What are the best mods to install on a newly installed ff7 pc game?

[Harruzame]

Hey guys!...Its been a while since I've been here....well I wanted to ask what are the mods that are best to install now that I've seen a few new mods..(some have been totally revamped!!)

[Livesey]

Well it depends what kind of mods you're looking for is it graphical tweaks, audio tweaks, difficulty mods ect.?

For difficulty I would highly recommend Gjoeruvle's hardcore mod.

I don't know enough about the graphical or audio mods to point you anywhere.

[dkma841]

Best thing check out Bootleg will install mostly all awesome mods out orrr you should check out
DLPB Menu overhaul for a completely different GUI absolutely changed how the game looks overall
aaand well my minds blank now i recommend you check out Bootleg

[Livesey]

I think Felix has some battle scene graphics that are pretty sweet. on my system this does cause a small delay between getting into a battle and the battle starting this might change on higher end systems.

[StickySock]

I would recommend anything by DLPB, (menu overhaul project, retranslation project, fmvs, ost), covarr's music installer, omzy's field pack, and a gameplay mod (i am interested in Rebirth). Also, DLPB and pitbrat made a unified model installer which contains every available model (i recommend PRP, squallff8's models, and every minigame model). With these mods you will essentially get a comprehensive overhaul while nothing being noticeably out of place. What do i mean by that? Well..

It's true that some models have been made in really high quality and look awesome, but they were never finished as a comprehensive mod. Felix made an awesome world map mod, battle scene enhancements, magic texture replacers, and a cid model, but as far as i know none were fully completed. Milena made an awesome sword set for cloud but it looks out of place if he is the only one with cool weapons. Team avalanche has a LONG way to go even though what they made is awesome, but it still sticks out amongst the rest of the game while unfinished. Personally, i love these high quality mods but i won't play while using them until they have become comprehensive. (All weapons in hd, or the entire world map).

But i guess it all depends ob preference. Check out my first list of recommendations for comprehensiveness, but check out my second for eye candy. Note: the menu overhaul project is both comprehensive and eye candy.

[DLPB_]

Hopefully FeliX will be back.  I see him on skype every now and again but he says he is busy with real life for the moment.

[PitBrat]

I hope Felix returns soon!
He sent me some samples of his new textures and they are amazing.

[archerxtreme]

I hope Felix returns soon!
He sent me some samples of his new textures and they are amazing.

You and me both. I stumbled upon a thread of his by accident and my jaw dropped. I mean, how in the name of gaming gods can the "World" in FF7 look so good and yet still retain the classic ff feel?

[Travis]

Well it depends what kind of mods you're looking for is it graphical tweaks, audio tweaks, difficulty mods ect.?

For difficulty I would highly recommend Gjoeruvle's hardcore mod.

I don't know enough about the graphical or audio mods to point you anywhere.

I would say the hardcore mod is to much... It's almost busy work being level 70 at the Northern Crater for the first time and still getting spanked by Jenova-Death...

Go for the reasonable difficulty mod.

I would highly recommend FF7Music, Avalanche's mod, and the PRP patches.

[dkma841]

I would say the hardcore mod is to much... It's almost busy work being level 70 at the Northern Crater for the first time and still getting spanked by Jenova-Death...

Go for the reasonable difficulty mod.

That may be true the reasonable difficulty mod is great but would be better if add ons from the hardcore mod like bosses when you pick up summon materia's is a awesome idea

[Travis]

That may be true the reasonable difficulty mod is great but would be better if add ons from the hardcore mod like bosses when you pick up summon materia's is a awesome idea

Oh I completely agree, especially the Soldier version of the Turks.

Those were/are great.

[DLPB_]

Well I will be working on a hardcore mod soon.... one that maintains a more acceptable balance and not just throwing HP and strength at everything.  We will see how it goes.

[dkma841]

Well I will be working on a hardcore mod soon.... one that maintains a more acceptable balance and not just throwing HP and strength at everything.  We will see how it goes.

You freaking kidding me right?  Man anything from you just can't wait 

[Livesey]

I suggested The hardcore mod as its the only one I've personally had experience with (I like a challenge) and I like the way he has made status' a problem as opposed to just upping numbers. Although now you mention it... It may be a bit too hard for some people.

