Guild Wars 2

Fix by Eincrou
Updated June 3, 2013

3D Video Showcase

Cutscene backgrounds are where they should be now! You can see bad shadows on the characters due to Ultra shadows settings.

Created using game version: Gw2: 18,997

Description

It's the end of the year, so it's safe for me to give Guild Wars 2 my award for Best Stereoscopic 3D Game of 2012.  This award is coveted by nobody in the world, ever.  But if it was, ArenaNet would be proud today.

It has a dynamically rendering mouse, for goodness' sake.  This game was designed to be played in stereoscopic 3D.  It's a mind-blowing experience.

GW2 released with a number of anomalies, namely shadows and some UI elements, but guess what:  every single one of these issues has been addressed by the developer, ArenaNet.  Dynamic shadows and ground spell effects remain slightly too deep, but it's acceptable.

The only thing the Helix Mod is really needed for is personal preference issues.  I like UIs to render with depth.  That is what this fix accomplishes.

This fix solves:

1. The entire HUD renders with depth, as do menu windows. Some elements render more shallow. See Problems not fixed item #2.
2. The 2D backgrounds on the log-in screen and cutscenes are now.... really in the background. It renders deeper than the character models now.  How much depth it needs depends on your convergence, so feel free to adjust the depth in C64CB18C.txt, 9C5106ED.txt and 34C7FE12.txt. Change the first number after def c224 (default is 0.8).

Problems not fixed:

1. There are still major problems with lighting and shadows on the Ultra shadows setting.  They're kind of rare outside of cutscenes, but lower your shadows to High or below if it's an issue for you.
2. Some interface elements render differently.  Vendor menus, the skill menu and chatbox text are a few examples.  Use the 2D hotkey ( NumPad 0 ) if you find one of these situations getting in your way.
3. The UI art is designed to be at the very margins of your screen, so horizontal clipping is inevitable.  This will vary depending on the amount of depth you have the game at, so feel free to adjust the default 0.3 setting for UI depth.
4. The mouse cursor still comes up to screen depth when over an interface element.  This is probably impossible to fix.

Change Log:

• v7: (6/3/2013) Going back to old version of dll, since the new one makes mouse turning not work. Changed preset hotkeys. Fixed some dumb errors in several shaders.
• v6: (6/2/2013) Using new version of dll, eliminating the need for workarounds. Changed preset hotkeys.  Changed code to allow users to quickly change UI depth presets from within DX9Settings.ini.
• v5: (12/29/2012) Fixed some additional cutscene elements.
• v4: (12/28/2012) Optional version that use proxy library workaround for Helix Mod release dll version. Texts no longer "float."
• v3: (12/27/2012) Added the damned buff/debuff duration outline.
• v2: (12/26/2012) Cutscene/main menu background depth fixed.
• v1: (12/25/2012) Initial fix for UI depth.

How To Get It Working

1. Extract the zip file to the same location as "Gw2.exe."
2. Open DX9Settings.ini with Notepad.  Change line 2 to the exact path of d3d9fx.dll.

Example: Proxylib = C:\My Games\Guild Wars 2\d3d9fx.dll

SweetFX is included with this fix, because the fix does not work with the release dll. I have disabled all visual modifications, but you are welcome to play around with it in SweetFX_settings.txt.

Preset Hotkeys:

This fix uses hotkeys to control the depth of the user interface.  UI depth is OFF when the game starts.  Use preset hotkeys 2-4 to give your UI depth.  The default settings are:

• Preset Key 1: NumPad 0 0 depth
• Preset Key 2: NumPad 1 0.3 depth
• Preset Key 3: NumPad 2 0.5 depth 
• Preset Key 4: NumPad 3 0.6 depth 

Customizing User Interface Depth:

You can set the UI depth to whatever you want by modifying the Const3  value under each preset.  This has to be a floating point value, converted to hexadecimal.  There are four presets, so you can have four different depths.

Online Floating Point to Hex Converter

You can also change the hotkeys.  Use the keycode number in the first column on this website:

Keycode Reference

Download

• HelixMod-GuildWars2_v7_SweetFX.zip

Obligatory Warning: I don't think anyone has ever been banned for playing an online game with a DirectX injector meant to enhance visuals, such as ENB or SweetFX.  Nobody has reported being banned for using the Helix Mod.  I play Guild Wars 2 using both the Helix Mod and SweetFX without problems.  Still, be aware that we can't guarantee 100% that you won't have problems.