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Miscellaneous Forums => General Discussion => Topic started by: BloodShot on 2012-03-30 19:20:23
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I want to get FF7 to work off a flash drive, does anyone have a working method for doing this? I remember there were instructions posted here a while ago but I followed them and couldn't get it to work.
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I have this working for FF8 and it's quite simple (note that I use Linux here. on Windows you'll need something like DaemonTools).
For FF8, just extract the LOCAL_MACHINE\SquareSoft\Final F..\ data from registry and modify as needed.
I have my always ready ff8-install.reg:
REGEDIT4
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Square Soft, Inc\FINAL FANTASY VIII\1.00]
"AppPath"="H:\\Personal\\FF8\\Game"
"DataDrive"="f:"
"Graphics"=dword:00000000
"GraphicsGUID"=hex:00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00
"InstallOptions"=dword:000000ff
"MIDIGUID"=hex:00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00
"MidiOptions"=dword:00000000
"SoundGUID"=hex:00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00
"SoundOptions"=dword:00000000
The data drive must exist. (I use wine to create a virtual CD/DVD pointed to some folder).
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The above method isn't truly portable.
You still need to set up a virtual drive which usually requires installing software.
The only way to make FF7 portable is to circumvent the disk check copy protection.
Though a NOCD dll does exist, it is of questionable legality.
You might try software like Portable Apps (http://portableapps.com/) or Virtual Drive Manager (http://www.linasoft.com/products.php#vdm) to create a portable FF7.
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Though a NOCD dll does exist, it is of questionable legality.
You don't need a dll files at all. All you need to do is rename the drive to ff7disc1 copy the reg files of final fantasy 7 and install them on what pc you move the dive too. I like to make a autorun file so I never have to go in to the drive. I've Not been home in 3 year and the game still running fine for me. P.s. you need to edit the reg file but not going to say how
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Or Cameyo
http://www.cameyo.com/index.aspx
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Or Cameyo
http://www.cameyo.com/index.aspx
:O this app is just what i needed hope it's legitimate as never heard of this before, thanks! ;D
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Cameyo looks pretty awesome, but how well does it handle FF7's DRM? If it still requires the CDs, or requires you to manually rename your HDD or USB stick's name, it's still not quite ideal (though still quite useful and a damn good start).
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aye obviously this needs a ff7 crack to be truly portable ;) there's no way around that I am afraid people. :-D
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Cameyo looks pretty awesome, but how well does it handle FF7's DRM? If it still requires the CDs, or requires you to manually rename your HDD or USB stick's name, it's still not quite ideal (though still quite useful and a damn good start).
Well renaming the drive is pretty easy, but if you dislike renaming your drive you could always hex edit 0x3B9008 in FF7.exe, if you change the text from FF7DISC1 to whatever your drive is it will look for that instead,
Say for example your C drive is called "Local Volume", if you hex edited 0x3B9008 to "Local Volume" instead of FF7DISC1 it would search for that instead so you wouldn't have to rename the drive (i still think its easier to just rename the drive though)
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A truly portable final fantasy 7 pc cannot be made.
The game insists on storing configuration information in the registry, instead of loading it from a local relative path.
Is it possible to make the game run from a usb drive? yes, and it IS legal. You will need to
a) full install, and copy all movies to hard drive. You DID buy the game, did you not? :)
b) patch ff7.exe so all CD volume names are the same. (after updating and chocobo patching it, if you don't use ali's driver) this prevents needing to change disc, which is required for it to work. Suggest FF7_PORT or something else descriptive.
c) rename your flash drive to the same volume name
d) create a batch file to autodetect the drive letter it's being ran from and write the required configuration info to the registry to convince the game it is installed on the drive's letter. Also make it set the moviepath. You may need 26 separate reg files. (one for each possible drive letter). DISCLAIMER: I do not know how to do this.
e) (optional) install mods/Ali's driver, etc.
f) copy all this to the flash drive.
Then to run it
a) run your clever batch file you created in d) above once from the drive after plugging it in.
b) run configurator and setup graphics and midi.
c) run ff7.exe
d) repeat a and b above if the flash drives letter changes for any reason (like having a different one plugged in first).
And also
a) keep everything but the batch file (and accompanying .reg files, if any) to yourself. This includes the usb stick ya just made. Anything else would enable piracy, and earn you a pirate avatar.
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It can be made and it has been made. It just means making a crack and using portable app tools.
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SO you are telling me a fully portable and stable version with Ali's aggressive anti-nocd driver driver has been made? With free portabalizing tools?
