Final Fantasy VIII (8) Mega Compatibility Technique Thread Type X50388

[TwistedHope]

Joined the forums just to post:
Running 3.10 OE-A firmware with same issues as everyone else. The freezes seem *almost* random to me. I don't think that it's ever froze up when walking outside of a battle - I believe it only freezes in battle. It may be related to draw, but I've had it happen when about to perform Zell's special and other various times. Let's try and keep this threat alive until a solution is found =D. I wish there were a way to force a save at anytime during the game (like an emulator would) because this freeze issue wouldn't bother me so much then -- could just save after each battle.

[Narcotize]

Has this been resolved now with 3.3/3.4OE??

Lol, yes, lets keep this threat alive!

[ScaryBugThing]

Has this been resolved now with 3.3/3.4OE??

Lol, yes, lets keep this threat alive!

Wow, I forgot all about this thread after I started it and nobody posted--glad I'm not the only FFVIII player trying to get this to work. I'll try to keep the karma going well and update everyone on what I've accomplished so far.

Basically, I'm running 3.10 OE-A' and on Disc 3, and I've basically figured out how to crash it.

Guide to Crashing FFVIII on the PSP:

Normal battles: You need to draw and cast magic in the same battle. This also works in combination with the enemies techniques--if you draw, and they then use magic, it can still freeze.

Normal battles against lots of high-polygon or BIG enemies, and Boss Battles: Same as normal, but will also crash sometimes without warning when enemy uses specific magic or special attacks, even if you haven't drawn.

NOTE: I never use magic during boss battles. Just GFs, and draw when they have new GFs to grab. Playing this way, I have had to re-do battles, such as the battles at the end of Disc 1, multiple times, but I HAVE finished them on the PSP. The only battle I could not finish was the NORG battle at Balamb. But I did get past that battle... {see below}

What a Guy Does to Play FFVIII on the PSP and Not Go Insane:

I found that by dumping my PSP POPs virtual Memory Card to .mcr format with CWCheat, you can beat the always-freeze boss (NORG, for me at least) with ePSXe on the PC, and then just transfer the save back to the PSP. Specifically, I copy the post-battle ePSXe .mcr back to my memory card, and load it with CWCheat. I then make sure to save it normally in the game (so that it rewrites the native .DAT save file and becomes permanent). This process DOES work.

Other Things You Can Do With FFVIII on the PSP:

I've used the FFVIII Griever save-game editor (with PSXMemTool) to edit the damn card game rules (Random rule, you wasted enough of my time). However, when you actually use the savegame editor, you run the risk of having to 'launder' your .mcr save file in PSXGameEdit, another memory card manager, since saving it natively through Griever/PSXMemTool will corrupt the MCR somehow and make loading it through CWCheat screw up your DAT save file permanently (thankfully I had it backed up and experimented until I came up with the PSXGameEdit method).

In fact, I have also used PSXMemTool to convert my save game to the native PC FFVIII format (the real PC version, not the PSX version emulated) and play my game there. I then converted it back to PSX .mcr format, and played it fine on the PC and PSP emulators.

Hopefully that helps someone out there. I myself am waiting for someone to test it on the 3.40 OE firmware though--I'd like it to just work, damn it.

[Kichigai Mentat]

Well, now that 3.40 OE-A is out, I took the plunge and upgraded my firmware. Here's the result:

The game runs quite well. I'm only in the beginning of Disc 1, but thus far nothing has caused a crash. I'm going to attempt a Draw-Cast later today, because I misread the posting above mine and thought it was talking about 3.30 OE-A', not 3.10.

Oh, and the Battle Blur works in 2D areas, but not on the world map.

[ScaryBugThing]

Well, now that 3.40 OE-A is out, I took the plunge and upgraded my firmware. Here's the result:

The game runs quite well. I'm only in the beginning of Disc 1, but thus far nothing has caused a crash. I'm going to attempt a Draw-Cast later today, because I misread the posting above mine and thought it was talking about 3.30 OE-A', not 3.10.

Oh, and the Battle Blur works in 2D areas, but not on the world map.

Cool, let us know!! I thought I had heard that it still crashes in at least 3.30, but I don't know for sure.

[minister_bob]

As has been mentioned earlier, I have FFVIII (US/NTSC) crashing in the middle of the Dollett Comm. Tower boss fight as well. I can get past Wedge and Biggs, and usually pretty far into the fight, but then it just hangs. Typically the "Home" button still works, so I can quit the game, but it won't let me do anything else. I haven't tried without Drawing, simply because I am a spell $#@! I'll try that out later. Also, not FF, but a Squaresoft game also, is Front Mission 3 (US/NTSC) crashing randomly. I was in the middle of the second battle (not counting the tutorial, the battle in the Yokosuka base when you find out about the big explosive device) and it just hung, except the Home button didn't work either. Not sure they're related, but they *are* both Squaresoft games, so who knows? I am using 3.40 OE with no special customizations except for having turned off the logo in the recovery console, but it did the same thing before turning it off, so I don't think thats the problem. The eboots are from 3.03 (if I remember right...) so I am going to try to get my originals out again and rip them and redo the eboots. Any suggestions would be great, as I a) love this game and b) really am too impatient to move saves back and forth between ePSXe to complete it Thanks!

[DPyro]

FFVII froze on me during two boss battles in 3.30 and 3.40. I had to use CWCheat and ePSXe to get past those parts. No other problems so far.

[imy14lionheart]

Rite guys need a ton of help i reallllllllllllyyyyyyyyy love this game but dont even kno where to start to get it for my psp. i need an emulator and ROM or iso or whatever, so if some one could pleasssssseeeeee let me kno all the steps it wuuuudddd be massivly appreciated!!!!!! thanks

[minister_bob]

FFVII froze on me during two boss battles in 3.30 and 3.40. I had to use CWCheat and ePSXe to get past those parts. No other problems so far.

Were you meaning FF7 or FF8?

[TwistedHope]

ScaryBugThing: Thanks a bunch! Your strategy for getting around the battles where the game always freezes works great. Takes a little bit of time to keep switching things back and forth, but it's a surefire way to get past a particular battle if you are stuck. I also had to use it on the NORG battle because it would freeze whenever he used Psycho Blast (or whatever it is called).

Thanks again!