ff7 not starting

[headlessgargoyle]

ok i bought the game, installed it fine. then due to a virus situation i had to uninstall multiple things and reinstal. for all my other programs this worked fine. however for ff7 it does not play when i run the program. it runs in task manager with another file rundll.exe that pops up with ff7.exe has anyone had this problem? is there anything i can do?

[headlessgargoyle]

oh i've installed

1.02 patch
chocobo patch
spell patch
saints high res patch

and this all worked before.

edit:
by all worked before i mean that the entire game worked

[Elio2690]

Hi, i joined this forum looking for help, lets hope we get the help we need.. im refreshing my brower like every 10 mins just to see if i got an answer D: sigh

[headlessgargoyle]

let's hope
new update. i copied the exe file to my desktop and it ran fine (though without the patches) i'm going to try uninstalling all the patches and then reinstalling. here's hoping that works.

[titeguy3]

You still need to download Aali's Driver to get FF7 to work. See here.

v0.7.3b is what I'd recommend. Although v0.7.7b is the newest version, easiest to install, and has the most features, it's requires some hassle to get working and is known to cause crashes and in some cases not render FMVs properly.

[headlessgargoyle]

You still need to download Aali's Driver to get FF7 to work. See here.

v0.7.3b is what I'd recommend. Although v0.7.7b is the newest version, easiest to install, and has the most features, it's requires some hassle to get working and is known to cause crashes and in some cases not render FMVs properly.

i'll try, but why have i never had to install it before, and why can the file run off the desktop instead of the folder where it is originally supposed to be?

[titeguy3]

You still need to download Aali's Driver to get FF7 to work. See here.

v0.7.3b is what I'd recommend. Although v0.7.7b is the newest version, easiest to install, and has the most features, it's requires some hassle to get working and is known to cause crashes and in some cases not render FMVs properly.

i'll try, but why have i never had to install it before, and why can the file run off the desktop instead of the folder where it is originally supposed to be?

I'm sorry, what? 0.o You're going to have to specify what you're referring to when you say "the file"?

[Elio2690]

titeguy, do you know what should i do? , im not getting any answer :[

[headlessgargoyle]

my apoligies i meant the ff7.exe file. it is able to run fine in any other folder, but fails to run in the installed folder (shortcuts leading to the install folder fail as well, which is expected but still). just a second ago i was able to start it up, i'm going to import my old save (which i had backed up on my brothers computer) and reload it. my thought is the reason it won't run would be due to one of two things

my antivirus programs (possibly seeing it as some type of virus? though that wouldn't explain how ff7.exe can run in a different folder)
spyware doctor
malwarebytes
ad aware
avg
uniblue regestry booter (i know there's a lot and it's overkill but it was able to get rid of the viruses i had yesterday)
however i've looked through all the logs and have seen no changes to any ff7 files, and even if there were i reinstalled the game twice now.

or some error in the registry, however i've looked at the registry and it all seems ok.

also the ff7config.exe file works fine in the original folder as well.
if anyone has seen or knows any problems like this, any help would be greatly appreciated

[headlessgargoyle]

ok well the main difference in the running the two exe files, is that the ff7.exe on the desktop does not run "rundll.exe" when starting (or runs it so quickly that i don't see it) where as the ff7.exe that was put in the install area does. i'm relatively sure this is a registry error at this point. does anyone know where i could find and edit this?

new update: turns out the patches and mods aren't installing either.

[titeguy3]

ok well the main difference in the running the two exe files, is that the ff7.exe on the desktop does not run "rundll.exe" when starting (or runs it so quickly that i don't see it) where as the ff7.exe that was put in the install area does. i'm relatively sure this is a registry error at this point. does anyone know where i could find and edit this?

new update: turns out the patches and mods aren't installing either.

Hm. Do you have any version of Aali's Custom Graphics Driver installed? That *could* be what's causing that...

[Prince Lex]

ok well the main difference in the running the two exe files, is that the ff7.exe on the desktop does not run "rundll.exe" when starting (or runs it so quickly that i don't see it) where as the ff7.exe that was put in the install area does. i'm relatively sure this is a registry error at this point. does anyone know where i could find and edit this?

new update: turns out the patches and mods aren't installing either.

If you're running Vista it could be something to do with VirtualStore. I had problems installing mods with FF7 because of this. I suggest installing FF7 to a folder like My Documents/FF7 or something.

[headlessgargoyle]

to titeguy "Hm. Do you have any version of Aali's Custom Graphics Driver installed? That *could* be what's causing that..." i do not, but thank you for the suggestion.

If you're running Vista it could be something to do with VirtualStore. I had problems installing mods with FF7 because of this. I suggest installing FF7 to a folder like My Documents/FF7 or something.

i am running vista, i shall try this and get back to you

edit: ok this somewhat works. i can run the game however i do not seem to be able to apply the saint's high res patch which is what i used to fix the horrid lines all over my screen. it says that the CRC32 check failed and nothing was patched. i will search the forums but without this the lines make the game practically unplayable for the sole reason of how ugly it is . any advice on this? should i use aali's patches instead?

edit 2: i did some digging and found where the virtual store is, i don't have any files there related to final fantasy 7. should there be? btw i have UAC turned off at pretty much all times, should i turn it on before i install?

edit 3: searched the forums to the extent of my patience and was only able to see that this problem has effected other people, however i never saw any solutions.

[therage800]

Saints high res is outdated. So yeah, use Aali's driver instead  . As for UAC; there is never a reason to turn it on when installing anything.

[headlessgargoyle]

iono i found the saints hi res patch awhile ago, i think it's been nostalgia that has kept me useing it alright i'll try aali's patch, one thing though, if it still does a CRC check won't it not work? since apparently i'm missing whatever allows me to do that? (likely caused by antivirus sweeps)

[Prince Lex]

It doesn't do a CRC Check, it'll work with any version of the game that's official (i.e. not Ultima). It's far easier to use, fixes many more bugs, and allows far more customisation and enhancements than the Saint's High-Res patch. If you want to avoid further problems, I suggest you upgrade to Windows 7, as Vista sux baws.

[headlessgargoyle]

you are a hundred percent correct, vista does suck, however i do not have the money to upgrade to seven, so i'm stuck with what i have. i have installed aali's patch and everything works great now. thanks for all your help!

one thing i noticed while playing though, i left my computer for a time and it went into a screen saver. when i came back it now has no image for cloud, though i can still move around. i closed out the program before trying to enter places. i am running version 0.7.3 of aali's patch. is this a known issue? is it even an issue (ie can you enter places and the model will return and show correctly?)