PC Gamer 2000 January #2

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Text File | 1999-10-25 | 13.0 KB | 288 lines

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. ************************************************************