Author Topic: FF7Music Answers  (Read 4277 times)

eggdude

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FF7Music Answers
« on: 2005-07-24 01:10:09 »
Hello everyone.

 I have been looking through this board for a while now and I'm amazed at some of the great tools and patches that can make FF7 an almost new experience.  One of the things that I would like the most is to play mp3 remixes of some of the songs in the game so I've been looking at FF7Music a lot.

I've been able to get FF7Music to work to a varying degree but I've had to search all over the board and there are still some things I'm not sure about.  So I'd like to compile here all the information for FF7Music(Steps to install,Common problems,FAQs) so people can quickly learn all about it.  First I need to know a few more things about it, so here are my questions:

Which version is best to use?
  For me the FF7Music v110(on Ficedula's site) doesn't play the MP3s unless you download the older 1.10 version of ficedula.dll(found at http://aaronserv.dyndns.org/hosting/ficedula/).  I have discovered, however, that the version that comes packaged with psfs(at http://aaronserv.dyndns.org/hosting/ffsf/download_7.html) plays the MP3s fine.  It seems to have a newer ff7music.dll(1.1.1)

Why do the MIDIs AND MP3s play at the same time?
  Using the psf version of FF7Music it seems that the only way to stop the MIDI is to mute it in Volume Control.  However you then have to have new music for every song(and even then, there are a few songs missing) rather than just replacing a few songs with MP3s and have MIDI music for the rest.  FF7Music version 105 however correctly stops and starts the MIDI files.  Did this feature get left out in the newer version?

What features that are available in the FF7Music setup really work?
  I have found that the resuming works great in the newest version(110) but not in the 105 version.  Also the "Loop Custom Files" option doesn't work in any version.  I have heard that it never worked(Is this true Ficedula?).  Is there any way to loop MP3s?

That's about it for now.  If everyone could share what they know and their experience with FF7Music, I will try to create a FAQ so that it's easy for everyone(especially the onslaught of newbies that will come because of Advent Children's release :)).

Thanks!

eggdude

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FF7Music Answers
« Reply #1 on: 2005-07-28 02:36:50 »
Can some of you just say what your experience has been with FF7Music.  Which features didn't work? Which did?

qbertXTREME

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FF7Music Answers
« Reply #2 on: 2005-07-29 19:33:15 »
FF7Music Short Review

PROS
No other soundfont or program makes the PC version of the game sound this good - it emulates the PSX music almost perfectly and sounds just like it for the most part, that is to say exactly like it. I can immediately tell the difference between the Playstation and the PC version with any other stuff I've tried.

CONS
It's unstable. This is the reason why I still play the PSX version of FFVII instead. I don't understand why it crashes frequently, I just know that it does (I use the original PSX .psf files, not MP3 or anything).

eggdude

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FF7Music Answers
« Reply #3 on: 2005-08-09 15:08:22 »
Ok.  Well after many weeks of researching and testing I finally got FF7music to work the way that I want it to.  I'll share what I did for anyone else who wants to know.

First, if you just want to replace the MIDI music with the original Playstation music, just download the FF7Music pakage from here: http://aaronserv.dyndns.org/hosting/ffsf/download_7.html and follow the instructions.  It should work great.

If you want to use MP3s however you have to do some more work.  I have found that using the latest version of FF7Music, and Ficedula.dll works best rather than trying to use old versions.  Again, that can be downloaded from Aaron's server(http://aaronserv.dyndns.org/hosting/ffsf/download_7.html)(Thanks for the great solution Aaron!)  So first is to tell FF7Music what Mp3s to play instead of the Midis.  

Probably the biggest problem with Mp3s is that the Looping function doesn't work.  The only way I found to get around that was to use an audio editor(like SoundForge) to create a new Mp3 file which loops several times.

The next problem is, if you want to play Mp3s some of the time and regular Midi some of the time, you can't mute the Midi volume.  Instead you have to delte the midis that you replaced with Mp3s in the Final Fantasy VII\data\midi\midi.lgp file.  You can do this by using Ficedula's Lgptools app(http://ficedula.cjb.net/) to extract,delete, and recompress the files.

And that should do it.  I should probably write a more extensive FAQ, but I'm feeling lazy right now so if you have any other questions then just ask and I'll try to answer as best as I can.

Thanks for all the modders out there who have made this such a fun game to replay!

nl

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FF7Music Answers
« Reply #4 on: 2005-08-10 09:13:52 »
Is there no other way around the mp3/looping issue?

Can a playlist be set in place of a mp3--one with the same song qued several times to mimic looping?

eggdude

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FF7Music Answers
« Reply #5 on: 2005-08-11 14:39:02 »
Nope.  The Playlist doesn't work because the mp3 plugin is looking for an mp3, not a playlist.  It would have to be programmed into FF7Music to use a playlist.

v1ral

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Re: FF7Music Answers
« Reply #6 on: 2005-08-15 23:06:45 »
Quote from: eggdude
Hello everyone.
Why do the MIDIs AND MP3s play at the same time?
  Using the psf version of FF7Music it seems that the only way to stop the MIDI is to mute it in Volume Control.  However you then have to have new music for every song(and even then, there are a few songs missing) rather than just replacing a few songs with MP3s and have MIDI music for the rest.  FF7Music version 105 however correctly stops and starts the MIDI files.  Did this feature get left out in the newer version?


Blah, I've been having problems with random songs missing at points. For instance, after leaving the Mako Reactor for the first time (with the 10 minute timer), being on the ground level, outside, there is no music playing. You mentioned that even with all the files in FF7Music present, there will still be some music files missing? My primary concern right now is whether or not its normal to have a few songs missing, such as that which I specified. Thanks.

eggdude

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FF7Music Answers
« Reply #7 on: 2005-08-16 13:47:11 »
I think the reason that there are some songs missing is because it doesn't let you select a replacement in FF7Music.  All of the ones that you selected in FF7Music should work so you probably have another problem.