Lightning Framebuffer Effects not showing..? and FF8Play.exe

[Moonknight]

Yes I have a Radeon 9600 PRO card and using Direct3D Mode in FF8 I get no lightning effects like when a cockatrice does electric discharge, or when Diablos does his Dark MEssenger his arm has lightning bolt type things glowing into the ball of darkness and a bunch explode upon its hitting... in software rendering it works fine but the game looks like outright crap. Does anyone know a way to fix this issue? Also for some reason I am getting checkerboard type cutting of polygons now after changing video drivers, I changed back but still the same problem.. maybe someone knows about that (Probably not...?)

and one more thing:
Final Fantasy 8 Configurators FF8Play.exe does NOT load the game properly, it will load ff8.exe but the game wont go, it loads a black screen and locks up The creator email directed me to these forums.

[Darkdevil]

All I can suggest is update the drivers.  Im using a standard 9600 and it runs likea dream.  more than can be said for 7 though ¬_¬

[Moonknight]

Ive tried upgrading and downgrading, it might be directx 9.0b maybe? or i just got screwed on the 9600pro i have from a taiwanese company named GeCube.... heh

[Cyberman]

Ive tried upgrading and downgrading, it might be directx 9.0b maybe? or i just got screwed on the 9600pro i have from a taiwanese company named GeCube.... heh

Does ATI have diagnostic software available for the card? IE querry the card get it's information see what it REALLY is etc.  One other thought, you might have T & L or something turned off. Look for option controls on your driver and play with ones that relate to it.

Cyb