Something has elluded my understanding for too long

[Xelane]

I remember back when I played FF7 on the good ol PS1. In those days I remember distinctly that I managed to warp to one part of the game, one that may be on another disc entirely, and still be able to play it.

I would be able to fight sephiroth at the end while I was only using the first disc, and the SOLE difference was that the fmv's were the wrong ones.

And now in retrospect...I ask, why?

Why is it that I was able to continue all the way through the game on one single disc? and why do you even need the other discs if you can just rely on one?


*Narrator that talks really fast at the end of an ad or commerical*

(some of the above post may be an overdramatized assestment, and was solely made for the amusement of the reader)

[titeguy3]

I remember back when I played FF7 on the good ol PS1. In those days I remember distinctly that I managed to warp to one part of the game, one that may be on another disc entirely, and still be able to play it.

I would be able to fight sephiroth at the end while I was only using the first disc, and the SOLE difference was that the fmv's were the wrong ones.

And now in retrospect...I ask, why?

Why is it that I was able to continue all the way through the game on one single disc? and why do you even need the other discs if you can just rely on one?


*Narrator that talks really fast at the end of an ad or commerical*

(some of the above post may be an overdramatized assestment, and was solely made for the amusement of the reader)

IIRC, the FMV's.

EDIT: First? haha

[sl1982]

Yeah, the game was duplicated across the 3 discs. They needed all the extra discs to contain the FMV's

[Kudistos Megistos]

The whole game, besides the FMVs, is on each disc. FMVs take up the vast majority of the data in most games, and the rest of FF7 takes up something like 250MB.

As to why they put the whole game on each disc...I dunno . Why not? Maybe it was easier for them to slap the whole thing on each disc than to mess around working out which bits should go on which disc and doing any necessary adjustments. Most of the game's data needs to be accessible on each disc anyway; they'd probably save about 50MB a disc by cutting out everything that wasn't needed, so it probably wasn't worth it.

Now, I hope the question I just answered is the same as the one you were asking.

EDIT:

Warning - while you were typing 2 new replies have been posted. You may wish to review your post.

I love you guys

[nfitc1]

The entire contents of the entire game are on each disc. The only exception are the FMVs. They can't all fit on one disc so they're spread out among three. When you reach the end of one collection of FMVs you have to switch to the next one.

That said, it's conceivable that certain errors might lead to going to a place where you shouldn't be. The data is still there for that location, and the FMVs only get referenced by an index of file names. Since the game says "play FMV 9" it'll play whatever the 9th FMV is and not care the content of it.

From my reversing of it I can say that it only checks the disc number at four points. When you start a new game, when you load a saved game, when it's time for a disc change, and (in the case of the PC version) when you run the executable. The new game only ever checks for the first disc (obviously), the next two will look for a disc defined in the save-game data and the last one (for the PC) only wants to know if there is a disc.

So no where in the field script does it care, or even have access to, what disc is in the drive. As long as it passes through those three/four checkpoints the game will continue to play.

During a disc change, the field script just sets the next progress value for you to continue on from where you were once it passes the "next disc please" prompt.

EDIT:

Warning - while you were typing 2 new replies have been posted. You may wish to review your post.

I love you guys

Ha! I got THREE!

[Kudistos Megistos]

EDIT:

Warning - while you were typing 2 new replies have been posted. You may wish to review your post.

I love you guys

Ha! I got THREE!

And each answer was more detailed than the last. Freaky...

(unfortunately, I have now broken that combo )

[titeguy3]

EDIT:

Warning - while you were typing 2 new replies have been posted. You may wish to review your post.

I love you guys

Ha! I got THREE!

And each answer was more detailed than the last. Freaky...

(unfortunately, I have now broken that combo )

C-C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER!

[Xelane]

Yup, that would definately answer my question.

wow 4 posts from you guys before i can finish this single post

[Kudistos Megistos]

C-C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER!

Yup, that's what I was alluding to

Yup, that would definately answer my question.

wow 4 posts from you guys before i can finish this single post

See, we're a helpful bunch

[obesebear]

That said, it's conceivable that certain errors might lead to going to a place where you shouldn't be. The data is still there for that location, and the FMVs only get referenced by an index of file names. Since the game says "play FMV 9" it'll play whatever the 9th FMV is and not care the content of it.

This.   I have found that in the PC version we have

Code: [Select]

white2
last4_2
last4_3Which have no counterparts in the PSX version.  At least not that I found.   Also, I have no idea what the difference between car_1209 and fcar is.  They are both the same length, but different sizes...

[Bosola]

A caveat: there is no data for SNOVA on any but the third disc (of the PSX version, obviously). I assume it contains data for the Supernova animation.

[p90]

Hi,

another question.
Why does the PC version still have 4 CDs?
All FMVs are on all play cds (just take a look, they are all there)
and all other files are not different either ( at least I could not find one that was different.)
Why did they not have just 1 or two cds for the pc?

[Prince Lex]

Not all FMV's are on all play CD's. Just some are the same (from memory, the lift animation in Junon, among others).

[Covarr]

Not all FMV's are on all play CD's. Just some are the same (from memory, the lift animation in Junon, among others).

Just checked, and I can confirm this statement. A number of FMVs are repeated across multiple discs, but quite a few of them are not. For example, story-specific FMVs that you only view once are not in multiple discs.

[LJH]

Apparently, Ruby Weapon battle does not work properly on any disc other than Disc 3...

[nfitc1]

Hi,

another question.
Why does the PC version still have 4 CDs?
All FMVs are on all play cds (just take a look, they are all there)
and all other files are not different either ( at least I could not find one that was different.)
Why did they not have just 1 or two cds for the pc?

The PC version needs an installation disc. It has the majority of the field files and such on it and can install all but the FMVs to the drive. That dramatically reduces loading time on the PC because the optical drive isn't connected to the rest of the system the same way the PS family's drives are.