Messages

26

Archive / Re: FF7 movies decoding enhancement

« on: 2007-09-10 21:14:33 »

Well then something is going weird.
I definitely have the latest version of K-Lite Standard installed,

and I've overwritten the movies contained in the images of my CDs,
so definitely this isn't the problem either.


I'll try to review the whole thing later,
and post feedback *if* things happen to get working.

27

Archive / Re: Movie Tweaking

« on: 2007-09-09 17:28:05 »

Just follow his t5hread.
The tech FAQ should also be updated to reflect teh

28

Archive / Re: FF7 movies decoding enhancement

« on: 2007-09-09 16:53:53 »

One got to disable decoding of the codec (e.g. XVID or Indeo 5) in FFDShow, right?
Because right now I'm using default FFDShow video-decoding settings, but the videos played in the game engine seem worse than usual.

In fact, the colors are too intense...
So... what is the tweak I'm missing, there?

You can see that with this ffdshow decoding the colours are too glowy. It looks ugly and besides that considerably mismatches ingame colours. There are those scenes where game switches between FMV and game engine and with those glowy colour it feels like a fist in the eye. Unfortunately with the newer versions of ffdshow you can't even use this decoding anymore (this "black screen and Eidos theme heard" issue that's been showing up lately in the forums).

29

Archive / Re: what is AA and AF

« on: 2007-09-09 13:40:16 »

Wikipedia is your friend.

30

Archive / Re: FF7 movies decoding enhancement

« on: 2007-09-09 06:24:55 »

I've learned that Indeo 5.10 codec works miracles to movies that are to be displayed in 16 bit colors. It uses some sort of overlay filter composed of colored grains (which are static and unobtrusive contrary to TrueMotion grains) and through this the movies look almost like in 24 bit colors. It's fantastic!

With minor improvements with VirtualDub filters...

1. don't change color depth settings as in my first try
2. Video -> filters ->

• levels -> input levels [4; 1.000; 255]   - to reduce noise considerably
• HSV adjust -> saturation 115%   - to regain saturation lost due to that overlay filter..so the colors match ingame
• temporal smoother=5   - additional noise reduction and smoothness

Oh and having checked "scalability" in Indeo configuration seems to have great impact on improving quality although I wonder why.

...here is the result. You may compare with the first one. It's the best output I've seen. You have to use it in game to see the difference.
I think that's it. Unless there is a way to use higher resolution videos I think nothing much more can be improved. And as Borde mentioned that would demand altering the game code.

Okay, I've encoded all my videos...
but now how do I disable the decoding of Indeo 5 in FFDShow?

I am only able to disable filtering of Indeo 2 and Indeo 3 codecs...
Please help, as I'm not very experimented in this field! :S

31

Archive / Re: STICKY: The Great FF7 FAQ (read before posting for FF7 support!)

« on: 2007-09-07 13:26:34 »

I've got the same problem.
Its graphics-card-related.
Its with every Geforce-8-Card in Windows XP.
In Vista, Magically, the game works fine on a GF8.
I dont have another solution, i even installed Vista on my PC just (!) because of that.

Just what I thought.
GPU-drivers related!

32

Releases / gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod

« on: 2007-09-03 16:30:28 »

This one for sure is looking nice.
But, how does it compare with Hay's Reasonable Mod ?

I found Hay's Scorpion Guard to be just the great difficulty for me.
Though, it would be nice to compare both of these mods together.


P.S.:
More on the subject of Hardcore Modes:
http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=6810.0

33

FF7 Tools / Re: Yet Another Multi-Patcher

« on: 2007-09-02 14:50:14 »

Just as a heads up, i just found out that this patcher has issues with winXp's latest updates. If you want to apply all patches at the same time you need to set the install.bat file to win95 compatibility mode otherwise it gets a error when applying the mgp patch.

Can anyone else confirm this info?
Myself the patch seem to work well, even with latest Windows XP updates installed...
"HighwayAndSnowboardMinigamesFix - Patching done"

I haven't tested in-game results, though.

34

General Discussion / Re: STICKY: FF7 Customising

« on: 2007-07-03 03:02:32 »

[censored]

35

Releases / gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod

« on: 2007-07-02 04:32:13 »

I'm using Hay's reasonable mod, and so far it's working great. Just the difficulty I was looking for, and my personal recommendation for newcomers.

36

FF7 Tools / Re: Yet Another Multi-Patcher

« on: 2007-07-02 04:30:54 »

thanks, dziugo, the frame-limiting patch is working great (at least for me), and is pretty useful.

37

Releases / Re: [Aff7iction's] ~ Avatar Mod

« on: 2007-06-28 02:47:20 »

Hey, this one's nice! 

38

Archive / Re: The Idiots Guide To FF7Music (JK xD)

« on: 2007-06-28 01:06:14 »

Thanks for the answer, but I've already found an easier way: I just deleted all the files from the midi.lgp (with Highwind) and now FF7 cant play MIDIs but FF7Music plays my MP3s 

Hey, Christian.

Thanks! this, and only this, worked!!!
(use General MIDI as MIDI device in FF7Config, though)

39

Releases / gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod

« on: 2007-06-27 17:28:07 »

and what's the editor that produces "random encounters", like seemingly-undefeatable enemies in early game?

