The FF7 systems database!

[EmperorSteele]

Hey all.  I have a plan that may once and for all be able to help those who cannot run the game correctly, for whatever reason.

Starting with my own systems, I plan to make a spreadsheet of various systems, and how well they run ff7, including if they need any patches or not.

Now, this is where i need help.  I want all of YOU to list your system specs for me as follows:

OS (if XP, please specify home/pro, and which service packs, if any, are installed)

Motherboard
-processor
-ram
Video card
-driver version (If anyone is willing to test multiple driver versions on your system, i'd love you for it!)
Audio card
HardDrive(s)
-speed
-space total and free
CD/DVD drives
-read speed

Basic system info: Does it usually run fine, or do you have other problems?  No need to be too specific unless it's something that could very well hamper ff7's performance (like conflicting codec, or high system memory usage due to overabundance of running proggies/spyware)

Version of FF7 (and if you've applied either the chococbo or animevamp patch)
-full install w/ movies on HD?
-Ultima version?
-did you install the yamaha drivers?
-Did you install directshow or the truemotion codec?
-Any other patches or mods installed? (Such as numpad fix for laptops or the high-res battle Cloud patch)

What res do you run ff7 at?
-problems with other res's?
-hardware or software mode?

Movies: Do they play? (yes/no/some)
-any specific problems?

Crashes: Where/when/frequency (if at all)

Other bugs? (Superspeed Bike, white boxes when Odin uses steel-bladed Sword, crappy-looking text, doesnt shut off w/out a ctrlatldel, etc)

Basically, i want to to see if we can draw a definitive coralary between specific issues between ff7 and the rest of one's system.  With the kind of AOL-using goofballs who cant get movies to play, i wouldnt be surprised if the cause of this rash of "can't get movies to play" is somehow related to shitty Dells or somekind of wierd spyware.

I mean, i've only had one problem getting movies to play, on a very, very old system.  I circumvented it by playing the movies in windows media player before reaching them in-game, so that they were in memory.  And truth be told, I'm a moron, but i still got it to work.  3 systems later, i still have a flawless-working copy (give or take the chocobo patch and the once-in-a-great-while random crash).  I refuse to beleive that anyone with a legit copy can't get te thing to run correctly (at least as far as movies and other minor nuances are concerned).

At worst, we'll beable to nail down the cause to such movie problems soley on the copy being pirated, and/or the end-user having done something stupid.  At best, You will have helped me create the penultimatge trouble-shooting guide, so the next time someone says "I have a p3 sytem and a radeon card, and ff7 refuses to boot", we'll beable to inform them of a hardware conflict and to update thier mobo's drivers.

Btw, i only put this in game-tweaking because this is where the majority of our "problem" users seem to lurk.. i'm really more interested in getting their info.  If a Mod feels this REALLY belongs elsewhere (like tech, mebbe?), well, i can't stop ya from moving it =/

[Chesso]

Operating System: Windows XP Home SP1.
Motherboard: Intel KU440EX.
CPU: Celeron II 333mhz.
RAM: 128mb SDRAM.
Video Card: None uses onboard ATI RAGE IIC 4mb video using windows drivers.
Audio Card: None uses onboard Crystal Audio using windows drivers.
HD: manufacturer and model unkown.
CD Drive: 52,24,52 and is from CyberDrive model unkown.

FF7 Run's fine even without compatibility mode.
Applied True Motion udate and Chocobo Patch i am up to disc 3 without problems.

Above applies to original FF7 version full install which my brother has i on the otherhand use the Ultima Version without any modification's.

And here is my specs:

Operating System: Windows XP Home SP1.
Motherboard: Acer S58M.
CPU: Pentium 3 933mhz.
RAM: 256mb SDRAM
Video Card:  16mb nVidia Riva TNT2 using latest drivers 66.93.
Audio Card: No Audio card only onboard it's AC'97 using SoundMAX.
HD: Manufacturer and model unkown.
CD Drive: 52,32,52 manufacturer and model unkown.

We run in software mode on both pc's but he runs in lowest full screen resolution it is laggy on highest and  i run in full screen highest resolution.

Ummm hope that's enough information heh.

