remember the dino crisis topic?
Yet another capcom game that crashes:
breath of fire 4.
Just like dino crisis,it crashes during the introduction
for sure,after a lots of tests with different drivers,
different directx,different settings in the card's
properties,bla bla,I concluded it's impossible to
play with a 3dfx card.
I even tryed it with the monster,but the graphics
are corrupted and it crashes anyway.
I guess its memory is not enough.(4 mb).

I know it's useless to test just the s3 card,
it has only 2 mb and the readme file says
it requieres 8 mb.(and its direct3d capabilities are not very good).
Ok,I know the readme talks about not being
compatible with 3dfx cards because of lack
of directx 8 support,but I had to try,and...
I thought the v3 supported directx 8,in fact,
I installed directx 9 and it's working.
(with the monster card directx 8.1 has direct3d disabled,
but 8.0,7,6 and 5 work. with the v3 it doesn't happen,
direct3d is avaiable with dx8.1 and 9).

I think "they" just said

"gee,let's make directx 8 or higher
not fully compatible with 3dfx cards so the
users will be forced to give up and buy nvidia cards!
muhuhuhuhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!"

("they" are microsoft,nivida,capcom or whoever is
behind what I think is a conspiration against
voodoo cards. well,I'm not paranoid,I don't
believe there's a conspiration,it's just
the so called "evolution" of technologies and
that kind of stuff,but the side effect looks like
if it was a conspiration,and I have to blame someone :) )

The voodoolizer drivers are supposed to be
more dx8 compatible but they behave just like
the 3dfx ones.
I tryed the 3dhq 1.09 drivers but direct3d
was disabled with that ones.
I ask because the other option to test is
the amigamerlin drivers,but I don't want
to download 8 mb in a slow dial up connection
before knowing if they are operational for dx8.
Now I'm going to download the 1.07.00b beta drivers
and see what happens.
No,it keeps crashing at the intro.

hmm,I forgot about 3d analyzer,let's see...

nope,no luck.
It keeps using the hard disk and nothing else happens,
and I have to ctrl+alt+del to stop it. (and it says "not respondig").
I treyd both with no options enabled,and with "directx 8.1 emulation"
and "hw t&l emulation" enabled,and the same thing happened.
I know it's not loading the game because in normal conditions
it takes 1 or 2 seconds for the capcom screen to appear.

So,the question is,¿are there third party drivers
for v3 with full directx 8 or higher support?.


ps: I think the dinocrisis problem wasn't overheating:
I tryed with an intel pentium processor and itworked
with no crashes,and I switched back to the amd k6-2 one after
beating the game.
I used the same motherboard,same ram,same card,same everything,
just switched the processor and configured the motherboard
with the right jumper settings for that one,and yep,I tryed
breath of fire 4 with the pentium processor,and the same
thing happened :(

a link to download the game?
I don't know...I bought the cd (maybe the ultimate
solution is stop buying capcom games),
perhaps you can find in in emule/edonkey/overnet kazaa
or another p2p client.

it has no ini file,there's a bof4.cfg file
but it's not readable plain text,the contents
are like "

ۈ
2   #  @%"
In the registry,in the games entry under the
capcom entry in the software settings section,
only says "default  (value not set)" so there's no
settings stored there.
Well,I'll post the contents of the cfg file,I doubt it'll
be useful,but here it is:


ۈ
 2   #  @%  /  €      
                                  
    @  €        
         


    @      
                                                                                                                            

Well,here comes the long readme file:
(I already checked the troubleshooting tips
exept for contacting the technical support).
Ah,I use the 1.07.00 drivers mostly,(when I'm not
trying to run something that crashes)
I checked the 1.07.00b ones yesterday and
they behaved like the 1.07.00 ones.
Too bad the screenshot feature was not operational :(
(at least with epsxe plugins).
Well,here's the file:

update: the first attempt failed because
"your file is too long",so I deleted the
"warning to owners of projection televisions"
and "epilepsy warning" sections.

hmm,nope,I'll split it in 2 separate posts.

