God of War: Ascension

From RPCS3 Wiki
God of War: Ascension
GOW Ascension cover.jpg
Developer(s) SCE Santa Monica Studio
Publisher(s) Sony Computer Entertainment
Series God of War
Release date(s) NA March 12, 2013
EU March 13, 2013
AU March 14, 2013
Release type PlayStation 3 exclusive
Genre(s) Action, Adventure, Hack and slash
Mode(s) Single-player, Multiplayer
GameID(s) BCES01741 (IRD), BCES01742 (IRD), BCUS98232 (IRD), BCAS25016 (IRD), NPEA00445, NPUA80918
Prison of the Damned Demo
NPEA90123, NPUA70269
Demo
NPEA90115
Multiplayer Beta
NPUA70216
Quick links Check Compatibility
Open Issues
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Wikipedia Page

God of War: Ascension is the seventh installment in the God of War series and prequel to the entire series. Loosely based on Greek mythology, the game is set in ancient Greece with vengeance as its central motif. The player controls the protagonist Kratos, the former servant of the God of War Ares, who tricked Kratos into killing his wife and daughter. In response to this tragedy, Kratos renounced Ares, breaking his blood oath to the god. Kratos was therefore imprisoned and tortured by the three Furies, guardians of honor and enforcers of punishment. Helped by the oath keeper Orkos, Kratos escapes his imprisonment and confronts the Furies to be completely free of his bond to Ares.

The gameplay is similar to previous installments, focusing on combo-based combat with the player's main weapon—the Blades of Chaos—and other weapons acquired by the new World Weapons mechanic. It continues the use of quick time events and adds a new, promptless, free-form system. Four magical attacks and a power-enhancing ability can be used as alternative combat options, and the game features puzzles and platforming elements. Ascension is the only installment in the series to include multiplayer, which is online-only and features modes for both competitive and cooperative play. It also features a redesigned combat system, new gameplay mechanics, and downloadable content. From October 2012 to March 2013, a social experience was available online in the form of a graphic novel titled Rise of the Warrior, a prequel story that tied into the game's single-player and multiplayer modes.

Configuration

Options that deviate from RPCS3's default settings and provide the best experience with this title are listed below.

CPU configuration

Setting Option Notes
SPU block size Mega Improves performance, doesn't seem to reduce stability.

GPU configuration

Setting Option Notes
ZCULL accuracy Approximate Improves performance over precise, don't try relaxed it breaks graphics and kills performance.
Write color buffers On Fixes lighting issues.

Advanced configuration

Setting Option Notes
Accurate RSX reservation access On Required if not using MLAA patch.
Sleep timers accuracy As Host Slight performance improvement.
RSX FIFO accuracy Atomic Helps with stability.
Driver wake-up delay 50 Hugely recommended to fix crashes, insignificant performance loss. Try 100 or 200 if it's still crashing.

Known Issues

This title is currently not considered "playable", as the hardware requirement is too high. But it can be played with decent performance on a good CPU, especially if you use the game's patches.

Special Notes

Netplay testing

For the complete list of games tested with RPCN, please check the RPCN Compatibility List.

Game Version RPCS3 Version Connects? Create/Join lobbies? Match with others? Online features working? Requires custom servers? Notes
Yes No No No Failed to read a packet header on socket

Patches

Anchors:
  gowamlaanotes: &gowamlaanotes "Allows for the use of Resolution Scaling in the title.\n\nSet Resolution Scale Threshold to 1x1 for proper scaling of effects."

