problem. I'm trying to work out if it's just my PS3, and they never really concentrated on getting the compatibilty 100% and that's why they don't do compatibilty anymore, or if it's the HD T.V. But then again, I've played loads of other different PS1, PS2 games on my PS3 and I've never had a problem. I wonder if it's just with certain games?

[Harrys_Girl]

I'm going to move this to the Daddy Help Me section and hopefully someone can help you out a bit more there.

[Patman]

Glitches, black screens and transparent legs can' t be caused by your TV, it comes from the PS3. As you said they never really concentrated on getting the compatibilty 100% and that's why they don't do compatibilty anymore.
You can trust me on that but if you don' t you can check yourself : dig up your PS2 (I' m astonished you played three games bearing with such huge glitches, I would have dug up my PS2 immediately) and connect it to your HDTV, the glitches should be gone.
You mentioned playing SH1 with a 15 years old console so I guess you played it on a PS1. Of all the SH games that' s the only one I would have played using the PS3 since all the PS1 games I own look better that way. I'm dying to know how SH1 would look like (I don' t own a PS version and it's not available on the French PSN). In case I'm wrong and you did play it on PS3 : if you push the PS button while playing you can mess with a few graphic options (smoothing on/off, 16/9 or 4/3). If you own a PSP you can also try to play with it instead, it should look even better on the tiny PSP screen. If you push the home button while playing you can adjust the resolution (no smoothing on the PSP but it isn' t needed). The downside is that if you use remote play instead of downloading the game on your PSP then the game will slightly lag.

[leftshoe18]

I hadn't played Silent Hill 2 or 4 on my PS3 before it died, but I did play 1, 3, and Origins. I remember an annoying sound glitch with part one, the Douglas beard thing with part 3, and I don't remember any glitches in Origins. I heard really bad things about Silent Hill 2's emulation, which is why I never tried it.

[TANK]

hmmm.... i have played all 1-4 and origins on mine and i havent had a singal problem like the ones you have been having.i actually just finished sh2 again, and never once had a problem... granted it is the greatest hits version...maybe that has something to do with the glitches for sh2? and other than the graphics being "older console" graphics, i havent noticed a single thing.

have you tried turning on the ps1/ps2 upscaler in the settings menu? i have my upscaler and smoothing turned on, that MAY be a solution

[Lostkitsune]

I can vouch for saying that, at least on my 80GB the upscaler does help with some of the glitches. The only one that is still really bothersome is that the apartment walls flicker in SH4 but that's a problem on the emulation end of things.

[Aerith Gainsborough]

Are you perhaps having some kind of heating issue? I've heard that the fat PS3s tend to have overheating issues, and could be experiencing that problem, esp. when playing a game, and maybe as well as the game being non-PS3. I don't know, just throwing that out there. Either way, you should prob. send your PS3 to customer support regardless. I would personally trash that one and exchange for a new one, and play on your PS2. I have Silent Hill 1, and I bought it on the PS Store, and have never had a problem.

[Doggy]

I can confirm all the issues Dr-G0nz0 posted. I assume he's using a PAL PS3 60GB like I am, which is missing the PS2 hardware completely and uses emulation instead?

But yeah, in SH2 parts of James' body keep disappearing momentarily all the time. Certain surfaces also appear glitchy. SH3 works OK overall, except the beard of Douglas, which seems to be having problems with alpha in certain kind of lighting.
Can't say anything about SH4. SH1 works fine, as the PS1 technology is still part of PS3. I've played both PAL disc version and NTSC (USA) version bought from PSN Store.

The only real way to enjoy these games like they were meant to be is to own a PS2. Luckily I didn't sell mine.

[thy_butcher]

I have an original 60GB PS3.
I've played SH 2, 3, 4, & 0rigins on it without a single issue. I have no idea why there would be one...
I've played several PS2 & PS1 games on my system, all of which ran perfectly.

[peronmls]

For me SH2 will not pause, leave or do any action besides move after you fight the first monster. Im stuck in that small area with that dead body. and I have BC PS3 (Hardware)