Messages

1

Team Avalanche / Team Avalanche and Aali's Graphics Driver 0.8.x

« on: 2014-05-08 05:18:45 »

So, as most of you probably know, Aali removed "external" (internal?) texture support from 0.8.0. (As in, the "mods" folder works, but hi-res textures inside LGPs don't.) This, unfortunately, breaks the Team Avalanche hi-res textures mod. Is there A) Any plans to re-release the mod as PNG textures that can be placed in the "mods" folder? or B) any easy way to extract the TA textures from the TA installer, convert to PNGs, and use with the "mods" folder?

(I have mentioned this incompatibility both in Aali's thread and in one of the Stickies in this section, but have not received any reply, so I decided to start a new topic for it.)

2

General Discussion / Re: Legal Copy Questions

« on: 2014-05-07 23:18:25 »

Thanks, Covarr! I just called and told him. I told him to get ff8 as well, as it's half price too. (Is there a converter for FF8 yet? Or are there even mods that don't work with the steam version? I know RaW works with it, and I've read you can import the old FMV's to get rid of the new crappy ones, but I don't know about any other mods yet... I haven't even modded my copy yet besides aali's driver.)

3

General Discussion / Re: Legal Copy Questions

« on: 2014-05-06 21:30:23 »

but I'm not sure I see the point if the person owns the game on Steam anyway. The effort involved would be greater than the effort to re-download the Steam version and run the converter.

I figured once I set the game up for him I'd make an install disk for him anyways, with all his mods pre-installed in case he gets a new computer or has to reinstall on the one he already has for some reason. (Seeing as it's legal for him to have a copy of his copy of the game.)

I hate US copyright law. I like the idea of copyrights, but how our copyright laws work are just plain stupid.

4

General Discussion / Re: Legal Copy Questions

« on: 2014-05-06 12:58:32 »

Ok, I'll tell him to get the steam version.

Out of curiosity, assuming it would even work, would it be legal to make an install disk for the converted steam release? And, installed traditionally or through a disk, how does that manage disk swaps? Are they still unneeded because the steam version doesn't use disks, or what? (I assume it's basically an LGP or exe hex mod by se themselves).

5

General Discussion / Legal Copy Questions

« on: 2014-05-06 04:31:47 »

Hey guys, I have some questions regarding the legality of copies of FFVII PC.

I have a friend who's got the Playstation version of Final Fantasy VII, but he's missing disk 3. He'd like to play the game some day, but doesn't want to start it and not be able to finish because he doesn't have the last disk. (I'd lone him my copy - but he's one of those friends I don't know if I'll actually see very often after high school and graduation is coming up soon.) He also has a PS3 so no swap trick for him, whether it would be legal or not to play with a burned copy of disk three. (I'm not sure if it would be legal or not for me to make a copy of my disk, he does own the game after all and is only missing the one disk, but it doesn't matter because he has no method to use it, besides an emulator which he said he'd rather not bother with.)

So, my main question really is, would it be OK for me to copy my PC copy of the game to give to him, since he owns the PS version, or is that a no-no? I told him (assuming it's legal) I'd try to burn the game for him with my favorite mods (he'd like to play with graphics/music mods but isn't comfortable modding it himself) and the any cd patch on a DVD with a custom installer - basically copying my entire Square Soft directory to his Program Files folder, setting up his registry appropriately, and using the DVD as "FF7Disk1" (or whatever the proper label is) so he doesn't have to switch disks around. I have a feeling this is a "no", but I'm not sure.

Finally, if the above is not OK, would be OK for me to do that for him if he bought the Steam version and just didn't install it (as I'd have to go and convert his game to the 1998 version anyways to apply mods)?

I appreciate your feedback, and I promise I won't do any of this if there's no legal way. (Worst case scenario I'll tell him to buy the Steam version and I'll go over to his house and set up the mods for him - though applying LGP mods is a pain in the ass sometimes. First time I tried modding LGP's directly, I tried 3 different compressor/decompressors, and ended up with a about 4-5 broken installations before I finally got things working OK. Thankfully I keep backups so I didn't have to reinstall the entire game again multiple times.)

