Custom graphics driver for FF7/FF8 [v.1-.7.6]

[idl12]

thank you kranmer, it turns out thar i had 7.4b installed thinking it was the latest release, i really need to take my time and read these things properly.

[Hellbringer616]

Just wondering, How playable is FF8 with Aali's driver?

[Terid__K]

Just wondering, How playable is FF8 with Aali's driver?

Can't say anything about this new version, but 0.2 is playable (I didn't get any crashes so far). The only thing missing is the battle swirl effect.

[Hellbringer616]

Just wondering, How playable is FF8 with Aali's driver?

Can't say anything about this new version, but 0.2 is playable (I didn't get any crashes so far). The only thing missing is the battle swirl effect.

On par or better then it on a PS2/emulator?

[Terid__K]

Eh... I've never played the PSX version so I can't really make a comparison. All I know is that the World Map textures in the PSX version are fully rendered (for some reason, the PC version only renders the low-res WM textures, which lack a lot of detail. Aali was going to try to fix that, not sure if he still plans to).

[InuRa]

Great work on that last update. Just love the new battle interface!

Hey might as well change the whole thing!


(joking  but was a little bored so came up with those mockups)

What I really wanted to ask is that if it would be a nice idea to add a key like CapsLock, Tab or F-something to toogle the autorun on and off, I really miss that in FF7.

[obesebear]

What I really wanted to ask is that if it would be a nice idea to add a key like CapsLock, Tab or F-something to toogle the autorun on and off, I really miss that in FF7.

http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=8758.0  Keep one .exe patched and one not patched.  That's how you can toggle it.

[InuRa]

http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=8758.0  Keep one .exe patched and one not patched.  That's how you can toggle it.

Oh, yeah, I'm doing just that, but since it's such a nice feature and there's a public for it... why not add it if Aali finds time and maybe has the will to do it? Right? Plus, being a quick-toggle would fix the problems with the areas that mod doesn't work.

[obesebear]

http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=8758.0  Keep one .exe patched and one not patched.  That's how you can toggle it.

Oh, yeah, I'm doing just that, but since it's such a nice feature and there's a public for it... why not add it if Aali finds time and maybe has the will to do it? Right? Plus, being a quick-toggle would fix the problems with the areas that mod doesn't work.

Just curious, where have you found that it doesn't work? 

EDIT

Why hasn't this thread been stickied yet?

[Immortal Damyn]

http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=8758.0  Keep one .exe patched and one not patched.  That's how you can toggle it.

Oh, yeah, I'm doing just that, but since it's such a nice feature and there's a public for it... why not add it if Aali finds time and maybe has the will to do it? Right? Plus, being a quick-toggle would fix the problems with the areas that mod doesn't work.

Just curious, where have you found that it doesn't work? 

EDIT

Why hasn't this thread been stickied yet?

That my god sir, is a very good question...

[arew264]

http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=8758.0  Keep one .exe patched and one not patched.  That's how you can toggle it.

Oh, yeah, I'm doing just that, but since it's such a nice feature and there's a public for it... why not add it if Aali finds time and maybe has the will to do it? Right? Plus, being a quick-toggle would fix the problems with the areas that mod doesn't work.

Just curious, where have you found that it doesn't work? 

EDIT

Why hasn't this thread been stickied yet?

That my god sir, is a very good question...

Well, this is the longest thread in the forums at this point, and I still think it almost deserves its own forum. This is probably the most successful FF7 mod on these forums, if only because Aali is providing an essentially complete mod.

[Kranmer]

@Terid__K i just installed FF8 and you are 100% right Aali's driver (0.7.5b) as is wont work with FF8.
So after around 3 mins of trying various things i noticed somthing.
Aali's driver needs "ff7_opengl.fgd" but it doesnt look for this file it looks for "ff8_opengl.fgd"
so basicly rename "ff7_opengl.fgd" to "ff8_opengl.fgd" and your done. Now 0.7.5 works fine on FF8.

Code: [Select]

INFO: FF7/FF8 OpenGL driver version 0.7.5b
INFO: Auto-detected version: FF8 1.2 US English (Nvidia)
INFO: NVIDIA Corporation GeForce 9600 GSO/PCI/SSE2/3DNOW! 3.2.0
INFO: OpenGL 2.0 support detected
INFO: Found swap_control extension


[szczuru]

@Aali, Can you post driver's source code?