*******start of the readme file *******

---------------------------------
Breath of Fire 4 PC Release Notes
---------------------------------
Contents:

1.Free Disk Space                  (**first half**)
2.System Requirements
3.Exclusive Application
4.Installation                

5.Software Conflicts          (**second half**)
6.Hardware Compatibility
7.Troubleshooting          
8.Technical Support        
--------------------------

1. Free Disk Space
------------------
Breath of Fire 4 takes up 540Mb of hard drive space when installed fully. In addition
to this the product may require up to 100Mb of free hard drive swap space for both
installation and running of the application depending on the configuration of your
machine.
These requirements are exclusive of the hard drive space required for DirectX 8.0
which is required to run the application. For low
spec machines with out any of the required software currently installed, it is
recommended that at least 800Mb of free disk space be available before commencing
installation of the product.

NOTE: Some operating systems require a certain amount of "Swap space" for Windows to function correctly.
Never let your Harddisk get too full and regularily run a defrag to clean up space.

2. System Requirements
---------------------

SYSTEM CONFIGURATION (Minimal)

Supported Operating Systems: Windows® 95, 98, 2000, Me
CPU: Pentium® 233
RAM: 64MB
Hard Disk: 230MB (standard install)
CD-ROM: 4X or higher
Sound: Microsoft® Direct Sound
Graphics: Microsoft® Direct 3D
VRAM: 8MB


SYSTEM CONFIGURATION (Recommended)

Supported Operating Systems: Windows® 95, 98, 2000, Me
CPU: Pentium® II 350
RAM: 64MB
Hard Disk: 230MB (standard install)
CD-ROM: 4X or higher
Sound: Microsoft® Direct Sound
Graphics: Microsoft® Direct 3D
VRAM: 16MB


If you are unsure about your PC's specifications consult your DXDIAG.

1. In Windows choose START.
2. Choose RUN.
3. Type DXDIAG.
4. Press OK.

Most of the components can be found on the first page.  The video RAM (VRAM) can be found under display.
This program will also inform you of any problems with the computer which could affect the running of the game.


3. Exclusive Application
-----------------------
Breath of Fire 4 is designed to be run as an exclusive application. It is
therefore recommended that the user shut down other applications before running
Breath of Fire 4.  Please consult the troubleshooting section if you require help with this.


4. Installation
---------------

If you are running Windows 9x/2000/XP the splash-screen should launch
automatically as soon as you place the CD-ROM in the CD-ROM drive.
>From this screen you can choose to install the game.

If the Autostart function is not enabled you can start the installation
by clicking on the "Start"-Menu and choose "Run". Then type
"E:\launcher.exe" in the window (if "E" is the letter of your CD-ROM Drive).
If another letter is assigned to your CD-ROM Drive please use this letter instead of 'E'.

Note:
In order to run "Breath of Fire 4" you will need to have
DirectX Version 8.0 or better installed on your PC. If not, the installer will let
you know and you will be able to install it after the actual game has
been installed.  The splash-screen should provide you with the option to install this application.


**** here ends the first half of the readme file ******

5. Software Conflicts
--------------------
Breath of Fire 4 is not known to have compatibility issues with specific software,
but we do advise to turn off all programs running in the background before starting the tilte.
Steps on how to do this can be found in the Troubleshooting section (Section 7).

6. Hardware Compatibility
-------------------------
The following hardware products are not compatible with Breath of Fire 4:


3dfx graphics cards

3dfx have ceased trading and are no longer producing graphics drivers to give their graphics cards compatibility with the latest versions of DirectX.
As a result there are no official drivers available to make 3dfx graphics cards compatible with DirectX 8.
We therefore cannot guarantee that this game will run correctly on 3dfx graphics cards such as the Voodoo 3.


Ati Rage Pro Turbo AGP

Problems were seen during testing with this graphics card.
These problems included severe graphics corruption in some instances.
We do not recommend playing Breath of fire 4 on this graphics chipset.

If you have any problems with older graphics cards it is advised to get the latest supported drivers for the devices from the manufacturer.


7.Troubleshooting
-----------------

Below are some general troubleshooting steps that may prove helpful in the event of any performance problems with Breath of Fire 4:

Freeing up System Resources:
The Windows OS allows you to have lots of different programs running at the same time.
Sometimes these programs do not play happily together and create problems.
Many modern games are very demanding on your computer.
Some game problems can be solved by making sure that the game is the only program on the field.
Limiting the number of other applications and programs running can help your system and program performance across the board, not with just games.
There are a couple of steps you can take to clear the field.  

