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Breath of Fire IV


Genre: Role Playing
Release Year: 2003
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Age Rating: 12+
Playability Status: Perfect
Tested On: Windows 10 x64
Availability: Copyright retained - Out of print/unavailable

It is a shame for PC gamers that the platform often misses out on Japanese roleplaying games. While some make the transition from console to PC, many stay firmly as console exclusives. In Japan, the PC gaming scene is rather niche, which explains why (until recently at least) many Japanese games don’t get a PC port.

Installation

The game will install just fine on any modern PC. Simply place the CD in your computers optical drive, wait for the menu to appear, click on “Install Breath of Fire IV” and follow the on-screen instructions. If the installation doesn’t start automatically, browse to the CD in Computer/This PC and run the “Autorun.exe” file manually. When asked what type of install you want to perform, we recommend choosing “Fully”.

Patching

There are two patches you will need to install to get the game working on Windows 10. Firstly, download the patched executable from this page. Unzip the file to the games directory (C:\Program Files (x86)\Capcom\Bof4 by default), overwriting the existing BO4.exe file that’s already in there (take a backup of this file first to be on the safe side).

Secondly, you need to install dgVoodoo2 into the games directory. Follow the tutorial here to install dgVoodoo2. Breath of Fire IV is a DirectX game.

There aren’t any special dgVoodoo2 settings you need to configure, but you may want to use the dgVoodooSetup file to configure the games scaling. On the “General” tab of the Setup tool, under “Scaling mode” be sure to choose “Stretched, keep aspect ratio” if you don’t want the game stretched into widescreen when playing in higher resolutions.

Playing the game

With the patch and dgVoodoo2 installed, there aren’t any further compatibility options required, so just start the game as normal.

Tweaking graphics options

By starting the game and choosing “Options” and then “Screen”, you can choose which screen resolution the game runs in. Typically you’d just choose the highest your monitor supports. Remember Breath of Fire IV is a 4:3 aspect ratio (non widescreen) game, so the graphics will appear out of proportion if you run in a widescreen screen mode. If you want to avoid this, set the scaling mode in the dgVoodooSetup utility to “Stretched, keep aspect ratio”.

Configuring controls

You can configure basic controls by starting the game and then from the main menu, choosing “Options” and then “Buttons”. You can also access these options at any time from the in-game menu. If you want to set up these buttons the same as they were on the PlayStation version, there’s a FAQ here that explains what the equivalent button did in the PS1 version.

For additional functionality, you are going to want to use our old friend Xpadder. Here’s the profile we set up in Xpadder for the game.

 

breathoffire-xpadder

 

Since the game won’t let us map the analogue triggers, we have to set those up manually in Xpadder to work as the Tab key, this allows you to change rank in a battle. Escape and Enter are mapped to back and start respectively, just for convenience. Finally, the arrow keys are mapped to the d-pad to allow moving the character and manipulating the menus using the analogue stick or the d-pad.

Other notes

Since dgVoodoo2 effectively turns this game into a DirectX 11 game, you can use in-game overlays and streaming tools such as Evolve or Nvidia Shadowplay/Share, or the Steam overlay. Evolve already supports Breath of Fire IV, you simply have to manually enable the overlay in your game library if you want to use it.

Troubleshooting

Problems saving games or settings:- Like many older games, Breath of Fire IV stores its save game files and other configuration information in its installation directory. If you installed the game into the program files or program files (x86) folders, you may find that the default Windows security settings prevent the game from saving any progress. To fix this problem set the permissions on your game folder so that your user account has full control/read write permissions. You can find a tutorial on how to configure folder permissions here.

White screen issue when running on Windows XP:- This issue should not occur under modern versions of Windows. If the game goes to a white screen after watching or skipping the opening cinematic, try this fix. Exit the game and then set the compatibility options on the “Bof4” shortcut to disable visual themes. Now, start the game again. If you still get a white screen, alt-tab back to the desktop and then click on the games icon on the taskbar. You should now be taken back to the game but with the title screen menu visible.

