Author Topic: FF8 Enhancing  (Read 222213 times)

MrAdults

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Re: STICKY: FF8 Enhancing
« Reply #125 on: 2009-05-23 11:30:07 »
I can't make a screenshot of it because it isnt actually a graphical glitch. The PSX uses a 640x480  resolution, i think. On a Televesion with a real PSX, this is fine. but on a computer with a HD screen, 640x480 is Just simply not good enough. With ePSXe or the like, you can up the resolution. just by a little bit makes it playable, but the problem with this is that the PSX doesn't know how to smoothly move Verticies, since it's never needed to, due to the low resolution. But without this knowledge, You get these awful gittery Verticies and i can't concentrate on anything else. The PC version moves the verticies 100% smoothly, and that's why i'm using it. ePSXe is also especially bad at running FF8.
I haven't ever played the PC version for reference, but I think I know what you mean. I assume bone positions get blended in fixed point on the PSX, and blocky aliasing probably hides the "space" between frames more at lower resolutions, but the finite range of motion probably becomes much more apparent at higher resolutions. Although I can't say I've ever actually noticed it as being significant when playing FF8 in ePSXe. The other thing to consider is that the emulator might just be frameskipping now and then, making animations appear far more broken up.

BlitzNCS

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Re: STICKY: FF8 Enhancing
« Reply #126 on: 2009-05-23 23:24:56 »


This is the best i can explain it. look at the soldiers right leg in both pictures. he's hardly moved at all, and a vertex on his leg like teleports up quite a lot in the space of half a second, without it moving smoothly.  the best way i can explain it is that the verticies "teleport" to the place they should be every second or so, rather than "Moving" there. I read an FAQ in the ePSXe forums, and they said this is because of "sub-pixel accuracy". its ok, until i think about it, then it's all i can think about. i guess i'll make a video if you guys still dont get me.

MrAdults

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Re: STICKY: FF8 Enhancing
« Reply #127 on: 2009-05-24 06:40:24 »
I think you are describing what I just descibed, NeoCloudstrife. :) "Sub-pixel accuracy" doesn't refer to any kind of sub-pixel rendering in your active framebuffer resolution - it just means that at higher resolutions and with non-software renderers, there is more precision at the point of the model's rasterization (given the size of the polygon on screen and/or anti-aliasing factors), and so you can see more gaps in between animation frames, where before it was hidden by a cluster of blocky pixels due to less precise rasterization.

I actually noticed the hops in animations in many of those characters in the PSX FF8 when first playing through it, they are just harder to see when obscured by blockiness. I'm mildly surprised that they would go to the trouble of adding smoother animation lerping to the PC FF8, but it's nice that they did (if they did).

Sub-pixel accuracy is kind of an incorrect term (it makes sense in a given context, but that's not the context you'd immediately think of when hearing it). I would call it "higher pixel granularity" or something.

BlitzNCS

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Re: STICKY: FF8 Enhancing
« Reply #128 on: 2009-05-24 12:23:14 »
:lol: Alright, then. thanks for clearing that up! And yeah, looks like Eidos did a MUCH better job of porting FF8 to PC than they did with FF7.

Natsuko

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Re: STICKY: FF8 Enhancing
« Reply #129 on: 2009-05-24 18:57:32 »
Is there any chance I can get help with the issue of the FF8 Configurator?  I checked back after my post and the links on his site are now broken.  I'd like to be able to start playing the game, but the music is so horrible and I'd rather not play without it.  Anyone have a clean copy of this thing?

Aurenasek116

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Re: STICKY: FF8 Enhancing
« Reply #130 on: 2009-05-24 19:51:00 »
:lol: Alright, then. thanks for clearing that up! And yeah, looks like Eidos did a MUCH better job of porting FF8 to PC than they did with FF7.

Then you clearly didn't try Pete's latest OpenGL2.0 driver. The problem you mention shows up only in the old D3D plugin.

koral

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Re: STICKY: FF8 Enhancing
« Reply #131 on: 2009-05-24 20:18:26 »
Doesn't Neo have Vista? It would explain why he was using DX, because Vista has a lot of problems with OpenGL generally.  :wink:

BlitzNCS

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Re: STICKY: FF8 Enhancing
« Reply #132 on: 2009-05-24 22:30:55 »
I do have vista. But i was using the OpenGL2.0 plugin, thats what i took the pics with. believe me, i've tried every plugin.

