oh, I forget to say me and YulY have tried the game in the original mode & updated, I use a Voodoo 4500 and she a geforce, using the right update each one of us

well I seem to have the same prob as you guys I've tried the patch and the compatibility mode both don't seem to help in fact the compatibility mode made the game hang and I had to reset. The game hanged where it usually goes back to windows. I emailed eidos describing my problem but they weren't any help all they said was that since ff8 was designed to run on win98 there are no guarantees for it to run on xp and even if it does at some point it will stop. If you guys figure out a solution let me know pls. I might try getting a new cd soon I'll do the same likewise if I find a way to fix this thanks.

Hmm... same problem, two computers, same disc. That does sound like a damaged CD.

If you go to http://www.qhimm.com and download the FF8 FMV program, use it to view the movies on the cd, and see id there are any glitches. If it does hang, then you need new cds.

Dicky I sugegst you try the same. Hopefully it is just that your cd is scratched too, that way, as annoying and difficult as it may be to find this game nowadays, it's still going to be easier than finding a hacker/programmer who A) can, and B) can be persuaded to break open FFVIII, find the problem, and write an unofficial patch for the game like they did for FFVII. Jedwin found out why the game hung at the Chocobo Races under 2000 or XP, and wrote an unofficial patch. (Which is also available at http://www.qhimm.com if anyone needs it.)

This message was edited by razer_uk on Apr 13 2004.

thanks for the tip razer
I tried the player and whenever I load the .pak for disc 1 and 2 i get an error invalid video file but it's ok for disc 3 and 4. So I guess this means my cds spoiled isn't it? is there anyway to fix this without changing my cds.
thanks in adv

Yes I am afraid that means damaged discs... Now if this was FFVII I would say yes there is a way around it... But his is FFVIII and the way the files have been placed on the CD means the best thing you can do is either buy a new copy (should you be lucky enough to find one) or if you know someone with good discs, copy their's.

I've had to do that with FFVII. I want to replace it, but I can't find it anywhere. My disc 2 is damaged, I can't see any of the weapon awakening videos after Cloud hands over the black materia, nor any of Sapphire Weapon's assault on Junon. There are a couple more damaged, but these are the only ones I can remember.

Well, sorry that it's not better news. Good luck with the hunt.

This message was edited by razer_uk on Apr 15 2004.

I've had Final Fantasy VIII for quite a few years now and when I played it then I had no problems, but now I re-installed it not too long ago and now I'm having problems with the in-game cinimatics (also known as FMVs). Everytime they play, the music skips (I know this has been mentioned before, but no one gave much of a response). Does anyone know any way to fix this at all? And if so, please give good instructions on how to fix it.

thanks for the info
well I expected having to change cds or sumthing like that
just wondering is there a way to skip the cinematics?
I've tried all the buttons but none seem to work
if one could skip the cinematics then I wouldn't have to get a new cd... kinda broke

hi !
i have a little problem with FFVIII...
1. i install the game
2. i configure it
3. i start it
4. i choose new game
5. it askes for cd because i forgot to insert it
6. i insert it
7. back to windows...

so what i mean is that when i want to play it, it just returns to windows (xp) and ONLY when i insert the cd... i have already tried 2 cds and both of them is the same shit, i also tried patching it... still no succes


i have:
- windows xp
- ati radeon 9600 SE
- 512 DDR ram
- 80 GB HD
- AMD Athlon XP 2000+

Dicky
Sorry dude, I know of no way to skip the cinematics on the PC. On the Playstation you can just open the cd cover, then close it again. It may work if you eject the cd, but I haven't tried it. You have to do this just after the movie starts so it may not be any help anyway.

Brister
What's your computer specs? If it's fairly low, say below a 300, then that's your problem. It could still be the problem on a higher machine, but it's less likely. FFVIII uses .bik videos. These run REALLY badly on old computers.