40

Releases / gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod

« on: 2007-06-27 03:20:07 »

That's great!
I'm looking forward to playing this game again, too.

41

Releases / gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod

« on: 2007-06-25 15:35:18 »

lol that suggestion wasn't serious twip. But it had been fun to test it. Imagine 3 Sephiroths under the real thing he, he. Like his goons or something. And yeah I look forward to edit more. But for now it's vacation and sun time. I'll get back to business in 2-3 weeks.

haha, I'm noticing it, now.

I got two small questions for you, if you don't mind:

1) Did you use FFSceneEditor (the supposedly bug-free scene editor) for you work?

2) Have you any opinions to share about http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=6810.msg84903#msg84903 ?

See you later,
twipley

42

Releases / gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod

« on: 2007-06-25 05:09:23 »

Thanks for the tip Skill. Though I must say i don't like that idea. Perhaps with another boss but not them. lol It would be funny to add one or more Sephiroths though (the very last one) to the fight.

Please don't add more Sephiroths to the final fight. That would be pretty immersion breaking, IMO.

Looking forward to the development of the mod.

43

Archive / Re: Hardcore Mode, revivified

« on: 2007-06-21 23:03:11 »

Wasn't it FFSceneEditor?
http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=5267.0


EDIT
Hay's Reasonable Mod is working great!

44

Archive / Re: hardcore mode

« on: 2007-06-19 16:00:38 »

I've been reading through various topics, and here're the tweaks I've found to be requested:

- increased enemy speed (attacking more often)
- increased HPs for latter enemies (to prevent kill-in-ones with slash)
- more difficult bosses (e.g. Sephiroth = more HPs), including Ruby & Emerald weapons

Of course, every fight doesn't need to become a real challenge, in my opinion.

...what do you think?


Also take a look at Hay's Reasonable Mod:
http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=4759.0

45

Archive / Re: One big patch topic - my proposition

« on: 2007-06-19 15:30:28 »

I agree about the stickying of this link, plus that would permit the rapidshare links to stay alive.

My personal favorites, if you permit, are the following:

- TrueMotion codec
- ff7 v1.02 official patch
- Jedwin's chocobo patch
- Yet Another Multi-Patcher (only the Mini Games Patcher)
- ff7music (to be used with ff7 OSTs, for greater effect)

46

Archive / Re: hardcore mode

« on: 2007-06-19 04:28:30 »

I've just found this (last post from SmithiE):
http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=5267.msg70632#msg70632

I somehow understand his leaving, as for the warm "welcome back"...

After all, he've brought an extra touch of motivation into the hardcore mode project, and he has built a working scene editing program. Of course, he'd have deserved better. Maybe we should contact him back, just to know if he'd still be interested in the project?

On another note, I wonder how enemies should be tweaked for the game to be a little harder, but still conserving its original splendor. Some already have found parts of the answer. I believe that the sharing of our ideas on the subject might not hurt bringing this patch closer to completion, so brainstorming activities might well be the way to go!

Good night,
twipley

47

Archive / Re: hardcore mode

« on: 2007-06-18 16:45:16 »

I guess I'd have some time to playtest such a patch, in the case my help is needed.

As for the program that would have to be used for such a modding project, AFAIK gone away created a bug-free scene.bin editing program, which may have been posted somewhere.

See you later,
twipley

48

Archive / Re: hardcore mode

« on: 2007-06-18 03:20:24 »

Thank you both for sharing your thoughts.

I may start this trying The Skillster's 2x stats mod, because it sounds nice.
I'll review the experience in a while, after I start playing (when I get on it).

I'd like to volunteer to create anew such a patch, but time is somehow missing, so no fake hope on this!


Some links:

The Skillster's & SmithiE's Hardcore Mod (dropped project):
http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=5130.0

Hardcore Mode review:
http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=5307.0


Your thoughts are welcome to be shared here, so as for this thread to become the active one on the subject.

Peace out,
twipley

49

Archive / Hardcore Mode, revivified

« on: 2007-06-17 15:44:23 »

So... I've played through FF7 many times, and browsed through and edited some walkthroughs, but hell: hardcore patches! this kinda got me back into the game.

Well, AFAIK gone_away has gone away, so we're pretty left to ourselves now. Though, Elentor and The Skillster did awesome work in developping the hardcore patch v0.40

The question I'm asking myself is about the potential "problem which causes battles to become out of order". What does that mean? Is it that there's a chance to encounter Ruby earlier in the game? or such hardcore monster, that there's no chance to beat, given the low level of the party?

gone_away also interpret the bugs of the v0.40 mod he released as "un-noticable". Being the case, I'd play right now. But if there are chances, like the report of encountering though enemies right from disc 1, as was the case for someone who modified the scene.bin file after having begun the game, that's... although, the latter bug might have been caused by the latter action of his.

You're all welcome dropping by a reply on this, or just sharing yours thoughts on the subject.

50

Archive / Re: Discussion about the Patches & Mods-torrent

« on: 2007-06-02 03:21:46 »

Of course, it has!

What, are you running out of bandwidth?
Just teasing.

edit: I've found Qhimm's FF7 Wiki, but no trace of a page featuring the links like the one of miracle.flame's great thread. I guess I'll go and download them one by one.