Hello.
This is my first time for Final Fantasy VIII on the PC, I've played the game a lot on Playstation 1 when I was a child.
# Hardware
Desktop PC
Windows 7 Professional 64bit
GeForce 1030 GT
# Used copy of the game
PC Version from 2000, german localisation, CDROM (1 Installer disc and 3 game discs, original discs, not burned or something).
# What I want
I want to have the PC game similar to the Playstation 1 Version. No new graphics, no hardcore mods etc.
# First try
## Vanilla Install from CDROM
The game starts correctly and I can play it.
### Issues
- The sound is not the original Playstation 1 Sound, but Roses and Wines fixes that.
- The graphics are broken (horizontal and vertical lines everywhere.
- The game runs to fast (Squall moves much faster compared to the Playstation 1 version etc. [FPS to high?]
## Installing Wines and Roses
- Sound files are fixed and the game still runs.
## Patching
I downloaded the "FF8 1.2 Patch for Geforce Users" of Squaresoft from here:
http://ffsf.aaron-kelley.net/downloads/ff8_1.2G.zip I copied the three files of Square Softs 1.2 patch into the installion directory and replaced the original files.
I ran EAXUnified.exe
Output after 100% progress bar window was: "EAX[tm] Unified already installed".
## Starting the game for the second time since fresh installation
I ran FF8.exe
Got a black screen then an error, the game crashes:
Problemsignatur:
Problemereignisname: APPCRASH
Anwendungsname: FF8.exe
Anwendungsversion: 0.0.0.0
Anwendungszeitstempel: 38ee7395
Fehlermodulname: FF8.exe
Fehlermodulversion: 0.0.0.0
Fehlermodulzeitstempel: 38ee7395
Ausnahmecode: c0000005
Ausnahmeoffset: 00097814
Betriebsystemversion: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.48
Gebietsschema-ID: 1031
Zusatzinformation 1: 930b
Zusatzinformation 2: 930b2568ce0cdfeab7f6961e546ffa14
Zusatzinformation 3: 2f1e
Zusatzinformation 4: 2f1efd8df19691d86a4c2e1d2a03d21b
# Second try
## Cleanup (just to be sure)
I uninstalled Final Fantasy VIII and manually removed all leftover directories of the previous installation:
-> C:\Program Files (x86)\Eidos Interactive\
-> C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files (x86)\Eidos Interactive\
# Same procedere: fresh install with CDROM, but this time I did not install Wines and roses.
# Result: same error.
# Third try
## Cleanup
## Installation
I made a clean install with CDROM.
## Patching
I downloaded the "FF8 1.2 Patch for Geforce Users" of Squaresoft from here:
http://ffsf.aaron-kelley.net/downloads/ff8_1.2G.zip I copied the three files of Square Softs 1.2 patch into the installion directory and replaced the original files.
I ran EAXUnified.exe
Output after 100% progress bar window was: "EAX[tm] Unified already installed".
## Fixing the graphic issues
I downloaded Aalis custom graphics driver for FF7/FF8 [v0.8.1b] from here:
https://mega.co.nz/#!SwQCTZwR!6TMWPrJ-6O8qDBzsVZ4jFFObssgzEM7wRES9Efgoe10 (It is linked in the forum here:
https://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?&topic=14922.0)
I copied the unpacked files of Aalis custom graphics driver into the installation directory.
I opened the ff8_opengl.cfg file, but did not change anything in it, I just took a look and closed it.
## Starting the game for the first time since this third fresh installation
I ran FF8.exe
The screen turns black.
Then I get an error:
Error
Oops! Something very bad happend
Wrote crahs.dmp to FF8 install dir.
Please provide a copy of it along with APP.LOG when reporting this error.
After I click OK, the windows APPCRASH error appears again.
Content of C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files (x86)\Eidos Interactive\Square Soft, Inc\FINAL FANTASY VIII\app.log:
[00000000] INFO: FF7/FF8 OpenGL driver version 0.8.1b
[00000000] INFO: Auto-detected version: FF8 1.2 US English (Nvidia)
[00000000] INFO: NVIDIA Corporation NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030/PCIe/SSE2 4.6.0 NVIDIA 473.81
[00000000] INFO: OpenGL 2.0 support detected
[00000000] INFO: Using PBO
[00000000] INFO: Found swap_control extension
[00000000] INFO: Max texture size: 32768x32768
[00000000] INFO: Original resolution 640x480, window size 1920x1200, output resolution 1600x1200, internal resolution 1920x1440
[00000000] INFO: Shader limits: varying 124, vert uniform 4096, frag uniform 4096
[00000001] MATRIX INITIALIZE
[00000001] INITIALIZING SOUND...
[00000001] initializing direct sound
[00000001] EAXDirectSoundCreate
[00000001] creating primary buffer
[00000001] initializing audio data
[00000001] OK
[00000001] initializing streaming
[00000001] SOUND INITIALIZED
[00000001] DIRECT MUSIC - Enumerating Ports...
[00000001] PORT 0: Microsoft MIDI Mapper [Emuliert]
[00000001] GUID={0xd840ae20,0xd773,0x4698,0x8a,0x1,0x46,0xcb,0xbc,0x7a,0xbd,0xe}
[00000001] PORT 1: Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth [Emuliert]
[00000001] GUID={0xb95411db,0x4e1b,0x40cc,0xbc,0x8c,0xd4,0x31,0x5,0x73,0xb0,0xe5}
[00000001] PORT 2: Microsoft Synthesizer
[00000001] GUID={0x58c2b4d0,0x46e7,0x11d1,0x89,0xac,0x0,0xa0,0xc9,0x5,0x41,0x29}
[00000001] Creating Port1...
[00000001] [00000001] Microsoft Synthesizer[00000001]
[00000001] Port1 supports XG data
[00000002] ERROR: COULD NOT OPEN FILE c:\ff8\data\eng\menu\sysfnt.TEX
[00000002] ERROR: COULD NOT LOAD TEXTURE DATA FILE c:\ff8\data\eng\menu\sysfnt.TEX
[00000002] ERROR: COULD NOT LOAD TEXTURE DATA FILE c:\ff8\data\eng\menu\sysfnt.tim
[00000002] ERROR: unhandled exception
This is the first time something was written into the app.log file.
A file called crash.dmp was created, it has binary content (how can I attach it to this post?).
Same procedere without installing the patch gave me an error message, that tells me to install the patch first.
PS:
I have read here:
https://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?&topic=11992.msg172752#msg172752 to not use Aali's eax.dll. So I deleted it, but the game just keep crashing.
There is a problem with the Patch in the first place, probably the custom driver would work, if the patch would...
PPS: Please do not reccomend to buy the game on Steam, I wont do that. But I would buy it DRM and (Valve)Spy-free on GOG:
https://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/final_fantasy_viii 