I know of no other method that can be posted about here. :)
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Perhaps you could just play FF7 on a portable VM.
Not sure how well the OS would perform, though.
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FF7 is portable if you use wine...i have only had to installed ff7 once to wine about 2 years ago i just copy that prefix when ever i move it to another machine..(a prefix is self contained "windows" btw.) this can be done on windows too you would just have to use a small reg file to set up the reg keys before playing on a new machine. it would be a bit tricky since the paths may change from machine to machine., in order to make ff7 completely portable one would have to edit the exe so it doesn't make reg calls but tries to save to a config file of some kind. or edit the exe to force it to create entries if they don't exsist. you would still need your play cd's and the machine would need a cd drive to use them.
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That method is still of questionable legality due to Windows licensing issues.
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That method is still of questionable legality due to Windows licensing issues.
there is NO windows or ms code in wine. so there is no issue...
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My bad. I was still thinking of the virtual Windows machine idea.
But FF7 runs on old Windows, and there are free copies of Win98 lying in dumpsters everywhere.
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Not sure about for FF7, but i know that that Cameyo program worked amazing for the apps i just made with it, DLPB, you made my day with that
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you need a license to run windows in a virtual machine same as you would if you installed it on real hardware, so if you want windows machine running windows in a vm you need to buy two licenses for windows..
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Not sure about for FF7, but i know that that Cameyo program worked amazing for the apps i just made with it, DLPB, you made my day with that
Yeah Cameyo is a pretty good program, only problem i had with it was it leaving loads of files on my computer (in the C:\Documents and Settings\USER\Application Data\VOS).
@sithlord48 do you happen to know if wine+ff7 will run in Ulteo ? i don't really have time to test it right now but a friend just told me about it and since it can be used to run linux apps on windows i wondered if it can run wine. (i ask this question of you since you seem to know more about wine and linux distro's then anyone i know)
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@kranmer, i have never used (or heard of untill now) Ulteo. a quick search shows me its a type of Virtual Machine. if that is the case i don't see any reason that you can't get a distro set up to run ff7. with aali's driver the open source video card drivers for most cards will work well enuff to play at full fps (if you don't use direct mode). if this doesn't work its not to say you are with out options. for one there are several other virtual machine programs you can try. you can even try Wine on Windows (http://wiki.winehq.org/WineOnWindows) and attempt to run it that way(if it builds now). i have not tried to run ff7 in a virtual machine myself since i only use one to test the 32bit version of black chocobo. ill let you know what i find out.
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AS long as you paid for a full license for the OS, there is no legal issue in making a portable virtual machine as the only install of the OS CD. vmware player might actually be good enough for running it. But there is no portable virtual machine with enough power to run 3d games that I know of. vmware player must be installed on the target PC, because of the os integration required to gain performance.
A more likely to work approach is to purchase the PSX CDs, rip them to disk and run a psx emulator off the flash drive. YOu can even include emulator for windows and linux on the same flash drive.
I still maintain that my procedure is probably the one most likely to give the best results across most windows machines, even though it's not truly portable.
A custom sound driver should probably be developed to match the custom graphics driver. this way a good "fire and forget" config can be created.
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Actually, no, some operating system vendors actively prohibit installation on VMs in the EULA.
But I know for a fact that Microsoft offers free XP VM licenses for testing legacy versions of Internet Explorer. Those a MS Virtual PC images, though - I don't know if they can be hotswapped by USB.
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Yeah, like apple. :)
MS does not prohibit virtual machines. you just have to pay for the license as if it were a physical computer.
WIth windows 7 business or ultimate you do get a free xp professional license, but it is specific to the OS.
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Give me a bit of time, I might be able to make something that, for all intents and purposes, SEEMS completely portable (will copy its own files/registry entries, play the game, and even temporarily rename its own drive, and then eliminate any trace of itself except for locally stored save files afterwards). It's not quite a perfect solution, but it should make the game functionally as good as portable.
Obviously, If I do this, I would require the original discs on setup to keep some semblance of antipiracy in there, and to ensure valid source files.
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Give me a bit of time, I might be able to make something that, for all intents and purposes, SEEMS completely portable (will copy its own files/registry entries, play the game, and even temporarily rename its own drive, and then eliminate any trace of itself except for locally stored save files afterwards). It's not quite a perfect solution, but it should make the game functionally as good as portable.
Obviously, If I do this, I would require the original discs on setup to keep some semblance of antipiracy in there, and to ensure valid source files.
That would be so cool! Would we be able to play in a psp? But the size with all those upscaled textures would be vast.. ???