Natsuko

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Re: STICKY: FF8 Enhancing
« Reply #133 on: 2009-05-28 04:03:04 »
Edit: Checked on virusscan.jotti.org and virustotal.com.  Both sites report that this file seems to be a false positive when using AVG as infected with a trojan horse.
« Last Edit: 2009-05-28 04:56:30 by Natsuko »

Schmidt

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Re: STICKY: FF8 Enhancing
« Reply #134 on: 2009-05-31 22:27:45 »
Hey guys.

I've decided to get FFVIII out again thanks to the guys in work constantly talking about it. I've got a lot of useful information from this thread, so thanks a lot for the advice.

I'm almost set up now, but I'm having some issues with my 360 controller while using XBCD. The analog stick works fine in most menus and when exploring, but it's barely functional when trying to navigate through the options during a battle (Attack, GF, Magic, etc). I tried playing with the deadzone, the range and the scale but nothing seems to remedy the problem.

Has anyone else had a similar issue? And does anyone have any solutions?

Any help is much appreciated.

Edit: Nevermind, I managed to fix the issue by dropping the scale on the X axis right down.
« Last Edit: 2009-06-01 02:09:48 by Schmidt »

Viashino

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Re: STICKY: FF8 Enhancing
« Reply #135 on: 2009-06-13 00:09:09 »
I have an offer for whoever wants it, im already doing high quality models for ff7 and im going to make high quality models for 8 too if anyone interested.  If anyone wants to do a patch like that just let me know.

Juzbrig

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Re: STICKY: FF8 Enhancing
« Reply #136 on: 2009-06-17 15:07:25 »
Hi.
I've installed FF8, applied patch 1.2 and "FF8 Launcher", but I have a problem. I've got freezes every 10-15 min of playing (through "Launcher"). Freezes occur only during conversation and card games (not in combat), when they do the music keeps playing, but screen freezes (I can even hear cursor moving behind the freeze - "beep", but I can't choose anything, so it's not only the display's fault [I can't play from behind freeze]).

The only solution is alt-f4, and start over from the savepoint. I think this problem does not exist on "software render" as long as I was playing, while normal "Direct 3d" is not playable (8-bit pallet bug).

It can be anything that's causing this. Does anyone heard of the problem that I've got ? If not then it may be my PC determined.

WinXp 32bit, Athlon 3000+, GF 7600, SB X-fi


Archer Mac

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Re: STICKY: FF8 Enhancing
« Reply #137 on: 2009-06-24 19:21:00 »
I'd like to add that if anyone has problems with instruments not playing in Vista (and they sure do because of how Vista handles audio) especialy when using custom DLS (like Samuel's) there is a way to fix it by putting an "old" dmsynth.dll (aka Microsoft Synthesizer) file in the game directory. The file can be downloaded here.
I tested this on 64bit Vista and it works like a charm.
This dll file and the marvelous FF8 Launcher from magixts bring this game into the modern era,what more can a ff8 fan ask for? :)
Another addition to this issue.
With SP2 for Vista they updated the dmsynth.dll as well.The best part of it is that many games got surround sound back, and a lot of games work as they should now (if they had issues because of sound).
It also fixes the missing instruments issue in FF8 when using the "Microsoft Synthesizer" as the device which is necessary for Samuel's DLS and gives the best sound.
It's nothing new for FF8 because it worked great with the method I wrote before but just as information, another way you can get normal sound back is by installing Service Pack 2 for Vista or just using the dmsynth.dll from it.

Also, I tested it on Windows 7 RC too and it works.
If anyone wants only this dll - download here
You can put it in the game directory just like the previous, older dll that fixed the problem (I see 71 downloads, looks like it was usefull) but there is no reason to do it because the old one works just as fine.

So why would you need it? If you have sound issues with other games too and not just with FF8, this new dmsynth.dll will likely fix those problems too, on Vista and Windows 7 (currently RC status).I noticed that I got surround sound back again in all the games that didn't want to use surround in Vista and Win7 and Metal Gear Solid 2 actually starts, without sound issues+surround and is playable untill the end!
For it to work on a "global" level, you have to put the dll in C:\Windows\System32 ...the old dll there may have some protection, so you have to "own" it to delete/rename :P
« Last Edit: 2009-06-24 19:23:08 by Archer Mac »

xiraiya

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Re: STICKY: FF8 Enhancing
« Reply #138 on: 2009-07-09 06:33:03 »
Does anyone else find that FF8 slowly gets jerkier and jerkier over time of playing?

