Custom graphics driver for FF7/FF8 [v.1-.7.6]

[Goku7]

So, I start up the the config after unsucessfully trying 0.6.7b on my system......




Gee, something's a little strange.

Does it look like this on everyone else's system, or am I just special?  I would think that running the config program at least auto-set it to software mode if it does not recognize the registry value.....

[moses7]

Your config is version 1.00 download the 1.02 patch and replace it.

After replacing it, you can then try 0.6.7b. again.

[Idec Sdawkminn]

Just thought you might like this in case you haven't seen it. I made a video fighting Emerald Weapon using this mod and a few others. I give credit to everyone. I play the game in 1280x720 and record using Fraps. The battles run at 15 FPS, except when recording they are at 14 FPS. I have to increase it when editing, which is fine. I don't expect anything you could do to the driver could make it stay at 15 while recording, seeing as I have a Phenom II Quad Core and 4 GB of 800 Mhz RAM and it still slows it down.

Anyway, awesome mod.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSV-VRA1qr0

[Chrysalis]

ok a thumbs up for me, I discovered why you worked on this.

The game worked fine on my laptop in D3D mode.

I then tried to play it on my desktop pc in XP with a 8800GT.

Result was a 10second+ pause at startup and once in game the colour depth was clearly below normal as I seen gradient lines in the menu screen.  Spent 10 minutes or so trying to fix but got nowhere then remembered this patch.  Installed it and now the pause is gone and I have the colour depth back, game also seems to run faster although that could be a placebo affect, nevertherless big thumbs up from me.

Only weird issue was when coming out of the game on my dual monitor setup all the windows which were open on my main monitor (the one ff7 ran full screen on) were moved to the other monitor.

[Chrysalis]

Had anyone tried to run at 1024x768? The battle won't start if I the resolution 1024x768 both with shaders and without. It hangs right before the battle swirl not actually hang but lag so much that it won't finish the swirl. But works at 1280x960.

did 1280x960 work for you full screen? I am using 1280x1024 as 1280x960 forces windows mode for me.

I am using nvidia scaling option that uses nvidia to scale and preserve aspect ratio in my drivers (so monitor still in native resolution).

[Grimmy]

Chrysalis : That dual screen issue happens to me also. I really didn't mind it to much but it is like the itch you can't scratch. Actually I found it so annoying I started playing exclusively in window mode. However now I only really need window mode so I lost interest.

[Terid__K]

Another issue... I can't Alt+Tab out of FF7 when using this driver. The screen just flashes and remains in fullscreen. I had to struggle with the Windows key to change the disc image in Daemon tools.

[Aali]

Alt-Tab works fine here.. Did you have any other windows open?

[Terid__K]

Alt-Tab works fine here.. Did you have any other windows open?

Nope. Just FF7. Like I said before, I'm playing on Windows XP.

[Aali]

Well thats why it's not working, if you don't have any other windows open Alt-Tab will just switch back to FF7.
May be fixable by asking Windows to give the OpenGL window the same special treatment as fullscreen D3D apps but this is very low priority.

[Chrysalis]

Chrysalis : That dual screen issue happens to me also. I really didn't mind it to much but it is like the itch you can't scratch. Actually I found it so annoying I started playing exclusively in window mode. However now I only really need window mode so I lost interest.

it only happened once on my maximised window stuff, windows that arent maximised will move right a bit everytime I play the game and eventually if they move right enough they stay on the 2nd screen, since I now have it all setup good and I wont be frequently starting and closing the game I am satisfied now.  I dont get the slowdown issues some have mentioned either, like in the cat room in wutai no slowness at all for me, even tho I have pumped up antialiasing.

Am I the only one to notice that the videos look sweet using this driver also? on the d3d driver watching videos has the grainy affect especially the opening video, now all that is gone and it looks very sweet and clear on the video clips now.

[moses7]

Had anyone tried to run at 1024x768? The battle won't start if I the resolution 1024x768 both with shaders and without. It hangs right before the battle swirl not actually hang but lag so much that it won't finish the swirl. But works at 1280x960.

did 1280x960 work for you full screen? I am using 1280x1024 as 1280x960 forces windows mode for me.

I am using nvidia scaling option that uses nvidia to scale and preserve aspect ratio in my drivers (so monitor still in native resolution).

Yes, 1280x960 works very well full screen for me. 1024x768 won't continue the battle swirl. 960x720 forces me to window mode.
Another problem is that preserve_aspect = true doesn't work for me. No matter what resolution.

Currently the custom driver is still picky.

I noticed that the resolution that forces me to window mode is a resolution that isn't supported by my video card or monitor.
Like 960x720 I went to the display properties of my desktop and check if it is an available resolution on the slider and found out that it isn't there.

