FF8 not starting under direct3d only software renderer. Just crashes to desktop

[Skull_X21]

Can anyone help me with my graphics, I cant get direct3d option to work, I am just alittle confused. I can only run FF8 under the software renderer which I think might be causeing some minor frame skips during battles and gf scenes. When I try direct3d acc. it just gives me a quick black screen and crashes, I tried compatability mode for 95,98, and 2000 but they dont work and 98 will start it up but only a black screen no sound and i think it just freezes. I have directx 9.0c and win xp. My laptop in an ibm thinpad x21 with ati rage mobilitly-m agp 4mb graphics card. I came about getting the ff8 pc version cause it looked alot better than running ff on epsxe emulator plus the cool mods. But anyway please help, thanks

[jeffdamann]

Can anyone help me with my graphics, I cant get direct3d option to work, I am just alittle confused. I can only run FF8 under the software renderer which I think might be causeing some minor frame skips during battles and gf scenes. When I try direct3d acc. it just gives me a quick black screen and crashes, I tried compatability mode for 95,98, and 2000 but they dont work and 98 will start it up but only a black screen no sound and i think it just freezes. I have directx 9.0c and win xp. My laptop in an ibm thinpad x21 with ati rage mobilitly-m agp 4mb graphics card. I came about getting the ff8 pc version cause it looked alot better than running ff on epsxe emulator plus the cool mods. But anyway please help, thanks

Good God man my cell phone has more power than that laptop. The system is probably the problem.

64 mb Ram? 4mb GPU? 700 Mhz Cpu? Thats pretty ancient dude.

[Skull_X21]

 Lol yea I know tell me about it. It a p3 700mhz with 4mb ati rage mobility-m agp graphics. It has 128mb memory and I can put in my other 128 to make 256mb, dont know if that might help. But ya 4mb graphics isnt much at all compared to those with at least 8mb or even 16mb graphics. But it is actualy decent wt running FF8 and other games from around the 1990's to 2000. Windows sticker on it says made for 98. But I am abit of a computer tech so I put tiny xp on it. Save alot of ram and space. My directx works on other games so its abit strange why it wont on this one. Maybe i'll stick in the exrta 128mb memory since I guess it might be a not enough mem issue and maybe thats why it crashes. Idk

[Covarr]

Jeff, a computer from 2001 is more than enough to run FF8. I was able to run it just fine on my P2-350MHz with otherwise similar specs back in the day. Keep in mind the game is even older, and DESIGNED for computers that age.

I'd be willing to bet TinyXP is the problem. What you could try is updating your DirectX, but you really might need to switch to an official Windows install, TinyXP is so stripped down that it's missing a ton.

[jeffdamann]

LMAO I failed so hard here. Totally was not realizing FF8's release date in conjunction with the PC Specs.

[Skull_X21]

 Ya tiny xp comes with directx 9.0c. I tried updating it but didnt work. Cant find a way to uninstall it and go with directx 8 or other version. Tinyxp works great on this older laptop because my hdd is only 6gb. My ff8 version takes 2gb, windows takes about 700mb striped. Regular windows takes about 2gb, so I would be left with.... 2gb free space for programs and such. I do however have an external hdd with 320gb. I use a pagefile for performance but I know xp is concitered bloatware and can be slow on full install versions. It looks like ill have to install a full version though. I just need to know if running directx3d instead of software rendering will increase the performace and fix the frame skipping. If so would it be better for me to run 98se instead of xp, would that be even better too?

[sl1982]

Running openGL is better then either of those. But I am not sure if your card will handle aali's driver.

[Skull_X21]

 I have used opengl before with worse performance, It was on linux though. I tried using aalis driver but couldnt understand what settings to change. I have just tried restoring some services and features back to my xp but now the ff8 config window will not come up. So Im gonna try an switch to 98se. It seems no one likes the software renderer so i'll try doin that.

[Skull_X21]

 update: Tryied win98se but the version of FF8 is FF8 reloaded and says extended edition which did not support 98. So I went to A full version of XP but Directx crashes upon startup of FF. DX dialog says all is fine. FF8 config tests direct3d and says 8bit paletted textures fail, everything else passes. In the FF launcher it has a 8bit paletted fix but still crashes so I guess as far as I know I cant use direct3d. Maybe someone can give me a good fix or explain alittle more about aalis driver install if possible