6

General Discussion / Re: FF8 DLS

« on: 2014-05-05 23:44:48 »

I've only got the free version of FL Studio so I can't use VSTi plugins that aren't included with it.(I also can't load projects, so I have to keep the program running for days at a time while I work on a track until I am finished and can export it.) The soundfont player that comes with it only supports SF2 soundfonts.

When I tried this I didn't have internet access on WiFi, and had very little data left on my phone, so I didn't go poking around for SFC because I thought the file wasn't being replaced. I'll check that out though.

Yeah, it probably is dllcache, I didn't have the tutorial up when I posted that. I don't have a folder there with either name though.

Unfortunately I won't have access to my Vista machine until this weekend (It's at my mother's house) so I won't be able to test with that until then (and I don't have internet there, so I can't let you if it works until sunday night), but I can try this out on my Win7 machine this week.

7

General Discussion / Re: FF8 DLS

« on: 2014-05-05 17:32:23 »

Thanks Covarr, but that's actually the tutorial I was referring to. Unfortunately, method 2 won't work for me, as I would like Windows Media Player to use the new soundfont as well. Also, seeing as it doesn't work for cakewalk, I have a feeling it might not work with FL Studio either, as the two programs are both tools for the same or similar purposes.

8

General Discussion / FF8 DLS

« on: 2014-05-05 14:30:48 »

Soooo... I recently got FFVIII PC (old version) and installed the 1.02 patch and Aali's driver. I don't have any other mods yet. Technically I've had the PSX version pretty much since it came out, but there's something wrong with at least disk one that causes it to crash before you can leave the classroom in balamb garden - so this is the first time I've really played it, and I'm not very far into it yet (just got to Galbadia Garden).

I was surprised that FFVIII's music sounded so good - even in MIDI format. (I haven't heard much of the PSX soundtrack though, so I can't compare - Balamb Garden's music sounds pretty similar, though not quite as pretty as the PS version.) Digging around, I realized that FF8 had a DLS soundfont, which made me wonder if that is why it sounds so good. Then I heard the square wave in-game and now I think it still must be using Windows' native GM soundfont.

Now, whether or not I get Roses and Wine working, I'd like to try to replace my Windows gm.dls with FF8's ff8.dls because I work with MIDI a -lot-. I know this must be possible, I've seen tutorials to do it on XP, but the machine I have the game on is Vista, and doesn't have a drivercache folder. I tried just replacing windows' version with ff8's version (renaming it gm.dls and putting it in my /system32/drivers folder - but everything sounds the same as before. I don't think System File Checker did anything to it, because the windows' is ~3MB, and ff8's is ~8MB, and the file in the drivers folder is still ~8MB after a few restarts. Anybody have any suggestions?

(Also, a side question - Is that Fey Wong (sorry if I butchered her name) song in the PC version?)

9

General Discussion / Re: What the hell is wrong with SquareEnix?

« on: 2014-03-11 05:23:57 »

What the hell is wrong with SquareEnix?
There are two sides to this question for me:

SIDE A: The side that has been talked about in this thread: Why did they ruin Final Fantasy?

My first FF game was Final Fantasy for the NES. Sure, the game's almost 10 years older than I am, but my mom kept her NES and all her games around, and now they sit in my bedroom. I grew up playing, besides Mario, SE's two major franchises: Dragon Quest (originally known in the States as Dragon Warrior) and Final Fantasy. Anyways, I went from FF1 to FF7, as at the time we didn't have a SNES. (We have one nowadays, but still don't have IV/VI for it... I've got them both on the PS1 though.) Of course, being like 5 years old when I started being able to read on my own, I never finished either of them because I was an impatient child. We've got every main FF game up to 12 in some form or another now, but I have yet to finish any of them, actually. I'm working on VII now though. But  I've noticed that none of the games past IX, including spinoffs, (besides Itadaki Street which I was able to import - though I got that for the Dragon Quest side mainly) are any fun for me. Besides what has already been mentioned by others, I don't really have anything to add here.

