Poor Picture Quality with Wii during in game fog/mist.

[rockstar62]

Hi,

This is my 1st post and I love my wii. I have it hooked up to a 42 inch LCD Samsung through "Mad Catz" component cables.

Here is the reason for my 1st post:

When I went to play Zelda TP the other day, I noticed something very strange. When I am in a place that has a fog or a mist, such as Kakariko Village or Lakebed Temple, there is a distortion to the picture. Words can not describe what I am seeing, but it is there. Almost like 100s of pixels are out of focus arranged throughout the screen.

I decided to load up Resident Evil 4 and see if I notice it there too. I did. It happens only in foggy areas. Like where you fight the monster in the lake(lots of fog/mist in that game).

In essence, if there is no fog or mist, the PICTURE IS PERFECT.

Throw a little fog/mist in there and you get these tiny little dots that are red blue and green all over the screen(only where there is fog).

So I decided to troubleshoot..... I have my wii settings on 480p, my TV is on component "game mode". I tried to switch some of this around and still no HELP. I left everything as mentioned above/ the way it is supposed to be.

I will tell you this, when I use the GC version of TP, there is NO PROBLEMS, and when I used my PS2 copy or RE4, there is no problems.

Do you guys think I have a problem with my wii or a bad set of component cables?

Help appreciated.

-rockstar

 

[Budo]

I don't know exactly why it happens on the Wii, but this exact same effect used to happen when PC games would run in 16-bit colour, and not 32-bit. Again, I don't know if this is the problem with the Wii in general, certain games, or even if that's what's causing it in the first place, but that's what generally causes it. I'm sure if they use compression on some of the graphic files, this effect could happen as well.

EDIT: It happens in NMH when you hold down the run key on Travis, and smoke starts coming off his feet. You'll notice it most when you have a colour transitioning into different shades.

 

[George]

It will have to be the TV or ur wii specifically becuase no1 else has had this problem. (As far as a know) And Budo i too have noticed that it happens on a PC, when i was playing homeworld and changed the colour bit, the dustclouds and nebula looked pixelated.

 

[rockstar62]

Is there a certain term that refers to this? Pixelating maybe?

I find it hard to believe that my TV could be the problem since all my other games work fine. Remember the GC version works well with my TV, while played on the wii. Weird huh?

The only difference between the GC version and the Wii is the fact that the wii is in Widescreen. Is this a problem with a GC port? Remember RE4 and Zelda were both GC ports on the Wii.

It is a bit disappointing that this happens. I love this game!

I was hoping that someone would come on here and say it is common and this is the fix. I swear I have not noticed this before, but have not been playing the game since last Feb. I have a ton of Virtual Console games DLed and not sure if that effects anything at all........ All seems to be fine with VC games too.

Its just the mist/ fog that screws everything up. Other than that, the games picture is PERFECT.

Let me be clear, that the two responses above seem to pinpoint exactly what I mean, this is not jagged edges or any other complain I have read about on this forum"yes I know how to search/LOL) .

The graphics/picture is truly incredible until smoke/mist/fog or whatever comes into play only on the WII games. My PS3 and 360 both work great with fog and HDTV. Unfortunately we only get 480p with the wii, but the small pixels in the smoke graphics is driving me crazy and almost makes it unenjoyable to play.

 

[hoopsdude1]

my screen goes wierd when i first power up my wii cause around the channels it goes fuzzy any help ? (it doesent happen after the 3rd time tho )

 

[Budo]

Colour banding on Wikipedia

Colour banding is more present with relatively low bits per pixel (BPP) at 16–256 colours (4–8 BPP), where not every shade can be shown because there aren't enough bits to represent them.

Again, not saying this is the specific problem with the Wii, but if I had to give an answer, I would say this is pretty much it. If this is the problem, there is nothing you can do about it; it's a limit in either the game, or the game system.

 

[rockstar62]

Colour banding on Wikipedia



Again, not saying this is the specific problem with the Wii, but if I had to give an answer, I would say this is pretty much it. If this is the problem, there is nothing you can do about it; it's a limit in either the game, or the game system.

If it is a limit in the game or game system, would there not be more documented cases of this?

 

[hoopsdude1]

ye but its juct on the wii menu

 

[Budo]

If it is a limit in the game or game system, would there not be more documented cases of this?

I'd say for the most part, the majority of the people just don't notice the difference. If you own a 360 or PS3, and play games with high depth fog (COD4), and then come back to the Wii, I'm sure you'll notice it. It's harder to notice if you're used to the effect, or if you're going from Wii to PS3. You may even think that's the way it's supposed to be if you haven't seen fog/mist without banding.

The main reason I can spot it pretty much off the bat, is because I grew up in the 16-bit to 32-bit switch over on the PC. I'm sure there are more people on this board in the same boat as I am. There was a whole thing on whether gamers could notice the difference, blah, blah, blah... and 3dfx died.:lol:

EDIT: You also have to remember for a lot of Wii owners, this is their first console, so they definitely wouldn't know what colour banding is.

 

[wezeles]

Can you get a screen shot of it?

I've heard of projection t.v's like DLP's having issues with handling shadow effects, I know mine doesn't do a great job of it, and I have seen it happen on some darker movies from time to time, its about the only thing you ever notice outta whack.
I've seen some of the LCD's and Plasma's with the same problem usually its not as bad,total screen shadow plauges them, for some reason these new t.v's just can't handle shadow effects aswell as the older CRT's do.

Im guessing thats the real problem if its the only place you notice pixilation. The mixture of dark colors "black and grey" moving at a slower rate of speed than the brighter colors seems to make the shadow pop out and be pixilated. It probably has more to do with the picture processing and not the acctual content being fed to it.
Mine will do it in 480 or 1080 it just is limited to specific shadow sources.

 

[rockstar62]

I will try and get a screen shot of it tonight. Thanks.

 

[pantherfan]

First make sure that the cables are well connected. Second this sounds like it is the cables. i would try your cables that came with the wii. There is also a small chance that the inputs on your tv are faulty.

 

[wezeles]

doubtful.

The componet Cables themself support the basic colors "red,green,blue" that make up the picture, if it was a cabel issue you would have one of these colors drop out and all colors would look off because of it.

Same would go for the inputs for the t.v., it would loose an entire color source, probably even the picture all together, most t.v's will not display componet sources without all 3 colors being there.

Being this is an issue with "fog,shadows" white,grey,black colors, it's more likely the picture processing of the t.v. itself and not the input source. Probably no real fix and the only way to determin if this is the issue is to find other sources "besides the Wii" with the same fog/shadow effects.

 

[pantherfan]

You are right wezeles. But there have been occasions when there are internal problems with the inputs.

 

[wezeles]

Even then you would loose an entire color not just "fog" effects, it would be further down the line than the inputs themself. It could be a problem with the board, effecting every input source, but not just one source.

But this is a pretty common problem with these newer style televisions, some just can't process this type of effect as well. It's not something wrong, it just can't handle the effect with what it uses.