Some issues with FF7 on Windows 7

[The Black-caped Man]

Hi there, havent posted in a long time(2009) as there I finished editing MyFF7. 3 days ago I decided to play it again noticing Red XIII's Blood Fang to be way too harmless in my hardcore mod so I wanted to simply boost it a bit. However when i try to open Wall market it simply says: Wall market doesnt work anymore and needs to be closed. Redownloaded it, same issue. Since I'm pretty experienced in hex editing anything of ff7(thx to gjoerulv in 2007) I wanted to simply decompile the kernel with ff7dec and the command prompt but that won't work either. After creating file kernel.bin0 it says command prompt doesnt work anymore and needs to be closed lol.

Also I have the No-sound problem during the cutscenes but only sometimes, sometimes they work(sometimes they don't in the middle of the game)

Since I haven't got my windows XP pc anymore(where I used to do all the editing and playing) I was wondering if this occurs due to windows 7(Never tried it on Win7 before and never had those issues)

Kinda strange coincidence. Is there another kernel.bin editor? or another method of decompiling kernel.bin? I'd be thankful if you could help me out with the sound problem either.

If any1 wants to know my tech data:

Windows 7 32bit
Model: Terra PC Dual Core
2GB Ram
2x 2.50GH processor

Mods installed: FF7PRP, aalis custom graphics driver, patch 1.02 and chocobo patch ofc;
Edited files: scene.bin(most of it by hex, slight changes by Hojo/Scenester, only AI's by Proud Clod),
kernel.bin(by ff7dec+hex in 2008), kernel2.bin(by Teioh),
gflevel.lgp(Loveless), world_us.lgp(PRP) and char.lgp(PRP)

Just in case that's somehow relevant to any of the problems. I don't have ff7music on this pc so it can't have anything to do with the sound issue.
Hoping for support,
greetings, TBCM

[Covarr]

Also I have the No-sound problem during the cutscenes but only sometimes, sometimes they work(sometimes they don't in the middle of the game)

...

I don't have ff7music on this pc so it can't have anything to do with the sound issue.

In fact, FF7Music is the easiest solution to the sound issue.

The game uses MIDI music normally. At points where the music is supposed to fade out, it turns down the volume on MIDI. However, thanks to a change Microsoft made in Windows Vista and later, there is no longer a system-wide MIDI volume control. As a result, when the game tries to turn down the music, it turns down ALL the volume. The reason this only happens sometimes is that if there's still music playing in the background, or if the music stops suddenly, it doesn't need to turn down the volume so it still works.

With FF7Music, the game won't even attempt to turn down the volume. All of the music volume is done externally by FF7Music, and will leave the game volume alone. I should warn you that you'll need the latest version of Aali's driver for this to work right, otherwise it ignores volume commands entirely.

[The Black-caped Man]

In fact, FF7Music is the easiest solution to the sound issue.

The game uses MIDI music normally. At points where the music is supposed to fade out, it turns down the volume on MIDI. However, thanks to a change Microsoft made in Windows Vista and later, there is no longer a system-wide MIDI volume control. As a result, when the game tries to turn down the music, it turns down ALL the volume. The reason this only happens sometimes is that if there's still music playing in the background, or if the music stops suddenly, it doesn't need to turn down the volume so it still works.

With FF7Music, the game won't even attempt to turn down the volume. All of the music volume is done externally by FF7Music, and will leave the game volume alone. I should warn you that you'll need the latest version of Aali's driver for this to work right, otherwise it ignores volume commands entirely.

Is that so? sweet, then I'll install it immediately, thx man. Stopped using ff7music like 2 years ago when it just didn't work anymore (on my win XP pc) although I checked it a hundred times and all the paths were set up proper.....hm well guess it's time for another try.

Should you have solutions for the kernel issue I'd be even more thankful:P

[MrSinister]

In fact, FF7Music is the easiest solution to the sound issue.

The game uses MIDI music normally. At points where the music is supposed to fade out, it turns down the volume on MIDI. However, thanks to a change Microsoft made in Windows Vista and later, there is no longer a system-wide MIDI volume control. As a result, when the game tries to turn down the music, it turns down ALL the volume. The reason this only happens sometimes is that if there's still music playing in the background, or if the music stops suddenly, it doesn't need to turn down the volume so it still works.

With FF7Music, the game won't even attempt to turn down the volume. All of the music volume is done externally by FF7Music, and will leave the game volume alone. I should warn you that you'll need the latest version of Aali's driver for this to work right, otherwise it ignores volume commands entirely.

my issue is that the midi is playing with my custom music. Is that the reason?

[Covarr]

my issue is that the midi is playing with my custom music. Is that the reason?

Aali's driver should stop the midi music from playing. If you're not using my installer, follow these steps to fix this problem:

• Open a text editor of your choice. Notepad should work fine. If you're on Windows Vista or 7, make sure to run as administrator for this.
• In the "Open" dialog box, navigate to your FF7 install folder. By default this is C:\Program Files\Square Soft, Inc\Final Fantasy VII. On 64-bit Windows, it's in Program Files (x86).
• Find the line that says #music_plugin = plugins/ff7music.fgp
• Remove the # at the beginning of the line and save the file.

If you're using my ff7music installer, simply upgrade to the latest version. Whenever it detects these steps need taken, it'll ask for admin privileges and do this automatically.

[MrSinister]

Aali's driver should stop the midi music from playing. If you're not using my installer, follow these steps to fix this problem:

• Open a text editor of your choice. Notepad should work fine. If you're on Windows Vista or 7, make sure to run as administrator for this.
• In the "Open" dialog box, navigate to your FF7 install folder. By default this is C:\Program Files\Square Soft, Inc\Final Fantasy VII. On 64-bit Windows, it's in Program Files (x86).
• Find the line that says #music_plugin = plugins/ff7music.fgp
• Remove the # at the beginning of the line and save the file.

If you're using my ff7music installer, simply upgrade to the latest version. Whenever it detects these steps need taken, it'll ask for admin privileges and do this automatically.

If it's a prerequisite to have the 1.02 patch first i'm between a rock and a hard place, because i'm pretty sure the driver, the 1.02 patch or both causes me to have black screen issues when i go to the menu

Anyway, i checked all ff7_opengl cfg files and the # is not there whenever i unistall/install the game again. I always double check. Do the upgrade cause black screen issues? i am currently using the 0.7.9b version btw

[Covarr]

Aali's driver only works right with the 1.02 exe. I can't speak for the black screen, as I have not had that issue myself.

[DarkFang]

The most recent version of Aali's driver is 0.7.11b. Try getting that and try disabling shaders in your config file.

[MrSinister]

The most recent version of Aali's driver is 0.7.11b. Try getting that and try disabling shaders in your config file.

i tried playing once before disabling shaders and once again got the black screen going in the menu. After i turned it off i got the black screen at the game menu every time. I tried at least 3x