BlitzNCS

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Re: STICKY: FF8 Enhancing
« Reply #139 on: 2009-07-17 15:36:56 »
Does anyone else find that FF8 slowly gets jerkier and jerkier over time of playing?

nope, i dont find that at all. maybe its your PC.

anyway, i have a problem. i like to play FF games as i remember them, and as such, this means low resolution and software rendering. however, although software rendering maybe a lot less glitchy with models, it does annoing things to menu textures as well as some text.
Screenshot of problems
any way i can fix this without having to swith to Direct3D? (which i hate, and it ruins the experience and nostaligia for me)

Hellbringer616

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Re: STICKY: FF8 Enhancing
« Reply #140 on: 2009-07-17 18:40:17 »
Why does direct3d ruin it?

I'm planing on picking up the game, But since there seems to be a lot of unfix problems, i might hold off and just finish it on the PSX.

BlitzNCS

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Re: STICKY: FF8 Enhancing
« Reply #141 on: 2009-07-17 18:58:19 »
Why does direct3d ruin it?
because it just does. i think it tries to overcompensate for the old, oudated rendering methods, however FF8 was graphically advanced because it utilised these old methods, and so this overcompensation actually negatively effects stuff. for instance, with direct3D, the Models just seems a bit off. i cant really explain it, but its like the models are trying to be "lit" by special smoothing methods or something. that and it ruins the textures. it blurs them to make it look "smoother", but because FF8 is an old game, the textures are relatively pixellated. this looks fine normally, but when it's blurred, it loses its effect. in fact, world maps look APPALLING, simply because it smooths everything wrong. FF8's smoothing was more to do with the textures, but direct3D doesnt roll like that. the only issue i have with software rendering is that for some reason it glitches up some textures, not model textures, but BG and menu.

Andryuha

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Re: STICKY: FF8 Enhancing
« Reply #142 on: 2009-07-23 01:40:26 »
Hello, guys.
I have a problem with Final Fantasy VIII (PC).
When use Hardware rendering there are no that lines when summoning Diablos:

Should be like this (Software mode):

How can I fix it? I've already tried FF8 launcher, and different drivers (from catalyst 6.12 to 9.2) - no help :(
My video card is Sapphire Radeon 9600pro advance 256MB.
« Last Edit: 2009-07-23 01:42:28 by Andryuha »

BlitzNCS

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Re: STICKY: FF8 Enhancing
« Reply #143 on: 2009-07-23 13:55:18 »
both hardware AND software rendering have their downsides. and it's different on every graphics card too, i think. i cant get either of them to work like i want them to...
i think it's better to just stick with software rendering unfortunately, unless theres some sort of fix with FF8 launcher that works for you.

drfeelgud88

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Re: STICKY: FF8 Enhancing
« Reply #144 on: 2009-07-25 08:47:13 »
i just got my copy of ff8 today (thank you ebay  :lol:)... so i wanna know, wut mods are there for this game? and how do u make them work?

BlitzNCS

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Re: STICKY: FF8 Enhancing
« Reply #145 on: 2009-07-25 11:26:05 »
to be honest, aside from the save game editors and the 3D avatar mod made by Rinoa, not much at all, really.
of course there's a couple of High-res launchers and what have we, those are listed on the first page of this thread.

...unless FF8 launcher isn't, in which case, search for that.

seifertemp

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Re: STICKY: FF8 Enhancing
« Reply #146 on: 2009-07-26 23:45:40 »
Whilst the soundfont is much better than what it started with, it is still not anywhere near PSF quality in terms of original PSX sound.

Is there no one working on some kind of FF8music?

The good news is, the FF8 movies are much better quality than the PSX ones and enlarging them and enhancing them will be a much easier and much better outcome than the FF7 movies.

That all depends on aali creating a driver for ff8 in same way as 7.  I will be ready if that day arrives :) 
« Last Edit: 2009-07-26 23:58:37 by seifertemp »

seifertemp

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Re: STICKY: FF8 Enhancing
« Reply #147 on: 2009-07-26 23:59:00 »
sent twice
« Last Edit: 2009-07-30 15:47:29 by seifertemp »

falkTX

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Re: STICKY: FF8 Enhancing
« Reply #148 on: 2009-07-30 08:22:01 »
Sorry for being a newbie here, but how do I change the resolution for FF8?

Mazrim Taim

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Re: STICKY: FF8 Enhancing
« Reply #149 on: 2009-08-18 18:19:54 »
Hey any chance of some one reposting the links on the first page? They're pretty much all down as is the soundfont projects site.