Messages

251

Releases / Re: [REL] FF7 AnyCD

« on: 2011-04-04 17:39:33 »

OK guys i have been thinking about this today and i am thinking about making a v2, instead of making it a Loader i am thinking about making it a DLL file that just needs to be put into the FF7 folder and can be loaded with Aali's Driver using the "load_library" function (so the game can still be run with FF7.exe).
What do you guys think of this or do you prefere the loader ?

252

Releases / Re: [RELEASE] FF7Music Installer

« on: 2011-04-04 17:30:47 »

The amount of code required to modify the ff7music.ini file on install to work with this would be immense.

Really ? i edited a few lines in my FF7music INI in this release to

Code: [Select]

[Setup]
InputPlugin=in_vgmstream.dll
OutputPlugin=out_wave.dll

Paths=Custom_Music;OSTRe;FF7_PSF
By removing the path of the plugin and the path for the different playlists it always looks in the root of the FF7music folder for the files and folders (so no matter where FF7Music is installed it always looks for the files inside the folder its running from) so this should make it portable, then you need to alter your bat file (i know its a EXE now but its still a BAT file in my eyes) since at the moment it changes the directory to "C:\FF7Music", but since that file is run from the same folder as FF7music that line isn't really needed (as long as it is run from the same folder)
Or maybe you could make it so it always installs to the FF7 root folder which would probably make it a lot easier.

253

Troubleshooting / Re: Frequent Restart in PC FF7

« on: 2011-04-02 11:59:20 »

Well i did a bit of work on making a load game function as well and i did manage to make a semi working load (read below) which i was planning to add to the next version of my trainer if i ever get round to it, here is a mini trainer to show you.
Just run this (you can run it from anywhere, it doesn't have to be in the FF7 folder) then FF7 (or vise versa)
http://www.mediafire.com/?1bnn5cm8jidw2vy
Then when in game press "CTRL + L" twice slowly and you will get to the load menu or go to the in-game menu and press "CTRL + L" once and it should take you to the load menu,

The reason why i called it a semi working load is because it only works in the field properly, it has some odd effects if used on the world map (really odd effects, here is 1 example - if you are on disc1 world map and then use the load to load a save on CD3 it will take you back to the worldmap where you was on disc1 but with disc3's stats) but if you enter a village and exit again it sometimes fixes the problem but not always so its probably best not to use it on the worldmap if you can help it.

EDIT:- i mean you can only use the trainer while in the field, you can load saves that where saved on the world map fine, just DON'T press "CTRL + L" while on the world map.

254

Releases / Re: [V0.35+Source, Released] Field Upscale Project

« on: 2011-03-31 10:00:49 »

Hi yarLson, i just finished upload my setup for this, i managed to get the filesize to 854MB, using your original PNG's but they are double compressed so installation takes around 16 Min's (well that's on my Dual Core AMD5000+, installation times will vary depending on the system) which i know is a long time for a installer but that's because its 1.25GB compacted to 854MB with 2 compressions, and when done they will have your original PNG's (also 1.25GB is the final install size)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=HJJMHNHP

255

Releases / Re: [V0.35 Released] Field Upscale Project

« on: 2011-03-29 18:39:09 »

Looks like i also got 100% this morning as well and have seeded over 3GB of data. I haven't had much time to test yet since i only just got back but later i will have a very good look at this in-game.
Also i was going to upload to megaupload but since someone has already done it i wont bother now (seems little point).
I will still make a installer version though, i should be able to make it under 1GB with a little bit of compressing the actual files (not converting the PNG's like Timber, i will only compress them, the user will still get your original PNG's, the cost of this though is a installation that will take around 10-15Min's but that time is pretty much saved on the download size)

@Timber what program are you using to compress the PNG's ? you have to be carefull when compressing 32bit PNG's like these, programs like PNG Monster/OptiPNG/PNGguantlet etc only really work on 24bit PNG's, if used on a 32bit PNG it will convert it to 24bit (so its not lossless), also I'm not sure but 24bit PNG's used to load slower on Aalis driver (this may not be the case anymore but it used to be).

EDIT:-
here is a quick example of what happens if you run one of yarLson's PNG's through PNGmonster

256

Releases / Re: [V0.35 Released] Field Upscale Project

« on: 2011-03-28 22:35:08 »

nah its fine, it gives the others a chance to catch up since i seemed to have the highest %, that should also help increase people's speed upto 80% that i am at (so hopefully people wont complain about the speed for awhile)

257

Releases / Re: [V0.35 Released] Field Upscale Project

« on: 2011-03-28 22:11:39 »

ok so should we abadon the torrent now then ? i am already at 80% and uploading at 210kb/s.

