In an era where backwards compatibility has either been completely abandoned or stripped away via revised hardware, HD remasters make for an excellent alternative: why not take the games of yesteryear, port them over to current-generation consoles and make the most of precision high-definition visuals, higher frame-rates, cleaner artwork and improved texture filtering? In titles such as the God of War and Metal Gear Solid HD remasters, we've seen how, with careful nurturing, original PS2-era artwork can shine when rendered in high definition.

There's no reason why the Silent Hill HD Collection couldn't have joined the ranks of those highly acclaimed titles, but unfortunately it's a deeply disappointing release - and the game's fanbase is not happy at all. There's actually an argument that the first game in the collection - Silent Hill 2 - has its unique atmosphere diminished in the transition to high definition. This is a game that is defined by its lo-fi visuals, where detail that isn't obscured by the thick, murky darkness is blended away to certain extent by an intentionally aggressive grain filter.

Silent Hill Steam Games

• All 3 have perfectly functioning PC versions; The only Silent Hill game on Steam is Homecoming and for all reviews and reports, the Port is terrible as well as just being a bad SH game. The only way to play the PC versions of 2,3 and 4 is through the CD versions which are hard to come by and are expensive.
• Welcome to Gamertag VR! Today took a quick look round Silent Hill 2 town in VR in Steam VR Home eviroments. If you enjoyed the video please leave a 👍 & subs.

From Shepherd's Glen to the foggy streets of Silent Hill, Alex will face the darkest of horrors while struggling with his own grip on reality. Alex must unravel the mystery behind his nightmares, discover the truth behind his brother's disappearance, and confront the evil that has taken hold of his soul.

The original artists at Konami would have built their artwork around this presentation, and the net result is that the HD version is unintentionally compromised as a result - the lack of texture detail in some areas becomes over-exposed in a way that was never intended by Konami's artists, and the game has a pin-sharp, pristine look entirely at odds with the ambience generated by the original release. Elsewhere, other effects (such as water) look fundamentally broken.

Just as bad - if not worse - is the way in which the game's fog effects have been handled in both Xbox 360 and PlayStation versions of the HD Collection. Thin, wispy and insubstantial as opposed to thick and cloying, the look of the outdoor scenes is fundamentally transformed, with far-off detail that should never have been seen now painfully visible. It's almost as though complete layers of fog are now omitted from the overall presentation, meaning that the sense of real volume to the effect is now fundamentally lacking.

To illustrate the complaints levelled at the work, here's how the Xbox 360 version of the game compares up against the original PlayStation 2 version running on a PS3 via full backwards-compatibility. A PS3 mirror of the video is also available, as well as a head-to-head of the two HD remasters - not that there's actually much to tell them apart in terms of image quality.

'Silent Hill 2 is a rare example of an HD remaster that is actually less satisfying to play than the original PlayStation 2 version of the game.'

At a basic level, conversion-smith Hijinx has opened out the field of view to accommodate a 16:9 presentation, and used original PS2 artwork assets in their entirety - little or no work appears to have been carried out to ensure they look good when rendered in HD. Aside from typography and UI elements, there is very little evidence that there has actually been any kind of actual 'remastering' of original artwork at all - a far cry from the kind of extensive touch-up work carried out, for example, by Just Add Water with its superb Stranger's Wrath HD. Indeed, sometimes we get the impression that textures are actually being omitted - for example, the ground frequently looks bare compared to the PS2 game.

The original Silent Hill games ran on hardware that didn't enjoy the benefits of hardware anti-aliasing and it appears that Hijinx hasn't made any effort to introduce it here. Resolution is confirmed at native 720p, but there's no evidence of any edge-smoothing as such. It's more than a little disappointing when directly compared with Bluepoint's work on the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, where both MGS2 and its sequel flowed smoothly at 60 frames per second with multi-sampling anti-aliasing adding greatly to the quality of the overall presentation.

Another disappointment concerns the video cinematics. Hijinx appears to have had no access to high-quality assets, so clumsy upscaling has been performed on the original videos, and in the process the aspect ratio has been shot to hell - expanded sideways in order to fill the 16:9 screen. These FMVs segued into gameplay almost perfectly in the original PS2 title, but the jump from muggy, badly blown-up video to ultra-pristine HD is very jarring on 360 and PS3.

Where there has been a genuine attempt to refresh the game is in the inclusion of new voice acting, re-recorded from scratch with new talent for both Silent Hill 2 and its sequel. Opinion is somewhat divided on which version is best, but the good news is that Silent Hill 2 offers players the choice between both renditions.