SIDE B: Why won't Square Enix release more Dragon Quest games in the US (or other non-japanese countries)? I mean, seriously! I know this forum is for FF fans, but for those here who haven't played any Dragon Warrior or Dragon Quest game, you really should try one (or mulitple, or all of them) out. Dragon Quest has evolved throughout the years, yes, but it has managed to maintain storytelling and a classic JRPG feel throughout it's run. Even Dragon Quest X, which is an MMO, is fun - even fun enough to play in a language I don't understand. (Unfortunately, though I managed to play during the PC open beta, I cannot afford to pay the monthly fee to keep playing currently. And even if I had the money, I wouldn't be getting what I was paying for, you know, not being able to understand any of the story.) The only DQ game I feel (Beside X, because I can't judge it in japanese) that is lacking in story, is DQIX on the DS. It was disappointing, but I can chalk that up to being an experimental game - it was Dragon Quest's first foray into multiplayer. (Who thought that a multiplayer RPG on a handheld system would work? I guess it worked OK in japan due to the massive fanbase, but internationally I feel it was a bit of a flop.)

Also, I have to agree with Kalderasha about DQ8 being the best RPG on the PS2, but I really didn't like the "enhancements" made for the international release. Chalk that up to notalgia though. Oh, and load times.

10

Troubleshooting / Re: Character Polygon Models

« on: 2014-03-03 05:46:47 »

What do you need these for? I'm not sure if we can provide them, (this forum has strict rules about distributing copyrighted work) but if you've got the PC version (or maybe even the PSX version, I'm not sure) there are tools to extract them from the game. (Converting them to a useful format, I'm not sure about, but it must be possible because we can go the other way around.)

11

Releases / Re: FF7 - XBox 360 Controller Fix [2.0]

« on: 2014-02-28 17:15:00 »

Well the actual graphic will be static and show PSX controls, but the joypad config can still be changed even if it doesnt match.  Of course you'd want the X in game to match up with its function cancel.

I am not sure how the PSX did this.  When you changed the config in PSX did it also change the graphic?  The PC version will always show the same thing regardless of what you change.  Switch is always switch (of course you assign a button to it).

Actually as far as I remember it just did "OK" "Cancel" instead of buttons?  Its funny that I cannot remember....

The PSX version would say [*button function*] (previously marked *button icon*)

I recommend glovepie. It's way more functional than any alternative I've used, and although requires scripting, it's rather simple and easy to pick up. I've been using it to supplement FF7 (1998)'s built in DInput support for my XBox controller. I would like to be able to use button icons though...

12

Aali's Custom FF7/FF8 Driver / Re: Custom graphics driver for FF7/FF8 [v0.8.1b]

« on: 2014-02-18 16:21:02 »

You MUST run FF7Config.exe FIRST. When you use it, it overwrites ALL FF7 registry entries besides datapath and moviepath (and possibly the values related to disk number, but those shouldn't matter because the game will tell you to insert the appropriate disk anyways when you load a game). Therefore, even if you used the registry file beforehand, it still overwrites the registry entry to use Direct3D.

ANY TIME you use FF7Config.exe, you must then use the .reg file again or the driver will revert to Direct3D, no matter if/how many times you have used the .reg file before.

**TO AVOID CONFUSION: This information is only accurate for versions 0.8.0 and beyond - you definitely don't need a .reg file for versions 0.7.8 - 0.7.11b, nor do I believe you need one for older versions. (As if anybody would still be using a version older than 0.7.11b for FF7. I don't know about FF8.)

