FF7 - Minor and Major Game Problems

[someBodyOnceToldMe]

I've had a number of small problems, and now I have a big one, so I thought I'd post them all together.

FF7
Patched to 1.02 and then w/Chocobo Patch to 1.04, and Reunion Patch.

Has, otherwise, been working fine.

Big Problem:
For some reason, during certain cutscenes, the game freezes. The video will freeze, and the audio will keep going until the song ends (and if it's a looping song, it just goes on and on). I can't get out of it. At one point, while I couldn't see anything, I was able to access the start menu and log out of my name, and when I came back in, I recieved "Windows has recovered from a serious error."
This happened to me when I was at Gold Saucer with Aeris on the tour thing w/all the cut scenes (it was a few in), and then it happened when I was using a friend's save file to try and fight Sephiroth; it was saved at the bottom of the Northern Crater, and would freeze right after the Jenova battle, when all this rock started moving.

So, unless those are fixed.. I'm kinda stuck.

Minor Problems:
Maybe I should just ignore this, but... the sound. I've heard the PSX version, and i wish i could sound as close as possible. I've tried installing the Yamaha S-YXG70 synthesizer that comes with the game.. while it installs, it doesn't really work. It doesn't appear on my Sound Properties as a MIDI device in any form, doesn't appear in any program I have that uses MIDI.. it only appears in the FFVII configuration program, and then, the only difference I can hear is that there is a delay and the percussion is different. I want the synthesizer not only for good sound in the game, but also for use in MIDI creation, because I understand that I would have access to much more instruments. If I try running the S-YXG70 Configuration, no program comes up. If I run the XGPlayer, I get an error saying there is no driver on my system.
If it turns out my sound card is incompatible, or winXP sucks, i'll deal w/it, but i'd really like to have some kind of working synthesizer.

window: i've tried using the FF7 launch program where you can make it run in a window, but then the cut scenes look messed up (have black bars over them). when i switch to 16 bit colored mode, then it is fixed, but it's annoying to have to switch color modes to use one program. any way to make this easier, work better, or another way to play the game in a window?

running off HD: i copied the movie files over, and modified the registry. it still asks me to insert a CD when i play. i try changing the 'DataDrive' directory but it just doesn't run, then. how can i make the game run off my computer w/no CDs, no problem?

any help is appreciated!

[Midgar]

How about dziugo's stuff. Don't ask me to search for it, do it yourself. Good luck on that!

[Wuz]

I've had a number of small problems, and now I have a big one, so I thought I'd post them all together.

FF7
Patched to 1.02 and then w/Chocobo Patch to 1.04, and Reunion Patch.

Has, otherwise, been working fine.

Big Problem:
For some reason, during certain cutscenes, the game freezes. The video will freeze, and the audio will keep going until the song ends (and if it's a looping song, it just goes on and on). I can't get out of it. At one point, while I couldn't see anything, I was able to access the start menu and log out of my name, and when I came back in, I recieved "Windows has recovered from a serious error."
This happened to me when I was at Gold Saucer with Aeris on the tour thing w/all the cut scenes (it was a few in), and then it happened when I was using a friend's save file to try and fight Sephiroth; it was saved at the bottom of the Northern Crater, and would freeze right after the Jenova battle, when all this rock started moving.

So, unless those are fixed.. I'm kinda stuck.

Minor Problems:
Maybe I should just ignore this, but... the sound. I've heard the PSX version, and i wish i could sound as close as possible. I've tried installing the Yamaha S-YXG70 synthesizer that comes with the game.. while it installs, it doesn't really work. It doesn't appear on my Sound Properties as a MIDI device in any form, doesn't appear in any program I have that uses MIDI.. it only appears in the FFVII configuration program, and then, the only difference I can hear is that there is a delay and the percussion is different. I want the synthesizer not only for good sound in the game, but also for use in MIDI creation, because I understand that I would have access to much more instruments. If I try running the S-YXG70 Configuration, no program comes up. If I run the XGPlayer, I get an error saying there is no driver on my system.
If it turns out my sound card is incompatible, or winXP sucks, i'll deal w/it, but i'd really like to have some kind of working synthesizer.

window: i've tried using the FF7 launch program where you can make it run in a window, but then the cut scenes look messed up (have black bars over them). when i switch to 16 bit colored mode, then it is fixed, but it's annoying to have to switch color modes to use one program. any way to make this easier, work better, or another way to play the game in a window?

running off HD: i copied the movie files over, and modified the registry. it still asks me to insert a CD when i play. i try changing the 'DataDrive' directory but it just doesn't run, then. how can i make the game run off my computer w/no CDs, no problem?

any help is appreciated!

as Midgar said, dziugo's got a fix for getting around the date sequence (do a search, it should'nt be hard to find unlike some things)
you will always need the CD in the drive, the movie fix is well worth doing though.
as for the sound, do you have a creative soundcard that has options for soundfonts in its control panel? I use an old sound blaster live value specifically to use soundfonts and make FF7's midi music sound closer to PSX. Did'nt particularly like my FF7Music experience and soundfonts enhance the music enough for me.

[someBodyOnceToldMe]

as Midgar said, dziugo's got a fix for getting around the date sequence (do a search, it should'nt be hard to find unlike some things)
you will always need the CD in the drive, the movie fix is well worth doing though.
as for the sound, do you have a creative soundcard that has options for soundfonts in its control panel? I use an old sound blaster live value specifically to use soundfonts and make FF7's midi music sound closer to PSX. Did'nt particularly like my FF7Music experience and soundfonts enhance the music enough for me.

all right, heh, i wasn't exactly sure WHAT of dziugo's to look for, and i actually thought the date sequence was later, but now i have a better clue what to look for.