Bizarrely, the same choice is not afforded to players of the remastered Silent Hill 3, where only the re-recorded voices are an option. It's a frustrating inconsistency between the two games and an inexplicable decision certain to annoy the Silent Hill fanbase. It's a shame because, in a great many other respects, the HD version of Silent Hill 3 works rather well. Konami significantly upgraded the engine in the original game, allowing for higher-quality models, improved animation and more detailed artwork.

Freed from the resolution constraints of the original hardware, the artwork has much more room to breathe and often looks quite impressive running at native 720p. While the remastering work is as basic as it is in Silent Hill 2, there's never really the sense that the original vision of the developer is being compromised - the thick grain filter of the previous game is gone, for example, and while the fog implementation remains an issue, the fact is that it is deployed in far fewer situations in the sequel and isn't a fundamental element of the game's visual make-up this time around.

Here's how Silent Hill 3 looks compared between the original PS2 game and its PS3 counterpart. As with the previous comparison we also have an Xbox 360 version, plus an HD Collection head-to-head.

'With Silent Hill 3, Konami significantly upgraded the engine, allowing for higher-quality models, improved animation and more detailed artwork, leading to a more successful HD port.'

Performance is an area in which the Silent Hill HD Collection has also received plenty of criticism, specifically from PlayStation 3 owners. The original PS2 titles operated with a 30 frames-per-second cap but were prone to dropping frames. However, in our tests the Xbox 360 version acquitted itself well, adhering to the same 30FPS limit as the original game and providing an absolutely rock-solid level of performance throughout.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the PlayStation 3 game. Similar to the other versions, v-sync is engaged but, for reasons unknown, frame-rate is completely unlocked. This results in a wildly varying performance level that changes at any given point - frames rendering either at 16.67ms or at 33.33ms, providing an inconsistent experience. Adding to the problem is the 4GB HDD install (yes, a mandatory install for two PS2 ports). Remarkably, reading in data from the hard drive appears to impact frame-rate during gameplay, resulting in a perceptible dip in performance when background assets appear to be streaming into memory.

The result is that while average frame-rates are at their highest on PlayStation 3, the experience is deeply unsatisfactory, manifesting as a near-constant judder with many annoying pauses - something that is completely alien to original Silent Hill gameplay.

One of the more curious elements behind the Silent Hill controversy is the delay in fixing issues brought to light by the gaming community. Remarkably, there's already been a patch for the US PlayStation 3 version, which apparently does very little at all (our UK version hasn't asked to be updated thus far) and, certainly, the notion of introducing a frame-rate cap shouldn't be too difficult - after all, it's already present on the Xbox 360 version of the game.

'An unlocked frame-rate in combination with frequent stutter makes PS3 performance jarring and inconsistent. The games feel worse to play than the PlayStation 2 originals.'

The real question though is just how nobody at Hijinx HQ noticed this glaring difference between the two SKUs before gold masters were sent off. It's also equally difficult to imagine how most of the other glaring bugs made it through the quality control mechanisms of both Konami and the platform holders. It boggles the mind how the PS3 version's hard-drive-induced frame-rate drops, along with sections of out-of-sync audio, could have made their way into the final game in the first place.

The lacklustre implementation of the fog in the two games is a little more understandable, but only up to a point. Transparency effects on the current-generation consoles are relatively expensive to implement. By comparison, the PS2 is a bandwidth monster, with the benefit of operating at a much lower resolution. That said, we have to remember that GPU resources elsewhere are hardly being taxed - these games utilise low-poly models by today's standards and the original textures would need to have been crammed into just 4MB of video RAM. Also, with a set 30 frames-per-second performance target (on 360 at least), it's difficult to imagine that there's anything other than a surfeit of rendering time considering the relatively basic level of the visuals on offer here.

Complaints have been levelled at Konami that the development studio tasked with carrying out this HD remaster doesn't have that much experience with high-profile Xbox 360 and PS3 projects, and there's certainly a feeling that the power of the current-gen platforms isn't being tapped that much here: the notion of PS2-era games requiring a 4GB mandatory install on Sony's current console rings alarm bells, and when compared to the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection in terms of frame-rate and image quality, the technical inadequacies of these Silent Hill ports are swiftly brought sharply into focus.