Step 1: Taskbar Programs  
Most programs that you run have boxes on the Windows taskbar. If you click on any of the boxes on the taskbar that program will become active.
You can either select each program there and then close them within the program, or you can right click on each box and select Close.
Before you run the game the task bar should be empty of any active programs.  
Step 2: Ctrl-Alt-Del  
The second step involves disabling background programs that may be running. There are a lot of programs that may be running that you wouldn't see on the taskbar.
We call them here background programs, and they take up memory and other resources.
The following steps will close all of those.  

1.) Press CTRL+ALT+DEL keys to bring up the Close Program window.
2.) The only programs you need to leave open are Systray and Explorer.
3.) Highlight the program you want to close and click on the End Task button.
4.) Once all the programs are closed EXCEPT Systray and Explorer, try:

Step 3: Run the Game  
Once you complete these two steps then your system is ready to run the game. These steps can clear up a lot of problems you may be experiencing.
Your performance may also increase because you have more memory free and more resources are available to the game.
Not only can this make games run more smoothly, but applications can benefit from this, as well.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Altering display settings:

Please make sure your desktop is set to 640 x 480 and High Colour (16 bit). Follow the instructions below to check your color palette:  
1.) Click on Start, go to Settings, and click on Control Panel.
2.) When the Control Panel comes up, double-click on the Display icon.
3.) Click on the Settings tab.
4.) Modify the Color Palette to say High Color 16 bit and the Desktop Area to 640 x 480 .  
5.) Click on the Apply button once the changes have been made and follow the on-screen prompts to finish the process.

True Color 24/32 bit will cause some games to freeze or not work at all.
Not having Windows in the same color depth as the game will force the game to switch the color for you (which can cause problems) or have to perform color re-mapping which slows down the game performance.  

Note: Windows XP user may only be able to use a 800x600 resolution.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Graphics Hardware reduction:

1.) Right-click on the My Computer icon.
2.) Select Properties from the menu.
3.) Click on the Performance tab.
4.) At the bottom of the screen you will see three equal-sized buttons - click on Graphics.
5.) You will then see a hardware acceleration tab - this is normally set fully to the right. Try to click on this and drag it back two notches.
6.) Click Apply and close this until you are once again at your Windows desktop.
7.) At this point you will be prompted to restart your computer - click yes.
8.) After the machine has restarted, try the title again.
You may need to experiment with the setting of your acceleration tab - depending on the computer, it has been necessary to take this to zero acceleration.

These steps are slightly different in XP. Right-click on your desktop, select properties and then settings. Select the Advanced button and then Troubleshooting.
You should now see the hardware acceleration slider bar.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sound Playback Alteration:

1.) Click on your Windows Start button.
2.) Click on Settings and then Control Panel.
3.) Double click on Multimedia.
4.) At the top of the first screen you will see Playback and in the Windows highlight colour the sound card's current playback preferred device - please take a note of where this is set.
5.) If you click on the small arrow to the right of the preferred device you may see other options. Typically the ones which work for some sound problems are Game Compatible and/or Use Any Available Device.
We have noticed that Game Compatible Device seems to be more successful. You could try to click on one of these at a time: to make the change happen, click the "apply" button at the bottom right of the screen.
Exit back to your desktop and try the title again.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Reducing sound hardware acceleration

1.) Click on your Windows Start button.
2.) Click on the Run Command.
3.) Type in the white box "dxdiag" in lower case and without the quotes.
4.) Click OK.
5.) Click on the sound tab.
6.) You will see a slider bar for your hardware acceleration - I would recommend you reduce this to no acceleration (fully left) although you may wish to experiment with settings.
7.) Exit the DXDIAG and try the title again.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Installing the latest Graphics card drivers

This can help the performance of your computer with certain games.  Below is a list of the most common manufaturers websites.

www.nvidia.com
www.matrox.com
www.ati.com
www.hercules.com
www.sis.co.jp
www.s3graphics.com
www.europe.creative.com

Capcom does not take responsibility for any drivers downloaded and/or installed onto your systems.


8. Technical Support
--------------------
If you encounter any technical difficulties with this
Capcom game, please email our support team at

feedback@capcomeuro.com

Please make sure that you give precise details of
any error messages that you receive, and details
regarding the specifications of your computer, as
this will help us in giving you a faster and more
efficient service. If you are unsure about your system specification consult your DXDIAG.  
For further help on this view the Minimum specification section (Section 2)

If you would prefer to write to us, please send your
letters to the following address:
Feedback
Capcom Eurosoft Ltd
9th Floor
26-28 Hammersmith Grove
London W6 7HA