[smanders]

Hi,

I want to play Final Fantasy 9 on ePSXe 152. But when I click on File>Run CDROM my screen becomes black, and nothing happens. I searched on the internet for patches, ppf-files and stuff, but nothing works. Can anyone help me?

I play the game from the original cds (pal).

Thanks in advance,
Stefan

 

[emusnicker]

Try a different CDR plugin - http://www.pbernert.com/html/cdr.htm

Try creating an ISO of your disk with a program like this - http://www.isobuster.com/
(And then use the ISO command under File -> Run ISO in ePSXe)

EDIT: More detailed instructions for creating an ISO with the above program. Insert the CD, open ISOBuster, right-click on the small CD icon to the left, choose Extract CD Image and then RAW (.bin, .iso). Be sure to rename the file to have .iso at the end instead of .bin.

 

[smanders]

It both doesn't work. Thanks anyway..

This is by the way the screen I get with the ISO, instead of a blackscreen:
http://home.hccnet.nl/f.mandersloot/diversen/screen.jpg

 

[Alias]

You're sure you set up the cdr plugin correctly (simple stuff like pointing to the right drive, and such? Do you notice activity on the drive with the disc? ).

Can you get any other games to run with epsxe, or is FF9 the only one you tried?

 

[smanders]

I tried Gran Turismo 2 too, and it worked perfect. So I think my cdr plugin isn't the problem. I think it's the copy-protection of FF9. But I can't get it working with patches such as ppf files.

 

[Alias]

from Lord Kane's site:
http://www.lordkane.co.uk/ff9.php

CDR Config
In the PAL regions (Europe, Australia and much of Africa), FF9 had copy protection and thus when you run it in an emulator, you will just get a black screen. There are two was to get this to work on an emulator. The first is to use Subchannel reading (which at the moment, for the life of me I can't get working), and the other is patching.
To use patching, first of all you need the PPF patch files. The ones for PAL/UK can be found here. Others can be found by searching google (the site which has them cannot be linked here for legal reasons). The PAL/UK patch covers all English language PAL versions.
All you need to do then is to extract the archive to the 'patches' subdirectory of ePSXe and enable 'Auto PPF-patching' within ePSXe

Here's a direct link to the PAL/UK patch:
http://www.lordkane.co.uk/dump/FF9PALUK.rar

 

[smanders]

He, that subchannel reading actually made it work! Thanks a lot!