[FF7PC-98/Steam] Multiple mods and Modding Framework-The Reunion [R06f]

[DLPB_]

Several people confirmed it in the GAF OT. The major scene in which it is revealed that Cloud was a soldier alongside Zack and Sephiroth has the standard mako reactor music instead of the one it should have. This alone would pretty much ruin the scene, in my book.

I agree.  That's one of my favourite scenes.  If not my favourite.

[KnifeTheSky77]

I refuse to buy the PS4 port simply because it doesn't have this mod rolled into it.

[orochi91]

I refuse to buy the PS4 port simply because it doesn't have this mod rolled into it.

I had already purchased it before the whole music fiasco was discovered, lol

It took SE months to patch FFX HD (which is fabulous now), but I don't want to wait that long to play FF7 :/

[shadedmagus]

Hello. I created an account for two reasons: first and foremost, to congratulate the Reunion team on a great mod package, and to thank DLPB for Beacause. While the English localization of FF7 was not quite as shattered as the one for FF6, there is still a lot more that makes sense to me now. Thanks for that!

My second reason was to let you know of some issues in the Beacause American localization in R03e that I did not see in the bugtracker spreadsheet, which mostly had to do with the Rufus visit portion of the game, with the PSX buttons option installed:

1) Several instances of Shin-Ra were seen as "Shinra".

2) When practicing for the "color-guard" synchronized forms in the locker room, the callouts are done as "[MENU]", "[OK]", "[CANCEL]" and "[SWITCH]", while the actual mini-game uses the PSX button icons.

I hope I'm reporting these in the proper way; if not, please let me know how you would like them and I will move them there.

Also, I was wondering if there was any plan to include the battle and world fields that Satsuki cleaned up to remove pixelation, and if not, what the reasoning might be for that choice.

In any case, thanks again for a cool project. I'm really enjoying my playthrough with Reunion installed!

[DLPB_]

1) Several instances of Shin-Ra were seen as "Shinra".

One is the company name, one is the president. I have cleaned up one part with Mayor Domino which was a little odd.

2) When practicing for the "color-guard" synchronized forms in the locker room, the callouts are done as "[MENU]", "[OK]", "[CANCEL]" and "[SWITCH]", while the actual mini-game uses the PSX button icons.

Not sure why that wasn't fixed in R03e (if it happens there), but it won't happen in R04, and all bugs from R03 are there to stay. R03 is no longer supported.

Also, I was wondering if there was any plan to include the battle and world fields that Sasuki cleaned up to remove pixelation, and if not, what the reasoning might be for that choice.

If the change to the battle area is purely a cleaned up version of the original, it may be possible to add it.  If the new battle graphics are huge or too different, however, I won't   It can be added separately.

In any case, thanks again for a cool project. I'm really enjoying my playthrough with Reunion installed!

You're welcome

[shadedmagus]

One is the company name, one is the president. I have cleaned up one part with Mayor Domino which was a little odd.

Not sure why that wasn't fixed in R03e (if it happens there), but it won't happen in R04, and all bugs from R03 are there to stay. R03 is no longer supported.

If the change to the battle area is purely a cleaned up version of the original, it may be possible to add it.  If the new battle graphics are huge or too different, however, I won't   It can be added separately.

You're welcome

Yes, I did notice that in the first part of the game. The reason I brought this part up is because the dialogue seemed to be referencing the company more than the president, who was already dead by that time. However, I didn't keep a separate save of that section, so I'd have to start a new game to confirm this.

I'm watching for the release of R04 with great anticipation. Since it you have stated it will work with the Steam version, does that mean the Converter will no longer be needed?

Here are the fields I was referring to. It looks like they are the original fields, just with a filter applied. Satsuki might be able to give more information if s/he is still around. I was looking at repacking the LGP files myself if needed, since I'd rather not deal with pixelation if I don't have to when the models aren't pixelated, but if someone has already repacked the files (or if they might end up being included in your great mod), I would rather not go through the effort.

[DLPB_]

No, I don't add those beacause they actually look worse imho to the pixellated ones.  The fractal filter gets rid of the pixellation but just replaces it with a very plastic fake look.

