Final Fantasy VIII

[Kasser]

Thanks for the reply Treize, going to try those settings and see what happens.

I do get a bit of the swoosh effect before a battle, but it doesn't look quite right (like it's missing a few frames) but i don't mind it to be honest. I am right at the beginning (Ifrit defeated) so can't help with the stuck scene sorry.

[Treize]

Sorry forgot to post this before, but I did use a different image and was able to pass that scene

The only thing keeping this game from being perfect for me is the slow battle swoosh. I really can't play it not using opengl.

[Zaroff]

^ Agreed. It's not just the entering the battle that is slow, but about every invocation of a GF, each time. Pretty tedious after the first two times

[Treize]

^ Agreed. It's not just the entering the battle that is slow, but about every invocation of a GF, each time. Pretty tedious after the first two times

Hmm, I've never had issues when summoning GFs. What are your settings?

[asuralee90]

i got stuck at the b.garden scene too but somehow i got it fixed, but i really dont know what i did.. i saw this forum, http://forums.ngemu.com/showthread.php?t=52119. i followed what he did, by changing your fps by 50 and i played the game again and it works like magic. If you guys remember, Rinoa was actually moving on its own during that scene where she looked outside b.garden right? and after that short movie, she will then join you and i notice that you walk a bit and then slowly you start running. If your party can run in that scene then you can go out without getting stuck anymore. But if your party is still walking after the short movie then you have to load the game and start that scene again until your party can run. That's the only thing i notice when got out of that mess I HOPE IT HELPS

[bluezeak]

OpenGL and FF8

please see my earlier post on page 12 in this thread. it explains a lot:
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=435&start=110

The settings needed:

- offscreen drawing
- 32bits (only if you have garbage on sides of screen - or if you want to test to see if it makes gfx better, which it doesn't for me)

helpful settings

- special framelimiter
- framskip

NOT TO USE

- alpha multipass
- advanced blending (may work for you, usually causes bad over-contrast / too bright)

tested with no noticable effect

- special upload detection
- adjust framebuffer access
- mask bits

untested

- frame texture

I encourage others to validate my settings and let me know what you find.

OF NOTE:
When pete was coding the OpenGL plugin he had a special fix designed for FF8 - but it was only for the opening video (and maybe the other videos?). He said this game did a weird thing where it fed a contant stream of frame updates for video and that crushed the plugin. He did a special fix for this game (and other games if they did the same thing) to fix the video / mdec. So, if you've noticed when using OpenGL, the opening in FF8 plays slow (for me around 30 fps). I always thought there was an issue, and there is, but it's specific to the video, and it may just be the opening video. The 'frame texture' option may fix it.

GAME SPECIFIC ISSUES

- battle swirl - as already noted several times the battle swirl in FF8 (using the openGL plugin) is badly bugged / broken. takes ~8-10 seconds for battle to start.
- too many character on screen / people moving onto screen - I've noticed the game slows down a lot when people come onto the screen, or if there's too many people on screen. this isn't always a problem.
- moving around - the games slows down a bit for me when I've moving and the camera has to move - if I'm in an area the camera doesn't have to move, it's no prolbem. This isn't always a problem.
- outside world - slows down when cmaera is 'behind' you, not too bad when 'above' you.

Overall, openGL seems to be usable if not great - Except the battle swirl issue, which makes using it unfeasible. It's really, really too bad, because FF8 is one of the only ones I haven't played (just the first couple hours). Now that I've played with OpenGL it's almost impossible to go back to SoftGPU. I've been ruined :p.

Again - see my earlier post where I compare the plugin on fpse with using it on my computer. the issue is really with the plugin and the game I think.
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=435&start=110

Also, see my general opengl thread - see my signature for link.

[kirby]

Hi, I'm getting the same problem as Nivram on my HTC One S - black screen after the playstation logo.
I've ripped the rom from my original copy of the game. I've got FF7 to work with no problems and I've got FF8 to work on my laptop, but just not on android.
Any ideas? Thanks in advance!

[Dan89]

Hi, I'm getting the same problem as Nivram on my HTC One S - black screen after the playstation logo.
I've ripped the rom from my original copy of the game. I've got FF7 to work with no problems and I've got FF8 to work on my laptop, but just not on android.
Any ideas? Thanks in advance!

you must apply a patch for remove the original protection...check here:

http://consolecopyworld.com/psx/psx_patches.shtml

[kirby]

Thanks! I finally worked out how to get the patch working. I'd tried it before, but the .exe wouldn't work on my 64bit PC, but I found another program that patched it and it's working!

I might finally finish this game now! Now all I gotta do is work out the settings to get the audio working correctly...

[storm20200]

The next update will contain a fix that allows you to load protected games without patching them. All you need is to obtain the relevant .sbi file. If you go here and select your version of FFVIII there will be an option to download the SBI Subchannels at the top. Once you download that simply place it in the same folder as your FFVIII image and make sure it has exactly the same name, for example:

FFVIII (Disc 1) (E).bin
FFVIII (Disc 1) (E).cue
FFVIII (Disc 1) (E).sbi

Although you've fixed your issue it is something to keep in mind if you prefer not to find a patch for every protected game you own.