258

Releases / Re: [V0.35 Released] Field Upscale Project

« on: 2011-03-28 18:55:53 »

hey yarLson, i have made this quick installer
http://www.mediafire.com/?rg3t372ie414s4a
this installer will automatically install a folder called "FIELD" which is in the same folder as the "setup.EXE" (when i get the files i could make it all in 1 EXE but since i am still downloading i thought i would do it this way) to your FF7\mods\avalanche\field folder (which it should autodetect the correct path but it can be changed if needed).
And if you want it customized more it can be this, but is only a quick installer so its very plain.

Also when i get it would you mind if a made a mirror on megaupload ? (you can upload upto 1GB on megaupload so it should be possible to jsut split it into 2 parts and upload there)

259

Releases / Re: [V0.35 Released] Field Upscale Project

« on: 2011-03-28 18:11:40 »

Thanks, i am DLing now (its a shame its a torrent though), i will try and seed for a few hours though and again tomorrow.
Also have you given any thought about making a installer when you get to the final version ?

260

Releases / Re: [WIP/ALPHA REL]Battle Interface Reconstruction

« on: 2011-03-28 10:03:40 »

yeah i suppose so, it was just an idea (possibly a stupid one), oh well its really upto DLPB, the font is mostly his project (i am helping but he is doing 99.9% of the work on the font) so how to do it will be upto him i just thought i would throw the idea out there.

261

Releases / Re: [WIP/ALPHA REL]Battle Interface Reconstruction

« on: 2011-03-28 09:53:15 »

Well we could make it so that only people with the helvetica font can install this mod (a few checks should be easy to do in the installer)

262

Releases / Re: [REL] FF7 AnyCD

« on: 2011-03-23 13:25:36 »

hey I am having a bit of a problem I was using this with the ff7music batch file and the first couple times it worked like a charm. But everything changed and now for some reason ff7music closes before the game starts. This is what my batch looks like

Code: [Select]

label c: FF7DISC1
start /w FF7Music.exe
ping localhost -n 2 > nul
CD D:\Program Files\Square Soft, Inc.\Final Fantasy VII
start /w FF7anyCD.exe"
taskkill /im FF7Music.exe

I am just confused as to why this worked for a while and now ff7music closes before launch every time, sorry if this is kinda a newb question :p

Hi yarLson, well first i wouldn't use the "/w" command with FF7music for a start,
also since FF7anyCD.exe doesn't stay open the /w command is doesn't work right (it only loads FF7.exe so it doesnt stay open but the bat file moves on because ff7anyCD has closed), try using this BAT

Code: [Select]

@ECHO off
label c: FF7DISC1
start FF7Music.exe
ping localhost -n 2 > nul
CD D:\Program Files\Square Soft, Inc.\Final Fantasy VII
start /w FF7anyCD.exe
:LOOP
tasklist /FI "IMAGENAME eq ff7.exe" 2>NUL | find /i "ff7.exe" >NUL || GOTO KILLFF7
ping localhost -n 1 > nul
cls
GOTO LOOP
:KILLFF7
taskkill /im FF7Music.exe
it checks to see if FF7.exe is running then repeats every second until FF7 closes (you can change that time by editing the ping), then once FF7 is closed it carries on with the BAT file (which closes FF7music).
Or if you dont like the thought of it looping you could just add the pause command between starting FF7anyCD.exe and taskkill and it would add you to press any button to continue after closing FF7 but i would recommend the above BAT if possible since its more automatic.

263

Releases / Re: [REL] FF7 AnyCD

« on: 2011-03-22 22:39:13 »

kranmer, why is this a patch? Since ff7 1.02 exe is already freely distributed, I don't think you have to worry about distributing a prepatched copy of it.

Well Covarr the reason i don't distribute the full EXE is because anyone would be able to compare my modified one with the original EXE and see exactly how i did it (with any other mod this is not a problem but for this mod its a huge problem). If just anyone could see what values i have patched they could very easily just adapt it to a NoCd (even a idiot could with just a hex editor change 1 byte to make this a full NoCd) that would work with Aali's Driver, So i tried to make it a little harder with this (it wont stop anyone who is serious but it will stop idiots).
Anyway i am sorry if this is to your disliking but that is the reason for this (also its a Loader and NOT a patch, a patch modifies the file, a loader changes the file while its running, which is usefull since if a patch is used on a EXE there is always a chance it could ruin it since not everybody is using a clean EXE)

264

Releases / Re: [REL] FF7 AnyCD

« on: 2011-03-22 12:01:50 »

After going to sleep last night i was expecting when i got on today there would be a thread full of problems but it appears this is not the case

By the way, kranmer, you can manually delete your messages in Aali's topic. They don't need to be moved here.

