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- FINAL FANTASY(R) VIII Demo README file
- ======================================
-
- **NOTE: THIS GAME IS UNDER DEVELOPMENT.**
- There will be NO TECHNICAL SUPPORT offered for this demo.
- For further information on the game, please go to
- www.ff8pc.com or www.squaresoft.com.
-
- Table of Contents
- -----------------
- 1. Minimum System Requirements/Recommended System Requirements
- 2. Installation Process
- 3. Game Commands and Controls
- 4. Direct/X
- 5. Video Cards
- 6. Known Problems
- 7. Troubleshooting
-
- **************************************************************
- 1. Minimum System Requirements
- ===========================
-
- -Pentium 200 or equivalent with a Direct3D-compatible 3D
- accelerator (Recommended Pentium 266MHz)
- -Software Rendering: Pentium II 266MHz with 32 MB RAM
- -8 MB 3D accelerator (Recommended 16 MB) or
- 4 MB Video Card (Software Rendering)
- -32 MB RAM (Recommended 64MB RAM)
- -Windows 95 (Recommended Win 98)
- -DirectX 6.1
- -75 MB of Hard Drive Space and 50MB free hard disk space to be used as
- a swap file (125MB total).
-
- ***************************************************************
- 2. Installation
- ============
-
- Just double click on the Setup icon, to begin your
- installation of Final Fantasy VIII Demo. The Final Fantasy VIII
- install program will walk you through the process. Simply
- select where you want the program to be installed on your hard
- drive, and then you will be ready to play the Demo. By default,
- FFVIII Demo will be3 installed in the Program File, Square Soft,
- inc, Final Fantasy VIII.The install will automatically set your
- initial configuration to Quarter Screen, and Low Resolution . If
- you wish to change this you must first go into the Configuration
- screen on your startbar, or your Final Fantasy VIII Demo folder.
- See config section in the Game Controls Section. After the game
- is installed on your machine please make sure that your monitor is
- running in high color (16 bit).
-
- ***************************************************************
- 3. Game Commands and Controls
- ==========================
-
- **************************************************************
- * BOOST *
- * This is an added feature for when you are summoning a *
- * Guardian Force. If your GF has learned the Boost ability, *
- * then, as it is being summoned, hit the 'F' key on your *
- * keyboard, and you will see a finger and numbers on the *
- * lower right hand side of your screen. Continue to hold *
- * down 'F', then hit the 'A' button, and the numbers will *
- * increase. This is actually increasing the damage your GF *
- * will do to the enemy. When you see the red 'X' appear, do *
- * not press'F' or your number will go back to the original *
- * amount. *
- **************************************************************
-
- When you are on the Field (anytime you are notin battle),
- your controls will be as follows:
- -Directional Keys allows you to run in the direction
- of the corresponding key.
- -'X' allows you to talk to any characters, or confirm a
- command.
- -'W' allows you to walk if you hold this button while pressing
- a directional key (the game is currently set to auto-run).
- This key also allows you to Cancel out of an option.
- -'A' allows you to talk to other characters in the game.
- -'D' brings up the in-game menu.
- -Pressing 'Alt+F4' will exit you out of the game.
- ______________________________________________________________
- Here is a list of the controls that you will use in battle:
-
- -'X' allows you to confirm the action that you have chosen
- as your move.
- -'W' cancels your last choice of action before it has
- been finalized in battle.
- -'A' allows you to view the current status of your party
- members (i.e. if they have been poisoned, put to sleep, etc.).
- -'D' allows you to switch characters while you are in battle.
- -'Q' allows you to bring up a target select window.
- To utilize this, you must first select an attack,
- and then press 'Q'. You will then get a pop-up box for the
- characters whom you are targeting.
- -'E' is your trigger button. You use this during Squall's limit
- break to add more power to his attack. You can also use
- this on Squall's normal attack; if it is timed correctly, you
- will see an explosion, and it will take away more HP from
- target.
- -'Z' and 'C' held down simultaneously allow you to escape
- from battle.
-
- ***********************************************************
- * If you are using a gamepad, please look at your FFVIII *
- * Configuration, and then go to the Input page. Here you *
- * will find your button assignments for the game. *
- ***********************************************************
- _______________________________________________________________
- Final Fantasy VIII Demo Config Controls
- =======================================
-
- -To find your FFVIII config, look in your start bar after the
- game has been installed. You can also find it in your Final
- Fantasy VIII game folder. When you first bring this up, you
- will see your current settings on the first page. If
- anything is not set up to your liking, then choose the section
- that you need. The three sections of the config are:
-
- =Graphics. This shows your primary video card, as well as any
- other cards you may have in your system. You will see:
-
- The current renderer: This allows you to change between
- Software and Hardware rendering. If your machine is close to,
- but not below the minimum requirements for the game, then you
- may want to make sure that you are running in Quarter Screen,
- and select movie resolution. You will be unable to
- choose high resolution movies when you are playing in Quarter Screen;
- this option is only allowed when you are playing in Full
- Screen.
-
- Performance Options section: The only option that affects
- the demo is, the No Field Bilinear Filtering, this option
- only affects the game if you are running in hardware.
-
- Graphics Configuration screen: You will see a test that has
- been run on your PC. If any one of these fields fails, we can
- not guarantee that the game will run at peak performance. You
- may experience some graphics problems due to your particular
- video card. If so, please contact your video card manufacturer for
- the latest driver.
-
- =Sound. This section has information about your sound card.
- In the test section, you can test your sound from both
- speakers, and then individually, from left to right.
