Patch: Play FF7 without CDs

[Magus Spirit]

Anybody who copied all the videos to his hard disk has been quite annoyed by having the game telling him to insert the disks while he did not need them. This patch removes CD check in FF7 so you will be able to play FF7 without the game CDs, provided you copied all the videos on your hard disk.

As for my previous patch, this was made on a french version of FF7, aswell as on the 1.02us version (though I was not able to test this one). If you do not own one of these versions, you'll have to search for the location by yourself. To do so, open your file in your favourite hex editor and search for a part of one of the following lines of data (you'll have to search four locations, one for each part of the patch):

Code: [Select]

No-CD part 1:
____________________________
817D08008000007505E900020000 (1.00f)
817D08008000007505E900020000 (1.02f)
817D08008000007505E900020000 (1.02us)

No-CD part 2:
______________
3BF07417668B151441CB006689 (1.00f)
3BF07417668B15CC17CC000C00 (1.02f)
3BF07417668B15DCF9CB006689 (1.02us)

No-CD part 3:
__________________
3BF0743AE893F2FFFF (1.00f)
3BF0743AE893F2FFFF (1.02f)
3BF0743AE893F2FFFF (1.02us)

No-CD part 4:
______________________
85C075226A1068941F7B00 (1.00f)
85C075226A106884AE7B00 (1.02f)
85C075226A106834AE7B00 (1.02us)

Again, the parts that have a line above them should be common in all files.

Right now, I only have these locations. If you could tell me what location it is for you, and which version you have, it would be great.

Code: [Select]

1.00f:  0x0000418F, 0x00008706, 0x00008B7A, 0x00009A63
1.02f:  0x00003F6E, 0x00008406, 0x0000887A, 0x00009763
1.02us: 0x00003F5E, 0x000083F6, 0x0000886A, 0x00009753

Once you have the location, overwrite the specified part of the line as indicated (given in the same order as the addresses):

Code: [Select]

No-CD part 1: 7505 -> 9090
No-CD part 2: 7417 -> EB17
No-CD part 3: 743A -> EB3A
No-CD part 4: 7522 -> EB22

If you have any problem applying the patch, or if I made a mistake, don't hesitate to post.

Enjoy !

[Qhimm]

Ah yes, the gray area of no-CD cracks... What's the current legal status of them again?

[Magus Spirit]

I was not thinking about that when making that patch (I made it because it was handy), but now that you're talking about it, I'm wondering. I've heard all possible versions of it, the most common being "you can use it as long as you have the original game". Which does not mean it is true. Whatever, just get rid of my message, this will solve the problem.

[EmperorSteele]

Well, no one w/out a hex editor would beable to do this anyway, and getting ALL of ff7 is hard enough, as well.

But yeah, this isn;t totaly legit, as playing with the code is a violation of the agreeement thingy you accept when you install the game.

[Messiah99]

But yeah, this isn;t totaly legit, as playing with the code is a violation of the agreeement thingy you accept when you install the game.

Woa, that means youve actually READ that!   I always just accept and skip, I think I read one once and it was basically saying "I will not bootleg this game, etc etc" so I just assume thats what they all say, I dont have time for long legal mumbo jumbo thats never going to matter anyhow, since noones monitoring my computer anyhow.

[halkun]

First, if you read it, it tells you that you are only authorized to install and play the game. That's it. However, that's contractal.

if you want to site court cases, there was in injunction that Sony tried to put on Connectix because they copied a PSX ROM into a compuer's memory, violating copyright and therefore any work that was made from that was illigal.

The court decided that it was a proper fair use to copy the BIOS as it was being used for interpolation of the PSX product. Something that you can't own a copyright on. (I.E. You can't copyright a PlayStation, only the BIOS)

but just to say here, Sony was suing the company simply for copying the BIOS out of a PSX and wanted damages for every time the BIOS was copied into a computers memory from disk.

Yes, even the simple act of copying a file from the disk into the computer's memory without permission  is a copyright violation. Wacked law, huh?

[EmperorSteele]

Yeah, theres also clauses which, technically, make all the modding on this site illegal, as well.  Reverse engineering, tampering with code, altering game files...  Hell, even the "put the movies on your hd and edit the registry" trick can be seen as being a violation of the End-User Licence Agreement.  

It's failry standard for ALL games to have that, though companies are more than lenient towards modding comunities, even though such mods are technically against the EULA.  

So yeah, hacking the code and making a crack?  Definatly a no-no.  But ah well, I doubt that they care by this point.

[Jedimark]

This patch already exists... if you look hard enough you can find it.