Thanks, i didn't know users could delete their own posts (we never used to be able to)

I suppose this could also be used to make it a DVD-based game then, correct? Label the DVD "FF7DISC1" or something and copy all the unique files from each of the discs to their appropriate spots and hilarity ensues?

Yeah making a DVD backup would probably be possible with this (i haven't done this but the theory is correct)

kranmer, you are a hero.

Now i am gonna have to go buy a cape and tights and take my glasses off.

Hey this is exactly what I wanted original but I don't really have any programming skills. Thank you sir

Well you can still always include this in your release if you want to. (i would have suggested this earlier if i had known that the mods wouldn't have a problem with it)

Anyways, awesome program, works like a charm ! I also love the fact that it's compatible with FF7Music, and successfully terminates the FF7.exe processus when you quit the game.

Finally, I can say goodbye to Ctrl+Alt+Supp everytime I need to close the game ^^

Ah so its compatible with FF7Music as well, that's good to know (i thought it would be but i don't use FF7Music so i wasn't sure), also its nice to hear it solved your problem (although I'm not sure how it solved FF7 not closing correctly)

265

Releases / [FF7PC-98] FF7 AnyCD (2011-01-04)

« on: 2011-03-22 00:33:02 »

Hi Guys, i have made this to allow people to use any of their 3 FF7 gameplay Cd's to play the game without it asking to change CD (also i was given permission by sl1982 before posting this mod but if any other moderator or admin does have a problem with this mod they may delete it)
This is for the PC English 1.02 version of the game and probably wont work on other versions (although i can probably make one for other versions if need be).
http://www.mediafire.com/?30q3mxj9c3hea4x
To use just unzip the file above and put it into your FF7 folder, after doing that run it and it should remove the need for changing CD's (i have only tested saves, i haven't tried at the end of a CD yet so if someone could test that for me it would really help)

NOTE:- you will still need 1 of the 3 game CD's in the drive to run the game (The game still checks the CD on bootup) so i want to make this clear this is NOT A NOCD SINCE YOU STILL NEED THE GAME DISCS TO PLAY
NOTE2:- this loads FF7.exe so if you have renamed your EXE this will still try to load FF7.exe.
Also any feedback is welcome


EDIT1:- Ok here is the DLL version for anyone who dislikes the loader

http://www.mediafire.com/?l8p7yrysrvmbd5u
Extract the DLL to your FF7 folder.
then edit the FF7_opengl.cfg and add the line
load_library = FF7anyCD.dll
Then run the game with any FF7 CD in the drive and hey presto your done.

Also i scanned this with virustotal.com and it came back with 1 virus scanner out of 42 saying this was a virus THIS IS A FALSE POSATIVE, i made this myself and i assure you its not a virus, here is the report from virustotal
http://www.virustotal.com/file-scan/report.html?id=086260499d8de4300a3c4a1327b2f6dfda1d90bd71698a0a1a166646b2474267-1301939656

Also if you use AntiVir Armorvil has explained how to stop AntiVir from detecting this as a virus
http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=11564.msg161103#msg161103

266

Troubleshooting / Re: Aali's driver [v 0.7.10b] Help/Bugs/Suggestions

« on: 2011-03-21 22:13:52 »

Feature request (if at all possible): A hack to remove the check for Discs 2 and 3, so only Disc 1 is required to play the game. I doubt just the driver would be able to accomplish this, but it doesn't hurt to ask. I'm sure this is something every FF7 player wants (it wouldn't work with FF8, since there's no way to run the movie files from the hard drive).

I had also thought about doing something along those lines myself, so i experimented earlier on today and i came up with a way that still requires the CD to launch the game (any of the 3 gameplay Cd's) but doesn't require any CD in particular (meaning you could use disc3 to play on disc1 etc as long as its one of the 3 gameplay Cd's) but doing this is kind of a gray area (so i wont be releasing it), a moderator would probably put a stop to such a thing since its even closer to a no-cd.

Mod edit: I do not have any issues with this and I would not think Obesebear would either. It still requires one of the discs to play. Plus I am sure it would be handy for people that may have lost one of their discs. If anything this is better then that batch file that came out, since that removes the need for a disc entirely.