13

Team Avalanche / Re: STICKY: 2D Overhaul & WMRP *OFFICIAL PROBLEM THREAD*

« on: 2014-02-14 04:08:52 »

I'd just like to point out an issue with the World Map Reconstruction Project. I know I'm not supposed to post issues with Aali's driver here, but this is not a bug, just a compatibilty issue: He has removed support for "external textures" in LGP archives in version 0.8.0+ of his driver. (Textures in the mods directory seem to work perfectly fine still.) This breaks the WMRP in its current state (with the latest OGL driver - the LGPs still work with 0.7.11b but Aali has fixed some other bugs and I'd like to be able to upgrade). Is it possible to convert the WMRP textures for use in the mods directory? Even if I were to use the textures from Felix Leonhart's project, I'd like to keep the new map texture. I asked about converting these for "mod" use over in Aali's thread a few days ago, but got no reply to my questions, so I thought I'd ask here.

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Aali's Custom FF7/FF8 Driver / Re: Custom graphics driver for FF7/FF8 [v0.8.1b]

« on: 2014-02-12 06:54:15 »

@Jaki: Can you no longer use ff7 OpenGL 0.7.11b? I'm pretty sure that one supports OGL 1.1. You may need to do a fresh install of the game to revert to the old driver, however. I had to do that in order to revert when I realized that almost half the mods I was using didn't work properly with 0.8.1b.

15

Announcements and site development / Re: New Users Can't Register

« on: 2014-02-12 05:26:39 »

Sorry for the bump, but I'd like to point out that this is still an issue. I have been trying to register for 3 days, on two computers in different locations (in different, albeit neighboring, cities in fact) with different web browsers. I was only able to register today. I don't know if it makes a difference or not, but when I was finally able to register, I did so with my iPad using Chrome for iOS.

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Aali's Custom FF7/FF8 Driver / Re: Custom graphics driver for FF7/FF8 [v0.8.1b]

« on: 2014-02-12 01:46:49 »

FINALLY! I've been trying to register for days but was running into the "registration is currently disabled" bug. So this would be my first post. Though I've been lurking around here for a while, and have been using many of the wonderful mods here to play FF7 PC. I'd like to play FF8 someday too, if I can get ahold of it, but unless there's a conversion patch, I don't want to get the Steam version. (I have the PSX version, but there's something wrong with my disc 1 as the game crashes after the intro. On my PS1, PS2, and in ePSXe.)

Anyways, I have an important question to ask: I would like to use the latest version of the custom OGL driver, but I have a couple of issues with it. Now that the external textures feature has been removed, is it possible to use mods like Team Avalanche's World Map Reconstruction Project? Or any custom models that have new textures, like the Barrett battle/field model from TA's graphical overhaul? I imagine if I could extract them from the LGP files and convert them to PNG, I could place them in my mods directory or the appropriate "direct" folder, but that will probably lead to longer load times, and I wouldn't know how to convert them anyways.

Also, Aali, is there a chance that you would ever add disable_popups to be an option again? I'd like to Let's Play FF7 eventually with mods, and those errors wouldn't look nice in recording. If not, that's not too bad though, I only recently learned that was an option in 7.11b so I have grown accustomed to the errors and hardly notice them. (The Zero Count errors seem to stand out a lot in scenes with Bugenheigen if you use the Pheonix Rejuviation mod, but I see they've been removed from 8.1b anyways.)

If these features cannot/will not ever be added back in, does anybody know of a patch that will fix the coaster aimer bug? I've seen DLPB's patch, but his changes the mini games A LOT and for my first play through I'd like to leave the gameplay alone and only enhance graphics/sound. (I've had the game pretty much since it came out on playstation, and the PC version for about 3 years now, but really just recently got around to ACTUALLY playing it -I already know about aerith though, the internet ruined the "spoilers" for me- and I'm about to do the temple of the ancients portion of the game once I can get the Umbrella.) I might try DLPB's patch in my modded Let's Play though.

Whew, that's a long first post! Thanks in advance for any help though. I'd like to be a productive member here, and actually have some ideas for mods of my own already.