One of my computers is a 166 (I know... ancient, but it's only a backup comp) and if I play FFVIII on it, the movies play normally, maybe a little jerky, but the sound for the movies stutters. It plays a bit, then pauses, then plays a bit more, then pauses again, etc... If this sounds like what you are experiencing then it may be either your comp is too slow, or you have too many things running in the background (like virus scanners) and they are slowing things down.

obscuR
Have you tried running it in compatability mode? And if you already are, have you tried running it without compatability mode? Does it also do it if you start the game with the cd already in the drive?

Also it is possible that you may have the same problem as Dicky. Try downloading FFVIII FMV from Qhimm.com (link above) and loading up the data files from the cds and see if you can. It may be trying to play the intro video but can't read the disc.

I'm not an expert on computer specs, but here's what I know:

Windows XP
Radeon 9800 Pro
AMD Athlon
1 GB of RAM
1.92 GHz
188 GB of Hardrive space (85 GB freespace left)

I started playing the game last night and I went through the intro movie with several skips, but not as many as I remember before. Anyways, as I was playing through the game, each time an fmv would play, they wouldn't skip much, or maybe never skip. I think it has something to do with the game reading the fmvs from the CD. Is there any way to extract the fmvs to a folder on your hardrive and have the game read them from there?

There is no way that I know of. You can extract the movies and view them out of the game, but not, as far as I am aware, get the game to recognise that they are on the HD. Check the CD surface though, it may be scratched.

If you download FF8 FMV from qhimm.com (link above) and try extracting a movie. Then download bink tools from http://www.radgametools.com/ and play that movie. See if it stutters at all. If not then there may be a problem with your file transfer rate from your cd drive. Whether it's a slow cd drive (you didn't say the speed) or the settings are too low (Ill have a look for how to change the settings later, I can't remember at the moment, I'll post up the answer tomorrow.) I cannot say.

It may also be having problems with your graphics or sound cards. This is unlikely, but I have heard of it before. You could try updating the driver files.

Hopefully something amongst this lot will help, if not post back again and I'll see what I can think of. Or maybe somone else will know the answer.

Well, the FMVs are becoming less annoying when they skip because I can hardly notice it happening because it's more ingame and there's music running in the background so it's pretty subtle.

However, I've discovered a new problem. Actually two: one minor and one major.

The minor problem is on one of the screens, there's a draw point that's invisible and you cannot see but can still draw from. It's not that big of a deal. Just thought I'd mention it.

The major problem is that whenever I quit the game whether it be ALT + Q or CTL + Q (I forget which one it is) or ALT + F4, my computer goes back to the desktop as expected, but for some reason, when I try to use internet explorer or watch a video on my computer, neither responds, so I am forced to restart my computer. Any reasons why this might be?

When I install the game it always crashes at 71%. I needed to reinstall the game because I haven't played it in a long time. I have ran it on the same system I have now before. My specs are fine and I have Win XP. There are no scratches on the disk.

Brister

Invisible Draw Point? Lol Are you sure that you have got Siren's Move-Find ability equipped? If so then it's just a minor graphical hitch... Ignore it.

Unfortunatelly some games just don't like being exited on some setups. My mate has to restart his computer before loading any other game after he quits C&C Generals or C&C Generals: Zero Hour. I have no such problems. All I can suggest is to restart straight after quitting FFVIII so you don't forget to before trying to acces the Net etc.

Kjacobs03
Now this is strange. First of all try copying all the files off the disc into a folder on your desktop. If it doesn't copy them all to the folder, then check the disc again under several different lights. Some scratches can be nearly invisible. I am looking at a disc now, under strip lights set into the roof of this computer room at university and I can't see a single scratch. If I look at the same cd in daylight it looks like I've been at it with a wire brush.

If it does copy them all, then there may be an error with your cd drive or something. Try installing the game from the folder on the desktop. Once installed you can delete the folder.

Let us all know if this helps.