- On this page, you can adjust minor sound issues to increase
- the performance of your game, but be warned, you may lose
- music quality. you can turn on/off the Reverb as well as the
- chorus. If you have more then one Software Synthesizer,
- installed you can change the setting in the Midi Port section.
-
- =Input. Here you can choose between using your keyboard or
- an actual gamepad as your controller. You can even adjust
- your game controls from here. If you are playing with a
- gamepad, this section will tell you your control configuration.
- ***************************************************************
- 4. DirectX
- ========
-
- This version of Final Fantasy VIII requires DirectX 6.1 or
- higher. Visit www.microsoft.com/directX for the current version
- of DirectX.
-
- ***************************************************************
- 5. Video Cards
- ===========
-
- Supported Video Cards
- ---------------------
- 1. Nvidia TNT & TNT2
- 2. 3dfx Voodoo 2 & 3
- 3. Millenium G200, G400
- 4. Guillemot Maxi Gamer Phoenix 2.
- 5. Stealth II G460
-
- Video cards that can run the game, but may have Graphical issues
- ------------------------------------------------------------
- 1. Diamond Stealth S540: this card has problems with
- flashing poly's in the Field, and minor clipping of
- characters. When the spell 'blind' is cast, the textures
- necessary for it are somewhat blocky. Don't worry; these
- should be fixed in the full version.
- 2. Savage 3d Hercules Terminator Beast: this card experiences
- some minor issues. Once in a while, you will see flashing
- textures. This normally occurs when the player sees smoke
- in the game.
- 3. Elsa Winner II-(Savage 4 Chipset): this card may have minor
- problems drawing out some textures. There may also be some
- pixel shifting with this chipset.
- 4. Diamond Monster Fusion: this card may have minor graphic
- corruption with with menu boxes.
- 5. Voodoo 1: this card may have minor drop out of textures or
- pallettes, during battle.
-
- Cards not being supported for this Demo
- ---------------------------------------
- **Note: This does not mean that these cards will not be
- supported in the Full version of the game. These
- cards are not compatible for this demo.
-
- 1. S3 Virge chipset
- 2. Matrox chipset, pre G200
- 3. ATI Rage IIC
-
- ***************************************************************
- 6. Known Problems and Other Issues
- ===============================
- 1. You are able to customize your controls in the
- Controller Config section of the game, but the buttons
- may come out wrong. As long as the you play with the
- Default keys, you should have no problems. This also
- occurs in the button config, in the menu.
-
- 2. Nvidia video cards sometimes experience some texture shifting.
-
- SOLUTION: 1. Go to your Control Panel
- 2. Select Setting and select Advanced Options
- 3. You will see a tab, reading "(your card) Control"
- 4. Select 'Tab' or 'Advanced tab'
- 5. Set you textures and alignment
-
- 3. Experience Points and Spells (DISABLED)
- The Final Fantasy VIII battle engine is based on a tiered level sytem
- which allows the enemies to become stronger as the character's level
- increase. As your characters reach certain predetermined levels, the
- enemies encountered will become physically stronger and have a new
- assortment of spells based on your level. For example: When you
- characters are at Level 10, the T-Rexaur has 11,000 HP and the spells
- Fire and Thunder. When you reach Level 20, the T-Rexaur has 13,000 HP
- and the spells Fira and Thundara. This allows for increased
- difficulty in the game as well as opening up new options for the
- player.
-
- For the purposes of the Demo, this feature has been disabled
- and a cap has has been placed on your characters. When the characters
- reach Level 16, they will no longer be able to acquire EXP or raise
- their levels.
-
- 4. AP Points and GF Abilities (DISABLED)
- All AP points normally acquired after successfully finishing a battle
- have been disabled in this Demo. The player will not receive any AP
- towards GF abilities that have not been already learned and the 'Ability'
- Option in the menu will be disabled.
-
- ***************************************************************
- 7. Troubleshooting
- ===============
-
- Q: I seem to be having a problem with slow frame rates when I am
- drawing from a character, when I use high-level magic, or at
- the end of a battle. How do I fix this problem?
- A: You may have a lower specification or a low MB video card.
- To fix this situation, exit the game and go into FFVIII
- config. Change your screen size to Quarter screen size and
- low-resolution. If you are using a faster machine and do not
- want to play in the Quarter Screen size, first change the
- resolution to low or disable the performance options.
-
- Q: The shadows of my characters do not seem correct, or are
- blocky textures. Can I fix this problem?
- A: The answer is yes! You may be using an older version of
- the drivers for your video card. Connect to your card
- manufacturer's website and download the latest drivers.
- After this, your textures should be smooth. If your textures
- are still blocky, and pallettes are dropping out, you might
- want to try running the demo in Software Renderer.
-
- Q: When I am playing the game, my sound sometimes pauses. What
- is wrong?
- A: Your PC may not have the minimum requirements to run the
- game in full-screen mode. You may want to change this in the
- Final Fantasy VIII configuration screen. Try Quarter screen
- and; this may allow the game to run smoothly, and the pauses in
- the sound should be fixed.
-
- Q: When watching movies, my sound sometimes skip. How do I
- resolve this problem?
- A: Your PC may not meet our minimum requirements to run the
- movies at high resolution or full screen. Go to the
- config screen and either lower the movie resolution and/or the
- screen size.
-
- ***********************************************************
- Legal:
- (C)1999, 2000 Square Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. FINAL
- FANTASY, SQUARESOFT, and the SQUARESOFT logos are registered
- trademarks of Square Co., Ltd.
- ************************************************************