I don't believe I have a Creative soundcard, seeing as I don't any sort of control panel for my sound other than the "Sound and Audio Device Properties" and there, the only things listed for sound are SoundMAX Digital Audio and Modem #0 Line Playback. i tried installing the soundfont program off the cd and it came up i didn't have some certain file in this subdirectory in my WINNT folder.. if i was really enthusiastic about it, i could probably rip the sound card from an older computer we have, i know it had Sound Blaster programs.. i specifically remember one called Soundo'LE... don't think we have the driver disks anymore, tho  

but i will check through dziugo's stuff, thanx for the tips.

[Wuz]

i just spent nearly half an hour trying to find details for using FF7Music and PSF files (PSX music files)
this could be a good solution for you.
I don't particularly favour FF7Music but i did get it to work with PSF files with the guide (everything was in one handy zip - which is what i was specifically looking for)

I can't find it now though, why this forum does'nt have the option to search by thread title only i will never know.
It would be a lot easier to find things because theres too many freaking posts.

try searching for "FF7Music PSX PSF" and you'll get half the goddamn forum as results, if you could limit this to title only you'd probably find what you want in a fraction of the time.

[Covarr]

You used the 1.04 patch? Would that be animevamp's patch? Don't use it, it's crap.

[someBodyOnceToldMe]

try searching for "FF7Music PSX PSF" and you'll get half the goddamn forum as results, if you could limit this to title only you'd probably find what you want in a fraction of the time.

yeah i noticed that too, at first i thought it was just my n00bishness but i realized the search here is harder to use.

You used the 1.04 patch? Would that be animevamp's patch? Don't use it, it's crap.

i actually can't remember what patch i used, but i checked on a list of things that appear when you use THAT patch, and I don't have those errors, so it must not have been that. i'm fairly sure I used the patch right off the home page of Qhimm

i recopied my video files, just to be safe.

EDIT: okay, looked through things.. i ran dziugo's Check and a number of my files appeared to be not so correct (that's what you get when you have your friends give you CDs, i guess).
so then i manually ran the movie files I had problems with, like gold6 and it'd say about this problem, "TrueMotion Filder needs to be updated, try www.duck.com" right on the video screen. so i went there, where it said they didn't work on FF7 anymore, but i remembered reading about it here w/ 'betap'.
it says to uninstall video codecs before running this... like.. everything? like, all the quicktime, WMP, DivX, and whatever plugins i have? or just something specific. just on a whim, i ran the betap thing anyway. i go to install, and right when i say yes to agree to the license stuff, it flashes on my screen and everything closes. like it started installing, and either finished blazingly fast or just closed itself. so i'm not sure what to do about that.
i could view other video files just fine. Those in question, if i skip around the video file, work fine, other than that one split second where the TM error comes up, i'm not sure if that means something or not.
those videos don't look so bad when i run them on WMP full screen. they actually look pretty good. i check the video compression on it... TrueMotion 2.0 Decompressor?!?! double u tee eff, man! i am SO LOST...

at least i got the FF7Music and PSFs to work....

[Wuz]

try this to get your videos decoding properly:

from this thread: http://forums.qhimm.com/viewtopic.php?t=3355

I hoped this topic might've solved my problem, except that those links are now dead. To anyone still having this problem, here's my two cents to possibly help save you a couple hours of struggling: try downloading another copy of tm20dec.ax off the net (uploaded for your convenience - this is not the 138kb one you already installed) and replacing the one in your \windows\system32. Worked for me, anyway, even when the TM patch didn't!

Thanks, and great forum! Very helpful info for us old nostalgia sufferers...

Also if you have ffdshow (k-lite codec pack or ffdshow) find my post here on how to disable ffdshows true motion decoding to allow the above file to do its work:
http://forums.qhimm.com/viewtopic.php?p=70290

hope this helps a bit.

[someBodyOnceToldMe]

i haven't gotten ffdshow, at least not yet, cause i don't believe i've needed it. i tried the file skaulana put up, and it appears to work. running through the files on WMP, one sometimes made the player close, and other times would work fine, others seemed to work fine all the time.

so, i've gotten PSF sound files, and could replace them w/mp3s if i had the soundtrack... my video files seem to be working... that leaves the only problems being needing to keep using the CDs which apparantly i have to do, and errors w/Ficedula's Window Program under 32 bit color. i think the general recommendation is to get The SaiNT's high-resolution patch, but for my understanding, that only patches like the character models, and not the movies. i might be wrong, but otherwise that seems like it wouldn't help w/the Window problem.

so.. if i get any soundtrack and want mp3s, where do i get the mp3 plugin for FF7Music? and ffdshow.. what does that do, allow you to change the videos used? because i heard some people were using the ps3 tech demo as their intro video instead of the original one and that sounds pretty cool.

edit: ok, FF7Music didn't work 100% right... I tried the file at Northern Crater again, this time the FMV worked fine, i got to Sephiroth, but after defeating Safer Sephiroth, there was no sound. none of the cutscenes had any sound, and the sound didn't come back until the credits rolled. The game closed after displayed the FF7 logo, so I checked the list of actions and whatever from FF7Music. I can post that if it will help, though I should remove some stuff from the list.. for some reason it's listing every single time a friend signs onto AIM...