In the past, we've raised concerns about the lack of effort being put into some of these HD ports. Sometimes the quality of the original assets just isn't good enough for an HD presentation, while on other occasions the original games have simply aged very, very badly and simply can't compete with modern games. With titles like the recently released Devil May Cry: HD Collection, there's the sense that very little effort has gone into the conversion work and the games simply deserved better treatment. But with Silent Hill HD, we see something arguably worse: a port that doesn't play as well as the original games.

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1. Silent Hill 3

Description of Silent Hill 3

If you haven't played Silent Hill 3 or want to try this action video game, download it now for free! Published in 2003 by Konami of Europe GmbH, Silent Hill 3 is still a popular survival horror title amongst retrogamers, with a whopping 4.3/5 rating.

External links

Captures and Snapshots

Screenshots from MobyGames.com

Comments and reviews

Alan Wake2021-03-242 points

I managed to get this game running with no problems whatsoever. Just install click on the iso to mount it. No third party applications needed. Hit Setup go through the installation. Once installed DONT Eject the ISO. Go into the deviance folder in the ISO. Copy the sh3.exe to the location where you have Silent Hill 3 installed. Eject the ISO. Then go onto pc gaming wiki on Silent Hill 3 and install the patch by Steam006. Extract the files to where you have Silent Hill 3 installed. The password is pcgw. Your antivirus may detect it as a virus but this is a false positive. Just add the Silent Hill 3 folder as an antivirus exception. Now configure the dll fix.ini file. I highly reccomend you use the new save system since it stops any save corruption bugs. Now run the dllinjector and ONLY use the Dllinjector from now on. It's also normal to get a few hitches in frames especially when walking through doors. Though its nothing infuriating. I hope the installation worked well for you and you got to experience SH3 the best way possible.

Bubu2021-03-201 point

The game is kind of a mess, unless you want it to run at native 4:3 resolution without vsync and lots of screen tearing!
Luckily, I managed to find several widescreen + FOV fixes on PC Gaming Wiki and managed to force vsync via Nvidia Inspector. Also, I'd to force the game to run on single core (Task Manager, Details, SH3.exe, Set Affinity, Core 0)
Now, it's running flawlessly at 1080p60 with corrected FOV on my Windows 10 LTSC (1809) 64-bit, which is pretty darn impressive for a game designed for 32-bit single-core systems with Windows '98/2000!
I hope it helps.

SOLIDG2021-03-180 point

SH3 is probably the best game in the franchise in my opinion. The story is fantastic, the characters are really well written,the soundtrack is fantastic and the graphics are amazing for the time.
The game is running completely fine on my 2013 laptop. Simply download the ISO here and run the wizard to install the game. After that, don't forget to copy and paste the crack from the designated folder in the ISO to the installation folder so that you can run the game without the disc.
Now I just gotta find the widescreen HD patch to make the game run even prettier than it already is.

Aloe Vera King2021-03-161 point

How do you install the Widescreen Fix for this version?

vxplayxr2021-03-101 point

when i downloaded this, it ended up showing up as a disc image burner, is this supposed to happen?

DerWunderbare2021-02-172 points

Getting the 'error occurred during saving blabla...' message?
Losing progress and extra items/NG+?
If so, try this:
Go to your SH3 install folder - KONAMI - Right click on 'SILENT HILL 3' folder - Properties - Security - Edit - Add... - Enter your username in the box, click OK - click on your username in the top list - In the 'Permissions for [your username]' box in the bottom list click on 'Allow', next to 'Full Control' - Apply, OK.
Now you should be able to keep all your data.
I assume you installed the game in the Program Files (x86) folder on the C: drive.
It is not recommended to install games (or your Steam library, whatever...) to this location as it can cause some problems with games.
Don't ask me why, though. I'm not familiar with the intricate details of this matter...
All I know is that, if you have the choice, you should choose some other install location.
Anyway, I really hope this fix works for you!

Darkness2021-02-082 points

Silent Hill Game Download Steam

Hi Skeletor, I'm having the same issue and I think it's my anti virus. I'm just reluctant to adding it as an exception.

Aloe Vera King2021-02-071 point

Apparently, when I open the game I have my results saved but Extra New Game is missing. Any fix?

Scarface2021-01-051 point

Hi AUGUSTRAJ, It could be your antivirus so make sure you make the add the EXE as an exception.

Augustraj2020-10-230 point

So I got it working, but I ran into an issue, and was wondering if you all had a fix. I managed to get the game working, and I beat it and unlocked the extras mode. However, I found that whenever I leave the game and enter it again, all of the extra features are missing, and if I try to load a save with them on the game crashes. Is there a fix?