[Zack]

Operating System: Windows XP Professional SP2. (DirectX 9.0c)
Motherboard: Abit NF7-M.
CPU: AMD Athlon XP +2200.
RAM: 512mb Corsair XMS DDR333.
Video Card: ATI Radeon 9800pro AIW (Catalyst 4.9)
Audio Card: Onboard system.
HD: IBM and model unkown.
Benq DVD-+RW DL  DW1600

FF7 Run's fine. Compatibility mode required (for world map)

Installed DirectShow and Chocobo Patch and official 1.02 patch
I use the Yamaha XG softsynthesiser
Above applies to original FF7 version full install.

I can run FF7 is software mode fine.
I normally use the 1.02 patch and force Direct3d rendering. (Riva 128 mode).
Works fine with very rare small graphics glitches.

[EmperorSteele]

Hey, uh, appcal?

Diectx 10?  You wanna double-check that?  Last i heard, it was only up to 9.01c or something o___o (I just wanna keep things accurate)

[Chesso]

9.0c, DirectX 10 is still in development as far as i know and probably wont be released for quite some time.

EDIT: Also when going into the snow town on disc 3 and proceding to the part where you ride the snowboard down the hill the program just closed itself. It only happened once and i am unable to re-produce it.

[Zack]

DirectX 9.0c
sorry guys

[Srethron Askvelhtnod]

Fine, I'll join in. I don't think having a spreadsheet is going to help much. The basic rule is, if you want FF7 to run with a minimum number of problems, have a high-end Pentium II with Win98SE and DirectX 5.1 (on the FF7 cd.) But even people on those systems get the Cosmo Canyon crash, so it's a moot point.

Operating System: Windows XP Profession SP1 (DirectX 9.0c)
Motherboard: ASUS P4S800
CPU: Pentium 4 2.8GHz
RAM: 1024mb Corsair XMS DDR333
Video card: ATI Radeon 9600 (Catalyst from September, can't remember, hopefully not relevant since I only use FF7 in software mode)
Audio card: Creative SB0240 Audigy 2 Platinum
HD: Seagate 7,400 RPM 200GB, 3GB free.
Drive 1: Plextor PX-712A DVDRW DVD+R: 16x CD: 48x
Drive 2: Plextor PX-WA4824A CD: 48x

FF7 version: 1.0
Full install w/ movies on HD: Yes
Ultima version: No
Did you install the yamaha drivers? No. Installer gives error.
Did you install directshow or the truemotion codec? Both.
Any other patches or mods installed? Too many to list. No problems.

What res do you run ff7 at? 640x480
problems with other res Monitor doesn't know what 320x240 is. ;)
Hardware or software mode? Software

Movies: Do they play? No. Fixed with Duck Trumotion codec or Upside Down Movie patch.

Crashes:
Game crashes when trying to access the menu and/or when entering battle. Fixed by turning on Win98 compatibility.

Game crashes during Chocobo Races. Fixed with Chocobo Patch.

Other bugs:
Superspeed Bike. Playable, but can be slowed to original speed with Turbo CPU limiter.

[Desaigy Ouimate]

I'm sorry, this may sound dumb, but, what's the ultima version?

[Chesso]

I think it's just basically already patched up to work etc which it does a good job of i havent had any issues with it. It's not an officiall version though so i guess it's illegal.

[Jedimark]

Runs great on my new computer:

Operating System: Windows XP Profession SP2 (DirectX 9.0c)
Motherboard: Intel 915P + ICH6
CPU: Pentium 4 3.4GHz
RAM: 1GB DDR2 533MHz
Video card: 256MB nVidia GeForce Go 6800
Audio card: Intel Azalia High Definition Sound with Virtual 8 channel audio output
HD: 2½” 80GB 4200RPM Hard Disk Drive
Drive 1: Built in DVD-RW/CD-RW Dual Format (+/-) & Dual Layer (+)

FF7 version: 1.2
Full install w/ movies on HD: Yes
Ultima version: No
Did you install the yamaha drivers? Yes.
Did you install directshow or the truemotion codec? Yes, both.
Any other patches or mods installed? Chocobo Fix.

What res do you run ff7 at? 640x480
Hardware or software mode? Hardware

Movies: Do they play? Yes.

Crashes:
No crashes.

