FFVIII PC startup & transparency issue

BTW: FFVIII = Final Fantasy VIII

Took me a long time to get around to it. As you can see, I successfully installed it.

But there's this thing. It was working nicely with software rendering in Windows 7. This thing crashes when a new game is started in Windows Vista! Now, how to fix this? Installing to somewhere NOT Program Files fixed it. (UAC?)

But, when I'm using hardware acceleration, the transparencies are botched up - what should be transparent becomes black instead.

Yes, I know there's a software renderer, but then again, it has its own issues. Like unfiltered textures, texture warping, inability to use AA and blocky lighting.

What would it take to get it running as it should?

OS: Windows Vista (32-bit)

GPU: NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX+

Patch 1.2NV is installed.