Screenshots

Click on any screenshot to enlarge it.

bof-shot1 bof-shot2

23 comments

  1. damian webley says:

    i pulled out my old laptop which has windows 7 on it and runs on there a bit slow but it works the only difference is for some reason it wouldn’t reconise the disk to play it so i had to use a crack for it to fire up do you think thats why it loads on that windows 7 or its just cause its old hardware?

  2. BuckoA51 says:

    Well, it ran for us using Windows XP on the exact same PC where it failed under Windows 7, so it’s really hard to say what’s going on exactly.

  3. Expack3 says:

    Have you tried using software like DXwnd or DXGL? Both feature emulation for DirectX 7 and lower, and (according to the game box, see http://pics.mobygames.com/images/covers/large/1065028297-01.jpg ) Breath of Fire IV requires DirectX 7. Note that each program has its own quirks, and DXGL is very much in an alpha state and is missing many compatibility bits.

    • BuckoA51 says:

      I tried DXwnd but couldn’t get it to work with Breath of Fire. DXGL as you say has some way to go before it’s really useful.

      • Expack3 says:

        In the case of DXGL, it still has enough functionality to get certain games working. To use a personal example, the PC port of the game Killing Time has graphics-related problems and crashes on anything after Windows XP. However, if you setup the game to use DXGL, the game becomes quite playable, with the only issues being keyboard-only support (Killing Time relies on DirectX for mouse controls, and DXGL isn’t there yet) and the intro/outro videos being discolored. Another example is the PC version of Metal Gear Solid being able to use DXGL to resolve caption and speed issues when in Hardware mode (see http://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Metal_Gear_Solid:_Integral#Instructions ).

  4. gho says:

    work in progress about this game in DxWnd at sourceforge. Look here: https://sourceforge.net/p/dxwnd/discussion/general/thread/0bb3571a/#5a23
    GHO

  5. Iceyd says:

    we seem to be in luck i just tried running this on windows 10 and its running fine where it would not run when i had 7 on this pc i will test it on my laptop aswell to see if it isnt just a fluke.

  6. Yitan23 says:

    Hi there! Hope the page is still running and you can help me out, been trying to revive this old childhood classic.

    I’m stuck right after Chamba when you get Ershin. The game keeps on crushing during random fights with lesser monsters, i think specially when Ershin attacks.

    Is there any fix for this?

    Thanks!

    • H says:

      Set compatibility to WinXP or Win98, and set colors to 16bit. Had the same problem with Ershin in Chamba and having these settings seem to solve this problem.

  7. Mkilbride says:

    I think I’m using it right, but it’s 5K & 8xMSAA, but I still see some aliasing, which is hard to believe. Wish Capcom would do a solid PC Remaster of this title.

  8. Bof4fan says:

    Quick tip:

    To have the game run with gdVoodoo2, copy all files from the MS x86 folder from the gdVoodoo2 zip into the BOF4 game folder. Then copy the gdVoodoo2 settings files into BOF4 game folder. Run the settings, make sure the watermark in the directx tab is checked so you can see if it’s working when you run the game. Adjust your settings to your liking.

    I tried to use dxwin and I couldn’t get it to work.

  9. Michael says:

    Unfortunately I’m getting the whitescreen error. It seems to be something about modern GPUs.

  10. VideoGamePizza says:

    The link to the patch doesn’t work; is there an updated link so we could get that patch?

  11. Josh says:

    The link for the patch no longer works, can you update it please.

  12. Eduardo says:

    Hi, good day. I´m really loving this game so far, and it was much help to run it in windowed mode. I just, can´t seem to lower the audio. As soon as I mute it, whenever a fight or cinematic begins it resets. I was hoping you could help me with this. Thank you so much

  13. Phil says:

    Have the same problem as the last two comments. Can someone please reupload the patch or just tell me, whats name it is, so that I can google it.

  14. Lorondos says:

    Got the white screen issue too on Windows 11, Vega 64, trying some settings to fix it, no luck so far

  15. Mason says:

    The patch is on here, just scroll down a little bit.
    http://dege.freeweb.hu/Patches/patches/

  16. Sven says:

    Same as a previous user mentionned. Can’t seem to get past the shit in Chamba. Game crashes if Ershin attacks.

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