[Aali]

kranmer, Terid__K:
You are indeed correct, I forgot to update the fake eax.dll included in the .zip file. The new version looks for ff7_opengl.fgd and will actually tell you when something goes wrong instead of just failing

szczuru:
The source is technically available on request so other people can gain information about FF7/FF8 internals. However your only other post indicates that you are interested in removing the NoCD check, which is something I will not allow. (And seriously, you don't need a NoCD crack for this game, it's so easy to get around it it's not even funny)

[Timber]

i have tried eidoslogo sqlogo and opening.avi all in h264 with AAC audio and they all work from start to end without crashing (i had some problems with AAC LC but AAC main works fine)

EDIT- If you want to check out if H264 is working for you here is a opening i made a long time ago (its the original FF7 opening but from the PSX version which looked better then the PC and it was filtered smoothed and upscaled to 1280x960 also the audio is 44hz where the original is only 22hz) but now in H264 with AAC audio
just rename your opening.avi (for backup purposes) in your FF7 movie folder then unrar this one to the movie folder then run the game with 0.7.5.
http://www.mediafire.com/?e3fmdnemk3d

EDIT2- also i said 1280x960 above, actually that was a mistake (i have a 1280x960 version but this isnt it) it is actually 1280x896, sorry about that.

I tried that video Kranmer, worked perfectly and looked much better.
Do you plan to release all of these?

[AlbusJC]

Great work on that last update. Just love the new battle interface!

Hey might as well change the whole thing!


(joking  but was a little bored so came up with those mockups)

What I really wanted to ask is that if it would be a nice idea to add a key like CapsLock, Tab or F-something to toogle the autorun on and off, I really miss that in FF7.

that could be posible? at the same way that ff8. well, something like that

[InuRa]

Technically possible i guess, but it's just a visual change, no point losing time on that right now at all when there is so much more to do and more important too.

[Satan2k]

Oh snap!  The FF8 driver is not compatible with the French Game Version

Amazing job by the way, i can't even imagine how did you manage to get this done, that's incredible.  On next update, could you add support for other languages? =)

Thanks a lot, and keep up the good work   I though i was a fairly good programmer, but i was totaly wrong, considering this

[myst6re]

It's compatible with the french version, read kranmer post, I've tested and it's works to my version !

[Kranmer]

@Aali - thanks for that i am really looking forward to the next release.
@timber - Thanks the compliment,
I am not really working on them right now (other projects are taking up my time) but there are some other people on this forum now working on it here
http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=9233.25
and Seifer is working on improved videos
http://break-off.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=841
that opening is one i made previously (i also remade around 8 other videos) i just uploaded it in H264 format to show that H264 is now supported.

[Terid__K]

Renaming the file did indeed work. Thanks.

[Buncxs]

hi im new here

sorry for my english T__T
i just wanted to say Aali you gave final 7,8 new life with your driver

final7 works flawless but i have a problem with 8

as you can see with linear filter off the map looks like is being rendered in software mode (its not) and there are no black borders on the building
with linear filter on, it looks awesome but the are black borders around the building , on some other places like battle for example it shows black borders, am i doing something wrong?
im using ff7_opengl-0.7.5b just renamed the file "ff7_opengl.fgd" to "ff8_opengl.fgd" like krammer said and it worked fine

[Satan2k]

Haha thanks, i tried to tweak the Exe by every possible way, but i just forgot to test swapping the drivers

Good idea!  Thanks a lot! =)

[InuRa]

There is something else that would be nice to see added to the custom driver. Instead of displaying the video on the top and have a bar at the bottom, the video could be centered, making it look a little bit more "natural" since nowadays most movies have wasted space on the top and bottom anyway.

[obesebear]

Aali, a question for you.

I'm working on upgrading all of the videos in the game (most especially ones that can be ripped from AC).  I've noticed H264 works now, as does AAC.  AWESOME.

However, if the video is higher than 15fps, the lag is terrible and the sound even cuts out at parts.   The difference between 15fps and 23.97 is very, very noticeable.  Is it possible to add better compatibility with higher fps?