One idea I've had for a mod that I wish I had the skill to implement would be a mod which requires little to no grinding by this I mean have everyone at a set level and adjust the enemies accordingly. I wish I new how to mod 

EDIT: Looking forward to seeing what sort of mod you come up with DLPB You've done wonders with the re translation project.

[DLPB_]

I'll have to learn a few things first and I'll look into the other guy's work too.  He has done some stuff that is pretty cool.  I don't like his mod overall but no doubting some of the talent and ideas.

[StickySock]

Well I will be working on a hardcore mod soon.... one that maintains a more acceptable balance and not just throwing HP and strength at everything.  We will see how it goes.

Interesting, considering from looking at your work on other mods you seem to be pretty OCD (which I consider a good thing) I imagine you would spend a lot of time perfecting it. I have two questions though:

1. Would you plan on just making the game be extremely difficult, a rebalance, or both?

2. Are you planning on just changing the stats of everything or are you planning on changing enemy spawns, materia locations, and adding/changing spells?

[DLPB_]

Interesting, considering from looking at your work on other mods you seem to be pretty OCD (which I consider a good thing) I imagine you would spend a lot of time perfecting it. I have two questions though:

Yes... and yes.  But not all a good thing...   

Would you plan on just making the game be extremely difficult, a rebalance, or both?

The major problem I have with hardcore mods is that people see the word hard and think "right I will shove 1358358 HP on this monster at start of game, that is hard then", the other hardcore mod has fallen into this trap.  The Scorpion Guard at the start is just boring and tedious and annoying.  It is the start of the game and it has been given double HP or something.  This isn't clever or a good use of time.  It is just boring.  So to answer your question, my mod will be difficult but FAIR and will not rely on oodles of HP.  In fact, I plan to cap the max HP of enemies to 65535 like FF9 did.  The HP of characters will be probably be capped at 5000.  Moves will also be capped.

As I see it, hardcore should take the game, make it hard but fair and at all costs not bore your arse off.   Using better AI would probably have to be a part of it but at the start I will just be editing the values and making it so that a mechanical enemy requires Thunder spell for example to hurt it.  Weapons would have minimal effect on it.  That is logical.  I will do my best to make people THINK about what they are doing.  No button mashing.

The extremely difficult things in my mod would be the weapons alone.  The optional ones.  There would be no get outs like "All over" by cait for example.  The end bosses would be hard but not extreme.  And Midgardsormr would be very hard as well.  You WILL need a chocobo to cross that area.

Are you planning on just changing the stats of everything or are you planning on changing enemy spawns, materia locations, and adding/changing spells?

I can't see me changing enemy or materia locations or adding spells.  I think the game has it good enough that those things do not need to really be interfered with.  At the end it is possible that I will tweak a few things. 

[StickySock]

I too hate hp and strength boosting on enemies as increased difficulty. Just about every difficulty setting in every game does that and it ends up becoming tedious and annoying. Ff12 and ff13 are prime examples of the enemies only being harder because of increased hp. It ends up making the battles long and boring. I think the hp cap is a great idea.

One thing that also made ff12 more boring than it could have been is the leveling curves. It took like 2-3 hours just to level up once, leaving me to start thinking of the funner ways to spend five hours of my life. There is a place for grinding in rpgs, and it is fun and rewarding when the grinding length is reasonable. I don't want to put 100+ hours into a game just grinding alone. (Im looking at you, mmos)

[DLPB_]

well 12 just laughed at fanbase really... with that monster of what is ?  I cant even remember how much HP.  I had long sold the game before i even got near it.

But people are suckers.  They see big HP as better.  Breath of Fire 3 got by on monsters with much smaller HP, the highest in game is like 30000 (might even be 10000 cant remember)... and the 2nd hardest thing in game has only 4000-5000.

Whatever....  you end the game nowhere near 9999 HP.... 

[BloodShot]

I would like to see a hardcore mod that has it so sets of enemies have different strategies to defeat them, that maybe vary per group or something. That way you can make them really hard except for a set few methods that you have to use your head to figure out. They wouldn't be impossible without the strategies, but instead just have a much higher risk of death for the player

[DLPB_]

There is a place for grinding in rpgs, and it is fun and rewarding when the grinding length is reasonable. I don't want to put 100+ hours into a game just grinding alone. (Im looking at you, mmos)

Also, I plan to half the time needed for grinding from original ff7.  When you get to the crater it will be 2x easier to level up and get materia levelled than before.