Something else to try, I've seen quite a few pixel shaders labeled as being ps1.4, when they could be done with 1.3 and lower many times, as they dont use ps1.4 only instructions, nor do they exceed the instruction counts. If you find a shader, and you dont know if it will work with a lower version, just try it. At worse case, you get an error that it couldnt compile the shader. At best, you have a 1.4 shader working at a lower version.

Personally, Id like for anyone posting shader code here, to please post using the lowest shader version that still works for that shader. Posting something using a higher version then needed does a disservice to the community, and isnt what posting these things is all about, helping the community?