Cleveland Steamer2020-10-122 points

Works pretty good. The ingame save system however does not function on my end. Quicksave and Quickload work tho. There won't be any savefiles to choose from but F5/F9 works.

Khep Gallard2020-05-036 points

I installed everything correctly and it worked, but I have a problem: when I run the game it says that there was an error while saving data. IDK if I missed a file or something but that message keep appeareing even if I try to save changes in the options menu

Skeletor2020-04-241 point

Having seriuous problems getting the installer to run on Windows 7 64bit OS.
I get the installer moving and it stalls at 'removing applications'. What the hell does it have to remove exactly?

mortanna2020-04-091 point

awesome game, with all the movies, even xbox one controller works! dude, this is gonna be some ride, muchas gracias my dude.

kevdogYT082020-04-040 point

Thanks for the share. Another nice horror from Silent Hill series (I first played this on my PS2 when it came out). The Silent Hill 3's theme was so good, that I'd figure I'd play it again. This time, on my Nexlink Win 7 Pro PC...

W552020-03-181 point

I'm not sure of the need for alternative install methods present in the comments. Malicious intent?
Using Windows 10, I installed the downloaded game without external programs, following the provided instructions and it just works.
Once installed be sure to launch the game file 'sh3.exe' from within the 'Deviance' folder.

Kerrigam2019-12-101 point

You can get the No-DVD at gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_silent_hill_3.shtml#Silent%20Hill%203%20v1.0%20[ENGLISH]%20No-DVD/Fixed%20EXE
This will save you the headache of the not having to keep it mounted
Also have widescreen fixes at thirteenag.github.io/wfp#sh3

WINKLESTAR2019-10-0728 points

For those who absolutely don't know how to work this, I'll tell you how to do it step-by-step.
First off, get a certain software called PowerISO (just google it). You probably already have this because it's used for a lot of other 'stuff'. There's prolly other software that works the same like this one, but I use this one and it works.
Next, download the SH3 ISO like usual.
After you do that, open the ISO with PowerISO and extract it to whichever folder you like (doesn't matter where cause you'll be deleting it soon. Don't do it before I tell you to).
Search that folder for a something called 'setup.exe' or similar to that. Execute it (aka left click it twice).
A wizard will appear, and as usual, agree to everything. Note that for some reason, when the wizard ask you where to install the game, and if you click the browse option, it'll crash. But maybe it's just for me (by default, the game will installed in your /:c drive under 'Program Files' to 'KONAMI'.) Just let the wizard do the works.
Once the wizard has done his job, don't open the 'sh3.exe' yet! Go back to the SH3 ISO folder (the one you extract from) and enter a folder named 'Deviance'. In that folder there's a .info file and 'sh3.exe' file. Copy only that 'sh3.exe' file and go back to the installed SH3 folder (see above paragraph).
In that installed SH3 folder, there's also an 'sh3.exe'. Delete that one and replace (Paste) it with the one you copied before.
Click that copied 'sh3.exe' file and you are ready to play! Now you can delete the folder that contain the ISO you downloaded from the beginning (Note that when you do so, it'll say that the folder can't be deleted because it was run in under other program. Only a certain file can't be deleted (about 2-3 file). The rest can be deleted. In other word, you need to manually delete each in the entire folder).
(This is written exactly after I got it to works)

zombieman2019-08-280 point

i got it to work easily after you install the game and try to run it it will say wrong disk but open with the deveance folder it has the sh3 app it will keep disc file saved as a mounted cd

scouty2019-08-23-1 point

can't wait to play this game I was never able to finish this game which is the last silent hill I haven't finish yet thanks for the uploading it

Giorno Giovanna2019-07-1810 points

Sh3 install for dummies:
Ok so the comments are not totally thorough, so after you download it, open the little black program thingy, go to your computer folders, find it again, left click and select 'open with windows explorer'. After that copy the the entire disk into your pc. You can do it by clicking on the Dvd drive on the side and pressing 'copy'. After that open the new one you just copied and click the folder called 'deviance', copy the sh3.exe file, and then paste over the other sh3.exe file in the main section. They both look exactly the same, the one you copy is a bit smaller in size I think. Don't click on the sh3.exe file yet, it will say some stuff about you having the wrong disk. What you have to do is click setup.exe, it does some magic, then you can play Silent Hill 3. If there is anything wrong with this, downvote as needed.

suds2019-06-260 point

I've tried everything that every poster in this comment section has instructed to do to install this game, and none of it has worked. Is this game just not compatible with modern hardware, or am I doing something wrong here?

