FFVII Problem

[Tatumo]

Hey,
I have FFVII installed on my computer, but when I try to run it, only a black screen comes up, but I can hear the sounds. Then after that movie is done playing, it will go to "New Game" or "Continue" (keep in mind the screen is still black, but I know the point its at from the sounds), and I can press the up and down and hear the selection tones. This is in the software renderer mode, I tried D3D mode but when I run that, black screen + no sound. Here are my specs:

Win XP Pro w/ Sp2
Nvidia Geforce FX5500 256MB VRAM w/ newest driver available
Directx 9.0c
1.02 patch
Choco racing patch
Upside-down movie patch

Any ideas?? 

Thanks in advance 

[Cazador]

well let me start by making sure of one thing ...your xp patch. are you sure its 1.02 and not animevamp's 1.04 patch?

if it IS the official 1.02 patch then I have no ideas to help you.

if it's the 1.04 patch then uninstall and reinstall it then get the 1.02 patch.

[Tatumo]

Yeah Im sure its the 1.02 patch.  I just installed FFVII on my Win98SE VPC to hold me over until I get this solved  , too bad the sound is butchered, graphics are fine tho. 

[dziugo]

Uninstall codecs and install movie player (from install CD). Install upside-down patch if still not working.

[Tatumo]

ok thanks ill try that.

 - Edit -
So I couldnt figure out which codecs to uninstall, Im using RadLight Filter manager, I saw direct show filters and Video compressors. I dont even know if thats the correct way to do it  lol. I did unregister a lot of them though... but some wouldnt let me. Anyway after that, I downloaded the Ace Mega Codec pack and the XP codec pack 2.0.4 and got them installed. No go though. I already had the upside down patch installed, and the movie player(but I reinstalled the movie player after I was done messing around with RadLight).    If you can, inform me exactly which codecs Im supposed to uninstall, and how to get there... lol. I really didnt have much of a clue as to what I was doing there.

Mod Edit: Do not double-post

[dziugo]

With Rad you can increase the merit of the required codec, so it's picked when quering for the most suitable codec.

[Tatumo]

Well, I found an entirely different solution to my problem  . I installed Win XP Pro Media Center on my PC, and now a fresh install of FFVII works so far. Im gonna get the patch 1.02 for hardware support though, just to try that. Thanks for the help .

[Covarr]

Kill RadLight. It is known to cause harm to Ad-Aware, and possibly other adware/virus protection.

[Tatumo]

Problem is back, something I installed must have cause it, though Im not sure what. Maybe you guys would know? Here is the list of things I installed that may have caused it...

Ahead NeroVision Express
Quicktime
iTunes

Ive installed other stuff obviously, but those are the only media programs that involve video and could have messed with that, as far as I know.

P.S.
No patches installed yet, I assume I dont need them as it worked after the initial reinstall of windows.

Edit: Woot, fixed  The uninstall of quicktime and Ahead NeroVision Express fixed it, movie + sound now plays just fine. Although, Im not sure which one or if both were the cause. Maybe Ill reinstall each one seperatley later on to find out.

Edit II: Well I reinstalled QuickTime, because iTunes needs it... I wasnt aware of this  , but anyway, the game runs fine. So, it was the NeroVision. Just thought I would post this, just in case anyone else has a setup similar to mine.