Actually, I'd say they look a lot worse.  I'd much rather stick with pixellation + detail.

[shadedmagus]

Fair enough. It seems like you're going for as close to original as possible, so I thought I'd bring them up as a potential option.

I'll keep looking through the forums to see if someone has repacked these; if not, I'll do it myself and see if they seem better, or if they make it look worse. You could be right on that.

In either case, thanks for responding!

[DLPB_]

So, all 3 modules are now done.  World map, Battle and Field are running at flawless frame rates. 

And I've added a speed up / down option.  By pressing Square and up / down [or equivalent keyboard keys], you can change speed rate to 1x, 2x, 3x or 4x.

Next, I have to think about how we're gonna fix Steam's broken coaster and snowboard minigame.  I noticed a while back they weren't right and told Aali who added options to his driver.  I also fixed the coaster aimer.

But Steam works on an older version of Aali's driver where he'd forced them to 30fps instead of 60 - meaning they're completely bugged out.  Any fix will have to patch the Steam FF7 driver itself.  Any change I make to those will be superseded by Steam if I don't.

[orochi91]

Out of curiosity, in which order is the modding process supposed to be done?

I have the 1998 PC release, so would I first have to add the Aali Driver mod, and then apply the Reunion mod afterwards?

Also, I have the game installed on a partition other than my C drive. So will either mods be affected if they're not installed in the C drive, along with the main game?

[DLPB_]

My mods will work regardless of the install path.  I am not sure that goes for everything else. Aali's driver would have to be installed to even play this game properly.. so it will always be there first.  As for any other questions, the answers will likely be in the readme.

[Covarr]

Also, I have the game installed on a partition other than my C drive. So will either mods be affected if they're not installed in the C drive, along with the main game?

It doesn't matter for Reunion, but in fact most mods will work BETTER if they're not in C drive. Some mods have trouble if they're in default or system-controlled directories like program files or desktop.

[Kaldarasha]

So, all 3 modules are now done.  World map, Battle and Field are running at flawless frame rates. 

And I've added a speed up / down option.  By pressing Square and up / down [or equivalent keyboard keys], you can change speed rate to 1x, 2x, 3x or 4x.

Next, I have to think about how we're gonna fix Steam's broken coaster and snowboard minigame.  I noticed a while back they weren't right and told Aali who added options to his driver.  I also fixed the coaster aimer.

But Steam works on an older version of Aali's driver where he'd forced them to 30fps instead of 60 - meaning they're completely bugged out.  Any fix will have to patch the Steam FF7 driver itself.  Any change I make to those will be superseded by Steam if I don't.

I don't know if it helps you but the re-release has a new file (it was something like AF3N.p).  It is a dll which injects the new driver. Steam doesn't care much about the files it only looks for the launcher and the exe file name. I was able to start the original game through steam naming 7H to launcher and the ff7.exe to ff7en.exe.

[DLPB_]

I need that .p file sending to me.  I'll likely have to edit it at some point to fix the minigames.

[DLPB_]

Bad news for Steam users.  The steam version of the game is based on an earlier Aali revision that didn't limit minigames properly. So coaster and snowboard are totally broken and not a flat 60fps all the time.  It isn't just a case of the fps being wrong - command inputs are out of whack too so the games are crippled.

The new driver revision here on qhimm's by aali has added proper limiters to the minigames (which i repeatedly noted to aali was an issue years ago) - and added my coaster aimer fix.  But there is no way to fix the steam game unless the team working on steam game decide to add a fix themselves. 

So the choice for Steam users regarding the minigames is convert to 1998 or stick with broken minigames.  Hopefully someone can notify the steam team (haha) that this issue exists.

[Shasta McNasty]

So coaster and snowboard are totally broken and not a flat 60fps all the time.  It isn't just a case of the fps being wrong - command inputs are out of whack too so the games are crippled.

Does that mean the game can't be completed?  I think you're required to do the snowboard minigame at some point outside of Golden Saucer (I think north past the snow fields or near the Great Glacier if I'm not mistaken).

[Covarr]

Does that mean the game can't be completed?  I think you're required to do the snowboard minigame at some point outside of Golden Saucer (I think north past the snow fields or near the Great Glacier if I'm not mistaken).

