BloodRayne 2 FSAA Patch breaks NVIDIA ShadowPlay gameplay capture

[raiskenni]

Hi, elishacloud!!

I’d like to report an issue I encountered with BloodRayne 2 FSAA Patch (originally by mctronken, currently maintained by you), specifically related to NVIDIA ShadowPlay gameplay capture.

Summary

When the FSAA Patch is used in BloodRayne 2, ShadowPlay fails to record gameplay video. Audio is captured correctly (sucking sounds, slashing noises, kicking tones, etc.), but the video output freezes on a single frame for the entire gameplay segment. Prerendered cutscenes are recorded normally.

This behavior is consistent and reproducible.

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Test setup

• Game: BloodRayne 2;
• OS: Windows 10;
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 (ShadowPlay / GeForce Experience);
• Resolution tested: 1440×1080 (4:3) on a 1920×1080 display;
• VSync enabled (required to avoid broken physics on modern hardware, you know);
• Cutscenes played via MPV (preconfigured setup from BloodRayne 1 & 2 Patch Collection).

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ShadowPlay's behavior with different wrappers / patches

❌ BR2 FSAA Patch

• ShadowPlay reports recording as active;
• Audio is captured correctly;
• Gameplay video is frozen on a single frame;
• Prerendered cutscenes (video files) record correctly;
• No error messages, fully silent failure.

❌ dgVoodoo2

Identical behavior to FSAA Patch:
• Frozen gameplay frame + audio;
• Cutscenes record correctly.

✔️ DxWrapper (from BloodRayne 1 & 2 Patch Collection)

• ShadowPlay records gameplay correctly;
• No frozen frames;
• Works whether recording is started from desktop or in-game;
• No visual or capture issues observed.

This strongly suggests that FSAA Patch and dgVoodoo2 present frames in a way ShadowPlay fails to hook, while DxWrapper uses a presentation path ShadowPlay can capture reliably.

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Additional observation (important)

I also tested a patched br2.exe by jackfuste (2017), which allows BloodRayne 2 to correctly read custom resolutions directly from system\rayne.ini (just like it was in BloodRayne 1, but with the widescreen resolution support this time).

With that executable:
• 1920×1080 and 1440×1080 work correctly;
• No launcher resolution limitations (buh-bye, 1280×1024; wow, I just learned it's 5:4 and not 4:3);
• Works perfectly with BloodRayne 1 & 2 Patch Collection + custom cutscene.ini file (from BloodRayne 2 FSAA Patch) configured for the direct use of MPV, bypassing the Cutscene.exe completely;
• ShadowPlay records gameplay without issues.

This further supports the idea that the problem is not inherent to BloodRayne 2, but tied to how the FSAA Patch (and dgVoodoo2) handle rendering / presentation.

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Hypothesis

My current assumption is that the FSAA Patch introduces a non-standard or offscreen rendering / swap chain behavior that ShadowPlay cannot hook into, whereas DxWrapper enforces a more conventional presentation path compatible with NVIDIA capture.

Since you are the author of DxWrapper, I thought this comparison might be useful, and you might already have ideas on what differs internally between these approaches.

If you’d like, I can help test experimental builds or provide logs / additional diagnostics.

Thanks for your work on keeping BloodRayne 2 playable on modern systems..