ff9 help and need recommandation

[pockymonster]

Hey any of u guys know whats the best setting (hardware and softwre) for playing ff9 (a great game!!)

I am runing epsxe1.4
on
celeron 500
198 MB ram
vodoo3 AGP 16 MB(with directx 8 installed)
and is using guppeteD3D

problems: screen goes all werid and fuzzy when character enters new scene, or when going to battle for a bout a few secs then the new scene loads up...(its not major but kind annoying)

in battle the special effect of the magic shows up as frames without colors....

some detalis of the background is lost
**********************************************
any suggestion on what kind of cpu and video card is best for using epsxe in general or for ff9??
thnx lots guys!!

[Neojag]

well, if ur using a voodoo use Pete's lewpy's GPU plugins and ioris spu. and FF9 is not a great game lolz :P

[vivrantpig]

wut video plugin???

[fivefeet8]

I think he meant...... Use lewpys glide pluggins since you got a voodoo 3.. here is my config of FF9 on my voodoo 5.. see if it helps..

Lewpy's Glide³ Plugin Configuration Information v1.35
-----------------------------------------------------

Computer Information
OS : Microsoft Windows 98 SE (v4.10 Build 2222)
DirectX : DirectX 8.1 installed
Processor : AMD AMD Athlon(tm) processor, 1134Mhz (1 off) (00/0642)
64kb L1-I, 64kb L1-D, 256kb L2 (on-chip)
Memory : 256Mb

Core Emulator
ePSXe : D:\EPSXE\EPSXECUTORTOOL.DLL
: 02/06/2001 22:18, 98304 bytes

*------*----------------------*---------*------------------*
| Type | Name | Version | Date |
*------*----------------------*---------*------------------*
| BIOS | SCPH1001.BIN | | 11/07/1997 05:38 |
| CDR | W9XCDRCORE | 0.0 | Plugin Not Found |
| GPU | gpupec.dll | 1.3 | 29/01/2001 00:07 |
| SPU | spuIori.dll | 1.4 | 01/09/2001 22:58 |
*------*----------------------*---------*------------------*

*-----------------------------*---------------------*
| ePSXe Configuration Item | Current Setting |
*-----------------------------*---------------------*
| Sound Enabled | Yes |
| CDDA Enabled | Yes |
| XA Enabled | Yes |
| XA Read Enabled | Yes |
| SPU IRQ Hack | Yes |
| CDROM Drive Letter | F |
| CDROM Accurate Timing | No |
| Disable CDROM Status | No |
| Disable CDROM RT Status | No |
| MDEC Enabled | Yes |
| MDEC Timing Enabled | Yes |
| SIO IRQ Always Enabled | Yes |
| Country | AutoDetect |
*-----------------------------*---------------------*

Glide³
Board : Voodoo5 (tm)
Version : 3.10.00.0674
File : C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\glide3x.dll
: 16/01/2001 12:38, 348160 bytes

*-----------------------------*---------------------*
| Plugin Configuration Item | Current Setting |
*-----------------------------*---------------------*
| Active Configuration | 1 |
| Active 3dfx Card | 1 |
| Enable HotKeys | Yes |
| Resolution | 640x480 |
| Refresh Rate | 60Hz |
| Emulate MASK Bit | Yes |
| Dynamic Texture Caching | Yes |
| Custom FrameCap | 60Hz |
| On-Screen Display | Off |
| Frame Skip | Disabled |
| FrameRate Limit | Auto |
| System Type | NTSC |
| FrameCap Method | New |
| Draw Method | Bright |
| Alpha Blending Mode | Advanced |
| Bilinear Filtering | Enabled w/o Sprites |
| Alpha Testing | Normal |
| FrameBuffer Access | Read/Write | <-- You need to mess with these settings
| Off-Screen Drawing | Full | <--
| Polygon Mode | Textured |
| Texture Windows | Enabled |
| VSync | Enabled |
| Banshee Code | Enabled |
| MDEC Format | Texture |
| Experimental Flipping | On | <------------- U need this for FF9
| Experimental Screen Sizing | Off |
| FrontBuffer Rendering Fix | Off |
| FF7 TextureWindow Fix | Off |
| DMAChain Fix | Long |
*-----------------------------*---------------------*

I think you are referring to the pixelated backgrounds or you have bilinear filtering on which makes weird cracks and stuff.. FSAA helps a lot with 2d stuff but your voodoo 3 don't got it.. That weird stuff before battles that you mention are suppose to be there.. If you set OFf screen drawing to "basic" then it won't..

[Neojag]

ups, sorry, forgot to delete Pete in the back

[pockymonster]

thnx a lot fivefeet8!!!

yeah glide is working better then pete's in terms of quilaity and rednderng..
however, i run into a new problem when using the glide,
1) all the dialog box, status windows, etc are all screwed up,
all the borders are fuzzy and the background color for the windows are not showing up..

2)the whole game is running a little slow then usual.. what option do i change to make it go faster

[fivefeet8]

could you post a screenshot of your problems.. Most likely its due to a driver problem.. Try updating your voodoo drivers.. Check if you got textured windows "enabled"... Remember to get drivers that work with Directx 8.0a if you are using Dx8.. You need to mess with those two options I arrowed on my config..

for faster speed:

framebuffer access = "write"
off screen drawing= "basic"

For full graphics effects:

leave them like I have em.. Slows down low end systems though.. On my system it doesn't.. Or not so much that I can notice.. Just mess with those two options.. Press delete while ingame and test the options out while you are playing..