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That would be so cool! Would we be able to play in a psp? But the size with all those upscaled textures would be vast.. ???
No, it would still require Windows, and generally behave like an installed copy of the game. In computer software, "Portable" does not refer to running on portable systems, but being able to move from one machine to another and keep your data intact. For example, I could play the game from a USB flash drive on my home PC, save my game, bring my flash drive to work and play there, with my save intact, get fired for gaming at work, and then go home and keep playing, all from the flash drive, without leaving behind any remnants or evidence it was ever there.
Of course, the method I have in mind isn't truly a portable application, it just fakes it. Essentially what it would do is install the game's FILES to the flash drive on initial setup, and then run the game with a launcher that would install all the needed registry settings and whatnot, and then revert them when you're done playing. It's a bit of a hefty workaround, but the user experience should be pretty much the same as a program which was actually DESIGNED to be portable. In fact, most of what I have in mind is not all that different from Cameyo that DLPB already posted, except that it would be specifically tailored to FF7PC, retain moddability, and give the user a bit more control if they want it.
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Would a solution like this work on windows systems where you don't have administrative access as well?
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Probably not, unfortunately.
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What about this ?
psx4droid run on zte blade
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJtUh_RMpo4&feature=plcp&context=C400ad09VDvjVQa1PpcFOdXVA-LW-q9RghWwq4cHWQBW3yueMBkjw= (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJtUh_RMpo4&feature=plcp&context=C400ad09VDvjVQa1PpcFOdXVA-LW-q9RghWwq4cHWQBW3yueMBkjw=)
Would it be possible to play with mods?
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Playing without actual physical buttons really sucks.
What if you use something like VMWare ThinApp (http://www.vmware.com/products/thinapp/overview.html) with windows XP. There probably aren't video card drivers for an older OS. I've read a few posts by people running FF7 successfully using VMWare.
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What about this ?
psx4droid run on zte blade
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJtUh_RMpo4&feature=plcp&context=C400ad09VDvjVQa1PpcFOdXVA-LW-q9RghWwq4cHWQBW3yueMBkjw= (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJtUh_RMpo4&feature=plcp&context=C400ad09VDvjVQa1PpcFOdXVA-LW-q9RghWwq4cHWQBW3yueMBkjw=)
Would it be possible to play with mods?
You really don't get how this stuff works, do you?
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Playing without actual physical buttons really sucks.
What if you use something like VMWare ThinApp (http://www.vmware.com/products/thinapp/overview.html) with windows XP. There probably aren't video card drivers for an older OS. I've read a few posts by people running FF7 successfully using VMWare.
aye cameyo is basically a freeware of that program.
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aye cameyo is basically a freeware of that program.
Is there anyway to stop Cameyo from leaving loads of files on your computer in the "C:\Documents and Settings\USER\Application Data\VOS" folder ? i tried making a few portableapps with Cameyo and was slightly annoyed that they left stuff on my computer (the point being i didn't want them leaving anything on my computer).
Am i just missing some very simple setting in Cameyo that leaves these files around ?
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Sorry misread that. Not sure if you can set it to stop that but those files aren't needed. At least I don't think so.
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.
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they could be a way if you had a flashed psp i used to use a app that was windows on the psp (based on vista) that ran quite alot of programs i had load of different things on it like spotify and quicktime but saying that i never tryed a pc game with the app but i did play a back up of my ps1 version of ff7 and it played perfectly on my psp
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Well if you have a psp, you can play the psx version on the go with little difficulty, without pirating. :)
Unfortunately, it's kinda difficult to MOD that particular version. In fact i'm not sure it's possible.
I doubt the PSP has the power to emulate windows and a 3D card and run the PC version.
With custom firmware, and googlable tools you CAN mod your own fff7psx ISOS, then create an eboot that will run on your PSP.
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Just an unrelated fact, but Windows 3.11 runs on the PSP via DosBox.
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Well can the beefy psvita handle it? I don't see why not with the specs but ofcourse still need to wait for a hack for it so we can emualate and do other crazy stuff :)
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Well if you have a psp, you can play the psx version on the go with little difficulty, without pirating. :)
Unfortunately, it's kinda difficult to MOD that particular version. In fact i'm not sure it's possible.
I doubt the PSP has the power to emulate windows and a 3D card and run the PC version.
With custom firmware, and googlable tools you CAN mod your own fff7psx ISOS, then create an eboot that will run on your PSP.
i wasnt on about piracy and the psp does emulate windows i used to have the app on mine and i no you can play ps1 games on the psp as i have all mine on there and there is a mod project for ff7 psx its just not has advanced as the pc version