Pandora's Tower

Pandora's Tower
Developer(s)	Ganbarion
Publisher(s)	NA XSEED Games JP/EU/AUS Nintendo
Platform(s)	Wii
Release date(s)	JP May 26, 2011 AUS April 12, 2012 EU April 13, 2012 NA April 16, 2013
Genre(s)	Action role-playing
Mode(s)	Single-player
Input methods	Wii Remote + Nunchuk, Classic Controller
Compatibility	4 Playable
GameIDs	SX3J01, SX3P01, SX3EXJ
See also...	Dolphin Forum thread Open Issues Search Google Search Wikipedia

A tale of unfortunate circumstances, Pandora's Tower, known in Japan as パンドラの塔　君のもとへ帰るまで Pandora no Tō: Kimi no Moto e Kaeru Made (Pandora's Tower: Until I Return to Your Side), opens in the Kingdom of Elyria, where an unassuming singer named Elena succumbs to a wretched curse during a festival performance. Bearing an arcane mark on her back, she starts transforming into a savage monster, causing the town guards to attempt to kill her in order to prevent it. A young ex-mercenary named Aeron, whose heart has forever been pledged to Elena, whisks her away in the nick of time - and with the help of a mysterious witch named Mavda, he learns what must be done to avert her wretched fate. He must descend into The Scar, a massive chasm tied down by twelve chains connected to a floating island in its center, atop which sit thirteen interconnected towers. There, he must use his sword and a sacred chain to battle his way through each tower and extract the flesh of the boss "masters" that dwell within, which Elena must consume in order to reverse her ongoing transformation. But the clock is ticking! The longer Aeron takes to vanquish each beast, the less human Elena becomes, affecting her character and the game's final outcome in a profound manner. Time is of the essence...

Problems

Zoom Pointer Chain

When using the zoom to aim more precisely with the chain (holding the B button), some textures are white.

Freezing Audio

This title may require LLE for proper audio emulation without freezing, though that may have been resolved with recent HLE improvements.

Missing UI Text

Some UI text may be missing unless Texture Cache Accuracy is set to Safe. Refer issue 10705. Fixed since 5.0-13357.

Enhancements

60 FPS

Use this Action Replay code to enable 60 FPS. This will cause issues with the Hero's Cape, but that doesn't affect gameplay.

$60 FPS
04774AB0 0000003C

HD Textures

Pandora's Tower HD textures

Gamma Correction

The in-game brightness setting is nonfunctional in Dolphin, and the default is -1 click which doesn't get applied, resulting in a lighter image with less contrast. A gamma correction can be applied using Dolphin's post-processing effects shader to approximate the default setting:

void main()
{
    float4 col = Sample();
    float red = pow(col.r, 1.3);       // >1 = darker midtones, <1 = lighter midtones
    float green = pow(col.g, 1.3);
    float blue = pow(col.b, 1.3);
    SetOutput(float4(red, green, blue, col.a));
}

Save the above code as eg. C:\Program Files\Dolphin-x64\Sys\Shaders\PandorasTowerBrightness.glsl, and enable it by pasting the following in the game's right click menu > Properties > Game Config > Editor > User Config:

[Video_Enhancements]
PostProcessingShader = PandorasTowerBrightness

Configuration

Only configuration options for the best compatibility where they deviate from defaults are listed.

Audio

Config	Setting	Notes
DSP Emulator Engine	LLE	Avoid audio freezing

Version Compatibility

The graph below charts the compatibility with Pandora's Tower since Dolphin's 2.0 release, listing revisions only where a compatibility change occurred.

r591

3.0-591

Δ

5.0-19552 (current)

Δ

Δ

Δ

Δ

Δ

2.0 (r5384)

Compatibility can be assumed to align with the indicated revisions. However, compatibility may extend to prior revisions or compatibility gaps may exist within ranges indicated as compatible due to limited testing. Please update as appropriate.

Testing

This title has been tested on the environments listed below:

Test Entries
Revision	OS	CPU	GPU	Result	Tester
r6890	Windows	Intel Core i5-480M @ 2.93 GHz	NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M	Pandora's Tower on Dolphin Emulator	thousandsmagister
r7451	Windows Vista	AMD Phenom II 955BE @ 3.8 GHz	ATI Radeon HD 3300	Playable(Set textures to Safe mode),also constant FPS drops(which causes small freeze-ups)
3.0-591	Windows 7	Intel Core i5-750 @ 3.5 GHz	AMD Radeon HD 5850	Pandora Tower Intro + début sur Dolphin r591 Only little sound issues, 30FPS constant 1080P, PAL version	Smash15195
3.0-600	Windows 7	Intel Core i7-940 @ 2.93 GHz	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560	Perfectly playable with default settings, constant 30FPS. Rare sound issues.
3.5-305	Windows 7	Intel Core i3-2350 @ 2.3 GHz	NVIDIA GeForce 410M	Playable with default settings one bug, when zooming with the pointer to the string (no audio problem)	Dratal
4.0.2	Windows 7	Intel Core i5-3570 @ 3.4 GHz	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760	Run at full speed on all Backend with Major Enhancements. Can even run at Playable SPEED on Intel HD Graphics (No AA&AF on DX9@1366x768i yes,old display:P)	SuckerBer
4.0-3599	Windows 8.1	Intel Core i5-3570 @ 3.4 GHz	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760	Most Run at Full-speed. but have audio issue that can cause game freezing some time.Use DSP LLE Audio instead.	SuckerBer

Gameplay Videos

(Wii) Pandora Tower (run game on emul Dolphin) HD

Pandora Tower Intro + début sur Dolphin r591