Author Topic: FF7 8-Bit Test fails (Read 5858 times)

twitch · « **on:** 2005-08-20 16:50:57 »

Help... I cant pass the 8-bit test...
My pc specs:

Pentium 4 3.0 Ghz
512mb Ram
Intel(R) 82915G Express chipset family

FF7 won't support my stupid intergrated card. I'm playing in software mode now. The graphis are decent, but i need more... :isee:

Mod Edit: Split from this topic and moved to Game Tweaking.

James Pond · « **Reply #1 on:** 2005-08-20 17:09:53 »

*Sigh*

From the topic at the very top of this forum

Quote

Don't resurrect old topics. When people stop posting in a topic, it's usually a sign that everything of value has been said. Thus, if nobody's posted in a topic for more than a week or two, consider it dead and don't post in it (unless you have an important follow-up or question exactly on-topic, and the topic is still recent). If you post just a comment on something somebody said ... chances are no-one will care because it's been a while since everything was posted.

Notice the date on the last post. 2003.

and for your problem, i dont know. Sorry.

Threesixty · « **Reply #2 on:** 2005-08-22 18:07:46 »

Nothing you can do with an Intel video. If you had a Nvidia, you could use the TNT patch. Well.... I guess you can still use the TNT patch for the Intel, but I don't know what the results are going to be. I guess it should work. All the TNT patch is really for is to bypass the 8bit pallet. Replaces FAIL with a bunch of lines.

jamesyfx · « **Reply #3 on:** 2005-08-22 20:48:55 »

You know, I have an nvidia, yet the game fails to load at all when it's on Nvidia mode. With all the patches on etc.

Odd, but thats what happens.

Threesixty · « **Reply #4 on:** 2005-08-22 21:15:46 »

Not really odd.... being that Nvidia, until recently had the 8 bit pallet enabled. The full patch won't work if the 8 bit pallet says PASS it must say FAIL. Maybe you weren't using the newest drivers.

Nvidia didn't always get the 8 bit pallet thing right, if it so happened to be a driver where they got it right, then all you would need from the TNT patch is the FF7config.exe file and not to check any of the Nvidia options, and not copy over the new FF7.exe from the patch. However if they got it wrong (the 8 bit pallet was enabled, but broken)...you'ld see the game run, but the backgrounds looked a mess.

The only reason you needed the FF7config.exe file from the TNT patch was because it would allow you to choose the 3d acceleration option. The orginal FF7config.exe that's in the game...does some kind of check that for whatever reason the new cards fail at...so it omits the 3d option from being a selectable thing. Anyway...that's probably the reason why you couldn't get it to work when you had a Nvidia card.... You just didn't know the in's and out's.

Heh...the secondary option was to use Rivatuner in disabling the 8 bit pallet textures, and then you could use the full patch, like you can with the most recent drivers....(until they re-enable them again...then we are back to where we were before...maybe it'll work...maybe it won't)

jamesyfx · « **Reply #5 on:** 2005-08-22 21:39:17 »

It doesnt say pass OR fail.. it just shows "---"

:erm:

And I cant use the latest drivers, as they dont work with beloved Half Life 2.

twitch · « **Reply #6 on:** 2005-08-23 09:19:59 »

I tried that patch. Tried the TNT mode. The graphis became worse. There were ugly lines. Uh well, maybe I'm stuck in software mode.

Threesixty · « **Reply #7 on:** 2005-08-23 17:48:27 »

...looks like the new drivers are 77.77.
When I last tried this it wasn't with that driver. I think it was with the ones before that....77.72? maybe? I don't know if the 77's have the 8 bit thing enabled or disabled in it. Guess I'll have to find out and see.... if it messes up my card, too. Maybe later, though.

I'm using a 6600GT PCI-E card, so the results may be different with different model cards. But the way my PC is set up currently, FF7 plays fine. I'm fairly sure I'm using the 72's but I'm not positive.... I'm not on my computer right now to find out.

As for the "----" thing for the Test... you just skimmed my last post, didn't you. That's the bypass. Uncheck the main Nvida option and then see what it says. The Nvidia option is the Bypass toggle. If you enable the Nvidia option and use the old FF7.exe... the game will crash, because the toggle is telling the program to search for some code that doesn't exist in the orginal FF7.exe.

As for the line problem.... That's the problem...that has plagued FF7 since the G3 was introduced and since they re-enabled the 8-bit pallet in their drivers. That what I meant by the backgrounds looking a mess. Back in the Geforce2 days....when this game was released... The 8-bit pallet in those Det drivers was disabled, which is why the TNTpatch came into existance.

Oh..another thing that can cause those lines...is Antialasing, if you have it forced onto something. I have it set by application on my PC.

twitch · « **Reply #8 on:** 2005-08-24 05:17:21 »

How do you set the antialasing settings? Where do I find this application to control it?

jamesyfx · « **Reply #9 on:** 2005-08-24 15:40:54 »

Thats within the nVidia Forceware settings.

If you have all the utilities installed, then

R. Click on Desktop -> nVidia Display -> (Analog Display)

Then click "Performance & Quality Settings" from the bit on the right, and the first option under Global Driver Settings should say "Antialiasing Settings".

If you want to stop it being forced on, just check "Application-Controlled", if you DO want it forced on, Uncheck that box, and change the slider to 2x or something.

... if you don't have that utility installed, then I dunno. :p

Threesixty · « **Reply #10 on:** 2005-08-24 16:58:51 »

Well, if he has to ask...it's should be set to application controlled by default.

Anyway, I'm out of ideas. If you're getting grid lines and such, about the only thing you can do is keep switching drivers and hope you get lucky. Just keep in mind the two ways of getting hardware mode to work.

1. If the 8 bit pallet says Pass. You either have to disable it thru Rivatuner (To where it say's FAIL), and install the Full TNT patch and check the Nvidia options.

2. OR...You need to copy over *only* the FF7config.exe from the TNT patch, and don't ever select any of the Nvidia Options. If you don't follow those rules...the game isn't going to run. Or it may run, but with black backgrounds.

3. If it says FAIL...well it's the same as 1, but without the use of Rivatuner. Install the whole TNT patch and select the Nvidia options.

Those are the guidelines.

There is an extra step for #2....if you're getting a layering problem in the background (everything looks garbled up, and the menus have lines thru them...like a grid that's not aligned). That the Copy and Paste thing that's in the FF7FAQ sticky thread. I had luck with it with a few drivers.