267

Releases / Re: [Release] FF7Music exe files

« on: 2011-03-21 01:14:05 »

so what your saying is I can use all three discs at once? I am sorry I didn't quite understand :p

Sorry if i wasn't clear, your current release has 3 BAT files in it named disc1.bat disc2.bat disc3.bat, instead of having those 3 BAT files you could use the one i posted above and just have 1 BAT file that does the job of all 3. And instead of the user having to edit your path to FF7 it is automatically entered by collecting the info from the registry, so no matter who uses it, it should automatically correct the FF7 path to the correct folder.

We can make the game easier to use for ourselves while still hating/mocking pirates.

Yeah this does make things a lot easier especially for me since i use this method (have done since 2008). So thanks for the ruling.

I had considered using an executable instead of a batch file for launching the game and ff7music together, but it would simply be unfeasible to include this feature in my installer unless I create the exe on the fly; many people don't install FF7 to the default directory, and I couldn't find a way to edit that in an exe for non-default installs, only in a batch file.

Well Covarr if you use my DOS script above to detect where the game is installed it gets the games installed directory from the user's registry, so even if its installed in a obscure place it should automatically change to the correct folder, that way you should be able to use EXE instead of a BAT (it wont work on systems before 2k though so 95,98 and ME are out)

268

Troubleshooting / Re: critical error

« on: 2011-03-21 00:49:57 »

maybe, it could just be one of those things (like from time to time your PC will crash for no reason) but you might want to try a virus scanner and a malware scanner if you dont have one, i personally use AVG Free, Hijack This, Spybot Search and Destory, SuperAntiSpyware and Malwarebytes (all free programs) to try and stay clean (although it doesnt always work)

269

Troubleshooting / Re: critical error

« on: 2011-03-21 00:42:09 »

that sounds odd, and the app.log isnt really showing much, it could be a virus or maybe something breaking down, is it only happening to FF7 or are your other programs messing up ? have you closed all none needed programs ? (i mean go into your task manager and close everything that isnt needed by the system to run), also have you tried installing it to a different location to see if that makes any difference ?

270

Releases / Re: [Release] FF7Music exe files

« on: 2011-03-20 23:53:05 »

Well it is already well known around this forum that you can change the registry and rename your C drive to make FF7 think its your CD drive, this does make it easier but even if this mod is banned it wont stop people from using this method (this is posted quite a few times around this forum) but i guess the moderators will be the ones to decide this.
Also yarLson i have had a quick look at your disc .BAT files, and instead of having 3 you could merge them into 1, and instead of having the path set to D:\ and telling people to edit it you could make it figure out where FF7 is automatically, if your interested in that try this BAT

Code: [Select]

@ECHO off
cls
:start
:drive
set DRIVE=
set /P DRIVE=Type drive letter to rename: %=%
if "%DRIVE%"=="" goto drive
ECHO.
ECHO 1. FF7DISC1
ECHO 2. FF7DISC2
ECHO 3. FF7DISC3
set choice=
set /p choice=Type the number of the Disc you wish to play and press ENTER.
if not '%choice%'=='' set choice=%choice:~0,1%
if '%choice%'=='1' goto ff7disc1
if '%choice%'=='2' goto ff7disc2
if '%choice%'=='3' goto ff7disc3
ECHO "%choice%" is not valid, try again
ECHO.
goto start
:ff7disc1
label %DRIVE%: FF7DISC1
start FF7Music.exe
ping localhost -n 2 > nul
FOR /F "tokens=2,*" %%i IN ('reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Square Soft, Inc.\Final Fantasy VII" /v "AppPath"')   DO @Set FF7DIR="%%j"
CD "%FF7DIR%"
FOR /F "tokens=2,*" %%i IN ('reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Square Soft, Inc.\Final Fantasy VII" /v "AppPath"')   DO @Set FF7DIR="%%j"
CD "%FF7DIR%"
start /w ff7.exe"
taskkill /im FF7Music.exe
goto end
:ff7disc2
label %DRIVE%: FF7DISC2
start FF7Music.exe
ping localhost -n 2 > nul
FOR /F "tokens=2,*" %%i IN ('reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Square Soft, Inc.\Final Fantasy VII" /v "AppPath"')   DO @Set FF7DIR="%%j"
CD "%FF7DIR%"
FOR /F "tokens=2,*" %%i IN ('reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Square Soft, Inc.\Final Fantasy VII" /v "AppPath"')   DO @Set FF7DIR="%%j"
CD "%FF7DIR%"
start /w ff7.exe"
taskkill /im FF7Music.exe
goto end
:ff7disc3
label %DRIVE%: FF7DISC3
start FF7Music.exe
ping localhost -n 2 > nul
FOR /F "tokens=2,*" %%i IN ('reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Square Soft, Inc.\Final Fantasy VII" /v "AppPath"')   DO @Set FF7DIR="%%j"
CD "%FF7DIR%"
FOR /F "tokens=2,*" %%i IN ('reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Square Soft, Inc.\Final Fantasy VII" /v "AppPath"')   DO @Set FF7DIR="%%j"
CD "%FF7DIR%"
start /w ff7.exe"
taskkill /im FF7Music.exe
goto end
:end
I basiclly replace your line
CD D:\Program Files\Square Soft, Inc.\Final Fantasy VII
with
FOR /F "tokens=2,*" %%i IN ('reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Square Soft, Inc.\Final Fantasy VII" /v "AppPath"')   DO @Set FF7DIR="%%j"
CD "%FF7DIR%"
FOR /F "tokens=2,*" %%i IN ('reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Square Soft, Inc.\Final Fantasy VII" /v "AppPath"')   DO @Set FF7DIR="%%j"
CD "%FF7DIR%"
and that search's for the FF7 directory in the registry (the reason there is 2 is because 64bit versions of windows have a different registry path so i made it detect both)