Other bugs:
Bike minigame very fast.

[Shadow]

Ok heres mine - Hope this isn't too much info

System 1:
OS - Windows XP Home with Service Pack 2 (DX9.0c)
Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-8i915p Duo Pro (Chipset Intel 915P (Northbridge)/Intel ICH6 (Southbridge))
Processor - Pentium 4 3.2Ghz w/ HT - Socket LGA775 - FSB 800
Ram - 1 Gig, 2x512 DDR400 (PC3200)
Video card - Gigabyte Geforce 6600 GT PCI-Express 256mb
- Driver version - Forceware 66.93
Audio card On Board - Intel High Definition Audio 8 Channel
HardDrive(s) Seagate 2x40Gb HDD's - running in RAID-0 to make 1 80gb drive
- Speed Both drives are 7200rmp drives
- Space total and free Total space is 80Gb. with 54Gb Free
CD/DVD drives
- Sony DVD Drive
- Liteon DVD+-RW Drive
- CD Drives are networked so it has access to the drives on the other machines
- Read speed No idea, but their fast

System 2:
OS - Windows XP Home with Service Pack 2 (DX9.0c)
Motherboard - Gigabyte 8iE533 (Chipset - Intel 845E (NB)/Intel 82801DB ICH4 (SB))
Processor - Pentium 4 2.4Ghz Version C - Socket 478 - FSB 533
Ram - 768mb - 1x512 DDR400 (PC3200). 1x256 DDR400 (PC3200)
Video card - Leadtek Geforce FX 5700 Ultra 128mb
- Driver version - Forceware 66.93
Audio card
On Board - Realtek ALC650 PCI sound controller chip
PCI Card - Creative Vibra 128
HardDrive(s) 1x40Gb Seagate Drive
- Speed 7200rmp drive
- Space total and free Total space is 40Gb. Free space is 23Gb
CD/DVD drives
- Sony CD-RW Drive
- Sony 60x CD Drive
- CD Drives are networked so it has access to the drives on the other machines
- Read speed Song = Don't know, Sony = 60x

System 3:
OS - Windows XP Home with Service Pack 2 (DX9.0c)
Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-6BXC (Chipset - Intel 82440 BX AGPset(NB)/Intel 440BX AGPset (SB))
Processor - Pentium 3 650mhz - Socket "Slot 1" - FSB - unknown, most likely 133mhz
Ram - 192mb SDRam. 1x64mb, 1x128mb (Don't know ram speeds on this one)
Video card
- Leadtek Geforce 2 MX 400 64mb
- Leadtek Geforce 4 TI 4600 128mb (This card has memory issues and only gets used when the machine is playing a more intensive game)
- Driver version - Forceware 66.93
Audio card Creative PC128
HardDrive(s) Fujitsu 20Gb drive
- Speed 5200 rmp
- Space total and free Total space is 20Gb. with 11Gb Free
CD/DVD drives
- Noname 40x CD Drive
- CD Drives are networked so it has access to the drives on the other machines
- Read speed 40x

FF7 Version - Latest - v1.2
Full install w/ movies on HD? - Yes
Ultima version? - No, standard
Did you install the yamaha drivers? - Yes
Did you install directshow or the truemotion codec? - Yes, both of them
Any other patches or mods installed? - Chocobo Fix. Upside down video fix required on the Pentium 4 machines only, nothing installed on the Pentium 3

What res do you run FF7 at? 640x480
Hardware or software mode? Hardware mode

Movies: Do they play? Yup - flawlessly

Crashes
No game related crashes, but it does crash at the next battle if you tab out of the game and back in on the Pentium 4 machines, not on the P3

Other Bugs
All mini games are really fast
- Bike Game
- Snowboarding
- Underwate sub
Both in the game and at the goldern saucer. Again on the Pentium 4 machines only, not the Pentium 3

Game runs perfectly, as intended on the older pentium 3 machine, with no patchs, no stuffed videos, mini games don't fly along at 100000 fps


Can i make a suggestion, You should include questions for Final Fantasy 8 aswell, cause it has just as many problems, and for instance, my old P3 is the only one that will play it - the new p4 doesn't play the sound effects and the middle p4 - well havn't tried that one cause its out of action at the moment