There's a reg file:

Code: [Select]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Square Soft, Inc.\Final Fantasy VII]
"DataDrive"=".\\"
"AppPath"=".\\"
"DataPath"=".\\Data\\"
"MoviePath"=".\\Movies\\"
"DiskNo"=dword:00000000
"FullInstall"=dword:00000001

And then a .COM file to run (there's one for version 1.0, 1.1 and 1.2)

[Messiah99]

I was not thinking about that when making that patch (I made it because it was handy), but now that you're talking about it, I'm wondering. I've heard all possible versions of it, the most common being "you can use it as long as you have the original game". Which does not mean it is true. Whatever, just get rid of my message, this will solve the problem.

Well, Id think the if you do own the game legit, then a no-CD crack would be legal, but Im no lawyer. (If I was I wouldnt be here Id be out spending all that money Id be making, haha) But even if its not, well, I dont think the computer police are going to be out in full force over this one.

MOD EDIT: Edited two posts into one post. Please don't double-post.
Magus Spirit EDIT: I didn't double post. The second paragraph is not mine.

Why was my post edited into his?  :weep: That second paragraph was mine. Oh well, no use bitching, just thought that was odd...

[Magus Spirit]

I guess this is because we both have an "M" as the first letter of our usernames.

[Trek234]

Ah yes, the gray area of no-CD cracks... What's the current legal status of them again?

It is about as legal as every other FFVII modification.  According to the license agreement you are not allowed to modify the game.

So in answer to the question - it's on the same footing as every other FFVII mod - against the license agreement, but something Square isn't going to take action against.

[J*** H*******]

Message.

[Darkdevil]

Aren't you legally allowed to create a copy, or use a no - cd patch so your original discs get scratched?! Or have download safari been lying to me?

[Messiah99]

Aren't you legally allowed to create a copy, or use a no - cd patch so your original discs get scratched?! Or have download safari been lying to me?

I believe the letter of the law stands against copies, even personal backups in most if not all cases. As for no-CD cracks Im not sure if theres much in the way of anything legal or illegal about them, Ive never heard anything one way or another.

But in most cases, the copyright holders usually dont care about backup copies for personal use and turn a blind eye to the issue. And even if they did care, its not exactly like they can catch you for it.

[Darkdevil]

I suppose if Games companies cared, [a web site] would have been shut down LONG time ago.

Mod Edit: Unmentioned it is.

[J*** H*******]

Message.

[CloudSquall]

This patch already exists... if you look hard enough you can find it.

There's a reg file:

Code: [Select]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Square Soft, Inc.\Final Fantasy VII]
"DataDrive"=".\\"
"AppPath"=".\\"
"DataPath"=".\\Data\\"
"MoviePath"=".\\Movies\\"
"DiskNo"=dword:00000000
"FullInstall"=dword:00000001

And then a .COM file to run (there's one for version 1.0, 1.1 and 1.2)

Can you pls give some more info about this?

As im trying to make ff7 run movies from drive but it still asks for cd.

[Darkdevil]

Have you even read the document posted on this webiste?

[CloudSquall]

i read all faq but ermm... didnt see something for this i think

[Darkdevil]

I apologise, the "putting movies on the HD" guide must be on Aarons website or something...I think its Aaron...

[Aaron]

I thought it was Emperor Steele.
I haven't published anything about running the movies from your HD.  I just use CD images + virtual CD-ROM drive, myself.

[Jedimark]

This patch already exists... if you look hard enough you can find it.

There's a reg file:

Code: [Select]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Square Soft, Inc.\Final Fantasy VII]
"DataDrive"=".\\"
"AppPath"=".\\"
"DataPath"=".\\Data\\"
"MoviePath"=".\\Movies\\"
"DiskNo"=dword:00000000
"FullInstall"=dword:00000001

And then a .COM file to run (there's one for version 1.0, 1.1 and 1.2)

Can you pls give some more info about this?

As im trying to make ff7 run movies from drive but it still asks for cd.

Check your PM's.

- Mark

[Darkdevil]

I thought it was Emperor Steele.
I haven't published anything about running the movies from your HD.  I just use CD images + virtual CD-ROM drive, myself.

Ah! My bad, Sorry Aaron...Yeah come to think of it, It DOES sound like something steele did...

[EmperorSteele]

Gee, i feel loved =P

Yeah, i made it, though that codded sniplet kinda of effed things up. There shouldn't be double slashes /=.

Ah eff it *lightly bops DD*

[Jedimark]

There shouldn't be double slashes /=.

It does work.