PPU-3a63ecc6e9b81a984d2fe0a481febc3e26b57810: # GOWA.SELF 1.04
  Disable MLAA:
    Games:
      "God of War: Ascension":
        BCES01741: [ 01.04 ]
        BCES01742: [ 01.04 ]
        BCUS98232: [ 01.04 ]
        NPEA00445: [ 01.04 ]
        NPUA80918: [ 01.04 ]
    Author: illusion, ZEROx
    Notes: *gowamlaanotes
    Patch Version: 1.0
    Patch:
      - [ byte, 0x83CE77, 0 ]
      - [ be32, 0x00390724, 0x60000000 ]
      - [ be32, 0x00390754, 0x60000000 ]
  Disable Depth of Field:
    Games:
      "God of War: Ascension":
        BCES01741: [ 01.04 ]
        BCES01742: [ 01.04 ]
        BCUS98232: [ 01.04 ]
        NPEA00445: [ 01.04 ]
        NPUA80918: [ 01.04 ]
    Author: ZEROx
    Notes:
    Patch Version: 1.0
    Patch:
      - [ be32, 0x004342bc, 0x38a00000 ]
  Disable Motion Blur:
    Games:
      "God of War: Ascension":
        BCES01741: [ 01.04 ]
        BCES01742: [ 01.04 ]
        BCUS98232: [ 01.04 ]
        NPEA00445: [ 01.04 ]
        NPUA80918: [ 01.04 ]
    Author: ZEROx
    Notes: 
    Patch Version: 1.0
    Patch:
      - [ be32, 0x00437810, 0x38a00000 ]
  Skip intro:
    Games:
      "God of War: Ascension":
        BCES01741: [ 01.04 ]
        BCUS98232: [ 01.04 ]
        NPEA00445: [ 01.04 ]
        NPUA80918: [ 01.04 ]
    Author: Illusion, ZEROx
    Notes: "Skips SCE intros up to first video\n2.0 Skips intro video"
    Patch Version: 2.0
    Patch:
      - [ byte, 0x00204d5b, 1 ] #Skip intro vid on first run
      - [ be16, 0x00411ff4, 0x4800 ] #Skip intro logo
      - [ be32, 0x003efa04, 0x480225f5 ] #func call
      - [ be32, 0x00411ff8, 0x3c60009e ] #lis r3,0x9e
      - [ be32, 0x00411ffc, 0xa063c1d0 ] #Current video 2 bytes
      - [ be32, 0x00412000, 0x2f836f70 ] #cmpwi cr7,r3,0x6f70
      - [ be32, 0x00412004, 0x419e0010 ] #beq
      - [ be32, 0x00412008, 0x3c600094 ] #lis r3,0x94
      - [ be32, 0x0041200c, 0x80630e94 ] #r3 = Button data
      - [ be32, 0x00412010, 0x48000008 ] #b
      - [ be32, 0x00412014, 0x38600040 ] #X button
      - [ be32, 0x00412018, 0x4e800020 ] #Return
  Unlock FPS:
    Games:
      "God of War: Ascension":
        BCES01741: [ 01.04 ]
        BCES01742: [ 01.04 ]
        BCUS98232: [ 01.04 ]
        NPEA00445: [ 01.04 ]
        NPUA80918: [ 01.04 ]
    Author: "ZEROx, illusion"
    Notes: "Unlocks internal timestep calculation, Increase vblank to match your desired framerate."
    Patch Version: 2.0
    Patch:
      - [ bef32, 0x0039e284, 1000 ]
      - [ bef32, 0x002cae2c, 10000 ] #timestamp
      - [ bef32, 0x0083b2cc, 60 ] #target fps, main float
      - [ be32, 0x002cadd8, 0x60000000 ]
      - [ be16, 0x002c537e, 0x93cc ] #1000.0f gameplay speed scaling
      - [ be16, 0x002caec6, 0x93cc ] #1000.0f sync
      - [ be16, 0x002caf6e, 0x93cc ] #1000.0f sync
      - [ be16, 0x003ef71a, 0x93cc ] #1000.0f video playback speed scaling

PPU-3a0b43e4a5f4bfea64f53612ee7c5d990f88129c: #GOWA.SELF 1.12
  Disable MLAA:
    Games:
      "God of War: Ascension":
        BCES01741: [ 01.12 ]
        BCES01742: [ 01.12 ]
        BCUS98232: [ 01.12 ]
        NPEA00445: [ 01.12 ]
        NPUA80918: [ 01.12 ]
    Author: illusion, ZEROx
    Notes: *gowamlaanotes
    Patch Version: 1.0
    Patch:
      - [ byte, 0x83D007, 0 ]
      - [ be32, 0x00397754, 0x60000000 ]
      - [ be32, 0x00397784, 0x60000000 ]
  Disable Depth of Field:
    Games:
      "God of War: Ascension":
        BCES01741: [ 01.12 ]
        BCES01742: [ 01.12 ]
        BCUS98232: [ 01.12 ]
        NPEA00445: [ 01.12 ]
        NPUA80918: [ 01.12 ]
    Author: ZEROx
    Notes:
    Patch Version: 1.0
    Patch:
      - [ be32, 0x0043bcbc, 0x38a00000 ]
  Disable Motion Blur:
    Games:
      "God of War: Ascension":
        BCES01741: [ 01.12 ]
        BCES01742: [ 01.12 ]
        BCUS98232: [ 01.12 ]
        NPEA00445: [ 01.12 ]
        NPUA80918: [ 01.12 ]
    Author: ZEROx
    Notes:
    Patch Version: 1.0
    Patch:
      - [ be32, 0x0043f210, 0x38a00000 ]
# moved fps 1.12 to canary, Todo: re add when fixed

PPU-93623f42f6f50bed58ca60927ed43beab749a2cd:
  Disable MLAA:
    Games:
      "God of War: Ascension Demo":
        NPEA90123: [ 01.00 ]
    Author: illusion
    Notes: *gowamlaanotes
    Patch Version: 1.0
    Patch:
      - [ byte, 0x7DC0B7, 0 ]

Canary Patches

Unlock FPS:
    Games:
      "God of War: Ascension":
        BCES01741: [ 01.12 ]
        BCES01742: [ 01.12 ]
        BCUS98232: [ 01.12 ]
        NPEA00445: [ 01.12 ]
        NPUA80918: [ 01.12 ]
    Author: "ZEROx, illusion"
    Notes: "Unlocks internal timestep calculation, Increase vblank to match your desired framerate."
    Patch Version: 1.0
    Patch:
      - [ bef32, 0x003a52b4, 1000 ]
      - [ bef32, 0x002d024c, 6667 ]