[Terid__K]

Well thats why it's not working, if you don't have any other windows open Alt-Tab will just switch back to FF7.
May be fixable by asking Windows to give the OpenGL window the same special treatment as fullscreen D3D apps but this is very low priority.

I see... So it's works differently for OpenGL? I suppose I can leave something else oppened while running FF7.

[Terid__K]

Found a pretty bad texture glitch when using Quake 3:



That's very end of the animation. As you can see, it gets garbled with several random textures. I was fighting Jenova DEATH, I don't know if this glitch is exclusive to this fight.

[Trenholm]

haha oh wow that's actually pretty awesome.

[Aali]

Can someone confirm or deny that this happens with the D3D driver aswell?

It seems to be limited to that battle, and only if you use it with All materia, very odd conditions that should have nothing to do with the driver.

[Chrysalis]

ok I am using 1680x1050 now in the custom driver config, with aspect ratio correction so doesnt stretch to wide screen.  Initially my hardware did struggle with this but I tuned some nvidia driver settings (kept my same antialiasing on tho) and disabled vsynch in the config and now runs smooth again.  This gives me the full screen height as well as no desktop glitches with my windows when I play the game.

I noticed even tho I had disabled monitor scaling so the monitor was using native res when using lower resolutions, the desktop was forced down to the same res as ff7 which is why everything was shifted to the right.

[DLPB_]

Can someone confirm or deny that this happens with the D3D driver aswell?

It seems to be limited to that battle, and only if you use it with All materia, very odd conditions that should have nothing to do with the driver.

Someone here will have D3d up for testing, place the save file up.

[Goku7]

I might be able to do the D3D acid test, considering FF7 + 3dfx D3D is about as glitch-free as you can get, driver-wise.   So yes, please put the save file up, 'cause I'm currently not anywhere near Jenova Death in any of my current savegames.

That being said, I may not be able to produce any results until later this week -- I've got a rather busy week scheduled (and no, I'm not happy about said scheduling).

[d33eniz]

Awesome Aali, just awesome!

Finally everything is working, I am making this project a bit public in YouTube for you- I will post the link here

I got yesterday my brand new Full-HD TV Hell yeah, playing FF7 on 1920*1080 is REALLY AWESOME xDDD
But it's black/white 'cause of connecting my laptop and my TV via S-Video cable xD

I ordered at ebay a VGA-HDMI cable, so I think it will be in color next time

Some Pic's





Thank you again Aali, this is the best improvement for FF7 ever! Also fans of the Original FF7 without mods will be "satisfied" with this
Because of only changing the resolution and activating Anti-Aliasing without new "graphics" it has its old charme!

You're awesome man

See ya,

Deniz

[Covarr]

Since when does S-Video not support color?

[Goku7]

Forget abot that, how the hell is that S-Video cable carrying a 1920x1080 signal?  I thought that was totally outside the spec of them, since S-Video was supposed to be a poorer-quality cable than Component (or composite, whichever was supposed to be the 5-prong cables).

[obesebear]

Forget abot that, how the hell is that S-Video cable carrying a 1920x1080 signal?  I thought that was totally outside the spec of them, since S-Video was supposed to be a poorer-quality cable than Component (or composite, whichever was supposed to be the 5-prong cables).

I'm sure it's only 480p and not 1080.  I'm fairly sure S-video is progressive, while normal composite cables provide interlaced video.  Since his TV is new, it probably automatically scales to fullscreen.   Not sure about the black and white though...

[d33eniz]

Just forcing the option

At first it didn't worked^^
Then, I forgot where, I found an option in the Nvidia Control Panel which allowed me to choose one resolution of all available resolutions my GRAPHIC-CARD allows/supports.

I think it's black/white because my cable is a bit f***ed up


So, here's the video I promised you

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pFpniHUexk

@obesebear:
No, it's not scaling to fullscreen- it's his native resolution (so, 1080p). I can see at my notebook screen which resolution is now beeing displayed. Yeah, it is a wonder that it is working- but who care's? Its working xD But the quality is really bad^^ It is 1920*1080 but it doesn't look as well as it is in real^^

The quality will be much better with a cable which is designed for it
And the video is captured with my brandnew N96 xD

See ya,

Deniz

EDIT: Wikipedia says:

Due to a lack of bandwidth, S-Video connections are generally not considered suitable for high-definition video signals.However, on the older monitors with S-Video but without HDMI and DVI, some graphics cards have full display (including bootup display) with HDMI, DVI and S-Video and partial full display (displaying only after the OS boots up) with component and composite. So in this case, S-Video works well as it allows the user to see the display in the event that they need to adjust settings in the CMOS.

[arew264]

Okay, this has now officially become the greatest mod for FF7 ever. Linux users will praise your name.

I'll go put up a comment about this on the Wine AppDB.