MiSTer FPGA – Final Fantasy VIII [Long PSX Core Preview] / PlayStation [BETA]

*NOTE- Because of resolution changes, when integer scaling the screen size will change during battles. This presents a challenge with filter selection, so some areas of the game appear a bit too sharp, though I found this was the best middle ground to retain nice detail in the battle scenes as well as backgrounds and cut-scene videos. If not for the resolution switching during battle, I think the sweet spot here would be Gaussian Sharp 70- like I recently used in my FF7 video: https://youtu.be/kWxy_h5at0s

It’s been a long journey trying to put this video together. I’ve been using the Final Fantasy series to learn the new filters and shadow masks on MiSTer- spending multiple days recording footage when the game was freezing during battles to upload filter tests in various scenes. As of a couple days ago, the game no longer has these issues and can play without crashes. There is one minor graphical issue remaining in FF8 when crossing the bridge in Dollet, but besides that the first 5 hours of the game are completely clean.

When adaptive scanline filters are added to this core I will revisit this for an updated video with more advanced filtering, if possible. It takes a lot of trial and error to see what will work with YouTube’s strict 1080p encoder regarding scanlines and shadow masks, but I’m hopeful for better results in the future with more experimentation. For these kinds of experiments I upload lossless video, and this one was nearly 65GB! It took me over 12 hours to upload on my rural internet connection, and this makes experimentation a very time-consuming process. Even with all that work, it’s impossible to capture in a video how good I can get the game looking, with the recent filter advancements on MiSTer. It’s the best I’ve seen PS1 looking on a modern display.

Please try these settings for yourself to experience them if you can, and experiment a little to see how great this game looks in its original form. Feel free to comment here with any questions and suggestions, or reach out on Discord/Twitter! I’d love to hear what kinds of filter recipes folks are coming up with for these visually dense and stunning PS1 games.

The PlayStation core was created by FPGAzumSpass, whom previously brought us the GBA, Lynx and WonderSwan cores, along with enhancements to the Game Boy and NES cores, and significantly improved performance in the AO486 core.
You can support his Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/FPGAzumSpass

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PSX BETA core 2-23-2022 build – Final Fantasy VIII
A.K.A: ファイナルファンタジーVIII

Filter Hori: Gaussian Sharp 075 // Filter Vert: Scan_BR_110_75

Shadow Mask: Aperture Grill (No Scanlines) // Gamma: Off

Played using a Sony DS4 controller with 1ms USB polling.

Video: Integer scaled to 1080p // HDMI to Datapath e1s capture card

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|:=-Timestamps-=:|
00:00:00​​ – Settings
00:01:04​​ – Credits / Title
00:05:14 – Intro / Balamb Garden
00:28:50 – Overworld / Magic Gathering
00:37:54 – Fire Cave
01:03:25 – SeeD Exam
01:17:30 – Dollet
02:03:09 – Balamb Town / Exam Results
02:21:29 – The Dance
02:31:19 – Training Center
03:19:44 – Laguna Dream
03:43:11 – Timber (Train Heist)
04:31:35 – Timber TV Station

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Occasional livestreams on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/WalrusFPGA

Twitter: https://twitter.com/WalrusFPGA

=—————CONTRIBUTE—————=

None of this would be possible without the constant hard work of Sorgelig. It cannot be overstated how much he has done and continues to do for this project, since its beginning. You can support him either at his Patreon in the link below, or on Paypal, depending on your preference. MiSTer is a paradigm shift in how we can experience these classic games. This is a long-term preservation project that will continue to grow so that gamers today and in the future can experience these excellent systems as accurately and lag-free as possible. Donating what you can will help keep the updates coming. Thank you.

Patreon: https://patreon.com/FPGAMiSTer

PayPal: https://paypal.me/FPGAMiSTer

=—————–INFORM—————–=

Github link for this core: https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/PSX_MiSTer

MiSTer Forum: http://MiSTerFPGA.org

MiSTer Documentation: https://mister-devel.github.io/MkDocs_MiSTer

Official MiSTer Discord (live chat/help): https://discord.gg/misterfpga
(Be respectful; this server is moderated. New users must be verified.)

=——————BUILD——————=

Worldwide list of sellers for MiSTer expansion boards: https://misterfpga.org/viewforum.php?f=34&sid=74e1c5e7dae1b99284789d93194cfa0b

I have personally ordered all my parts from https://www.MiSTerAddons.com and have been 100% satisfied with the quality and service there.

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