It can be completed. Both minigames are playable and in fact impossible to lose at. You'll crash a lot in the snowboard and get a bad score in both games, but you can still progress the story.

[Shasta McNasty]

It can be completed. Both minigames are playable and in fact impossible to lose at. You'll crash a lot in the snowboard and get a bad score in both games, but you can still progress the story.

Whew, good to know.

For anyone who's curious, all of the items you can win in the snowboard minigame can be found or bought other places in the game (a Safety Bit on the Beginner Course, an All Materia on the Expert Course, and a Crystal Bangle on the Crazy Course).

For the coaster, you can win a Masamune Blade (unusable item), Super Sweeper, 1:35 Soldier, Parasol for Aerith or a Flayer for Cid.  Some 1:35 Soldiers can also be found elsewhere in the game, but I don't think you can get all of them without doing this minigame.

The Parasol is Aerith's strongest weapon but has no material slots, and the Flayer is a pretty good weapon but not Cid's best weapon.  So it's not a huge deal unless you're a completionist or really like the Parasol.  Or just really like playing these minigames.

[Shasta McNasty]

Oh but P.S., let's all try to notify Steam about the issue.  If we all do it it'll have a better chance of getting their attention.  Who knows if they'll actually address it, but it's worth a shot.

[White Wind]

Hey, now could be a good time for asking that.. Do you think the Adaptive-Sync techs of modern GPUs/monitors could interfere?
Basically, the refresh rate of the monitor becomes equal to the fps you're getting from your GPU (48fps implies that your monitor is refreshing @48Hz, 36fps --> @36Hz, and so on).

That just means that I'll be @60Hz in battles and at @30Hz on the world map, or should I expect any bad effects from A-Sync?

EDIT: well.. or A-Sync will just be ineffective/not enabled in FF VII, since the game doesn't support it.. I'd rather say that

[DLPB_]

If you do please note that:

a. snowboard and coaster should be running at 60fps (60 unique frames a second)
b. g-bike is 30 fps.
c. battle swirl is 60fps.

Coaster aimer will need an additional fix in ff7_en.exe:

1ED679 = 05
1ED69A = 05
1ED6BD = 05
1ED6E0 = 05

[DLPB_]

Hey, now could be a good time for asking that.. Do you think the Adaptive-Sync techs of modern GPUs/monitors could interfere?
Basically, the refresh rate of the monitor becomes equal to the fps you're getting from your GPU (48fps implies that your monitor is refreshing @48Hz, 36fps --> @36Hz, and so on).

That just means that I'll be @60Hz in battles and at @30Hz on the world map, or should I expect any bad effects from A-Sync?

It likely isn't going to fix anything.  And it shouldn't interfere with a proper limiter.

@shasta

http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=14914.msg234463#msg234463

[Kaldarasha]

Oh but P.S., let's all try to notify Steam about the issue.  If we all do it it'll have a better chance of getting their attention.  Who knows if they'll actually address it, but it's worth a shot.

Steam isn't responsible for a game is correct working. IF the game wouldn't run or too many would ask for a refound (because they can't play the game) then Valve could probably put some pressure on SE. However the game wasn't 'modified' by SE but by Dotemu, so the real problem is that SE doesn't know (even if they would care about the problems of their games on PC...) where to start with the work because they haven't the code or coder and they probably won't hire Dotemu for a bug many users on Steam doesn't care about. It took them over one year since the first rerelease to replace music with proper PSX equivalents. (even there they managed it to use the wrong cintro - btw Dan for the Steam release of the Reunion you should probably add the right track).

The only chance I could imagine is that updated driver of the IOS version could work with steam with some modifications. At last I have read that the game runs on IOS on a simulated PC shell.

[DLPB_]

They are using  aali's driver though so have his source code.  And he's added a limiter to it, so they can definitely modify it.  If they are willing.  But as you say maybe this is just too low down on priority.  It shouldn't be.

I will add the correct track for Steam, probably.

[White Wind]

Any day I'd trade the dumb achievements for better compatibility with the mods found on qhimm