271

Releases / Re: [Release] FF7Music exe files

« on: 2011-03-20 21:17:55 »

Your welcome , also if you need to you can add a line like "pause" after the "ECHO RENAMED TO FF7DISC1" then the user can press any key to exit instead of it exiting itself (or you could use a line like "ping localhost -n 2 > nul" like in your other BAT's)

272

Releases / Re: [Release] FF7Music exe files

« on: 2011-03-20 21:02:39 »

well its too late I already updated haha. You know the only thing I can think of that would make it better is if you could make it enter the disc names automatically like maybe push 1 for FF7DISC1, push 2 for FF7DISC2, push 3 for FF7DISC3 or something to that effect.

Ok here is a BAT that will first decide what drive you want to change the name of, then the second choice will give you 3 numbers to choose from, type the number and press enter and it will name the drive to that.

Code: [Select]

@ECHO off
cls
:start
:drive
set DRIVE=
set /P DRIVE=Type drive letter: %=%
if "%DRIVE%"=="" goto drive
ECHO.
ECHO 1. FF7DISC1
ECHO 2. FF7DISC2
ECHO 3. FF7DISC3
set choice=
set /p choice=Type the number to change drive to that name.
if not '%choice%'=='' set choice=%choice:~0,1%
if '%choice%'=='1' goto ff7disc1
if '%choice%'=='2' goto ff7disc2
if '%choice%'=='3' goto ff7disc3
ECHO "%choice%" is not valid, try again
ECHO.
goto start
:ff7disc1
label %DRIVE%: FF7DISC1
ECHO RENAMED TO FF7DISC1
goto end
:ff7disc2
label %DRIVE%: FF7DISC2
ECHO RENAMED TO FF7DISC2
goto end
:ff7disc3
label %DRIVE%: FF7DISC3
ECHO RENAMED TO FF7DISC3
goto end
:end


273

Releases / Re: [Release] FF7Music exe files

« on: 2011-03-20 20:37:04 »

Well i changed 2 things (only minor so you don't really need to update if you don't want to)
First i changed the descriptions of the questions to actually ask (so instead of just Type Drive it now says Type drive letter) and the second change was that if nothing is inputted and the user just press enter the script goes back to the beginning,
they are only minor so you wont really need to update if you don't want to but i thought it was worth mentioning.

274

Releases / Re: [Release] FF7Music exe files

« on: 2011-03-20 20:28:28 »

Nice work , my AVG virus scanner does detect this as a virus but im pretty sure its not (AVG seems to detect nearly everything as a virus),
also i did make some small changes to that BAT script i posted, it should now be

Code: [Select]

:input
set DRIVE=
set /P DRIVE=Type drive letter: %=%
set INPUT=
set /P INPUT=Type drive name: %=%
if "%INPUT%"=="" goto input
label %DRIVE%: %INPUT%
so sorry about that 

275

Scripting and Reverse Engineering / Re: About Batch Files

« on: 2011-03-20 19:41:21 »

well i dont know about guides on .BAT files but i use http://www.computerhope.com when i need to find a DOS command to use in a .BAT file (although i know a lot of the commands already since i used to do a fair amount of stuff in DOS) (i only use .BAT files now for when i make installers or when i run mods),

Also on a side note this is the most complicated BAT file i have ever seen is this
http://schnaader.info/sickbat.php
he actually made a game out of .BAT files which to me is amazing.