Make your PS1 FF games LOOK BETTER and RUN FASTER

[Vaan]

Okay I know some of you know about this already, but just in case I'm gonna go over it.

The PlayStation 2 can enhance PS1 games.

This is how you do it:
1) Turn on the PS2; wait until the main menu loads up
2) Press TRIANGLE
3) Highlight "PlayStation Driver" and press TRIANGLE

4) Here you can change "Disc Speed" from "Standard" to "Fast"... AND "Texture Mapping" from "Standard" to "Smooth"

5) Return to the main menu using the CIRCLE button
6) Pop in your PS1 FF disc

I'm gonna go over how you should go about this for Final Fantasy VII VIII and IX:

FF VII:
Disc Speed- Standard
Texture Mapping- Smooth

FF VIII:
Disc Speed- Fast
Texture Mapping- Smooth

FF IX:
Disc Speed- Fast
Texture Mapping- Smooth

NOTE: Do NOT change "Disc Speed" to
"Fast" for Final Fantasy VII; it will glitch the game!

You will have to do this again every time you turn off your PS2.

This will dramatically increase your level of enjoyment while you play

[Big D]

Smooth textures work well in general, but in FFVIII, it sometimes does strange things to spell animations. Whenever a character casts, they're surrounded by that nice green glow. However, with the 'improved' textures, that green glow is shadowed by a grey box. Same goes for many spells and battle effects, too. An ugly grey square lingers slightly longer than the animation. Pity, really...

On a slightly non-related matter, using smooth textures on Gran Turismo 2 does very bad things to the trees, particularly noticeable on the Seattle circuit.

Oh, and Vaan - in future, please use the 'edit/delete' button if you want to add something to your posts - please don't make two posts in a row.

[Cz]

Of course, after a while, most PS2s just give up on PSX games altogether. Mine no longer plays any of my PSX discs. Still, it's a good idea to enjoy the higher quality while you can.

[crono_logical]

I find ePSXe and sticking the PSX CD into a PC gives better results than the PSX or PS2 are capable of For most games, anyway Shame we can't to that with PS2 discs yet

[Vaan]

I'm really sorry Big D. I'm new to forums and I don't really understand the concept of double posting at all. Can you tell me what I'm doing wrong? How did I double post?

[Big D]

Double-posting is when you post twice in a row, so there are two consecutive posts that're both yours. It's better to use the 'edit/delete' button if you want to add something that you forgot... otherwise, it's customary to wait till someone else replies before you add another post.
Don't worry, it's a little confusing at first, but you'll get the hang of it really quickly. Our FAQ has answers to a lot of frequently asked questions, you might want to take a look.

Or feel free to ask any staff member if there's something you don't understand. Just click the 'PM' button underneath a staff member's posts to send them a Private Message, so you can ask them without having to go off-topic in the middle of a thread.

[Vaan]

But it looks like only one post to me... is it too long or something...?

[Big D]

Oh, right, sorry for the confusion - I just noticed that you'd been double-posting elsewhere, so I gave you a little reminder here. There's nothing at all wrong with your posts in this thread.
Just a few other double-posts that I'd edited.

[Vaan]

'Kay

[razor248725]

i didn't really see much difference in the graphics and speed at all...

[Vaan]

That's strange. Load times don't seem shorter? As for the graphics, it could have something to do with your television. I use a 19" tv, which the change in quality is obvious and on my 27" tv it's really hard to see the difference. Also the difference varies between games. In FF VII, it's harder to tell the graphical difference than in VIII.

[Doomgaze]

There would be virtually no difference in FF7 - it rarely if ever uses texture maps.

[Vaan]

No, there is a difference. It's easiest to see in battle-- the 3D battle environment looks way smoother-- just look at the floor your characters are standing on.

[DJZen]

I noticed the gray box thing in FF8 too. There are many problems that stem from this. For example, audio that gets streamed directly from the disc get very choppy and sped up on fast loading. This sucks hardcore on games that have streamed audio and painful load times.

[Vaan]

I haven't noticed any audio problems, but I'm pretty sure not using the "Disc Speed Fast" will fix that problem you have. I've noticed the gray box thing (that is also in FF VII by the way) but it really doesn't bother me at all (it's not that noticable anyway, only when you draw from enemies). Sure, there are minor side effects, but overall it's for the better. It seems FF IX has no side effects.