Black screen on starting FFIX

[Shadow Mint]

My config is at the end of this post. Basically I just got a copy of FFIX from a friend and I'm trying to give it a shot using ePsxe. No luck though.

Basically the emulator seems to just hang on the starting of the first CD. I've tried burning an iso and using that, but still the same problem.

Literally what happens is the emu opens a window (or enters full screen mode, depends on config) and then...nothing. It just sits there with a black screen. If there is a CD in the drive and I use that (ie. rather than an iso copy) there is periodic CD access for about 3 minutes then that stops too.

Any suggestions on this? To make sure (this is being done with the brand new downloaded today versions of epsxe and plugins) I tried chrono cross and grandia 2; both work fine, both iso and cd.

I've tired disabling sound, and that doesnt seem to be the problem. I have also tried various setting with the D3D diver as well as the opengl one. I'm stumped. I'm running a japanese version of windows 98SE, if that makes any difference.

Any ideas?

Plugin: Pete's OpenGL Driver 1.1.72
Author: Pete Bernert
Card vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
GFX card: GeForce4 MX 440/AGP/3DNOW!

Resolution/Color:
- 640x480 Window mode
[32 Bit]- Keep psx aspect ratio: off

Textures:
- R8G8B8A8
- Filtering: 5
- Hi-Res textures: 0
- VRam size: 0 MBytes

Framerate:
- FPS limitation: off
- Frame skipping: off
- FPS limit: Auto

Compatibility:
- Offscreen drawing: 3
- Framebuffer texture: 2
- Framebuffer access: 3
- Alpha multipass: on
- Mask bit: on
- Advanced blending: on

Misc:
- Scanlines: off
- Line mode: off
- Unfiltered FB: off
- 15 bit FB: off
- Dithering: off
- Screen smoothing: off
- Screen cushion: off
- Game fixes: on [00000200]

Edit - Looked in forum history under FF9, FFIX and black screen. Nothing useful I could see regarding this (my drivers are new, and the problem is specific to FFIX, which works fine (and my cdrom can read OK (iso burn is fine))).

[Kane]

My guess: You are using a PAL version of the game
Either enable Subchannel reads, or get the appropriate patch

[FLaMMiE]

I can't seem to find the patch for FFIX... A URL perhapps?

[Kane]

The only url I remember for this I can't give you.
Try using subchannel reads.

[FLaMMiE]

Ok, got the patch... got latest pete D3D driver. It's probably a setting problem...

Settings are almost identical to Shadow Mint's... Althogh I have the original FFIX...

[project-china]

There must be something wrong with your SYStem or your iso. FF9 runs fine on my old old old CEleron 366
If your the iso works on your friends computer,YOU should check your computer configration (I think the EPSXE should displayed something anyway if your computer is OK)

[Kazuya Mishima]

Have you enabled autoload ppf patch in epsxe and set the patch in the proper folder?

[DontBeAfraid]

I have the ntsc version and i was getting stuck at the black screen too. Howver i found 2 ways to get around it in this forum

1. turn off frame limiting in petes plugin and then manually turn it back on once you're past the black screen.

2. turn off frame limiting and use eternal Spu sound plugin and set it to SPUasync - wait.



I tried turning on subchannels and making subchannel files and ppf files but none worked. I cant use the eternal plugin cause it causes my sound to stutter too much so i just manually turn the FL on in game.