Richt2019-02-151 point

It is working in an old windows 7 pc 60fps! Feb. 14 2019

Richt2019-02-142 points

I would see if it works in a really old windows 7 OS, I was having this really weird glitch in another laptop where every time subtitles appear on the screen some textures will go missing xD

Disspenser2019-01-273 points

for people who can't run the game !!
After using daemon tools to mount the iso image to your drive and finish the installation
-Right click on the Iso image (Silent-Hill-3_Win_EN_ISO-Version.iso) and open with file explorer
- Open the file called Deviance you will find sh3.exe replace this file with the original file (Original file should be found at the saem place you downloaded the game. If you can't find it and you have desktop shortcut right click open file location).

Ozi2018-10-260 point

Silent Hill Streaming Online

I mounted the ISO file, used autorun, installed the game and then replaced the 'sh3.exe'. The game doesn't launch. I kept getting error message about the game not being properly installed.

grady2018-10-18-2 points

I wont silent hell

YourFriendlyAirScreamer2018-08-039 points

[GAME CAN'T RUN?]
As already mentioned, you can't run the game until you replace the executable/application file 'sh3.exe' with a cracked .exe that is found inside the ISO itself! Explore the contents of the ISO and look for it. By then you don't need to mount the ISO anymore, you can run the game on-the-go without the virtual drive.
Unfortunately, I can't be bothered to download the ISO again to double check everything, but trust me, the cracked file is inside one of the folders that it's pretty hard to miss. It's also named 'sh3.exe' with the only difference (and your biggest clue!) is that it has a different file size, probably bigger. Once you do find it, copy and paste it to where you installed the game, make sure you replace/overwrite the old sh3.exe file.
ALSO IMPORTANT: You need to install the 'Silent Hill 3 Widescreen Fix' and/or the 'sh3proxy' if you wish to run this game in your modern PC rig as it fixes a lot of the known bugs. A simple google search of said patches will easily pop up.
Now if you'll excuse me, I got Harry Mason to hunt ...SQUAWK!

Tyrone2018-07-302 points

I mounted the ISO to a virtual drive like the other guy said, but when I installed it and clicked play it says 'Wrong disc inserted' can someone please help me with this?

Roblox Steve2018-07-30-1 point

I waited over an hour for it to download and after I installed it, it told me there was no disc inserted. How do I fix this?

Ameen2018-07-060 point

OH MY GOD, am i crazy?, is this really FREE?. It's too good to be true.

YourFriendlyAirScreamer2018-05-240 point

Silent Hill Game Steam

@Rothman: There should be a folder in the ISO that contains the cracked .exe that you can copy and paste to where you installed your Silent Hill 3 is.
Unfortunately, I can't double check the name of the folder for you. I deleted the ISO installer as soon as I'm done installing the game. But it's pretty easy to find, there's only the cracked .exe inside it and nothing else.

Rothman2018-05-22-1 point

Silent Hill Steam Key

I've installed it, or tried to. I can't find 'cracked.exe' so can't seem to get it to work. Help please.

YourFriendlyAirScreamer2018-05-070 point

@BB667: So far it works pretty well on my side, yeah. Any ammo you pick up should appear in your Inventory. Are you sure you're looking at the right slot? All the ammo you picked up should appear in the Supplies slot below the Weapons.

bb6672018-05-020 point

does ammo pick up work? because every time i pick up ammo boxes they disappear from my inventory

YourFriendlyAirScreamer2018-04-260 point

Got this game working in Windows 7 using a virtual drive and with an appropriate hardware, just install it as you normally would and then copy the cracked .exe that is included inside the iso into the root folder of the game, so you wouldn't need to run the game with ISO.
You may also need to install the 'Silent Hill 3 Widescreen Fix' and/or the 'sh3proxy' if you wish to run this game in modern hardware as it fixes a lot of the known bugs, they are easily accessible online just by google search them.
Please do note that I tested this game on Windows 7 with GTX 1060, 8GB RAM, and AMD FX 8300 processor, and it really works flawlessly running in consistent 60fps. Not sure if it runs well with other systems, so it may need other's confirmation on this.
My only complaint so far is the screen tearing when it runs in fullscreen mode, and I can't find the solution for this yet. Otherwise, everything else is fine. I'm far in the middle of the game's story at the time of this writing.
It's worth playing it again for the hardcore fans, or those who really want to experience Silent Hill 3.

KC2018-04-13-16 points

Is this worth playing?

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