The Genius of Sappheiros/Miscellaneous

Technical Issues

Q: For certain Characters, whenever your applying power-points to their unique weapons respectivley, it crashes the game. Why?

A: Try setting your computer's region to Japanese (for example, with applocale). This usually resolves the issue.

That said, it has turned out that setting the program to run under Windows 95 compatibility mode is better than simply using applocale.

Q: None of the buttons do anything!

A: Run Config.exe and change the keys. The game's control default is set to a gamepad, so if you wish to play on a keyboard, you'll have to.

Q: Can I run this game on Vista or Windows 7?

A: Yes. Right click the program and set its compatability mode to Windows XP. As with other Touhou games, you'll need your computer's region set to Japanese.

Q: What is the latest patch?

A: 1.07 for the original, 2.09 for the expansion (shows up as 2.08 in the title bar because of a small oversight).

Q: How do I patch the original?

A: You have to patch each update one by one (1.00 -> 1.01, 1.01 -> 1.02, etc). There is a patch for 2.00 -> 2.09 though.

Q: Some of the animations crash my display drivers!

A: You can turn off attack animations in the in-game options menu.

Q: Other things (EG, cinematics) are crashing the game!

A: Run Config.exe and set the graphics to 16-bit.

Q: Are there any farming tips?

A: Yes, have someone in your party equip the Gamer Japanese Fan that you get from the vending machine. I have noticed a significant difference in item drop rates overall when fighting with it, farming or not. Its important that you know which crafting item you actually need, which monsters drop them, and if the monster is alone or not. If the monster only appears by itself during encounters, then this will not work. Once you know which monster you need the item from, start looking for encounters where they appear in groups of at least two or more (if possible), and at least one more other random monster accompanying them to spare. Kill all monsters which drop the item you are looking for, and if they don't drop anything, run away from the encounter (this is why you keep at least one monster alive). After running away, fight with the same group again, then rinse and repeat this process until at least one of them drops the item you are looking for. However, it is important that when you do eventually find the item, that you NOT run away from the encounter, and instead kill all remaining monsters. This is because you will not obtain any dropped items from an encounter if you flee. After you dispose of each group after they drop the item, simply look for another encounter to do the same thing to until you have enough of the item that you need. To make your chances of obtaining items higher, set Sanae as the field commander, that will make the Last Words activation rate higher. Put Byakuren Hijiri in your party and use her Last Word which will raise the experience gained and item drop rates up to a maximum of 200%.

Note : In the later versions of the game, when you run away and face the monsters again, it'll be a new random encounter, most likely with different monsters, not the same one you fled from. So it might be best to just kill everything in the area then make the enemies respawn by going in and out of other maps. However, see below.

Q: Losing all the stuff I got from the dungeon after being party wiped is so annoying!

A: There is one way you can prevent losing most, if not all of your stuff. After you get party wiped, exit the program, go to the backup folder in the save folder. You should notice that there are two files with different names than all the "backupxxx.sav" files. Copy one of the two files to your save folder and rename it to whatever your save file name was ("SVD000.sav" for first slot save, "SVD001.sav" for second slot and so on). Open the game and load that save, and you should reappear inside the dungeon just a bit before where you got wiped. If the save doesn't show up at all, try the other file. (Obviously you should keep a backup of your original save file as well in case things go wrong). Note : In Weekend, your items are no longer lost after being wiped. Also, saves reloaded this way will almost always fight the same formations afterwards, which is useful for focused farming. Only a few monsters such as Zera Beetles cannot be guaranteed this way (contrariwise, they can also be encountered even if you were supposed to encounter another formation).

Q: Is there a way to do Lingering Summer Heat quests faster?

A: If the quest takes place in a map with other monsters around (character-specific material quests, orichalcum/adamantite shards), there's a glitch that allows you to complete a quest without fighting the boss in question - let the boss fairy approach you (it can't initiate combat on its own), fight a random symbol, then immediately touch the boss after the battle is over, and the quest will be completed (without needing to fight the boss). If you try to get in another battle, you will fight the boss instead of a random encounter - you can then either fight the boss and immediately touch the boss fairy icon again to complete the quest again, or run from the fight and refight the symbol again (which will turn into a normal encounter), then touch the boss fairy again to complete the quest again. You can then repeat either process until you run out of symbols (or resources to fight the boss/random encounters repeatedly with). Note that you must adhere to team restrictions still, so this might not be as easy to abuse for some of them (Byakuren, Remilia, Yuugi)

Secrets

  • Unlocking Fujiwara no Mokou: After visiting Hieda no Akyuu for the first time, talk another time with her. The Bamboo Forest maze will appear to the west; head there, and travel through the forest in accordance with the Konami Code (Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right) to find Mokou.
  • Unlocking Byakuren Hijiri: Head to Myouren-Ji, the building in the southeast where Minamitsu Murasa is standing. Wait in this building for a full hour of real time and a cutscene will trigger in which Byakuren will join.

You do not need to visit the scarlet devil mansion (or visit Akyuu for Byakuren) to unlock those characters. However, it must be noted that the player must visit Akyuu once more after getting the recipes in order to unlock Mokou. Also, they will automatically join your party right before stage 9 (Mokou) and 11 (Byakuren) respectively if you do not recruit them before then.

In V, neither character can be recruited early.

Vending Machine Codes

Inside Rinnosuke's shop there is a vending machine. You can enter an 8-digit code to receive various equipment.
68997264 : Melon Sword (Exp earned UP)
16394122 : Gamer Japanese Fan (Item drop rate up)
28896765 : Animate Pen (Ignores defense(small))
75024087 : White Lance (Power earned UP)
71228829 : Akiba Cherry Blossom (HP Drain 10%, MP Drain 1%)
98530865 : Messe Dagger (HP&MP+10%)
28614360 : Tiger Axe (Ability to use 主砲, Main Cannon)
30723811 : D-Staff (one-handed staff, so you can use a shield)

All of those items can be upgraded in the expansion.

Note that in V, the vending machine is no longer present.